cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i didn't come to the floor to speak on this matter, but

chair durbin: senator cornyn? sen. cornyn: thanks for the witnesses. there have been a lot of different efforts made, including in my state, to try to provide students with multiple options when approaching their education. obviously, for people who do not want to go to a four year liberal arts college like ideas, they can train for a trade, we lder, plumber, which are in high demand and well compensated. there are a lot of opportunities there. or, in my state, i'm sure it is typical of most states, you can get college credit still in high school if you are so motivated. our community colleges offer the best bang for the buck in terms of low-cost education that, and then again, i'm sure my state is typical of others and that the pipeline is then created for people who want to pursue a four year college degree and beyond. but we also have seen some interesting entrepreneurs, people like steve -- who started something called modern state educational lines. -- alliance. there is so much content available online, provided by some of the most famous univers

cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i didn't come to the floor to speak on this matter, but listening to the comments of my friend from illinois about contributions made by immigrants to our country that i will wholeheartedly agree with him about that. really, when i think about immigration, i think it's really sort of the secret sauce to american success. it's the notion that you can come from anywhere with virtually nothing and you can legally immigrate to the united states and you can begin to get one of those very difficult jobs working in the fields, working in a meat-packing place or someplace else and begin your climb toward the american dream. and that's, to me, one of the crown jewels of our country. it's what makes us different. you look at other countries around the world, they don't welcome immigrants. they shun immigrants and their economies and their countries suffer for it. so i -- let me just say i agree with the senator from illinois about the contribution of immigrants, and i l

i think a bipartisan solution like senator cornyn and senator padilla to come up to provide flexibility to governors and communities just makes all thet sense in the world. i'm looking forward to voting yes, and hope help we can a resolution that allows alee sticky night of my closest friends to do the same. i want to start out by thanking senator portman and snort cinema for providing support and senators and negotiated in court noted this incredible effort. i also want to thank senator capito who's managing this process along with an five public works committee chairman tom carper. the progress they've made on this issue with the administration earlier this year compared with the excellent leadership they provided the committee really exemplifies what is possible when we work together. it's allowed us to get to this point. madam president, reviving america's roads and bridges is long-standing national priority of congress anddd it's one thats taken us too long to address. we need reliable assessable infrastructure to operate locally and to compete globally. and as it currently stands

there are republicans like john cornyn who have amendments they would like to be able to put at play in this process, and because of the way this is working out, their amendments are not getting moved on. so when i asked cornyn specifically about his amendment, asked him why it wasn't getting moved on, he said, stubborn senators. most senators here, republican or democrat, want to get on this bill. they want to move forward with this. and from democrats' perspective, i would also point out, this is just part one. you laid this out in your introduction. yes, they're moving on the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but immediately after that comes budget reconciliation. that's the more partisan process here, but also the thing that the white house and democrats have been really eager to trumpet, and that progressive groups have been really on them to keep alive in the senate. >> and in our last few seconds, ali, how did this bill not come in as paid for, at least in terms of the cbo score? i thought that was the whole idea behind saying, no, no, no, we don't have to raise taxes on the ric

bipartisan infrastructure bill before the august recess will they be able to pass that we will ask senator cornyn . >> the senate holding a second weekend session in a row working its way toward final passage of the massive bipartisan infrastructure bill a measure passed a test vote in both parties are hammering away add additional amendments that could be put to a vote later today is being in texas senator cornyn the senate finance committee minority leader mcconnell hopes leaders will continue working together in the bipartisan fashion to get more amendments to improve this infrastructure bill so what amendments would you like to be implemented at this juncture? will it pass today or tomorrow? >> i'm working with california and senator on an amendment that would allow the states to use covid-19 relief funds if they don't need it for covid-19 then of course the variability across the country in terms of what their circumstances are that if they have excess funds they want to use them on something other than covid-19 they can use it for infrastructure. this could release $100 billion in new fundi

cornyn: listening to the comments of my friend from illinois about the contributions made by immigrants to our country that i wholeheartedly agree with him. when i think about immigration, i think it is a secret sauce to american success. it's the notion you can come from

