my hope is that we will get to these things and that we will, you know, senator leahy, chairman leahy has written a lot of the ecpa laws in the past, and i think and hope we'll get to this. >> host: and finally, senator franken, what's the next step with regard to the comcast/time warner cable proposed merger with regard to senate judiciary committee? >> guest: i don't know. i'd like to see us do more hearings, but we'll see. >> host: and have you shared your views with doj and the fcc at this point? >> guest: yes, we have. we've been as soon -- as soon as proposed deal was announced, i wrote to both doj and the fcc to express my concerns, and i've had a running correspondence with them. >> host: senator al franken, democrat of minnesota and a member of the senate judiciary committee. thanks for join ising us on "the communicators," sir. >> guest: thank you. >> host: and tony romm of politico, what did you hear from senator franken will specifically about comcast? >> guest: sure. it's not over is what we heard. not just because senator franken wants another hearing, but because there

my hope is that we will get to and senator leahy, a lotan leahy has written of the laws in the past. i think and hope we will get to this. >> what is the next step in regards to the comcast-time warner cable proposed merger with regard to the senate judiciary committee? >> i don't know. to see is due more hearings, but we will see. >> -- us do more hearings, but we will see. >> have you shared your views with the fcc and doj? >> yes. as soon as the proposed deal was announced, i wrote to both the doj and fcc to express my concerns. senator al franken, democrat of minnesota and member of the senate judiciary committee. thank you for joining us on "the communicators." what did you hear from senator franken there, specifically about comcast? >> it's not over is basically what we heard from senator franken, not just because he wants another hearing, but because there are hearings still to come. the house judiciary committee plans to hold its look at this deal. they might hold another hearing on this, partly because comcast filed its formal documents with thefcc just hours before senate j

us senator leahy arguing that usaid is currently deployed in her purse is a rest the agency is putting more of its workers address by engaging in these sorts of missions we're having. usa idea book. do this. something that anybody who has any knowledge of the cuban secret police. work is going to be discovered. doesn't that came all you have said the boys around the world as spies. no doctor or future also testified for the house appropriations subcommittee this afternoon. were you received some similar tough questions about cupid and twitter. then he'll be testifying as more hearings in the coming days to discuss usaid funding levels for fiscal year twenty fifty whether he wants to or not he's going to have to continue to defend his agency's tactics. she claims are in line with us its primary mission to end extreme poverty and promote democratic societies. with one of the agency's workers a cuban jail and reports of this cuban twitter fiasco in the media. lawmakers say usa is behaving more like a clandestine and c i a operative. rather than international development organization. the

then, senator patrick leahy blocks military aid to egypt while denouncing the sentencing of 683 supporters of the muslim brotherhood to death in what he called a sham trial. >> nobody, nobody can justify this. it does not show democracy. it shows a dictatorship run amok. >> we will go to cairo to speak with democracy now correspondent sharif abdel kouddous and to a member of the muslim brotherhood living in exile in england. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. an oklahoma death row prisoner has died of a heart attack after a botched execution tuesday night. clayton lockett was injected elite -- with lethal drugs. doctors halted the killing 13 minutes and when discovering he was still conscious and trying to speak. dr. say he suffered a ruptured vein interrupting the flow of the drugs. he died of a heart attack when the drugs had spread through his body. the botched killing forced officials to cancel the execution of another prisoner, charles warner. won alocket and warner stay of execution earlier this month a

. >> i'm turning to senator leahy who spoke to me about the heroin problem and is continued to speak in a very forceful way. can hear where we are here, mr. attorney general. senator boseman has outlined how in some ways the federal government are enablers, from the post office, to the dea, etc.g drugs to one group, this is where the interagency task force needs to happen, and i think sooner rather than later. senator leahy, i know you have spoken on this and of course we are eager to hear your questions , and again your expertise in this area. >> madam chair, i appreciate about whatve said i've been doing. the attorney general and i have known each other for a long time, long before he was attorney general we have talked about this a great yield. dayw the article the other -- a great deal. i saw the article the other day post where somebody is having an overdose in new jersey and the person with them can call for medical help without being arrested themselves. we did this thing called the place in burlington, vermont, for seven or eight years back in the late 60's and early 70's, be

