>> we have a very good relationship with her, with landrieu. i think it's well-known that we have worked very well across the aisle and across both chambers. that will continue and we will continue as well to aggressively pursue our programs with our executive authorities. >> thank you very much, mr. secretary. pleasure speaking with you. [applause] >> next up, we have thomas fanning, the chairman, president and c.e.o. of southern company. next spring, a new coal-fired power plant is being erected in the pine woods of rural mississippi. tom fanning, the chairman and c.e.o. of southern, has called the money $5.5 billion and counting a bitter pill to swallow. but with these high costs come high returns. most of the plant's carbon dioxide will be cop churd and carried -- captured and carried underground where it won't impact the client -- the climate. tom is here now to talk with the atlantic steve clemmons about the painful and costly road he has traveled to build the first-ever u.s. power plant designed to include commercial carbon-capture techn

. >> reporter: republican leaders say -- louisiana democrat senator mary landrieu was trying to save her job last month with the very same bill. >> mike emanuel live on capitol hill tonight. let's get more now on the president's approach to the new republican controlled congress. here's chief white house correspondent ed henry. >> reporter: president obama chose an in your face path taking this day of new begins and meeting with a bipartisan group of governors, rather than congressional republicans who will come to the white house next week. >> my main message to these governors is going to be let's figure out how to work together. and that's the same message that i'm going to have for congress. >> yet the president may have sent the opposite message of going around congress. plus, use a pending court case in nebraska to veto construction of the keystone xl pipeline. >> stay one, this bill. doesn't that send an odd message of cooperation. >> that spirit of good kneelfeels goes both ways. >> reporter: gop leaders charge the president is not listening to the american people when he tee

joining us now new orleans mayor mitch landrieu. congratulations on this. >> thank you so much.hat it took to get this done, and i should point out well again and ahead of the goal date. >> a couple of things first of all. have a sacred obligation. we always say we won't leave a social on battle feil. moral imperative we wouldn't leave him on the streets either and we thought this was well within our wheelhouse when we started building after katrina, one of the models we created down here was partnership, vertical and horizontal from the nonprofit side and the cooperation of everybody's help and the veterans. really pleased about it. a lot of work we still have to do. we have to sustain it over time because you get to a function of zero, can't end it totally because every day another veteran will become homeless. it's about setting up a system so that when you find a veteran on the streets you have a system set up to get him out and into permanent housing. >> with that system set up, does it also include help with mental health issues? >> of course. >> and also help getting a jo

it is well_known that we have a good relationship with senator landrieu, michalski, it is well_known that we have worked well across the aisle, and in both chambers. that will continue. we will continue as well to pursue our programs. >> thank you very much. [applause] >> next up is thomas fanning. next spring, a coal_fired power plant will be erected in mississippi. fanning has called the money __ $5.5 billion __ a bitter pill to swallow. with these high cost, come hhigh returns. tom fanning is here to talk about the painful and costly road that he has traveled to build the first ever u. s. power plant designed to include carbon capture technology. >> thank you so much. >> tom, thank you for joining us. i guess the big question i have is __ ddo you like ernest moniz? >> he is great. >> i heard you gave a talk in aspen a few years ago. you talked about carbon. you talked about ways to constrain carbon, and how to deploy that. you just opened this mississippi plant. beyond that, you are taking things to china. you are one of the big power guys. you also deploying your energy to the lo

chairman lisa murkowski on the senate energy committee next year as opposed to the chairwoman mary landrieu? >> when it comes to the climate action plan it is the main guide , to what we are doing in the energy space supplemented by energy security concerns and obviously driving the economy through the manufacturing programs, etc. we are exercising all of those programs through existing executive authority. we will continue to do that. >> so you don't want to deal with the senator? >> we have a good relationship with the senator. i think it is very well known that we have worked very well across the aisle and across both chambers. that will continue and we have continued as as world to aggressively pursue our programs with our executive authorities. >> it's a pleasure speaking with you. [applause] >> next we have the chairman president and ceo of southern company. next spring a new coal-fired power plant is being erected in the pine woods of oral mississippi. tom fanning has called the money $5.5 billion counting a bitter pill to swallow. but with these high costs come higher returns. most

