griffin, welcome and please proceed. >> chairman harkin, senator -- chairman harkin, senator alexander and members of the committee, i am honored to appear before you today as the nominee for the national labor relations board. when i started as an noi the staff lawyer in 1981, i did not hope that such an opportunity, the pinnacle of any labor lawyer's career would be possible for me. i'm humbled by the opportunity to serve and greatly appreciate the confidence of the president obama expressed by nominating me. i'm joined by my wife, clare, my daughter and my son. it is impossible for me to express the full extent of my appreciation for my family's love and support. i also want to credit my parents, richard griffin senior and jane. they set the example which i've tried to immolate, set the example in the life which i've tried to immolate throughout mind. that work ethic, they're both ate and working more than full-time, my father is a lawyer, my mother is a research scientist, is a standard i can only aspire to. they are active engagement in numerous civic and professional activities i

german harkin, ranking member alexander and other commanders thank you my wife seated behind me. there is no higher honor than being considered for the national relations board. the board deals with rights important to me where everyone. affecting better and how people can work and run successful businesses with a big impact on communities and state and local governments. -- my brother spent a summer working in a steel mill. i began work at age 14 as a cadt the library in pittsburgh. for many years i worked as a musician represented by local 6471 of the american federation of musicians. in my family i learned firsthand about keeping an open mind regarding a labor-management issues. at one time my mother was a member of the pittsburgh public-school board and my older sister, while living at home, was a pittsburgh public-school teacher that participated in a 57 day strike that kept 62,000 students from going to school. and the affected students and put it went under sister whose high school graduation was jeopardized by the dispute. the teachers picketed everyday. some teachers my

going based on seniority, senator harkin, i want to say, also, senator harkin, this is your last farm bill of many, and senator chambliss as well. looking at the incredible expertise on the committee, looking at the walls, there's four sitting senators on the committee whose pictures we get an opportunity to look at through their portraits every day, and, to me, it's a reminder of the depth of experience and commitment and certainly, senator harkin, you have, over the years, exemplified in areas of nutrition to conservation to the right kind of policies in so many areas, tremendous leadership. we'll miss you as well as our other colleagues that are leaving us, but we thank you for your leadership and look forward to working with you getting this across the finish line. >> well, madam chair, chank very much for the kind remarks. appreciate it very much. i love this committee ever since i got on it in 19 # 85, and my previous service on the house agriculture committee with senator roberts and you were not on the health committee, were you? >> [inaudible] >> that's right, and then you ca

i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. actually your image of iraq after the invasion. twenty day taxi trip through the country. the road full of danger. clear evidence from north to south. the route of iraqi tragedy. after the war waiting for peace. taxi. choose your language. fully recover though and if they still come up. choose the beauty of the consensus get to. choose the opinions that invigorating to . choose the stories that impact your life choose the access to your office. mission free accreditation free. for judges free. range of free. free. free. old free broadcast quality video for your media projects free media party dot com the. northwest russia. military airfield. fiza retired military pilots on march the eighth one thousand nine hundred groups was given orders to paint a sign in english on the entrance to the furthermost hangar to make the terrorists believe that the plane had landed as an airbase in finland. technicians managed to make the notice in time we expect the plane would be directed here never anything else would happen next to this hangar we

i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. actually your image of iraq after the invasion. twenty day taxi trip through the country. the road full of danger. clear evidence from north to south. the route of iraqi tragedy. after the war waiting for peace. taxi. but i will only react to situations as i have read the reports. for years and know i will leave them to the state department to comment on your play to save lives or k.l.a. cars i'm going to. say no more weasel words. when you made a direct question be prepared for a chase when your son should be ready for a. pretty upscale little town the freedom to cost. choose your language. choose to use the consensus get to. choose the opinions that invigorating to. choose the stories get in the lists choose the access to off to. sleep. mission free accreditation free. for charges free. free. free. free. free blog video for your media project free media party dot com the. northwest russia. military airfield. off is a retired military pilot on march the eighth one thousand nine hundred groups was given orders to paint a sign in en

hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. the giant corporations are the day. the world with. money its technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future covered. blogs are going to washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. the n.r.a. does its best to block gun control in congress but if we want to solve our nation's plague of gun violence also need to fix the growing gap between the rich and the poor more on that just evolved also there was a time when the supreme court took a stand for our most downtrodden so there's and now is looking out for the best interests of the corporate elite of this happened and what can we do to stop it and small businesses are struggling but if you're angry about the fate of america's entrepreneurs don't blame obama blame the reagan i'll tell you why in tonight's delete.

