Senate Proceeding on May 11th, 2009 :: 0:05:05 to 0:20:00
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0:02:45 to 0:16:25( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Harry Reid

0:04:54 to 0:05:16( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: during this fiscal year. that looks like an issue that could cause a little bit of debate. but i've laid out what the two issues are as seen by the house and senate, how they're trying to resolve that. but we are going to have to have votes next monday. we have a number of nominations. i've tried lots of different

0:05:17 to 0:05:39( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: ways to get them done, but there appears that the only thing i can do is file cloture, and there's three that we have to do. we also, mr. president, there is legislation that we really need to com happening in the financial world, that deal with the

0:05:40 to 0:06:00( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: federal deposit insurance corporation. it also is set up a bipartisan 9/11 type of commission to take a look at what's happened, what caused the financial breakdown here. it was offered by senators conrad and isakson. we need to finish that legislation before we go. that will just be a message from

0:06:01 to 0:06:22( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: the house, which is amendle. that will only require one cloture vote. everyone, unless we work something out in the next little bit, we'll have to have votes on monday. it was originally announced it would be a no-vote day. mr. president, a former colleague of ours celebrates a milestone today. jim

0:06:23 to 0:06:45( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: country in the military for many decades and vermont in congress for 32 years, and he did so from both sides of the aisle, over there and over here, was born 75 years jim jeffords was a life long vermonter. his father was the chief justice for the vermont supreme court,

0:06:46 to 0:07:07( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: and jim jeffords graduated from vermont public schools, university and harvard school. he was really a very, very smart man as indicated with his academic background. he served for 35 years in the united states ny and naval reserves and retired as a cap a dan while -- captain while sitting as a senator. during his time in the senate he

0:07:08 to 0:07:29( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: did much to ensure children could get a good education, that they could get a job when they graduated from school. he cared deeply for the envinment and people with disabilities. he served as chairman during his last years in the senate, chai public works committee. he was one of the leaders who pushed the united states to lead

0:07:30 to 0:07:51( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: a humanitarian mission to rwanda during the country's terrible genocide. senator jeffords single-handedly shifted the balance of power in this body when in 2001 he became independent and -- he became an independent and caucused with the democrats. it was a very courageous thing for jim to and as

0:07:52 to 0:08:12( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: books, it wasn't easy for him to do this. it cost him friends, supporters, even some of his own staff. when he announced his decision, senator jeffords said -- and i quote -- "the weight that has been lifted from my shoulders now hangs heavy in my heart." he knew the impact his decision would have on the people around him.

0:08:13 to 0:08:34( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: he cared deeply about them. at the time that he did this, it was a very popular thing with the american people to mr. president. senator washington and other places in the country, they would recognize him, and people would stand and applaud.

0:08:35 to 0:08:55( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: jim has been very ill since he retired from the extremely bad health. we wish him well. senator jeffords' family threw him a small birthday party this past weekend. his son leonard, law remarks his grandson patrick and granddaughter hazel there.

0:08:56 to 0:09:17( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: i don't have nearly the voice in any way that senator jeffords had. for many years he's been a member of our very own barber shop quartet here i'll not break out in a song but on behalf of the entire united states senate we wish our friend, jim jeffords, a very

0:09:18 to 0:09:39( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: happy 75th birthday. mr. president, when i was just a boy, know how old i was. probably 10, maybe 11. one of my older brothers -- he's ten years older than me -- a wonderful man.

0:09:40 to 0:10:00( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: he died at he was a young man just not long out ohigh school. he worked for standard station in ash fork, arizona, which is quite a i've never really -- i had never really been anyplace. my brother being the great big brother he was, wanted me to see

0:10:01 to 0:10:22( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: someplace other than searchlight. so i went and spent a couple of weeks with him in ash fork, arizona. it was, for me it eye-opening thing. he drove us over there. the one thing he didn't bother

0:10:23 to 0:10:45( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: to tell me is that he had a girlfriend, and so he spent a lot of time when he was not working with his tkpweurpl friend. he -- with his girlfriend. hetill kept an eye on me and took care of me, but i spent most of my time with his girlfriend's his girlfriend's brother was

0:10:46 to 0:11:06( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: older than i was. and we would play and there wasn't much he could do better than me, but i rarely won anything because he kept changing the rules in the middle of the game. i've always it's hard to win a game when the rules keep

0:11:07 to 0:11:30( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: the reason i mention that little personal vignette, mr. president, what do you do when you play by the rules but the rules change in the middle there's a woman in nevada named shelly. like millions of americans, she pays her credit card bill full every month.

0:11:31 to 0:11:52( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: she's never been late. whatever they say is the minimum payment, she at least makes that payment and sometimes more. she's the model of what credit card companies call in good standing. shelly recently was told th the interest rate on her card was going up from 9.5% to7.5%.

