jeff merkley / oregon i don't see how that does anything but reflect on their leadership or should i say on their complete lack of leadership.colorado senator cory gardner says it's democrats who aren't cooperatingsen. cory gardner it's frustrating and i think that reasonableness tells people to do their job in washington alexandra limon

joining us now senator jeff merkley from oregon and leonardo reyes a daca recipient. lso attended the state of the union as senator merkley's guest. thanks to you both for joining us. leonardo, your status is in limbo here. the president addressed this issue of daca. hopefully you can hear me. the president addressed the issue of daca tonight. he said look, he does want a path to citizenship for 1.8 million dreamers who came to this country with their parents as minors. he said quite a bit. did he make that statement. what did you make of it? >> you know, it's on one hand i want to be encouraged by the president's words. on the other hand, i understand that it is a more complex issue that we have to really take back and understand and look at the bigger picture. you know, when we talk about policy, i couldn't really speak to the policy of all of it but could speak to the families and individuals back in oregon and across this country who obviously are depending on a solution that we need to reach a dream act, that we need to enact a dream act for the hundreds of thousa

joining us now senator jeff merkley from oregon and leonardo reyes a daca recipient. also attended the state of the union as senator merkley's guest. thanks to you both for joining us. leonardo, your status is in limbo here. the president addressed this issue of daca. hopefully you can hear me. the president addressed the issue of daca tonight. he said look, he does want a path to citizenship for 1.million dreamer who's came to this country with their parents as minors. he said quite a bit. did he make that statement. what did you make of it? >> you know, it's on one hand i want to be encouraged by the president's words. on the other hand, i understand that it is a more complex issue that we have to really take back and understand and look at the bigger picture. you know, when we talk about policy, i couldn't really speak to the policy of all of it but could speak to the families and individuals back in oregon and across this country who obviously are depending on a solution that we need to reach a d.r.e.a.m. act, that we need to enact a dreep act for the hundreds of

. >> moving on with senator jeff merkley. >> good to be with you. i have leonardo with me. >> let's get your reaction to speech in the area of immigration. >> the speech was terrific. the president chose to use gangsters of the syllable immigrants. unless your hundred% native american, very few of us are commenced a meaning to all of us. our parents came here to build this great country. immigrants are the substance and fabric with which we built this nation. was very strange to hear from the american president. >> how did you meet your guess? >> i wanted to have a dreamer here because the issue of the community member that have come from far away but grew up and now hard at work have had their legal status ripped away. so unfair and unjust to do that. the presidents responsible for and i thought it was important to evoke out of him the moments when he said he had a great hartford dreamers. we do not hear that tonight. >> where you from? >> salem, oregon. >> what is your story? >> we been organizing our community and what it means to be undocumented

let's go to senator jeff merkley of oregon. you voted no initially. would you vote yes to this?think it's doubtful right now because we haven't seen anything that puts any solid foundation under a pathway to pursue fairness and justice for our community members who had their legal status ripped out from under them by president trump. >> you heard what senator mcconnell is suggesting. 's saying, i will put it, basically, on regular order here if we do not come to a solution by the february 8th, the end of the c.r., is that enough for you? >> no. no. it's sure not. there has to be a pathway that is nailed down much better, because mcconnell's version of regular order simply means he controls the place and he does what he wants. and he has preached about regular order and previously that meant he wouldn't lockup the amendment box so people would have a chance to do amendments, apart from reconciliation, we basically had no amendments throughout 2017 from the democrats. he's proceeded to just -- for example, shutdown our ability to have a bipartisan vote on keeping the government op

i spoke first with senator jeff merkley of oregon, on the senate budget committee, about any possiblel. we're all waiting to hear the details of the conversation between senator schumer and president trump. hopefully, this is going to shine a light on the path. >> woodruff: what we're hearing is very skimpy but we're told that senator schumer did present some ideas to the president, and we're separately told that the republican leadership in the senate is saying the minimum time they'd agree for an extension is two weeks. does that shed any light on anything? >> well, it just shows how unprepared the republican leadership is for this dialogue. i mean, these are issues that have been there going back into july and august in preparation for the next fiscal year, but they set aside the fundamental work of governance in order to pursue a healthcare plan that would rip healthcare from 30 million americans and a tax plan designed to deliver a trillion dollars to richest americans and let the basic issues of governance, children's healthcare and opening our clinics and what the spending bill