staff of both chairman leahy and my staff attended. the f.b.i. brought the head of their insider threat program, yet the f.b.i. didn't bring the insider threat training materials as we had requested. however, the head of the insider threat program told the staff of both senator leahy and mine that there was no need to worry about whistle-blower communications. now, they're telling you -- telling me that at a time when we got decades of history of whistle-blowers being treated like skunks at a picnic. this gentleman said whistle-blowers had to register in order to be protected, and the insider threat program would know to just avoid these people. and now i have never heard of whistle-blowers being required to --quote, unquote -- register in order to be protected. the idea of such a requirement should be pretty alarming to all americans. you're talking about patriotic americans just wanting to make sure that the government does what the law says it should do and spend money the way congress intended it be spent, and you have to register to be prote

leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i thank the distinguished senior senator from alaska for yielding, and i was interested in hearing her speech, too. and i have 11 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the apriewl of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed ato understand a printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, you represent the beautiful state of massachusetts. consider i in your state of massachusetts, if 15% of the land area of your state was littered with 100,000 land mines. or my state of vermont, which is slightly larger in land area, if we were littered with 100,000 land mines. and think of these as each one a tiny explosive buried a few inches beneath the surface of the ground, and they explode when an unsuspected person steps on it. each one is capable of killing a child or blowing the legs off of an adult. now, that may sound far-fetched,

the government said there's a specific definition of covert but leahy said no, they were kept in the dark about it. >> jack gilliam reporting, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> extraterrestrial life in our solar system, the idea fostered countless movies and airport novels. now nasa made a discovery suggesting it could be possible. i know it sounds crazy but scientists have found an ocean under the surface of one of saturn's moons which could actually suggest life source. they're planning to send a spacecraft now to investigate further. our science correspondent has more. >> hidden away among one of saturn's glistening rings is a place that might be home to alien life. these are real pictures taken by a nasa spacecraft. a tiny world just 300 miles across. the cracks, which scientists call tiger stripes, appear like scratches. and these are jets of water spraying out from its south pole. we now know that these features on the icy surface are caused by a deep ocean underneath. >> i'm very excited to find there's a water ocean under the surface. so in water you have one of the ingre

senator leahy quoted as saying, dumb, dumb, dumb.uel joins us broke the story, had the story this morning. i read it and had to have you hear. what is this? >> you can't just make this stuff up. the associated press got all these documents that shows that this plot that we had to make this network down there. they named it after the sound humming bird makes, the slang words that the cubans use for that it was a whole network using text messages. to dry to undermine the cuban regime. >> twitter. >> facsimile. this was the way that the cubans were supposed to be able to talk to each other and all being done secretly by the u.s. agency for international development. u.s.a. id which were used to doing things like humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. and instead they were running this sort of rub rosa operation down there. >> how much did it cost and who paid it and authorized it. >> numbers are still tallying up. this is the thing that i think is interesting. this plot cost tens of thousands of dollars that went directly to the c

senator patrick leahy chairs the senate judiciary committee. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible] [inaudible] >> all took the oath. and i welcome everybody here. i'm going to be the chair and ranking member of the committee with jurisdiction was senator klobuchar in senator lee taking over the hearing at some point during the morning and i appreciate the work both of them have done in getting us here. the original business that cable industry develop -- delivering cable television programming as we all know migrated to the internet. the industry has been changed in response. consumers can now watch what they want and when they want and if any of us have any question about it ask our children or grandchildren. they will explain it to us. but when companies like comcast and time warner cable were founded the term binge watching was unheard of and now it describes how many americans watch their favorite shows. cable companies have moved beyond television and networks to provide broadband. they now sole-source the service for millions of americans

senator leahy says this is not democracy, but a dictatorship run amok.ntil that changes, he says the u.s. will be keeping its cash. >> al jazeera continues to call for the release of its journalists held in egypt. the trial has been adjourned until may the 3rd. they've been in gaol for 123 days. peter greste, mohamed fadel fahmy, and baher mohamed are falsely accused of providing a platform to the muslim brotherhood. al jazeera relates all the charges. >> abdullah al-shami, a fourth journalist in detention has been held without trial since august. he's been on hunger strike for 100 days. authorities refuse him medical attention. he began his hunger strike on january 21st, taking milk, juice and two dates. he weighed 128. two weeks in he went to liquids. by march he was taking juice and water, and 15 days later abdullah al-shami limited himself to water. 10 days ago he weighed 74 kilos, meaning he's lost 34 kilograms. >>> still ahead here on this newshour... ..pro-russian groups seize buildings in another eastern ukrainian town. >>> plus, simple message.

