cummings. >> yes. >> mr. cummings votes aye. >> mr. towns. >> mr. towns votes aye. miss la moaneny votes aye. miss norton votes aye. mr. kucinich votes aye. mr. attorneyeny votes aye. mr. clay votes aye. mr. lynch. mr. clay votes aye. mr. lynch votes aye. mr. connelly votes aye. mr. quigley votes aye. mr. davis votes aye. mr. brayly votes aye. mr. welch votes aye. mr. murphy votes aye. miss spear votes aye. >> the clerk will report. >> on that vote, mr. chairman, 15 ayes, 23 nos. >> the amendment is not agreed to. the question now occurs on the amendment offered by the lady from new york. miss maloney, in which the nos prevailed by voice and recorded vote was ordered. the clerk will call the role. >> mr. issa. >> no. >> mr. burton votes no. mr. my ka votes no. mr. plats votes no. mr. turner votes no. mr. mchenry votes no. mr. jordan votes no. mr. chaffetz. mr. chaffetz votes no. mr. mack votes no. mr. wahlberg votes no. mr. langford votes no. mr. move votes no. miss beshgle votes no. mr. labrador? mr. labrador votes no. mr. me shan votes no. mr. walsh votes no. mr.

cummings: do you have any more speakers? mr. issa: no, i do not. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, as the democratic leader said, there's no doubt that the constitution gives congress the right and responsibility to investigate, but the constitution also requires something else. it requires congress and the executive branch to avoid unnecessary conflict and deceit, accommodations that serve both of their interests. in this case the attorney general has testified nine times. he's provided thousands of pages of documents. he's provided 13 pages of deliberative internal document and he's willing to provide even more to meet the recent demands of chairman issa. but house republican leaders are not honoring their constitutional obligations. in fact, th are running in the wrong direction as quickly as possible. it's fundamentally wrong to vote in favor of this resolution at this time when the attorney general has been working with the house in good faith. i believe this action will undermine the standing of the house, will cement the speaker's legacy and will be recorded by hist

elijah cummings. assuming there is no deal over the documents congressman issa will the house vote to hold attorney general holder in contempt. >> yes, i believe it will. >> chris: you are saying it is bipartisan. >> there are 31 who wrote to the administration asking them to be forth coming and many of them will stay with us now that the administration has not been. >> chris: no doubt in your mind that the house will vote holder in contempt? >> it is regrettable we are here. we would not like to be here. if attorney general holder and the president could release the documents that are not any means covered by executive privilege this could be eliminated. we can't have a promise to be satisfied and dismiss the contempt. >> chris: and failing that kind of an agreement, then what? >> it is the speaker's decision. he has announced we will vote if there is not a negotiated settlement. >> chris: give us an example of the kind of document that is important and get to the bottom of the case and clearly not a

cummings: do you have any more speakers? mr. issa: no, i do not. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, as the democratic leader said, there's no doubt that the constitution gives congress the right and responsibility to investigate, but the constitution also requires something else. it requires congress and the executive branch to avoid unnecessary conflict and deceit, accommodations that serve both of their interests. in this case the attorney general has testified nine times. he's provided thousands of pages of documents. he's provided 13 pages of deliberative internal document and he's willing to provide even more to meet the recent demands of chairman issa. but house republican leaders are not honoring their constitutional obligations. in fact, they are running in the wrong direction as quickly as possible. it's fundamentally wrong to vote in favor of this resolution at this time when the attorney general has been working with the house in good faith. i believe this action will undermine the standing of the house, will cement the speaker's legacy and will be recorded by hi

congressman cummings does that satisfy you? >> no, i have asked the chairman to bring the atf director nelson before us. he has refused to. we asked for witnesses to come before the public hearing. he has refused to do that. all i'm saying is i -- the chairman in me has a willing partner if we are really going to be about the business of keeping our promise to the terry family. i want to do that. that is so very, very importa t important. but i can tell you that again and i think and i have said it before, chris, i think with regard to getting these documents we are on the one foot line of a field. and i have absolutely no doubt that if speaker boehner showed the strong leadership that i know he will we can sit down, work this thing out with the attorney general and move on. >> chris: i hate to interrupt but we have limited time and i want to ask you each one more question. the president, of course, asserted executive privilege this week and congressman issa here is what house democratic leader pelosi had to say after that abou

