For me, all of the things that have been said about warren i could repeat and it would emphasize what you already know about them. The reason why i martin so much is the reason i just stated the reason why i admired him so much is the reason i just stated. I never met a man in all of the time i have served with the single exception of Daniel Inouye who had the grit in ordinary americans. The thing i like best from warren is when he said, just tell them the truth. That is what he always did. He told the truth. We all have a slightly different perspective, his honesty could be searing, but his compassion was always profound. That is a rare combination for any man or woman. He believed that the coolest lives are often told in silence. He would come up to you and say, i was flat wrong. Let me conclude by saying that one of the tests in all of my years is that for Warren Rudman, he said the client of the realm is your integrity, and it is. There is a coin of the realm that is your integrity and it is. When you speak, speak the absolute truth. You can take what they say to the bank and you can take to the bank aired judgment their judgment. Justice souter, you recall better than anyone else a lot of people were here at the time in this very room, we had some very contentious hearings. We had gone through a very unpleasant battle with another justice. I went down to meet with the president , who would come next. Your name was put forward. Everyone knew only a few things about you. You had an incredible and impeccable background of academically and in terms of the character, but no one else knew much about you at all. On my side of the aisle, there is an overwhelming reluctance to accept and i do not mean this as a political statement he said, i guarantee you he will be a conservative justice. That was like putting up a red flag. Warren rudman came to see me. He said, joe, i guarantee you this man not only has integrity, that he comes with no agenda. He has an open mind. He will listen. It is not merely he is a great lawyer, but he is a man who will in fact listen. That is why i ask you that question about being able to listen and hear the voices of the rest of the country. Warren rudman said of you, david souter is a brilliant intellectual. He cannot be classified as an ideologue in any way, shape, or form. If you remember, i went into our caucus and said, i am supporting justice souter. It was a cry at the time in our caucus. They asked me, why . I said, because Warren Rudman said he had an open mind and was not an ideologue. That is the reason why david souter is one of the Great Supreme Court justices, because Warren Rudman said he was not in ideologue. I cannot think of all of the years we have served here many men who could stand up and say, i assure you, you do not know this man, but i assure you he is what i say. He is an incredible guy. We look to the parts we most admire the way he treated everyone with dignity. On behalf of jill and i, it is truly an honor. My dad had expression, kid, you have good blood. [applause] i said earlier this afternoon that everyone who listened to warren heard the same story. We have listened to a number of distinguished people this afternoon, and we have heard the same story. We have heard the same story about who warren was and how he went about doing what he did. That story was anticipated by the poet from our part of the world when he wrote this, the work is play for mortal stakes and for future sakes. Everything warren did was for heaven and for future sakes. Let us stand adjourned. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2012] the House OversightCommittee Held a committee on causes for rising autism right with testimonies. You can see that sunday, 10 30 a. M. Washbourne went to harvard law school. He emigrated out west to illinois where the lead mine industry was in its heyday. He arrived after a months journey by ship, by stagecoach, by train, and arrived in this muddy mining town, boarded himself in a log cabin, established a look law practice. He worked his way up and became a successful lawyer. He got involved politically, ran for congress. Served for eight terms. He befriended Abraham Lincoln and you sillies s. Gragrant. Washbourne was a close confidante. After grant was elected president , he appointed washbou rne secretary of state. Washbourne became ill. His family felt for his life there for his life. He submitted his resignation. Grant accepted his resignation. Over the next couple of months, he regained his health, which was always fragile. Grant offered him the position as minister of france and ambassador. Michael hill, elihu washbourne. The only diplomat from a major power to stay during the siege of paris. Son and 9 00. First lady mr. Obama welcome to military families to the white house for this seasons first u. S. Of holiday decorations. The theme is the way to all. The White House Christmas tree is decorated by children living on u. S. Military bases around the world. The first ladys remarks are about 15 minutes. [applause] hi, everyone. Welcome to the white house. Prequel, hu . Yeah. Let me start by thanking jennifer for that lovely introduction and to welcome her family here as well. Her father and her husband. We are so grateful for your service and glad you could be here. Thank you, jennifer, for everything that you and your family have done for this country and what you have done to make this house as beautiful as it is. As first lady, you know that i have had the privilege of traveling across this country. One of the best things i get to do is to meet with all of the wonderful military families, like jennifers family and your families. It is an honor to host you all here today at the white house. Yeah. The cool house. I like it. I have said this many times before. I will say it again because i cannot say it enough. Our military families truly represent the very