. >> joining me now patrick leahy. were you aware of this program in cuba? >> no, absolutely not. if i had been i would have said what in heavens name are you thinking? this is dumb, dumb, dumb. now, u said has done april lot of important things to the world. but this is not something that was declared to us. if you're going to do a covert operation like this foreregime change, assuming it ever makes any sense, it's not something that should be done through usaid. they do a lot of great things around the world. i applaud a lot of things they do. i've visited in different parts of the poorest parts of the world. things that they are doing well. this is not one of them. dr. shaw will be before the appropriations subcommittee on tuesday. he's going to have to answer some very specific questions. this -- what they were trying to do here makes me think of people i somehow think still at the state department and writing memos they were writing back to president ice eisenhower, if wey tough, the castro brothers will be out of there any day now. they've been saying that for 60 years. this

i want to thank chairman leahy for holding this hearing. what we're talking about today is a $45 billion deal that would combine the nation's biggest and the nation's second biggest cable companies, and the nation's biggest and the nation's third biggest internet service providers. there's no doubt that comcast is a huge influential corporation. i understand there are over 100 lobbyists making the case for this deal to members of congress and our staffs. but i've also heard from over 100,000 consumers who oppose this deal. and i think their voices need to be heard, too. as members of the senate judiciary committee, we are here to question whether this deal is good for competition, whether it's in the public interests. i'm against this deal. because i believe it does not meet either test. i believe this deal will result in fewer choices, higher prices, and even worse service for my constituents. comcast has argued that there's nothing to worry about here, because it doesn't compete with time warner cable in any zip code. mr. cohen has told r

>> senator leahy, let me address alan gross -- >> first answer the question, who's idea was this. >> it was designed in 2007 and 2008. at that time frame. that said, the legislation that crafts the purpose of the program -- >> whose idea was it? i read the legislation. it doesn't say anything about sitting up a cockamamy idea in cuba with twitter accounts on something that the cubans would be so easy to discover. whose idea was this specific program to go to cuba? who? it's a simple question. >> senator, the program was in place before i arrived. >> do you know whose idea it was? i know it was in place before. i said that in my opening statement, but you do know whose idea it was? >> first let me say -- i think this is important, sir and i greatly respect your point of view. that ap story had a number of critical inaccuracies. >> i'll put that in the record -- i'll put it in the record both your response to the ap story and the ap story. having said that, do you know whose idea it was? >> i do not specifically but i will say this, that working on creating platforms to improve communi

. >> i want to play a comment of democratic senator patrick leahy of vermont.sterday and talked about the secret cuban twitter program. >> what they're trying to do makes me think of people -- i somehow think they're still at the state department and writing memos that they were writing back to president eisenhower. if we just stay tough, those castro brothers will be out of there any day now. they have been saying that for 60 years. this may no sense at all. i was not briefed. nobody was briefed on this. i think most people would say, are you out of your mind? usaids not a program should be involved with. for one thing, it accomplished practically nothing. government, we saying, thisney wasn't secret. yet ap gets these memos from a like the one in 2010 from mobile accord, one of the projects contractors -- there's no mention of the u.s. government involvement. this is crucial for the long-term success of the service and to ensure the success of the mission. peter kornbluh? >> of course it is secret. jay carney is misleading the american public. this is one of

de noticias ap lo sacÓ a relucir, por quÉ hacerlo escondido, da la impresiÓn y lo decÍa el senador leahytÁ tratando de darle oportunidades de comunicaciÓn a lugares, a paÍses donde existen gobiernos totalitarios, como irÁn, como corea del norte, como cuba, uno no puede anunciarle a esos gobiernos que le vamos a dar estas oportunidades a ese pueblo para poder comunicarse y por lo tanto hay que hacerlo con discreciÓn, no es una cuestion secreta, es una cuestiÓn de hacerlo con discreciÓn, sin letreros diciendo que esto es el gobierno de los estados unidos que lo estÁ tratando de hacer. ahora, lo que ha sido muy pÚblico es la polÍtica de todas las administraciones, el presidente bush, el presidente obama, la secretaria de estado clinton, estaba muy abiertamente hablaba de que hay que ayudar que en los paÍses donde no hay libertad de expresiÓn, que puedan utilizar el internet y buscar formas de utilizar la tecnologÍa para que el pueblo se pueda comunicar, eso es lo que se hizo, no se hizo en una forma secreta, se hizo en una forma discreta pero es interesante, el que mÁs ha criticado a esto y

