it is a bill that i'm working on with john conyers, he is the ranking democrats. we have a lot of cosponsors and what we are trying to dois narrow the scope of the patriot act so that it is only targeting the people that we want to target, foreign agnts. neil: how would you know? >> you may no know that the innocent party is the culprit. under the way iti being interpreted, they are treating all americans this way. that is why when you hear this, it is being done under the paiot act. whether that is being figured as levant informaon, en though all of those people nd most of the people, most of them have no tiesto terrorism. neil: as you know, i play an expert on tv. [laughter] ne: i think i qualify. >> i think by trying to hold back on this sweeping spying of everyone, you endup missing a t of flks by bringing it back to just the folks who you think e potential people. >> we ha a fourth amendment and we have to folloit. you can also eliminate all terrorism within the uted states by aving this. they canatch everyone's family all day. neil: i had joe lieberman on th

joining me now is congressman john conyers, a democrat from michigan. he's also a founding member of the congressional black caucus. and congressman, as someone who has lived this history, and watched this history, and knows what this act means, what is your reaction to the court's decision today? >> well, chris, you said it so well. we've driven a dagger through the heart of the voting rights act. it is one of the decisions, i thought citizens united was about the worst decision i would ever see in these times from the supreme court, but this -- this drives a dagger through it and it gives us an enormous challenge because everyone knows that the house is quite partisan. we're quite divided on almost everything. and it's going to take a real skill to bring people together, and the one thing that we all understand it's got to be bipartisan. >> yes. >> the voting rights act and the civil rights act and its reauthorizations all were bipartisan. the 2006 extension of the voter rights act was bipartisan. so we've got to work with democrats and republicans an

conyers.>> thank you chairman goodlatte and i join in welcoming the director of the federal bureau of investigation. we stand at a legal and political crossroad. we are confronted with a seemingly endless war that increasingly must be fought in the digital age and i say this not only because of the recent disclosures concerning the fbi and the nasa surveillance programs but because of a range of actions that have occurred since the attacks of september 11, 2001. it is not a partisan concern. and it is one that applies both to the present administration and to the last one as well. nor is it a concern particularly limited to surveillance programs. it extends to our increasing reliance on drones to conduct foreign policy and the government's use of the so-called state secrets doctrine to avoid legal accountability. and in no small part because of the actions of nasa and the federal bureau of investigation, it is my fear that we are on the verge of becoming a surveillance state, collecting billio

>> thank you, ranking member conyers. absolutely, this bill, this safe act goes well beyond what we saw in hr 4437. it does so in three ways. at least. first, as you indicated, it absolutely surrenders control to state and local jurisdictions in terms of enforcing immigration law. it allows them to create their own crimes and civil penalties to arrest, detain and investigate individuals for those. and, it mandates the use of federal resources and federal dollars to detain individuals on those charges. so the state and localities decide. they have got the crimes and the federal government is going to pay when they lock them up. second, it mandates detention of noncitizens after the expiration of their underlying state or local charge. after any, without probable cause, and it even does so indefinitely without a time limit for anyone the state or local jurisdiction believes might be removeable from the united states. it does that without providing training, oversight, and control. it allows local officers who are not versed

conyers. >> thank you, mr. chairman. this is a very unusual situation we have here today. we never have eight witnesses at a time. this sets a -- some kind of a record. but we welcome you all anyway. and i want to ask about how this bill, attorney tumlin, is even more stringent and maybe unconstitutional, than a bill passed seven years ago called hr4437. and it essentially tried to do some of the things but not all of the things that are present here in hr2278. because we're doing more than strengthening enforcement. we're turning over the responsibilities normally of the homeland security and the immigration authorities, to local police. so, this isn't a matter of taking powers away from local enforcement. this is a matter of having them begin to become immigration agents. what are your thoughts in that regard, ma'am? >> thank you, ranking member conyers, absolutely, this bill, the safe act, goes well beyond what we saw in hr4437. it does so in three ways. at least. first, as you indicated, it absolutely surrenders control to state and local jurisdictions in terms of enfo

