senate. : in the is broken senate save itself in the country. he spoke to the brookings institution. mr. galston: let me try to call this full house to order, if i may. welcome to brookings. my name is bill galston, senior fellow in governance studies. thanks so much for coming and welcome also to the people who are watching this event live on cspan. today's topic is the past, the present, and possible future of the u.s. senate. the occasion of this discussion is the publication of ira shapiro's second book on the senate, this is titled kwoek can thed, "broken: senate save itself and the country?" those of you that read his first book on the senate will know how passionately he reveres the senate as an institution and will not be surprised to learn how distressed he is by what he describes as its precipitous decline. this topic could not be more timely. we are just days from the expiration of another short term continuing budget resolution, and perhaps even more pertinently from a promised op

senate. the occasion of this discussion is the publication of ira shapiro's second book on the senate, this is entitled, "broken: can the senate save itself and the country?" those of you that read his first book on the senate will know how passionately he reveres the senate as an institution and will not be surprised to learn how distressed he is by what he describes as its precipitous decline. this topic could not be more timely. we are just days from the expiration of another short term continuing budget resolution, and perhaps even more pertinently from a promised open senate debate on u.s. immigration policy. will the promise be kept? and if it is, will today's senate be up to the job of an open deliberation on the most burning domestic question, more than domestic in implications facing the country. when it comes to the study of american political institutions, there are two kinds of scholars. type one, people who have been trained in academia, wonderfully trained in academia in many ca

we heard from senator cornyn, then i spoke, senator cotton spoke, senator ernst, senator tillis, senator lankford now. senator perdue is one of those who is a cosponsor of the bill and would have like to have been here to speak, but he is just now returning from his constituency. so we have tried to lay out a path to giving daca kids certainty, doing it from the standpoint of being humanitarian for people who were brought to this country by their parents. their parents may have broken the law, and did break the law by coming over our borders without documentation, but we never should hold children responsible for what their parents did. so this legislation takes ta xash yacht and reasonable -- compassionate and reasonable approach to reforms including pathway to citizenship, grandfathers people waiting in line for family visas and expedites clearing that backlog. it helps to keep young people out of the same legal limbo in the future. this legislation is a product of compromise. the president and many conservatives have come a longs -- a long ways to offer this plan, and especially the p

senator lott and the senate had to confront this question. how do we measure our responsibilities here? how do we balance the law of impeachment which there wasn't much, with the political situation because essentially impeachment is a legal put issue but it's a political determination about what the president has done, what the president has done to try so hard at our government and country and state and what peter baker said and what i've tried to describe the process of how you work this through in an incision ration where there are no rules and the two of you did when you first communicated superbly together. second you involved all the senators in a way they felt the senate was really considering all kinds of options. they ended this trial quickly and we censored the president. various things were all considered and how many witnesses would come forward. he did an extraordinary job of steering your way through its being sensitive to the politics but always understanding that there had to be enough of a trial to satisfy everyone that it h

i would call it mansfield senate. mike mansfield set the tone that senate. the longest-serving majority leader. he built a senate in my view, that was premised on trust, mutual respect, good-faith engagement and i would say, bipartisanship. it was a healthy place. anna found that to be the case while i was working for senators in the majority in the 70s. and then it carried over into the 80s even though we lost majority control of the senate. so i loved what i was doing. and i think everyone there loved what they were doing. it was a great place. it is no accident that people that we know now but not necessarily then were running around like madeleine albright or stephen breyer or lamar alexander and susan collins. i cannot even begin to fathom what it would be like now. all of these bright people who want to work in the senate come to the senate. they are very busy. they are still always very busy. they do good work. sometimes they produce things in committee. and then, the leaders for the leader says we are not doing that. it's not part of the partisan age

senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and senate minority leader chuck schumer announcer to your federal budget agreement. the deal increases defense and non-defense spending over the next two years. it lives the debt ceiling until 2019 and adds funding for medical research, cleaning health centers and hurricane disaster relief. the two leaders spoke about the agreement on the senate floor. m >> i'm pleased to announce that our bipartisan negotiations on defense spending and other priorities have yielded a significant agreement. i want to thank my friends in democratic leader for joining me this afternoon and for the productive discussions that have generated this proposal. the compromise we've reached will ensure that for the first time in years our armed forces will have more of the resources they need to keep america safe. it will help us serve the veterans who bravely served us and it will ensure funding for important efforts such as disaster lit relief, infrastructure and building on our work to fight opioid abuse and drug addiction. this bill is the product of extensive negotiation

the senators -- i wrote an article in 2012 saying, senators, take back the senate. it's sort of up to you in the first instance and it's up to the public in the second instance. >> well, we have only one minute left. so let me pronounce the benediction. as i'm sure you know, the founders of this country in designing our political institutions did not want a party system, did not anticipate a party system, but within six years after the establishment of the constitution, we got a party system and we've had a party system ever since, almost always a two-party system. and so, we've been wrestling, really, since the mid 1790's with the question of how the institutions which were designed to-- you know, which were thought through without regard to political party, how are these institutions going to function in the context of two political parties. if you go back to james madison, the assumption is that the different fly wheels of the system will check and balance one another, when individual ambition is attached to what madison called the place. that is a location withi

senator? >> thank you, and thanks to my colleagues for working so hard to get this legislation introduced. chairman grassley outlined the basic shape of the legislation which implements the president's frame dg wo framework. this is a sensible and coherent compromise, it solves the problem of daca but also does so in a responsible fashion. it provides legal status and ultimately citizenship for people who were brought here through no fault of their own as minors before the age of accountability. we have to recognize if we do that, we will create negative side effects. first we will encourage more illegal immigration which means you have to secure our southern border, giving our immigration authorities the money and resources and legal authorities they need. second, it will create a whole new pool of immigrants who are newly legalized who can then get legal status and ultimately citizenship for their extended families, especially their parents, who created the situation in the first place. so t

now, 50 years later, this resolution that senator jones and i and senator cardin and senator corker introduced seeks to recognize their sacrifice and contributions to the civil rights movement. it is important that our children grow up learning about how these 1,300 memphis sanitation workers, and many others, struggled for racial justice in the mist of all of that chaos. on tuesday i introduced a senate resolution, to which i referred. i did it along with united states senators bob corker, my colleague from tennessee, senator doug jones from alabama, senator ben cardin of maryland to recognize the 50th anniversary of the 1968 memphis sanitation workers strike. representative steve cohen has represented the same in the house of representatives. he recruited 76 cosponsors. i would like to thank representative cohen for taking the lead in my house and my tennessee colleagues inincluding flash marn and custoff and role for their support as well. i hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this resolution, mr. president. i yield the floor. i have been asked to make some concluding remarks. mr.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, we find ourselves in another position like we found ourselves in before. we find ourselves in a position in which the government spending authority is set to expire in just a few hours. we've known this was coming for weeks, just like we did with the last continuing resolution and the one before that and the one before that. as it was once observed we are living in a number of necessities. every time we approach this as if it were somehow going to be different this time, we quibble from time to time about this or that policy, we quibble from time to time about the price tag. sometimes we're so focused on the policy and the pricing that we forget about the process. and it's primarily to this subject, the process, that i'd like to turn my attention for the next few minutes. you see, the process is important around here. we come from different backgrounds. we come from different states representing i -- diverse intert across the country. we are not going to agree on everything

those senator included sator cornyn, senator cassidy, senato kennedy, senator enzi, senat barrasso, senator lee, senator toomey, senator inhofe, and senator lankford. those are senators from a wide geographic array, all facing significant job losses potentially, and all interested in a positive solution to this problem. in the remarks we just heard on the senate floor, none of the senators proposed any relief to the potentially hundreds of thousands of blue collar workers being driven out of work by a broken regulatory system. no relief whatsoever. indeed, none of the senators disputed the fact that the r.f.s. worked and worked just fine when r.i.n.'s were selling for a penny. this debate is not about the r.f.s., should we continue it or not. when i was a candidate for president, i campaigned on ending it. i didn't win. i lost that election. this is not a fight about ending the r.f.s. the current administration is committed to continuing the r.f.s. that's the prerogative of this administration. this is instead a search for a solution that would save tens of thousands if not hundreds of thou

senate rules allowed any senator to block that vote until 1:00 a.m. and only an unreasonable senator pulling a hollow stunt would do that. that, of course, meant rand paw blocked the vote for what he knew would be only a few hours, just long enough to create a government shutdown which might not last until sunrise.

