this is a great moment for the united states senate. this is the way the senate is supposed to function and this is the way the senate is supposed to exercise its per prerogatives it relates to foreign policy. a great moment for our body. senator cardin. mr. cardin: well, first to senator corker. there's a reason why members want to conserve -- serve on the senate foreign relations committee. we had a long list ofle members who wanted to -- of members who wanted to join the committee. the reason they wanted to join is not only because of the issues we have globally, but this is a committee that is bipartisan and respects the views of every single member, both democrat and republican, that is on the senate foreign relations committee. the bill we have before us reflects that in the best tradition of the united states senate and the foreign relations committee. that is due in large part pause of the -- large part because of the chairman. this is an important moment in the united states senate to be able to vote on a bill that is consequen

i could count on one hand how many times that's happened this year in the united states senate. what used to be the most deliberative body in america, the great debating society and so forth has turned into a place of rubber stamps and unanimous consents. and i'm glad, win or lose, in our effort here on this amendment, that the senator is bringing this important issue to the floor. i thank him for making it a them call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. graham: thank you. i take the floor today to strenuously argue against the proposition being pushed by senator paul and murphy and others to deny arms sales of about $500 million to the kingdom of saudi arabia. the package that they're trying to exclude from the $110 billion arms deal is precision-guided munitions that would be used by the f-15's, the package of joint direct attack munitions, pave laser-guided bombs for aircraft. the bottom line that the package that we're talking about of precision weapons that the saudi air force and military could use in operations against iran's proxy in yemen and other threats th

it should have been sent to the united states senate. you know who had the power to do that? your administration had the power to do that. you could have changed the deal. you could have gone to the united states senate and done what you said should have been done, have a full-throated debate with the american people. you chose not to do that why? >> the decision not to send it to the senate was made by the former administration. >> i know. but you could have changed things. you could have done it. >> it's clear that the demerits, the efficacy in environmental outcomes was a bad deal for this country. the president said he's going to put america first in trade, he's going to put america first in national security and border security, he's going to put america first in contracting the reach of washington, d.c. and he's going to put america first with respect to the environment and international agreements. i think what is being missed in all this the president said on friday paris we're getting out of because it represents a bad deal. the targets said about it previous adminis

the top democrat in the united states senate. thanks for being with us tonight. >> good evening. good evening, ms. maddow. >> thank you. let me ask you, top line for your reaction tonight to the sworn testimony today from the attorney general. did he set anything to rest in terms of the russia collusion question or the prospect that the investigation into that has been obstructed? >> no. i think he raised more questions than he settled. when you compare his testimony to director comey, director comey was forthright, even on occasion when some people thought it might have hurt him, but he told the whole truth and nothing but. he didn't hold anything back. jeff sessions seemed to be avoiding almost every question, few exceptions. and when the president, when the people around him, why do people suspect us? well, if you had done nothing wrong, the obvious conclusion is you'd be happy to talk about things. but if you're worried you might have done something wrong, then the conclusion is you better avoid it. and this idea when these -- the information is not classified and when the pr

the senate -- the united states senate. the most delivered a body in the world, the senate which has been known as a body that allows for , benefits from the views of all 100 members, that each of us have opportunities to have our voices heard, that tradition has been damaged by what the majority leader has done in bringing a bill that affects 1/6 of the economy of our country to the floor of the united states senate without the --eration by committees without transparency to the american people. madam president when i got to the senate i worked hard to get onto the senate finance committee. i did that because the jurisdiction in the committee contains areas that i have devoted a good part of my career too. anduding issues of taxation social programs in our state. it also included health care. an area that i worked on when i was first in the maryland state legislature. i wanted to be on the committee that had a role in developing health policy of the nation and thought i could add to that debate with my experience and i wan

