you wrote again to senator grassley, reiterating it remains our understanding that atf's operation fast and furious did not knowingly permit straw buyers to take guns into mexico yet i just asked some agents about that and their statement was they think about 1500 weapons are still out there and probably in mexico. would you like to change your statement at all on that or have anything you would want to shift on your previous statements from february or may? >> thank you, congressman. the statements that you refer to are -- let me say this. every time the justice department sends a letter to congress, it is true to the best of our knowledge at the time that we send it. those particular statements remain true for the technical reason that the committee's report issued last night described the straw purchasers don't take guns to mexico and in any event, atf doesn't sanction or approve of the transfer of weapons to mexico. that's obvious. >> but atf did permit those knowingly understanding they're headed towards the border and that was well known apparently among the phoenix office and as

senator grassley, senator schumer and i have been working on this and senator grassley has a bill to include some of these new synthetic drugs. we had a kid die in minnesota. a number of people get sick. i don't think people realize the power of these drugs and i.n.s. crease we are seeing in the use of those -- increase we are seeing in the use of those drugs. secondly i want to thank you for having kevin perkins at a hearing we had earlier to find missing children. this is the issue of trying to be as narrow as we can to get exception to the tax laws. you don't have local law enforcement trying to find a kid when it is in fact a family abduction. then you have one arm of the government, the i.r.s. that knows exactly where that kid is, where that family is, and trying to put an exception in place that doesn't hurt privacy interests but like many of the extemmingses -- exception that is are already in that law so law enforcement can access it. >> thank you very much. senator, i understand questions have been asked. other than director mueller, we'll excuse you with our thanks for your

senator grassley, senator schumer and i have been working on this and senator grassley has a bill to include some of these new synthetic drugs. we had a kid die in minnesota. a number of people get sick. i don't think people realize the power of these drugs and i.n.s. crease we are seeing in the use of those -- increase we are seeing in the use of those drugs. secondly i want to thank you for having kevin perkins at a hearing we had earlier to find missing children. this is the issue of trying to be as narrow as we can to get exception to the tax laws. you don't have local law enforcement trying to find a kid when it is in fact a family abduction. then you have one arm of the government, the i.r.s. that knows exactly where that kid is, where that family is, and trying to put an exception in place that doesn't hurt privacy interests but like many of the extemmingses -- exception that is are already in that law so law enforcement can access it. >> thank you very much. senator, i understand questions have been asked. other than director mueller, we'll excuse you with our thanks for your

iowa senator chuck grassley, the ranking republican member of the senate judiciary committee, says that's unacceptable. he says it was a decision that most likely came from washington, and the highest levels of american law enforcement. >> we think it goes very high up in the justice department. but how high, i'm not sure. >> reporter: right now the justice department is trying to keep the investigation focused on arizona, sending cnn a copy of the letter to the senate saying "the operation was

senator grassley? guest: i have spoken to my willingness to do separate territorial system of taxation because our corporate tax system in this country is the only one in the world -- everybody else texas corporate income where it is earned -- taxes corporate income where it is earned. we would be more competitive with a system like the rest of the world. on the income tax, it sounds to me that he is going back to similar to what we have in the 1986 tax bill, and i think that broadening of the tax base, reducing marginal tax rates, will be better for the economy because we have complicated tax code. every policy is a political decision that money ought to be invested here, spent here, or help people in need there. so, it is a political decision. the more money, the less restriction we have in washington on how you spend your money, and how much tax you pay, and the marketplace make the decision as opposed to politicians, it will cause the economy to grow much faster. that is what we have to do. we have

senator grassley, senator schumer and i have been working on this and senator grassley has a bill to include some of these new synthetic drugs. we had a kid die in minnesota. a number of people get sick. i don't think people realize the power of these drugs and i.n.s. crease we are seeing in the use of those -- increase we are seeing in the use of those drugs. secondly i want to thank you for having kevin perkins at a hearing we had earlier to find missing children. this is the issue of trying to be as narrow as we can to get exception to the tax laws. you don't have local law enforcement trying to find a kid when it is in fact a family abduction. then you have one arm of the government, the i.r.s. that knows exactly where that kid is, where that family is, and trying to put an exception in place that doesn't hurt privacy interests but like many of the extemmingses -- exception that is are already in that law so law enforcement can access it. >> thank you very much. senator, i understand questions have been asked. other than director mueller, we'll excuse you with our thanks for your

