cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22, at 11:30 p.m. this evening, the senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 1892, with a further amendment. further, that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be yielded back and the senate vote on the motion to concur. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. paul: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: reserving the right to object, it seems like a lot of work for a trillion-dollar deficit, doesn't it? i object. the presiding officer: regular order is called for. is there objection? mr. paul: i object. mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22, at 12:00 p.m. this evening, the senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the house amendmen

cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is not in a quorum call. the senate is in a quorum call. mr. cornyn: it is? i ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, yesterday we began floor debate on something we have literally been talking about for years. i remember the election of 2012, meeting at the white house with then president barack obama with speaker boehner and mccarthy and others and the president was prepared to do something that he threatened to do but we asked him not to do and that is to take unit latry action -- unilateral action with these children who were brought to the united states in violation of our immigration laws. we said, please, president obama, give us a chance to work with you to come up with a solution. and he listened and said no. i'm going to do -- i'm going to sign an executive o

it's backed by john cornyn and democratic senator chris murphy.offer rewards to ago it ises to get them to send information to the criminal background system. >> what senator cornyn has suggested is take something that we all agree on, not claiming it's a panacea, but show some progress towards dealing with one element of the problem. >> mcconnell said the focus of the luncheon was on school safety and not on firearms. >> shepard: what else are democrats saying, mike? >> democrats are clearly concerned that republicans and democrats will come together and pass this background check legislation and that republicans may want to move on to other issues. senate democratic leader chuck schumer said that won't be enough to keep our american schools safe and won't be keeping a promise lawmakers have made to the students from parkland, florida. schumer is pressing for doing more. >> rather than just passing one narrow bill and moving on, we democrats intend to push our republican colleagues to have a real debate on gun safety and pass meaningful measures

>> well, the president did talk to senator cornyn on friday. the bill that he announced last year or introduced last year, you know, would help to fix and complete up the background checks system. right now you have a bit of a patchwork in which local communities and states give information to, you know, one system. our budget has increase for 200 personnel to help staff that system. we want to make sure that the background check process is fully staffed. that all information gets in. and, you know, when you look at the situation that occurred, this tragedy in florida on wednesday really heart wrenching situation, you have a scenario where a lot of people in the community were raising red flags about this individual. steve: sure. >> and you have the phone call to the finn. to the fbi. when you are looking at ways to fix this system. look at measures like fixing the background situation. also want to understand what broke down and allowed for this individual to go on unattended while other people were raising red flags. steve: raj, you would als

senator john cornyn. and senator john thune. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and the speaker of the house, paul ryan. [applause] sen. mcconnell: we have talked a lot about 2017 being the most consequential year for conservatism in the last three decades. but of that's what happened for the president of the united states. president, we thank you for neil gorsuch. we thank you for the 13 new circuit judges. for 15k you congressional review ask, and most of all, we thank you for comprehensive tax reform. [applause] sen. mcconnell: mr. speaker. speaker ryan: let me add to the fact that because of this -- placee put in price that america is back. a 17 year highat of economic confidence and a 17 year low of unemployment. the fact thatjoy we had one of the best foreign-policy teams from our conference this morning? we are on the cusp of giving our military the tools they need to do their work. america is going to be a safer country, a more prosperous country, the more confident

x -- senatornyn, cornyn mr. president, the most : important thing you said at the outset is that we act. we don't go home empty handed. president trump: but it would really be nice to create something that is beautiful. that works. and you know the biggest thing, chris? the biggest surprise to me. i've only been doing this two years. three years now. time flies. but i've been here for a little more than a year. what surprises me more than anything else is that nothing has been done for all these years. because i really see a lot of common ground. whether it is democrats, republican -- i'm so surprised. i'm sitting here and i'm saying, there's a lot of commonality here. there is a lot of people who are agreeing with pretty much everything you're writing. i don't understand why this hasn't happened for the last 20 years, nothing has happened. so we're going to get it done. sen. murphy: i think we can add anything to fix nics that has 60 votes. background checks can be added to this if it has your support, mr. pres