conyers from michigan. cummings.bama seems to not have the credibility or the support. >> that is the intention of the people that dream up all of the scandals. the republican operatives putting this all together. >> judge jeanine: the new york times is not a republican operative. i have never seen such an incredible scathing editorial where the new york times comes out and says this guy is isn't credible. can't be sur veiling us and spying on us. >> the shock is from the members of congress with the wiretapping scandal. they are the people that passed the patriot act which authorized the programs are now coming out against the president who is implementing the programs. >> you mean the same president that actually voted to extend them in 2011. the same president who not only did that but he said in there -- >> congress voted to extend it. >> he signed it into law. he signed it into law. >> i agree with you. >> the president is responsible for the wants and he was against them initially because bush was for them. if

though that i'm working on with representative conyers, it would provide us critical informn so that we can represent our constituents. >> thank u, sir. >> thank you, neil. neil: i have not even gotten into the latest news tis week. as we have reported, the very same law that we are coming to find that low-wage workers, they n't afford ths. wasn't that the point of affordable health vo: traveling you definitely end up meeting a l more people but a friend under wat issomett i met a turtle friend toy so, you don't get that very often. it seed like it was more than happy to have us in his home. avo: more travel. more options. more personal. whatever you're looking for expedia has more ways to help you find yours. a talking car. but'll tell you what impsses m a lking train. this ge locomotive can tell you extly where it is, what it's carrying, while using less fuel. delivering whatever the world nee, when it t needs it. ♪ afteall, what's the point of lking if you don't have something imrtant to say? ♪ >> there is nowherto go. i represent thisparty. you said that the rent is too high. nei

here's a moment ago with john conyers, congressman conyers.the actions of nasa and the federal bureau of investigation, it's my fear that we are on the verge of becoming a surveillance state; collecting billions of electronic records on law-abiding americans every single day. martha: all right. we'll be keeping an eye on that. it's also streaming on foxnews.com. bill? bill: martha, thank you. there's a would-be juror in the george zimmerman murder trial raising concerns about whether or not a fair trial is possible. the potential juror denied writing about the story on social media, that's when the judge pointed to a post on facebook that read the following from that juror: bull bill after admitting he wrote tt post, the juror was excused. joining me, ann marie mcilroy. can he get a fair trial in that town? >> we hope so. one of the problems is going to be jurors or potential jurors who come forward and say they can be impartial despite what they've heard, despite what they've read and that they can still render a fair verdict. but you do have

our good friend, john conyers and jerry nadler from new york.n conyers from michigan, offered an amendment saying let's have an exception certainly carve out an exception for women who are the victims of rape. trent franks says no, no, no, that's not necessary and here's why. >> before -- tried to make rape and incest the subject the incidents of rape resulting in a pregnancy are very low. >> bill: the incidences of rape resulting in a pregnancy are very low. here we go again! can you believe it? i mean has he ever heard of todd aiken? >> right. >> bill: doesn't he remember todd aiken? we remember todd aiken said basically the same thing during his senate race last year. >> it seems to me, first of all from what i understand from doctors, that's really rare. if it is a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down but let's aschum that didn't work or something. there should be some punishment but it ought to be on the rapist. >> bill: something about the woman's body. that sperm comes up there and if the sperm is

you know, things are bad when democrats call ffr hearings into the nsa mess but that is what john conyersthe sooner the better trying to have congress get to the bottom of this phone tracking thing and they're not alone no less than a director ben and mark udall are concerned but listen to what he told reporters on this whole dustup the administration and have people comment on what authority it thinks it has but

this is democratic congressman john conyers of michigan > . >> it is my fear we are on the verge of becoming a surveillance state, collecting records of law-abiding americans every single day. fightwden has vowed to any extradition attempt to bring him back to the u.s. he said in a newspaper on wednesday -- the associated press reports the british parliament issued a travel alert to airlines around the world to not allow snowden to fly to the budget kingdom. >> we are now enjoyed by james bamford who helped expose the and as a's existence. "theost recent book is shadow factory: the ultra-secret nsa from 9/11 to the eavesdropping on america." in his latest article, he profiles keith alexander. he also has a piece called "connecting the dots on prism, phone surveillance, and the nsa's massive spy center." e writes of alexander -- james bamford, welcome back. tell us who then as a chief alexander is. >> thank you, good to be back. four-starander is a general. if you walked and pennsylvania avenue in front of the white house, it is not very likely that even members of congress would recognize wh

