hand it to cornyn there. we have the president of the america from -- the president of the united states of america can say hey, if you're abroad, i can till -- kill you and not tell you why. when he asks the attorney general, this sounds absurd. what did attorney general eric holder say? >> deprocess and judicial process are not one in the same particularly when it comes to national security. the constitution guarantees due process. it does not guarantee judicial process. >> cenk: that gave me a chill down my spine the first time i heard if. that sounds sew knicksonian there. couple of guys in the executive branch get together, should we kill that american citizen in secret? oh yeah, we should kill him in secret. due process of course it is judicial process otherwise it isn't due process. it is not a couple of guys in the executive branch, willy-nilly executing people. and they say oh, no, it is not willy-nilly. unless it is a 16-year-old and we had no idea we were killing. it doesn't sound like a lot of car

cornyn: mr. president, listening to the distinguished republican leader, i'm reminded of that quotation from former secretary of defense robert gates whorbgs said that our -- who said our record of predicting when we will use military force since vietnam is perfect, we've never been right once. we live in a dangerous and unpredictable world. we also know that the global economy is in dire straits in some places worse than others. in europe, relative -- relevant to the national security question, we can no longer depend on our allies or nato allies necessarily to step up and do what they've done heretofore because they have their own economic and budgetary problems. talking to some of our counterparts in the united kingdom, the british army is cutting -- is being cut by 20%. 20%, because of austerity measures. so at a time when the world continues to be a very dangerous place and whereas secretary gates said we cannot know where the next threat to america or our allies will come from, we're findin

john cornyn joins me now. senator, i want to start with this and talk about some of the policy issues popping up as well. senator mcconnell said 50/50. you look at this list, you basically have ten targets. they have five. 2-1 advantage there for your side in targets. why isn't it better than 50/50? >> well, like our position better than our democratic friends. i think senator mcconnell is being cautious. we know the vast majority of the american people haven't focused on the november 6 election yet. and so we expect this to clarify as we get closer and as you know, in august, we a number of primaries. and some of that is going to -- who gets nominated will depend on the quality of candidate will determine, i think, our chances of success in november. >> two of those primaries are wisconsin and missouri. care to share who your preferences are in either of those primaries? >> as you know, i'm neutral in the primary. that's up to the primary voters. i think that they jealously guard their prerogative to make the

you asked cornyn about romney's stance on syria. he said i don't know what it is.at you mean by his policy. lindsey graham, very important on foreign affairs and afghanistan, i think romney's policy is listen to the commanders and if it's that, that's okay with me. so obviously, he doesn't want to dictate what his pocy's going to be while abroad, he wants to do that over here, but there is not a lot of there there, at least on capitol hill, from what you and i are hearing about what the specifics are of romney's foreign policy in regards to the two hottest nations in the world right now, syria and afghanistan. >> right. two things going on here. the first is that the romney campaign doesn't want to wade into very sensitive diplomatic and national security issues because they want to focus on the economy. they don't want to commit romney to positions on hot conflicts that may change and force him to flip-flop in the future. the real thing behind the scenes is a split inside the republican party. they are just not sure what they want to do on afghanistan, syria. a lo

i think open government and especially with this election coming up, we need to avoid the senator cornyn situation at the last election, which is people coming in and saying they want to get a hold of records pertaining to contributions, and they will not give it to us, and they would say they would give them a letter, but ethics would not enforce it, so then they would tell them that they had better go to court. they would not give it to you until after the election. >> ok, commissioners. larry. i just want to set and the notion that there should be a timeline when these things should go off on a public access database. what i was looking at form 700 filed by officials for those i was doing a report on, i would find that weeks would go by after the deadline, and they would not be available, so i began calling people who i knew were in elective office, and i would ask them why they had not file the form, and they said that they did file, and they had a date, and they would come back to epics, who said they had a large stack and that they had not gotten from them. there needs to be a time

texas senator john cornyn is one of them.he senate budget committee and chairman of the national senatorial republican committee. welcome, senator. >> good morning. bill: you put out a strong statement. nothing short of baffling with senators on the democratic side. explain that. >> we believe as democrats including the president did in 2010 would slow economic growth. the last thing you want to do is depress the growth by taxing the very people we're depending upon to create the jobs and to grow us out of this, out of our doldrums. but that is exactly what our friend across the aisle have done in what is a show vote because, as you point out this bill is not going anywhere. because the house of representatives won't pass it. so, this is, this is campaigning in the halls of congress when we ought to be doing something serious about solutions. bill: here is what the president said. i want you to react to one key word. it is time for house republicans to drop their demand for one trillion dollar giveaway for wealthiest american

