mr. smith: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous materials for the record on the topic of this special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. smith: mr. speaker, the purpose of tonight's special order is to celebrate our friend and colleague, ralph hall's distinguished service in congress. if there were a congressional hall of fame, tonight would be representative hall's induction as the oldest, some would say the most seasoned, voting member in the house of representatives. as members of congress, we had the distinct honor of serving the american people. each day as a representative can be both challenging and rewarding. and though we sometimes make headlines we do not always make history. that is why today is especially important. today is a day for the history books. after 32 years of service, congressman ralph hall today became the eldest member of congress to cast a v

the first is it is no longer an isolated individual, a mr. smith. it is a party strategy and if you have got 40 people or more who are willing to talk and all you have to do is stay at it for five minutes and then hand it off to somebody else, it doesn't solve the problem. it is also that it has been used in everything now. the rule hasn't changed since 1975. it is the practice in the last few years. there are ways to deal with it more effectively. the big problem now with filibusters in blocking them is it takes the majority. what i would like to do is say never mind the talking, you have to constantly come up with 41 votes, you being the minority. >> the minority. >> remember, we had this absurd situation where they had to drag 92-year-old robert byrd out of his hospital bed to come to the floor to provide the 60th vote. make them do it. you also have to do more. you you have to make sure the routine uses can't be applied and take up so much time. the way a filibuster now works, if you apply to something that passes unanimously and ultimately does

mr. smith's op- ed portrayed a firm that is unrecognized to us, and following its investigation concluded mr. smith appeared to be frustrated about his career and future prospects at goldman sachs." do you agree with that? > > not at all. i was actually doing very well in my career. > > other than being an author, are you working right now? > > i focused a lot of time writing the book, but what i want to do right now is i actually want to be a very vocal, loud voice for financial reform, because i think there's a real place for people from within the industry to reform wall street for the better, to make it more transparent and more sustainable and less dangerous to society. > > good to have you on the show this morning. that's greg smith, author of "why i left goldman sachs." a suggestion on the best price to buy apple stock, coming up next. apple had what was called its broadest launch ever with its mini ipad on friday hitting 34 countries. trader andrew keene of keeneonthemarket.com jo

mr. smith: again, i'll be very brief. he takes over, of course, after the tragic passing of don payne who all of us loved, admired and respected. and i sat next to don for years on the foreign affairs committee. he was the chairman of africa. i chaired it and do so today, and we worked side by side on malaria and a whole host of very important issues relevant to health and well-being to the people of africa, global health and human rights. don, you have very big shoes to fill. i'm sure you'll do it, and it's a great pleasure -- don has been an activist on a number of issues, including embracing arms. he works very strongly on job creation in newark which has been very hard hit by the recession. so it's great to welcome, don. again, i look forward to serving with you in this congress and the next. i yield to my friend and colleague, frank pallone. mr. pallone: i want to thank my colleague for those remarks. very briefly, if i could say, as a senior member of the democrats, don jr. has excelled in his own right, as was ment

one-man fill biser in "mr. smith goes to washington." now filibuster shall the nonevents that gum up legislation and have almost paralyzed the united states senate. the talking filibuster like you saw may be making a comeback. no more just hiding and having due tracks but forcing the bill buster to go out there and phillfill bust. senator jeff merkley of oregon supports a role enforcing a talking filibuster. jonathan weissman is a congressional correspondent for "the new york times." senator, thank you so much for joining us tonight. i never met you but this is quite a cause. how does it look? can you get this done on the first day of business in january? >> well, i think it has a very good possibility. senators are so frustrated with the current state of affairs that they're recognizing that there is no longer a choice, if you will, between just getting along and reforming. we're going to have to reform the rules in order to have the senate have any chance of addressing the big issues america faces. >> as you look at it as a student of