we have 43 in richmond and 42 in land landrieu -- san leandro and mid-30's throughout the san ramon valley and into the north bay. it does not look too hazy from the east bay hills but as we head throughout the day that inversion will keep our temperatures warmer-than-average, but also keep the sky cover cloudy. high clouds at 66 inland and hazy sunshine and high clouds and above average everywhere and the coolest is the coast at 57 to 61 and around the bay we are 61 to 67. here is the traffic. >>> good morning everyone, we are going outside taking a look at the bay bridge toll plaza it is light where no problems and no metering lights. san rafael is looking good and the tail lights are headed beyond the civic center to lincoln and central san rafael with no delays into san francisco across the golden gate bridge. we have a couple of issues and we will go to eastbound 24, pleasant hill road a rollover off the side of the road and the tow truck kobe partly blocking the right lane. one area of road work this morning, west 237, that should be picked up by 5:00. >> a new leader at oakland city

politics involved because last november when democrats were trying pass the pipeline to help mary landrieu in louisiana, the white house was quiet about the veto threat. now that republicans are in control they're question -- very quick to say they're going block it. the first bite of the apple on what will be a very well exercised veto plan. >> they wanted to hold up the plan with homeland security. has the thing with paris changed that calculation? >> it has entered into the debate. next week they're going to start moving forward on the homeland security bill and republicans are going to try to put some constraints on some pourings of it. they're probably not going to be successful. and do republicans really want to be engaged in a fight over homeland security spending at a time when we have revived the issues of global threats and the rise of al qaeda? they would do it under c.r. keeping it running if they can't change the policy. that's in the weeds and remember -- regular people would look at it and say they're holding up homeland security funding. >> we've talked a lot about the veto

my lead co-sponsor on the democrat side was mary landrieu. up before the end of the year. it got 59 votes. now joe manchin is the lead democrat sponsor. so all along we anticipated bringing it up after the first of the year but senator landrieu wanted to give it a cry last year so we did. >> yesterday you said you're not sure you could override a veto. what are the options you're weighing? >> that's why we're having this open process or what's called regular order on the floor where we'll go through the committee, let republicans and democrats alike offer their amendments. if they can get 60 votes, those amendments pass and they're part of the bill. again, we hope to build more support for the bill by having that regular order open amendment process. >> senator hoeven always a pleasure to see you. >>> coming up more on the terror attacks on paris as freedom of speech and radical islam collide. (woman) the constipation and belly pain feel like a knot. how can i ease this pain? (man) when i can't go, it's like bricks piling up. i wish i could f

. >> yes it is a top agenda item because it's the first on the list largely to keep mary landrieu in the senate, it didn't pass, now they have the votes to pass it, but they don't according to schumer and in his last press conference of the year president obama for the very first time showed his cards a little bit on keystone. it looks like he's not in favor of the keystone xl pipeline and he would veto it. but in point of fact as it stands right now it's probably unlikely that we're going to be able to get an override of that veto. >> i want to get your thoughts here before we go, the superstar espn sports anchor stuart scott passed away, man he will be missed. the president issued a statement on this, i will miss stuart scott, 20 years ago stuart ushered in another way to talk about the teams. wherever i went coy flip on the tv and stuz and his colleagues on sports center were there. over the years he entertained us and inspired us with courage and love. michelle and i offer our condolences to his family. pretty unusual isn't it? >> pretty unusual for a president to issue a stateme