senator grassley, senator schumer and i have been working on this and senator grassley has a bill to include some of these new synthetic drugs. we had a kid die in minnesota. a number of people get sick. i don't think people realize the power of these drugs and i.n.s. crease we are seeing in the use of those -- increase we are seeing in the use of those drugs. secondly i want to thank you for having kevin perkins at a hearing we had earlier to find missing children. this is the issue of trying to be as narrow as we can to get exception to the tax laws. you don't have local law enforcement trying to find a kid when it is in fact a family abduction. then you have one arm of the government, the i.r.s. that knows exactly where that kid is, where that family is, and trying to put an exception in place that doesn't hurt privacy interests but like many of the extemmingses -- exception that is are already in that law so law enforcement can access it. >> thank you very much. senator, i understand questions have been asked. other than director mueller, we'll excuse you with our thanks for your

senator grassley? guest: i have spoken to my willingness to do separate territorial system of taxation because our corporate tax system in this country is the only one in the world -- everybody else texas corporate income where it is earned -- taxes corporate income where it is earned. we would be more competitive with a system like the rest of the world. on the income tax, it sounds to me that he is going back to similar to what we have in the 1986 tax bill, and i think that broadening of the tax base, reducing marginal tax rates, will be better for the economy because we have complicated tax code. every policy is a political decision that money ought to be invested here, spent here, or help people in need there. so, it is a political decision. the more money, the less restriction we have in washington on how you spend your money, and how much tax you pay, and the marketplace make the decision as opposed to politicians, it will cause the economy to grow much faster. that is what we have to do. we have

now, let me welcome senator grassley. your reputation as a defender of good government transcends party lines. i've always been impressed by your determination and i welcome you here today. you said something in your statement that -- in your written statement that i totally agree with and i want to reiterate. you said, any attempt to retaliate against them, speaking of the a.t.f. officers, for their testimony today would be unfair and unwise and unlawful and i am here to say that i've always taken that position and i share that view with you and i will work with you to make sure that does not happen and i'm sure it won't. let me also welcome the a.t.f. agents who are here to provide their testimony. it is not easy to testify before congress under normal circumstances, but it is even more difficult when you are testifying about allegations involving your own agency. that's tough. nevertheless i know you are here today because you want to improve this process. finally, let me welcome mr.wise from the justice department --

this whole day and try to process what's been going on, february the 4th, there's a letter senator grassley, back and forth with you, stating the allegation of atf sanctioned or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to straw purchasers who transported them to mexico is false. may 2nd. you wrote again to senator grassley, reiterating it remains our understanding that atf's operation fast and furious did not knowingly permit straw buyers to take guns into mexico yet i just asked some agents about that and their statement was they think about 1500 weapons are still out there and probably in mexico. would you like to change your statement at all on that or have anything you would want to shift on your previous statements from february or may? >> thank you, congressman. the statements that you refer to are -- let me say this. every time the justice department sends a letter to congress, it is true to the best of our knowledge at the time that we send it. those particular statements remain true for the technical reason that the committee's report issued last night described the

now let me welcome senator grassley. your reputation transcends party lines. you said something in your statement, in your written statement that i totally agree with and i want to reiterate. speaking of the atf officers their testimonies would be unfair, unwise and unlawful. and i am here to say i've always taken that position. and i share that view with you and i will work with you to make sure that does not happen. and i'm sure it won't. it is not easy to testify in front of congress under normal circumstances, but it is even more difficult when you are testifying about allegations involving your own agency. nevertheless, i know you are here today because you want to improve this process. finally, let me welcome mr. weisch from the justice department. this will not be an easy hearing for you either. but i know you too are here because you want to improve this process. we look forward to talking with you about ways we can meet both the department's obligations for the prosecution and the committee's obligations for oversight. we thank each and every one of y

now let me welcome senator grassley. your reputation transcends party lines. you said something in your statement, in your written statement that i totally agree with and i want to reiterate. speaking of the atf officers their testimonies would be unfair, unwise and unlawful. and i am here to say i've always taken that position. and i share that view with you and i will work with you to make sure that does not happen. and i'm sure it won't. it is not easy to testify in front of congress under normal circumstances, but it is even more difficult when you are testifying about allegations involving your own agency. nevertheless, i know you are here today because you want to improve this process. finally, let me welcome mr. weisch from the justice department. this will not be an easy hearing for you either. but i know you too are here because you want to improve this process. we look forward to talking with you about ways we can meet both the department's obligations for the prosecution and the committee's obligations for oversight. we thank each and every one of y

