senator durbin? >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me say to you and to the witnesses and the audience, my apologies for coming in a few minutes late. i was on the floor for the farewell address of my -- our colleague senator nelson. and i'm sorry that i was not here at the moment i should have been. mr. chairman, thank you for this hearing. it was almost ten years ago that i held my first hearing as the chairman of the crime and drug subcommittee in this room. the subject of the hearing, the threat to the united states posed by the mexican drug cartels. ten years ago, we had that hearing. at this hearing in march of 2009, i quoted a justice department report that concluded, mexican drug cartels are, quote, the greatest organized crime threat to the united states. so here we are ten years later. how are we doing? last month, the d.e.a.'s 2018 national drug threat assessment concluded that mexican drug cartels remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the united states. i close my 2009 hearing, by saying we must take action to re

first of all, senator durbin was in the room. you've seen offers on the table by president trump to try to resolve this issue. in fact, when the democrats asked for a detailed breakdown of what the $5.7 billion would go towards, the department of homeland security gave a very detailed breakdown. it's border security, wall funding, tools for our border agents who are being attacked at the border by some of the criminals in this caravan. ultimately, when president trump looked at nancy pelosi and said, look, you're stalling, you have yet to put a single counteroffer on the table to all the various offers the president has put on the table, nancy pelosi said no, when the president said, if we go another 30 days, keep everything funded, even the things we disagree on. at the end of the 30 days, will you be willing to negotiate on the areas where we disagree like the wall? and nancy pelosi said no, emphatically. ultimately, they don't want to reach a solution. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, in every meeting i've been in -- we've had

shelby, capito, and blunt, for the democrats, leahy, durbin and tester. the senate has gone out. it is likely the house will come in session sometime this afternoon. life coverage of the house always here on c-span. we'll have that live when they gavel in. we don't know when that will be this afternoon. but again as we mentioned, after the president's speech in the rose garden, the senate came into session to take care of business. we heard first from the majority leader, mitch mcconnell. mr. mcconnell spks i was glad to see today the president's announcement -- announcement that he and our democratic colleagues have reached an agreement that will immediately reopen the government while providing the room to negotiate a funding bill. further, gos on d.h.s. will be prioritized over consideration of any other funding bills. so with cooperation we can pass legislation opening the government and send the d.h.s. appropriations bill to a conference with the house today. i'm glad the closed portions of the federal government will reopen and get back online. i'm glad that the dedicated m

. >>> plus, the number two demcrass in tde democrat in the senate dick durbin joining us. >>> and the president declared the terror group defeated. in less than an hour he departs the white house for a meeting at the pentagon. our team covering this from washington and coast to coast. >>> the president's attorney rudy giuliani telling nbc news he doesn't think he really changed his story on collusion. that's what he says now this morning but roughly 12 hours ooh he opened the door to collusion between member s of the trump campaign and russia. listen for yourself. >> i never said there was no collusion between the campaign or between people in the campaign. >> yes, you have. >> i said the president of the united states. there is not a single bit of evidence the president of the united states committed the only crime you can commit here, conspired with the russians to hack the dnc. >> herein, folks, lies the rub. all the times the president and giuliani have said the campaign, specifically the trump campaign, did not collude. >> is it still the position of you and your client that ther

lowey: senator durbin. mr. durbin: thank you very much, madam chair. it's a pleasure to be back with the appropriations committees of both the house and the senate that i've been honored to serve on. i hope we'll make history here in two ways. i hope this will be the last conference committee ever called after a government shutdown. if we can add some provisions in our effort here to put an end to government shutdowns once and for all, count me in. i'm willing to sit down in a bipartisan basis and see if we can achieve that. secondly, i hope we make history as appropriators. as i said, it's been my honor to serve on the house and senate appropriations committee. we are given requests by presidents of both political parties, and they want every darn penny of it and don't want any questions asked. but we're empowered and responsible under the constitution to ask questions. some of those questions lead to conclusions that perhaps, just perhaps, the president in his request, is wrong or at least needs to explain more to us. you remember what happened last