even the voters of louisiana marry landrieu in trying to keep her senate seat in a run off tried to make this her last stand and she stood no more. i think the presidencies and finally came through with this. he wants the last word on this. he gets the last word, and i think again, you can put this under the umbrella of presidential privilege, because he does get to act on this because it crosses an international border, and that's the way the law's written. i think it's probably a lose-win w. he loses with the republicans, says face with the democrats. >> there's some broad base support for this. >> that's fair. that's fair. i was talking in terms of the politics. this is not an item that's high on a lot of people's risks. to that end. >> gas price in free-fall, the president seems to feel fiscal winds at his back for once. about half of the increase in spending he's proposing would go to defense. can the president get some support from republicans who are defense hawks to actually get a budget through capitol hill? >> that will be interesting. you know, i was watching tempestuous john

i think that kind of approach, this budget was -- mayor landrieu knows it. it is been severely reduced. a lot of what we see on the ground. we have great partners back home. the fbi, the secret service homeland security, atf the dea probation and parole. they go to catch folks that seem to have disappeared. they pop up with them and next thing you know they're being hauled them. we have great relationships back home. we do not have the relationships that we used to have. given the insanity over in paris and other places in the world, we cannot take our eye off the ball of terrorism. we have homegrown neighborhood tabor is -- terrorists who terrorize her children when they go to school every day. they terrorize her old folks and senior citizens when they are tried to go about their business and terrorize folks were just going to work each and every day and feel like they can't go outside. where is their security administration for what it is their child to do with their lives? we want to be safe, at home and abroad. we are willing partners in this work. in th

veto it or not, he said that he will if it is the same bill that passed in december to help mary landrieuisiana. >> what happened? is the issue then dead? does it become campaign ads for people in the 2016 election? >> basically, that's what it is. what held us back in the senate a month ago was the lack of 60 votes and they probably have 60 votes now, there are democrats that favor it. >> that changed? he had hedged for a long time. and it certainly looked like he was heading toward not wanting this, and he was playing to his base and led leading up to the midterm elections but what after that made the president's mind up that this is not going through? >> we can read through this machiavellian aspect of this the political mischief, but it's the same bill that he threated to veto in december and why wouldn't he veto it now? and i want to bring up one more thing, ali that you and your audience might be interested in. harkening back to voodoo economics, and yes, they passed a bill today, a measure today, a rule in the house instructing the ceo of the budget office on use dynamic scoring wh

activity if you're dealing with the chairman on the senate energy committee next year as opposed landrieu? >> first of all when it comes to the kind of action plan, which is our main guide for what we are doing in the energy space, supplemented by energy security concerns, and obviously driving the economy through new manufacturing programs, et cetera. we are exercising all of those programs through existing executive authority. we will continue to do that. >> so you don't want to deal with senator murkowski? there's nowhere -- >> it's well-known we have a very good relationship with senator landrieu, with senator murkowski. i think it's well-known that we have worked very well across the aisle and across both chambers. that will continue and we have will continue to aggressively pursue our programs with our executive authorities. >> thank you, mr. secretary. it's a pleasure speaking with you. [ applause ] >>> next up we have thomas fanning, the chairman, president and ceo of southern company. next spring a new coal-fired power plant is being erected in the pine woods of rural mississippi

>> i would say mary landrieu. he touched on a couple of points earlier. the money before the runoff even really began. then this pathetic gambit with the keystone pass. it was very sad. >> i thought the biggest loser was eric kantor. in terms of a future i think the biggest loser was chris christie. i think he lost his political future this year. he lost in it bridgegate and not having good answers. talking about delegating to his staff. then he kind of lost it out there behaviorally on the street. >> all you've been doing is flapping your mouth and not doing anything. so listen you want to have the conversation later. i'm happy to have it. until that time sit down and shut up! so he's going to have to resist that sit down and shut up impulse in iowa and other places. >> and he'll have a hard time. new jersey is a different cultural place. than south carolina. >> they're very polite in new jersey, we're not so polite. i don't think you can be bully and be president. >> joy reid the biggest loser of 2014? >> continuing along my theme, i have to go with gov

