quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate stands in recess until

2:15 p.m. >> and the senate and a break for weekly party meetings. when they returned at 2:15 p.m. eastern they are expected to take a procedural vote on short-term government funding. current funding expires at the end of the month. the vote has been rescheduled twice as lawmakers work off afford to come to an agreement to move forward. for more details on where things stand we spoke earlier with the capitol hill reporter. >> host: nancy is a reporter for bloomberg. she reports on appropriations. it's less than two weeks before the deadline of the government funding could shut down. what's the latest you hearing about the status of negotiations for the continuing resolution, a short term fix? >> guest: the status was the same as the status yesterday. and that they were close to to a

deal that would resolve all the outstanding matters but they still were not exactly there. we are waiting to see this afternoon after the senators meet at lunch whether they really have that deal, that then they can bring to the floor in the senate this afternoon and start moving. because majority leader mcconnell would really like to get to the senate this week so that the house could take it up next week as may be the last order of business before everybody scatters again for the campaign trail. government funding expires in about 10 days. so they have less and less time to get this thing done. >> host: what are the problems, the sticking points that they can work out? >> guest: for a long time there battling over how much money they would provide to combat the zika virus, and also who would share in that funding. as of last night senator nelson, the senator from florida, which

is ground zero for this virus, said that negotiators had agreed to provide $1.1 billion, and that it wouldn't be restrictions on it like republicans wanted to keep it from going to planned parenthood. some of the poisonous language is gone, but as part of the deal the white us would agree the budgetary offsets for at least some of that money rather than having it provide on a strictly emergency basis by the no pets goals were in the budget to pay for it. and then we also heard that they were still negotiating over eight to some of the storm ravaged states including louisiana check massive flooding last month. in west virginia, texas, elsewhere. but for both zika in for the flooding, people talk about it in the context of maybe this will be a down payment, and when

they get back after the election in the lame-duck maybe they will go back in there and look for more zika money and more disaster assistance. >> host: with this vote, what's the procedure that they're going to be using in order to bring this up? >> guest: mitch mcconnell has a house appropriations bill. the bill known as legislative branch that covers the operations of the congress, and it's going to bring that up and strip out the legislative branch part and put in the legislation that's going to carry the cr, the zika virus money, and also we are told the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations bill that was conferenced this past summer. and then he will put it to a vote, that is, a vote, cloture vote on a motion to proceed. and the way that will be a test vote to see where thi the suppos and where the opposition is. >> host: briefly, talk about

the cruise factor. used written about this in bloomberg bna. republican senator ted cruz, what's his role? he was responsible for the last, shutdown, or at least involved in it. what's his role? guess the republicans and democrats blaming for the 2013 shut down. he knows he came back from the presidential campaign trail he's been kind of quiet. he has been speaking out. but he was very energized last night when asked about this issue involving internet domain. that is going to be transferred away from the commerce department oversight to international organization at the end of the month. and ted cruz wants to put a provision in this year to keep that from happening. temporary ban at least. and there's speculation that he could try to slow the cr down or even derail it if he doesn't get a provision that he once.

last night he was bringing pretty cage anyone answer the question about whether he was willing to block to see our interview get his way. you have to stay tuned and see what happens on that one. >> host: stay tuned. we will follow you a course on twitter. thanks so much, nancy ognanovich. >> guest: thank you. >> again about to move forward with the continuing resolution schedule for 2:15 p.m. eastern right after weekly party lunches. a vote has been rescheduled twice as lawmakers tried to come to an agreement off the floor. >> our c-span campaign 2016 bus is in ohio and asking students and voters what is the most important issue to you in this election and why? >> i'm stephen, and a fifth year senior and after a very long campaign of the shifting opinions and shifting insults

back and forth and just flip flopping, why should we trust you to be our next president of the united states? >> i'm a student at wright state and the question is, what you put it up with education funding? >> i'm a senior at ohio northern university of than a medical laboratory science major. my question for the candidates would be what do you plan on doing to improve our health care system? in end-of-life care for patients going through chemotherapy and things like that. many of them don't have access to good health care coverage and things that can do to improve the end of their life. >> my question is, as president of the united states what would you do to help alleviate some of the racial tensions that are building in our country? >> i'm a student at audobon university and on the criminology major. my question is what are the most important topic in the selection box that would be getting money out of politics.

i ask that question because our elected officials are told to represent the people not just those who can fill the pockets. >> voices from the road on c-span. >> the candidates for the congressional race in new york's 19th district part in the first deal is depicted as it includes the hudson valley and catskills the republican john faso and democrat zephyr teachout debated campaign finance, ter term limits, same-x marriage and net neutrality. third term competent republican chris gibson poker would hold the seat announced last year he would not seek reelection. this was the first of three debates between the candidates hosted by dubya agency public radio and wnyt news channel 13. ♪ >> now, from news channel 13 in association with dubya agency is decisions were 16 election

special, the 19th congressional district debate between john faso and zephyr teachout. now your moderator, dr. alan chartock. [applause] >> moderator: good afternoon. good afternoon and welcome to the linda wamc performing arts studio debate between the candidates for new york's 19th congressional district seat. republican john faso and democrat zephyr teachout. on your moderator and animal will begin a prolonged debate the first i'd like to introduce a panelist and go over the ground rules. making up a panel today are casekacey siler, state and of te "albany times union," benita zahn, co-anchor of news channel 13 live at five and six, a apartheid today's debate and to the agency's hudson valley bureau chief allison dunne. you can follow today's debate on social media using the hashtag n. y. 19 debate. we've asked the audience to its applause until the end of the hour in the candidates have agreed to a few ground rules your there will be no opening or

closing statements as her time is precious. they will alternate questions. each will be given three minutes to answer a question. his or her opponent will then have a two-minute rebuttal. you hear a better ring -- a bell rang like this when the time is a. the candidates determine who will go first by tossing a coin. zephyr teachout will begin. our first question comes from casey seiler of the times. >> thanks alan. ms. teachout come you cite overturning citizens united and a public campaign finance as priorities in terms of reform should like to bring to campaign finance. yet your opponent has criticized you for taking campaign donations from the billionaire soros family and your from disclosure so those that you raised more than 1.6 million through the end of june. is your fundraising in conflict with your policy position to remove or reduce big money from politics? >> moderator: not at all. teachout: . not at all. thank you to john and thank you

to all of you who are here in person or listening or watching. look, i've spent my life fighting against big money in politics. we really have a crisis of corruption in a country right now. we have a crisis in albany but also in washington. there's two different parts of the. one is just basically campaigns are funded. i mean, congress is a working right now. one of the reasons why is because so many congress members spend 40-70% of their time in just raising money from rich people instead of dealing with the real issues like flood mitigation are supporting independent businesses or education policy or how we can support our family farms. they are not doing their job. they're working for their big donors. the other problem is citizens united which has unleashed, allowed for big corporations to spend unlimited money in campaigns.