he spoke with senator cornyn about it on friday. senator cornyn has a bill announced last year after those failure in reporting information into the background check system. right now what we want to do is confront this -- tackle this on two fronts. one is to strengthen the background check systems. that way all relevant information is given to all authorities that are going to run background checks to make sure that if there is a disqualifying piece of information that all law enforcement has access to it. separately -- >> bill: does the white house believe a background check would have prevented that shooting in florida last week? >> there are ways to strengthen the background check system. we're looking at that and other items as well. one of the specific things we're looking at is the fact this troubled individual had dozens of calls to the police, dozens of visits to his home, he had the aunt who called the f.b.i. there were many red flags raised and nothing was done. when you are able to have a specific troubled individual tha

her statement reads "the president spoke to the republican senator john cornyn of texas on friday about the bipartisan bill that he and chris murphy of connecticut introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background check legislation. while discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check

senator john cornyn. and senator john thune. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and the speaker of the house, paul ryan. [applause] sen. mcconnell: we have talked a lot about 2017 being the most

john cornyn, everybody knows.his name up but that's okay. >> senate majority whip john cornyn. john, thank you. great job. >> president didn't do much there to back up his very frequent claim of having "one of the great memories of all time." >> i don't have teleprompters here, folks. i don't need teleprompters. it's called like up here and it's called memory and it's called other things. >> i have a good memory and all that stuff, like a great memory. >> i have a really good memory. >> i have a good memory like a great memory. >> i have a great memory. >> i'm blessed with a great memory. >> one of the great memories of all time. >>> just to step back a bit here, it's worth saying in a single sentence what's happening. we have the president of the united states now having issued to the american public a memo that the director of the fbi says is false. that has never happened in our democracy. >> an extraordinary times, jeff sessions the attorney general walks a careful line. he of course actively recommended comey

lauren: speaking of bipartisan, there is senator cornyn and murphy bill on enhancing those background checks, insend advising states for reporting to the feds what they're learning. do you expect anything to come of that, and do you expect that will make a difference? >> you know i think the bill itself has some good components to it but i don't think it doesn't address the gun culture in our country. our country amounts to 4% of the world's population and over 40% of the world's guns. i don't have a problem with someone having a handgun or shotgun of their home. i was a victim of home invasion. i understand that desire. having weapons of war on our streets, i think that is a problem. we feed to address that as well as mental health component. lauren: because this is going to be an issue in the midterms just a couple months from now, brad. >> no doubt about it. we need action. how many more incidents do we need victims exposed to? i'm a victim of gun violence too. i'm not against guns you by think guns should be in the hands of the right people. the truth of the matter there are more

you talked to cornyn. he is a very respected.e no way to get at least the tpwhraeuring oglaring omissions fixed? >> this concealed carry bill, which allows people to carry concealed weapons across state lines, he's attached those two. that is a big problem for getting it through. he's right, that will never get 60 votes in the senate. i do think if president trump is able to focus his energy on one narrow proposal to beef up background checks or to -- but i'm not talking -- he needs to caught up with something that could get 60 votes. come up with something narrow, specific, and go out and push his allies. people like mark meadows, jim jordan. people on the right in the house, people who are looked to to see whether a bill is conserve is active enough or constitutional enough, go to those people and win them over on this issue. right now he's all over the place. just to give -- you know, we have to give some perspective here and not treat this like it is fan fiction approximate. the president said there are enough teachers who ha

john cornyn, everybody knows. i didn't put his name up but that's okay. >> senate majority whip john cornyn. john, thank you. great job. >> president didn't do much there to back up his very frequent claim of having "one of the great memories of all time." >> i don't have teleprompters here, folks. i don't need teleprompters. it's called like up here and it's called memory and it's called other things. >> i have a good memory and all that stuff, like a great memory. >> i have a really good memory. >> i have a good memory like a great memory. >> i have a great memory. >> i'm blessed with a great memory. >> one of the great memories of all time. . your eyes. that's why there's ocuvite. ocuvite helps replenish nutrients your eyes can lose as you age. it has lutein, zeaxanthin and omega-3. ocuvite. be good to your eyes. there are seven continents... seven seas... but at at celebrity cruises, we'd argue... more than seven wonders. for a limited time enjoy two free perks, like complimentary wi-fi and drinks. a savings f

