then the other day when susan rice was meeting with mccain and graham and ayotte, the acting directorf the cia was with her and said no, it was the fbi that changed it. later the fbi called the cia and thed cia said no, it was the ca that changed it. it's a story from the gang that can't shoot straight. unfortunately, four americans were killed in theot process. >> you know, i think that the american people certainly are entitled to answers, and yet, you know, all of these hearings seemed to be closed door hearings and the families haven't gotten the answers they want. it's amazing now susan rice is being considered as the secretary of state as hillary clintonta leaves. so is there anything that would cause you to change your mind regarding whether or not she is or shoul should become the secry of state? >> no. again, that's for the senate to vote t on, but no. i called for her resignation back in september. i think i was the first one to do f it. i have the same doubts about her as secretary of state. she has to explain what happened here and why she allowed herself to be used in thi

. >> democratic senator mark kelli ayotte are here next. two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. bp has paid over twenty-three billion dollars to help those affected and to cover cleanup costs. today, the beaches and gulf are open, and many areas are reporting their best tourism seasons in years. and bp's also committed to america. we support nearly 250,000 jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. time for citi price rewind. because your daughter really wants that pink castle thing. and you really don't want to pay more than you have to. only citi price rewind automatically searches for the lowest price. and if it finds one, you get refunded the difference. just use your citi card and register your purchase online. have a super sparkly day! ok. [ male announcer ] now all you need is a magic carriage. citi price rewind. buy now. save later. i heard you guys can ship ground for less than the ups store. that's right. i've

bill: thank you, kelly ayotte, republican senator there. we will follow this.if you have questions, bya, because you asked and the email to hemmer@foxnews.com. or follow me on twitter at tweet@bill hemmer. get curious about what is in the news today and fire away. lines are open. man, so many questions still. three months down the road. those families. martha: a lot those families need to know. and also on this point we are searching for some answers this morning. the parents of missing 20-year-old college student lawrence spiere says that her friends know more than they are telling them. what can be done to get justice for lauren. bill: packing his bags in a moment. we'll hear from nasa astronaut scott kelly who is literally about to move into outer space for an entire year. how about that for a road trip? ♪ [singing] martha: the parents of missing college student lauren spiere are saying they are being stonewalled by the friends she was w the people who last saw their daughter. they say they simply are not talking about what happened that night. she vanished

[applause] >> thank you very much, senator ayotte, for a generous introduction. thank you, senator shaheen, for seeing to it that we have room with historical residents and the residents in warren's own life to get together this afternoon. we are grateful to you. in thinking about what warren would say about this gathering to pay tribute to him if he were here, i keep thinking that despite being called master of ceremonies, if i could ask warren what my role here is this afternoon, he would probably look at the number of senators and former senator's here on the platform with me and the old golden gloves boxer in him probably come out and he would say -- you're the referee. [laughter] under any title, i am very honored to be with margaret rudman and with members of the rudman family this afternoon and with all of you in spending some time thinking about and remembering the friend whom we will miss for the rest of our lives. i can tell you this -- as long as memory does serve us, we will not be able to think of warren rudman for very long -- of what he was or what

. >> you have bobby jindal, kelly ayotte, ted cruz -- unless you are barack obama, you don't imagine yourself as president before you even serve in this and it. [laughter] he will have to wait. obama, of course, is the one exception. but this is a strong young outfield. mitch daniels and in jeb bush on the outside. what this tells you is what could have been in 2012. you remember the line of it republican candidates earlier this year, it was not exactly a credit to the party. and 20 debate heard them. -- hurt them. >> the quarantined governor christie and the new jersey has a 72% favorable job rating among his constituents, the highest ever recorded by quinnipiac -- i mean, of any governor of any state. whenever republicans have done to shun him has worked very well in the garden state. [laughter] >> what about some of these other names? another democratic name? joe biden? too old? >> andrew cuomo. >> governor of maryland, martin o'malley. all those people in nation themselves as potential -- >> will they really challenge celebrate? there is -- challenge hillary? >> there is a patter

