and senator grassley counts the money. according to to the first-year report of the task force, the number of mortgage fraud prosecutions went up significantly in the first year of the task force. i know it's hard to quantify the precise impact of the task force, but generally speaking, how has the existence of the task force helped to increase the number of prosecutions? >> thank you. my background is also as a federal prosecutor. i am well aware that prosecutions occur at the end line level throughout the country. in the u.s. attorney's office is and field offices of the fbi and elsewhere. you are correct. the task force, as mr. jones mentioned, is designed to help them. to support them in the cases that they bring, as an overarching agency that we duplicate their efforts rather to help enable them through cooperation, information sharing, training, and coordination. the information sharing effort and the training efforts in a mortgage fraud arena are very important. i don't think that you should look to the increase in

i'll stop for now. >> thank you rematch, senator grassley.nator blumenthal. >> thank you, madam chairman. as some questions focused on gasoline prices in the commodities market that are related to feel and soon heating oil, which even though now it's pretty warm out i will be a pressing topic produced soon. as you know, the national averages close to $4 a gallon. to be specific, i think it's about $3.54 a gallon in connecticut and $3.92 a gallon, which is way higher than it has been. in my view, transducing lately in the markets cannot be explained solely by supply and demand in the creep down the most prices after some developments and actions by the administration and other law enforcement i think substantiate my view that speculation and possibly illegal manipulation of the market is to blame at least to some extent. and i welcome and applauded the decision to create the oil and gas price fraud working group within your task force. i applauded and commended the federal trade commission in initiating an investigation, wide ranging fraud and

grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider a nomination, which the clerk will now report. the clerk: nomination, the judiciary, j. paul oetken of new york to be united states district judge for the southern district of new york. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: today the senate will vote on the nomination of j. paul oetken to be united states district judge for southern district new york. today's vote marks the 28th judicial confirmation this year and i'm pleased that we're moving forward with filling another vacancy. when i became ranking member of the judiciary committee earlier this year, the court had 103 vacancies. i've worked with the chairman and other members of the committee to reduce vacancies by confirming consensus nominees. we have brought the vacancies down now to 89. based upon media stories and other exaggerated statements that i hea

senator grassley is all fired up.enator rand paul says if the default happens blame lies squarely on the president's shoulders. he will tell you why he thinks that, coming up. mine was earned over the south pacific in 1943. vietnam, 1967. i got mine in iraq, 2003. u.s.a.a. autonsurance is often handed down from generation to generation, because it offers a superior level of protection and because u.s.a.a.'s commitment to serve the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ben your lega. get an auto insurance quote. u.s.a.a. we know what it means to serve. ♪ let me make you smile ♪ let me do a few tricks ♪ some old and then some new tricks ♪ ♪ i'm very versatile ♪ so let me entertain you ♪ and we'll have a real good time ♪ [ male announcer ] with beats audio and flash, you can experience richer music and download movies straight to the new hp touchpad with webos. >> greta: blue smoke and gimmicks a few of choice words senator grassley has for harry reid's plan. what does he think about the tea party step

>> thank you very much, chairman feinstein, co-chairman grassley and senator udall. i'll be very brief because i know you have my written statement for the record. first of all, i do want to thank you for all the support that this caucus gives to our counter narcotics efforts in afghanistan and truly around the world. i do -- there is a long way that we have to go on a lot of the issues that you discussed. and you have framed the challenges that we confront very well. but i do want to explain just for a moment if i could some of the real important progress that we have made relatively recently, just picking up on some of the comments that tommy made right at the end. in the last couple of years, we have really fundamentally reorganized our counter narcotics efforts from a department of defense perspective along the four key elements of strategy. policy, our organizational structure, our resources and our leadership. and those are the pieces that you have to have in place in order to have a real effect. we have moved sharply from a policy that previously limited in th

