senator from utah. >> well, i thank the senator from arizona. my mind goes back to a personal experience that i had that i would like to share with my friends on the left. an entirely different bill. the bill was no child left behind. we were all for it on this side of the aisle because our president had proposed it, and my staffer said to me listening to the debate, you know, senator if president clinton had proposed it, you would vote against it because you would think it is too heavy handed government interference. and i said, you know, you are right, and i had to do the right thing, and i voted against it. if we had proposed what the democrats are proposing, every argument we are hearing would be coming with great roars and insistent statements on the other side of the aisle, but because it is their president who proposed it, they are somehow keeping their consciences under control here. i would hope that they would recognize the irony in that, and that at least one -- that's all we need in order to stop this bill -- at least one would recog

and they want to jam the public before christmas as the senator from arizona indicated. how arrogant is that? we know better than you, we know better than the republicans, we know better than the public. why don't all of you while, the republicans in the american public just sit down and shut up and leave it to us? and will take care of it before christmas. >> to the republican leader, senator from kentucky, i believe there's another little bit of history being made. this bill, this process is really historic in its arrogance. this isn't very hard to understand. the proposal is, to take 16%, 70% of our economy affecting 300 million americans, nothing could be more personal as the kentucky senator has said in our health care. and we don't have the bill. we do not have the bill. it's been written in secret in another room and if there's any part of this debate that went through to every single household in america i believe it was when the finance committee voted down a motion that the bill should he on the web for 72 hours so the american people can see the text, know wha

mcconnell: will the senator from arizona yield on this point? is this not the same aarp that would, i'm told, actually benefit frl the decline of -- from the decline of medicare advantage because they sell a policy themselves that would likely then -- more likely be purchased by seniors? is this the same aarp -- mr. mccain: when you lose medicare advantage, as dr. barrasso will fully attest, then you -- they are really almost forced into the so-called medigap policy that would not cover what is covered under medicare advantage, dental, vision, not covered under aspects of medicare advantage. so if -- so if you destroy medicare advantage, people will be forced into the medigap policies. who makes their money off medigap policies? aarp. mr. sessions: just a question about this deal with big phrma. i made reference to and quote interested a few days ago a scathing editorial by robert reich who served as secretary of labor in the clinton administration who is a leading intellectual democrat who called this in the most scathing terms -- criticized th

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i ask unanimous consent to enter into a colloquy with senators tennessee, oklahoma and tennessee. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: mr. president, we are here obviously, as we are on a daily basis, to discuss the issue of health care reform. but we are in a rather unusual situation this morning because we don't know what w we're discussing or debating. we find ourselves in an interesting situation, after almost a year of consideration of health care reform, with a measure that has been at least some -- a couple of the outlines of it, weigh know, but frankly we have had no details, except that medicare is going to be extended to -- eligibility for medicare is going to be extended to age 55. i just would quote -- there was a meeting yesterday amongst the senate democrats. "many senate deems emrchled from the meeting sayings -- quote -- "they had learned little from the public option agreement -- senator mary lamp drew called the agreement a very good idea. se

state of arizona? is it a small program or a large program? mr. mccain: our figures are 330,000 people in my state of arizona. and i did notice yesterday when the distinguished chairman of the finance committee and the senator from connecticut were talking, the way that they were disparaging the entire program, how it wasn't any good and about the cost overruns and it really was a bad program. they have opposed it from the start. and so the message is to 330,000 americans that -- citizen of my state who have medicare advantage, they're out to get you. mr. crapo: in tennessee, it is my understanding that nationwide it's about one quarter of all medicare beneficiaries. just about one quarter of all medicare beneficiaries in america will see their benefits cut. all beneficiaries in america will see their access cut. and these problems that we are talking about are not just limited in their impact. mr. mccain: let me respond again. there are cost problems with the medicare advantage. those cost problems ca

the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona. mr. flake: madam speaker, approximately 68 years ago on january -- in january of 1941, rayburn was elected to the house of representatives. just prior to swearing in he rose on the house floor and said, you have elevated me to a position. i must confess that it has been one of the ambitions of my lifetime. the house of representatives has been my life and my love for this more than a quarter of a century. i love its traditions. i love its precedence. i love its dignity. i glory in the power of the house of representatives. it is my highest hope and my unswerving aim to preserve, protect and defend the rights, prerogatives and the power of the house of representatives. . as speaker, he considered himself a custodian of its traditions, its precedent, and as he put it its dignity. you may ask why i'm telling this story, why i raise this point. it's because we are about to consider a bill that endorses and condones a practice that has placed a dark and ominous cloud over this institution. thi

