that's not all the bill. the bill is about border security and homeland security. if the idea is, it has to just be a c.r. or you can't deal with it you know what my plan has been all along? to work with you. but i'm not hearing that you're even willing to work with us. that -- i'm saying i'm willing to compromise. you have already voted for part of border security to be part of the wall. you don't even want to sit down and discuss. how much should that be? how much border security should we have. should we allow -- is 10 terrorists a day ok with you coming across the board her it's not with me. is 2,000 people inadmissible coming across? is that ok with you? it's not with me. it takes away from those like our own relatives who have come here legally. i was just at a naturalization a few months ago. i sat there inside this service, i watched individuals with such pride raising their hands. you know what i told them? george washington is now their founding father. abraham lincoln was their liberator. martin luther king spoke of their dreams. and the flag that sitz o

commend bill. i commend senators hatch and casey for quickly advancing and supporting legislation in the senate. i'll continue working with them and my co-chair, tom rooney, to ensure this legislation is soon signed by the president. i thank you, all of you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: mr. speaker, we have no more speakers on other side of the aisle and i'll close -- i'll reserve and close after my colleague from new york. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mr. tonko: thank you, mr. speaker. we have no other speakers, and so we're ready to close. i would just, again, encourage people to support this legislation, as was indicated, it's taken a long 20 years to achieve this success and so hopefully we can support this and provide, again, a great initiative on behalf of those who suffer from traumatic brain injury. so with that, i yield back. the speaker

i'm sandra smith. >> bill: i'm bill hemmer. how many times do we say that a day? not 200. the fired f.b.i. director is meeting with committees behind closed doors. second time in 10 days. mark meadows earlier today. >> that briefing that happened apairtently where the two pages that direct or comey was using to brief the president is not consistent with some of the other testimony we have. specifically he was briefing the president on private clients. what private clients was he talking about if he learned about those later? why would he have been briefing the president in january on that? those are the inconsistencies i'm talking about. and hopefully he will be able to clarify that today. >> bill: a brand-new week live on the hill with mike emanuel. what do we expect? >> round two of james comey against republicans on house judiciary and oversight. we saw comey arrive a short time ago as you mentioned. his second visit with these republicans on capitol hill in the past 10 days. comey faced questions about the f.b.i.'s use of t

the bill is a good bill, it is not a perfect bill but certainly worthy of our support. ms. fudge: i'm pleased members on both sides of the -- of the aisle and across the chamber were able to reach consensus on how the american congress can work together. this agreement protects snap by rejecting proposals in house farm bill that would have severely weakened the program and taken food assistance away from nearly two million people. this agreement increases access to healthy foods and underserved communities and takes steps to tackle food waste which we know is a major problem. this agreement builds new opportunity it is build soil health and water quality in the great lakes. this agreement provides beginning and minority farmers and ranchers additional tools and resources needed to own and operate successful businesses. this agreement thoorses $350 million per year for rural broadband coverage. this agreement expands investment in low income urban and rural communities. finally this agreement provides certainty and sound agricultural policies for america's producers and cons

and so now we're debating a funding bill. it's dominating the bill. we already are throwing an exorbitant amount of taxpayer dollars into the black hole of mass incarceration, not making us safer, not making us stronger, in fact macing us more -- in fact making us more vulnerable. it doesn't offer for opportunities for americans to get access to health care, not to rehabilitate people, but we have been spending more and more money actually hurting more americans, putting them into a system that actually harms them often the more than helps them with their addiction, with their men hall felt issue with their -- mental health issue, with their trauma. we are using our resources to compound, hurricanes and harm the people -- to compound, hurt, and harm the people who have already suffered. it ultimately makes our communities less safe, not more. despite the fact that our infrastructure is -- in this country is crumbling, that our trains and he hads are and bridges are in desperate need of repatience we have been investing in a different type of infrastru

bill specifically? >> conservation is about $500 million that we spend on that. so there's not a huge chunk but they merge the conservation stores that program into a program that helps farmers pay for conservation practices that improve quality, water quality but there was a difference and both will be intact but it's unclear. the houseboat of , conservation by about $800 million in the senate version would have kept funding flat so where that ends up is still an open question . >> what's the justification of cutting the offending side -- the funding side? >> there are a number of conservation initiatives and not just the several that i mentioned, i think they are probably trying to overlap or make some efficiencies i think that still up for argument . >> check from new mexico is next . good morning . >> good morning. thank you for taking my call. i'd like to make an observation , in 1965 we passed a bill that i worked on a blueberry farm at that time and they passed out $2500 per year that you would g

