senator warren -- lamar alexander of tennessee has the republican response. president obama: hi, everybody. it's our job as citizens to make sure we keep pushing this country we love toward our most cherished ideals that all of us are created equal, and all of us deserve an equal shot. this week, my administration took new steps to bring us closer to that goal. almost 50 years ago, republicans and democrats in congress came together to pass the fair housing act. it's a law that says landlords can't turn away tenants solely because of their race, religion, sex, national origin, or disability. and it made a difference in this country. still, the work of the fair housing act remains unfinished. just a few weeks ago, the supreme court ruled that policies segregating minorities in poor neighborhoods, even unintentionally, are against the law. the court recognized what many people know to be true from their own lives: that too often, where people live determines what opportunities they have in life. in some cities, kids living just blocks apart lead incredibly diff

host: the effort is being led by lamar alexander, the chair of the education committee. the senate will continue debate this week on legislation. here is what he said last week on the senate floor. lamar alexander: this has been a good day. i appreciate the senators coming to the floor. it has been interesting to hear. some senators have different opinions on some issues, but there is a consensus that runs through this debate. it runs through the democratic side as well as the republican side. we have a consensus about the need to fix no child left behind and a consensus about how to do it. host: legislation did pass in the house. what can we expect in the senate? guest: i think we will see a senate vote that is much more bipartisan. the vote in the house was not just party line. it was razor thin, the bare minimum needed to pass the bill. when the bill was brought up in the house the first time, they had to take it off the floor because they did not have the votes to pass it. on the senate side, they took a bipartisan approach. the bill is not perfect. i think it is far

brian: what's the background on getting lamar alexander and al gore together?y both have personal connections. tennessee. and al gore, when he first ran for congress johnny get a campaign event for him. johnny was friends with al's father. brian: there's another documentary. a couple more here. this one goes back to 2003. the muddy waters. this is a clip, it's not from your documentary. what is the impact of muddy waters on the country? robert: i think it his story, you see the entire -- and the entire -- a fact of the 20th century told. here's a guy, a black man born in extreme poverty in the mississippi delta, one of the most impoverished parts of the nation. he goes from a house with no electricity to -- makes the great migration from the south to chicago. there he picks up an electric guitar and creates a new sounds. -- i knew sound. a blend of the electric -- creates with his band the template for a rock 'n roll band and becomes soon revered by the british explosion people and becomes an icon to the world. i think that we get a whole sense of the possibili

let's not be hypocrite cam with donald trump and attack lamar alexander. bill: is this where it's leading in the where you are a month away from the debate in ohio? your stance is against the top of the field. >> all the folks running for president all want to be the nominee. so there will be competition and i don't think that will resort in violence. i don't think any comments have resulted in violence. bill: rick perry said he was offended by what donald trump said. >> no. i just disagree. i'm not personally offended. i think it's inappropriate but nothing i would ever say. bill: here is what jeb bush had to say. >> he's doing this to inflame and incite and draw attention which seems to be the organizing principle of his campaign and he doesn't represent the republican party for its values. bill: there is a bigger issue and that's how the republican party attracts hispanics. >> i don't think it hurts or helps. i think it's a small moment that we are all ema sizes that will be long gone by the time we get to a general election campaign. take this from som

lou: i got a kick out of senator lamar alexander.he was sort of pointing to you and senator ted cruz that in kindergarten one learns a certain rules and how to apply them. and that they should be included amongst the things along the lines in kindergarten. you consider yourself severely admonished by the senator? >> no, i don't think that he was speaking to me. my personal policy is whenever you have a private policy that occurs behind closed doors with individual senators that's off the record. not everyone has the same policy as me. lou: it is i have to tell you, i don't think you would be surprised to find it amusing to watch what is transpiring here. because what we have as he pointed out is a report on whether or not the majority leader actually lied in representing that there wouldn't be an export import bank vote. as we wrap up here how important is you to have that vote and will you get it? >> what i want to see is the simple majority vote on a clean obamacare repeal. i think that it's important for us to do that. and i think

