senator moran, senator hoeven, senator murkowski, and senator collins. i also want to thank their respective ranking members, the democrats, for their bipartisan cooperation here -- senators shaheen, senator merkley, senator udall, and senator reed. together, these four measures before us today account for nearly one-third -- one-third, madam president -- of all nondefense discretionary spending, consistent with the bipartisan budget agreement, they contain no new poison pills. and i would caution my colleagues on both sides of the aisle against pursuing poison pills -- poison pill amendments if we're able to proceed today. if we're to make any progress on the 2020 appropriations bills, i think we must be true to our commitment enshrined in the terms of of the budget agreemeno refrain from such provisions, to move the process. i would also like to move this package through regular order so that we can return quickly to a second package that the majority leader spoke to us at lunch today about, that funds the military and many more other agencies. there's

i want to thank senator daines, senator tester, senator gillibrand and senator jones who have joined me in adding $1 million fully paid for and offset within the bill to help combat this epidemic of meth in our country and certainly in our states like colorado. another amendment that i've been working on is the bullet-proof vest amendment. we've seen too many attacks on our law enforcement over the past several years, so this legislation would provide a $1.1 billion fund for our nation's law enforcement officers with type 3 bullet-proof vests. they are capable of stopping more powerful rifle ballistics and would allow more officers to come home, to come home at the end of the day of their service and that's what we need to be focusing on how to protect the men and women in blue in our communities. proud to have joint legislation earlier this year that was signed into law that permanently reauthorized the bulletproof vest partnership program and hope we continue to build and offer our support to those who it defend that thin blue line. the crown jewel of our conservation programs, the

another of my colleagues, senator graham, said he was trying to organize a letter of senate republicans promising they would not go back until my clothes to convict the president abefore the house completes inquiry. before any articles impeachment are even drafted. let alone voted on. before scrap of evidence was considered in the senate trial. if it comes to it. senator graham seems to be advocating alice in wonderland justice. first the verdict, then the trial. i hope they will rethink that. over the state work period the republican leader ran an advertisement in which he declared the way impeachment stops is with a senate majority with me as majority leader. that's a far cry from what he said in 1998 "not prejudging the case". we are several steps away from but the potential trauma sums. the house continues to do its work diligently evenhandedly with only the facts in mind. i remind my republican colleagues in this chamber that committing today to vote not guilty is contrary to their oath to do impartial justice. that's their oath. instead of prejudging, i ueremi my republican collea

senator sanders? >> well, for someone who wrote the damn bill, as i said, let's be clear, under the medicare for all bill that i wrote, premiums are gone, co-payments are gone, deductibles are gone, all out of pocket expenses are gone. we're going to do better than the canadians do and that is what they have managed to do. at the end of the day the overwhelming majority will save money on their health care bills, but i do think it is appropriate to acknowledge that taxes will go up. they're going to go up significantly for the wealthy. and for virtually everybody the tax increase they pay will be substantially less -- stnc substantially less than what they were paying for premiums and out of pocket expenses. >> senator warren, will you acknowledge what the senator just said about taxes going up? >> so my view on this and what i have committed to is costs will go down for hardworking middle class families. i will not embrace a plan like medicare for all who can afford it. that will leave behind million

, senator shaheen, senator blew men that will and senator blackburn. we need swift and bipartisan action to repair the damage caused by the decision to allow turkey to attack our chief partner in the fight against isis terrorists and to make sure that we stop the revival of isis. the syrian kurds have been the tip of the spear in our fight against isis and its re-emergence. the senate should vote on the bipartisan resolution that senator rand mentioned that passed the house yesterday but move immediately to take up the bill that we are introducing today. i think we recognize that many damage has been done. as senator graham, russia, assad, iran and isis are moving quickly to fill the void, but we can demonstrate that american leadership matters here in the congress and take the measures that we are calling for today. we have to send a message. we have to a send message. and we will fight to make sure that isis does not get more oxygen and come back. they have been down, but they are not out. and this action that has been taken gives them the opportunit

responded, you have addressed senator, senator, senator. i think you should be addressing victims because they are the ones we are asking questions on behalf of. they are the ones who have come today on behalf of their family members. another thing i want to ask you -- you have mentioned a couple of times a lack of awareness of emails or documents or communications. we have something around here before we vote. we read the bill. so we know what is in it. if we need to ask questions, we ask questions. we develop the awareness that is so necessary to make good decisions. of thehave a full view situation that is in front of us. disconcerting to hear someone who is to be the leader of a company to say, i was not aware. or, i did not know. that.had not read nobody made me aware of that. buck.l that passing the it is your responsibility if you are going to lead the company to have that awareness. have you at this point read each and every page of every document that is relative to the situation in this case? say i have i cannot read every documen

