. >> mr. koch says this -- "unfortunately the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before law, and personal freedom are under attack by our nation's own government." >> and they're using part of their vast fortune to air their grievances against the president, spending millions on outside groups to run ads against the president and anyone associated with him. because that's the model. those who have the least to complain about complain the most. like casino tycoon and republican mega donor sheldon adelson. he spent millions and millions to defeat the president in 2012. yet according to "forbes," adelson is worth over $34 billion more today than he was in 2009. meaning his wealth has increased tenfold under obama. but that apparently is not enough. then there's home depot co-founder ken langone who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars against obama. he's upset he's not getting enough love. >> if we change the faces in the white house, we're on the road to recovery. >> you think it's

one of the collectivists that mr. koch clearly had in mind is senator harry reid who has taken to the senate floor to criticize the koch brothers' political spending. >> came from the great senator pat moynihan who said, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not to their own facts. but i guess the koch brother the have been able to buy their facts over the years, not paying any attention to whether they were true or false. and here's the truth. millions in political adds sponsored by these two multibillionaires are misleading at best and outright false in many instances. >> mr. koch's op-ed piece did not mention harry reid by name, but there was little doubt who he was referring to when he wrote, rather than trying to understand my vision for a free society or accurately report the facts about koch industries, our critics would have you believe we're unnorthwestern and trying to rig the system, that we're against environmental protection or eager to end workplace safety standards. these falsehoods remind me of dan

mr. kochto understand my vision for a free society or accurately report the facts about koch industries, our critics would have you believe we're unamerican and trying to rig the system, instead of encouraging free and open debate, collectivists strive to discredit and intimidate opponents. they engage in character assassination. i should know as the almost daily of their daily attacks. such tactics are the antithesis of what is required for a free society and telltale sign that the collectivists do not have good answers." to charles koch, a free society is where he and his brother can have a disproportionate affect on our election process. in charles koch's free society, he can pour millions of dollars into right wing front groupses like americans for prosperity. so far afp has mired than two times the number of spots as the senate majority pac. and more than two times the total number of spots as house majority pac. overall, americans for prosperity has aired more than 17,000 broadcast tv co

ensemble his daddy who have already become a trademark double rows of tilting of the concert because of mr koch a system that will come in low noted that the ties between the two countries are becoming stronger including in terms of culture exchange. he also noted that last year the days of context and cauldron bubble roots with a successful anything to the belgian side for the reception of context and artist in time the minister called rebel was born in this demo expresses gratitude for the warm reception in cars extent and noted that such events called searching for evidence to the fact that both countries are any new stage of development of relations. speaking about this the cost of dollars in kazakhstan. this is one of the first side to perform cooperation development of our relations began in nineteen ninety six when an agreement on humanitarian aid was signed between the two countries than in nineteen ninety nine and the district court to begin cooperated for singapore national library has signed an agreement with the national academic library coz it. most of us. he does his job. that wis

but somehow the kochs have fooled themselves into thinking they arrived at the top by their own merits. they didn't, mr. president. more importantly, the koch brothers have decided that they want their inherited wealth, this company now they have at the top, they want to make sure that this ladder that should be one that's reachable for everyone, allows people to reach high, they are determined to make that ladder totally unreachable for others. these billionaires do this by rigging the system even more in their favor, making sure that the kochs' interests are being represented at all costs. as has been reported -- and not by me -- the koch brothers have what some journalists are calling secret banks, organizations that serving as a middleman by which they fund scare campaigns. through these secret banks, like freedom partners, the multibillionaire koch brothers pump money into radical institutions and all these right-wing organizations only come to the same conclusion. america's best bet for economic prosperity is to help the koch brothers get richer. so what do these groups do with the funds they rec

mr. koch says this, "i have devoted most of my life -- it is those principles, the principles of a free society that have shaped my life my family, our company, and america itself. unfortunately the fundamental concepts of dignity respect equality before law, and personal freedom are under attack by our nations own government. that is why if we want to restore a free society and create greater well-being and opportunities for all americans we have no choice but to fight for those principles." host: sean sullivan, the democrats are trying to put a face to the koch brothers. they will have an influence in the midterm elections. now the republicans directly responding. guest: a really fascinating battle that is starting to get more and more attention right now. democrats are trying to make the koch brothers into an electoral issue. you have harry reid talking about them constantly, a lot of democrats in the campaign talking about americans for prosperity, which is a group backed by the koch broth

