he says, they applaud the nomination of gina mccarthy. we believe ms. mccarthy can provide the strong leadership needed at the epa, including working collaboratively with the business community. i say to my republican friends, get out of the fringe lane and join the mainstream of business in this country. it goes on and on. stephen harper, global director of environment and energy policy at intel. we have not always agreed with every action taken under mccarthy's watch, but we have always respected her rocksolid dedication to protecting the environment and commitment to finding solutions that protect our nation's economy. it goes on. chairman and president southern company has beautiful things to say. i ask unanimous consent. rest ofnt to put the these into the record. it goes on and on. ,t is business, organizations respected individuals in our communities. how about this? republican governors, including jodi rail, republican governor of connecticut. views arehat cheetos nationally respected -- gina's views are nationally reseppecte. gina mccarthy is on

so, gina mccarthy deserves a vote. i delayed the vote at the request of my ranking member, and i delayed it long past when i wanted to mark up, and i was under the impression that as soon as she received the answers to the 1,000 questions. 1,000 questions, record-breaking number of questions -- that they would allow us to move forward with this vote. every nominee is entitled to a vote, particularly a nominee like this one. denying a president's nominee, who has this level of experience, who has been confirmed by the senate for the position she now holds, is wrong. it's unacceptable. gina is tremendously qualified to head the epa. she has more than three decades of public service experience, including at the local, state, and federal level. she has a very well-demonstrated record of working with republicans and democrats. she has received support from business. she has received support from health officials. she has received support from environmental organizations and scientists. and i would say today that, at this st

you are are not going to find anybody then -- better than gina mccarthy.she is very good. >> senator wicker and then senator carper. >> thank you madam chair. it seems to me we really ought to be all smiles today. the impasse that occurred on this committee much as it did with secretary leavitt's. a path forward has been agreed to to move this nomination to the next step and i think we really ought to be celebrating that rather than expressing any sort of negative feelings. we have tried to make it clear on our side of this dais that our requests have been for transparency that is needed for all decisions by the epa and its critical to the taxpayers to shoulder the burden for extensive regulations. a request is still with issues on openness and transparency only. and frankly, this shouldn't be a partisan issue as far as getting the information. i am sort of disappointed that the idea of a request for underlying research staff used to promulgate rules for cost-benefit analyses should he an issue at all. and so i'm glad that we have taken this step. i think

if you include the sub-questions, more than 600 of the questions to gina mccarthy have come from one senator from louisiana senator david vitter. this is the 123 page questionnaire exchange between senator vitter and the epa nominee. 123 pages of questions and answers. she has answered all of his more than 600 written questions. in response today, republican senators refused to even show up for the vote on her nomination because they say she has been unresponsive. they say she has not answered enough questions. the eight republican senators on the environment committee led by senator vitter boycotted the vote to protest how unresponsive gina mccarthy was to the more than 1,000 questions they have asked her. which she has answered. they consider that unresponsive. what do you think the odds are we get to 2,000 questions? maybe we can get to 3,000 questions. advice and consent? >>> 1983, i was 10 years old, it was a formative thing, matt threw broderick and ali sheedy in war games. >> shall we play a game? >> i think it missed him. >> weird, isn't it? love to. how about global thermal

and now we get to gina mccarthy. this past thursday the senate environment and public works committee was scheduled to vote on gina mccarthy's nomination to head the environmental protection agency. right before the scheduled vote, all the republicans ded to show up. under senate rules, that meant there was no quorum and that the vote could not take place. the president has done his job. he named an outstanding nominee for the administrator of the environmental protection agency, gina mccarthy. gina has dedicated her professional life to the protection of our public health and to the stewardship of our environment. she was confirmed to her previous position at the e.p.a. as assistant administrator for air and radiation by voice vote without objection. now, just to be clear, this means that most of the members of this chamber have already voted to approve her once before. gina also has a long record of working effectively across party lines. she served under republican and democratic governors alike, including working