reporter: senator graham, senator graham. reporter: sir -- senator, you said a secret, illegitimate process -- sen. graham: that's my view. reporter: what do you say to the argument that 47 of your republican house colleagues who serve on these committees, they have the right to be in there, it's not secret, it's bipartisan. sen. graham: i would say if we pulled this -- eating this alive. let me finish and let me tell you why. how many people have asked me about bill taylor's opening statement? all i can say is if we had rudy giuliani's opening statement, and he said, i did nothing wrong, i doubt if you would accept that. so 47 republican house members feel like it's not working for them. they feel like that volker's testimony has been selectively released. radcliffe's cross-examination of taylor is not available to you. so the people that you named are as upset as i am. here's what i would say. there's a way to do it. reporter: president trump -- sen. graham: these rights that every other president, nixon, clinton have had,

our senator, robert wilkie. secretary wilkie was in aid to jesse helms, and stood right here and my job and introduced so many distinguished speakers. to have them here doing this is one great payback. he is our guest today and deservedly so. he was confirmed by the u.s. senate on july 23rd, 2018, and sworn in on july 30th 2018, as a tenth secretary of veteran affairs prior to his prior position. he was the under secretary for defense, the principal adviser to the secretary and the deputy secretary of defense and served jim mattis as the undersecretary of defense as an assistant secretary of defense. before that was in a special assistant to the president of the united states for national security affairs and a senior director at the national security council -- did you ever see this guy at all? for five years he was part of the largest engineering management form at all. he's a colonel, we don't hold that against him, and he previously served in the navy reserve with the joint -- i hold that against him! with a

a big number for a senate candidate. senator mcconnell energizes democrats. it may be wouldn't be as difficult to raise a lot of money running against him. that is still certainly to her credit. it is still an uphill climb. >> gary peters in michigan. the one democrat that republicans feel it they have a shot at the seating. he was outraised by his republican challenger in the most recent quarter. john james run and successfully for can -- senate in 2018. they see james as a strong candidate. democrats caution that senator won competitive races and is consistently raising a good amount of money. democrats look at michigan as a place where the president's popularity will be a major factor. president trump narrowly won michigan in 2016. democrats see his popularity dwindling there. they think that will also help peter's going into 2020. >> michael is in wisconsin. republican caller. >> yes. you mentioned something about running in-state and out-of-state. does rollcall publish that? does that get to the media as far as excluding money coming in and out of the st

senate. i was a naval flight officer, later governor for delaware and now i serve as delaware's u.s. senator. i have had the privilege of serving with literally hundreds of people here, in the house as and governor and certainly in the navy, armed services during the vietnam war. among my all-time favorite colleagues, all those, whether it was military service or the state of delaware or here in congress, one of my all-time favorite people to serve with was a woman from north carolina from a place called shelby. my wife is from north carolina. her family is from north carolina. she has her father down there and a lot of nieces and nephews that grew up in the mountain. she's got sisters in raleigh. some of her sisters live in shelby. there was a woman born there in 1953 named kay hagan. i don't know that she was born kay hagan, but she became kay hagan, and maybe that was after getting married. but she was a daughter of a homemaker named jeanette, and her dad had a tire business. later he work

if the senate votes to dismiss. guest: it could, if they voted to dismiss it would be over and everyone would go home. at a minimum, there would have to be a majority of the senators to vote to dismiss it. i rather doubt that the matter would be dealt with like that. it would look so obviously partisan and would present, frankly, difficulty republicans who are up for reelection in the next cycle and who need, at the least, to be seen in their states to be treating this matter seriously. host: that requires a simple majority, correct? guest: yes. host: texas, good morning. caller: good morning. this is such an interesting subject. questions that have seen answered on various channels and i want to get a straight answer on this. rules,rstanding is the there are no rules in the constitution for what the congress right now is undertaking. that the majority leader of the congress basically sets the rules. understand i also that in the nixon impeachment, there was a special counsel that gathered evidence and that rule is

senator johnson. senator johnson, please. can we please answer the question that i asked you instead of trying to make donald trump feel better here that you're not criticizing him? >> i'm not. >> i'm trying to ask you a simple question of what made you wince? what is -- i'm asking a simple question about you clearly were upset that somehow there was an implication that military aid was being frozen because the president wanted an investigation. why did you wince? >> because i didn't want those connected. and i wanted -- i was supporting the aid as is senator muff if i a -- murphy as is everyone. when i asked the president about that, he denied it. he adamantly denied it. he said i'd never do that. so that is the piece of the puzzle i'm here to report today. >> joining me now is congressman from california, a member of the house oversight committee. thank you for being on the show. i don't know if you got a chance to see the entire meet the press interview with senator johnson but we did play just now a good chunk of that int

