the senate used to work. without those restraints, it has become a block on the nation rather than -- it essentially has impaired our progress rather than being what senator schumer said, which is that beacon of hope and common sense that we so need anytime, particularly now. host: raymond, maryland, democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. you are right if you remember, there was a day, meeting to make president obama a one term president. then, senator mcconnell used to allow his supreme court appointee to not have a hearing. guest: you are remembering some important examples of what happened during the obama presidency. i would add one other thing -- i was kind of surprised, as i got into the book, at just how much power one person, specifically senator mcconnell, could have. one example of that is that in 2015, when he reached what he has said was his lifetime goal of being majority, all of a sudden, the senate started to function. after six years of upshur option -- obstruction, he became a c

senator coons: it was a great trip. senator lindsey graham and i led this trip. we had a chance to visit jordan and israel and in israel we spent four days looking at its security situation. and i was truly struck in my eight years as a senator, i haven't seen an immediate security situation as threatening as today. think about it. we have isis still active, threatening both egypt and israel. gaza, we have hamas digging tunnels, preparing to fire rockets. in lebanon, we have hezbollah embedding tens of thousands of advanced munitions and rockets, threatening the north of israel, and we took a helicopter tour of all of this and got a briefing with a general, the deputy chief of staff of the i.d.f. in syria, a failed state where you got both isis still active and hezbollah, shiia militias, the irgc under a russian air cover. iran aggressively challenging israel and recently directly sending a drone into israeli airspace. it is important that we make clear that when iran and russia challenges israel directly they are also challenging the united states. we need resol

senator murkowski: thank you, senator barrasso. senator wyden. senator wyden: mr. secretary, during your confirmation hearing you mentioned teddy roosevelt nine times. oregonians have a strong appreciation for roosevelt as a conservationist and as a president. with his signature he created the crater lake national park and it is the deepest lake in the united states known for its beautiful blue. . two million acres, sacrificed for private exploitation. second, you proposed opening america's precious coast to offshore oil drilling. only to walk it back in one state where it seemed there was a potential republican senate candidate who opposed it. i could tell you in our state, orr gonians don't want to look out over haystack rock and see oil darics. third, during the most expensive wildfire season in recorded history, you played a shell game with the wildfire account at interior to pay for unrelated helicopter ride, and this is another matter that the inspector general is looking at. unrelated helicopte so my first question, mr. secretary, is, would teddy roosevelt b

senator hatch: thank you. senator isakson. ms. gianopoulos, i was in the real estate business before coming to congress and did a lot of shopping centers and watched the increase of sales over the internet at christmastime. i think 20% to 22% of sales at christmas are made by the internet and not going to the store and shopping and buying which is exponentially grown retail sales over the internet. is a growing in comparable rate other products other times of the year? ms. gianopoulos: you know, senator, we didn't take a look at the growth of ecommerce per se. we were focused on the challenges that were associated with ecommerce as it relates to counterfeits. as i said in my statement, it's very difficult when you're going online and just looking at a photo of an item to determine whether or not it's real. you may go into a store and be able to pick it up and see if it's a different weight or color or something like that. what some counterfeiters do, they take a photo of an actual item and put it online even though they're giving

which senator is actually ?olding up the nomination why doesn't senate majority leader mitch mcconnell [inaudible] why isn't mcconnell force a vote on the nominee? marc: mary elizabeth is one of the stars on our team that's been with us since day one and helped staff justice gorsuch and is in charge of the nominations. i will phone a friend on that one. he got out of committee so basically he's waiting for final vote on the senate floor. and so that -- i believe he got out of committee several months back so he's another one that should be on our list of those that should be waiting. the challenge leader mcconnell faces, when you are not allowed to bring up for voice vote he has to go through cloture and has to prioritize these and that's one that's been obstructed. reporter: toxic nature that's been going on for several years, i mean, the democrats are pushing back because republicans. what are you doing to ease or water down that toxicity? what can you do? and secondly, explain to those who don't understand ho

senators mccaskill cornyn heitkamp and senator portman and senator mccain has been a passionate advocate for addressing this issue for so many years and do wish that he could be here to participate and be able to vote for its passage but we know his work over the years has played an incredibly important role in getting us to where wedada are today. this group led the effort to conduct investigatory oversight. last year senator portman pointed out a chair to commerce committee hearing on his bill where we heard testimony from experts on both sides of the issue. listen carefully to what her witnesses had to say and at the hearing we work together to make targeted changes to the legislation in the bill that ultimately advanced there are committee and a senator appointment at pointed out that support from the community. the bill was strongly supported by members of both parties. we racked up by portion support 58 out of 100 senators are now co-sponsors of this bill. the bill supported by the white house we know as soon as it leaves a senator will land on the president's does world the presid