we passed the opioid crisis bill. we've also got the farm bill done, and now with criminal justice, it is the crowning achievement on what has been over the years one of the most contentious issues in america. every year i used to say that that system of justice in america that was damaged the most in an election was our criminal justice system because it seemed that everybody wanted to demagogue it to death. that is no longer, and that is no longer the case with what has been done in this body, the house, and with the support of the white house. and i just want to commend all of those that have been involved in this over the years before i got here, both in government and out. i worked for a number of years with the brennan from for justice at n.y.u., particularly the law enforcement leaders, to reduce crime. this is the cull culmination afr long, long number of years. they should be commended for all that they did. mr. president, we've changed -- i just noticed, it's now mr. president, rather than madam president. i

walker: i move to pass the bill senate 3031. the clerk: an act to amend united states code to improve the management of federal personal property. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule the gentleman from north carolina and the gentleman from maryland will be recognized. mr. walker: i ask unanimous consent scuke that members can include extraneous material on the. the personal property would improve inventories. this bill has bipartisan support. i urge members to support it and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland. mr. raskin: i yield myself such time as i may consume. rhyme rising in support of the federal personal property management act which would impositive the accountability of unneeded equipment, information technology resources at federal agencies. may be an appropriate time to take up this bill given the furniture through the floor of the house of representatives. most agencies do not have procedures in place to identify unneeded per

without objection, the bill is engrossed and -- the bill is engrossed, read a third time, and passed. and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table the bill h.r. 4407 with the senate amendments thereto and concur in the senate amendments. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. and the senate amendments. the clerk: an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located -- at 3-s-101 rockwell street in warrenville, illinois, as the corporal jeffery allen williams post office building. senate amendments. one, on page 2, line 1, strike jeffrey and insert jeffrey. two, on page 2, line 6, strike jeffrey and insert jeffrey. three, on page 2, line 10, strike jeffrey and insert jeffrey. amend the title so as to read an act to designate the facility of the united states postal service located at 3-s-101 rockwell street in warrenville, illinois, as the corporal jeffery allen williams post office buil

we were able to forge an ateresting political bill as carbon capture bill. if we had talked about it as a carbon capture bill, it would have never happened. we talked about it as the technology bill. you have got to do it. you have got to approach people respectfully. one of the reasons why i was checkedul, i just ideology at the door and set a goal that was about getting something done and not about winning. winning in this town is about politics. abouting should be setting goals and getting things done. we did o too much winning, too much politics. on big things like, obviously, theyme court nominees, don't realize behind that our everyday things that happen. is we need to have more successes at that level to build enough confidence and trust to have success at a higher level. i think we could have gotten a bipartisan tax bill passed. i think there was no interest in doing a bipartisan tax bill. i think we could have done reforms of the health care bill. there were knows -- was no interest in reforms because it was about winning politically governing in a

it's a huge title in the farm bill. we actually don't advocate and work on it specifically because of the commissioners and it's not the area we feel we can impact directly but it provides certainty and we need that certainty in these times of low revenue and high times for the economic downturn . >> to all farmers need that type of assurance? >> in general, it's important to say that there needs to be equitable provision across the farming industry the support of those who grow our food, so yes, it's something that we watch, we are hopeful that the status of it in the current bill will pass. >> is there a concern that it won't? >> no, not in our mind. next week, the guests said we have to see the conference report approved, we know there's a will, political will and an enthusiasm to support agriculture by the administration so we expect the bill to pass. >> when it comes to the commissioners perspective, what's the most important feature >> we look at several priorities, pedro, one of the ones we see in a forward lane

the recent higher education bill and legislation dealing with opioids which he was so passionate for him to talk about every day for about a month and he gets things done because of his passion, his intelligence as a legislator and his persisten persistence. we worked together so many times in my years here. even though he is not here at the moment i salute my friend from tennessee. i look forward to seeing him in the gym tomorrow morning where i can convey the sentiments personally. i yield the floor. >> to allow more time to resolve the partisan impasse that has us on the brink of a government shutdown once again. continuing resolution just allows agencies to continue to spend money without knowing how much they actually get to spend. they've been spending money since last october without knowing how much money they get to spend. so i come to the floor today to talk about the need to reform your broken budget and appropriations process and lay out a few ideas i have for how to do that. as the chairman of the budget committee i worked on budget appropriations process reform for seve