mr. president, i'm not afraid of the koch brothers. these two multibillionaires can spend millions of dollars of their money rigging the political process for their own benefit, but that doesn't mean we have to lay down and take it. person who ran for vice president last go-around from the republican ticket is the chairman of the budget committee, and he's coming out with a budget. it's a blueprint for a modern koch -- how would we say this? koch-topia. koch-topia. that's it. k-o-c-h-t-o-p-i-a. >> koch-topia. the koch brothers are worried that harry reid might be successful at making them the name and face of the dark money monster. >> yeah, i think that is certainly his goal. and within that, there's sort of two points. two potentially, with democrats, i thinks in talking to them see as achievable ends. it may discourage the kochs or other wealthy conservatives from spending money, taking advantage of flexibility afforded by supreme court decisions to spend huge sums in politics. i don't see that happening because the kochs, we saw th

mr. president, what they have done to damage the national institutes of health is, it's not possible to measure that. here's the rules the multibillionaire koch brothers want to play by. they should be allowed to say false and misleading things the affordable care act, but we're not allowed to criticize them for it. now, mr. president, yesterday i am told -- just listening from the news. i haven't heard anything from the white house directly. i am told that yesterday in one day more people signed up for obamacare than the previous three months. people are anxious to have health insurance. they are anxious to have health insurance. and i've been very satisfied with me and members of my caucus and people around the country standing up to these moguls and their false, misleading fearmongering ways. so it should be no surprise that these multimillionaire, billionaire, really, really, really rich -- fifth-richest people in the world -- have decide what had we'll do is we'll try to frighten the raid. mr. president, there have been times in my life i've been a little afraid, but i'm not afraid of them. they can run -- i understand they spent $30,000

mr. president, as i went about my business here in the senate yesterday, i was informed the koch brothers are at it again. we know they're at it, but now they're at it in nevada, among other places. one of their puppet organizations is, i'm told, going to run commercials against me in nevada. that's quite interesting, mr. president. as i understand it, they have focused on places where there is an election. they may not know that, but i'm not running for anything this -- i have to wait a few years, until my six-year term is up. what is the issue that they raise in those ads that they say they're going to run in nevada? by my criticizing the koch brothers, i've attacked their freedom of speech. the gall of these two brothers is staggering, mr. president. keep in mind they are the fifth-richest people not in whatever state they live in -- they have lots of different homes in america. they are the fifth-richest people in the world. in the world. these two mogul multibillionaires are so eager to force their will on the american people that they'll do it even in the face of their own hypocrisy

the koch brother, able to do anything even exploit americans suffering from cancer to advance our campaign of extortion. mr. president, i'm not afraid of the koch brothers i'll do whatever it takes to expose their campaign, their campaign to rig the american political system to benefit the wealthy at the expense of the middle class. it would be a terrible thing to allow the koch brothers to buy congress and to buy our country, and that's what they're trying to do. this discussion isn't just about the inherent danger in the two multibillionaires to buy america's political system. this is also about how these two multibillionaires would use our political system once they bought it it and how they would abuse it. in order to add zeros to the bowl line while hurting middle class families. >> what would motivate harry reid to do that? harry reid has seen a lot. he's been in the congress and the senate for 31 years. he's seen an awful lot of stuff. but he's never seen anything like this. this is leadership. he's taken a lot of conservative criticism. but if he doesn't speak up with authority, who's going to do i

. >> we don't have much good to say about the koch brothers around "hardball" here, so mr.sident, it's always an honor. always an honor to you watch you and appreciate your role in history. thank you very much. author of "a call to action: women, religion, violence, and power," former president jimmy carter. >> thank you very much. >> mr. president, thank you for your time. and we'll be right back. because i knew... it would be a scary process. when i was introduced to truecar, i didn't have to second guess myself. i felt more confident... in what i was doing. truecar made it very easy for me... to negotiate what i wanted, because i didn't really need to do any negotiating at all. i just knew from the get-go that i was... flat out getting a good deal. when you're ready to buy a car, save time, save money, and never overpay. visit truecar.com >>> let me finish tonight with a salute to former president jimmy carter. in all the many years since i worked for him as president, more than a century since 1980, he has never failed to serve the planet or speak his mind. he's undenia

. >> we don't have much good to say about the koch brothers around "hardball" here, so mr.r to you watch you and appreciate your role in history. thank you very much. author of "a call to action: women, religion, violence, and power," former president jimmy carter. >> thank you very much. >> mr. president, thank you for your time. and we'll be right back. polar vortexes, road construction, and gaping potholes. so with all that behind you, you might want to make sure you're safe and in control. ford technicians are ready to find the right tires for your vehicle. get up to $120 in mail-in rebates on four select tires when you use the ford service credit card at the big tire event. see what the ford experts think about your tires. at your ford dealer. the owner of a vehicle, with a bumper sticker, "turrible" your lights are on. you wanna get that genius? not mine. on the passenger seat, there is a collection of charles barkley highlight dvds. must be a big fan. and the license plate reads "sir charles." i'm gonna get some drinks with my capital one venture card. be right back.

