senator leahy: i want to give you questions for the record which i hope you'll answer. i have one other question. i also live on a border state. an hour's drive from the canadian border. c.b.p. is using dragnet vehicle

leahy: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask that the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. leag mr. president, -- mr. leahy, i realize the chair cannot respond but it's good to see my friend in the chair, not on a saturday. normally we see each other in the gym, not on the senate floor. let me think. which place would we rather be? i think i know. in seriousness, mr. president, today nine of our 15 federal departments and several dozen agencies have shuttered their doors. by doing that, they've denied vital services to millions of american citizens. since midnight last night, just a few days before christmas, more than 800,000 dedicated public servants and their families have been told not to expect their next paycheck for the foreseeable future. and there's one reason and one reason only. that our federal government has shut down today and countless americans are living with uncertainty. that reason is president donald j. trump. the president is holding the federal gov

i sat down with senator schumer and senator leahy. and secondly, we are on criminal justice, we anticipate finishing that tomorrow. we just had another rather spirited discussion at our lunch about that issue. and reminiscent of spirited discussions we have had over the last six years, but we are now in the final stages of getting to passage on criminal justice. what is different about the criminal justice reform debate we are having is we have had a number of successful state-based experiments, including in texas, with prison reform, which recognizes the reality that people in prison will eventually get out of prison. and if you take low-risk offenders into account and give them access to recidivism-based programming to deal with their drug or alcohol edition, or education deficit, or their skill deficit, that many more of them will leave prison and not being rearrested and return back to prison in the turnstile of our criminal justice system. that saves money, it saves lives, it reduces the crime rate, and it reduces the incarcerati

the appropriations committee, which senator shelby chairs and senator leahy is. senator shelby voted for it, the president moved the goal post. said, no, now i want $5 billion. >> brennan: they come down to around two, why can't democrats come up from 1.3? >> that's negotiations that need to be done between leadership, between senator shelby, senator leahy and others and move forward the wig thing is that how is the money going to be spent. what is the most effective way to secure that southern border that is what is important here. we can do it with technology and manpower much more effectively. than with a wall. >> brennan: you heard senator shelby thinks probably you're going to have to talk about things that democrats want including profession for drea dreamers is that the sweetner that would get democrats to reconsider? >> i think we've been here before. i was in the room when the president said, if congress passes something i'm going to sign it then he moved back away from. that so i think ultimately in the end we do need comprehensive immigration reform, n

. >>> joining us now on the phone, democratic senator from vermts, patrick leahy, senator, thanks so much for joining us, i know you served in the senate when george h.w. bush was vice president, during the reagan administration, and during his own presidency, you worked with him on a number of issue, including passage of the americans with disabilities act, 28 years ago. what are you remembering about this president today? >> i remember him as one of the most down-to-earth people you will ever meet. we became very good friends during the time he was vice president. my wife marcell was active with the senate spouses, and barbara bush, as the wife of the president of the senate, the vice president, came to those meetings. they became very, very friendly. we worked on things, he had one time, we had a foreign policy issue, where he had to have my commitment as head of the foreign ops committee. i thought it would be controversial, possibly very unpopular decision. i flew down to see him. we sat around the oval office. i was convinced he was right. i said, we shook hands on it, he said

senator leahy: senator blumenthal. mr. blum: thank you, mr. chairman. -- mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. chairman. we are a nation of immigrants and illegal immigration that undermines our country is certainly to be opposed, but a wall is not necessarily the most effective means of stopping illegal immigration if it is truly immigration by criminals or others who pose a danger to this country, would you agree? mr. mcaleenan: i actually think good border security requires balance investments to include a wall system but also technology, agents, the whole wall -- mr. blumenthal: for a wall for a wall's sake, if it's an ineffective form of a wall, if it does not have technology, if it's not accompanied by other means of security is likely to be ineffective and conversely, effective security can be done without certain kinds of physical obstacles, correct? mr. mcaleenan: yes. that's why we built our requirements for border security, including the wall system from the ground up. from our agents in the field, our sector chiefs have requested capabilities in different

