>> tonight booktv is in prime time with a look at the work of fiction author, featured on our facebook.com/booktv fiction addition of "in depth". novelist, gish jen book includes typical american, mona and the promise land and world in town. cory doctorow books include down and out in the magic kingdom, little brother, and most recently, walk away. and walter mosley, books with devil in a blue dress, phyllis jones and most recently down the river onto the sea. booktv, all this week and prime time. here on c-span2. >> we are joined with a look ahead at the senate. he reports for the hill and alex, senate not taken the usual august recess, not sending senators back home to their states to campaign, the ones running in the midterms.

why are they staying in session and what other planning on working on in the week ahead? >> they stayed in session to get more of donald trumps judicial and executive nominees confirmed and also to make more progress on the appropriations bills. when he signed the omnibus spending package early this year the increased federal spending $300 billion is part of a deal to increase federal spending by $300 billion the next two years. he said he was not going to do it again. he really put pressure on republicans in congress to get the appropriations bill done in a timely fashion so they would not be another omnibus which, that is a giant spending package which is very unpopular with conservatives. that is why they stayed in and made progress the past another two appropriations bills. the senate has passed they ahead of target. >> all of these spending bills and appropriations have been impacted is. where exactly are we at with a

big passage just a few days ago, and one waiting on the wings. >> we have the defense bill has always been a holdup, and congress. it has always been laden with poison pill writers. in the senate this year they didn't have enough in the senate this year to keep them off of the policy issues, off of the labor hhs defense bills that have a chance to pass and it did. the only things left are the state foreign ops bill has to do with the state department and foreign aid which is always a controversial issue. then the homeland security appropriations bill. that is also, waiting and that is something that is controversial because money for the border wall along the us-mexico border, donald trump says basically what the senate has appropriated so far isn't

enough. he wants more. he started to shut down the government over it. mitch mcconnell, the gop leaders decided we will hold that bill until after the election. >> and he tweeted as well, alice, that the senate was going to go ahead and adjourn on monday pernod dylan nominations after the left pushback on moving the package to cut the august session by one week. what was going on there? >> there was negotiation between mitch mcconnell and chuck schumer that sent them over a package of nominees. and mcconnell wanted confirmation of the 12 judicial nominees by executive appointments. and if the democrats agreed to it they would have had to come back next week. that would've been good for the democrats because you're a bunch of democrats running in tough races. and stay said donald trump carried by big margins in 2016.

so you get back on the campaign truck. schumer came under heavy pressure from the left. in fact, brian fallon, the executive director of one of the advocacy groups, he was tweeting, urging people to call senate democrats and kill the deal. it's interesting we have a former senior chuck schumer aide now working for an advocacy group pressuring democrats not to agree to nominations package. joe manchin iii, from west virginia said let's just pass this and there's no point in hanging around. these are noncontroversial nominees have been passed in the judiciary committee. you are just wasting time. but i think there's a lot of pressure on democrats to resist the trump agenda and slow it down at any cost. >> interesting. we will continue to follow you, your twitter handle is @alexander bolton. in your reporting in the

hill.com. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> senators were briefed recently on election security. by the director of national intelligence, dan coats. on that security secretary, kirstjen nielsen and fbi director, christopher wray. after the briefing, senators bob corker and dick durbin spoke to reporters. >> we meant telling us about the briefing on camera for a moment? i will be very brief. >> nothing new. i mean i think all of you are reporting on the kinds of things that agencies are doing. our ability to protect ourselves and it was really nothing that i mean i'm going to get a cup of coffee as a matter of fact. >> you believe they are doing enough because if there has been criticism they have not been taking this as seriously as they should. >> i think there are working together. in the best way that they can to make sure they are working interagency wise here, federally but also with officials throughout the country. there has been a large uptake

throughout our country people wanting to work with our agencies and i really do think they are doing everything they can. i think they feel pretty good about where they are but every county, needs to be participating. some of the smaller counties i am sure, need to come on board. but look, it was a pro forma presentation. the kind of things all of you would have expected to be discussed were discussed. there wasn't anything earth shattering. probably could have been done in an open setting.i think i read a lot every morning and i think you all are covering all of the things that people should be concerned about. [inaudible question] >> it is a point that i just left a few minutes ago, nothing of that nature was discussed. obviously, there has been some incidences you all have

reported on. but with what 70 or 80 days before the election i think it feels pretty good going into the election cycle. [inaudible question] >> no. i think that would be a massive mistake. on his part. [inaudible question] >> do you think the hearing might push people forward to pass the secure elections act? >> i don't know what is predated not secure or i did not get the sense that at the time, i left the meeting that there was an urgency around that. i think if there are specific

needs then i think most of the officials felt like they are being met today. but you know, that can change. i think that obviously there will be a willingness if people thought there was a shortage there to try and help in that regard.i think everyone understands the importance of people having a sense of integrity about what we do election wise. thank you all. it was not very earth shattering. >> can you tell if there's anything new in the hearing or the briefing today? >> is like meeting with the nfl team and they'll give you the defensive coordinators. they told us of all the things that we suspect they tried to do an election cycle. all the actions we are taking in coordination with local officials.

we know that there are more resources needed or requestedto keep our election system safe and maintain its integrity. what's lacking here as far as i'm concerned is an offense of plan. what are we doing to the russians who we know are responsible for this? what price are they paying for this invasion of our elections and the threats every two years?how many millions of dollars are going to spend playing defense when we should spend some money playing offense? they have vulnerabilities two. deterrence in the past to stop the nuclear war, we need something when it comes to cybersecurity to be employed as well. >> do you think the united states should be attacking russia? >> there should be a price to pay. [inaudible question] would that be enough >> what the trump administration will accept on sanctions i think we ought to put the squeeze on them. think of all the money we're spending.

all of the time that we are engaged in this. and all of the vulnerabilities that we have, they continue to dream up something every week. something brand-new to attack us. it is about time for us to turn the tables. >> does president trump need to do something? >> i hope the president will leave the helsinki hospitality and join us in this effort and confronting the russians. >> on brett kavanaugh, some of your colleagues have chose not to hold meetings with him. you will hold onto more. why did you decide to meet with him? >> because we are on the threshold of a constitutional crisis that would have to do it decisions that were made this tuesday when the presidents personal attorney pled guilty to several counts. and he there is questions about the integrity and the continuance. i want to know where judge kavanaugh stands on this. he has reversed his decisions and i would like to hear little bit more about it.

[inaudible question] >> i hope i was surprised today that the bill was pulled. i don't know why, it had bipartisan support and it was timely. >> c-span washington journal live every day with news, and policy issues that impact you. coming up saturday morning, the wall street journal josh mitchell, look at the impact of the education department plan to roll back rules on for-profit colleges and universities. also, purdue university nadia brown on the uptick in women and minority candidates running in the 2018 midterm elections. and in our spotlight on magazine segment, commentary magazine contributor, levine discusses the failure of congress and what he argues is causing their weakness.

washington journal, live beginning at 7:00 a.m. eastern saturday morning. join the discussion. >> sunday night on "after words" economist discusses her book edge of chaos. our democracy is failing to deliver economic growth and how to fix it. she is interviewed by jason furman, former chairman of the council of economic advisers during the obama administration.

>> my name is lisa rubenstein, and i work in the child adolescent and family branch, at the substance abuse and mental health services administration. key principle in our branch is the importance of youth voice. you heard joseph this morning with his really great messages and now i'm really