john conyers had his concerns. >> i don't condone these leaks. i believe that if we fail to address the concerns at the heart of these controversial programs that there will be more leaks. >> reporter: so we are hearing from the director about these high profile leaks, we are also expecting to get more about him about the boston bombings and the fbi investigation of that, and perhaps we will hear some about the benghazi attack, jenna. jenna: a lot of pig topics there, mike. we'll continue to keep our viewers aware of any of the questions or answers that come up that catch our attention. thank you so much. jon: today's hearing comes as this administration is under intense scrutiny over the nsa scandal. i appears the majority of americans are not happy about what they have learned thus far. voters were asked what they thought about the nsa secretly collecting phone records. 62% say it is unacceptable it invades their privacy. 23% say it's acceptable the it prevents terrorism. let's talk about it with jonah goldberg editor at large for "the national

, and within the last hour a statement from republican congressman and the ranking democrat, john conyers, who are introducing legislation to limit the collection of phone records and to force secret national security court opinions to be public. reason, in part, quote, we're a proud to be a broad bipartisan coalition. shouldn't matter whether you're a democrat or republican. defending the constitution and protecting american rights should be an effort we can all support, and similar legislation was tabled in the senate by senators udall and wide 'next. >> shepard: now the former director or strategy, mike barrett, also a former intelligence officer for the office of the secretary of defense. good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> shepard: i'm guessing critics agree these programs, this tapping program, is helpful, but i'm not sure it goes to the point of whether rights are being violated. i'm not sure that all critics would say, i'm good to go now. >> i understand that, shep, but you got to keep in mind we have executive branch, legislate tv branch, and judicial branch approval. so this i

you know, things are bad when democrats call ffr hearings into the nsa mess but that is what john conyers wind and the sooner the better trying to have congress get to the bottom of this phone tracking thing and they're not alone no less than a director ben and mark udall are concerned but listen to what he told reporters on this whole dustup the administration and have people comment on what authority it thinks it has but obviously republicans are not leaving it there. they're promising more hearings, more investigations, more subpoena not only on the scandal but of many others. so many scandals, witnesses scandals, witnesses, so little time that they will hardly have the time to do much else which is maybe the way republicans like it but giving the us spending issues and entitlement issues you may not. too late. scandals are the sticking and freedoms are slipping now politicians of all sorts are in gauging. get ready. this is a mushroom and now it will mushroom like it is out of control especially when we found out the nsa was snooping on all of us changed things completely %-matter of

. >> that congressman, john conyers of michigan, warns we could be on the verge of becoming a surveillanceate. last week's leaks indicate a secret court order lets to the feds pull phone data on millions of verizon customers. now we have new reaction from the white house. >> the white house isç backingp nsa director general keith alexander, who claims the controversial data collection programs made the country safer. >> these are two specific instances where these programs, authorized by congress, overseen by congress and federal judges, overseen with internal checks and balances within the executive branch, were found to be directly affective in thwarting terrorista+ plots have been identified using other collection methods and there are persistents questions over whether nsaç programs discovered critical intelligence of the new york city bomber and convicted terrorists david headley, or whether the u.s. program simply confirmed leads that had already been generated by foreign intelligence services, in these cases by the british intelligence services. >> now back to the guy who did all

designed to protect americans against n sa surveillance programs, a bill he co-wrote with democrat john conyers who i'm guessing is like myself not accustomed to being on the same side as louie gohmert. but this is what this particular fight looks like. here's a look at the battle lines. on the one side, franken, who said the program is used to protect us along with republican lindsey graham who says he's sure we should be doing this and president obama who said the programs help us prevent terrorist attacks and also peter king who not only lines up with barack obama and al franken but laments too many republican and conservatives, i'm quoting, have become michael moores. on the other side of the fight you have michael moore. >> when i'm playing video of the president of freedom works, things have gone off the rails. how people feel about nsa surveillance is confusing at this point, some people simply figured out where they're supposed to be on the issue and renounced their previous views. a move the folks at media matters were moved to illustrate and put to music. how people feel about nsa sur