this is introduced by john cornyn. it is to make sure things that are found are reported, domest ache abuse, the military discharges and alike, and bump stocks which lynn brings up, isn't part of the legislation, but this is low hanging fruit. there are things that you can easily, easily get majorities on, alice, if there is a will. is there now a will? >> there has to be. there has to be a will and they have to find a way to make it happen. we started the conversation about bump stocks after las vegas. and it died on the vine. we haven't had any follow-up on that. in this case, we cannot do that. the president has made it quite clear while i'm encouraged to see that his spokesperson has come out and said they will have a conversation on background checks, what we heard from the president himself, it is a bigger picture. many factors go into play, including mental illness. and how we go about identifying mental illness and following up with treatment. what i believe will happen out of this, we'll look at all of the fac

the president spoke to senator cornyn on friday about the bipartisan bill that cornyn and senator murphy introduced to improve federal compliance with criminal background check legislation. shah went on to say while discussions are ongoing and revisions are being considered, the president is support krif of efforts to improve the federal background check system. to give you context there, this conversation supposedly happened on friday but career just now getting this statement from the white house on the president supporting these measures today. we certainly have not heard this from the president himself in these conversations that he's had in his statement about the shooting on friday or any of his tweets over the weekend because instead as the president spent the weekend indoors because aides advised him that it would be in poor optics to go out on the golf course we saw the president attacking pretty much everyone ranging from the fbi, democrats, his national security adviser and even oprah but we'll be waiting to see if the president has anything to say about this because as the wh

cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we, we are. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i'd ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i have 11 requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they've been approved by both the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. cornyn: mr. president, today a group led by chairman of the senate judiciary committee, chairman grassley, formally introduced a bill to address the daca issue, the deferred action on childhood arrivals issue that we've heard so much about as well as border security. i think it's a good starting point. i'm proud to be a cosponsor of the legislation which is called the secure and succeed act. perhaps the most important thing about this bill is that it actually has a good chance of becoming law. that's be

the cornyn/murphy bill enforces current law. will that change attitudes? >> i think that's what they're trying to do is try to look like they are doing something. as you said, it really only enforces the monetary incentive to follow the laws in place. it is not doing anything to expand background checks or add anything to existing legislation. it seems like a typical congress move. putting forward something, but not doing anything but enforcing what is already there. >> it is interesting. the fbi had two alerts to this guy and basically dropped the ball as well. you have those who are saying, gun legislation. what good is gun legislation if the fbi with a phone call with a kid's name and where he lives, can't even pick it up. each case is so different. >> absolutely. even president trump was tweeting about how the fbi dropped the ball. and tying it to the russia investigation this weekend. i think one of the things that is interesting is the idea of what mental health problems and what the threshold for being considered mentally unfit in places. you have t

cornyn: well, madam mr. cornyn: well, madam >> madam president, here weth are again, the clock is ticking, the current funding bill expires on thursday and we've got to ask you to keep the lights on. to me it strikes me as a very modest goal because there'sea so much more we need to be doing. when our democratic colleagues shut down the government last time, we knew this was all we could get at the time which is a short-term continuing resolution. this is a miserable way to do business. continuing resolutions are really in evocation of responsibility on behalf of the spotty and for the benefit of the markham people. it doesn't have to be this way. what we are waiting on is an agreement between the leaders of the house and the senate for the rest of 2018 and 2019. we could add that agreement today but our colleagues across the aisle are dragging their feet, to put it mildly, for what? it's the same reason they shut down the government last week. it's over an unrelated immigration issue which i will get to in

senator cornyn. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thanks to ranking member but with all and members of the committee. i'm honored to be here and as you have heard to introduce and actually well qualified candidate, noah phillips to be federal trade commission or. you have already said, mr. chairman and others have acknowledged that he served as my chief counsel which is to his great credit having knows i need all the help i can get. noah has helped guide me and my legislative portfolio through complex issues on the judiciary committee during his tenure. his intellect shines most when he is faced with technical topics that would intimidate even the most seasoned lawyers. intellectual property, privacy issues, antitrust in constitutional law. he is also showed as senator hatch has noted an knack for building consensus with focus on other side of the aisle when necessary to get things done. ... >> found his way back to texas and onto my staff. his legal resume is remarkable with the work is done with a judiciary committee behind the sce