. >> i'm joining senator jeff merkley. your rationale in voting no today. >> chris, there is a lot wrong with this longer-term continuing resolution. what we know is that leader mcconnell only gets engaged in the last 24 or 36 hours before a deadline. we're going to waste a couple more weeks. the country is tired of wasting month after month after month when we should be addressing these issues. these are all things that should be resolved before october 1st, the start of the fiscal year. so we've got to get down to business on the spending bill for the year, we've got address the opioid crisis, and we certainly need to address legal status, the foundation has been ripped out from under these hundreds of thousands of children across america. it is absolutely wrong. it's morally wrong. and we've got to fix it. >> so the argument that's being made, and that is a tactic argument. i want to put aside substantive commitments here. let's say other democratic senators and your colleagues agree on community health center funding a

they include senator jeff merkley, usa today communist edward, deceased actress patty duke, 13 -year-old in northern new york and a 96 -year-old world war ii veteran in southern california. at last 2 million individuals have been the victims of theft with filings in a record that they never wrote, sent or authorized. these comments are not the only odd and nearly half a million come from russian e-mail addresses just under 8 million comments were submitted and this is not subtle fake mail generator .com. over 1 million comments were designed to make it appear like unique submissions everywhere you look there is something strange. ... working with retirement accounts to act in the best interest of their clients. the fiduciary role as it's known and played it the full implementation next year in 2019. in the meantime the department of labor is gathering feedback on the likely impact of this role. on one hand you've got insurance companies and brokerage firms who contend that it could add new cost to make it harder to serve clients who have small nest eggs. on the other hand consumer groups

hoping members of congress will forget this line of questioning she received from oregon senator jeff merkley when you say that those who are concerned about global warming are. pig pagan is and totalitarian is in marxists when you say that you believe oregon's farmers who are concerned about three worst ever droughts with the impact of climate changes are marxist or to tell a curious or or pagans i believe those words senator with all due respect i've been taken out of context ok to be fair to heart at why those words were taken out of context because what she actually said was there is a real dark side of the kind of paganism the secular elites religion now being evidently global warming. didn't pay ends. they actually care about nature and he's certain it white things global warming is just the earth burning up from a bad case of donna rhea while the federal government continues to bleed experts who actually know something about the environment we need to be vigilant about keeping people like her out of it because of trouble trying to dominate her twice you think she's become a better choi

jeff merkley / oregon i don't see how that does anything but reflect on their leadership or should i say on their complete lack of leadership.colorado senator cory gardner says it's democrats who aren't cooperatingsen. cory gardner it's frustrating and i think that reasonableness tells people to do their job in washington alexandra limon (grant) here's a closer look at who is affected by a shutdown.... 700-thousand undocumented immigrants who are part of the daca program are included...since there's no fix in place ahead of the march fifth deadline. nine million children who are under the children's health insurance program...or chip...will have more uncertainty about the future of their health care. chip helps parents who earn too much to qualify for medicaid...but not enough to afford private health coverage. and - about one-point- three million active-duty military members will be expected to work - potentially without pay. the military is currently paid only through february first. (vicki) breaking news... the cause of death of legendary singer tom petty has ájustá been released.

let's go to senator jeff merkley of oregon. you voted no initially. would you vote yes to this?> i think it's doubtful right now because we haven't seen anything that puts any solid foundation under a pathway to pursue fairness and justice for our community members who had their legal status ripped out from under them by president trump. >> you heard what senator mcconnell is suggesting. he's saying, i will put it, basically, on regular order here if we do not come to a solution by the february 8th, the end of the c.r., is that enough for you? >> no. no. it's sure not. there has to be a pathway that is nailed down much better, because mcconnell's version of regular order simply means he controls the place and he does what he wants. and he has preached about regular order and previously that meant he wouldn't lockup the amendment box so people would have a chance to do amendments, apart from reconciliation, we basically had no amendments throughout 2017 from the democrats. he's proceeded to just -- for example, shutdown our ability to have a bipartisan vote on keeping the governm

let's bring in senator jeff merkley. he's a democrat from oregon. thank you very much for joining us. >> you're very welcome, wolf. good to be with you. >> i know you voted against the arrangement to reopen the government yesterday, but do you think he did the right thing now, rescinding that offer to fund a new border wall, or at least a chunk of it? >> yes, absolutely, because the way that mitch mcconnell has set this up, he says there is going to be a spending bill that will resolve on february 8th and then we'll go to the issue of the daca bill, the d.r.e.a.m.er bill, and in that setting, it would be very easy for the president to say, hey, i want that money in the context of the february 8th bill before we go to the issue of immigration. and senator schumer is very emphatically clearly saying, look, if you're not willing to step forward and be part of this conversation about daca, forget the wall. >> you disagreed with senator schumer, you voted against it. i think 15 of your democratic colleagues did as well. two republicans voted against it a

