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 ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding

rule 22, at 11:00 a.m. on wednesday, september 21, senator paulor his designee be recognized to offer a motion to discharge senate resolution 39, that there be up to three hours of debate equally divided between the proponents and the opponents of senator paul controlling -- with senator paul controlling 30 minutes, the proponents time, senator murphy controlling 15 minutes of the opponent's time and the senate vote in relation to the motion to discharge. the presidin mr. mcconnell: i may have misspoken. it's 11:15 tomorrow. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i've come to this floor many times to

speak about the toll that the abuse of prescription opioids and heroin has taken on our communities. when i talk with have thers about this crisis -- with vermonters about this crisis whether at field hearings in vermont or in conversations at kitchen tables are on on street corners, i hear how opioid abuse destroys lives, tears apart families, overwhelms communiti communities. as a lifelong vermonter, i'm proud of our small state. i see law enforcement and community leaders join together. they take a real constructive approach to fighting addiction. they create innovative and successful programs, such as the rapid intervention community court in burlington, project vision of rutland, the boys and

girls clubs throughout vermont are working with schools and public health officials. they're helping children affected by the epidemic and they're trying to keep them from being swept into that world. our local television stations are participating in public awareness campaigns. they're educating our citizens about drug abuse. now these are the positive efforts that make me proud to be a vermonter. but i'm not just here to praise the good work of my state. i'm here to work for my state and all states that are coping with this drug addiction scourge because all states are. earlier this year congress took an important step forward by passing the comprehensive addiction and recovery act, ca cara. this new law treats addiction as a public health crisis. it is.

i was proud to support this legislation in the senate, but the final product fell short. cara did not include the funding necessary to put his programs to work and the final legislation stripped out many of the best practices that were included in the senate bill, including among others my provision to authorize the antiheroin task forces that i helped to establish. now this provision was approved overwhelmingly by the senate, and i thank senators, republicans and democrats, who joined me on that but it was stripped out the last minute by the house. that's really a shortsighted decision. it can hamper law enforcement agencies' ability to keep illegal opioids out of our communities.

soism's introduce -- so i'm introducing legislation today, bipartisan legislation. i'm introducing it with senator grassley to help ensure the state and local law enforcement agencies can get the necessary funding and the support for antiheroin task forces around the country. our bill would authorize the attorney general to provide grants to law enforcement agencies, those agencies that are engaged in statewide collaborative efforts to investigate and stop unlawful trafficking of heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil, and prescription opioids. the bill also authorizes grants. these are support task forces to combat the trafficking of methamphetamines. states are seeing an influx of

powerful opioids. they've never been seen by law enforcement before. communities have been struggling with heroin and prescription drug abuse. now opioids like fentanyl and carfentanil -- and what is so frightening about these, these can kill the user even in small amounts. so i think we have a responsibility, all of us in congress, to support smart policies and reduce the demand for these poisons, and we must support targeted enforcement efforts to keep them out of our communities in the first place. now, i know these task forces work. last month i heard from vermont law enforcement officials. they shared examples of how the vermont drug task force is

helping to combat heroin trafficking in our state. vermont drug task forces has seen a significant increase in heroin investigations so far this year. up 70% for the same period last year. the task force has seized the equivalent of more than 94,000 bags of heroin this year alone, the street value of more than a million. in an urban area that might not seem like much. our state is 625,000 people. the largest city in our state is 38,000 people. we are being hammered by this. but there is good news. the recent addiction of five new investigative positions as a result of vermont's $1.4 million

antiheroin task force grant, it couldn't come at a more critical time. so this legislation will provide the antiheroin task force program with the resources they need to help more states just like it's helping in vermont. i say this, mr. president, because we should and the american public should know our work in congress and opioid abuse addiction did not end when we passed cara. in fact i would say it only began. if we're serious about combating drug addiction, all of us will say we're against it but if we're really serious, then we have to invest in our communities. let us build on what we know is working. let's give law enforcement agencies the tools they need to do their job effectively. mr. president, in my state of

vermont considerable time every month, i was there just a couple of days ago. we're a special state because you talk with people. my wife and i will talk with people coming out of church on sunday or in the grocery store or just walking down the street to pick up our paper. and some of the stories we hear are so sad. we hear from people we've known for years, wonderful families, pillars of the community, but who tell us that their son or daughter is suffering opioid and other addictions. the saddest, though, are those people we've known where they've lost a member of their family to this because of the powerful new

drugs that are coming on the market. i saw a lot of terrible things in this area when i was a prosecutor, nothing like what we're seeing today. so let's look at the legislation that senator grassley and i are introducing. and let's stop trying to fight this with slogans and goodwill. let us fight it with real tools. mr. president, i ask consent that the legislation by myself and senator grassley be introduced and appropriately

referred. the presiding officer: the bill is received and appropriately referred. mr. leahy: i thank the presiding officer. again, i'd add let's not just rely, any of us, on saying we're against this. let's do something. it's too bad the house stripped out much of what we'd done well in our bill, but there's no reason why we can't fight to put it back in. there's no reason why we can't get the funding necessary. this will only work if we have the tools and the money. i know in our state, not just law enforcement but the faith community, educators, parents, boys and girls clubs, medical profession, we're working together because it's not just

numbers. every one of us, almost every one of us in our state know people who have suffered. i want to ge back home and -- i want to go back home and say we're doing something to help you. mr. president, i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would ask suspension of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, it has been 187

days. that's a long time. 187 days since president obama nominated merrick garland to the supreme court. since march 16, we have been waiting for a hearing. it's really extraordinary when you think how long we have seen the third branch of government unable to fully function because of inaction in the united states senate. republicans have a constitutional duty to uphold and have not done their job. we all have that constitutional duty. we are standing at the ready. we are willing to remain here in session until we can get this done. we need a hearing now. we need to get merrick garland on the court before, in fact, the court begins its new session october 1. but unfortunately we are likely to leave maybe the end of this

week or next week without a hearing. the republican leadership's inability to consider garland's nomination puts the court at frequent risk of deadlock, which is not in the interest of families, of those whose interests are coming before the united states supreme court, and it's a shame because merrick garland is a uniquely qualified jurist. in fact, republican colleagues have noted his qualifications in the past. but the reason why republicans haven't acted is simple, unfortunately, and that is a splil calculation. when we look at the court on october 1 when they are seated, it will look like this, with a vacant chair. and the question is who are they holding the chair for?

and i envision a shadow behind this chair of the republican nominee. someone who is standing behind there, and it's clear that republicans in the senate are holding this seat open for donald trump, republican nominee, in hopes that he will be the next president. i'm not sure about you, mr. president, but when it comes to filling this empty seat, celebrity apprentice supreme court edition is not a show i want to watch, and it's certainly not a show that the american people will benefit from. many of my republican colleagues also recognize that the nominee for president on their side poses a risk to our judicial system. when the republican nominee attacked a federal judge's

impartiality on the basis of his parents' ethnicity, the majority leader said he -- quote -- couldn't disagree more with a statement like that. but why then would he leave this seat open for that person to fill? how can you justify allowing someone to nominate a justice to the highest court in the land when it's clear that that nominee has no respect for the judiciary as an institution? another one of my republican colleagues described republican nominees' comments, one of many, many, many of his comments, but described one set of comments as, i quote, the literal definition of racism. but yet that person is supporting donald trump and

we're holding -- they are holding a seat open for this person who has said things that are literally the definition of racism for him to fill that seat. this colleague actually at some point came out on the record not supporting the nominee, and he has been joined by other republican senators, but yet they keep a seat open potentially for this person to fill on the highest court in the land. another member of this body has referred to the republican nominee as -- quote -- a pathological liar, and that he doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. mr. president, senate republican colleagues can't justify holding

up judge garland's confirmation, and yet but all of my republican colleagues are doing that, hoping that mr. trump is the person who gets to nominate this justice in january. it makes no sense. they all remain unified in their opposition to judge garland who is one of the most qualified and well-respected judges in this generation, they're unified in not moving forward, even though many of them in fact have said very positive things about him in the past, and i would expect to see that in the future. i have to wonder what exactly those senators, especially the ones who are opposing their party's nominee, are waiting for.