and it will affect the functioning of the united states senate. more concerns with this bill will do. the process, terrible. the impact on the senate, terrible. the real tragedy here is the impact if this bill were to become law, the impact it would have on health care in america. i may talk about my state of maryland. it has been projected under thee spell that those who will not have insurance coverage will go back to what it was prior to the passage of the affordable carels act. that's a little over 400,000 marylanders are at risk of losing basic health coverage. ml it will infect everyone should insurance and i will get to that. as many as 400,000 are in jeopardy of losing their insurance because of what is done in regards to the alliances in the medicaid program itself. many more will lose quality coverage. senator markey talked aboutt pre-existing conditions. he claimed there is protection for pre-existing conditions, but it does not guarantee the services will be provided. because the states have given tremendous discretion as to what would

and i would say this, on september the 21st, 2016, 71 united states senators supported 71 votes to 27.s in other words, 71 united states senators rejected rand paul proposal to stop the sale of things. i would argue that a tank is not nearly as a precision weapon aso the weapons were talking about here to be given to the air force. if you're worried about collateral damage in yemen, i understand your concern. precision weapons would help'v that cause, not hurt it. you've got to understand who we're dealing with in yemen. what it with iran. saudi arabia has a border with yemen. the iranians are backing a force called the houthis to bring down a pro-western government in yemen. everywhere you look you see iran encroaching throughout the mideast. this theocracy in iran is the biggest threat to world order, and that is saying a lot, given the world as it is. and i say that with confidences because what iran is trying to do is destabilize the mideast in unprecedented fashion, and our arab allies are tired of it and now is the time to stand with them, with their imperfections, i guess i ran

and with the affordable care act and with the ofri restoring united states senate itself. for and we need the senators to say i will not go for anything there that has the bin day public hearing that has been jammed down the american approach and how will impact my state's hospitals and for the three republicans to say whatever order this is the only way the bill is not a total disaster a yield the floor.. >> mr. president i am grateful for the recognition my and for my colleague from hawaii or from across the country coming to the floor tonight this will be a long evening because there are a lot of folks were frustrated it isn't just frustration about the actual bill itself but a lot of it is building p. because of the broken this of the process. man has been conducted behind closed doors on both sides of the aisle and with the regular order. and to bring about a better process and to create the opportunity to reflect on the american health care act that the debate would happen and would come about that the american public would see go through the debate this very constit

states senator and an ambassador of a foreign government he could lieutenanted in an open setting with hundreds of other people to pull off the greatest caper in the history of espionage? >> thank you for saying that, senator cotton. it's just like through the looking glass. i mean what is this? i explained how in good faith i said i had not met with russians

and then the responsibility shifts to the united states senate. the majority leader, senator mcconnell and his republican followers had a chance to do a bill that was not mean. they had a chance to sit down on a bipartisan basis and to have the same process we used to create the affordable care act. that would have involved public hearings. we had 50 public hearings on the affordable care act. it would have involved a real amendment process. the affordable care act had 300 amendments. how many were offered by the republicans? over 150 offered and adopted, in a bipartisan process when we passed the affordable care act. the american people got a good look at the bill. the congressional budget office issued their analysis before we voted on it, and we passed it and i'm glad we did and i'm proud of that vote, but what happened in the senate when it came to the republicans? they went into secrecy. 13 chosen republican senators all sat in a room and wrote the throrn, or so we're told. they met in secret and never once had a public hearing, never once di

. >> there are only 100 people who serve in the united states senate. like the house, the senate does all its work through committees. that's where they hold their hearings, where they work on legislation and done oversight and investigations. of course, there are internal politics about who gets on what committee and who gets to be chair of a committee. in some states, certain committees are very important and give you a lot of home-state advantage if you're on those committees. you can understand why a senator from iowa would want to be on the agricultural committee or you could understand why a senator from new york would want to be on the banking committee. right? symptom states go with some committees. but some of the committees no matter where you're from, everybody wants to be on them. because they are prestigious in all the right ways for everybody in the senate. and so even though there are only 100 u.s. senators in total, 26 out of the 100 senators are on the armed services committee. more than one in every four senators is on that committee b

