schumer and dick durbin of illinois were the most creative chefs, carving large slices of well cooked pork for corporate allies.

. >> senator durbin, do you believe that, and second, talk about the vote referenced. the close vote in the house this week where the nsa collection program survived. but democratic colleagues are pushing to end it as well, where do you stand on that? >> this was an amazing vote. we came within six votes of challenging an intelligence operation. that doesn't happen very often. hardly at all. it's an indication of a healthy

officials in the senate, republican saxby chambliss, and dick durbin. you're the vice chair of the intelligence committee right now. would it surprise you if it turns out what he's reporting there is true? that low-level officials have the capability to read e-mails, net traffic, listen to phone calls? >> george, it wouldn't just surprise me, shock me. i was at the nsa just last week. spent a couple hours out there with high and low level nsa officials.

the chairman senator dick durbin did kind of address this issue if we could play that clip. no one is suggesting that closing guantanamo is risk free or the no detainees will ever engage in terrorist activities if they're transferred but if a former detainees does return to terrorism he will likely meet the. heerey the number two official in the in the arabian peninsula who was recently killed in a drone strike that's a really interesting clip there list and he is the senator's making the point that we shouldn't be basing our entire strategy in guantanamo what this fear in the future that someone might come back and commit an act of terror again. i guess you know it's pretty old also speaking to this idea that given the troubles at guantanamo administer paul white house and the white house wants to rather kill people rather than lock them up now. that kind of it appears that that's what the senator was saying i think he was trying to ease the minds of those that fear what's going to happen that say about that that this is going to happen that that there is a it's going to ge

interest in actually bringing this place down today when things start to go rolling senator dick durbin actually said that you know for operating guantanamo it's it's more than just a human rights thing it's more than a national security thing we're just we're blowing money in a time when we don't have it cost something like four hundred forty million dollars . just to keep it running every year and that's two point seven million dollars per inmate whereas if they were at the nicest federal prison within the condo united states they're looking at maybe spending seventy grand max in order to keep that person carse rated instead we have people hundred sixty six they're being held in this prison and millions of dollars a year is being spent on them and they're at this point being held there indefinitely actually one of the one of their witness is today. they was a government appointed military counsel for one of the detainees so you know his job is to represent him although you know he's being paid by local sam and he was up there saying look at this guy's been there for the last eleven ye

. >>> and more from the two top officials in the senate, republican saxby chambliss, and dick durbin. you're the vice chair of the intelligence committee right now. would it surprise you if it turns out what he's reporting there is true? that low-level officials have the capability to read e-mails, net traffic, listen to phone calls? >> george, it wouldn't just surprise me, shock me. i was at the nsa just last week. spent a couple hours out there with high and low level nsa officials. what i have been assured of is there is no capability at nsa for anyone without a court order to listen to any telephone conversation or to monitor any e-mail. in fact we don't monitor e-mails. that's what kind of assures me that what the reporting is is not correct. because no e-mails are monitored now. they used to be, but that stopped two or three years ago. so i feel confident that -- that there may have been some abuse, but if it was, it was pure accidental. >> senator durbin, do you believe that, and second, talk about the vote referenced. the close vote in the house this week where the nsa collect

this guy is challenging the senate's second most powerful democrat, dick durbin, an office he has wonandily now, and the republican doug trueaction wants to make this the senator's last. it's good to have you, doug. you have an uphill fight on your hands in a state where the majority of democrats are not surprisingly support and like the healthcare law. you say that support is skin deep. explain. >> well, you're looking at the affordable care act, nothing is very affordable. way too much benefits being built in now, and if we look at really common sense market-based solutions, i always think it's part oft what i do for a living but i always think if you got serious about letting people buy insurance across state lines, let miami put more in a savings account that was pretax -- >> all things they could have cop um with and included in the health care bail -- bill and did is not there. are many in your parties saying the way around this -- and i'm curious whether you agree -- is get more of the principal players involved, doctors and those who know basic business and economics and costs