hopeful leahy got a toy out of -- hopefully he got a toy out of that thing. >> walking across the street is scare restuff. >> he is the human claw. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. i would have a heart attack if my child disappeared. at least they were reunited. i want to show you something that was incredible. did you see the blood moon? this was the toe tall lunar eclipse near brentwood. beautiful picture. hope you got to check it out. it was incredible. i will bring you up to the present time. look at this time lapse from our xgo -- from our kgo camera. it is a wayneing gibbous moon. now let's check out live doppler 7hd. there is a patch of fog around half moon bay. visibility is about four miles. most of the bay area is dealing with clear conditions. from the exploratorium camera, the financial district, no fog there. 54 in san francisco and 53 in oakland. the temperatures right now in the mid50s. san jose, redwood city, 46 in half moon bay and from our emeryville camera, we can see clearly across the bay. that is a good indication that it will be a nice day tomorrow. 53 in santa ros

. >> it reminds me a little bit of chairman leahy's remarks. when he got to the senate, he thought that the seniority system was really unfair and archaic. but as he spent more and more time here, he decided that it is a better and better idea. i think the annette -- the same analysis applies to this decision. the richer you are, the more you think that this decision could be a good idea. but if you are a medical -- if you are a middle class american and you cannot make significant donations, then washington is paying too much attention to wealthy concerns, then this kicks the door wide open. >> what is the impact on new york city and its impact on washington? >> i think that any city -- new york has a lot of wealthy people. but this does not have a geographic effect. it has an economic effect. the wealthy -- the wealthier you are, the more weight you will have in this democracy. the frightening thing about this decision is what were the limitations on it? the limitations were the facts of the case, not the supreme court logic. the supreme cour

senator patrick leahy of vermont, chair of the committee, voiced concerns about the possible merger and the lack of competition in the cable t-v- marketplace. medicare is becoming more transparent for the first time in decades as figures on doctor compensation are released. data from 20-12 finds of 77 billion dollars in federal spending...payments topping 10 million dollars each went to only seven doctors. the top 2% of doctors in the system made a total of 15 billion dollars. doctors tell abc news they dispute the data because they say much of the money goes to drug companies. teens are pulling back on prom spending. a survey by visa shows the average american high schooler will plunk down $978 dollars this year for attire, limos, dinner and prom tickets. its 14% less than last year when spending topped $1,000. consumers are hopping to the mall in a wave of easter spending but are still expected to spend less than they did, last easter pent up demand after a long, cold winter will likely see consumers ready to spend on new spring dresses and chocolate eggs says the national retail fede

hopeful leahy got a toy out of -- hopefully he got a toy out of that thing. >> walking across the street is scare restuff. >> he is the human claw. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. i would have a heart attack if my child disappeared. at least they were reunited. i want to show you something that was incredible. did you see the blood moon? this was the toe tall lunar eclipse near brentwood. beautiful picture. hope you got to check it out. it was incredible. i will bring you up to the present time. look at this time lapse from our xgo -- from our kgo camera. it is a wayneing gibbous moon. now let's check out live doppler 7hd. there is a patch of fog around half moon bay. visibility is about four miles. most of the bay area is dealing with clear conditions. from the exploratorium camera, the financial district, no fog there. 54 in san francisco and 53 in oakland. the temperatures right now in the mid50s. san jose, redwood city, 46 in half moon bay and from our emeryville camera, we can see clearly across the bay. that is a good indication that it will be a nice day tomorrow. 53 in santa ros

that is why we are supporting the efforts of senator lee, senator leahy, senator durbin to make changes to our federal system. >> i have a few seconds left but this is important, i think. a lot of us are raised -- we are concerned about the issue of race, dealing with the inspector general. i think congress has been clear , as has this committee, that the inspector general must have unfettered access to any and all documents necessary to carry out his duties. do you disagree with that? >> i would say that the inspector general should have access to those materials necessary to do the investigations that he does in consistent with the laws that govern some of the material that he might want access to -- >> it is all consistent with the law. >> the law is written in such away that with regard to certain requests that are made, the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has to make the determination that it can be appropriately shared. one thing i would point out, there has never been an instance as long as i have been attorney general that the inspector general asked for material