they're going to force them to actually filibuster like they did in "mr. smith goes to washington." anytime they really want to shut down the senate. >>> and the democrats considered least likely to win back her senate seat beats the odds, and i think thanks to todd akin, and is back for a second term. our friend, the great claire mccaskill, joins us tonight, the senator from missouri. >>> what's the first sound you hear after a democrat wins a presidential election? a republican crying fraud. tonight, the latest republican fairytale of how president obama -- i'm not going to say it -- took the election by ruse or whatever. they say stole. i hate that word. anyway, this is "hardball," the place for politics. >>> a lot of people think president obama was helped when chris christie effusively praised him in the aftermath of hurricane sandy. christie is getting a lot of home state love. look at this. a new quinnipiac poll finds his job approval has soared to 72%. that's nearly 3 in 4. even democrats approve the job the governor is doing. christie yesterday filed paperwork for running f

they're going to force them to actually filibuster like they did in "mr. smith goes to washington." anytime they really want to shut down the senate. >>> and the democrats considered least likely to win back her senate seat beats the odds, and i think thanks to todd akin, and is back for a second term. our friend, the great claire mccaskill, joins us tonight, the senator from missouri. >>> what's the first sound you hear after a democrat wins a presidential election? a republican crying fraud. tonight, the latest republican fairytale of how president obama -- i'm not going to say it -- took the election by ruse or whatever. they say stole. i hate that word. anyway, this is "hardball," the place for politics. made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generat

mr. smith: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, kenny marchant. mr. merchant: mr. speaker, -- mr. marchant: mr. speaker, today we honor our friend and colleague ralph hall, for being the oldest member to cast a vote in the history of the house of representatives. i've the privilege of knowing ralph for decades, he's a dear friend and a tireless advocate for the people of the fourth district of our home state. his service to the country didn't start with his election to congress in 1980 but started long before. he answered the country's call to serb in the service in world war ii, serving in the navy as an aircraft carrier pilot from 1942 to 1945, later in his life, he served in the texas legislature from 196 to 1978. ralph, i -- to 1972. ralph, i did not have the opportunity to serve with you in the texas leng slayture, we were there at different times but you served with honor and served as senate pro tem for two years. though ralph's time in the texas legislature predated

decades ago before mr. smith left washington. today the filibuster has become the procedural weapon of choice in obstructionism, notably for the republican authority who has blocked legislation to nominations, more than 360 times. between 2009 and 2010, more filibusters were used than in the '50s, '60s and '70s combined. senate majority leader har rye reid along with his newly re-elected democratic majority are leading the push for filibuster reform. efforts supported by a coalition of progressive organizations calling itself fix the senate now. being led by the brennan center and common cause among others. joining me is the president of common cause and former six-term congressman from pennsylvania, bob edgar. we're joined by michael waldman president of the brennan center for justice. thank you for your leading this worthwhile crusade against obstructionism in the senate. congressman, let me begin with you. harry reid's reforms are pretty thin soup compared to what might be done. they say to filibuster, you have to be actually

it is like jimmy stewart in "mr. smith goes to washington. it is also a fun movie to watch, it closed. >> truman becomes president. he was weighing in over his head. -- he was way in over his head in kansas city. boss prendergast was asked why they chose trimming to run for the senate. he said wanted to show the world that i could take -- that a well-oiled machine could take an office boy and have him elected to the senate. he was so far over his head when he became vice president and the president, he had a recurring nightmare that the secret service would tell him that result was dead. he knew that he was not up for it. -- that roosevelt was dead. he knew that he was not up for it. he is clearly not capable. he tells everybody he meets with for the first two weeks that it is a terrible mistake, that he is not big enough, not smart enough, that somebody else should really become president. they told them he had to bulk up and at least believe that he could be present for everybody would lose faith. unfortunately, he makes the wrong decision