they've got bills to pay. it got mortgages, rent, all sorts of costs that will pile up so no matter what, they will bear a burden from dysfunction and government shutdown. along with many other people in the country who will see a disruption of federal government operations. it will still bear an unfair burden. we are doing b today and i also want to thank our republican colleagues for agreeing with this. we are saying to people out there, hard-working employees,lo rest assured, after that difficult. goes by, if there is a shutdown, you will be assured you will have the certainty that you are going to be able to get your pay and make the payments to make sure you don't fall further behind. it's the least we can do at this moment.se let's hope we don't have to use this. it is an important insurance policy. in important security blanket as the hours to buy and we are not sure whether or not we have agreement by midnight this evening. i want to thank our colleagues and yield back to the motion. >> don't think hol

welcome to my special co-anchor, bill hemmer. >> bill: you just came from the service behind us. remarkable service. we'll talk a lot about that over the coming hour. what was it like for you being so close to the bushes? >> dana: we had to arrive quite early. at first it was like a reunion type atmosphere is what i call it, the extended bush family. george herbert walker bush, he will be taking a final trip on air force one in a moment. we will get back to that. do we have time to go to mike emanuel? all right. mike emanuel, give us your take. >> reporter: dana, good afternoon to you and bill. it was a touching and extraordinary salute to the 41st president of the united states here at the majestic national cathedral. the casket of former president george herbert walker bush was escorted out a short time ago. after 2 1/2 hours of prayer, touching stories and beautiful music, five american presidents and first ladies were here, including president trump and former presidents carter, clinton, bush and obama. the former president's son, the 43rd son, spoke about lessons learned fro

not our bills. your bills. ladies and gentlemen, the seventh bill is also agreed to. save one item. so that approximately 96% of the ledge legislation has been agreed to by both sides and the united states senate has passed a continuing resolution based pon those bills by voice vote. yet here we are. twisting in the wind at 7:00 p.m. on the day before the government shuts down. what a sad performance. what a regrettable lack of responsibility. how we have undermined the fate -- faith of our people, treated the federal employee terribly. and given cause for the rest of the world to think, what are they doing? there is not one person on the republican side of the aisle that believes if they pass this bill that it will be accepted by the senate. not one of you. believes that. and so we are playing political games here. to pander to the president of the united states. who sadly rejected a compromise that was reached by all of us. the majority leader of your party and the speaker. before this compromise. we were for this compromise and the senate was for this compromise. one person, why

were debated earlier, a number of suspension bills. of course we'll have live coverage of the house here on c-span. you're looking at the floor of the u.s. senate where all the action is focused on keeping the government operating. last night, the house did pass the bill that would keep the government open until february 8. that bill, of course, was moved over to the senate for consideration. the bill includes funding for a border wall, $5.7 billion for that and $7.8 billion in disaster relief. we have been watching the vote on the floor of the senate, started about 12:30 this afternoon. they are now voting on a motion to move forward with the bill but the vote tally has been stuck at 45, actually, 46 noes now with senator jon tester voting no. and 43 yeas. and it's been that way for -- it's been mostly that way for a couple of hours. we understand the vote is being held open to allow senators to return to washington to vote. the measure does need a simple majority to move ahead with debate. 60 votes will be needed for the bill to pass

the bill clinton climbed jan crime bill and nothings been written about that. >> she's talking about the first bill, a historical form of the criminal justice system that trump and his team have worked hard to negotiate. >> today i'm thrilled to announce my support for this bipartisan bill that will make our communities safer and give former inmates a second chance at life after they have served their time. it's so important. >> he's right and this is a major populace issue. let's remember what positive populace is all about. pro- worker, pro- community. bill clinton's 1994 crime bill ended up in carson aiding millions of working americans, far too many african americans, for far too long hurting their ability to work and earn a living, contributing to family breakdown in helping to tear apart the fabric in our communities. here is mike lee. >> this bill would deal with that. they have the discretion to be judges and it will make life better for millions of americans who in one way or another are affected by our federal criminal justice system. >> you got lindsay graham. >> what were

its bill of fare. the place is called kungsholm. >> kungsholm was a swedish smorgasbord and a puppet theater all in one. >> steve golden was six when he saw his first show at the kungsholm. that led to a lifelong career as a professional puppeteer, who also handles purchases and acquisitions for the northwest puppet center in seattle. so, steve's childhood experience at the kungsholm left an impression. >> you came to the restaurant and you were given a complementary ticket to the puppet miniature grand opera. >> was it an institution in chicago? >> oh, was it ever? to go there was a highlight of a day. >> how fabulous. opera stars and socialites flocked to see kungsholm puppets perform arias from operas such as "madame butterfly" or "the barber of seville." so, 14-year-old bill fosser takes his best handmade puppet and talks his way into a summer job at the theater. soon, he, too, is hooked for life. he becomes an expert puppetmaker and patents a design for a puppet with more natural body movements th