hopeful leahy got a toy out of -- hopefully he got a toy out of that thing. >> walking across the street is scare restuff. >> he is the human claw. i'm meteorologist sandhya patel. i would have a heart attack if my child disappeared. at least they were reunited. i want to show you something that was incredible. did you see the blood moon? this was the toe tall lunar eclipse near brentwood. beautiful picture. hope you got to check it out. it was incredible. i will bring you up to the present time. look at this time lapse from our xgo -- from our kgo camera. it is a wayneing gibbous moon. now let's check out live doppler 7hd. there is a patch of fog around half moon bay. visibility is about four miles. most of the bay area is dealing with clear conditions. from the exploratorium camera, the financial district, no fog there. 54 in san francisco and 53 in oakland. the temperatures right now in the mid50s. san jose, redwood city, 46 in half moon bay and from our emeryville camera, we can see clearly across the bay. that is a good indication that it will be a nice day tomorrow. 53 in santa ros

this is a joke right now i'll roll with the leahy on the sixth floor and this is the aforementioned conservatory building the bullet trajectory and the candle at which a kid our room podium to suggest that the book was fired from the multiple within the building on the core of my gown and according to the sd cheap it was controlled by the bygone self defense force at that time but the fact that my gown self defence force had recently cleared the building as claimed in a tweet by one of the activist does little to establish that room and given what we've heard from the foam as you change as well as in the conversation with the story is forty minutes and the youth catherine ashton ochoa very strong current spending. it's my first payment because of temple beach but it was the victim didn't punish the identity of the mind of snipers remain a mystery despite the grey interior ministries. thank goodness the beach. it's your shirts t talk t. it was about to break it we explain how your own computer poses a real pain to the thousands of them will win it for a little way. it's insulting. aye aye aye aye

failed to injury sixpence almost every scene from tnt series trucks some of them gets more expensive leahy her sons' sons and my sister percent every two bit more expensive in amongst us. what women to us and you see a thing. there are no problems was too which for now there is enough for me to try are changed almost every day. potatoes carrots and me too attached to him in the south. cucumbers are local so they can get up and down the coast was fourteen for defining our own needs coast eat eat eat and seventy two eighteen and reached sixty five. it's expensive earlier it's best to keep trying. but the thing that yet. then there's hope this so called transition period to our list long and the situation on the lights customers aren't rich chocolaty price coast example and any wages and pensions race falls to catch up with braces. but day two was set to turn and it was sixteen i was sixteen. mix it up i say household products in the top ever since it up but left with britain and the next increase the next month and asserts the force winds. then sue the hits the ball hit the two companies. ye

leahy ninety percent of your clicks are in a band that circles the pacific ocean the pacific ring of bollinger is known as one of the most violent i'll volcanic and seismic regions in the world the boy has it been an active month along the pacific rim of the american arts. this was way beyond anything i've ever spent with in the past month monterey two powerful earthquakes rattled people in chile on tuesday following an eight point two magnitude quake killing at least six at magnitude five quake sin both mexico and peru hit the last thirty days. even the western u s was shaken recently when yellowstone national park experienced its biggest quake in more than three decades. southern california was struck with a series of tremors in the past two weeks the most significant of five point one traveler about forty km south east of los angeles followed by more than one hundred fifty aftershocks kicking off what experts say is the most seismic activity southern california has seen in two decades. and there seems to be fluctuation and you know sometimes in an hour we have a lot. the question

i would also note the leahy war victims fund has been an important part of that, including the money i have gotten through appropriations to clear these land mines. but this girl, this girl and there are countless more like her, thousands of new mine victims each year show the other tragic side of the story. i mentioned on the floor here the other day about the bosnia conflict. talking to a young teenager, young teenaged girl in the hospital. she had been sent away by her parents to a safe place during that war. the war ended, the army left the field. she could come home, she is running down the road, calling out to her parents and steps on a land mine and loses both her legs. she wasn't a combatant. the war wasn't even going on anymore. it was supposed to be safe. she became a victim. so many of these victims. now, americans by and large also condemn the use of these land mines, but they expect more than they are getting from their government, and so do i. so should every member of congress. it's been 20 years since president bill clinton at the united nations called for the elimina

