lieberman: i thank the chair. i ask unanimous consent that my full statement be entered into the record as if read and i'll speak briefly. i rise to speak on behalf of of the nomination of harold koh. i speak from a real depth of personal spaoefrpbs with harold koh. i know him and have known him for years as a friend and a neighbor in new haven, connecticut. and based on that and all his professional work, there is no doubt in my mind that he is profoundly qualified to occupy this important position as legal advisor at the department of state. he's a brilliant scholar. he's one of america's foremost experts on international law. he actually is qualified to be the legal advisor to the secretary of state. he has a distinguished record of service in our government, having worked in both democratic and republican administrations, consistently won the highest regard from people across the political spectrum. harold koh will bring to this position a deep devotion to our country and the appreciation of the fundamental va

senator lieberman is really looking for obama to sign the executive order. and what that would do is that would classify the photographs so that they couldn't be released. >> on another item, the $5 billion for the international monetary fund, did that make the fible cut? >> that's still in there. and that's why house republicans now are not as likely to vote for the bill as before. when this bill first passed in the house in may it had overwhelming republican support. but after conferees were said willing to take this i.m.f. amendment from the senate, that's when house republican leader boehner and others said they weren't going to vote for this supplemental any more. >> when it first passed the house it also was at $84 billion. it's now at nearly $106 billion. >> that's what congressman lewis, the ranking member of house propes said. he said it's $106 billion. and that's a lot more money than obama requested and it's far above the house level. and where did it all go? among other things, they've doubled the funding for pandemic flu preparations. they've di

lieberman, we will come across the table. if you could summarize in 5 or 7 minutes and we will start a dialogue. >> my name is dan lieberman, at the heritage foundation. i would like to thank the senate republican conference -- >> move the microphone closer to you. >> thank you for sending me the privilege of participating in today's hearing the double discuss the cost of the cats and trade approach addressing global warming at the heritage foundation's economic analysis of age are 204, the secure energy act. as you know, the house is considering this bill which is similar to but has more stringent targets and timetables last the cap and trade bill that was rejected last june. is clear that cats and trade is expensive and amounts to nothing more than an energy tax in disguise. if you sweep aside all the complexities of how cap and trade operates, and this is the nost convoluted attempt at economic planning this nation has ever attempted. the bottom line is that cap and trade works by raising the cost of energy high enough so

i think this democratic aide highly underestimates senator lieberman, senator graham and the rest of us. madam president, i had a conversation with general petraeus just the day before yesterday and i believe those conversations are confidential and i asked his -- his agreement to -- quote -- "if these photos are released, it will harm the ability of the united states military to pursue our national security interests and could put american lives in danger. " now that's a serious statement from the most respected military leader that this nation has. and i want to point out something very important. today the president of the united states could issue an executive order classifying those photos and not allowing them to be released. he could do it today. it's time for the president of the united states to stand up to the left wing of his party for the good of the national security of this nation. so, madam president, i join others that if -- if that supplemental comes over without the provision, which was adopted unanimously by the united states senate to make sure that those photos a

lieberman? [inaudible] >> you can't get past the know for cap and trade in the first instance, and mr. rockwell will give you a pass on that question again. >> my advice in that area is it's not worth it. >> i would say that there's a myriad of places for it to go. i think frankly we need to allow the markets to operate and allow the utilities to make the appropriate choice and self. >> i think that money belongs in a technology agnostic guaranty program for whatever innovative technology gets it to secure clean energy. i think that nuclear might rise to the top of the list right now given what we've got, and it should win on its own merits. >> if you put it in a loan guarantee program and everybody makes the right decision as to what they do with the money they get, then it doesn't go out to anybody. might even be used to reduce the national debt. that's not a bad idea either. >> could i make one quick point? i think it's very interesting, and a lot of people don't know it. 50% of the electrici

lieberman, we will start with you and come across the table. if you could summarize in five or seven minutes? >> thank you. i am a senior policy analyst at the rowe institute at the heritage foundation. i would like to think the senate republican conference -- >> move the microphone a little closer to you. >> i would like to thank -- >> not move you. move the microphone. there you go. >> is this alright? -- i would like to thank the senate republican counsel for inviting me. i would like to speak to our analysis of the american clean energy insecurity -- security act of 2009. this is similar