the junior senator from arizona, the republican whip, said that. every day we don't fund our troops is a day their ability to fight this war is weakened. the senior senator from kentucky, the republican leader, said that. and yet, mr. president, not a single one of these republican senators -- not a single one of the 40 republicans in this body, have committed to renewing our commitment to our troops before the funding expires later today. we're voting at this rare, late hour but not even the darkness outside can conceal the game being played inside this senate chamber. we're here in the middle of the night, but the reason is as clear as day: senate republicans so desperately want to turn their backs on americans who are suffering and dying for want of decent health care -- 45,000 a year, 7350,000 bankruptcies, 140,000 losing their insurance every day -- that they're turning their backs on america's troops at wartime. rarely has the senate seen such a sad statement. rarely have i seen such brazen irresponsibility and rarely have our nation's citize

and the senator from arizona says it doesn't go far enough and include more people. we have waited patiently now for 21 days during the course of this debate on health care reform for the republican plan for reforming health care. it's never been produced. promised, but never produced. and i think the reason's obvious. it's doesn't exist. several times they've said on the floor, oh, we have a plan and they'll wave a bill at us. when the republicans had a chance over a three-week period of time to offer their substitute, they never did. in fact, over 20 days of active debate on the floor, there were exactly four republican amendments on the floor, four in 20 days. one every five days. at that rate, how long would be the republicans have us stay on the floor waiting for the next amendment? i mean, that is the reality. they offered six motions to stop the debate, remove the bill from the floor, send it back to committee. but, of course, when it came to actual substantive amendments, changing sections of the bill, they wouldn't do it. so the republicans have come up empt

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, i -- i rise to speak on the bill -- the pending bill before us. one of the great pork barrel earmark-billed pieces of legislation that i seen come before this body. i'd like to quote from abc news by jonathan carl and def inn -- devin pryor, this is the season of pork, i quote -- "before returning to their -- excuse me. "just weeks before returning to their districts for christmas, congress is poised to give the gift of pork, roughly $4 billion of it. more than 5,000 earmarks were included in the $447 billion omnibus bill, funding pet projects of key members of congress from both parties in all regions of the country. senate will vote on the bill this weekend. independent analysis of the bill reveal a whopping 12% increase in government spending for 2010 while the inflation rate in the country remains near zer zero." a 12% increase in spending when people are out of jobs, out of their homes. they cannot afford to -- the -- basically what they need to sustain t

i worked on it when i was attorney general of arizona, among many things, i would hope when the committee takes up the issue of immigration, that some of the tools could be contemplated. >> which will that be? >> the chairman indicated he would like to take it up next year. >> i'm always one of those who worked with former president bush and worked with him. i think it's something that's going to require republicans and democrats to come together. i think it can be done. i don't think anybody no matter where you are in the political spectrum feels that the system we have today is working perfectly by any means. and i hope we have a comprehensive bill. and i think that we're -- the efforts will be there. and i would certainly be willing to work obviously as i have with so many other issues from the senator from texas and everybody else on that. i hope we have tried -- and i hope we will try to try comprehensive immigration reform. narrow issues like providing ice the information they need to track down these wire transfers to me it seems like a narrow issue and i hope it doesn't wait -- >>

my title is not arizona senator, u.s.. its u.s. senator arizona. so of course i'm there to represent the people of my state. but is a u.s. senator's job to go out and do something which would then the citizens quote and influence? is that what people said constituents you to do. the majority leader said yesterday and i quote, i don't know if there is a senator that doesn't have something in this bill that was important to them. senator leader harry reid reasoned when asked at a news conference monday about the cash for coach recusation and, quote and if they don't have something in this important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them. it doesn't speak well of us when we do something like the senator of mississippi pointed out? that favors montana and not the rest of the country? that helps the seniors in medicare advantage in florida and not arizona? is that we are sent here to do? that has never been my view of what our obligations to our citizens but also to the citizens of this country, and i would ask my colleague -- >> mr. president? tha

arizona communities anticipated cuts in schools. the state already ranks 50th in the nation in per-pupil spending. from there, tucson schools took another hit this fall: 10%. what happens when a major recession hits public education? what do schools do when times are tough? who gets hurt more, the rich or the poor? we went to tucson to find out. we started here, in tucson's comfortable suburban community. affluent east side, a comfortable suburban community. gale elementary school has an excellent reputation, veteran teachers, a high performing student body and a commitment to the arts. in the cafeteria everything looks normal, except that paula godfrey is the school principal, forced into kitchen duty, she says, because of budget cuts. how does that feel to be number 50? >> terrible. when you're 50th in the nation in per-pupil spending, there's a lot of things that you cut out of education. >> reporter: principal godfrey says she lost $140,000 this year. what did you lose? >> we lost... we lost our office manager. we were able to k

so i ask the senator from arizona who has been such a leader on this we are going to cut $135 billion out of medicare coverage for hospitals. we are going to talk about expanding the coverage of more medicare patients which will mean we are going to cut more from the hospitals than is even envisioned in the underlying bill. help me understand this, senator. how would you suggest that has as the common sense test? >> may i say having stood fifth in the bottom of my class at the naval academy i am i out entire loss to explain that. >> perhaps before i turn to the senator from south dakota 80 we can get a response from dr. colburn. >> they are not cui to cut care which means you're going to have more complications which means you're going to have worse outcomes. that is what is going to happen. and rather than -- rather than changing the payment which is what we should do by a rewarding quality and rewarding out cut rather than recording -- reporting, flipping a switch that is what needs to happen. but we are going to take the same and acquitted system, $465 billion from it and then add