owen tom harkin to washington d.c. and here's what's coming up tonight on the big picture. republicans who abuse their filibuster powers in unprecedented ways during the obama years the president looks like he's getting ready for a fight will harry reid finally get it together and as meaningful filibuster reform more on that would like to happen tony in just a moment also earlier today right wing icon michele bachmann announced her. retirement from the house of representatives that one of its more colorful stars is called it quits is this the beginning of the end for the tea party we'll talk about that and more in tonight's alone liberal rumble and yesterday federal prosecutors announced that they were charging the web site liberty reserved.

i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. more news today in harlem says once again flared up. in these are the images the world has been feeling from the streets of canada. the giant corporations are today . yes he was just put out by the world. the report is that best indifferent to genetic engineering and at times openly hostile this hostility comes despite the report having been initiated by monsanto syngenta and the world bank for your study but out of. this started as a discussion with the world a. large producers about transgenders they produced a six other states that haven't had that oh. well it would only hurt you because there's really not that much of it ok discusses genetically modified organisms as publication of the document with its pointed criticism of genetically modified crops true near multinational biotech giants monsanto and syngenta withdrew their support for it first supporting the a t.d. and then abandoning it when biotechnology was not surely did monsanto and syngenta drew a rebuke from the industry friendly journal nature when we asked dr hansen for r

hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. a potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit stunning in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. but what we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston proper earlier today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more powdery down here the bottom line there's still a lot of snow out here and a good place for snowball fight in. d.c. it is been a pretty incredible day there and even record snowfall throughout what's been like nobody's allowed to be driving lessons from emergency vehicles are exceptions. the emission free accreditation free transport charges free. range humans free. free. time free. old free blank video for your media projects a free media. it's actually a cd that was just put out by the world. the report is that best indifferent to genetic engineering and at times openly hostile this hostility comes despite the report having been initiated by monsanto

hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't i'm tom harkin is a big picture. well few british scientists on some time to practice. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cons or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to cause a report on a potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit stunning in a few hours from new york to maine we have team coverage of the storm. but what we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston proper earlier today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more powdery down here the bottom line there's still a lot of snow out here a good place for snowball fight. jason it is kind of pretty incredible day there and even record snowfall throughout much of in life nobody's allowed to be driving lessons to them urgency or fear or exceptions. had ever come home or woken up in the middle of the night convinced that someone else had been there maybe a trinket slightly out of place a frame tilted or

harkin: mr. president, i'd ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. harkin: mr. president, i come to the floor today to express my deep disappointment that once again republican obstructionism and procedural tricks are preventing this body from carrying out its constitutional duty and responsibility. its obligation to consider important presidential nominations. this time, the target is mr. tom prez --, perez, the nominee to be secretary of labor. the help committee of which i chair was scheduled to vote on his nomination at 4:00 this afternoon. obviously, we're not doing that. an anonymous republican has invoked an obscure procedural rule to prevent our committee from meeting at that scheduled time. this pointless obstructionism is extremely disturbing. i would like to point out that we had previously been scheduled to vote on his nomination in my committee two weeks ago. but in an effort to bend over backwards and

see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcomes a big picture. welcome back to the kaiser report imax keyser time now to go to paris and speak with the argument of its author of blith masters the best selling book about j.p. morgan's head of commodities and the inventor of the credit default swap or as i call the credit fraud swap pierre welcome to back to the kaiser report. pierre your thoughts on the latest reports that federal energy regulatory commission is investigating blith masters for energy market manipulation in california and michigan. well i told that are quite simple she has been set up period if you if you have read the article of the new york times. you will see two fings first of all the mention of madoff so the name of bernie madoff is mixed up with the blight matters and the second reason is that she you know and there is this investigation for. let's say uniquely eighty five million dollars which is absolutely nothing you know nothing compared to billions of billions of dollars you know bankers told from

see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. wealthy british style. writers. market why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with my stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report. more news today violence is once again flared up the film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. china corporations are today. crew reported to ground control that the craft had been hijacked. close to the finish. for its passengers. and many had. been hijacked by family.

hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. hello and welcome to cross talk we're all things are considered i'm peter lobo is it turning into an overblown scandal or a reflection of a foreign policy poorly thought out and executed the terrorist attack on the american diplomatic outpost in benghazi last september has become a political football to attack the obama administration and hillary clinton it appears mistakes were made but is there a proper focus on the most egregious ones. to cross-talk the benghazi affair i'm joined by raymond tanter unwashed. and he is the president of the iran policy committee and author of the upcoming book arab rebels in iranian dissidents also in washington we have raymond mcgovern he is co-founder of veteran intelligence professionals for sanity and in atlanta we cross to jay bookman he's a columnist and blogger at the atlanta journal constitution all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want if i go to you first in washingt

see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcomes a big picture. cries are welcome to the kaiser reporting no some people are dictated to eating paper yes it's a thing. strange addictions like these usually start of childhood are often related to something missing in one's diet zinc iron gold but the thing about paper addiction is that you need more and more paper to keep you hi stacey max so what we've seen over the past few years since the financial crisis began these groups of paper addicts have been telling us everything's going to be oh ok as long as we just add more paper inject more paper into the system so i want to look at some of the excuses that paper addicts who by the way they think they look hot they're making so much sense and they're rico suave a but in fact to the rest of us we see a pimply faced him a seated slurring his words no teeth addict lying in the gutter so why gold bulls shouldn't get excited by the massive purchases of physical golden age because while the gold soft has prompted some buying from c

hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture. here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a dollar. i'm sorry i'm just a guy who cares an awful lot of money you sir are a fool you know what kind of my self but i don't want to give us a defeat terrorism be a liberal and a christian point you. can see your bill is going to. you know the corporate media distracts us from what you and i should care about because their profit driven industry that sells of sensationalistic garbage because of breaking news i'm having martin and we're going to break that. download the official publication yourself choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorites from alzheimer's if you're away from your telly. racial justice and now with your mobile device you can watch or see any time anyway. i am max keiser welcome to the kaiser report scientists used to believe that the earth was the center of the universe today economists who call themselves scientists claim that the e

puncher button. >> chairman harkin come you've indicated the conflict the d.c.a sound decision with respect to the issue of intercession versus intercession appointments in the arising during the recess questions. so there is a conflict under our system. the supreme court decides the conflict and assess the supreme court to resolve the matter. i was appointed and asked to serve. it took an oath to serve and under the circumstances since the supreme court did not render a final decision the constitutional question and for all the reasons the chairman indicated in terms of the important work we do, i felt it was important to continue to do the important work of the board i took an oath to do. >> ms. block, do you have anything to add why he would continue to serve rather than resign? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate the opportunity to address them and i agree with everything my colleagues have said. the public that we serve en masse to give them a fair hearing embry resolution. thinking how i could best uphold my oath that i took to do that and protect the

let's move to tom harkin. senator tom harkin.and yes or no, do you agree with senator harkin that this administration should not be reading prevention fund, rating the prevention fund for the funding exchange expenditures? >> congressman, i really am not going to express a view on that. it's not a decision i made -- >> you can't answer is yes or no question if you agree on a comment a democratic senator made? >> i can't. >> or you don't want to? >> i don't have a view. >> i really don't know what to say. i guess i will wait for rob sterling to come through the door. >> that would be the second coming. i think he passed away. >> i could see it happening. senator tom harkin blasted the hhs secretary. after we started this hearing, they blasted him for using prevention fund money to pay for insurance navigators saying the obama administration is treating preventive care as a refund. i'm sorry to say this administration just doesn't get it and this is a democrat, this is not the republican drumbeat. as a 5 billion-dollar weighed on t

a lot of great people like tom harkin and people to the right or left or the middle they get their voice out there and they tell people a story of what's going on in their government. the journalistic side of this is critical. so i'm happy. i'm not a person that is unhappy and angry and i want to give everybody. but there's some things i have to tell. i couldn't leave it out. it's going to cost some hurt i understand it. as my grandmother always said, this too shall pass. she just didn't come it would take this damn long. i want to thank everyone for coming. [applause] >> you are watching c-span2 with politics and public affairs weekdays featuring live coverage of the u.s. senate. on weeknights watch key public policy events. defense. every weekend the latest nonfiction authors and books on booktv. you can see past programs and get our schedules out of website and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. >> from politics and prose in washington, d.c., marie arana is next on booktv. the former editor of chief of the "washington post" book world recalls the life of simon bol

i'm tom harkin welcome to the big picture.