this bill of senator cornyn is extremely important. it's an effort by congress, the trump administration to broaden congress powers. and i don't think there is any real opposition to that bill. it's difficult for a member of congress to oppose legislation that's going to make it tougher for foreign companies to acquire the us and transmogrify that statement to say the chinese are going to take over all of our cutting-edge technology. >> what if it destroys jobs? >> well, i think the point of the legislation is to say we need to protect national security more than we have and mister trump on this one will review . it's hard to vote against it. but to your issue, you raise this fundamental debate which we've all been reading about about thetension within the white house on trade policy. there are those who we would call extremists , america first who tend to look at a very unilateral approach, protect jobs, go back on the campaign. there are those who you might call realists or whatever it is, led by the national economic council who tak

senator cornyn and senator purdue are gung ho on reducing legal immigration. can they successfully disambiguate themselves from rhetoric of weic just have to shore up the southern border and keep illegals out? is it possible to make the case to reduce legal immigration at eschewing this rhetoric. i think we need to have a border wall. i disagree with creating it for the wrong reasons. host: thanks for calling. guest: i think it is sen. cochran, not senator cornyn, who led the charge on cutting legal immigration. i believe that would be bad for the u.s. economy and the growth of this country going forward. i can't comment on the intentions of people who want to build a border wall, but that is intended to try to cut illegal immigration across the southwest border. the chain migration portion, they want to cut the legal system, that's entirely separate from the border wall. host: let's go to julia in maryland. caller: i had a quick question of citizenship, the daca, specifically the females, when they have children that are born in this country themselves, what

do they want to do the cornyn bill that really doesn't shut gun loopholes. the cornyn bill says you have to make states report mental health issues, et cetera, et cetera, so what does they want to do a lot mean? they don't want to ban assault weapons, we know that. so we have to see what the president is talking about here. it's completely vague. >> it's also interesting optics to see the nra at a lunch with the president as various members of congress are trying to say, oh, no, i'm not bought and paid for by the nra, the nra isn't controlling this discussion. the fact you have it happening right now, okay. it's also interesting to say, put your faith in gun control, even though they're pushing back proposals that have already been endorsed. it's certainly a step to say the president and the nra are talking. maybe he can take the heat from the nra which a few weeks, months ago said that he would, but is suggests they're going to control more of this discussion and that will not lead you to a place where you can get that happening. >> he's very grateful to th

john cornyn, everybody knows.hey didn't put his name up, but that is okay. >> senate majority whip john cornyn. thank you. great job. >> the president didn't do much to back up his claim of having one of the quote greatest memories of all time. >> i don't have teleprompters here folks. i don't need teleprompters. it is called up here and it is called memory and it is called other things. >> have a good mem ory. a great miaemory. >> and i have a good mem ory, i have a great memory. >> i'm blessed with a great m memory. >> one of the greatest memories of all time. ♪ that you'll ever need ♪ staying ahead isn't about waiting for a chance. it's about the one bold choice you make, that moves you forward. ( ♪ ) the one and only cadillac escalade. come in now for this exceptional offer on the cadillac escalade. get this low-mileage lease on this 2018 cadillac escalade from around $879 per month. visit your local cadillac dealer. >>> just to step back a bit here, it is worth saying in a single sentence what is happening. w

john cornyn, everybody knows. they didn't put his name up, but that's ok.is the first time that has ever happened. that will never happen again. [laughter] working together, we have accomplished extraordinary things for the american people over the last year. i really believe this is just the beginning. paul ryan called me the other day. i don't know if i am supposed to say this, but he said to me he has never, ever seen the republican party so united, so much in like with each other, but literally the word "united" was the word he used, the most united he has seen the party. i see it, too. i have so many friends in this group. there is a uniting i don't think many people haven't seen in many years. that's good. i was hoping he wouldn't deny that. he did. he called me. i thought it was very nice. paul, thank you very much. every day, we are removing government burdens and empowering citizens to follow their hearts and live out their dreams. the priorities of republicans in congress are the priorities of the american people. we believe in strong families and