the bill is a good bill, it is not a perfect bill but certainly worthy of our support. ms. fudge: i'm pleased members on both sides of the -- of the aisle and across the chamber were able to reach consensus on how the american congress can work together. this agreement protects snap by rejecting proposals in house farm bill that would have severely weakened the program and taken food assistance away from nearly two million people. this agreement increases access to healthy foods and underserved communities and takes steps to tackle food waste which we know is a major problem. this agreement builds new opportunity it is build soil health and water quality in the great lakes. this agreement provides beginning and minority farmers and ranchers additional tools and resources needed to own and operate successful businesses. this agreement thoorses $350 million per year for rural broadband coverage. this agreement expands investment in low income urban and rural communities. finally this agreement provides certainty and sound agricultural policies for america's producers and cons

nobody knew what whitewater was. >> the story begins in 1978. >> hillary and bill clinton, when bill was governor of arkansas, invested in a land development project. it was a fiasco. >> the clintons say they lost almost $70,000. their partners are now the focus of widening federal and congressional investigations. >> the press starts asking more and more questions. who was involved? where did the money go? what happened to all the records? >> the more puzzling and pertinent questions may concern whether the white house engaged in a cover-up. >> in washington by the '90s, there was a giant scandal machine. i was part of the scandal machine. i remember having this kind of uneasy sensation that what began with watergate, which was a noble crusade by the press, out of that came this kind of scandal culture. >> this is one of those stories that has been fed, as such stories tend to be, by the way the administration has handled it. >> whitewater development is not going to go away. there are too many questions and there's too many implications of breaking the law. >> do you support the id

bill. she was on her way to the airport. one senator described it as a ghost town over there. that means the only vehicle to keep the government open past friday is that clean spending bill to keep it open past february 8th. that's if the president sign it is and already saying no. so does he change his mind leading to a lot, lot of uncertainty on capitol hill and a very increased likelihood tomorrow. >> on that note, why the chang of heart from the government. now he's back to where he was last week. what's going on? >> it sounds like the president was not hearing a whole lot of holiday cheer from members of his base. there were members of the conservative movement, whether they are on social media or on the radio or a conservative television outlet, they were all giving the president a very hard time. he was also hearing from house members like members of the house freedom caucus who were saying, mr. president, don't back down on this wall. it seems all of that collectively has forced the

-- farm bill. joining us from the senate side is senator john hoeven of north dakota, aim member of the agriculture -- a member of the agriculture committee. when it comes to the final project your site is working on, how satisfied are you? guest: it is a good farm bill and we will get it done. we build on the existing farm bill. we build on its strengths and improved it and try to add flexibility. it is a good product. host: when it comes to strengths and flexibility, give examples of that within the current bill. guest: number one, risk management. number two is crop insurance. we keep crop insurance in tact as we have it. then we have the safety net, which is our risk coverage. i think we made improvements in both of those areas and more flexibility for farmers. research is important. trade promotion and other areas as well. those are some the priorities. host: when it comes to crop insurance, the previous caller says that subsidies potentially go to commercial farmers, not necessarily for the h

a good bill. it is the result of bipartisan negotiations in the conference committee that produced something that i think both democrats and republicans can come together and support. i am supporting this bill because it is good on the nutrition title. as you know, i have spent a lot of time in this chamber talking about the issues of hunger and food insecurity in this country. there are 40 million americans who don't have enough to eat who are hungry. this is in the richest and most powerful country in the world. i'm ashamed of that fact every member of this house should be ashamed of that fact. hunger is a political condition, we could fix it if we had the political will. this farm bill is not as robust as i would like it to be on the nutrition title but it does no harm. it doesn't increase hunger, count throw people off snap, doesn't make hunger worse in this country. the serving of bipartisan support. so i hope all my democratic colleagues will vote in favor of the farm bill. i want to thank a