you have a big chunk of the country from rand paul on the right to john conyers on the left who think he revealed some very significant information that has led to a morrow bust, democratic debate about the nature of surveillance. that's going to come into play in any prosecution the justice department brings against snowden. >> we know that snowden and a reporter from the guardian said that more is to come. there is more on the horizon. do we have any indication if snowden is prepared to release some of the other information he claims to beholding on to? >> they haven't so far. that may be an indication that either there is not as much there as they suggest or that they are being a bit judicious about it. he made clear he was not out tosh another bradley manning and just release willie-nilly, all the information he had. he was only releasing that which he thought the public ought to know about. you can argue that so far he has stuck to that. we will have to wait and see. could i also point out that we've got really a public relations battle going on right now? the intelligence commun

conyers. >> thank you, chairman goodlatte. and i joined in welcoming the director of the federal bureau of investigation. we gather today at a time when the nation stands at a legal and political crossroad. we are confronted with a seemingly endless war that increasingly must be fought in the digital age. and i say this not only because of the recent disclosures concerning the fbi and the nsa surveillance programs, but because of a range of actions that have occurred since the attacks of september 11, 2001. it's not a partisan concern, and it is one that applies both to the present administration and to the last one as well. nor is it a concern particularly limited the surveillance programs. it extends to our increasing reliance on drones to conduct foreign policy. and the government's use of the so-called state secrets doctrine to avoid legal accountability. and yes, end of small part because of the actions of nsa and the federal bureau of investigation, it's my fear that we are on the verge of becoming a surveillance state,

designed to protect americans against nsa surveillance programs, a bill he co-wrote with democrat john conyersho i'm guessing is like myself not accustomed to being on the same side as louie gohmert. but this is what this particular fight looks like. all the normal teams are scrambling. i mean, just look at the battle lines. on the one side, al franken, who said the program is used to protect us along with republican lindsey graham who says he's sure we should be doing this and president obama who said the programs help us prevent terrorist attacks and also peter king who not only lines up with barack obama and al franken but laments that too many republican and conservatives, i'm quoting, have become michael moores. on the other side of the fight you have, of course, well, michael moore who called snowden the hero of the year along with glen beck saying it's a chance for america to regain her moral compass and rand paul calling it an assault on the constitution and al gore calling the programs on scenely outrageous. this is not politics as we understand it. >> human sacrifice, dogs and cats l

democrat john conyers who voted against the bill, said no good has ever come from an all-male committeethe law about a woman's body. this is not appropriate. earlier that same day at a "washington post" event on education and children's literacy, mississippi governor phil bryant said this in response to a question about why the country is so mediocre. >> you want me to tell the truth? can i tell the truth? you know, i think parents became -- both parents started working. and the mom is in the workplace. it's not a bad thing. i'm going get in trouble, i can just see. i can see the e-mails tomorrow. >> governor bryant, whose wife was a working mother and whose own mother was a working mother for at least part of his childhood, then added -- >> but now both parents are working, they're pursuing their careers, it's a great american story now that women are certainly in the workplace. >> so it's the mother's place to teach them to read? >> no, no, no. but i think there was that loving, nurturing opportunity that both parents had a little bit of time. >> joy reid, i listened to the governor,

to protect americans against n sar sa surveillance programs, a bill he co-wrote with democrat john conyers who i'm guessing is like myself not accustomed to being on the same side as louie gohmert. but this is what this particula surveillance is confusing at this point, some people simply figured out where they're supposed to be on the issue and renounced their previous views. a move the folks at media matters were moved to illustrate and put to music. >> our techniques are working. we have the nsa program here, the patriot act program here. in light of this, how close this was, it's staggering to me that we're even debating the use of these techniques. big brother is monitoring your every move, whether it be online, or on the telephone. >> let's talk about why this story, why is this important to you? these actions by the obama administration are clear, very clear violation of the fourth amendment. the constitution. it is our rule of law. if we do not respect and honor the constitution, then anarchy and tyranny. >> yeah, you cannot make that up. now, sean hannity's highly entertaining par

