i'm going to bring in duck mckeon, chairman of the armed services committee.lk about this navy s.e.a.l., a member of s.e.a.l. team six, how everyone knows that s.e.a.l. team, very brave men. there have been more than 300 americans killed in afghanistan this year. the taliban is in charge of some parts of the country. al qaeda is still present in some parts of the country is the afghan security force ready? >> i'm not sure they're totally ready yet. there are parts of the country that have been turned over to them, but it's a large country. and remember when we asked when the commander general asked for troops for the surge to finish the mission in the south and then move to the northeast, he didn't get all the troops he asked for. and they were brought home sooner than they should have been so we didn't really get to complete all of that mission. really didn't get to finish the surge. that left the remaining troops in jeopardy and true off the time table. now, the one time table that probably is still holding is that we are going to pull all the troops out in

chairman, joe wilson for his support and assistance and recognize the chairman of the house armed services committee, buck mckeon, and adam smith the ranking member, for their leadership. here are a few highlights for the conference report. a 1.7% pay raise, a critically important recognition of what our service members do for us particularly during economically challenging times. it provides separation authorities as the services reduce their strength. these authorities will be crucial to the department's ability to execute its drawdown in a responsible manner that ensures that long service -- long-serving members and their families a compensated appropriately. we continue our focus on mental health by codifying the suicide prevention and community health and response program for the national guard and reserves. additionally, the bill requires the secretary of defense to provide training on suicide prevention, resilience and community health and expands the scope of providers who may conduct preadministrative separation medical examinations for prost traumatic stress disorder to include licensed so

senator mccain is the ranking member of the armed services committee. he assured him he would not try to block the amendment. alternately, senator dianne feinstein agreed to what senator paul favors. that amendment was approved. >> there were several other notable amendments to the bill. can you tell us about those? >> the iran sanctions amendment would limit the type of materials related to shipping and other things iran does. it is a pretty tough amendment, but not as tough as what the house would prefer to do. that was passed by a large majority. >> senator carl levin and senator john mccain are managing this bill. we understand they hope to finish it in three days. that will not happen. how much more work is there to do? >> is remains to be seen. a lot needs to be sorted out behind the scenes. i do believe they would like to be finished by monday. that is where we are now. >> the house approved its defense authorization bill earlier this year. how does the senate bill differ? >> i was just speaking to some people on the house side, and they do not s

as well as the armed services committee.d why we didn't have military assets in place, given the volatility in that area of the world that could have helped those four brave americans. these attacks occurred over seven hours. particularly the last two people that were killed. megyn: yes, that happened several hours after the initial attack and whether or not we could have sent reinforcements there. there was a lot of discussion that may have sounded foreign to the readerviewers if they were watching it. the questioning by marco rubio, the senator from florida was, yes, mr. burns, was there an awareness beyond the six floor level of the deteriorating security situation, and the answer was yes, sir, there was. now, is that the person we have heard that hillary clinton knew about the deteriorating security situation in benghazi? remark i took from that testimony that that is where secretary clinton's office is. and that she was aware of it. given our activity in libya, i would be shocked if she wasn't aware of this deterioratin

the house and senate armed services committees held a conference on the national defense authorization act for fiscal 2013. the committees approved a budget of $26 million for the marine's transfer. the bill is likely to be enacted later this week through votes in the house and senate sessions. congress froze funding in the previous fiscal year, citing a lack of progress and relocating the futenma air station in okinawa. japanese and u.s. officials earlier this year agreed to proceed with the transfer separating it from the futenma relocation issue. the u.s. military plans to transfer 9,000 marines to guam, hawaii, australia, and elsewhere. >>> researchers at a thinktank for japan's defense ministry are warning that the chinese navy may start getting active near the disputed senkaku islands. japan controls the islands in the east china sea. china and taiwan claim the islands. the national institute for defense studies released a report on china's security policy, focusing on its recent military expansion at sea. the report says chinese people increasingly regard maritime disputes as in