president, i yield the floo floor. >> the senator from t florida. [inaudible] we want to come here to work together on the issues that we can work together on and on that front, i must say the ability to work with senator nelson on thi this, it's been invaluable to have senators from two different parties singing from the same song sheet about the priorities that are critical to our state, and what's unique about the disaster relief is at the impact on florida wasn't just the impact on florida. it was also the impact. [inaudible] on puerto rico. [inaudible] the last two months has been the ability to work here in the senate, not from the cameras, not through a series of press conference, but the way legislation is put together and thee way we were able to work together to come out with a concise, unified position on the needs of florida and puerto rico, working the leadership of the democratic party on the side and republicans onar ours and i've gotta tellf you, the place where it's very hard to get 60% of what you want, and that's a win, when you s

thank you, senator. thank you for your time this morning. this person would like to know if you feel there is a lack of service leadership in politics today and would you please define what you think a service leader is? >> i really don't know what a servant leader is. who wrote the question? what is the servant leader? leads --e who not only -- far toothat off often in our politics that talk replaces action. that is not a good thing. senate isople -- the an interesting place. it is only 100 people. you really get to look into the souls of people. it is very hard in a body that work so closely to hide who you are. i think the senator sue have the most respect are the people who get most things done not the people who make the most flamboyant or refined speeches. i think that role has always daysimportant in these with so much press magnification and small and trivial things. that ultimate value of being a servant leader is very them or did. i think -- is very important. if you asked me to everyone of my

senator murray, senator casey and others. senator isakson was another of those. senator burr is chairing the hearing and i thank him for that. i would also like to welcome senator smith from minnesota, who is joining our committee, replacing senator franken, who was a valuable member of the committee. senator jones from alabama is also a new member of the committee. we welcome him. he replaced senator whitehead, who was a very valuable member of the committee -- i mean whitehouse, who has taken a lesser assignment on the finance committee, for some reason, but we will miss sheldon and his work on this committee. i'm going to, mr. chairman, withhold my comments, although what i would like to do is call on senator isakson for one minute just to make some comments, and then we'll go to senator casey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i just wanted to reference the statements made by the ranking member, senator murray, whom i dr. fitzgerald. i talked with dr. fitzgerald yesterday. as chairman of the ethics committee, i have gotten her in touch with the appropriate people t

right now, the senate is shut down, really in all part because of senator rand paul. he said this today. the reason i'm here tonight is to put people on the spot. i want people to feel uncomfortable. i want them to have to answer people at home who said how come you are against president obama's deficit and how come you are for republican deficits? >> in fairness, he is reiterating the republican position all throughout the obama years and all of a sudden nobody is concerned about debt and deficits and they are more concerned about keeping the government (that is what happens when you have the government to run. nancy pelosi, that is different. there's been a lot of focus on republican fights, and fighting among the republicans and how they can't agree. democrats are in terrible position. democrats nancy pelosi has negos deal that she's very pleased with. on the other hand, she has a base, donors and supporters who want donald trump impeached. the idea that she's working along with him is just so -- she can't -- she can't do it. she can't bring herself to actually do

