chambliss: absolutely, no question about it. and if if you do bring him to the united states i guarantee you that's the last bit of interrogation of any of those individuals we'll ever see. you mentioned bin laden. i remember at a hearing in the senate armed services committee where the issue of bin laden came up during a presentation by one of the current administration secretary of defense. i asked the question with regard to guantanamo bay, i said if you captured bin laden tomorrow, what would you do with him? and to his credit, secretary of defense looked me straight in the eye and said gee, senator, i guess we'd have to send him to guantanamo and he was right. there's nowhere in america that -- where bin laden would have been welcomed in the county jail or some federal institution. i don't think there's any question about that. and the 164 that are there today in my mind fit in that same category. some of these individuals have never said one word to an interrogator since they've been there. some of them and most of them, i

. >>> reaction now from republican senators saxby chambliss. and member of the intelligence senate armed service committee. senator, thank you for joining us this morning. is this a deal you can support? >> sure. george, you know, the publicly stated goal of this administration relative to iran's nuclear program is to prevent it from happening. nothing in the details that i have seen thus far of the final deal, nothing in what secretary kerry just said, moves us in the direction of preventing iran from developing a nuclear weapon. sure they're going to destroy uranium to 20%, but irrespective of what he just said, they're going to be able to continue to enrich uranium. they have 6 tons now, they'll allow them to go to 7 tons. then they'll come back to 6 tons within the next six months. but they'll still have the capability. nothing in this deal requires the destruction of any centrifuges. they'll be able to replace centrifuges that become inoperable and i just don't see this movement in the direction of preventing iran from developing a nuclear

thank you very much. >> thank you, senator chambliss. senator now senator shaheen. >> thank you, chairman for holding this hearing today. thank you gentlemen for being here. i would hope as the sentiments expressed by some of our colleagues that this congress would deal with sequestration in a way that means you don't have to be here year after year after year talking about the challenges that our military faces because we haven't done our jobs here in congress. admiral greenert, i would like to begin with you because we believe that the portsmouth navalship yard is the premier ship yard for modernization and maintenance of our nuclear fleet. i have a letter here from paul o'connor who talks about the impact of sequestration on the workers. i want to read two phrases from this letter because i think it epitomizes the challenges they are feeling from sequestration. he says, with 9 1/2 more years of sequestration hanging over our heads, 9 1/2 more years of furloughs and lay-offs, how will we attract the best and brightest young men and wom

. >> saxby chambliss issued a warning about the iranians at their word. >> i just don't see this movement in the direction of preventing iran from developing a nuclear weapon at all. >> in the past, iranian leaders have threatened to wipe israel off the map and pro israel lobbyists have been pushing members of congress to take a tough line. benjamin netanyahu called the deal a historic mistake. u.s. president barack obama got on the phone with him to offer his reassurances. obama told netanyahu that the major powers will pursue a lasting peaceful and comprehensive solution and israel has good reason to be skeptical about iran's intentions but wants u.s. and israeli officials to begin consultations on the deal immediately. those who follow the talks have doubts of their own. one specialist on middle eastern affairs. >> first of all, the iranians agreed to a certain extent that they would cap the ability to enrich uranium to a certain amount and also to a certain degree of the enrichment level and that's sort of a positive sign, because the international community was weary that iran would

when the votes were counted using electronic voting machines made and operated by the corporation chambliss emerged victorious by about two points so what happened well it might have had something to do with the software patch the d. bold installed in machines in democratic leaning counties months before voters what the polls will never actually know what happened as robert f. kennedy jr noted in his piece on the two thousand and two georgia senate race it is impossible to know whether the machines were rigged to alter the election in georgia the bill's machines provided no paper trail making a recount impossible that's the whole problem with electronic voting machines we'll never really know companies like bold don't have to reveal their software secrets because they're protected under copyright law and again unlike paper ballots you can't really see when someone messes with your touchscreen vote it happens outside of plain sight. ultimately however the biggest problem with electronic voting machines is that they violate the core principles of our democratic republic whether or not electio

republican leaders in the senate are calling for more sanctions against iran georgia senator saxby chambliss for example says the doing so is the only way to ensure a long term deal between the u.s. and around a call for sanctions also has support in the house of representatives majority whip kevin mccarthy of california says he backs any certain plan to tighter restrictions on iran's economy republican attempts to sabotage a democratic presidents deal with the rand are nothing new just as jimmy carter in one nine hundred eighty carter thought he had reached a deal with newly alike that iranian president. hassan bani solder over the release of the fifty two hostages held by radical students at the american embassy in tehran bonnie solder was a moderate and as he explained in an editorial for the christian science monitor earlier this year had successfully run for president on the popular position of releasing the hostages i openly oppose the hostage taking throughout the election campaign i won the election with over seventy six percent of the vote other candidates also were openly against h