, in arizona can go to a spa and have it paid for by medicare advantage? paid for by the subsidies of of $12 billion that we give them. that come both from taxpayers and from medicare recipients right now. so i don't think it's fair for my seniors and i to have to pay for that. now, a lot has been said about all the people that are in the medicare advantage plans. i looked up the figures. right now, nationally, only 18.6% of all enrollees are in medicare advantage. a little less than one out of five. in iowa, in my state, it's 10%. one out of every ten. why is that? well, we don't have a lot of spas in iowa. we don't have those fancy things like they got in florida and texas and arizona and california, wherever else all this stuff is going. but what my seniors need is they need the peace of mind of knowing that medicare -- medicare is going to be there for them in the future. they need to know that they're going to get the benefits that we put in this plan that's in our bill that will help our medicare beneficiaries -- and here's what it is. as aarp says -

a constituent in surprise, arizona -- hope you like the name of that town, surprise, arizona, just west of phoenix -- says "i truly hope you'll consider keeping the medicare advantage plans for seniors. i find the savings a must on my fixed income. i appreciate the high-quality doctor care on my medisun advantage plan. prescriptions are included in the cost of my plan, providing further savings for me. medicare advantage has made a real difference in my life. please don't let anything happen to this important program." and a constituent from fountain hills writes, "i suffer from a specific type of ametropholic lateral clersz and rely on medicare advantage for all of my medical needs. i'm asking that do you all that is in your power to protect and provide for the continued funding of this program. in arizona, we have over 329,000 people who count on medicare advantage. our lives would be devastated without it." and a constituent from wick enberg, arizona, says, "please don't let anything happen to my medicare advantage. i like my medicare advantage plan because i can choose my own doctor

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: how much time's remaining on both sides? the presiding officer: the minority has 13 minutes, the majority has four minutes. mr. mccain: i yield three minutes to the senator from florida, senator lemieux. the presiding officer: the senator from florida is recognized. mr. lemieux quickly, mr. president, i'm here to speak about the omnibus spending bill that we're going to vote on here today. mr. president, it is more proof that washington is out of control in its spending and that the leadership on the other side of the aisle is wanting to spend our children's money. this is a $445 billion bill. i know my colleague from arizona will talk about the 5,000 earmarks in this bill costin costing $3.9 billion. and it's a 12% spending increase over last year. $46.7 billion more than the bloated budget that we passed in 2009. $46.7 billion. a 33% increase in state foreign operations, 44% increase in transportation an h.u.d. these -- and h.u.d. these are unsustainable. we have a $12 trill

texas and arizona barry good. tucson i think it is not fully implemented but lack of detention space. so whour plans with i wnding operations questline? onere do think it might be? >> great i think first of all, i support operation streamline i think it is i think i effective. ink wit with respect to the arizona -- tucson sector it mathe larg e, by magnitude the largest that we have, to provide hdeadic difficulties. i do think we have the bed space available and solving sog your d the issues. nthhad an issue with the ninth circuit recently with ne the streamline backed just ayse down a couple of days heo about how it matters and volume given the volume of know turthousew, the courthouse well, we have to be working in terms of how ationae operationally address the court of appeals concerns so we can continue tor, and a streamlined in the tucson sector? but i can say that in my addreomeully addresses some of the issues. nk you y thatnk you for that. this study that is required port to you to report to to ou your eva

i will say to my colleague from arizona. >> i thank the senator from south dakota. i have to say that i have never, in the years that i have been here, seen a process like this. i mean, it is incredibly bizarre that after a year, after hundreds of hours in the health committee, after hundreds of hours in the finance committee products are here on our desk in -- it's in front of the senator from tennessee's desk, and yet there is a meeting yesterday of the democrats and they come out and don't know what the proposal is either. apparently there's only one senator that knows what the proposal is and that is the majority leader. now, and also that it's okay to go home for the weekend. i honestly say that my colleague from south dakota i've never seen anything quite like this. especially when we are talking about one sixth of the gross national product of this country. and of course, already from with the no, the hospitals and doctors and others have come out in strong opposition to the expansion of a program and the senator from south dakota points out it is going broke