that's the goal of this plan that i spent months working on with senators cornyn and warner to create new manufacturing facilities and fabs in places like arizona. i made it my mission to get this passed through the senate because it's important. it's important to our economy, and it's important to our national security, ensuring that our supply chain for something so critical does not depend on adversaries like china. transformational investments such as this will create thousands of high-paying jobs, and we got it passed through the senate, republicans and democrats working together. now we must continue working on this checklist, getting arizonans the skills they need for these new jobs. now for some, that will mean getting a college degree in science or engineering. arizona is home to three world-class universities that are leaders in research and innovation. we must continue to educate the best scientists and engineers in the world. that's the only way we are going to stay ahead. at the same time we know that about a third of students who graduate from high school will not pursue

i think a bipartisan solution like senator cornyn and senator padilla to come up to provide flexibility to governors and communities just makes all the

yesterday, texas republican john cornyn spoke about an amendment that he's proposing that would allow covid-19 relief funds to be used to pay for certain infrastructure projects. >> as we all know by now a bipartisan group of senators worked with the white house over the last several weeks to negotiate a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, and in a lot of hard work went into it, a lot of late nights. and what to thank all of our colleagues that it made a positive contribution in this debate and discussion. and it's particularly important at the time i believe that we do these things on a bipartisan basis, if we can. after much anticipation we finally received a text sunday night, and a lot of what we expected to see we saw, like funding for roads, , bridges, ports, waterways, airports and broadband. but what we didn't see was adequate pay-fors for the bill. for example, we learned after the bill was announced that it would be essentially supplemental to the current infrastructure bill which would require another $118 billion in general revenue to fill the gap left because of the inadeq

in moments, bill cornyn. but first, bill melugin in mission, texas. good afternoon, bill. >> trace, good afternoon to you. the press conference expected to start any minute now. just a few feet away from us. what they'll announce is this plan. they built this emergency tent compound with a purpose of housing covid positive migrants that have been released from federal custody. you can see the tent compound behind us. the migrants are in there. if you want to take the press conference, it's about to start right now. back to you. >> trace: okay. let's go to the podium and listen in. >> okay. we're ready to start. first of all, welcome. i'm martin garza here in the county of hidalgo, precinct 3. i want to thank you for making it out here to the park. we're located south of mission, texas. we have a very pressing issue here in our area. not just in our area but really this is a huge area that we're having this issue with. it's important that we come together and that we're with the public and the public is aware of what the county of hidalgo and what mcal

cornyn: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call is dispensed with. i gather from the parliamentarian shaking her head we are not in a quorum call. thank you very much. madam president, since last march, state and local governments have received about a half a trillion dollars in federal funding to bolster their fight against covid-19. leaders in my state have used this funding to cover the mounting costs of expenses at the start of the pandemic. it enabled them to stand up testing, increase bed space for i.c.u.'s and hospitals and provide grants to small businesses without the fear of cutting other critical services. as time has gone on, the battle against this virus has shifted and so have the needs of my state and our local communities. many simply don't have the continued need or even opportunity under the guardrails congress imposed to spend this money within the set timeline. that's especially true in some of the rural parts of my state or places where covid numbers are thankfully low. qualifying pandemic-related expenses are few and far between

for instance i was talking with senator john cornyn of texas who was saying while he agrees with what haggerty is objecting over effectively, he also sees the writing on the wall here and he is saying it is not a question of if we're going to vote on this but really when. >> i thought we had some -- >> i don't think we're going to see any significant changes or any amendments that blow everything out of the water over the next many hours. this is the way the senate rules work. i think it is actually a pretty good example why the senate rules needs to be reformed, that just a hand full of senators can slow down progress for the american people. that's what is happening, but we're going to get through it and we're going to get this done. >> reporter: of course, that is senator tina smith, who is echoing that, kind of underscoring the fact that for republican and democratic senators alike there is this idea that this is sort of a fait accompli. it is a question of when they get to the bill. yasmin. >> thank you for rolling with that, my friend. looks like i'm reading too many children's

the bulk of 4 made goes to cash crops like cornyn. so way, instead of nutritious food leading to worse public health outcomes. for now, maybe we'll find a way to genetically modify or a corn so that americans will get super powers instead of obesity and diabetes. imagine super cob man, he has the power to pass through an entire digestive system from in a south look is to what stomach a large intestine than a small intestine. and then he'll exit a rectum completely intact. not a scratch on him. despite the tons of corn, we produce each year, 2 and a half tons per american citizen. we don't even get to see that corn most corn doesn't get in. instead, more than 100 percent goes into animal feed. additive like corn syrup used in sugary junk food, and increasingly ethanol which produces toxic air pollutants when burned with gasoline. and if it's not in food, it's sprayed on the food to keep it working fresh or like a wax. i mean this apple didn't just wake up like this. you know, you have too much of some thing when farmers can only make m