dick durbin is also saying that this entire thing is a nonstarter. in the last hour, dick and i both says we'll have to see what comes of the speech. democrats are already prejudging the speech based on the early reporting and what he's leaked from his white house officials brief the rank and file and so they are saying what they expect to hear from the president is not good enough. >> let's go over to capitol hill because as you heard right there from geoff, the democrats are saying this is dead on arrival. the last hour we were talking and you said there appears to be movement. is it movement in the right direction? >> reporter: to the extent that proposals are being traded back and forth, that's more than we can say about the last four weeks. let's look at the bright side. dick durbin as geoff reported was one of the cosponsors of the so-called bridge act and one important distinction, the bridge act does not grant a path to citizenship for those young people -- they were young when they came here, it merely provides a temporary work status for th

senator durbin joins us live next on "morning joe." r durbin e next on "morning joe."brighthouse financial allow you to take advantage of growth opportunities with a level of protection in down markets. so you can be less concerned about your retirement savings. talk with your advisor about shield℠ annuities from brighthouse financial, established by metlife. . >>> the bottom line is very simple. we asked the president to support the bills that we support that will open up government. we asked him to give us one good reason. i asked him directly. i said, mr. president, give me one good reason why you should continue your shutdown of the eight cabinet departments while we are debating our differences on homeland security? he could not give a good answer. >> he said democrats are not for border security. yeah, they, are except when trump is president. they won't give a dime to this president because they want him to fail. walls work. trump said, let's make a deal. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer said go to hell. he's not going to sign a bill that doesn't have money for th

durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority whip. mr. durbin: i was happy to yield to the senator from virginia because i know that this issue of the government shutdown is particularly acute in the state of virginia and maryland, but we feel it all across the united states of america. just a few minutes ago, i was on the telephone with dr. scott gottlieb of the food and drug administration and asked him what has been the impact of the trump shutdown on the food and drug administration, and dr. gottlieb was very explicit. he said the area which was hardest hit was food safety. food safety is a responsibility assumed by the federal government over 100 years ago after the publication of the novel "the jungle" by upton sinclair. we decided that we would create a federal agency with the responsibility of inspecting food so that people across america would not suffer food-borne illness or worse. well, we have a great agency and it does a great job when it's fully funded operationally, but the fact of the matter is over 40 million americans wi

senator durbin. >> thank you, senator schumer. i believe the solution to the government shutdown is obvious. it is time to open the government and the first person or persons to can convince as president have to be his own republicans in the senate. when they step up and say to senator mcconnell we have a role to play in a constitutional responsibility we want to move forward in reopening the government this conversation changes instantly. until then, senator mcconnell as i just heard them say standing at the same microphone he will wait for his instructions from the president. his instructions were included in the constitution that he swore to uphold and defend and his instructions were to be the senate as a separate branch of government and i hope enough democrats and publicans can come together, past the spending bill, send them to the president and if necessary override the veto. one of the powers of the united states constitution given to the senate. i like to say a word about steven king. few years ago when he made these out

durbin's point was i think that that could happen to you. i was interested in the fact that when we talk about the report being public, chuck grassley came out and said the public spent $25 million on this. they deserve to see the thing. he's a republican who said they paid for it, they should read it. that was interesting. >> what do you think of his explanation of the much discussed memo that he wrote? i found it fascinating his explanation of to almost answering to the question of why would anyone just for fun write a 19-page deeply sourced legal theory memo. he says that he heard that rod rosenstein really liked deep dives so he was into it. >> it's kind of like what rod rosenstein does in his spare time other than watching netflix. but i do think that the discussion of the memo was fascinating. going in, i thought he was going to get grilled and be torn apart on this. his explanation i think it kind of worked. there is a couple of things that he emphasized. that is that he did not have any special knowledge. he was simply essentially b

