able and ost well-regarded colleagues, isaacson and . if you have an opening statement i'll be pleased to call on you our colleague >> i just shook hands with all the nominees. you once congratulate again and congratulate your family and friends which proud of your advancement today. today we're going to hear from nominees who have been ominated to serve in courts in georgia, two appellate court nominees and five district court nominees. today's hearing is a product of very long deliberations between georgia house, the senators and this committee. i'm happy to see that this solution to the vacancies in georgia -- and i'm looking forward to hearing from nominees. i note that one member of the house of representatives equested to testify in opposition today and the chairman didn't grant that request. decision an's regarding outside witnesses in nominees to judicial for lower courts is very judiciary with past committee practice. several note that outside liberal interest groups ave already weighed in on and urged senators to oppose two of

i want to thank senators chambliss and isaacson for their warm remarks and for their support throughout this process. there are several people i would like introduce today. first and foremost, sitting behind me, is my wife, my best friend, and the love of my life, bonnie cohen. she was a legal secretary for over 35 years from and despite working for wyers, she agreed to marry me, and for that i will be forever grateful. i would not be sitting here today without her love and support, and we celebrate her 70th wedding anniversary next week. also here to date are two people who are like family members to bonnie and me, judge stephanie and bob. we worked at the georgia attorney general's office for many years preachy as been a mentor, friend, and a role model. the one whose career has been inspirational to me throughout my career. here today also with me are two young partners from a law firm. jamie and kevin have worked with me on every major piece of litigation i've handled at the firm. they are two of the finest young lawyers it is been my privilege to work with during my legal career, a

i want to thank senators chambliss and isaacson for their warm remarks and for their support throughout this process. there are several people i would like introduce today. first and foremost, sitting behind me, is my wife, my best friend, and the love of my life, bonnie cohen. she was a legal secretary for over 35 years from and despite working for lawyers, she agreed to marry me, and for that i will be forever grateful. i would not be sitting here today without her love and support, and we celebrate her 70th wedding anniversary next week. also here to date are two people who are like family members to bonnie and me, judge stephanie and bob. we worked at the georgia attorney general's office for many years preachy as been a mentor, friend, and a role model. the one whose career has been inspirational to me throughout my career. here today also with me are two young partners from a law firm. jamie and kevin have worked with me on every major piece of litigation i've handled at the firm. they are two of the finest young lawyers it is been my privilege to work with during my legal career,

senator isaacson, good morning to you. let me start with what you want to hear from general shinseki this morning. we've already gotten a little preview of his testimony. folks have read and seen some of that. what do you want to hear from him today that's going to make you feel confident that at least he's got his arms around this issue. >> well, i want to hear from secretary shinseki that there's acknowledgement in the v.a. that the v.a. has problems, we need the i.g.'s report but without that report there are problems. a you e-mail has emerged from april 26, 2010 specifically telling people not to game the system to improve their numbers. i toll the second on the phone yesterday i think we have a cultural problem in the v.a. and the secretary is misserved by the leadership. >> so you're happy to send a deputy in there to see what looks to me like some sort of management or shifts to chang. >> as long as it's not just damage control. i want corrective action, not just covering the problem up. >> watching this vrchlt a. i

you look at guys like john mccain, johnny isaacson and house speaker john boehner.haven't gone there yet. i think if shinseki can demonstrate he's taking some steps, perhaps he'll save himself while trying to clean up the department. >>> guys, i want to get back to benghazi and i put it that way. we've been talking about it and it seems to be heating up. we have speaker john boehner who has selected seven republicans for a special house committee. now there's a senate republican calling for a select senate panel on benghazi. so what was it that senate republicans missed that from boehner? why create another select committee when we're trying to consolidate? >> part of it is that there's interim competitiveness. it also may be that the democrats have a little different approach and maybe wanting to join in to that panel. it's still up in the air about what they're going to do on the house probe. what is interesting here is that when you have a select panel, they can go across the board. they're not limited by authority that a specific committee might have and that's