>> i'm optimist tick and the members of the united states senate are working diligently and i was in the session before coming to a close before mome memorial day and in the house of representatives there are detailed discussions of what could be one of the largest tax cuts in american history and the onerous burden that today frank placed ton -- on the american economy and rebuilding america's infrastructure, so it will be the best in the world and i'm on capitol hill a lot and they are working diligently to move this agenda forward and there is a lot of work to be done and not a lot of time to do it and i'm optimistic that come the end of this year, we are going to replace and repeal obamacare and the tax cuts and the economy that is continuing to grow for america. >> sean: for those people and the millions in poverty on food stamps and out of the labor force and the lowest homeownership in 51 years.

it didn't get the express train through the united states senate. it set a record for discussion, deliberation, debate, and a process that included comments and input and thoughts and testimony from americans across the country. not just red states, not just blue states, but all americans. and it was justifiable. it was absolutely justifiable. i wasn't here. i was at home in newark. i was mayor of a city. and this debate went on and on and on and captured the attention of the nation. something i have never seen before and i haven't seen since. the president of the united states then barack obama -- this to me was stunning. it caught my attention -- on national tv cameras. sure it was c-span. not what i turn to first when i am home relaxing on my couch, but the president of the united states invited congress in. republicans. some of the smartest minds. i've served here three and a half years now. some of the smartest minds i have met here in this country are here in the senate on the republican side. he invited the congress in to discuss and debate w

with the united states. and may i add one other element on a personal basis? it is so rare on the floor of the united states senate to see what we have just seen this morning, a proposal for an amendment to be debated. an amendment to be voted on on the floor of the senate. i could count on one hand how many times that's happened this year in the united states senate. what used to be the most deliberative body in america, the great debating society and so forth has turned into a place of rubber stamps and unanimous consents. and i'm glad, win or lose, in our effort here on this amendment, that the senator is bringing this important issue to the floor. i thank him for making it a them call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. graham: thank you. i take the floor today to strenuously argue against the proposition being pushed by senator paul and murphy and

today, it was news in the united states senate. >> you testified at the armed services committee you were not aware of the president or white house personnel contacting any in the intelligence committee with a request to drop the investigation into general flynn. yesterday, the "washington post" reported you had been asked by the president to intervene with director comey to back off of the fbi's focus on general flynn. which one of those is accurate? >> senator, i will say once again i am not going to get into any discussion in that in an open hearing. >> both of them can't be accurate, mr. director. >> senator ron wyden of oregon doing his best to try to get an answer from the director of national intelligence. these serving officials fromhe juice dertment and intelligence community saying they could not or would not answer, they didn't feel it was appropriate to answer a lot of the senator's questions. tomorrow, that same committee will start in again bright and early and this time their star witness will be fbi director james comey. we know something about what james comey will t

ruiz, we are now in the midst of a 15 minute vote on the floor of the united states senate and we are hopefully going to be able to come back and hear your testimony and have a trade representative confirmed by the united states senate, an extremely important vote. so i am going to state that the committee stands adjourned, subject call the chair, and i plan to be back within about seven minutes. i hope that that will fit your schedule because we certainly want to hear your testimony. >> thank you. >> the committee stands adjourned subject to call of the chair. >> the committee will come to order, ms. ruiz, you are recognized for your statement. thank you very much for coming. >> thank you. chairman roberts and other members of the agricultural committee, thank you for the opportunity to present my testimony this morning. my name is virginia ruiz and i am the director of occupational and environmental health at farmworker justice. farmworker justice is a national advocacy organization that supports farmworkers in the u.s. to improve their living and working conditions, health, occupat

it only takes three republicans in the united states senate to restore the united states senate itself, to restore the hearing process, to restore public confidence and restoresa bipartisanship. all we needal are three republin senators to say i won't vote for anything if there hasn't been a public b hearing. i won't vote for anything that's beingn jammed down america'sg throats. i won't vote for anything without being able to go back home and figure out how it wille impact my state's hospitals. this is not an unreasonable ask. we're just asking for three republicans to say let's be a senate again. let's restore order and transparency and to things the righton way. because that's the only way this bill will not be a total disaster.is i yield the floor. >> mr. president in. >> senator from new jersey. >> i'm grateful for the recognition. i amsefr grateful for my colleae from hawaii. really my colleagues from across the country who are going to be coming to the floor tonight. this is going to be a long evening because there are a lot of f folks who are frustrated. now,no it's not just fr