and speaking of the attorney general, there was a hearing back in october where texas senator john cornyn asked eric holder, have you talked to them at all? have you talked to the terry family to have you apologize for what happened? and eric holder said no. that was a little embarrassing, not on the level of self that but a public relations way. so instead of just apologizing right away, eric holder released a letter of apology to the press before the entire terry family was capable of reading it. >> does anyone in the justice department, or pure of our call to buckle and firearms come home and see beauty, does anyone dispute that two of e firearms found at the scene, brian terry's murder, were from this program? is that key that indiscreet? >> that defect of their from this, is not in dispute. but whether this program was a direct result of brian terry's murder is in dispute. and attorney general eric holder has made a point. he said it's not fair to assume that this program is why brian terry was killed spent you agree with that? >> i disagree. because the weapons that were left at the

up next, senator john cornyn is here with new information that disputes what the government says. >> idea? one of those women, a marine captain, says absolutely not. she'll be here live ♪ ♪ proud to and on our own ♪ proud to be homegrown ♪ a familiar face and a name you know ♪ ♪ can you hear it? ♪ fueling the american spirit ♪ no matter when, no matter where ♪ ♪ marathon will take you there ♪ fueling the american spirit c'mon, michael! get in the game! [ male announcer ] don't have the hops for hoops with your buddies? lost your appetite for romance? and your mood is on its way down. you might not just be getting older. you might have a treatable condition called low testosterone or low t. millions of men, forty-five or older, may have low t. so talk to your doctor about low t. hey, michael! [ male announcer ] and step out of the shadows. hi! how are you? [ male announcer ] learn more at isitlowt.com. [ laughs ] hey! >> steve: major nidal malik hasan is accused of murdering 13 people at fort hood. even though his supervisors were told he expressed extremist views, the president has r

cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator texas. mr. cornyn: thank you, madam president mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: wormed. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i am still trying to wrap my head around president obama's recent remarks that small business job creators owe their success somehow the federal government. this comment wasn't just wrong; it's actually kind of embarrassing. it showed that the president does not understand the enormous challenges and financial risks that entrepreneurs and job creators deal with every day. it's also affirmed that the president is going to continue pushing the same misguided big-government economic policies that have helped keep our unemployment rate well above 8% for some 41 consecutive months. i want to highlight a few of the success stories from my home state of texas that epitomize what the american dream is all about and to reassure my listeners that the american dream is still

cornyn: madam president? madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, i appreciate courtesies of my colleague from maryland and i promise, i'm going to be just no more than ten minutes. two years ago, members of both parties in this chamber recognized that america's economic recovery was fragile, too fragile to absorb a tax increase. since then, obviously my colleagues across the aisle have changed their minds and experienced a change of heart. yesterday the senate voted to raise taxes. i've been amused by some of the headlines that i've read that says that the senate voted to cut taxes, which is false. the senate didn't vote to cut taxes. the senate voted to maintain the tax rates that have been in existence for 12 years for a certain class of taxpayers while raising taxes on everyone else. i can't explain the logic behind this vote. i can only assume that it is some election-year calculus designed to galvanize the political base of our friends across the aisle. it most definitely is not good economics and it is not good for jo

cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i'd ask unanimous consent to speak up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn:man, i've listened to some of my friends across the aisle talk about the vote in the house to repeal wha repeal whatw come to be known as obamacare. i think history has now demonstrated that it is not the affordable care act. it is the unaffordable care act. and my colleagues suggest that the only way that we could possibly protect people from preexistinexisting disease excls under their insurance policy or make sure that young adults can remain covered under their parents' coverage is to pass this monstrosity. that's just not the case. we could easily address these other issues as well as affordability if we were take a step-by-step approach to try to make sure that the patient-physician decision-making process is preserved while making health coverage for affordable for more americans. unfortunately, that was not the approach taken under obamacare. in fact, under obam

senator cornyn has said, "i think the system needs more transparency so people can easily reach their own conclusions." senator collins has been quoted, "it is important that any future campaign finance laws include strong transparency i guess provisions so the american people knows who is contributing to a candidate's campaign as well as who is funding communications in support of or in opposition to a political candidate or issue." that's from "the hill." senator scott brown has said, "a genuine campaign finance reform effort would include increased transparency, accountability, and would provide a level playing field to everyone." senator tom coburn has said, "so i would not disagree that there ought to be transparency in who contributes to the super pacs, and it ought to be public knowledge. we ought to have transparency. if legislators were required to disclose all contributions to their campaigners the public knowledge would naturally restrain legislators from acting out of the current quid pro quo mind-set. if you have transparency, you will have accountability." as i reported

senator cornyn and crapo would lessen the tax hikes on investments, hieks that will directly affect job creation and harm those like our seniors who are living on fixed incomes. as for the democrats, well, even they have some ideas that might do some good for the country. senator brown of ohio has an amendment to extend the research and development credit. which i know has bipartisan support, even if republicans might differ in his approach. senator begich has an amendment that would extend a popular tax breaks for investments by small businesses. i don't fully endorse the specific approach taken by these two but if they had a chance to offer and debate debate, i think we might be able to work out an agreement and actually get a result. but we can't even have a debate or get a vote on these democratic amendments because of the politics of this. now, personally i can't imagine why democratic senators would tolerate this kind of you a thorn -- you aor tehran -- authoritarian approach. it seems if senator brown of ohio and senator begich believe in their amendments they'd fight for a vote