it's gina mccarthy, a woman who deserves a promotion, just like mr. perez deserves a promotion. so you can say all you want that you're reaching out to minorities and women, but then you're blocking promotions of people who are outstanding americans. i just want to say that before my friend left the floor. well, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are focused on several issues which they call scandals. and i'd like to address those today and then talk about issues that seem to be falling through the cracks while they focus on gotcha politics, they're going to get the president. i think we'll start with the i.r.s.. look, it is wrong to target any group for scrutiny, whether they're on the right or on the left. if it's a tea party group or a liberal church. and we have seen this with the i.r.s. over the years. as a matter of fact, i looked back to see how many of my republican friends stood up and talked about going after the i.r.s. and straightening them out when they went after the naacp or when they went after a liberal church in pasadena in congressman schiff's distri

that's gina mccarthy. frankly,ic we are very luckily to have minute of that caliber who wants to serve and work so hard in the difficult times and take on that role. and i just hope we very quickly confirm her, because you're not going to find anybody better than gina mccarthy. she's very good. >> senator wicker. >> thank you, ma'am chair. it seems to me we ought to be all smiles today. an impasse that occurred in the committee much as it did with secretary lev left. a path forward has been agreed to. to move this nomination to the next step, i think we ought to be celebrating that rather than expressing any negative feelings. we tried to make it clear on our side of this that our request have been for transparency that is needed for all decisions by epa. and it's critical to the taxpayers, the children, the burden for extensive regulation, our request have dealt with issues of openness and transparency only. and frankly, this shouldn't be a partisan issue as far as getting the information out. i'm sort of

the eight boycotted the vote on her nomination to protest how unresponsive gina mccarthy was to the more1,000 questions they have asked her. more than 1,000 questions they have asked her which she has answered. they consider that unresponsive. what do you think the odds are we get to 2000 we questions, maybe 3,000 questions. advise and consent. [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure that we were on schedule. the first technology of its kind... mom and dad, i have great news. is now providing answers families need. siemens. answers. we didn't have u-verse back in my day. you couldn't just... guys... there you are. you know you couldn't just pause a show in one room, then... where was i... you couldn't pause a show in one room then

gina mccarthy is a woman who deserves this promotion. 78% of voters say that clean air is extremely or very important. 69% of voters favored epa updated standards with stricter limits on air pollution. i say to my republican friends on this committee, it's a pleasure to work with them on infrastructure. but when it comes to the environment, there in the right fringe lane, and were not going to let the people forget it. we're going to take the story of gina mccarthy and her success, a record, her fairness, her broad support in america. we're going to take this to the american people. and so will the president, i assure you of that. and by the time this is over, i hope the republicans will recognize this is one of the best nominees either party could ever find to head the epa. and i want people to understand today that we did not intend to vote this nominee out with democrats. that was not my intention. i would not do that unless forced to. let's be clear, i would not have voted this out just with democrats. i am asking my republicans to come home, to come back, to your response to the.

and gina mccarthy is waiting for votes on her nomination to head the environmental protection agency. that is the status of those three. a story in the papers concerning one of the president's nominees, the choice for commerce secretary, penny pritzker. the wall street journal has a story -- doug from toledo, a democrat. caller: i'm disgusted with the whole thing. the republicans are blocking their bidding that comes along. it's like they don't care what's good from the current -- what's good for the country. they just want to obstruct obama's plans. i'm tired of it. people that work for a living need to go democrat and get something done. bill clinton got stuff done despite the republicans. one caller was wrong. the deficit has been going down. what more can he do? he gets blocked at every turn. everything he does, they tried to obstruct. 37 times they voted for this. it's ridiculous for. we need to get these people out of there. they don't care what's good for the country. they just want to go against obama. host: terry from lafayette, independent line. caller: good morning, pedro.