- senator leahy, senator hatch, and senator cochran. two of those three, senators hatch and cochran, will be retiring this year. senator cochran in just over a week. and a grateful nation things them for their service. -- thanks them for their service. for me personally i am honored to have come full circle with them and i wish them well in their life after the senate. i want to thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for welcoming me to this body. many of whom are here with me today braving the wintery weather outside. thank you for your friendship, your advice, your willingness to include me and my staff in the great work you are doing. i particularly want to thank my senior colleague from alabama, senator shelby, and his staff. i aappreciate their -- i appreciate their gratefulness in helping me as a freshman senator. and my family -- my amazing wife louise, incredible kids, carson, christopher, who so fully supported me in my quest to reach the senate, but more importantly in my life. i have grown with them and certainly beca

along with senator alexander, she's brought together senators with different viewpoints and made real progress toward fixing the glaring failures of the current system. it's especially disappointing that their efforts are being blocked precisely when they stand the greatest chance of helping millions of americans. it's not entirely surprising that my colleagues across the aisle are happy to talk the talk about lowering premiums for working families but refuse to actually walk the walk when given the golden opportunity. but it sure is disappointing. mr. president, i ask that i be added as a cosponsor to the collins-alexander amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i understand that the senate has received a message from the house to accompany h.r. 1625. the presiding officer: majority leader is correct. mr. mcconnell: i ask that the chair lay before the senate the message a company h.r. 1625. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the following message from the house. the clerk will report. the clerk: resolve that the house agree to the amen

walter montel gwen stefani -- describe the senate -- walter mondale described the senator -- the senate as a mediator. a figure to find common ground. that is what has been lost over a long. of time. you have the title is broken. guest: that's the least controversial point you can make because everyone agrees the senate is broken. senators cannot stop talking about how broken it is. they give speeches, write articles and books. the only thing they have not done is fixed it. host: give us specifics. guest: sure. what has happened in recent particularly the last decade, senate leaders used to work together. it was an obligation to work together, they were a leadership team. after the last 20 years and accelerating over the last 10, senate leaders became tribal leaders. the democratic leader let the democrats, republican leader led the republicans. that is not the way it is supposed to work. the house is a majoritarian institution. leaders sevene obligation to come together and make it work. read a, team failed that test and senator mcconnell's effect on the senate has been profound is not

it is the senate. we all know what president washington called it, the cooling saucer with a hockey of politics that can lead the senate through difficult times. if there was ever a time or politics needed a cooling saucer, it is now. that is what history teaches us. host: mr. shapiro. guest: i couldn't say it any better than what senator schumer has, but also i couldn't say it better than senator mcconnell has at different times. he made a great speech on generate 14 on that same theme. the beginning of his memoir on january 16 starts about the special role of the senate and the way present -- senator cymer described it and he hasn't worked that way as leader. run through things on a simple majority basis and we have seen obstruction at times when compromise was necessary. host: the minority leader mentioned the various roles being changed at the rule of filibuster. do you think that is easily changed and what are the long-term effects on both sides? guest: i think the long-term effects have been dest

senate. mr. president, one year ago today, the senate judiciary committee oaptd opened its hearing on neil gorsuch. the stanford law review has published my argument made in that hearing and will be repeated if president trump makes another supreme court nomination. today i want to look at the lower courts because no less than 138 positions on the federal district and appeals courts are vacant. that does not include 33 vacancies that will occur in a year or so. everyone must understand the seriousness of this crisis. by itself 138 is just a number. it's a big number but it needs a frame of reference to know if this is normal or a serious problem that has to be addressed. i certainly don't want to be accused of partisanship so i will rely on the standards and criteria used in the past my my democratic colleagues. let's use some democratic standards to evaluate the number of judicial vacancies that we face today. one standard is that democrats have specifically identified how many vacancies are una

