this judge was, some of them said absolutely no. that jesuit is all about politics, not qualifications. the president has a right to have his nominee taken up. the default is to be, unless qualified, confirmed. now it is going to always know. that is a sad message. they heard loud and clear from the american people and especially if you think about where the democratic party has gone in the last eight years, they have lost seats at every level. they were supposed to take back the senate. they did not. the republicans did very well in the house. we won the presidency. the message came through loud and clear that the american people want decisive leadership. they are getting at. if you are a senate democrat you to wonder whether or not you are getting out of washington enough. thank you very much. ] rosstalk

announcer: senator dianne feinstein introduced to bills thesing -- against presidential action and posing a againsty travel ban seven countries. next, we hear a response from arkansas senator tom cotton. >> i have come to the floor. we have just styled a resolution, a bill actually, with 26 cosponsors that would repeal the immigration ban .laced by president trump mr. president, president trump's muslim ban is unnecessary, unconstitutional, and on american and it should be repealed and immediately. the executive order prohibits individuals from iran, syria,

iraq, cynthia, somalia, libya, and yemen from entering the country. and even bars relatives of americans from visiting. the order suspends the entire u.s. refugee program and most egregiously, syrian refugees are beyond indefinitely unless they are christian. this is not what america is all about, mr. president. unnecessary.der is individuals from the seven targeted countries and 150 other nations are already thoroughly squeezed. they submit photographs that run through biometric data bases. their personal information is reviewed, including names, addresses, and date of birth. they are interviewed and a united states consulate. the process can take months to complete and eliminates the need

for the travel ban. in addition, the move to ban no national security reason because these refugees undergo an even more thorough screening process that can take up to two years to complete. the vast majority of refugees are women and children who have experienced the absolute worst of humanity. let us not forget the heart-wrenching image of the small body of a three-year-old dad.ashed up on a beach, i will never forget -- washed up .n a beach, dead i will never forget that small boy in his shorts, socks, tennis shoes, watched -- washed up on that each. let me make this point, the poor execution of this executive order has resulted in chaos and

confusion. it is unclear whether the justice department or homeland .ecurity had any input there seems to have been a disagreement about whether it would apply to green card holders. there is confusion about whether it apply to individuals already in transit or approved for travel. and even the airport directors and i have spoken directly with the director of los angeles international, san francisco international. there was confusion about how it applies and even airport directors were left in the dark about how many people were detained and who they were. up inlifornian was caught this mess. an iranian nationals studying at the california institute for human science in san diego under a valid student visa. for 23ained at lax

hours, she was sent back to europe. a clear violation of the nationwide state against the order. what i am saying is the court stay was actually violated. this is just one of more than weekend.es from the i believe this order is also unconstitutional. prohibitsamendment government from establishing a religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. the order violates this first amendment by targeting muslims and favoring christians. the order may also violate the religious freedom restoration act, which forbids the government from burdening a person's exercise of religion. roll bars any discrimination based on national origin in the issuance of a visa. finally, detaining people at airports may violate their

fourth amendment rights. this was an ill-considered overreach as the court showed over the weekend and it should be repealed. the bill, 27 of us are introducing it, recent's the president's executive order. the text is simple because the messages simple. we won't stand for these types of actions. in conclusion, would like to say i am so proud of the peaceful demonstrations we saw in i join those who are so passionate about the free exercise of religion and free speech. these are our values, mr. president. as a nation. if i will be right there someone tries to violate them. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor.

fore ask unanimous consent i've minutes for the senator from arkansas and then for myself. i make motions. >> is her objection? >> without objection. >> i will speak and then make thet to motions and then senator from arkansas can speak and either object or not. whatever he decides. >> ok, mr. president, i spoke at length on the president's executive order earlier. i want to repeat. this executive order has made us less safe, less secure, put our troops in the field at increased risk and was implemented in a way that caused chaos and confusion. most fundamentally, it is un-american. it flies in the face of grand american tradition of granting refuge to those fleeing from persecution regardless of their race, religion, or political views.

it is dangerous, shameful, ron. it must be reversed immediately. i know that many of my colleagues agree. they know this is wrong. republican senators and counting, including my good friend the senior senator from expressed serious concern. one former republican cia director said it makes as last safe then we were friday. so let's repealed the order and then sit down and discuss a smart, thoughtful, effective way to counter terrorism. president obama wanted tougher than acting. -- not this ineffective, un-american policy that will do more to empower our enemies and inspire those around the globe who would do us harm. i'm going to make a second unanimous consent request.

we delayed the confirmation vote on secretary of state rex tillerson until these executive heers are overturned and commits to a opposing them. so far, this is the most important foreign-policy order of the new administration and in the committee hearing for his nomination, mr. tillerson was not 100% certain he would roundly reject the idea of a blanket travel ban, just like the one president trump sign. he said quote, i don't support a blanket travel ban on people coming into this country. he stressed in his opening statement that moderate muslims would be our greatest allies in the fight against extremist. the implication was he would not support a proposal that would in any way and alienate and inflame them. suggest he might be wary about a policy that explicitly singles out seven majority muslim countries for different treatment under u.s.