this stuff is really, really criminal, and well, it's just, you know, they say that gina% mccarthy hasn't answered the questions they put to her. they put more than 1,000 questions to her, more than 1,000, 653 from david bitter of louisiana alone. that's just crazy but it's -- i don't know what obama can do about it. >> it's going to be tough probably will happen, these things usually slow down. i can think of a few questions i'd like to ask david bitter. michael tomasky special correspondent for newsweek and the daily beast thanks for being here. >> we turn now to a possible break through at the white house. democratic from north carolina told reporters that there was a high level meeting today to discuss sexual assaults in the military. valerie jarret is leading the meetings. women in the military are moor likely to be raped in cam bat zones by a fellow soldier than killed by the enemy. if you're not shocked or appalled by that statistic the problem is getting worse, it is not getting better. the pentagon issued a report showing a 37% increase in sexual assaults in the military. yet the

gina mccarthy to head the epa will determine whether reid takes the unusual step to change senate ruleso these kind of presidential nominees are approved with a simple 50 vote vote. you have the vice president. on the senate floor today we got a preview of how nasty the fight could get. first up, harry reid call out his republican counterpart, minority leader mitch mcconnell with this. >> he should take a long look in the mirror and he should spend some time in honest reflection of republicans' own contributions to the gridlock threatening this historic institution where he claims, quote, there's no real problem here. >> well, mcconnell hit back tossing in the irs troubles for good measure. >> he wants to have no debate. do what i say and do it now. this is the culture of intimidation we've seen at the irs. that we've seen at hss, at the fcc, at the s.e.c. and now here in the senate. >> joining me right now, sahil kapor for "talking point memo" and michael scherer, white house correspondent for "time" magazine. tell me the chances. let's do the bottom line politics. what are the chances

. >> gina mccarthy, both of them got held up and stuck this week. administration official admit to me they don't expect to get them both through. >> no. >> they know they are going to lose one. they just don't know which one. >> correct. in the case of mccarthy especially. politics are interesting because it involves -- but you're absolutely right. this seems like it's a small potato thing in comparison of the fight we saw over hagel, brennan. this has become the new norm. it used to be that the presidential prerog was taking very serious. >> it was continued with bush nominees. this is not healthy. rhadika just brought up being a layperson saying, hey, immigration is constructive. this is not constructive. >> it seems to be becoming the norm. the government won't work. our government is not set up. it's not constructed to work under those kinds of circumstances. the party in power -- we accept the election when there's a presidential election. and the administration has these prerogatives and they're generally acknowledged except in certain circums

we have seen two months ago, over two months ago, the president named the nomination of gina mccarthy epa administrator. this is a key part of the president's president's cabinet. the american people deserve confirmed administrator. the president has made that submission and our responsibility is to vote. to voted her up or down but this is obstructionism. pure and simple. >> almost never before has a senate refused to let the president pick members of his own cab gnat. here is a buddy, ike from charleston. what do you think? >> caller: brother, listen, when you get to the veggats, let me know it. i have a guy who can hook you up with sproimo deer antler. >> go for it. >> you saw michelleback bachman sitting behind some of the people testifying at the benghazi hearing. that shows you they got all kinds of time to mess around. they don't have time to take care of our business. on the colbert bush e elections this is where she messed up. democrats need to start taking this to the people and laying out what the republicans have been doing to us on a national level. they like running agai

and of course i should just add, if the senate can't con frirm gina mccarthy to the environmental protectionabor secretary, this means agencies can't function effectively. because they need leaders. so i think what we are seeing is republicans going all out in an effort to bring government to a halt. >> ma'am, let me just get in real quick. it seems like you're indicting republicans for wanting conservative appointees. but i imagine you would probably like liberal appointees on these courts. but the white house is insisting that additional judges are needed on the d.c. circuit and particular because it lacks a balance. full-time active judges are split 4-4. d.c. circuit struck down some obama administration rules. but some other doozies he calls them, like administration greenhouse gas rules have gotten through. the bush administration bpa had a harder time than the obama epa. is has the d.c. circuit really been that unfriendly to the obama administration? in. >> in case after case, whether it is involving rules, implementing dodd-frank, whether it is involving cigarette warnings, for young