he didn't say that back when mary landrieu was fighting for office and then you got in and he made verygoing to veto that. >> that's a good point. we had this debate back in december, the president didn't utter a word about vetoing it. your point is well made. and now that the very same bill is being called up by a republican majority leader he threatens to veto it. look, i think we get the message. he is controlled by the far left environmental extremists in this country. >> you've said today that you believe the president needs to help make divided government work. but what do you need to do as the new leader of the senate, now controlled by the gop, to make divided government work? >> well, megyn we're starting off with bills that enjoy substantial democratic support. >> in terms of sort of the process, do you need to golf with the president more? do you need to go have drinks at the white house? >> no. >> what will forge a different 2015 versus what we've seen in the past few years? >> the issue is not like smoozing. the issue is the president is very left wing. he does not want to

and a loflt democrats in the senate who were the natural constituents for keystone mary landrieu no longerhere, a liberal in the caucus. one of the sources of complaint from conservative members in the house against john boehner were that as you said, he wasn't moving through a agenda, he wasn't moving it through the house in a manner in which they preferred. for john boehner now, in order to retain this leadership knowing he still has this unhappy caucus that he hasn't really had a good track record of corralling do you think there will be pressure on him to try to send through some of these really strictly partisan measures if only just to mollify that ruckus caucus. >> reporter: not all of them in that most extreme -- >> i'm sorry. one moment. i think we have nancy pelosi starting her introduction of john boehner. i'm going to ask you to hold on for one second so we can listen in. >> to our newest members, it is a special pleasure to give you an exceptional welcome and congratulations. welcome to our newest members. as was indicated by the vote many of our colleagues from the state of n

there are democrats, of course we saw mary landrieu -- >> went down in flames. >> they sort of changed rules so she could vote in favor of it. there will be other democrats voting in favor. enough to have a veto proof majority? >> we'll see. i don't want to make a prediction. david: why not? that's what we're here for! make a prediction. do you think it is veto-proof bill on the president's desk? >> veto-proof? cheryl: what would veto-proof be though, what would that mean? david: 60 votes, 60 votes in the senate. that is veto-proof majority. cheryl: keystone? david: whether you have a veto-proof bill sent to the president on keystone. i would think that is possible. how about obamacare? >> so medical device repeal, that is a big thing. maybe some tax issues. the big thing here is the legal challenges. that i think is the bigger question mark. and that is something the courts will be handling separate from congress. so we'll see. david: okay. >> i don't know. it will be interesting to see what they come up with. >> immigration is another big issue. there was such an over reach by the pr

a picture of eastbound interstate 580 closed to the 164th commit in landrieu after -- in san lenadroone killed and one badly hurt. >> that is causing heavy delays approaching the area. you are diverted off at 164th and back on and what it is doing to 8980 not teach that is that -- not too much, that is a good alternate. around the bay area starting with the golden gate bridge, the life is clear and the bay bridge toll plaza is busy with the apporach from berkeley is packed. mike? >> three, our waves are half the size they will be this weekend with the high surf advisory with breakers up to 15' and gorgeous pictures from 2,600 miles up, from mount tamalpais it is fantastic. the coast will be breezy. 60 to 66 today, and warmer around the bay at 65 to 90 and the fog in the north bay will turn to haze at 64 to 70 and it is warmer this weekend. >> four a high surf advisory is in affect from sonoma county to the big sur coastline for to days bringing sneaker waves that are extra large waves that can sweep people out to sea with warm temperatures this weekend could bring a lot of people to

. >> we just had the former senator who just lost her seat, mary landrieu get in a lot of trouble forimply saying there were racial issues at play in louisiana. do you think maybe those issues might need to be resurfaced and discussed or is this just the past -- >> to the extent people try to suggest that racial disparities in health care education, and nicks do not exist in louisiana, they are looking the truth in the face and they don't see it. i mean mary spoke truthfully. the idea that some people would be offended by that certainly, i don't understand i don't get. it's important. louisiana is a great state. it's a home state. it's got great assets. we just had a great sugar bowl last night in new orleans. but it's also a state that when it comes to education and health care and a whole lot of issues rates at the bottom of the pack. so the idea is not to pretend it doesn't exist, but to deal with it, to work on it and not see a discussion of it is somehow being a negative thing. >> discussion and addressing sort -- you could say that about the whole country. thank you for being he