cuts to social security, medicare, or medicaid benefits and we're rallying around people like tom harkink begich who are not only saying these are off the table, they want to expand social security benefits. it's in the interest of the democratic party not just to help millions of people right now but to make sure their base turns out and they don't commit political suicide. >> would you work against candidates who align themselves with chain cpi? >> yes, we will recruit primary candidates to support candidates who won't cut social security nets. we can't have people calling themselves democrats while cutting social security benefits for our grandparents. >> you have your state on the eye of montana. max baucus is no friend to liberals. why does max skwiehu witchweits get thrown around? >> if he was kwd running for senate, he could be a game changer. he's kind of a prairie populist, a farmer who ran for governor, not elected, just got his second term, and his principle is standing up for the little guy who has big corporate interests. so we're working with thousands of people across the

when it comes to the senate, with several peer dan coats from indiana, tom harkin, john mccain jack reed, john kerry, chuck hagel, karen and former members of congress who served in vietnam. when you go to the house of representatives, the list is longer, considerably. sanford bishop, punitive phase zero, and others. we will show you that -- peter defazio, and others. we will show you that list could as we should be that list -- as we know through that list, we will bring bill in florida. good morning. i would like to thank all the veterans past and present who have contributed to our freedom today. every man who loves peace, his country i loves and liberty, he cherishes in his heart the union of america and being able to tell you the means of preserved -- being able to value the means of preserving it. thank you. anthony from -- sorry, charles from california. veteran. looking at just your program, and so many of my coworkers made various comments. i'm a little emotional right now. --ent in the marine corps kind of comical to let you know this -- i went into marine corps in 1963. my my

and as she suggested, again, to harkin back to the profiler, because this is what they do. they examine the minds of terribly disturbed serial killers, serial rapists. and in this case, someone who kidnapped at least three women and held them hostage for a decade a piece. the suggestion she made was that in 2004, he was considering ending it all. well why then, for god's sake, did he not at least set these women free? instead, the horror continued as is now alleged, we saw from the press conference, officially alleged by police and prosecutors for a number of years thereafter. instead of a suicide or at least setting these women free, the horror continued. >> right. now, mr. castro's two brothers appeared in court with him this morning. but they weren't charged and they were only being processed for previous minor convictions. i believe one concerned drugs. investigators seem confident that they had nothing whatsoever to do with these kidnappings. now, does that surprise you given that ariel castro, if prosecutors are right, is deemed to have controlled these three young wo

and president obama harkined back to that today when he got asked at this press conference today about the fact that his justice department, on its own volition without going to a court monitored the phone records for two months from the associated press d.c., new york, washington, hartford, bureau and personal cell phones of ap reporters and editors. so anyone who was holding the government accountable. if any reporter called you as a source from any of those places over that two-month period the government has your number and knows you have been talking to the press anonymously. the ap may have told you they can protect your anonymity and get your story out without getting you known by the go. turns out they can't make that press. the government stepped in without asking a judge and took the knife to the ability of the the associated press to do its work now and in the future, indefinite limit they took a knife to the ap's ability to do journalism. any ap reporters who work in those bureaus can write down any official story of what any official tells them is the approved truth to kno

we want to chile what human life violations have occurred and you know that under the harkin amendmentu.s. is obligated to refuse loans to countries that exhibit a pattern of gross violations of human rights come and we're just calling to inform you. we call all the congress. eventually affected. we are able to put pressure on those dictatorships. why can't we do that on israel to sidestep the are you siding with the jews, are you siding with the palestinians? this is a state that is involved in massive gross violations of human rights, and it's illegal for us to continue under u.s. law, not only as a but even loans. and maybe that's a more effective way of approaching it? >> i, professor. spent i can't see. where are you? sorry. >> i'm a research consultant for the middle eastern institute in singaporsingapor e. i wanted to ask him in your research if you find any voices of dissent or internal debate in the higher levels of the u.s. government against the policy, especially considering it, as you say, a disservice to our long-term interest? >> good question. where's the last one? >> j

we have a committee chair, senator harkin, who said this is his number one priority to pass this outalth, education, and labor. my sense so far is that the path is pretty clear and we have a chance to get this done and to do so in a bipartisan way that sends a strong message to the house of representatives. >> talking about the house of representative, there's a companion bill that was introduced, right, in the gop-controlled house. not likely to be a priority there. how do you put these two sides together? >> well, right now i think the house is going to sit back and see what happens in the senate. the leadership in the senate is much more committed to passage of this bill. but i think when it passes, the attention will shift to the house. and there will be a campaign for the leadership to bring up the bill. if that doesn't occur, there will be a petition drive to attempt to have the number of house members necessary. >> what numbers do you need on your side? >> well, on our side we're going to need 60 votes. 17 years ago, we only needed 51. but the senate has changed. people do not