a senate panel voted with no republican support to advance gina mccarthy's epa nomination, while another senate panel backed the nomination of thomas pÉrez for liver secretary -- again, with no republicans voting in favor. both nominees face uphill battles before the full senate. house lawmakers reportedly have reached agreement in principle for immigration reform the plan to introduce next month. the house bill is expected to be even more restrictive than the senate's with a path to citizenship that could take 15 years. seven people are still missing after a series of tornadoes ripped through the texas town of granbury, killing at least six. dozens of people were injured. the area hardest hit by the storms included many homes for low-income people built by the nonprofit habitat for humanity. in britain, for computer hackers have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from 20 months to nearly three years for carrying out cyberattacks as part of the global network known as lulzsec. the four, who range in age from 18 to 26, pleaded guilty to attacking targets including the cia, sony, and rup

eight republicans on the environmental committee are completely unsatisfied with gina mccarthy's on answersndful of issues. they want greater clarification on mccarthy before allowing a vote to proceed. adam: next on "money", twitter sparked a hash crash for the stock. the race is to make money off its 400 million tweets per day. how one company is trying to do that and find a break-through investors want so much. "piles of money" coming up. ♪ . ♪ [ agent smith ] i've found software that intrigues me. it appears it's an agent of good. ♪ [ agent smith ] ge software connects patients to nurses to the right machines while dramatically reducing waiting time. [ telephone ringing ] now a waiting room is just a room. [ static warbles ] the wright brothers became the first in flight. [ goodall ] i think the most amazing thing is how like us these chimpanzees are. [ laughing ] [ woman ] can you hear me? and you hear your voice? oh, it's exciting! [ man ] touchdown confirmed. we're safe on mars. [ cheers and applause ] ♪ hi. [ baby fussing ] ♪ you will lose 3 sets of keys 4 cell phones 7 socks and 6

meanwhile, senate committees approved the nominations of gina mccarthy to head the environmental protectionncy, and thomas perez to serve as secretary of labor. the nominations now go to the full senate, where both may face republican opposition. wall street gave back a little ground today. the dow jones industrial average lost 42 points to close at 15,233. the nasdaq fell six points to close at 3,465. those are some of the day's major stories. now, back to jeff. >> brown: we return to our look at the obama administration under pressure. how do commanders in chief deal with crisis management? we get takes now from both parties. democrat tom perriello is the president of the center for american progress action fund. he served as a member of congress in virginia before losing his seat in the tea party wave. and republican strategist and author ron christie, who worked in the george w. bush white house on capitol hill. welcome to both of you. ron christie, let me start with you. first your reaction from what we just heard from jennifer palmieri. >> i think the white house is trying to project

gina mccarthy, all eight republicans on the committee on the environment and public works boycotted ad for this morning. the republican said it is not about her qualifications but about her refusal to answer questions. >>> britain prince harry kicks off his seven day tour of the u.s. in washington today his first stop will be a land mine exhibit on capitol hill alongside senator john mccain. land mine clearance was an important cause of his mother, diana. during his visit he will also visit arlington national cemetery and a neighborhood on a jersey shore ravaged by hurricane sandy. (announcer) at scottrade, our clients trade and invest exactly how they want. with scottrade's online banking, i get one view of my bank and brokerage accounts with one login... to easily move my money when i need to. plus, when i call my local scottrade office, i can talk to someone who knows how i trade. because i don't trade like everybody. i trade like me. i'm with scottrade. (announcer) scottrade. awarded five-stars from smartmoney magazine. are you still sleeping? just wanted to check and make sure th