thank you. >> thank you. >> more lieberman, first, ambassad ambassador, the new ambassador to washington is talking about interesting proposals on settlements. could you elaborate on what they might be? then for secretary clinton, does that mean will is some wiggle room to your statement that there should be no such settlement activity? finally, for both of you, did you discuss previous president george bush's private letters to the israeli government? is that issue over with? >> thank you. that is a long question. >> that is three questions. >> that's three questions, yes. first of all, we really don't have any intention to change the demographic balance there. but we think that it is every place around the world maybe our people get married some way and we can accept this vision about absolutely, completely freezing settles. i think that we must keep the nature of this. the prime minister spoke about this in his peach. i think that this position, this view, this approach, is very cle clear. also, we had some understandings with the previous administration and we tried to keep this dire

in the senate -- in the senate, senator lieberman and senator graham offered an amendment. i believe it was accepted without dissent. there is an overwhelming view in the senate that these photographs should not be released. consequently, i'm perplexed that it appears as if there's some sentiment on the other side of the capitol, maybe even majority sentiment, given the nature of the markup to this point, that the amendment be deleted. i would like for you to have the opportunity to hear from the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, who also happens to be a member of this committee, and is sitting right down the table, to further underscore the bipartisan nature of support for the amendment guaranteing that our troops not be endangered by this sort of gratuitous act of releasing detainee photographs that none of the people leading our troops feel would do anything other than endanger the lives of our soldiers. i don't know if i have the ability to yield to the senator from california, but i'd like to suggest that she be called upon for a few moments. >> thank you.

that's why i commend the leadership demonstrated by senators lieberman and graham, beth of whom have steadfastly demanded this crucial provision be addressed now by congress. the efforts culminated in the passage by unanimous consent of stand-alone legislation to help prevent the release of the damaging images. so there's other troubling aspects of detainee policy included in this supplemental bill. provisions in this bill attempt to address detainee policy in a piecemeal way that fails to constitute a comprehensive plan for what to do with detainees at guantanamo and those suspects capture off the battlefield and afghanistan and does not include $80 million requested by president obama to close guantanamo. this is a serious rebuke by congress. and reflects a bipartisan backlash against the idea of announcing a date for guantanamo while failing to provide a plan for what comes next. well, as i said at the beginning of my remarks, madam president, i ask unanimous consent the supplemental earmarks and unrequested congressional add-ons be made part of the record at this time. the presid

lieberman is a specialist in energy and environmental issues. he is a senior policy analyst at the heritage foundation. he is trained as a lawyer and an accountant, and he has testified before congress as well as appeared on programs on nbc, cbs, fox, cnbc, and msnbc, commentaries have been published in a major newspaper including the "washington times," "beat san diego tribune," the american -- "the american standard." mr. rockwell has been involved directly with nuclear power for 20 years. he started in 1943. he was in the elite task force at the atomic bomb project in tennessee. he became head of the radiation shield engineering group. then a navy captain hired him to work on the naval nuclear propulsion program, and he has a long list of accomplishments there. he is a fellow of the american nuclear society, recipient of the first lifetime contribution award, now known as the rockwell award, distinguished medals from the navy and u.s. atomic energy commission and a member of the national academy of engineers. he has written numerous books on

it was objections to the lieberman amendment going forward that created this problem. but nonetheless, the work that's been done on this bill i think is deserving of our support. it's worthy of our unanimous adoption. as i've said over and over again, even if you were to collect all of the adult smokers in this country -- and 90% of adult smokers began as children by the way -- but if you ask all of them their opinion on whether or not we ought to do something about marketing these products to children, i would be willing to venture a guess, madam president, that 98% of adult smokers, if they could speak with one voice today would tell us pass this bill. the last thing a parent who smokes want is their children to start smoking. they know the hazards. they know the damage. they know the heartache that comes with this kind of illnesses associated with these products. so on behalf of all parents in the country, smokers and nonsmokers, let us adopt this legislation and make a major headway and a major step in dealing with this dreaded problem, health problem associated wi