. >> i think that the press conference on friday, senator graham, senator mccain and senator ayotte who i think now replaced joe liebermen of the three amigos, made the impact on foreign policy, and i thought between the fiscal cliff and newtown, connecticut that the story would kind of fade away. i don't think it will. i think the pressure on secretary clinton to testify while she's still in office, as secretary of state, and then whatever carryover that takes over to senator kerry of massachusetts confirmation hearings, secretary of state sometime early next year, i think the story has a lot of legs coming in 2013. >> jon: we know that susan rice lost her chance to become secretary of state because she went out on the talk shows and spawned the videos. >> the board concluded there was no protests prior to the attacks which were unanticipated in their scale and intensity. a lot of people in the media bought the administration's spin. should there be you know, repercussions to that? >> the amazing thing about the way this whole story has been covered ap the way that certain news outlets

kelly ayotte, the republican from new hampshire. what we know is that ambassador rice saw the presidential daily briefing. the classified intelligence. that had the very detailed, classified information about the al qaeda linked group al sharia. the fact that they thought that this was planned from the very beginning to be a terrorist attack when they put that up the chain within the first few hours. but there wasn't a spontaneous demonstration. a lot of people say that this story is dissolving a roaring away. if ambassador rice is nominated to the secretary of state position, this will be a big talking moment during those hearings. jon: we heard the president many times saying that osama bin laden was dead. they carried out attack killed the first american ambassador in 30 years. that leaves talk on the question as to the stories that they were putting on morning shows. reporter: sure. ambassador rice has admitted she chose the wrong words. twice in those five sunday shows, she said that al qaeda was decimated. now, she was not ref

(laughter) so susan rice met yesterday with senators mccain, graham and ayotte to clear the air. how did that go? >> ambassador rice i think does not do justice to the reality at the time and in hindsight clearly was completely wrong. >> we are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got and some that we didn't get concerning evidence that was overwhelming leading up to the attack on our consulate. >> jon: here's the deal: they may be right. though on the scale of public misstatements, rice's comments seem to fall more for the embarrassing evidence of institutional disorganization end of the scale. (laughter) but here's the thing: these two don't get to be the ones who self-righteously get angry about this. they're upset she may have passed bad intel, wittingly or unwittingly to the american people. remember these two from a decade ago? >> saddam hussein continues to acquire, amass, and improve on his arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. he continues to acquire -- attempt to acquire a nuclear weapon. these are all well-known facts. >> let's act now to get rid of

. >> senator ayotte, there's not much time left here, and it does seem like an inordinate amount of time, almost a month has passed, and we have a description of stalemate and way far apart. >> candy, i see that as swre disappointing, a big problem. that's why i didn't like seeing that essentially it was a rerun of his budget that couldn't get support from either party in the house or the senate. it is time. i see, you know -- for the speaker to come forward and put revenue on the table, that was -- >> he put revenue on the table the day after the election. >> that was very difficult. i know that mark understands that, but the primary drivers of our fiscal crisis when we think about it, we don't want to go bankrupt. we don't want to be like greece. entitlement reforms, the majority of our spending, and also to make sure that those programs are preserved 2024 medicare is insolvent. social security 2023. it is time for us to come together and solve the big problems. >> do you think entitlements have to be on the table? >> putting revenue on the table versus specificity is really two differ

it was john mccain, kelly ayotte, lindsey graham, the three of those senators who were mounting this. others who were concerned about the fact that susan rice got certain information about what happened in benghazi, came on "meet the press," described it in the way that was consistent with the information that she was given despite the fact that there were differences within the government about whether this was an attack or a spontaneous event. and the reality is i think that that was a smaller issue than the larger issue of debate, which is what does america do in terms of its footprint in countries like libya where we have fewer forces and we don't really want to reconstitute the entire country. that's what i think the debate was all about. but, again, it comes back to the political reality that the president had a personal fight on his hands. this is a friend of his. this is somebody who has served as national security team in a very close way going back to his campaign. was u.n. ambassador. somebody he thinks a great deal of who got in the line of fire over benghazi and in the i