>> thank you very much, chairman feinstein, co-chairman grassley and senator udall. i'll be very brief because i know you have my written statement for the record. first of all, i do want to thank you for all the support that this caucus gives to our counter narcotics efforts in afghanistan and truly around the world. i do -- there is a long way that we have to go on a lot of the issues that you discussed. and you have framed the challenges that we confront very well. but i do want to explain just for a moment if i could some of the real important progress that we have made relatively recently, just picking up on some of the comments that tommy made right at the end. in the last couple of years, we have really fundamentally reorganized our counter narcotics efforts from a department of defense perspective along the four key elements of strategy. policy, our organizational structure, our resources and our leadership. and those are the pieces that you have to have in place in order to have a real effect. we have moved sharply from a policy that previously limited in th

senator grassley. >> mr. chairman, thank you for respecting my lateness of arrival. the bill before us today is entitled the respect for marriage act. george would have marveled at the name. a bill to restore marriage would restore marriage as it's been nope between one man and one woman. that's the view of marriage that i support. this bill would undermind, not restore marriage by repealing the defense of marge act. the defense of marriage act was enacted in 1996 and just think of the vote by which is passed the united states senate, 85-14. we don't often get votes of 85-14 in the united states on controversial pieces of legislation. unlike a bill in which one member of a party supports a partisan bill of the other party, which sometimes passes for bipartisanship around here, this was trily a bipartisan bill as evidence by the 85-14 vote. president clinton signed it into law and president obama ran on election platform of support for traditional marriage until yesterday. he was then a supporter of doma as we

jenna: senator grassley, it's always nice to talk to you.about this so thank you so much for joining us here on "happening now." if our audience wants to hear more from the senate, go live to foxnews.com. the senate's going to be joining patti ann brown for more on this topic in just a few minutes, so if you have any questions, post it to the live chat again on foxnews.com. much more to come on that discussion. jon: the governor of new jersey, chris christie, sound ago lot like a presidential candidate during an appearance in the iowa. the rising star in the republican party still insists he has no plans to run for the 2012 nomination. but that is not stopping speculation about his political ambitions. steve brown is live in ankeny, iowa, for us right now. steve? >> reporter: hey there, jon. even though governor christie has, and i'm paraphrasing here, has answered roughly no, no, and didn't you hear me, i said, no, he still is the source of at least some speculation as to whether or not he might actually get into the race although it is get

iowa senator chuck grassley will join us with more on the investigation.up going on? we'll ask him just ahead. jon: we'll go to the web wall. harris is there with a look at today's must-see moment. harris? >> people are already voting. foxnews.com. go to the homepage and click on jon an jenna's beautiful picture there to take you happ egg now's home -- "happening now"'s homepage. choose what happened that left a elderly woman stuck in the ocean in northern california for 13 hours. the rescue you just have to see it. the next story that you might want to see the video is really amazing. armed police officials and forest rangers standing on the roof of a house to catch a leopard. why? and the third story? i don't know, hey criminal, in that getaway car watch out for that geyser. a whole lot the water. you make the decision so that the rest of us can see the story play out. if it is "happening now", you want to stay right here. >> as you were talking about with william la jeunesse a few minutes ago there is growing chorus of calls for the justice department t

there was an ap story that senator grassley referred to in the letter from 2009. it recounted of visit to a bolt in mexico city where there were 300,000 tons or some amazing number. these were all captured weapons. and certainly a percentage of them are going to come from central america or corruption between military officers selling their weapons and that kind of thing. the totality of weapons in mexico and the relevance of that figure to the discussion of u.s. funds going to mexico is really a key piece of this debate. it has not played out yet. one thing i would observe is that mexico is awash in weapons and has been so since pancho villa. before that even. one of my favorite movies is "treasure of the sierra madre, calls " filmed in 1948. it depicts an american down and out in mexico in 1926. there is a famous scene where the americans digging for gold are surrounded by bandits on all sides. what to the bandits want? the gold that the americans have dug out? no, they want guns. that is generations ago. the question of how many guns and where they are coming f