senator hutchison, senator cornyn go back to the videotape when peerson pushed off, it was offensive pass interference and the vikings should have won that and gone do the super bowl. that's how i and tom saw it, and that's how the fan who threw the whiskey bottle from the bleachers and knocked the ref out saw it. tom and i both saw the bottle blinking in the cold winter sun, as it arced from the bleachers and we were stunned when it hit the ref right in the forehead. that was not minnesota-nice. tom and i suffered through four super bowls losses and through last season, as sick as he was, tom watched our vikings and complained bitterly to me on the phone later on sunday. tom and i went to a lot of grateful dead shows together, more than even senator leahy. tom and i went to a lot of new year's eve dead shows. this year i went to new york to celebrate new year's with tom and mimi at their home, celebrate what we knew was probably going to be his last. and at midnight we turned on the dead and we danced. now, unlike me, tom became an accomplished guitarist. he could sit in with any ro

senator hutchison, senator cornyn go back to the videotape when peerson pushed off, it was offensivepass interference and the vikings should have won that and gone do the super bowl. that's how i and tom saw it, and that's how the fan who threw the whiskey bottle from the bleachers and knocked the ref out saw it. tom and i both saw the bottle blinking in the cold winter sun, as it arced from the bleachers and we were stunned when it hit the ref right in the forehead. that was not minnesota-nice. tom and i suffered through four super bowls losses and through last season, as sick as he was, tom watched our vikings and complained bitterly to me on the phone later on sunday. tom and i went to a lot of grateful dead shows together, more than even senator leahy. tom and i went to a lot of new year's eve dead shows. this year i went to new york to celebrate new year's with tom and mimi at their home, celebrate what we knew was probably going to be his last. and at midnight we turned on the dead and we danced. now, unlike me, tom became an accomplished guitarist. he could sit in with any roc

from -- carolyn maloney from new york and i to introduce the safer act in the house and senators cornyn and bennett to introduce the same bill in the senate. this bill would allow existing funds to be used to provide grants to states and localities to audit their rape kit backlog and would call upon the attorney general to have an internet-based rape kits. backlogs is as high as 400,000 in america, according to human rights watch, and according to the d.o.j.'s national institute of justice, 43% of the nation's law enforcement agencies don't even have a computerized system to track forensic evidence. either in their inventory or after it is sent to the crime lab. the safer evidence would allow it to be processed and these do-bads to be held accountable for their dastardly deeds. they say there is no money for these rape kit testing. well, congress needs to find the money. maybe instead of sending money to foreign countries to help them, keep some of that money in america to help american rape victims like natasha. help them get justice because, mr. speaker, justice is what we do in ameri

prepared here -- but senator alexander has been on record, senator chambliss, senator sessions, senator cornynnator collins, senator brown of massachusetts, senator coburn and most -- prominently and over a long period of time and with great distinction, senator john mccain. i yield to my distinguished chairman and friend, the chairman of the judiciary committee, and giving his voice to this debate. mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i appreciate what the senator from rhode island has done. he has been a champion on this not only in the public forum like the floor of the senate but he's been a champion of it in the -- in the cloakrooms and the committee rooms, everywhere we might speak about it and he's been most consistent. and the people of rhode island are very fortunate in having somebody with such a strong voice. for the last two and a half years, the american people have seen the devastating effects of the citizens united decision. that decision by five supreme court justices overturned a century of laws, a century of laws

republic senator john cornyn of texas says releasing the results will reveal steps taken to prevent another jp morgan chase saying it could lose up to 7. a billion dollars from derivative trading debacle. up from the losses it reported just yesterday morning. ceo jamie diamond saying this whole mess has shaken the company to the core. is he now investigating whether traders covered up any additional losses. despite all this bad news. jp morgan did report a a billion-dollar profit yesterday for last quarter sending its stocks up 6% by the closing bell. more controversy surrounding team u.s.a.'s olympic uniforms. as you know there was a major uproar after it was revealed they were actually made in china. now the union family room's designer ralph loren is promising to manufacture in the u.s. but not until the winter olympics in 2014. that means our athletes will still be wearing chinese-made uniforms during opening and closing ceremonies at this year's games which begin in less than two weeks. those are your headlines. >> let us know how you feel about that ff weekend on twitter. >> still ang

cornyn: mr. president, earlier today, our colleague from washington state indicated that president obama and the democratic leadership in congress are willing to accept the largest tax increase in american history and a series of crippling defense cuts unless republicans will agree to raise taxes. significantly falling on the very people that we're counting on to get our economy going again and to create jobs. i want to say just a few words in response. first of all, senators on both sides of the aisle understand that a massive tax increase could well push our economy back into a recession. senators on both sides of the aisle understand that it would suffocate our investments that are so important to business creation and job growth. senators on both sides of the aisle understand that middle-class families are already struggling with high unemployment and wage stagnation and senators on both sides of the aisle understand that we're living through the weakest economic recovery since the great depr