, senator heitkamp, senator cornyn, and senator mccain. this measure is truly bipartisan, as it should be. there is nothing partisan about sex trafficking. there's nothing excusable or tolerable about it. i hope that the senate will do its job tomorrow and send this legislation to the president es desk. -- to the president's desk. i want to yield the floor back to my partner, senator portman, with thanks. mr. portman: let me just say your role as a prosecutor has informed you and therefore, the legislation is better for you. you just heard what senator blumenthal said. he understands this bill inside and out and the fact that there are some well meaning amendments being offered that would derail this legislation. it's something we want to avoid. we want to get this to the president's desk for signature and begin to save people. i noticed one of my other colleagues, senator mccaskill is on the floor who i mentioned earlier a couple of times. she was the ranking democrat on the subcommittee that investigated this issue, looking at these webs

we are going to be passing the sex trafficking bill that senator ted and senator portman have been working on and that will wrap up the week going into the easter recess. >> on the yemen resolution that we will be voting on this afternoon following several hours of debate, our relationships with our allies in the gulf are really important to her counterterrorism effort against isis and al qaeda are chief among those allies is saudi arabia. the united arab emirates among others. there is an effort being made by the iranians to support who the rebels in yemen that are actually lobbying iranian made or produced missiles into saudi arabia. so we are performing a supportive role, refueling intelligence and targeting offered to help the saudi's fight off this challenge from not only to who the supported by iran, but also in the way that will help reduce the number of civilian casualties. we are going to be asking our colleagues to send this matter back to the senate foreign relations committee, were senator corker, the chairman of the committee, ranking member of menendez will have hearings and

senator fessenden then told the republican senators that a crisis had arrived requiring the senate's active position in affairs. he, however, warned that the caucus should proceed cautiously and with unanimity or with actions would alarm the country and weaken the hand of executive without affecting any ultimate good. that is bad to act in a radical way in the caucus. and the only events that the maine senator had no doubt that measures should be taken to make the cabinet a unity and remove from it anyone who did not coincide heartily with the views and the relations of the war. and he obviously had in mind secretary of state seward. and several senators wanted to approve the resolution to the effect that without mentioning the name of any cabinet member for dismissal. senator james doolittle of wisconsin, a conservative republican, insisted instead of a resolution, the caucus should appoint a committee to speak to lincoln regarding their concerns. senator preston king of new york a friend of seward's agreed with doolittle, festen, however, doubted the caucus could reach an agreement

another senator told the republican senators, a crisis had arrived, requiring the senate's active interposition into affairs. warning that the caucus should , actionsautiously could along the country, handling the executive without affecting ultimate good. that is bad to act in a radical way in the caucus. the maine senator had no doubt measures should be taken to make the cabinet a unity and remove anyone who did not coincide with our views and relations to the war. he obviously had in mind secretary of state seward. several senators wanted the caucus to approve a resolution to the effect, without mentioning the name of any cabinet member, dismissal. senator james doolittle was a conservative republican, insisting that instead of a resolution, the caucus should appoint a committee to speak to lincoln regarding their concerns. senator preston king of new york, a friend of seward, agreed with doolittle. however, doubting that the caucus could reach an agreement on a definite proposition to get to the president. 2 conservatives wanted time to consider the matter. as a result, the caucus adjourned

senator hatch: thank you. senator isakson. ms. gianopoulos, i was in the real estate business before coming to congress and did a lot of shopping centers and watched the increase of sales over the internet at christmastime. i think 20% to 22% of sales at christmas are made by the internet and not going to the store and shopping and buying which is exponentially grown retail sales over the internet. is a growing in comparable rate other products other times of the year? ms. gianopoulos: you know, senator, we didn't take a look at the growth of ecommerce per se. we were focused on the challenges that were associated with ecommerce as it relates to counterfeits. as i said in my statement, it's very difficult when you're going online and just looking at a photo of an item to determine whether or not it's real. you may go into a store and be able to pick it up and see if it's a different weight or color or something like that. what some counterfeiters do, they take a photo of an actual item and put it online even though they're giving

senator flake: thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. [indistinguishable voices] [indistinguishable voices] >> around the time you announced from the ement senate -- what's different now from the presidential primary? winning a primary in one state doesn't determine what you nationwide. president trump obviously never won the general but he's n new york our president. so, like i said, it's long odds for me. i'll be content to do something else. ut i hope that somebody out there reminds republicans, because i think republicans are wanting to be reminded of what to be a conservative, and what i means to have decency politics again. the at did you think about response that you got today? they don't throw tomatoes, i feel good. are long. the odds why not you? for've been in politics now 18 years, 12 in the house and six in the senate. time to do something el