>> well, it says that president obama actually worked with graham and lieberman to craft the language of the amendment. so in that respect he's pretty much for it. he's not getting into the middle of the legislative fight because it pits him against his own party. and with republicans, which is an awkward position, so he hasn't been speaking on it recently. but we can say that he supports the provision. >> $5 billion was added to the bill for the international monetary fund after the house passed its version. how is this going to fair when the conference gets together this afternoon. >> it will be in the conference report. this is why republicans in the house have pledged to oppose the bill and mass and this is also why democrats were forced to scuttle the photo provision in order to get the support of liberal democrats who opposed the bill because now they need all the votes they can get because no republicans will vote for the bill. >> if the conference is meeting on thursday afternoon you write that leaders are waiting until next week to bring up a vote. why is that? >> well, the a

merits of the same time stripping of the senate passed detainee fodor provision offered by senators lieberman and gramm. conference report is also being used by the appropriators as a back door for finding quote base requirements. house allocations for 2010 commonly referred to as 302 allocations cut defense spending by 3.5 billion and a reduced international affairs spending by 3.2 billion. in other words, this line of hand of adding on emergency program funding to supplemental appropriations is becoming all too familiar as a way of skirting fiscal discipline by increasing discretionary spending above the congressional discretionary catch out blind in the budget resolution. another riss mr. president we are continually that unfortunately, and also in the previous administration. again about cash for clunkers. in his remarkable. on june 16th, 2009, citizens against government waste wrote a memo to the members of seven sitting that this provision quote, is really another bailout for the auto industry. american taxpayers have already spent $85 billion and leaned out on to automotive companies,

and i introduced with senator joe lieberman. and i urge my colleagues to take the time to read a recent letter from senator lieberman and i urging their support of this legislation. the safe commission has broad bipartisan support outside of congress, including the peter j. peterson foundation, the business round-table, the concord coalition, the national federation of independent business, the brookings institution. i think if you can get concord coalition and brookings institution to support a piece of legislation, it's got to be pretty bipartisan and fair. and also the committee for a responsible federal budget. all of these back the safe commission concept as the way to tackle tax reform and our entitlement crisis. as you may know, madam president, recently chinese prime minister ja jew ry expressed his concern about the -- quote -- "huge amount of money chinese has invested in the united states" -- saying -- quote -- "to be honest, i'm definitely a little worried." he then went on to call on the u.s. to maintain its good cr

that there will be a freestanding vote on the lieberman-graham vote. the senate has previously allowed this legislation to become part of the supplemental war funding bill. it would prevent the disclosure of these photos for a three-year period if the secretary of defense said that they were harmful to the national security interest to be renewed for three years. senator reid indicated to me before july 8, we will have a chance to vote on that provision as a freestanding bill, which i think will get the senate back on record in a time fashion before the next court hearing. i wanted to be assured by the administration that if the congress fails to do its part to protect these photos from being released, the president would sign into -- an executive order that would change their classification to be classified national security documents that would be outcome determined in the lawsuit. rahm emanuel assured me that these photos would not see the light of day. they agreed that the best way is for congress to secretary. in light of that, i will hold the bil

my friend joe lieberman was here and i was had hartford the night that he lost his primary because i wanted to be with him because he was my friend and he's given so much to this country and, thank god, he was able to win that election and come back to t the u.s. senate. but i learned that lesson from steny hoyer. those who know me best know that i'm not one to shy away from a fig fight. ginger says i'm downright combative. lord knows i'm a democrat. i have never voted for a republican in my life and i probably never will. but i'm disgusted with the polarization and incivility that has come to define our politics and i deeply believe that the daunting challenges that president obama faces and america faces today require a transformation transformational post-partisan solutions that one party alone cannot produce. history has shown time after time the transformational reforms most often come with bipartisan support. social security. the g.i. became. the civil rights act. reforms that fundamentally transformed american life all passed congress with huge majorities of members of both pa

lieberman's comment. go ahead. it will come to me and then i will interrupt you. >> the public has never been the problem on this thing. the real problem is the darn industry itself who keeps bad mouthing their product. they keep saying we may want to build another plant, but we have to make it safer. we have to come up with some sort of answer to the waste problem. you do not hear that sort of stuff from the competitors of nuclear. i know that i have heard congressmaen say to scientists that they have to make the case. >> i am about to join in with senator bennett on the issue of yucca mountain. >> i just remembered when i wanted to say. it was triggered by one of your comments. i think maybe we should insert it here. you ask a question for which we did not give a definitive answer. if a terrorist were to break into an american plant, could he get ahold of something that could then be used as a terrorist weapon? it is my understanding that the answer to that question is no, that a terrorist could not get his hands

lieberman's comment. go ahead. it will come to me and then i will interrupt you. >> the public has never been the problem on this thing. the real problem is the darn industry itself who keeps bad mouthing their product. they keep saying we may want to build another plant, but we have to make it safer. we have to come up with some sort of answer to the waste problem. you do not hear that sort of stuff from the competitors of nuclear. i know that i have heard congressmaen say to scientists congressmaen say to scientists that they have to make the case >> i am about to join in with senator bennett and you on the issue of yucca mountain.

