it has been a highlight of my senate career. senator mcconnell is trusted. we all know he's wp-smart. hes an impressive strategist. he understands the senate better than anybody else here. and time and time again he's demonstrated what leaders always need to demonstrate, and that's a remarkable agree of humility, sometimes preferring to work for the betterment of the conference and the country behind the scenes rather than enjoy the spotlight on the front l. that takes a remarkable sense of self-confidence and team spirit that not everybody has. it is true that sometimes he's soft-spoken, but i can assure you that he's never afraid to take a hard line when absuty necessary. but more than at that, he is a e example of what a senator ought to be, what a true public servant ought to be. as majority leader, senator mcconnell is a member of a storied group that includes the likes of charles curtis, the first official majority leader of the senate, who was fame use for his -- famous for his native american ancestry and racing horses, i'm told. the group includes r

> aye. >> senator brown. >> aye. >> senator klobuchar. >> aye. >> senator bennett. >> aye. >> senator gillebrand. >> aye by proxy. >> senator donnelly. >> aye. >> senator heitkamp. >> aye. >> senator casey. >> aye. >> senator smith. >> aye. >> senator mcconnell. >> by proxy. >> senator boseman. >> aye. >> senator hoven. >> aye. >> senator ernst. >> aye. >> senator grassley. >> no. >> senator thune. >> aye. >> senator danes. >> aye. >> senator purdue. >> aye. >> senator fisher. >> aye. >> senator hide-smith. >> aye. >> chairman roberts. >> aye. >> that's 20 ayes, one no. >> the ayes are 21 and the nos are 1. the bill is ordered to be reported favorable to the senate as amended. all right. one more change. the ayes are 20 and the nos are 1. the bill is ordered reported favored to the senate as amended. i ask unanimous consent that the staff be authorized to make such technical and clarifying changes that are appropriate. seeing no objections, so ordered. i want to really thank my colleagues for joining in this important process today. i ask unanimous consent to submit for the record let

senator lisa murkowski of alaska, also a pro-choice republican senator. in january of this year, just a few months ago, senators murkowski and collins both voted no on a piece of republican legislation that would have been an abortion ban, that would have instituted a 20-week ban after which women coast-to-coast wouldn't be allowed to access abortion services. both senator collins and murkowski have cast plenty of anti-choice votes in their careers of various kinds including for anti-abortion judges, but in this case, what they would be doing is providing the deciding vote literally and directly to overturn roe versus wade and make abortion illegal in america. it's not theoretical, and it's not complicated. you only have to be able to count to one. and all that either of them has to do to avoid casting that deciding vote is say you know what? what was fair for the scalia seat when that came open is fair for the kennedy seat now, now that that seat's open too. let's just vote after the election, like we did with the scalia seat. that's all. so what happens

and then senator boozman and senator daines, the chairman and then senator feinstein as well as senator murphy as well as senator schatz, we all worked together last week and got a result. as i said at the beginning, senators shouldn't get a pat on the back for doing what we're supposed to do any more than boy scouts should get a merit badge for telling the truth, but we have done what we are supposed to do. it's an encouraging sign. i hope it sets a precedent. bipartisan majorities in congress have for several years now appropriated record levels of taxpayer dollars f government-sponsored research, science, and technology. this hasn't always been noticed. president trump has signed two of these appropriations bills, and i want to suggest that the president include government-sponsored research science and technology as part of his america first agenda. a principal reason the united states produces 24% of all the money in the world for just 5% of the people -- that's us -- is the extraordinary concentration of brainpower in the united states supported by federal dollars through our nati

there are two other nongermane amendments, one by senator lee and one by senator paul. they say if i don't get a vote on my amendment, then i'm going to stop all other amendments from coming up, so nobody gets to h anmendment. now at the same time they're saying that about the paul amendment and the lee amendment, we have other members, such as senator grassley and senator senator graham, graham and grassley are both saying if you end up getting a vote on that, we're going to make sure -- we'll make sure you don't get a vote on it. so you have opposing parties saying whatever the case is, if you get a vote on something i disagree with, therefore, i'm going to stop all amendments from coming forth. in a way they can do that. and i see that's happening right now. and i would ask my friend, because i am going to object. i'm going to object not just because of the underlyingill but because it's an amendment that changes the underlying bill. i have had occasion to talk to two members of the house that will be part of our conference committee who strenuously object not so muc