lamar alexander, one of my best friends. john thune who i work closely with. jeff sessions. i recruited marco rubio to be part of our group of eight being in the gym. dick durbin was in the gym. he's earlier than me and he helped recruit him, too. >> because the senate gym is where chuck schumer talks with his colleagues because the gym is where he sometimes recruits colleagues to support his position on things. that gym may play a pivotal role in the iran nuclear deal. think about this. chuck schumer is a key vote. probably the key vote when it comes to this deal. close ally of the president and one of israel's fiercest advocates in congress and he's poised to be the next democratic leader in the u.s. senate. now, the fear among the deal supporters obviously that includes the white house is that if schumer decides to go all out against this deal, he could also bring quite a few democrats with him. i asked schumer about the tough position he's in on this. >> i'm not going to comment until i read the document. that's what's going to guide me. look, when i think the president

reaction from lamar alexander from tennessee who released a statement following word of this shooting. he said, quote, i am deeply disturbed by reports of violent attack in chattanooga. i've been in touch with federal, state, and local officials and will monitor the situation closely. my thoughting and prayers are with everyone involved. one officer shot in the leg being treated at the hospital four military personnel, and possible initial reports that the gunman from pete williams, that the gunman may be deed from gunshot wound inflicted by himself or another officer. thomas? >> francis, thank you. i want to get this on. it's an image posted via social media from michael ball who took a picture at the facility that shows -- could we get that up? it shows the gunshots through the marine training recruitment center there. you can see multiple fractures of gunshots bullet holes through the door and the side windows there. clint van zandt is msnbc contributor. he joins me now. clibt clint, if you were watching pete williams show us the map and getting call it low tech but perfect for wha

fact, pass a resolution sponsored by senator hatch patricia murray from washington state and lamar alexander commemorating 25 years of progress on the inclusion of those with a challenge that others may not have in our society and all that our society offers and the opportunities that it offers. mr. speaker, i have shown on numerous occasions over this last week commemorating the a.d.a. and i mentioned the number of names and i would like to do it on the floor of this house because there were people that are absolutely critical. it is not a comprehensive list but a list of people with whom i worked very closely for well over a year on the passage of the a.d.a. first i would like to mention president george h.w. bush. this issue was not a partisan issue. president bush, a republican, i was a democrat and still am, and i worked with an extraordinary republican, member of the house, his name was steve bartlett from texas. he left the house and became mayor of dallas and still now in washington and working and we are partners, every time something happens with respect to the a.d.a., steve bartle

and then patty murray worked with lamar alexander and they came out with an education bill. and then i worked with senator inhofe and he worked with me, and mitch mcconnell worked with senator durbin. and we came out with a product that is supported by a majority of both caucuses. i'm proud of the product. i know it's not perfect. i know if i had my way i would have drawn up a very different bill. so would senator inhofe. so would senator mcconnell. so would senator durbin. but here's what's at stake -- i'll show you the bridge again -- this is what's at stake. this is the face of what we are doing. it is bigger than our egos. it is bigger than our taking a five and a half week break. i served as a count supervisor and we knew the building we were in was earthquake deficient. it is still and it is beautiful, frank lloyd wright's last built-out government building. and i served in that gorgeous building. when i found out it could collapse in an earthquake and the five county supervisors found that out we were told those many, many many years ago that it was possible we could

lamar alexander brought an amendment out. it allowed parents to choose their schools regardless whether it is public or private. education union leaders had kittens about that saying that the public schools are getting better so we don't want to take funds away from the public schools. we want to keep all those funds in the public schools but the parents are saying, i understand that school is get is getting better someday. but my child is there right now. while certain leaders in schools will say we can't have federal funds move to follow the child i would say would you allow the parent to help that child have the one shot that they're going to get to get education and as how them to choose wherever they want to go? so i'm also a supporter of things like the d.c. opportunity scholarships that will allow children in washington d.c., to be able to choose the school that they attend. the president has fought adamantly against that. so have the education unions. but quite frankly the parents huer in d.c. want to have the option