as senator durbin mentioned are supermax prisons do this quite well.ny reasons those providing for defendants. my team in iraq was composed of nine nations military and civilian. and in late-night discussions are guantÁnamo would come up from time to time and after abu ghraib often. some of our closest allies have refused to send those detainees because of guantÁnamo. we are losing intelligence opportunities every time this happens. releasing an individual at guantÁnamo detainee does not change our national security posture. for this soldier the fear-based argument to keep guantÁnamo open is hard to understand. it brought to the u.s. the prosecution and incarceration for medical treatment. the deep pain he said posed no threat to our national security. 86 men who have been cleared for transfer should be transferred. we must find lawful dispositions for all detainees as we have done in every conflict. further, guantÁnamo places our soldiers at risk not only because it makes america look hypocritical as we promote the rule of law but because it makes the

and then dick durbin came out and cried, i'm so sorry. i'm so sorry.t you do the same thing? why doesn't obama say, i guess republican steve king who too thinks these kids who earn their way into college with cantaloupe calves, 9 out of a run are drug smugglers. are every republican with him? no, i'm not with him and steve king should work. >> would it even work at this point. he has a track record, and the republicans know that. he stopped immigration, foreign policy. look at what he's doing with immigration people, and they fire back because they know who is going to fold first. >> while the president is out making speeches on the hill they're talking about cutting the epa by 34%. fish and while life service by 25%. the national endowment of the arts. now will it actually come to pass? i don't know, but they're concerned with the actual legislation. >> cenk: they'll defund pbs.% they'll win on the house side and then lose on the senate side. wouldn't it be great if i ran things? >> it would be great. >> cenk: i mean, i would come in and say, oh, yeah

dirk durbin is the senior senator from illinois.wants to change and improve obamacare, he wants a new definition of full-time worker. coming from a top democrat, this is another blow to the president's health care plan, a big one, too, to the markets, watch the price of oil, way up again, gas start to go move you up, too. chaos in egypt means you pay more at the pump. why don't we take pipeline oil from friendly canada? ben speaks seven hours from now. but we are about to begin, here we go. [ male announcer] surprise -- you're having triplets. [ babies crying ] surprise -- your house was built on an ancient burial ground. [ ghosts moaning ] surprise -- your car needs a new transmission. [ coyote howls ] how about no more surprises? now you can get all the online trading tools you need without any surprise fees. ♪ it's not rocket science. it's just common sense. from td ameritrade. >> everybody, got to start with this, nor hit for apple. apple conspired to raise e-book prices and that's a victory for the u.s. government. and the tria

durbin: mr. president, america has a rich history of immigration. we're a nation of immigrants. there is hardly a person in america today who doesn't have an immigrant parent, grandparent or at least someone in their lineage who came to this country from another place. i have told this story many times on the floor. my mother was an immigrant. she came to america -- brought to america at the age of 2 from lithuania. her son now stands in the united states senate. that's my story. that's my family's story, but it's america's story. it can be repeated over and over and over again. we think about the statue of liberty and how it thrills so many people to see it for the first time, and then to understand the message of the statue of liberty, to lift my lamp beside that golden door so that people are welcomed to this country, and we knew it from the beginning, it was the key to our future. so many times this issue of immigration is overlooked. it's such a critical part of who we are in america. think

durbin: mr. president, my understanding is that the minority has the first half of morning business? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. durbin: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: yes, we are. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: this morning i'd like to start by remembering the sacrifice of two 18-year veterans of the capitol police, detective john gibson and officer jacob chestnut on this day in 1988, gibson and chestnut paid the ultimate price while standing in defense of the united states capitol. we know these men fell defending more than just a structure, though. we know they fell defending more than just the members sent

the fisa court and as dick durbin points out, the fisa court is a joke.is a rubber stamp, really, for the nsa. we need to reform fisa as well. dick durbin talking about the fisa court. >> these fisa courts, there should be a real court proceeding. in this case, it's fixed in a way. it's loaded. only one case coming before the fisa court, the government's case. let's have an advocate for someone standing up for civil liberties. >> bill: good for him. dick durbin -- mark udall, senator from colorado, over the weekend said he thinks -- he said very near unconstitutional what the nsa is doing. so more and more voices on that, very, very good to hear. we're going to be talking with a whole bunch of reporters in the next couple of hours. helping us bring you the news of the day from politico, "buzzfeed" and "huffington post." but first... >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> other headlines making news on this monday. barbara bush is a fan of her husband's new hairstyle. in an interview with on abcsh the former first lady said president h.w. bush's