0:11:53 to 0:12:15( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: her rate was almost doubling for reasons unknown to her. she couldn't understand this. so, shelly asked to close the account, but the bank told her that the time to opt out of her contract had ended before she had even known it had started. she played by the rules, shelly did, b the rules changed in

0:12:16 to 0:12:37( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: the middle of the for us to truly get our economy back on its feet, we must protect people like shelly and the millions of americans who use credit cards for everything from buying a sandwich to paying for college. chairman dodd and ranking mber shelby drafted a bill that puts fairness and common sense back into credit cards. it protects consumers from

0:12:38 to 0:12:59( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: excessive fees, interest rates and complex contracts, seemingly designed to do one thing above all: to keep people in the dark a in short, this bill we're going to be taking up this afternoon at 3:30 cleans up so consumers can't get blind

0:13:00 to 0:13:21( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: sided by their credit card companies. more and more americans sign for and three and five credit card users carry a balance on their card. nothing wrong with that. that balance averages more than $7,000. that's what the average is. but they're using

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Harry Reid: under confusing conditions. a recent study by the pew trust credit cards came with policies that the federal reserve has determined cause substantial harm to consumers. not 50%, not 60%, not 90%. 100%.

0:13:44 to 0:14:04( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: and 93% of those contracts said the credit card company could raise the intest rate any time for any reason. here are just a few of the thin soon be before the senate does to fix that. first, it protects consumers by establishing fair and sensible rules for how and when credit card companies can raise

0:14:05 to 0:14:25( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: interest card companies must give a 45-day notice before increasing rates and can no longer do so on existing balan second, cracks down on abusive fees. for example, consumers no longer will have to pay a fee just to pay a bill. that happens.

0:14:26 to 0:14:46( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: credit card companies must mail statements 21 days before a bil is due so cardholders can these late charges. third, it prote consumers like college students from it strengthens oversight of the credit card company to keep it in line. for every greedy executive and devious con artist, there are

0:14:47 to 0:15:10( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: millions of honest, hard-working americans who struggle every day to simply make ends meet. they worry he every morning aut how much longer their job will be there and every night about how to keep their families healthy and keep a roof over their heads. they worry about troubles they didn't create, but for which -- they're stunned about these troubles they didn't create, and

0:15:11 to 0:15:31( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: they can't cure them. too many hard have lost too many jobs. the legislation will not only level the playing field and keep the rules consistent from beginning to end, it will also save families thousands of dollars a year. shelly, the woman story about, a nevada woman who

0:15:32 to 0:15:54( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: told me the frustrations about her credit card company wrote -- quote -- "that paying a company tax dollars are pailing -- are bailing out. mr. president, i don't rember much about my trip to ash fork, arizona, other than my brother's

0:15:55 to 0:16:16( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: former brother -- my brother's future brother-in-law changing the rules in the middle of the game. that's what the credit card companies are what we've got to stop. you must protect those who play by the rules because it is not just their is our country's credibility. i think that at this stage is it

0:16:17 to 0:16:30( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: the senate's credibility. a bill that can pass with 377 votes. this is a bipartisan bill. it's something that we need to do.

0:16:30 to 0:24:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lamar Alexander

0:16:31 to 0:16:51( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: we need to do it a the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserve. and the senate will proceed to a period of morning business until 3:30 p.m. with senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: mr. president? -- a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, i

0:16:52 to 0:17:13( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: would like to join the majority leader in wishing happy birt birthday is jim i served with senator jeffords when i was education secretary and he was a ranking member of the education committee. we all know his deep concern f education, especially for children with disabilities.

0:17:14 to 0:17:35( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: we wish him the 75th birthday. mr. president, even though president obama has said we should look forward, some in congress insist on looking backward to a investigation of interrogation tractics that were used against 9/11 terrorists to find out whether even more airplanes were on their way to kill even more americans.

0:17:36 to 0:17:56( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: these interrogation tactics are well known. they had been approved by the national security council. they'd been approved by the department of justice. they were known to senior democratic and republican members of congress whose c.i.a. records show were briefed some 40 times. the c.i.a. is -- has not used

0:17:57 to 0:18:17( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: the tactics in question for several years. they're not being used the congress has since enacted laws that make clear that interrogation tactics used by the military are limited to those contained in the army field manual and the president extended those same limitation to intelligence agencies this

0:18:18 to 0:18:38( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: year by executive order. the president is following his own advice about looking forward by asking the national security council to review what tactics would be appropriate when terrorists are captured who might have information about imminent attacks on americans. the senate intelligence committee is conducting its own

0:18:39 to 0:19:01( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: review of tactics. and is considering expanding the briefing process for interrogation tactics. despite these investigations, some still say let's have a -- quote -- "full blown criminal investigation." unquote. that raises these questions: investigation of whom?

0:19:02 to 0:19:22( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: where do we draw the line where is the logical place to stop? on thursday i asked these questions of the attorney general, eric holder, at a senate appropriations committee hearing. the attorney geral found it difficult to give me specific answers. to begin with, the attorney general did not answer my question about what directions

0:19:23 to 0:19:43( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: he had received from the white house concerning interrogations. then he would only answer -- quote -- "hypothetically" when i asked if we're going to investigate lawyers for giving their opinions, shouldn't we also investigate intelligence agents who created the intelligence techniques and ask

0:19:44 to 0:20:05( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: for the opinions or officials who approved the techniques or shouldn't we investigate members of congress who knew about or approved or encouraged the interrogation tactics? and the attorney general could not remember whether he knew or approved of renditions that occurred during the clinton administration when he was