durbin: sure. mr. risch: thank you. i appreciate those comments. there is nothing you said that i disagree with. one thing in passing this -- and i say this in the spirit of trying to get to the objective that i laid out, and that is, it is my intent to engage the second branch of government, not only the agencies that are responsible for this -- health and human services, homeland security, the state department, usaid -- but also the white house. the president has to have a role here. he's obviously undertaken the role. i've already spoken to him about this. i intend to have other lengthy conversations about this. what it will not focus on is the finger-pointing for what happened after wuhan china and what happened and we have good information on that already there will be a lot of other investigations and hearings we want to talk about how you create an agency just like the fire department they put on their boots and slide down the pole and go out the fire. i committee we will continue to work with this. my staff tells me and i'm glad to hear you

durbin says he was misunderstood. do you think that's true?ibly be true. but, let me ask you this, the left likes to talk a lot about dog whistles all the time. they talk about republican dog whistles. the word token in response to a black republican, in response to legislation that is created by the lone black republican senator is not only -- it is a bull horn, let me tell you something, and any black conservative, any black republican that has a large online social media platform like myself, any black person that vote outside of the democratic binary. any black person who has dared to not be a liberal has heard the word token slung at them. we are called tokens, we are called uncle toms and some other things that are not appropriate for television. let me tell you something i was shocked when i heard that word come out of a sitting democrat senator's mouth. it was disgusting. let me tell you something else, senator scott, a man who i have had the pleasure to work with, was much more classy in his response than i would have been. steve: wel

i yield to senator durbin. once i get all of my papers in order. sen. durbin: let me say at the outset what we just witnessed on the floor of the united states senate should be no surprise. this is the senate according to mitch mcconnell. what we've seen now and it is -- has been repeated in the past, is the senate as he understands it and as he leads it, how good of a model is it under our constitution? this last february 70 former senators, democrats and republicans and independents sent a letter to the united states senate saying that we were not meeting our constitutional responsibilities. i'd like to quote from a couple of sentences in that letter and ask you if this doesn't sound like what we're enduring and living through at this moment. it says our concern is that the legislative process is no longer working in the senate. several factors may be cited. senate committees have lost responsibility for writing legislation, rules allowing extended debate, a feature of the senate predicting mine the senate floor. it is now commonly said it takes 60 vo

chairman graham: senator durbin. senator durbin: thank you, mr. rosenstein. thank you, mr. chairman. i miss baseball. obviously a lot of americans miss baseball as well. they are broadcasting old baseball games now and i'm watching them. i'm wondering today the people who have tuned into this hearing over c-span, of the senate judiciary committee, must think they are watching a rerun, a classic hearing of several years ago on the mueller report, but, unfortunately, this is not a rerun. this is the priority of the senate judiciary committee today. today in june of 2020. those who tuned in might have expected that we'd have a hearing concerning the public health crisis facing america, the pandemic which we are fighting every day which has claimed over 100,000 american lives. they might think we would krt issue of profiteering in this pandemic within the jurisdiction of this committee, but we are not. perhaps we'd take up the issue of privacy and contact tracing, an important issue, but we're not taking that up, either. they might wonder if we would actually have a markup to e

senator durbin. durbin: this amendment authorizes the chairman after consulting the ranking member to consider testimony for michael: regarding 2016, vice president in the trump administration and personal attorney to candidate trump. he was heavily involved in the efforts to build a trump tower in moscow for which candidate trump had signed a letter of intent in the fall of 2015. according to the mueller report, hen pursued the trump tower moscow project on behalf of candidate trump. of 2016, cohen communicated with the deputy chief of staff of putative regarding the trump tower moscow project. according to the mueller report during the summer of 2016, he recalled that candidate trump publicly claimed that he had nothing to do with russia and shortly afterwards privately checked with michael cohen on the status of the trump tower moscow project. he has pled guilty to fraud and making false statements to congress on his work regarding the trump tower moscow project. he is currently sentenced to home