and graham, seen as they may [unintelligible] senator lieberman is looking for obama to sign the executive order. what that would do is it would classify the photographs, that they could not be released. >> the $5 billion for the international monetary fund, did that make the final cut of the compromise? >> yes. that is still in there and that is why house republicans are not as likely to vote for the bill as before. when this bill first passed in the house, in may, it had overwhelming republican support. after conferees were willing to take this imf amendment from the senate, that is when house republican leader boehner and others said they would not vote for this supplemental. >> when it passed the house it was at $84 billion and now it is at $106 billion? >> that is what congressman lewis says. it is $106 billion and that is more money than obama requested. is far above the house level. it is more than the senate had and where did it go? among other things, they have double the funding for pandemic flew preparations and directed more money to defense. there are other things along the wa

i join with senator lieberman and 13 other senators in a letter to the president to urge him to support now the increase in the end-strength the levels for the afghan army and the police, to hire rangers that were recommended by the afghan defense and interior ministers for the army. that range was between 250,000 and 300,000, which would mean a double the current target. admiral, let me ask you first, because general mcchrystal has commented on it. i then want to ask the general the same question. do you believe that the realities on the ground in afghanistan and necessitate growing the afghan national security forces beyond the currently planned and s strengths? >> mr. chairman, my study of classic counterinsurgency doctrine, looking at everything from tea lawrence to david -- t.e. lawrence to david kilcullen, leads me to believe that we need a larger security forces. >> larger than the current and- strength? >> yes, sir. >> general, do you also believe -- in your judgment, will the afghan army need to get a significantly higher end-of strength than 134,000? >> yes, that is my belief

. >> senator lieberman raise the question of the long term nato commitment to this effort. the nato heads of state agreed to create these training missions and mentoring team spirit is still not filled them. is that going to be a deficit that will continue forward, or are you confident they can fill that and continue for a long time? >> the operational mentoring and leadership teams are in short fall right now. they are 52 fielded. we need 64. the bad news is that looking ahead, we are positioned to have the 71 and need as many as 90- plus. you have identified a crucial area. it is at the top of my priority list. if confirmed -- the top of my priority list, if confirmed, to put an argument to our allies that this is the kind of thing that we could perform well in. where are the comparative advantages? the small teams cannot tremendous effect -- the small teams could have tremendous effect and the incorporated as a central feature. at the end, security is local. that is what these so-called omelettes would be very good at. top of my list, sir. >> with the exception of the br

senator lieberman, thank you for your years of work on it. i think they will pass a good climate change bill. but if we can't prove that we can do this in a way a creates more jobs and creates economic opportunity and works to enrich the lives of all americans, we won't meet the targets even if they pass the bill. and even if we do, other countries won't. so, the d.l.c. has always been practical and tried to merge federal policy with state and local actors in the private sector. we need to be on the forefront of that. we still have big problems in education. we have lots of successful charter schools and regular public schools. we still, 25 years plus, 26 years now after the issuance of the nation at risk report, have not figured out how to replicate excellence. until we do, we are compromising the future of of this country. we still have the best system of higher education in the world but we have fallen to 10th from first in the percentage of people between 25 and 35 that have four-year degrees because we priced it out of range. we have to

we do hope, however, we can reach an agreement to dispose of the pending lieberman amendment and several additional amendments upon the use or yielding back of the debate time on the bill -- that's one hour -- and disposition of the lieberman amendment the substitute amendment will be agreed to, the senate will vote on a cloture vote on the underlying tobacco bill so there will be a vote around 11:30. we have about 25 nominations that the republicans have held up. they're important. i was visited yesterday by secretary salazar regarding hillary tompkins, great education background, the lawyer for the justice department. that was cleared yesterday. and the republicans said "no." we have numerous people -- sentencing commission, william sessions of vermont, we're told that is held up because senator leahy is from vermont so they are holding it up and they don't like chairman leahy is handling the judiciary committee is what we have been told. we have harold hongju koh, and i heard on monday, day before yesterday to secretary clinton, this is somebody she needs very badly. he is going to be