three upcoming high profile nominees, richard cordray, thomas perez, for labor secretary, and gina mccarthy epa will determine whether reid does take the unusual step of trying to change senate rules so these kind of presidential nominees are approved with a simple 50-vote vote. you have the vice president. on the senate floor today we got a preview of how nasty this fight could get. first up harry calling out his republican counterpart mitch mcconnell with this. >> he should take a long look in the mirror and he should spend some time in honest reflection of republican's gridlock before he claims it, quote, there's no real problem here. >> well, mcconnell tossed back in the irs troubles with good measure, or for good measure. >> he wants to have no debate. do what i say and do it now. this is the culture of intimidation that we've seen at the irs, that we've seen at hhs, at the fcc, at the s.e.c., and now here in the senate. >> joining right now congressional correspondent for talking points memo and michael sheer. tell me the chances. let's do the bottom line politics. what are the chance

environment and public works committee was supposed to meet at 9:15 to vote on the nomination of gina mccarthy to be the new administrate over at the epa. but reuters is reporting that eight republican lawmakers will skip the committee vote today. what that does, it blocks the nomination from moving forward. we'll have more on that as we learn more. >>> and this is a live shot from the other side of capitol hill where the house is holding its first hearing focused on the boston marathon bombings. homeland security committee will hear from boston's police commissioner as well as former senator joe lieberman and other homeland security experts. law make makers are expected tof better information sharing could have prevented the attack last month. we're going to keep our eyes on both hearing rooms. keep you updated on what developments. >>> up next, food for thought. president obama continues those efforts to reach out to congress in a more personal way. this time his dinner partners were house democrats. congressman jim clyburn was one of those democrats. he'll join us next for some inside scoop

gina mccarthy. of course this obstruction of presidential nominees is nothing new by the republicans senate republicans since the day obama took office and mitch mcconnell said his number one job was to basically destroy this presidency have had one strategy sabotage the obama presidency by blocking the people he selected to work in his administration and by filibustering any sort of legislation that he supports for example with obama's cabinet nominations center republicans killed the nomination of susan rice to be secretary of state they delayed the nomination of republican chuck hagel to be secretary of defense they delayed the nomination of john brennan to be cia director and today had to delay the nomination of jacob lew for treasury secretary and right now thanks to republican blocking efforts there are currently eighty two vacancies for federal judgeships around the united states even john roberts is writing letters of complaint about seriously one of the most important of those judgeships th

a committee vote on gina mccarthy was supposed to happen earlier today but eight republican senators the vote saying that neither mccarthy or the e.p.a. fro provided information to the senators they requested. under the rules boycotts holding a vote. the move delay as confirmation vote on the president's controversial new labor nominee tom perez. more on that as we get it three whistleblowers took the stand in a highly charged hearing yesterday, challenging some of the administration claims on the terror attack in benghazi, libya on september 11th of last year. but even before the testimony was done, the spotlight turned to how some media outlets were handling the story. here are some of the headlines that have emerged from some major media youthlets. the "l.a. times" headline is partisan politics little new information at house benghazi hearing. the huffington post headline benghazi hearing reveals incompetence but no coverup. the "u.s.a. today" headline quoting the administration: white house, colon, benghazi hearing covers old ground. and from the san francisco chronicle g.o.p. be

all eight republicans on the committee skip ad scheduled vote on gina mccarthy's confirmation sayingrespond adequately to questions. at least two republicans were needed for the vote to proceed. >>> more americans were able to hold on to their homes last month. according to realtytrac repossessions fell 20% in the month of march. nevada had the highest forelows chrur rate in the country. >>> according freddie mac the average rate on a 30-year fixed loan is 3.42%. after hitting a record low last week the 15 year mortgage ticked higher to 2.61%. and that's the latest from the fox business network, giving you the power to prosper. ashley: ever wish you co-pay only for a couple of dozen of cable channels you actually watch instead of buying those bloated packages of hundreds of channels you don't watch at all? lori: come on, soap opera channel? ashley: that is only one you watch. a new law could enable you to do just that. dennis kneale is all over the story and joins us with more. dennis. >> u.s. senator john mccain on floor of the senate today introducing a dream bill for cable viewers