kelly ayotte just released a statement.s decision and appreciate her decision however my concerns are deeply troubled by the continued lack of information from the white house and the state department. that coming in from kelly ayotte. >>> up next, software giant john mcafee, did he really suffer a heart attack? the surprising admission he has now made to cnn's cameras. that's next. all waking up. ♪ becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change. cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency. the ambulance will talk to patient records will talk to doctors about saving lives. it's going to be amazing. and exciting. and maybe, most remarkably, not that far away. the next big thing? we're going to wake the world up. ♪ and watch, with eyes wide, as it gets to work. ♪ cisco. tomorrow starts here. in that time there've been some good days. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've pers

. >> senator john mccain and susan ayotte feel they have a case again her in relates to benghazi before the election because susan rice after the incident happened, that the murder of ambassador stevens went on the sunday morning talk shows and said that the demonstrations were related to the islamic video that some kid in california made. and what they want to know is why susan rice, u.n. ambassador, was sent out there and why she was sticking with the story that was crumbling almost as she was saying it. >> paul: the intelligence talking points and not trying to be dishonest. >> two points, they want to know whether the administration was politicizing or trying to protect the president from an ugly event in libya just before the election, and second, the more serious policy issue is what exactly was the administration, the white house and the state department, doing during that period when this big fire fight was taking place in benghazi? and i think the white house has been trying to sweep this issue away in the wake of the election and i think these senators are entitled to keep pre

senator kelly ayotte sits on the armed services committee and the call for answers on libya and whatcome back to the program you think you, megyn, it's good to be with you. megyn: this is why we are having hearings on capitol hill, of course and there were security breaches. what have we learned? would jump out at you? >> what has jumped out at me is what we expected from the beginning. there was a deteriorating security situation based on the prior attacks of the conflict. the allies, the intelligence leading up to it, that the security was grossly inadequate. made clear from the report that we do have to hear from secretary clinton. obviously, we need to understand fully what she was aware of. we have to ascertain that she was aware of this deteriorating situation and the president, what was he told about the situation in libya, and why wasn't he acting in conjunction to make sure that the coppola was secure. those are questions that have not been answered. as well as the armed services committee. i do think we have to understand why we didn't have military assets in place, given t

mccain, lindsey graham and colin, couple -- and ayotte spent hours with her behind closed doors and cameh a face like uh-oh, this is going to be a problem. they were trying to give her the benefit of the doubt and realized they couldn't she has no choice. >> dana: there is an art of floating somebody's fame for something, they didn't do it well. >> andrea: they created this mess from day one. they floated her name. they are the ones that pushed it. now, they think this is good for them. it really do think this is good for them. the president issued a statement that said we can't believe, we're disappointed in republicans. if i were her, i would say you know what? spare me. you have have done enough to hurt me. now i look like a victim. she should have said weeks ago i think we talked about this on america's newsroom, she should say i don't want it. >> dana: happy where i am. >> bob: if you float a name for secretary of state and don't do it by giving her talking points on controversial issue and put it on a talk show. >> dana: that aren't true. >> greg: so you are blaming the video of he

president caved after months of republican attacks led by senators john mccain, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte on u.n. ambassador susan rice focusing on her scripted television appearances following the benghazi tragedy today ambassador rice withdrew her name from consideration to be nominated for secretary of state. in an interview with brian williams, rice pointed to the distraction the republican attacks have caused. >> today i made the decision that it was the best thing for our country for the american people that i not continue to be considered by the president for nomination as secretary of state because i didn't want to see a confirmation process that was very prolonged very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive because there are so many things we need to get done, as a country. and the first several months of the second term president's agenda is really the opportunity to get the crucial things done. we're talking about comprehensive immigration reform balanced deficit reduction, job creation, that's what matters and to the extent that my nomination could have delayed or d