reporter: thank you, senator. i want to follow up a little bit more on the lunch and in general the eaction you got from white house and the president himself. what did -- can you tell us a what he -- what would he like you to do? effort?pportive of this does he talk about being more aggressive on his behalf? and then, have you heard from the last 10 days or so that the witnesses have been coming out about his frustration? senator graham: yes. he was in a good mood. he appreciated the lunch. would like the process to be xposed for being basically unfair. he keeps telling us he did nothing wrong. he keeps telling me that the phone call was president. i'm -- phone call was perfect. i'm saying, the phone call was ok with me. he feels like it never stops. been in office, what, three years now, and every time another around there's reason that his family, his friends -- he's got to pay legal ills and that he feels like he doesn't have a real fair chance of being president of the united states. he thought it would be ov

anderson: senator klobuchar -- senator klobuchar, senator warren -- senator warren supports a voluntary -- excuse me, senator klobuchar, you support a voluntary buyback, if him him i'm correct, right. what is wrong with a mandatory buyback? your response. sen. klobuchar: i just keep thinking of how close we are to finally getting something done on this. i'm looking at the mayor of dayton. i met one of the survivors from that shooting, 30 seconds, nine people killed. the public is with us on this in a big way. the majority of trump voters want to see universal background checks right now. the majority of hunters want to see us move forward with gun safety legislation. well. why not a mandatory one? sen. warren: so, look, i want to get what works done. i want to use the method we used, for example, with machine guns. we registered them, we put in a huge penalty if you didn't register them, and a huge tax on them, and then let people turn them in, and it got machine guns out of the hands of people. but the problem here that we need to focus on is, first, how widespread gun violence is. as

i asked the senate consent to take it up last week but unfortunately it was blocked. we will keep coming back to it. because it makes a difference in my republican colleagues stand up to thees president. that can affect more than anything else. they should not be allowed to daca. when the president and the republicans pressured the president as he did on d the g7, he considered changing course. when it comes to national security vital matters upon policy and especially when it comes to the constitution, the rule of law and the integrity of our democracy republicans must pick the country over the party. on syria in the fight against isis that means mcconnell and senate republicans to let us vote on the house resolution criticizing the presidents withdrawal. i yield the floor. [screams] i have come to talk about something that should not be momentous or unusual and should be routine around here and unfortunately as you and i have experienced it is not routine and what is not routine is united states senate, the congress getting the job done and part of the job is theap

senator risch: senator rubio. senator rubio: thank you for being here today and service to our country which i think is across four cabinet departments, three administrations, last two years as the deputy, and all six weeks as the acting secretary of state. now you are going to russia. as i told you yesterday i don't know what you're going to do to top that. that's a great record of service to our country. because you are the nominee to such an important post, i think we just want to cut to the chase. we all understand the theory and the argument made that the president of the united states was engaged in an effort to leverage u.s. foreign aid to a country in exchange for that country helping him go after the -- a political opponent. that is the allegation. that's what the house is looking into. bottom line, were you aware at any time until the stuff was in the press, did anyone ever come to you, were you aware of that sort of connection, that quid pro quo that's being alleged? was that something you were a part o

it has passed on the senate floor in a previous senate. and i think it can pass again with your active support. the second point i want to make is is this. for us to have dueling unanimous consent requests and both to object in this debate is really unfair to the people who have gathered in this gallery today as well as those who are following this debate on television with literally the fate of their family and future in our hands. i would like to ask you a favor, to consider the following. when senator kennedy objected on your behalf yesterday or the day before in a similar manner, i suggested that we push this issue forward for a hearing in the immigration subcommittee of senate judiciary where we both serve. that committee is not overworked. it considered one bill last year and no amendments. so let us try to prevail on the chairman of that subcommittee to have a hearing on the subject and bring out all the facts before the subcommittee and the full committee in the hopes that we can find some sort of reasonable bipartisan compromise.

mr a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. a senator: from new mexico. thank you for the recognition. it's great to be here with senator murkowski. i rise to speak in support of fiscal year -- fiscal year 2020 interior appropriations bill which is now before the senate. mr. udall: and i want to begin by thanking my chairman and partner in this endeavor, senator murkowski for her working with me to produce a very fine bill that is crafted on a bipartisan basis. it's extraordinary that this bill is on the floor for the second consecutive year. after many years when we were not able to move the bill by regular order. and much of the credit goes to her leadership and her commitment to working through tough issues in a fair and a pragmatic way. one of the reasons i'm particularly proud of moving a bipartisan bill is the importance this bill has for my home state of new mexico. this bill reflects the long tradition we have in my state of working across the aisle to support conservation priorities. it includes a number of important a

