mr. grassley: i come to the floor today to discuss the continuing need for aggressive, hard-hitting oversight of the department of defense. that need for oversight is as great today as it ever was. waste is alive and very well at the pentagon. i have a poster here, a cartoon, a blowup of a cartoon published in "the washington post" in 1985, my early years in the united states senate. it shows ernie fitzgerald, a famous whistle-blower, confronting what is quite obvious, his chief adversaries, the big spenders at the pentagon. as a senior air force official, ernie fitzgerald committed a crime, and he says his crime was that he committed truth. ernie fitzgerald's famous for in 1968 exposing a $2.3 billion cost overrun on the c-5 aircraft program. in those days, having a senior pentagon official like ernie fitzgerald speak the truth about a cost overrun on a high-visibility program was unheard of. in fact, it was dangerous. it was so dangerous that it cost ernie fitzgerald his job. that's why

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: as i've done two or three times before in the last week, i would take some time of my colleagues to discuss the nomination of judge kavanaugh to serve as an associate justice of the supreme court. i think the debate surrounding his confirmation has highlighted the deep divide between how conservatives view the role of the judiciary versus how liberals view it. the reason liberal outside groups oppose judge kavanaugh's nomination is quite simple. they don't think that he will promote their preferred policies and the outcomes of those policies while on the bench. well, i can't think of a better example that demonstrates how differently liberals and conservatives view the role of the judiciary, so let me tell you how i and most americans view the role of the judiciary. pretty simple things we learned from high school government courses about checks and balances of government. just pretty simple, pretty common sense, because it's all about the purpose of the constitution of the

mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: today we will vote on the confirmation of ryan bounds to the ninth circuit. he is nominated to fill the vacancy left by judge o'scannlain. mr. bounds once served as a law clerk to that ninth circuit judge. mr. bounds is highly qualified to serve on the ninth circuit. a native of oregon, he attended stanford university and yale law school. his dedicated -- he dedicated his career to public service, serving in government for the past 14 years. the last eight years were as assistant u.s. attorney in oregon. i've listened to my colleagues on the other side voice their opposition to mr. bounds. interestingly, none of them cite anything mr. bounds has done in his legal career as a reason for opposing his nomination. instead they focus on two things. first, they say we shouldn't confirm mr. bounds because his home state senators didn't return their blue slips. second, they say some of mr. bounds' college writings were insensitive. so i'

mr. grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: this morning i listened to the remarks by senator schumer, the minority leader. and for a minute i thought senator harry reid was back disguised as senator shiewrm. -- schumer. i used to hear false comments about the work. this year the minority leader first fretted that this senator, as chairman of the judiciary committee, would be twisted by leadership in the course of reviewing of judge kavanaugh's nomination to the supreme court. of course that's false, but it was strange to hear him complain about leadership intervening in committee business from a democratic leader who appears to be doing just that. as far as his own -- his other comments on the supreme court confirmation process, i'd like to reiterate a few points that i made over the past couple of weeks. the senate judiciary committee will have a thorough, modern, and efficient process for reviewing judge kavanaugh's qualifications. as i explained yesterday, senators already have access to judge kavanaugh's 307 opin

if mr. o'connell at mr. grassley think the 90,000 supporters of the national council of jewish women are not going to write like hell to defeat this nominee, then they are sadly mistaken. we have been here before. and we have been successful. will we do it again? will we defeat this nominee? yes! what we defeat this nominee? yes! we have been here before. we will do it again. we cannot allow politics to masquerade as constitutional law. we say hell no. we will work to defeat this nominee across the country in every state. we will work with all of you. we look forward. team!ght, win >> good evening. elizabeth. i am president of the constitutional accountability center. we are here to say we are reclaiming the constitution for the american people, for all people who come to this country looking for that american dream that we all used to have. the supreme court behind us is crucial to the protection and liberty and equality that are part of that american dream. trump has told us what he is giving us with his n