these are super pacs, contributions to my opponent, there's a super pac to support my plan. dares to newark city hedge fund billionaires who each have given half a million dollars to a super pacs supporting him. my campaign is supported by an average of $19. i'm proud of the fact we are grassroots funded. i challenged john to a pledge. i asked him to join me in keeping all super pac money out of this race so that we would not have hedge fund like pulsing who's a big free trade and the sport of common core put in half a million dollars in a race and trying to buy a seat. seat. john turned down an effective said citizens united was the right decision. when i am in congress on going there to clean up congress, to change the campaigns are funded and to fight for overtime citizens united. everything i've done throughout my entire life shows the i will always work for the people, not

the big corporations. trend what it's a pleasure to be here at a think dubya agency and wnyt and by opponents effort. i think his arms are important for the voters of our district and airport for our democracy. i think my opponent protest too much, however. she's raising big money from all sorts of people who are connected to the super pacs. she knows the law as well as i do, which is i have no control over what someone may spend our to independently. i would also point out that she wrote a book on corruption, and one of the things she said in her corruption that the founders wanted to guide against adventurers moving into districts that they have no nexus to the indeed ms. teachout is an adventure or just popped into the bishopric she parachuted in from brooklyn. she just arrived and registered to vote in january of this year.

she's got no connection to the district, no family, business, civic, chair of our mission. i've lived and worked in this district for 33 years. my wife is a school nurse our local public high school for more than 20 years. we are deeply enmeshed in the public light of our district and i think you want to represent people, he got to be from you, you have to have some basis upon which you will say i know this district, this is called the house of representatives, not the house of adventurers. and yes, ms. teachout, her own book board biggest adventurers and she sent adventurers were one of the things the founders wanted to guard against because adventurers moving into districts generated corruption. she has a very expansive view of corruption. i want campaign finance reform. i would like full disclosure of anyone who gives money. by george soros, big backer of earth, she didn't object when

george soros spent $51 way for citizens united by the way to try to defeat george w. bush. citizens united to win a run for supreme court. we're running for the congress and her prescription is public financing which is the thing most taxpayers don't want about. >> candidates, thank you very much for being here today. thank you. my question is for you, mr. faso. it's a long one, so on wednesday the house committee held a hearing on whether new york attorney general eric schneiderman is improperly disregarding the subpoena sent to his office in july. the subpoena sought matters concerning a multistate investigation of whether exxon may have misled shareholders about what its scientist for learning about the potential perils of climate change. do you believe the attorney general and others should be compelled to respond to the subpoenas, and deeply the exxon

probe is valid or as some conservatives have categorized it, a witch hunt that could shield scientific inquiry? faso: i'm not familiar. i think it does present a challenge of the balance of laws or the conflict of laws come if you will. what the power of a house committee to compel via subpoena ended up in only elected state official, i think that's subject to a law review article which i haven't either red or written yet. but let me say this. i do think that unfortunately this issue has been very politicized and to think that's unfortunate. best about climate change is real. there's a doubt and we should be trying to take efforts to mitigate it. new york because we've replaced coal and electric generation with natural gas for the last 20 years can we reduce our co2 emissions by about 20-25% in the state. all without due to market forces. not due to any intervention of the government. i think we need to pursue an

energy policy that's in all the above energy policy that looks at renewables, and we have tremendous subsidies for renewables in state and federal law now and i supported those. .. . >> i understand this district, and i understand the issues that they're facing. so we have to make sure that in a district like ours where people rely on their cars, they rely on their farm tractors to

get to work and their cars to get to work, the fact is we need to make sure any agreement we enter into relating to climate change is not going to disadvantage our economy and hurt our upstaters. unlike ms. teachout who just came here from brooklyn, they have subways in brooklyn. she's got natural gas in her apartment in brooklyn. a lot of the communities in our district don't have cheap energy. they have to drive to work. so these are the things. i want to make sure we're protecting our upstate economy, which is really hurting. and that's why if i'm elected to congress, that's going to be job one. jobs and improving the economy, that's the single most important thing we can do. >> thank you. climate change and energy sources and protecting our water against big polluters is an area where we have a real difference, and voters in the 19th district have a real choice. i am so proud to have been part of one of the greatest environmental victories in recent history, the fracking ban in new york state.

that didn't happen because of political elites, that happened because of extraordinary grassroots efforts, people raising, raising the issues of the impacts of fracking on water, the impacts of fracking and compressor stations on air. i am opposed to fracking. john faso, my opponent, not only is in favor of fracking, but has been paid by the big fracking companies both as spokesperson and as a lobbyist. and this really hits home right here, right next door in rencellor. i was working with people to stop the n.e.d. pipeline, and i talked to so many people at meetings, at hearings about their frustrations and fear that the compressor station would hurt their kids, because we're talking about carcinogens. john faso was a paid lobbyist for the tennessee gas company

which was pushing the n.e.d. pipeline project. i'm going to go to congress to protect our water against the big polluters. john faso's to already shown which side he's on, and it's not on the side of the people of this district who care deeply about whether their kids can, you know, trust the water the drink. we have to care about the, like, the mom i was talking to in nassau who was worried about her kid playing, you know? if the compressor station came in. and when you're talking about exxon, you're talking about a big polluter who's hired a whole bunch of lobbyists like my opponent, john faso, to push i through subsidies and exemptions in the law. >> thank you. it is now my turn to thank you both for being here, so thank you very much, and this question is for ms. teachout. incumbent congressman chris gibson pledged he would put term limits on himself. in fact, he's retiring after three.

ms. teachout, you have not publicly said, you have not specified a length. will you publicly state a maximum number of terms you would serve, and just to point out that your opponent does not support time limits. teachout: yes. i support term limits. i would serve five terms. i think ten years is enough to actually do the work that i want to do in congress but not so long that you become a career politician, and career politicians have not been serving our politics right now. i want to the talk about the things that i can do in those ten years. one of the most important things is standing up for independent businesses and family farms. and i've released a seven-point plan that would do just that. the core of the plan though is recognizing that both republicans and democrats have really abandoned the independent business owner and the family farmer over the last three decades. you know, people talk, but when you actually look at what's happening on the ground, it's much worse.

so you've seen a decline by as much as 40 percent of the smaller farms across the entire country, and that's in part because 75 percent of the subsidies are going to the, are going to the, you know, really big, concentrated farms, the ones who can afford to hire lobbyists, like my opponent. same thing's happening with independent businesses. the true job creators, the smaller, independent businesses that are really essential and the heart and soul of our communities have suffered in the last 30 years. so part one is we need to bring jobs home. support local farming. we need to make things in america again. my opponent is in favor of fast track for the trans-pacific partnership and other trade deals. i am opposed to fast track, and i think we actually need to re-look at all our trade deals so we can be manufacturing and making things here again. we can be assembling iphones here. we can be actually doing a lot

more of the essential work for putting together our shoes, our clothes and the basics that we rely on right here. i think we have to be renegotiating nafta, and we have a $10 billion-a-day -- a-year trade deficit with china. i think it's absolutely essential that we -- and when i'm in congress, i'll be standing up against the kind of trade deals that my opponent has broadly supported. the second step is making sure that our banks are lending again. after the crash of 2008, i co-founded a group dedicated to breaking up the big banks, making them lend to our local communities. they're not lending. in fact, they're more concentrated and powerful and fragile than ever. in congress i'm going to be holding hearings, working on trying to break up those banks, supporting community banks and making sure that our independent businesses are getting access to funds. i was talking to a 15-person business in kingston.