because it's obvious to me that just about every member of this body believes that judge garland would do an excellent job on the court. mr. president, i call on all republican colleagues to do their job, do their job, to hold a hearing to bring this nomination to the floor as quickly as possible, to not hold open a spot on the highest court in the land for someone that many of them have been running to distance themselves from. this is a very serious issue. we talk a lot about the constitution around here. we have three branches of government, and one right now cannot fully function in the public's interests on behalf of families and businesses and

young people, older people, children because they don't have the full membership of the court. and it's our job in the united states senate to make sure that they have all of the members present when the new court sits starting on october 1. so i say to colleagues on the other side of the aisle do your job. now is the time to do your job. the american people expect us to do our jobs. do your job and don't, don't hold a seat open for the republican nominee who so many of you have expressed such displeasure over. it's time to do your job, mr. president, in terms of the republican majority in the

united states senate. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i'd like to say a few words about a member of my staff who will soon be leaving. becky fleeson, our director of administration, is the embodiment of the servant leader. she's tenacious, she's dedicated, she's loyal, and she cares. becky is exactly the type of person you'd want battling -- she's exactly the kind of person you'd want batting for your team. for nearly a decade, i've been fortunate to have her on mine. becky is more interested in et going the job done -- in getting the job done than in taking credit for it.

she doesn't back down easily, she can be tough, too. that's part of her job description. but if you want to know the truth, becky is actually a bit of a softy. she's also a bit of a prankster. becomey is usually someone you'd trust with sensitive tasks without a second thought. but on april fool's day, you can't trust her for a second. take this year, for example, when becky tried to convince us she was pregnant. turned out she actually was and didn't know it at the time. seems the guy upstairs has a sense of humor as well. well, becky would tell you her life has never been the same since she and her husband george welcomed little whinny into their lives. now they're preparing to welcome baby fleeson number two in just

few months. it's really something to watch becky mature from a fresh-faced college grad it a seasoned professional, honorary kentuckian and dedicated wife and mother. when confronted with hardship along the way, becky has fought through with grace and with strength. and the support of her fellow teamsters. i know becky loves her colleagues, i know becky loves the senate. but most of all, i know becky loves her family. so when becky told she she was ready to dedicate herself full-time to raising their kids, i couldn't have been happier for her. we'll all miss her good humor, her work ethic, and her integrity, and later this afternoon we'll look forward to celebrating her.

i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. gardner: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. gardner: mr. president, in washington today is just another day of bureaucratic rollouts, regulatory nightmares, and government overreach. but if you're in colorado today, it's also sticker shock day, because today the people of colorado found out, thanks to the new numbers just confirmed by the colorado division of

insurance, that if you live in that state, you are going to be paying, on average, an additional 20.4% for your health insurance this year under obamacare. that's the individual rate that was just confirmed for the 2017 plans -- 20.4% increase. now, remember ... the promises that were made when obamacare was put into law in the most partisan of fashions, the promises that were made, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor, it's been proven untrue. if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. it's been proven untrue. why do we know that? because in colorado alone, over the past three years, over 750,000 coloradans have had their insurance plans canceled. let's just go through those numbers. that's over 92,000 people with individual plans from united healthcare, humana, rocky mountain health plans, and anthem. they'll be forced to find new plans in 201. in may, united healthcare and

humana announced they weren't going to be offering plans in colorado at all. we've seen aetna reduce significantly the number of plans they will be offering. we know that the health care co-op in colorado collapsed because it was unconstitutions stainable i guess -- unsustainable. and back in august of 2013, we saw hundreds of thousands more in colorado lose their health insurance. that doesn't sound like a promise that's been kept to me. that's a promise that has been broken. we also know that obamacare promised that it would reduce the premiums by $2,500 per family. but here we are today talking about a 20.4% rate increase on the colorado people alone, and we know from studies that show that one-third of colorado counties aren't even going to have a choice of more than one insurance provider to choose from. that, despite the third obamacare promise, that the people of this country would

have more opportunities to buy different insurance products, more choice, more consumer insurance options. yet history of a third of the counties in this country will have only one choice or perhaps even fewer. that's why legislation that has been introduced in recent days by senators mccain and senator sas sext are so important. senator sasse has introduced legislation that says if an insurance increase is more than 10%, then you don't have to abide by the individual mandate, forcing people to pay these utragous increases -- these outrageous increases things to obamacare. it also says it if you're paying 8% of your increase in insurance premiums then you don't have to abide by the mandate of obamacare. it gives people the ability to actually have that financial certainty that they're looking for, the certainty that obamacare promised but failed to deliver. senator mccain says that if a county has one or fewer health

insurance options to choose from, then they also will receive relief from obamacare's individual mandate. these are important because in states like colorado, the government is forcing you to pay at least 20.4% more if you're in the individual market. that's the average rate increase. now, while 20.4% this year -- excuse me, in the 2017 plans is- is certainly a significant amount, that's on top of last year's rate increases. if you lived in the western slope of colorado, if you live on the western slope of colorado, last year you saw average premium rates in the individual market increase by 25.8%. one of the most expensive markets in the country, the western slope of colorado. the mountains of our state. so between these two years -- now, we haven't been able to break down what it means on the western slope. that individual impact might even be higher on colorado's western slope. we don't quite have those numbers broken down because it was just released today, this

massive increase under obamacare. but if you just take the statewide average of the individual plan of 20.4% with 25% increase last year, that's an almost 50% increase in insurance over the past two years. 2017 which will increase 20.4% on average, and this past year of 25.8%. that's nearly 50% increase. the people of colorado can't afford obamacare. obamacare can't keep its promises. we've got to find real solutionser for -- solutions for the american people. and i urge the president to come forward with the acknowledgment that his signature law is a signature failure. mr. president, i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous

consent that further proceedings dunder the quorum call being dispensed with. officer without objection. mr. mcconnell: madam president, in order to have a quick discussion with colleagues about the state of play on the short-term c., we'll push the -- short-term c.r., we'll push the vote back a few minutes. therefore, i ask unanimous consent the senate stand in recess subject to the call of the chair. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without objection, the senate stands in recess subject to the call of the chair. recess:

>> guest: as part of the 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 in west virginia, texas, else where. 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 they are going to be using in order to bring this up? >> 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 the 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 vote, 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 just briefly, nancy, talk about the cruz factor. you've written about this in bloomberg bna. 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 to been kind of quiet. he hasn't really been speaking out. but he was very energized last

night when he was asked about issue involving internet domain. that is going to be transferred away from the commerce department oversight to an international organization at the end of the 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 the provision that he wants x. 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 web site, bna.com. thanks so much, nancy. >> guest: thank you. >> so if you've been following the senate with us today, 5:15

is the time here in washington. this is when the senate was scheduleed to vote, originally scheduled to have a procedural vote on this continuing resolution, this funding the government past september 30th. that was set for 2:15, then moved to 5:15 and then majority leader mitch mcconnell came out and said the senate would be in a recess, so we're still expecting a vote this afternoon, but we're not quite sure when. earlier today on capitol hill the senate banking committee heard from the ceo of wells fargo testifying about some of those unauthorized wells fargo accounts. senator elizabeth warren had an exchange. let's see some of that. >> mr. stumpf, the wells fargo vision and values statement which you frequently cite, says, quote: we believe in values, not phrases memorized. if you want to find out how strong a company's ethics are, don't listen to 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, i serve -- >> have you resigned? >> no, i have 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 -- >> that's not my question. my question -- it's about responsibility. have you returned one nickel of millions of dollars that you were paid while this scam was going on? >> the board will take -- >> have you returned one nickel of the money you earned while this scam was going on? >> and the board will do -- >> i will take that as a no then. have you fired a single senior executive? and by that, i don't mean

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 -- >> no. >> -- 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 pansy p.r. firm to de-- 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 the number of different accounts a customer has with wells. 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 ran the numbers and found that 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 -- >> here are the transcripts of 12 quarterly earnings calls that you participated in from 2012 to 2014, the three full years in which we know this scam was going on. i'd like to submit them for the record. if i may, 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 the