. >> senator smith. >> aye. >> senator mcconnell. >> aye by proxy. >> senator boozman. >> aye. >> senator hoeven. >> aye. >> senator ernst. >> aye. >> senator grassley. >> no. >> senator thune. >> aye. >> senator daines. >> aye. >> senator perdue. >> aye. >> senator fischer. >> aye. >> senator hyde-smith. >> aye. >> chairman roberts. >> aye. >> that's 20 ayes, 1 no. >> the noes are 1 -- i beg your pardon, the ayes are 21 and the noes are 1. the bill is to be reported to the senate favorably as amended. >> 20. >> all right. one more change. the ayes are 20 and the noes are 1. the bill is ordered reported to the senate as mended. i ask unanimous consent that for reporting, the staff be authorized to make technical clarifying and conforming changes that are appropriate. seeing no objections, so ordered. i want to really thank my colleagues for joining in this important process today p.m. i ask unanimous consent to submit to the record letters of support from stakeholders urging committee action on this issue and support for the substitute amendment as well as member statements for the record

senate but he is gone from the senate and the governor is no longer governor. this is the smiling creepy mug shot is and these are the charges brought against him and as the door prize in the roll, mr. strange got to hold on to the u.s. senate seat for a few months even after the governor was forced out and the people got a say and alabama republicans held a primary last summer and a run off last fall in both elections and this incumbent senator who was appointed by the disgrace governor, got beat both times by a supreme court justice who was thrown off of the court for violations of ethics. he was the senator who filled jeff sessions and didn't make it a year. he was out by december. the republican candidate who beat him in the primary faced multiple multiple allegations of child molestation and when it came time in december for not just republicans but the whole state of alabama to vote for a full term senator in the special election, alabama decided they were going to pick a democrat. thanks to big luther change and he is weird fake pledge that he was invest

i just want to thank the senator from minnesota. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. kennedy: mr. president, i would like to call up my amendment number 3383 from the language proposed to be stricken by amendment number 3324. i am joined -- the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, mr. kennedy, proposes amendment number 3383 to the language proposed to be stricken by amendment number 3324. strike section 103 and insert the following. section 4103, work requirements for able-bodied adults -- mr. kennedy: mr. president, i ask for consent that the reading of the amendments be waived and for the opportunity to make a few remarks about my amendment. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. kennedy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm joined in this amendment with senators cruz and lee. i want to thank senator roberts and senator stabenow for their hard work on this bill. the farm bill is a must-pass bill. it's important. i realize that. americ

>> senator from ohio? >> thank you. i appreciate senator corker's comments. i guess i appreciate senator toomey's a little less who tried to say that i was like thinking that the peoples republic of china has an economy that we should emulate, when what i actually said and i have seen him do this before, what i actually said is china's government fights for its national interests, like putting people to work and our trade policy for 25 years since nafta, since south korea, many of them pushed by presidents of my party whom i stood up for, have undermined american national security and domestic security. so i just reject that, but i appreciate senator corker's comments about voting on this. this is a major change in policy with no legislative hearings with no real discussion or debate. it is a bit rich when the majority party talks about us not lying votes when start with the supreme court nominee of three years ago and all the times we tried to do a transportation bill, important in our banking committee senator corker as you know and you weren't really part

former leader senator bob dole. senatorcconnell has s 11 years, 5 months, 10 days, a few senators paid tribute to senator mcconnell for breaking the record. >> thank you, madame president. before i begin my remarks, i want to congratulate our republican leader on becoming the longest serving republican leader in the senate, my friend leader mcconnell reached that milestone today. it's no secret we disagree on a whole lot of issues, both political and philosophical, but that doesn't mean we can't or don't work together or that i don't admire the qualities that have helped make him the longest serving republican leader. he understands his caucus and represents them well. he knows how to fight. and he knows how to cooperate. the job is not an easy one. so it's a testament to his qualities that has done it longer than anyone in the history of the senate. >> i rise today to mark an important milestone forur friend senator mitch mcconnell, who has now become thegest serving republican leader, surpassing senator bob dole o

>> what senate business is going on anyway to be honest with you, either in the house or the senate. the republicans are playing hard ball. they're prepared to use this as an election year strategy. democrats need to do the same because it is not just about our party, it is about our nation. i think it is that important. and let us be really clear. i wasn't happy with the strategy in 2016 because i thought it would result in exactly what we have right now. >> what strategy? >> the strategy of basically slow rolling the garland nomination, enabling it to go through. i think it is time for us to really stand on behalf of all our grass roots who are going to be out there and ready to fight, putting public pressure on senator collins and senator murkowski, and the inside game of working with the two senators who claim as she stated that they're on behalf of women's reproductive rights. let's put it on the line. they can drive us to consensus nomination. >> she's referring to the strategy the democrats have. a lot of democrats would say they didn't have one. they know you as a hillary per

a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. shelby: madam president, just three months ago, congress passed and the president signed a $1.3 trillion, $1.3 trillion omnibus spending package for the year 2018. no one had time to read it, much less an opportunity to amend it here on the floor. the president vowed that never again would he sign such a measure. collectively, we lamented the absence of process, an excess of partisanship that led to that point once again. the collapse of regular order had become the new normal despite our usual resolutions to revive it. madam president, i'm pleased to report here today that the senate appropriations committee has charted a different course in the months since the 2018 omnibus became law. in april of this year, i began working with vice chairman leahy and our colleagues on the appropriations committee to put into motion an aggressive schedule to mark up all 12 appropriation bills before the july 4 recess here. thus far, the committee has passed seven of these bills. this week, the comm

