Sen. Levin: Repatriation Tax Cuts Stifle Job Creation

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) told reporters Tuesday that repatriation tax breaks for offshore American companies ultimately hurts job creation by punishing businesses that decide to stay within the U.S. (0:53)

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Schumer Asks For Broadband Expansion In New York

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked Google CEO Eric Schmidt if would consider bringing the companies broadband project to his district in the Hudson Valley. (0:25)

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Hutchison Says Her Social Security Legislation Gives Huge Gain With Minimal Pain

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tx) told reporters Thursday that her legislation to reform social security is the best bet to ensuring the solvency of the entitlement program. (0:20)

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Franken Says He's Ready To Work

U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) says "I'm ready to work day and night to make sure that our kids have a great future and that America’s best days lay ahead." He says he's ready to get to work. (0:15)

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Klobuchar: Today's Health Care Reform Not Clinton Era Reform

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) says President Barack Obama has a better chance of passing major health care reform than the previous Democratic administration because the cost of health care has gone up, businesses in general support the plan and the majority of Americans want the system to change. (0:41)
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Two Child Care Bills

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) discusses his two child care bills during a press conference.
The first bill, The Starting Early Right Act, would amend the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to improve access to high-quality early learning and child care for low-income children and working families.
The second bill, The Child Care Facilities Financing Act of 2009, introduced by Casey, would set up a grant for improvement of child care facilities and construction of child care facilities.
Casey said, “I think both bills are critically important and essential in any environment because we are not doing nearly enough on child care...both of these bills speak to that basic challenge.

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The Democrats Will Support Arlen Specter

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) talks with Ron Brownstein of the National Journal at a breakfast on Capitol Hill. Reid, President Barack Obama, and Vice President Joe Biden all said that they would personally support Arlen Specter in his 2010 election. Reid said that support was not conditional.

“I’m not going to be in a forever, never position, but the facts are that [Specter is] going to vote with us most of the time,” Reid Said. “I can’t foresee him doing anything that would be so mean spirited that Obama, Biden, and Reid would turn against him.” (00:44)
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Lieberman: Close Gap On Cyber Attacks

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

At a press conference to discuss proposed amendments to the Federal Power Act by Senator Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Lieberman said, "The reality is that we are not adequately defended and therefore the basic systems, including particularly electricity on which we depend are not protected. This has got to change. We have got to close the gap between the attacks on us and our ability to defend them.”

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Congressman Sestak On Arlen Specter

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Regarding Arlen Specter changing parties, Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Penn.) said that it's better for the constituents of Pennsylvania to decide which candidate should win the primary. He feels like the Democratic National Party backing Specter may be giving him too much of an advantage in the Pennsylvania primary. President Barack Obama and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have already committed to personally supporting Specter in his 2010 election. (00:47)
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Kyl: Choice - Us Or Iran

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

At a press conference regarding the bi-partisan Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act, Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz) said, “In effect what we are saying to the few companies in the world who provide this refined gasoline to Iran is, ‘You can either do business in our $13 trillion economy with us, or you can do business with Iran with its $250 billion economy, but you can’t do both.’”

The Bill would expand on the Iran Sanctions Act of 1996, giving President Obama the power to "stop companies who continue to sell refined gasoline to Iran or provide refining capacity from doing business in the United States or through the American banking systems,” said Kyl.

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Health Sec Nominee "can't even get into the building"

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

At the nomination hearing for Governor Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.) as Health Secretary, former Senator Robert Dole (R-Kan.), told the Senate Finance Committee, “It would really help if you could get her confirmed before the recess. She can’t even get into the building and we are a little behind anyway and this is the issue of the year. So if you guys can all, you know, do something.”

Chairman Baucus laughing at Dole’s comments, said, “You are absolutely right and that’s why we are having this hearing. So we can get her confirmed this week.”

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"A miscarriage of justice" for Senator Ted Stevens

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Ken Boehm believes that justice has been miscarried in the case of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Today the Department of Justice dropped charges of wrongdoing against the Stevens, after a drawn out legal battle concerning financial disclosure. Boehm, chairman of the watchdog group the National Legal and Policy Center, said that because the Justice Department failed in its handling of the case, an elected official is not going to be brought to justice after violating the public trust.

Boehm, a former prosecutor, stated how the Department of Justice sould have done it differently.

(03:38)
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Senator Kennedy: "We have sickness care and not health care"

At Governor Kathleen Sebelius' nomination hearing for Health Secretary, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), was back chairing his first Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing since suffering from cancer. He looked in high spirits, smiling throughout the hearing. Kennedy said, “Over the past ten months I’ve seen our health care system up close. I’ve benefited from the best of medicine, but we have too many uninsured Americans. We have sickness care and not health care.”

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McCain tackles Health Secretary nominee over government run health insurance plan

At the Governor Kathleen Sebelius' nomination hearing for Health Secretary, Senator McCain asked whether she supported a government run health insurance plan, to which Governor Sebelius responded, “If you are talking about insuring all 15 million Americans...if the question is do I support a public option side-by-side with private insurers in a health insurance exchange, yes I do.”

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Did the Treasury consult with the SEC on resolution regime?

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee met for the second time to discuss “Enhancing Investor Protection and the Regulation of Securities Markets.”
At the hearing Senator Dodd asked the Chairman of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, “Were you consulted by the Treasury and the Fed, what role do you think the SEC should play in this resolution mechanism, given the oversight and regulatory responsibilities?” Senator Dodd also asked Ms. Schapiro to “comment on the reports of the regulatory changes that Secretary Geithner has mentioned this morning.”


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Schumer: "Something's out of wack with Executive compensation"

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee met for the second time to discuss “Enhancing Investor Protection and the Regulation of Securities Markets.”
At the hearing, Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said, “We all believe people should be rewarded for good performance, that’s not the problem, but what we’ve seen in many instances that has enraged Americans is a heads-eye wind tail you lose system. In which executives are rewarded for flashing the pan short term gains, or even worse, rewarded richly when the company does poorly and the shareholders have been hammered.”
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Napolitano: Mexican Drug Cartel Violence A Threat To U.S. Homeland Security

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today on "Southern Border Violence: Homeland Security Threats, Vulnerabilities and Responsibilities," Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano agreed with a question posed by Committee Chairman, Senator Joseph Liberman (D-Conn.) on threats to U.S. homeland security. Senator Liberman asked whether, as Secretary of Homeland and Security, she considered Mexican drug cartel violence a real threat to the homeland security of the United States.
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The current power grid will not meet our future energy needs

By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico - Talk Radio News Service

At a Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, Ranking Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said that America's current transmission infrastructure for electricity will not meet the country's future electricity needs. (01:23)
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Harkin: "Power back into the hands of the people"

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

Senator Tom Harkins (D-Iowa) talks at a press conference about the progress of the “Employment Free Choice Act: Strengthening the Middle Class.”

Senator Harkin’s said: “We are introducing legislation that puts the power back into the hands of the people who are truly the backbone of our country. Today, Congressman Miller and I along with our co-sponsors are introducing the Employment Free Choice Act and we intend to pass this act not in a matter of years, but in weeks or months.”


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2010 Census will Cost Double 2000 Census

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

Senator Tom Coburn (R-Okla) tells the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services and International Security, today, that the 2010 Census will cost more than double the Census conducted in 2000.
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