states senate without any real debate can they be stopped let's asked a night's politics. will be for tonight's politics panel our brian pruitt contributor to red state and sam sax writer and co-founder of the districts thank you both for being here tonight going to have you guys so after democrats held a monday night talk a thought to protest the still secret g.o.p. health care plan mitch mcconnell said today that republicans would provide the senate with a discussion draft his phrase of their bill on thursday fall goes according to schedule that would give the senate about a week one week to look over the plan before voting up meanwhile even some republicans like utah senator mike lee are starting to express frustration with how this is all been and will i be fine don't get me wrong to be voting on something soon. but we should be able to see it first we should have been able to see it weeks ago if we're going to be voting on it next week. john mccain rand paul lisa murkowski all have said similar things to what mike lee said does this mean that the democrats' strategy o

the people of wisconsin did not send me to the united states senate to take peoples health care away. and i won't stop fighting to protect the health care that people have today. together, we must stand up for zoe, fight for her family, and fight for every american who lays awake wondering if the health care they have today will be there tomorrow. fight on. >> bravo. >> great job. [applause] >> and we ask you, those of you from local papers and outlets to talk to your senators about the person that they are holding up to represent the millions of others. we will take just a few quick questions. any? okay. then thank you very much for coming. the fight goes on. we are going to do everything we can to win this fight in the names of these people, and the so many millions more they represent. thank you. >> the fight goes on. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the senate will be back for more speeches on the health care log replacement built in about 45 minutes or so. nothing official yet but it is possible there could be action into sin as soo

may times that's happened this year in the united states senate. what used to be the most lucrative body america, the great debating society and so forth, has turned into place of rubberstamps and unanimous consent. and i'm glad, win or lose, and her effort here on this amendment that the senator is bring this important issue to the fore. i thank you for making it a bipartisan effort in the process. >> unless at the concerns are allies would the junior senator from kentucky will move to discharge a resolution of disapproval against america arms sales to saudi arabia. it's importa

then, and only then, did we bring the bill to the floor of the united states senate. and when we did, we spent 25 consecutive days in session debating the bill on the senate floor in front of the american people. in short, democrats spent months making compromise after compromise in the hopes of getting republicans on board only to learn that they never had any intention of working with us at all. they never cared about expanding access to care or reducing drug costs for seniors or making insurance affordable. it didn't work with us then and it is certainly not working with us now. behind closed doors 13 republican men are debating just how many millions of americans will lose their coverage under this bill. is it 23 million? is it 20 million? 16 million? behind closed doors they are discussing just how high the age tax should be on middle-aged workers. is it $8,000 a year, $12,000 a year? behind closed doors they are picking and choosing which consumer protection it's to gut? should they bring back lifetime limits on coverage, which is a real problem if you have a se

a i can count on one hand how many times that has happened this year in the united states senate. what used to be the most deliberative body in america and a great debating society has turned into a place of rubberstamps and unanimous consent. i'm glad, win or lose, in our effort here on this amendment that the senators bringing to support the issue to the floor

to the very first bill i introduced to the united states senate, very first one to cult the interest rate on student loans, right? that's it. bring it down. do not make a profit. i was being just a little cheeky. i said, how about if we charge students the same amount we're charging jp morgan chase and citibank when we loan them money. [cheers and applause] so anyway, ultimately we go through all this but here's the problem. because the united states government is making profits off these student loans they've already been budgeted. so all those politics have already been built into the budget. so, in order to push this bill through, what i had to do was come up with a way to pay for it. you actually have to pay to get rid of those profits, to balance off the profits. i proposed basically the bucket rule, right? only millionaires and billionaires would have to pay taxes -- pull out your violents -- -- violents -- violins -- have to pay taxes the same rate as middle class families pay. think about is. i know, it's so sad. so sad. but if they did that -- if they just paid at just the s

states senate. by way of example, the house during the last session of congress, we passed over 500 pieces of legislation to address various issues that the senate did not even bother to have a senate floor vote on. and now the senate once again is empowering the democrats to be obstructionists and to block what president trump, what a majority of the house and a majority of the senate was elected to accomplish, much to the dissatisfaction of all those voters that sent us to washington d.c. so unless the senate changes the way in which they operate, i'm a aa grade you're going to continue to see this kind of deadlock without the kind of improvements that the people sent us to washington, d.c. to implement. maria: but are you expecting any changes in the senate? i mean, is there any reason to believe they're going to change anything? are you telling us right now you're not going to get the agenda do done? >> not unless we start changing -- i am telling you that, in my judgment, the senate, a majority