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-sell of 6.1 products per household. april 2014, quote: we a 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 customers -- >> we've been through this, mr. stumpf. i asked you a very simple question. do you know how much the value of your 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 this 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 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. 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 made you rich. this is about accountability. you should resign. you should give back money that you took while this scam was going on. and you should be 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 and 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 me cheating as many customers, investors and employees as they possibly can. thank you, mr. chair. >> so just to reset the picture, the senate today has been working on a legislative vehicle for a short-term continuing resolution, what's called a c.r., that will keep the government funded past the september 30th deadline. there was a procedural vote scheduled for 5:15, now it's been moved again to 5:45 according to our account, that's about the fifth time the vote has been moved. we expect that vote when the senate comes back at 5:45. in the meantime, we'll show you some of this morning's washington journal, a discussion about hillary clinton and donald

trump eat childcare plans -- trump's childcare plans. >> host: we're joined now by kaz and vicki for a tuesday round table discussion about childcare and family leave policies being proposed by the presidential candidates. this discussion, of course, coming a week after donald trump unveiled his new plan when it comes to family leave. but let's start by talking about the baseline, what's out there right now on federal leave policies for families. vicki, let's start with that. >> guest: absolutely. thanks, jon, and it is great to be here talking about this important issue that really touches all of us at some point or another in our lives. so the united states is ante outlier in the world when it comes to how we support families, when it comes to access to family and medical leave. a just 13% of the u.s. work force has access to family leave to care for a new child or a seriously ill family member. less than 40% have access toac

temporary disability insurance true an employer's -- through an employer's program. even 64% of workers have access to a single paid sick day, but that leaves 36% of the private sector work force out, and that's disproportionately skewed towards higher wage workers, leaving out some of the most vulnerable people in our population and really exacerbating the inequality that exists today as well as thinking about the future. so we have access to job-protect9, unpaid leave just for about 60% of the work force through the 1993 family and medical leave act, and that law was a land -- >> landmark. >> guest: landmark. it's been used more than 200 million times a across the country to care for a new child or seriously ill loved one, but it's unpaid which excludes a lod of people who aren't able to take it. and as i said, about 40% of the work force is left out. this has tremendous consequences

for all of us, both now and in the future, and it is really exciting to see thissish -- this issue taking front and center stage on the domestic and economic policy front this cycle. >> host: as we noted earlier, kay, the presidential candidate, donald trump, proposing a plan, his plan last week. how is has he envisioned changing that system that vicki just described? >> guest: well, donald trump would like to give women six weeks of leave, of paid leave, and he would pay it through the unemployment insurance system which means that it would probably not be close to making up for the money that that they're not making when they're out of work. yet also is problematic for the reason that it's not clear that that money is really going to be available.le he says that he's going to find fraud and waste in the unemployment system, and that's how he'll pay more it.

there's a lot of raised eyebrows about that plan and a lot of skepticism that that would actually work. but that's his approach to family leave. he then has a number of ideas also for childcare. >> host: which we'll certainly get into during this round table discussion on the washington journal. hillary clinton's plan, vicki, how does that compare to what donald trump put out there? -- h? guest: donald trump has six weeks just for women. hillary clinton has for caring for a new child that is just born, 12 weeks, a family and medical leave. >> >> the core reason behind a family medical leave act was to grant workers and sell it

is a comprehensive plan covering the entire work force bringing united states where needs to be to be recognized. >> what delights are not like about these two plans quick. >> barre are specific on how it pays. question hillary clinton's plan is more generous but people are trying to figure out where they can get the most able probably like her plan. however donald trump is a little more closely where he comes up with the money but hillary clinton is even more so with the entire family butn. so you can do that the then she will also attacks the rich and has a number of

other plants related to child-care that will be extremely expensive. its not that i don't think that they are worth in pursuing or thinking about that we really have to look very carefully at the trade-off not just employees but employers with that dynamic economy that will grow. >> do you agree quick. >> i do but there is a tremendous cost of inaction so status quo means they are less likely a to participate in the labor force, have smaller earnings men are he gave to their children people who care for aging parents close at $300,000 of income and retirement savings lack of access increase the use of public

assistance so there is a cost to the status quo that is that all spectrums so it is the cost of the current system and moody's has said that will increase jobs with the economy so it is a question how we align our values. >> talking to the manhattan is to shoot from the national partnership of women and family action fund we did split of zero minds of a little differently with working parents and all others on the other lines. we want to hear questions and comments as we talk about child care policies on the campaign trail of maybe a good time to doht introductions what is

thought manhattan institute greg. >> a policy think-tank that focuses generally honor been issues also related to taxre reform or tort reform and social issues is mostly what i cover. >> use a that the action fund, explain your role. >> the national partnershiplitid advocacy is the advocacy arm of the national are for women andes families that has been fighting for fairness and allow workplace to help them manage the tool to millions of jobs and family or policy work most especially all of that family medical leave and access with equal pay with discrimination so was a chilly how we create more fair and family friendly

policies that reflect the baby lived and worked today.. spee14 on the others lined. >> good morning. >>host: go ahead with your question. >> my comment is you don't just get pregnant by accident then have a kid and cannot afford it. but hillary just wants to take everybody to support the kid said the giveaway all kinds of stuff to pay for this from the rich. but when the rich pay for all the stuff down the line where do they get the money to create jobs?

>> a couple of things the population needs to continue growing there is a real risk to be upside down with population growth so we are not growing as fast but this in is really about recognizing and catholic families the women are the key breadwinners and are half of those work force and the way that families can survive and thrive despite creating more sustainable family policies with these programs and we are talking about are there to create and baseline so families can take care of themselves whethert fairweather to care for a new child or if they have cancer or a parent going through serious medical treatment or four people themselves so we are talking about the system to support

ourselves on a very basic level to provide for ourselves and our families t without that financial independence we are talking about. >> let me clarify i am in favor very hard the of introducing family leave. think the workplace has changedd enormously so i don't want to be taken not to say we should not do it but there are always trade-offs the matter how many people that we cover whether women and men how long the of the eve is what we need to debate. but to insert the caller -- answer the caller there is a problem but i wouldn't put it that way but she is

tapping into something. we have seen a huge change in the american family one of the biggest is the breakdown of the two-parent family. that is where my work has been in the past but when i see policies that make it easier and supportive data is sent to say they should be left to hang out to dry but understand there are incentives if we make that more possible for women to have children on their own i am worried about the consequences of that in. >>host: what about other child-care policies?

but also tax breaks or talk us through those. >> donald trump has proposed a tax deduction for parentsildc. who are spending money on child care. for that is mostly for the of well-to-do families which is over 40 percent that do not pay income tax. so they did approach another approach for the low income families of the tax credit to give me the $1,200. and also to suggest but the savings account to allow parents to save for various child or a care related

expenses. hillary clinton has proposed that there is no experience - - expense parents pay above 10 percent of household income on child care which is a generous offer. she also proposes we increase the qualifications of child-care workers. she also proposes universal prepaid and in number of other details and pre-k mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: we just had another good conversation on this side with our members and are now prepared to proceed to

the bill that we used as a shell for the c.r. zika legislation. for the c.r. zika legislation. film legislation. we hope to have that completed and available for review very soon, and with a little cooperation on both sides, i think we can get that finished and begin the debate. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 516, h.r. 5325, an act making appropriations for the legislative branch, and so forth and for other purposes. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate the debate on the motion to proceed to h.r.

5325, an act making appropriations fosh the legislative branch for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2017 and for other purposes shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: the yeas yeas are 8 the, the nays vii. three-fifths of the senators duly chosen and affirmed having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on environment and public works be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 5252 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 5252, an act to designate the united states customs and border protections port of entry and so forth. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the committee is discharged, and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. daines: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the committee on veterans' affairs be discharged from further consideration of senate bill 3076 and the senate proceed to

its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 3076, a bill to amend title 38 united states code to authorize the secretary of veterans' affairs to furnish caskets and u rmplet ns for burial in state and tribal organizations for veterans and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. daines: i further ask the blumenthal amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 586, h.r. 2615. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 586, h.r. 2615, an act to establish the v.r.e. gin islands of the united states centennial

commission. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask consent that the bill be read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of senate resolution 572 committed earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 572, designating november 5, 2016, as national bison day. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. daines: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 5937 which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 5937, an act to amend title 36 united states code to authorize the american

battle up monuments commission, and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. wednesday, september 21. following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. further, that following leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.r. 5325 postcloture. finally, that all time during recess or adjournment of the senate count postcloture on the motion to proceed to h.r. 5325.

the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. daines: mr. president, if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the the presiding officer: the

he says he doesn't expect an agreement on the budget until next week. we will look back at past presidential nominee saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> we were faced with heavy inflation, we were faced with unemployment. >> then ronald reagan and president jimmy carter. >> when i made my decision to stop all trade with iran, as a result of taking hostage, i announced then and have consistently maintained since then but if the hostages are released safely we would make delivery on those items which iran owns. >> we had adequate warning there

was a threat to our embassy and we could have done what other embassies did either strengthen or remove our personnel before the kidnap took place. >> and then george w. bush and al gore. >> i will balance the budget every year. i will pay down the national debt. i will put medicare and social security in a lockbox and protect it. >> i will take one half of the surplus and dedicated to social security. then i will put one quarter of the surplus back to the people who pay the bill. >> watch past presidential debates saturday at eight pm eastern on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> the ceo of wells fargo testified before the senate banking committee today about

allegations his company open credit card for some of its customers without their knowledge. here's this exchange with massachusetts senator elizabeth warren. >> the wells fargo vision and values statement which you frequently cite states, we believe in values and if you want to find out how strong a company's ethics are, don't listen don't listen to what people say, watch what they do. let's do that. since this massive year-long scam came to light, you have said repeatedly, i am accountable. 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 have not.