this is durbin quoting the president. >>> i don't know why i'm doing this.nt to do this meeting. they told me i had to do this meeting. that's durbin quoting president trump. is the president convinced he doesn't need to negotiate? >> i go back to the art of the deal, as laura suggested. chapter two, president trump says the worst thing you can do when you try to make a deal is look like you are too anxious to make a deal. a little of that is going on. he wants to send a message out, look, i came up to capitol hill, but i don't need to have this meeting because i don't have anything to say. he wants democrats to blink first. if i can use a poker analogy to say why i think that might not work, it's that -- you play poker. you don't know the other players. this is more like playing poker at home in your growth. they know each other, they know president trump's move. they read "art of the deal." they know he will do this on the way to try to work this out. >> you know, real people are about to be hurt big time. on friday, 800,000 federal workers are not going t

i should have. >> dick durbin was at that meeting, of course. and he is the number two ranking democrat in the senate. what say you? >> i can tell you that halfway through the meeting, which lasted about 17 minutes total, halfway through it, president trump says, i don't know why we're here. they told me i had to do this meeting. we're not getting anywhere with this meeting. so it didn't start off on a very positive note and it went downhill from there to the point where at the 17th minute the president announced this was a waste of time, turned around and left the room. i will tell you it was a disappointment. there are so many lives at stake here, 800,000 federal workers, because of this shutdown the president is so proud of, are going to miss a payday. it's going to create a hardship they should never have to face. >> nancy pelosi said today she thought it was a setup, the whole meeting was held so he could walk out. >> i think so too. it appears a walkout is part of his meeting strategy. that doesn't bring us to a conclusion or solve the pro

i mentioned some of those very quickly in response to senator durbin's questions. we've -- our targeting based on that advance electronic data has seizures at jfk, international mail facility. we've been able working with i.c.e., hsi, as well as the u.s. postal inspection service to follow those seizures through to the pill presses in the u.s. everywhere from manhattan to washington state to take down not just that individual shipment, which could be a 25 gram vial but also the entire network that's producing the drugs. >> okay, very good. and i also have a northern border question about an area in minnesota that's kind of off the beaten track. it's trying to do their best and i'll ask that on the record because my colleagues have questions. so, thank you. >> thank you. >> thanks. >> senator kennedy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. commissioner, welcome. mr. commissioner, can we agree that legal immigration is good for america. >> i have no disagreement with that point. >> we welcome about a million people in a year, legally. >> that's my understanding. >> can we a

dick durbin has already said what the president is proposing is a non-starter, so has nancy pelosi. both of them have said, they're not doing in kind of negotiating until the government is reopened, until the president agrees to sign some of those bills that the house democrats have been floating for about, what, the last week, to be sure. so on all of those points, we're still stuck here. sort of, you know, the underlying dynamics of the debate have not shifted. don't forget, president trump is still saying he wants the $5.7 billion for his border wall. winning money for that border wall is as a major win for him as blocking it is for democrats, joy. >> no mention in the speech, which was ten minutes or so, of the government shutdown or of the 800,000 federal workers who are struggling and who are on every nightly newscast all over the country, every local broadcast is talking about people selling blood, people selling possessions, people desperate to pay their rent. not one word in this speech about them. any reporting on why this speech, which we presume steven miller and others

dick durbin as minority whip and patty murray also as assistant minority leader. that's just what to expect as far as leadership, the ones that will be making in setting the temple for activities of the 116th congress. the 20th amendment to amendment to the constitution directs that congress convenes at noon on january the and odd-numbered year. that date can change from time to time. legislation makes it able do so. one of the activities we'll see, expect to see a vice president named by the constitution as the president of the senate presiding over the senate as it first convenes. after that we should her prayer from the senate chapln