[cheers and applause] if mr. trump and mr. mcconnell and mr. grassley think that the 90,000 members and supporters of the national council of jewish women aren't going to fight like hell to defeat this nominee, then they are sadly mistaken! we have been here before and we have been successful. will we do it again? ?ill we defeat this nominee yes. will we defeat this nominee? yes. we have been here before and we will do it again. we can't let politics to masquerade as constitutional law. we say hell, no. we will work to defeat this nominee across this country in every state. we will work with all of you and we look forward. go, fight, win, team! [cheers and applause] >> good evening, everyone. my name is elizabeth. i'm president of the constitutional accountability center. [cheers and applause] and we are here to say that we are reclaiming the constitution for the american people, for all people who come to this country looking for that american dream that we all used to have. and the supreme court behind us is crucial to the protections and lib

grassley, senator grassley. he said it is totally different. now, he is a man of integrity, but i know sometimes he gets twisted by his leadership and the president to do things that aren't consistent. and this is one of them. because the republicans didn't ask for only certain documents. they asked for all. and we are asking for all. this is one of the most important positions in the world and certainly in america. shouldn't we know everything? not just some of the stuff -- and some of the stuff that the white house wants us to know -- but everything. so our friends on the other side of the aisle demanded all of her documents for justice elena kagan. democrats agreed. it was the right thing to do. and because elena kagan had nothing to hide, she went happily forward and said, go right ahead. now republicans ought to do the same thing for judge kavanaugh, particularly if he has nothing to hide. for the last week, senator feinstein has been ready to jointly request the same documents of judge kavanaugh that republicans demanded of justice kagan.

mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i come to the floor today to discuss the continuing need for aggressive, hard-hitting oversight of the department of defense. that need for oversight is as great today as it ever was. waste is alive and very well at the pentagon. i have a poster here, a cartoon, a blowup of a cartoon published in "the washington post" in 1985, my early years in the united states senate. it shows ernie fitzgerald, a famous whistle-blower, confronting what is quite obvious, his chief adversaries, the big spenders at the pentagon. as a senior air force official, ernie fitzgerald committed a crime, and he says his crime was that he committed truth. ernie fitzgerald's famous for in 1968 exposing a $2.3 billion cost overrun on the c-5 aircraft program. in those days, having a senior pentagon official like ernie fitzgerald speak the truth about a cost overrun on a high-visibility program was unheard of. in fact, it was dangerous. it was so dangerous that it cost ernie fitzgerald his job. that's why

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: thank you, madam president. i want to visit with my colleagues for the same reason that senator durbin about 15 minutes ago spoke to my colleagues about the high price of pharmaceutical drugs and maybe at least one little thing we can do to help moderate that price, or at least inform the public accordingly in a better way than we have so far. every american within earshot of a television has heard ads for prescription drugs. almost every night as i watch television i see something along that line. these ads promise patient relief from nearly every medical problem. and informing the public is an important thing for us to do in many areas. the pharmaceutical companies want you to know that their drug is on the market to help you, and they want you to talk to your doctor about the newest drugs. as many of my colleagues know, i'm an outspoken supporter for transparency. i hope it's one of my tributes i bring to the united states senate. from the physician payment sunshine law t

with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: over the last several days, the minority leader has again continued his unprecedented partisan interference with the business of the senate judiciary committee. in addition to these partisan interventions being unwelcome, many of the minority minority ls assertions are just plain false. other assertions omit significant context. so, as i've done several times here in recent days, i'm here to correct the record. so let me start by reiterating that the confirmation process for judge kavanaugh will be the most transparent in history. that's from the availability of all the documents that are out there for our colleagues to study about this nominee. senators already have access to the most important part of judge kavanaugh's record, his more than 300 opinions written during his 12 years on the d.c. circuit. in addition to the hundreds more opinions he joined and the more than 6,000 pages submitted in connection with his senate ju

now allies of the white house say mr. grassley much -- must set a more conservative stance to get judge kavanagh seated by october. if you go to the pages of the washington post this morning amy sayingn with the story that the supreme court nominee incurred tens of thousands of dollars buying baseball tickets over the past decade and at times reported liabilities that could have exceeded the value of his cash accounts and investment assets. the spokesman for the white house told the washington post that kavanagh builds up the dead by buying washington national season tickets and tickets for playoff games for himself and handful of friends. reported having between 60000 and 200,000 debt accrued. each credit card help between 15000 and 50,000 in debt and the savings plans between 15000 and 50,000. the credit card debt were either paid off fell below the reporting requirements. colorado is up first on this open phones. this is the line for democrats. kathleen. go ahead. you are on. callingi'm actually from dayton ohio where

