senator grassley. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i always enjoy this hearing and from what you just said, let me emphasize there is no distance between you and me on this subject, and i hope that that broad-based political support will send a clear signal to everybody in the bureaucracy, not just these two people here, of the importance of the public's information being public. this hearing provides us an opportunity to focus on how the government handles freedom of information. as i've said before, it's been my experience that every administration, whether republican or democrat, has challenges in providing the degree of transparency desired by so many, a right of citizens to know and, more importantly, as i've said, public information -- ought to be public. unfortunately, this administration, as administrations before, continued to fail to provide the transparency, in this particular case maybe a higher standard set by the president himself, because of the statements he made of this being the most transparent administration in his

nor his part, senator grassley wants nasa to give back the millions that taxpayers subsidiz subsidized. but nasa says that will not be possible. steven stock, nbc bay area news. >>> an update to that story he broke more than a year ago. if you have a tip for our investigative unit, give us a call or send us an e-mail directly. >>> maybe you saw the bay bridge light show went dark earlier tonight. it was part of a celebration, though, to mark the first anniversary of those lights. giving you a live look at the bridge. a few hours ago when the light show first came back on, it was synchronized to a 20-minute musical sound track. they're hoping to raise $12 million in donations to secure permits to let the light show run until 2026. >> we enjoy watching it. rob mayeda joins us now with the weekend forecast. we're almost close to the wmd, right? >> just about there. we'll see a change to the warmer for most of the bay area starting tomorrow heading into the weekend. right now you can see the bay bridge lights quite nicely. tomorrow morning, patchy fog, 48 degrees in the north bay and right

>> yes, senator grassley, i hope i can answer all of those questions. foia online launched october october 12012, so it's been operating for about a year and a half. there are currently seven agencies that are partners in it. the national archives and records administration is one, and we would certainly be an example of one of the small agencies. we are quite small compared to some of the others department of commerce, customs and border protection has recently joined and the department of the navy joined just this february. so just barely more than a month ago. the goal is to have a shared service. it is to accommodate both small agencies and large agencies and we have not had we, the partnership, a foia online, have not discovered that there's been an issue doing that. in other words, by baseball agency or a large, the system seems to be working quite well. we've heard good feedback from requesters and we think it's going to be a good model for looking at either continuing to expand it what you hope will happen, or to the next version that comes alon

grassley: mr. president, in the last few weeks i've come to the floor many times to speak about how the senate has deteriorated from being the deliberative it's supposed to -- deliberative body it's supposed to be. considering the comity on this floor under the direction of senator harkin, my colleague from iowa and other people, it's probably not the most appropriate time to give a speech like this but we still have problems here in the united states senate and i want to address them. we need to restore the senate as a deliberative body. i'm very concerned that the senate is no longer living up to its reputation as the world's greatest deliberative body. i've outlined how the senate ought to function by yoat quoting at length the writers -- length the primary architect of the constitution, james madison. trying to understand what they fended, you can't do any better than james madison, the father of the constitution. the writings of madison along with hamilton and jay in the federalist papers comp

grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: like my republican leader, i come to the floor to share my concerns about mr. adegbile's nomination, and so i'll explain my voting "no" today. i want to begin by saying that i believe the nominee possesses high moral characteristic and personal integrity. i have met him, and i'm also aware that he has been working on the chairman's staff of the judiciary committee for the last few months. unfortunately, i've reached the conclusion that this nominee isn't the right pick to lead the civil rights division. first of all, it's no secret that i believe that the last individual to lead this office, the current secretary of labor, was very political and extremely committed to a host of political causes. of course, i don't expect president obama to nominate conservatives to his political appointments. but as we all know, these are very important jobs, very powerful jobs. the individual who holds them wields a tremendous amount of power on behalf of the department of justice. so i exp