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: mr. president, i regret that the senator from illinois did not observe the courtesies of the senate, particularly when a person's name is mentioned as he continued to mention my name throughout and totally falsifying my position both in the presidential campaign and the position that we have on this side and this amendment. i've always extended the courtesy to the senator from illinois, and i deeply regret that even this comity of the senate is no longer observed. so, i say to the senator from illinois, i regret that you would not respond to a question that i had posed and that you had said "i will respond in a minute." again, even that comity is not observed here. mr. durbin: if the senator would yield for a second? mr. mccain: i will go ahead -- mr. durbin: would the senator yield for a second? mr. mccain: the senator did not provide me the courtesy of allowing me to respond to a question. now you want me to respond to a question from you? i will display more courtesy than you displayed

mcconnell: if i may just say to my friend from arizona, you're absolutely right. i've had an opportunity to observe senator kennedy over the years and that's exactly the way he operated. but if i may, just to make a point with regard to the senator from mississippi's observation about congressman stupak, as i understand it, i'd ask my friend from mississippi, congressman stupak was not asking for some special deal for michigan in return for his vote. he was, rather, trying to establish a principle that would apply to all americans. is that not the case, i would say to my friend from mississippi? mr. wicker: i would say to the distinguished republican leader, that is exactly correct. and i commend my colleague -- my former house colleague for taking that principled stand. mr. mcconnell: could not the same thing be said about our colleague, senator lieberman, from connecticut? i'm sorry he ended up voting for this 1,700-page monda monstrosi. but you have to say, as i understood senator lieberman's position -- and senator mccain certainly knows him very, very well --

the senator from arizona is exactly correct. if senator casey said that, he's merely repeating what the director of the congressional budget office, when he said that fully half the benefits of medicare advantage would be lost. but in answer to your question, the medicare advantage is an option that 11 million of the 40 million seniors who are on medicare have chosen. and the reason they choose it is because the plans that are offered by private companies a often in rural communities, lower-income americans choose these. they often choose them because the plans generally offer these benefits: dental care, vision care, hearing coverage, reduced hospital deductibles, lower co-payments, lower premiums, coordinated chronic care management, and physical fitness programs. so those are some of the benefits that these plans generally offer seniors. mr. mccain: well, i thank my friend. and the reason i ask is you mentioned that medicare advantage allows seniors to have dental care, vision care, hearing care, physical -- physical fitness

i go back to my home state of arizona. i talk to the doctors and providers and they say, what's going on? you made a deal to the lobbyists, that's my answer to you. you made a deal with the lobbyists. not the doctors, not the people that are users of pharmaceuticals that this year have seen an 8% to 9% of increase in drugs because your deal is going to protect them. so my answer to you is, i don't know what you bought that letter for, but it probably was a pretty high price. >> would the senator -- >> the senator from arizona has the floor. >> i could answer the senator's question. >> i do know the answer to it. i just gave you the answer. >> i would have to agree with my colleague from arizona. it is astonishing that the senator would stand up and read a letter from his home organization, because i see we have 43 different home health care agencies, some that don't even have hospitals. the therapyists drive long distances. we have people here from rural states, and montana is certainly one of them. those home health care

and i thank my friend from arizona. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, i'd also like to add my words of congratulations to the new members for their eloquence, their passion, their well-informed arguments, although they're badly misguided. but i do congratulate them for being -- taking part in this spirited debate. we welcome it, and i hope that someday we'll be able to agree on both sides for us to engage in real colloquy between us back and forth. i think the american people and all members are well informed. madam president, i ask unanimous consent for the next 30 minutes to engage in colloquy with my colleagues. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: i talk a lot about c-span. i'm a great admirer of c-span and how the president when he was running also talked about c-span. and he said c-span would be in the running. it was quoted right now a group of senators is meeting behind closed doors to try to hash out a compromise on the public option. reporters waiting for the meeting to break were shunted around the co

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona -- mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that morning business be closed. i want to make sure that senator mccain has his time. mr. mccain: i'd ask for an additional 10 minutes of morning business so that i could maybe engage in a colloquy with my favorite combatant here that -- the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: maybe talk a little bit about his remarks. and i have to say that i appreciate the eloquence and the passion that the senator from illinois has brought to this debate. and he makes some very convincing points. and one of the major points -- and i'd be glad to listen to the senator. i think it's fair for us to respond to each other's comments very quickly. the senator from illinois said that we have been engaged in the negotiations and inputs have been made in the formulation of this bill. now, i have to tell the senator from illinois, i've been engaged in many bipartisan compromises, whether it be issues such as campaign finance reform, whetsder it be a whole large

we were down in tempe at arizona state, $25 million facility that was just oh, so impressive. >> steve: there's morris again and he is fouled. his rebounding has been key to kansas' nine-point lead. >> marques: marques morris, cole aldrich, they're just out muscling, intimidating. not so much intimidating but out muscling and using their strength advantage on the inside against tyler honeycutt and j'mison morgan and nikola dragovic of ucla. >> steve: morris doing it all. a career high 16 points, dragovic, he'll come out for the bruins. looks be damned. get me back in the game! >> marques: those are some of the nastier goggles i think i've seen but whatever it takes to get back on the floor. i expect he will be back out here goggles and all. you're not going to keep him out of the game. >> steve: morgan off the leg of cole aldrich, out of bounds. nelson has a cut near the right eye. right now they'll head back to the locker room it looks like to get it straightened out. kansas comes up with it. xavier henry. loses it. morgan with the steal. >> marques: going to the basket with his trade