affleck will be in washington today testifying before the house armed services committee about the security situation in congo is that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. >>> the dow saw its first back-to-back triple digit gains in five months tuesday. that was amid optimism that a deal will be reached on the fiscal cliff. today investors will be watching for fresh housing data and earnings from economic and holiday bellwether fedex. >>> this morning, swiss banking giant ubs announced it will pay a record $1.5 billion fine over its role in a global interest rate fixing scheme. >>> in the wake of the newtown massacre, cerberus is selling its majority stake in bushmaster firearms, the rifle used in friday's school shooting. >>> mark zuckerberg is making good on his promise to donate the majority of his wealth to charity, donating 18 million facebook shares worth about $500 million to the silicon valley community foundation. >>> oracle beat the street's estimates after the bell, and google's effort to put everything on the web, it's now boasting an online archive of high res images of t

i have to at the beginning also thank the chairman of the house armed services committee, mr. mckeon, for his hard work and his steady leadership on this bill, as well as the ranking member, mr. smith of washington, for continuing the time-honored tradition of close cooperation of bipartisanship when it comes to defense and producing this conference report. also, the provingal staff who worked closely on hundreds of difficult and very often technical issues and has done so cooperatively and in an extremely responsible manner. i'm very proud that the committee, armed services committee, produced a bill in a very bipartisan manner. i'm proud of the floor of the house who voted and passed in a bipartisan way this bill back in may. the senate has finally decided to pass the bill in december, but the senate has passed a bill is indeed commendable. unusual but also commendable, but the fact they have done this here gives us an opportunity of passing one of the few bills that must be done in every session of congress. the senate's procrast nation on this effort is -- crow crast natio

quite a while. >> democratic congressman, chellie pingree of maine, member of the democratic armed services committee> the much-needed, best new thing in the world coming up. >>> best new thing in the world. you know how you are watching tv and you get drawn in by the intimacy that is going on. what you are watching ends on this sweet, thoughtful note and the screen slowly fades to black and then it is commercial. buy this really awesome thing that we're selling you with tons of enthusiasm. whoa! once upon a time, so many americans complained about that thing happening to them that congress decided to do something to fix it. the fix was a piece of legislation called the commercial advertisement loudness mitigation act with the soothing acronym calm. it said you have to mitigate the loudness of your tv commercials so they are not dramatically louder than the other things on tv. after time to create the standards and give stations a chance to comply, the calm act goes into effect tonight at midnight. after midnight, if the station you are watching plays a commercial that is much louder than the program

she was talking about us both serving on the armed services committee and we're the only state that has both members on the armed services committee. and when we get the generals in front of us, we can really double-team them. [laughter] when there is an issue affecting hampshire. [applause] >> and we do. [laughter] >> it has certainly been a pleasure and an honor to work with senator shaheen in putting hampshire first. there are certainly many things you can disagree on, but there are a lot of things we can agree on forming hampshire. that is in new hampshire tradition. if you look at our state and you look at the history there, there has always generally been both parties working together. and i think that is very much a new hampshire tradition. and when i think about senator gregg -- he is somebody that i know work with senator shahene, we had the loss of warren rudman and he was somebody who had very much a bipartisan tradition in the senate when we were both at a remembrance of him in washington. it really struck me how many democrats came up and spoke about how important he was to

quite a while. >> democratic congressman, chellie pingree of maine, member of the democratic armed services committeet new thing in the world coming up. ♪ it's so important to make someone happy ♪ when you give a child a toy, it has to work. ♪ make just one someone happy and when it's a toys for tots child, well, what could be more important? so this year, every hasbro toy donated to toys for tots will be powered by duracell. happy holidays. duracell with duralock. trusted everywhere. [ male announcer ] with free package pickup from the u.s. postal service the holidays are easy. visit usps.com. pay, print, and have it picked up for free before december 20h for delivery in time for the holidays. you can even give us special instructions on where to find it. free package pickup. from the u.s. postal service. because it's nice to have an extra pair of hands around for the holidays. and his new boss told him two things -- cook what you love, and save your money. joe doesn't know it yet, but he'll work his way up from busser to waiter to chef before opening a restaurant specializing in fish and game from