and democratic senator dick durbin, who cosponsored a bill two years ago with the extended protectionsid, "i cannot support the proposed offer, and do not believe it can pass the tenate." >> i don't see democrats giving us more money unless they get something. s reporter: durbin's republican co-sponsor on that bill was senator lindsey graham, who three weeks ago tried to personally convince president trump to include extended protections in any compromise. >> reporter: senator, after you outlined this to president trump, what were the first words out of his mouth? >> "interesting." >> reporter: since then, a cbs esws poll shows most americans aame the president for the prolonged shutdown, and another poll shows support for the president waning among his base, down 9% among suburban men and down 11% among white women with no college degree. now, president trump also said mitch mcconnell has pledged to bring this proposal to the floor for a vote next week, and if it passes, president trump would then hold biopartisan weekly meetings here at the white house. but democrats have consistentl

that is dick durbin.ling you, guenther, i think immigrant activists actually serve themselves and their cause if they said, you know, that is a great point. let's learn american history. that's not trash it. >> it's not an issue to learn english. to become a citizen, you have to take a test. the test is in english on the test is about american history. >> laura: univision, which is pretty well produced, by the way, univision, telemundo, they have made it much easier to live in the united states, as having a treatable living abroad in europe, you have english speaking to become my spanish speaking television. >> because of their culture. we needed. >> laura: cultures are supposed to be melting together. i like melting. >> i think is evolving. i think there's a lot of people for my country, from peru, that came to america, and the latino culture is evolving. they make food, american food with peruvian food. >> laura: i'm hungry now, thanks. thanks a lot. speak of change their style, their education, they le

i yield to senator durbin. mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: let me thank the senator from new hampshire as well as the senator from virginia. my other colleagues who have gathered here. my trek each week to this desk starts in illinois, and it means that for a number of years, i have gone through the airports of the midwest, primarily in illinois and missouri, more than most. in fact, i probably know o'hare airport and every corner of it better than anyone who doesn't work there on a regular basis, and i know the people who work there, too. at all the different levels. starting with 2001, we brought in the t.s.a. as a means of making certain that we would be safe in boarding airlines, that people would not bring guns or weapons or bombs onto planes. and these men and women, of course, get on our nerves once in a while as we have to open up the valise or piece of baggage or take off our shoes or forget there was a water bottle on board. it's a little frustrating. but i often think to

for republicans, senators shelby, capito, and blunt, for the democrats, leahy, durbin and tester. the senate has gone out. it is likely the house will come in session sometime this afternoon. life coverage of the house always here on c-span. we'll have that live when they gavel in. we don't know when that will be this afternoon. but again as we mentioned, after the president's speech in the rose garden, the senate came into session to take care of business. we heard first from the majority leader, mitch mcconnell. mr. mcconnell spks i was glad to see today the president's announcement -- announcement that he and our democratic cogu

. >> and coming up, dick durbin of illinois joins the conversation. >>> last night a staunch ally of president, republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina, agreed that the partial government shutdown could drag on for months, saying trump either gets what he wants with the wall or his presidency is over. >> he said democrats are not for border security. yeah, they are except when trump's president. they won't give a dime to this president because they want him to fail. walls work. trump said let's make a deal. nancy pelosi and chuck schumer said go to hell. he's not going to sign a bill that doesn't have money for the wall. if he gives in now, that's the end of 2019 in terms of him being an effective president. that's probably tehe end of his presidency. >> defense secretary jim mattis handed trump his letter of resignation. it came as a protest of several of the president's foreign policy decisions and happened one day after trump announced he was pulling all u.s. troops from syria. at the time the president tweeted that mattis will be retiring with distinction while greatl

we shouldn't be allowing the president, as senator durbin said, asking for permissionship-- permission slip from the president to do our business. bring the bills to the floor to open this government and vote on them. if they go down, they go down. i think they'll pass. if the president vetoes them, or the president vetoes them, bring them back for a veto override. it is as simple as that. i wonder what the forefathers would think today if they saw this body, a shell of its former self and it's not due to the rules, it's due to the fact that we have leadership that won't live up to the obligation that this body set up to begin with. we've got work to do here. we've got a lot of work to do. and that work starts with opening the government of the united states. if we don't do it or if we say we'rnl