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, it seems that as much as i'd like to put the last presidential campaign behind me, we seem to be continuing to dredge it up in a false -- totally false manner time after time. i would ask unanimous consent that my campaign paper -- position paper on a specific plan of action lowering health care costs be made a part of the record at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: then i would ask to be made part of the record the factcheck.org of november -- of october 20, 2008, that says -- "false -- obama's false medicare claim," which were the attacks on me which were not based on fact, and i quote from factcheck.org --" these claims are false based on a single newspaper report that says no such thing. mccain's policy director states unequivocally, no benefit cuts are envisioned. mccain does propose savings." et cetera, and i did, and i did propose savings, and we can make savings, and nowhere, nowhere in my wildest imagination did i ever b

a great compliment has been paid to the senator from arizona. it is rare that a mere united states senator can have something he said begin to break through the fog and a "washington post" columnist wrote a column talking about it being all about grandma and wondering why we never mention grandpa? maybe the columnist has not seen the movie "the big fat greek wedding," where the man said i am the head of the house and the woman said, i am the neck. the fact of the matter is we take $465 billion over ten years out of medicare. grandma and grandpa and those who are younger who are looking forward to medicare are going to be affected. and i wonder, if i may say to the senator from arizona -- and then i see the senator from oklahoma and nebraska here -- it wasn't long ago, in response to your question -- in fact it was 2005 -- when our democrat colleagues sought to -- when we sought to restrain the growth of medicare by $10 billion over five years. and this is what they said. remember, they're restraining the growth of medicare by $465 million and sp

the gentleman from arizona. mr. flake: i thank the chair. here again, i'm here claiming time on the unfunded mandates point of order because it's about the only opportunity we've had. and all throughout this appropriations season i did something similar because it was the only opportunity i got. i was offered few opportunities to offer amendments to earmarks during this appropriations season. but let me give you some of the examples of earmarks that are in this bill. just a couple of examples of the more than 5,000 earmarks that are stuffed in this legislation. again, earmarks that for the most part we were unable to challenge on the house floor because we weren't afforded the opportunity. we made a lot in the past couple of years and i'm glad about transparency next to the earmarks' request. accountability must also be present. and without the ability of members to challenge those earmarks, then transparency doesn't mean a whole lot. and we haven't had the ability to have accountability here. in this legislation $125,000 goes for the defens

enzi: the senator from arizona, then the senator from new jersey, then yourself. the presiding officer: without objection? mr. kyl: thank you. i want to thank both of my colleagues very much for their courtesies. you will cut me off at five minutes, and i hope i won't even take that long. i just wanted to respond to some comments earlier that were made relative to the amendment of the senator from nevada relative to capping attorneys' fees. we have an amendment we'll be voting often tomorrow that caps executive compensation effectively. the response to that from the senator from ensign was, well, if we're going to do that, let's cap the attorneys' fees because we can really accomplish something by doing something that in these medical malpractice cases. we can make sure the people who were injured get more of the money that comes from these awards and less of it goes to the attorneys. i think this would be a very salutary situation. this con -- contingent fee system can lead to abuses. i would like to cite statistics from a study done in 2005. 52% of all awards in

you listen to the senator from arizona and he talks about taxes. he fails to mention one or two critically important things. first, this bill has $441 billion in tax cuts in the first ten years. for average people trying to pay their health insurance premiums. i don't know if the senator from arizona thinks that's a good idea or not. he's never spoken to that, at least that i've heard. i think it's a good idea. if you're making less than $80,000 a year, i want to make sure you have insurance, and this bill wants to make sure we give you a helping hand. it's a tax cut. secondly, this bill provides tax relief with small businesses with fewer than 25 employees. those are mom and pop small businesses. this bill gives a tax break to those businesses. when the senator talks about this little tax and that little tax, he fails to step back and look at the big picture. the big picture is this bill changes health care in a positive way. it keeps the good things we have in america's health care system but it changes some of the things that need to be changed.

. >> i thank the senator from arizona for his amendment and i thank the senator from florida because medicare advantage is very important to tennessee. we have to under 43,000 tennessee ins who opted for medicare and vantage, about one-fourth of all americans who are on medicare have chosen medicare and vantage because it provides the option for increased health care, for vision care, hearing coverage comer reduced hospital deductibles and the benefits. it is especially helpful to low-income and minority americans. it's especially helpful to people in rural areas and what the republicans have been arguing all week is contrary to what our friends on the other side are saying this bill cuts those medicare advantage benefits and the director of the congressional budget office says that fully half the benefits on medicare advantage for these 11 million americans will be cut. welcome our space friends stayed know that isn't true. we are going to cut a trillion dollars out of medicare over a fully implemented tenure of part of this bill but nobody's going to be affected by it. the senator