first, i want to add my voice to the comments made by senator isaacson and senator roberts. i think the displacement of agents and brokers with a challenge and a mistake and i hope you will review that process. let me also add my voice to what senator roberts said. i hear repeatedly from rural rac audits.bout the e we do need to make sure that we get rid of waste and fraud, but we want to look at that. moving on, one, the treasury department recently finalized the employer rules dealing with individual mandate. there's a lot of complexity about these rules and some of these complex -- complexities were highlighted by the american bar association. this is not just a treasury-ir wretcs issue. are implementles it, -- i have raised this with you before. i introduced legislation with eight cosponsors that is endorsed by a number of employee and employer groups, which would basically allow employers to respectively rather than have a one-month -- once per month reporting. upfront require an collaboration between hhs and treasury that might remove one of the administered to burdens

. >> we have worked very hard, senator isaacson, to root out these inappropriate uses of the schedulinges. it's absolutely inexcusable. >> reporter: but petzel was already set to retire and faced tough questions even a year ago over backlogs, delays, and deaths at va hospitals in georgia and pittsburgh. that is when the administration started looking for his successor. so the resignation now put in quotes from the chairman of jeff miller isn't sitting p intin it. miller calls this the pinnacle of disingenuous political double speak. just doesn't pass the smell test and calls the va desperate to get ahead of delays in care crisis that is growing by the day. yet apparently unwilling to take substantive actions to hold any of its leaders accountable for negligence that harms veterans. also veterans groups, the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, are now calling for, quote, real action. "we don't need the va to find a scapegoat. we need an actual plan to restore a culture of accountability throughout the va." there have also been calls for the va secretary eric shinseki to step down.

got a new report, walter isaacson says the deal to buy beets headphones is about bringing jimmy ivy toot all of this. the history here. >> jimmy ivey is an icon to the music industry. and ipod and ipads. steve jobs have a wonderful relationship, this comes from the biographer of steve jobs's biography. if you buy beets, at which he co-founded, got him on the board, and into the company, and beat apple tv. and jimmy was responsible for getting the first five music labels with itunes. and he got youtube to sped the special addition ipad. he has been instrumental, friends with steve jobs, may be part of the reason apple wants beat, they want jimmy ivy. >> they want these headphones. they want jimmy ivy because he brought music to apple, itunes, maybe he will bring content to appleseed the. i still don't know what apple t v is or when it does but i am prepared to accept they are buying it beats because of jimmy ivey and what he will bring to apple tv. >> you have it right and walter isaacson actually gave up the notes, steffi is including in the biography and that is where we are getting t

isaacson. the would like to have openingr. boozman's statement be included in the record and we wish a speedy recovery. should have a rush to accountability. durham,ore phoenix, fort collins, the others that have come to matter, we already known and the v.a. has already admitted to 23 deaths that took place in part at least due to delays in consult. seven were in my area. four were at the va hospital in atlanta, georgia, all mental health issues. was in my state for a two and a half hour hearing on the atlanta situation, and we knew and determine then there were problems with the delays that caused an open period of time where in fact they took their lives because of a failure to get the service that they should have gotten. sincee had 50 ig reports 2013, and in those reports we have found repeatedly over and over again where there has been a gaming of the system, where the system is more important than the patient. i think our veterans, and you, secretary shinseki, deserve better from the members of the v.a. health system. i

walter isaacson of as salesperson institute is here as well.n just a moment. let's get you through some of the headlines. a half hour away from personal income. it posts a rise of 0.4. it is arriving 0.1. salesforce.com is one of this morning's early winners. that comes after the maker of customer service software struck an agreement what i used to think of as their enemy. they will work on windows devices and used in conjunction with microsoft's popular office software. remember the glitch in healthcare.gov? the state of oregon went with its own web site designed by oracle. it doesn't work out. the state's governor is asking to sue oracle pause they had so many problems that they abandoned it and switched to healthcare.gov. the buzz story of the morning. steve ballmer is being the los angeles clippers for $2 billion. i'm not sure mr. sterling thinks sit happening. the deal will need to be approved by the board of governors before it is finali d finalized. he outbid magic and oprah. and guggenheim for $1.4 billion. >> thomas piketty's capital i