now, let me welcome senator grassley.on as a defender of good government transcends party lines. i've always been impressed by your determination, and i welcome you here today. you said something in your statement that in your written statement that i totally agree with, and i want to reiterate. you said any attempt to retaliate against them, speaking of the atf officers, of their testimony would be unfair, unwise, and unlawful. i've always taken that position, and i share that view with you, and i'll work with you to be sure that does not happen, and i'm sure it won't. let's welcome the atf agents here to provide testimony. it's not easy to testify in front of congress in normal circumstances, but more difficult testifying about allegations involving your own agency. that's tough. nevertheless, i know you are here today because you want to improve this process. timely, let me welcome mr. weich from the justice department. this will not be an easing hearing for you either, but i know you are here because you want to impro

grassley: i ask unanimous consent -- i ask unanimous consent on two points. one, to speak as if in morning business for seven or eight minutes. and number two, that my remarks that i'm going to give now be placed in the record at the debate of the nomination of judge simon. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: today the senate will consider the nomination of michael simon, nominated to be u.s. district judge, district of oregon. this nominee was reported out of the judiciary committee with four votes in opposition. i'm one of those who oppose the nominee and would like to detail my reasons for doing so. mr. simon received his b.a. suma cum laude from university of california los angeles in 1978 and j.d. cum laude from harvard law school in 1981. he began his legal career as trial attorney with the antitrust division justice department. in 1985, he spent six months as special tant u.s. -- special assistant u.s. attorney for eastern district virginia and argued one appeal before the fourth circuit. mr. simon joined a large law firm as an asso

i have as the chairman noted, i have been here all morning and listened to senator grassley as well as to the terry family and to the atf agents who testified, the common view of all the witnesses and the members of the committee is that it is vital that these prosecutions, most notably the prosecution of agent terry's alleged killers be successful. that we not do anything to harm those prosecutions. our effort to preserve confidentiality of certain law enforcement sensitive documents is in furtherance of that goal. >> and you wrote on monday that you heard during the hearing on monday that the committee is committed to not compromising the murder investigation or the broader gun trafficking investigation through its oversight activities, given what we found out about improper disclosures, and improper contact with witnesses and the way these hearings have been structured and conducted. i'm not sure i agree with your assessment. i think that the majority's actions have come very close to compromising investigations and prosecution if they already have not done so. do you still believe

we got a statement from republican chuck grassley. he said "it would be a shame if the justice department makes mr. nelson the only fall guy for this disastrous strategy. there's plenty of blame to go around at both the atf and justice department. a resignation by the acting director would be, by no means, the end of our inquiry". grassley also said he'd be interested in hearing what melson has to say to him after he is kicked out of justice as we all believe will happen. >> when president obama and eric holder were asked about the program, they both pointed to an investigation as being conducted by the inspector general of the justice department. do we have any idea when the findings of that are going to be released? >> reporter: we don't. there's a big complaint. the members of congress think they're being stone walled. we've gone over this. why does it take five, six months to find out who in your own department approved anything. you know, that should be a decision that you can come back with in five minutes. but the stonewalling

chairman, ranking member grassley. it's an honor to appear before the committee today. to assess the impact and corporate behavior under recent decisions come i looked at the outcome in the court court cases involving private plaintiff seeking damages from businesses. and this year, there is a tie. is this party/just as many times as they won in such cases this year, nine wins for business parties, nine wins for plainness suing businesses. and deep in the cases involving sensitive interpretation, business parties and every court. i know some of the business when the most important cases, but i wonder if their perception of the importance is that colored by their outcome. according the case had said claims under the federal antidiscrimination laws complaints must always be in writing, i think the reaction is quite justifiably an average of process requirement that would show retaliation claim and opened the door for companies to intimidate workers. whereas the court in this sad case has said as one is the actual decision-maker but discrimination. be great concern about t

grassley also said he'd be interested in hearing what melson has to say to him after he is kicked outwe all believe will happen. >> and when president obama and eric holder were asked about the program, they both pointed to an investigation that's being conducted by the inspector general of the justice department. do we have any idea when the findings of that are going to be released? >> we don't. the members of congress think they're being stone walled. we've gone over this, why does it take five, six months to find out who in your own department approved anything. that should be a decision that you can come back with in five minutes. but the stonewalling, according to congress, continues while atf, the department of justice try to fix this. >> all right, drew, appreciate the followup. we'll continue to follow it. >>> why the alleged mistress of casey anthony's father, george anthony is expected in court tomorrow. we'll tell you what she's expected to testify about. first randi kaye has a 360 bulletin. >> reporter: an unmanned u.s. navy helicopter went down while on a nay vo station