[applause] >> thank you, senator schumer. senator schumer has agreed to take questions. i know from your audience that just turned in cards and mary kay lindsay and hannah washington will take turns asking questions. >> good morning senator, thanks for being here i don't see where . i don't see where you are, -- where are you mary kay? >> first question from the audience, there's been talk of a blue wave of democrats winning seats in the midterms. if this is to happen, what are the biggest obstacles democrats must overcome before that time? >> i think that our goal and i have said this publicly i think in 2016 we didn't do enough of this. people will make their own decisions about donald trump. you do know that in off year elections it's often and referendum on the president. right now his popularity levels are low particularly in states and districts where they are contested races. but our mistake i think, we cannot just run against donald trump and it is the job of we democrats to put together a strong, cohesive, economic group of proposals aimed at the middle class an

because we're the united states senate, mr. president. house of representatives only need a majority. we get 60, because we want a consensus. why? when we take on a big, difficult passionate issue like this, we don't want to -- we want the people of the country to accept it and turn around and look, if that many democrats and republicans thought it was good idea, maybe shy rethink my own view and think it's a good idea, too. that's why president trump has a chance to be mixon to china on immigration. he won his election to a large extent because me promise to -- talked about immigration now saying here's a solution that has to do with border security citizenship and for the daca children and people will pay attention to that and pay attention to us if we get more than a bare majority to vote for some version of what the president has recommended. well, we're up to 54. i can give you an example. in the late 1960s the debate was civil rights. everett dirkson was the minority leader of the united states senate. the republican leader. lyndon

we passed it here in the senate. but of course, with our bicameral system of government we needed the house to tackle the same problem, and they refused. they wouldn't even consider the bill we passed. they wouldn't come up with an alternative. wouldn't try to amendment it. just said we're not going to talk about it and they didn't. so for five years, we have done nothing, and this year, we have a chance to do something. in fact as we need to do something. on emseptember 5 last year president trump announced he was eliminating what was known as the daca program. now, the daca program was created by executive order under president obama, to give to those who were characterized as dreamers, a chance to be legal in america on a two-year renewable basis. 780,000 young people had signed up for republican's daca program. all across the united states. these were people, young people, brought to the united states by their parents, in a very early age, and they were going to be given chance to stay here, two years at a time,

at that time the senate i would call mansfield senate. mike mansfield set the tone for that senate. the longest-serving majority leader. he built the senate that was premised on trust, mutual respect, good faith engagement and i would say, bipartisanship. it was a healthy place and i found that to be the case while i was working for senators in the majority in the 70s. they carried over into the 80s even though we lost a majority control of the senate. i loved what i was doing. i think everyone loved what they were doing. it was a great place it's no accident that people we know now that we didn't know them i can't even begin to fathom what it would be like now all these bright people who want to work in the senate come to the senate. they're very busy they do good work, sometimes they produce things in committee and then the leader says, we are not doing that is not part of our agenda. i want to hear your views on this could be thought about it so much that the evolution of the leader driven senate i think it would be awful to be the. >> i don't think the relationship factors what

join the discussion the senate has been debating immigration issues this week. a number of proposals have been talked about but none voted on so far. under the ground rules set up by majority leader mcconnell any proposal needs to get 60 votes to be part of the bill. coming up will hear from senator mcconnell, minority leader chuck schumer along with majority whip, john cornyn and minority whip, richard durbin. >> it is now wednesday morning the week the senate set aside to debate daca, border security, interior enforcement and other immigration issues. i promised i would clear the way to debate these matters this week and i have. i promised i would ensure a fair amendment process in which both sides could offer legislation for discussion and vote and i have. yesterday the congressional hispanic caucus released a letter thanking me for keeping my commitment and urge the senate to resolve this issue quickly. but we haven't even been able to get started yet. haven't even been able to get started. yesterday i tried twice to open debate and start the voting. both ti