the repeated claims by us in the program was not covert were belied by lawmakers late sen patrick leahy has two claimed earlier this month but he didn't know about it the legislation say anything about setting up a mini idea in cuba with twitter accounts and all for now the coast region government claims that they didn't know about it either. despite reports the base of operations present scenario was run from within their country. cursory his communications minister told the ap quotes. the government of the republic was not aware of this. we are waiting the reply of the government of the united states. history does largest newspaper revealed the foreign ministry officials were tipped off to us its plans for zoos emailed back in two thousand i tell us embassy they want no part of it and refusing to grant diplomatic status to two u s government contractors working on the program according to an internal memo to the coaster region foreign ministry. there were concerns that the project quotes could create a situation politically inconvenient. since it can be interpreted that would violate

i want to thank chairman leahy for holding this hearing. what we're talking about today is a $45 billion deal that would combine the nation's biggest and the nation's second biggest cable companies, and the nation's biggest and the nation's third biggest internet service providers. there's no doubt that comcast is a huge influential corporation. i understand there are over 100 lobbyists making the case for this deal to members of congress and our staffs. but i've also heard from over 100,000 consumers who oppose this deal. and i think their voices need to be heard, too. as members of the senate judiciary committee, we are here to question whether this deal is good for competition, whether it's in the public interests. i'm against this deal. because i believe it does not meet either test. i believe this deal will result in fewer choices, higher prices, and even worse service for my constituents. comcast has argued that there's nothing to worry about here, because it doesn't compete with time warner cable in any zip code. mr. cohen has told r

thankful leahy still lives and will hang out with lucy, schroeder and scrooge mcduck. said the ceo of archie comics, archie died as he lived, heroic ally. he is a representation of us, the best of us and our faults. i can see how you would murder him. let's pause to remember the life of the soon to be dead red head. ?eet. ♪ >> ♪ why couldn't it be him >> i don't know how that gutted gutted -- how that got in there, paul. one of the producers would like to slip that in. >> was that you singing? >> no, i don't have that kind of voice. you are loathed as archie is loved. >> we get the point. we get the point drive it into the ground gut -- gutfeld. >> i want to know who benny and veer ron -- veronica will torment? they want it to be morrell vent to kids -- more relevant to kids. they use jiloppi. >> that's true, they are out of date and good on you for calling that. >> just say that's true and move on. >> i wish i could move on. i could move on, but you are still here. >> andrea, this is a bizarre way to end a series. why do you think they did this? >> especially a series

. >> 8 parent leahy was in -- apparently he was in character.t know if he was in character or if that was an excuse. >> the audience loved it. >> one time happening and it is fine. then they say my turn now. >> everybody will be yelling somebody. >> apparently this show is interactive as well. they want everybody to feel immersed in the show. they said neil, neil. they said to the other actors is your name neil? i don't see a neil here. >> i thought it was so cool to be in a play with neil patrick harris. i thought we were having fun. >> this is what happens when you bring these tvnovi -- tv novice in. >> this is a great excuse. it wasn't me. it was my character. >> he has a lot of great press. he is loved by the masses. he is a talented guy. i never told this story before. i was putting a tape together for my daughter's bough -- bat mitts pho. there were all sorts of people, the mayor, guiliani, trump, kardashian, no problem. i went to neil harris and said, real quick can i get a shoutout for my daughter's tape? and he said i don't do shoutouts

senator leahy, i know you have spoken. we are eager to hear your questions and your expertise in this area. >> madam chair, i appreciate what you said and what center chain said earlier about what i have been doing. the attorney general and i have known each other for a long time and have talked about this a great deal. i saw the article the other day on the front page of the post. there was nothing that if somebody was having an overdose and the people with the person can call for medical help without being arrested themselves says. we actually did this in a thing called the place in burlington, vt. for seven or eight years back in the late 60's and early 70's because as chief law-enforcement officer of that county the police agreed with the. and so their friends could comment. adjusted to into their pockets of many drugs they had. nobody but fall to record. interns and residents at the medical school volunteer their time to be air. one of them is now a very noted surgeon in this area. so i appreciate what you said, senat

leahy: mr. president, i as k consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the substitute amendment numbered 2874 to h.r. 3979, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 and so forth. signed by 17 senators.