>> okay have you returned one nickel of the money that was scammed while this was going on. >> first of all this was by 1% of our people. >> that is not my question. my question is about responsibility. have you returned one nickel of the millions of dollars you were paid out of the scam while was going on. >> the board will -- >> have you returned one nickel of the money you earned while the scam was going on. >> the board will -- >> i will take that as a no. have you fired a single senior executive? i'm asking about people who actually lead your community banking division or your compliance division. >> we have made a change in our regional thanks. >> i just that i'm not asking about regional managers. i'm not asking about branch managers that i am asking if you have fired senior management, the people people who actually lead community banking and oversaw and the compliance

division that was making sure and making sure the bank complied. >> did you fire any of those people? >> no. >> so you haven't resigned or returned any of your personal earnings, you haven't fired a single thing you're executive. instead your definition of accountable is to push blame to your low-level employees who don't have the money for a fancy pr firm to defend themselves. it's just gutless leadership. and your time as chairman and ceo, wells has been famous for cross-selling which is pushing existing customers to open more counts. cross-selling is one of the main reason that wells has become the most valuable bank in the world. wells measures cross-selling's by the number of accounts a customer has with wealth. other big banks average fewer than three accounts. customer. you set the target at eight

accounts. every customer of wells should have eight accounts with the bank. that's not because you ran the number and found the average customer needed eight banking accounts, it is because, 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. >> cross-selling is shorthand for deepening relationships. >> let me start you right now. you say no, here are the transcripts of 12 quarterly earnings calls that you participated in from 21,222,014, the three full years in which we

know the scam was going on. 2012 - 2014. these are calls where you personally made your pitch to investors and analysts about why wells fargo is a great investment. in all 12 of these calls, you personally cited wells fargo success at cross-selling retail accounts as one of the main reasons to buy more stock in the company. let me read you a few quotes that you have. april 2012, we grew our retail banking cross sell to a record 5.9 products. household. a year later april 2013, we achieved record retail banking cross sell of 6.1 products. household. april 2014, we achieved record

retail banking cross sell of 6.17 products. household. the ratio kept going up and up. it didn't matter whether customers use those accounts or not and guess what, wall street loved it. here is just a sample from top analysts in those years. they all recommend that people buy wells fargo stock in part because of the strong cross sell numbers. i would like to submit them for the record. >> objections. >> thank you mr. chair. >> when investors saw good cross sell numbers, they did while this was going on, that that was very good for you personally, was in it? do you know how much money, how much value your stock holdings in wells fargo gained while the scam was underway? >> first of all it was not a

scam and cross sell is a way of deepening relationships. >> we've gone through this. i asked you a very simple question. you know how much the value of your stock went up while this scam was going on. >> it is all my compensation is in our public -- >> you know how much it was? >> it's all in the public filing. >> you're right it is in the public filing because i looked it up. while this scam was going on, you personally held an average of 6.7 million shares of wells stock. the share price during this time went up by about $30 which comes out to more than $200 million in gains all for you personally and thanks in part to those cross sell numbers that you talked about on every one of those calls. >> here's what really gets me about this mr., if one of them

took a handful of $20 bills bills out of the cash sure, that teller would look at criminal charges for theft and 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. when it all blew up, you kept your job, you kept your multi- million-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 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 criminally investigated by both department of justice and the

securities and exchange commission. this just isn't right. a cashier who steals a handful of 20s is held accountable what wall street executives who almost never hold themselves accountable, not now, and 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 fraud. we need tough new laws to hold corporate executives personally accountable and we need to 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 be cheating as many customers, investors and employees as possibly can. thank you mr. chair. >> speaker paul ryan outlined his economic agenda yesterday in

new york. after his remarks the house speaker sat down for discussion with former economist from the george w. bush and barack obama administrations. >> welcome everybody. this is the 455th meeting of the economic club of new york and are 109th year in operation. i'm terry lundgren, chairman of the club and chairman and ceo of macy's bank. before we get started i have some good news for all of us and that is the bombing suspect has been captured and is in custody. [applause] i thought you would all want to hear that before we get started. the economic club of new york is the nation's leading nonpartisan

forum for speeches of economic social and political issues. more than 1000 prominent guest speakers have appeared before this club over the past century. i want to personally recognize 234 members of the centennial society. these club members continue to make an extraordinary contribution to ensure the financial stability of the club into its second century. for those of you who would like to learn more about this and tenniel society, please contact barbara vanallen or myself and we will talk to about the benefits of being part of this group. i would also like to welcome the table of students here from columbia law school and at each one of these invents we are ways try to include students as much as possible to broaden their education beyond the classroom. this afternoon we are honored to welcome our distinguished guests, the honorable paul ryan,

speaker of the u.s. house of representatives. paul ryan is a fifth generation wisconsin native born and raised in janesville wisconsin. he is currently serving his ninth term as a member of congress, representing wisconsin's first congressional district. in october 2015, paul was elected speaker of the house after then house speaker john weiner retired from congress. prior to serving as speaker spef the house, congressman ryan served as the chairman of the house ways and means committee where he's focused on many issues across the federal government. these issues included tax reform, medicare, medicare, social security, the safety net, trade arrangements and the affordable healthcare. during the 112 and 113th

congress is he served as chairman of the committee where he put forth a multifaceted plan forth a multifaceted plan to tackle major physical issues entitled the path to prosperity. he is very proud to say he is a graduate of joseph a craig high school in janesville and also earned a degree in economics and political science from miami university in ohio. he and his wife live in janesville with their children and following his speech, we will have two designated club members will be asking questions , but for now, speaker ryan, the podium is yours. [applause] >> thank you very much, terry. speaking of high school, i just saw the kids at school this morning and my daughter got elected vice president of the ninth-grade class. [applause]

it just goes to show that at least somebody in our family can get elected to vice president so we broke that curse. first of all, i don't have to tell you the whole country is thinking about new york these days. in a span of just a few hours, we realized yet again, tara can strike at any moment on any street or train station. in this new world that we are living in, nothing can be taken for granted. nothing can sober the mind more than what has just happened in your city over the last few days. i want you all to know that we are thinking and praying for you god bless these men and women who are our first responders who are fixing this problem and fighting for us. please know, new jersey, new york and minnesota, we, we are thinking and praying for you. [applause] it makes you think about our security challenges recently and

it makes us think about all of our challenges. i'm thinking about the election right now but what i'm spending a lot of my time thinking about right now is what are we going to do on january 20, 2017, when we are standing face to face with all of our country's problems. you have to be honest, when i started running through all the things we need to get done, all the problems i have have gone unsolved, you can get easily discouraged. i look at this dysfunction of our current divided government i think to myself, if we have four more years like these last six, to put it mildly, we are not putting ourselves in a position to truly tackle our nation's biggest problems. don't get me wrong, we will do everything we can to make things right no matter who sits in what office but at six citing to view with your mind's eye the picture of getting our country solving our problems, risk during a

confident country. i would like to share with you, in my minds eye, what that picture looks like. in other words, i would like to share with you what it is we are actually trying to achieve with a unified republican government. to be clear, we are trying to restore the american idea for our generation. you see, there are a lot of people in this country who do not think this is fair. i don't think this idea is true for them anymore and for good reason. over the past seven years power has been slipping out of the hands of the people and into the hands of a federal bureaucracy. it happened gradually and now as a result, we have high anxiety national security, a slow-growing economy and in the bush years we were focused on the war on terror. in the obama years they have been focused on cementing the

legacy in place. it's obvious we need to change our ways. if this mare can idea isn't true for everybody, then it really isn't true at all. that of course leads to the question, what is that? what is the american idea? what do we stand for, who are we trying to be, where do we come from that's you about today. when it gets down to it, how you answer the question, why is america struggling kind of depends on how you answer the question why did america succeed in the first place. we have a lot of natural resources, minerals, land, land, water but those aren't strictly necessary, look at israel in japan. we have a very diverse population, but so does india. you have to ask yourself, why why did this country, this one unique country achieve so much more? it's because this country was

based on an idea, freedom. our natural rights, not race, not class, night not my new petty distinctions. other countries try to elevate what they think is the best part of their society, the mobility of the military or the bureaucratic link connected. here in america, we decided we could do all that we could do to unlock the best in everyone in every american citizen. that is the meaning of american exceptionalism. i know that term is not popular these days. some think it's arrogant or condescending. we are not saying the american people are inherently superior to all other country. all we are saying is, for whatever reason, it's a true mystery, we were given the opportunity to prove by our example that people from all walks of life could live together in peace. they could collaborate,