they've been in the black for four years. they can't get bank of america to lend to them because they're too small. so what you hear over and over again is that access to capital is really essential for independent businesses, and they're just not getting it from the big banks. >> thank you. >> well, the question was term limits. yes, i support term limits. i would like -- this is perhaps one of the areas where my opponent and i will agree, i would like to serve, if elected and horned to serve -- honored to serve, i'd like to serve no more than five terms as well, because i think i could get something done over that period of time. but it's -- in fact, when i ran for governor back in 2006, i proposed term limits for the state. now, it's hard to unbundle all of the untruths and fabrications that ms. teachout just spewed to you, but number one, i've never been paid by a fracking company. i've never been a lobbyist for a fracking company. i did work as an outside consultant for williams, which is a pipeline company, for a project that was supported by

chris gibson and the local state legislators in our district. she wouldn't, perhaps, know that because she just arrived here from brooklyn, as you might have heard. the fact is that i oppose the n.e.d. pipeline that was a kinder morgan project. tennessee gas, years ago i had done some legal work for tennessee gas, but that long since ended. and, in fact, ms. teachout, it ended well before tennessee gas was acquired by kinder morgan. so your fact checkers have to go back, because maybe they came from brooklyn, but they are mistaken in this regard. her proposals for small business, well, i'm endorsed by the national federation of independents, independent business which is the largest small business organization in the country. and the reason is because i've got a concrete set of proposals to help small business. number one, let a small business expense write off a full deduction against their taxes in year one, not with a depreciation schedule, but in year one.

that will accelerate investment in machinery and vehicles and equipment that they need to to operate their small business. that is vital, that we do this. ms. teachout's first plank in her plan is she wants antitrust enforcement. okay, after ten years that might help some small business. maybe after twenty, but not right away. >> mr. faso, a question about top of the ticket. you have not officially endorsed donald trump, his presidential bid, and you've been very critical of some of the statements, including as california zero khan, a gold star parent who spoke at the democratic national convention. you will support your party's nominee, and both of you will be running, of course, on the republican line. why haven't you officially endorsed donald trump in a state where both he and ed congress, the state party chair, have said they want to be competitive? faso: casey, the answer to that question is i said right from

the get go when i started running, i announced my candidacy on the front steps of our home in kinderhook where mary fran and i have lived our american dream, raised our kids, a year ago today i announced my candidacy, and i said right from the get go that i was going to support my party's nominee, and that's still the case. and i've also said that specific areas where i disagree with him, as you so well executed in your question. the reason i'm running has nothing to do with whether it's hillary clinton or donald trump who's elected president. i'm prepared to work in the model of chris gibson, who's endorsed me and strongly supports me in this race, with whomever is elected president. and i want to work as cross party lines to fix problems. i'm not interested in going to washington to be a prognosticator or a pundit deciding, you know, who's running for president and things like that. i'm interested in fixing the problems that our district faces. every single county in our district has lost population in the last five years. new york state, a million people

have left new york state in the last ten years. people are voting with their feet. look around you, folks. our kids and our grandchildren leave because they can't find jobs, and seniors are priced out of their homes because of property taxes. and i have proposed, for instance, fixing nelson rockefeller's 50-year-old mistake which is forcing the counties and the city of new york to pay for medicaid costs that in most states are borne by the state government. it was never intended that the property taxpayers would have to pay the significant burden. and 42% on average of the county property taxes in our district comes from medicaid burden. and the counties have no control over it. so i have proposed this, the very first bill i'm going to introduce if i am honored to be elected to represent the people of the 19th district is to end over a five-year period the ability of a state to impose this burden on the local property taxpayers. i went back and i read the law,

and i read the federal law, and it's very plain that this federal law permits states to impose part of that burden on the counties. new york went well beyond what any other state did. in the whole country, $9 billion is spent by local governments on medicaid, $7.5 billion spent by local governments in new york state. it's just another example of how out of whack new york is. just because nelson rockefeller or did it 50 years ago doesn't mean we shouldn't try to fix it now. so i have substantive plans to help small business investment, immediate expensing of their equipment and other purchases for their businesses so they can employ jobs and a plan to reduce the property tax burden that is driving so many of our people out of state. i think that's what people are looking for, someone who has experience in how to do these things and get things done, and i think i'm the person who would be best suited to represent this district for those reasons. teachout: i want to address two

different things in the answer. first of all, i support hillary clinton for president. but one of the reasons that i feel so strongly about representing this district is i've shown in the past that i'm always willing to be independent when i disagree. and there's plenty that i disagree with the top of the ticket on. but i showed two years ago, when i ran against andrew cuomo, that i'm going to be independent, and i think it's really important because people are independent. they've been disappointed by both parties, both republican and democratic party. and that disappointment is real, and it's for real reasons. so when i am a representative in congress, you can expect i'm going to be listening only to the people of the district, not political parties and not big corporations. second, i want to talk about taxes. the property taxes are out of control, and i agree with my opponent on medicaid reimbursement. i think that's important, it's something that leaders have been talking about for several decades now, and it's absolutely

something that new york should do. i talk to people everywhere i go about the property tax burden and how much it is burdening them. i do want to point out that when my opponent had a chance to represent parts of this district before he became a lobbyist, he voted for tax raises 135 times. and i also want to point out that although he lived 30 miles from albany, he missed 1700 votes. so he's taking a paycheck but not showing up. for the times he did show up, he voted against equal pay. he's already had a chance to show what he's going to do when he is paid to represent, and what he's shown is that he's not going to show up. and then after missing so many votes, he cashed out and became a lobbyist.

ms. teachout, you were just talking proximity. we'll continue in that vein. you've only recently moved into the 19th congressional district. your critics call you a carpetbagger. we just heard your opponent represent you as an adventurer. how do you respond to this? teachout: well, look, i grew up in a rural county, two counties away from the district. windsor county, it's a dairy community. we had about 40 sheep in a good year without the coyotes and 30 chickens. our neighbors on both sides were dairy farmers, and a lot of the issues that are facing the community that i came from and were facing the community i came from are similar to the issues facing the rural communities here. but what i hear wherever i go in this district is what people really want to know is are you going to stand up and fight for their interests, not lining up

with either party line, not selling out to big corporations? are you going to fight for us? do you understand our issues? are you going to listen to us? and part of the reason we have so much support is i have been working with people not just on the fracking ban standing up against fracking and for our water, but also in the opt-out movement which i feel very strongly about. common core has been a disaster in our schools, and i've been working with parents and teachers and community members around this district, standing up for opt-out and also recruiting parents and teachers to run for office, recruiting more women to run for office so we can actually change the conversation about education. and i've been working against both the constitution pipeline and the n.e.d. pipeline. so, you know, last spring i was sitting on church street in chat ham talking to 40 people

about how can we get more investment in energy here? i'll always represent people, not the powerful interests. and that's what i hear, and that's what i'm going to do in congress, is continue to be sitting in kitchens listening to people about what they really care about and taking those voices and raising those voices up when i go to washington. my opponent has shown how he represents. as i said before, he missed 1700 votes, and in the votes that he made, it was against equal pay and for raising taxes. >> mr. faso? faso: well, i'll tell you, it really is amazing to me, 1700 votes. well, in the time i was in the legislature, my voting percentage was 97% which even in professor teachout's classroom probably would get an a+. the votes i missed because i was excused from legislative business. and, you know, i did miss a number of votes at the end of session, about 104 one year,