because if democrats lose the majority, chuck grassley will be the next chair of the senate judiciaryee. >> grassley's office fired back, touting the senator's strong record on the judiciary committee. >>> more obamacare delays and more excuses. we'll talk about it with the panel when we come right back. here's a word you should keep in mind "unbiased". some brokerage firms are but way too many aren't. why? because selling thfunds makes them more money. which makes you wonder. isn't at a conflict? search "proprietary mutual funds". yikes!! then go to e*trade. we've got over 8,000 mutual funds and not one of them has our name on it. we're in the business of finding the right investments for u. e*trade. less for us, more for you. the fund's prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, chargesexpenses and other importt information and should be re and considered carefully befo investing. for a current prospectus visit www.etrade.com/mutualfunds. >>> last night brought us yet another delay of obamacare. another deadline made meaningless. you know, he hasn't put enough loopholes i

he did apologize to grassley in person.harry reid is being investigated for funneling campaign funds to his granddaughter. they are asking for more information about some 16,000 dollars that he spent last fall to buy a holiday gift for her staff members from his granddaughter's business. they prohibit them from spending campaign money. it poll shows 35 percent of those surveyed had a negative impression of harry reid compared to 75 percent feeling negatively about coch brothers. >> taking more fun out of the nfl. banning the goal post dunk after a touchdown starting with the 2014 season it will be a penalty. the move may be practical, though, because sometimes it can bend the goal post delaying the game. but players tweeting this they are not to happy about it. one frequent dunker the saints jimmy graham posting this i guess i will have to lead the envelope in penalties next year. >> one city putting the strangle held on ted nugent. whe why the singer is being paid thousands of dollars not to play at a concert. >> it turns

apparently this little loophole added two months later that it slipped past senator grassley. >> our folks at heritage discovered that and we have been promoting it. it just comes back to the same thing. what these big guys want to push on america it's not just with healthcare but education and all kinds of things coming out of washington now. we have got to recognize, greta, that's what i love about "falling in love with america again." we are a top notch nation. every time it tries a one size fits all solution. it divides our country and it doesn't work. you see the big guys again trying to take care of themselves. i keep trying to tell people all over the country when washington is in charge, the little guy gets hurt. >> we only have a minute left. i wanted to ask you questions about your book. one part a part about school choice. what was most intriguing is that you said that james carville agrees with you on school choice. >> so does juan williams. this is not a partisan issue. people all over the country are seeing that when you give parents more choices of schools, it improves

and finally, something i'm especially proud of because senator grassley was good enough to work with me for a number of years on it is this would significantly expand medicare transparency. this legislation would open up medicare's treasure-trove of payment data and patients would have the information they needed to make informed choices about their care, and researchers and professionals will have the data needed to develop evidence-based methods. so this afternoon, in addition to thanking colleagues that i have already mentioned, i want to thank senator grassley for all those years in working with me and senator harkin knows senator grassley has been a strong, strong advocate for transparency in health care and other vital services, and you see his good work in this bill. now, this bill is bipartisan, mr. president. it doesn't cut providers, increase cost sharing for the seniors, and i defer to my colleagues to decide if it's better to offset cost s.g.r. repeal by reducing future spending or unpaid for, but the bottom line is the same. we ought to act now, act now and put the flawe

charles grassley fired out a letter to the department of homeland security. his concern, terrorists. citing internal immigration memo, two eb-5 participants were, quote, involved in an illegal procurement network exports items to iran for use by secret iranian government agencies. homeland security offered no public response, but in a report released in december the department was highly critical of the eb-5 program's operation. but despite the risk it's only growing with 700,000 applications pending. immigration reform would have implications for millions of people who want to live and work in the united states. dennis hoffman said the benefits of that reform would far outstrip the costs. he said it could loosen restrictions on the workforce and be good for business and promote economic growth here in arizona and elsewhere in the country. dennis is a professor of economics at arizona state university. good to have you here. thank you so much. >> great to be here, and thank you for coming to phoenix. >> it is the epicenter of this discussion around immigratio

grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: several weeks ago, february 12 to be exact, as washington, d.c., at that time was braced for a snowstorm and the senate rushed to finish its business before the president's day recess, the senior senator from arkansas came to the floor to offer a unanimous consent request to confirm a district court judge for his state. before he made the request, i spoke with that senator, who to his credit was one of only three democrats to vote against the so-called nuclear option the month before in november. although i was sympathetic to his desire to see his home state judge confirmed, i objected to his request to bypass the procedure the majority adopted in november, including recorded cloture and confirmation votes. i did so based on principle. i did so because, after 52 democrats voted to strip we republicans in the minority from our rights, the very least we could do is to ask the majority to utilize the procedure that they voted to adopt. after all, the simple fact of the matter i

so senator grassley and i have proposed that there be a free and searchable database, one that would allow seniors to find and choose doctors and other health care professionals enrolled in the medicare program, adding the actual services that are performed and what price medicare pays for those services. and americans would finally be able to compare what medicare pays for particular services in different parts of the country. opening up the medicare claims database in this way would help us hold down health care costs but would also improve the quality of medicare services, be a tool in fighting fraud, and be useful in helping individuals with private health plans -- private plans, h.s.a.'s and employer-based insurance. because what's going to happen there, mr. president, is if you have an employer plan in hartford, connecticut, or an h.s.a. in connecticut, the first thing you're going to say is, this is what medicare, you know, pays for a particular service. why can't i, with my employer plan or my h.s.a., have the same price? and if i'm not getting it, that probably means i'm get

senator grassley is a republican senator from iowa. if any folks are out there for my luck will make sure you give a special pad on the back. he and i have been prosecuting the case for opening up the medicare database for many years so that we could get that information of services and providers which has largely been included. my view is when that information becomes public, that, in effect, will be a new base line for health care cost and services in our country because not only will it be a value in the medicare context, but my sense is anybody who has an employer plan, anybody who has an age as a plan, let's say you live in denver, for example, like the kind of information with respect to building in services and quality that this legislation is going to make more available and transparent. if you have an age as a plan or employer plan you will say, why can't i have that same rate and those kind of benefits that you have with medicare. i think this will be a big plus for the entire health care system, and it has been included let

if democrats lose the majority chuck grassley will be the next chair. >> not a smart move from a guys to win in iowa, the third most agricultural state. next is senator mitch mcconnell. on tuesday his campaign posted a video that was meant to show the university of kentucky's basketball team but mistakenly used a clip of duke's basketball team instead. only on screen for a second. take a look at the freeze frame there. discerning basketball fans immediately noticed the irony of the error that mcconnell snubbed the wildcats in favor of the hated blue devils. looks like mcconnell is losing home court advantage. >>> up next working to get hillary clinton elected president. he joins us next. you are watching "hardball," the place for politics. [ male announcer ] brace yourself for xfinity watchathon week, your all-access pass to full seasons of tv's hottest shows for free with xfinity on demand. it's the perfect week to work from home. so replace your doorbell with a hornet's nest. there's no time for disturbances. ♪ or take a 7-day lunch hour. romance! action! other shouty words. there'

make sure you get a special pat on the back to senator grassley. upis responsible for open the database. been includedly in the bill as well. view is when this information becomes public, that will be a new baseline for health care and services in our country. not only will it be of value in the medicare context but my sense is anybody who has an employer plan, anybody who has an hsa plan. let's say you live in denver. you look at the kind of information with respect to billing and services and quality that this legislation is going to make more transparent, if you have an employer plan you are going to say why can't i have that same rate in those kind of benefits you have to medicare? this will be a big plus for the entire health care system. been included in sgr as well. let me wrap up with a comment on the aca. we are going to be looking at it in the senate finance committee. my general approach to this is going to be much like my approach to when i voted for george w. bush tossed medicare program. democrats whoine voted in favor of that. whelps

if democrats lose the majority chuck grassley will be the next chair. >> not a smart move from a guy who wants to win in iowa, the third most agricultural state. next is senator mitch mcconnell. on tuesday his campaign posted a video that was meant to show the university of kentucky's basketball team but mistakenly used a clip of duke's basketball team instead. only on screen for a second. take a look at the freeze frame there. discerning basketball fans immediately noticed the irony of the error that mcconnell snubbed the wildcats in favor of the hated blue devils. looks like mcconnell is losing home court advantage. >>> up next working to get hillary clinton elected president. he joins us next. you are watching "hardball," the place for politics. when folks in the lower 48 think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well: jobs all over america. thousands of people here in alaska are working to safely produce more energy. but that's just the start. to produce more from existing wells, we need advan