we shouldn't be allowing the president, as senator durbin said, asking for permission slip from the president to be able to do our business. bring the bills to the floor to open this government and vote on it. if they go down, they go down. i think they'll pass. if the president vetoes them -- if the president vetoes them, bring them back for a veto override. it is as simple as that. i wonder what the forefathers would think today if they saw this body, a shell of its former self. and it's not due to the rules, it's due to the fact that we have a leadership that won't live up to the obligation of this body it was set up to begin with. we've got work to do here. we've got a lot of work to do, and that work starts with opening the government of the united states. if we don't do it or if we say we're only going to do it with permission from the president, then we all ought to hold our head in shame. i yield the be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lankford: we're in day 20 of a government shutdown. it's exceptionally avoidable but also exceptionally painful and distracting

durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority whip. mr. durbin: i was happy to yield to the senator from virginia because i know that this issue of the government shutdown is particularly acute in the state of virginia and maryland, but we feel it all across the united states of america. just a few minutes ago, i was on the telephone with dr. scott gottlieb of the food and drug administration and asked him what has been the impact of the trump shutdown on the food and drug administration, and dr. gottlieb was very explicit. he said the area which was hardest hit was food safety. food safety is a responsibility assumed by the federal government over 100 years ago after the publication of the novel "the jungle" by upton sinclair. we decided that we would create a federal agency with the responsibility of inspecting food so that people across america would not suffer food-borne illness or worse. well, we have a great agency and it does a great job when it's fully funded operationally, but the fact of the matter is over 40 million americans wi

dick durbin, the latest senator to question the ag nominee.expect ted cruz, the senator from texas will be up next. we will take a quick minute break and be right back. wday us. we earned a lot of va benefits with our service. but the va home loan benefit is a big one. if you want to use it to get cash, call newday usa. va loans are all they do. and don't let less than perfect credit hold you back. even if you've been turned down for a va loan by your bank, call newday usa. they've been given automatic authority by the va... they can often help veterans when other lenders won't. by re-financing up to 100 percent of your home's value, you could take out 54,000 dollars or more. you could use that money to pay credit card debt and other expenses, plan for retirement, and get back on your feet financially. need money for your family? call newday usa right now and use the va home loan benefit you've earned and deserve. go to newdayusa.com, or call 1-877-423-5739. >> bill: we are back. senator mike lee, the republican from utah. >> i was encouraged

para conseguir los fondos para la construccion del muro en la frontera con mexico.el senador dick durbina este respecto por parte de trump sera impugnado inmediatamente ...recordemos que ayer el presidente tuiteo diciendo que su prometida pared no tiene que ser e concreto si no que puede ser de acero.... en otro tema...los representantes democratas, joaquin castro y xochitl torres, dirigen una delegacion del congreso a la frontera para investigar la muerte la vispera niqo guatemalteco de 8 aqos de patrulla fronteriza....la este grupo del congreso busca r vinculado con la muerte del menor y esperan poder hablar con los agentes que estaban con el momentos antes de su fallecimiento.pedro rojas esta en almogordo, nuevo mexico, con mas en alamogordo, luego mÉxico lugar donde el 24 de diciembre y en horas de la maÑana fue declarado muerto el pequeÑo felipe gÓmez alonso, un niÑo guatemalteco de sÓlo ocho aÑos de edad en esta estaciÓn de la patrulla fronteriza en la ciudad del suroeste del estado de nuevo mÉxico. hoy una delegaciÓn de congresistas hispanos y el senadordel estado de oregÓn demÓcr

