with us here from capitol hill, republican senator john thune from south dakota.his morning and we want to get you on the record. we have these reports coming out of ukraine about the two downed military planes, assumed to be shot down by the pro-russian separatists. your reaction to that? >> it demonstrates i think some of the capabilities that the separatists have and how important it is that we get the arms flow stopped that's coming from russia into ukraine, but more evidence again that these folks have bad designs and capability to carry out these types of attacks. >> well, it demonstrates their capabilities for sure, but also just either utter chaos or an intensified plan on the part of vladimir putin to keep going and to get that part of eastern ukraine that he wants. >> well, it does, mika. i think, again, all these things, all signs point back to putin. obviously i think that we've got to make the case, the argument publicly with the europeans that assigns responsibility for the shooting down of the commercial airliner as well, but it's very clear the pat

and nobody is quite sure about that john thune has one idea. bill nelson has another idea and -- you yeah, okay. and that i think that we want to continue this. we want to make this a continuing surge of this oversight committee. we have jurisdiction over sports. all sports. and we have the ability to subpoena. we have the ability to -- we've created a special investigations unit. we're very into this subject. i personally am. i think our members are. and so this is the part of the process here. so, i'm going to have some tough questions for our panel. the ncaa and its member schools is it simple a little legal cartel, have college sports become a multibillion dollar commercial enterprise which is no different than other corporate witnesses who have appeared before this information? and is the ncaa in fact have the best interests of college athletes. large questions and important to be answered. i turn now to my very distinguished ranking member, senator john thune from the state of minnesota. >> thank you mr. chairman, for holding the hearing

i was really struck, she went way back to 2002, john thune, who later got elected against tim johnson and says he stole it on the indian reservations. i covered that race. the indian reservations always report late and always give a big margin to the democrats. so maybe she figured mcdaniel could relate to it if she said another election was stolen when it wasn't. >> the point that she was making was, the people who lost in these stolen elections, as she called them, they did not contest that election. they didn't fight it out the way mcdaniel, is then they went on to successful political careers because they didn't sour voters in their states by fighting beyond the point where they could succeed. >> right. her example number one was richard nixon who could have complained about stolen votes in illinois and texas. it's still not clear who would have won, but he had a case to make and he didn't make it. >> and eight years later became president. >> correct. the problem for mcdaniel now is i think it's a little too late to suddenly be grace tful. i don't see how he backs out of these ch

senator caine that's more detailed than john thune but still in the neighborhood of maybe we should drill more. democrats and republicans need to leave the pockets of big oil. everyone knows consequences of oil production and consumption in this country. i'm not advocating we get off oil completely. to drill more, that's the wrong direction. as oil production in the united states sky rockets so do the events of negativity. in 2013 there were over 7600 spills, blowouts and leaks. that's about 20 events a day. in 2013 more oil spilled from trains than in the previous 38 years combined in this country. recently we've seen oil disaster after oil disaster. a burst pipeline turned up in the streets of los angeles. of course a river of oil was just a few months ago. in december, an oil train derailed causing massive explosions and evacuations in castleton, north dakota. last year a pipeline burst in mayflower, arkansas devastating the suburban community. they still haven't recovered. in march, just this past march, 168,000 gallons of crude oil leaked into galveston bay, texas. wildlife and local

john thune has one idea, bill nelson has another idea -- and you. yeah, okay. and then i think we want to continue this. we want to make this a continuing search of this oversight committee. we have jurisdiction over sports, all sports, all sports. and we have the ability to subpoena, we have the ability to -- we created a special investigations unit. we're very into this subject. i permanently sonally am, i thi members are. so this is a part of a process here. so i'm going to have some tough questions for our panel as the nca and its members skoolchoolse they a cartel? have they become an enterprise which is no different than the corporate witnesses who have appeared before this committee or is the nca truly different? and does the 100-year organization in fact have the best interests of our college athletes. i turn now to my very distinguished ranking member, senator john thune, from the state of south dakota. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding the hearing today, and i want to thank our panelists for the opportunity to examine the current state of colleg

and nobody is quite sure about that, john thune has one idea. bill nelson has another idea and -- you, yeah, okay. and that i think that we want to continue this. we want to make this a continuing surge of this oversight committee. we have jurisdiction over sports. all sports. and we have the ability to subpoena. we have the ability to -- we've created a special investigations unit. we're very into this subject. i personally am. i think our members are. and so, this is the part of the process here. so, i'm going to have some tough questions for our panel. the ncaa and its member schools, is it simple a little legal cartel, have college sports become a multibillion dollar commercial enterprise which is no different than other corporate witnesses who have appeared before this information? and is the ncaa in fact have the best interests of college athletes. large questions and important to be answered. i turn now to my very distinguished ranking member, senator john thune from the state of minnesota. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding the hear

they are south dakota's tim johnson and john thune.way, congratulations to no one, we stumped you. and by the way, we'll be right back. can i get my actual credit report... like, the one the bank sees? [ male voice ] sheesh, i feel like i'm being interrogated over here. [ male voice ] she's onto us. dump her. [ pay phone rings ] hello? oh, man. that never gets old. no, it does not. [ female announcer ] not all credit report sites are equal. experian.com members get personalized help and a real credit report. join now at experian.com with enrollment in experian credit tracker. if your denture moves, it can irritate your gums. try fixodent plus gum care. it helps stop denture movement and prevents gum irritation. fixodent. and forget it. and our luggage was immediately... taken to... stolen from... our room. the hotel manager was clearly behind it. he was such a... kind man. con man. my husband wanted to... hug him. strangle him. and to this day we're still in contact with... the manager. the police. i wish we could do that vacation all

senator claire mccaskill chairs the subcommittee, while senator john thune serves as the ranking member. we're expecting mr. feinberg to appear first.