. >> senator dick durbin, democrat of illinois, i appreciate you coming on sharing your views on

reporter: senator durbin's office said durbin apologized to senator scott for his word choice but whent comes to common ground between what is in the house bill, and what is in the senate bill time is of the essence because leader mcconnell says he wants this bill to hit the floor next week. they want to get it passed before the 4th of july recess. liz? elizabeth: hillary, thank you for your reporting. to another big story today, the justice department backing legislation chipping aat federal protection from lawsuits that media a giants and facebook and google enjoy about they censor political speech they don't agree with including other reasons as well. we have top republicans including senator ted cruz and marsha blackburn raising fire engine red alarms that americans are not getting balanced information an balanced news reporting on the internet because internet companies like facebook, google and twitter are censoring conservatives. we have congressman devin nunes, ranking member on the house intelligence committee. good to see you again, congressman. what do you think about this s

senator durbin. --po durbin: do i understand sen. durbin:, do i understand that we are debating? chair graham: do you want to do walker or the subpoenas? --. durbin:, i confer to the i defer. chair graham: i would like to do walker first. let us turn to walker, and we will come back to this. feinstein's statement on mr. walker is in the record. durbin:: durbin -- sen. when it comes to mr. walker's appointment, can we be honest moment. can anyone say with a straight face that this 38-year-old individual with no practical courtroom experience and a few months on the job as a district court judge in the commonwealth of kentucky is the best person for this job? anybody? he is not, and we know it. justin walker is enlivened for this -- in line for this lifetime appointment for two reasons. one, he is a family friend of senator mcconnell and an outspoken critic of the affordable care act. justin walker has made it clear that at any cost he is willing to tell the republican party line in opposition to obamacare. before he was a judge, he called the case that up -- that upheld aca's cons

senator was actually overshadowed i would say by illinois senator dick durbin use of the word "token." >> what we see on the democratic side, we cannot waste this historic moment, the singular opportunity. let's not do something that is a token. a half-hearted approach. >> a token from a half-hearted approach, said durbin and that through a sharp rebuke from republican senator tim scott who tweeted a week ago about his frustration with the word "token," boy, or you are being used. a senator from illinois refer to this process, this opportunity to restore a -- restore confidence and trust from the american people from african-americans and to call this a "token" process hurts my soul for the country, for our people. >> and his team at the illinois legislative office made the minute senator durbin heard he offended senator scott he sought him out on the floor and apologized. durbin's office said it was actually frustrated by the republican majority process and debate over the police reform bill, which would use federal grant money to discourage the use of choke holds a no knock warrants

that senator durbin and i stand ready to work with any democrat or republican on the issue of police reform and for sure i am not alone in the willingness to do that. in fact with the judiciary committee just last week the issue was police use of force and community relations and at that meeting chairman graham indicated he went to hold more hearings on this issue. sawyers my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to not let today's vote be the end of the story. there is an has been the evergreen issue george floyd's murder was a spark that ignited the national outcry. we must rise to the occasion we cannot allege election your politics and differences of opinion prevent us from even discussing how best to improve justice and safety in our community.

since being elected in 1907 senator dick durbin has introduced legislation in every session that would dramatically improve the lives of dogs in commercial kennels and would close the internet loophole. the way people sold dogs changed and has it changed it was no longer going to the individual breeder oh longer just going to the store now was online sales and they were exempt from the kind of regular inspection that would protect the puppies and their mothers so we had to make sure that our bill really filled the scale up and provided the protection for those online sales and the pups that were part of it even in the midst of the hyper partisanship of the u.s. senate on the issue of puppy mills senator durbin found willing partners on the republican side of the aisle my 1st co-sponsor was rick santorum one of the most conservative republicans from pennsylvania he was on the spot with me and then after he left the senate i had senator vitter from louisiana another very conservative senator so it turns out that when it comes to humane treatment of animals and dogs in particular this is