a technique made famous in the classic movie "mr. smith goes to washington and expresses his intention to late dore something." (laughter) now, harry reid's doing this because he claims republicans are abusing the filibuster. >> i have faced 386 filibusters. >> stephen: 386 filibusters during harry reid's six years as majority leader. and given how little congress works, some of that has to be mitch mcconnell stopping by harry reid's family dinner to block passage of the mashed potato. (laughter) but i say so what? that's just politics. and mitch mcconnell is warning it could get worse. >> if the majority chooses to end the filibuster, if they choose to change the rules and put an end to democratic debate then the fighting, the bitterness, and the gridlock will only get worse. in the name of efficiency they would prevent the very possibility of compromise and threaten to make the disputes of the past few years look like mere pillow fights. >> stephen: he's right. to me they already look like pillow fights. i'm pretty sure joe lieberm

mr. butter showed a plan that was a plan that they would agree to and that was a plan that was the subject of a discretionary review filed by this morning, may be and so that is the reason why this plan got changed because they objected to that plan. as far as the plans that as far as mr. williams is concerneds hot once but device, i asked him do that again and i know that more than once, i'm sure it was accurate and the -- of his argument is that basic 33ally if you are going to fix the foundation, you have to tie the plate down to your foundation. and so, of course, you have to remove the interior furnishes so that you can get and expose the stuff and tie it down. and then, you put the new finish back on and in that process, you also put in plywood and draw wall which it doesn't now and he called that a demolition which, is never to my knowledge, the way the planning department defines demolition. because otherwise, we can never bring any building up to the current seismic safety code..

mr. barallies comments zoo no, i do not want that >>> okay based on my review of plans this istant monument to a demolition because by digging down on both sides of property lines to installing install a new ground floor the walls proposessed to remain cannot hang in space until a new foundation and cripple wall is built underneath them. >> mr. williams in all previous weeks we were told that even if the wall is hanging in there and in this case, they totally hung in there during frequent fraction and there is no future wall it was still not a demolition correct? >>> that is what we have been told and the assumption is we never get behind the form lay but the assumption is that, that assumption that i put in my letter section 317 says repair and maintenance and my understanding is that when that was put in by the board of directors five-seven year ago when 317 was passed that was when you were in the middle of remodel and found some dry rock you could repair and maintain it and it did not

mr. smith did not elaborate on what prompted the change only describing an investigation involving student safety. no further details are available. >>> tonight there is huge anticipation about some key testimony tomorrow in the deadly attack on benghazi that killed u.s. ambassador chris stevens and three others. >>> david petraeus will testify one week after he resigned after news of an extramarital affair. >>> now the blame game over benghazi. >> we must learn the lesson and fix the problem. >> it's time to fess up. >> outrage over the september 11 attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi. >> this administration including the president himself has intentionally misinformed, read that, lied to the american people in the after math of this tragedy. >> confusing accounts of what happened and security warnings that were ignored republican panel members accuse the administration of a cover up. >> they have tried to cover themselves a number of times. >> they slam them for playing politics. >

. >> thank you, mr. smith. is there any other public comment? >> seeing none, public comment is now closed. we can move on to our consent calendar. >> we will move into your special calendar. item 7 is a presentation of the transportation bay by architects. >> and it has been some years since we brought the design to you. and now that the towers approvals are now in place i thought that it would be appropriate for the board to hear an update from the architect of the transit tower fred clark and give you and show you the latest design. >> or at proved design. >> great. >> good morning, directors. it is a great pleasure to be here, we have made an enormous amount of progress and let me just characterize what you are going to see this morning as conceptual design in nature. we really have not quite started the full fledged design process. that is waiting for obvious reasons for various approvals. but we have engaged in an extraordinary successful collar collaboration with the san francisco planning department staff and so the design that you are g

the chair now recognizes mr. smith. >> thank you very much. i want to thank our panelists for their wonderful insight and incisive testimony. one of the issues that mr. badesch raises is the increased federal response to the needs of adults living with autism. i think that is echoed by other panelists. we have not done even a small amount of what we need to be doing to address that issue. i need to focus on older parents -- i think they have few parallels. i have known many autistic families and there is a burden that they carry that is so grossly under appreciated. so many of them do it with such grace and such dignity. great courage -- i think we need to recognize that. what i'm finding, and we all find, is that many of those parents who have older children who are autistic and are no longer children, are adults, are facing a fear they may soon pass on what happens to their child and even the inability to deal with a young man who has strength. i hosted chuck close's daughter, who wrote a wonderful book going through her life. that is one co