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session for the consideration of the following nomination: executive calendar 387. i ask consent that the senate vote on the nomination with no intervening action or debate, that if confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action, that no further motions be made in order, and that any statement relating to the nomination be printed in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. cruz: mr. president. thpriding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cruz: reserving the right to object. i thank my friend from iowa for his continued efforts both on behalf of mr. northey and working to find a commonsense solution to the issue that has thus far delayed mr. northey's confirmation. you know, the phrase my friend is used often in this body. sometimes it is used in a hollow manner, but in this instance, senator grassley i

the senate having made its kentucky senator rand paul was hoping things out. again, the don't government in a shutdown, four hours ago, midnight eastern time when the current spending authority ran out. the senate was able to make its vote, or take its vote in order to move forward with this legislation. through marchding through march 23 and working on a two-year budget agreement. an outcome of the house is working on this legislation. this is a previous question. we will see a vote next on the rules. that will govern how the house will deal with the legislation as a move toward a final vote. and we could see a final voteann monday. and a little debate of the house leaders telling voters what is your plan if the house does not manage to pass this in the government continues to stay in shut down? >> so, i believe -- i am a military member and personally, i am offended by the democratic trying to make hay of this bill. there is no reason. i think they don't understand that they put millions of -- in jeopardy. chase bank will not pay a military member that midmo

simons i'll start with you. >> easy yes senator. >> absolutely yes senator. >> absolutely, senator. >> yes, and i would add the commission also need to be a keep partner with attorney general and others on this. >> good that was another follow-up yes i had for you. thank you. >> what did you envision is the most contentious difficult set of consumer protections coming before you if you are confirmed mr. simons i'll start with you. >> i think it is how we handle the -- the data breaches that are becoming, you know, much more significant -- much more frequent. and i think that's a real, real, real serious concern for us. and that we need to pay close attention to it. >> thank you. >> i would tbrea with mr. simons when i was -- at the commission in the early 2000s we have a great dealful tile working on data security and consumer privacy issues, and i foresee the same frankly in the coming years if confirmed. >> thank you. >> colleague senator i would add, though, we with can't allow contentious issues to distract us from the bread and consumer protection side looking out for children, v

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. a senator: i rise in opposition to the nasa spending increases included in the proposed budget measure. to propose increasing federal spending by nearly $300 billion over the next two years on top of the spending increases already established is simply beyond comprehension. mr. flake: this is all with a national debt of $20 trillion a year, current deficits running $600 billion to $700 billion. yet we're about to vote on a bill to abandon self-imposed limits on federal spending. anybody who spent time in washington will know that once you've raised spending limits, you just don't get them back down. now i love bipartisanship, but not when it's bought and paid for with billions of taxpayer dollars. that's precisely what this measure does. you sprinkle enough money around, you can get bipartisan support. while i was in the house for 12 years i kept a journal of events. and in december of 2007 when we passed a massive omnibus bill at that time, i noted, and i'll quote from my journal, th

senator lee? >> thanks to each of you for being willing to serve and for being here to answer our questions. some of you might be familiar with a proposal known as the smarter act. the smarter act is a piece of legislation that would ensure that the department of justice, antitrust officials, and the federal trade commission officials would have to meet the same standard when seeking a preliminary injunction to block a proposed merger. and it would also require the ftc to litigate merger cases in federal court instead of relying on the administrative processes to which they have access. at some points in the past, i've discussed these proposals with individuals who will say i don't necessarily see the need for legislation like that and don't like it because we don't need to it be that way anyway. we already don't do those things and there is no reason to change it. so i guess i've got a couple of questions related to this. i'd like to have each of you tell me, number one, whether there is any good

senator's time and i think the senator from nebraska for indulging me for a moment. >> mr. president. >> senator from nebraska. >> thank you. over my time in public service, i have been committed to supporting common sense pro-life measures that offer empathy for women and for unborn children. too often women experience despair and pain and judgment from others during an unplanned pregnancy. we should offer compassion for these expectant mothers. they need to know that we will continue to support them in the challenging years ahead. we should also be willing to protect the most innocent among us, the unborn, who can feel pain and have the chance of viability. i rise today to discuss the legislation that the senate will consider shortly. the pain capable unborn child act. bill thatreasonable has the support of 47 senators. this kind of bill has passed in many states, including my own. my state of nebraska has a proud tradition of being pro-life. we were the first state in the country to pass a 20-week abortion ban. the legislation before us today would enact the same policy