deliberate and vote. they could haggle and bargain and fight side-by-side. we could be more than a beak into the world, we would be a herald of this good news, freedom is possible. the condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life. you can build a great life for yourself if you work hard. you can build an even better life for your kids. to believe in american exceptionalism is simply to be grateful for what god has given us. does this require free government? absolutely, it does. who could succeed in a country where the town bully could steal your stuff, where you couldn't bank on your neighbors good word, where the law of the land was no more than a passing whim. in this country, if you build it, if you grow it, if you work for it, it's yours. you earned it. that is a core principle. it simply would not be possible without governments and

contracts in the rule of law. nobody appreciates and understand this more than conservatives. nobody is more proud than our founding documents, the declaration, the constitution, the bill of rights. there is no argument here. government can be a force for good. that's when it empowers the person and gives us the information we need to make our own decisions. when government lives lays down clear rules for us to live by, it creates a free market where people can buy, sell, work, trade and work their way to a better life. a better life. we can all attest to the incredible power of free people working together. this has built the greatest economy the world has ever known are we skeptical of government? of course we are. our tax code shouldn't look like

a block of swiss cheese and the skeptic -- it's one thing to understand on a purely intellectual level the economic need to empower the individual, but when you see it in person in the most unlikely of places, that's a whole new ballgame. that's when you realize it's not just good policy, it's a moral imperative. what else is america for if not for the people want to start over? who could be more american than the person who has been to hell and back. what is the american dream if it isn't a search for redemption?

i've got to tell you, to hear the stories and meet these people, it is an amazing morale boost. i've been discussing our nation's policy with the best minds. these people appear are brilliant and great. take it for me, if you are looking for a few words of encouragement, and the last last person you should look to is an economist, and no offense glenn. our problems multiplying and no one seemed to know the way forward. that's when i started to think, a few years ago, it's good to have a sense of history but what you really need is creativity. how do we take and turn it into opportunity? the last four years i decided to try to take a different path. i tried for four years to get a budget agreement with this government. it wasn't going to happen. i've been going around the country with bob woods and we visited some of the poorest communities in america.

i went in there thinking all i would see his shuttered homes and shattered lives. that is not at all what i saw. what i saw was the drug dealer had become a drug counselor. the tough guy who became a great family man. the gang leader had become an entrepreneur. i saw the small businesses they created and the families they had rebuilt. i went in expecting to see the worst of america and i came out realizing i had just seen the best of america. let me give you one example. i've driven by a high school a million times and they had this thing they created called violence free zone. the school hires half a dozen young graduates to mentor the next generation. these are not your garden-variety counselors. there ask gang members, people wept web prison records, people who know the streets and have been redeemed. that is precisely why they had the credibility to talk to these

kids, don't make the same mistake i made. look at what happened to me. beware and make a better choice. they had 14 gangs in this one high school, now they have none. they have disappeared. attendance went up. the principal tried all these different things, more cops, more cameras, only this program worked. i can say to you how fortunate is to see the crime rate decline and see the graduation rate increase. that's all good. the reason i love the story is because i saw with my own eyes the american story come to life in real flesh and blood human beings. here are people who lost their way and are finding their place in life. the whole schoolwork of kids on a really dangerous trajectory

are now on a good path. here was the power of people working together to turn their lives around. you're not going to read about them in fortune magazine or the wall street journal. they may not grow up to be rich people or famous people, but without a doubt, they are growing up to be free people. there outstanding citizens and goodhearted americans. they are applying our free market principles in a distinct new way. they are social entrepreneurs. they are the reason i am optimistic. you walk away from your experience thinking wow, what talent, what drive, what courage you walk away thinking, we need them, we need more of them. we need we need to get them and others back in this economy. it's only when we start to look at the statistic that we are going to make it dent in that 19 trillion-dollar debt. we need the government to work with them and not against them. here's the thing, they are more than eager to do it.

they are eager and ready. they can't wait to get started. they can beat their odds and who are we to complain about ours. it's not enough to praise the success story. we need to change our laws so we can see more of them. it has to be more than an ode to the power of positive thinking. that's why we have to have an agenda. this election is getting really tight. i think we have a real opportunity to win a mandate for a unified republican government. that's why the house republicans i are offering what we call a better way. this is an agenda we want to pursue with the next president. this is some of the answers we have to our country's biggest problem. our whole thinking we have here is we have these huge problems that are surmountable which take our founding principles and apply them to the problem and

offer them real solution. we want to implement these ideas in 2017 and we are tackling the big problems, national, national security, poverty, restoring the constitution, healthcare, tax reform. go to better gop and you can read the whole thing. that's our website better gop.com. these days, the person paying the highest tax rate is not warren buffett or erin rogers, who deserves the salary he is earning right now, although not last night. it's the single mom making $28000 with two kids. if she finds a job that pays just a little bit more she will be losing 80 cents on the dollar

to take that step forward. it is a huge disincentive to work and advance. we call this the poverty trap and is a result of having over 80 different anti- poverty program with zero coordination among them. once you add up all the effort that she's going to lose it doesn't make sense for her to take that job. we are trapping millions of people in poverty. we are treating the symptoms which perpetuates it rather than going at the root cause. we have got to change this. what we are saying is, give the flexibility to innovate and try new things. let's correlate with people who are already fighting on the ground successfully on the ground and winning, groups like catholic charities, the salvation army, america works. we need to get the private sector and the public sector

working together and pulling in the same direction. we need to customize welfare benefits to meet a person's needs and always, always reward hard work. remove this trap. ask these benefits that help a person get from welfare to work. measure success based on results, not based on efforts. that's what we have been doing for 51 years. we have about the same poverty rates as when we started this war on poverty. how many programs have we created, how many people are on these programs, let's flip that and focus on success being measured on our we actually getting people out of poverty. outdated policies are holding everybody back in our whole economy is suffering as a result. if we want to create more good paying jobs, let me tell you one more thing we have to do. we have to fix this tax code. this is what i spent years working on. overseas, which where i come

from means lake superior. [laughter] those canadians, they they tax all of their businesses at 15%. the irish are at 12 and half. england is going down to 18. on and on and on. the average industrialized tax rate is 23%. eight out of ten businesses file their taxes as individuals. we call them subchapter s corporations. you know the highest tax rate is in america, it's 44.6%. the highest in the industrial world for the corporate tax rate is 35%. this has to change. if we want to start winning jobs in this country, this code has got to go. we are showing you exactly what we would do and we have common ground on this. first of all, it goes right down across the board, completely simplify the system so much so

that the american family can file their taxes on a postcard. drop that individual down and take the corporate to 20%. let businesses write off everything they spent the year in which they make that expense. that will really create and by golly, if you actually make some money overseas by exporting and selling a product overseas, let people take that money home any day they want to without a tax consequence so they do do that. i'm on the board of a huge company in the upper midwest two had to repatriate so they could bring their money overseas back and invest into this country. how crazy is that. we are just killing growth in this country as a consequence of this. what we are doing is we are showing in black-and-white what we can achieve in 2017 if we get this right. tax foundation said this plan alone will create 1.7 million new jobs and add new growth to

our economy. what we are proposing is not so much a competitive america but more of a collaborative america. you see, what we are trying to do here is we are trying to trade the old top-down bureaucratic 20th century government we've got, the one that progressives are fighting to extend and we want to trade it in for a bottom-up organic society where opportunity is real and plentiful, a healthy economy. as we all no, it is only in the collaborative environment of free enterprise that a person can truly flourish. these are the common sense ideas that we need to take to get this country back on track. these are the ideas we believe will put the power back in the hands of the people. back in the hands of the people who pay the taxes, meet the mortgage and make this country work. these are the ideas that can solve our seemingly insurmountable problems.

this is what we think we need to do to restore the american idea. i've got to tell you, if we keep kicking the can down the road, people really are going to give up hope on this country. more and more people. generations worth are going to disbelieve that this american idea is there for them. what a shame that would be. if we put these right reforms in place, i know we can turn things around. we are in the middle of a pessimistic vicious pessimistic vicious cycle. cynical and it's awful. it doesn't take a a whole lot to turn this around into an optimistic virtuous cycle. to feel anxious at a time like this, that's natural. i've got to tell you, pessimism is a choice. the happy warrior doesn't shrink from a fight. we accept this challenge with joy for all of our problems and doubts, i know we can turn things around. we know what we need to do to do this but we need to have a element that is capable of doing it. i've got faith in this country. there is no one in this country

that says boy i wish my life were empty or meaningless. nobody thinks that. that's why we shouldn't write anybody off, least of all our fellow citizens. all of us want to be defined not by our segment of society but by our contribution to it. when we see people struggling, you know what, it's the rules, it's the rule makers have filled us, not the people. none of this is automatic and none of this is easy. the american way of life is always a work in progress. the challenges we face, they're pretty stark in their big. this is our calling for this moment and we need to answer this call. all i have to say is let's get to work together in high spirits, optimistically, happily to rebuild this country we love. we get these fundamentals right and will do it. thank you very much for hearing me out. i appreciate it.