what is your take, senator durbin, you all passed the big immigration bill, you saw what the house did this week, also saw this farm bill that was passed. what as adeem grath do you see now? >> bob, we discovered in the senate if you want to pass an historic bill to fix a broken immigration system, it has to be a bipartisan effort, four democrats, four republicans, we sat down for over 40 meetings, we worked out an agreement it includes border enforcement and security, a path to citizenship and we passed it with a strong bipartisan roll call. that should be a message to the house. that is how this has to be done. this can't be done by the republican caucus in the house, it should be done on a bipartisan basis. when it comes to the farm bill, twice now the senate has passed the farm bill by strong bipartisan votes, sent it to the house where it failed because they couldn't even call a bill and this year when it was called even republicans wouldn't vote for it. now they have stripped out food stamps, i listened to the explanation from congressman kelly, he wonders why so many people are

and i would be glad to yield to my friend, senator durbin. mr. durbin: i'd like through the chair to direct a question to the senator from iowa. the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: and to start out by saying how much i respect the leadership he's shown on this issue and so many issues, whether it's health, education, disabilities. he has just been "the" voice of leadership in the united states senate for a long, long time. and i know that this is his last term as a senator, but i also know that he still has one big job ahead of him and he's talked about it here, the reauthorization of the higher education act. and we're going the going to hoo that, senator harkin, because we need your voice in that room, your leadership, or it won't happen. and i saw his leadership on this particular issue, because senator harkin came to this negotiation with conservative democrats and republicans and sat down and said, there's some basics we're going to have to include in this before i'll sign off. and i remember, keep the interest

. >> i do want to thank senator durbin for having this hearing. i think it's long past time we take action into an unfortunate chapter in our nation's history. you can do that and still fight terrorism as it threatens us. it's nice to make up quotes and pretend the president took a holiday from terrorism but he never said any such thing. i do know that for over a decade the indefinite detention of prisoners at guantanamo has contradicted our most basic principle of justice. by itself it has harmed our national security. i think it's shameful we're still debating this issue. as long as we keep this detention center open at guantanamo, it continues to serve as a recruiting tool for terrorists just as the photographs have shown. countries have championed the rule of law in human law of rights to not strap prisoners down and feed them against their will. we condemn states when they do this and we should and we should not tolerate the same thing in our country. as senator durbin points out at a time in sequestration to be spending as much as $2.7 milli

iran into dick durbin earlier today and i think he is going to come to introduce you. and he is, as soon as he joins us we will working in. i will yield to him and ask him to just, just that. today, dr. coburn and i, senator johnson, are pleased and will probably be joined by others on our committee, but pleased to consider the nomination, presidents nomination john thompson, the director of the u.s. census bureau. and i think we all realize the role of the senses is to serve as a leading source of quality data by the nations people and our economy. the. does this by conducting as we know numerous surveys, sometimes we think it's every 10 years but it's actually every year. those surveys in turn provide lawmakers like us, citizens, businesses with a few of our nation social and demographic makeup. the most important visible survey is of course the one we do every 10 years. that is often described as the largest peacetime mobilization in american history. however, the census bureau also conducts other important service such as the american community survey which provide

senator durbin may show up. yesterday president obama gave a very clear message to the american people, one of optimism. also it's time to put politics aside and create jobs for the middle class. our economy is recovering ,-com,-com ma not well enough but is recovering and it's ready to take off if we will have some of those -- that republicans have placed on us. we could have an economy that would be comparable to the clinton years. our job in washington is to give our economy room to grow and making smart choices and avoiding more self-inflicted ones. the deficit has been cut in half in the last three years. they're still more work to be done but we should be making smart choices instead of pursuing meat axe approach is. that is european-style austerity but even the european community has cited in the last few days that austerity is not the answer to their problems. they have to start creating jobs and that is what we have to also come to the conclusion. right now we are not making smart choices and that is an