because my wife was being operated on for cancer. and i think i was at right place, ms. teachout. i was at right place, at her side in the hospital, worrying about her and our two children instead of sitting in the assembly. and i think it's really a below-the-belt kind of thing. it really is something, you know, someone comes into this district, flies in. she talks about votes, she had the very first time to vote in her school board election this year, she didn't show up to vote for her own school board election. so how much does she really care? equal pay? i fully support equal pay for equal work. it's the law for 50 years in this country. and the bottom line is, my own mother was disadvantaged as an assistant branch manager training young men to be branch managers, she knew more than them, she didn't get the job because she was a woman. so i fully understand the issue there. but just like you can't tell a book by its cover, you can't tell a bill in shelley silver's

assembly by what title they gave it. and the title of that was equal pay, it wasn't. it was equal pay for different work. it would have subjected our small businesses, our farmers to litigation and enforcement from the department of labor. no standards whatsoever. so it really does, it is kind of galling to listen to some of these things, but you expect it in politics, and i expect that the voters of this district with this new adventurer in the district will come up with other things. but this is what it is. this is why she's got no basis running here. you know, new york city's a great place. it's already got 13 congressmen. e don't need to -- we don't need to give them a 14th from our district. >> the 19th congressional district includes the area where residents have been grappling with water polluted by pfoa. recent hearings on the fallout have left many residents unsatisfied. john faso, if elected, what would you do on the federal level to address the situation which clearly has ramifications

across the state? faso: it's a great question x i've talked to so many people about what they have gone through and what they have experienced, and it shows, number one, the failure of state and federal regulators to take the authority they already had in the law and why the state health department issued an advisory in december of '14 that the water was safe to drink when a google search, as steve mcloughlin and others have pointed out, a google search would have been able to recover information that there was definitely a problem with pfoa and the accelerated levels of pfoa. the congress in the last session, actually on a bipartisan basis, updated the toxic substances act. it's a 40-year-old statute that was long in need of updating, and i think this is an opportunity for us to continue to make sure that we have the right bureaucratic responses, but also that we're investigating the chemicals that

we -- that like pfoa were not being truly tracked and evaluated. so i think this was a failure of bureaucracy at the state level and at the federal level. it's a shame that they spend their times pointing fingers at each other rather than trying to figure out how do we fix this problem and, more importantly, how do we avoid this problem in the future. but it, again, brings to mind the fact that i believe in limited government. my opponent, she believes in big government. and she talks a lot about making big banks lend to small business, etc. the fact of the matter is that virtually every one of her proposals in her economic plan basically make it so that the small business person is disadvantaged. she wants a $15 minimum wage which will kill family farmers, and it'll really help the farm-to-table movement, except it's in pennsylvania, because our farmers are going to be priced out of the labor market. they can't afford what she's talking about. and this is, it goes again, she

is completely unrealistic in her plans and her approaches because she comes from a new york city-centric point of view. and as i said, look at some of the foreign policy. she supports the iran deal. iran just was given a ransom of $400 million in cash in euros and swiss francs on a pallet that the u.s. sent over there to the iranians as a ransom to get our hostages free. we also sent over another almost billion dollars to the iranians for this deal. the iranians cannot be trusted. she even criticized chuck schumer for voting against the iran deal. so i think on so many issues whether it's her faulty research about my missing votes -- by the way, tax increases, i'm one of biggest tax cutters that ever was in the state legislature in the time i was there. and i was also one of the most fiscally responsible people. i was responsible for the first budget in 52 years in the state to reduce spending on a year to year basis.

and $19.5 trillion of debt in washington, we need someone to go down there and cut the budget. >> ms. teachout, it will surprise -- >> hold on. team teach i believe the question was about -- [inaudible] which i want to take some time to talk about because it is a crisis, and i've spent a lot of time talking to community members there. there's a wonderful leader there who's a mom, and what she talks about is those 18 months where her kid was swimming in the water, where she was, like, getting a glass of water for her daughter, and it turns out the state knew that there was something wrong with the water that whole time. everybody is to blame. the hearings i have been to have been incredibly frustrating, because there's a lot of finger-pointing and no

responsibility-taking. the state and the federal government have the take responsibility. i have called for federal hearings with subpoena power, but i think we also need to move past that and actually have real, concrete solutions that are going to mean something to people there. that means medical monitoring. and when i am many congress, i will be fighting for a fund to pay both for medical monitoring, ongoing medical monitoring because, i mean, you talk to parents there who are really worried about the ongoing levels of pfoas. and as well as a response to the real health crises. i am going to stand up for clean water. and i think this is about something more than just hoosic falls. our water is threatened across the board. i was talking to a young mother of just an eight-month-old, and she said i've been trying to take a blowdryer and dry drops

off my milk bottle. she's come to fear water because of the recent water scandals, and we have to do everything we can to make sure that polluters pay and we stand up to those big polluters. >> thank you. >> ms. teachout, it will surprise no one, excuse me, in this room to know that the polls of late have been dominated birdies appointment in government. in some polls congress has ratings in the single digits. you've discussed what you want to do with campaign finance reform. what else would you do to improve the reputation of government if you're elected? teachout: well, i hate to say it, i sort of share those polls' view. [laughter] congress is really broken. it's broken and it's gridlocked and corrupted, both at the same time. and i really believe in that basic democratic promise of representation and raising up people's voices, making sure their voices are heard.

there are opportunities to work across the aisle in some limited areas, and when i am in congress, i'll tell you the kinds of things i want to work on. one is inget businesses, and i started -- independent businesses, and i started to talk about parts of my platform which i think are extremely important. another is broadband. and we have a rural crisis with broadband and self-service right now. it's really holding back our rural economies across the country. fdr in the 1930s came together with republican, rural senators to push through what was called the rural electrification act saying, you know what? by hook or by crook, we're going to figure out how to get electricity to every last farmhouse. because, because of rural poverty. i think time for an updated rea, rural electrification act, where we focus on getting broadband and cell service everywhere. but here's the rub, this is something that should not be a

partisan issue. the opponents of this are the big companies like comcast that have bought lobbyists -- like my opponent -- paid lob bests to push for -- lobbyists to push for keeping the cable industry really tight. basically,not a monopoly, just two big companies that are dominating the market. i believe in more open markets, and i believe that we should have more competition, more choices that you as a consumer should have the choice between different service providers. this is an area where i have a real history. i was part of fighting for network neutrality which allowed, made sure that our big cable companies don't limit, you know, tell you what your politics are. but this is also an area where there shouldn't be partisan divide on that. also common core. as i hope your listeners know by now, i have been a strong opponent of high stakes testing and common core. that is not a partisan issue. that's an issue where bill

gates, basically a bazillion their, spent a lot of money to try to push a top-down idea as an example of federal overreach. it's not working. it's actually becoming a real problem for recruitment in our schools. and when i am in congress, i can work and will be working across the aisle to say not only enough with the high stakes testing, but what should education look like? what should federal education look like? how can we be supporting a safe, secure schools for all of our kids? i'm a big believer in sports in schools, in music, and thank you. faso: well, thank you. and you've heard my opponent be castigate me as a lobbyist a couple of times. as a point of information, i think your listeners and viewers should know that the most prominent client -- and i didn't have many, but the most prominent client i represented