it was the mccain-lieberman bill at that time. and it was defeated then and by larger margins ever since then. just a year later with the economy in a deep recession, it's hard to believe that many more senators would dare vote in favor legislation that would not only increase the price of gas at the pump, create a huge new bureaucracy and raise taxes by record numbers. that's just not going to happen. i appreciate that my democratic colleagues desperately want to pass this bill. they argue that cap-and-trade is necessary to rid the world of global warming and to demonstrate america's leadership in this noble cause. but their strategy is all economic pain and really no climate gain. this is a global issue that demands a global solution. yet cap-and-trade advocates argue that aggressive unilateral -- unilateral, that's just america. in other words, we pass a tax just on america. aggressive unilateral action is necessary to persuade developing countries, now we're talking about china and indian and mexico. we provide the leadership

three amendments from hagan, one each if coburn, enzi, bunning and lieberman. unfortunately, despite repeated efforts to move forward our republican colleagues have said, "no," every time. republicans also are slowing down our government in another way. in the few short months since president obama took office, republicans have held up many of his nominees for crucial positions. there are 25 being held up right now as we speak. let me give a you few of them we had to have cloture votes on this year. the secretary of labor, the deputy attorney general, the number two person for our massive justice department, the deputy secretary of the department of interior. that's like the chief of staff for the department of interior -- held up. two members of the council of economic advisors, an incredibly, america's ambassador to iraq they held up, chris hill, for a long time. every time i spoke to secretary gates he wanted to know where his ambassador was. somebody to run this country. at least the american interests of that country. today, they're holding up 25 or more q

of what you think senator joe lieberman and susan colleagues for championing this bill in the senate. today marks a historic step towards the changes we seek. we have to acknowledge that this is one step among the steps that we have not yet taken. i think a marriage act is discriminatory and we will work with congress to overturn it. we have more work to do to ensure that the government treats all citizens equal. we must fight injustice and intolerance in all of its forms and bring about a more perfect union. i am committed to these efforts and a pledge to work tirelessly on behalf of this in the months to come. thank you very much. i will sign this executive order. there you go. [applause] thank you. >> "washington journal" is next. the houses back in session at 10 eastern for more debate on the spending bill that covers the department of commerce and justice and science programs. .

president, the resolution that i, on behalf of myself, senator lieberman, and others, is exactly the same as has been introduced by congressman berman and pence in the house of representatives. it's the exact same resolution, expresses support for all iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and rule of law, and for other purposes. the resolution expresses its support for all iranian citizens who embrace the values of freedom, human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law. it condemns the ongoing violence against demonstrators by the government of iran and progovernment militias as well as the ongoing government suppression of independent electronic communication through interference with the internet and cell phones and affirms the universality and the importance of democratic elections. basically, mr. president, what this is is a resolution that has been introduced in both houses which affirms america's fundamental respect and commitment to human rights to people no matter where they reside in the world. it's unfortunate in a way that th

lieberman? ? mr. rockwell? >> i would save from an energy security perspective, probably not true >> the market's only work if you let them behave like real markets. >> all right. going to the point that mr. guith made. let's assume that the government does produce cap and trade and it produces a significant amount of income to the government, would it make sense to have that income dedicated to the building of nuclear plants? >> [inaudible] >> you cannot get past the note for capt. trade. -- you cannot get past the no for cap and trade. >> i would say that there are a myriad of places for it to go. we need to allow the markets to operate. we need to allow utilities to make the choice themselves. >> i think the money belongs in the technology agnostic loan guarantee program to secure clean energy. i think nuclear might rise to the top of the list right now and that it should win on its own merits. >> if you put it in a loan guarantee program and everyone makes the right decision on what to do with the money the