bill: dirk durbin and kelly ayotte, two of the guests sitting down with chris wall as.s alert, growing tensions in egypt this hour as rival factions take to the streets. support earths and opponents much egyptian president mohammed morsi staging massive rallies one day before voting on a draft constitution that has plunged the count are country into a political hotbed. here is the scene. >> reporter: we are on the eave of that crucial vote. this is what it's all b. this is a copy of the draft constitution. it is 63-pages long, 256 articles and it is causing a lot of problems, including in the egyptian city today of alexandria. protestors for and against president mohammed morsi and the constitution clashing in the streets after a cleric urged a yes vote at friday prayers, he's not supposed to do that. rocks were torn, cars were torched, there were injuries and arrests. so far in cairo it has been quiet. the muslim brotherhood, promorsi forces gathering in one location in fairly big numbers. also behind us here in tahrir square and in the presidential palace the critics

she called for meetings with mccain and i believe lindsey graham and then kelly ayotte and they said meeting, we feel worse. >> they said things were not cleared up. another pivotal moment, after the meetings with those senators, who already kind of noted they were opposed to susan rice before the meetings, they came out with more questions. you had a moderate republican in susan collins within days who met with susan rice. she came out saying i'm not sure i can support this nomination if she's nominated. when you have a moderate republican who is a supporter of the president's democratic nominees saying i'm not sure about this, a female senator in susan collins, it was clear the votes were not there for susan rice to be secretary of state. >> thank you very much. >>> mike emanuel, who we were talking to about the john boehner and president obama meeting, there's another piece of news. >> a lot of people on capitol hill are wonder whether the president wanted a fight over the next secretary of state. a lot of republican senators here were saying that essentially he should have the pe

senator ayott, going beyond any one individual. they can't even be mag nam mouse in the face of such states woman ship that was demonstrated by this ambassador, susan rice, today, governor, o'maley? >> yes, it's hard for them. the republican party has twisted itself in the sense of a corkscrew state. that they're just having a hard time right now as a party. it would be great if the party of lincoln would reemerge and take control of what's been made of the republican party. we have very serious issues to grow our economy. to strengthen our middle class. and these republicans, both in the senate in this case and republican governors tend to focus their efforts on rolling back women's rights, rolling back workers rights, instead of focusing on the things that make us safer and more secure and to grow our economy and strengthen our middle class. people, i think, are not going to be very forgiving of this. i do believe that what they see abld what's happened in michigan with the passage of right to work, really the right to work for l

christie out of guarn teen and jeb and the up and coming senators like kelly ayotte.s. >> bret: susana martinez. >> exactly. a loa lot -- long and inspiring list of the few leaders with ide log call energy and intellectual depth. economassuming our economy is sl around is going to mark an open seat. since 5953. with -- 1953, one party held the white house for two term, they have been kicked out. the one exception is reagan reagan-bush. calendar of history is you get two terms. the other guy will come in. this is a prize and it will bring out, i think, the best young leaders. >> bret: right now, people are tired of the election. but about the messaging and from the speeches did you hear a framing of a new conservative message? >> yes. in a sense the return to old conservative message. but i expect to hear reform conservative a bit in the coming years. what sets apart the people that charles mentioned, particularly these two fellows is the fact that they came to washington -- they ran for office to do something and get stuff done. the republican party have people to run

kelly ayotte voted for it. mississippi senator thad cochrane voted in favor and then as it was going down switched his vote to no. cochrane up in 2014. mississippi more worried about a primary than a general. this is one of of the saddest days i've seen in almost 28 years in the senate. and it needs to be a wake-up call about a broken institution that's letting down the american people. the g 0 op divide was on full display yesterday in both chambers. so was the republican attempt to move past the losses in 2012. there was a tribute to honor the late jack kemp. two men who had their eye on 2016. congressman paul ryan and marco rubio laid out their visions for expanding the appeal to the middle class. clear from the outset that the night was about moving past mitt romney. ryan welcomed rubio to the dinner, by the way, by joking about potential early state r run-ins the two of them may have ahead of them. >> i'll see you at the reunion can dinner for two. notice any good diners in new hampshire or iowa? >> paul,