senator lamar alexander is aware of the situation already out with a statement saying he's been in touch with federal, state, local officials monitoring it closely. the statement goes on from there. back to michael balboni, former new york city homeland security adviser for new york state. michael, the lockdown situation. you don't let anybody in you don't let anybody out, and you hope that the shooter is not already inside one of the buildings that's locked down? >> so the strategy obviously focuses on limiting the targets of opportunity for anybody who's in the active shooter mode so you make sure that obviously any type of soft targets like schools or malls are shut down. you obviously get a police presence there and establish a perimeter very very quickly. you are -- it's essential that you can get information from those areas so that you can get reporting should someone come on scene but, you know one of the challenges also here is that every time something like this happens or a threat like this happens, folks in the security world sit there and say, is there more? could this be ha

host: the effort is being led by lamar alexander, the chair of the education committee.he senate will continue debate this week on legislation. here is what he said last week on the senate floor. lamar alexander: this has been a good day. i appreciate the senators coming to the floor. it has been interesting to hear. some senators have different opinions on some issues, but there is a consensus that runs through this debate. it runs through the democratic side as well as the republican side. we have a consensus about the need to fix no child left behind and a consensus about how to do it. host: legislation did pass in the house. what can we expect in the senate? guest: i think we will see a senate vote that is much more bipartisan. the vote in the house was not just party line. it was razor thin, the bare minimum needed to pass the bill. when the bill was brought up in the house the first time, they had to take it off the floor because they did not have the votes to pass it. on the senate side, they took a bipartisan approach. the bill is not perfect. i think it is far f

we have a picture of secretary arne duncan testifying in front of centers lamar alexander, tom harkin and several others. there's been a lot of bills being introduced around no child left behind reauthorization but it's unlikely, in my views, it's probably unlikely to be reauthorized in the coming year or so. so we'll see how things progress here in washington. so that's in context around the country. some of the social and political developments that have been happening. here's some background for our survey that we'll talk about. this is a survey profile. basically some of the particular specifications of the survey and how it was conducted and administered. i'd like to give a special shoutout to braun research who has been our data collection partners. for almost seven years. they do a great job with conducting these live telephone interviews, providing the data quality control and the data. the interviews that took place for this national survey occurred the end of april and beginning of may. but -- more than all these specks, i think key ones to look at, and it's a little misalig

i am doing better listening to lamar alexander wright then.have the opportunity to watch first and the governor work with their roadie legislature buddy came forth with infrastructure and investments and industrial recruitment he will have a good partner in the house. newt. >> when i think of her think of a story of the little engine that could. i think i can. that is her she just plows on maybe having a world record of a number of hearings across the district to come forward with the major bipartisan vote in the house. tell us what is going on with few. [applause] >> i am so happy to be here they don't ask us to come over from the house very often. it is a treat for us. i was happy to hear your reflections on these issues because as some of you know as the chairman and i talking about all those hearings we had hearings and round tables and white paper and worked for about 18 months trying to and many have attended a multiple of the hearings but to have this effort because they found many areas where we can make treatments to bring the jurors

before we begin i would like to share a brief stylite from chairman lamar alexander who asked me to read the following. i asked senator collins to chair the hearing because i have to go to a funeral for a friend. the senator worked at the university in bangor maine so she brings valuable points to the discussion. it is weird reading what someone is saying about you. i thank her for doing this and the witnesses for attending. the goal of the regulations and rules should be to help our 6,000 colleges and universities create campus environments that make students safer from sexual assault. in doing that we should be careful to one eliminate laws and regulations that are dup duplicate so instead of filling out forms colleges have more time to counsel students and create a safer environment. two, help colleges better coordinate with law enforcement agencies but not turn colleges in the law enforcement agencies. and three, establish procedures that are fair and protect the due process rights of the both the accused and the accuser. i know that the chairman regrets very much that he could not b

lamar alexander here is what he said a couple years ago. "we want to make sure the american people have a chance to read it. they have a chance to know exactly what it costs and they have a chance to know exactly how to fix it. this is not an unreasonable request we don't think. this is the way the senate works. this is our job. when it came to the defense authorization bill, we spent a couple weeks doing that. when it came to no child left behind the education bill, we spent seven weeks doing that. homeland security bill, took self fen weeks fl energy bill in 2002 took eight years. the farm bill took four weeks. so we have a little reading to do, a little work to do. we have john mccain -- but could i also add if we haven't seen it, i don't think we should have time to -- shouldn't we at least have time to examine it? i don't think it would be outage us a to ask to have a bill read that we haven't seen." so i as a number of people in this body, have worked on highway bills in the past. we have worked on these bills and they've taken weeks