isaacson. the would like to have openingr. boozman's statement be included in the record and we wish a speedy recovery. should have a rush to accountability. durham,ore phoenix, fort collins, the others that have come to matter, we already known and the v.a. has already admitted to 23 deaths that took place in part at least due to delays in consult. seven were in my area. four were at the va hospital in atlanta, georgia, all mental health issues. was in my state for a two and a half hour hearing on the atlanta situation, and we knew and determine then there were problems with the delays that caused an open period of time where in fact they took their lives because of a failure to get the service that they should have gotten. sincee had 50 ig reports 2013, and in those reports we have found repeatedly over and over again where there has been a gaming of the system, where the system is more important than the patient. i think our veterans, and you, secretary shinseki, deserve better from the members of the v.a. health system. i

walter isaacson, very smart guy and a democrat and a liberal. we were talking about george bush.aid, i think he may have been our best foreign policy president. and i think, you know, we are starting to realize just how all extraordinary a guy we have in george bush, a guy who was willing to go back on read my lips. enormous, enormous political cost to himself. how many people are there on the national stage like that willing to do that? what were we talking about? [inaudible question] [laughter] >> he was a mensch. and he had a sense of humor, too . after he stopped being president, the yale law school offered him chair of law at yale. he replied that he could not except that chair, but he could accept a sofa. [inaudible question] .. >> you'd have to -- to use a coinage that you've probably heard down here, you'd have tok pry this from my cold, dead fingers. [laughter] but i think, you know, i think we've made, i think we've -- i think there's been a terrible trade-off. who, you know, we live in the age of gotcha, you know? what politician would sort of dare to be original or sa

plan includes ramping up in china, exploring more mobile payments and steve jobs' biographer walter isaacson predicting a new person for running the contint business. you must have thoughts as to how app sl performing on the retail front, kevin. >> i do. they've hilt it out of the box. i use it because my family uses this as a resource. when my wife has trouble with her e-mail, she goes down to the apple store. that's how they're winning my dollars. i don't fight her on it, because it's a solution. they've provided hardware and software training. they're kicking it out of the park. >> you think if another company re-created that customer service model, they could win the business of someone like your wife's? you think that's replaceable? >> you know, she -- i don't know, because dell tried it, it didn't work. if you're too commodityized and you don't have enough ecosystem, i don't think it works. having said that, every retailer on earth -- by the way, retail numbers are all over the place -- envy the dollar per square foot margin that apple makes in those stores. there's nothing like it on

been telling you reading a biography by walter isaacson, of steve jobs, founder of apple. people would come to him. read the book see what i mean. people would come, say we can't do this. can't meet the deadline. and design the product. jobs refused to accept that behavior. he said you fell me you can't do the deadline. i want-up to get it done. that's the deadline. figure out a way. they got it done. they did. they got it done. they had to work, 24/7, you know but you get smart people in a room you can solve these problems. i'm not -- how can people expect. i appreciate your asking that question and others have asked me the question. you know what ? my son died a few days ago. you expect me to have the answers to the questions. there are people that have the answers. and you know, why isn't leadership rounding these people up. or if they don't have the answers. get the smartest people. jobs hired the smartest people he could find. he made them solve problems. because he was a leader. >> richard, that makes sense to me. part of what you are talking about is having the spir