conyers: thank you, madam chairman. i -- mr. conaway: thank you, madam chairman. i ask unanimous consent to put my entire statement in the record. the chair: without objection. mr. conaway: i want to thank them for getting this bill to the point. it's been bipartisan and an honor to work with both of these gentlemen. this bill wasn't written overnight. this bill is the result of four years of debate, two-year audit program of every single policy in the usda as well as 40 hearings and now the second markup this last month and now the floor debate. this landmark bill saves taxpayers billions over the next 10 years while making the greatest reforms in food policies since 1996. there are many reasons why this balanced, equitable and market-oriented farm bill is deserving support. as we consider this legislation, i hope every member of congress will know how important it is to walk the walk rather than talk the walk. this is not an opportunity for theatrics. the difference between those who don't support this legislation and those who do are simple. the first group tal

conyers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. conyers: thank you, ms. lofgren. i appreciate this important debate and participating in it. members of the house, by imposing a nationwide ban on abortions performed after 20 eeks, h.r. 1797, the so-called pain-capable unborn child protection act, is nothing less than a direct attack on a woman's constitutional right to make decisions about her health. it criminalizes previability abortions with only a narrow exception for the woman's life. it fails to include any exceptions for the woman's health, and it utterly disregards the often difficult personal circumstance women face. when confronted with the needs to terminate their pregnancies. the amended version of 1797, made in order by the rules committee last night, attempts to address the nationwide outcry in response to comments by the bill's author at the judiciary committee's markup that, quote, incidents of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low, end quoteation. as -- quotation. as amended, the bill includes a very limited exce

legal here would be much more simple i don't know why they didn't have a medical system itself john conyers had h.r. six thirty six which was i think was like in one thousand page bill gets drawn eligibility age the zero eight and that would have done it and they had to make it more complicated but it's still better than what we had and hopefully a step toward what we could have down the road right now obamacare is a fairly large complex program and we were talking about a good chunk of the g.d.p. of our nation the health care system there will be failures sure there will be some some guy in podunk iowa whose health insurance premium is going to go from three hundred twelve dollars to four hundred sixteen dollars a year and you know he's going to find him as you put it to be on every conservative talk show in america exactly on on the front page of drudge and and he's going to be one of probably hundreds of failures out of out of millions of successes do you have confidence given how. i would say incompetence perhaps too strong a word but not so competent this white house has been at messag

congressman john conyers are way out front on this issue.back to tell what you the president is up to today. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." current tv is the place for true stories. with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines. real, gripping, current. documentaries... on current tv. >> if you believe in state's rights but still support the drug war you must be high. >> "viewpoint" digs deep into the issues of the day. >> do you think that there is any chance we'll see this president even say the words "carbon tax"? >> with an open mind... >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> ...and a distinctly satirical point of view. >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show". >> bill: we saved all of the excitement until the very end of the show here. our next hour, congressman joe courty from connecticut in studio with us and i tell you what the president i

some democrats and libertarian republicans from john conyers to rand paul have expressed some questionsut that invasion of privacy. but it looks like most democrats and most republicans are okay with it and according to the latest pew poll, so are 56% of the american people which means nothing is going to change. is that what you want? fell us right here on current tv. (vo) current tv gets the conversation started weekdays at 9 eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. the troops love me. tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. (vo) sharp tongue. >>excuse me? (vo) quick wit. >> and yes, president obama does smell like cookies and freedom. (vo) and above all, opinion and attitude. >> really?! this is the kind of stuff they say about something they just pulled freshly from their [bleep]. >> you know what those people are like. >> what could possibly go wrong in eight years of george bush? >> my producer just coughed up a hairball. >>sorry. >>just be grateful current tv doesn't come in "smell-o-

that we did pass overwhelmingly in both chambers, it was the names of jim sensenbrenner and john conyers that comes to mind. they both are still in this house. they both love the country, love the congress, and love the constitution, and i'm confident that once again they will bring together that coalition of republicans and democrats. they may see things differently as relates to the ideology, but together they can bring the same forces that we had in 2006 to make certain that we restore the rights that the supreme court has taken away from us. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition? without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, today i rise to pay tribute to the life of lieutenant general richard j. sykes of junction city, kansas, recently. he became one of the first paratroopers from the jump school. he was promoted to be the army's youngest battalion commander and led its battalion throughout its historic operations in world war ii. mr. huelskamp: he ended the war with a silver star, two bronze stars and a purple