grassley: i assume that we're now on the cole nomination? the presiding officer: we are on the nominations. mr. grassley: madam president, earlier this year the senate expressed its opposition to proceeding to mr. cole's nomination when it failed to invoke cloture. i was a strong advocate against the senate invoking cloture on mr. cole's nomination because the justice department had failed to respond to a legitimate oversight request that both senator chambliss and i made relating to two separate topics. the justice department was withholding vital documents related to my inquiry of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms operation "fast and furious" and to an inquiry by senator chambliss in his capacity as vice-chairman of the select committee on intelligence. as ranking member of the judiciary committee, i have been and still seek documents, information, and access to witness interviews to determine who approved operation "fast and furious." this was an oppose reagan administration that you've -- this was an operation that you've hear

the republican ranking member senator chuck grassley. this hearing is just under 90 minutes. >> this morning, we're going to highlight several recent supreme court decisions. one, to examine the impact the lives of hard-working americans. in my view, each of these decisions give corporations additional power to act in their own self-interest and each limit the ability of americans as a day in court. in the tough economic times are facing around the country, it has a particular interest because american can immerse, employees will have a lot to protect them from fraud and discrimination. they rely on course to force those laws to protect them. these protections are rooted for most business family supreme court in the last 75 years. last week in wal-mart d. dukes, five men claimed 1.5 billion would spend nearly a taking justice or sex discrimination by the employer wal-mart. they did not share enough in common to support action. perhaps richer than they told the women that wal-mart could not have had a discriminatory policy against all of

it live from moscow i'm a researcher i apologies for just as untenable difficulties moments ago grassley talking to. the iranian envoy to the i.a.e.a. sorry about the technical difficulties difficulties got some thanks for joining us again i'm curious to ask you for years now that the u.s. has been employing various forms of covert intelligence operations to gather information on iran's nuclear program this one story operatives taking bricks out of buildings and then replacing them a quipped with radiation senses that we were aware of any such measures. not at all i can just refer you to divvy poor solve the i.a.e.a. which i have almost every day continuous inspection to be twenty four hours cameras working this kind of allegations have been raised during the last eight years i just want to recall you and ask your distinguished viewers to go to the event site and see these words of parching military side navvies our military side many allegations was raised by united states and i approved after an investigation taking samples and early to go process that all these allegations are baseles

to another example which is that of 77-year-old senator of iowa, chuck grassley.ou don't want to be is on gismoto, a powerful tech website. chuck grassley, he's older, trying to stay tech savvy and on the cutting edge but was deemed by gismoto as the worst twitter user in the united states of america. the reason for this, t.j., is he likes to use this kind of form of shorthand. it's very creative, but rather ineffective. things he tries to get out in 140 characters are fairly illogical and don't make a lot of sense. this speaks to the power of you better understand the technology before hopping on board. really putting yourself out there. but i've given you two negative examples. i want to end with a positive one. >> okay. >> just last week an independent jewelry designer accused retail national chain urban outfitters of ripping off her jewelry designs. and even though she didn't have a lot of followers, apparently these accusations have happened frequently with urban outfitters. instantly it started trending on twitter and a lot of people came to her side and urb

senator grassley has another bill to do that. we understand that at a time when our country is facing severe budget constraints. but the question, madam president, is not if we should do it -- we will. it is when and how. we all know that homegrown energy has played an important part in reducing our dependence on foreign oil and supported thousands of jobs in this country. we also know that as we continue to move our nation toward energy independence -- by the way, we actually are moving up in terms of are own energy independence, which is a goal that i believe every member strongly supports. and that is that homegrown energy will be a significant part of our solution. we need a glide path and not a cliff for the only alternative to oil. immediately ending all support for the biofuels industry as the amendments we're considering propose to do would stifle investment in not only the existing ethanol industry but also the newly developed cellulosic -- yes, that's part of this -- cellulosic, algae and the next generation of biofuels

senator grassley concluded he has every expectation that mr. confirmed will honorably live up to his duties, obligations and assurances. i agree with that. the committee process left no doubt that mr. verrilli has an extensive knowledge of the law and an understanding of the independence required to represent the interest of the government and the american people as the solicitor general of the united states. he is, after all, mr. president, just like the attorney general. the attorney general is not the attorney general of the president or the attorney general of the administration. he is the attorney general of the united states of america. this is the solicitor general of the united states of america. he represents every one of us. he's well qualified. he's well suited to serve in the role of what is often called, as our distinguished presiding officer knows, the tenth justice. the senate has a long-standing practice of giving deference to the president to make nominations for positions in the executive branch. subjecting consensus nominees