[applause] thank you speaker ryan. the next part of our program will be questions and we have a couple of our selected members will be asking those questions, glenn who is the dean of columbia's graduate school of business as well as peter and he is the vice-chairman of banking and managing director and glenn i believe you have the first question. >> thank you mr. speaker for coming and speaking to us today peter wanted to take you back to a couple questions you asked for the beginning, why did america succeed in the first place and how do we address our challenges. as you spoke, of course the answer to the both those questions is really opportunities for growth. in the past couple of years you spent a lot of time talking to the american people about growth as you go through a better way in your agenda, how would you

prioritize policies that would get growth back to where it needs to be? >> that's a great question. we decided, we being the house republicans back in october that one of the conditions on which i took this job, we have to show who we are and what we believe in. we basically thought, what are the key things we need to get done that are so critical. growth is obviously core. i would say there are a few things. first i think tax reform, as we mentioned is absolutely critical. it is hurting the most in holding us back. second is the regulatory state. two of the six planks in this plan deal with regulation. you name the sector, you've got the regulatory coming out of this administration, injecting so much uncertainty, so much hesitance in the private free

economy but just the labor department alone, they are rewriting our overtime rules. waters of the usa, you ought to see what it's doing to our farmers. the point is we have showing you what regulatory reform looks like and how we should revamp it so we have a regulatory system that's focused on certainty and job creation, but the point that we in congress feel very strongly about that we think can really help improve this regulatory climate is we need to restore self-governance, the separation of powers and we have seen this atrophy not just under obama, it's under republican presidents also but it's really gotten out of control, glen. what i mean i mean by that is all these things that we experience like laws and rules and regulations that micromanage our economy, our sectors, our schools, you name it, we don't vote on these in congress, they just go into effect. we have this new branch of

government, these these unelected bureaucrats writing our laws. he and i don't vote on these things. what we are saying is these things that are laws, rules and regulations that are major, they have to come through congress. thirty-two state legislatures do this already. we have to make sure that these legislative branches of government, the one that's poster write the laws, they have to faithfully execute those laws. what we are saying here is those things have to come through congress for a final vote and improvable before they go into effect. thirty-two state legislatures do this already. it's not branded new idea. we think doing this helps us restore confidence in the government so we can focus on creating jobs, not building a massive bureaucracy. so i would say regulatory reform and the first point i made, let's really focus on getting people out of poverty by focused

on getting people into the workforce and closing the skills gap and focus on these miserable labor rates. we have millions of people not looking for work, not in school just slipping through the cracks. we don't even measure them anymore. you get people back in the economy and get the regulatory state more stable and get the tax system under control and i think will take off. i can take our fiscal policy off the current course. >> mr. speaker, you've laid out a can telling vision for the priorities with a republican trifecta, in the white house and the house and the senate. >> just in that hypothetical world, how how would these priorities change? there's bipartisan interest in criminal justice reform, where

would you see the areas of bipartisan work if you wound up in a divided government scenario? >> i'm trying to get criminal justice reform done this session of congress. i avidly think it's very important element and we are looking at how we can get that done because we've gotten six bills out of the judiciary committee already so that train is on the tracks and i'm hoping we can get that done sooner than later. remember, we passed the biggest highway bill, the biggest highway bill since the 1990s just a few months ago. that is already in place, 10% above baseline spending on mass transit and highways. i would suggest that is occurring now. i think tax reform, you just can't defend the tax code anymore. the fear i have is the progressives who kind of control the democratic party don't think anything close to what looks like tax reform is a good thing.

we offered up switching to a territorial system and it was rejected. i hope that view changes but right now their stated position as they want a worldwide tax system by ending deferral. there is a big golf between our two views. i would like to think that with the pace of inversions and takeovers, the case for tax reform is indisputable we could overcome those barricades that dominate the other side of the aisle. i know that sort of a partisan thing to say but i think you know exactly what i'm talking about. and infrastructure, this is not, first well we are not a big believer in these multiple players that you and i debated for 20 years, i think there's no substitute for free enterprise, private sector growth and that's the regulatory state. if we have another progress,

it's going to keep going on as it is. i think the fiscal policy on the tax side is probably the easiest get but on the fiscal side, we've been pushing this reform up the hill for years. we have wasted eight years now, i worry that a progressive presidency will be just like the rest. you know these numbers that are than about anybody else in the country. we don't start tackling our entitlement problems soon than it will tackle us. you know what baseline looks like, it's number five in our six-point plan on how you deal with these entitlement problems. i just don't see a progressive government being one to tackle because this one hasn't at all. i think tax reform is probably the easiest get, hopefully and i look at the property space and i have to think there is some common ground in there. i have to think there's some

common ground in moving people from welfare to work. i passed a law with patty murray with an evidence-based policy commission which is up and running and we want to use objective tools to measure the outcome of policies based on evidence and that should take the politics and ideology out of it. if we can get that train on a track which we are in the middle of doing, i think we can go down that station a little bit better i think there is some space on welfare reform and poverty, i would love to think that's the case of tax reform but the experience i had when i was waging with your party was not a pleasant one. i don't know if that will change. we will see. hopefully not. >> i want to take you back to the questions of work and opportunity. you characterize the safety net as perhaps sometimes being more like a spider web of trapping people rather than cushioning them and in a better way, you do

talk a lot about work and opportunity. if you were to look at the list of specifics, the change you mentioned, education and training, personal reemployment, how would you prioritize those in which ones with the new congress and president take up first? >> you're the author, if i'm not mistaken. >> i'm still entrepreneur. >> so if i had a chart, i'd show it to, you take a look at all the various welfare benefits. when we did the first accounting of this that have been done in years, we have about 72 programs at the federal level fighting poverty. these programs, when you stack them on top of each other they have these cliffs that present a huge disincentive to work, like i said the single mom was my example. so she loses anywhere from $.80-$.90 on the dollar, staking on the dollar, taking a step

forward in life, getting a job, getting a raise. the e itc helps smooth that out and pull that person to work but the first thing i do is change how it works, it's a lump-sum at the end of the year. you don't feel in your paycheck. i think i think it should be monthly, without going into the details think the easiest way is to embedded in the social security system. i think that's a smart thing. i think when you take a look at this labor force participation, those adults really slip through the cracks. you have to deal with the program side of this, the programs that occur. this is why we want to collapse these programs and send them back to the state and break up the wealth of monopoly that is administering these benefits. what a person typically experiences they are down on their luck and they need assistance so they go to the local welfare service agency and its like going to a window and they give you their benefits and go to another one and they give your your benefits, there's no coordination, you're just seen as a caulk in the machine and you're on these benefits and if

you leave to get a job you have this massive disincentive. so what we have seen out there as there are great groups that in spite of this disincentive in government imposed poverty trap that does wraparound benefits or case management, catholic charities has a great model, they've perfected this and fort worth. lutheran social services, the salvation army, there's lots of groups, even some, even some here in new york, they've learned how to focus, how do you help this person get her life in order, create a plan and get her from where she is to wish needs to be and always make work pay and customize these benefits so the incentives are always lined up. do it in a way for all sectors, the public sector and charitable sector, the, government sector work in the same direction. what we want to do and what we propose is move this back into

the states, not just to cut a check and call it a day but to break up this monopoly of providing services on the ground so that a person who is down on her luck, navigating society has choices of providers who compete for her business based on success. let catholic charities take this over, let the the salvation army do this. let a for-profit like american works do this. then measure them based on results and outcomes and then the money should go where the success occurs. it's our case for school choice. were basically saying, if you do that, take all that money and focus on customizing benefits with a person with critical incentives, a work requirement, closing the skills gap, she may have an addiction problem and she might need to get a ged. he just might need a car and skills training. everybody is different. you can't do this cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all washington approach because that's the approach we have right now.