durbin: thank you, madam president.during one of his political campaigns abraham lincoln said to him you've reversed your position on an issue, changed on an issue. and abraham lincoln said it's true. you see, i'd rather be right some of the time than wrong all the time. well, i learned that lesson, as many of us have who serve in congress, when you vote for a measure and many years later have to reflect on whether it was the right vote. i voted for something called the war on drugs. it seemed like a sensible thing to do and many joined me, black and white members of the house of representatives. it was after the death of len bias, the maryland basketball star who overdosed and in a moment of panic over crack cocaine, we did something which would make a very clear public statement. the penalty for crack cocaine was going to be 100 times the penalty for powder cocaine. 100 times. we're going to let america know don't mess with crack cocaine. what a colossal failure it turned out to be. the price crack cocaine on the stre

durbin's office said it was frustrated by the republican majorities process and debate over the police reform bill which would use federal grant money to discourage the use of chuckles and no knock warrant and encourage the use of body cameras. democrats and republicans agree that lynching should be a federal crime. they both discouraged the use of lethal force, promote the use of body cameras and seek better policing standards that prioritize methods for de-escalating confrontations with suspect. however unlike the democratic plan scott's but would not allow victims of police misconduct to sue, been police chuckles outright or create new to restrict the use of lethal force. >> what is clear is the senate republican proposal on policing does not rise to the moment. >> the minority leader found himself defending the obama biden record on policing with critics noting that despite eight years in office including two with posting congress democrats never successfully produced anything approaching the latest effort. >> you had eight years, no attempt to ban chuckles, no attempts to do any o

durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic whip is recognized. mr. durbin: madam president, first i want to thank my colleagues, senators booker and harris. thank you. thanks for your leadership and courage and the fact that you are dedicating yourself to this moment. some would say that we are fortunate, others would say that we are blessed to be at this moment in this place in the roles that we currently have. can you imagine across the united states of america how many people would like to be standing where we're standing today, despite the frustration, we have a voice, we have an opportunity. we, as united states senators, have the power, if we use it, to do something about what threatens america. so imagine that 8 minutes and 46 seconds could have such a fro found impact on this nation of over 300 million people and then the world. but then to realize that eight minutes and 46 seconds reminded us of all of the other issues, all of the other cases of george floyds that came before it. i've been stunned in my own home state of illinois which i dea

. >> okay, hello everybody and thank you for coming, i'm pleased to be joined by my colleagues, durbin, booker and harris. let me begin. the senate republican justice act is lacking in substance and will to not make the reforms needed to stop police brutality against black americans and the reforms that are americans are demanding more from. since last night, many, most of the leading civil rights groups have come out opposing the republican bill and urge the senate to reject the bill calling it a nonstarter. the naacp legal defense fund, the urban league, the national action network, even been crowned, the attorney for the families of george floyd, breonna taylor, michael brown, trayvon martin, said do not go forward with this bill, it's a nonstarter. we just got a letter signed by the leadership conference of civil rights and human rights, we need a group that had the duck, 138 organizations have signed it, all the major civil rights organization, i will redo a paragraph. the justice act they write is an inadequate response to the decades of pain, hardship that the black people have

>> well, what durbin said is disgusting. and you know, he was wrong what he said.ats. whether it is law enforcement reform or taking care of our daca kids or balancing our budget, they're all talk, they're no action. they will never do anything. all they're worried about is the election in november. can they use this as a talking point. so there is a lot of problems we have. i've been up here in d.c. for 18 months. i watched the democrats obstruct, do nothing, blame, do nothing. that is all they do. david: i actually never seen a racial insult as bare boned as that in my professional career. i just think it was, it was absolutely disgusting. there has not been, as far as i know, a full apology for that from senator durbin. >> of course not. they don't apologize. tim scott is a caring individual that worked his tail off to come up with a bill that would do the right thing. david: yeah. >> hold people accountable but make sure we continued to have law enforcement we support which we should. david: senator scott, great to see you. thank you very much. >> appreciate it