agreement and where i think ukraine has been very clever and i think one has to give credit to covert chambliss is that he has offered a three way talk a three way discussion a tripartite discussion between the e.u. crain and russia his government has always said it wants to be a bridge between the e.u. and russia and that eminently reasonable proposal has been angry rejected by the e.u. because precisely the geopolitical project consists in forcing russia as far out of european affairs as possible yeah and very briefly if it had what this trade deal with the how the ukraine is economy which is of course experiencing hard times right now it would've finished it off it would have been the could give us to an economy which is already very weak and i'm not just saying that out of political reasons anybody who has followed the sad story very sad in some cases catastrophic story of the eastern europe economy economies as i have in the one nine hundred ninety s. and two thousand so i'm thinking especially of countries in the balkans we could countries like bulgaria and romania but now are also countr

chambliss: first of all, let me say that -- to my friend from west virginia i happen to serve on that subcommittee and i was in the hearing the other day when he asked general dempsey, a very appropriate question, we thought a very strong answer was going to be given by general dempsey to the senator from west virginia,'s question regarding expenditures mandated by congress that the chiefs and other folks at the pentagon have said they don't need and as i and i were discussing we finally got that letter yesterday and i was somewhat of a tepid response rather than the strong response we had hoped for. in any event, the senator from west virginia and senator coburn and i will work together to develop a list of expenditures that either are unwanted by the pentagon that congress has mandated or expenditures that ought to be spent in some other agency but, unfortunately, is being charged to the pentagon. so i do look forward to working with him on that issue and i thank he and senator wicker for their leadership on that subcommittee. i rise principally today, madam president, in support of

michelle nunn is going to replace saxby chambliss. be right back. >>> one of the things that sometimes gets me a little >>> one of the things that sometimes gets me a little frustrated, although i understand it because i'm in politics, is folks who are complaining about how the website's not working. and why isn't obama fixing this and all these people are uninsured. yet they're leaving a million people right now without health insurance. that they could immediately fix. there's not a lot of logic to that. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was, of course, president obama at a town hall event last night in dallas, attacking republicans who have made it their mission to destroy the affordable care act. republicans like texas senator ted cruz. in fact, the president specifically attacked cruz as an ideologue when he spoke at a private event later that night. that's later last night, saying, "what precipitated, according to at least one senator from texas, the necessity for the shutdown is the affordable care act. in the state of texas,

chambliss. >> thank you, chairman. i'm pleased to be here today to begin discussions on a comprehensive, sound, five-year farm bill. it has been quite a journey over the past three years, and i know that all the conferees are here, ready to get this behind us and let's move forward. this will be my fourth and final farm bill as a member of congress. as pa former chairman and ranking member of the senate agriculture committee, i recognize how difficult it is to combine all the diverse interests into a single piece of legislation that meets the needs of all crops, regions, and rural and urban communities that the farm bill impacts. both bills before us today embody reform, streamlining and consolidation. with the biggest issue facing our country being our growing debt and deficit, i want to commend the leadership on both sides, both the house and senate ag committee chairs and ranking members for stepping up and doing the work necessary to find savings. while we take these essential steps, we must also do this in an equi

chambliss: my state of mississippi will have the -- mr. wicker: my state of mississippi will have the third highest premiums in the nation as a result of the affordable care act. this is uncomfortable from my state and i'm hearing from my constituents about this. for example, a married couple in long beach who owns a small business, the private insurance plan they have offered to their employees for over 20 years will suffer a 33% premium increase on december 1. their insurer cited the coverage fees and taxes for increased premiums. the couple will continue to insure their employees because if they were to discontinue this, their employees and families would suffer because they would not be able to afford individual plans. i've also heard from a 50-year-old graphic designer from madison, mississippi, who received a letter from his insurance provider stating his insurance premiums will double at the beginning of the year from $355 to $755. this gentleman is understandably angry about his premium increase. he understands that his insurance w

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chambliss. >> i am pleased to be here today to begin discussions on the comprehensive, sound five-year farm bill. i know that all the conferees are here, ready to get this behind us and moving forward. this will be my -- will be my fourth and final farm bill is a member of congress and i recognize how difficult it is to combine all the diverse interests into a single piece of legislation that meets the needs regions, rural and urban communities at the farm bill impacts. through reform, streamlining, and constant consolidation, with the biggest issue facing our country being our growing debt and deficit, i want to commend the leadership on both sides. both the house and senate agriculture committee chairs and members for stepping up and doing the work necessary to find savings. while we take these essential steps, we must always do this in an equitable and fair member -- fair manner. this bill must not only work to protect producers in times of it must responsibly serve as the safety net for the nutritional well-being of low income americans. our nutritional assistance programs play a k

and i think senator chambliss. odds of the bill passing even though it would remove some of the obstacle the odds passing is a good bill. we need it. it has no chance. that might be a good way to end on a -- cybersecurity. [laughter] >> i'm kind of depressed right now. laura? >> i agree with you. i don't think it's going to go anywhere. i also agree that information sharing is being seen as a magic bullet. in many senses it's, as steve noted, victimizing the victim in some sense. i disagree is a deep cynicism about congress. that's what is going on. it's just that we're in an unhappy period and just not able to get the act together. and the reason i disagree there are serious legal and constitutional concerns here. so, for instance, take steve's suggestion about greater office of capability and pdd20 that jim mentioned. you know, we have some very difficult legal questions about covert activity underneath the 1947 security act. and the intelligence collection or traditional military activity planned or operational.