. >> harris: democratic senator jeff merkley says reports that the president wanted mueller gone point to a larger problem in his presidency. >> it really reflects the fact that the president has been obstructing justice all throughout his first year in office. he took on manipulation of three fbi directors, now he we find t that he ordered his special counsel to fire the special prosecutor. what we see on every information is the president is absolutely panicked over the truth coming out about his collaboration with the russians. >> harris: let's go to john roberts now, john, you are traveling with the president in davos and this is the topic. >> it's interesting, the president woke up this morning expecting to do nothing except focus on a couple of bilateral meetings he had, one with the president of rwanda, and another with the president of switzerland and give his big economic beach and head home and instead he was talking about the russia investigation yes again back yet again. this goes all the way back to last june, that he ordered white house counsel don began to fire robert mu

listen to senator jeff merkley of morgan. >> it really reflects the fact of the president has been obstructing justice all throughout his first year in office. he took on manipulation of three fbi directors, now we find out that he ordered his special counsel to fire the special prosecutor. what we see is on every piece of information grade the president is absolutely panicked over the truth coming out about his team's collaboration with the russians. >> of course, one other thing hanging out there to is whether or not present jump over down for an interview as we reported on fox news that the cheap outside counsel told fox news that he will be the one to make the decision whether the president sit down and interview with mueller and at this point, he is not decided whether or not that's going to happen. >> harris: thank you very much much. >> you have more fbi corruption and bias about to be exposed. you have trouble killing it over in davos and then say listen, was hannah new york time some talking points. "new york times" and csm, dutifully taken and they obsess over this. while they have t

. >> moving onto th on to the othr chamber with senator jeff merkley from oregon. >> it's good to be with you. i also have a dreamer from the coalition. >> let's get your reaction first particularly o in the area of immigration. >> the president chose to use gangsters as a symbol of all immigrants and unless you are 100% native american which very few of us are it is really demeaning to all of us. our parents and great grandparents came here to build this great country and immigrants are the fabric on which we build this nation and to really dismiss immigrants is important to that heritage with the future which is very strange to hear from the american precedent. >> how did you meet your guest? >> i wanted to have a dreamer here but grew up in the elementary schools and high schools and colleges and are now hard at work and have had their legal status ripped away from them and it is a completely unfair and unjust situation to do that. the president is responsible for it and i felt it was important to evoke out of him those moments he said he had a great heart for the dreamers. >> whe

. >> senator jeff merkley, we appreciate you being with us. i want to turn to jim robinson, because if there's something in the fan fiction political opposition there, be tough, be strong, let's fix things, what i just heard from the senator is, no, they're not going to define this as -- even though they're in the minority, he said that opiods, health care and d.r.e.a.m.ers should all be resolved. >> it sounded as if the democrats feel they are in a powerful position here and they can continue to seek a more comprehensive bill that takes care of these issues, on which there is as the senator said, a lot of bipartisan agreement. if you listen to the way the republicans today are talking about children's health, for example, you would think they were left of the democrats. i mean they are just weeping and wailing over -- >> which is a weird kind of echo of a democratic victory, it's rhetorically only. >> yes, it's strange times. >> i agree with eugene, which is a good thing to do, by the way, the republicans have dug themselves a hole here, they

. >> senator jeff merkley, thanks so much for being here in studio with us. >>> our coverage continues with cnn "newsroom" with poppy harlow. have a great day. >> good friday morning everyone. i'm poppy harlow in new york. no shortage of news this morning. the president just delivered a major economic speech on the world stage. he's leaving davos, switzerland, heading for air force one. here at home a firestorm over new headlines on the russia investigation. earlier this morning the president worked hard to discredit new reporting that last june he tried to have special counsel bob mueller fired by his own white house attorney. a source tells cnn that white house lawyer, don mcgann, refused to fire mueller and threatened to quit. the president for his part denies it all. listen. >> did you seek to fire robert mueller? >> fake news, folks, typical "new york times" fake story. >> keep in mind firing mueller is a