and senator sanders. it's important to pick up on what senator lee was putting down, the notion that this is a limited resolution that speaks to our participation in an unauthorized, illegal partnership with the saudi's to bomb the country of yemen. it does not affect our partnership with saudi arabia and others in the gulf region to continue to confront terror, al qaeda, a specific car about in legislation allowing for 2001 a ums authorized activities to go forward, but it is also important to note that if you care about that priority taking on al qaeda, taking on cases in the region command that you should support debating a resolution because all of the evidence suggests that the continuation of the civil war inside gannon is making a qa p. the arm of al qaeda that has the clearest intentions to attack the homeland in a sense, both more powerful. a qa p. controls much more territory inside yemen than they did at the beginning of the civilak war. if you take the time to meet with yemeni yemeni americans

senator lee, a republican senator from the state of utah, senator sanders, democratic senator from vermont, senator murphy, another democratic senator from connecticut have joined in cosponsoring this effort. it really is going to put us to a test to justify what we are doing in yemen today. because what is happening in yemen has been characterized by the united nations as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and that's saying something. some eight million people are dying of famine in yemen because of this war. some 16 million are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance immediately. this is no skirmish. this is no just exchange of fire. this is cairn j and destruction -- carnage and destruction, the likes of the world has never seen, and we are part of it. if we are part of it and should be part of it, then we should make that decision as a senate and a house of representatives as the constitution requires. but going to the bleachers, standing by the sidelines and watching more and more military operations take place around the world without asserting our constitutional respon

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, so many are still grieving from the atrocious killing of 17 people in the high school in florida. indeed, our entire state is grieving. broward county is grieving. parkland is grieving. i think you're going to find on march 24 in the rallies and the marches that will occur in 500 cities around this country and will have a focus of the main one in washington, i think you're going to find that a lot of people are grieving because a lot of people all across this country have been touched by these massacres that continue to occur, starting over almost three decades ago in columbine, in colorado. we certainly had our fill of it in florida just in the last two years. 49 people gunned down with an assault rifle, a six-hour m.c.x. at the pulse nightclub. another assault pistol gunning down five people in the ft. lauderdale airport and now an ar-15 gunning down 17, and he would have gotten a lot more had he been able to open the third-story window overlooking the court

senator murkowski: thank you, senator cassidy. senator cortez masto. senator cortez masto: thank you secretary zinke. i want to start with renewable energy. we have had this conversation, the state of nevada 87% of the land is owned by the federal government. our partnership is key. the interaction that we have with alt federal agencies is important to the state of nevada. one of the areas that we have been focused on is renewables. responsible development when solar and geothermal energy on public lands has long had a broad bipartisan support, including from you during your time in congress as a co-sponsor of the public land renewable energy development act. it's played a growing role in our economy. solar now supports more jobs than natural gas. over twice the jobs in coal, according to a 2017 department of energy report. yet for the second year in a row the administration's proposed budget looks at cutting d.o.i. renewable programs by almost half. proposed 50% cut for fiscal year 2018 and 40% cut for fiscal year 2019. looking at these numbers it app

senate. in 1968, i had the job of recruiting state chairman for citizens for nixon agnew. i was a very young, wet behind the ears former legislative assistant to senator howard baker. we were working in the willard hotel in the fall of 1968. the idea was to try to find outstanding citizens who weren't necessarily republicans because in the southern part of our country, there weren't a lot of republicans, especially in the state of mississippi. so i called around the state of mississippi to find out who might be willing to head up this nixon agnew campaign. everybody i called said, well, there are two young men here who are just the most outstanding young men. both are cheerleaders at ole miss, or had been, and both are going to grow up to be the governor of mississippi, which was at that time, i guess, the nicest thing you could say about some aspiring young man because nobody thought the two united states senators, east land and stennis would ever retire. growing up to be the governor of mis

senator nelson. and i appreciate you being on the floor today, more poorly appreciate your leadership on this issue. i yield time to him. >> madam president? >> senator from florida. >> i think the senator from ohio for his l gracious comments, ani just simply want to say my part as to why this is so important that we pass this legislation, because it's very obvious that an old told number -- untold number of women and children in the u.s. are being sold into sexual slavery via the internet. and we now b have an opportunity to do something about it by passing this legislation. and it is so bad, because with just a few clicks of a few punches on an iphone, victims from all walks of life and parts of the country, all across, are being forced into brutal slavery and unspeakable crimes. i want to repeat that. i want americans to understand what is going on behind the scenes, that women and children are being forced into sex slavery in modern-day america. and it could very well happen to someone that you