thank you, senator. >>thank you, senator. senator klobuchar. >> "we're not covering what you need." >> i spent most of my time studying one basic question and that is why h hard-working peope go broke. one of the principal reasons for that is the cost of health care. and back when i was studying to out of every three families that ended up in bankruptcy after a serious medical problem had health insurance. the problem we've got right now is the overall cost of health care. and, look, you can try to spin this any way you want. i've spent my entire life on working on how america's middle class has been hollowed out and how we fight back. i've put out nearly 50 plans on how we can fight back and how we can rebuild an america that works. and a part is that is we have got to stop -- >> thank you, senator. >> americans from going bankrupt over health care costs. amy: that was senator elizabeth warren talking about medicare for all. the questioner was mark lacey. steffie woolhandler, your response and the refusal of elizabeth warren

a senator is not a civil officer. a class of people subject to impeachment under the constitution. >> north carolina, republican line, good morning. >> good morning. i am actually a duke law student, would you come to our school and have a talk? this topic is electric and you can feel it in the school, in terms of the excitement and the discourse of not understanding what the process really entails. >> what is the question you are getting from your peers? >> it is really about the process. also, what i think has been the thread and the common theme is when you have an administration that is doing continuous blocking of potential witnesses, where they are essentially stopping every step of the way those people coming forward in offering their testimony, is that we are seeing barriers set up. a lot of the focus has been on what compels individuals to come forward from the law and what statute in the law will provide a mechanism, compelling them to come forward, other than the subpoena process? secondly, one question abo

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, the most sacred, the most important, the most profound responsibility that a president of the united states has is to keep americans safe. everything else that we care about, the citizens of this great nation, the best nation on the planet, it matters very little if our physical safety and the physical safety of our families, of our loved ones aren't assured. that's job number one for the president of the united states. now, mr. president, i believe that the president has likely committed offenses that are worthy of impeachment. i think it's likely that information is going to emerge from the house's inquiry that will present republicans with clear evidence that the president's abuse of office has been serious. now, obviously, we need to wait for the articles of impeachment to arrive in the senate, if they do arrive, before any of us decide our vote on revolve, but the publicly stipulated facts already surrounding the presiden

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator for indiana. mr. braun: i rise today because i just finished up visiting all counties in my home state. every one of them have backed about what we've been doing here, especially following the lead of president trump. when it comes to the particular issue of syria, i think it begs the question, when people say it green-lighted what occurred there, what would the reaction have been had we not gotten out of harm's way? i'm guessing it would have been a bigger fiasco in many different dimensions. the minority leader indicated that rand's idea was horrible. i want to make the point that collectively over the last 40 to 50 years, we've been engaged in -- all the way back to the vietnam war, where we've been add venge toursome, done it, where we've not paid for it and we're noe now in a pickle and that's why i was for what the president decided to do. you cannot continue being engaged like this when you're running trillion-dollar deficits, $22 trillion in debt. hoosiers understand that. most americans do as

senator johnson, senator johnson, please, can we please answer the question that i asked you instead of trying to make donald trump feel better here that you're not criticizing him. i'm just trying to ask you a simple question of what made you wince? what is -- i'm asking a simple question about you clearly were upset that somehow there was an implication that military aid wasat being frozen because the president wanted an investigation. why did you wince? >> because i didn't want those connected. and i was supporting the aid, as is senator murphy, as is everybody who went to the initial inauguration. here's the salient point of why i cameoi forward, when i asked e president about enthat, he completely denied it, adamantly, angrily denied it, said i would never do that. that's the piecei of the puzzl i'm here to report today, that unlike the narrative of the press, that president trump wants to dig up dirt on his 2020 opponent, what he wants is he wants an accounting of what happened in 2016. who set him up? did things spring from ukraine? there's a good piece we have an oversight le

>> former senator hagan died today. serving in the u.s. senate 2009 through 2014. she graduated from florida state university and earned her law degree from lake forest. she served in the north carolina state senate 1989 january 2009 when she became a us senator. she was 66. >> i was saddened by today's news our former colleagues senator hagan had passed away. during her time represented the people of north carolina k was exactly that, a gentle lady who had an earnest commitment with a friendly and collegial approach both on both sides well remember serving alongside her in the senate. in the first face of serious illness was inspiring. phasing this with her husband and her children and with all family and friends at this extremely difficult time. on a completely different matter sunday morning we woke up to a better and safer world because one monster was no longer in it. aku bakr al-baghdadi was the founder and leader of isis and in recent years that made him the single most important target ige in the fight against radical islamic terrorism. his band has committ