a senator: i want to thank senator merkley for bringing us all together, what i would address, senator hassan, one of the dark marks in the history of our country. rise today to call attention to what has clearly been a human rights abuse committed by the united states government. ms. harris: and that is this outrageous and inhumane separation of children from their parents at the border. this morning thousands of children woke up without their parents not knowing where they were, not knowing when they would see them again, not knowing the adults who surround them having no relationship of trust with these people who have removed their ability to be in the arms and embrace of their parents. this is simply inhumane and it is unacceptable. and even with the executive order from the president of the united states, that number will be the name tomorrow. those 2,000-plus children will be in the same situation tomorrow that they were in today and the day before and the day before that. over the last few months, the department of homeland security has separated more than 2,000 children from t

senator, i can add to the accolades of the senator from kentucky by pointing out that he and i have a common trait, a comm denominator between us. we both married above ourselves. and the fact that his wife, the honorable elaine chao, now our secretary of transportation, former secretary of labor, it is truly one of the remarkable couples in the nation's capital of political leadership. and i congratulate him on the comments from the require. the presiding officer: the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: mr. president, the senate's majority leader, senator mitch mcconnell of kentucky, will become the longest serving senate republican leader in history surpasng former senator bob dole of kansas. this according to the senate historical office. today i senator mcconnell's 4 79 lgt day as senate republican leader, a position that he assumed on january 3, 2007, after republicans lost control of both chambers of commerce. i'd like to take a few minutes to put senator mcconnell's leadership in perspective. that perspective begins in the year 1969. i was 29 years old and work

senator lee on one and, senator , i think the other that is the best hope of moving. i think the opportunity to do when we do prison reform, sentencing reform together. have been reaching out fairly constantly, we have not seen movement. sen. grassley: the thing that makes me optimistic, we have high-level people that think some of it needs to be passed. as we build support, we are building support almost every seeswhen the white house -- i better say when president trump finally comes to the understanding this is why partisan and can be a win for he needs to show bipartisanship, that is the key .. getting it up on the senate inspectorwas a big general report. displeasure james comey did not show up. he had time for media appearances but not congress. are you going to subpoena him to respond? i will want to subpoena him what in the senate rules, you have to have both agreed to it. i cannot tell you she would agree to it. we will subpoena. >> loretta lynch as well? when you think a decision will be made? sen. grassley: if senator feinstein tells me yesterday, we will d

and senator heller. there's a couple of reasons for why you want for do it. we need to make sure that we can get as many people to work, number one, so that they can be free of government assistance and number two, to make sure that the economic burden on the taxpayers does not become so great that at some point the only way we can pay for the snap benefit is to cut the snap benefit. in other words, i want to make sure that these safety nets are always well funded and always there for people who need it. i think this amendment is the opportunity to talk about it and potentially make progress on this farm bill is something i'm excited about. i think we can do it in a way to make sure that people who genuinely need it will get it but those who genuinely have an opportunity to free themselves from government assistance over time do that, too. and i'll tell you, i'll leave you with this. from personal experience, back when i was 17 years old, i was supposed to go to the air force and i was discharged because

the senate agriculture committee should support senator grassley's amendment and the full senate should be able to debate other amendments to amend our farm broken system. the senate must be able to debate and amendment that has a means test crop insurance subsidies. congress should not be giving unlimited subsidies to city slickers or billionaires, congress should take steps to ensure that our tax dollars help real farmers when they actually need help and to live and work on the farm. thank you. >> thank you. i am joshua. taxpayers deserve a farmville that works for taxpayers. after all it is us, taxpayers footing the bill. now lawmakers have the opportunity, and yes even the ability to produce a bill that works not only for all corners of agriculture but for all types of taxpayers. to do so the need to keep a different set of principles in mind. instead of judging at successes -- and seen as failures, any other program -- or have for bed -- heaven forbid. rather than hiding beneficiaries of -- behind and nearly impenetrable wall of governmental secrecy as is the case with recipients o

senator reed? >> thank you very much, senator inhofe. let me join in welcoming general miller, daughter sarah and son, thank you both for your commitment in service of your father. general, thank you for your continued service to the nation and thank also, as i said, your family for your tremendous support. and as senator burr indicated, we do have things in common. we were both at west point and became grunts. so i appreciate your service very much. much of more career has involved the mission in afghanistan, in addition to several deployments, you served as commander of the combined forces, special operations component command in afghanistan, and as the director of the pakistan/afghanistan coordination center on the joint staff. general miller, if confirmed, you will take command at a krital time. it's been nearly ten months since the president's south asia strategy was announced. in support of the strategy, the administration has increased the number of u.s. troops on the ground, primarily to advise and enable the afghan security forc