budget is a jobs program secretary panetta just wrote a letter to the chairman of the house armed services committee on the eleventh of this month pointing out that in the national defense authorization act the congress. had added eight billion and programs that the pentagon did not need or want which would cost seventy four b. and over a ten year period now proportionally that's not extremely high when you're talking about cuts of fifty four b. but nor is it ends and if it can and it prevents the pentagon from prioritizing to maximize the effectiveness of defense dollars for security i think it was a nine hundred fifty. they have a speech to the american association of newspaper editors that sometimes referred to as the cross of iron speech where he talked about you know one bomber equals fifty four thousand barrels of we didn't you know every plane made as a signifies a theft essentially from the hungry but the larger point that he was making was that if you build a weapon of war and a bomb for example and you drop it on somebody that money is just gone whereas if you build a hospital or a school

day when i look at the recent rhetoric from this do nothing congress take us for example armed services committee just describe the looming defense cuts as quote an unacceptable risk that will quote severely diminished america's global posture right this would be devastating to a country that right now spends as much on its military as the next ten countries combined so would this be the end of defense as we know it that's exactly the question that my next case explored on a panel called the fiscal cliff what does this mean for defense and national security i'm joined now by colonel douglas macgregor thank you so much for taking the time sure so there is so much hype about this lawmakers are saying that this would be absolutely paralyzing to the military what's your response well let's understand what they're talking about in real terms right now if sequel happens which is at this point looks inevitable but it may not be you're looking at fifty five to sixty billion dollars of cuts next year you're looking at a little more than five hundred billion over ten years. in reality when you begin adding

arms services and judiciary committee member, congressman randy forbes joins us on the politics of itll and the impact of sequestering if not ascended. deutsche bank managing districter on the market reaction and economic impacts, and lieutenant colonel dave grossman joining us to talk about the impact of violent images on our youth and whether we should be focusing on the power of mass media, television, movies, video games, all of that coming up here tonight. for more details on the future of speaker boehner's plan b and whether to expect a plan c to be in the offing, ed henry with the report. >> reporter: speaker john boehner says while he's not cutting negotiations on a major deal with president obama, it's time for a backup plan. our plan b would protect american taxpayers who make a million dollars or less and have all of their current rates extended. >> reporter: if it passes thursday, there's little chance of passage in the senate where democrats say the goalposts keep getting moved. >> they take that football, and it's a charlie brown episode. they jerk the ball away. >> exce

eleven effort to go after al qaida most your audience managed and i testified for the house armed services committee not the intelligence committees because the operation was focused on military operations which is title ten title ten are those capabilities those laws which govern military operations and that is separate and distinct from intelligence collection intelligence lection has to do with something called title fifty which is essentially those body of laws which allow for c.i. . to conduct this military it's going to covert operations as well as intel its collection operations and if there were adequate anything done to collect intelligence should be done under title fifty and under specific congressional oversight with that said there is still oversight of title ten but it's done by different committees one of the things we're finding for example about dodgy is that there's a lot of different issues but no one committee you can go to because you have the foreign affairs you have the intelligence the have you have the armed services and that's part of the problem here is that there may be a

john mccain senior senator from arizona, presidential candidate and ranking member on the armed services committee, joe lieberman, senior senator from connecticut and was on the ticket with al gore, and lindsey graham, the senior senator from south carolina, a member of the armed services appropriations and budget committees. welcome the you three. the three amigos. as dubbed by general petraeus. >> you forgot to mention he ran for president also and lost and he'll run and lose some day. >> this is -- john, much too often as we travel has described us as the losers caucus. once we were in pakistan and the ambassador -- this was 2002, the ambassador was good enough to give a dinner in our honor. mccain and i led the delegation of eight other senators. he got up to make his toast. i'm here, mccain, he lost for president, i lost for vice president, john says, you have here before you, the american government in exile. >> by the time this interview is over, you will know why they both lost. >> what is known about the three of you is you're very close friends. i sort of represent an air or an essence o