the fact that mary landrieu is fighting hard -- i don't know the result of the vote -- with the keystone xl pipeline vote in the senate and they're already saying we're go veto it anyhow and so here's an opportunity for the united states of america to produce, consume, and export energy resources, to undermine someone like a vladimir putin and venezuela and other opec countries. yet you have a bunch of radical environmentalists that refuse to see the objective truth. and it is creating jobs. look at curbing, oklahoma. it is creating jobs creating way. what's the unemployment rate in north dakota? zero. the unemployment raid in north dakota is zero because of the oil fields. how come you can't take that truth to people and they say you know what you're right. and so that's the problem. we have an incredible ideological separation in the united states of america. are we going to continue to be a constitutional republic or a welfare nanny state? that's the separation nat we're on right now. and if we end up having more people on the side of the welfare nanny state, as the detocqueville wrot

the fact that mary landrieu is fighting hard.i don't know what the results of the vote was for the keystone xl pipeline vote in the senate and they are saying we are going to veto any how. and so here is an opportunity for the united states of america to produce can you ask for, to undermine someone like vladimir putin in venezuela and its other opec countries, but yet you have a bunch of radical environmentalists have refused to see the objective truth. and it is creating jobs. look at cushing oklahoma. what is the unemployment rate in north dakota? zero. the unemployment rate in north dakota is zero because of the oil fields. how come you can't take that truth to people and they say you know what you are right. so that is the problem. with an incredible incredible ideological separation in the united states of america. are we going to continue to be a constitutional republic or are we going to become a welfare manage state? that is the separation we are on right now. if we end up having her people as the tocqueville wrote, demo

mary landrieu. >> trying to get it on their own, didn't happen. a dozen democrats vote for the 40-hour workweek last week. the president said i will veto both of these things. what can you believe in? >> can i ask you about immigration reform. in the official gop response it wasn't mentioned. what a cynic might read into that a bit. i'm not a cynic. can you explain what happened? >> i did an actuality yesterday, too. so we send it out to all te afilliates. i think in today's political world, you are going to have i think if you look on the democrat's side you will see almost every senator and congressman send out a press release with their response. i don't think it's that strange to have multiple people giving multiple response. >> why not immigration response in english. >> i think the president screwed things up in regard to immigration reform by overreaching taking his executive action. i think by his own off again. >> the response -- >> i think we have been talking about this executive am necessity the president has taken illegally for a long

it was done in behalf of mary landrieu. it failed to advance. least 63 votes in support which gets it beyond and allows it to be debated. what we expect to happen is there will be several days of debate. this is a truncated week because republicans go up to pennsylvania for their policy retreat. tonight, you will see debate beginning on various amendments. it will continue next week while the president comes to the state of the union. in the house, they are dealing with funding for the department of homeland security. house republicans are expected to bring a bill to the floor that would fund the department but it would have amendments that would put restrictions on various parts they can do regarding the executive orders. it will head to the senate. we have until february 27 to see if they can create a plan. republicans will get concessions and make it harder for the department to implement what the president would like to do. >> are the republicans on board? guest: we will have to see. there is a sense to do something and respond to what the p

that came out in november-december right after the mary landrieu failed bid in the senate. is this a smart point for the president to fight on or is it better at some point to hand out a few bones to the republican congress and let things go through that clearly the american people are for rather than being on the wrong side of the american people? >> as the president just said, it's the things he believed in. it's been framed as a jobs issue. but heather's point is saying the president gets the republicans' priorities. the republicans' priorities are a political side show rather than the real problems americans are facing, education, all the things the american people care about. keystone is a side show. it's not up to the congress or the president to approve. it's up to a nebraska supreme court to approve the keystone pipeline and nebraska has blocked in the courts because the farmers don't want it. it's up to the state department and not up to the president. leland: i want to let mary katharine get in here. this goes through multiple states. 42,000 jobs could be created