in the last five years was autism speaks. and i represented autism speaks and had a major role in writing a state law which enhanced health insurance coverage for children with autism. and i was their advocate, and i was someone that was out there fighting for them every day in terms of their needs and the needs of autistic children and for children on the spectrum. so i think that the overall issue that we face in our country today and the overall issue that upstate new york faces is how do you get more growth in the economy. we're growing at about 1.3% gdp a year, and what this means is that we will, within ten years, every nickel of federal money going into the treasury, of taxpayer money going into the treasury, is going to go for medicare, medicaid, social security and interest on the debt. if we do not get more growth, we will not be able to fulfill our obligations to seniors and

veterans, much less provide the opportunities for our children and grandchildren to find prosperity and happiness and hope in our country. so this is what's, this is what is going on in our country today. and i think in our district the support for bernie sanders and donald trump in the primary was a manifestation of the economic frustrationing that exists. frustration that exists. but i have a serious plan to build the small business economy, a serious plan to end the overregulation which is -- you talk about banks, it's the littled little and the medium-sized banks that are getting crushed from regulation. i had one banker in this district tell me i hire all these extra people, i spend $80,000 a year just for compliance, and they prepare reports no one reads. that's the problem that is stifling small business in our state. >> mr. faso, during your run for governor a decade ago, you opposed same-sex marriage and abortion. where do you stand on those

issues today? faso: well, i -- look, i recognize that the issue of abortion is a very contentious issue in our society. it always has been for the last 43 years. my position has always been that i have some moral objection to it, but i've always supported exceptions for rape, incest, life of the mother, and i've not supported taxpayer-funded abortions. but i also recognize the law is the law. and roe v. wade has been the law of the land for many years, and it's been upheld by the supreme court, and i respect the law. i'm not running for congress to change that law. the second thing i would point out is that you asked about same-sex marriage. that is now the law as well. it was democratically adopted in new york state, and that is -- i fully respect the law, and i have many people -- many friends of mine that have taken advantage of that law. but i think, again, the point, the reason i'm running for congress is not to get in a debating society. and this is one of problems in our country today.

the left watches msnbc, the right watches fox, and then maybe some of them both watch or listen to wamc except when alan is on. [laughter] but the fact is, is that people are talking past one another. and we've got to get -- come to common ground. and just like ronald reagan and tip o'neill came up with plan to save social security for 40 years, this' the kind of -- that's kind of model that we have to pursue. we've got to find ways that we're going to get more growth in our economy. think of it, we have $19.5 trillion of debt. $19.5 trillion. we will never -- we are passing these costs on to our kids and grandchildren. it is amoral to do that. that's what we've got to fix. if we do not fix this, we are not going to be able to be a country that's strong domestically, nor will we be able to have the traditional strength of our military in the world which we need for our security, and we've got to fight

islamic extremism. and, you know, my opponent supporting the iranian deal, her support for the bds movement which wants to boycott and divest and sanction israel, i think, is an outrage. israel is our strongest ally in the middle east, and i think we've got to work with countries in the middle east militarily and diplomatically, with shared intelligence to confront isis. and i've not heard anything from my opponent about she supports the iran deal. she thinks chuck schumer was wrong. she is, gives aid and comfort to the enemies of israel. you know, a month after the two new york city cops were gunned down in their car in 2014, a month after she said she plays -- praised the black lives matter movement as a moral and thoughtful movement. and if you read their platform, you see how anti-semitic parts of that movement are. she's got radical views that are not in step and in tune with the

people of this district. she's way to the far left, she'd never be effective in congress if she got there. teachout: i think the question was about same-sex marriage -- >> and abortion. teachout: and abortion. and i want to address those directly. in 2006 my opponent did not just say that he was privately opposed to same-sex marriage, he said that if a bill came to his desk supported by the legislature in new york state, he would veto that bill, imposing his own views on new york state. i feel very strongly about civil rights for all americans, and i would not have vetoed that bill, and i was strongly supportive of same-sex marriage. second, the questions about -- look, i have and we all have friends who have very different

private views on abortion, and i really respect those different, private views. but i feel very strongly that it is not the government's business to basically tell women what they can't do with their body, that it is a private choice. and i also feel very strongly that we have to actively be supporting the work that planned parenthood does in providing basic health services and the overwhelming majority of the services they provide basic health services, cancer screening. these are very live issues right now, and they're very live issues in congress. there's a bunch of republicans who are actually stopping funding for zika because they don't want any money to go to women's health clinics including planned parented hoo. that is -- parenthood. that is so wrong. we have a zika crisis, and in congress it's very clear where i would stand.

and if you look at my opponent's record, it looks pretty clear that he would be on the side of those who are opposing funding for zika because of the women's health clinic funding. >> thank you. >> okay. we're now going to get to a question and, mr. faso a alluded to it in this last question. the boycott movement aims to punish israel for its policies in the west bank. should congress and/or individual states move against the bds movement by imposing sanctions on the groups or institutions that take part in it? ms. teachout? teachout: thanks for the question, because i wanted to clarify. my opponent said something that wasn't true, but i wanted to is stick on the last question. i oppose the bds movement, and i'm a strong supporter of israel, i'm a strong supporter of a two-state solution. i think the united states has a very important role in moving towards a two-state solution. in foreign policy more generally, the united states

faces three really very serious threats. one is the threat of either iran or north korea getting a nuclear weapon. reason that i support the iran -- the reason that i support the iran deal is we cannot allow iran to have a nuclear weapon. it is too much of a threat. it's a year in, and it has been successful. the uranium stockpiles are down 98%. the centrifuges are down two-thirds. we're talking about actual dismantling. we are farther away from a nuclear iran than we were a year ago, and that is incredibly important. and it's equally important, by the way, that we address the real threat of north korea getting a nuclear weapon. and there we have to be using our leverage with china, because china simply isn't doing enough. the second real threat to us is terrorism, is isis. and isis is so threatening both because it is gaining territory and because it is what experts call an inspirational movement.

encouraging others to take action even without having a direct connection to the isis organization in syria or elsewhere. i believe strongly that we have to use our special capacities in syria and do everything that we can to defeat isis in syria. and the third threat is about a balance of power. and this is an area where i feel very strongly that our trade deals, including our trade relationship with china and nafta and other countries, have actually weakened us globally. this is a problem, you know, the core reason that i support renegotiating our trade deals is because we've got to bring jobs home. but the other reason is because it's shifted the balance of power. and i think when we look towards renegotiating our trade deals, we have to have strong relationships with allies but not create such dependency like the billion dollar a day trade deficit with china that we are actually become weaker when there are confrontations in the

pacific rim. >> thank you. mr. faso? faso: i think the bds movement is abhorrent. i think it is against our interests, and it's against the interests of our ally, israel, and i support measures that would sanction the bds movement. and we've done this before in new york state, we have done this before nationally vis-a-vis the apartheid movement. those companies and businesses that supported apartheid or those that were, did not subscribe to the mcbride principles in northern ireland. so there's precedent for it. and i think bds, you know, ms. teachout wants to have it both ways. after she was caught on this issue, then he hurriedly rushed to proclaim her support for israel. but she has a history, frankly, both in the campaign for governor and in this campaign in her primary of being unwilling to take a strong stand in support of israel. and be i think that's very troublesome. the fact is that we've got to rebuild our national defenses,