it wasn't easy, but senator durbin and i and democrats and other republicans on -- in addition to the two of us, we found a path forward and are giving thousands of americans a chance to improve their lives when they leave prison. i'm frustrated that the state can't consider this justice act, but i promise iowans and the american people that this partisan exercise doesn't represent my last hope for meaningful change. i stand ready to work with any democrat or any republican on the issue of police reform, and for sure, i am not alone in the willingness to do that. in fact, at the judiciary committee just last week, the issue was police use of force and community relations. at that meeting chairman graham indicated that he wants to hold moore hearings on this issue. so i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to not let today's vote be the end of the story. there is and has been an evergreen issue. george floyd's murder as the spark that ignited a national outcry. we must rise to the occasion. we cannot let election year politics and differences of opinion prevent us from even di

i believe that in part the decision across the street occurred because of senator durbin's effective and unrelenting passionate advocacy for the daca kids. i yield the floor to my dear friend and happy man this morning the senator -- the senior senator from illinois. >> madame president? >> senator from illinois. >> madame president, i want to thank my friend, colleague, in both the house and the senate, senator chuck schumer, the democratic leader for his kind words. he has been such a valuable ally in this battle, and as leader on the senate side, chuck, i just can't thank you enough. >> the thanks go to you. the thanks go to you. >> time and again, we did things here to fight for these young people that were difficult politically, difficult politically. i just want to thank all the senators on both sides of the aisle who were part of moving this issue forward. they did it at great political risk. i can remember as sure as i'm standing here watching one of my democratic senate colleagues walk down and vote for the dream act, return to her desk in the corner, put her head down and s

durbin: madam president, his name was george floyd. seven days ago, he was killed on the streets of minneapolis. he was not the first african american to be the victim of racism and criminal misconduct by the police. it's happened in our history many times. but this was different. this was a killing which we watched in real time. in fewer than nine minutes, a minneapolis police officer with his knee on the neck of george floyd took his life away. despite mr. floyd's begging over and over again, his pleas that he couldn't breathe, even invoking the name of his mother didn't stop what happened. that photo is still emblazoned in my mind as i'm sure it is for all of those who have seen it. the look in that policeman's eyes at the videotape that was being taken of that incident was cold and hard and distant, unmoved by george floyd's plea and the plea of those around him. what a tragic moment for our country. a tragic moment for that family. what does it say about who we are in the united states of america that in the year 2020, this sort o

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. >>> i want to turn to democratic senator dick durbin of illinois for a moment. he serves as minority whip. he also signed a brief to the court asking the court to not allow president trump to end daca. he also first introduced the dream act nearly 20 years ago, if our math is right, senator derbin. first of all, your general reaction to the court's decision. >> i can tell you it's relief, but not like the relief 700,000 are feeling across america. imagine if you're waiting for the supreme court to decide whether you can continue working as a teacher or nurse. imagine you're waiting on that decision to decide whether as a medical student, you can complete your residency on your way toing being the doctor, wondering if your family is going to be split apart and deported out of america. that decision is great relief to me. to these people, by and large, 700,000 of them, it's the sigh of relief they've been begging for for a long time. >> to julia's point a few moments ago, does this decision take the pressure in some measure off you and your colleagues there on the

durbin. you indicated you are now getting cooperation from amazon, facebook and ebay about the selling of stolen items so have there been any prosecutions based on the information that you have gotten from the cooperation from these three entities? >> i don't have any specifics about any investigations in front of me. what i could tell you is that we have done outreach with those outlets and that i am unaware of any situation where we have sought information and have obtained it pursuant to legal process. >> well, apparently according to the way-- the situation was described by senator durbin, that this goes on in quite a blatant way and if we can get information from the entities that are platforms for the sale of the stolen goods, that would be a good thing. and so, i would suggest that you look at the informed consumer act that senator durbin referred to, which is bipartisan, supported by senators durbin, cassidy, and that could give you more tools to go after crimes. and hundreds of prose