senator cornyn wants to help george bush pass immigration reform. when he says i want to get to yes, that track record makes it look suspicious. >> good morning. what i was going to say is we are the third most populated country in the world. the majority of people coming our students. they are not coming across the border. next is why don't they stay in mexico? >> we offer another perspective on the reconciliation package, particularly what it does for immigration. joining us now is the director from the center for immigration studies. to explain to our viewers about your organization, you take on immigration and also how are you funded? >> we are tank on the immigration issue. our motto is fewer immigrants but a warmer welcome. what we try to make case for is better enforcement, a more tightly run immigration system, lower levels of legal immigration. also, a better job of welcoming and incorporating those immigrants that we do legally let into the united states. we do the usual think tank things. half the people on c-span i assume are from think

i wanted to start with an issue that senator cornyn i work on, especially in the lead up to the most recent competition legislation. we introduced a bill called the national critical capabilities defense act. it would establish an interagency committee to review outbound transactions. by u.s. firms to nonmarket economies like china that would, in my judgment, result in the outsourcing of critical supply chains and create further u.s. dependence upon market economy like china. my first question is, to what extent is that kind of investment by u.s. companies to nonmarket economies like china compromising our supply chain security? subsequently, our national security? >> thank you, senator. i am not familiar with the legislation you put forward. but, i will comment on the supply chain question. i think it is very important. we see, just most recently, with ppe, how unreliable some of those supplies were. a colleague of mine has done a lot of research on medical supply chains and especially, how do we have pandemic responsiveness when our supply chains are not located here? so, i think t

. >> this product, texas senator john cornyn was one of 18 republicans who joined democrats to push the bill forward but republicans aren't done trying to put their stamp on the bill to fund infrastructure projects in communities across our country without increasing the deficit this week, the congressional budget office predicts that the bill would at 256 billion dollars to the deficit over the next 10 years. the full senate deserves full should this important legislation. the senate has already consider 22 amendments with more to come and republicans will have another chance to block the bill before a final vote. we can get this done. the easy way or the hard way senate majority leader chuck schumer says, well, democrats are willing to make a few more changes to the bill. it's time to get on with it. the senate will stay in session until we finish our work. it's up to my republican colleagues. how long it takes a final vote on the bill is likely within the next few days at this point there's no set date for a final vote. but pushback from conservative lawmakers could stall a vote unti

we have bipartisan bill today, senator john cornyn of texas and i introduced a bill which restores bankruptcy as an option for students debt. that's been going for years. we harken back to the period once the debt is ten years old, you can go to bankruptcy court to discharge from that. there is some deeply in debt and their lives have been compromised. we have a possible and the meantime we are also fair warning to the schools out there. you just can't giveaway taxpayers money of student loans. you are in this, too. you got some skin in the game. they are notorious of the loans they made. they're going to pay some money back to the government. >> it is an important issue and one that supports so many households. i will tell viewers you just talked about a reform that -- how many companies will benefit from bankruptcy laws as you are explaining it has been a black hold where young people don't even get the same option. appreciate your time tonight. >> thanks ari. >> thank you, senator. >>> up ahead, the other democratic leader who works side by side with the senator durbin, chuck schumer, he h

john cornyn and democratic senator alex padilla are bargaining with the white house. if they can make a deal, it could free up billions of federal dollars for states. new york governor andrew cuomo is struggling to hang onto power. he said yesterday, a day after the state attorney general released a report outlining 11 cases of harassment towards women. he has denied he will step down despite calls from former allies urging him to quit. a barbecue grill maker cut the size of its ipo in half and shares below marketed range. the company raised 250 million dollars and has a market value of less than $4 billion. it has been majority by capital partners. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on "bloomberg quicktake," powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm ritika gupta. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪ >> let me say only that we cannot believe the delta variant will move to a broader base lockdown, so that is not part of our forecast. jon: the merck cfo there. alongside tom keene lisa abramowicz, i'm jonathan ferro. here is price action th