grassley: i ask that the calling of the quorumming suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. grassley: at least two times in the last couple months i've come to the floor to tell my colleagues about some work i'm doing on an investigation of waste, fraud, and abuse in the defense department and primarily to focus on the work of the inspector general's office in regard to how they do audits. soy come to the floor today -- so i come to the floor today to renew my call for better audit reports. as a senator dedicated to watchdogging the taxpayers' money, audits are a primary instrument in my toolbox. they're like a hammer and a wrench. they're the tools of the trade. but like other members of congress conducting oversight, i can't do audits. we don't have staff for that, so we must rely on inspectors general of the various departments to do the independent audits of the work of those departments. so today i speak about the defense department inspector general. the audit should be the inspector general's primary weapon for rooting out

grassley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i don't intend to use the one minute because i spoke yesterday on this nomination, but i urge my colleagues to support the nomination of paul a. engelmayer to be district judge. he's very well qualified, so i would encourage a yes vote. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. durbin: i yield back our time on this side. mr. grassley: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? seeing none, the vote on the question of the confirmation of paul engelmayer of new york to be united states district jrk the votes are 98 -- district judge, the votes are 98 aye, 0 nay, the nomination is confirmed. the question is now on the nomination of ramona manglona to the judge for the district court of the northern mariana islands. all those in favor please signify by saying aye. those opposed? the ayes ap

before we start, i will yield to my friend, senator grassley. >> thank you very much. everyone should agree that all americans, whether you are an individual or a business, must have confidence that when they appear before a judge they will receive a fair adjudication of their claims and defenses. everyone knows how strongly i believe in constitutional duties to conduct oversight of all other branches of the government, even including reviewing the federal judiciary. but that review must be fair and objective, so i am concerned given the less than objective title of this hearing. i know the title does not make up the testimony, but some might ask whether some conclusions have been reached before this hearing even started. what businesses it deserved a from congress is a fair hearing, protecting their rights, and a measure of predictability of the law. the united states was founded on the principle that all persons should receive equal justice under the law. americans believe the most fundamental requirements is that a legal system be staffed by justices who are fully c

. >> reporter: congressman darrell issa and senator grassley are not prepared to call at it coverup buty say the testimony released today from the acting a.t.f. director nelson shows the justice department is actively withholding information and prohibiting people from telling the truth. in a letter today to attorney general eric holder the lawmakers warn him to stop stonewalling saying, "it's not a fishing expedition." time for d.o.j. to get out of spin mode and in disclosure mode. nelson claims he wanted to meet with congress about fast and furious and that the d.o.j. said no. they were more interested in protecting the administration politically. "it was frustrating," nelson said. "it appears thoroughly to us the justice department is trying to figure out a way to push the information away from the it will call appointees at the department." this doesn't surprise a former judge and u.s. attorney who reviewed the fast and furious indictment. >> there is no way you can have an operation of this size and this magnitude and not have the highest levels of the government i think know about

chairman of the house oversight and government reform committee, darrell issa and also senator chuck grassley angry letter to the attorney general holder writing of melson's testimony: >> sean: that approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. late yesterday an assistant attorney general responded: >> sean: issa has suggested holder knew of the scandal earlier than he admitted to in sworn testimony. joining medical cal congressman, darrell issa. welcome back. >> thanks for having me and covering it. it is almost impossible to believe that everyone, including cbs news and many newspapers and fox had reported on fast and furious. yet eric holder still didn't know anything about it. >> sean: why, for the benefit of our audience this was an idea ill-conceiveed from the beginning. they were gonna follow the guns from the lower level people involved in the cartels, in the hope that this would bring them to the kingpins the leaders of these cartels. tell us about the operation and why you think it was ill-conceived? >> if you are going to follow the guns, you put tracing devices on