there was a classified video of the attack presented to the house arms services committee. at video showed an attack by heavily armed terrorists who breached the compound in benghazi within just minutes. we have the full port here tonight straight ahead. among the guests, former u.s. ambassador to the united nation, john bolten, judith mill eric and ed qlien. we begin with the close door ie on benghazi that lawmakers say raises more questions than ever that the obama administration insisted the attack was the response of a demonstration prompted by rage over an anti-islam video. fox news correspondent with the latest on what lawmakers saw and heard today from the country's top intelligence ficials. >> the closed classified briefing brought together seen your state department, intelligence, and counterterrorism officials for a report on e three-month old investigion into the benghazi terrorist attacks. >> to the degree there was planning involv, something done over days, weeks, or over hours? no indication of long term planning here. >> the attacks cnology was laid oillet in

lindsey graham has been a leading voice on this issue on the armed services committee. host: clear up the confusion over the announcement regarding defense programs that may be affected by sequestration. the government has to give these contractors a 60-day notice to let them know that their contract is coming to an end and that that has not gone out because no one has said for sure that they are going to sequester the spending on january 1. guest: this is something that has been confusing to smaller contractors we have talked to. if you are one of these large defense giants and some of these bigger companies, you can handle this uncertainty better. you have multimillion-dollar contracts. if you are a smaller defense contractor, you did not know if congress will reach a bipartisan accord and get the president to stop this thing. that is a big problem when you are looking at the smaller bottom lines. that is where you see the most peril in terms of sequestration. there is confusion as to whether or not they will have contracts. particularly when you look at states that h

president, i ask unanimous consent that the armed services committee be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 139 -- i'm sorry. 1339. we now proceed to this matter. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 1339, an act to designate the city of salem, massachusetts, as the birthplace of the national guard of the united states. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. reid: i further ask the bill be read a third time, passed, the motion to reconsider be considered phaeupbd laid on the table, with no intervening or debate and statements related to the measure be printed in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the committee on commerce be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 4212 and we now proceed to this matter. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 4212, an act to prevent the introduction into commerce of unsafe dry wall and so forth and other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection

in the senate, olympia has worked tirelessly as a member of the finance committee, the armed services committee, the committee on commerce, science and transportation, the select committee on intelligence and as chair of the committee on small business and entrepreneurship. now, a lot of people like to focus on olympia's independent streak but my experience is that she herself has always cared most deeply about the people of maine. she has gone to great efforts over the years to talk to her constituents directly. i have made main street tours across the state a hallmark of my tenure in public office, she once said. they are like my secret poll. it's through these tours that olympia decides which problems to fix, whether it was storm relief after the 1998 ice storm, the fight i already mentioned to keep maine's military facilities open, or reauthorization of the northeast dairy compact on behalf of maine's dairy farmers. of course, this isn't to down play olympia's penchant for independence or for joining gangs. senator snowe's maternal grandparents emigrated to the u.s. from sparta which may ha

i have served on the armed services committee. you of become a general in more ways than one. army's battle against prostate cancer has been so effective. i am truly honored to be part of today. i would like to end on a couple notes. as i mentioned, golf is the only sport where you call infractions on yourself. perhaps those of us in the congress should think about mr. palmer's example. we can call more infractions on ourselves and play the political and policy balls where they live. every two years in the world of golf, the ryder cup. in the end, we all played for the red, white, and blue team. i am honored to be here with you today. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, golf legend, philanthropist, and goodwill ambassador, mr. jack nicklaus. [applause] >> hello, speaker boehner, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. arnold will tell you when you get to our age, i need a lot of people. you begin conversations with "i remember when." it is not uncommon for someone to say a "i remember you in the 1960 u.s. open. i was wearing a green shirt. you waved at me." the only proper

of the joint chiefs of staff admiral michael mueller joined former senators in the house armed services committee chairman this week to urge congress to avoid sequestration. also speaking over the next 50 minutes, arms services committee chairman sam nunn, ike skelton and the national security hosted this event in washington, d.c.. >> good afternoon. thank you for coming. my name is pete peterson. i would have given you a review of the foundation and why we are supporting the project you are here about today. starting about 30 years ago, after studying the profound demographic trend, and the vast unfunded pharmacists that we've made, i decided that our projected long-term, and i emphasize long-term debt or not only on sanibel liguori primary threat to the future. speaking of unsustainable, in the nixon white house and which i serve, the chairman of the council of economic advisers used to say if something is unsustainable he said it tends to stop for he said if you don't like that, if your horse dies i suggest you dismount. well i think we have been he'd be eating as the we can write this more or