holding company in the world, and for google to move up the ranks, it's very evocative of what walter isaacsonaid on cnbc a few months back, the mantel has gone from google to apple. >> that is interesting, yeah. a spot you used to have, and now once again on top of the heap. up next, streaming headlines. the chief product officer at netflix says changes are coming to the main page. instead of satisfying a sea of titles, the company will try to present with three or four personalized choices on the korean. you should see the rest of the options by clicking through. if you want to watch "the wire" on amazon, today is your lucky day. host of classic hbo shows through the prime instant video platform "six feet under" and others, as well. >> on the personalization, nobody remembers, like, a year ago, they released the netflix max, which was a clippy thing for those that grew up in the '90s, a question and answer thing you could do. what kind of show are you interested in? which was meant to dramatically streamline this. they need to do it. everybody is doing tiles. the amazon fire box looks like t

first, i want to add my voice to the comments made by senator isaacson and senator roberts.i think the displacement of agents and brokers with a challenge and a mistake and i hope you will review that process. let me also add my voice to what senator roberts said. i hear repeatedly from rural rac audits.bout the e we do need to make sure that we get rid of waste and fraud, but we want to look at that. moving on, one, the treasury department recently finalized the employer rules dealing with individual mandate. there's a lot of complexity about these rules and some of these complex -- complexities were highlighted by the american bar association. this is not just a treasury-ir wretcs issue. are implementles it, -- i have raised this with you before. i introduced legislation with eight cosponsors that is endorsed by a number of employee and employer groups, which would basically allow employers to respectively rather than have a one-month -- once per month reporting. upfront require an collaboration between hhs and treasury that might remove one of the administered to burdens

when the musical was over, the piano player up there, give him this remember and tell him john isaacsoncalled. he called me up. 3:00 --you know how musicians are. i said kenny, you made it. he said i have just been lucky. i went to interject that luck is when opportunity meets preparation. he says i went to columbia and did good. i still play a lot of music. i went into new york city and played in greenwich village. i met a guy named george, who introduced me to a guy named frank foster. he had a touring jazz band and asked me to fill in one night. he liked it. a few weeks later, a paean of player had a heart attack. frank recommended me to woody herman. i met him and washington, d.c. he took me all over the country. i have not entertained millions of people yet. i have not made it. i said, kenny, you will, i am sure. a few years later, he wrote and produced songs for barbra streisand. later, he played with john london and yoko ono. i kept saying, you have made it. he kept saying, no i haven't. one day, i will write great music and entertainment of people. on a saturday afternoon in 197

. >> said isaacson is next. >> lumia start with a calm moment -- let me start with a complement. i was in ethiopia with you and the african union. i had 48 hours of time to watch you work with the countries. and think ourd country is fortunate to have someone like you as a representative. my comment is that without tpa getting done, have little hope we can get t.p.p. don. said, thisr roberts is something we have to work on. to try and raise the visibility. let's have that debate. we will have significant differences on tpa, but we ought to have the differences in a debate that results in a result rather than talking about across the board comments. are this.nts you mention in your marks, tisa. there are service related jobs in our state, insurance, financial services, package delivery that depend on good trade in services agreements with the world. how are -- what projects are we making on an agreement? what goals would affect t.p.p. in terms of trade services? >> thank you. thank you very much for your involvement and leadership on the issues. we look forward to working with you

. >> senator isaacson is next. >> let me start with a complement. i was in ethiopia with you and the african union. i had 48 hours of time to watch you work with the countries. i was impressed and think our country is fortunate to have someone like you as a representative. my comment is that without tpa getting done, have little hope we can get t.p.p. don. what senator roberts said, this is something we have to work on. to try and raise the visibility. let's have that debate. we will have significant differences on tpa, but we ought to have the differences in a debate that results in a result rather than talking about across the board comments. my two points are this. you mention in your marks, tisa. it's very important to georgia. there are 3.2 service related jobs in our state that depend on good, good, good, and trade services agreement with the world. first of all, what kind of progress are we making on a tisa agreement? what goals would affect t.p.p. in terms of trade services? >> thank you. thank you very much for your involvement and leadersh