>> i understand but when it comes to the bill before the united states senate the fact of the matter is that people like you are going to get a tax cut. >> the fact of the matter is that those 6.5 million will no longer have to pay $3 billion in a penalty or tax to the federal government because they're not interesting in purchasing what the government wants to force them to buy. this system is run for the government, by the government, dictated by the government and it's not responding to patients' needs. 28 million individuals right now uninsured, 6.5 million folks spending $3 billion in tax penalty. premium is up, deductible is up. coverage going away. we haven't even begun to talk about the states where counties will have no insurance insurer next year. that system doesn't work for patients. that's what we're trying to fix. >> i'm not sure warren buffett will be satisfied that he got an answer to his. >> he i'm not sure that warren buffett is interested in insuring patients in those counties. that's keet. we need to look at every single american citizen and every single individua

states? >> no, senator risch. they have not. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator feinstein. >> thanks very much, mr. chairman. welcome, attorney general. >> thank you. >> on may 19th, mr. rosenstein in a statement to the house of representatives essentially told them that he learned on may 8th that president trump intended to remove director comey. when you wrote your letter on may 9, did you know that the president had already decided to fire director comey? >> senator feinstein, i would say that i believe it's been made public that the president asked our opinion.

states senate is going to do the right thing. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mrs. ernst: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mrs. ernst: no choice, and a proposed 43% increase in premiums. that's what obamacare and its harmful impact will bring to iowa in 2018. this year, it brought premium increases up to 42%. last year, it brought increases up to 29%. obamacare is not sustainable and not affordable for iowans. to anybody that has studied health care reform, this should come as no surprise. in the past, many states have tried to reform their individual market. 27 years ago, kentucky made an attempt and implemented the kentucky health care reform act of 1994. this bill was similar to obamacare in many respects. it contained more taxes, more regulations, and more mandates. within three years, three years, insurers fled the individual market and the state was hit with skyrocketing premiums. what happened in kentucky then is early similar to -- is eerily similar to what is happening in iowa tod

[applause] as the united states senator from vermont let me give you a brief overview of some of the serious crisis we currently face, crises which do not often get the attention they deserve, just are not talked about. as a student of james madison high school i recall my social studies teacher talking about how there was small, developing countries around the world that .ere oligarchic societies places where the economic and political life of the nation were controlled by a handful of very wealthy people. it never occurred to me as a kid in brooklyn that the united states of america, our great nation, could move in that direction, but that is precisely , in my view, what is happening today. today, in america, the top 1/10 of 1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. americans now own as much wealth as the bottom half of america and one family now owns as much wealth as the bottom 42% of our people. in the last 17 years while the middle cast -- class continues to decline, we have seen a tenfold increase in the number of billionaires. today in america, ceos are earning almost

you just witnessed something which is rare in the united states senate. this chairman said, we are all concerned about that because it is our privacy that senator graham has raised. but what about the privacy of the americans who are not in this room? well, now we run into another problem. senator franken asked you the most basic information, how many americans have been kept up in the 702? you can't tell us. you can't identify how many americans have been innocently swept up into this effort and can't ask it or answer senator graham's most basic question. so, mr. booker, how are we supposed to have confidence that you're being careful not to involve more people than necessary to keep america safe, not to avoid the constitutional requirement of a warrant if you want to know something about durbin or graham or franken or someone else? >> it's a hard question, senator. i think, like you, everyone at this table is concerned about our privacy and the privacy of our families, my folks in arizona, my in-laws in alabama. something we think about day in and day o