, senator leahy, senator markey, senator feinstein, and senator wyden. mr. president, many americans are unaware that the people of yemen, one of the poorest countries in the world, are suffering terribly today in a devastating civil war, with saudi arabia and their allies on one side and houthi rebels on the other. in november of last year the united nations emergency relief coordinator said that yemen was on the brink, quote, of the largest famine the world has seen for many decades. so far thousands of civilians have died. the last count that i have seen is about 10,000. over 40,000 have been wounded in the war. 15 million people lack access to clean water and sanitation in an infrastructure which has been devastated. more than 20 million people in yemen, over two-thirds of the population, need some kind of humanitarian support with nearly ten million people in acute need of assistance. this is a humanitarian disaster. and the picture here is very, very sad picture of a young child facing starvation is what is taking place throughout this country. sad

senator flake: no. i am not running for re-election to the senate. run for president is not in my plans but i have not ruled nything out. i think republicans want to be reminded, i think, of what conservatism really means. the limited government, economic freedom, free trade, reverence for the free press, immigration. i hope that somebody reminds republicans of that. i think they're willing and waiting to be reminded. [applause] >> so in light of that, what do you think -- what do you think it would take for a republican challenger to have a real shot? and do you think the donor support would be there? senator flake: make no mistake, the republican party right now is president trump's party. i think that's reflected in polling. let me put it this way. those who vote in republican primaries are overwhelmingly supportive of the president. i don't think that will always be the case. i think that could turn. and will turn and must turn. but that is the case right now. so it would be a tough challenge for anyone to take. and i just hope someone does it. >

foreign relations committee i talked to senator and he believes he the senate could make a good decision after giving the committee an opportunity to have hearings and consider all of the intended and unintended consequences of thisce resolution. i know our colleagues meanwhile and intentions are good but sometimes in the area of international conflict and global interactions with different countries sometimes our actions beget the unintended consequence and it is good to be safe in the first place to take this matter to the senate foreign relations committee right have every confidence that senator corker as the chairman and ranking member menendez can guide the members of the committee through a process to help us in the end make a better decision. mr. president, i yield the floor and i note the absence of a quorum. e dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: you thank you,

thank you very much. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you, senator hassan. senator baldwin? >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member, and thank you, mr. ring, for your willingness to serve. i want to focus on the issue of joint employment. for a majority of the nlra's existence, the board found joint employment when a company directly or indirectly controlled workers' employment. this is important because meaningful collective bargaining can only occur if every company controlling workers' employment is sitting at the bargaining table. do you believe that employers must exercise direct and immediate control in order to be employers under the nlra? >> senator, i appreciate the opportunity to talk about the joint employer issue. i know it's a very controversial issue, as we can tell from the various questions. under the prior standard, the standard is direct control. under the newer standard, it is the right to control, and that's, i think, the difference that has been the struggle. i have always thought of the joint employer issue as something that is very, very fact spe

can the senate save its self. he also serves as the former chief of staff to senator rockefeller. guest: good morning. host: a little more about your background at the senate. the kind of things you involve yourself with. i work in us and it for about 12 years for a number of democratic senators. i got hooked on initially as an intern for a republican senator nearly 50 years ago. i've had a long love of the senate. i was in the majority and minority. committee staff and personal staff and leadership staff. i worked on things as diverse as the ethics code to the metro funding to the foreign intelligence surveillance act. it was 12 wonderful years. the first five in the majority. next six in the minority. what is it like as far as the process? how does that differ from the house? guest: i talk about what we used to call the great senate in my first book. then i renamed it mansfield senate after mike mansfield. , at itste has always best, work in a bipartisan way. the general requirement that you needed a super majority, it was the place where the parties came together to reconcile d