. >> if i were in the senate on the armed services committee, and he was nominated i would have some serious questions to ask him. >> i think senator engle will not be nominated or not be confirmed. the concede in the obama white house was these are republicans. on foreign policy, he's been way to the left of president obama. >>> former nebraska senator chuck hagel has been leaked not nominated leaked as a potential nominee for secretary of defense, and there was already a massive counter offensive against him. it does have more substance to it, than the attacks against susan rice. a fair amount of that substance consists of insinuations. the sides are forming, there's the chuck hagel defense corps and the club of very tree ole and assault. what is not happening is sitting back and asking the simple question, would this person make a better defense secretary than the alternatives who are the other people up for the job. would one of them be better? the front-runners for secretary of defense are chuck hagel. there's also michelle florinoid, who is well qualified. also in the running i

bucky shinmoedake chairman of the house armed services committee.s. >> thanks for having me. >> to do the math the 500 billion reduction in military spending triggered by 2011's budget control act would be added to the 487 billion the obama administration larry limb natured in this year's budget q. can our military survive that? >> we had five hearings leading up to this. and all of the former and current military leaders said how devastating it would be from the secretary of defense on down. secretary of defense said that it would be like shooting ourselves in the head. you know there hasn't been much talk, with all of the talk about the fiscal cliff that seems to be soaking up all the oxygen in the room. i noticed that the al-qaida and the a rabe bow and pennsylvania have put a bounty on the head of the ambassador, and on any military person from the u.s. that's killed. with what happened in benghazi the ambassador and three other americans killed, and we have done nothing to -- other than investigate -- to take any objection on that, now we have

life here in the united states senate, and during my first life we served together on the armed services committee. we did a number of initiatives together which i was proud to be associated with him that i believe strengthened our national economy and our security team around the world. but beyond it -- and we worked on school vouchers for d.c. and a number of other initiatives affecting the future of our military and other issues that were of importance to us. most importantly from my standpoint, we worked together to bring values that each of us cherish based on our faith. joe's jewish faith and my christian faith. we discovered on a trip to iraq just after desert storm that we, in talking to each other, shared our respective faith and how it affected our lives, how it affected our families and how it helped us form decisions that we make. and, of course, being -- coming from two different parties, we didn't find agreement everything on but we found agreement on a number of things, and particularly those things where we shared common values, where our faiths shared common values and where indiv

congress this year and i think rightly some republican senator james inhofe is a member of the armed services committeewelcome back to the show. when i go through these stats it is really staggering. you look at the air force which paid $59 a gallon for 11,000 gallons of alternative fuel. the navy spent $12 million on biofuels at a rate of $26 a gallon. at a time we're talking about raising taxes and the fiscal cliff and what financial problems we're in this country, i read these numbers i want to tear my heart out. how do you feel? >> melissa, it is worse than that. in '09 he had the navy pay $424 a gallon for 20,000 gallons. that is fuel on the market you could buy for $3 a gallon. $424 a gallon. in mind, this president has had a war on our defense system. he disarmed america. he has done away with our brigade combat teams, our ships, our f-22s, c-17s, future combat systems. he uses the excuse. no, i have not reduced the budget for the defense. but what he has done, melissa is move his green agenda into the, under the defense so we're paying for all this. now, senator mccain and i took this out. we h