senator isaacson? >> for both of you gentlemen, do you remember or do you know william --? >> i do. >> do you? >> i do. april 20 6, 2010, he said a memo to all the directors entitled inappropriate scheduling practices. has come two begins it to my attention that to improve scores on axis measures, sometimes referred to as gaming strategies. paragraph three, and this is the key of the question, and the key of the issue, for your liststance attached is a this practices identified by a working group chartered with the system redesign office. be cautioned that since 2008 additional modified gaming strategies may have emerged, so do not consider this list a full disruption of all current possibilities or other inappropriate scheduling practices that need to be addressed. these practices will not be tolerated. are you familiar with that memorandum? >> i was not -- i am not. >> i am familiar with that memorandum, yes. >> if it is not going to be tolerated, and for over four years ago, you had eight pages of known practices for gaming the system, what action if any -- i do not thin

senator isaacson. >> ms. burwell, good morning. >> good morning zpl as you know from our conversations the last couple of days, there's no challenge that i have before me as a united states senator more important, including your confirmation, that gave the savannah harbor project in my state. senator chambliss worked for 16 years to go through all the steps at noaa, epa, omb, corps of engineers, fish & wildlife to get every approval we could get including getting the vice president to join us on the docks in savannah and make his famous quote that we were going to get it done come hell or high water. i'm not one that kills the messenger. but on a sunday night right before the budget came out you delivered the news to senator chambliss and i that we weren't going to be able to move forward based on a plan we thought through conversations with others, not with you, that we included the right language in the appropriation bill to move the savannah harbor expansion program forward. at the last minute we got the b

halperin is still with us and joining the table, the president and ceo of the aspen institute, walter isaacsonas joe. >> sloppy seconds, that's horrible. >> and pulitzer prize-winning history i can't be john meacham. and from washington, the host of msnbc's "hardball," i seriously love that show. >> he's amazing. >> chris matthews joins us. >> thanks. >> that was -- >> i'm overwhelmed by you. >> how are you doing this morning, chris? >> i'm doing fine. >> you're overwhelmed by us? so chris spoke at -- was it ohio state, the graduation there? i heard it went really well. we have some great pictures there. you look wondersful. >> 60,000 people, guys. 60,000 people looking back at you. knowing you're on tv. we keep saying to ourself there's stadiums of people watching us but when you see them looking at you and hanging on your words, you know, you have to start out there by yelling oh, you've got to get it going. i wasn't political at all. i talked about what you have to do to get ahead. you guys know a lot of what i would say which is show up, show up. that's 80%, 90% of life is just showing up

kissinger, ken burns, buckly, isaacson, crystal, mccain. who's missing?y guy in the club. >> can i call you ken? >> you may. >> that feels weird. i can't do it. >> how did you know her? >> when she was little. >> you played tennis. >> i was over at her house for brunch and everything else. >> is it true she's a big cheat in tennis? >> i wouldn't say that, but the line calls are close. >> they're so close. >> you are not the first to say that. >> always a diplomat. >> all right. this was a remarkable time. it was remarkable summit. i remember when reagan was leaving, hearing all three broadcast networks declaring it an utter failure. and pat buchanan was with reagan. he said they went to an army base dejected, and when reagan walked through the door, the entire base exploded and jumped on its feet like he had won a war. set it up for our viewers that may not have been alive. >> it was a summit in 1986 at the height of the cold war when people thought that there was a chance of nuclear annihilation on this and the two of them discussed for ten and a half ho

apparently johnny isaacson and. the other senator from georgia senator jim saxby chambliss if. these two guys cut a deal with the with the president or the at least the administration that they would not filibuster or hold up his nominee if he would appoint want out of the seven judicial nominees that he wanted to put in if he would put in one guy who represented their interests i would call it the crazy old self but. if you want to call it and so there's this guy. michael boggs that president obama nominated for the georgia appeals court who. is who. he voted to pass a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage he voted to keep the confederate insignia on the georgia state flag he voted to require doctors who perform abortions supports their names and the number of abortions they perform on line. these are you know just a few of these things. john lewis on the other hand the congressman from georgia. said i'm not you know this because the president put this guy up i'm not going to be a good democrat go along he said this is in direct opposition to everything i've stood