weeks ago here on the hill, first of all with her chief republican foes, senators mccain, graham and ayotte, but more importantly it was probably with a republican who hadn't quite made up her mind, the moderate republican from maine, susan collins. by all accounts, that meeting did not go well at all, because according to a source familiar with that meeting, she didn't want to answer really basic questions and got frustrated and maybe even a little prickly at some of the basic questions. and after that, the feeling even among some democrats who talked to these republicans was they really weren't sure if she can't handle meetings with u.s. senators, how is she going to be on the world stage representing the u.s. there? so, that definitely was an issue. there's no question that the president in his statement made clear that he didn't think susan rice was treated fairly. there's no question there was politics at play here by republicans who were really, really angry about benghazi, and she illustrated that, but it was more than that. it was also personality driven, because democrats even thin

saw last week it was pretty tough particularly after her meetings with senators john mccain, kelly ayottesan collins. if the white house really wants to put her in the position and get her confirmed, they probably want to rip that band-aid off and do it soon. anything later might be tougher for her just because there's a drip drip of information that could end up hurting her candidacy. >> i want to plak a jokey joke moment between senator john kerry and senator mccain. >> senator mccain. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary. >> thank you very much, mr. president. this is what happens when you get two losers up here, folks. we're just having fun. >> they're just having fun. obviously, though, a little sensitivity. folks in d.c. wanted to be clear they know that was a joking moment. nevertheless you know folks when you hear these things they wonder what's next for senator kerry. >> one of the big parlor games is a lot of democrats believe that one of the reasons you had republicans go so hard after susan rice is they would prefer to see john kerry at secretary of state mainly because that

john mccain, kelly ayotte senator brasso scott brown, susan collins, olympia snowe, dick lugar lease the rest voted no lead by tea partyer mike lee from utah and the tea party said, no no, we can't do this because this is going to interfere with our national so far writtenty. no, it's not. and. >> and this is going to interfere with parents' rights to control their own children. >> we all want to support the best interest of the child every child but i and many of my constituents including those who send their children to private or religious schools very long justifiable doubts that foreign u.n. body, a committee operating out of geneva switzerland should decide what is in the best interest of the child at home. insane. totally insane. >> that's are the flat earnthers. mike lee was joined by surprise surprise, rick santorum that said this will prevent parents. again, again, the treaty on disabledties just says all of the disabled people around the world should have the same opportunities that the united states does. hold the united states up in the americans disabilitities act as a

senator kelly ayotte. [applause] she was the first new hampshire woman elected to congress in 2006. please join me in welcoming representative elect carol shea-porter. [applause] [applause] and our newly elected official representing new hampshire's second district, representative elect ann mclane kuster. [applause] [applause] finally this morning, the new governor for the state of new hampshire -- please join me in welcoming governor elect maggie hassan. [applause] [applause] >> welcome. [no audio]so exciting. thank you all so much for coming. good morning. so great to see all of you this morning. thank you so much. i really appreciate it. good morning. we have a lot to talk about this morning. in my world, never enough time -- i am sure yours as well. i'm just going to jump right in. i hope we can have a great, well-rounded conversation. the first question i want to ask you is something we talked about -- on the day after the election, people all over the united states seemed so profoundly excited. viewing it as a historic moment. i have to ask you, what does it mean to you? i'm r