cummings: do you have any more speakers? mr. issa: no, i do not. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, as the democratic leader said, there's no doubt that the constitution gives congress the right and responsibility to investigate, but the constitution also requires something else. it requires congress and the executive branch to avoid unnecessary colict and deceit, accommodations that serve both of their interests. in this case the attorney general has testified ne times. he's provided thousands of pages of documents. he's provided 13 pages of deliberative internal document and he's willing to provide even more to meet the recent demands of chairman issa. but house republican leaders are not honoring their constitutional obligations. in fact, they are running in the wrong direction as quickly as possible. it's fundamentally wrong to vote in favor of this resolution at this time when the attorney general has been working with the house in good faith. i believe this action will undermine the standing of the house, will cement the speaker's legacy and will be recorded by histor

hall. >> good morning, chairman issa and ranking member cummings and members of the committee. i'm keith hall, a senior fellow at georgia mason. recently i was the commissioner of labor statistics from 2008-2012. and my testimony i would like to talk about the bureau of labor statistics and its role in disseminating economic data. first of all let me note that the bureau of labor statistics is an independent federal statistical agency. as such, it is tasked not only with collecting, compiling and producing economic data, but also with disseminating the data and explaining it to the public. there are a number of principles which any federal statistical agency follows, its disseminate data in both a transparent, independent manner with no bias of any type, there are also tasked with creating a level playing field for the release of data meaning that nobody has an advantage of getting the data early ahead of other people. in addition, they are responsible for the security of the data and that's everywhere including inside the lockup room. in fact, the bureau of labor statistics ha

congressman darrell issa and elijah cummings weighing in on fox news sunday and both saying it can be but differing on how that would be done. >> it is regrettable we are here and certainly would like not to be here and if the president and attorney general holder would simply start producing the documents they know they could produce to us, they are not by any means going to be covered by executive privilege, it could be delayed or even eliminated. >> i'm calling on speaker boehner to come forth and show strong leadership because i know he will and sit down with the attorney general, to resolve the matter. the attorney general has made it clear that he is willing to work with this congress, he's already turned over 7600 documents, gone through millions of e-mails. >> jamie: joining me now the anchor of fox news sunday, chris wallace who has the discussion both sideddes of the aisle sayi they want to see more. should there be a question about a compromise? eric holder said he'd work with congress. should he have the option of a compromise? how do they feel about that or should they de

we understand ranking member elijah cummings is there along with a number of attorneys on the panel. >> again, as we're waiting for this house oversight and government reform committee hearing to get under way, we are just receiving this news from the associated press, that the justice department is saying that president obama has exerted executive privilege over those fast and furious documents that are in question that were the subject of a meeting yesterday between committee chair darrell issa and attorney general eric holder. those two did meet yesterday for about 20 minutes. afterwards, congressman issa held a briefing that lasted just a few minutes for reporters. >> i guess i want to thank you all for coming. we've had about a 20-minute meeting with the attorney general and the deputy attorney general. to summarize, he came with an offer of a briefing. we went through the process of what was being offered and responded as i think we have to, which is that the documents that they may choose to give in the future, we need to have before tomorrow. ultimately, the documents necessa

christopher cummings was a promising honor student. his life cut short last june. >> one year ago today we got the call that no parent wants to receive, the most dreaded call and that was that christopher had been shot down in cold blood. >> reporter: since the murder christopher's uncle congressman elijah a lie gentleman cummings was concerned about other students. >> i'm here for all these other students. >> reporter: last september police issued a warrant for a person of interest but as of today there is noaa rest. them assigned new detectives to the investigation. >> talking to the police and the police have a theory that he was being robbed. and we just learned that. and they believe if they can just get a few more tips they can possibly pull it together, cummings has repeatedly issued there message to the killer. >> i promise you we will finds you you didn't give christopher justice you slaughtered him. we want to make sure you get justice and we want to make slur you never do this to another human being again. >> reporter: the c

cummings on this subject. i just know that my case is different from years ago. >> do you see any problem -- >> yes. >> given the fact that the interest rate increase will only apply to new loans. it won't apply to -- >> suppose you're a student and you're taking out a loan and you sign up for 6.8%, you signed up. now some time down the road you are going to perhaps renegotiate the loan that that's an affirmative action that you have to know how to do. there are costs involved in it that will probably be passed on to the borrower. people have to make decisions based on -- this may or may not be the interest that i pay and you don't een knven know if it be retroactive so why would we do that except -- except humor -- humor, and the intrance sequence of the house of representatives, why should students have to face that uncertainty if we agree that the interest rate should be 3.4% and not 6.8%. so it hurts these student. i can give you chapter and verse on this and we have the presentation as recently as this mo