the koch budget would cut the corporate tax rate to 25% and lower the top individual tax rate for america's highest earners. so i guess i say, mr. president, to the house budget committee and all the house members, democrats and republicans. is $80 billion personal wealth of the koch brothers enough? i think most everyone would say yes, it's enough. but not the koch brothers. they want more. they are the richest people in the world. individually they are only fifth. put them together, they are the richest in the world. under this budget that i've talked about, middle-class families would pay about $2,000 a year more in taxes. but the rich would pay less. democrats believe in growing the economy from the middle out, but the republicans are still trapped in the trickle-down economics based on handouts to the super wealthy and special interests. perhaps the koch budget -- i should put the ryan-koch budget was summarized best by the center for budget and policy priorities, richard greenstein who said -- and i quote -- "more poverty and less opportunity." that's what this budget is about, more poverty and less opportunity. hr mr. pr

mr. sterling were being honored instead by the naacp, if you were being honored by the koch brothers for lifetime achievement or the tea appear for lifetime achievement, and this came out in the wake of all that, would the media still treat him the same way, would the media still treat the naacp the same way and the koch brothers the same way, would they have the same treatment to al sharpton, that they would to say the tea party, if that was the case, i have a hard time believing that. >> the nba is coming down. they are saying they can't based on their rule force him to sell the team. we talk about this yesterday, if the team becomes insolvent. it sounds like sterling is pretty definite. can you -- defiandefiant, can y imagine a situation where the majority of nba owners would say don't sell the team? >> i think he should be forced to buy a soccer team. the amazing part of this story is last night he went out to dinner. he went to a steak house. if this were me, i would be ordering in, i would be ordering pizza i'm sure on that salad that's not thousand island dressing. the great thing

koch. >> of their own. somebody would make a foolish choice like mr.ho by the way makes his money and rely -- >> he's a big democratic donor that will be there and he has $100 million to give them. >> he will give them $100 million if they do what he wants them to do. what he wants them to do is block the keystone pipeline that takes oil from the pipeline to the refineries. global w his cause celeb but his cause celeb apparently also is having his business interest served by, i'm sure he believes that his business interests are good for the planet, too, but those two interests seem too collide for him. so what the democrats are trying to do here is say, we've got our kochs too and we'll spend a lot of money and not lose the senate. >> harry reid was calling the koch brothers unamerican trying to buy the country and they will get together with the left version of the koch brothers and have a big wine party featuring selections from wineries owned by democratic donors and a private curator tour and a performance from somebody at the "daily show" and on a

mr. stier unamerican, given the fact that's how he labeled the koch brothers? it's to mr. reid a great patriot that's a delusion of the american political left establishment. >> so there is a little hypocrisy is there. the good news is for tom stier, while he's putting $100 million in there, as long as democrats support stopping the pipeline, friday, he won. >> he did win. you know, that's the most striking thing. all of the negative campaign ads against the koch brothers have been saying they're trying to buy elections. but if you look at what happened on friday, it's pretty clear that mr. stier has been successful, that he actually has bought presidential policy for $100 million. and it's really pretty striking. >> it is striking. what happens now is the democrats get to have it both ways. they get the $100 million from the billionaire lefty guy, and then at the same time, these 11 senate democrats they can go, well, we're opposed to it, so we're going to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen. >> right. and they do. i was speaking to a friend of

mr. republican. a op-ed comes out after the supreme court decision, ghost written for charles koch. who knows who writes this stuff for him. he pays for it as if he is literate. i would like to put that guy in a room for an hour and see if he could actually write an op-ed piece. thank you donna edwards of maryland and the great john heilemann. >>> coming up, the blueprint that paul ryan put out this week. dick durbin put it best. thank you, thank you, paul ryan for reminding us what republicans would do if they had control. >>> plus truthers. they're the republicans that loved the enrollment figures when they were low. now that they're up, they're saying they are cooked. it's all a conspiracy. listen. >> everyone in the press, you rat bastards. every single one of you know what he is saying isn't true. >> hmm. >>> also, the dog whistle that always gets conservatives barking and howling, benghazi! don't believe me? check out the show trial they put on yesterday. >>> and i'm going to finish tonight on a national story, but close to home. yesterday kathleen led our family in interring