say to the introduction to my senator and want to sit on the senate for and for theord, to senator durbin has been a partner of mine on criminal justice refor of policing and prisons and jails which i i swept up millions of americans and their families and their children is despicable that we are the land of the free and incarcerate so many people, and yo cocaine powder cocaine disparity. before even came to the senate has helped to lead to the liberation some african-americans. i'm grateful that you are on this bill and with that i would like to yield to the senator from illinois. >> madam president? >> the democratic with is recognize. >> thank you madam president. i think the senator from new jersey. during the course when his political campaigns in rent lincoln's opponent said to him you switch your position. he reversed your position on an issue. you change on an issue. abraham lincoln said, you see i would rather be right some of the time than wrong all of the time. i learned that lesson as many of us have who served in congress and you vote for a measure and many years later,xfter

>> i am disappointed obviously in the comments of senator durbin. i am more disappointed that the democrats would not join together to bring to the senate floor a debate on probably the most important issue that is facing us and one of the most difficult. we had a lot of common ground here. a lot of what was in this bill, the justice bill was contained within the democrats bill that's on the house side. we are also going to have 20 minutes, a manager's amendment, a very open process. they slammed the door shut. i think that tells the american people that they would rather score political points and really make a difference. and i don't blame people for being turned off by that. >> david: there are a couple of democrats who voted to move the legislation into a vote. one was your fellow west virginia senator, jim mentioned. any chance that those democrats also the independent from maine voted to move it on? is there any chance that this is just a minor stumble on the way to legislation? >> i think there should be some more conversation, and there will

durbin: thank you. there have emerged leaders whose names are synonymous with the struggle and triumph of these immigrants, standly bolzikus was that person in the city of chicago. stanley was my friend. his devotion to lithuania and to the cause of human freedom and dignity triwas -- dignity was -- he was as gracious and comfortable with a chicago hot dog salesman as he was with the head of state. he died last week passing peacefully at his home at the age of 95. as his family said in his obituary, his failing heart could not keep up with his zest for life. what a heart he had. he was a decorated war hero in world war ii, one of the thinning ranks of the greatest generation. he joined the u.s. army in 1943 and served in the infantry. he fought in key battles including the battle of the bulge and the battle of hircon forest. he landed in normandy and marched with the other soldiers to celebrate the liberation of paris from nazi occupation. he was captured by a unit in france in february of 1945 and spen

and he became the lead sponsor,, grassley-durbin, bipartisan bill. that bill passed the house, pass the senate, signed into law by president of the united states donald trump, who would've guessed. he bragged about afterwards and continues to this day. i guess the lesson learned there is if the right people can sit down with the right goal in mind, we can achieve an important victory for the american people. i understand now having been to these rallies on black lives matter how determined and desperate people are across the united states to see as change when it comes to racism in law enforcement. they are desperate primarily in our younger populations. it's interesting, even the largest rallies are being led by high school students who are bringing together hundreds, in some cases thousands of people to peacefully demonstrate our behalf of justice, in law enforcement. the message is prettyy clear. they do not want to grow up and it don't want to raise the families in the shadow of racism. we have fought this issue in america for over 400 years. tha

durbin: mr.president, two weeks ago i came to the floor of the senate to ask for a consent on a simple, timely senate resolution sponsored by nearly half of the members of this chamber. what did the resolution call for? well, it urged the united states to join global coronavirus vaccine and treatment efforts. that doesn't sound like a radical idea, does it? in the midst of a global pandemic causing so much suffering and so many deaths, it would seem that asking the united states to join other countries of the world in searching for therapies and vaccines is just common sense. we don't know where or when a vaccine will be discovered. we don't know if an effective treatment will be discovered in the united states or some other place. certainly with the respected medical and scientific leadership in the united states, you would hope that it would be here, but let's be honest, in a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus is discovered in some other country, the united states wants to be th