higher than the general population. >> they added that to the cornyn bill. >> they also believe in aegistry of guns. higher than any other part of the population. so, there is a different debate coming up with these young people than the one we're used to for the past 30 years. >> you're saying republicans are willing to consider these issues. the fact is republicans were not willing to consider them in the past. they influence of the national rifle association is so considerable. i'm skeptical this is going to change. >> to be clear, then we're going to move on. to be clear on the topic of this, the cornyn bill largely addresses what happened in sutherland springs. it does nothing to address what happens here. where information was missed because the federal database was updated. you guys stay with us if you can. up next, how is this for a transition? a porn star, a play mate and a fixer out to make the most salacious story disappear. we'll be right back. so, that goal you've been saving for, you can do it. we can do this. at fidelity, our online planning tools are clear and straigh

he also spoke to senator john cornyn about this bipartisan gun legislation. >> reporter: that's right. he has three meetings awaiting him when he returns to washington. one on wednesday, with teachers and students, one on thursday with local officials and later in the month on february 26th, he will meet with governors and state attorneys general to talk about school violence. the white house tells us, as nbc news first reported, the president supports this overall effort to improve background checks by way of this bill floated by john cornyn, number three republican in the senate, and chris murphy, the democrat from connecticut. thing is, this bill is different from what is advertised in that it holds federal agencies accountable if they fail to upload records to the background check system. so it is not in itself a way to improve or expand the background check system. that said, the president's support for it is interesting in that up until this point, he's really only expressed a willingness to address mental illness as the underlying cause of mass gun violence but look, as chris m

chairman. >> thank you, senator cornyn. we're grateful for our colleague's willingness to come here and testify on behalf of the nominees, and so thank you for being here. i'm going to ask our nominees if they would come forward. i'm going to recognize in just a minute the senator of this committee, senator capito to introduce one of the other noms as well. but -- we'll get rolling. >> i want to recognize senator capito. >> thank you. >> she is here to introduce ms. christine wilson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank all the nominees, but i particularly want to thank president trump for nominating christine wilson as nominee as ftc commissioner to the committee. she's an absolute stellar candidate. ms. wilson works in washington, d.c. and lives in falls church, virginia. she has recently purchased farmland in morgan county, west virginia. christine and her husband both have relatives who have lived and worked in the region in the 1700s and 1800s. so when they break ground on this house in march, it will be somethi

stronger background checks with cornyn. maybe. >> yeah, maybe. that's the key point here.of optimistic talk about bipartisanship on capitol hill. on guns, after some of the students, in particular, have been speaking out after this last school shooting. color me skeptical they'll get anything done in the next few days but the fact that the president is open to talking about this, has in a real way, given a lot of republicans some real hope. >> yet, i remember a conversation about daca not too long ago when he said you just give me something, and i'll take the heat for it. i'll get it passed. and not so much. >> no background. president doesn't have any background. he's all bs, no backbone. he said this before on daca. he said this on gay rights and gay people and stuff. he wasn't going to persecute them. everybody was going to be fine. this is nonsense. this is trump wavering around because he doesn't know what he's doing. bl what about the meeting with students? >> a big risk because they're going to tell it like it is. if he picks on them, he's going to be in trouble. it

looks like the cornyn bill is going through some of that already. so, yes, when it comes to a vote, it will be hard to vote against, national security and so forth. in my experience the real game is before it gets to a vote, how will it be changed? >> i would have tons of more questions. i think we already covered a lot of ground. i know that you probably have more questions but the organizers of this conference have set a world class example of being disciplined with time, and i have also to thank you for your time, your own time discipline. so, we'll have to cut it there, but i suggest you all join me in giving a big hand to our panelists. [applause] >> so very quickly, there's coffee and desert outside for those who can use a sugar boost. i'm inclined toward the brownies but the cookies are quite good. and then reconvene in 15 minutes for the final panel on agriculture and free trait. thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible co

he's urging lawmakers to add their best hard -- best ideas to the proposal pushed by john cornyn.trump members of congress that "you have a different president now," pointing to the failure of previous administrations to address gun violence. >> they have great power, i agree. they have great power over you people. they have less power over me. you, they are well-meaning. i said, fellas, we have to do something. the president, making reference to the nra. in florida, students returned to class at marjory stoneman douglas high school. they were greeted by police office -- officers, carrying military style rifles, with counselors and therapy dogs. two weeks ago today, 17 people were shot to death at the school. armed rebel groups in syria have agreed to implement a cease-fire . as per the government of president shar al-assad, there has been no similar -- but shar al-assad,- bashar there has been no similar overture. needless to say, is a complete violation. mark: russia has ordered a five hour daily humanitarian clause to allow civilians to exit the region. reports from the. say th