again, i want to thank my colleaguean senator langford and senator grassley, senator purdue, cotton, all those who have weighed in, senator cornyn to try to craft a solution that's responsive to the presence framework, responsive to some of the concerns that our friends on the other side of the aisle happen now it's time for us to act. let's do something different. let's produce a result. let's not talk about it and say we tried, let's produce a result, provide certainty for those people waiting for us to act. but secure our border

there's another bipartisan bill out there from senator chris coons and senator john mccain. that can't get 60 votes. the one ray of hope the democrats are clinging to right now is that bipartisan proposal that senator flake was talking about. obviously they've been working on that for weeks, trying to get it to the forefront, trying to get republicans and democrats to agree on what's a very, very complex issue. we are told the text of that proposal will be released today. that is probably the best shot for 60 votes, but john, you laid out the key issue here. this isn't just what can get 60 votes in the united states senate. this is what can move forward in the house. this is what the president is willing to sign. i think the interesting element here is when you talk to democratic aides involved in this, they make the point that, look, if we get something across the finish line, the president wants to deal with this issue, he'll figure out a way to get behind it. that president and his team over the course of today have been working behind the scenes to basically beat back an

he is a senate legend. the best leaders i have known in my 43 years in the senate have shown three special qualities. the senate'sod unique constitutional role in the system. the second trait is the ability to bring people together, to forge agreements even when based on compromises. as -- little of great consequence is accomplished by any legislator alone, high achievement is a joint effort, especially with leadership like yours. a senate leader needs all of the tools. you have to be a quarterback, a shepherd, father, confessor, and you are every one of those. as a leader, he was a catalyst a , facilitator, a straight talker. he also had the best sense of humor of any senator i have served with and i could probably not repeat some of the comments we had, but i remember when he and george mitchell met every day, he would invite democrats and republicans into his office and somehow persuade us we were working together and we did. his third trait is why that worked, that is trust. a good and effective leader

with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without

senator rubio and senator nelson, we represent these fine people. we will not be judged by what we say here tonight, by the quality of our answers, or by any back and forth in words. the folks in our community don't want words. they don't want thoughts and prayers. they don't want discussions. they want action. and we owe it to them to provide it. [ cheers and applause ] >> senator nelson? senator nelson? >> we're all grieving. your hope gives me hope. your determination gives me more determination. and what we're facing is what's going to be done. there ought to be some common sense solutions like getting the assault rifles off the streets. [ cheers and applause ] another common sense solution having criminal background checks on every acquirer of a gun. [ applause ] so you have been so strong. keep it up. and keep hope alive. thank you. [ applause ] >> senator rubio? there's no words that could describe the pain that a parent feels at the loss of a child or when you lose someone, it's not natural to lose a child. and i am a u.s. senator. and i'm a

romney: a junior senator does not have a leadership role. i hope to be a leader among colleagues, but by virtue of my persuasive nature, but no, i'm not an line for a leadership post. [cheering] >> we want mitt! we want mitt! we want mitt! >> tonight on "q&a," "crashback," the conflict between the u.s. and china in the pacific. >> china has lost a lot of face and it is hard for westerners to get in idea of what that means to the ancient culture. especially for someone as big and proud as china. it has that never again mentality. with thistart mindset, we will build up our navy and old up our missile defense forces -- old up our missile defense forces so we never lose face again. >> tonight on c-span's "q&a." iraonight on "after words," schapiro with his book "broken: can the senate save itself and the country?" he is interviewed by former senate majority leader tom daschle. >> politics was about finding a way to overcome differences through principled -- extended discussion and a real legislative process, through principled compromise. it wa