i want to thank senators durbin and booker and harris for joining me today. the senate democrats, just as a very clear signal that the senate republican justice act lacks the substance and the strong desperately needed reforms to stop police brutality. against the black americans. it was woefully inadequate and it never would've passed. emma, provided no path to improvement. it was going to lose. many he put it together, and the more cynical among us would say that is why he did it. we were overwhelmingly supported by the entire civil rights community. i have a letter here, signed by 136 civil rights organizations. i want to review how they characterize the bill the leader mcconnell put on the floor. this bill woefully falls short of the comprehensive performance needed to address the current policing crisis and achieve meaningful law enforcement accountability. it is it deeply romantic to make this moment with a incremental approach that offers more funding to police and few policy to effectively address the constant loss of black lives at the hands of polic

durbin: thank you. mr. president, this past weekend, i went back to illinois and visited with two different groups, one on friday, another on saturday. they were young african americans on the southside of chicago and in my hometown of springfield. i wanted to sit down with these young people, some just barely high school students, who had been engaged in the protests and demonstration in their hometowns and asked them what happened it was about, what it meant to them. i wanted to hear it first hand. they talked about the killing of george floyd in minneapolis and how it changed the conversation about justice in america, and it moved them to stand up and speak up. i'm proud to say that those that i met with have engaged in peaceful demonstrations quint with american -- consistent with american values and our constitution. i'm proud of them because there were no distractions. they were focused on black lives matter an true justice -- and true justice in america. when we met, i asked questions of some of them

durbin saying it's a token. that's appalling to me. or the idea that democrats on the senate side were not even allow the bill to come up. do they care about the issue? or do they want to play politics when? a simple example would be amendments on this side as well. you have enough people, you have shadow voting where you got all these votes in your pocket so the people don't even have to be here on the your side! you are guaranteed to win! but you are guaranteeing you are not going to solve the problem by what they are doing and that's appalling to me and it's unacceptable. >> given the rhetoric on both sides, do you think the issue of police reform is effectively dead for the year? >> i don't get to determine that. the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi and chuck schumer, because of the rules of the senate and they both apparently made a decision to kill these bills. that will not stop us from working, trying to solve it. thankfully the president took executive order action otherwise there would be no change. yes? >> the president ha

. >> thank you, senator durbin? >> thanks a lot, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, we're in a constitutional moment. the questions being asked of us in this committee, because historic historically, just look at the history of this committee. many of us, before we arrived here, stood in awe of what happened within this committee room time and again in the course of american history. the men and women of this committee were called on over and over again, not just with supreme court appointments but whenever there was an issue of great moment, whether it was watergate, iran-contra, we were there. that's why i wanted to be on this committee. i felt if you're going to serve in the senate, there's no better place to be at that moment in history when the senate is looked to for leadership of this nation. we have questions before us today that are of constitutional moment. is our system of justice in america so infected by racism that it cannot function in a manner consistent with our democratic values? that's as basic as it gets in a democratic society, that que

that's a half-hearted approach. >> i can tell you to have those comments again hurts. >> dick durbin later apologized for the comments, house judiciay committee went through the process of marking up the democrats police reform bill. it's scheduled for a vote on june 25th. the fate of the senate bill is much more uncertain, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell urge democrats to work with republicans but there's not a whole lot of time for negotiation between now and the beginning of the fourth of july recess. >> bret: john roberts live on the north lawn. john, thanks. president trump is unveiling a plan to address veteran suicide. during an event this afternoon at the white house the president laid out details of the $53 million, two year effort which features firearm safety and wellness programs at workplaces and added barriers near railroads and bridges. the government says about 20 veterans die by suicide each d day. >> they fought our battles overseas knowing must join them in winning this new battle at home. >> bret: the democratic chairman of the house veterans affairs commit