chairman, ranking member cummings, members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to testify today on the new policies and procedures the labor department is planning for its press lockups. my name is rob dougherty, i'm general manager in the united states for reuters which is the news division of thomson reuters. reuters is the largest international news agency in the world. we have more than 2,900 full-time journalists in 200 bureaus around the world reporting in 20 languages. globally our audience includes more than 1,700 text, media and 600 tv clients over 35 million visitors to reuters websites each month, and more than 400,000 financial professionals subscribe to thompson reuters desktop products. on april 10th, the labor department notified our washington bureau chiefs and other news organizations about major changes they planned for the operation of its lockups. dan covered the changes in detail so i won't repeat those. needily to say, we were taken aback by the change. dramatic and without advance notice and no real explanation of the rationale and without consultation wit

cummings on the subject. i know that this case is very different from what we had before a few years ago. >> to see -- do you see any problem solving the student laws retroactively? >> yes. >> the interest rate will only apply to new amounts, not to current rates that suppose you are a student >> suppose you are a student and your ticket out alone and you sign up for 6.8%. you have signed up. sometime down the road you're going to perhaps renegotiate the loan? that is an affirmative action and you have to know how to do that. there are costs involved that would probably be passed on to the bar were. -- to the borrower. people have been to make decisions based on a certainty. how the pit -- how about the uncertainty that this may not be the interest biped. i pay. you don't even know it would be retroactive so why would we do that except to humor the intransigence of the republicans in the house of representatives. why should students have to take that on certainty if we agree that the interest rate should be 3

cummings has not lived up to his promise. i wish he had, to the terry family. i believe in spirit he thinks he has, but in reality, this truth, the full truth, is too painful for, in fact, him to take on his own attorney general. i think that's one of the problems that goes on in every administration. >> i want to give you an opportunity to respond to that. >> i responded in the hearing and told him, and i'll say it today. in my 61 years in life, i have had nobody to challenge my integrity. mr. issa gets confused, when you stand up for the law and you say that, and i say that we should not be trying to subpoena documents that would be unlawful for the attorney general to give us, give to us, and when i say we should not be subpoenaing documents that reveal informants, confidential informants and documents that might interfere with the trial, he automatically thinks you're trying to defend the attorney general. i'm trying to stand up for the integrity of the house and for the integrity of the executive branch of government. i make it clear, i hold the executive

is it a witch-hunt, as congressman cummings says it is? >> right. a couple of the democrats on it is rules committee made that allegation today. and -- issa spat back that those are the democratic talking points. one mistake the -- justice department made was in sending a letter on early on to chuck grassley. that was false. apparently not knowingly false. that gave him, you know, a ft in the door to press ahead with this. but what it turned out in the end is what the -- committee is demanding, whole issue for this contempt of congress citation has nothing to do with the program itself. what led to this agent's death. it is all about what happened afterwards. it is this coverup that issa is allege which by definition is not about the program itself. >> indeed. thank you both. next, representative rangel weighs in. >> we are beginning to see this is part after continuing plan and whether it is suppressing the vote or suppressing the economy. this obstructionist regime that we see that continues to block because they think it is - rather see president

we heard what elijah cummings had to say. sound of joe walsh just about an hour ago on msnbc talking, responding to elijah cummings. let's hear what he had to say. >> the bush administration cooperated with the mexican government. they let the mexican government know what they were doing. they traced the guns. fast and furious, our government under this administration purposely turned the other way and stopped tracing thousands of firearms so this is a much bigger, a much more serious breach of justice. >> glenn, is this -- where do you land? is this much ado about nothing? is this all part of an effort to undermine eric holder, his position in the administration? is this a legitimate concern? the talk of conspiracy theories, the talk of this administration trying to use this whole thing as a pawn to have greater gun control. what do you make of it? >> i think the only answer to this is the appointment of several special counsel with unlimited subpoena power. [ speaking simultaneously ] >> that could feed your show for years.