senator peters: thank you. the chairman: thank you, senator peters. next is senator duckworth. senator duckworth: i want to thank you for today's hearing. we heard a lot about prioritizing infrastructure investment in the last couple years. for many americans, republicans and democrats alike, that's music to our ears and essentially to mine. but given the high priority the president has placed on rebuilding america, you think we would be further along in this process and in this conversation that we're having today. other than releasing a 50-page proposal with a few documents, the president has -- and allies in congress have failed to set the stage for any meaningful investment in our aging infrastructure. leading many folks in my state to wonder if this is a serious infrastructure campaign by the white house. let me just break this down. the president's f.y. 2018 budget included $200 billion for his infrastructure proposal but it slashed $345 billion in programs -- from infrastructure programs. they set aside $1.5 trillion to spend on their tax proposal but then put aside -- d

senate. thad, as we all know, is very courteous, well mannered, has a low-key demeanor most of the time, you know. he's quiet and he's patient. and he's built seniority through power and perseverance. some people say that thad cochran is the last true southern gentleman. i think there's a lot of truth to that. some people say he represents the lost art of being nice, and we all need to work on that. he's always -- has been and will be a hero here and back home in mississippi. thad, i wish you well. you and your wonderful wife, kay, and i think all of us should strive to continue on the wise path that you've paved for us here in the senate. i believe we're all grateful, mr. president, for his service to mississippi and to our nation. we wish you godspeed. thank you. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. a senator: thank you, mr. president. i have known and admired thad cochran for 40 years since he first came to the senate. ms. collins: at the time i was a yo

the senate used to work. without those restraints, it has become a block on the nation rather than -- it essentially has impaired our progress rather than being what senator schumer said, which is that beacon of hope and common sense that we so need anytime, particularly now. host: raymond, maryland, democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. you are right if you remember, there was a day, meeting to make president obama a one term president. then, senator mcconnell used to allow his supreme court appointee to not have a hearing. guest: you are remembering some important examples of what happened during the obama presidency. i would add one other thing -- i was kind of surprised, as i got into the book, at just how much power one person, specifically senator mcconnell, could have. one example of that is that in 2015, when he reached what he has said was his lifetime goal of being majority, all of a sudden, the senate started to function. after six years of upshur option -- obstruction, he became a c

i've talked to senator mcconnell, senator schumer, key republicans and democrats. andkey vote was going on, the bill was going on last night. you saw as many democrats on the republican side and republicans on the democrat side as i think i've seen in years. that this is a sign country will actually have a voice in what is going on, it will be congress. it cannot be done by tweet from the white house. that worries me because the president, who changes position almost in one hours time. you can't plead about nuclear , imposing tariffs on this the stockat, seeing market take the biggest fall, one of the three biggest falls in all of history. i think there are enough grown-ups in both parties for the senate and house to realize that we have to keep the country stable. >> it definitely seems like there is a realization in both process needs the to be different. there has been some talk about changing the budget process to make it run more smoothly. run more smoothly, what changes do you need to make? >> each one of the appropriations bills, bring it up and voted in com

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm here today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of robert f. kennedy's monumental campaign for president. kennedy's brief, tragic run at the presidency has had an enduring impact on so many generations of americans. and the reason i think is because robert kennedy had the courage to challenge a divided nation to face up to its failings, to challenge a divided people to acknowledge their own contributions to our nation's ills, to challenge us to step back from the stale, cheap politics of the moment, to challenge us to do better by each other. history may not repeat, but it often rhymes. conditions are different now, but a lot of anxiety that swept through the country in 1968 echoes the anxiety of today, especially the economic anxiety felt by millions of americans who are working harder than ever but feel opportunities slipping away from themselves and from their children. too often our political and business leaders refuse to see th

the presiding officer: the senator from vermont.

i also support senator toomey and senator coons' denial notification acts. these are all important things. i thank you for the opportunity to testify today. i hope you will consider us willing partners both senator nelson and i to move forward on this, and i want to close this note. out of track dee and heartbreak the families of the 17 victims in parkland came together and they decided they would set aside for a moment and set aside their differences on all sorts of other issues so they can fight hard on the things they agreed on. i believe that should serve as an example to this body. there are things we agree on, we should pass those things and there are things we should disagree on, i hope we debate and perhaps we can find common ground on those, as well, but we should first act on the things we can agree on and take action so this never happens again to anyone anywhere. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator rubio. i appreciate it very much and we call the first panel and before i introduce the first panel, i'll wait until your name gets up ther