environmental committee meeting on which i sit on the environmental committee to see if we can get one gina mccarthy appointed. republicans didn't show up at that meeting. they boycotted it. mr. chairman, let me just quote from an article written by james in in the atlantic website this is what he said, since the democrats gain the majority control of the senate, the republicans under mitch mcconnell have applied filibuster threats under a variety of names and the frequency not seen before in american history. filibusters' used to be exceptional and are now used as tactics for any significant legislation or nomination. the goal of the strategy that maximizes the power in a way not foreseen in the constitution has been to make the 60 vote requirement seen routine, that is what he said. senate republicans have been intent to obstruct every order of senate to business as a dedicated political strategy. in fact since democrats took control of the upper chamber in 2007 the senate of the 110th, 11th and 12th conagra's witnessed the three highest filibusters' ever recorded. so what we are seeing is nothing

gina mccarthy is somebody who has the trust of republicans and democrats. she has been a strong protector of public health for many, many years now. she is just what we need in terms of a strong leader in a time of climate crisis. blunt,xcess senator roy republican, has a hold on her nomination. he will have to remove that before the full senate can consider nomination. susan casey lefkowitz, international program director with the natural resources defense council, thanks for your time. guest: thank you. coming up, tin-tin in our "spotlight on magazines" series. we will look at the front cover of bloomberg business week about jpmorgan chase's jamie dimon and why they call him wall street's indispensable man. first a news update from c-span radio. greg kiss nightclub 15 eastern. results in for the california mayoral race. the city controller has been defeated in the race to become the next mayor of los angeles. the city council and received 54% of the vote. a 42 year-old be the first cities selected jewish mayor. he will replace the outgoing mayor antonio v

gina mccarthy deserves a vote, not a boycott. they say they don't like her answers.i'm not surprised. she is not mitt romney's nominee for the e.p.a., she is not rick perry's nominee for the e.p.a. she is barack obama's nomination for the e.p.a. it is her position as it is the president's that we should enforce the clean air act, the safe drinking water act and so on. when the president's put up nominees for e.p.a. that i didn't agree with, i didn't filibuster them. i said okay, i'll vote no. let them -- let them go. so it's -- it's really a sad day for me on the environment side of my committee. on the public works side of my committee, it's a good day because we're making progress. we have now about a half dozen amendments that have been cleared on both sides. we're waiting to try and make them pending or clear them, and we're asking all senators please get your amendments in because this can't go on forever. we need to pass this bill. 550,000 jobs are supported by this legislation. hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of businesses are looking forward to our doing t

for example, on gina mccarthy, she would be his director of environment and public works -- the e.p.a. -- i'm sorry. more than 1,100 questions were submitted to her after the hearing. jack lew who has had many, many jobs in the government, he had a full hearing. they gave him more than 700 questions to answer. this has gotten way out of hand. anything they can do to slow things down, that's what they do. the executive and judicial nominees who are ready to be confirmed by the senate are pending an average of 200 days, more than six months. mr. president, listen to that. executive and judicial nominees who are ready to be confirmed by the senate have been pending an average of 200 days. that's more than six months. the confirmation process is moving at glacial pace because of extraordinary republican obstruction. cloture has been filed on 58 of president obama's nominees. 58. by this point in president bush's term cloture had been filed on a handful of nominees. but republicans are not blocking these nominations because they object to the qualifications of the nominees. we passed in th

environment and public works committee which is scheduled to vote thursday on the nomination of gina mccarthy to be in the environmental protection agency. those are some of the headlines on c-span radio. >> the agency will face an existential dilemma, you have the open internet order but you also have the death of the social contract that built the telephone industry and the cable industry. that is to say, both of those were fundamentally built on the premise, we give you a monopoly, you serve everybody, we have universal service, we we have other requirements. as we move to an all-data world, the economic foundations of those contracts are crumbling. >> i think when we get into 2017 and look back on tom's tenure, assuming it's probably one term of the presidency, i think whether it's judged a success or failure will probably be determined by whether or not those auctions are a success or failure. they are very complicated. they are going to be very complicated. there's a lot of land mines, there are a lot of different foreign issues to figure out, and tom's clearly got the skills and the re