not our bills. your bills. ladies and gentlemen, the seventh bill is also agreed to. save one item. so that approximately 96% of the ledge legislation has been agreed to by both sides and the united states senate has passed a continuing resolution based pon those bills by voice vote. yet here we are. twisting in the wind at 7:00 p.m. on the day before the government shuts down. what a sad performance. what a regrettable lack of responsibility. how we have undermined the fate -- faith of our people, treated the federal employee terribly. and given cause for the rest of the world to think, what are they doing? there is not one person on the republican side of the aisle that believes if they pass this bill that it will be accepted by the senate. not one of you. believes that. and so we are playing political games here. to pander to the president of the united states. who sadly rejected a compromise that was reached by all of us. the majority leader of your party and the speaker. before this compromise. we were for this compromise and the senate was for this compromise. one person, why

mike bled for this bill. [applause] and on the democratic side, in the senate, dick durbin worked very hard for this bill, and he was willing to reach compromise which, had he dug in, we wouldn't be here today. but because we were willing to reach compromise, this bill, i think, draws an important line where it grants relief to nonviolent offenders people who haven't committed crimes of violence. but at the same time, it keeps violent criminals in prison, it keeps murderers and rapists in prison. and it focuses our law enforcement where we want to be focused, which is on the really bad guys, on the people who are committing crimes of violence. that's where law enforcement should be focused. right now, there are far too many young men particularly, tragically, young black men who find themselves decades in prison for a nonviolent crime. this bill corrects this and it's a great step in the direction of justice. pres. trump: thank you, ted, very much. that's very nice. [applause] also congratulations on your rac

in this bill. the everything i in this bill colorado, a water system over a wilderness area that has for they can't because it is in a wilderness area so we need an act of congress to allow the citywe o to fix their water sy. rejected tonight. because we were not allowed a vote on y it tonight and you b permanent land water conservation fund is in here tonight because it has the majority support of this body. if we had a vote tonight it would have passed. republicans and democrats would have voted yes. it would have passed. not only that, we have boundary justice because people died, wanted to give it a national monument. that is not controversial. somebody wanted to do the right thing and if we can't even vote on it here, i give covenants to the chairman of the energy committee who struck a deal yesterday. we got the bill as fast as we could and so many of these pieces of legislation we have already heard. we had committee hearings on, we voted unanimously, bipartisan support. we offer deal after

we have passed on the house bill, 36 have been bipartisan bills. those that are partisan seem to be those that are emphasized but a point of fact is that 30 60 40 were bipartisan. the most significant were space commerce. the encouragement of the private sector to get involved in space exploration. the you do not just have nasa having a monopoly or a corner on the market. now giving contracts to private sector companies to help in the exploration of space. supplies touttling the space station. spacex does that. there are two or three other private companies, blue art -- blue origin being one and virgin the lack that being another. beinggin galactic another. i have to digress because it is exciting. -- things coming up in space space tourism. in the next few years, individuals walking down the streets not astronauts will be paid to go up into low earth orbit. i will get a certificate that probably says "junior astor not" on it. onaut on it." planetslso have 3000 xo s that have been discovered. and sometime in the next 10 years because of advanced te

they negotiated this bill, omnibus spending bill. president was involved in discussions, after it moved through the house and senate he threatened for couple hours he wouldn't sign it that partly did. that brought us to this impasse right now, there wasn't wall funding or at least full wall funding from the bill. this is often we see for the president. we wondered if things were moving easily in the senate. they didn't take a regular roll call vote. they approved it by voice vote. when i got up this morning i wondered if we would have revisiting that tooing and froing we went through in march and here we are. president saying no, i will not sign it. our white house folks were told early in the morning he would sign it very quietly. connell: seemed so simple. like he said. too good to be true. you have been doing this too long. you knew it to be better. >> senators singing on the floor, christmas carols,holy night and "rudolph the red-nosed reindeer." now it will be a long night here on capitol hill. connell: chad, great to see you as

>> bill: all right. guys. i thought we would find agreement on one topic before the holidays. >> julie: she looks beautiful. merry christmas. the dow looking to gain traction this morning after the fed's interest rate hike and we'll see how stocks are responding this morning after a taking a freefall yesterday. - [narrator] the typical vacuum head has its limitations, so shark invented duo clean. while deep cleaning carpets, the added soft brush roll picks up large particles, gives floors a polished look, and fearlessly devours piles. duo clean technology, corded and cord-free. and fearlessly devours piles. do i use a toothpaste that whitens my teeth, or one that's good for my teeth? now i don't have to choose. from crest 3d white, the whitening therapy collection with new spearmint and peppermint oil. it gently whitens, plus it has a fortifying formula to protect your enamel. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life. >> bill: markets down yesterday after the fed made a move. down again today. gerri willis, w