we believe glenn, that is the best way to get back into the pipeline, the labor and the people who are slipping through the cracks and by the way, you do that and it's finally good for them in their lives but your restoring upper mobility and achievement and getting people back in the economy and when 10,000 baby boomers are retiring each and every day at that pace for the next ten years, we surely need them. it's a three for. it's helping people get their lives back together, restoring the american idea in this beautiful sense of upward mobility and it's getting faster economic growth. that is our basic approach to doing this. >> mr. speaker, i would like to bring you back to the tax front and give you the opportunity to respond to your critics. on friday. >> the tax policy center in conjunction with pen wording business model came out with an

analysis of the house publican tax plan that it said it would, including the feedback from higher gdp which it did say would happen, the tax plan would increase the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade and effectively all of the benefits would go to the top 1% with a 1% increase for the middle 20% and a 10% for the top 1%. >> they are saying increase tax income from everybody. >> yes, if we give away money, that's what happens. >> okay first of all, i haven't seen it, i'm familiar with the model, i would look at the tax foundation model which says quite a different thing. when i was chair we change the way we do scorekeeping in house. we bought three models, models your familiar with and what were

trying to do in congress is be as close to accurate in reality as we can. it's clear to us that changes in tax changes affect personal behavior and until this last year, we had to ignore that in congress. we had static modeling. now when we write tax policy, we are guided to take into consideration how best faster economic and job growth is created which is goal one. if you look at the modeling we are using, we don't have anywhere of that kind of deficit affect that you're you're talking about. point number two, in this kind of a tax code you are going to have what you're talking about. that has been a case to keep these individual rates so high that we basically just give these other countries our companies. eight out of ten businesses in america file their taxes as individuals.

so proprietors, limited llcs, their tax rate is 44.6%. where i come from in wisconsin, we can beat head-to-head with the canadians and were taxed at 15%. you can sit in treasury and try to be as punitive as you want on people who are inverting. it inc. gonna work. they're just going to get bought by foreign companies at the end of the day. when that keeps happening, we lose our feed corn and our capita and executives in milwaukee who are chairing the united way campaign. we lose america's dominance in the local economy. :

and we simultaneously need to work on the least among us and getting people from poverty into work. i will take our agenda of upward mobility and welfare reform along with tax reform against the bernie sanders, hillary clinton ideology and agenda of redistribution and socialism in the 21st century any day of the week. [applaus [applause] >> i want to take you back before speaker, before ways and mean, chair of the budget committee and talk about debits

and debts in the surfacing much in the campaign. in the unified government you speak of, if we have a tax cut and we increase military spending at the same time, which seems likely, i agree that pro-grow aspects of very important, but over time, what sort of spending revant would you think of, principally in entitlement programs where the spending is, would you recommend? >> i spent most my time in congress doing just this. i see these as simultaneous things. i won't get into the way the budget works that you and peter know well. i see these as simultaneous things. if you take a look at our health care plan, it is a replacement plan for obamacare. the first time in six years the republicans have come up with a concensus, replacement plan for obamacare. that also includes entitlement reform. don't forget that obamacare was an entitlement bill itself. not only create ago new entitlement, it rewrote the way

medicaid and medicare work and our health care entitlements are the primary drivers of our debt and deficits in the future. if you want to free up fiscal sprays for the navy and army we want, for the war on terror, you have to go where the money is and that's entitlements or mandatory spending. and peter correct me if i'm wrong, medicaid, medicare, plus debt and revenues? that's what we're saying is a few programs plus our interest takes all of the money the federal government raises, everything else we do is borrowed and the deficit is kind of an abberation at 549 billion, i think, today. it's going to trillion soon and never coming back down because of boomers retiring and health care costs, things that we all agree on. so what we believe is you have

to attack the entitlement reform issue really early because we can do it still on our own terms as a country. what i mean when i say that is, the constant reforms that we're proposing do not affect people in or near retirement. so, my mom, i won't tell exactly how old she is, but she doesn't like it when i do that, mad at me last time i said what her age was, she lives in wisconsin in the summer and florida in the winter the rest of the time. she organized her life around it and the last thing we want to do is change that, is to pull the rug out from under that social contract that see and everybody else and other cohorts organize their life aroundment, but you have to change the programs to keep them from bankrupting themselves and the country. so for those of us in the next generations on down, we have to change these programs. and if we go soon, we can do it

where it affects people who are younger and it doesn't affect people in or near retirement, but you keep kicking the can down the road and boomers going into the retirement column, it will be really ugly and we won't be able to-- the bond market will tell us how to reform, instead of congressmen and so we are proposing this. i won't go to the specifics. peter knows them really well threw there's a specific plan we have for medicare and the cbo knows the best way to save medicare. there's a specific plan to save medicare, what it does, respectively reforms these programs and as a result wipes tens of billions of unfunded liabilities off the books and balance the budget so the next generation can inherit a debt-free nation, and frees it up for the discretionary things. let's say national defense or education, that, i think, you have to do immediately in a new

government, when we're doing the next budget process and that's something that we're preparing to do. this isn't just some slogan. we have, you know, hard work behind us, and which literally is our plan for january through september of 2017, to get us on path. fight poverty, reform welfare, reform this regulatory system and replace the affordable care act with entitlement reform so we can do the things we want to do. the last thing i'd say to peter he is an earlier question, this is going to happen in health care reform, it will happen because obamacare is imploding, and i mean, they're gone, they're leaving and lost united health care, the biggest health insurance company in the country. aetna, gone. and not for profits sticking around and i bet with actuaries of blue cross and blue shield, and i enjoy doing that, meeting with abbictuarieactuaries, they

obamacare, i don't mean disrespect by that, but people use the words, obamacare is failing two years ahead of schedule. meaning this thing, it's not working and it's not going to work, it's in what we call a death spiral so we're going to have to have to change this thing. 31% of counties in america have one choice and another third has two. it's collapsing in its own weight and force us to address it and the best way is to do patient centered health care that includes the entitlement reforms that we're putting in black and white. i've written four budgets and they do exactly what we want to do. we've shown them in the house and we're ready and we're ready to do it and we put our votes there every year. so, you do that, by way, it's going to help our monetary policy, which don't get me started on that. it's going to help our monetary policy by getting this fiscal

policy off of its current collision course of monetary policy and stabilize investment rise and the dollar and the future and keep the promises to our seniors who they organize their lives around and right now, government is lying to people. government does not have the means of keeping its promises to current seniors, if we stick with the status quo. therefore, we have to fix that. >> that's all we have time for. >> thank you. [applause]. >> thanks, thanks. the debate between hillary clinton and donald trump and we'll look back at past presidential debates saturday on c-span. this year the debate between

incumbent gerald ford and former governor jimmy carter. >> we were faced with heavy inflation, over 12%. we were faced with substantial unemployment. but in the last 24 months we've turned the economy around and we've got 500,000 more americans out of jobs today than were out of of work three months ago. and we've had a 50% increase in unemployment. >> the 1980 debate with a former california governor ronald reagan and president jimmy carter. >> when i made my decision to stop all trade with iran, as a result of the taking of our hostages, i announced then and have consistently maintained since then that if the hostages are released safely we would make delivery of those items which iran owns. >> we had adequate warning that there was a threat to our embassy and we could have done with other embassies did,

either strengthen our security there or remove our personnel before the kidnap and takeover took place. >> and the 2000 presidential debate between former texas governor george w. bush and incumbent vice-president al gore. >> i'll balance the budget every year. i will pay down the national debt. i will put medicare and social security in a lock box and protect it. >> i want to take one half of the surplus and dedicate it to social security. one quarter for important projects and one quarter of the surplus back to people who pay the bills. >> watch past presidential debates saturday night 8 p.m. eastern on c-span, the c-span radio app and c-span.org. >> the senate today voted to move forward with the short-term government funding bill, current funding expires on september 30th, meaning the government would shut down

without any action by congress. earlier in the day, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell said negotiations between republicans and democrats are continuing about the details of the short-term government funding bill, and he said he doesn't expect an agreement on the legislation until next week. week. >> appropriations and budget reporter with c-q roll call. the senate votes to move forward limiting debate and that's procedural jargon and there's a lot of senate procedure left

where they actually consider the resolution. >> one of your capitol hill colleagues tweeted in effect, they were voting on a blank page to move forward. in fact, the headline at cq kind of reflective of that, saying that the senate forges ahead on the cr at last, but without a deal. what do they have to have in this deal to move it forward. >> the public senators have seen no final text on the resolution. as majority with john cornen said to me and other reporters, take a step forward that has to be done before september 30th, otherwise the government is going to shut down. because procedure takes longer in the senate, this is a clear indication that the senate wants to move ahead. now, complicating this, and perhaps spurring this vote to move ahead with the continuing resolution, even though there's no final agreement, is the fact that republican studies

chairman had his own version in the house. it runs the same length that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says their cr will run to, which is december 9th and combatting the zika born virus, complicating associations and contains full instructions and one of the spending bills that the republican-controlled congress hopes to send to the president, but the house version contains controversial riders that democrats in the senate have threatened to block passage of legislation over. that includes targeting refugees, and halting the transfer of an internet domain organization that the u.s. currently has control over, that the president wants to transfer over to the international community. and so, right now, we're seeing a little bit of a tussle between the two chambers about who is going to move forward