because the senate works of senate procedure if the senator from kentucky didn't agree to an earlier vote. this was going fo go until 1:00 a.m. here we are 1:00 a.m. the senate floor they are having the first procedural vote. this will end debate on the budget deal. about an hour and a half from now they'll hold the vote to pass this. when this day started there were two things that were known. the senate had the votes to fasz this and the senate was expecting to move this to the house sometime early afternoon. here we are 1:00 a.m. the government has been shut down for an hour. rand paul has major objections to the deal and the process. just wanted one amendment to get a vote. has objected throughout the entire process and because of that not only did we cross the threshold of the sdhount. right now there's not necessarily a clear path forward as this moves from the senate to the house. >> let's talk about that. if it gets@house the question about democrats. are the votes there? >> it's the elusive answer. we have been looking for throughout the day. the people who are actually behi

the white house, senate leaders touting the bipartisan deal in the senate that they reached yesterday. >> this president is committed first and foremost to this new deal to fund our military. from the podium and in keeping with the national defense authorization act. we are very pleased that that money is there for our and women in uniform. >> this budget bill will be the best thing we've done for our economy, our military, our middle-class for a long time. >> i am not going to suggest it is perfect but we worked hard to find common ground and stay focused on serving the the amen people. >> harris: just so you know, during the latter part of this hour, the closure vote to haul debate on that from the senate side. this is happening right now, moving forward potentially to keep the government down on the senate side. the budget deal is much less certain on the house side. nancy pelosi, eight hours she was on the house floor speaking, demanding a commitment from paul ryan to hold a vote on dreamers after they get their funding issues resolved and on the right, deficit hawks have come out

it's the senate's turn now. the senate had been expecting to take it up as early as 1:45 this afternoon. a little hitch. what we're hearing, frank thorpe from nbc news tweeting about some of what's going on, saying senator cornyn is confirming that rand paul is holding up the senate c.r. budget deal vote. he wants a vote on his amendment and leadership is recommending he do it as a budget point of order. back to the house for a second. craig kaplan, or capitol hill producer tweeting about nancy pelosi. and a letter, a members letter she has just released. here's what she says. pelosi letter to the house democrats, ahead of the budget deal vote. republicans do not have the votes to pass this caps bill on their own. house democrats have a voice here and we must be heard. these are the reasons that i am voting against this bill. that is from the democratic leader of the house. the ranking member on the budget committee, john yarmuth, craig kaplan tweeting, john yarmuth will vote yes on the budget deal if democrats

senate. he is a vocal advocate for veterans and our men and women currently of serving in the military. he's also been the champion on the issue of bio defense. and i mean the champion. he sponsored the original pan dem and i can all hazards preparation reauthorization act, as well as the 2013 reauthorization. and under his leadership, the senate has begun consideration of the 2018 reauthorization. we're grateful that he could take time out of a very, very busy schedule today, and we certainly look forward to his perspective on what's to come. welcome with me senator burr. >> tom, thank you very much. i jump on any invitation right now to go for 15 or 20 minutes and not mention russia. [ laughter ] it seems to be all-consuming. but it also demonstrates the things that we think are in the rear-view mirror, all of a sudden reappear right in front of us. and that's how we have to put in perspective the need for an investment in the right leadership in bio defense. we have new adversaries every d

>> [applause] senator mcconnell: thank you very much, paul. the speaker likes to lay claim to the vice president, given the close friendship and past service together. my house colleagues are rightly proud to have served alongside. i would remind everyone he now belongs to the senate. >> [laughter] sen. mcconnell: in fact, the president of the senate, mike pence, is well on his way to set the record for breaking the most tiebreakers in senate history. >> [applause] sen. mcconnell: i told you guys it was close in the senate. just to put that in context, mike has cast eight tie-breaking votes so far. betsy devos, sam brownback, ted cruz's important tax reform amendment, cre's on both title 10 and cfpb. the vice president enjoys spending time in the senate because surveying the landscape, i am starting to suspect we will see even more of him this year. >> [laughter] sen. mcconnell: to put those eight tiebreakers in context, dick cheney broke eight ties in eight years. mike pence broke eight ties in one year. things are tight. >> [applause] sen. m