another democrat, patrick leahy from vermont received $52,500 in the last decade.ght up questions but he did not openly propose the merger. some of the toughest questions on wednesday came from those who received the least amount of money from comcast. republican mike lee from utah has received only $17,500. he's still a freshman senator, but here's what he said on wednesday. >> i've heard some concerns expressed that the emerging comcast, the post-merger comcast might have the incentive or even the predilection, but certainly enhanced capacity due to its larger size to discriminate against types of content, including political content. >> and who is the senator who is way down the bottom of the list of comcast generosity? that's al franken, senator of minnesota. he was the only one to openly oppose the merger. so what is it about this money and how senators treat this merger? and why does senator franken think this merger is such a bad idea? he joins me now to talk about all these issues. senator, thank you for coming here. >> thank you, brian. >> i was rattling o

. >>> senate judiciary committee chairman patrick leahy says the concept of a social network to stir unrest in cuba was a cockamamie idea doomed to failure. >>> search crews in the indian ocean have failed to pup more of the faint underwater sounds. two hits were heard over the weekend but nonsense. >>> it was another emotional day of testimony for south african olympic hero oscar pistorius. he recounted what happened the night he faittle shot his girlfriend. >> i heard a noise from inside the toilet, that i perceived to be somebody coming out of the toilet, before i knew it, i fired four shots at the door. >>> now to an unconventional challenge about global warming. >> reporter: the u.n.-backed intergovernmental panel on climate change, recently concluded that the manmade impact on the environment will cause increased duration and frequency of storms, drought, and decreased food production and disease. the nongovernmental international panel on climate change concludes it's not that bad. nipcc says there's more carbon in the area but in change in temperature is in the range of what

under questioning from senator patrick leahy at a hearing tuesday, the usaid minister ater denied the program was covert. >> working on creating platforms to improve communications in cuba and in many other parts of the world is a core part of what u.s. aid has done for some time and continues to do -- usaid has done for some time in continues to do. our policy is to support efforts to allow for open communications. to the extent the ap story or any other, creates the impression that this effort or any other goes beyond that for other alter your purposes, that is simply inaccurate. >> is it a covert program? >> absolutely not. edward snowden suggests the government has spied on leading human rights groups inside the united states, appearing by video link before the council of europe, snowden said the nsa has targeted either leaders or staff members of civil and nongovernmental organizations within u.s. borders. snowden did not specify which groups, but asked whether they include amnesty international and human rights watch he replied, yes, absolutely. in his comments to european lawma

leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time now be considered expired and on monday, april 28 at 5:30 p.m. the senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on calendar number 574. further following disposition of the nomination the senate proceed to vote on cloture on executive calendar number 613 and if cloture is invoked all postcloture time be yielded and the senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination. that if confirmed the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate and no further motion be in order to the nominations. if any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record and that president obama be immediately notified of the senate's action and partisan -- the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent on monday april 28 following disposition of the executive calendar numbered 613 the senate proce

when the administrator will be before senate patrick leahy and a senate committee. and the question comes down to this, if this were a covert operation, where the president properly notified were house and senate communities properly notifies. i think this will be a question for people is at what point does discrete become covert and require a whole new set of laws. >> a lot of issues raised by this, coming up a new book on pack span relations that is so controversial parts of it were blocked out, also the most extensive account yet of the boston bombing from the people that experienced it first hand, and our social media produceser tracking the stop stories on the web. >> a lot of people are saying a red sox player picture with with the president 20 into foul territory. i will tell you more coming up. is while you are watching let us know what you think, you can tweet us at a.j. consider this, or leave a comment on our facebook page. [ male announcer ] it's here -- xfinity watchathon week, your chance to watch full seasons of tv's hottest shows for free with xfinit

patrick leahy is live with us from capitol hill.nk you so much. >> glad to be with you. >> in the last hour the usaid administrator said it wasn't a covert program and they found it was all done legally. do you take issue with those claims? >> i take issue with the fact that they are not being covert? covert is such an elastic thing. they can say it wasn't covert but you'd have to really stretch it. but the thing that gets ignored in all of the debate didn't make any sense? it didn't. it was dumb. we have people in our state department and past administrations and same thing, where if we just be tough and do these things, we'll get rid of those castro brothers and making the same argument to president eisenhower. it doesn't work. we have so many good things we can do in the united states openly with cuba if we wanted to show a little initiative. we're not going to change everything about society, of course not, nor are they ours. but openly having exchanges of students lift the embargo that stops americans from freely traveling to c