and we've got to avoid the cuts that are expected on military. chris gibson has been very in the forefront on this in congress, and he's been very, very effective at it, and it's one of the reasons why i'm very pleased to have his support in this race, because he's someone that has been a strong spokesman for our district, and he's been able to also be a strong spokesman for our military. but we also have the specter of ms. teachout's supporter, bernie sanders, coming here tomorrow saying that mr. snowden -- who's a traitor to the united states -- should get clemency. you know, she belongs to the far-left side of the political equation. or were she to go to congress, she would be the political equivalent of the freedom caucus on the republican side. so you have these radical fringes in both parties that, frankly, can't get anything done because they're not willing to talk to the other side and to collaborate. we have to get tax reform, we have to get -- end the

regulatory mess that we currently have in washington. that's how we get jobs back here. >> mr. faso, a question on two related gun control proposals that have been floating around for a couple of years now. do you believe that individuals whose names appear on the federal no-fly list should be barred at least temporarily from purchasing firearms? and do you support legislation to federally close the so-called gun show loophole? faso: i support the second amendment, but that doesn't mean that i would want terrorists to be able to purchase weapons. and the question on the watch list is whether or not there's an, a due process means by which individuals who are falsely or incorrectly put on the watch list have a means to get off. and that's the question. and that's the issue that has to be confronted. so, yes, i think the we can come up with -- if we can come up with an approach on this which will insure there are due process rights for people that are incorrectly placed on the

watch list, then i'm all for it because there's no way i would support terrorists being able to purchase firearms. i do -- i don't think that additional principal gun laws -- federal gun laws are necessarily the solution to the problem. i would like to see more penalties, however, for trafficking of weapons. i'd like to see automaticities for people -- automatic penalties for people that commit a crime with a firearm. and look at the places around our country which have very strict gun laws like chicago, but they have skyrocketing murder rates because they have not been able to effectively police, and they have not been able to effectively get the weapons off the streets. one of the big issues always we're facing here which is very important to me in this district is the whole issue of heroin and opioid abuse. i've laid out a plan, a strategy of education, treatment and enforcement to deal with this. there is no doubt -- and this is one of those areas where i think democrats and republicans can

work together and agree -- heroin doesn't discriminate between male, female, black, white, gay, straight. the fact of the matter is, it is affecting every community no matter where i go throughout the 11 counties in the 19th congressional district. someone will -- i will talk about it, and someone will come up to me afterwards and tell me about a situation in their family or a friend be or neighbor that has been affected by this. so it's extraordinarily important issue for us to address. another local district issue that i want to address, just like chris gibson, is lyme disease. we've got the 21st century cures act which chris was essential in getting a lyme disease prevention segment in that bill. i'm hopeful that will pass both houses of congress this year, but it's an issue that i'm going the take up the battle to headache sure that we've got effective treatments -- make sure we've got effective treatments and diagnosis for lyme disease. >> just to be clear on the gun

show loophole, would you support legislation that would close that on the federal level or not? faso: i think that legislation is not going to be effective, so i'm not going to be supportive of that. but the bottom line, the bottom line is that i think what we've got to do in terms of violence in our society is we have to enforce the laws that we have. and the laws that we have are not being enforced in many cases, and we have to have automatic, strict penalties at the state level for those who commit crimes of violence with firearms. teachout: i support closing the gun show loophole, and i also think that we should make sure that those who are on the no-fly list also become on the no-buy list. i grew up many a rural county where -- in a rural county where my dad had a rifle for hunting. all the men in my family hunt, but we also had another gun for getting the raccoons who were getting into our chickens, and i think it's really important that

any laws are respectful and do -- and understand that a gun is a tool and an essential part of our way of life. but the heroin crisis is devastating, the deaths are up three times since 2000. and i i was talking to a father in kingston who talked about the day his son came home and said i want to get help, i need help, and he basically had spent a week on the phone with insurance companies trying to find a bed for him and getting approval from the insurance companies. he couldn't get it. his son went back, and his son has since overdosed. part of addressing the crisis is addressing the insurance companies' role and part of addressing our broader health crisis right nows which is, you know, people not being able to afford basic medication, seniors

paying out of pocket, outrageous amounts for drugs. or a mother i was talking to in tannersville whose daughter has cystic fibrosis. her drug costs $300,000 a year, and nobody thinks it should cost that much. if we're going to be addressing these core health issues, we've got to do what i have always done which is raise up people's voices and take on those powerful drug companies who hire lobbyists -- like my opponent -- to basically allow them to be in a position where they can charge outrageous fees. the real problem with our country right now isn't on the ground, it's because of big companies hiring well-paid lobbyists to push their issues. >> ladies and gentlemen, that's all the time we have for today' debate between the candidates for new york's 19th congressional district. very impressive debate. republican john faso and democrat sever teachout. i'd like to thank the candidates and our panelists, casey of the times union, benita of news

channel 13 and allison dunn of wamc. i want to give a special shoutout to ian who did all the hard work putting this together. now we can have a round of applause for the candidates. [applause] >> the u.s. senate is in a break now for their weekly party meetings. when they return at 2:15 eastern, they'll take a procedural vote on a short-term continuing resolution to fund the government past the september 30th deadline. that vote has been rescheduled twice as members work behind the scenes to come to an agreement to move forward. for more on where things stand, we spoke earlier to a capitol hill reporter. >> host: nancy ocean man slip is a reporter for bloomberg bna. nancy, it's less than two weeks before the deadline that the government funning could shut down. what's the latest you're hearing

about the discuss of negotiations for the continuing resolution, a short-term fix? >> guest: well, as of this morning the status was the same as the status yesterday in that they were close to a global deal that would resolve all these outstanding matters, but they still weren't exactly there. so we're waiting to see this afternoon after the senators meet at lunch whether they really have that deal, that then they can bring to the floor in the senate this afternoon and start moving. because majority leader mcconnell would really like to get it through the senate this week so that the house could take it up next week as maybe the last order of business before everybody scatters again for the campaign trail and government funding expires in about ten days. so they have less and less time to get this thing done. >> host: well, what are the problems here? what are the sticking points and some of differences they can't work out? >> guest: for a long time they

were battling over how much money they would provide to combat the zika virus and also who would share in that funding. as of last night, senator nelson -- the senator from florida which is ground zero for this virus -- said that negotiators had agreed to provide $1.1 billion and that there wouldn't be restrictions on it like republicans wanted to keep it from going to planned parenthood. some of the poise onous language was -- poisonous language was gone. but, you know, as part of deal the white house would agree to budgetary offsets for at least some of that money rather than having it provided on a strictly emergency basis; that is, no cuts elsewhere in the budget to pay for it. and then we also heard that they were still negotiating over aid to some of the storm-ravaged states including louisiana which had massive flooding last month and west virginia, texas, elsewhere.