senator hatch: senator grassley. grassley: i heard grassley: i question by our name about auto parts and this relates to it but it's more specific. 232 announcement 232 announcem the administration released may 24 states that it will apply to light duty autos and auto parts. now many auto parts share the same product code in the auto mowive chapter -- automotive chapter of the harmonized schedule with other similar products such as heavy duty trucks, bus, construction equipment, and industrial engines. for example, water pumps used in the cooling system of the construction equipment are classified as, quote, fuel lubricating or cooling medium pumps for internal combustion piston engines, end of quote. the harmonized tariff schedule code does not differentiate between auto and construction equipment parts. is it the administration's to impose tariffs up to 25% on all these parts for every country around the world, even impose tariffs up to 25% on all these parts for every country around the world, even if they don't n

senator: thank you, mr. chairman. senator grassley: senator hatch. senator hatch: listen to these findings from the inspector general's report on the handling of the clinton email investigation. error of judgment, serious error of judgment, extremely poor judgment, and a gross lack of professionalism. these are conclusions that were drawn about the conduct of former attorney general of the united states, the former director of the federal bureau of investigation. f.b.i. special agents assigned to one of the highest profile investigations in the bureau's history. in my opinion, this is appalling. and the significance of these findings cannot be overstated. the report identifies missteps in every levels of the department of justice to special agents in the field. i was disappointed by your response last week of the inspector general report. and while you admitted that the report found errors of judgment, you took pains to emphasize that e report small amount of f.b.i. employees. let's remember who that was. director of the f.b.i., deputy rector of the

senator concernyn. i happen to have been his cosponsor led an effort to change it to make it more inclusive as you know, is that going to be helpful? >> yes, the department suppor supports -- >> can you tell us any more about this one situation with zte? well, let me ask you, do you think justice should be involved with any trade negotiations that have a direct bearing on zte? >> i think the department seeks to exercise or authority according to the law and independently, we seek to enforce the law as written and hold folks accountable based on the evidence. >> was justice involved? >> i can't comment on that. there's a pending prosecution with zte pled guilty some time ago and revolved that case, but it's on ongoing matter, so we're involved in that obviously. >> okay. thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks for being here. obviously any interference with our electoral process is a matter of grave concern to all americans. it seems like the russians have been attempting

sullivan, senator rounds, senator boseman, senator tester, other members of this commute tie, represents states where our veterans are a long distance away from our v.a. facilities. sometimes a full day driving in some cases. as you may know in the debate on the mission bill, and in the markups, a choice program that works to make the healthcare services available to the veteran is a key to that argument and that debate. when you work as hard as you can and see to it the choices is a reality and the timing of appointments is good and we end the problem we had with veterans not able to reach the services they deserve and earned. and this goes to something that senator chester talked about. those of us from the east, even in the 21st century do not understand the scale of american west. in montana, a normal journey would sometimes take 600 miles round trip to get to a v.a. facility. what choice means is giving those veterans and their family care givers the opportunity to engage with v.a. any time of the day. but also, with the development of the community care networks, which will provide

the senate majority leader. mitch mcconnell for the first time in history said it only took 51 votes to get a supreme court nominee through. they have 50 votes and mike pence. that gives them 51. so if they hold together, they can ram this through without a democratic vote. democrats can huff and puff all they want and they'll be very unhappy. there's a lot of issues where justice kennedy sided with the liberal side, the democratic side. not the conservative republican side. you know, that was a reason this was a big issue in the last election. donald trump won. he will probably get a conservative justice on the supreme court, which will make it a solid 5-4 majority. not a swing vote. a solid 5-4 majority, this is the biggest moment of the president presidency so far. >> shepard: is there a chance in your mind -- can you come up with a way that if democrats work very hard and the president's detractors try all they will that they could delay this until after the mid-terms or is that not going to happen? >> no. f

any senator will have five minutes to ask questions. the secretar secretary must leat noon, so i'm going to be a little strict on the five-minute limit and that senators ask their questions with two seconds remaining i will ask the senate to provide the answer in writing so every senator can have a chance to ask questions. may 11resident tmp announced a blueprint to reduce the cost americans pay for their prescription drugs and today we are pleased to hear from secretary azar

