akaka? mr. alexander? miss ayott? >> there you have it. the majority leader, minority leader, they both wrapped up the debate. now the voting has started. we expect it will continue for about 15 minutes, sometimes it drags on a little bit longer, maybe 20 minutes. after it passes, we assume that they have the necessary 60 votes to pass this legislation within a few moments, the president of the united states will walk into the rose garden over at the white house. he will not sign this legislation into law because the paperwork, the bureaucracy that requires some time to do, so he has to sign it before midnight tonight in order to get the process going, but he will make a statement, we expect about a 10 or 15-minute statement from the president as well. kate bolduan is up on the hill watching. i assume a lot of people have been looking closely at the numbers. they have well over 60 votes that will support what mitch mcconnell and harry reid have now proposed. >> reporter: i have been talking to leadership aides this morning and on all sides

she regularly substitutes on nbc nightly news akaka. she is distinguished herself and global humanitarian reporting traveling to remote areas the world's underreported stories. they've been interacting on african issues particularly darfur since 2004. they traveled together with george clooney to southern sudan in october, 2010. let's welcome them. [applause] >> good afternoon, everyone. it's a pleasure to be among you and it's such a pleasure to be here with john and michael to talk about this book, unlikely brothers. we are glad for you to be here and we want to tell you this is being broadcast, so no four-letter words although there are some in this book, john. this is a very honest book that you and michael have written. fact, it is so honest that wondered what your motivation was until as i got into it it attempts to do good for you and to do good for others. first, tell us about those initial chapters you had to write about your own background and what brought you to michael. >> first thought this was going to be great, it would b

akaka about real journalists, this is the real deal, scott simon. >> he's the real deal. hope he signs a book for my daughter. one for me and carol blease and one for each alisa. >> tell me how to spell caroline >> carolina with a french accent. >> to find out who your friends are and it turns out i have some friends. >> you sure do. extraordinary. >> thanks. islamic my pleasure >> dr. martin luther king was not a president of the united states. at no time in his life did he hold public office. he wasn't a hero of the foreign war. he never had much money. but while he lived, she was reviled at least as much as he was celebrated. by his own accounts, she was a man frequently wracked with doubt. a man not without flaws, who like moses before him more than once questioned why he hadn't chosen for such arduous task, the task of leading people to freedom. the task of healing the festering wounds of the nation's original sin. >> im ashley kincaid. >> how are you? >> i have some associates here i would like to introduce to you. we are with the future educator's and these are the

it was reintroduced this year in the senate by senator akaka, lieberman, collins and grassley.t would close many of these loopholes created by that court decisions. it would expand protections to th -- for the first time there would be protections for national security intelligence workers, those challenging security clearance revocations, which is a very popular form of retaliation. it would expand protections to baggage screeners at airports and to that specific protections to federal scientists -- and give a specific protections to federal scientists. it would allow for more normal access to court. the private sector laws we pass since 2002, those 11 statutes allow for jury trials. federal employees who blow the whistle had been denied jury trial. the senate bill would allow limited access to jury trials, which we think is an important thing when the administrative process fails. it has some improvements for the office of special counsel. is it everything we have been seeking? is it all that we hoped it could be? no, but it is a pretty good down payment and it would go a lon