so was the john ensign said this was a big surprise when he had to step out of leadership. there are no real leaders for republicans now. mitch mcconnell has tried to position himself more in the public eye. they are absent a figurehead. there is no one in the white house from their party. they are trying to reform into a stronger version of themselves. host: susan ferrechio of the examiner, we will check in with you in about 15 minutes and go deeper on some committee meetings on health care. good morning to chris on our republican line. caller: all right, here in miami iamb looking in different fields for jaws because i am currently unemployed. the number of jobs available here in miami is pathetic. -- i'm looking in different fields for jobs because i'm unplugging of the number of people looking is 10 times more than the job opportunity out there. as far as how i feel about the situation now, i am against all these bailouts. bailing out for instance, general motors, and spending to help the economy may sound good, but when you think about it, for instance with regards to

host: the comments earlier this month from senator john ensign. this is based on a new mason- dixon polling for the las vegas review, finding that 39% of voters had a favorable view of mr. anson, that is down from 53% -- mr. ensign, down 53% from last month. he has a 34% favorable rating from the same poll. the comments from our twittered site, "private lives should be private, but hypocritical gop ranos have been doing this since the 1980's. our next call. caller: good morning. i think you have got to have a moral standard, and i do not think the democrats have got that because of the abortion, the premeditated murder of babies. i just do not think they have got that -- you have to have something immoral to fall from. god forgives people for that, but it is hard to get forgiveness for premeditated murder. host: from "the new york times," mark sanford was sworn in as south carolina's governor last year. our next call is from david, from virginia beach. caller: i find it strange that we have not heard from any south carolina college yet. they call

ensign admitted to having an affair with a campaign aid. i will read a brief statement. i came to nevada to talk about something i was involved in. last year, i had an affair. i violated the vows of my marriage. it is the worst thing i have done in my life. if there was ever anything, that i could take back in my life, this would be it. i take full responsibility for my actions. i know the have deeply hurt my children and my wife, my friends, my staff and all of those who believed in me. to all of them, especially my wife, i am very sorry. i am blessed to have a wife who has sounded in her heart to forgive me. last year we sought counseling and through the strength of family and friends, we have rebuilt the marriage so that this is stronger than ever. i will not mention any names, but the woman who i was involved with and her husband, were close friends and they both worked for me. the families were very close. that closeness put me in situations during a very difficult time in my marriage. this led to my inappropriate behavior. this caused

some political stories here in washington, senator john ensign, republican of nevada, returning to washington but the headline, questions on the affair linder. also this morning of "roll call, " mensign to face the music. pointing out he is expected to address his gop colleagues at a weekly luncheon today to try to turn the page on a high-profile sex scandal that is the real is rising political career -- career. while no one knows exactly what he will say to its fellow senators the move is increasingly familiar one for about of republicans, including senator david vitter and former senator ted stevens and larry craig, while facing scandals of their own, going before the conference to discuss their respective situations. it also this morning, related to the shakeup of the republican leadership, talking about senator john thune wants to replace ensign in the hierarchy, and alaska senator lisa morehouse state seeking to be the vice chair of the senate republican conference as a senator john thune click to move up to the policy chair in the senate leadership. >> is greg from franklin, virginia. i

i want to talk about john ensign. we are trying to build on what you did in 2008, thank you for your leadership. and then to pete sessions. some people may wonder why two texans are leading this. you would expect for us to work together very well, and we do. the only exception to this may be the softball game that will occur this thursday, but beyond that, we will be peas in a pod. and i want to say, to orin hatch, he has been a warrior in raising money and if you have been the recipient of one of his phone calls, you know what i am talking about. he is making phone calls every night, to washington, from wherever he is, to wherever you happen to be. many of you know that i am here because of a phone call. you know you can give more and he will remind you. thank you for being a great vice chairman and serving as our dinnner chairm-- dinner chairman tonight. and i want to thank jon voight for being the mc.it is refreshing --- mc. it is -- emcee. it is refreshing to hear you, a nd we need more people from hollywood speak