senator blunt. >> general, i wish to start where senator warner did. admiral rogers who we all have great respect for got a lot of attention recently i believe on the house side saying he had been given no new directions as to how to deal with things like russian interference in the elections. so let's take that in two directions. one is, do you need any new direction, in your view, to deal with defending against those kinds of attacks? do you have all the defensive authorizations you need not whether you have all the equipment and staff you need, but do you have all the authorization needed to defend our institutions against outside aggression? >> so, senator, certainly in terms of defending the department of defense networks, i think that there are all the authorizations and policies and authorities that are necessary. >> what do you need about the nondepartment -- you know, nsa, what if somebody is attacking the state department or some other -- >> so if confirmed as the director of the national security agency, the authorities for the national secu

senators, how say you? >> each senator stands at his or her desk and announces their vote -- in this case, guilty or not guilty. >> mr. bayh. >> not guilty. >> mr. bayh, not guilty. >> when this started unfolding, i thought it might be possible that he would be removed from office. and i counted the votes, and i counted the votes, and they were not there. >> mr. lieberman. >> not guilty. >> mr. lieberman, not guilty. >> i voted for acquittal. there was no evidence, notwithstanding how unacceptable, immoral his behavior was, that bill clinton was unable to continue to effectively carry out his responsibilities as president of the united states. >> what the founders were thinking about, because it was fresh on their minds -- benedict arnold. he committed treason, bribery. >> mr. kerrey of nebraska. >> not guilty. >> mr. kerrey of nebraska, not guilty. >> i didn't think lying about sex and trying to prevent everybody from finding out about it rose to that level. i just didn't. >> we were voting to remove the c

, and only one senator from west virginia and one senator from montana voted to take money out of washington's pocket and put it back in the pockets of the middle class. so every single senate democrat, every one of them, did all they could to block tax reform. fortunately, every republican voted to pass it. and because congress passed tax reform and the president signed it into law, workers and small business owners are already reaping the benefits.

before i came to the senate, senator cochran was chairman of the senate republican conference. he's chaired the senate agriculture committee, too, and most recently he's alternated between serving as ranking member and chairman of the all powerful appropriations committee. throughout his 45 years in congress, he's participated in, crafting, and enacting historic legislation. but his main focus has always been on the people, the people of mississippi. his highest priority has always been on the men and women he was elected to represent in places like jackson and gulfport, greenville, starkville, and hattiesburg. one example is when he fought so hard for recovery funding after hurricane katrina. many people forget that that awful storm was much bigger than new orleans. mississippi was hit almost equally as hard and senator cochran made sure that his state got the help it needed to get back on their feet. his career is one of service and collegiality. even amidst all the fractious debates. he treats friends and political adversaries with respect. he listens to what people have to

senator schumer is essentially weaponizing a senate procedure, demanding cloture votes on our nominees that he even eventually supports. 11 of the president's nominees have been approved without a single dissenting vote yet still forced to go through 30 hours of debate to slow down the senate calendar simply for the purpose of obstruction. even senate democrats have begun to call this out and say it's getting to the point of ridiculous. at this rate, the senate would take 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. so let me give you one more example of the compareson historically. in the first entire term of the george h.w. bush administration, his entire four year he faced one cloture vote. in the entire four years of the clinton administration , he faced 10 cloture votes. under the george w. bush administration, the entire first term , he faced four cloture votes. barack obama faced 17 in his first entire four years. we have faced 79 in our first 14 months. in adds up to 32 combined the entire first four years of those administrations, relative to 79

senator? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. and ambassador lighthizer, welcome again. let me just start off by saying that i think a goal for all of us ought to be exporting our products, not our jobs, and it gets complicated beyond that, certainly, and i look at my colleague and friend, the chairman of the ag committee and i'm sure he will say the same thing on agriculture that i will, that we need markets, we need markets for our products, but we also need a level playing field and to make sure that we're not exporting our jobs as we go. i want to specifically ask you about currency manipulation. the president said, day one of his administration, he would label china a currency manipulator. it's well past day one, and that's not happened. we've also, in nafta, had seven nafta negotiating rounds, and ustr has not specified its objectives with regards to currency manipulation, which were included in the administration's nafta negotiating strategy. so you indicated to me last year that you w

act which includes senator tpwhraoupl that you -- tkpwhraot you -- senator blumenthal, senator heitkamp and senator portman and senator mccain who has been an advocate for addressing this issue for so many years and wish he could be here to participate and to be able to vote for its passage. but we know that his work over the years has played an incredibly important role in getting us to where we are today. this group also helped lead the effort to conduct important investigatory oversight that has helped us to get to the point where we are today. last year as senator portman pointed out i chaired a commerce committee hearing on his bill where we heard testimony from experts on both sides of the issue. we listened carefully to what our witnesses had to say, and after the hearing we worked together to make some targeted change to the legislation. and the bill that ultimately advanced from our committee enjoyed, as senator portman pointed out, solid support from the internet industry. it passed the senate commerce committee unanimously. the bill is strongly supported by members of both pa