initially going to release and then backpedaled, there was a provision sponsored by senator gramm and lieberman, there is a court case going on. the language has been stripped out. there will be more and zero votes in the senate. it will be a very close vote. host: we talk about detainee photos. photos here in the new york time up of former detainees free from guantanamo. the story here about some of the muslims that were released from guantanamo, sent to bermuda. four days after the surprise, the man asked in their new-found freedom in the bermudas. there are pictures here of some of the men from the guantanamo prison. it is the first time ever that had been in the ocean. the men, members of an ethnic minority from western china they are luxuriating in the freedom in bermuda. they expressed wonder in their good fortune to be released from captivity after four years. florida, good morning. what are your thoughts on taxing employee health benefits? caller: good morning. i strongly disagree. what happened to obama saying on cut taxes? that is just a lie. i like my health-care, just leave it alone

national security because he has not allowed the congress to has not allowed the congress to pass the lieberman amendment the president sent countries in letter and made it quite clear that he will do everything in his power to prevent the release of those pictures. i want to quote one paragraph from his letter. i deeply appreciate all you have done with the efforts to secure funding for the troops. i will continue to take every administrative remedy available to me to make sure that the detainee photographs will not be released. i am committed to work with congress to enact legislation that will achieve the objectives we all share. the great thing about democracy is that after we have had a chance to fight for what we believe in, in the end, we also have an obligation to reach consensus and move on. that is what this bill tries to do. it must be finished before we can move on. we need to get to the other items in the agenda including health care and climate change. i yield back the balance of my time. >> members went on to approve the one under $6 billion in additional spending for the war in

spring the homeland security and governmental affairs committee which i'm the ranking member and senator lieberman is the chairman, has held a series of hearings on the roots of the present financial crisis. one problem consistently raised by the experts is the fact that acid-backed securities allowed listenedders to sell their loans to in-- allowed lenders to sell their loans to investors and avoid the risk that borrowers might default on these loans. that encouraged looser lending standards and led to the boom and ultimately the bust in the housing market. now i understand that the ability to sell those loans gives more liquidity and allows for additional mortgages to be paid but i think if you require the lenders to retain an interest in the loan they're going to have more at stake when it comes to the financial security of the loan and, indeed, whether the loan should have been made in the first place. third, i'm intrigued by the president's proposal to reform the role played by credit rating agencies. i'm deeply concerned by the failure of these agencies to provide meaningful warning of the r

i am very concerned with democrats like sheet and lieberman that are getting so much money. her husband was going to be investigated. it cost the inspector general to investigate her. she apparently has a husband who has a lot of folks up contractually with the war efforts. thank you. host: thank you. congress is in recess this weekend back next monday, focusing on health care. one week from monday, the start of the confirmation hearings for sonia sotomayor to replace justice david souter, who spent his last day on the bench yesterday. he read some poetry. chief justice john roberts read from robert frost as a said farewell to justice souter. the front page of "the wall street journal" marketplace section -- car sales rebound seen for june. also, "usa today" says some banks are raising credit rates and fees. host: that is from the money section of usa today. caller: this is my first time calling. i'm very excited. with the credit card thing, i think that is ridiculous. we just did reform about that and they are already raising rates. i also want to talk about the iran, russi

the great leader in the senate from connecticut, joe lieberman. i thought about dave bliss here this evening. i thought about ellen and the great senator from indiana. i thought about my dear friend and vice chairman and partner in sharing -- in sharing this organization. and of course, my immediate predecessor, my friend, the great governor. for we have all been a part of something very special. mainly because of the courage and determination and tenacity of a fellow black men who is now a fellow again that you will see later, and our friend al from. tonight's dinner is special, not only for those of us in this room. what al did more for our party and the body of politics, and the most to get for our party -- the more he did for the larger body of politics, he helped make our party, or at least a huge wing of it, not only believes in the future, the shapers and chasers of the future. it is his blueprint, and in some new ways, the blueprints that he started that he leaves for bruce and the rest of us to take to new levels and new heights. it has m

were talking about the climate change bills that were before us, whether it was bingaman or it was lieberman-warner, the economy has got to be strong enough to go ahead and implement these changes, so if you have got a weakened economy right now, it might be too much for even the big diamond-arlen specter -- it might be too much for even the bingaman-specter. we are going to be coming to the end of this down economy, but i am not an economist that anyone will be listening to. we need to make sure that what we impose on consumers, what we impose on the industries that are providing all of our resources here is a reasonable cost. >> i covered the markup last week, and i was wondering what support came from the amendment? the expansion of the offshore drilling without revenue sharing? it seems that a lot of republicans were not happy because it did not include the revenue sharing, while the democrats were unhappy because of the expanded access, so what was sort of the good of that amendment? >> well, i think the good of that amendment, might be of it was that through that amendment, we had opened up a