democratic senators, republican senators. we can have some pretty spirited disagreements around here, but these are senators who know a brainless,ntr policy when you see one. and there is a companion bill in the other body that has strong bipartisan support as wel so we are going to keep at it. our bipartisan coalition, in order to build support for this throughout the days ahead. here in the senate members are hard at work putting together a bipartisan farm bill, and we're very pleased to see the leadership on both the majority side and the minority side. chairman roberts, senator stabenow, working very closely together to put together a bipartisan farm bill which would be a perfect opportunity to move this forward. i'm constantly saying at home in oregon very supportive of agriculture. let's grow it in america. let's add value to it in america. and let's shipt wherever we can in order to create jobs, jobs that start on the farm. so we've got momentum growing. and that's why hempisry week, this time when i come to the floor

senator stabenow. senator stabenow: thank you chairman roberts. workally is a pleasure to with him. we have a true partnership. this is a committee that represents our part of the country in terms of dates and interests. we have 12 different titles are essentially 12 different bills on all kinds of topics from commodities and conservation to energy, nutrition, and treat. it is a very important set of issues that really go to having a rural economy and rural economic development. and then focusing on the 16 million jobs and counting that come from agriculture. i want to thank senator roberts for being a great partner and our staffs have worked very closely together on this. that we is significant have not changed or increased overall dollars, we have been able to strengthen things in the commodity area. conservationgth on and we can address issues and making themrograms more effective. and strengthening some areas in conservation. to theome integrity nutrition title while creating more opportunities for states to establish jobs programs and jobs training programs to be able to show w

whilee sha thi with many senators, including senators corker and cain who have expressed their frustration with that is correct the proposed legislation would cause far greater problems than it would solve. the aclu strongly urges all senators to oppose the legislation. thank you, mr. chairman for having this hearing. tnk you, . an ielieve in being kind and welcoming to guests, we'll let our guests go first today and we'lltart with senator sanders. >> senator paul, thank you very or holding this hearing. let me thank our panelists for their very cogent testimony. article 1, section 8 of the constitution states very clearly, and i quote, congress shall have the power to declare war, end quote. founding father is gave the poo authorize military conflicts to congress for one very simple reason. ngss is the of be government that is most accountable to the people. there is no question but that over the years congress has allowed its authority over this very important issue of war making to ebb. it is time for us to reassert that authority and to start asking some very tough questions about the

senator mur, senator collins, senator kennedy of louisiana, and they voted net neutrality. we know, as senator schumer just said, that it the vote was taken right now on net neutrality in the house of representatives, it uld win. we would be able to put those protections back on the books. so, millions of people rose up throughout the six months of lastea year. 22 million them contacting the fcc peered ajit pai, chairman of the fcc ignored those 22 million people, and i sits and i secreted to vote two vote on the federal communications commission. they took net neutrality off of the books. in other words, they officially stripped consumers of the protection that have allowed the economy and our democracy to flourish. now, amerins w h blindly trust their cle companies, their broadband companies,heir internet providers to protect them against discrimination. the cable dream come tru they were in one of the fcc, but now they've come to revolution is underway. here is the sun appeared it's already happened. now we need to have the same level of energy. if those millions of amer

up next, senator ted cruz of texas. senator, i believe you're there in the capitol. you've argued more cases in front of the supreme court than any of your colleague there's in the senate. you were aware of the supreme court nominations from the last couple decades. your thoughts on this opportunity for president trump to replace anthony kennedy. >> well, today is an historic day. if we look at the first nomination that president trump made, neil gorsuch, it was a strong nomination. that at the end of the day was a defensive pick. it was replacing justice scalia, one of the greatest justices ever to serve on the supreme court. what the gorsuch pick did at the very best is maintain the status quo. the justice kennedy vacancy, on the other hand, is an opportunity to really have a profound impact on the court, an impact on the court that could last for decades. i think there's no issue more important, no issue more fundamental to what president trump has achieved, to what the senate majority of republicans has achieved than nominating and confirming principled constitut

i have heard my colleagues, senator murphy, senator merkley, senator wyden and i know senator murray will speak in a minute. and we are focusing upon the grave damage that this administration is doing to the health care of americans. but i thought maybe i'd inject just a little bit of good news into this discussion. the good news i want to describe is positive advances that are still taking place because of the affordable care act, even despite the best efforts of the administration to kill the affordable care act. because senate colleagues joined together on the floor nearly a year ago to defeat efforts to repeal the affordable care act, even as the sabotage has been going on, there has been an advance in my state that is very, very significant. two weeks ago my state legislature, after a four-year debate, decided to become the 33rd state that accepted medicaid expansion. mr. president, and to my colleagues, if you want to know whether what youin this chamber matters, that vote in august of last year that preserved the affordable care act enabled my state to embrace medicaid expansi