koch topia, and don't you love that? the republicans understand that no fiscal edifice will be built on mr.n's budget blueprint, but it is not going to prevent republicans from debating it for the next two weeks. that gives the democrats another opportunity to distract like ly voters from their record, and their feig ures of both domestic and foreign policy, but then we all get a break. congress moves on the easter break, and you and i get a two-week break from the well intentioned ryan, reid and the brothers and the sisters in congress, but it is never too early to note election day. please circle november 4th on your calendars, because the midterms now are 216 days away. yippee eye yay ki yay. and now i was written by debbie, president obama doesn't follow, obey or enforce any of the laws of the u.s., and so why would he bother enforcing bord security laws. and this one, these folks from the obama administration could screw up a vacant lochlt i thought i was the only one who used that expression. and now, this one, victory is a little bit premature, and what about the buyer's remorse when

mr. soros or the republican side, with the koch brothers who are libertarians.s a democrat, i happen to be a libertarian. one other i like that i do not agree with, i like senator sanders from vermont. he is highly intelligent, he is not a hater. i don't agree with him, but he is a good guy. hillary clinton is in the pocket of wall street. but the liberals will say that. lock stock, and barrel. have a good day, sir. host: jack, thank you for the call. this from richard -- the last time the republicans were in charge, to unfunded wars and the collapsed economy of 2008. they want that? from auburn, new york, alexander, good morning. caller: thank you for having me. i am 24. i have been following ron paul since i was 16. my friends are not even really political. the test of liberty movement is important to young people as we are the ones who are dealing with this very upside down economy. for a lot of the guest speakers at the freedom summit, they really don't stand for real liberty. look at their contradiction in their speeches. it is so out of place it would be t

mr. steyer, what is your response of a lot of people saying this is a bottle of two wealthy titans. the koch brothers against tom steyer how do you view that? it's clear that the koch brothers are going to profit from the keystone pipeline project. >> i think the framework for this is a bunch of baloney, too. the fact of the matter, the president of the united states and the state department are making an important decision on our future. and people tend to focus on our pipeline as in we're either going to build or allow the keystone xl pipeline to go in or nothing is going to happen. and that's absolutely false. the fact of the matter is, this is a chance for the united states to move in with a much more innovative and search-based policy for to us generate in the united states of america clean energy, and produce a ton of jobs doing it. and give ourselves a chance to really be energy independent. and to do it in a clean way that doesn't is hurt our land. and set ourselves up for the next century, instead of going with a very dirty status quo that really isn't going to help our jobs, it's g

koch brothers. while these sugar donors are throwing tens of millions of dollars away on campaign ads in select toss-up districts, regular, hardworking americans -- mr. hastings: i yield the gentleman 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. takano: regular americans are struggling to keep their heads above water. for our country to move forward and continue grow we must do more for those who need help. president franklin roosevelt once said the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much, it is whether we provide enough for those who have little. to provide enough, we must raise the minimum wage. i urge my colleagues to vote no on the previous question so we can bring the minimum wage bill to the floor and get to work growing our economy and helping working families. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cole: while i appreciate what the gentleman had to say, this legislation doesn't have anything to do w

koch brother or any other special tax. why place all the burden of deficit reduction on middle class, kids, seniors and middle class who don't have tax preferred stock options. finally, and mr. chairman, i have to say this is the thing that probably most upsets republican colleagues, this budget does not balance. it is a total fraud. it's a total fraud to claim that this budget balances in ten years at the same time republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal the affordable care act. why? why is that true? because this budget includes all the medicare savings from the affordable care act. it includes every penny of revenue from the affordable care act. that is $2 trillion from the affordable care act embedded in this republican budget. so if you're repealing the affordable care act, you're repealing those provisions. this budget takes away the benefits of the affordable care, plugging the doughnut hole but it keeps all the savings and all the revenue, $2 trillion and does not balance 10 years from now without those revenues and save frgs the affordable care act. so you got to choose. you can't have it both ways. no one will be fooled. either you're in favor of keepi

mr. hoffman for two and a half minutes. >> i thank the gentlemen. appreciate the opportunity to comment on a budget that certainly is -- for the koch brothers but would bring pain and austerity for most americans it nowhere is that more of a parent in the area of health care. we have heard the arguments despite the gop's relentless pr machine and unprecedented attempt to prevent health care reform from succeeding. the fact is we are already expanding health care coverage protecting consumers and controlling costs through the affordable care act. the numbers are impressive, 7.1 million people signed up so far for coverage. more than 3.1 million young adults now able to continue on their parents planned, 360,000 small employers using the small business health care tax credit to expand coverage to 2 million workers. for the first time help lance must include the essential benefits like prescription drugs paternity newborn care mental health and pediatric services and the united states for the first time in decades is experiencing a historic slowdown in the growth of health care costs. the affordable care act is good for our budget. the cbo estimates the