which i think this bill of senator cornyn is extremely important. it is an effort by congress, not the trump administration, to broaden, as bob said, cfius' powers and i don't think there is any opposition to that bill. it's very difficult for a member of congress to oppose legislation to a bill that is going to make it more difficult for companies to -- you can say the chinese are going to take over all of our cutting edge technology. >> what if it destroys jobs? >> well, i think the point of the legislation is to say we need to protect national security even more than we have, and mr. trump on this one, we're with you. democrats and republicans. because it will hard to vote against it. just my prediction. but to your issue, you raised this fundamental debate which we've all been reading about, the tension within the white house on trade policy. there are those who you can call extremists, america first, who tend to look at a very unilateral approach come hell or high water to protect jobs, go back to the campaign. there are those who you might cal

here is what i have pros along with chairman grassley, john cornyn, david perdue, tom con tony ernst and myself. the little layout of the solution and to say except for items that the white house has identified and the things that aree connected together excuse me. those four items beginning with daca and those eligible about 1.8 individuals living the group speaking english pledging allegiance to the flag going into our schools, a joint engaging in commerce and in every way they lived in function as americans except they are not. they were brought into the country illegally and now what to do about that. president obama set a time. and set 82007 time. and you had to be in this country by 2007 and be under a certain age and then you are eligible. we advanced that because the fence along and said that since the time obama announced it which wasri june 2012 and if you are in the country at the time or before and under that time. and that's her need you are eligible for it. apply in the process. think that is not it is compassionate and fair. it also set the warning out to those that wi

senator john cornyn represents the state of texas. to try to force federal agencies and states to comply with a database and make sure they are inputting the proper data that fully prevents individuals who should not be getting guns from getting guns. another important point on all of this that i think often gets missed, this isn't just the left versus right issue and we are talking about gun control. the national journal road after the vegas shooting, there is rural state democrats running for reelection who are also not talking about gun control measures. it's also a geographical issue depending on the state, depending on your constituency as well. someone who is mentally ill should not have access to a gun, we need to do something to improve the background check and that may mean giving up some privacies along the way because the way the current law is, that's how this information doesn't get shared, can't get shared. in this case it would have saved 17 lives had that information been shared. >> katie: there are a long list of thin

there seems to be a discussion about a more limited proposal to fix nic bill sported by senators cornyn and murphy, which improves the existing background check in a few ways. i support the bill. i'm a cosupport. but the bill is not what president trump has been talking about this afternoon and at other times, when he says comprehensive background checks. fix nics was brought to light after a horrific shooting at church in texas. a proposal to address that pick problem, but it leaves unaddressed the host of crucial gun safety issues, including and especially the loopholes in our background check system. if we only pass fix nics we'll be right back here after the next shooting in nearly the same place. if all congress does in response to the parkland shooting is to pass fix nics we won't be doing our job. we must do muchmer than that. this week, the democratic caucus will discuss what policies we believe will most effectively curb the uniquely american epidemic of gun violence. we will propose them and work with our republican colleagues to perfect and hopefully enact them. i sincerely b

cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i understand there is a bill at the desk that is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the senator is correct. the clerk will read the title of the bill for a second time. the clerk: s. 2464, a bill to improve border security and so forth. mr. cornyn: in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule 14, i would object to further proceeding. the presiding officer: objection having been heard, the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. cornyn: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, as my colleague from connecticut is -- was here in the room and mentioned the bill we have been working on together, the fix nics bill, i want to remind all of us what the motivation was, at least on my part, what was the reason and i thank my colleague and the majority leader and those who cosponsored this legislation. it was just a few short months ago when someone murdered 26 people worshiping in a small church just outside san antonio in sutherland springs.

cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: madam president, i want to begin my remarks today by discussing a piece of bipartisan legislation that i've sponsored with our colleague, the senior senator from california, senator feinstein. this bill is not something you're going to see reported on in the evening news, in all likelihood. and it is rather obscure in its origins, but it is extraordinarily important, and i'll explain that in just a moment. it's called the foreign investment risk review pho -- modernization act and it concerns another acronym, the committee on foreign investment in the united states known as cfius. it's a committee on foreign investment in the united states. cfius is a multiagency panel headed by the treasury department, secretary mnuchin chairs that panel. and its job is to vet foreign investments to determine if they pose a threat to our national security. i'm an ardent supporter of free trade, and i strongly support more foreign direct investment in the united states. but unfortunately, some

cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president, yesterday i spoke about the deadline we have coming up in two days. the question is, are we going to fund the federal government, are we going to keep the lights on, the parks open, the military protecting us, border patrol protecting our borders? or are we going to shut down the government again over an unrelated issue? now, i listened to my friend, the senator from illinois, talk at some length about daca, and i do want to respond to that. but there is no reason why we have to do daca first because we are engamed in good -- engaged in good-faith negotiations and, indeed, the majority leader has promised he would take up a bill on the floor of the senate failing an agreement. but the fact of the matter is our friends across the aisle have basically shut down the government and now threatening to hold hostage a number of very important measures that i'll talk about momentarily over this issue that's unrelated to the funding of the government or these other matters. and so w

because this legislation that the white house seems to be open to from john cornyn, the texas senator, this was introduced in the wake of the sutherland springs shooting. this deals with background checks, this deals with domestic abuse, this deals with the military discharges and the like. is there room for common ground here? can this get past? >> look, i don't know if the underlying big issues of this debate have changed, because frankly you always have the two sides who are pretty dug in. i do think there has always been some opening for some of these tweaks. the issue, of course, is that in 2007 we actually did an ncis improvement amendments act post virginia tech's shooting which allowed for connecting databases and making sure mental health stuff has been reported. it has not gone that well, so i think the quickest path, i think, is to go for some of these tweaks that improve what already exists on the books and allows for things to be more openly shared. but as always, in the united states of america, liberty and security are going to butt up against each other and you are goi

he does have the ability, and john cornyn with the right and the gun lobby. there is that wild card. >> it's an important point and one of the things that has struck me, hugh, we did hear from the president in the wake of the las vegas shooting and he expressed a willingness to have a conversation. we were talking about banning bump stocks. i want to get your reaction on the other side. >> look, we have a tragedy and what happened in las vegas is in many ways a miracle. the police department has done an incredible job and we'll be talking about gun laws as time goes by. >> he said we'll be talking about gun laws. that conversation, as far as i know, hasn't happened in the public sphere. is this moment different? >> i kind of share dana's, not cynicism, but realism about what happens. i sat down with speaker ryan after las vegas and at that point the speaker said he was all for banning bump stocks. he hadn't even heard of them before. i thought it would happen within a month but, of course, legislation requires persuasion not polarization. we're seeing like an

senator langford and senator grassley, senator purdue, cotton, all those who have weighed in, senator cornyn to try to craft a solution that's responsive to the presence framework, responsive to some of the concerns that our friends on the other side of the aisle happen now it's time for us to act. let's do something different. let's produce a result. let's not talk about it and say we tried, let's produce a result, provide certainty for those people waiting for us to act. but secure our border and modernize our broken immigration system. if we do that, we've done a a great thing. thank you madame president. >> today we begin our immigration debate in earnest. senator mcconnell has kept his promise to bring an immigration vehicle to the floor. this week will take a series of votes on doctor, border security and other related subjects. they take a few minutes to outline where i'm at on these issues and where i see the debate heading. i made very clear, mr. madame president that i believe we need a legislative fix for daca. we cannot continue to keep people in our country. daca recipients dese

senator cornyn from connecticut wants a lot of gun control.in texas does support this bill. ensures that federal and state authorities comply with existing law and report criminal records, holds states accountable if they fail to upload records by withholding financial incentives, and try to bring in more resources. is there a world where washington could pass that and the liberals who want more gun control can say, look, we don't think this is enough. but in good faith, let's do this. let's not add anything to it, and if we have two or three more mass shootings, i expect you people to have this conversation. could that snap. >> if there is anything that's going to pass in this climate, it is that bill. the president, when he's talked about strengthening background checks, he's referring to this bill. he often doesn't get into the specifics about legislation, but in his general language. his aides are steering him towards this bill. i think if there's anything that's going to happen, it's going to be a bill like this, but it cannot be attached