no republican in the senate race. and senator feinstein won a stunning win last night. not as the most liberal or the youngest candidate for the u.s. senate, but as a strongly anti-trump candidate. that's a strong message. people are willing to get behind her, because she's standing up to donald trump. >> and ron, the idea that the republican candidate for senate in california could not get into double digits, 9% in california. for senate. >> yeah. it really is kind of stunning. it just shows that trump has attacked california. and caliifornians are voting. what they're voting on is that they don't like president trump. they don't think he's heading the country in the right direction. they think the kind of policies that senator feinstein is standing for in the senate, governor jerry brown in the state, now his lieutenant governor gavin newsom, that's the direction the country should go in. >> caliifornians are casting a vote. no to trump, a big yes for democrats. >> ron clain, once again, thank you. >> thank you, lawrence. >>> 50 years ago, the california try mare was

we have passed net neutrality here in the senate on a bipartisan basis and senator murkowski and senator collins and senator kennedy of louisiana, they voted for net neutrality. we know as senator schumer just said that if the vote was taken right now on net neutrality in the house ofnt representatives t would win. we would be able to put those protections back on the books. millions of people rose up throughout all the last six months and 22 million of them contacting the fcc, chama pai of the sec ignored those 22 million peoplend a by a three-to vote on the federal on they took net neutrality off the books. in other words, they officially strapped consumers of the projections that have allowed economy in our democracy to flourish. now americans will have to blindly trust their cable companies and their broadband companies and theirer internet providers to protect them againstai discrimination. it is a big cable strea dream ce true. they have already won at the fcc and now the c counterrevolutions underway. here in the senate it is already happened. what we need to do now is to have the

and, to listen to the senate leadership on the republican side, senator mcconnell, senator cornyn, there is this growing optimism that they can get a narrow legislative fix to specifically deal with the separated families problem. essentially allowing families who are seeking asylum or going through criminal proceedings to stay as a family and not be separated at the border. to enable them to tap into additional funds that have already been al voyeur indicated so that they can have enough housing and support for the additional numbers. and i think they are saying that they could move that possibly even this week, which would be fast in snatz and congress terms. >> dana: do you think the president will be satisfied with that and sign it if he doesn't get some of the other things that he wants? >> bret: no, i didn't say that. >> dana: are we back to square one? >> bret: i think the president may be persuaded that this is what they need to do. as they step into the process. obviously he wants the whole enchilada. but to get that done, to get that across the finish line, may take some time.

the senate coming out of this. trump's president, democrats have the senate, does that change -- >> let's be clear. this is a case where -- supreme court is a place where individual people matter. the difference between a conservative who is a traditional conservative like john roberts and someone who is far to the right can be very substantial. and that could be the difference -- i mean, that margin could be the difference. >> what republicans have understood that democrats are now kind of coming to terms with is that it's not just the supreme court. it is the federal courts, the makeup of the federal courts. mitch mcconnell has identified that as a priority. conservative voters have identified that as a priority. there are almost 150 vacancies and they want to confirm these judges not just on the supreme court but at the federal level across the country as well. and so as much as this could certainly be a rallying cry for democrats, i think republicans have already demonstrated that it is a rallying cry for them,

the senator was critically hurt. police identify the alleged assailant as a 24-year-old, and native jordanian who came to the country 11 years ago. his brother gave the name to police, and fingerprints confirmed the identification. among the things discovered was a newspaper clipping criticizing senator kennedy's support of the united states's aide to india. -- to israel. and a notebook with scribbled lines saying kennedy must be killed before june 5. the suspect has refused to talk with police. he would not even tell them his name. robert kennedy was shot at 12:15 a.m. pacific coast time. the end of a brilliant, political, and public career at the age of 42. robert francis kennedy was dead. robert francis knedy, born novemb 2 1925, stands behind his father, joseph patrick kennedy, in this 1934 family portrait. he was eight years old, the third of four sons and a family of nine children. the oldest son was killed in world war ii. john fitzgerald kennedy was assassinated in 19, 3 years after becoming president of the

50 years ago on june 5, 1968, senator robert f. kennedy was shot in los angeles after winning the california presidential primary. next on "reel america," robert 1968, 50y, 1925 to minute special report from the evening of june 6 after the senator died of his gunshot wounds. the report covers the life and assassination of the new york them up at and is anchored by walter cronkite. this is a cbs news special report. here is harry. >> good evening, the body of senator robert kennedy is in a jet heading for new york from los angeles. before 4:30 this afternoon and will land in laguardia new york, and the body will arrive at 9:30 new york time tonight. tomorrow from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 10:00 p.m., itto will lie in state, and go by train from new york to washington, and in a motor procession from new york's union station to go by the senate office building, and by the justice department, where robert kennedy served as attorney general, before burial saturday afternoon in the same plot where john kennedy lies. already, there are people ga