in "mr. smith goes to washington" the filibuster exposed a secret problem in washington. today the filibuster is the secret problem. i think any plans to expose it, making politicians accountable for their obstruction would be a step towards ending gridlock in this congress. . that would definitely be quite a spectacle, seeing senators on the floor all night long, reading historic documents, a phone book, cookbooks, they say that the minority protection rights in the filibuster are a good thing, and number two, they say there is no point in making them actually use up all that time because they are demonstrating their willingness to filibuster amount. you the so-called cloture votes. but the big difference you saw from the mr. smith is look, in the old days there was a penalty associated with exercising this right. today you have this powerful obstruction, and you don't have much of a check on it. >> all right, ari, thank you for that. and stand by while i bring in the rest of our brain trust. perry bacon is political editor for the grio and msnbc contributor and peter su

mr. mr. smith, planter questioned me several times about our calculations and so i went back to him several time and made sure that we were right on. the crux of the matter has to do with what constitutes of the removal of a wall and what i understand and what i have been led to understand by the planning department is that if the wood framing is he remaining in tact. then that wall is not demolish and had when you have a building that is the aim of this one you are not going to be able to meet the current seismic code with those foundations because you cannot put anchor bolts into the foundation that wand the bolt that we are retired to have now and i would like to persistent out the drawings that mr. williams was showing included interior partition and is that is clearly not part of the san francisco planning department criteria for demolition it has do with interior walls and the vertical surfaces. so ... the other thing that were the to point out is that there is also not really a way

mr. williams in all previous weeks we were told that even if the wall is hanging in there and in this case, they totally hung in there during frequent fraction and there is no future wall it was still not a demolition correct? >>> that is what we have been told and the assumption is we never get behind the form lay but the assumption is that, that assumption that i put in my letter section 317 says repair and maintenance and my understanding is that when that was put in by the board of directors five-seven year ago when 317 was passed that was when you were in the middle of remodel and found some dry rock you could repair and maintain it and it did not mean planning from the start to completely remove the building and build it out of new material and build it in the same lace and not all it a demolition, every single stick has to be removed every single stick. >> okay i would like to put myself in the position of of the planning commissioner that the information by which we are instructed

. >> pelley: mrs. smith told us that some of the stuff she lost includes all of her christmas presents, which she had already. ed. in new york city, just getting around has been a challenge. two tunnels that were flooded remain closed to traffic. and in lower manhattan, no power means the traffic lights are out. you might understand why new yorkers are getting a little fed up. jim axelrod is there tonight. jim. >> reporter: well, scott, this water-filled tunnel behind me is just one of the many challenges sandy has left for new yorkers who are facing a transportation nightmare. on this road into new york city, gasoline may be hard to find, but frustration summer is not. >> get in front of me! get in front of me! if it makes you happy. >> reporter: supply isn't the problem. it's the power blackouts that are keeping pumps from operating. >> move it! move it! >> reporter: aaa says just a their of station stations are open in new jersey and long island. this line was three hours long. >> worth the wait. >>

. >> pelley: mrs. smith told us that some of the stuff she lost includes all of her christmas presents, which she had already purchased. in new york city, just getting around has been a challenge. two tunnels that were flooded remain closed to traffic. and in lower manhattan, no power means the traffic lights are out. you might understand why new yorkers are getting a little fed up. jim axelrod is there tonight. jim. >> reporter: well, scott, this water-filled tunnel behind me is just one of the many challenges sandy has left for new yorkers who are facing a transportation nightmare. on this road into new york city, gasoline may be hard to find, but frustration summer is not. >> get in front of me! get in front of me! if it makes you happy. >> reporter: supply isn't the problem. it's the power blackouts that are keeping pumps from operating. >> move it! move it! >> reporter: aaa says just a third of stations are open in new jersey and long island. this line was three hours long. >> worth the wait. >> r