do you now regret not making this treaty ratified in the united states senate? forcing it to be codified here? >> no, i -- really not because it wouldn't have happened. that's very simple. let's be realistic about it. president made an executive agreement because that was the best we could do and we presumed that common sense, that basic economics, that science, would ultimately prevai i don't ink anybody could ve predicted that we would have seen a story like we saw i "the new york times" today about how the republican party has traveled lock, stock and barrel into the hands of the koch brothers and special interests where they're prepared to stand up and deny science and deny facts. i mean, what does donald trump know that rex tillerson, the former ceo of exxonmobil, doesn't know? what does he know that the ch f chichief of -- that the ceo of apple, of google, of general electric, of companies all across america who urged the president not to pull out, what does donald trump know that president xi, who runs an enormous economy, or president macron or chancello

you just wait for something which is rare and the united states senate. this chairman royce said let's extend the time at the center to keep asking because we are all concerned about that because it's our privacy that senator graham has raised. but what about the privacy of the americans who are not in this room? now we run into another problem. senator franken asked to the most basic information, how many americans have been swept up into the 702? you can't tell us. how are we supposed to believe that transparency is really the guiding principle and that we have such great data collection if you can't even identify for us how many americans have been innocently swept up into this effort, and can't answer senator graham supposed basic question. so mr. brooker, how are we supposed to have confidence that you are being careful not to involve more people unnecessary to keep america safe, not to avoid the constitutional requirement of a warrant if you want to do something about durbin or grandpa frank a someone else? >> it's a hard question it. i think like y

we're now going to take our viewers live to the united states senate that's about to gavel in for the day. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> let us pray. gracious father, our shield and defense. we look to you in these challenging times

>> yes, because it i think the united states senate anyway is good at come part mentalitiedlizing what we are doing we know important investigation attention of american people want facts intelligence committee where issues are resolved at this time, the rest of us you ever working on other issues we spent three days, together is as senate republican conference talking about health care now i think we have done that three, four weeks that is huge amount of time to spend on one particular issue, with literally members participating i think getting someplace the about basics coming together i am still optimistic that we've got a pretty good shot getting something done but not just the health care, it is -- it is a matter of tax reform, and also the budget itself the appropriations process. you know if one thing i could see change would be appropriations process, it has not worked in 43 years, only worked four times during that time period could pass 12 appropriationbills why in the world do you keep doing the same thing over and over again if not working the way it was supposed to we've

. >> later here about a united states senator. >> he was ultimately very respected. he was really well-liked i people. --could be quite richly brisk. high principle. if you did not have the same level or principles of integrity as he did he would be very vocal about that. hour we will have the special collections as we hear about a suffragist. linda: "leaving home, home friends and associates, we are this evening quartered in the open prairie, 15 miles from peoria. we have had but little difficulty in our journey so far. across the illinois river, or perhaps the last time, with but little difficulty except what has been occasions by bidding farewell forever to those with whom most of us have associated all our lives." many people came over the oregon trail between 1843, the beginning of the big migration that came west, most people walking the trail. just imagine walking for 8-15 miles. it was six months of really tough, tough work. but diaries like this that are full of rich in detail and reflective of what is happening are just gems. and abigail scott duniway is an

a simple majority vote in the united states senate. amendments will be considered on what they call a vote-a-rama basis. and if it sounds like some kind of a game, it's almost a game. you offer an amendment, you get like one minute to explain your amendment on changing health care in america. the other side gets one minute to explain their opposition, and off you go to a vote. and then another one and another one. your head is spinning, trying to figure out what in the world each of these amendments, each of these votes are going to mean. and those are the measures to be taken by the senate when it comes to health care. this is exactly the opposite of what happened when the affordable care act was passed. do you know that we adopted 160 republican amendments to the affordable care act? none of them voted for final passage, but 160 amendments were offered by republicans to change it, and they were adopted. it was a bipartisan process on the amendments. how much amendments will we be able to offer to the republican senate proposal that's

good evening friends we start tonight in the united states senate where senate majority leader mitch mcconnell delayed the vote on the health care bill to replace obamacare until.