these are republicans, were talking conservatives, good conservatives like ted cruz, john cornyn, ted thune, there's already far far too much green new deal on this bill, we will talk to kim's jostle from the wall street journal and steve moore of freedom works with all those problems, most particularly the unprecedented centralized control over the economy that the democrats are seeking to the green new deal, it's not free enterprise is corporate cronyism, status capitalism, car companies pledging to sell half their cars by 2030 as long as the federal government pays for. some people would call that socialism. and as i mentioned last evening president biden has choked off all the mining in the production of rare minerals and he's aiming to stop oil, natural gas and coal as well so we couldn't go to a battery driven economy even if we wanted to and frankly i don't want to anyway. now back to senator hagerty, at least the gop by partisans can do is pay for their bill, transparently out in the open. but now it's clear he hasn't even done that. i think i'm losing my patience of the whole

jon cornyn called it a real problem. mike brawn called it the swamp's debt bomb. what do you know that they don't? >> we absolutely said this is how it was going to be. half of what we proposed will be scored by cbo's paid for. we were up front about that. half because of their rules that won't. it's things that a reasonable person would say yeah it's a pay for. for example, $53 billion congress has already appropriated for federal unemployment supplemental payments are not being used pore that. we are repurposing that, just as we told folks we were going to repurpose, repurpose for the sake of paying pore this. cbo doesn't give us credit but that's 53 billion we're repurposing that a reasonable person says yeah, that pays for it. >> more broadly, do you think it's a bit rich that under president trump the national debt climbed almost $8 trillion and now some of your colleagues are worried about the debt again? >> on the other hand -- first, the first part of your thing, let's face it, a lot of the spending was in response to covid. we understood when covid broke

cornyn: listening to the comments of my friend from illinois about the contributions made by immigrants to our country that i wholeheartedly agree with him. when i think about immigration, i think it is a secret sauce to american success. it's the notion you can come from anywhere with virtually nothing, and you can legally immigrate to the united states and begin to get one of those difficult jobs working in the fields or a meatpacking plant and begin your climb toward the american dream. that is to me, one of the crown jewels of our country. that is what makes us different. you look at other countries, they don't welcome immigrants. they shun immigrants. in their economies and country suffers for it. let me say, i agree with the senator from illinois about the contribution of immigrants. and i listen very carefully as a border state senator, my state is 40% hispanic. i'm sure the senator from nevada has a large hispanic population. they are part of us. they are part of our great nation, to make tremendous contributions. hispanics in my state park patriots, they volunteer in disproport

but let's talk about the republicans who voted for the bipartisan bill, including senator cornyn from texas. it seems to indicate a slight shift away from donald trump's hold, at least on the senate. >> reporter: that's right, in the last few days former president trump has been issuing increasingly furious messages, badgering republicans for even thinking about going along with this deal, saying it was basically, in effect, a cave-in to democrats and another example of mitch mcconnell, his least favorite republican, or one of his least favorite republicans not being a strong enough leader. most of the republicans are voting against it, but you're right, the fact that nearly 20 republicans are going along at this point is an indicator, of course, that near not listening to president trump, that they have other factors in mind. among them, they have constituents who want bridges and roads and constituents who want broadband and other things in the bill. and there's a desire to show that the government can work, the bipartisan is still alive has president biden has talked about, even if

casey cornyn, the developer of the moderna vaccine. only 44% and people in the state of alabama are fully vaccinated. in the town of peninsula, 90% of people are vaccinated. for those people, the vaccination rate is 100%. how did that happen? a retired office administrator, dorothy oliver, along with a friend, launch their own person to person crusade to convince people to get the vaccine. how did dorothy oliver do it? we will ask her tomorrow night when she joins us here at the last word, along with two filmmakers who lived in the area and captured her efforts in the peninsula project. a new documentary. that is tonight's last word. the 11th hour with brian williams starts right now. tarts right now. well good evening once again, day 209 of the biden administration, we want to begin quickly here at the top of the broadcast, with breaking news from just minutes ago, about vaccine booster shots. new york times, and washington post, are both on the board with reports that the way house has decided, most americans should get a booster sho

some of the other members of his team voted against this include john thune, john cornyn, all members of his leadership team. but 19 republicans overall joined with 50 democrats to move this measure through this chamber after this has been on the floor for several days. the number of amendments that have gone through. >> we have to get to governor andrew cuomo. >> i'd like to address several issues today. first, i have only start ed by telling new yorkers the facts before my opinion. so let's start new york tough with the truth. the attorney general did a report on complaints made against me by certain women for my conduct. the report said i sexually harassed 11 women. that was the headline people heard and saw. the reaction was outrage. it should have been. however, it was also false. my lawyers, a as you just heard, have reviewed the report over the past several days and have already raised serious issues and flaws that should concern all new yorkers. because when there's a bias or a lack of fairness in the justice system, it is a concern for everyone. not just those immediately aff