durbin: mr. president? the president pro tempore: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr.resident, the majority leader will be on the floor very briefly, and at this point i suggest the absence of a quorum. the president pro tempore: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: we're in a quorum call, is that true? the vice president: that's correct. mr. reid: i ask that it be virkted. the vice president: without objection, it is vitiated. mr. reid: mr. president, what is the business before the senate? the vice president: the swearing in of the senator from massachusetts. the chair laser before the senate a certificate of election to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of senator john f. kerry of massachusetts. the certificate the chair is advised is in the form suggested by the senate. if there's no objection, the reading of the certificate will be waived and will be printed in full in the record. if the senator-elect will now present himself -- mr. reid: mr. president, rese

pressure from members of the senate in the tap and through letters written by senator feinstein senator durbin and next i hope pressure from the senate committee i hope all of this together will continue to put pressure on the president to do something positive about the problem that has become. so you can stay quite easily up to date with all the stories on air and online as well here's a pic of what's waiting for you on the website for this hour at. the quarter of a gamma lot in siberia there are about russian region moved to the forefront of science with the world's biggest facility to detect mysterious and gamma rays at the end of the unit us. and just another click away at all to dot com for your killer style in new york find out why immigration officers decided these replica gun heels just won't fly the full story of this fashion folks as on the web site right now. right to see. first rate. and i would think that your. orders twitter. instagram. the. joining us here on r t today egypt's new interim leaders are still finding peace elusive a bomb blast outside a security headquarters in th

pressure from members of the senate in the tap and through letters written by senator feinstein senator durbin and next i hope pressure from the senate committee i hope all of this together will continue to put pressure on the president to do something positive about the problem that has become. well in our mind of our breaking news story this hour the lawyer assisting outward snowden until katrina has announced the whistleblower will not be leaving the transit zone of moscow's sheremetyevo airport today because his paperwork is not ready he said he can't name an exact date when the axiomatic will be able to enjoy a refuge in russia well on a toy katriona confirmed that the whistleblower wants to remain in russia indefinitely and has been stuck in trim a table for more than a month now ever since arriving from hong kong snowden's formal asylum request could still take up to three months to process and he'll then get asylum for a year and will be able to renew his state annually well wolf course be keeping you up to date on the story right now though we can talk to the human rights lawyer who's

from members of the senate and that's happened through letters written by senator feinstein senator durbin and next i hope pressure from the senate committee i hope all of this together will continue to put pressure on the president to do something positive about the problem that guantanamo bay has become of it would be nice to have more free in just over half an hour from now up next here not see the story of those who lost everything in the two thousand and eight financial crisis including their homes that's coming your way after the break. i'll talk to my language as well but i will only react to situations as i have read the reports and let the put the no i will leave them to state park to comment on your latter point someone to say it's secure because i'm not talking no. thank you no more weasel words. when you they need a direct question be prepared for a change when you punch be ready for a bad. freedom of speech and slid down to fit into class. it's an illusion to be able to eat food. illegal. since. this time in. hope i live a bus like that. so. well with the. five months six mont

i want you to know that i called harry reid, chuck schumer and dick durbin, and i asked them the following question, i asked them if they believed in the rule of law. and the next thing i asked them is if they believed in the constitution of the united states and also the bill of rights, the first ten amendments to the constitution. and the thing that disturbs me more than anything else is the fact that the appellate court in the district of columbia ruled that president obama illegally and unconstitutionally made recess appointments to three members of the national labor relations board, mr. cordray to the financial protection bureau under the, under the dodd-frank act. the thing is, if mr. reid -- who i asked personally, i asked one of his aides if he believed in the constitution -- if he does believe in the constitution, then the senate's responsibility is add view and consent -- advise and consent on all nominees. the thing is, that involves having to reach the point where they decide that they are going to close down any further discussion about the nominees, and they're going to vote