iowa democratic congressman bruce braley's apology for referring to iowa republican senator chuck grassleyfarmer who never went to law school. "the des moines register" reports a defense was released of the candidate's agriculture credentials. he grew up in/with a in rural iowa and worked on iowa farms and detassling and bailing hay. both are misspelled. so much for street, or in this case, farm cred. >> ahead, should college athletes get paid? reaction to a landmark decision. >>> but, first, senator rand paul is riding his criticism of the nsa to the top of the gop presidential conversation. reaction from the nsa's director. co: i've always found you don't know you need a hotel room until you're sure you do. bartender: thanks, captain obvious. co: which is what makes using the hotels.com mobile app so useful. i can book a nearby hotel room from wherever i am. or, i could not book a hotel room and put my cellphone back into my pocket as if nothing happened. hotels.com. i don't need it right now. but with less ergy, moodiness, i had to do something. i saw mdoctor. a blood test showed it was

grassley: thank you, the senator from new york. the defense department has been promising congress and the american people for a long period of time that they're working on this problem of sexual assault, and we're still looking for results. and statistics get worse. so enough is enough, i think is what senator gillibrand is saying with her legislation. and so i'm proud to be a partner in this effort. it fits into an overall principle of government that i have that greater transparency brings accountability and i think this legislation is going to be -- make this whole problem much more transparent and with it, accountability and hopefully get the issue solved. i appreciate the fact that a large number of commonsense reforms were included in the national defense authorization. these changes were long overdue. however, we're past the point of tinkering. tinkering with the current system and hoping that that does the trick. we have had promises about tackling the problem of sexual assault within the current system for years and years

and congressman like steve lunch, chuck grassley for my look, they've been trying to get answers. the fbi just won't tell them. they don't have to. >> we look toward the reading in next book on the next major criminal figure. immediately following the authors of the autographing books of fabulous book. available in assigning area. last but not least if you're enjoying the festival please become a friend of the festival. your tax-deductible donation allows us to offer flexible programming free of charge to the public and literacy programs in the community. you may learn more at the mall or on line and our website. thank you very much. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> and now from the 2014 tucson festival books a panel on politics. >> something that is growing year after year. thank you all for being here. my name is andre attorney, presidents, formerly the chair of the democratic party. and we have a few democrats out there. [applause] did the -- we do well in this demographic. i would like to think this city of tucson which

actually, this thing passed by a voice vote in the judiciary committee, ranking member chuck grassley, friend of mine said aye so it does. >> what about the chamber of commerce and other business interests opposing you? >> we're going to try to beat them on this one. i -- we've been working with industry on this on people make these things. basically what i'm saying is that you really have a right of privacy. you have the right if someone wants to take your location, something that's very private where you go to school -- take your kids to school, if you go to a doctor, where your home is, if someone wants to take that information, and collect it and sell it maybe to a third party, all they -- they got to get your permission. this is good technology. if you're driving around and want to find the nearest pizza place, you need this technology. people want to use this. this technology is good technology. this is about the abuse of it. >> can i quickly ask you off subject about the nsa reforms that were announced officially today by the white house. in response to the uproar after edward

if you remember senator chuck grassley came up and find the student visa program where we are loading individuals that come over on student visas. you know, we have to have the ice agents and dhs to get a hold of this and control of this. what is really perplexing in the first two years when he had the house, he had the senate and he was in the white house, why didn't the president do something about illegal immigration again? >> he gave that speech at. au that didn't go any place. regard also of whether he had the house and the senate he did nothing. we now have a serious issue. the system is painfully broken. you can't release all these criminals back into the united states and not expect a problem. >> you can cannot expect him to do anything now because of the hot political issue. >> you know what in the republicans could help, too. this is a law enforcement problem. >> it is a huge law enforcement problem. when you have the special interest groups on the left like la raza and louie guts the congressman from chicago they are putting the pressure on him not to do anything. >> anyway