. >> we all remember what happened with mary landrieu when she was trying to hold her spot.hrough but it was want to be. how quickly do you think that's going to happen? what's the time line to have that on the president's desk? >> i expect it to come out of the energy committee tomorrow and get it to the president's desk within a week or so. but the president hopefully will be reaching out. he's invited the leadership of congress to the white house next tuesday so we'll have an opportunity, i'll be in that meeting to specifically make the case for the keystone x.l. pipeline the american jobs getting our economy moving people back to work. people know what they want. they want a healthy economy republicans have campaigned to change the direction that barack obama has taken the country. you know, this last election it was a rejection election. the president's policies were on the ballot and they have lost. >> what do you make of -- you know obviously it's on the other side of the building there but this debate over john boehner as leader and those who say that they don't beli

what they call the young pri -- jungle primary which is very different from louisiana where mary landrieulity in the primary and by most state law that would have been enough for her to win re-election. but in louisiana she has to have a runoff in order to get 50%. and that's different than b the party primary in michigan. so one of the challenges we have is repairing the omission of writers of the constitution and ask ourselves do we want a federal system controlling the nomination process for president and dicting to the states the nomination process whereby parties get their nominees to the final ballot. i happen to think that would be a good idea. it would mean amending the constitution which i don't like. i voted against constitutional amendments just on general principles because i think the constitution is pretty much fine the way it is. but on this one i would support some kind of careful analysis of how we recognize in a modern and national state a political process that makes sense. because we don't have one now. >> i would just make two additional points. number one, i think th

that is very different from louisiana he -- louisiana where mary landrieu won the plurality, and i most states it would be enough for reelection, but in louisiana she had to go into a runoff to get 50%, which is different than the pot -- than the party primary in michigan. so, one of the challenges that we have is repairing the omission of the writers of the constitution. ask ourselves -- do we want a federal system trolling the nomination process for president? and dictating to the states the nomination process whereby parties get their nominees to the final ballot? i happen to think that that would be a good idea. it would mean amending the constitution, which i don't like. i voted against constitutional amendments on but -- based on general principles, i think is fine the way it is. but on this one? i would support some kind of careful analysis of how we recognize, in a modern, national state a political process that makes sense. because we do not have one now. >> i would make two additional points. you were one, the average voter turnout in the primary is less than 20%. between 15%

landrieu because i think naturally she's kind of exhausted after that election.trol. so those are the only two governor's races. there are some state legislative races but we all know it's about the presidential contest. every year is explicitly political, tucker. >> that's for sure. a year from now you and i tapd rest of us will be in iowa likely because the primaries will have begun. so the democratic side hasn't gotten a lot of attention. obviously hillary clinton is the front-runner at this point. she hasn't officially entered but she is leading the polls for sure. but there are other potential kand talts. one is a sitting vice president of the united states joe biden. do you expect him to run? >> if you made me guess today tucker, i'm just guessing, i would say no. he's lost two presidential races prior. he doesn't seem to have the enthusiasm needed to run against hillary clinton. he doesn't seem to relish that opportunity. and, you know, he's going to be 73 during the election year. he would actually be 74 before taking the oath of office as president were

we launched the mayor's challenge to end homelessness and mitch landrieu of new orleans stepped up. new orleans became the first major city to wipe out homelessness among veterans and we could not be prouder of that. thank you. [applause] >> and mayor greg in phoenix and mayor ralph becker of salt lake city are closing in on that goal as well. we issued my brother's keeper community challenge to create pathways of success for boys and young men of color and all young people and over 10050 local and tribal leaders have stepped up so in birmingham mayor william bell and business leaders created a mentoring program and in new haven mayor is canvassing to connect to kids with services and support. that's what mayors do. they get things done. they make things happen. and on other urgent issues like responding to climate change or getting more families ensured, rebuilding infrastructure and making sure our youngest americans get the best start in life may kwrorz like you are helping to get it done and we want to help. so i had a chance to meet some folks earlier before i came out here and