. >> i wouldn't say that his votes disqualify him, but if i were in the senate on the armed services committee and he was nominated, i would have some really serious questions to ask him. president obama obviously has earned the right to nominate whoever he wants. but i think this will be a very tough confirmation process. >> chuck schumer was also just like those guys. is this going to be too much of a fight for president? gentlemen, thank you. i want to start with steve on this one. this sunday when given the opportunity to defend hagel, chuck schumer i just mentioned, refused to do so. listen to what this very smart senator from new york had to say. >> that's his choice. i think once he makes it, his record will be studied carefully. but until that point, i think we're not going to know what's going to happen. >> can you support him? >> i'd have to study his record. i'm not going to comment until the president makes a nomination. >> steve, i have a sense that this knocking of this candidate has gone beyond neocons, people of the right. and including people who are just generally pro-israeli

to our colleague in the armed services committee, when he says the president has not lifted a finger to are which the kahane -- to stop the sequester on the defense is not true. he would remove the sequestered for a least one year, and before 10. if it is more cuts than we are talking about on the floor today. what we really have is the fact that too many of our republican colleagues think that compromise is a dirty word. aum -- and that is what brings us to the floor today in this political exercise period of has unfortunately been the case throughout the year, the republican package we are dealing with today has 2 objectives. one objective is to minimize the impact of the budget challenge on high income earners, and to shift that burden on to middle income earners and working people. the numbers tell a story. if we go over the fiscal cliff, people earning over a million dollars, will face a significant income tax hike. but under the republican plan, compared to the senate plan that is before this house right now, the house republican plan would give those millionaires $50,000 in ta

a chart from the house armed services committee shows the sequester would bring d.o.d.unding as a percentage of the total budget well below 15%. look at this. this was the cold war buildup. right? this is where we'd be looking at to where percentage of defense of where things would look if all of this gets through. now let's look at it in terms of the jobs, the congressional research. 907,000 jobs in 2013. 1.21 million jobs in 2014, civilian and military positions, contractors, this is suppliers and this is the way it would bear out. if you keep going, let's look at it across the board in the different states. the biggest one and the one that everybody in washington, d.c., would note is the state of virginia here. of course that's why their economy has been humming along. you would see ten states, the top ten states in terms of workers directly employed by the aerospace and defense industry. the most recent labor sta t statistics, california, connecticut, virginia, kansas, new york, and pennsylvania employ just together 434,000 defense industry workers. half of all defe

of course you're going to sit before the senate arms services committee and put your hand up and say, i'm really sorry about what i said 15-plus years ago about a particular nominee. i really mean it, trust me. so, yeah, the sincerity question, absolutely. >> this is a question i want to ask. this past week, congressman charles bassett supported repealing the defense of marriage act. third gop house member to do that some see a shift in the republican party of acceptance of the lgbt community? have you seen that trend and what was the turning point? >> elections have consequences. i'm going to quote a paraphrase, former chairman of the rnc, haley barbour said, purity is the enemy of victory. and what he was getting at is something we have been saying for quite a while. let's win on the corollaries that we agree upon. we agree upon economic freedom, we agree upon strong national security. we agree upon the core conservative tenets of individual liberty and individual responsibility. let's not isolate or separate fellow americans because of something like their sexual orientation. >> le

affleck was on capitol hill this week speaking about the house arms services committee to raise awareness issues facing the people of congo. senator affleck, how does that sound to you? >>> senator mccain is feeling the christmas spirit. the senator tweeted this yesterday. wackiest christmas card i've received, thank you, loretta sanchez. she is known for her creative holiday cards. this year's theme is a riff on the fiscal cliff. >>> a million moms plan to march on washington in support of gun control. a survival of gun violence herself and that's coming up and what does that mean when even grover norquist cannot get the gop to march in lockstep. does this mean the republican party is in disarray? our war room has more on that. ♪ ♪ ♪ clear, huh? i'm not juice or fancy water. i've got nine grams of protein. that's three times more than me! [ female announcer ] ensure clear. nine grams protein. zero fat. in blueberry/pomegranate and peach. you know how painful heartburn can be. for fast, long lasting relief, use doctor recommended gaviscon®. only gaviscon® forms a protective barrier that h