senator mccain and senator coons offered a bill that was on the floor of the senate here. it was a good bill, not exactly what i wanted by any means but at least it solved the problem. it was vehemently rejected by the trump administration. all in all there were six different bipartisan proposals offered to president trump to solve the problem he created by eliminating daca. he rejected every single one of them. he sent to the floor of the senate a bill offered by senator grassley of iowa. senator grassley's bill embodied the president's approach to this. now understand the senate's score card here. there are 51 republican senators and 49 democratic senators. so when the president called his own bill, one of our senators, senator mccain, was away ill. but there were 50 republican senators and 49 democrats who voted on that day. how many votes did the president's proposal get? the president's immigration proposal. 39. the president got 39 out of 50. it was kind of a shock that the president's own party didn't support the president's bill, at least not all of them. and no de

senator. senator sanders: thanks very much. i agree with senator corker, this is an enormously important issue. d the d.o.d. must be run cost-effectively and efficiently. let me ask you -- follow up with a simple question. about half of the d.o.d. budget goes to defense contractors, is hat roughly right? mr. gibson: that sounds about right. senator sanders: the top of the list is lockheed. secretary norquist: absolutely. senator sanders: answer me this one. as i understand t. i'm looking at the revenue, 2016 defense revenues that went to lockheed martin is roughly $43 billion. i'm curious, the c.e.o. of that scorpgs receive, $20 million? -- corporation, received, 20 million? $20 million in compensation. over 90% of the business was department of defense. in other words, we have given this guy roughly an $18 million salary from the taxpayers of this country. does that sound right to you? is that something that we might want to look at and say when we give -- i don't know what the salary is of the secretary of defense, what is it

senate. sorry. unlike the donald i'm actually the beneficiary of a witch hunt. and it's funny. nuthat i think about it there actually were people back then who said that's as crazy as the republican party will ever get. all this talk about witches, though, gives me an idea. i think we should give the president who doth protest so much, his own witch test. if you drown him in indictments and he sink, he's innocent. you know, i last spoke at this dinner back in 2011, and since then i've gradually settled into the united states senate. i once dreamed of being a giant of the senate, but now i seem to have become one of the senior center swdwarves of the senate. i'm also a lawyer of the divinity school where i studied ethics. if you do, don't and paul manafort to convert the file from pdf to word. speaking of divinity, i also lead the senate's weekly breakfast and i cochaired the national breakfast last year. that event got some news coverage when president trump prayed for arnold shwarzenegger's

>> from the senior member of the senate. senator smith? >> thank you very much, chair alexander and ranking member murray, i appreciate it. mr. ring, thank you so much for being here and thank you also for your willingness to serve. i appreciate it. so in 2016, just a couple of days before thanksgiving, a minnesota trucking company, which had collective bargaining, closed its doors and began to re-organize as a nonunion company. and the workers at the company that had collective bargaining, they lost their jobs and many of them also didn't receive their final paychecks. so unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence. it happens all too often, where company owners attempt to set up new firms to avoid having to bargain with the union at an older firm that they own. and we've seen this occur not just in the trucking industry but also in building trades and other industries where it's pretty easy to shift assets from one corporate legal entity to another. and of course this practice of shifting work from a union company to a nonunion company,

every single one of them in the house and the senate. fortunately, those efforts failed, but even with tax reform now, the law of the land, it seems my democratic friends are so unwilling to admit their mistake that they'd rather try to sabotage the law that is already helping families and making american job creators more competitive. just yesterday, for example, senate democrats announced they'd like to spend a trillion dollars -- a trillion dollars of taxpayer money and they want to roll back america's brand new tax cuts while they're at it. this popular new tax bill has been in effect for a couple of months. they want to roll it back already, take the money and spend it. there they go again. just can't help themselves. tax more, spend more, take money away from american families, give it to the federal government. this is a familiar refrain from our democratic friends. even amidst this tidal wave of good news from tax reform, even in the face of higher take-home pay, new jobs, new investments, raises, worker bonuses, and foreign comp