boxer: i ask unanimous consent the harkin amendment which is at the desk be agreed, to the bill as amended be read through times and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. othe presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 149, which was submitted earlier in the day. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 149, designating the week of may 1 19-may 25, 2013, as national public works week. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. on tuesday, may 21, 2013. that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings

the first show we did was tom harkin. of course i knew thom hartmann was.today in washington you to the left or to the right. she's classified in the air. he knows journalism and he's an accomplished author and other fields have been interested to see the bucs. i was little nervous to meet at the show and really went well and i continued to do the whole radio gig. i did my own show for it but okay. bob new government howard monroe. majesty deign to do but didn't like doing "the daily show." so i continue to do talk radio, which i did to this day adventure to india for a little bit. what do you do when you went to recharge batteries? to go to india. his chapter in this book i was delighted to read, credible and he had and when i go over there i stayed about five or seven minutes walk from the dolly lama's residence. it's a mixture of the indians in tibet and so did there come a fascinating place that provided me the opportunity to write this book because i was able to go with a couple months and focus on things and come back. and between watching my granddau

for a vote now, but i'm hopeful senator cowan and gillibrand and harkin and leahy sent mine can reach broad, broad consensus in this committee and on the floor. >> senator chambliss. >> thank you, madam chair. let me say i am in sympathy with senator brown here and others has spoken in favor, but i also empathize with the chair in trying to find the money we have been dictated to find. the food banks in my state are busier than ever and the guy who runs the atlanta code pink is a hero to me in the job they do there is just amazing. let me just say i don't know how we deal with this, but i look forward to working with you is to get back to the floor if there's anyway to figure this out, i agree. whatever we can do we have to give a good shot. >> i appreciate your comments because i do think this is a critical area. senator brown on our colleagues, and very supportive of what you are proposing to do and i'm very optimistic that we can address this. because it needs to be addressed. thank you very much. are there other amendments in title iv? >> s., like to offer gillibrand amendment two

well tom harkin has a version in the senate version in the house we don't have a lot of co-sponsors they can help us by contacting their member of congress on the chained c.p.i. you know it isn't law yet you know so we're not introducing a bill to say can't become law that's silly you know we've had circulated letters for people to sign into the white house so we i would urge people to bombard the white house website and just like you know what is this want no chain c.p.i. you know please don't be the first democratic president ever to try one hundred fifty yours vision right to try to cut social security it's treasure congress. it's friday ready to rumble joining me for tonight's big picture rubble are you newson a member of the new subjects of the number of the national advisory council of the project twenty one black leadership network and member of the move on dot org karl frisch democratic strategist and partner at bullfights strategies and adam bitly director of online media at william j. mccarthy and associates what a new gig that's brand new. thank you all for joining they say ob

my granddaughter today i get to go to india and i can do radio with a lot of great people like tom harkin to the right or the left on the middle it is important that it is critical and i am happy. not that i am not happy or want to get everybody but i could not leave it out to. as my grandmother said this too shall pass but she did not say it would take this long. thank you for coming.ble flings [applause]odies. >> there is no word the process food industry hates n more than the word addiction and they do try to to use itore sparingly because they i becae theyvincingly argue there are some differences between food cravings and as bet narcotics cravings and some thresholds, however, when they talk about the lower of ty foods the language can be so revealing they used wordso like snapple, credible. snapple snackable, moorishness. and i was rathe one >> representative walden what is on your summer reading list? >> i just finished victory lap -- victory lab and it talks about the campaign's but i am hoping this summer to get to the biography on jefferson which i have on my kyle and i have a n

harkin: mr.resident, i was deeply disturbed several weeks ago to learn of the white house'whitehouse's plan to stri2 billion -- billion dollar -- in critical funding from the prevention and public health fund and to redirect that money to educating the public about the new health insurance marketplaces and other aspects of implementing the affordable care act. mr. president, no one is more interested in ensuring the successful implementation of the health insurance exchanges than i am. i chair that committee, and i was working again with both senator kennedy and with senator dodd in formulating these aspects of the affordable care act. but it is ill-advised and shortsighted to raid the prevention fund, which is making absolutely critical investments in preventing disease, saving lives, and keeping women and their families healthy. mr. president, i just made a slight error -- that's not billion. $332 million. $332 million that they took from the prevention fund. last year it was $5 billion. and i'

i had the opportunity to work with senator harkin.ure and the thing i would say that most impressed me, there was no difference whatsoever in the level of partisanship. whether i was working with tom harkin or sax by chambliss. we worked on policy issues. we had our agreements and disagreements on policy issue. there was never an issue about partnership. i sure appreciate that back in the day when i was a secretary. let me also start today and say thank you to the chair and the ranking member. i want to tell you i appreciate all of the work you have done. i also thank the staff i'm guessing all of our staff are working on a few hours of sleep, and it's because of their hard work we can if be here today and start marking up farm bill. i certainly know that creating a farm bill is never easy. there's a lot of different philosophy about farm policy. and of course, we come from different parts of the country and different crops. as many of you know, i have concerns with the farm bill. first, let me start kind of at the macro level and tal

congressman steve king announced in a tweet that he will not be running for democratic senator tom harkin's seat. king tweeting, i will not run for senate in 2014 a senate race takes me out of urgent battles in congress that can't wait until 2015. thank many thanks to all w that, he is out. >>> south carolina is a political hotspot this weekend, two potential 2016 candidates spent their friday evening there. there is, of course, that big race coming up in a few days. vice president joe biden addressed the south carolina democratic party in columbia last night in texas under ted cruise spoke at a republican dinner about two miles away. voters will go to the polls tuesday to vote on south carolina's open house seat in the first district. that's the battle, of course, between former governor mark sanford and elizabeth colbert bush. ed o'keefe, congressional reporter at the "washington post," elizabeth very back at the hill and christina bell antonio, the pbs news hour. good to see you all on a saturday. >> good to see you, craig. >> you wrote an op ed, wrote a piece in the post about texas sen

well, the first show that we did was tom harkin. of course, knew who he was. i have a lot of respect for him. that link today in washington, to laughter to the right. and it does not matter how, declassified. he is fair. he knows journalism. he is an accomplished person. add interest to see some of his books. so i was a little nervous as we did the show. and it really went well. i continued to do the whole radio gig. it my own show for a little bit. out of west virginia. and i was -- it was an interesting thing to do, but after while i did not like doing the daily show. i continue to the talk radio, which i do to this day, and i ventured over to india a little bit. what do you do when you want to recharge your batteries? you go to india. at chapter in this book which i was really delighted to right. when i go there i stayed about five or seven minutes walk from the deli lamas residents. a mixture of the indians and the tibetans over there, fascinating place. provide me your virginity to write this book. i was able to go over there for couple of months and then

we know there has been a debate, senator harkin was quite concerned about the money out of the prevention fund to certain activities to essentially find the resources necessary. the estimates for what was required by treasury, by hhs and other agencies was quite substantial and there is no question it had an impact on their ability and potentially going forward the ability of treasury for example to participate in the required information sharing could well have an impact. >> anybody else? >> not as much in maryland because of the way the law was written for state based exchange and away the funding goes. >> we will see this in the federal one. >> i don't think we know the exact numbers. we do know there was money in the original legislation and we know it was a petition to take care of all of the costs associated with implementation, more money is needed and it seems a peculiar strategy of governance to make legislation fail by appropriating so little money it can't be properly administrated. seems like a light approach to politics that is deplorable. >> it is one of the things i thought

as of this morning, my cosponsor included senator kirk, senator mikulski, senator murkowski, harkin, sanders, levin, menendez, stabenow, heinrich, boxer, gillibrand, durbin, murphy, baldwin, landrieu, brown and begich. when congress passed the e.r.a. in 1972, it provided that the measure had to be ratified by three-fourths of the states, 38 states, within seven years. this deadline was later extended to ten years by a joint resolution enacted by congress. but ultimately only 35 of the 38 states required ratified the e.r.a. when the deadline expired in 1982. congress has the authority to give the states another chance and should do so. in 1992, i want to point out to my colleagues that the 27th amendment to the constitution prohibiting immediate congressional pay raise was ratified after 203 years. so this additional delay is certainly keeping with our prior precedent. article 5 of the constitution contains no time limit for the ratification of constitutional changes. and the e.r.a. time limit was contained in a joint resolution, not the actual text of the amendment. the 14th amendmen

senator harkin is chairing the health committee in his last term in the congress, has made this a priorityon the house side. chairman john kline have spent an extraordinary amount come in my opinion, very constructive time trying to get his hands around the. recently i was in a ways and means working group session not participating in a ways and means member this time but in relation to my work with ncc mp, and pat, congress than from ohio chairing the working group spent two hours really into the weeds of multi-employer plans. i mentioned how i think this is an all time record. but it does reflect, congress know something needs to be done. i think they have a better sense as baby boomers are expressing their anxiety about how these 401(k)s fall a little short of what they hope. they're looking for ways that you could come up with something and that preserves this guaranteed cash flow future. so i'm singing interest in congress. we've got just the product because this is a consensus product. it's not a union product, it's not an employer product. this is and i will be lose profit. this is

in these races, fitz the party leadership enticing them in -- in iowa there's this race where tom harkinders entice them, they can't run because we're in the era where chris o'donnell wins, when sharron angle wins in nevada. we have a chart that puts the partisan polarization into effect. this breaks down the democratic and republican members according to did their party's presidential candidate carry the district they were elected in. you see 217 republican members of the house, one short of majority, 217 come from districts that mitt romney carried. so that just screams to me, there's your problem right there, because if president obama is pursuing any kind of a deal with republicans, in 217 of the 218 districts that make up a majority, that's not the majority position of the voters. >> there's no reason for those congress people to support president obama's agenda, and they don't. i can't really blame them. i keep on coming to the fact that maybe what's needed to make washington work is a full-scale overhaul of the rules. i think i'm like a lot of liberals, i really like the constitut

today, leader reid, senators harkin of iowa, durbin of illinois, levin of michigan, leahy of vermont, murray of weashts, -- washington state, rockefeller of west virginia and i spent a letter to american are retailers. we're urge, retailers like wal-mart to sign on to a legally binding global accord to assure worker safety in bangladesh. we're asking a list of american companies, a number of the largest retailers in america to sign on to this legally binding global accord to help ensure worker safety in bangladesh. remember, injustice as dr. king wrote some 50 years ago, injustice anywhere threatens our ability to create a more just world. signing this accord is one step our leading retailers can take to help usher in a new era of justice in this new century. thank you, mr. president. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, may i ask unanimous consent that the pending quorum call be terminated. the pr

. >> senator harkin? >> senator harkin votes no by proxy. >> senator baucus. >> senator baucus votes no by proxy. >> senator brown. >> senator brown votes no by proxy. >> another close by char? >> no. >> senator benett? >> no. >> senator gillibrand? >> no. >> senator donelley? >>. no. >> senator heitkamp? >>> senator heitkamp votes no by proxy. >> senator cowan? >> no. >> chairman stabenow? >> no. clerk will tally the vote. >> total ayes eight. total nos 12. >> the nays having the majority it is not adopted. are there further amendments to the nutrition title? senator roberts. >> madam chairwoman, i have a bill that encompassing many of the amendments that have already been considered and some that are about to be considered. so this is a comprehensive amendment with regards to what i call food stamp reform. i'm going to introduce this. i'm going to read it very quickly. i'm going to withdraw it. and see if it could be considered on the floor. and in that respect, perhaps the senator from new york could c

in fact, senator harkin who is concerned to certain activities to eventually find resources necessary. the estimates for what was required by treasury by hhs and the other regions these was quite substantial and there's no question it's had an impact on their ability and potentially going forward the ability of treasury to fully provide information sharing. >> anybody else? >> not as much in maryland for state-based exchanges and where the funding is going. >> we see this as a federal one. >> i don't think we know the exact numbers. there was money in the original legislation and we know as institutions to take care of all the cost is his needed for implementation. more money is needed and it seems to me a peculiar strategy of governance to make legislation failed by appropriate in so little money can be properly administered. it seems to me one night perch to politics that is deplorable. >> and it is one of the things that is most instructive about your opening comments that medicare was stunned with administrators in the room and that this is done in a dramatically different way so

cosponsored by chairman levin, chairman harkin, senator lautenberg, senator merkley, senator schatz and senator warren, it would replace the sequester from the buffett rule and closing tax loopholes. sensible tax changes that on their own we should do because they'll make the tax code fairer. the buffett rule would ensure that multimillion-dollar earners pay at least a 30% effective federal tax rate. last year we debated whether the top income tax rates should be 35% or 39.6%. but the fact of the matter is that many at the top, people making hundreds of millions of dollars in a single year, won't pay anything close to that rate. why? because the tax code is riddled with special provisions that favor ultrahigh-income earners. for example, investment income is taxed at the special rate of 20%. and the so-called carried interest loophole allows billionaire private equity fund managers to pay this low rate. so many of them pay the same tax rate or even less than a hardworking, average firefighter or brick mason in rhode island making $50,000 a year. $200 million a year paying the same tax r

tom harkin in the senate and george miller in the house say it's not high enough.wants to take it to inflation which is a big piece of it. >> i was interviewing this guy and he earns minimum wage. in new york city minimum is still $7.75. people in the costlyiest place in the country they're earning that. after taxing i'm splurging to eat at my own restaurant. this is a guy at mcdonald's. to eat a meal there on a day i work takes an hour out of my eight-hour day of wages. that's kind of astonishing when you think of mcmcdonald's being a cheap place it eat. that's a case of a guy who feels they can't afford their own product. >> i talked to fast food workers who -- for all the talk these are kids working in these places, that's what the industry -- that's what a lot of people want to you think, it's just kids. we're letting kids work there after school. they're getting their foot on the first wrung of the economic ladder. a lot of these people are trying to make a living. >> it's amazing. we'll take a quick break. 43 minutes past the hour. back with more from mr. jam

nelson, coons, klobuchar, reed of rhode island, mikulski, warner, whitehouse, brown, cardin, casey, harkin, sanders, franken and menendez. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, we're moving forward on this. this will be the sixth or seventh year that we have tried to fill vacancies on the d.c. circuit. there are four vacancies there. i hope that the president sends us some more names. i understand that will be the case maybe before the end of this week. it's really outrageous we have been stopped procedurally from doing the work of this country in filling these nominations in this very, very important court, but anyway, we're going to have a cloture vote on this on thursday, as we should do, and hopefully finish this thing by the end of the week. if we get cloture, we will finish by the end of the week if we have to stay over another day or so. i will ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on wednesday, may 22. that

label something properly subject to the jurisdiction of the help committee and, therefore, senator harkin opposes the amendment. i, too, while i appreciate very much the advocacy of senator sanders on so many different issues, i do believe that this particular amendment would interfere with the f.d.a.'s science-based process to determine what food label something necessary for consumers. it's also important to note that around the world now we are seeing genetically modified crops that have the ability to resist crop diseases and improve nutritional content and survive drought conditions in many developing countries, we see wonderful work being done by foundations like the gates foundation and others, that are using new techniques to be able to feed hungry people. i believe we must rely on the f.d.a.'s science-based examination before we make conclusions about food ingredients derived from genetically modified foods. they currently do not require special labeling because they've determined that food content of these ingredients does not materially differ from their conventional counterpar

in iowa, senator tom harkin is calling it quits. michigan is tough for republicans but senator carl levin is retiring. we've got country, these opportunities for republicans. the democrats can contest with the democratic challenger. the mitch mcconnell seat in kentucky, he will face a tough race either way but he is a front runner and in georgia, the open seat left by sax the chambliss which could be interesting if the republican primary gets ugly. we have three members of congress running against each other which is rare for that many members to be running in one open seat race. you might get a fourth although i don't think that will happen. three republicans running against each other and they will try to outflank each other and run for to the right. we will see of georgia is still the ruby red republican state. in 2008 andmpaign 2012 both considered starting to run advertising in georgia. it is one of the more republican states in the union but the demographics of the state are changing so rapidly. georgia is a state that could b

tom harkin, liberal democrat, they came up with a proposal, 95 senators voted in favor of.background check bill that you would support? >> i support the background check law that we have now but it's not being enforced. >> okay. >> neither the administrations, the current one or the one before has enforced that. >> thank you so much for coming on the show. appreciate it. good to see you again. senator john barrasso, thank you so much. >> thank you for having me. >> eugene, thank you as well and look for your column on "the washington post" and online. coming up it's called the greatest two minutes in sports. brian shactman joins us live from churchill downs, the site of the kentucky derby. we will be right back. ♪ your way meet the 5-passenger ford c-mc-max one. c-max two. that's a super fuel- efficient hybrid for me. and a long range plug-in hybrid for you. now, let's review. introducing the ford c-max hybrid and the ford c-max energi plug-in hybrid. say hi to the c-max hybrids. ♪ >>> i don't know. i think it is. what do you think, donny? >> brian, it's donny. during the b

you're looking at senator baucus, tom harkin, jean shaheen, these are democratic senators saying bad things about obamacare. in terms of max baucus, he said it is a train wreck. when the president is asked about these glitches, he essentially says this program is hard, it is not going to be easy. he seems to step back from it. what issues is his hands getting dirty? for example, in benghazi, why isn't he saying i'm frustrated. eight months later we have not a single name or single person under lock and key? when it comes to obamacare, i am frustrated. i worked so hard on this program, and it doesn't seem like anyone can implement it. by the way, it might be unimplementable. >>gretchen: good point. as far as benghazi, he did say he will get back to ed henry on what he finds out about benghazi. it would seem to me he's going to owe him an answer -- and the rest of the press corps, for that matter -- at some point about what he find out. keep in mind, may 8 will be a new hearing. the state department continues to say that this issue is solved. >>steve: there were a couple of columnists