the ranking republican grassley focus on how he would deal with voter i.d. laws.he point of the division is to enforce the civil rights laws of the land but the senator's suspicion suggests they feared it might force them to fairly. republicans use culture wars to soak primal anger and frame debates in their favor when their focus is some larger goal. i suspect that may have happened here. they used guilt by association to make voting for adegbile politically toxicing keeping one of the nation's foremost experts on voting rights from becoming a doj voting rights defender. that's it for "the cycle" "now" starts now. >>> what happened to malaysian air flight 370? it's monday, march 10th, this is "now." there are new developments this afternoon in the mysterious disappearance of malaysia airlines flight mh370. nbc news confirmed two passengers who boarded the plane with tolden passports purchased their tickets from a resort in thailand through an iranian middleman known as mr. ali. sources tell nbc news that the two men described as vaguely d mediterranean looking be

iowa hit a rough patch when a video emerged showing him demeaning his state senior senator, chuck grassley. let's watch. >> if you help me win this race, you may have someone with your background, your experience, your voice, someone whose been literally fighting tort reform for 30 years in a visible and public way on the senate judiciary committee, or you might have a farmer from iowa who never went to law school, never practiced law serving as the next chair of the senate judiciary committee. >> well, braley, the democrat in the race apologized late today for that farmer comment saying both his parents grew up on iowa pharmacy during the great depression, and he is the best candidate for iowa's farmers. anyway, the video was posted online by a republican opposition research firm. "hardball" back after this. >>> and when women hold most lower wage jobs in america, congress needs to raise the minimum wage, because no woman who works full-time should ever have to raise her children in poverty. so call up your member of congress and let them know that it's time for $10.10. it's time to give

separate statement, republican senator charles grassley of iowa said -- a second hunger strike is broken out at an immigration detention center owned by the private prison corporation geo group. detainees at the joe corley detention center in texas have begun refusing meals in protest of their treatment there. he action comes as prisoners at the geo group run tacoma detention center in washington state are entering their third week on hunger strike. the obama administration ordered a review of deportation procedures last week amidst a wave of criticism of policies that have separated nearly 2 million people from their families. the auto giant general motors has announced a recall of in the 1.6 million cars unfolding fallout from defects linked to scores of deaths. over 3.1 million vehicles have now been recalled in the last two months over faulty ignition switches that shut down engines and air bags. in a rare of perhaps unprecedented admission, gm ceo mary berra acknowledged terrible things have happened as a result. >> these are serious developments that should not surprise anyone. aft

i think it is fair to say that there is no reason oppression legislation is is needed and as grassley asked that question two years ago it is irresponsible for the executive branch not to have proposed amendments of the exemption since that time. . .security agency. have a good tuesday. >> i will use my own experience right now. we have a continual outreach to the broader commercial industry sectors in an attempt to identify what technologies are available that we could use. there is an aggressive effort to do so. >> we have expressed many times our concerns about iran and the threat that they pose to us and as farr intelligence back as 2007 indicated they auld have a capability of weapon and delivery system by 2015. it was even more forcefully by oured in a report intelligence and 2010, referring -- reaffirming their suspicions. i have been concerned about that. we have a president that somehow think there is an opportunity to get them to joining the global community and reform their ways. an article suggested that the iranians were able to successfully infiltrate the navy commuter -

here is senator chuck grassley -- that is senator grassley on his own twitter page. andrew kramer, you are in tf. -- you are in kiev. in the the reaction streets? what is the mood about the new government in the streets of kiev? guest: there is still quite a bit of turmoil here. here, thee square center of the uprising against yanukovych. the so-called defenders of the be dressed in .uite crazy outfits they are now wearing military uniforms. there is a recruitment center for the new national guard in the square. air is a militarization -- and there is a militarization of this movement and of the country in general. it was a very short-lived celebration of victory to a test of how patriotic ukraine can be. host: is there any resolution after this vote yesterday as to what happens to ukrainian troops who are in crimea? mostlyroops have been surrounded at their bases in crimea. with: i was at a briefing the defense minister here, the ukrainian defense minister. they said they negotiated a truce until march 21 with the fleet commanders and russian ministry of defense. uk