the six bipartisan appropriations bills and a one-year cr for the homeland security bill, or alternatively a one-year cr for the remaining seven appropriations bills. the president said last week, he would be proud to shut down the government. we democrats do not want to shut down the government. and as for the idea of what sarah sanders huckabee says, that they could get wall money from nafta or some other part of the government -- they need congressional approval and they are not getting it for the wall, plain and simple. now, where we? the -- are we? the ball remains in the republicans' court to accept one of our common sense proposals. on another matter of great importance to american families, health care, the ruling last friday from federal judge in texas put the future of the federal affordable care act at great risk. every american should be aware of the fact that if the ruling is upheld, the entire lot would come crashing -- law would it come crashing down, causing chaos in the system and calamity for over 100 million americans. we do not believe the ruling will stand or should st

bill and the other six bills. we're in agreement to vote for it. but, unfortunately, the republicans did not put that bill on the floor. they put an amended bill on the floor, which included wall money which we had said we wouldn't support. we don't think it is effective -- >> do you think, congressman, that president trump will back down on his request for $5 billion for border wall funding after all of this? >> wolf, i don't know the answer to that question. i, frankly, think nobody knows because, again, we remember some 72 hours before, maybe 96 hours before, the vice president came down to the united states senate and said that the bill that mitch mcconnell passed through the senate would be signed by the president. 24 hours later he changed his mind on that. so when you ask me a question i don't know the answer to, i hope that the president will agree to an agreement that can get 60 votes in the senate and a majority of the house and be sent to him so that we would avoid shutting down the government, at least

>> we want a bill that keeps america safe. the president's been clear about that and in his remarking today at the signing ceremony for the foreign bill. i'm not going to negotiate with you on air. the house is going to pass a bill and send it to the senate and we'll see what happens next. >> you know, when you say we'll see what happens, is that a good enough answer to the nearly 1 million federal workers who are not going to get a paycheck after midnight tomorrow night? >> that's the question for the senate democrats and especially for chuck schumer who apparently at nancy pelosi's bidding rescinded their support for a bill supporting border security. >> why not have a temporary measure at least keep people working especially as we're closer and closer to christmas? >> because if the bill doesn't fund border security, it can't keep america safe. in other words -- >> is another month or two going to make much of a difference? >> you know what? it makes a difference to the people that get killed by illegal immigrants who are d

he is reversing his position about signing a bill. maybe he thinks a government shutdown, he can golf more comfortably. that's not how it works. government must work, even if you are golfing for two weeks. there is something very wrong with this picture. it was one week ago, our troops looked to secretary mattis as a leader, and now he is going to be leaving the. this is very serious for our country. i yield. sen. schumer: secretary mattis was one of the few pillars of strength and stability in this administration. everything that indicates stability, strength, knowledge , is leaving this administration. general kelly. general matters. so many others. mcmaster. exactly. there is chaos now in this administration. this week was one of the most chaotic weeks we've ever seen an american government. to close, they want the week, president trump does, by shutting down the government. we all know that secretary mattis had real disagreements with the president on syria and on the wall. some were speculating that the president was going to dem

my bill dealt with juveniles. after working with you so many years, dealing with juveniles in solitary confinement and how we manage that. and that's something corey booker and i worked on. senator l.n.g.ford: the second thing is faith -- senator lankford: the second thing is faith-based groups. they reached out in all faiths, all backgrounds, working with recidivism. they have been blocked from our federal penitentiaries so this gives the options for the faith-based groups that's been so much and state penitentiaries to now work with our federal penitentiaries and to be able to help these folks. we have 40,000 people a year that are coming out of federal penitentiaries. we should do whatever we can that will help those folks re-engage in our community and with their families and with their faith and this bill allows us to be able to do that so i'm grateful for the engagement. president trump: thank you. >> i just would be remiss -- there are two or three people here you don't know their names. tameka, she is here

you heard him say the house bill with the senate bill with the house bill. this is senator corker, who's leaving the senate from the republican side, he's kind of a dealmaker. let's listen to him. >> so there won't be test votes, not going to be a tabling vote. and the vice president's been over here with his members negotiating already. what this does, i think, is push this ahead to a negotiation that yields a result and does the best we can to keep from shutting down government. or if it does shut down, shutting down very briefly. so i want to thank the two leaders for agreeing to go forward in this manner. it allows us to move forward in a positive way, and yet it keeps negotiations alive. only a bill can pass this chamber now that that has all of their agreements, and i thank them for going guard in this manner. david: okay. so all of the peacemakers are trying to get their licks in. i saw jeff flake get up after that. there's jeff flake speaking. of course, he's leaving the senate as well. this is his last song. let's take a listen. >> to insure that th