. >> would you agree with senator lieberman approach? >> i believe we have to look at it. there is significant growth that is going to be required. >> can you tell me the largest national army that the afghans had ever had? the numbers i have seen were approximately 80,000 to to 90,000 with soviet backing in only were -- we are talking about more than doubling what they had been able to do at any time in the past. are you comfortable that is achievable? >> i know it would be a challenge for lots of reasons. afghan as an added 34 million person population but they are struggling with about 28% literacy so you get the challenge that you have to teach people. >> a national army is a component of a viable national government. we saw this in lebanon when i was a journalist there. because of the strong factions that had their own militia, it was basically impossible to have a national government that had that sort of reach. do you think he will be able to do that? >> sir, i think it is one of the things that must be done. it can be one of the leaders of creating a more national

senator joe lieberman said that if they were not -- if they severed the detainee photograph provision that he would hold this hostage. now we know what it takes to stop the senate. ai imagine that that will be something they can negotiate. host: democrats line is next. are you there? let's go on to new bern, north carolina. caller: i crossed over and voted for obama. obama said he would not have the money in the supplementaries like bush did, but he is doing the same thing. this is like vietnam, the democrats did not protest the war in 1969. they protested the war went the democrat was in. the same thing is going on now. this is ludicrous keeping these wars going on for close to a decade now. people need to stop this war. thank you. guest: that is a good point. this is not a liberal, democratic thing. there are many people who are objecting this. this is damaging for a lot of reasons. your comments about democrats not protesting when the democrats is an office, i wish it was not true, but i have to agree with you. caller: it has to be in a dismal day to be a progressive eight in ameri

urge my colleagues to reject this package and insist that it is brought back immediately with senator lieberman's and graham's language to prohibit release of of these photos. finally, the senate-passed troop bill included language prohibiting release or transfer of guantanamo bay detainees to u.s. soil. unfortunately this conference report does not prohibit the transfer or release of detainees after october 1 of this year. this is a huge mistake. i fear we are already beginning to open pandora's box. we have already begun importing terrorists. these guantanamo detainees are trained to foment dissent among americans and we should do everything possible to keep them away from our local military bases and our prisons. again i urge my colleagues to vote no on this rule and the conference report so we can quickly make these necessary changes to protect our troops in the field and bring back a clean troop funding bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. arcuri: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield

i know lieberman push for the diplomacy act which provides funding for who knows what kind of activities on the ground in iraq. i wanted to ask, we keep hearing the same people -- we have heard people and even rep sherman pushing this that iran is developing the ability to create a nuclear weapon when they have signed the non- proliferation treaty. what proof is there to back up these claims that they are after a nuclear weapon? guest: it is a very good question. it ties into the question about Ñithe mainstream media. i think many in the media would say that sent the run-up to the invasion of iraq in 2003, during 2002 when these issues were being debated and discussed in the united states, the mainstream media did not do the job it should have done to ask the hard questions about the case of the war being built against saddam hussein in favor of an invasion. the hard questions. other people had a responsibility to ask those hard questions also did not ask them. but people would recognize that is an episode where perhaps they did not do their job as well as they should. i hope that this

pretty much brain lighted -- pretty much breen lighted -- green lighted -- >> senator mccain and senator lieberman have offered this identical resolution in the senate. given the nearly unanimous decision, we urge the colleagues -- our colleagues in the senate to take it up just as quickly as the house of representatives has done. the objective here was for the congress to give people an opportunity to be heard. i would certainly renew my belief as eric has also stated that i respectfully disagree with the position the administration has taken. i do not believe that having the president of the united states six suppress a word of unqualified support for the brave men and women on the streets of iran would constitute meddling. when ronald reagan went before the brigade, he did not say, mr. gorbachev, that was none of our business. he said, mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. >> i think that we have been very clear. obviously, we do not support the decision of this administration to engage with a terrorist regime. obviously, when you have a regime that conducts itself the way it has over the last we