john mccain, lindsey graham, kelly ayotte picking this fight with susan rice for basically followinghe intel community gave her? >> well, i do think there are going to be some hardcore supporters of susan rice who believe that this was done unfairly. that she was a victim of this. that she was a victim of a feeding frenzy of a group of folks, whether it was on talk radio, whether it was on other conservative outlets who were attempting to make her the story, make her the issue instead of going where it should have been, which is there clearly was some sort of intelligence breakdown. a problem in the intelligence community. a problem in the intelligence community that we thought we were trying to solve post-9/11. that was the issue here. she was just -- got turned into a punching bag. did it go over the top? and i think that there might be some introspection there. i don't think there's any long-term hits on that front. i do think what's interesting for the president is the three big jobs now openings, treasury, defense and state. the front-runners are all white men. john kerry at sta

senate republicans actually voted to approve the measure, like senator john mccain and kelly ayotte,name a few. others b others band together saying that if passed it will inhibit people in the united states. ana navaro and maria cardona joins us. in john mccain's words promote rights for disabled people, including our own veterans overseas? >> first of all i don't think it was a stand against people with disabilities. it was a stand against this treaty. it was a stand against a united nations treaty. there were a number of concerns. i read the statements by both john mccain and also some of the other senators that voted against. they're not tea party senators as senator reid is describing them. they are thoughtful people who pay attention, senators like lindsey graham, marco rubio, republicans who give -- who give a great credence to things like sovereignty and don't want to give authority to the united nations. they want the americans with disabilities act to be the golden standard by which we guide our actions. >> but isn't the treaty worded in pretty much exactly the same way as

senator kelly ayotte. [applause] she was the first new hampshire woman elected to congress in 2006. please join me in welcoming representative elect carol shea- porter. [applause] and our newly elected official representing new hampshire's second district, representative elect ann mclane kuster. [applause] finally this morning, the new governor for the state of new hampshire -- please join me in welcoming governor elect maggie hassan. [applause] >> welcome. so exciting. thank you all so much for coming. good morning. so great to see all of you this morning. thank you so much. i really appreciate it. good morning. we have a lot to talk about this morning. in my world, never enough time -- i am sure yours as well. i'm just going to jump right in. i hope we can have a great, well-rounded conversation. the first question i want to ask you is something we talked about -- on the day after the election, people all over the united states seemed so profoundly excited. viewing it as a historic moment. i have to ask you, what does it mean to you? i'm really wondering -- isn't as significant to

shaheen, blumenthal, mccain, inhofe, sessions, chambliss, wicker, brown of massachusetts, portman, ayotte, collins, graham, cornyn and vitter. mr. whitehouse: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island is recognized. mr. whitehouse: may i ask unanimous consent that we continue in morning business until 7:00 p.m. the presiding officer: is there an objection? no objection, so ordered. mr. whitehouse: i note the absencabsence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. begich: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska is recognized. beck beck recognized. mr. begich: i ask we vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. begich: you now lay before the senate a message from the house with respect to h.r. 2838. the presiding officer: the clerk lays before the senate a message from the house. the clerk: resolve that the house agree to the amendment of the senate to the title of the bill h.r. 2838, a title enact to authorize appropriations for coast guard for fi

jon: new hampshire senator kelly ayotte along with her fellow senators, lindsey graham and john mccainfairly blistering assessment of the report that came out from the accountability review board on what happened in benghazi. and we have a couple of experts here who can talk about what she is senators had to say just now. judy miller, fox news contribute tore, who has made many, many trips reporting to that part of the world. rick grenell, spokesman for four u.s. ambassadors to the united nations. in particular senator graham suggested, i mean he was asking the question, essentially, what did the president know and when did he know it? there are some real questions to be asked raised by this report, this accountability review board report about what happened in benghazi. >> yeah. we were taking notes. i think actually the headline for me was that secretary clinton may have not sat for interviews for this report. senator graham was questioning whether or not she actually was interviewed. if that's the case, jon, that's outrageous that we have a sitting secretary of state who said, i tak

but new hampshire's republican senator kelly ayotte insists rice knew more than she was letting on. >she had reviewed before going on the sunday shows, went on the sunday shows, went well beyond the talking points. >> what we should be focused on is not so much what was said about which talking points but how did the tragedy where four americans were kimmed in benghazi happen? >> senator mark warner says republicans and democrats should stop fighting and focus on making sure state department employees around the world are properly protected. >>> a high ranking leader of al qaeda in iraq has been arrested in northern baghdad. two senior security officials would only reveal it's a senior leader of the group, and are not revealing his name for security reasons. >>> do you think your morning commute is rough? check this out. >> man. >> 125 mile long traffic jam between moscow and st. petersburg. russia this weekend, imagine this, something like dense fog after days of heavy snow. to slow things down. to a super crawl. in some places, two feet of snow has fallen since friday. >> good times

katrina be, blumenthal, mccain, inhofe, sessions, chambliss, wicker, brown of massachusetts, portman, ayotte, collins, gramm, cornyn, and vitter. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to h.r. 6516, which is the russia moll did a have a trade agreement. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 552, h.r. 6156, an act to authorize the extension of nondiscriminatory treatment, normal trade relations treatment, to products of the russian federation and moldova and to require reports on the compliance of the russian federation with its obligations as a member of the world trade organization and for other purposes. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from -- mr. mccain: i thank the -- the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i would like to thank the majority leader for his patience in allowing this legislation to be completed. i would note that there was 145 amendments, and many recorded votes and good debate and discussion over ver

patricia says the saddest thing about the susan rice is it is a mccain, snow, ayotte and graham creationood guys lose and the bad guys win. before we talk about justice scalia, what this means most likely is john kerry is the next secretary of state. wouldn't you agree? >> i think so. he is the odds-on favorite. >> bill: for president obama not to appoint him now would be awful -- >> he had some setbacks in his career but that would be a tough one to swallow. one person who was definitely benefited from all of this is that every time these senators wanted to say how unacceptable susan rice was but we would confirm john kerry in an instant. they are on the record and he should sail on through. >> that may bem resolve one problem for president obama and then the secretary much defense, to talk about chuck hagle or this woman. peter? >> i forgot her name. you said it. >> bill: i did, too. >> the music has started. the chairs are moving. however it goes. >> bill: exactly. my latest column is up on someways billpressshow.com. it has to do with justice scalia who has said some horrible things

senator kelly ayotte on what they need to know and what they should know.ent, separate events as that cliff draws near. martha and i will see you ten minutes away here on "america's newsroom" i love the holidays. and with my bankamericard cash rewards credit card, i love 'em even more. i earn 1% cash back everywhere, evertime. 2% on groceries. 3% on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. that's 1% back on... [ toy robot sounds ] 2% on pumpn pie. and apple. 3% back on 4 trips to the airport. it's as easy as.. -[ man ] 1... -[ woman ] 2... [ woman ] 3. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you. >> gretchen: when that tsunami hit thailand in 2004, super model petra survived by clinging to a tree for over eight hours. her fiance, unfortunately, swept away. her life was changed forever, so she decided to take a break from modeling. she created the happy hearts fund, a charity that has built more than 70 schools in areas hit by disaster. she joins us now. great to see you again. >> good to see you

but the two northeastern nod rate republicans, susan collins and kelly ayotte, joined the angry whiteis poor beleaguered black woman -- >> brian: you don't believe that. >> gretchen: angry old white men? >> i am speaking expansesively and metaphorly and for effect here. but it became clear she couldn't be the beleaguered damsel in distress. the poor black embattled ambassador. it became clear that she was the minimum price. i have to say one more sentence. she was the minimum price to pay for the administration's disassembling on the facts and circumstances of the benghazi attack. she was going to be the minimum price that the democrats that the obama administration had to pay for that clear offense just as i believe the tax hike on the 2% is the minimum price the republicans have to pay for losing the election. in washington you make minimum prices. she's the sacrificial lamb. >> gretchen: i totally agree with you, it was the senator from maine, that that was -- collins, that was it, because she is the moderate. if you couldn't get the moderates on board. but here is my question for

captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> republican senators mccain, .raham and ayotte >> good afternoon, i am joined by other senators to comment on the tragedy surrounding benghazi. it has been more than three months after the attack that killed four americans, including the ambassador. the american people are beginning to get the answers they deserve, but there are more relevant questions that still need to be answered. the report of the state department's accountability review board is a serious and credible effort that identifies failures of officials and institutions in the department. several people have lost their jobs. it is a good start, but only a start. the tragedy raised other serious questions about our military, intelligence community, and perhaps most importantly the administration's so-called light footprint approach to libya. it does not provide answers to these questions because it never asked them. eight is essential for the department to conduct an accountability effort on the occasion of the worst terrorist attack in american history of repeated at

ayotte: are we out of a quorum call right now? the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. the presiding officer: thank you, madam president. madam president, i would like to say a few words about my friend, joe lieberman, the gentleman from connecticut. shortly after i arrived in the senate, senator lieberman was april signed to serve as my mentor. someone from the other side of the aisle who would be a source of wisdom and guidance as i made my way in my first term in the senate. i considered myself extremely fortunate that he agreed to mentor me. we are both from new england, we both had the privilege of serving our state as attorney general and have a deep respect for the rule of law, and we are both deeply concerned about issues impacting the security of our country. over the last two years, i have been able to work with senator lieberman more closely, and i have personally seen his character, his courage, and his conviction. both in tone and in substance, senator lieberman has been one of the most respected and effective statesmen in the history of this institution. s

president, i will tell you my phones today -- and ayotte i don't think this is an organized effort. my phones, you might want to check your office but my office phones are bouncing off the hook. from people in vermont and all over this country saying do not cut social security. so i would say to the american people, right now a deal is being hatched which would cut social security, cut social security and benefits for disabled benefits for disabled veterans, raise taxes on low-income workers. if you think that that is a bad idea, you might want to get a hold of your senator or member of the house. so, mr. president, let me just conclude by saying in my view, deficit reduction is a serious issue. we, as you know, have already cut $1.5 trillion in programs as a result of the agreements in 2010 and 2011. and up to this point the millionaires and billionaires have not distributed -- contributed up with nickel, one nickel more in taxes. so, mr. president, deficit reduction is a serious issue. i look forward to playing an active role this in making sure we address that serious problem. bu

ayotte: buse in the federal government, -- waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government, in order to prevent the sy billoussy billious quester from occurring. this sets aside for one year. but in exchange for that it has a net spending reduction of $236 billion. we think the path forward is even lower spending which is what this achieves and with that i'd like to yield five minutes to the gentleman, the chairman of the house armed services committee, mr. mckeon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. mckeon: mr. speaker, i thank the gentleman for yielding. i thank him for his efforts on this. today we will send to the senate a way out of this fiscal crisis. rather than react in defense of the president's position, i urge the other body to treat this package as a good-faith effort to protect america's middle class and small businesses from harmful tax hikes and to reduce spending to resolve sequestration. we know that the president is willing to put adjustments to entitlements on the table. this proposal provides a framework for us to reach bipartisan agreement

going to solve this problem before the >> also today senators john mccain, lindsey graham, and kelly ayotte responded to a report about the benghazi attack. it said deficiencies at the state department led to the attack. >> good afternoon, i am joined by other senators to comment on the tragedy surrounding benghazi. it has been more than three months after the attack that killed four americans, including the ambassador. the american people are beginning to get the answers they deserve, but there are more relevant questions that still need to be answered. the report of the state department's accountability board -- review board is a serious and credible effort that identifies failures of officials and institutions in the department. several people have lost their jobs. it is a good start, but only a start. the tragedy raised other serious questions about our military, intelligence community, and perhaps most importantly the administration's so-called light footprint approach to libya. it does not provide answers to these questions because it never asked them. eight is essential for the depar