senator grassley, senator rand paul and candidates santorum and much more. >> sean: asked rand paul aboutack plan. it is a great idea. i love it. and he's now supporting it in the senate. >> greta: how do you like our new graphics? >> sean: you look great regardless, blue, red, white, perfect. thanks greta. let not your heart be troubled. our great, great american panel is next. i have copd. if you have it, you know how hard it can be to breathe and what that fes like copd includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. spiriva helps control my copd symptoms... ...by keepinmy airways open... ...a full 24 hours. plus, it reduces copd flare-ups. spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled copd maintence treatment that does both. and it's eroid-free. spiriva doesot replace fast-acting inlers for sudden symptoms. tell your doctor if you have kidney problems, glaucoma, trouble urinating, or an enlarged prostate. these may worsen with spiriva. discuss all medicines you take, even eye drops. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor right away if your breathing suddenly worsens,... ...your throat or tongue

. >> today chuck grassley, senator from iowa, actually admitted the president could use the 14th amendment of the constitution. should he do it, in your opinion? >> i don't think he should. i think congress should hold firm. i think the democrats should hold firm. we should defend social security, we should defend medicare. we shouldn't use a legalistic argument. do we believe the middle class is entitled, when they get to be 65, to access to health care that they can afford? do we believe that if you've worked hard all your life, you should have some help in your retirement when you've paid into social security? >> but you would not advise the president to use his constitutional powers in the 14th amendment to do this? >> i would advise congress to hold firm. i would advise the democrats to hold firm. >> great to have you with us tonight from vermont, peter welch. >>> the fact we're just a couple weeks away from america defaulting on its obligations for the first time ever rested squarely on the back of the republicans, i think. the democratic and republican senate no doubt would sign up

iowa republican senator chuck grassley says the justice department is obstructing the probe in to operationrious. that is the botched a.t.f. gun running scheme that deliberately put more than 2,000 guns in the hands of criminals to be trafficed across the mexican border. >> we're not getting everything that we know that exists. and we aren't getting answers to questions otherwise. there is stone walling on part of justice department on this. >> bret: we'll continue to follow that story. debt talks at the white house are back on. but is the gang of six plan already getting killed? we'll discuss that with the fox all-stars when we come back. [ male announcer ] there's more than one of these abandoned racetracks in america today. automotiveerformance is gone. and all we have left are fallen leaves and broken dreams. oh. wait a second. that is a dodge durango. looks like american performance is doing just fine. ♪ carry on. ♪ on our car insurance. great! at progressive, you can compartes side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is

you know, senator grassley and -- get to the bottom of this. and whether the attorney general approved it, ordered it, whatever words we're playing here, it should have been stopped immediately. when he did find out about it. and if he didn't know about it, why didn't he? >> laura: well, it seems like one or the other. either he has no handle on his own staff or the operations. this is a major operation. 1700 plus weapons crossing the border? i mean, we already have a huge gun and drug problem at the border. and now we become part of the problem. even if obviously that wasn't our goal. we become part of the problem. meanwhile, we have a dead border patrol agent inside of mexico and two of these guns were found at the scene. >> yeah. and i would like to point out that there is also another agent who should be -- zat zapata that who lost his life as well that may be tied and countless law enforcement. the same authority and the same oath that we do on their side of the border and they are just as important as our people carrying guns and badges o

lugar and grassley, real conservatives who don't believe in your approach. what do you do to them? >> they've staked out an opposition to any tax increase. >> not with you. >> not taken the pledge. she haven't signed the pledge. lugar says he hasn't because he wants to go to a retail sales tax and i hope some day we'll be able to explain you can move to a retail sales tax. it doesn't violate the pledge. >> we're in a really, a, looks to me, like a real conflict between you and me on this, because i think we need to deal with this debt ceiling issue. you say deal with the revenue issue, period, under any circumstance? >> deal with the spending issue. the government is spending too much money and needs to spend less. >> the president will reduce spending $3 trillion in exchange for $1 trillion revenue. 2 3-1, your party earned by winning an election. you don't deal, nothing gets done. that's the way politics works. >> raising taxes doesn't help. >> what it does, lower, the deficit and begins to show that american government can work without people like you basically dictating to poli

grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa is recognized. mr. grassley: mr. president, i'm very pleased to support the renomination of robert mueller to be director of the f.b.i. director mueller has served as director since days immediately preceding the terrorist attacks, september 11, 2010. in the wake of that tragedy he has overseen a top-to-bottom transformation of the f.b.i. from a domestic law enforcement agency to a national security agency and with a necessary global presence to combat terrorism. director mueller has led the charge to ensure that the f.b.i.'s transformation is successful. this includes upgrading workforce from an agent-driven agency to one that includes an ever-increasing number of intelligence analysts. i applaud the hard work that has been done, and i also applaud the leadership of director mueller. but more work remains. despite the recent successes, the f.b.i. also has its share of black marks and skeletons in the closet. i've been an outspok

grassley: mr. president, i wanted to extend on some remarks that i made on the senate on june the 6th, the report that i was reporting on on june the 6th evaluated audits produced by the department of defense office of inspector general in fiscal year 2010. i called that report a report card because that's exactly what it was. each of the 113 unclassified reports published in fiscal year 2010 was reviewed and evaluated and graded in five categories my report was produced by the department of defense office of inspector general in fiscal year 2010. after each report was graded individually, all the scores for each report in each category were added up and averaged to create a composite score for all 113 reports. although 15 top-quality audits were highlighted in the report, the overall score awarded to the 113 was basically d minus. that's low, i know. maybe the score should have been a little higher. clearly none reflected any of the reforms that inspector general haddell put in place in 2010 as al

the chairman eyesight and senator grassley wrote these words and they said there has been public speculation that gun control may have been a motivating factor behind proving of risky strategy used in the operation and fast and furious and in other words, by allowing the straw purchasers to continue to operate. and by encouraging the gun dealers to go through with what were obviously suspicious sales the atf should be able to justify the additional regulatory authority. the letter notes that the committee has seen no evidence to support the speculation that goes on to ask the department of justice to respond anyway. mr. newell comedy were the special agent in charge of who oversaw this operation and to do work to do the last year what was your reaction to the speculation when you were engaged in the operation just and furious i asked you for the record were you deliberately attempting and do you know others that were delivering or attempting to send guns to mexico to justify additional firearms regulations? >> in response to your question i don't recall saying that. estimate i didn't say tha

part of that, later on in that interview with bret baier, he goes on to say that he and senator grassleyhite house and holder for information. they're getting documents that are completely redacted black with no information in it. there's a couple going on and he's on it. i think this thing will blossom into something very, very big. >> not only is taxpayer money being spent on this, of course, but we're learning that 43 weapons were found in a phoenix bus. some of these weapons are still here on american soil. they didn't go to mexico with the plans to track them. >> they stocked a car apparently full of crystal meth and arrested five guys. there were 50 guns. 43 were from the fast and furious program and molly touched on that. where did the money come from? stimulus. apparently, $90 million went to help with the trouble down there. 10 million transferred to atf for project gun run. stimulus money. >> think about this for a second. if you're going to do it, even if you have the wonderful idea of giving drug lords guns, they gave them ak-47's. they gave them surface to air. >> this wasn'

senator grassley was kind enough to mention my name in his opening statement. i thank him. and mentioned the fact i voted for the defense of marriage act. that's true. and others did as well. i won't use that as an explanation or excuse. but i recall when a former congressman from illinois named abraham lincoln was challenged because he changed his position on an issue and his smanges was very simple. he said, i'd rather be right some of the time than wrong all the time. that is why i'm an original co-sponsor of respect for marriage act that senator feinstein has introduced. i believe this is imminently fair and gives to those who are in a loving relationship an opportunity to receive benefits which they deserve. mr. minnery, i read your testimony. i wasn't here when you presented it, but if we were truly interested in the welfare of children, and we are, it seems to me that denying basic financial resources to a loving couple who adopted a child is not the way to help that child. in fact, i think we can find in many instances families that struggle financially have a tough