reporter: senator graham, senator graham. reporter: senator, you said a secret, illegitimate process -- sen. graham: that's my view. reporter: what do you say to the argument that 47 of your republican house colleagues who serve on these committees, they have the right to be in there, it's not secret, it's bipartisan. sen. graham: i would say if we pull this off, you would be eating us alive. let me finish and let me tell you why. how many people have asked me about bill taylor's opening statement? all i can say is if we had rudy giuliani's opening statement, and he said, i did nothing wrong, i doubt if you would accept that. so 47 republican house members feel like it's not working for them. they feel like that volker's testimony has been selectively released. radcliffe's cross-examination of taylor is not available to you. so the people that you named are as upset as i am. here's what i would say. there's a way to do it. these rights that every other president, nixon, clinton have had, and take a vote to allow the house to

senator brown. senator brown: thank you, mr. chairman. welcome. nice to see you. we created the consumer financial protection bureau to stand up for students and service members and hardworking americans to protect them from big banks and crooked corporations that rob them of their homes and their jobs and savings. after 10 months on the job, it's clear why president trump selected you to head the cfpb. we know he can count on you to protect wall street banks and payday lenders and shady debt collectors and other companies that prey on hardworking americans. under your leadership, under president trump's leadership, this agency has chosen corporations over workers over and over again, has chosen big banks over consumers over and over again. since you took over, you and your appointees have overruled the recommendations of consumer experts and allowed crooked companies to lie, to cheat, and to steal from hardworking americans, and then you've let them get away with it. the consumer protection bureau is supposed to protect consumers, that's your entire job, to prote

senator risch: those will be entered. senator cruz. senator cruz: thank you, mr. chairman. let me start by observing as we sit in these august chambers from the storied committee above which the ghost of henry cabot lodge no doubt looks down, i feel compelled to the distinguished senator from virginia is choosing to mock me for his nationals beating my astros last night in game six back in houston. [laughter] i will only say that there is a virtue to patience. and at this time tomorrow, one of the other of us will be on the losing side of a wager and wearing the colors of the winning team, so i look forward to hopefully to 24 hours from now my good friend. i can't wait to see how that comes out either way. sen. cruz: congratulations on your nomination, mr. sullivan. i'm not sure what you did at state to merit being sent to siberia, but congratulations nonetheless. i have every confidence you will perform ably in this new role. let's talk about some different aspects of russia. russia, as you know, has a the long history of using energy as a weapon. and one of the tools i be

but the senate sits as a jury , all hundred members of the senate. it's a large jury to consider whether they wouldvote for conviction . so as a result , the color is right that it's an unusual process and it's also unusual in the sense that you might think and i think people have argued historically that both the house and senate additional powers that go beyond their legislative power so where you might be able to get evidence that otherwise material, stuff like phone records of foreign phone calls that you wouldn't otherwise get in the classic situation are needed.even in that washington case i cited where he refused to provide the records in he said he and his transmittal i'm not going to give you these records. if you are sitting in impeachment i might have to i'm not going to . i'm not going to give you anything, impeachment is a different story. you're bringing charges against me so i don't need to worry about that you raise a quick question so even in the context of these debates about whether you can get records of negotiations about treatie

>> senator, yes, we are. i asked my board to set up an independent review committee about five months ago. that committee did its work, provided inputs we're acting on, and with other authorities, continuing to take a hard look at that. we look forward to taking action on those reports. >> also, the joint authorities technical review included a recommendation that states, quote, if any flight control surface is used in a novel manner, the faa should be directly involved. this is based on the observation that the faa was not completely unaware of mcas, but because information and discussions about mcas were so fragmented and they were delivered to disconnected groups within the process, it was difficult to recognize the impacts and the implications of the system do you agree that the communication between boeing and the faa is fragmented to the point that relevant information on mcas was not provided to the agency, is this what you were referring to when you talked about getting the balance right? >> senator,

senate mitch mcconnell, the majority leader says to his fellow senators in the conference, i understand why some of you don't want to support this president, oh yeah, you do? said i. this is agreed justly disloyal on his part and lacking in just plain guts. and then to say we will focus on process, because this isn't fair. what in the -- what is going on over there? >> i cannot explain that mindset because i don't understand that mindset. i have viewed this from day one that the other side is out to basically get this president. they protect him, his family, his associates. lou: and the republican party. the majority leader of the house and the senate, mcconnell and her former friend paul ryan the speaker of the house, you let the democrats steal the election of 2018. in 40 seats with it. it is incredible. >> we have to take it back. lou: where is the fire in your bellies. i just can't comprehend. >> what i am saying quite frankly is a regal kindling of the fire. i have talked to 70 people over the past two weeks in our conference and leadership who have a renewed burning in the air sub