and i want to say as a member of the armed services committee how much i appreciated his particular commitment to ensuring the american defense capability remains second to none and his willingness to take the steps necessary to maintain our defense at the level we would want it to be. and so mr. president, i would yield the floor. >> the senator from utah. to begin i want to express my deepest sorrow for the events of last friday. as a parent, grandparent and great grandparent i was who are fide to hear of the tragedy in newtown, connecticut. my sadness remains for those who have lost their children and loved ones and for the quiet community that was shattered through such an act of violence. i, like almost everyone i know, am at a loss of making sense of such a horrible tragedy and i won't do so today. all i can do is offer my prayers and simpthist for those who lost their friends and family members and to the people of newtown. in my faith we believe that families are eternal. that those who have lost loved ones will one day we reunited with them. that belief has helped me cope with losses

if i were in the senate on the armed services committee and he was nominated, i would have some reallyerious questions to ask him. not just about israel, but to me, the most significant foreign policy challenge for president obama and our country and the world in the next year or two is iran and it's nuclear weapons program. chuck hagel has had some very outlying votes on that. he's been -- >> he wants to establish communication. >> he's been consistently -- i think in that sense anybody who tries to communicate with iran has run into a brick wall, and chuck hagel has consistently been against economic sanctions to try to change the behavior of the islamic regime, the radical regime in tehran, which is the only way to do it short of war. so, in fact, as i look at chuck hagel's positions on iran, they seem to me to be quite different than president obama. now, president obama obviously has earned the right to naum night whoever he wants. i think this is a very tough confirmation process. i don't know how it would end, but there are reasonable questions to ask and that chuck hagel has to

the incredible important work that he did as a strong and resolute member of the senate armed services committee, but also as the chairman of the homeland security and government affairs committee. he helped to lead the federal government's response to september 11 to those horrible attacks on our nation and our country, and every american is safer because of the work that joe lieberman did as chairman of that committee and the work that he did on the senate armed services committee in this body and the work that i know that he will continue to do when he leaves the senate. my friend, joe lieberman, represents the very best of public service. he has stood firm for freedom, international engagement, and american military strength. he will be remembered among members of this body not only for his accomplishments but for the way that he has conducted himself, always a gentleman, he has conducted himself with great decency, civility, and humility. at a time when our country faces great challenges, his quiet and effective leadership and commitment to working across party lines will be sorely missed i

so somebody like hagel who can maneuver through that plus has the history of being on the armed services committeethey're not looking for a battlefield commander, they're looking for somebody to be able to run the business side of it. >> gentlemen, thank you very much. >>> we're following breaking news right now, state police are responding to a report of a school shooting in newtown, connecticut. they say it happened at sandy hook elementary just before 10:00 this morning, no word on any injuries. a shop across the street, someone who works there tells nbc news that three ambulances responded but they have already left the area. a child care center next door has locked down the building. we will keep you posted on this developing story out of newtown, connecticut. >>> meantime, a california judge is being publicly admonished for saying that a rape victim doesn't put up a fight during her assault. superior court judge made those comments during the sentencing in 2008. he also said if someone didn't want sex, quote, the body will not permit that to happen. the council on jewish performance saying t

. >> chairman of the armed services committee -- >> that's -- >> let me just make my point, guys. know you're laughing at me, and i don't want to be hoisted on this petard, but when a committee chairman then becomes nominated, their colleagues look at them with great deference, but you never know what you don't know. john kerry is completely qualified, healthy despite, you know, a scare back in '04, and we could imagine a very quick and easy confirmation. >> far better this. i'm not laughing at you, i'm enjoying one aspect of the way you said something. do you think this is a much better appointment from kerry's point of view than had he been put up for defense when there was the old issue of his anti-war activities? >> and of his qualifications. he has foreign policy experience, but the military street cred, even though he was a war hero, it's very controversial and he doesn't have the primary budget experience that leon panetta had as a former budget director. >> one thing this does potentially reopen back up, so there had been a lot of reporting, andrea has done a lot of report