mr. chairman. as the gnashing thies from republicans -- from teeth from the republicans today. of course, this is all fantasy. this is another stunt cooked up by the republicans to satisfy the extremists of the koch brothers and the producers at fox news. let's start with some facts. thanks to aca every american now has health security because they can no longer be locked out of the market or discriminated against because of a pre-existing condition. more than seven million people have signed up for health insurance through the federal and state-based marketplaces. more than 11 million have been determined eligible for medicaid between october and february of this year. and three million adults are now covered by their parents' coverage. these are real people, real stories, real progress. not actors paid via extremist pac money to appear in fraudulent gop attack ads. sorry, the fight's been lost for the republicans on aca. the law is succeeding. and all the focused hearings about the aca aren't going to change that. these bogus hearings, like today's proceedings, only delay the inevitable. what you're hearing argued today is the government shouldn't have given time to business to implement it. if

koch brother or any other special tax. why place all the burden of deficit reduction on middle class, kids, seniors and middle class who don't have tax preferred stock options. finally, and mr chairman, i have to say this is the thing that probably most upsets republican colleagues, this budget does not balance. it is a total fraud. it's a total fraud to claim that this budget balances in ten years at the same time republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal the affordable care act. why? why is that true? because this budget includes all the medicare savings from the affordable care act. it includes every penny of revenue from the affordable care act. that is $2 trillion from the affordable care act embedded in this republican budget. so if you're repealing the affordable care act, you're repealing those provisions. this budget takes away the benefits of the affordable care, plugging the doughnut hole but it keeps all the savings and all the revenue, $2 trillion and does not balance 10 years from now without those revenues and save frgs the affordable care act. so you got to choose. you can't have it both ways. no one will be fooled. either you're in favor of keepin

mr. koch's opinion piece, while not everyone would agree with, they're certainly within the wide mainstream of american thought and certainly reflect opinions that are worthy of debate and discussion in our country and here on the senate floor. we all bring diversity, a different set of values, opinions, beliefs, a political philosophy to the debate on the senate floor, and i wanted to share the -- one of the owners of koch industries' beliefs about those values and those philosophy -- his philosophy and how it affects americans today. this is an opinion piece from today's "wall street journal" written by a kansan, charles koch. mr. koch says this -- "i have devoted most of my life to understanding the principles that enable people to improve their lives. it is those principles, the principles of a free society, that have shaped my life, my family, our company, and america itself. unfortunately, the fundamental concepts of dignity, respect, equality before law, and personal freedom are under a

mr. president, so much for equality under the law as seen by the kochs. finally the koch brothers claim they're fighting to restore a free society, also some buzzwords. free society. free in what way? they have single-handedly turned the american electoral process into a pay to play scheme. their end game is to affect eofficials to, elect people who will help them overall in the system of government and replace it with someone to increase their wealth. even though they are the richest people in the world they want to be richer. i again extend the invitation to my brothers if you bear the logo of the koch brothers come down and announce your affiliation openly. the koch brothers' agenda is an agenda that is not my agenda. it is not our agenda. but is it your agenda, i say to my republican friends? if it is, come and tell your constituents that's the case. let this nation know where you stand. as for we, we democrats, we'll continue to defend american families from these oil baron bullies who want nothing more than to enrich themselves. we will continue to

mr. president. while struggling families plead to government for help getting work, house republicans prefer to talk about anything but what is relevant. why? because their billionaire sugar dad di diddaddies aren't interen helping americans. the koch brothers aren't concerned about the lon long-unemployed families. these billionaire oil bear rones don't care about working women being deprived of fair wages. mr. president, my daughter or your wife, they can do the exact same work as a man but get 77 cents where the man gets a dollar. we want to change that. koch-driven republican congress refuses to allow us even to have a vote on it. here in the senate they have started filibusters time and time again on this issue. in the house they won't have a vet on that either. mr. president, as the senate turns its attention to increasing the federal minimum wage, which we learned to earlier today, is there any question that the republicans will once again do the koch brothers' bidding? of course not. $80 billion in is not enough for these two brothers. evidently, the kochs feel that $10.10 per hour is too much for a hardworking american with a family to take care of. if a person works 40 hours at $10.10 an hour, it i you're no r in poverty.