pressure from members of the senate in the tappan through letters written by senator feinstein senator durbin and next i hope pressure from the senate committee i hope all of this together will continue to put pressure on the president to do something positive about the problem that has become so you can stay up to date with all of our stories on air and online as well that for example is a peek of what's waiting for you on our website dot com right now by the court of gamma laws in siberia there are about a russian region moves to the forefront of science with the world's biggest facility to detect mysterious gamma rays all the way the edge of our universe. just another click away at r.t. dot com for your talk about killer style in new york find out why immigration officers decided these replica gun heels just won't fly the full story of this fashion that's on the web site right now. to egypt we go where the new interim leaders are still finding peace to be rather elusive a bomb blast outside a security headquarters in the city of on soda and that's just north of cairo one person said to hav

pressure from members of the senate in the tap and through letters written by senator feinstein senator durbin and next i hope pressure from the senate committee i hope all of this together will continue to put pressure on the president to do something positive about the problem that guantanamo bay has become. and you can stay up to date with all of our stories on air and online as well here's a peek of what's waiting for you right now on the web site dot com a quarter of a lot in siberia remote russian region it moves to the forefront of science with the world's biggest facility to detect mysterious gamma rays right at the edge of the universe. and another click away for you what i call this our talk about killer style in new york find out why immigration officers decided these replica gun heels just won't fly with the full story of this fashion right now on the web site. all right so let's turn our attention now to that of egypt where new interim leaders are still finding pieces to be very elusive a bomb blast outside a security headquarters in the city of money just north of cairo it injure

past bay area finalists include oak grove high school's deandre brackenthick and rocker james durbin from santa cruz. >> are you an "american idol" fan? >> i'm not. i may be the only one in the room, but i'm not. >> i liked it early on in the game. but that's not on nbc, so let's toss it over to mike. >> yeah. the show's changed a little bit. we watched "the voice" because they get the good singers. we like that. we appreciate quality. quality to volume. there you go. company man. toward the same shot that they showed you. a glow to the bike. there's moisture in the air, but not enough to impede the view. you might need to use the windshield wipers like terry did across the golden gate bridge. construction crews eastbound, the lower deck marked on the map. no concern. typically happens over there. easy drive through oakland where you also have construction crews. a little bit of slowing west, highway 4 out of antioch, and another 15 to 20 minutes, we'll see the speeds start to dip. and over in brent wood, also word of a truck fire that's closed brentwood boulevard around sunset for m

from members of the senate and that's happened through letters written by senator feinstein senator durbin and next i hope pressure from the senate committee i hope all of this together will continue to put pressure on the president to do something positive about the problem that guantanamo bay has become. and i'm already is in brief this hour from around the world was started with a chip where the army chief has called for mass rallies in support of the military which wants the power to directly deal with violence and what it calls terrorism it follows a bomb blast outside security have quarters in the city of misurata which killed one person more than twenty were injured including some policeman clashes and gunshots were also reported at rallies in support of the ousted president morsy overnight with at least two people killed. in bulgaria's capital sofia police have broken through barricades build around the parliament by protesters demanding the government's resignation five people were injured when clashes broke out as police tried to disperse the rally m.p.'s have not returned to wor

so the senate and that's happened through letters written by senator feinstein senator durbin and next i hope pressure from the senate committee i hope all of this together will continue to put pressure on the president to do something positive about the problem that on tom obey has become now a reminder of our breaking news this hour the lawyer assisting added snowden has announced the whistleblower will not be leaving the transit zone of moscow's sheremetyevo airport today as have been expected because his paperwork is not ready and he said he can't name an exact date when the x.e. i eman will be able to enjoy refuge in russia on a daily to rana confirmed that the whistleblower wants to remain in russia indefinitely and has been stuck in sure made for more than a month now ever since arriving from hong kong well it's not yet mill where snowden will had now but we'll be bringing you the very latest as we get it and some cotton thrust abate next here on our t.v. crossed up with peter lavelle. talking about language as well but i will only react to situations i have read the reports but