iowa senator chuck grassley, the ranking republican member of the senate judiciary committee, says that's unacceptable. he says it was a decision that most likely came from washington, and the highest levels of american law enforcement. >> we think it goes very high up in the justice department. but how high, i'm not sure. >> reporter: right now the justice department is trying to keep the investigation focused on arizona, sending cnn a copy of the letter to the senate saying "the operation was approved by the atf phoenix field office, and the united states attorney's office in arizona per normal practice." the atf has refused to comment, given the ongoing investigation. hockez says the secret program was doomed from the start because it required mexican law enforcement to be involved. what he says about that is simply stunning. >> there was no way that this operation could take place without their cooperation. >> but they weren't cooperating. >> they weren't cooperating, partly because they didn't know about it. they were never informed that this operation was taking place. >> reporter:

one of my favorite examples and that is an ongoing example, 77-year-old senator chuck grassley. older, trying to stay ahead of the curve but you don't want to end up on one of the most popular tech websites as the worst twitter user in the united states of america. let me tell you the reason for this is, he likes to cram short story novels into 140 characters. making it look like he has no idea what he is saying. it's incredibly confusing. so, understand the technology and understand what you are putting out there before you do it. rule number one, don. >> we're running out of time here. let's go to rule number two. we've only got probably 15 second. rule number two, fix mistakes quickly. >> yes. rule number two, if you make mistake, fix it quickly and recover quickly. we have to remember twitter is happening in real time. i'm going to fly this. >> rule -- >> red cross puts -- >> we have to go -- let's go to rule three. know the difference between professional and personal. >> i want to talk about rashard mendenhall, a member of the steals, his opinions and tweets on bin laden a

grassley: mr. president, tomorrow afternoon we're going to be voting on senator coburn's amendment dealing with ethanol. so i come to the senate floor at this time to express my strong opposition to that amendment. senator coburn's amendment would raise the tax on domestic energy production. it would do this by repealing an incentive for the use of homegrown renewable fuel called ethanol. with conflicts in the middle east and crude oil more -- priced at $100 a barrel or more, and domestic biofuels should be on the same side. let me make that clear once again. we have middle east problems. we have crude oil priced at over $100 a barrel. oil interests and biofuel interests, if both are domestically produced, should be on the same side of the energy issue. why would anyone prefer less domestic energy production? in other words, why would anyone prefer importing more oil over domestically produced energy, whether it's fossil fuel or whether it's renewable? we should all be on the same side of more dome

the controversial program, operation fast and furious, i have worked closely with senator chuck grassley to get to the bottom of the strategy by the federal bureau of alcohol, fact and firearms to allow heavy-duty arms to traffic into the hands of mexican drug cartels. atf field agents opposed this reckless program which has been responsible for the deaths of innocent civilians in mexico and even responsible for the death of a 40-year-old border patrol agent named brian terry. together with senator grassley, i have sent 16 letters to department of justice and atf requesting information on this program. after giving the administration enough time to respond to a formal request, it has become clear that the compulsory process was needed. on march 31st i authorized a subpoena for material documents needed to conduct thorough investigations into this matter. to date, the administration has provided only a handful of documents, all of which, i repeat, all of which were already publicly available on the internet. while withholding those that provide real answers. our committee was asked whethe

that's why i was pleased to sign onto senator grassley's bill when he abused it. i was also pleased to work with senator thune who has provided such excellent leadership in this area. and basically, what this plan does is it says let's take a thoughtful, measured approach. let's not jeopardize someone's situation and cause them to pay higher fuel prices at the pump because we did something in a rash and hasty sort of way. it also helps to pay off some of the deficit. we're literally saying okay, if we're going to make some changes, we'll make a contribution to deficit reduction. well, let me just wrap up my comments and say senator thune's approach is the right approach. it is an approach that says look, we're not going to take this industry which has become such an important part of our energy strategy and walk it off the cliff and just see how it hands. instead, what we're going to do is we're going to take a measured approach, we're going to build the infrastructure necessary, we're going to add some money to reduce the deficit, and we're not going to jeopardiz

grassley: mr. president, i come to the floor to introduce a piece of legislation that i have introduced many times in past congresses, make some progress on the goals that i seek but not getting 100% finality of the policies that i want. and i am always able to do this with a bipartisan piece of legislation. today i do it with senator johnson of south dakota. i'll let senator johnson speak for himself. i want to give the reasons that i'm introducing this bill in my remarks for today. i want people to know that on most farm policy -- and this deals with farm policy -- that the senator from south dakota, mr. johnson, and i agree on most everything on farm policy. and this is a piece of legislation that's probably going to come up not so much stand-alone as when we discuss the reauthorization of the farm bill, which generally could start this year and probably go into next year. but i want my colleagues to know that this is an effort that i'm not giving up on. it deals with the issue of how much one i