new jersey democratic senator cory booker is a member of the senate judiciary committee and the senate foreign relations committee and is now a candidate for president of the united states. so nobody saw this coming as presidential candidates, but you could end up as a juror in the impeachment trial of the person you're running against us. >> yes. >> could you take that oath that i just read and then fairly play your role as a juror in the senate? >> absolutely. this is a sobering thing and it should be a separate and apart of. i'm confident in our ability to take down donald trump. i wouldn't run if i didn't think i could beat him. those are for political reasons. this is separate. did he or did he not betray his oath and create potential treason and put his own interests from our national security interests. those questions could be held independently. he could still be a bad person, all the things and the reason i'm running but to be independent from this, we have to at this time. all should be sober, 535 congresspeople, should be sober. this is a sad time that we should be putting

let's ask a member of the senate committee on foreign relations, democratic senator jeff merkley of oregon state. is it not your contention as a member of that committee that a president or anyone in elected office ought not be asking foreign governments to interfere with american political elections for their own personal gain? >> rev, good to be with you. no, this is clearly an extensive abuse of power. i think bill taylor, who was the acting ambassador to the chief mission to the ukraine, who was a professional diplomat. he had been an ambassador to the ukraine under george h.w. bush. he said i think it's crazy for the president to be essentially exchanging security assistance for political assistance or political campaign help. i think, yes, it's crazy, and it's more than crazy. it's a huge abuse of power. >> now, when we hear a statement like that that he thought it was crazy, and we're talking, as you just stated, about abuse of power, we're talking about a president now that talked about america first and all these things that clearly in two instances the whistle-blower talking abou

senator. mr. president, one other thing about senator stevens, no matter how far he rose -- and we're hearing about the high levels in the senate he attained -- he never forgot what was most important: serving the people of alaska. when people, our constituents, traveled thousands of miles to come to d.c., he always made time for them. thousands and thousands of alaskans have notes from him, congratulatetory letters, condolence letters, letters of appreciation. at his standing-room only funeral in anchorage, where i had the honor of serving as an honorary pall bearer, someone asked a show of hands of the audience, hundreds and hundreds of people, how many had received add letter from senator ted stevens. nearly every person at that service raised their hand. and of course he treated his staff like family. if you worked for.senate.gov stevens, like my wife julie did, you were always part of that family and you could always expect loyalty from him the rest of the your life. mr. president, these

senator, your view? >> yes. well, number one, i don't think we should forget that you cannot get anything of value from a foreigner, let alone a foreign country. that in itself is against campaign law. so i agree. it was a quid pro quo. he said i have a favor, though, the president said to zelinski. and, so, we have to know on its face. look, i ran many campaigns, 12. and i paid a lot for opposition research. you want to know what's in the background of your opponent. but you can't take 50 cents from any foreign person or someone who isn't a citizen. so on its face. and obviously, this is an abuse of power to turn to this president of a country that is in desperate need of help because russia's attacking his country. last point i'd make here, we also can't forget that the inspector general who looked at the whistleblower report said, this is urgent. >> right. >> this is serious. and he was a trump appointee. this thing is inexerable. sitting through the impeachment trial of clinton was the most painful thing, ho

governor reynolds, senator grassley and senator ernst, former congressman david young, the ep a's assistant administrator to speaker of the house pat grassley -- [ applause ] all the local leaders and guests and neighbors and friends and to rob manning and manning farms, it is great to be back in the hawkeye state. thank you for that wonderful warm welcome. [ applause ] i'm really honored to see you all turned out today. thanks for taking time away from your work and obligations to talk about an issue of great importance to iowa and great importance to the nation, but let me say thanks to a few friends who are with us today, not just -- not just do i want to thank her for that overly again rou generous introduction, but i have to tell you there's no more dynamic or hard working governor in the united states of america than governor kim reynolds. would you join me in thanking her. take a bow, kim. she's doing a phenomenal job for iowa. [ applause ] let me thank another friend of mine who i've come to know well in my duties as vice president. i find my way to the united states senate on a reg

not so view discuss in the senate. but a handful of gop senators standing with the president against impeachment. senator lindsey graham today stepping up his support of the president and railing against the leaders of the kangaroo court proceedings against president trump. >> what's going on is a run-around the impeachment process creating a secret proceeding behind closed doors that is in my view denies due process. when you are talking about removing the president of the united states, it seems to me you would want a process that is consistent with who we are as americans. if you can drive down a president's poll numbers by having proceedings where you selective live leak information where the president who is the subject of all this is pretty much shut out. god help future presidents. lou: as this president takes on the left, his administration is standing up to the decades long theft and espionage originating two come snift china. vice president mike pence today cast i gaited china and their leaders as the white h