. >> cnn's anna cornyn has reported extensively from afghanistan including a recent trip there. she joins me now from hong kong to talk about the taliban takeover. good to see you. what do we know about what will be happening at street level now in kabul, what the next few days might bring? >> michael, i just got off the phone from a friend in afghanistan in kabul. he said it is relatively quiet, that some shops are open, but most are closed. there's a bit of traffic on the streets. but it is predominantly very quiet. he said early this morning he heard gunfire from his home. that then stopped. but they can see taliban members roaming the streets. they are there of course to provide security. that is what they are saying. but for, you know, afghans seeing this playing out before their very eyes is nothing short of shocking. my friend, he's staying indoors. he is concerned for his safety, his family's safety. in fact, he is going to be moving house every few days. that is how concerned he is about the taliban tracking him down. as you say, the taliban are providing assurances tha

. >> this product, texas senator john cornyn was one of 18 republicans who joined democrats to push the bill forward but republicans aren't done trying to put their stamp on the bill to fund infrastructure projects in communities across our country without increasing the deficit this week, the congressional budget office predicted the bill would at 256 billion dollars to the deficit over the next 10 years. the full senate deserves as full shape. this important legislation. the senate has already consider 22 amendments with more to come and republicans will have another chance to block the bill before a final vote. we can get this done. the easy way or the hard way. senate majority leader chuck schumer says, well, democrats are willing to make a few more changes to the bill. it's time to get on with it. the senate will stay in session until we finish our work. it's up to my republican colleagues. how long it takes a final vote on the bill is likely within the next few days. again, there's no set date for a final vote. but pushback from conservative lawmakers could stall things until mond

jon cornyn called it a real problem. mike brawn called it the swamp's debt bomb. what do you know that they don't? >> we absolutely said this is how it was going to be. half of what we proposed would be scored by cbo's paid for. we were up front about that. half because of their rules that won't. it's things that a reasonable person would say yeah it's a pay for. for example, $53 billion congress has already appropriated for federal unemployment supplemental payments are not being used pore that. we are repurposing that, just as we told folks we were going to repurpose, repurpose for the sake of paying pore this. cbo doesn't give us credit but that's 50 billion we're repurposing that a reasonable person says yeah, that pays for it. >> more broadly, do you think it's a bit rich that under president trump the national debt climbed almost $8 trillion and now some of your colleagus are worryed about the debt again? >> on the other hand -- first, the first part of your thing, let's face it, a lot of the spending was in response to covid. we understood when covid broke

. >> this product, texas senator john cornyn was one of 18 republicans who joined democrats to push the bill forward but republicans aren't done trying to put their stamp on the bill to fund infrastructure projects in communities across our country without increasing the deficit this week, the congressional budget office predicted the bill would at 256 billion dollars to the deficit over the next 10 years. the full senate deserves its full shape. this important legislation. the senate has already consider 22 amendments with more to come and republicans will have another chance to block the bill before a final vote. we can get this done. the easy way or the hard way. senate majority leader chuck schumer says, well, democrats are willing to make a few more changes to the bill. it's time to get on with it. the senate will stay in session until we finish our work. it's up to my republican colleagues. how long it takes a final vote on the bill is likely within the next few days. again, there's no set date for a final vote. but pushback from conservative lawmakers could stall things until mon

because yesterday we saw john cornyn, senator from texas of course, an oil and gas state, saying that electric vehicles were more expensive and that the biden administration is trying to force people to buy more expensive cars not an easy goal, but this is a fusion of the administration climate change and job goals and international competitiveness with china goals. we'll see if they could make it stick, thank you. >>> coming up for us, how do you keep kids too young to get a coronavirus vaccine safe as they head back to class. in texas mandates are banned so schools need a plan b. the head of the public schools is our guest. >>> and facing call tods resign or be impeached. going live to albany with an interview with the committee that could decide governor cuomo's fate. it's dry. there's no dry time. makes us wonder why we booked fifteen second ad slots. is now a good time for a flare-up? enough, crohn's! for adults with moderate to severe crohn's or ulcerative colitis... stelara® can provide relief and is the only approved medication to reduce inflammation on and below the surface