it was done in behalf of mary landrieu. it failed to advance. they have at least 63 votes in support which gets it beyond and allows it to be debated. what we expect to happen is there will be several days of debate. this is a truncated week because republicans go up to pennsylvania for their policy retreat. tonight, you will see debate beginning on various amendments. it will continue next week while the president comes to the state of the union. in the house, they are dealing with funding for the department of homeland security. house republicans are expected to bring a bill to the floor that would fund the department but it would have amendments that would put restrictions on various parts they can do regarding the executive orders. it will head to the senate. we have until february 27 to see if they can create a plan. republicans will get concessions and make it harder for the department to implement what the president would like to do. >> are the republicans on board? guest: we will have to see. there is a sense to do something and respond

you'll see assistant chief ryan landrieu.if you're so inclined at the end of this, walk over introduce yourself, and he will give you a business card and a point of contact if there's a specific inquiry whether it's tell me about i-19 checkpoint over the past year, i want to know how many apprehensions were made at that checkpoint and to the extent that we can do that without -- whatever the question is if we're able to release that data, we'll get it to you. fair enough? thank you. >> do we have anyone else? ooh, i'm sorry. ma'am? >> my name's jeanette -- [inaudible] and i'm from the australian embassy here in washington d.c. i just had a question, more technical question about your risk-based metrics and how you use them in calculating the sort of border flows. marley, how do you -- particularly, how do you measure what you don't know? so for those where you haven't apprehended someone, how do you factor those into your risk metrics? >> that's a great point. that's the question even when i first came up in 2010. i've heard

authorizers and our new member senator cassidy and we will continue to work on the work that landrieu has done for years there. the administration's energy review to something that has been of interest to many of us. critical minerals and the oversight hearings and we will be holding the budget hearings to consider the president's request. i want us to get back to the practice where we bring in the secretary of energy and i have been asked as i wandered here through the past few days i don't think it's any secret secret. they probably should have called in, but it does outline my philosophy and it's pretty simple. energy is good. energy is good. it's vital to prepare and teaching that energy abundant and clean, diverse, and secure. so there is no acronym but it is arranged alphabetically. you can remember that. i do think that we should be confident as a committee and as a congress that we can make progress towards these goals by further strengthening supply and modernizing infrastructure and supporting efficiency yensy and ensuring accountability. these four areas will form the basis

which is very different from louisiana, where mary landrieu won the plurality in the primary and by moste law that would have been enough for her to win re-election, but in louisiana, she has to have a runoff in order to get 50%. and that's different than the party primary in michigan. so one of the challenges we this is reparg the omissionwe omission of the writers of the constitution and ask ourselves do we want a federal system controlling the nomination process for president, and dictating to the states the nomination process whereby parties get their nominees to the final bow. i think that would be a good idea. it would mean amending the constitution, which i don't like, i voted against constitutional amendments just on general principles because i think the constitution is pretty much fine the way it is. but on this one, i would support some kind of careful analysis of how we recognize in a modern and national state a political process that makes sense. because we don't have one now. >> i would make two additional points. number one i think the average voter turnout in primaries is

replaced it with what they call the jungle primary, which is very different from louisiana where mary landrieu won the plurality in the primary and by most state law that would have been enough for her to win reelection. but in louisiana she had to have a runoff in order to get 50%. and that's different than the party primary in michigan. so one of the challenges we have is repairing the omission of the writers of the constitution and ask ourselves do we want a federal system controlling the nomination process for president and dictating to the states the nomination process, whereby parties get i happen to think that would be a good idea. it would mean amending the constitution, which i don't like. i vote against constitutional amendments on general principle because i think it is pretty much fine the way it is. on this one? i would support some kind of careful analysis of how we recognize in a modern and national state a political process that makes sense. we don't have one now. >> i would make two additional points. i think the average voter turnout and primaries is less than 20%. imagine 15