. >> no, for the record, i would like to mention that ranking member grassley, senator grassley had been requesting these documents and went in our possession a letter saying they wouldn't give it to him because he wasn't the chairman. he had been requesting them since january, or even before, but certainly formally since january but i want to be on the record that yes, we did, mr. cummings, we did only allow two weeks but we allow two weeks because they basically said we have the documents, we just won't get into you because you are not titled. chairman leahy would've had to request them so i figured well, transit, chairman leahy were somewhat similar and i had an expectation that we would get something. professor tiefer, i wanted to follow-up on something though. you talk in terms of the history of ag and their operations, just as. rolling discovery, isn't that the norm in most other discovery that this committee does where people say it's voluminous and they start giving you them as they get to them if you're working with the department of interior, most of the other areas to your kno

senator grassley and senator chambliss held up the solicitor general's nomination because it had been two years, and their request for documents from the department of justice had not been forthcoming. after they held up the solicitor general's nomination in the advise and consent, they got their documents. but i would suggest that having 1,200 opportunities to hold a presidential nominee hostage is enough for any senator to work his or her will in order to make a point, and that to go beyond that is to begin to trivialize the whole process. as i mentioned earlier, our legislation has two parts. in the first part, the part we're debating now, the bill, there are approximately 200 positions that now are subject to presidential confirmation that would not be subject to presidential confirmation. and these would be 85 full-time positions, including legislative affairs and public affairs positions, chief financial officers, information technology positions, and others. these are all important positions. but let's think of it this way. i was once a cabinet member, and it took me about thre

charge grassley said the atf lost hundreds of them and there's a congressional hearing on that subjecto come. >>> cnn analyst thinks a star was born at the new hampshire debate. michele bachmann making her entrance andy but as presidential candidate. how much do you know about this mother of five and foster mom of 23? new neutrogena® wet skin kids with helioplex. the first sunblock designed to be applied directly to wet skin. ordinary sunblock drips and whitens. neutrogena® wet skin kids instantly cuts through water. forms a broad spectrum protective barrier. with wet skin kids, your kids have full strength sun protection. try new wet skin sunblock for adults too. neutrogena® #1 dermatologist recommended suncare. yet an instant classic." with sports car styling and power, plus the refinement and space of a luxury sedan, the jaguar xf is a timeless blend of performance and craftsmanship. see how jaguar outperforms the competition at jaguarperforms.com or visit your local jaguar dealer. [♪...] >> male announcer: book now, save up to 65%. call 1-800-sandals. >>> well, you're going to hear

senator grassley has been tenacious about getting to the bottom of this. >> you have been working hard to get to the bottom of this as well. how forthcoming have they been with you? >> not at all until recently. they have really stonewalled this. they used the minority on the committee to try to obstruct it. what is beginning to happen somebody must have figured out this investigation can't end until at the highest level, including the president, they say this is not a may have been. this was a failed program from the planning on. this is a bad practice. and we have to have assurances this will never happen again. >> the doj and atf it if they close information at this point in time it could compromise other investigations specifically perhaps even the trial of the trafficker who is accused of buying guns which were found at the site of the killing of agent terry and cummings saying in a letter you should hold off on the hearings until criminal prosecution is complete. are you concerned at all that these hearings could, soin some way, compromise any of those dealings? >> that letter is

senator charles grassley says atf then lost track of thousands of them. >> jean meserve, thank you forpdate. >>> now the caribbean where president obama is making a rare presidential visit to puerto rico speaking about jobs and their status. he is the first president to make an official stop in 50 years. president ford was the last to visit puerto rico while in office, but he was there for an economic conference, not to meet with puerto rico's leaders. as you know, puerto ricans are u.s. citizens, but they can't vote in presidential elections. they also don't pay any federal income tax. but their citizens can serve in the u.s. military. that's a fact the president highlights during his first stop ther there. >> for decades puerto ricans like juan and ramon have put themselves in harm's way for a simple reason. they want to protect the country that they love. they're willingness to serve, they're willingness to sacrifice is as american as apple pie. yeah, he had to practice that one a little bit i think. we'll have more of that later in our show. >>> seven republican contenders battled