executive branch of government is doing is so egregious that you have senator chuck schumer, senator cornyn and senator grassley and my senator i'm so proud of, senator blumenthal, coming together to agree on legislation called the 9/11 transparency act which was just released yesterday. so president biden's own political leaders, the leaders of the democratic party, are calling upon president biden to do the good thing for once and for all stand with the families. he could be the real hero here. he could be the hero that we need. and just think about it. politically for him why wouldn't he do it? it's a no-brainer. it's a common sense feel-good story, stand with the families, let's bring them closure and let's for once and for all expose the truth behind what saudi arabia's role was. >> well, i wish you success in this. i appreciate you being here and sorry about the loss of your father. >> yeah, i appreciate you having us on. and you know, thank you for covering this story because it's really important and it's one that's often not told as much as it should be. >> well, never forget. than

> what would you say to a kyrsten sinema who spent a lot of time with one of your senators, senator cornyn, on the border where that's an issue that he thinks is the most important thing, and yet has said she ain't changing the filibuster no matter what? how do you convince beltway democrats, d.c. democrats that this is important enough for them to change the procedures on? >> i think that's up to all of us, and i really think that our public pressure should be focused on president biden. my takeaway from the '65 voting rights act is when president johnson said he didn't have the power to compel recalcitrant senators and congressmen from the south, the people of this country put the pressure on him to help him find that power to get it done. that's what we all have to do with president biden. again, representative hinojosa and her colleagues did that. they forced this issue on to the public agenda, and they forced the president to respond to that. we need to keep that pressure up until this thing gets passed, because if we don't it is unfortunately going to get much worse in texas. this go

john cornyn who is a mcconnell ally told me yesterday, all i know is what i read in the paper. i want to win that race, and so i want the best nominee. i don't know whether he is it. now, walker has not said what he would do, john. he is still a texas resident. he suggested he's moving back to the state and could run, but several people have suggested they could be consultants for him including the former chief of staff to mike pence have reached out to him. the consultants have not signed on yet so it's still uncertain what he will do. john? >> still uncertain, but source of some concern to the republican leader in the building you are in today. manu raju, appreciate the new reporting. >>> let's discuss it now with our panel. here with us to share the reporting and insights capitol hill melanie sanona. and "washington post" congressional reporter. this is about one race and also about a bigger dynamic. republicans think in a midterm year they should be able to take back both the house and senate given the narrow margins, 50/50. let's take georgia for a minute. if you are mitch

of course, senator cornyn, senator deb fischer, two senators who flipped and ended up supporting this bill. why? because people want infrastructure. members of congress love to go back home and talk about the revenue for bridges that they funded, talk about the water systems that they improved with this funding. it is one of the reasons why this bill is so overwhelmingly popular, not just with democrats but with republicans, too. it transcends party lines. so, you know, again we may see a few little bumps along the way, but i think this vote today was very key to the fact that this is going to pass and it is going to become law and it will be a big victory for president biden. >> and americans need infrastructure, crumbling roads, crumbling bridges, crumbling highways. i have reported on some of them where bridges were -- 50,000 folks were commuting back and forth, having to completely shut down and folks rerouted by miles, raising prices in some of the areas. jonathan, talk to me about the possibility or what could feasibly be in an amendments package if, in fact, that happens. >> we

senator cornyn has one i'm supportive of and cosponsoring. so there's a number of amendments that we hope we can get to debate here on the floor. but as you know, madam president, the senate has a lot of other work besides just this and i just want to talk about a little bit of that work that's going on now. right now we're going to turn to the senate majority leader, senator schumer, after this debate and turn to a completely different bill. and that's the $3.5 trillion partisan tax and spend spree that is just completely inappropriate right now for our country especially after the democrats finished up a partisan bill in february of $2 trillion. this is a reckless amount of spending that they are looking at doing, and i'm pretty sure some of my colleagues know that. but part of what's going on here, madam president, is the hijacking of the democratic party by the far left. you're seeing that in a whole host of areas. let me give you one other area that is really important from the senate perspective and that's on noims -- nominees. i've bee