senator coats and senator landrieu and our house colleagues worked so well. they provide the necessary -- to come up with the bill. they provide resources for d.h.s. with the total funding of $49 billion an increase of over $400 million above the fiscal year 2014. we could pass that today. we could pass it on monday, we could pass it on tuesday. all my democratic colleagues and i wrote a letter to senator mcconnell asking him to schedule an immediate vote on a clean vote on homeland security. well let's see where we go on that. what we have here, the clean bill offered by senator shaheen, now the chair -- excuse me, now the ranking member on the homeland subcommittee on appropriations, and i, have a compromise funding bill that gives certainty to the people who work on the front lines to secure the nation. whether it's securing the border whether it's building capacity to meet agriculture and biological threats whether it's replacing aging nuclear detection equipment also helping our coast guard build their national security cutter so the coast guard can prot

remember when democrats offered up this bill to save mary landrieu's senate seat? remember this? it didn't seem as though the white house had a problem with that and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, he noted the hypocrisy. listen. >> he says it's interesting to note that the president declined to issue a veto threat last month when a democrat senator was trying to save her job over the exact thing, keystone bill. once again the president is standing in the way of a shovel-ready jobs project that would help thousands of americans. >> you sound just like him. >> steve, it's very true, you do a great mitch mcconnell. >> thank you. >> this is a expoard bill by a -- cosponsored bill. you have 54 republicans going to vote for it 6 democrats. the question is do you get 67 votes to override the president's veto which technically could be a bad move. what does he specifically cite for the reasons to veto the pipeline? they are still studying and there is a court case on how it would or would not go through the state. easy to overcome. round one to you steve because yesterday i chos

caller: i did not vote for mary landrieu. host: did you vote for her in the past? caller: i have.ut i began to see her -- she is a corporate hack. she needed to go. even though she is a democratic, and i basically believe in democrat principles, she needed to go. she was not serving the democrat party agenda. host: thank you for calling in. theron -- caller: i was raised in a democrat household. my first vote was republican -- i voted for reagan in the 1980's. i voted for the caucus in 1988. but i evolved into a libertarian. i am really more of a libertarian than everything, but you guys call me an independent so i figured i would let you know that there are a lot of people who are affiliated with libertarian or socialists or green party. and we all considered libertarian by c-span -- i see what you do that. but the republican and democratic parties are two sides of the same coin. if americans really evaluate their values, a lot of them with you there more libertarian, small l if not large l. host: thank you. this treat says independence do not choose to be. they are indie by defa

over here in the senate, i remember that the senator from louisiana, senator landrieu, was urging in almost desperate terms that senator harry reid allow a vote on the keystone x.l. pipeline after denying it for many many, many months, even years. well we know what happened. it failed because very few democrats on that side of the aisle decided to support the keystone x.l. pipeline. perhaps it was because even at that time the president said he was undecided whether to sign it or to veto it. well, you know, at a time when the president has said -- of course he says lots of things, but i've learned one thing around washington, d.c. you can't just listen to what people say. you have to watch what they do. and the president indicated with the start of this new congress following the november 4 election that he was looking forward to working with the new congress in a constructive way. well i just have to ask you mr. president, is it constructive to issue a veto threat on a piece of legislation before it's even voted out of the energy committee and isn't even on the floor for considerati

it was done in behalf of mary landrieu. it failed to advance.have at least 63 votes in support which gets it beyond and allows it to be debated. what we expect to happen is there will be several days of debate. this is a truncated week because republicans go up to pennsylvania for their policy retreat. tonight, you will see debate beginning on various amendments. it will continue next week while the president comes to the state of the union. in the house, they are dealing with funding for the department of homeland security. house republicans are expected to bring a bill to the floor that would fund the department but it would have amendments that would put restrictions on various parts they can do regarding the executive orders. it will head to the senate. we have until february 27 to see if they can create a plan. republicans will get concessions and make it harder for the department to implement what the president would like to do. >> are the republicans on board? guest: we will have to see. there is a sense to do something and respond to wha