ee elijah cummings was present at that meeting.g with us. >> it's good to be with you. >> and you senator leahy were there and senator grassley. explain that meeting. was it contentious or nasty? >> it was not nasty and the cl that he has produced over 7,600 documents that he has appeared before the congress nine times in the last 16 months and that this incident that started with regard to the local atf office in phoenix allowing guns to go over the border without them tracing them properly and then one of those guns eventually ending up at the scene of the unfortunate murder of agent terry, you know, he explained that, you know, that as a matter of fact he applauded mr. issa for bringing this to the attention of the public and to the attention of the higher ups and doj. he basically said, look, i'm willing to work with you. i've already provided all of these documents. i'll continue to do so, but you've got to give me some kind of assurances that this contempt situation will be taken off the table and basically what issa said was

but congressman cummings was having none of it. >> didn't ask for an investigation, just ending this contempt fight. i double-checked with my staff because when you said that, i heard, i was in the meeting with him and i heard what he said. he was very clear. >> indeed, cummings was the first in today's hearings to question issa's true motivations. suggesting the chairman attended a last ditch meeting tuesday to avert today's vote but with no intention of ever doing that. >> instead, you rushed to a prearranged press conference to announce the failure of the meeting. it seems clear that you had no interest in resolving this issue. >> now, make no mistake, this was a seriously flawed operation with roots in the bush administration and resulted in the death of a border patrol agent. than agent's death demands proper scrutiny of the entire operation. but it appears that that has never ever been the mission of mr. issa and his allies. this republican congress has dumped its duty to legislate in order to focus on its core task, the defeat of the president and they're doing that fast and f

so i tried to act on reforms with many members of this committee, including ranking member cummings. we tried to help law enforcement officers fight gun trafficking along the southwest border, and we did not get any support from the other side of the aisle. mr. issa has rebuffed requests by ranking member cummings to address reforms at the department of justice and the clear need for legislation to fight illegal gun trafficking along the southwest border, including a request for a hearing on the topic, just a hearing, and the chairman has also demanded that the department of justice produce a wiretap applications that were ordered sealed. >> gentle lady's time has expired. i would ask unanimous consent the gentle lady have an additional 30 seconds. without objection, so ordered. >> and i must say, mr. chairman, i am offended offended personally by your calling the attorney general a liar, and it is extremely disrespectful, and attacking to our public servant, and you have called me a liar. you apologized later and i accepted, but where have we did he generated to in calling names and

cummings will speak at 3:00 in the auditorium of the jamison high school. >>> well, it is now 6:35 and democracy 2012 this morning. president president barack obama and republican rival mitt romney are both campaigning in ohio. they're going to offer dueling speeches about fixing the economy. >>> being lazy with your lawn can land you in jail in new york. people tired of foreclosed homes, dead trees or vermin. vermin? a swimming pools half filled walter have been complaining now@lawmakers in -- to the lawmakers in massapequa park. listen. >> this is quality of life. >> yes. i'm paying taxes to what, look at your garbage? >> all right the vote was unanimous. if your lawn is not mowed. if the dumpsters are full, and gutters broken or windows or doors boarded up. they can face a $250 fine or $1,000 fine. that's your second offense and that's the big one right there. $10,000 and 15 days in jail if you are caught for the third time. but anytime you bring vermin into the equation that's never good. >>> well, imagine sitting down a nice meal and not being able to sea what you're eating. that'

. >> top democrat elijah cummings sat in on the meeting said on what he heard attorney general has nothinghide and wants to resolve the process. issa said it was time to turn over documents and attorney general wanted to give a brief something they still seem to be far apart. >> bret: we may hear from the attorney general in a few minute. you will see it live on fox. thank you. >>> we still don't know who will be the next president of egypt. both candidates from last weekend's runoff are claiming victory but leland vittert tells us the man who ran the country for decades is said to be clinically dead. leland vittert live in cairo. hello. >> reporter: good morning, bret, from cairo. a little past midnight here. and the one source that is reporting president mubarak is clinically dead is the middle east news agency. you heard that from a few other diplomatic and intelligence sources. although they cannot confirm he is clinically dead. they slin think he. is whether he suffered a stroke, heart attack or combination of both. it's clear the 84-year-old former u.s. ally, and israel ally is in ve

cummings: yes. mr. speaker, the -- you know, it's interesting here today what we just did with regard to the criminal contempt, i do believe that it is very unfortunate and let me tell you why. we have an attorney general who is indeed an honorable man. we who practice law look up to the attorney general and any u.s. attorney. they are folks like us who are well educated and who love their country and eric holder jr. is no exception. over and over again he has tried to cooperate with this committee and i'm sure that both sides -- his side and our side have become a little frustrated at times. but as he said in a meeting a few weeks ago -- about a couple weeks ago, he said that he's willing to give the documents. he's asking at some point his attorneys have an opportunity to get back to work. now, leader pelosi said something a moment ago that we should not lose sight of, mr. speaker, when she spoke about the constitution and that it requires congress and the executive branch to avoid unnecessary conflic