john ensign is another one who happened -- whose scandal happened a week earlier. there's an argument as to how successful he would have been. there have been some other governors who have not had a great year. this pushes and mitt romney to the forefront guest: guest: jeb bush is another one. he is waiting in the wings. host: peoria, ill., independent line. caller: it took me a long time to get through. i wanted to comment that i am for personal responsibility and more people should embrace that. i find it amazing that congress and reporters think that people who did not need to take responsibility for their mortgage will now take responsibility for their health. i don't know how you can possibly think they can do that. host: special interest lobbyists are the fourth branch of government. big bang score of stimulus, big oil cap and trade, the drugs- health care. calnext caller, jim? let's try that again. are you there? caller: yes. cap and trade is a fraud. co2 has nothing to do with the temperature of the earth and the people who are proposing it know it. i have

this follows the leadership resignation of nevada senator john ensign for allegations of an extramarital affair. thune will be policy chair and senator murkowski will replace him as senator conference by share. the announcement came at a news conference in the capital. >> good afternoon, a one to introduce you to our two newly elected officials. we're pleased to welcome them to the team. they were already there in a sense. senator tune was vice chair and she was by my department at the leadership table. we have now made these changes and doned i'm happy to call on m for questions. >> thank you, leader. i want to thank my colleagues for giving me the opportunity to serve as policy committee chair. i am very much looking forward to continue working with the leadership team as we shape an agenda that i think will move america forward and serve as a counter to some of the agenda items we think will be detrimental. i think they have given us a lot of opportunity to work, whether proposing the largest tax increase, spending at unprecedented levels, putting on a new energy tax, nationalizing on

ensign and then former vice-president dick cheney answers questions on a number of topics including the american national security. >> tonight, on "q&a," mitch daniels. q&a, at a p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> how does he spend funded? >> taxpayers? >> i don't really know. >> from public television. >> it donations. >> i do not know where the funds come from. >> how c-span funded? 30

nevada senator john ensign held a news conference regarding a personal matter we are going to show you from yesterday afternoon in washington. >> i am going to read a brief statement. i came back home to nv to come forward and explain to the citizens of our state something that i was involved in a year ago. last year, i had an affair. i violated the vows of my marriage. it is absolutely the worst thing i have ever done in my life. if there was ever anything that i could take back in my life, this would be it. i take full responsibility for my actions. i know that i have deeply hurt and disappointed my wife, darlene, my children, my family, friends are mustaf, and all of those who believed in me. to all of them, especially my wife, i am truly sorry. i am truly blessed to have a wife like darlene, who has found it in her heart to forgive me. last year we sought counseling, and through the strength of family and friends, we have rebuilt our marriage to where it is stronger than ever. i will not mention any names, but the woman i was involved with and her husband were both close friends, a

host: how much harder is it in the senate now that john ensign has stepped down as the lead senator of the campaign committee? guest: from the policy committee. they had another guy who is a rising star, so i'm not sure they will lose a lot. obviously, though, they did take a hit at least image-wise for republicans. guest: across the board, if you look at poll some of obama is more trusted than those gop, even with tourism and deficit control. he is still broadly more trusted than the house and senate gop's. there is a fundamental problem there. my fellow blocker has indicated that they often target though gop as a problem for obama. it is not the case. it is a problem for the gop that they are stuck on these critical issues, losing to obama, having very little trust in the american public. going into future elections opposes a major problem only for them. host: myrtle beach, south carolina, good morning. caller: i would like to take issue politely. mr. faiz shakir, i hope to be embarrassed about not trying to bring certain things to lead. the media as far as i am concerned it is total