what he can within the confine of doma and extend those benefits and work with congress to support the lieberman legislation to extend health-care benefits to same-sex couples and repeal doma. nobody thinks it is fast enough right now. i know the president cares about this and is working on reversing don't ask don't tell. >> what she said. [laughter] i understand why people are impatient with the pace of progress. mostly in the right direction, there's a question of pace. i understand we have only been

senator lieberman, thank you for your years of work on it. i think it will pass a good climate change bill. [applause] but if we cannot prove that we can do this in a way that creates more jobs and create economic opportunity and works to enrich the lives of all americans, we will not meet the targets, even if they pass the bill. and even if we do, other countries won't. the dlc has always been a practical and tried to merge federal policy with state and local actors in the private sector. we need to be on the forefront of that. we still have big problems in education. we have lots of success for public schools. we still have 25 years, 26 years after the nation at risk report. until we do, we're compromising the future of this country. we still have the best system of higher education in the world, but we have fallen to the percentage of people between 25 and 35 because of the price it out of range. we have to figure out how to improve the delivery system. why did will not work anymore. after i gave you the biggest increase in college aid sin

talking about the current change bills that were before is whether it was bingaman or whether it was lieberman warner. the economy has got to be strong enough to go ahead and implement these changes. so if you have a weakened economy right now it might be too much for even the bingaman specter. and i think that's important for us to be looking at. i'd like to think that we're going to be coming to the end of this down the economy, but i'm not an economist that anybody is going to be listening to. we need to make sure that what we impose on consumers, what we impose on industries that are providing us, you know, all of our resources here is a reasonable cost. >> i was wondering, i covered the market last week and i was wondering what new support really came from the expanding offshore drilling without revenue sharing? seems like a lot of republicans were happy they didn't include the revenue sharing. well, the democrats were happy because it expanded access. so what was sort of the good of that amendment? >> i think the good of that amendment, my view on it, was that through that amendment we h

>> i am very encouraged with the news just this morning that senator mccain and senator lieberman have offered this identical resolution in the u.s. senate. we have all given a near unanimous adoption of this resolution of the house of representatives. we would urge our colleagues in the senate to take the measure of just as expeditiously as the house of representatives has done, but i think the objective here was for the congress to give the people an opportunity to be heard. i would join, and i will yield to our whip, i would renew my belief, as derek has also stated, that i respectfully disagree with the position the administration has taken. i do not believe that having the president of the united states express a word of unqualified support to the brave men and women who are risking their liberty and their lives on behalf of freedom on the streets of iran would constitute meddling. when ronald reagan went before the brandenburg gate, he did not say mr. gorbachev, that wall is none of our business. he said mr. gorbachev, tear down that wall. at the same time he also engaged the reg

i'm understand the conferees have dropped at the graham- lieberman-mccain language relating to the detainee photos. they also have watered down language for detainee's at guantanamo bay. this is an issue that is, and will continue to be, of great concern to many of us as well as the american people. just last week, the president approved having a guantanamo detainee transferred to new york city, it ordered the release and transfer of four uighers to bermuda. the president appears to be releasing detainee's to their new homes before congress can act substantially. mr. young, mr. granger, and i offered several amendments. the first offer by mr. granger prohibited the release of detainee photos. the second a motion offered by mr. young had funding for dod and milcon spending. the third motion of the senate bill prohibited the transfer or release of guantanamo detainees. all three amendments were defeated in a party-line vote by the house conferees. as i prepared to cope -- to close, let me make an additional point. much has been made of the total cost of this emergency supplemental. i know for

the great leader and the senate from connecticut, joe lieberman. the hon. joe long. i thought about roy romer and did mccurry who is here this evening. i thought about the great senator from indiana. i thought about my dear friend of vice chairman and partner in chairing this organization, now senator tom carver. of course, my immediate predecessor, my friend, the great gov. tom vilsack. we have all been a part of something very special because, largely, the courage and determination and tenacity of a little fellow back then who is now a little fellow again, and you'll see later, in our friend al from. tonight's dinner is special not only for those of us in this room but for politicians and those who benefited from new policies all across this country, and i daresay the world. what al did more for our party and more for the body of politics was that he helped make our party, or at least a huge wing of it. not only believers in the future but shapers and no longer chasers of the future. it is his blueprint and in so many ways, the footprint that he believes that he st