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assistant senate democratic leader dick durbin also sated he does not support the offer. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell also issued a statement after the speech, saying, the president's plan is the path forward. he will try to bring up a bill next week that would need 60 votes to advance. the house and senate return for the martin luther king holiday on tuesday, with the house expected to vote wednesday to extend the government funding through february 28. follow this story on the c-span network, c-span.org, and already out -- radio at. yesterday on the senate floor, several members spoke about the government shutdown. here are senators tim kaine of virginia, who represents many furloughed government workers, lisa murkowski, who needs funding for the coast guard. and mark warner, also from virginia. madam president, and the last two days i've stood on this floor and asked that the american government reopen. on thursday, i asked unanimous consent to proceed the bipartisan house bill funding security agencies. the majority leader rejected my request. asked unanimou

president, i yield to senator durbin. >> mr. president let me think the senator from new hampshire as well as the senator from virginia but my colleagues have gathered here, my track each week to this desk starts in illinois and means for a number of years i have gone through the airports of the midwest primarily in illinois and missouri more than most. in fact, probably no owe here airport in every corner of it that anyone doesn't work there on a regular basis and i know the people who work there, too. at all different levels. starting with 2001 you brought in tsa as a means of making certain we would be safe in importing airlines. that people would not bring guns or weapons or bombs onto planes. these men and women get on her nerves once a while as we open up a piece of baggage and take off our shoes and forget there was a water bottle on board. frustrating and i know i've had the feeling but i often think of myself they are doing their job and thank goodness they are. if it were not for the women of tsa carefully screening pa

remember, when dick durbin and lindsey graham went to the white house to broke aeroder a deal w theyall and for dreamers to get certainty, what did the president say? he said, you're bringing me people from these shit hole countries. that's what the president of the united states said about the members of the tps community and dreamer community. so look, you cannot trust this president. it has to be ironclad. yes, we don't want them taken hostage again. they are american citizens in everything but a piece of paper, and we should guarantee, given their work, gimven their enthusiasm, given their love and patriotism for this country. give them american citizenship and let's end the nightmare that they live in. >> thank you, both. i really appreciate your thoughts. >> that's a long filibuster. >> an ongoing discussion. it's an important one to have. thank you, both. >>> a disturbing viral video of an encounter between a group of teenagers and a native american elder. we're digging deeper on this tonight. that's next. amazon prime video is now on xfinity x1. so when you say words like...

. >> chuck schumer and dick durbin will reportedly be at the meeting. mitch mcconnell and steve scalise are among those representing the gop. >>> national parks are feeling the effects of the government shutdown. park rangers are not on duty and trash is piling up. at rodeo beach, bathrooms were because no one was there to keep them clean. for it point was littered with trash and lands end saw his share of garbage. >> the park rangers are rkuredyowhy not cleanup the mess? spending the afternoon cleaning up. >> about a half hour later, that trashcan looked good as new things to good samaritans. >> that was nice of them. >> very nice. >>> is single ticket purchased in new york matched all six numbers of last night's $425 million drawing. >> the winning numbers are 34, 44, 57, 62, 70, and 14. the winning ticket was purchased at an auto service business in oyster bay on long island. the jackpot is the eighth largest in the state lottery history. >>> a dream up in smoke again. >> there you go. we'll wait a few days. >> it seems like there is always a record-

dick durbin. >> two years ago. >> a short amount of period, dick durbin is saying i was for extending now he's saying we can't do that. of course he wants to but he wants to get the government open first so they can keep punting. the president saying let's put it on the table right now. >> nancy spoke for most democrats yesterday when she said no wall, no wall, no wall. that's all they care about. he's saying, you know the wall matters to me. the experts on the ground say it matters. i will give you what matter to you -- we'll talk about him being hit by his base and others, some don't love the potential compromise but they have to give at some point awe i think it's going to hurt the democrats at some point. >> they look ridiculous and it's because they don't want to give him a talking point. they don't want him to go out there in 2020 saying this is a campaign promise filled. they want the talking point of the wall is immoral. but it's at the expense of the national security of the nation. i get it, i get it's politics but honestly be bil bigger than that. the guy is coming to the t