senator john ensign, republican from nevada who admitted to an affair last week and senator john edwards spoke on abc's light 9 -- nightline program last summer and former governor of new york spitzer who resigned over his own affair. we really want to get your broad view, whether democrat or republican. henry is on the phone from spartanburg, south carolina. good morning. good morning, henry. caller: of this latest pick -- this latest is not indicative of one party and i think it shows why the american people are just so frustrated with politicians and our political system in general. but what makes this really, really bad is that republicans are along with the evangelical right conservative, they always preaching moral values and determining who is going to heaven or hell. so when it happens to them, then it puts it in another light. if they would just be for real and stop trying to always dictate to other how they ought to be living -- sanford was fighting for everything going to be here for south carolina. on the one hand you are not taking stimulus money and unemployment money for y

a number of other 2012 hopefuls have done so as well, john ensign being another one of them a week earlier announcing an affair. i think there's some argument about how successful he would have been. but still, there have been other governors in this country that have not had a great year. i think this pushes mitt romney to the forefront. guest: more is jeb bush. he is long under the radar. i think you'd be a particularly strong can it, but he is waiting in the wings, i think. host: this is beth our independent line. caller: it took me quite a long time to get through. i am all for personal responsibility and do more people should embrace that. i find it amazing but the congress and the reporters and anyone else thinks that people to do not need to take personal responsibility when it came to getting mortgages better to lurch are now looking to be personally responsible for themselves. i do not know how you possibly think they could do that. host: a quick, debt twitter.com -- host: good morning, republican line. hello. good morning. are you there? ok, we will go next -- let's try that agai

. >> nevada senator john ensign was in iowa last week to talk about the future of the republican party. he also covers the economy, health care, and president obama supreme court nominee during this 50-minute speech. it is hosted by the american future fund. >> it is important that we have some new voices, some fresh faces talking about issues and taking our message to the american people. i have been in the majority and now in the minority. i like the majority better. i am going to be talking about how we get back to the majority and why we should be back in the majority. because i am new to you, let me tell you about my background so you can get to know me a little better. i grew up in nevada almost my entire life. i was raised by a single mom. my parents were divorced when i was very young. my mom, who believed very much in not going on the government dole, not going on welfare, even though she would have made more money at the time if she would have gone on welfare -- she went out and worked every single day. we live with other families. as a kid, you do not know you are poor. it w

after that, senator john ensign on the future of the republican party. >> tonight on "q &a" governments daniels. he was director of the office of management and budget under president george w. bush and a senior adviser to president ronald reagan. that's at 8:00 eastern tonight on c-span. >> federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke, testified before congress on the state of the economy. some of the topics addressed are the gm bankruptcy, interest rates, and health of the nation's banks. this is just over two hours. >> the committee will come to order. we meet today to hear the distinguished chairman of the federal reserve, benjamin bernanke, testify on the recession that is plaguing our economy and on the prospects of recovery. chairman bernanke testified before our committee on october 20 of last year, as we searched for ways to mitigate, if not avoid a long recession. the chairman acknowledged then that monetary policy has its limits. without being specific, he welcomed a fiscal compromise. congress had just passed a bipartisan compromise offering $700 billion to dispose of troubled ass

i have authored it along with senator john ensign, a republican from nevada. the two of us, along with many, many other cosponsors -- republicans and democrats in the senate -- have believed this is an important piece of legislation for the u.s. senate and for the congress to pass. despite that, we had to have a vote this morning on the motion to proceed. shall we proceed to this? a cloture petition had to be filed, it took two days to ripen. now we had a vote, it was 90-36789 the answer was "yes" by 90-3. now we have 30 hours postcloture that we have to wait until we can then have another vote on the cloture -- whether we get to the bill and then have another cleche petition to fight cloture. it is the most unbelievable byzantine example of how this place has just sort of fallen off the rails, requiring cloture petitions to be filed on things that then get a 90-3 vote and then a requirement that we have to spend the next 30 hours waiting until we can actually get to the bill. unbelievable. but it's an example of what has happened here, and the minority is req