lamar alexander here is what he said a couple years ago. "we want to make sure the american people have a chance to read it. they have a chance to know exactly what it costs and they have a chance to know exactly how to fix it. this is not an unreasonable request we don't think. this is the way the senate works. this is our job. when it came to the defense authorization bill, we spent a couple weeks doing that. when it came to no child left behind the education bill, we spent seven weeks doing that. homeland security bill, took self fen weeks fl energy bill in 2002 took eight years. the farm bill took four weeks. so we have a little reading to do, a little work to do. we have john mccain -- but could i also add if we haven't seen it, i don't think we should have time to -- shouldn't we at least have time to examine it? i don't think it would be outage us a to ask to have a bill read that we haven't seen." so i as a number of people in this body, have worked on highway bills in the past. we have worked on these bills and they've taken weeks

lamar alexander, one of my best friends, thune, jeff sessions.o be part of our group of eight, being in the gym. dick durbin is in the gym even earlier than me and helped to recruit him, too. >> maybe a year and a half from now you are the top democrat in the senate. you could be the majority leader of the senate. >> god willing. >> a lot of people look at the last eight years. people forget this barack obama was first running for president a lot of republicans said really nice things about him. he beat hillary clinton, became the face of the party suddenly no compromise, nothing like that. do you think something similar might happen? >> mitch mcconnell got up in the first few months, this was in 2009 and said our number one goal was to defeat barack obama for re-election. which, of course didn't come true. it set a bad tone for the republicans. there was a yearning for both democrats and republicans to work together and get things done. we're seeing more of it this year. here is my theory. if the tea party loses its third election in a row for p

with bipartisan support by the chair of the committee, the education committee in the senate, lamar alexander, and the ranking democrat, senator patty murray. is the path smoother in the senate, and what is different about the bill? host: the senate will and a lot of ways is pretty similar to the house bill, but it lacks some key provisions that are deal breakers for democrats. one is called portability, which would let the dollars that come from the federal government follow students from one school to another. language like that that helps increase school choice is a tougher sell with a lot of democrats. really what you saw happen in the senate's lamarr alexander who recently became chair of the health committee when the senate changed hands released a conservative bill early this year and decided he did not want to move the bill. he teamed up with the ranking member of the committee, patty murray, and they started hashing out a deal. a spent weeks working on a bill that they felt bridge the biggest divide between democrats and republicans on this law. what you wound up with was a bill that

we have a picture of secretary arne duncan testifying in front of centers lamar alexander, tom harkin and several others. there's been a lot of bills being introduced around no child left behind reauthorization but it's unlikely, in my views, it's probably unlikely to be reauthorized in the coming year or so. so we'll see how things progress here in washington. so that's in context around the country. some of the social and political developments that have been happening. here's some background for our survey that we'll talk about. this is a survey profile. basically some of the particular specifications of the survey and how it was conducted and administered. i'd like to give a special shoutout to braun research who has been our data collection partners. for almost seven years. they do a great job with conducting these live telephone interviews, providing the data quality control and the data. the interviews that took place for this national survey occurred the end of april and beginning of may. but -- more than all these specks, i think key ones to look at, and it's a little misalig

distinguished friend, my great colleague, one of the greatest senators our state has ever had lamar alexander. mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president i thank senator corker for his eloquent and obviously heartfelt comments. he mentioned the word that we've heard the most often since last thursday. when he and i first got word of this tragedy and the word is heartbroken. heartbroken for the lives that were lost, heartbroken for the families who are remaining heartbroken for the community of chattanooga. senator corker, you can see the deep emotion that he has as a resident of chattanooga former mayor of chattanooga that's very special to that place and that community. on friday at 5:30 in the mount olivet baptist church there was a memorial service. nearly 1,000 people attended. senator corker spoke. our governor, our governor spoke. others spoke. the police chief. i know most people in the country know about what happened that day. most of them would have liked to have been there to do what you can do at a time like this.