is just another lost cause, mr. pain. >> reporter: were you jimmy stewart? >> no. reporter: were you wide-eyed coming in thinking i can make a difference? >> i couldn't find it, no. i couldn't find the bathroom here. >> reporter: but he did have a mr. smith moment of his own this year. >> if not now, when? if not this, what? >> reporter: when he cosponsored a tough love budget plan with a democratic colleague that would slash spending and raise taxes. it looked like a winner at first. wait. just to clarify. you had more than 100 members who said we support you. >> absolutely. we had 100 members show up at a press conference endorsing the plan. we had 100 members sign a letter saying this was the way to go, that we needed to get the big deal. >> reporter: what happened to them? >> i have to tell you what happened. what happened is is the horses on the left and the right began flooding their offices with emails and phone calls and faxes. that makes people nervous. and so that number shall rank and shall rank. >> repor

smith as you take seven hundred thousand dollars from an industry that you know is corrupt an industry that you're taking money from that you they clearly understand at this point just like bill mckibben has done great work on this he says look what do we know about the industry now we know they know the climate change is real and that in and if we don't do something now then we for generations to come we've destroyed the planet that's criminal tom that's not just negligent that's criminal so tom smith so excuse me representative smith has has agreed basically to do business with criminals for the right price so children don't seem to matter the next generation doesn't seem to matter what with a character like smith well this is this is sort of like the tobacco industry knowing since the forty's maybe the thirty's that their product was killing people and yet funding phony science to cover that up for decades i believe you were part of the group that brought them down on this is there or is there any way to demonstrate the criminality of this behavior well they during the tobacco years

it used to be an argument that we would pay attention to and that is as you sit in that chamber and mr smith as you take seven hundred thousand dollars from an industry that you know is corrupt an industry that you're taking money from that you they clearly understand at this point just like bill mckibben has done great work on this he says look what do we know about the industry now we know they know the climate change is real and that in and if we don't do something now then we for generations to come we've destroyed the planet that's criminal tom that's not just negligent that's criminal so tom smith so excuse me representative smith has has agreed basically to do business with criminals for the right price so children don't seem to matter the next generation doesn't seem to matter what with a character like smith well this is this is sort of like the tobacco industry knowing since the forty's maybe the thirty's that their product was killing people and yet funding phony science to cover that up for decades i believe you were part of the group that brought them down on this is there

smith and mr. door at this, wouldn't we give the answer? is there no honor anymore in this administration? lure lawyer why is this so difficult to lay out for the american people. they have the time line and email traffic. they are not looking for the ark of the covenant here. they have the hard data. so, why the delay? i mean, we know because there within was an election this week. do you really think you are going to get any answers or is this going to be never ending quest for answers that never come. >> our responsibility in congress and chairman issa always starts our meetings with the same mission statement, look. the american people have the right to know. and we have the responsibility to find out for them. listen, for us to let one of the most shameful incidents in our country's history go by unanswered and to let these folks who have died, these patriots, young patriots that have given their life for this country and to somehow let the importance of an election stand in the way of the truth and honesty, this is so unamerican. this

we almost got through without mentioning mr. smith goes to washington, but i just blew it sorry. eleanor smith thank you so much. joe williams you'll stay with us, and we'll have a little bit of fun. coming from, the sports metaphors >>i jump out of my skin at people when i'm upset. >> why do we need a straw poll? i'll take a logical look at the situation. we're just getting started on a monday night. stick around. get irresistibly clean and fresh carpets in your home with resolve deep clean powder. the moist powder removes three times more dirt than vacuuming alone while neutralizing odors for a clean you can see, smell and really enjoy. don't just vacuum clean. resolve clean. right by those who gave their lives to for this country nearly 70 years ago. >> you're back inside the war room. i'm michael shureer. john mccain has been leading a republican attack on u.n. ambassador susan rice. they claim rice who might be the next secretary of state purposely misled the american public about the attack in benghazi. that led to four americans including am bass door, dead. he realized th