they were looking for some republican support from grassley and olympia snowe and enzi.ublican ideas but no republican votes. all three of the democrats who are involved in that negotiation are now no longer in the senate. bingham, baucus. so it was written by three democrats and three republicans, of which four of the six are no longer in the u.s. senate. >> jordan? >> other than warren buffett is still smarter than everybody else, 8 million brackets, only took 25 games for the perfect bracket madness to be over. warren buffett showed us why he's warren buffett. >> i want to thank my guests. thank you to getting up. and thank you for joining us for "up." we'll be back tomorrow to see how the moral money movement is taking root and spreading across the south. i'm speak with reverend barber and raphael warnock. next on mhp, jonathan capehart is in for melissa harris perry. u.s. and russian relations, a return to cold war or big chill? the first african-american president of the harvard lampoon. [ male announcer ] research suggests cell health plays a key role throughout o

judges in the eastern district of pennsylvania, and i want to thank chairman leahy and ranking member grassley for their work in ushering these candidates through the committee process. i want to thank leader reid and leader mcconnell for their role in ensuring that these nominees would have a chance to have a vote on the senate floor. but most of all i want to thank my colleague, senator casey. senator casey and i have been working hard to fill a number of vacancies on the federal bench in pennsylvania since i got to the senate. he predates my arrival here, he's been at this longer than me, but since i've arrived we've had a terrific working relationship. we have had eight terrific men and women confirmed to the federal bench across pennsylvania. hopefully these two gentlemen will join them and we'll be up to ten. we have developed a rigorous process by which the many candidates who apply for these vacancies are thoroughly vetted and i'm really pleased that we've been able to make this ongoing process. pennsylvanians expect us to do this. they expect us to work together, across party lines, a

the reply in fact when it was proposed when they were debating this thing in the senate and chuck grassley was you know going around in circles the democrats propose doing that and the republicans said no you can't do that because then this thing won't be revenue neutral. i mean i think what you're seeing is the republican party still hasn't found a way to be a governing party yet they're still operating under this opposition opposition framework i mean obviously this is an election year so they have every reason to do so but when it comes to actually putting forward policies that are going to find a constructive solution to a huge issue that affects a lot of people which is health care they're still operating in their political talking points as opposed to having a big step plan that would make any real productive changes all and in fact they're operating in opposition to establishing program and this was after the failure to hear this was first proposed by richard nixon in seventy two or seventy three it was doing fine tuned by their a good foundation to put into place messages by bet ro

they included senators alexander, corner, grassley, hatch, johanns, roberts and thune. i hope that the senate will provide the same support to the philippines that it provided to haiti. madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the finance committee be discharged from further consideration of s. 1821, that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, that the hirono-heller amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, that the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, further, that upon passage, the bill be held at desk and that if the senate receives from the house a bill the text text of which is identical to s. 1821 as passed by the senate, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration of the bill, the bill be read three times and passed without any intervening action or debate. finally, the passage of the senate bill be vitiated and the bill be indefinitely postponed and all motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. sessions: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator

grassley: i appreciate the majority leader yielding. it's been a tradition in the united states senate, usually this time of the year, when various veterans' organizations come to washington, d.c., to testify for their membership before congress about the issues dealing with the veterans of all of our wars. for a person that's national chaplain to be guest chaplain. so this year, it's my privilege that that person for the american legion be from the state of iowa. you have heard dr. daniel a. mcclure give his prayer this morning. he was appointed to the post of national chaplain of the american legion august 29, 2013, during the closing of the 95th annual national convention in houston, texas. he is a veteran of over 40 years of military service in the u.s. army. he was ordained in 1979, and he lives in iowa now but he has pastored churches in other states and lives in yarmouth, iowa -- washington, iowa, but attends church in yarmouth, iowa. i will put a complete statement in the record, but i'm glad to have the privilege of an iowan se