the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, i -- i rise to speak on the bill -- the pending bill before us. one of the great pork barrel earmark-billed pieces of legislation that i seen come before this body. i'd like to quote from abc news by jonathan carl and def inn -- devin pryor, this is the season of pork, i quote -- "before returning to their -- excuse me. "just weeks before returning to their districts for christmas, congress is poised to give the gift of pork, roughly $4 billion of it. more than 5,000 earmarks were included in the $447 billion omnibus bill, funding pet projects of key members of congress from both parties in all regions of the country. senate will vote on the bill this weekend. independent analysis of the bill reveal a whopping 12% increase in government spending for 2010 while the inflation rate in the country remains near zer zero." a 12% increase in spending when people are out of jobs, out of their homes. they cannot afford to -- the -- basically what they need to sustain t

what is that coming out of his mouth. >> the wildlife world zoo, in phoenix, arizona. the brand-new aquarium, only aquarium in that part of the world. look at this. this is a savannah water monitor. larry, look at his tongue. what he's doing, he's stealing your attention right now. you don't want to do that. act like you're not nervous. better. do this, larry. it feels good. let him touch your hand. do that. has it ever licked you? >> larry: it's not poison? >> no -- well -- no. >> larry: well, don't say well. you try it. >> put it like that, larry, do you see that? >> larry: yeah, did i see it? >> do you feel it? >> larry: yeah. >> what he's doing is he's picking up particles. what the dragon will do if he bites you. he will track you for days. the bite isn't what's going to kill you. do you like this animal like i do. this is the biggest one i've ever seen. >> larry: let's get in the alligator. two little alligators. wait a minute, i said little. >> is it a little one? holy mackerel, larry, wow, wee. larry, have you ever seen an alligator that close? >> larry: no, i'

i yield the floor. >> senator from arizona. >> mr. president, i reyet that he does not obscure the courtesy of the senate. especially as he continued to mention my name throughout. and totally falsifying my position both in the presidential campaign and the position that we have on this side and this amendment. i've always extended the courtesy to senator of illinois. i deeply regret that that the comedy is no longer reserved. i regret that you did not respond to a question that i had hosed, and you had said, i will respond in a minute. so i, again -- >> senator -- >> comedy is not observed here. >> if the senator would yield for a second. >> i will go ahead with the -- >> the senator did not provide me with the courtesy of allowing me to respond to a question. now you want me to respond to a question from you? i will display a more courtesy than you displayed to me. >> go ahead. >> i apologize. i planned on yielding to you. i'd be happy to yield to you. i always do. and i failed to. i apologize. >> well, senator, i guess my questions

and i think the senator from arizona. i think the senator from arizona. i know that senator dodd taking to the health committee with a baseball to start with but it's my understanding the amended process that 100 republican amendments were accepted on that bill. if i mistake i have the senator from arizona will correct me but i believe -- i'd be glad to collect the senator from illinois. none of those amendments were of any significant substance that would have a significant impact on the legislation. i've got to say to the senator from illinois. for example, medical malpractice. we posed several amendments that would address what we all know, what the congressional budget office says is $54 billion. other estimates as much as $100 billion of saving. so there was no real, real fundamental amendments. and i have to say that some of those amendments were accepted. but it still doesn't change the fact that at the beginning, just as the senator from illinois said the bill came to the committee without a bit of one minute of negotiation before the bill was pre

from arizona is recognized for one minute to address the house. mrs. kirkpatrick: last week i release add report outlining out the american recovery and reinvestment act has benefited greater arizona and identifying where improvements can be made. i surveyed communities receiving recovery funds across my district to bring transparency and oversight into the process. i found significant progress has been made in bringing jobs to greater arizona with 1,098 jobs created or saved in district one. support to our state also prevented deep cuts in arizona's education and public safety funding. however, delays were reported on more than 40% of projects. despite the hard work of local officials. our rural communities are finding the bureaucracy to be an obstacle. i will continue working with local officials and federal agencies to allow greater arizona to take full advantage of recovery act so they can create more jobs and get folks back to work. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will remind all members not to traffic the well while other me

. >> lehre our special corrpondent for education john merrow rorts from arizona on a spial way to help troubled publ schools. >> i was shocked. it really took mback. >> to... >> to st see what was ssible. you know, i just kinof had to pause and sa you know, what a differencehis makes. >> woodruff: andn inside view ofhe mexican army's war on drugs. >> lehrer:hat's all ahead on tonight's bs newshour." major fundg for the pbs newshour is prided by: >> what thworld needs now is energy. the energy to get the econom humming again. the engy to tackle challenge like clite change. what is that eney came from an energy company everyday, chevn invests $62 million in people, in ideas-- seeking, teaching, buiing. fuelingrowth around the world to movus all ahead. thiss the power of human energy. evron. >> ts is the engine that every year. bnsf, the gine that connects us. >>hat makes us an engine for the econy? plants across americ nearly 200,000 jobs cread. we see beyond cars. intel. supporting math d science educatn for tomorrow's novators. anmonsanto. grant thornton. d the william and flora hewlet