states senate. i couldn't believe my good fortune as a visitor to watch people like mike mansfield, everett dirksen from my state, paul douglas from illinois, william if you will bright, margaret chase smith, and so many others come to the floor and speak in debate. i remember signature right there as a college student -- i remember sitting right there as a college student watching. through the door came bobby kennedy. not far behind, his brother ted kennedy, both of them serving in the united states senate in those days. it was an important occasion. i think remember on this one day bobby kennedy was about to give a speech on vietnam. his wife and teddy kennedy's wife were seated in the gallery just above them and i was over here. i'm sure with my message wide open saying, i -- i'm sure with my mouth wide open saying, i can't believe that i'm here to witness it. i remember the moment today because today is the 50th anniversary of the day an assassin's bullet ended bobby kennedy's too-short life. fo

senator brown. >> thank you, senator isakson and senator whitehouse. i appreciate that. i'd like to start with welcoming mr. rettig. it was good talking to you. thank you for joining us. i'd like to start with the issue of private debt collection. i echo the comments that senator carder that it is unfair. it's too often confusing for taxpayers, as i know you're aware. the taxpayer advocate has said that it's unfairly targeting low income individuals. that, too, i would think to all of us is unacceptable. if confirmed, would you commit to a full review of the private debt collector program, including a review of its collection methods? >> i would. the internal revenue service responsibility is to follow the law. as we all know, private debt collectors is part of the law. the issue, i think, that surfaced is implementation of the private debt collector law. is it being implanted in an impartial matter. and i would absolutely look into that. >> that means you are suggesting you work to ensure extremely vulnerable taxpayers are not being targeted? >> agreed. >> okay. the irs

they are senator jones, senator smith, senator kennedy, number 3097, senator murkowski, 3110, senator hatch 3125, senator merkley 3147, senator tester 3148, senator gillibrand 3154, senator gardner 3157, senator moran 3159, senator collins 3160, senator peters 3164, senator shaheen 3172, senator feinstein 3177, senator cornyn 3186, senator cantwell and senator crapo 3209, senator gardner again 3218, and senator grassley. i would only note this represents 18 amendments, including the substitute. extremely bipartisan. i have read republican, democrat, democrat, republican, all through these 18 amendments. we have proceeded that way in committee. we are proceeding this way on the floor. i would urge members to bring their amendments to the floor for consideration, and hopefully the amendments will be in the nature that we can consider them without controversy. i know that people have strong concerns about whatever amendment they would introduce, but again the ultimate goal is to do this quickly and to provide farmers certainty and predictability during this difficult time that they're go

senator corbyn and senator cruz and others are working on it as well. and so we hope to reach out to the democrats and see if we can get results, which means making a law and not just getting into a sparring back-and-forth that leads to no onclusion. for that, let me turn to senator cornyn. >> we want to keep families together. some people have suggested the only way to do that is to not enforce the law, which i believe is a false choice. we can keep families together while we expedite their ability to appear before an immigration judge. and pren their claim for an immigration benefit on a short-timetable. and then if they do qualify, then they get that benefit all that much sooner. as you know right now there's a big backlog of immigration cases. but what we would do is move these families to the head of the line. in the interim they would be in a humane, safe and secure family facility. and hopefully we'll get this problem addressed right away. my hope is this is not going to be something we're going to do over a matter of weeks and months. but someth

susan: senator charles grassley of iowa, the chairman of the very important senate judiciary committee. he is our guest this week. joining me is bob kusak. the editor in chief of the hill. we will be joined in a bid by alana shore of politico. as we get started, the house is still in progress with migration legislation. with your many years watching this town, what is your view of what this city and country went through over the past couple of days regarding immigration policy? where do you think we are going to end up? sen. grassley it proves a lot of phone calls and journals covering issues like that, it can turn things around very quickly. not only in congress but in the presidency as we have seen. there is a very good chance at , least in the senate, we are -- i know senators on the bipartisan basis are going to start to work next week to see how we can compromise to get a bill passed. nobody wants children separated from their parents. there is some court settlement things that demand after 20 days you can't hold children in housing -- in detention with their parents. we have to a

chairman. >> thank you, senator. senator brown. >> thanks, mr. chairman. chairman hatch mentioned during the opening remarks that over a month ago president trump hosted many of my colleagues in the rose garden to tout his drug pricing blueprint this is the chairman quoting our president promising massive cuts to drug prices. weeks later as the ranking member pointed out. i would like to point out that now a month later we're still waiting for these "massive cuts" that the president promised. my guess is we'll see dozens more prices increase before we see any massive cuts. so, secretary, do you agree if you would answer this yes or no, do you agree there are scenarios where pharmaceutical companies increase the list price of their product and price gouge consumers for no reason other than to increase their profit margin? >> of course. we've seen examples of that. yes. >> okay. thank you. the fact that there's absolutely no repercussion for a company that engages in this type of predatory issue helps with the drug pricing system. we read from a letter i rec