bill hemmer. house republicans finally getting a chance to question comey and the time is running out on that opportunity. democrats take control first week of january. comey was fighting a subpoena to force his appearance but finally agreed after lawmakers said they will release a transcript of everything that happens today tomorrow on saturday. here is trey gowdy. >> the f.b.i. had a criminal investigation into a presidential candidate and in less than a month after that ended, they launched a counter intelligence investigation into the campaign of the other major presidential candidate. it is not too much to ask for the former head of that entity to come explain to congress the decisions made and not made during the relevant time period. >> bill: mike emanuel is watching the movements on capitol hill. >> good morning to you. this is an important moment for these house republicans on these relevant committees wanting to question the former f.b.i. director james comey. he arrived on capitol hill

one of the prime sponsor of the bill that shutdowns backpage.com. the farm bill. a lot of people didn't realize there is a provision that may be the first time in a long time we have legislated on cuba. it opens up our marketing programs within the usda for promoting products in cuba. i could go through every day stuff i think it will matter to people in north dakota and already does matter to people in north dakota. it is a record of pretty solid accomplishments, none of which would be possible if we were not working in a bipartisan way. >> when you first came to anybody takeid you under their wing? sen. heitkamp: i would say no. >> nobody? sen. heitkamp: everybody is so busy. you learn by trial and error. i stepped on his toes, i will not do that again. if i can use colorful language, during the debate on immigration reform, which we passed. i tried to get some northern border stuff. there is another accomplishment. trying to make sure we don't just focus on the southwest order. that we don't ignore the northern border, which is critical. it is huge. i couldn't

the current farm bill expired on september 30. the house and senate have been fighting over their different versions of the farm bill, which each passed over the summer. the big issue has been working raqqa -- requirements for food stamp recipients, which the house version 10 and up considerably. that approach was not going to fly in the senate. the compromise that has been reached looks more like the senate version on that issue. we heard some initial negative reaction from house republicans because of that. the republican chairman of the agriculture committee said last week that he wants members to keep their powder dry to look at the compromise, and he hopes that they will like it. that on the to see floor in the coming weeks, with timetablethat is the probably changes. sometime in the next couple weeks before they and aa. host: the president's interest in signing something like this if it does not have the requirements? guest: the white house does not want to get ahead of the protestant of the things like this. i don't have an

some are going to suggest this bill, that the jount lying bill doesn't go far enough on the mandatory sentencing, i agree. that's the nature of legislation and compromise is all about. republican controlled senate is considering a bill by senators from both sides of the aisle and we have a chance to do something. congress should make this bipartisan legislation a fitting ending to this year. for all of the cynicism and skept vichl what congress can achieve. we can prove as soon as tam with one of the changes in our nation, that we can do the job of this nation. the people expect nothing else. madam president, i yield the floor. >> we're here to begin debate on a piece of legislation called the first step act of 2018. this happens to be the most significant criminal justice reform bill in a generation. our country is based upon the rule of law. if someone commits a crime, they should be punished and that punishment should be severe enough to deter others from committing crimes. but for our criminal justin system to serve our society well, it has to do more than punish and deter. reciti

yesterday, we passed the farm bill, the bill that really is brought together in the senate in a bipartisan way. unfortunately, the republicans almost lost it on the farm bill, because of some of the provisions they had for feeding the american people, nutrition programs, and the rest. it took democratic votes to help them pass the farm bill. and it is a bill that is much needed for our farmers and ranchers. it has a strong nutrition part to it, and it has strong bipartisan support. there were only 47 votes against it in the house of representatives. unfortunately, we are hearing now that the president may undermine the will of congress by doing executive order to take food out of the mouths of babies and families in our country as well as undermining the forestry parts of the legislation. again, we tried to make progress in a bipartisan way, and the president then will try to undermine that legislation. on a separate note, we have had some success in our me too legislation, and house and senate have come together. we still have things we want for the house. but we have a great compromise.