we had the support of democrats like chuck schumer, pat leahy, we came together in a bipartisan matter and said we're not going to tolerate this insult from iran. and we are not going to acknowledge a terrorist to believe what he did. >> he was an ambassador. >> the house moved with laser speed. and courage are indications from the house that hopefully they will mike quickly and hopefully the president gives the legal authority to brar him and to say to existing nation. if the taliban had nominated obama bin ladin to be their ambassador at the u.n., we would be required to accept it. that makes no sense. anyone who is an acknowledged terror rest, the administration should have the authority to exclude. with this bipartisan unit on iran -- >> will jeb bush run for president in 2016? he made comments regarding illegal immigration and the party that is republicans in general should be talking more of love than of alienating them. i'm paraphrasing, but i think you got the just of it. you did not agree with that sentiment, so please explain. >> i'm a big fan of jeb bush's. my view on immigr

passed yet but the indications are we're getting bipartisan cooperation, senator chuck schumer and leahyl, i'm optimistic that we're going to see the senate act in a bipartisan manner which is exactly how we should act on matters dealing with the critical safety of this country. >> senator ted cruz, we enjoy you coming by and sharing your views. >> thank you. >>> search teams say the pings could have come from inside the chinese ship that reported them. a look at why we should proceed with caution. >>> and families were told all hope is lost. now malaysia's prime minister transport says that miracles do happen. how much more can they take? families react to these new leads. coming up. i have low testosterone. there, i said it. how did i know? well, i didn't really. see, i figured low testosterone would decrease my sex drive... but when i started losing energy and became moody... that's when i had an honest conversation with my doctor. we discussed all the symptoms... then he gave me some blood tests. showed it was low t. that's it. it was a number -- not just me. [ male announcer ] today

that was the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee overseeing usaid funding senator patrick leahy demanding to know who came up with the idea of a cuban twitter a question the administrator of usaid dr rajiv shah couldn't answer first let me just say it was supposed to be a boring hearing about usaid specifically year twenty fifteen budget but instead it turned into a debate over whether or not the agency is working outside its primary mission and now engaging in activities that not only endangered staff but could ruin the agency's reputation around the world off the bat dr shah defended u.s. aids activities in cuba saying they fed well within the law governing its democracy assistance programs in that nation now congress has given us aid roughly two hundred million dollars since one thousand nine hundred six for democracy assistance in cuba but lawmakers say they weren't adequately informed about how that money was being spent by usaid and why some are accusing the agency of running a covert program senator leahy also mentioned u.s. government contractor alan gross who was arrest

senator patrick leahy says he plans to block the delivery of u.s. military aid to egypt over human rights concerns like he raises objections in response to the recent sentencing of six hundred eighty three people to death including the top spiritual leader of the muslim brotherhood well he called this latest trial a sham for decades my total violation of human rights and charm are prepared to sign off a little. of additional oil. for the egyptian military. i'm not prepared to lead to so you could reduce the government is committed to the rule of law. for decades cairo has received a one point five billion annual aid package from the us which has come under increasing scrutiny ever since the early days of the popular uprisings against hosni mubarak in two thousand and eleven there was a partial suspension of aid last july after the military ousted mohamed morsy and brought. sisi to power within congress senator rand paul of kentucky has been the only major voice pushing to halt the flow of aid to egypt historically one of the us is close allies in th

so a few weeks after that senator patrick leahy who oversees the appropriations for usaid programs anate department programs was disturbed by this very fact saying that, you know, we have an american contractor down there who is arrested. and now-- for doing technical work and now we're starting this project that he says could have put people at riting. >> ifill: this bigs the question f this was happening in cuba y wouldn't it have been happening someplace else? do we have any evidence to support that idea? >> when we tried to unspool these contracts and it was a combination of both looking into internal documents and government documents and interviews with people, you know, even when we were able to dig down and get to very detailed contract numbers and be able to punch those into federal databases to say hey, how is your money spent, even then when you plug that in, it looks like it went, you know, it was for a project in pakistan. so you know, even in the sliver of information that is publicly available there is no indication. so you know, absent doing reporting or freedom of inf

consent that the two minutes prior to this first vote be yielded back and then i will talk to senator leahy to see how he feels about the others. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is on the lipman nomination. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will call the roll. vote: