i talked to cardin in washington. >> what about cleric haskell or bernie sanders? >> i went to vermont with bernie sanders, having come from the house and talking about the adjustments to the senate and the trick with the said it was just simply a matter of learning how to use power. it had come down to that. >> he wins in the state of vermont. why? how many people up there would say they vote for him because he is a socialist? >> not many people would say he is a socialist, but the rhetoric of bernie sanders live or die, fighting the government not being actually a member of either party from a registered independent, willing to take on both sides of the aisle when necessary, i think is really appealing to many people in vermont. >> how did you go about during this book? here we are almost to the 2010 elections. >> on some days i describe it was more alligator wrestling than writing, but the book started out with this idea the senate was in the government at large was so personality driven. then i thought, well, the way to take a look at this is through the eyes o

he is the bernie sanders of the republican party. bernie sanders is a socialist who votes with democrats. if rand paul ends up in the senate, he will be way out there, but go with republicans on most issues. >> he told msnbc that the government should get its woodhill offer of bp, that to criticize bp -- in this bp get iits boot heall offer of bp, that to criticize them is an american. >> when you say the day after the election that you would not vote for the civil rights act, that is a problem. libertarians think that the government cannot do anything but protect the country with the military and police, and maybe some food safety. >> the problem that rand paul is going to face is that fateful, practicing libertarians basically believe that the food and drug administration ought to get out of business, and whether or not toys come in from china with a lead paint on them is a matter that the market can best addressed rather than some intrusive government. that will be a problem for him and republicans. >> ron paul is another problem

he is the bernie sanders of the republican party. bernie sanders is a socialist in vermont and he votes with democrats be with her but -- he votes with democrats. if granholm makes it to the senate, he will be the outlier and be -- rand paul makes it to the senate, he will be on the extreme of the party. >> when the views are exposed this way, the first day after the election saying that you would not repeal the civil rights act, you are in big trouble. the libertarian view is that the government should not do anything, that they should just protect the country with the military and police, basically. and maybe some food safety things, maybe. but they don't want the boot hill of government on a lot of things. >> the problem rand paul is going to face in this campaign is that as a faithful libertarian, he thinks the food and drug in ministration ought to get out of business, and whether or not toys come in from china with lead paint on them is a matter that the market can best address rather than some intrusive federal government. tha

he is the bernie sanders of the republican party. bernie sanders is a socialist in vermont votes with democrats. if rand paul ends up in the sand, he will go way out there but a vote with republicans on most issues. >> he told msnbc that he thinks the president ought to get his boot heel off of the bp got that to criticize them this way is unamerican. >> this the problem with his views, when they are exposed this way. when you say the first day after the election that he would not repeal -- that he would not support the civil rights act, and you are in trouble. the libertarian view is that the government should not do anything, they should just protect the country with the military and police, basically, and maybe some of food safety things, maybe. but they don't want the boot heel of government on a lot of things. >> "i added quickly state that i will not support any efforts to repeal the civil -- unequivocal state that i will not support any efforts to repeal the civil rights act." that is a relief, colby. >> i would have to stay a

host: center bernie sanders is our final guest this morning.spent a lot of time on the floor yesterday debating his amendment to the financial regulation legislation that would require an audit of the fed. why would you do that? guest: at a time when you have the fed lending now several trillion dollars of taxpayer money to the largest financial institutions in this country and not telling the american people who received that money, with these large institutions are doing with the money, i think the american people have are right to know. we have major debates on the floor of the senate, about $10 million, whether we should spend it or not. you have the fed controlling and spending huge amounts of money, and the american people know little about where that money is gone. about a year ago i asked mr. ben bernanke to tell the american people who received the money. he said he would not do that. on that day we introduced legislation to bring transparency to the fed. it seems to me, and this is what the gao must determine -- that there are huge co

bernie sanders. progressive. he's the only progressive in the united states senate that's listed at least on the progressive's website, he's proud that have, he's proud of being a socialist and the argument about where the president stands, not an argument about whether the president is a socialist because the president voted to the left of bernie sanders. the self-avowed socialist. the argument, if it was going to be made, should have been made by the president. he should have made the argument that bernie sanders isn't a socialist, he's just masquerading as a socialist. maybe a true socialist does something different. maybe a true socialist nationalizes even fewer businesses. when i sigh the president do his -- see the president do his handshake with hugo chavez and that same week hugo chavez had nationalized a rights -- rice processing plant that belonged to a proud minnesota company that was taken over by hugo chavez, well, that was going on, general motors and chrysler were being taken over by president obam

host: what about claire mccaskill or bernie sanders? guest: having come from the house and was talking about the adjustment, the trick with the senate was simply a matter of learning how to use power. it had come down to that for him. host: he obviously wins in the state of vermont, and why does he win? how many people vote for him because he is a socialist? guest: not many people would say he is a socialist, but their rhetoric, bernie sanders, the little guy, not being a member of either party, a registered independent, wanting to take on both sides of the aisle when necessary, i think that is really appealing to people in vermont. host: so how did you go about this book? here we are, almost to the 2010 election. guest: on some days, i have described it as more alligator wrestling than writing, but the book started as, like i said, this idea that the senate and the government at large is a personality driven, and then i thought, well, the way to take a look at this would be through the eyes of these new senators, who were trying to fig

fed, senator bernie sanders amendment to audit the fed.rd is that rahm emanual is working with the fed to defeat the provision. left it be found out that the fed is accepting worthless collateral. and the bank shying away from a crucial part of senator lincoln's derivative reform plan. her plan, insanely, transparency and capital requirements for derivatives. already in the bill, it would require banks to spin off their swaps desk, to keep their betting separate. but members of the obama administration, lawmakers, regulators and lobbyists are pushing to get that taken out. the fact is, without a balance sheet there's no point in having swaps. so it's self-fulfilling. senator judd gregg for one called the measure a job-killer. and said, quote, it's a punitive exercise aimed at wall street. and here to discuss that and other key issues in the financial reform bill, republican senator judd gregg from new hampshire, the ranking member of the senate budget committee and a critical voice in this financial reform debate. senator gregg it's a plea

but president obama voted to the left of bernie sanders, and when i saw the picture of the president next to hugo chavez and he's doing that double-grip glad-hand handshake, you know what, hugo chavez is a piker when it comes to nationalizing. barack obama has way outdone him. i don't think he would have been a man who could have done that on his own he surrounded himself with people who for ears worked through this vision. had i been assigned the task of writing the screen play, trying to turn america into a socialist state and if they even created for me a charismatic figure that matches that of the president and started me down the path on my imagination and with three years to get ready to do it, could not have unfolded a scenario close to what's reality today for the businesses taken over by the federal government. neither could have anticipated some of the things they're seeking to do now. but when you add these up and you add up the takeover of three large investment banks, bank of america, bear stearns, citigroup, when you see that a.i.g., for $180 billion, swallowed up by th

that turned around about the sameetime that bernie sanders said, i will change my position on this and will vote for it. on thurrday, the senate voted down the regulation. on friday we had a job in the dow. then another person says, i will fannie mae has a $4 trillion debt. the wall street guys -- obama was the biggest recipient of aig campaign contributions. i apprrciate hearing would you have to say about it. guest: there was a fortune billion dollar limit that was stopped lass year. guess you can go higher than $4 trillion. there is a lot of blame to go around regarding the+ personalities involved. barney frank said a lot of things. christopher dodd has come from a lot of legitimate places. i want to caution against making this too personal of an issue in this sense. i do not think that the problems you are experiencing is one died orrone person is a politician or private sector actor who brings a lack of ethics. if that were theecause of his problems -- it is policy problems. that is what we're having. we have seen a fannie mae and freddie mac as a free lunch, a way to subsidize th

chamber plans to begin voting on two amendments including one offered by vermont independent bernie sanders that would allow the government accountability office to audit financial records of the federal reserve. after voting senators recess at 12:30 for weekly party lunches. live now to the floor of the u.s. senate here on c-span2. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. our father in heaven, you have already endowed our senators with abilities they can use in faithful service to you and country. make them faithful stewards of your gifts, as they live to bring glory to your name. lord, undergird them with your enabling might so that their labors will produce a rich harvest of meaningful accomplishments. may they be your candles, illuminating the world around them with the light of your grace and peace. empower them to persevere and to fight the good fight of faith. help them to be open and honest with each other, to mean what they say and to say what they mean. we pray in your sacred nam

within here, if america wants bipartisan activity, it could not be more bipartisan than bernie sanders and jim demint. so i encourage my colleagues to support this bill. let's reform not only the financial system but our own house, and that includes the federal reserve. thank you, mr. president. i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, i rise today and just speak very briefly following on my colleague's comments from south carolina. so much about the amendment pending that i know has reached broad bipartisan support, but i also want to comment on what happened in the market today. the stock market was down about 347 points, but what was more telling was the stock market at one point today approached a loss of a thousand points, which would have, if it had held, would have been the largest single day loss in modern history. now, there were a number of causes. my colleague messengered some. clear concerns about the crisis in greece, but what it appears to be in terms of real-time reporting going on right now is that part of this precipito

senator bernie sanders has the amendment that will come up afterwards. i can't speak for him, but i asked him. he said, look, i might take an hour. that's a reasonable request, in my view. he's got an important amendment and he deserves to be heard on it. my hope is that members will follow the sanders example here and be respectful of each other so they can get as many amendments in. my hope is that tomorrow evening we'll be here later. we're going to be here friday, i gather. i'm not the one to make those decisions, but i've been led to believe by the leadership we're going to be here friday. if i had my way, we'd be here saturday and sunday. i don't get my way on this. but to get the bill done. so i'm going to be urging the leader to keep us here as long as necessary to have a full debate on this bill. i'm not sure i'll succeed in those requests, but i'm going to make them. and again, given the complexity of this and the interest that members have, if we'll utilize the time rather than sitting here letting quorum calls run on hour after hour, then we'

caller: i would like to bernie sanders for speaking his mind, and the fact that almost anyone in any part of the political spectrum can back this. i was wondering, if it does fail, what will happen to the democratic party as far as the poll numbers? if it does pass, what will be the next step? if we can see this huge detriment and everything just crashing down around us, what can we do to actually fix it and rebuild it? guest: donald, yes, the first is a political question. i work with the president, support him, and disappointed that the obama administration is in opposition to this. you just heard that chairman dodd is working against this amendment. i just don't think you have people who understand. billions of people support the democrats and wonder why they're not standing up to wall street aggressively. from a public policy point of view and from a political point of view is wrong not to stand up to these guys. if we pass this today, it is still not over. we have to go to conference. if we pass it today, you have a strong victory in the senate, a strong victory in the house, an

but looking at -- i don't know, look at, you know, bernie sanders, these are the people i think who, combined with some power is really something in this country. you have to wonder if the white house wouldn't like to see the ebay lady over jerry brown in california. i think we can look for this to get real silly as the time marches on here. i think it's very strange. we should try a far less and centrist republican government which is something we've never tried. the idea from the left and the monetary policy from the right i think would bring us stability. host: can i ask you a quick question? you mentioned you're going down to work on oil spill recovery efforts. is this a paid job you're looking for? caller: yes, indeed it is. i had heard something with regard to taking a couple of classes, and then you have to be willing to be deployed in different states. they're going to provide motels. b.p. has retained one company so far to do this work. now, it's liable to expand, and they're basically stating you need to be ready to go to texas, to alabama, to florida, and to mississippi, a

the big amendment a lot of folks were looking at happened today with bernie sanders from vermont was successful to expand transparency at the federal reserve. he modified that amendment more narrow than originally proposed and it got the overwhelming support 96/zero but less intrusive what some wanted to see which was the ongoing audits that included monetary policy decision making it. >> host: how many more amendments are expected? >> there are more than 200 that have been filed there is no way they will consider all of those in that is where you get down to the back and forth between the rank-and-file members and leaders about how many amendments will be offered and the debates are going so slowly and taking a long time to get the votes on amendments there have not been that many. senator dodd and democrats and republicans trying to get their ideas incorporated into that as well to do standalone votes. >> even though going slowly why is that happening? >> guest: some would say that is the way the senate should operate. i spoke with one republican who said this is good. we're debati

the ron paul measure in the house bill, a narrower version led by bernie sanders in the senate bill and that needs to be reconciled. host: sudeep reddy an economics reporter with the "wall street journal." we are talking about the financial regulations bill passed by the senate last night and the house in december. both leaders hope the bill will reach the president by july 4. ludlow, massachusetts, gary, a democrat. hi. caller: hi. i have a question for the gentleman there. basically, i'm a 99-week unemployed -- he is the economic writer for the "wall street journal" -- and my benefits ran out six weeks ago and i'm wonder ing what he is thinking about unemployment and how congress can help us to help me. i'm trying to feed my family. my life savings a run out. i'm wondering what his take is and why the press is not reporting more about us, hundreds of thousands of people still without jobs. and i think some of the numbers that are being reported are very frightening. i wonder what his take is on that. guest: the numbers are actually very frightening. it is in the millions of people and

however -- and this is important because this is not bernie sanders speaking, but this is a federal court -- a u.s. appeals court in new york disagreed with the fed's assertion. here is what a unanimous -- underline unanimous -- three-judge appeals court panel wrote in their opinion -- and i quote -- "to give the fed power to deny disclosure because it thinks it best to do so would undermine the basic policy that disclosure, not secrecy, is the dominant objective. if the board -- the fed -- believes such an exemption would better serve the national interest, it should ask congress to amend the statute." end of quote. that's what a three-member u.s. appeals court unanimously said. mr. president, this appeals court decision upheld an earlier ruling by the southern federal district court of new york that also ordered the fed to release this information. in other words, we now have 59 senators, 320 members of congress and two u.s. courts that have all told the fed in no uncertain terms "give us transparency. tell us what happened when you put at risk trillions of dollars of taxpayer money." m

senator bernie sanders of vermont is going to offer an amendment, probably tomorrow, as to whether ort there should be an audit of the activities of the federal reserve. this is a big amendment and one that is somewhat controversial, but i think we have reached a point where senator sanders is likely to prevail. he stepped up with a bold idea, and now i think we're going to move toward that idea. the senate is doing what it's supposed to do, but there are other things that we need to take up as well. senator mccain is going to offer an amendment about the future of fannie mae and freddie mac, two government type entities that literally back up the mortgages for most of the homes across america, and they are in trouble because so many homes across america are going under water. that is, that the value of the home is lower than the mortgage balance. and if that affects one of the four, one of the five homeowners across the country, you can understand that these agencies are going to be in trouble financially. what are we going to do about it? if we eliminate the agencies, the housing ma

senator sanders, it would be my intention to ask bernie, senator sanders, to offer -- once we complete this amendment over here to have him be next in line. after that, i'd like to exphi colleagues to -- instead of jump one after the other to try to get in the cue to come here, to talk to us and let us orchestrate this in a way that will allow for consideration some various parts of the bill and i will do my very best to make sure everyone gets time. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i thank my colleague for his courtesy and i thank my colleague from connecticut and let the record note i was here early and i will talk about that cue as it exists and hope that my amendment on too big to fail will be part of the early amendments. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. and i'm delighted to give the distinguished senator from north dakota the chance to clarify that. i'd like to speak just for a minute about amendment number 3746, which i will not be calling up right now, but which i intend to work with chairman dodd to calm later. i just wanted to mention that this afternoon this amendment rec