i do want to thank senator durbin for holding this hearing.ke action and this unfortunate chapter in our nation's history. you can do that and still fight terrorism as it threatens us. it's nice to pretend the president did something that taking a holiday from terrorism but, of course, he never said any such thing. but i do know that for over a decade the indefinite detention of prisoners at guantÁnamo has contradicted our most basic principles of justice, degraded our international standing, and by itself it is on our national security. i think it's shameful we are still even debating this issue. as long as we keep this detention center opened at guantÁnamo, and it continued to serve as a recruiting tool for terrorists just as the photographs at abu ghraib did. it will discredit america's historic role as a leader in human rights. countries that champion the rule of law and human rights do not lock away prisoners indefinitely without charge or trial. countries that champion the rule of law and human rights do not strap pressures down and forc

goodness durbin wow well no that was larry summers the macro nurse larry summers and this billion dollar bad bet was that during the financial crisis harvard lost nearly one billion dollars because of some unusual and ill judged interest rate swaps that summers implemented and the early two thousand during the troubled tenure as the university's president so what he had done max is he had thrown his lot behind some fake derivatives basically that the same sort of derivatives that have blown up greece italy jefferson county alabama and now at detroit interest rate swaps allow bar was to lock in a fixed interest rate on. floating rate debt which can be good to hedge against short term uncertainty the problem with harvard was that summers one had to lock in interest rates for money that the university hadn't actually borrowed and wasn't planning on borrowing for a long time and i remember when people were kidnapped or used to be a crime story larry summers obviously was kidnapped by a banking terrorist and forced to participate in an illegal ponzi scheme but that's a cause of celebration lo

durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the snowe from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: jennifer kerr was a single mom who wanted to improve her family's future. in 2009, she signed up at vaderot college. she went to the local campus. she told the admissions representative that she wanted to study to become a nurse. the admissions official told her that although the school did not offer a nursing degree, it did offer a medical assistance degree that would allow her to earn $15 to $17 an hour and put her on a fast track to becoming a nurse. after securing more than $27,000 in loans and being in the program for more than a year, jennifer kerr learned that she wasn't even enrolled in the medical assistants program. she was in the preliminary medical office assistants program. if she wanted to continue and pursue the medical assistants degree, she would need another 30 weeks of stud

i believe my colleague, senator durbin, will be leading us off. >> let me thank the congressional blackthday celebration. but the singular determination to make certain that the united states congress was on record opposing an condemning apartheid. it sounds like an easy task today, it wasn't at the time. it took remarkable courage and i commend my colleagues for that leadership. [applause] this is what he wrote. this is what nelson mandela wrote about his own childhood. at birth my father gave me the name which literally means pulling the branch of a tree or more accurately troublemaker. my english name, nelson was given to me by my class teacher on the first day attended school. nobody ever sat with me to give me a clear evicted account of the history of our country. i acquired knowledge by asking questions to satisfy my curiosity. as i grew up learned through experience, watched adult, and tried to imitate what they did. i came across few whites as a boy, the local magistrate, of course, was white. as was the nearest shop keeper. occasional white travel leers or policemen passed thro

and thank you, senator durbin, for joining us last month. i'm here to share my firsthand account of the critical impact of the voting rights act in guaranteeing access to the ballot box. as a result of the recent supreme court case, i urge this committee to once again demonstrate your clear unprincipled commitment for equal voting rights regardless of race, language spoken and to also act swiftly to restore the protections. whether to maintain voting rights act, it's not a partisan issue. it's a nonpartisan issue. it's an issue for all americans, whether republicans or democrats, all americans strongly believe in fair and equal electoral opportunities. my experience serving as an elected official in south florida has south florida has afforded me the privilege of being personally acquainted with how absent a check, a franchise ethnic and minority communities. ever since i moved to florida from puerto rico in '86, i've add front row seat to observe how the unfortunate repeated attempts to adopt the policies that continue our national history

this is an idea that senator durbin has been pushing for a very long time.et aside anything you think about immigration, and just focus on people who came here as children. and now are trying to get into college, trying to make it live here, they don't have a country they've remember. it is a very interesting turn in politics. focus on empathy. who are these people? i think a similar thing happened with same-sex marriage. who are these people? they are our neighbors, friends. what does it mean to them that second class citizens in effect? you see public opinion shifts, and then you have seen congressional action. that is what republicans are waiting to see. they will push immigration as far as they can on the security side, but as you see public at piÑon shifting -- public opinion shifting on things like what happens to the kids come a i you will see movement in congress. but in the short run, the house republicans will take this bill on their own time one by one. ohio, independent caller named rick. you are on with gail russell chaddock of the "christian sc