senator john cornyn came to town and said i'm a texas republican and conservative from a border state who wants to help george bush pass immigration reform. quite frankly, he has gotten to know -- in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2013, when he 14, 2018, so when he says i really want to get to yes, that track record makes us suspicious. host: troy. pittsburgh, pennsylvania. republican line. caller: good morning. what i was going to say is we are the third populated country in the world -- china first, india second, then us. the majority of people coming in, illegals, are students who overstate student visas -- overstayed student visas. they are not coming across the border. next is why don't they say in mexico, the ones that are coming up, because mexico has a trillion dollar economy now, and they can find work there, where is this a political thing where the media and certain ngo's stay down there and bring them appear to rile people up, and when they do come here and get the lower wages, people say they are sending the money back down there, it is not staying in our economy, it is going ba

yesterday, texas republican john cornyn spoke about an amendment that he's proposing that would allow covid-19 relief funds to be used to pay for certain infrastructure projects. >> as we all know by now a bipartisan group of senators worked with the white house over the last several weeks to negotiate a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, and in a lot of hard work went into it, a lot of late nights. and what to thank all of our colleagues that it made a positive contribution in this debate and discussion. and it's particularly important at the time i believe that we do these things on a bipartisan basis, if we can. after much anticipation we finally received a text sunday night, and a lot of what we expected to see we saw, like funding for roads, , bridges, ports,

, your work that you and i are doing on rebate traps as well as the work you are doing with senator cornyn on product copy. sen. blumenthal: thank you, senator klobuchar. i appreciate all the great work you are doing in the work we are doing together. thank you to you and ranking member for having this hearing. i can't think of a hearing that is more important. i should just note that i'm also a member of the armed services committee, and we were having a joint hearing with the intelligence committee on reports of unidentified aerial, whatever you want to call it. sen. klobuchar: and you still joined us? impressive. [laughter] sen. blumenthal: i feel like i have returned to the real world. [laughter] and it is a real world that is benevolent forever time to go home. i can think of a better time to have this hearing because we are all back here from visiting our states where everyone of us, doesn't matter whether we are republican or democrat, about a woman or family or a man who is forgoing whatever. close, food on the table, or maybe even the medicine itself because of the skyrocketing pr

the senators have to look for it, you go back to that associated press story, quoting senator john cornyn, a republican of texas, saying it will be a grind. that is the starting point when it comes to this introduction of the bipartisan bill on infrastructure. you can let us know in the hour to come if you support what is being proposed, generally. if you oppose it, or maybe you are unsure. if you support it, (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8001 if you oppose it. if you are unsure, (202) 748-8002. text us as well at (202) 748-8003. lynn kennedy from facebook says when it comes to being proposed, she says congrats, happy to see republicans and democrats can work together. bob says when it is -- when it comes to what is being proposed, another shovel ready fiasco. ben smith says when it comes to spending, deficit does not matter anymore. those are some of the facebook postings. we will add on as the show progresses. leonard on the support line, good morning. you are first up. caller: good morning. the fact is that i saw yesterday's senate hearing and between the six hours or seven or eight hours

we've heard the senator from texas, senator cornyn, talk about flexibility to the states. we've heard the senator from pennsylvania, senator toomey, working with senator wyden and senator lummis on the crypto currency issue. so again is this perfect? no. but is it -- is it a process that has delivered us to a place where we are delivering results to the people who have sent us here. mr. president i was on the floor late last week outlining many of the benefits that alaskans will see from this measure, but i want to take a few more minutes this afternoon to highlight just a couple of more in perhaps some detail. because as i mentioned and everyone knows part of the role or the view that i offered in our bipartisan working group was to make sure that the needs of rural americans were met and this bill addresses some of the greatest infrastructure needs that again we see in rural america, but also in urban and everyone in between to connect them in ways that we haven't before. southeast alaska this is the region of the state that i grew up in. it's an island in arcipelico, it

i want to thank senator cornyn, republican of texas. we kind of jokingly say it's one of those situations where you're on stage announcing your bill and you turn to one another and say have we both read this bill? well, we have and we understand it. we are also going to consider an element that was raised during a hearing by one of our expert witnesses of defining what undue hardship is. right now, it appears the courts couldn't recognize it in any form. certainly our case is. i talked about a quadriplegic veteran, disabled, unable to work who was lured into one of these for-profit school scams, ends up in debt. shouldn't they be able to discharge that student loan? there is no question they will be able to find some great-paying job in the future. they strug ld to basically face up to their illnesses. we hope they have the very best future. but even then, it's tough to get out from under the debt. i hope this is the first of many steps that we will take in the committee and other places on a bipartisan basis to deal with this challenge