thought very hard not to appropriated, i think it highlights the issue that we andd from senator chambliss senator shaheen on examples of we are all concerned about sequester but making sure that we use the best way possible. one of them that leads to mine -- where we spent $3 11lion between fy four and and i look at some of the -- please tell me that you aren't. >> we are very focused and we have to make tough choices, so we had to spend money on programs that are best for us. i would make one comment and i will make a chart -- only a general comment. the reason someone would go up is because we are pursing -- because you are purchasing a .esson that drives up the cost of some programs. he look at it very carefully. it is the programs we need that we are going to invest in. programst investing that we are not investing in programs that we don't need. -- we havewant to talked about a topic, afghanistan. ?ow do you assess the situation haveworried that we still men and women serving in afghanistan. to do tot we need secure our interests in afghanistan? can you tell us where are we on this d

there is a matching bill in the senate being developed by senator feinstein and i think senator chambliss. the odds of that bill passing, even though it would remove object tackles, the odds of it passing -- it's a good bill, we need it, it has no chance. that might be a good way to end on an overview of cyber security. >> i'm depressed right now. laura, do you want to respond? >> i agree. i don't think it's going to go anywhere. i also agree that information sharing is being seen as a magic bullet in many senses. this, as steve noted, victimizing the victims. where i disagree is the deep cynicism about congress. it's just we are in an unhappy period and they are not able to get their act together. the reason i disagree, there are very serious legal and constitutional concerns here. take steve's suggestion that jim mentioned. we have difficult legal questions about covert activity underneath the 1947 national security act, and under what conditions the exceptions dealing with intelligence collection or traditional military activities, planned or operational. the extent to which this falls

it went october 1st and along with senator chambliss and senator grassley in regards to that same issueand would appreciate response to that. and then, matt, we sent you information on a questionnaire on the boston bombing, and not only did you all not respond, you didn't respond to say what you told us verbally which is that the fbi was answering for you. of for us to really have a good relationship, some of the things that have to happen is communication. and if the fbi's answering for you, you ought to say the fbi's answering for us rather than just not answer us. because all that does is raise the hair on the back of my neck, and i have a great working relationship with you through the intel committee, and i trust you immensely. but just common courtesy would tell my staff we're going to let the fbi answer that. matt, when was the last time you got actionable intelligence from a fusion center? >> other than boston. >> boston gave you information, but i'm talking actionable intelligence. >> we work with the fusion centers really through the fbi joint terrorism task forces and through

libertarian- leaning conservatives like rand paul, find sign -- feinstein's bill is supported by chamblissvice chair of the committee, more moderate democrats. we had a vote in june, i believe it was, over an amendment from congressman just in a mosh that would've also ended the phone data. it was every". we've only seen more and more outrage and congress over these programs. host: let's talk about hearings. what is the action? the senate intelligence committee markowitz bill this week. it was an 11-4 vote. one try to do more to into the data program, that was rejected. and i go to the floor, so leahy said his bill will get marked up soon. what happens from there will be interesting to see how harry reid wants to do with these two competing bills on the floor. and two major forces behind it is for the legislators themselves. guest: absolutely. senior democrats have been here a long time and they agree on a lot of issues. it is just on this particular one, feinstein is very adamant, even though it is interesting because she criticized the nsa this week over for spying on foreign leaders, bu

saxby chambliss is leaning republican. jo, you're up next, island park, new york. independent line. in life, i observed that don't look at what people say but look at what they do. the republicans haven't signed up for this because they know it is a disaster. nobody really wanted this. , obama astonishing is has not signed up for obamacare. harry reid is not signed up for obama care. este pelosi has not signed up for obamacare. --y should be called the this should be called the on affordable care act. democrats don't want it, but they want to foisted on us. when they sign up, maybe americans will call. but they don't want it, so i don't want it. it is guy on twitter says here is randy, millington, michigan, democrat line. caller: i would like to thank you and all those folks that we don't see who work so hard to put this program on. i appreciated very much. now is, yes, it had a president that made a missed statement -- that made a misstatement about keeping your health policy if you like it. if i'm going to judge on statements, i would take his misstatement as opposed to the missta

so i ask my colleagues to support amendment 2255 that is cosponsored also by senator chambliss, the ranking republican on the intelligence committee, senator inhofe, the ranking republican on the armed services committee, as well as senator fischer, rubio, and barrasso. thank you. the presiding officer: time has expired. ms. ayotte: thank you, mr. president. mr. levin: i have a unanimous consent request. i would ask unanimous consent that letters from secretary hagel, secretary kerry, attorney general and the -- and director clapper be put in the record at this point. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. under the previous order, the question occurs on the ayotte amendment number 2255. mr. levin: ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: on this society, the yeas a 43, the nays are 55. under the previous order requiring 60 votes for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is agreed -- is not agreed to. is not agreed to. under the previous