democrats screamed but neither mr. mcconnell or grassley flinched. the result, justice gorsuch. i wonder if you think it's possible any republicans might flinch going into this or are you hearing that pretty much they're all going to be onboard? >> well, obviously there's a lot of work that needs to be done particularly with the more moderate members of the caucus. leader mcconnell is sensitive to that and allow that process to unfold. but i think you put your finger on really the most important underlying issue, beyond the significance of the nomination itself. that's the importance of who controls the senate. as leader mcconnell said, what you get to control is what gets considered and what doesn't. his decision to wait and allow a vacancy to remain so that president trump could nominate justice gorsuch last year, i think, was probably one of the key defining issues of his career, of the senate work. the importance in the senate, the role that it plays, usually kind of unexciting place to slow it down. right now, it's going to be center stage. it's going to play a very, very i

mr. brown: mr. president, this is a big deal for americans making $15, $20, $30,000, $40,000 a year. they will get a refundable tax credit if they can figure out how to claim it because sometimes it's too complicated. they can get $2,000, $3,000, $4,000 sometimes a little more than that in the refundable tax credit. that's money in their pocket to buy school clothes, money in their pocket to fix a car that's brown out, money in their pocket so they can take their kids to restaurant occasionally. fiefling taxes is complicated for everyone. it can be particularly challenging for those claiming the i.t.c., wall street c.e.o.'s, big companies have armies of accountants. this is for working class families making $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 a year. i thank senator heller. i ask support for the heller-brown amendment. it will matter to so many working families in mansfield and toledo and sandusky and all over ohio. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. du

mr. nunes gets a lot of attention and rightly so because he's unraveled so much of this. there's a lot of members of congress that aren't getting what they asked for, chuck grassley put a request out this week demanding for certain things to be handed over but certain things to be made public and declassified so more people can see them. you have mark meadows, jim jordan who sits on oversight committee, they have outstanding document requests, there are still hundreds if not thousands and thousands of important pages that they have not received. paul: yeah, i think if the president really does want this public to understand, he will have to declassify the documents or a big chunk of them and get them out. all right, still ahead as both sides gear up for contentious supreme court fight the political left attacking one group in particular for the president's election of kavanaugh. what is the federalist society and what does it try to do, we will talk with one of the ♪

what is the commerce hearing with chuck grassley, mr. super this isnd you will see just heading down the road to disaster. we will not get anything done with nafta. out there,u trumpets check out the trade deal between europe and japan. host: you mentioned the reaction from senator grassley, here is his statement on federal aid to farmers from yesterday. what farmers in iowa and throughout rural america need our markets and opportunity, not government handouts. i look forward to reviewing the details of the president's proposal and continuing to work with the administration to provide permanent solutions that will give certainty to our farmers as soon as possible. jessica in maryland, go ahead. caller: i would like to submit to the person that said democrats are overly critical the president and the things that come out of his mouth. the reason we are critical of the things that come out of his mouth is they are ridiculous and an embarrassment to our country. the republican party completely overlooks issues they would never overlooked if

thank you. >> senator grassley, thank you very much. senator feinstein. >> thank you mr. chairman. members, thank you for your being here. it was about well over a year ago that i had a meeting in my conference room with a group of women, and i walked in and senator grassley, i looked at faces with expressions that i had never seen before. and i realized that it was something really serious. and in the course of that discussion, events were related. we did a bill. others joined. that bill has passed. and we have taken a giant step forward. last week, in an extraordinary moment broadcast for the whole world to see, u.s. olympic gymnast ali, jordan, jamie, along with 100 athletes, took the stage at the espy awards to accept the arthur ashe courage award. it was an incredibly moving presentation. and i thought about that time in my office when these frightened faces were in front of me. and the survivors, many of whom are here today, radiate today remarkable grace, beauty, and strength. i wonder if they would stand so that we might recognize them in this hearing room. [applause] >> th