. >> senator from arizona is correct. senator snowe has shown to the finance committee and made it clear she could not support public option. we are hoping at the end of the day she will consider voting for health care reform. that was part of the calculation. i can understand your point of view but i would say you are right we are moving towards our 60 votes but it would be a great outcome if we end up with a bill that brings some religions under republicans unveil if we keep the public option open. we're going to have a real profound difference when it comes to the issue of medical malpractice and help to approach it at i think even on that issue we could've worked toward some common ground and i hope someday we still can. >> that i just ask my friend about the situation as it exists right now. right now, no member on this side has any idea as to the specifics of the proposal that the majority leader i understand is that two omb for some kind of scoring. is that the way we really want to do business here? that a proposa

alexander: well, i thank the senator from arizona. i was thinking when i listened to the -- i wonder if the senator noticed the california governor's comments on sunday. governor schwarzenegger said that he supports the idea of overhauling health care, but -- quote --"the last thing we need said governor schwarzenegger is another $3 billion in spending. he was referring to one of the unintended consequences of this bill which is the big state costs of medicaid being shifted to the states. here's governor schwarzenegger's advice following up the comments of the leader. so i would say be very careful to the federal government. this is from the govern or of california. before you go to bed with all of this, let's rethink it, said governor schwarzenegger. there is no rush from one second to the next. let's take another week or two. let's come up with the right package. i wonder if the senator saw this. mr. mccain: i thank the governor of tennessee. i recognize that you understand this better than anyone having been a governor and realizin

my title is not arizona senator u.s. it's u.s. senator arizona. of course i'm there to represent the people of my state. but is a u.s. senator's job to go out and do something which would then be at the expense of the citizens of another state simply by virtue of their clout and influence? is that what people were sent here by our constituents to do? is it true what the senator, majority leader said yesterday -- and i quote -- "i don't know if there's a senator that doesn't have something in this bill that was important to them, leader harry reid reasoned when asked at a news conference monday about the cash for cloture accusation. and -- quote -- "if they don't have something in it important to them, then it doesn't speak well of them. doesn't speak well of us when we do something like the senator from mississippi just pointed out, that favors libby, montana, and not the rest of the country? that helps the seniors in medicare advantage in florida and not in arizona? is that what we are sent here to do. that has never been my view of what our obli

texas and arizona, but very effective. tuscon sector and think has been fully implemented and i think part of the reason may be a look of detention space so to questions. what are your plans with expanding operations streamline? if so where you think it might be, and then secondly i will get into the question of detention space. >> i think first of all i support operation streamline. i think it is effective. i think with respect to the tucson sector which is by magnitude the larger sector that we have, they provide logistical difficulties. i think we have the dead space available. i think we are de silva-- solving your detention issues. we had an issue with the ninth circuit, piece of these streamline that has just come down a couple of days ago, about how please are done in streamline matters and given the volume of cases, and i know you know that courthouse well, we have had to be working out there in terms of how are going to operationally address the court of appeals concerns so we continue to streamline in the tucson

durbin: is the senator from arizona a cosponsor of the dorgan amendment? mr. mccain: yes, a proud cosponsor. mr. durbin: would the senator from arizona consider offering whatever is different in 3200 as a separate amendment to the dorgan amendment? mr. mccain: i guess what i -- i'm not sure if i understand my friend, but i'm just offering the amendment as a side-by-side in order to improve -- in my view, improve the dorgan amendment, but again in all candor not to undermine it but to make it better. mr. durbin: mr. president, i have an obligation to -- not only to my leader but also to senator lautenberg who is being dealt out of the picture here with this unanimous consent request, and he has been offering an amendment which is well known and has been offered previously by senator cochran of mississippi, republican, and at this point senator lautenberg is offering it. i -- i think at this point i'm constrained to object based on this new mccain amendment, and i will discuss it with the senate leadership as to whether or not there is a way we can find a path t

alexander: i want to cliewt the senator from arizona -- i want to congratulate th the senator from arizona. i heard the senator talk about figures. we have some figures and the democrats have other figures. i agree with him. i think someone watching this must think we're on two different planets sometimes. but -- so let me focus in on the figures. i believe i heard you say that to pay for this health care bill over ten years there would be $465 billion in medicare cuts. now, where does that figure come from? mr. kyl: mr. president, i had say to my friend from tennessee, first of all, it comes from a reading of the bill. it's very clear in the bill as to how much money is taken from medicare and the number that the senator from tennessee just articulated is the correct number. in addition to that, the congressional budget office and the joint tax committee analyzed the specific numbers and obviously they were given the numbers in the bill, but the numbers that they are using are -- and i just broke it down into four or five general categories; there are other divisions within that -- but as

just the senator from arizona, just the senator from tennessee? how about the senator from oklahoma or the senator from south carolina? well, i'm sorry. i feel sorry the republicans are all split up. they have not done their own homework, to pull their own senators together for something positive. so what they have done is they have pulled together to say no, to try to kill the reform bill that we have worked so hard on all year. now, we extended a hand. now, if we had really wanted to ace out the republicans, we would have followed their lead and what they did in 2001 when they ran through that tax cut for the wealthy. they did it on reconciliation so we couldn't filibuster it, so we couldn't have any debate on it. that's what they did. that's what they did. we didn't do it that way. president obama said we want to hold the olive branch out, we want to work with republicans, so that's what we tried to do. under the leadership of senator dodd on our committee, we had numerous meetings with republicans. we had a markup session that lasted 13 days,