what we're talking about there is the cornyn bill. it's a bipartisan bill, passed the house already, i believe. but the house added on some language, which made it even more widespread that under federal law people could conceal and carry firearms, which had not been in the original version. >> yeah, across state lines. you're exactly right. the reason this is important here is this doesn't necessarily expand federal background checks. it sort of tries to improve the current bill that exists right now, trying to improve federal compliance. we know, as nbc news first reported this weekend, the president spoke to john cornyn on friday about this. but the bottom line, and i think this is significant, is that we have witnessed on multiple occasions now three of the top ten worst mass shootings to take place in this country have occurred in the last five months, all in effect under president trump's watch. even after las vegas with that conversation about bump stocks became one that the white house said it was, in fact, open to, nothing ch

. >> here we have the new cornyn and the old cornyn, so i'm not nostalgic for some other bygonner arejohn cornyn just saw it the way he saw it regardless of party? >> i think we're both feeling the same way, and kanye and i, by the way, are both from chicago so you're playing to the audience here. so you're absolutely right, and i think you have to look at the larger context as you always do. no one really thought that george w. bush had a bent toward authoritarianism, in donald trump's case, every time we look at something like this, including the nunez memo, you have to ask the question, he's talked about reconstructing the fbi, and making the fbi people loyal to him. same with the justice department, all these unfilled places in the state department. he's attacked the intelligence community, we don't have the evidence that would suggest yet that he is doing this with the idea that he'll have a degree of personal power and authoritarian control that we haven't seen in earlier presidents, but the founders always wanted us to ask those questions of anyone who was president because the

we're talking senate majority whip john cornyn and chris murphy of connecticut. they're doing what they can to create an idea that would enhance background checks. something that we have also heard from the white house on numerous occasions they would consider as they continue to move forward in the conversation. let me share a bit of what sarah sanders had to say this weekend about what the president thinks. she said the president spoke to senator cornyn on friday about the bipartisan bill he and senator murray introduced about criminal background check legislations. while discussions are ongoing the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system. this is something that has been very important to the white house for quite some time. you may remember on friday the president took part in a round table with stakeholders not just community leaders and lawmakers but also those who live here and work here and whose priority, like all of us, is to maintain the safety and security of america's children. that was on friday. that's a con

up will hear from senator mcconnell, minority leader chuck schumer along with majority whip, john cornyn and minority whip, richard durbin. >> it is now wednesday morning the week the senate set aside to debate daca, border security, interior enforcement and other immigration issues. i promised i would clear the way to debate these matters this week and i have. i promised i would ensure a fair amendment process in which both sides could offer legislation for discussion and vote and i have. yesterday the congressional hispanic caucus released a letter thanking me for keeping my commitment and urge the senate to resolve this issue quickly. but we haven't even been able to get started yet. haven't even been able to get started. yesterday i tried twice to open debate and start the voting. both times my democratic colleagues objected. i'm a little for text frankly by the holdup. my democratic colleagues spent months months as we all know demanding the senate take up this issue and even shut down the government shut down the government unnecessarily i might add in order to secure this very wee

senate majority whip john cornyn. john, thank you.job. >> willie, is the white house doctor would say, the mind of a 14-year-old. at the peak of life. >> i love -- he throws a speechwriter under the bus. they didn't put your name in there, for god's sakes. he talks a lot, there are a lot of words, it's hard to remember them all. >> a lot of big words, some of the best words. >> president trump thanking members of the republican leadership in some cases twice, at the republican retreat in white sulfur springs, west virginia, touting his view of republicans and their view of him. >> a very spectacular man, orrin hatch. where's orrin? orrin? orrin is -- i love listening to him speak. he said once i'm the single greatest president in his lifetime. and he actually once said i'm the greatest president in the history of our country. i said does that include lincoln and washington. i said yes, i said i love this guy. >> senator hatch's office later clarified that the senator never said trump was the greatest president. but that he could be so