mr. masterson. >> thank you, chairman grassley, ranking member feinstein and thank you. need by on our efforts to help state and local officials with improving the resilience of elections across america. over a decade of work state and local officials to advance the use of technology to better serve american voters. for the last three years actors as commissioner and chairman of the united states election assistance commission working to modernize the standards used to test voting systems and provide best practices that support election officials and since 2016 respond to the threat against our nation's election systems. i serve as senior advisor to dhs focused on the work that apartment is doing to support the thousands of election officials across this country and in the second work i can tell you the absolute best part is working the dedicated professionals that administer elections. in the face of real and sophisticated that's these officials have responded by working with us state and local resources in the private sector in academia to mitigate risk and improve res

. >> mr. chairman, if i could, i overlooked expressing my appreciation to chairman grassley for his work also on the title corporation which is probably the broadest shell corporations disclosure measure in congress right now, focus obviously on for election spending but also on not having america become a haven for cut the grass and criminals around the world and i appreciate very much the chairman support on that legislation guy should've mentioned it. >> thank you, mr. chairman for your leadership. our panel today is mr. david murray, financial integrity networks vice president for product development and services. before joining fi fim last yeae was involved in all aspects of financial integrity politics at the treasury department serving both instructor the office of us of finance and senior advisor to then undersecretary terrorism for financial intelligence. mr. scott dueweke -- dedicate right? mr. dueweke is at dark tower, global advisory firm focused on cyber engineering solutions. he

senator grassley you're recognized for your testimony. >> good afternoon. thank you for mr. chairman for convening this hearing and giving senator finestein and me the opportunity to participate. from my part as a parent and grandparent, can i think of no issue of greater importance of keeping children safe from sexual predators. the abuse scandal is a grim reminder of that fact. usa gym mast nastics and univer have not only the institutions that made headlines. others have struggled with this issue. when the abuse is by a coach or a team doctor and the victim is a minor, the betrayal of the trust is even greater. there were adults in a position to intervene but they failed to act, it's a particularly tragic situation. dr. nassar abused hundreds of victims over the period of years. the significance sentences he received ensure that he will never again hurt a young gymnast or any other child. we must do more to prevent these horrific crimes from happening again. con grelgsal oversight of the fbi falls within the jurisdiction of senator finestein and my committee. after hearin

he will meet senator mcconnell and grassley. white house press secretary sarah huckabee sanders confirmed by october 1st. help the president take mr. mr. kavanaugh. leonard leo is with us next. condemning cynthia nixon running for governor of new york. she called i see terrorist organization. president trump this morning said we need to support them not condemn them like the democrats do. we are on it. boston allowed in most collections. lindstrom, one of the republican candidates taken on elizabeth warren and massachusetts is with us later this hour. you are watching the second hour of "varney & company." ♪ stuart: we are off and running. a big day. look at this market. i call this a summer rally up 130 points. 24,900 is where we are. price of oil going up somewhere. at $74 a barrel, .79%, to $74 per barrel. gasoline not yet responded to the recent run-up in oil prices, which is still 286. that is for now the national average. the next case, look at this video. hundreds of protesters rallied out by the supreme court after pre

mr. nunes gets a lot of attention and rightly so because he's unraveled so much of this. there's a lot of members of congress that aren't getting what they asked for, chuck grassley put a request out this week demanding for certain things to be handed over but certain things to be made public and declassified so more people can see them. you have mark meadows, jim jordan who sits on oversight committee, they have outstanding document requests, there are still hundreds if not thousands and thousands of important pages that they have not received. paul: yeah, i think if the president really does want this public to understand, he will have to declassify the documents or a big chunk of them and get them out. all right, still ahead as both sides gear up for contentious supreme court fight the political left attacking one group in particular for the president's election of kavanaugh. what is the federalist society and what does it try to do, we will talk with one of the founders next oh don't... it's early 90s sitcom star dave coulier... cut...it...out! [laughing] what year is

mr. grassley: he and i have not interacted a lot in our lifetime. so getting acquainted with him again. is very posh. -- important. he's a respected jurist and the court he sits on, outstanding opinions that i think are going to be gone through by every lawyer at least on our committee. going to have an approval process, hopefully we get it done quickly. but it's going to be thorough and going to be done right. and do what we can to accommodate everybody's interests. in the end, i think the record speaks for itself. the most outstanding thing that affords this person a chance for confirmation in the united states senate. to be on the vacancy on the supreme court. we thank you all very much. and keep in touch with us. i'm sure you will.