policy. many of these comments, mr. president, that he made to the committee, mr. tillerson did, are at odds with the president's policy. so mr. president, democrats and republicans alike, and the american people most of all deserve to know whether mr. tillerson would implement this executive order or not because it seems to directly contradict comments he made under oath to a senate committee. key allies in the world are wondering whether the potential secretary supports this policy and so are the american people. here are some important questions. did he have any involvement or consultation in the construction and drafting of the executive order? asking president trump to rethink this policy? does he think it would make us less safe? does he think it would alienate muslim communities around the world? green agree that current

card holders should be subject to another round of scrutiny if they come back to the u.s. even though they have been that it before? did -- have been that vetted before? i am making to unanimous consent requests. first, i asked to proceed to the immediate consideration of senator feinstein's bill introduced earlier today that derby two hours of debate equally divided and that use or yielding back of time and the all should be considered third time. finally, no amendments, motions, or points of order to the bill. is there objection? >> senator from arkansas. >> i reserve the right to

object. democratic leader. mr. schumer: second resolution, i ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote on calendar number 2, the nomination of rex w. tillerson for secretary of the,e postponed until executive order 137 is rescinded and mr. tillerson is provided in writing to the senate foreign relations committee information pertaining to his involvement in the development of the executive order as well as a statement declaring whether or not he agrees with the order. the presiding officer: is there objection to the senator from new york's first request? mr. cotton: mr. president, i object to the first request. the presiding officer: objection is heard. is there objection to the second request of the democratic leader? mr. cotton: mr. president, reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from arkansas is recognized. mr. cotton: so, once again we're hearing the democrats and the media traffic in fake news.

we heard a lot on this floor and over the weekend about a muslim ban. this is a so-called muslim ban that applies to only seven countries and it does not apply to indonesia, india, pakistan, bangladesh or nigeria, the five largest muslim populations in the world. i've heard claims on tv about 134 muslims who can be affected. that leaves 1.6 billion muslims who are not affected. this is not a muslim ban. this is a temporary pause of movement from seven countries which president trump did not pick from thin air. he picked from acts of this congress and the obama department of homeland security. five countries in a state of near anarchy. a sixth country, iraq, which set a large part of its territory overrun by the is lamic state and the seven, iran. moreover, it is not a ban. it is simply a temporary pause for three to four months to evaluate whether obama administration policies are

strong enough to keep this country safe. we also heard claims that this is somehow unconstitutional. however, there is no free-floating global right of people around the world to come to this country. president trump's order is nothing more than a temporary pause on migration from countries with very weak state institutions or which sponsor terrorism while the president and the administration take a more thorough view of our vetting procedures and the refugee program as a whole. secretary kelly has stated that it does not apply to green cardholders. secretary mattis has reportedly advising that the long-term policy accommodate iraqis with a documented history of serving with our troops, which i obviously support. in fact, a temporary pause for security evaluations is so sensible that in november of 2015, after the paris terrorist attacks, even the minority leader suggested -- quote -- "a pause may be necessary." end quote.

it wasn't beyond the pale then and it's not now. moreover, the people who are enforcing our laws on the front lines agree with president trump. the union for the border patrol and the customs enforcement agents have stated that they support this order and two other related immigration orders. here's the minority shedding crocodile tears over president trump's immigration and refugee policy, but where were those tears the last eight years when president obama's foreign policy created all of these refugees? where were the tears when president obama overthrew the government of libya with nothing to follow? where were the tears when president obama withdrew from iraq, leaving that country to fend off iran and the islamic state? where were the tears when iran gave -- or when president obama gave iran $100 billion to continue its imperial campaign throughout the middle east to include overthrowing the government of yemen through its proxies. and most notoriously, where

were the tears when president obama stood idly by and watched syria go up in flames? spare me the tears now. if the minority is worried about the president's counsel and wants to make a difference in the real world, i suggest we get to work and we confirm rex tillerson to be the secretary of state and jeff sessions to be the attorney general. in the meantime, i object. announcer: this evening, sallyent trump fired yates. a statement from the white house reads in part, the acting attorney sally eight has betrayed the department of refusing tot enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the united states. was approved by the department of justice legal counsel.

administration appointee who is weak on orders and emigration. relieve her of her duties and subsequently according to another to serve as acting attorney general until center -- senator jeff sessions is finally confirmed by the senate. >> the nomination of senator jeff sessions to be the next attorney general gets a vote by the senate judiciary committee tomorrow. 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span3, also streamed live on c-span or goal or you can listen on the c-span radio app. >> after two justice antonin scalia died, the republican-controlled senate did not pick up president obama's

nominee merrick garland. tuesday, president trump will for thes nominee supreme court. we will have live coverage on c-span2. and we will open the telephone lines inch take your comments. washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up tuesday morning, california democratic congressman ted lieu will discuss president trump's executive orders on extreme vetting. the announcement of his supreme lord nominee and his supreme court nominee cabinet picks. then, we talk about congressional reaction to the ban. administration travel he sure to watch c-span's washington journal live at some :00 a.m. tuesday morning. join the -- at 7:00 a.m. tuesday morning. join