but for both zika and for the flooding, people talk about it in the context of maybe this will be a down payment, and when they get back after the election in the lame duck, maybe they'll go back in there and look for more zika money and more disaster assistance. >> host: now, with this vote, the 2:15 vote, what's the procedure that they are going to be using in order to bring this up? ing. >> guest: well, mitch mcconnell has a house appropriations bill. the bill, known as legislative branch that covers the operations of the congress. and he's going to bring that up and strip out the legislative branch part and put in the legislation that's going to carry this c.r., the zika virus money and also, we're told, the military construction and veterans affairs appropriations bill that was conferenced this past summer. and then he'll put it to a vote;

that is, a cloture vote on a motion to proceed. and in a way, that'll be a test vote to see where, you know, the support is and where the opposition is. >> host: and then just briefly, nancy, talk about the cruz factor. you've written about this in bloomberg bna, and republican senator ted cruz, what's his role here? he was, of course, responsible for the last government shutdown or at least involved in it. what's his role here? >> guest: well, republicans and democrats alike blame him for the 2013 shutdown. you know, since he came back from the presidential campaign trail, he's been kind of quiet. he hasn't really been speaking out. but he was very energized last night when he was asked about this issue involving internet domain. that is going to be transferred away from the commerce department oversight to an international organization at end of month. and ted cruz wants to put a provision in the c.r. to keep

that from happening. temporary ban at least. and there's speculation that he could try to slow this c.r. down or even derail it if he doesn't get provision that he wants. and last night he was being pretty cagey, and he really wouldn't answer the question about whether he was willing to block this c.r. in order to get his way. so you have to stay tuned and see what happens on that one. >> host: all right. stay tuned, we will. we're going to follow you, of course, on twitter and the web site, bna.com. thanks so much, nancy. >> guest: thank you. >> senate returns in about 20 minutes. we are covering several senate hearings today on the c-span network,. one of those, senate banking committee just wrapping up in the last couple of minutes looking at the wells fargo bank unauthorized account situation. it included the ceo of wells fargo, john stumpf. this tweet from boston daily news:

>> here's her questioning of john stumpf of. >> mr. stumpof, the wells fargo vision and values statement which you frequently cite says, quote: we believe in values lived, not phrases memorized. if you want to find out how strong a company's ethics are, don't listen the what its people say, watch what they do. so let's do that. since this massive, years-long scam came to light, you have said repeatedly, quote: i am accountable. but what have you actually done to hold yourself accountable? have you resigned as ceo or chairman of wells fargo? >> the board -- >> have you resigned? >> no, i've not. >> all right. have you returned one nickel of the millions of dollars that you were paid while this scam was going on? >> well, first of all, this was by 1% of our people finish. >> that's not my question.

it's about responsibility. have you returned one nickel of the millions of dollars that you were paid while this scam was going on? >> the board will take care of that. >> have you returned one nickel of the money you earned while this scam was going on? >> and the board will -- >> i will take that as a no then. have you fired a single senior executive? and by that i don't remember regional manager or branch manager. i'm asking about the people who actually led your community banking division or your compliance division. >> we've made a change in our regional, to lead our regional bank. >> i just said i'm not asking about regional managers, i'm not asking about branch managers. i'm asking if you have fired senior management, the people who actually led community banking division, who oversaw this fraud or the compliance division that was in charge of making sure that the bank complied with the law. >> carrie -- >> did you fire any of those people? >> no. >> no.

okay. so you haven't resigned, you haven't returned a single nickel of your personal earnings, you haven't fired a single senior executive. instead, evidently, your definition of accountable is to push the blame to your low-level employees who don't have the money for a fancy p.r. firm to defend themselves. it's gutless leadership. in your time as chairman and ceo, wells has been famous for cross-selling, which is pushing existing customers to open more accounts. cross-selling is one of the main reasons that wells has become the most valuable bank in the world. wells measures cross-selling by number of different accounts a customer has with wells. orr big banks -- other big banks average fewer than three accounts per customer, but you set the target at eight accounts. every customer of wells should have eight accounts with the bank. and that's not because you you n

the numbers and found that the average customer needed eight banking accounts, it is because, quote: eight rhymes with great. this was your rationale right there in your 2010 annual report. cross-selling isn't about helping customers get what they need. if it was, you wouldn't have to squeeze your employees so hard to make it happen. no, cross-selling is all about pumping up wells' stock price, isn't it? >> no. cross-selling is shorthand for deepening relationships. we -- >> let me stop you right there. you say no? no? >> i'm -- >> here are the transcripts of 12 quarterly earnings calls that you participated in from 2012-2014, the three full years in which we know this cam was going on -- scam was going on. i'd like to submit them for the record, if i way, mr. chair. >> [inaudible]

>> thank you. these are calls where you personally made your pitch to investors and analysts about why wells fargo is a great investment. and in all 12 of these calls, you personally cited wells fargo's success at cross-selling retail accounts as one of main reasons to buy more stock in the company. let me read you a few quotes that you had. april 2012, quote: we grew our retail banking cross-sell ratio to a record, 5.98 products per household. a year later, april 2013, quote: we achieved record retail banking cross-sale of 6.1 products per household. april 2014, quote: we achieved record retail banking cross-sell of 6.17 products per household.

the ratio kept going up and up. and it didn't matter whether customers used those accounts or not. and guess what? wall street loved it. here is just a sample of the reports from top analysts in those years. all recommending that people buy wells fargo stock in part because of the strong cross-sell numbers. and i'd like to submit them for the record. >> without objection. >> thank you, mr. chair. so when investors saw good cross-sell numbers, they did while this scam was going on, that was very good for you personally, wasn't it, mr. stumpf? do you know how much money, how much value your stock holdings in wells fargo gained while this scam was underway? >> well, first of all, it was not a scam, and cross-sell is a way of deepening relationships. when -- >> we've been through this, mr. stumpf.

i asked you a very simple question. do you know how much the value of your the stock went up while this scam was going on? >> it's all of my compensation is in our public -- >> do you know how much it was? >> it's all in the public filing. >> you're right, it is all in the public records because i looked it up. while this scam was going on, you personally held an average of 6.75 million shares of wells stock. the share price during time period went up by about $30 which comes out to more than $200 million in gains all for you personally. and thanks in part to the those cross-sell numbers that you talked about on every one of those calls. you know, here's what really gets me about this, mr. stumpf. be one of your tellers -- if one

of your tellers took a handful of $20 bills out of the cash drawer, they'd probably be looking at criminal charges for theft. they could end up in prison. but you squeezed your employees to the breaking point so they would cheat customers and you could drive up the value of your stock and put hundreds of millions of dollars in your own pocket. and when it all blew up, you kept your job, you kept your multimillion dollar bonuses, and you went on television to blame thousands of $12-an-hour employees who were just trying to meet cross-sell quotas that a made you rich. this is about accountability. you should resign. you should give back the money that you took while this scam was going on, and you should be criminal hi investigated -- criminally investigated by both the department of justice and the securities and exchange commission. you know, this just isn't right. a cashier who steals a handful

of $20s is held accountable, but wall street executives who almost never hold themselves accountable not now, not in 2008 when they crushed the worldwide economy. the only way that wall street will change is if executives face jail time when they preside over massive frauds. we need tough, new laws to hold corporate executives personally accountable, and we need tough prosecutors who have the courage to go after people at the top. until then, it will be business as usual. and at giant banks like wells fargo, that seems to mean cheating as many customers, investors and employees as they possibly can. thank you, mr. chair. >> and that's just part of a nearly four-hour senate banking committee hearing looking at the wells fargo's unauthorized

creation of accounts by account holders at wells fargo. they heard from john stumpf, the ceo of the company. also from the head of the organization that fined wells fargo $175 million, the corporation for the consumer protection financial bureau. richard cordray also testified today. that hearing will air later on the c-span networks, you can also watch it online at c-span.org. we're live in the ohio clock corridor just outside the u.s. senate as the republicans and democrats have their weekly party lunches, hoping to hear from democratic or republican leaders with the senate set to gavel in coming up in about ten minutes or so at 2:15 eastern. they'll have a procedural vote on moving forward with the measure that will be the continuing resolution, funding the federal government past the september 30th deadline. we will have live coverage if members come to speak here at the podium. also, of course, live coverage of the senate when they gavel back in.