at that time we had the good fortune of having our colleague, senator durbin, on the committee, and we all wrote public letters. we authored various articles to the editorial pages, we raised issues about this to the extent we could at public hearings. but of course the senate rules regarding the protection of classified information limited what we could say. mr. president, one point that i've tried to make clear is the intelligence rules, the classification rules don't let a member of the committee tap the truth out in morse code. you have to comply with the rules, and they are very laborious, and if you don't comply with the rules, you can't serve on the intelligence committee and be a watchdog for some of these efforts which we think go right to the heart of protecting american security and american liberty. so we decided, those of us who -- a small group of us who shared these views, we decided if we wanted to have that opportunity to play that watchdog role, we needed to work within the rules. so we did everything we could, recognizing that you can't tap out classified information

dick durbin now calling on republicans to help change and improve the law. the same republicans who they say were all but shut out of the process when the democrats were passing this law. to dr. mark siegel. what do you make of what's going on? >> i want to first make sure that americans are informed. really informed here about what this is all about. the law, as you said, and i've said, is completely unaffordable. it's too expensive. it's too expensive for employers. that's why they're holding off on he mandate. employers can't afford to provide this kind of comprehensive insurance to employees. it's unaffordable to state. that's white they have not put the exchanges into place. unaffordable to the individual. that's why they're now considering letting smokers pail the same premium. they were going to raise them a week ago. no one can afford these premiums that cover too many things. that's why we call it an entitlement. because it covers to many things. i'm all for personal responsibility. get out there and exercise. improve your diet, neil. decrease your

from 111 democrats and 94 republicans, with strong bipartisan opposition to data collection and dick durbin said heed would support that amendment in the upper chamber. >> i think we should limit the metaidatasm the notion that we will collect all phone records, on the off chance that someone in that area code may be a suspect at a later time goes way too far. >> reporter: but a key republican senator said he has been assured that nobody at the nsa has the ability to listen to any phone conservation or monitor any email without a court order. >> eric: peter, thanks so much. >> jamie: keeping an eye on heavy rains that are triggering flashfloods in north carolina. already, there is rushing water, swamping cars in buildings and forcing an emergency swift-water rescue. janice dean is live. there is so much water accumulateing there. >> absolutely. we have this front moving to the east and we have a lot of tropical moisture from the atlantic, leading to the potential for flooding, not only yesterday but throughout the day from florida, all the way up to new england. looking at the radar, you ca

just listen to the numbers that senator durbin just talked about. with a nominees waiting on average for over two years -- 250 days. we have hundred 84 nominees that are pending have questionnaires. talk about government inefficiency. absolutely no business would tolerate this. republicans ought to know that. neither should we. the president deserves to have a qualified team. he needs his whole team, not half of it. that is not how this works. elections have consequences. presidents, republican or democrat, deserve to put in place a full team to work for the american people. we need to in this gridlock and become more responsive to the major problems that we face. at the end of the day, this isn't about and inside baseball argument that only affects the people in this town. this is about serving the american people. we are not doing that when we allow the republicans free range to block people whose job it is to protect our shrinking middle class and hazardous workplace conditions or unfair wages, or disappearing benefits, or his job it is to protec

and many senators who care deeply about this issue, like chairman harkin, senator durbin, senator manchin, senator king, have been doing their best under these circumstances to help the students out. and i applaud their commitment to our students. they have succeeded in getting at least some republicans to support a proposal that will result in lower interest rates for some students for a couple of years. but in the end, this is a simple math problem. if republicans insist that we continue to make the same amount of profit in the student loan program, that just means that students in future quleers haven few of years will have to pay even higher rates to make up the difference. in other words, kids who are sofsophomores in hid high schoot now will end up paying even more so students in college today can pay a little less. i don't believe in pitting our kids against each other. i would think high school sophomores should pay more so college sophomores can get a little break. in fact, i think this whole system stinks. we should not go along with any plan that demands that our students conti