we have a picture of secretary arne duncan testifying in front of centers lamar alexander tom harkin and several others. there's been a lot of bills being introduced around no child left behind reauthorization but it's unlikely, in my views, it's probably unlikely to be reauthorized in the coming year or so. so we'll see how things progress here in washington. so that's in context around the country. some of the social and political developments that have been happening. here's some background for our survey that we'll talk about. this is a survey profile. basically some of the particular specifications of the survey and how it was conducted and administered. i'd like to give a special shoutout to braun research who has been our data collection partners. for almost seven years. they do a great job with conducting these live telephone interviews providing the data quality control and the data. the interviews that took place for this national survey occurred the end of april and beginning of may. but -- more than all these specks, i think key ones to look at, and it's a little misalign

lamar alexander. look what happened when he did his mark jum on appropriations bill. he gave a bump of $2 million to nih, which is more than 5%. it's 5% plus inflation. pretty darn good, better than the house, but better than the president. and he did it at the expense of a lot of other good things in the bill. don't get me wrong. i'm not happy with the way he approached it, but he was sensitized by the researchers in zlous at barnes jost children's, washington university to the need for medical research. and i believe this crosses the spectrum. we have to reach the point where we take the research and innovation and say this is a special consideration of the united states and the future. it's not going to be subject to the same budget control rules as the other expenditures. >> last night steve corn aky show showed an interview about how you and he were gym buddies and turned marco rubio around on immigration and used the gym as a hunting ground to turn people over. who are some of your targets that you might like to -- was chuck schumer lying? >> i go to the senate

i'd like to start by commending senators patty murray and lamar alexander for accomplishing what haseluded the senate for so many years a truly bipartisan compromise that deals with some critical but often divisive issues at the heart of america's public schools. they've worked tirelessly on this bill because they understand the urgency of our national education crisis. in the wake of no child left behind's federal micromanagement of schools this bill heeds an important lesson, that communities need to have some flexibility and some space to innovate and find their own solutions to their education problems. but i would urge my colleagues as we work together to fix many of the law's weaknesses that we not lose sight of some of no child left behind's important accomplishments. for all its many problems, it exposed uncomfortable realities in america's classrooms and empowered policy-makers with real data that simply did not exist before. most importantly it refused to lower our nation's expectations of any school and demanded that every child in america get the education he or she deser

interest in congress in recent years and i know in addition to senator warns initiative senators lamar alexanderon johnson are working hard in the same direction. in addition to drastic increase in research funding call for doubling the budget and i would also includes a potential increase in the national science foundation which i think was the one mistake we made in research funding. we should have tripled it. let me quickly offer to bold big ideas about research and development at the federal level. the first is research bonds. for large very expensive projects with the potential to generate huge savings if they work it is worth exploring issuing bonds to finance the research which would then pay out some fractional savings. this would've the benefit of taking important projects off budget and raising much larger sums of money than the federal government is likely to appropriate. we are developing this idea for brain research bonds as well as professor steve hyman at the broad institute of mit and harvard. congressman michael burgess, have proposed this idea what the mind act for alzheimer's

lamar alexander. look what happened when he did his mark jum on appropriations bill. he gave a bump of $2 million to nih, which is more than 5%. it's 5% plus inflation. pretty darn good, better than the house, but better than the president. and he did it at the expense of a lot of other good things in the bill. don't get me wrong. i'm not happy with the way he approached it, but he was sensitized by the researchers in zlous at barnes jost children's, washington university to the need for medical research. and i believe this crosses the spectrum. we have to reach the point where we tak

evaluate teachers but doesn't necessarily say how to do that and that's something that was vague for lamar alexander. he said multiple times yesterday if you believe that the underpaying of education is high standards you'll be with me on this bill. but we left the state choose those. >> finally. what about funding levels for education. >> it would be significantly diminished and one of the biggest democrat's rights in addition to decreasing funding is that the bill would also allow title $1 for low income students to follow them to the school of their choice. title one is a lynch pin of this law. it's a $14.5 billion program. that provision would shift critical funding from impoverished disstricts to wealthier ones. that's a big problem for them. host: lauren cameron, thank you for breaking it down for our viewers. >> no problem. thanks. host: we turn to all of you. what are your thoughts. how would you change education policy in this country. pat, a teacher from new york. good morning. caller: good morning. how are you? hakem: doing well. caller: one change i would make i would improve the quality