best that this country has to offer. I have seen it up close. You all do so much for this country. You do it with such amazing poise and grace. You all our outstanding neighbors. And you are just phenomenal, focused parents. You are tremendous coworkers and Community Leaders in your own rights. You all do this under such extraordinary circumstances. So many of you are doing it while moving from base to base every couple of years. And during all of those months of a long deployments which was once serving oftentimes halfway around the world. Then there are our military kids. You guys look gorgeous and handsome today. And very clean. [laughter] and we will try to change that. We will have a sugar and glue and stuff like that. It will be ok, moms and dads, because the photos will have been done, so they can get messy and get the cookies around their mouths. You guys are very brave. You are tremendous heroes in your own rights because we know how hard you all were to adjust to all of the changes that go on in your life. How many new schools have you guys been . Give me some numbers. How many schools have you been to . Four . How old are you . 10. Four years, 10 years old. That is typical. You meet these kids. They have been to soi can tell. You are an a student. So many of the step up and handle your business while mom or dad is the way. I want you all to no how proud we are. We think you are Pretty Amazing individuals. I know you may not feel that way, but you are special. We are so happy to have you here. We are grateful for your sacrifice. We are grateful for your service. That is why we want to invite all of you here today. To say thank you. This is one big huge thankyou from me to you all. We have on some wonderful ways to pay tribute to your service and sacrifice. As an important part of our holiday decorating effort here at the white house and it starts tjhe minute visitors walk to the white house for their tours. The first thing they see, the very first tere, honest our men and women in uniform for the extraordinary sacrifice they and their families have made. Thanks to several of you here today, this tree is now decorated with special gold star ornaments, bearing the names of some of americas greatest heroes, those who gave their lives for our country. In the gold star family who visits the white house during this season will have opportunity to decorate their own armament and hang it on the ent tree their own ornamne and hang it on the holiday tree. Also operation on our current. These cards are used to pledge individual service to their community in honor of our military Family Service members and veterans. Guests will be able to write a note expressing their gratitude for the service that all of you have given to this country. We are also honoring our military families with some very special decorations on the official White House Christmas tree that is in the blue room. The biggest in the house. It stands close to 19 feet tall. It is one of my favorite trees. This special joining forces tree is covered with had decorated ornaments made by military children living in u. S. Bases around the world. We spent months gathering these beautiful ornaments and guests will be able to take the time and read the messages and hear from these kids directly as they tour the white house. In addition to these unique attributes to our military families, we also have many of the traditional holiday favorites built around our central theme. The custom of selecting an official holiday theme began in the 1960s went first Lady Jacqueline kennedy created in nutcracker themed christmas for her daughter caroline. In this years theme is joy to all. It celebrates the joy of giving and service to others. The joy of sharing our blessings with one another and of course the joy of welcoming our friends and family as guests into our homes over the over these next several weeks. We have continued the tradition of decorating trees throughout the house. We have 54 trees in the white house. That is a lot of trees. They reflect the theme, including four trees in the grand foyer, the area out here, trimmed with ornaments paying tribute to the holiday legacies ladiesformer prr first dating back to jackie kennedy. Some of them are replicas but there are a few that are original ornaments and they are tagged. Some of them are mine, some of and the laura bushss key is sense of what christmas felt like in other administrations. Of course keeping with past holiday traditions, we have our annual white house gingerbread house. Have you guys seen that yet . Our executive pastry chef and his team did a phenomenal job. This white house looks kind of real. What do you all think . We got a thumbs up there. It is beautiful. It white House Holiday staple since the 1960s, this years house weighs nearly 300 pounds. It is made to resemble granite so he did some kind of technique and it even includes chandeliers that light up. It glows. Like rudolphs nose. It is beautiful and we have a Little Red Book of first lady garden with all the details in a giant bow. That basically represents bows standing in the house. H beaus standing in the ouse. Also have a special activity prepared for the young people who visit the white house this year. We thought it would be fun to give them a book market checklist that instructs them to find all of the hidden demint located in eight rooms in the white house. We hope that will keep kids busy while parents are looking at christmas cards. These are just a few of this years highlights and i could go on and on but i know we have cookies to decorate and things to do but what i have to tell you is that this would not be possible if it were not for the 85 that does volunteers like jennifer who took time out of their busy lives to come from all parts of the country to help us decorate this house. It happens overnight. Literally, once the tree is delivered, it