. >> we will hear from the maryland congressman elijah cummings and how he reacts to the contempt chargesagainst eric holder. >> also this morning we are going to tell you about kid putting on sun block but a policy may be getting in the way of their protection. in the end it's the kids getting burned. it's the hot topic on facebook. we want to know what you think. >> they are holding out hope in ontario. more than 36 hours after a mall colapped, rescuers believe -- collapsed, rescue -- rescuers believe they are hearing sounds inside the mall. >>> alex trabek is expected to make a full recovery after suffering a mild recovery. >> his rep says he was admitted saturday the same day the game show was awarded the emmy for best show. now a spokesperson says he will be back at work next month for the show's 29th season when it begins filming. >>> if you think you have what it takes to being the next bachelor. if so listen up. baltimore fellas in baltimore this is your chance. >> abc is holding a casting call for season 17 of the bachelor thursday, june 28th a few days away. it's going to be at

are you aware of the report by elijah cummings? >> yes. >> do you believe that be under this report that his staff and ranking member cummings of the oversight committee extensively reviewed the 7,000, 6,000 or the world of information that was given? >> i think they did a good job of reviewing the information. they produced a good report that contains a number of reforms that we have tried to implement. >> quickly, the statement says that they found no politically motivated operation that fast and furious was not conceived and directed by high level obama administration political appointees at the department of justice. would you concede that they would have the basis to say that? >> i think if one looks at the documents what that statement is manifestly true. >> can i ask you as well to investigate and are you concerned or have you seen the impact of single race based juries in a number of cases. this has been an issue in a number of areas particularly in the south in cases that are particularly sensitive. i'm going to ask you to

cummings, has a different understanding of it than -- >> would the gentleman yield very quickly? >> i have today gotten the -- from the attorney general's office noted that all he's referring to is trying to have a good faith effort to resolve the subpoena and contempt issue only. i yield back. >> i would respect the chairman for standing up for committee prerogatives. second, i agree with the chairman that we do owe it to the terry family to get to the bottom of this, but the third point, this is the challenge that we always have in congress. everything that we do when it ends up on a partisan vote leaves the american public with the view that essentially it's a political deal going down in washington once again and the hope i would have is that the member of the committee who strongly believes in oversight and legitimate access that congress should have to all of the information needs in order to make a determination about accountability and how it happened is that we lay that foundation in this committee that would justify in the minds of most of us including on both sides of

cummings got up to go and then i got up. ultimately the meeting had resolved everything that we could go back and forth probably 20 minute earlier we gave opportunity for mr. cole, for the attorney general hold r holder, for senator leahy and mr. cummings to each state their positions and that took about five minutes apiece. >> greta: did you communicate to him right then and there look i'm going forward tomorr w tomorrow? did you tell him that? >> i did. i told him that he gave us nothing that would cause us not to go forward. but that we would hold the doors open for actual discove y discovery. >> and he said what when you told him that? >> well, he started through the same line that he used in public statements that you have seen before judicialary unprecedented access, nobody can give you the deliberative process, we are willing to do it but it is unprecedented. and again, we are sorry to have to ask for this information but i he think the american people by now if they have been foll w following fast and furious know th

there you see elijah cummings is speaking.elling you, just about at the top of the hour we learned that president obama has asserted executive privilege over the fast and furious documents in question. nbc's christin welker is live at the white house. what are you hearing there? obviously the accusation had been gnat request for the documents is political. is the white house concerned that the use of executive privilege will look political, as well? >> reporter: well, look. to some extent they have to be, chris. this is an election year. we are closer to the november election so everything right now will likely be viewed through a political lens but i just spoke to senior administration official who is say that president obama felt it necessary to assert this executive privilege to essentially protect a class of documents that's never been turned over to congress before, class of documents that really relates to correspondents about fast and furious and they argue that the primary documents of fast and furious, 7,600 of them h

congressman elijah cummings, thanks for your time tonight.ing against the contempt of congress business. thank you, again, for being here. >> thanks. >> thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton. "hardball" starts right now. >> bushed. let's play "hardball." >>> good evening. i'm chris math use from washington. let me start tonight with this assault on the republican party. this time, it's coming from within. very within. jeb bush, the guy touted most as the party's number one future prospect, says it has gone far so right lately that neither he nor his father or even ronald reagan would fit anymore. he place some blame on the democrats. he said his refusal or this refusal to compromise, this insistence on rigid right-wing orthodoxy by the tea party