host: tucson, arizona, dick on the line for republicans. caller: i admire you immensely because you are the first politician i've heard in a long time that made any sense. guest: that is because i broke a few coldspring when you are pricking a colt -- i broke a few colts. when you cannot get that call to pay attention, you tie its legs up and now it is standing on three legs and a little button push him around. -- a little guy can push him around. caller: before you had elected office, i do -- before you became governor, had you ever held elected office before? guest: no. caller: you talk about your work on a dairy farms. there is currently any product -- a new product -- not new -- called bovine colostrum. i came back from a 23rd trip to africa, and it fixes a. it restores the immune system. -- fixes aids, it restores the immune system. it will help people get well and it will reduce the medicinal cost. host: who are you supporting in the arizona gubernatorial race? caller: we have not got it put together yet. i am returning from republica

the senator from arizona and others. we held hearings on this and the committee. the fact is, we have gotten votes on it before and in each case the pharmaceutical industry that has a lot of muscle around here has prevailed on those boats with an amendment that is a poison-pill amendment saying somebody has to certify with respect to no additional safety risk and so on. the safety issues are completely bogus, absolutely bogus. they have done in europe for 20 years what we are proposing to do in this country, perrilloux trading between countries with no issues at all in what we are trying to do is save the american people $100 billion in the next ten years because we are charging the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and there's no justification for. one to show the senator from arizona one chart and this is representative. nexium. if you happen to take nexium, for the same quantity you pay $424 in the united states. if you were in spain would pay $36, france $67, great britain $41, germany $37. why is th

a great compliment has been paid to the senator from arizona. it is rare that a mere united states senator can have something he said begin to break through the fog and a "washington post" columnist wrote a column talking about it being all about grandma and wondering why we never mention grandpa? maybe the columnist has not seen the movie "the big fat greek wedding," where the man said i am the head of the house and the woman said, i am the neck. the fact of the matter is we take $465 billion over ten years out of medicare. grandma and grandpa and those who are younger who are looking forward to medicare are going to be affected. and i wonder, if i may say to the senator from arizona -- and then i see the senator from oklahoma and nebraska here -- it wasn't long ago, in response to your question -- in fact it was 2005 -- when our democrat colleagues sought to -- when we sought to restrain the growth of medicare by $10 billion over five years. and this is what they said. remember, they're restraining the growth of medicare by $465 million and sp

alexander: well, i thank the senator from arizona. i was thinking when i listened to the -- i wonder if the senator noticed the california governor's comments on sunday. governor schwarzenegger said that he supports the idea of overhauling health care, but -- quote --"the last thing we need said governor schwarzenegger is another $3 billion in spending. he was referring to one of the unintended consequences of this bill which is the big state costs of medicaid being shifted to the states. here's governor schwarzenegger's advice following up the comments of the leader. so i would say be very careful to the federal government. this is from the govern or of california. before you go to bed with all of this, let's rethink it, said governor schwarzenegger. there is no rush from one second to the next. let's take another week or two. let's come up with the right package. i wonder if the senator saw this. mr. mccain: i thank the governor of tennessee. i recognize that you understand this better than anyone having been a governor and realizin

but i agree with the senator from arizona. we should get rid of the drug reimportation thing one way or another. in addition to the amendment offered by my friend from idaho, senator crapo. mr. mcconnell: well, mr. president, my point was, typically a side-by-side is offered, one on each side. on the drug reimportation issue you've got basically two votes, both generated on the democratic side, which created some confusion. but we'll have to continue to talk about this and see if we can work our way through it. mr. kerry: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. kerry: mr. president, i wanted to ask the minority leader -- i would please ask the minority leader, some of us are a little perplexed. i know that the senate has its rules and we try to work through them, but we also at this time of year often try to accommodate families and try to accommodate schedules and so forth. and i'm curious as to why -- whether or not the minority leader might not consent to allowing us -- or why it is that we

the wizards through from minneapolis yesterday and they will playing a back to back tonight and in arizona tomorrow night. here is the starting lineup for the wizards. five and 11 on the road, again in the back card gilbert arenas. buckner andray blatche. saunders has coached there for almost ten years. has had a difficult practice in minneapolis before going to memphis in the afternoon. memphis grizzlies are 13 and 16, they are nine and five at home and have yet to fall to a home at home i should say against a team with the losing record, five and 0 here. da marre the rookie from missouri has his first start as zack randolph is averaging a double, double and a career high with 11 rebounds a game. lionel harlens got the job after mark abhorrente was fired on january 23rd. he had been coaching for 21 years and this is his third stint with the grizzlies. we'll check the toyota who wants to watch phil? >>phil: a battle in the mid middle. steve: we head to the floor for the papa johns opening tipoffs as the wizards look for their first win in five straight games against washington's last win.