mr. grassley: he and i have not interacted a lot in our lifetime. so getting acquainted with him again. is very posh. -- important. he

quorum call: mr. grassley: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: tonight the president will announces his nominee for the supreme court justice of the united states. that announcement is because of justice kennedy's recent retirement. >> justice kennedy left an important legacy of more than three decades on the supreme court. i voted for his confirmation 30 years ago imrment to our -- commitment to our constitutional liberties. it is no surprise that some of his greatest opinions defended free speech and religious liberty. i hope that justice kennedy's successor carries forward this legacy. i'm optimistic that the person the president nominates tonight will be highly qualified and committed to the rule of law. i'm optimistic because president trump already appointed one such supreme court justice, neil gorsuch. the president's selection process is the most transparent in history. he issued a list of potential supreme court nominees d

mr. grassley: before -- from iowa. grass before i speak, i have a motion approved by the majority and minority leaders for five requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. that's asking unanimous consent. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: madam president, as we all know, the federal bureau of investigation is a component of the department of justice. it is frequently described as the premier law enforcement agency in the country. the f.b.i.'s investigative authority has only grown and grown tremendously since its creation almost a hundred years ago. the bureau now covers everything from kidnapping to counterintelligence, public corruption to bank robbery and maybe a lot of things in between. its power is very substantial. and its jurisdiction is far-reaching. it's a very important agency. because of that, the f.b.i. is subject to a lot of scrutiny. lately we've had a lot of folks around here seem to be mistaken -- mistaking the word "scrutiny" of the bureau with the word

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: last evening i joined many of my senate colleagues at the white house as the president introduced judge brett kavanaugh to serve as the associate justice of the united states supreme court. judge kavanaugh is one of the most widely respected judges in the country. i heard the president last night refer to him as a judge -- as a judge's judge. he is an outstanding choice to serve as justice of the supreme court. justice kavanaugh -- or judge kavanaugh is a former law clerk of the justice that he has been nominated to replace, and that is justice kennedy. and i talked about justice kennedy's service on the supreme court and to the people of this country in my speech yesterday. judge kavanaugh earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from yale university. he then clerked for judges on the third and ninth circuit before joining the chambers as a law clerk for justice kennedy. he served in the office of solicitor general and also the office of independent counsel. after seve

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, we'll finish up a set of appropriations measures we've been considering for several days and take four more big steps toward our goal of completing a regular appropriations process and funding the government in a time ly and orderly manner. we'll authorize vital resources for our nation's armed forces and we'll attend to several other priorities as well, including extension of flood insurance and sending the bipartisan farm bill to a conference with the house. but first later today the senate will vote to advance the nomination of britt grant, the president's selection to serve on the 11th circuit court of appeals. this stanford law graduate has served the people of joker juror for -- of georgia for six years. all eight of her fellow justices had this to say in a letter to chairman grassley and senator feinstein -- she is highly intelligent with a breadth of legal experiential her first

mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are not. mr. cornyn: mr. president, it's hard for me to believe, but it's only been two weeks since i was at the white house along with many of our other colleagues to await the president's announcement of who would fill the supreme court vacancy left by the retirement of justice anthony kennedy. at that time the president had said he narrowed the candidates to a field of four, all of whom were well known and well qualified. i was personally pleased that he selected brett calf now, a person who i supported earlier in my career in the senate when he was nominated and confirmed to the d.c. circuit. that would have been back in 2006. his academic background, his long-standing experience in public service, and now his 12-year record of faithfully applying the laws as an appellate judge on the d.c. circuit court of appeals i believe makes him exactl