they have all spoken and covered the territory, particularly my friend, congressman conyers, this in conjust with citizens united this is the second attempt by the u.s. supreme court to destroy democracy as we know it in our country. when you put this money into politics it diminishes people's votes and the wealthy have more votes because dollars have power. and we should have redistricting that is not political, that's not covered by state legislatures and politicians and that's what we've seen over the years. there is a bill that john tanner had, heath shuler had, that would have nonpartisan judicial groups to redistrict which is what we should have. mr. clyburn mentioned this is probably going to affect states that will try to go and redistrict like texas has and i fear that will happen. my home is shelby county, tennessee. in each of the last two elections we've had at a minimum misfeasance and many people think malfeasance and that is to thwart the population, the majority, which is african- americans. it's been a risk in this country and the republican party has admitted, the r

. >> reporter: congressman conyers says the surveillance can't be quote anything and everything goes. martha: former new york city mayor rudy giuliani responding to mueller's inability to answer many of those questions. watch this from hannity. >> i was the third ranking official in the justice department during reagan administration for serious and sensitive investigation. if you asked me who the lead investigator was. i met with that guy 20 times so it would have been on the tip of my tongue. i don't get it. march prr mueller said "not off the top of my head." giuliani referred to mueller as terribly disengaged. bill: edward snowden, the nsa whistleblower, and the government of china, officials are going through his phone call record and text messages and online activity. the british government is telling officials not to allow snowden to travel to the u.k. they will likely deny him entry if he tries. martha: john mccain on the senate floor after the government said syria killed its own people using chemical weapons. >> i that president for acknowledging that the syrians are using c

conyers gave you. used the phrase you thought the american people were concerned about to what end the programs, these two programs, are being used. and i think that is absolutely the case. i think that was the case when we were debating the patriot act and the reauthorization of the. and the concerns that a number of us were raising at that time. to what end would these programs be used? congressman scott has questioned you about some of those ends. what i would like to do is frame this based on what you mentioned in your opening statement. you talk about terrorism, national security, cybersecurity, and you talked about criminal activity in your description of cybersecurity. you said that required a public- private interaction. in all these things, they have become more global, i take it. all four of those categories have become more global. so the question i'm raising is, is there a distinction between terrorism, the purposes for which information can be used in these programs for terrorism purposes

. >> reporter: in fact, john conyers revealed he had been briefed on the secret programs and has concernss my fear that we are on the verge of a surveillance state. >> reporter: the outgoing director repeatedly said collecting outgoing records keeps them safe and disclosure of the information has already caused damage. >> every time we have a leak like this, there are persons who are out there who follow this very, very, very, very closely and they are looking for ways around it. >> reporter: but countless attempts this week to explain to congress the extent of data collection has hardly cleared things up. like when this republican asked about his cell phone. >> if you're going to follow what this telephone number is, where it is, is that or is that not content? >> i think that's a very -- i tell you i think it's a very difficult question and i'd want to think about it. >> reporter: still, there is significant bipartisan support for the secret programs. advocates emerged from classified briefings trying to clarify. >> monitoring wrong word, not happening. surveillan surveillance, wrong wo

they have all spoken and covered the territory, particularly my friend, congressman conyers, this inonjust with citizens united this is the second attempt by the u.s. supreme court to destroy democracy as we know it in our country. when you put this money into politics it diminishes people's votes and the wealthy have more votes because dollars have power. and we should have redistricting that is not political, that's not covered by state legislatures and politicians and that's what we've seen over the years. there is a bill that john tanner had, heath shuler had, that would have nonpartisan judicial groups to redistrict which is what we should have. mr. clyburn mentioned this is probably going to affect states that will try to go and redistrict like texas has and i fear that will happen. my home is shelby county, tennessee. in each of the last two elections we've had at a minimum misfeasance and many people think malfeasance and that is to thwart the population, the majority, which is african- americans. it's been a risk in this country and the republican party has admitted, the rea