first. although, you know, majority leader kevin mccarthy on the house side says he's waiting for the senate to act and for the senate to deal before they move forward. >> on the senate side, who are some of the major players and senators involved on either side, on both sides, i should say in the negotiations? >> so, this is really a high level negotiation at this point. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, minority leader harry reed and then mikulski, the ranking democrat on the committee and the chairman of the senate appropriations committee working with the top appropriations members on the house, hal rogers, and working with paul ryan and nancy pelosi. this is really a high level negotiation that's going on, but the main contention has to do with provision they want attached to the stop gap measure, since the congress

didn't finish the appropriation project. funding to the government level at fiscal 2016 levels, last week's levels. no increase in spending or anything like that, but one of the things that has made it hard for them to move forward on this negotiation, is attached aid to combat the zika virus. that's linked to severe birth defects in infants of pregnant mothers who were infected with the virus. once that happened, there were a whole myriad number of lawmakers, including, you know, high ranking republican funds, the house side, for example, who had interest in louisiana which has been ravaged by floods. you know, high level democrats on the senate side who want to see money for the water contamination crisis in flint, michigan. senate minority whip dick durbin told us this morning that the white house appeared to be a little bit frustrated by so many different demands coming from all different directions, trying to attach on to this continuing resolution.

and the reason-- >> well, go ahead. >> the house has to be-- is here until september the 30th. tell us about the timetable, the senate is facing, the majority leader. and is it likely they'll be in longer than that? >> so, we're really unclear at this point. but remember, that originally, the idea was to try to maybe get out of town by this week. now, majority aides wouldn't confirm this. that was the rumor around all kinds of lawmakers, including the senator saying that at the hearing committee. senators are eager to get home because as your viewers know, this is a very contentious race for control of the senate and so their hope was given that the house has been-- the house republicans have been in disagreement over the lengths of the continuing resolution, senators were hoping to pass legislation and leave town leaving the house no option, but to concede to whatever the senate did,

otherwise risk shutting down the government. but this is an indication that republican leaders in the house are willing to maybe, you know, exert a little bit more power over the process since they don't see a lot of development on the senate side. we've been in negotiations for, you know, two solid weeks of of really top level negotiations. and still no bill text has emerged. >> kellie mejdrich. follow her at kelmej and cq.com. thanks for the update. >> thanks a lot. >> on the senate floor harry reid criticized donald trump's business career and called on mr. trump to release his tax returns. >> trump is a fraud. chose. he was born with an inheritance but lost his daddy's wealth. mr. president, that's why donald trump won't release his tax

returns. that's certainly one of the reasons, of course. he is : is releasing his tax returns, and he's not worth nearly as much as he claims to be. and he once admitted his net worth on a whim. this is what he said during one of his many, many depositions, which is a -- it's a court proceeding where you gather evidence. and he's app eared before many for his deposition. but this is what he said on one occasion on his many sworn statements. here's what he said. of course, i'll stress this is one of the multitude of lawsuits to which he has been party -- and i quote -- this is donald

trump talking: "my net worth fruct waits, and it goes up and down with markets. with attitudes and with feelings, even with my own feelings." close quote. simply put, trump is faking his net worth because he doesn't want us to know that he's not a good businessman. he's not as rich as he would have us believe. donald trump's business record speaks for itself. he's ruined company after company, hotel after hotel. over the last couple of decades, we know of at least six of his companies that have gone into bankruptcy. trump's other business ventures, such as trump steaks -- yeah, there was really one, trump steaks, those things you read.

trump magazine, those things you read, trump university, those places you're supposed to be kealted -- they were all -- you're supposed to be educated -- they were all flops. he doesn't crock the list of -- he doesn't crack the list of real estate developers in new york city. banks don't wish to lend him money anymore. in lieu of real business success, donald trump resorts to scams like trump university. that is -- he's done some doozies, but that's one of the best, the best scams. now, trump university -- he ripped off everyone from students in real estate to retirees looking to invest their savings. trump university is under investigation by the new york attorney general's office. he's the defendant in other

class action lawsuits. why? because he cheated people, cheated them. litigation is nothing new to donald trump. over the last decade and a half, trump and his companies have been sued in federal court 72 times. that doesn't take into consideration the many times he's been sued in state courts. 72 federal cases. h.many more times in state cour. but trump being the flimflammer he is just moves on to another scheme. he even cheats charities. here's a charity -- he has a charity -- it's a broad gef in additio---- he has a charity dishts a broad definition of a charity. he started his charity because he's invited to fancy parties

and can be seen with these people who give their own money. he seeks acceptance among the wealthy. since 2008, trump has not donate add e since 2008 trump has not donated a single penny to his own charity, the trump foundation. does he have money to donate? well, he says he should. he doesn't. americans are far more generous, and they have-- modestly of means, but they contribute generously every day. but not for donald. instead he asks them to donate to his foundation. the trump foundation is as much of a charity as donald trump's personal atm machine. trump uses money he gets from other charities to buy himself gifts.

40 years ago trump paid $12,000 of charity resources to buy a football helmet signed by tim tebow. tim tebow, i'm sure is a fine man. his college career was terrific. a winner. his professional career was kind of not so good, but everything i know about the man, he's a good person and now he's playing, just 29 years old and with his great physical attributes trying baseball. he hasn't played baseball since he was in high school, but high school he had almost 500 his last year in high school and i hope he does well. but here is the deal with the helmet. if trump wants to buy tim tebow's helmet or willy mays'

bat that's his right, but shouldn't he use his own money, but not donald trump, no. he didn't use his money to buy tim tebow's helmet. he didn't use his checkbook to buy that memorabilia. instead, he uses the trump foundation charity money, money that was supposed to be given to somebody that needed help. $12,000 a big shot bidding on a helmet. that's not his money. the charity's money. and one of the persons who use charity money on themselves, that's against the law, it's illeg illegal.

trump doesn't care what the law is. he doesn't have the money himself, which he obviously doesn't, then he uses other people's money. other people's money is put in his charity and he spends it on himself. so this is who republicans want to be our president? this is who republicans mitch mcconnell, speaker ryan, wants this man to budget for our country? trump can't be trusted with his own charity. are we supposed to believe he can manage the national treasury and for services? or homeland security? this is a man who uses charities to bilk even police officers, even police officers. in 2009 donald trump asked the

charles evans foundation for donation to his charity, to the trump foundation. trump told him he needed the money to donate to the palm beach florida police foundation. they gave trump $150,000. gave it to his charity. donald trump kept that money and gave it to the palm beach police foundation. he didn't answer with a dime of his own. and trump took the foundation money and donated as for his own, but here is where the story gets even more absurd. even worse. what kind of a man is this person running for president? the palm beach police foundation wanted to use the south florida resort, the gift he gave, it was from somebody else, but he claimed credit for it.

trump charged them, for the food, and the palm beach police foundation paid the trump hotel operation $200,000 to honor himself. on many different charities, it wasn't his resort money. he didn't spend a penny of his own money along the way. trump never worries about being caught because he financially would investigate what he perpetuated. the attorney general of florida joining the new york investigation into trump university. that went away shall the investigation went away quickly. four days after announcing the probe, donald trump sent her $25,000 to her campaign.

attorney general announced almost immediately it would not investigate trump university, it wouldn't join with the state of new york. guess what money trump used to persuade the attorney general to change her mind? was it his money? oh, no. money from his charity? it's illegal, but did it anyway to the attorney general of florida. how can senator mcconnell continue to endorse this man. how can republicans continue to close their eyes that a swindler is running for president and ripping off the american people and our government. this republican congress has spent trillions of your tax dollars for political hit jobs masquerading as investigations. untold amounts of money on benghazi, on e-mails, and they

found nothing, of course, zero. so, i've got another job, why they don't investigate donald trump? they can do it quickly, all set to do this, they don't mind spending taxpayer dollars, how this investigation of the clinton operation are from taxpayers dollars. they should take a cue though from the attorney general of of new york, donald trump desperately wants people to think he's a brilliant, rich, rich businessman, in reality he's a fraud who would never make it in the real world without his father's money. that's why trump's entire business career went from one scandal to another, where it was atlantic city where he cheated everybody, got rich at the expense of others and if there's one reason that atlantic city has gone downhill

and it has, donald trump, he's always looking for a mark. some victim for one of his scams because he can't make money honestly. our country is trump's next target and he wants this to be his biggest payoff ever. >>