how about that and senator grassley with shocking claims on the fast and furious scandal and you canin our town hall, america's asking, we certainly want to hear from you, go to foxnews.com/happening now to weigh in. bill: see you in 10 minutes, all right? >> sounds good. bill: in a moment, republicans talk about the debt crisis after a closed-door meeting. saying they will not write a blank check for america. >> but i do think it is time for congress to do its work and the first step in the pros, cess is make sure it is passed in the house and i ask all of my colleagues, democrats and republicans to look at a common-sense plan to avoid default and put america's fiscal house back in order. bill: where are we now, john boehner 20 minutes ago and nancy pelosi will talk soon and first, what do you think at home? does the debt ceiling matter to you? nonscientific poll, 4500 votes in 90 minutes. 80% say yes, and it sure does, weigh in now as we go to commercial break at foxnews.com/"america's newsroom."  are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 o

also have learned that nelson met secretly on july 4th with congressman darrell issa and darrell grassley and complained of a doj cover up. inlet tere last night to the attorney general he said atf leadership appears to have been effectively muslim eld while the doj sent over falls denials and buried its head in the sand. that approach distort erred the truth and obstructed our investigation. the story is getting bigger and the question remains how high up the ladder does it go. back to you. patti ann: thank you. we are going to go now to our poll, the question is should captain america be removed from the superhero's name for foreign movie audiences? jon the back story here the movie by paramount is called captain america first avenge skwrer. when paramount is releasing it overseas they are giving companies the option of calling it first avenge skwrer. three companies have taken that option, russia. the ukraine and south korea. greg: 95% are saying no, america has no reason to apologize, leave that title in there. 4% say yes it's all about making money. if the name change brings in more

nelson, with his personal attorney, went in and spoke to congressman darrell issa and senator charles grassley and basically revealed this. let's go to the full screen. he said that atf leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled by the department of justice, and while the doj sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand, that approach according to issa distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. issa has been attempting as you know to get reames of documents out of the department of justice which is claiming that -- and he subpoenaed those, and they're knoll giving them to him, so now you have the atf director confirming the suspicions of investigators, that doj is covering up a botched operation through the doj, which runs the alcohol, tobacco and firearms. alisyn: what about those other agency that is you just referred to, what was their involvement? >> reporter: well, that's the remarkable thing that we're learning over the past 24 hours. okay, so the dea has a wire tap, and in this wire tap, it's revealed that a guy is wanting to buy guns. let's go to the grap

grassley: now you hear the other side of the story. madam president, it's a privilege for me to come to the united states senate floor to speak on the issue of the resolution that's before us, which is a sense of the senate resolution, which means basically the senate is debating something that's not shooting with real bullets. in other words, it's -- it just expresses the senate. it doesn't change any laws. it really doesn't amount to much. as the president and congressional leaders continue to debate how best to reduce the deficit, it seems that my friends on the other side of the aisle and my president continue to demand a tax increase as part of any deal. for sure, any discussion of reducing the deficit should include a discussion of tax reform. tax reform is different than tax increases. and you heard the previous speaker speak about republican plans that deal with just reducing expenditures and that's right because we feel that the deficit problem in this country isn't because the american people are undertaxed. it's because cong