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trump in the united states senate. john heilemann will join our discussion next as we move even closer to the impeachment of president trump. e impeachment of president trump. audrey's on it. eating right and staying active? on it! audrey thinks she's doing all she can to manage her type 2 diabetes and heart disease, but is her treatment doing enough to lower her heart risk? [sfx: crash of football players colliding off-camera.] maybe not. jardiance can reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults who also have known heart disease. so it could help save your life from a heart attack or stroke. and it lowers a1c. jardiance can cause serious side effects including dehydration, genital yeast or urinary tract infections, and sudden kidney problems. ketoacidosis is a serious side effect that may be fatal. a rare, but life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur. stop taking jardiance and call your doctor right away if you have symptoms of this bacterial infection, ketoacidosis, or an al

manchin: i want to thank my colleague from ohio, senator brown, senator stabenow, senator casey, all those who feel strongly as we do and have constituents in our state who helped build this country to what it is today and deserve the respect we give them and also the hard fight that we will make sure we do for them. we're here to bring attention to the issue of the american workers' pension. i want to thank you for allowing me to speak today in the ever-present issue that our retired workers face in the issue of their pensions. i come to the floor today to speak on behalf of some of america's hardest workers. it has been 285 days, 285 days since i introduced the american miners act which would protect miners' pension from becoming collateral during coal mine bankruptcies. this is something that should have been done. it's been on leader mcconnell's desk for quite some time. we could have taken care of this a few years ago. we got the health care done, but they split it apart and we weren't able to get the pensions. the miners rely on their hard-earned pensions and retirement that sh

senate. we will consider why donald trump has not yet attacked chuck grassley for chuck grassley's very strong defense today of the whistleblower. and at the end of the hour, we will be joined by american journalism's highest authority on impeachment. elizabeth true is now covering her third impeachment proceeding of the president of the united states. she is a washington congresswoman for the new yorker. elizabeth true wrote the book about that process which remains the highest standard in impeachment reporting. washington journal reporting watergate and richard nixon's downfall. elizabeth's reporting has always been mandatory reading for me, and i can assure you, her op-ed speech in the "new york times" has been treated as mandatory reading by the staff of all the house committees involved in the impeachment process and all of them members of those committees. when elizabeth true talks about impeachment, i for one listen, take notes and i learn, and i will be doing that at the end of this h

he is the kind of senator you and i would want on the senate floor when the next bay of tonkin resolution comes up. we need someone to be the voice of conscience of the united states senate, somebody who will be the lafayette of our time. ladies and gentlemen, senator joseph duffey. [applause] >> no one has this primary sewed up. not sewed up, not buttoned up, not zippered up. [applause] >> it is a wide open fight, and we are in it to win. some of you know what is happened since the convention. mr. donahue went to new york to make his television commercials. i'm sure he will be seeing them again and again and again between now and the primary. mr. marcus has been to vietnam and i have been to bridgeport, and waterbury and -- [applause] announcer: what he needed was funds for college, what he got was his army physical. our young men are dying in a war that doesn't make sense. let's be honest, withdrawal from vietnam doesn't mean withdrawal from the world. >> donahue for democrat. >> is there a way out of vietnam? this is ed marcus. i went to vietnam to talk to our troops. >> duffey had lon

so i just learned that the senate, among the senator republicans there's -- senate a unanimousthere's kind of agreement to get this bill passed through. the house has already a passed it by a strong bipartisan support, 365 votes. and trusting enough when the democrats is say that they are a party of pro-immigrants, i find that senator durbin -- who's the leader on the democratic side -- is holding up the bill. i do believe and what i've heard that he has prejudice against people from my country, can and that's very unfortunate, i believe. i can't fix that. all i'm here to request you to help pass this bill working with senator lee and senator mcconnell to be able to get this bill passed through, get passed through this impediment and help us get this law, this bill passed into law. i think that will be a huge a achievement in this highly partisan times and be able to show the country that we can certainly work together when this is something as common sense as this. thank you. >> and thank you for your perspective. and ipe do support it. i am ardent support of the bill, and it does ad

instead, senator after senator would say to me, costa, i am sorry. i'm going to be a juror if there is a trial up here, so i don't want to say anything. then some of them would walk four or five paces ahead and turn around and say, come here, let's talk. but it wouldn't be on the record. you accept that because of the charged atmosphere and they want it to be candid. they would say privately they're unhappy with the white house or unhappy with mick mulvaney the acting chief of staff. they feel like they can't even engage on the substance because they don't know what's going on come out next. they said the white house isn't engaging with them. senators raging across the conservative and moderate spectrum aren't getting any kind of talking points or even guidance from the white house. but what you really feel is they know a trial's coming. and they also know that mitch mcconnell more than president trump is their leader. president trump, they tell me and phil, is in control of the party. but mcconnell's in control of the senate. they feel they have to

senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. today's opening prayer will be offered by robert lewis, former pastor and founder of better man, the national men's organization from little rock, arkansas. the guest chaplain: let us pray. heavenly father, we give thanks for this new day and the hope that lies within it. we have been a blessed nation not by accident but by this. in you, god, we trust. thank you for the men and women of this distinguished body who will again rise to face the immense challenge that will mark this day along with the special opportunities it holds for good. i pray you will make this body ready for both. in these turbulent times, empower their work with your spirit. give them a difference making wisdom only you possess. protect them from small ambitions. call each heart here up to the higher ways of humility, understanding, and much needed unity. help these leaders seek what is right and best for all in this nation -- the weak and the strong, the rich and the wanting, the great and the small. and let thei

and so to deal with this issue, senator joe manchin and myself and senator todd young, senator doug jones, senator kiersten sinema have proposed something called the trust fact. it is designed to save the trust funds associated with these major programs. it's designed to make sure that we have a process for finally getting balance in social security, both trust funds in social security as well as medicare, as well as the highway trust fund. this is an effort which has been undertaken in the past unsuccessfully, and there are a lot of people who say, well, it can't be done now. but it's got to be done now because if it's not done now, the burden that will fall on our seniors eventually will become extraordinary, and the burden that'll fall on the next generation as they don't know whether social security and medicare can be depended upon is unthinkable. the approach that senator manchin and myself and these other senators have taken is pretty straightforward. we're not laying out a specific plan to change these programs. instead, we have laid out a process for modernizing these programs. a

the senate. it is very hard to wrap anything up until we deal with that central problem. for: put on your budget cap second. a tweet that came out from the associated press -- the national debt up 3 trillion since the president took office, 50% increase. what do you attribute that to? -- what attributed to has immediately made it far worse is the trump tax cut which took us 1.5 trillion dollars in the hole over a five-year period. that knocked the numbers far deeper into red territory. also, a failure to have a comprehensive budget agreement of the sort that got our house in order in the 1990's. i have been around long enough to remember that. --have three con comprehensive budget deals in the 1990's. somewhere bipartisan, some were democratic heavy lifting. balancedur years of budgets and paying off the national debt, paying off for billion dollars of the national debt. we had a roaring economy. what is not to like? we do not seem to recognize that lesson now. the republicans say they will never

i knew kay for over a decade, as a senate senator, as a candidate, brilliant senator and as a former senator who returned to private life without an ounce of regret or real will. in all that time, i never heard once, never heard her once complain. she was never sour or sarcastic or dejected. she remained always to her last day a cheerful optimist, a happy warrior. it's only one of the many reasons that kay hagan was beloved by members on this side of the aisle and i believe by a great number on those-- of those on the other side as well. boy, will we miss her. my heart goes out to chip, to their three kids, jeanette, tilton and carrie and their wonderful grandchildren of whom kay was so proud and loving. now on another subject. yesterday morning it was announced that u.s. special operations forces killed abu bakr al-baghdadi the leader of the islamic state. the death of al-baghdadi is a great victory for the safety of our country and safety of our allies and our partners. all americans absolute the special forces operations who executed this mission. the intelligence community profes

i'm proud to be joined by senators murray, stabenow. we returned to washington yesterday, and it's clear the president's actions are putting the security of our homeland at risk and doing damage to the country in more ways than one. abroad the president is aiding and abetting in the isis jailbreak. we have spent a decade trying to contain isis, and in one phone call it seems on a whim the president has reversed much of the progress. we've lost lives going after isis. we spend trillions, billions probably going after isis and without consulting his military, without consulting his diplomatic corps, and on a whim, does it unbelievable. make no mistake about it the actions have made america less safe. certainly made the kurdish less safe and they have been such loyal allies that sends a signal to the world being a u.s. ally at least as long as trump is president doesn't amount to much. but it hurts our homeland. general mattis, an expert, said the danger from isis would greatly increase. in places we have very little control it could hurt

senator grassley, senator ernst and your great governor reynolds. give them another round of applause. they are great champions. [applause] >> thank you so much. on behalf of my wife karen and our family, let me just take this opportunity also to say thank you for the privilege of being your vice-president. it is the greatest honor of my li life. [cheers and applause] thank you for the confidence that you've placed in your president and his vice-president. [applaus [applause]. >> pence, 2024! >> finally, let me say it's great to be back on the farm. i'm pretty partial to the farm. i mean, the truth is farmers have contributed so much to the life of this nation, you could never calculate all of it. and i'm not just talking about to the economy. throughout the long history of this country. but farmers and family farmers have contributed so much vitality to our communities, to our states, farmers have served in our armed forces, their patriotism and their values strengthen this nation throughout our history. you know, i'm always struck, that book that