now dick durbin and senator harkin saying maybe it's not such a good thing after all. tom harkin.u have tom harkin coming out and saying is the president allowed to take certain elements of this law and put them on delay? is the president allowed to have certain elements of this law and put them into action? can he do it piecemeal? he evidently is one of the people who said i helped write it. a lot of people are running from the hills on that statement. dick durbin says -- quote -- "what we need is to have a better definition of a full-time worker and how many will be affected by it. the provisions that are included in it. can we do something, let's say make a full-time worker 40 hours instead of 30 hours. can we have employees with 15 havethis is called asking business what is going to be feasible and doable? now they're doing this two years later? >>steve: considering the fact the original bill was thousands and thousands of pages, you would think they would have these details in. dick durbin says the law needs to be changed and be made better. tom harkin says this is the law. h

dick durbin now calling on republicans to help change and

dick durbin couldn't make it today but he sends his best. we love him. he's doing a great job. [ applause ] we've got one of my favorite neighbors. the senator from missouri. we're going to missouri later this afternoon. all you have are here and it's great to see you. [ applause ] i hope everybody's having a wonderful summer. the weather is perfect. whoever was in charge of that good job. eight years ago i came here to deliver the commencement address for the class of 2005. things were a little different back then. for example, i had no gray hair or a motorcade. didn't even have a prompter. in fact, there was a problem in terms of printing out the speech because the printer didn't work here and we had to drive it in from somewhere. it was my first big speech as your newest senator and on the way here i was telling sherry and claire about how important this area was. it was one of the areas i spent the most time in outside of chicago and how much it represented what's best in america and folks who were willing to work hard and do right by their families.

but senator durbin said there is a way to do this in federal prisons.y if it's absolutely medically necessary. the flip side is the people of guantanamo are saying you want to take that chance? >> i think it's sad that we've come to the point where we're arguing whether or not we should force feed them or let them starve to death. the larger picture is we should release these guys who have been cleared. this is a side conversation to me in the fact that we've gotten to this point and it's really sad. >> youwhat the corner wag saying about fear. the previous segment they have forgiven the surveillance. now advocateing for this. you can see the conflict we've gotten ourselves in because we haven't addressed fear. >> cenk: one more quick question for gitmo. judge injures ordered that they have to stop doing forced genital searches when the guantanamo detainees want to meet with their lawyers. the judge said come on, we know they're not hiding anything. they're in guantanamo. you're doing this to deter them from meeting with your lawyers. is that your sense

there has been some discussion, senator durbin toward the end of the term asked the court to allow the broadcast of opinion announcements. a very unsuccessful campaign has gone on for decades to allow camera coverage of the arguments. he was focusing on the opinion announcements as a foot in the door. that is an interesting idea, and i think it would get rid of some of the objections that justices have about cameras, the dynamics of justices interacting. the problem is the court does not like the idea of opinion announcements being featured. they do not want lawyers citing the words of the opinion announcement instead of the opinion itself -- it is a summary and it oversimplifies things. there is something interesting about the separate entity of opinion announcements as far as the public access to that. i wish it was greater. >> the audio of that does become available at the end of the term. there is a real sense of drama, the chief justice gradually let you know where he is going. >> i thought there was something odd that justice scalia -- on tuesday, john roberts delivered the opini

dick durbin and dianne feinstein and king reminded the president that whoever gets voted in, they mayfirmation and there may be at least 20 democrat who is don't vote for her. the central bank'sests to stimulate the job market. yellin is known for being meticulous in her work and the show between 2005 and 2007, she repeatedly warned colleagues of the lopping housing and credit crisis. a trusted white house insider who is the support of other trusted white house insiders that includes tim guidener and won ruben. the current adviser sperling. treasury secretary in 2005 rebutted the manies and being head to a financinew price. in his familiarity with summers, they give the edge. summers is not without controversy. while president of harvard and a reputation for being brash, he eventually resigned after comments suggesting with innate differences why women are not as successful as men in science and math. there is another under current in the yellin dwight. joining me now to brick this down, politico's ben white and msnbc contributor. welcome to both of you. i want to start with you. you