grassley: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa is recognized. mr.grassley: i come to the senate floor to tell my colleagues why i support the issue of cap and cut and balance. on august 2, our nation will be unable to borrow money to meet our current obligations. we've known for awhile that this was coming. our annual deficits have been near $1.5 trillion for the past two years, and it's going to be that large this year as well. with deficits of that size, no one should be surprised that we've hit the debt ceiling, which raises the question then: what has the president offered to confront this looming crisis? i ask that question because people expect a president to lead, and we have an executive budget and an executive budget law since i think the 1920's has put the president in lead on these issues. so i ask another question: what has the senate democratic majority done to address our deficit crisis, because it is the responsibility of a majority to present a budget to the congress of the united states, and we have not had a budget resolution for

but what i am concerned about is the fact those whistleblowers when, senator grassley, tbs didn't investigationthis travesty would still be going on today. that is my big objection. who did you tell? did mr. nelson know about this? >> about the investigation? >> yes. >> i briefed him -- >> when did he know about it? when you started it come on you can see their? >> i'm not sure when he was aware of the investigation. >> or did you make aware of this investigation? >> when the investigation first initiated and i believe in november we sent -- we sent a briefing of the first part of december. >> to whom? >> to my supervisor. >> mr. mcmahon, what did you do? >> when i was briefed on the investigation i passed up the chain. this was an investigation. we had pretty early on what the title "operation fast and furious" came on with a large amount of people who are buying guns in the short amount of time and having recovered in mexico. but we had was purchased in the u.s., recoveries in mexico. we didn't have what was in between and that's what the agents in phoenix are trying to prove. >> so you all t

grassley: today, the senate will vote on the nomination of paul engelmayer to be u.s. district judge southern district new york, and ramona manglona to be judge for the district court of the northern mariana islands. the seat to which mr. engelmayer is being considered has been deemed a judicial emergency. with this vote, we will have confirmed 29 article 3 judicial nominees, 18 having been for judicial emergencies. miss manglona's confirmation vote marks the second article 4 judicial confirmation this year, and i'm pleased that we're moving forward to bill these two vacancies. we continue to make good progress in processing president obama's judicial nominees. as of today, the senate has confirmed 60% of president obama's nominees since the beginning of his presidency, and this does not include the two supreme court justices nominated by president obama. as i'm sure my colleagues recall, those nominations consumed a considerable amount of time in the committee and on the senate floor as you would expect for people being nominated to the supreme court. during this cong

. >> yes, i don't think that senator grassley and congressman issa are asking the right questions yet and the question should be why did you do both of these programs? fast and furious and these changes to the tiahrt trade agreement at the same time? it's not a crime to not enforce the law but it is a crime to conspire to commit a crime. so i think they need to be asking why are these two things tied together in the same time frame because they definitely overlap. >> people listening right now will say, well, they tried to go after attorney general holder and trying to go after the justice department. why should the average american care about this? >> because it affects their privacy and it also affects their safety and somebody at the highest level of government was working on two different programs at the same time that had overlapping data that may affect the laws of our land. >> right. i got to tell you what adam schiff says on the other side of this, he's a democrat, he says "operation fast and furious exemplifies the need to do away with regulations that handicap congress' over

now, i thank senator grassley for his cooperation in working with me to make progress in the committeeations and regular order and we have made progress in the committee. but it goes for naught if we can't get them confirmed on the floor. our work in the committee has not been matched in the senate, where agreements to debate and vote on judicial nominations are too few and too far between. these are only the sixth and seventh nominations the senate has considered in the last two months, and this was with 27 that have been voted on in a bipartisan fashion waiting to be voting on, we only get number six and number seven in two months? there are 25 judicial nominations fully considered by the judicial -- the judiciary committee and sent to the senate. of them, 20 were unanimously reported, all republicans, all democrats, not a single negative vote. at the very least, we ought to take up those 20. the two nominations we consider today were reported in april. there are 13 reported by the committee way back in may or earlier, in fact, 11 of those were unanimous. when i urged the senate to t

the chairman eyesight and senator grassley wrote these words and they said there has been public speculationthat gun control may have been a motivating factor behind proving of risky strategy used in the operation and fast and furious and in other words, by allowing the straw purchasers to continue to operate. and by encouraging the gun dealers to go through with what were obviously suspicious sales the atf should be able to justify the additional regulatory authority. the letter notes that the committee has seen no evidence to support the speculation that goes on to ask the department of justice to respond anyway. mr. newell comedy were the special agent in charge of who oversaw this operation and to do work to do the last year what was your reaction to the speculation when you were engaged in the operation just and furious i asked you for the record were you deliberately attempting and do you know others that were delivering or attempting to send guns to mexico to justify additional firearms regulations? >> in response to your question i don't recall saying that. estimate i didn't say that

he had a meeting with senator grassl grassley. take a listen. >> can you tell the president this?ize children might need it. if the budget makes -- they cut about like 75% off, it's going to be really bad for maybe his daughters. >> you can see there max is making a personal appeal to the president and to the president's daughters. again, just 56 of these children's hospitals in the country. they are responsible for not only taking care of a lot of sick kids but also train training the nation's pediatricians. >> when you have less money you have less options of providing that care so you may not hire a physician, you may not offer the clinic, you may not have the program that is necessary for the chill. it's not something that is going to happen overnight, but, over time, the whole effort to support children's health care has weakened if you don't adequately fund it. >> reporter: both sides could have an impact in terms of what they are proposing. the white house plan could impact the number of pediatricians trained in the future and the republican deal, as far as we can tell, cou

president, i want to extend my appreciation to senators leahy and grassley for working together to get this matter done. he's done a wonderful job for ten years and the country feels they need him for two more years and he's agreed to take that and i appreciate that very much. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the foregoing actions as -- with respect to the bill are dplishe accomplish. the clerk will read the bill for the third time. the clerk: calendar number 76, s. 1103, a bill to extend the term of the incumbent director of the federal bureau of investigationinvestigation. the presiding officer: the question is on the passage of the bill, as amended. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, nay. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the bill, as amended, is passed. mr. kyl: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. i want to speak on behalf of the resolution before us, this so-called cut, cap and balance resolution, and explain briefly why it represents a better approach to resolving the financial c

but what i am concerned about is the fact those whistleblowers when, senator grassley, tbs didn't investigation travesty would still be going on today. that is my big objection. who did you tell? did mr. nelson know about this? >> about the investigation? >> yes. >> i briefed him -- >> when did he know about it? when you started it come on you can see their? >> i'm not sure when he was aware of the investigation. >> or did you make aware of this investigation? >> when the investigation first initiated and i believe in november we sent -- we sent a briefing of the first part of december. >> to whom? >> to my supervisor. >> mr. mcmahon, what did you do? >> when i was briefed on the investigation i passed up the chain. this was an investigation. we had pretty early on what the title "operation fast and furious" came on with a large amount of people who are buying guns in the short amount of time and having recovered in mexico. but we had was purchased in the u.s., recoveries in mexico. we didn't have what was in between and that's what the agents in phoenix are trying to prove. >> so you all thoug

as a matter of fact, senator grassley said at the time, "i really do not think it takes a rocket scientist to know this bill will cost jobs." that's what he said. created 24 million jobs. 23 million on the low side. and surpluses of $236 billion. so let me just conclude by saying this, this is a tough time in our history. we are at the precipice for the first time in my lifetime of hearing threats of defaulting on the full faith and credit of america. when we lift the debt ceiling, we do it in order to pay for the debts that were incurred. and sadly for us, after having a surplus under bill clinton, the poeufls george w. bush caused -- the policies of george w. bush caused us to go into deep, deep holes and the deficit and the debt. we were on the way to a great place. but i'll never forget it when george w. came out and he said, i think that these surpluses we're running belong to the american people. and what he really meant, the rich people, because that's who got the lion's share of that. so we can keep the tax rates low for the middle class. we can make sure the wealthy pay their fair

grassley: mr. president, i would ask to speak for 20 thnutes.