>> yes, senator. he's a good friend of mine. >> of all the people i've got to know in my travels i've done in africa, johnny is the most knowledgeable, insightful, and most well-received american on the continent of africa. so if you'd had an known him, i want to make sure you do. take advantage of him because he's a terrific asset. >> when i was ambassador in ethiopia, he was ambassador in kenya. >> you focus on the sudan and parts of your testimony. you mentioned the sudan. that is a horrible problem that's getting worse by the day. we tried a special envoy, cover has a these agreement to get a referendum for independence, which we finally got but it never did anything because the violence, the murder, the assassination, and the economic stealing of one another's asset destroy the environment there. what would you try to move us to in south sudan to go from a caretaker of chaos, which i think is what we are right now, to a caretaker of a route to peace and security? >> thank you for that question. s

one perfectly placed senator, republicans have a 51-49 majority on the senate floor, but senator john mccain is too ill to vote which means republicans have a one vote advantage on the floor, 50- -49 but when the first vote came up, three democrats voted for neil gorsuch. heidi hide camp in north dakota where the president visited tonight campaigning against her and where donald trump won by 36 points. joe manchin in west virginia and joe donelly in indiana, all three of them voted for neil gorsuch. but this time everything could be different. if one senator does what he has promised to do. a retiring senator in his final months in office who is not in the senate leadership or a chairman of a committee is normally in a powerless position bidding fond fair well to his colleagues. but tonight, jeff flake, who is in his last months in office, has positioned himself to become the most powerful senator. he's not a chairman of a committee. he is normally ignored by most of his republican colleagues and by the republican majority leader of the senate, mitch mcconnell. jeff flake is normally

de leon might end up endorsing senator feinstein in the end? >> i mean, i wouldn't rule anything out, but i hen heard any reporting that would suggest that. >> 202-748-8000, 8001 and 8002. for republicans, james. you're on the line. >> caller: with the state of california having such a large amount of illegals in the state and illegals now being able to have driver's licenses, how does the state of california verify that everyone thatotes eligible and legal to vote? how do you do that in the state of california? >> well, i think one of the issues that you're pointing to is -- i mean, especially in california, the idea of illegal immigration and i.c.e. and the rder wall, these are all really prominent issues there, and it affects a lot of people personally. you'll see reporting about families feeling personally that they are at risk of being deported. and so, that is something where you can see that as a motating factor for people to get out and vot it's unclear kind of how that will affect turnout, which i think is part of your question. but i

the senate agriculture community should support senator grassley amendment and the full senate should be legitimate of the amendments to reform our broken farm subsidy system. in particular, the senate must be able to debate an amendment that cap and means test crop insurance subsidies. at a time of great uncertainty for agriculture, congress should not be giving unlimited subsidies to city slackers or billionaires. congress should take steps to ensure that our tax dollars help real farmers wind actually need help and to live and work on the farm. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. i'm joshua sewell, taxpayers for common sense. taxpayers deserve a farm bill that works for taxpayers. after all, it is us, taxpayers, footing the bill. and now lawmakers have the opportunity and yes even the ability to produce a bill that works not only for all corners of agriculture but for all types of taxpayers. but to do so they need to give a different set of principles in mind. instead of judging its excesses, programs are seen as failures have the program slightly less over or heaven forbid even un

he wanted to know the senators were. -- who the senators were. but nixon knew the country. he had run for president three times. he ran for vice president twice. he had everything from toledo, ohio, mississippi. he knew that you don't do this in new jersey on friday, he knew not to campaign on sunday. i don't know that means. >> to improve this picture, you should send it over to the russian embassy. >> president clinton dressed up and we are teasing. he was very formal. he was very dignified. >> you can remember the picture of next and walking on the beach -- nixon walking on the beach in a sport coat and tie. >> this is the picture of the congressional relations staff. he was the chief of staff. it was 1973. bill timmins is second from my right. as this point, the congressional relations staff was six people. it had gone up one. we hired a democrat to be a part of the congressional staff. whose guy was he? >> he was from mississippi. he was a big supporter of the president. he was at the conservative. he was bipartisan. he was a democrat in mississippi. >> before we get t

i'm pleased to have worked with senator til senat wicker, senator leahy, senator graham, and, of course, senator mccain who has been the champion in the senate to address thi issue. i am proud to partner yet again with these senators, and we introduced legislation to authorize 4,000 s.i.v.'s for 2019 so that we can continue to bring to the united states those people who are at risk. and even as the administration sharply restricts immigration and refugee programs, president trump has made an exception for those who serve alongside our soldiers and diplomats. he has included 4,000 afghan s.i.v.'sis bget request for this upcoming fiscal year. the support for this program truly is bipartisan, and i'm here on the floor with senator tillis today to try and put a face on this important program. afghan civilians who have assisted our military as interpreters, firefighters, and construction workers, and community lia sorns are argument by the tax bill -- taliban for working with the united states. without congressional approva our diplomats will be powerless to help those afghans. moreover, tho