. >> senator jeff merkley is a democrat from oregon and still on the job, as well. good to see you again. >> very good to be with you. >> great talking with senator donovan, but the bottom line, the solve for this thing is coming from your part of the government, from the senate. it does seem like we're dug in on two sides. democrats seem to be definite about wanting a permanent fix for daca, as do 80% or 90% of americans, and republicans seem definite they'll fix daca but not as a condition of re-opening the government. >> donovan needs to call up mitch mcconnell and tell him to stop the trump shutdown. last night, we tried to put forward a proposal to keep the government open for three days and mitch mcconnell vetoed it. he has the power to do that under the rules of the senate. we put forward a proposal to stay open for one day to keep the conversations going. we feel like the best thing to do is have the government stay open, do it in short increments in order to create high pressure to get people to the table and get these core issues resolved. we have been pus

. >> "outfront" now with democratic senator jeff merkley, member of the senate foreign relations committeethank you for your time. first, i want you to respond to the tweet itself where the president says in part "i, too, have a nuclear button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works." your response? >> well, this type of dialogue, my button is bigger than yours, on such a serious topic really undermines our dialogue with the world in taking on the challenges that north korea presents. the world is already aware that the president doesn't delve deeply into topics, doesn't absorb much complexity and considers him to be something of a buffoon. but on something as serious as nuclear war or the use of nuclear weapons, to treat in such a glib fashion really undermines the foundation for cooperation with other states. >> so, the questions about mental fitness that were asked repeatedly by several reporters, where do you stand on that? is that a fair question right now? >> well, i'm very concerned about his mental state because the decision-making role of the pr

oregon senator jeff merkley told us the president is using dreamers as, quote, a right wing bargaininghip. but republicans noted that it's going to be next to impossible to get house conservatives to go along with this dreamer plan if it doesn't include tough new reforms. one issue both sides were hoping to hear more about last night was opioids. the president did have this emotional moment where he addressed the drug epidemic by introducing a police officer and his wife who had adopted a baby from a victim of heroin addiction. but while president trump said he was committed to addressing the problem, members of congress from both sides wanted to hear specifics and they didn't last night, john. >> nancy, thanks. democratic senator joe manchin from west virginia is with us from capitol hill. senator, good morning. >> good morning to you and gayle and norah. >> good to see you. >> after the president's speech last night, will it be easier or harder to work with the president, for democrats? >> i can't speak for the rest of my caucus, i really can't. we're all americans, whether you're de

merkley -- markly. >> sorry, it took me 20 years to get moakley and markly and now jeff and i have merkley -- >> your time expired. >> as you're figuring out your identity situation, to the record, superfund has been a priority under administrator pruitt. last week the epa announced a cleanup agreement for the largest superfund site, the montana standard is recoporting. epa administrator pruitt put butte and anaconda, a separate superfund site on the emphasis list that means both sides are being fast tracked for completion and are getting the immediate and intense attention. i'd like to enter this into the record, an article from the montana standard, january 26, 201 2018. >> mr. pruitt, it's my understanding that the epa has finalize finalized its conclusion that formaldehyde causes leukemia and other cancers and this that completed knew assess ment is ready to be held for public review. can you give us a status update as the epa's handling of the formaldehyde issue and conclusion that it does cause leukemias and other cancers? >> my understanding is similar to yours but i will confirm that and prov

merkley. thank you. and senator markey. >> it took me 20 years to get it out of my life now jeff and i have to have it together. >> time expired. >> as you are figuring out identity, i'd like to say for the record superfund has been priority under prewett for epa. montana standard is supporting this i'll submit this for the record. this means that both sides are being fast tracked for complex and getting prewett quote immediate attention. i'd like to enter into tt record monta montana 2018. >> thank you, i appreciate it. >> mr. prewett, it's my understanding that the epa has finalized its conclusion that fa mall da hide causes lou chem yeah and other cancers and that assessment is ready to be released for public review, but it is still being held up. can you give us a status update as to tt epa's handling of the fa mall da hide issue and the conclusion that it in fact does lou chem an and other cancers? >> my understanding is similar to yours, but i'll confirm that and provide the information to you from the program office. >> will you commit to releasing that report which is already completed in a short period of time if it m