manager's package, with senator from both sides of the aisle and i want to thank both senator lamar alexander from tennessee who is the chairman of the committee and sponsor of the bill as well as senator patty murray from washington who is the co-lead on this legislation for their support of this stem legislation. and with that, mr. president i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: mr. president i also rise in support of the every child achieves act and the good work that is being done in a bipartisan pay to move elementary and secondary education forward in this country. i applaud senators alexander and murray and all help committee members and their staffs for the good work that's been done on this bill. this is huge and important to our nation's children, but even more importantly to our economy and our global competitiveness and the fact that we're approaching it in a bipartisan manner creates a lot of hope and optimism. i speak with a number of roles. i was well educated in public, private and parochial schools myself. my

would not have happened without lamar alexander's leadership or senator murray's leadership from washington. mr. president, before i yield the floor, i ask unanimous consent that jessica bowen a fellow in my office, have floor privileges for the remainder of this session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: mr. president i thank the senator from colorado for his -- his graciousness. and i wanted to come to the floor and to talk a little bit about this important topic of early and elementary education. i recall that when president george w. bush was governor of texas, of course education was one of his biggest priorities, both at the state and at the national level when he became president, but he had an interesting observation. he said, the more you talk about education the more people realize you actually care about it. and so i think it's important we talk about it. we think our way through this legislation and figure out what could we do to equip our children who are in an increasingly competitive envi

last week, thanks to the leadership of the senate health committee, chairman lamar alexander and ranking member patty murray the senate passed a bipartisan bill known as the every child achieves act that re-authorizes the elementary and secondary education act. this is the law where the federal government has with respect to kindergarten through 12th grade education. and i applaud my senate colleagues for reaching across the aisle and working collectively in good faith to expand access to early childhood education to improve programs for english language learners and ensure accountability in helping our neediest students. it is far from perfect but in 2002 the re-authorization of the same act known as no child left behind, was implemented and it gave this principle that we would look at the students who were falling through the cracks. it meant to serve our poor and minority students and students with disabilities and english learners. and after all let's not forget that the original esea, the original one in 1965 had an exact declaration of policy that said in recognition of the special

i would like to acknowledge and commend especially commend the work of chairman lamar alexander and ranking member patty murray who worked so hard to get us together to get to this point. and this is something rather unique in the senate. we are coming together. we are percolating with regards to important bills. this is a tremendously important bill. due to their bipartisan leadership the every child achieves act was approved back in april by the help committee of which i am a proud member, 22-0. i was very proud to vote "yes." let me repeat that. it passed 22-0. and because of that hard work led by senators alexander and murray, we are currently debating esea in the senate for the first time since 2001. that's 14 years. 14 years that we have not had a reauthorization bill come to the senate floor with a lot of hope that it will pass. this is a prime example of what is possible when the senate functions as it should and committees are actually able to legislate. recently 10 national education groups representing educators principals, school boards, superintendents, chief state school offic

i want to give credit to lamar alexander, senator alexander and to patty murray for joining together and doing the things necessary to improve that bill. the culture of education had shifted in this country to high-stakes testing to looking at measures that made no sense to educate artificial deadlines that could not be met. for even doing things that undermine the very goals and aspirations we have for our country which is to lead the globe in educational excellence. and so i'm encouraged that senator bennet and myself and the majority of this body agrees that this legislation needs to be changed, it is a left-right coalition that is encouraging to me. but i want to echo senator bennet's concerns about a problem that is not being addressed, that is a -- as the pendulum swings away from the problems of no child left behind that we do not create new ones that cut against the very ideals in which this legislation was put in place by lyndon johnson. lyndon johnson said clearly that this was a bill to bridge the gap in this country between help and the helpless, between those children wh