why don't we take dick durbin and negotiate with him? well, lindsey, you were with dick durbin when you walked into the room with the president of the united states and he said these were "s" countries and he ren jected the deal that you brought. you with with lindsey graham when he said you give more you get more. now why would condition like elizabeth warren or bernie sanders vote for 25 billion, i want to make it clear, 25 billion for a wall? they think it's immoral, because they understand it's the ransom, right, that you pay for the freedom of 2 million at that point, dreamers. >> and that was the deal in the past. >> that was the deal in the past. i think if you're going to negotiate, right, i hate the wall. i think it's immoral. i think it's wasteful. but i also think of the lives of 2 million young men and women and how we can transform it until we have a more reasonable set. so i don't know if somebody showed up at your house and said i want that you'd say well that's not fair. sometimes justice, fairness is not fair in terms of

record from the bush administration because frankly, getting to these criminal justice questions that durbin and others have brought up, you know, he's sort of out of touch with the state of criminal justice and prosecution right now if you go on some of those statements. >> you're right. and in some of his answers, he has used his out of touchedness as a safe harbor to avoid answering specifics. elliott, thank you. thank you for your patience with us. thank you for taking our questions. it sure sounds like we're back in order. >> senator kennedy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. barr, do you know of any instance in which anybody has tried to interfere in mr. mueller's investigation? >> no. i mean, i'm not in the department of justice, and i have no, you know, i'm not privy to that information. but i don't know. >> i understand you know mr. mueller. do you? >> yes, i do. >> is he big enough to take care of himself? >> he's a marine. >> yeah. someone had tried to interfere with his investigation, based on your knowledge of mr. mueller, would he have something to say about it including but not

as senator durbin pointed out, a wall across our southern border wouldn't do anything to interdict the fentanyl that's coming across from china. that's the biggest killer of people in new hampshire from overdoses, that's the fentanyl. as senator jones pointed out, the coast guard's role in interdiction is what's significant. it's not a wall that's going to keep out those vehicles that are going to come through our ports of entry. senator stabenow reminded us there are 38 million people who depend on food assistance, and a quarter of the people in new mexico, as senator heinrich told us, depend on food assistance. and he quoted his constituent kathy who pointed out that the president is holding us hostage. she said federal employees are being held hostage, and we're being held hostage now in the senate because we are unwilling to act the majority is unwilling to act on the legislation that has passed the house and previously passed the senate. senator bennet talked about china landing on the dark side of the moon last week. it's a reminder that we have to compete in this world, but we -

durbin adding, i quote, it was preposterous. here's what happened today. here's what happens tomorrow when everything will change for this president and the country. around noon, nancy pelosi is ex. ekted to be elected as speaker of the house and usher in the new reality in washington. house democrats will not be able to pass legislation into law on their own. since republicans still control the senate and the presidency. but after two years in which republicans have obstructed efforts to hold trump to account, the democratic majority will have the power to conduct real oversight. they will be ablesubpoenas, to generally investigate an administration that's largely avoided any kind of accountability from conch y kind accountability from conc congress whatsoever. it will be the first big fight. democrats finally taking power, there will be many more fights to come. joining me now, a man who spent 14 years in the house before being elected to the senate two years ago, senator chris van hollen, democrat of maryland. senator, recent news just now, mitch mcconn

if you had watched the senate's feed of that, you would have seen a tight shot of senator durbin.ou wouldn't have an idea there's nobody else in the chamber at the time. we're trying to give a realistic impression of what that place, how it works. >> when did you, and i'm sure the senate wouldn't particularly like this question, but when did you find yourself having fun doing this document? -- documentary? >> fun... it went from fun to i'm done to fun again. when you're over there and on the floor, you understandyou're -- you understand you are getting to do something historic. the other times are when you're in an interview -- we interviewed seven senators and historians. when you know you're getting something, for a producer, that's cool, that's fun. the real fun to this was the archival material that we went through. we used -- i think you candidate, we had 80-90 clips of senators over the years from 1986 on. but going back in the archives and looking for the material that's going to make this one, have some tension, two, have some reality. and, the other idea is to track the s

dick durbin already said, what the president is proposing is a nonstarter and so has nancy pelosi. both of them have said they are not doing any kind of negotiating until the government is reopened and the president agrees to sign some of the bills that the house democrats had been floating for about, what, the last week to be sure. so on all of those points, we're still stuck here. it is sort of -- the underlying dynamics of the debate have not shifted. and don't forget, president trump is still saying he wants the $5.7 billion -- for his border wall and winning money for that border wall is a major win for him as blocking it as for democrats, joy. >> very quickly before i leave you, geoff, no mention in the speech which was ten minutes of the government shutdown or the 800,000 workers who are struggling and on every local news broadcast all over the country, talking about people selling blood and possessions and people desperate to pay rent. not one word in this speech about them. any reporting on why this speech, which we presume steven miller and others crafted, did not mention

. >> harris: all right, so, dick durbin of the democrats, senator durbin saying that he needs rock-solid or evidence or statements paid i don't know what's different between rock-solid and the written form, and what they will ask him about. seriously, i don't do this every day in terms of those senate hearings. is there something that signifies rock-solid versus what you say, what you write? >> you ask a good question. i don't know -- look, i've been a lawyer for a long time, and i'm not familiar with the rock-solid standard either. my fear, my hope, really my prayer, is that this doesn't turn into a kavanaugh 2. like it or not, you've got people on that committee who i assume are good intentioned, but they don't care what bill barr says. all you have to do is go back and look. harris, during his first confirmation as attorney general, which was led -- the chairman of that committee was, guess who? former vice president joe biden. and he went through that committee unopposed. they unanimously moved to move him forward, and then he was voted unanimously by the floor. he is eminently quali

dick durbin/ (d) illinois:"i think we can find bipartisan answers to most of the issues involving border security, but if the president has the last word it may not be enough."the potential dealmakers have until february 15th to reach a compromise.the white house says trump isn't looking for another shutdown...sarah sanders/ white house press secretary:"the president doesn't want to go through another shutdown."but if there's no agreement, say he'll declare a national emergency.sarah sanders/ white house press secretary:"it needs to be fixed and the president is going to do what it takes to address it."though that's a move that would likely face legal challenges. the office of management and budget says 'most' of the 800,000 employees who returned to work should get paid by the end of the week.testifying on capitol hill today, fbi director christopher wray said his agency is still feeling the impact...christopher wray/ fbi director:"what's quite clear is that it was incredibly negative and painful for the 37,000 men and women of the fbi and their families."but even a former trump organiz

here's democratic senator dick durbin. >> i'm worried about it.ean, it clearly he's a good lawyer. no question. but when it comes to this delicate political situation, the power of the presidenpresid bill barr had better give us ironclad rock bottom assurances in terms of his independence and his willingness to step back and let mueller finish his job. >> let me bring in now nbc's pete williams. that new excerpt that barr will assure senators it's vitally important that mueller finishes his work, does that surprise you based on your reporting of bill barr? >> no. and the justice department has released the preparing opening statement, and what he says is i believe it's in the best interest of everybody that this matter be resolved by allowing the special counsel to complete his work. he says the country needs a credible resolution of these issues. and that he won't let partisan politics, personal interests or any other improper consideration interfere with the investigation. he also says his goal will be to provide as much transparency as he can c

dick durbin was a cosponsor of that.an endorser of that, so the president is trying to drive a wedge between democrats and put the onus on them and really challenge them to reach across the aisle and join republicans. mitch mcconnell is saying he's going to put this package on the floor next week. we'll see if seven democrats will cross the aisle and join with mitch mcconnell in passing this package. arthel: scott, of course we are hopeful that they can get this thing worked out and get those federal workers back on the payroll. excuse me, but i ask you, once this shutdown is over, what's the next likely legislative battle that could cause yet another impasse or, you know, have they all sort of learned their lesson from this? >> no, i don't think congress ever really learns its lesson. you know, we've had three shutdowns in the past year and a longer shutdown back in 2013. and nothing really came of those shutdowns. and so i don't think congress is learning its lesson. i think this really bodes bad. the fact that the gov