in this order, representative john conyers and representative john -- >> when i first came to congress i went immediately to the speaker of the house, john mccormack and asked to go on the judiciary committee and the reason that he -- as he and i both knew was the civil rights act that was so important. t today, citizens united has een eclipsed by the decision n the united states vs. shelby us older, this case takes ack to a civil rights act of 1866 which didn't give african-americans the right to vote. hen we went into 1869 when the 15th amendment did give african-americans the right to ote. then with the 24th amendment, poll taxes were outlawed in 1964. and then in 1965, president lyndon johnson signed the voting rights act into law, permanently barring barriers to political participation by racial and ethnic minorities, prohibiting any election practices that denied the right to vote, and requiring jurisdictions with a history of discrimination in voting to get federal approval before the changes in election laws can take effect. what the supreme court has done with the ruling that

sort of a core group of some republicans like rand paul and a bunch of democrats like wyden and john conyerse that fight against the executive and the legislators that have crossed the bush and obama presidencies. >> i read where it may force congress to pass laws to make these programs more transparent. i guess that could undermine the effectiveness of the programs because then potential terrorists would know what to avoid. >> you had congressman nadler on and i think his point is on. if you're a terrorist, i isn't you already think that the government is mining your e-mails and mining your phone calls. so i'm not sure that's exactly the right critique of these -- go ahead. >> if that's true and i agree, i was going to bring that up myself with congressman nadler having said this. but if that's true then this whole prism program is it not thwarting what's out there in the terrorist potential attacks? i mean, are we not getting appropriate information from prism? >> i guess the terrorists may be using e-mail while still knowing that their e-mail may be exposed. that's a -- we need to know mo

the extension of the voting rights act in judiciary and i have great respect for then chairman john conyers and as i mentioned to him privately as well, there's no way it's going to avoid being violative of equal protection when you ed in as was determine 2009, five of the six original states that now have less racial disparity than the rest of the country and the worst racial disparity is in massachusetts. you can't just cram a punishment down on states just because you have a majority when great work has been done by the voting rights act. it has done a good thing and it was time for a new formula so we could capture the states that showed such racial disparity. so i look forward to my friend's -- working with my friends across the aisle to subjecting massachusetts and any other violators -- i know there aren't any others that bad, but to section 5 and i'm sure we can get that done. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >>

conyers: -- mr. conaway: we yield back as well. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from nevada. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. he amendment is not agreed to. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will now resume on those amendments printed in part b of house report 113-117 on which further proceedings were postponed in the following order. amendment number 1 by mr. mcgovern of massachusetts. amendment number 3 by ms. foxx of north carolina. amendment number 5 by mr. broun of georgia. amendment number 8 by mr. blumenauer of oregon. amendment number 9 by mr. blumenauer of oregon. amendment number 14 by ms. kaptur of ohio. amendment number 15 by mr. royce of california. amendment number 16 by mr. chabot of ohio. the chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote o

conyers gave you. thought the phrase you the american people were theerned about to what end programs, these two programs, are being used. and i think that is absolutely the case. i think that was the case when we were debating the patriot act and the reauthorization of the. and the concerns that a number of us were raising at that time. to what end would these programs be used? congressman scott has questioned you about some of those ends. what i would like to do is frame this based on what you mentioned in your opening statement. you talk about terrorism, national security, cybersecurity, and you talked about criminal activity in your description of cybersecurity. you said that required a public- private interaction. , they havee things become more global, i take it. all four of those categories have become more global. so the question i'm raising is, is there a distinction between terrorism, the purposes for which information can be used in these programs for terrorism purposes -- that is why the st

byislation sponsored congressman john conyers to repeal the sequester.equester replacement has been offered. the problem we face in the congress right now -- the senate and the house have passed budget resolutions. the next step would be for con ferees to have a conversation and figure out how to find common ground. after four here is, some of our friends on the other side of the aisle, led by the speaker and the chairman of the budget committee say, we want rental order and we want conference committees. now there -- we want regular order and we want conference committees. now there is a chance to have conference committees. we have had a very schizophrenic economic recovery. corporate profits are up. the stock market is up. the productivity of the american worker has increased. unemployment remains stubbornly high. the wages of the american worker have been stagnant. we have been losing ground, not gaining ground. we need a more robust economic recovery related to working families, middle-class america, young people starting out in pursuit of the ameri