senator john thune is the chairman of the senate republican congress.u hear the president say. >> "the washington post" fact checker basically busted the president on his statement, gave him three i mosquito yoas which means this is a big whopper he has been telling. if you look at the facts they tell a didn't story. there are 284 bills that passed the house of representatives and 40 of those bills are jobs bills. the republican house of representatives passed four times as many bills as the democrat-led senate. if you look at the number of bills signed into law, only a quarter of those originated in the democrat-controlled congress. he has a problem on capitol hill but it's with his party be the democrats. eric: when he says republicans you think he could insert harry reid? >> he could. harry reid has turned the floor of the senate into a polite calculate circus. he tries to give them a political advantage going into the fall campaigns. nip serious or meaningful legislation has been shelved. in the last year since july a year ago there have only been 1

the ground in 2002 where a libertarian candidate suspended his campaign and got enough votes that john thune couldn't could win a senate race so i understand. you know it's a challenge but is something that we factor in and it's incumbent upon us to model our research and polling accurately so that we can build election and political plans that allow us to win, and you know we would love to get their support even if they are libertarian or otherwise ideologically bent. we are going to try to talk to them in a way that we can get their support in making crossover and back to the republicans. you know if you look at the senate right now it's a very diverse group of folks and we have a lot of senators but also a lot of national leaders who can speak to a certain segments of the population that may not be whatever year -- word you want to do, classic establishment republican. so i think it's incumbent that we recognize the many voices in the senate to see where everyone fits in and put it to work. the good news about that is our senate is extremely engaged. that's been the one outcome with liesy

." >> on "newmakers" john thune talks about the 2014 in 2016 elections. transportation, funding, the economy, and iraq. sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> in a 19-14 vote, the house oversight and government reform committee reject the white house 's claim. was subpoenaed by the committee to testify but did not show up. the same thing happened last week as well. houseetter to the white they said that he is immune to testify on matters related to his official duties and will not appear. this is about an hour now. -- an hour and a half. >> the committee will come to order. we are here to continuing hearing that began on july 16, 2014, called the house office of clinical affairs and supporting candidates and campaign fund raising and inappropriate use of government office. the purpose of the hearings to gather facts about the white house office of political and strategic outreach. i would like to note for the record mr. david simas, director of the office of political strategy and outreach is in fact not here today. he was invited to spe

let me join with senator john thune. we need an ambassador of romania this is a country that has great reason to feel imperiled by the russian aggression, and i appreciate some of the work that is being done to make sure that we need an ambassador. it's incumbent to those that have caused their plan to buildd a new nuclear technology that is transformational for the czech republic but also potentially for the united states should they win that big it is hard if we don't have an ambassador on the ground we have the chance to confirm that were a good one. this week, next week if the senate acts on that. when it comes to making sure that we are fully staffed the responsibilities both the administration to move faster than it has in bringing the ambassadors to us and for us to move faster than we have once you bring them to us. thank you both for your testimony. we will set up the second panel now. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] welcome to the second panel senator johnson is goi

withoached the issue senator john thune. [video clip] want to keep a user fee based program, that is the most logical place that most folks would end up. senator corker and murphy came out with their proposal. indexing it would help, but you have more fuel-efficient cars. more hybrids on the road. it is not raising it the amount and has in the past. it is still something that highway users pay for. why that, ifsons you are looking at the different scenarios and options, if you have to raise revenue to do this, it is an option that is being discussed. there are other things being talked about as well. some republicans and democrats are talking about repatriating funds, multinational operations that have earnings that are part off shore -- parked offshore right now, getting them back here at a lower level. that would generate revenue for a time, but is not a permanent solution either. host: the www.c-span.org full interview any time at the fulln.org --host: interview any time at www.c-span.org. i think the thing we have missed

senator claire mccaskill chairs the subcommittee, while senator john thune serves as the ranking member. we're expecting mr. feinberg to appear first. >>> all right, this hearing will come to order. today we revisit the tragic management failures at general motors that killed people. first i want to acknowledge in my opening remarks then from my viewpoint the ceo of general motors, mary barra, has stepped up and with courage and conviction has confronted head on the problem and the corporate culture that caused it. some see the record number of recalls at general motors as a problem. i see it as a good sign. second, i want to briefly say that i think i speak on behalf of all members of congress who have asked very difficult questions surrounding these tragic events that while we are asking tough questions, we have great respect for the workers of general motors. i would like to take this moment to thank the workers at general motors. you are terrific. you build good cars. and you are also the victims of outrageously incompetent management. management was the problem here, not the worker