until then, part of this morning's session in the senate including the minority leader, trum >> trump is a fraud. that's a word that i chose. he was born with an inheritance but lost his daddy's wealth. that is why donald trump won't release his tax returns. that's certainly one of reasons, of course. he's not worth nearly as much as he claims to be. that's a secret he doesn't want anyone to know. he wants everyone to think he's this big, rich, rich man. we know that trump lies about his money. i'm not making that up. he once admitted he assessed his net worth on a whim. this is what he said during one of his many, many depositions which is a court proceeding where you gather evidence.

and he's appeared before many for his deposition. >> we are still in discussions on the c.r., i think we are close to finalizing an agreement that we can go to the floor on. there are two other items that we'll be dealing with before we leave, the jester override vote, and senator paul has a resolution of disapproval on a saudi arms sale. both of those we'll have to deal with before we depart. i think at this point it's safe to say we'll be here next week, but we're hoping to wrap up c.r., and as soon as we can reach an agreement, then everybody will have a copy of it. >> this morning i had a chance to visit with some of the

families of the victims of 9/11 attack who have still been denied access to courts to make their case, if they have one, against the various defendants including state sponsors of terrorism. we passed out of the senate a bill unanimously that would give them that opportunity to make their case. it passed unanimously in the house of representatives, and we sent it over a week ago monday to the president. r, and he said he would veto it. so my question is, why are you waiting, mr. president? veto the bill if that's what you've decided to do, we hope you wouldn't, but if you're going to veto it, veto it and send it back to us so we can have a vote to override that veto which i'm confident we will. >> this weekend's events were a reminder, a grim reminder that we continue to fight the war against terrorism and war against isis, and incredibly in the wake of all that, the administration -- the

president's spokesperson, josh earnest -- came out in the last couple of days and said that we are in a narrative fight against isis. not a real fight, a narrative fight. and tim kaine went on television on sunday and said that the situation with isis is dramatically improved. and i think that it's pretty clear that the administration is more concerned about their legacy than they are really about keeping americans safe. the fact of the matter is the world is less safe since the president took office, and americans' security -- as we found out over weekend -- continues to be threatened on a weekly basis. so we're less safe, and i think most americans would argue less prosperous. according to polls that are out there, about two-thirds of americans believe that the economy in this country is poor or not so good, and and a lot of that has to do with policies that this administration has put in place. it has made the cost of everything americans have to to

buy more expensive. wages are down and health care continues to go up, college education goes up, everything that people have to deal with in their daily lives goes up. so the economic legacy of this president is a failure and, as i said, his foreign policy legacy is that we are less safe than we were, and most people believe, you know, anytime since 9/11. and we believe there's a better way, and that's what we intend to continue to strive toward and hopefully we'll have a president come january that we can work with. >> well, the president spoke at the united nations today, and and he called for global cooperation, called for action on climate change, and he said with regard to iran that now iran could work with other nations. well, one of those nations that iran has decided to work with is russia. and we've seen that recently when russia launched bombing attacks against the syrian

opposition to help assad, and he did it from iran. this was in direct violation, direct violation of the u.n. security council's arms embargo. now remember, that arms embargo by the u.n. security council was signed together at the same time as the iran nuclear act, action was signed. that's why 33 republican senators, including all of the leadership, sent a letter to secretary kerry yesterday demanding action by united states, to demand action by the united nations and the security council with regard to this violation by iran and by russia. because if this president and this administration is unwilling to demand that kind of action, that sends a message to iran that they can violate the arms embargo and then at the same time violate the nuclear arrangement and agreement. so what we have now as the president left the stage at the united nations today a world

that's less safe, less stable and less secure than it was the day he became president. >> it is regrettable that we have not passed our appropriation bills in regular order. in that regard, i want to to compliment a republican and a democrat at this point many this session of congress. that republican would be chairman thad cochran, chairman of the appropriations committee. the democrat would be retiring senator barbara mikulski, the ranking democrat on the appropriations committee. they got their work done in order and on time, and it is regrettable that the democratic leader has not allowed these bills to come forward. the energy and water appropriation bill reported april 14th by a vote of 30-0, v.a., april 14th, unanimous vote of 30-0. cjs, april 31st, 30-0.

ag, may 19th, a unanimous vote. leg branch, may 19th, a unanimous vote. defense appropriation, a unanimous vote. and on and on and on. surely had mr. reid, the democratic leader, cooperated with us and allowed these bills to come forward, we could have taken the 54 republican senators who appreciate the fact that we've stayed within the budget guidelines and a few of these unanimous democrat votes from the appropriation committee and gotten our vote done in regular order. it's regrettable that we are at this stage, but clearly a little cooperation from this end of the hall would have been very, very helpful. >> [inaudible] donald trump called for more profiling by law enforcement. do you agree with that -- >> yeah.

i don't have any comment on that. >> [inaudible] >> do you think -- [inaudible] >> my understanding is that a veto override requires a roll call vote, and at whatever point the president vetoes it, we'll have to take it up, and there'll be a roll call vote on the override. senator cornyn's already addressed that issue. our assumption is that the veto will be overridden. i would add, however, that i do think it's important and i intend to aggressively oppose the effort to disapprove the arms sale to the saudis. the saudis are in many, many ways have been good allies of the united states over the years. they, as we all know, were extreme wily unhappy with the iran -- were extremely unhappy with the iran deal. i think it's important to the

united states to maintain as good a relationship with saudi arabia as possible, and i hope -- excuse me -- and i hope we'll defeat the resolution of disapproval of the arms sale. >> senator, on the appropriations bills, would you favor -- [inaudible] >> oh, listen, that's a december issue. the question was something about an omnibus. we're talking about passing a c.r. here. that takes us to december the 9th x we'll reconvene after the election and decide how to deal, finally, with the funding bills for next year. >> do you have a preference? >> senator mcconnell, harry reid -- [inaudible] donald trump a liar, a fraud -- [laughter] >> yeah. >> [inaudible] do you have any response or reaction -- >> yeah. it's been my custom nod not to run the presidential campaign from the floor of the senate, so i don't think i have any response to senator reid --

>> [inaudible] >> i'm sorry, what's your question? >> [inaudible] what will you be voting on -- >> well, at some point we'll have to invoke cloture on the legislative branch appropriation bill. then the c.r. would be added to that. but we're, we have -- i'm not going to take that step until we reach an agreement which has taken a little longer than i anticipated, not surprisingly around here, and when we get that together, we're going the want to brief our members and then move forward in a way to pass bill. thanks a lot. [inaudible conversations] >> republican leaders speak

toking to reporters after their weekly lunch. democratic leaders may speak as well. keep in mind, the u.s. senate gaveling back in shortly. they are supposed to take a procedural vote on whether to move forward with the continuing resolution funding the federal government past september 30th, the end of fiscal year. we'll have live coverage of the senate when they gavel back in. the majority leader, mitch mcconnell, saying it's safe to say we'll be here next week in terms of dealing with the continuing resolution. other issues potentially on the senate plate could include an override of the president's slow toe. that's yet to happen, that actual veto of the legislation passed in the house and senate that would allow victims of 9/11 to sue the saudi government. we take you live now to the senate floor. ity. i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22, the motion to invoke comploa tur on h.r. 5325 ripen at 5:15 today. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: i a