charles grassley will be talking about the debt ceiling negotiations and what they stalled over the last few weeks. more about the independence of bernie sanders and somebody from the juvenile diabetes foundation. and scott baker will discuss how bio-medicine can treat diabetes. "washington journal" is live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> after 4.5 years and two presidents, robert gates is set to retire this week. he will be replaced by outgoing cia director leon panetta. you can watch online gets c- span.org. you can look back and both men's careers. it is washington, your way. >> in addition to the president's news conference, the white house released their counterterrorism strategy. john brennan spoke at the school of international studies. we will show that to you at 10:00 p.m. eastern. >> the focus of our efforts since president obama, office is the network that poses the most direct and significant threat to the united states and that is al qaeda, its affiliates and adherents. we used those terms of deliberately. it is al qaeda that has murdered our citizens in the bombings of o

next we'll hear from charles grassley and senate minority leader mcconnell on the debt ceiling. >> when it comes to doing oversight, i think i have a reputation of doing just as vigorous oversight when we have republican presidents as much as when we have democrat presidents, and what i'm speaking to the senate about today has no partisanship in it because i could have said the same thing and did say about the same thing when there was a president bush or a president clinton or a president reagan. i speak today about watchdogging the watchdogs as i've done many times in the past. i first started watchdogging the pentagon back in the early 1980s when president reagan was ramping up defense spending. then, a group of defense reformers were examining the pricing of spare parts at the defense department, and we uncovered some real horror stories like $750 toy let seats and ashtrays going into aircraft. as these stories hit the street, offices of inspectors general, we call them oig's, office of inspector general, these were spouting up in every federal agency. as a result of a recently pass

. >> tomorrow, we will look at negotiations over the debt limit with senators charles grassley and bernie sanders. then a discussion about juvenile diabetes research with the foundation. and scott would occur of the organization. this begins live every day on c- span. >> every saturday in july, hear oral arguments on c-span radio and out 14th amendment cases on amendments and gender and race discrimination. this saturday single-sex admission policy in the 1980 case. tune into c-span radio and 90.1 a.m. in washington, d.c. nationwide and online at cspa nradio.org. >> president obama's homeland security adviser john brennan unveiled the administration's new counter-terrorism strategy today. it focuses on the ability to attack the u.s. and the role of pakistan in destructive terrorist networks. the john hopkins school of studies of this event. it is one hour and 15 minutes. >> i have never heard it so quiet. i think this is the sense of our anticipation and excitement about programs today. welcome. welcome. we are pleased and honored to host john brennan, the assistant to the president for h

president, beginning, i want to thank chairman leahy, ranking minority member grassley, majority leader senator reid and minority leader senator mcconnell for bringing this nomination to the floor today. senator merkley and i have been proud to put forward mr. simon's name for consideration by the president. we're enthused by his subsequent nomination, and we are now hopeful that he will soon be able to continue his service to the people of oregon in this new capacity. michael simon is both a distinguished lawyer and a legal scholar with a diverse and impressive legal career, and that career includes work as a public servant, as a litigator, a pro tempore judge and as a professor. michael simon now is a partner at the firm of parliamentary pen portland and he has worked there since 1986. after graduating suma cum laude from ucla, mr. simon attended harvard law school where he again graduated with honors cum laude. mr. simon began his legal career in the department of justice antitrust division where he served as trial attorney for five years. during his time working in washington, d.c.,

senator chuck grassley was sitting in the sea, republican from iowa. there are still 14 senators -- who are still in the senate today. hatch, inouye, lugar, mcconn ell, rockefeller, among the 14 senators who were there 25 years ago when the senate began televising its proceedings. by the way, there were two women in the senate at that time, and are now 17. colorado, democrat. caller: thank you for c-span. i've learned so much from watching c-span. thank you, mr. ritchie, what you are doing. you have one of all things on your show. -- wonderful things on your show. i wish that c-span could educate as a little bit more of about how the senate and house works, they do things that i do not understand, but i've learned so much, and thank you so much, because we need you very bad the. -- very badly. host: ned, what you think about congress on tv? caller: i enjoy it. it is so informative. i believe more people need to watch it. i don't think there is enough people in this country who know how things work. host: how often do you watch it? caller: i watch "wash