yes, the bill changed. it is not my original bill. golearned a long time a if you're determined to get the e iginal bill without changes, you never will happen. we had to find compromises that didn't compromise the basic values we were fighting for >> reporter: as senator durbin was sayeing,tor grassley, e and aere changes mad shift in the languagin th substance of the bill, but there is still oppition among your colleagues. senator tom cotton of arkansas says, yes, he likes some these changes, but it still would allow for e arly releaof criminals who committed violent offenses, bank robberies where they were using dangerous weapons, sexual assaults. how do you answer a criticism like this? >> well, e's wrong, first of all. there isn't anybody going to get out of prison as a result of our sentencing reform part of it. everybody realizes with mandatory minimums there are some unfairness in it, aisnd is to address the unfairness issue. , so you know,ou might have a 25-year sentence, and somebody in prison feels it's not fair, so you go

a revamped expending bill within the hour. we take that up and work with congressman jim jordan on the issue when w ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ the greatest wish of all is one that brings us together. the final days of wish list are here. sign and drive off in a new lincoln with zero down, zero due at signing, and a complimentary first month's payment. only at your lincoln dealer. our because of smoking.ital. but we still had to have a cigarette. had to. but then, we were like. what are we doing? the nicodermcq patch helps prevent your urge to smoke all day. nicodermcq. you know why, we know how. ♪ there's no place likargh!e ♪ i'm trying... ♪ yippiekiyay. ♪ mom. ♪ lou: jim jordan joined this answers on the bose judiciary and oversight committees and cofounder of the house from caucus and has been calling throughout for the funding of the president border wall and today this president making clear he will accept nothing less your thoughts tonight as the president is frankly reminding chuck schumer he is the minority leader an

i'm sandra smith. >> bill: i'm bill hemmer. cohen pleading guilty to violating campaign finance laws with those payments. now he says the president told him to do it out of concern the women's allegations might affect the election. in the reiterating to fox news his former attorney acted alone. cohen pushing back on that on abc from earlier today. >> he is saying very clearly that he never directed you to do anything wrong. is that true? >> i don't think there is anybody that believes that. first of all nothing at the trump organization was ever done unless it was run through mr. trump. he directed me as i said to in my allocution and in the plea, he directed me to make the payments. he directed me to become involved in these matters. >> bill: chief intelligence correspondent catherine herridge picks up the story this hour. good morning to you. >> the president's formal president attorney convicted of multiple crimes said it all comes down to timing in late october 2016. the fallout of the access hollywood tape. >> you have to

>> june 27, 2016, loretta lynch meets on a tarmac with bill clinton. director comey asks for emails between secretary clinton and president obama. the exoneration memo that jim comey had written was changed to delete any references to president obama from his public remarks, and three days later, the fbi sent a team of prosecutors and investigators into question hillary clinton. she didn't get a single question about the meeting between the retta lynch and her husband. she didn't get a single question about our communications with barack obama on an unsecured, unclassified server. these are questions every american would have asked, right out of the gate. it director comey and didn't know why they weren't asked, didn't have a good excuse for why no one in the room asked of those questions. he didn't follow up with loretta lynch, he didn't follow up with president obama, he didn't follow up with secretary clinto secretary clinton. >> martha: very surprising, it raises a lot of questions. i think those are very fair questions. did you take those question

. >> what bills? >> surprise medical bills. >> oh, yeah. >> what, if anything, do you plan to do in these two specific areas? >> well, on prescription drugs, secretary azar has some proposals that i think are very promising which i'm sure he'll talk about and i support them like making sure the advertising has the price of what you're buying. again, if people -- we passed a bill just this past year called getting rid of the gag rule which prohibited pharmacists from telling you that it's cheaper to pay cash than use your insurance to buy medicine. again and again, it seems to me like making sure people know the price of what they're buying will help bring down the cost of prescription drugs. surprise medical bills, the same thing. i don't know the solution for surprise medical bills, but we've got to deal with it. every senator cares about t. >> and senators, as we say goodbye, one fun thing. who plays a better harmonica, you or senator caine? >> tim kaine. but he carries around six or seven or eight,

or discussing a bill. when you mentioned the other person's name, you are attacking them and impugning their integrity. it is hard to do that and then turn around and try to find common ground. john thought about it for 30 seconds and we shook hands. and that was the beginning of a great partnership that we had on the judiciary committee. and for two years, neither one of us mentioned the other person's name even though we would disagree on the issue. i also asked that our cheese of -- our chiefs of staff get together for lunch every other week whether they thought they had something to talk about or not. and they'll always found something to talk about. we might introduce a bill, john or i, and the circles may have only overlapped 25% but we would get together on that 25% and tried to pass bills. at the end of congress, my goal was to enact more bills than any other chairman. i did not make that public. it would've been too immodest and the other chairmen would've tried to beat me. at the end of the year,