is a matter of days before this house is transformed into what you see. It is because people like jennifer who come in and build bonds and share stories about their grandchildren and they are as dedicated as jennifer is to making this house beautiful. We are just so grateful to have some many people willing to take time out of their lives and invest in this house for so many to see. Great holiday be a for everyone and we are just excited to have visitors come through. This is our official opening. Throughout the Holiday Season, more than 90,000 people will come from around the world to see this house. I cannot imagine a better way to get things kick off than by having all of you here with us. With that, i want to again thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service and your sacrifice. I do hope that your Holiday Season is truly special. That you really use this time to reflect and come together. So many of us in this country will use your lives as inspiration as we sit around our trees and tables and think about all the we have and all that you all are sacrificing to make sure we live in freedom and harmony. We are truly grateful to all of you. The thank you. Now, you guys ready . To have some fun . I will ask all of our kids, you guys are gonna come with me. Make you rise. We have activities planned. Parents, not despair. Your children will be safe. We will bring that back, maybe a little bird year but it will be happy. A little bit of a sugar high, maybe. Try not to glue and lick at the same time. Not everything is everything at the will. Lets go. We will see you all shortly. Thank you so much. Happy holidays. [applause] secretary of state Hillary Clinton on this id to which in the middle east. After that, a congressional tribute to late senator Warren Redman then another chance to see First Lady Michelle Obama showing the White House Christmas decorations to military families. Tomorrow on washington journal, paul weinstein, the former Senior Adviser to the Simpson Bowles commission, on the wall the commissions recommendations are playing in the ongoing negotiations concerning the fiscal cliff. From the Government Accountability office, they discussed the state of the facilities at Guantanamo Bay and the factors to be considered in moving detainees stateside. And what did it did for near east policy, the latest from egypt after president Mohammad Morsi granted himself hoarse above the court. Washington journal, live at 7 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan. Cspan, created by americas Cable Companies in 1979, brought to you as a publicservice by your television provider. Now secretary of state Hillary Clinton talks about her recent travels to the middle east to help broker a ceasefire agreement between israel and hamas and the gaza strip. She also, the Iranian Nuclear threat and criticizes israels decision to build homes on Israeli Occupied lands. This is a little over an hour. [applause] i am somewhat overwhelmed, but im obviously thinking i should sit down. [laughter] i prepared some remarks for tonight, but then i thought maybe we could just watch that video a few more times. [laughter] and then the next time, i could count the hairstyles, which is one of my favorite pastimes. [laughter] i think i now know what it feels like to be one of haims mighty morphin power rangers. [laughter] well, i guess we should expect nothing less from haim saban, whos a friend, a colleague, a mentor, an inspiration to so many of us here tonight. He certainly has always challenged me to make the most of americas place in the world and especially our close friendship with israel. And it is extremely humbling to be honored by the saban forum in front of so Many Americans and israelis whom i know and respect so greatly. And i am so appreciative of all those very much too kind words. I cant wait to show my husband. [laughter and applause] and speaking of spouses, i want to acknowledge my dear friend, cheryl saban, whos being doing heroic work as a public delegate with our team at the United Nations. There are so many friends here, and its always a little dangerous in fact, a lot dangerous to acknowledge or point out any. But obviously, i want to thank martin indyk and Tamara Wittes and all the thinkers and scholars whose insights help us navigate this very difficult, challenging time. I also want to say a special word to two friends who are retiring. One, senator joe lieberman, who is leaving the senate and going into standup comedy, im told. [laughter] hes got a lot of good lines; ive heard many of them over the years. But he and hadassah deserve some very well merited time for themselves. And of course, ehud barak, whos announced his retirement. And so we want to wish you very much happiness in the future as well. Let me also acknowledge the chairman of my authorizing and oversight committee, senator john kerry. [applause] thank you, john. And teresa heinz, its wonderful seeing you here as well. [applause] my congresswoman, nita lowey, who does such a great job in every way and is, as they say, moving on up, which were happy to hear. I saw Howard Berman here, and i think we all want to pay a great acknowledgment and gratitude to howard. There are some others that i just want briefly to mention, other members of congress. I know there are some here, but i cant see everyone. I want to also acknowledge foreign minister lieberman, deputy Prime Minister meridor, ambassador oren, our ambassador dan shapiro, my former deputy secretary jim steinberg, everyone whos made this journey to be with us tonight. And i think that we have a lot to celebrate, because for years we have told you, our israeli friends, that america has israels back. And this month, we proved it again. [applause] when israel responded to a rain of rockets, when sirens sounded and schools emptied and air raid shelters filled, americas next move was never in qu