chairman. >> thank you, senator. senat senator merkley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. during the time you've been director it's taken 15 actions related to air quality and 15 of those diminished air quality and zero of them improve air quality and yet i heard from you quite a bit today about your interest in quality and my question is how many of those 15 actions were supported by the american lung association which has made air quality a significant part of the advocacy effort? >> imf on not sure, senator. >> well, it's zero. as you would expect since 15 actions have diminished air quality and how many have been supported by the american academy of pediatrics? >> i'm not sure. >> well, you want to take a guess? >> i'm sure you'll advise me. i would say run the agency to improve air quality rather to diminish it in areas such as o zone and smog and methane and mercury and the list goes on and on. >> on those issue, senator, is an example on o zone. we are implementing the 2015 standard as we speak, on methane, i've indicated -- >> i'll have you submit your extensive an

>> again, i haven't made those comments, senator. >> senator shelby? >> mr. senator, thank you for your service. also, i would be remiss if i didn't thank you for your leadership and your steady hand in dealing with the tax reform measure that a lot of us, maybe not all of us will believe to help our economy and we see signs of it already in the confidence, at least, i see, but congratulations on that. fsocs, when you designate an entity that is deemed systemically risky. that's a very, very important designation. it shouldn't be done on a whim, should it not? it should be done very carefully with a lot of data and a lot of thought. when we look at insurance companies as an entity and we look at banks as an entity there might be some overlap, but two different model, at least, i believe. should they be viewed as such before you make a designation? what's your thought on that? >> i think as you pointed out, banks are very different from insurance companies. they have very different liabilities, and they should be reviewed carefully which is something, i believ

i yield the floor. >> the senator from arkansas. >> i wanna thank my colleague from iowa, senator grassley the excellent work that he has helped lead us all on this issue. we have introduced legislation that transforms into an actual bill. it's the one bill that can become law. we havear a plan not to pass a bill, but to pass a law. twice in the past 12 years the senate has passed the bill that has and become a because the house of representatives couldn't pass it in the president couldn't sign it. i urge myna colleagues, let's not simply signal our virtue to our counterparts in the house of the president by passing a bill, let's solve this problem by passing a law in this bill provides legal status and ultimately citizenship for people who are brought here through no fault of their own as minors before the age of accountability. it provides more money and legal authorities to secure our southern border and help our brave immigration agents. it eliminates the useless visa lottery and it puts an end to the practice of chain migration. it doesn't solve every problem under theoe son we have w

pieceadline of your earlier on the senate leaders meeting, you talked about mcconnell. " senate needs to move on on immigration" what is the timeline for moving ahead on the immigration debate? >> this debate has been delayed as of tuesday evening. the senate is not on the shell of the bill yet. the democrats had not yielded their time. -- the senate will finally be on the bill. can start proposing amendments to that. that means that, unless there is a bipartisan agreement on how to proceed, the votes may be delayed as late as friday. heonnell told reporters that is only going to allocate this week to debate immigration reform. should bee senate able to wrap this up before the presidents' day recess. it starts on saturday. it goes for a week. when the senate comes back he says we have other things to do. it done now.-- there is already been a delay to this debate. we do not have time set on amendment votes. we do not even a what those amendments are going to be yet. a piececolleagues have that is headlined "house gop leaders will with conservative immigration bill." what do we make of

for "fox news @ night," i >> senator grassley and senator bradley demanding answers from president obama's former national security advisor, susan rice. >>.and disturbing because we know the investigation regarding the trump campaign was anything but by the book. >> i did not -- i wanted it separate so we could talk about it and make a deal. >> now is not the time or the place to reform the entire legal immigration system. >> the unveiling of the official portraits is a milestone in every post presidency. ♪ ♪ >> what do you think of those official portraits that were unveiled yesterday, a lot to talk about today including that, let us know your thoughts, your watching "fox and friends" first this tuesday morning. thank you for joining us as always, we appreciate it. let's get straight to daca. the senate gripped by a historic debate on immigration, both sides expect to be back at it first thing this morning. a live look at capitol hill. some light on already but can anything come of all this? griffin jenkins is live in the nation's capital with what we can expect or not expect. >> the