he will follow senator chuck grassley, the iowa republican and joining us spent 7:45 eastern time. we switched our focus to the mission in libya and a afghanistan. we will be right back. >> after 4.5 years and two president, secretary gates will retire this week. you'll be replaced by leon panetta. you can watch the defense secretary's retirement ceremony later this week on c-span. because well as c-span.org and online in the c-span video library. you can also look back at both men's careers. it's washington, your way. >> every saturday in july, historic supreme court arguments on c-span radio. 14th amendment cases on equal protection, including sexual orientation and gender and race discrimination. this saturday, single-sex admission policy in a 1982 case, mississippi university for women. c-span radio. and online at c-span.radio.org. >> corporations undermining the original intent of the internet by personalizing information to each user, says this all. and there's a heritage foundation party for ann coulter. and linda hogan writes about the native american experience and the res

senator chuck grassley was sitting in the sea, republican from iowa. there are still 14 senators -- who are still in the senate today. hatch, inouye, lugar, mcconn ell, rockefeller, among the 14 senators who were there 25 years ago when the senate began televising its proceedings. by the way, there were two women in the senate at that time, and are now 17. colorado, democrat. caller: thank you for c-span. i've learned so much from watching c-span. thank you, mr. ritchie, what you are doing. you have one of all things on your show. -- wonderful things on your show. i wish that c-span could educate as a little bit more of about how the senate and house works, they do things that i do not understand, but i've learned so much, and thank you so much, because we need you very bad the. -- very badly. host: ned, what you think about congress on tv? caller: i enjoy it. it is so informative. i believe more people need to watch it. i don't think there is enough people in this country who know w things wor host: how often do you watch it? caller: i watch "washingt

chuck grassley walked out on healthcare resolve. t tom coburn on the depth and debt saoef ceiling. mcconnell will probably walk out on the president. he republicans keep electing people that are -- i don't know -- stupid is the best word i can come up with. i hope they can get there to go ahead but just stop voting in these stupid people because they give you a bunch of red meat. host: from the "washington post" africa trip has been a time for the first lady to shine. there is a photograph of michelle obama with her mother and two daughters on a safari part of a trip that began in south africa. it points out that on the trip part official and diplomatic she displayed her version of soft diplomacy. she's made appearances at 20 events and stops at a few big tourist attractions. this photograph from reuters in the "washington post" with first lady michelle obama who is back in washington. don from south windsor, connecticut. caller: good morning. i'm an independent and i'm 79 on medicare. i have gone through a lot. number one, it has to be a combination of two things, both parties are

tomorrow's "washington journal," we'll look at negotiations over the debt limit with senators charles grassley and bernie sanders. also a discussion about juvenile diabetes research with richard insel of the juvenile diabetes research foundation and scott whitaker. "washington journal" begins live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> every saturday in july hear historic supreme court oral arguments on c-span radio, about 14th amendment cases on equal protection, including sexual orientation and gender and race discrimination. this saturday single sex admissions policy in the 1982 case, mississippi university for women vs. hogan. tune into c-span radio at 90.8 f.m. on washington, d.c. and online at c-spanradio.org. >> it used to be we didn't release transcripts of arguments. now we release them i think within a half hour. used to be the audio recordings of the court's arguments were released at the end of the term and now they're released at the end of every week. so we are moving in a particular direction. cameras present all sorts of challenges that these other areas don't. >> right n

i want to thank several members who have cosponsored the amendment: senators paul and heller and grassley. and i also want to thank very much senator collins, who's been a leader on this effort as freestanding legislation on the topic, which i support. we have and will consult on this issue until we properly get the job done. mr. president, i reserve the balance of my time. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine is recognized. ms. collins: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. collins: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be equally allocated to both sides. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. and i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. president? the presiding officer: the senato

senator chuck grassley was sitting in the sea, republican from iowa. its proceedings. by the way, there were two women in the senate at that time, and are now 17. colorado, democrat. caller: thank you for c-span. i've learned so much from watching c-span. thank you, mr. ritchie, what you are doing. you have one of all things on your show. -- wonderful things on your show. i wish that c-span could educate as a little bit more of about how the senate and house works, they do things that i do not understand, but i've learned so much, and thank you so much, because we need you very bad the. -- very badly. host: ned, what you think about congress on tv? caller: i enjoy it. it is so informative. i believe more people need to watch it. i don't think there is enough people in this country who know how things work. host: how often do you watch it? caller: i watch "washington journal" every day, booktv, you're the program, every weekend, all weekend long. i just wish we got the history section, c-span3, here. host: all right. you don't get c-span3 in washington,