involved, but we also have co-sponsorship by booker, graham, whitehouse, scout, feinstein, cornyn and leahy. these all deserve praise for reaching this deal. the product of years of negotiating and listening to each other is a bill that will reduce crime, strengthen faith in our judicial system, support law enforcement and give thousands of people a better shot at living a good life. so, as we go to this very important first vote on this bill, to invoke cloture, i urge all of my colleagues to join with president trump and our bipartisan coalition of supporters to support the first step act. i field the floor. >> this very government under which we live was created in the spirit of compromise and mutual concession. >> thomas jefferson questioned the need for senate. >> the founders believed-- >> let's follow the constitution. >> framers established the senate to protect people from their rulers and as a check on the house. >> the fate of this country and maybe even the world lies in the hands of congress and the united states senate. >> the senate, conflict and compromise, a c-span original

. >> you could count patrick leahy in that column. these are some of his tweets since he was announced. i have known bill barr for a long time. he has a long record and the private sector and public service that needs to be thoroughly vetted. this includes recent troubling comments about investigations of keen interest to the president who is nominating him. he went on to tweet that i look forward to discussing these issues and others at the hearing. i hope you will use the opportunity to unambiguously commit should he be confirmed to upholding the rule of law and protecting the special counsel's investigation against any interference. >> i suppose my comment to that is that the comments were fairly tame. he made them as a private citizen then. he has not had access to the evidence that robert mueller has. if he becomes ag you will see the evidence. he knows bob mueller very well by the way. they travel in the same circles around washington legal elite. paul mueller was head of the criminal -- they probably met together daily. and i'm

objection, the house stands adjourned until >> we now return to the senate floor debate with patrick leahy. >> senator from vermont, i ask for consent -- >> without objection. >> i realize that the chair cannot respond. it is good to see my good friend on the side. we normally see each other on the senate floor. let me think which place we would rather be. i think that i know. president,ess, mr. today, nine of our 15 government departments and several times -- several dozen agencies have shuttered their doors. they have denied federal services to millions of american citizens. just midnight last night, a few days before christmas, more than 800,000 dedicated public servants and their families have been told not to expect their next paycheck for the foreseeable future. only thatone reason the federal government is shut down today and countless americans are living with uncertainty. that reason is president donald j. trump. the president is holding the federal government hostage for $5 billion of american taxpayer ,ollars for his unnecessary expensive wall on the southern border. promised to

said,s senator leahy donald trump didn't like what fox news said about that deal. he was going to lose the support of his space that got him elected. he took that deal off the table. publicly,hat, but he this is the most important thing that people want to disregard, is that he would be proud to shut down the government. if you have a president that is brought to shut down your government, then you have a problem. liveswilling to put the and accomplishments that people have made through their work and success in this country on the line for petty squabbles. we are putting disaster relief on the line over a petty squabble over border security. why are we wanted to spend so much money on something we don't know if it will be as effective as we would like it to be? this is not a democratic shutdown. side tos were on the vote for that appropriation bill. this is a democrat fight to keep the government open and it is donald trump who essentially wanted it closed and he got what he wanted. i refuse to allow anybody to say democrats are responsible for this because we are

get bipartisan support and however conservative he is, so kudos to the president. >> i bet you pat leahy did not know about this, and we will see where that goes. >>> president trump set to name a new ambassador to the united nations as well, and is heather qualified for the job. oh nice. you would not believe how long i've been rehearsing that. no annual fee on any card. only from discover. ♪ lean on me, when you're not strong ♪ ♪ and i'll be your friend ♪ ♪ i'll help you carry on ♪ ♪ lean on me. so lionel, what does 24/5 mean to you?rade well, it means i can trade after the market closes. it's true. so all... evening long. ooh, so close. yes, but also all... night through its entirety. come on, all... the time from sunset to sunrise. right. but you can trade... from, from... from darkness to light. ♪ you're not gonna say it are you? going to extremes for perfect skin? where does it end? new olay whips. while not equal to cosmetic procedures, our b3 complex hydrates to smooth skin. injections? rejected. beautiful skin? accepted olay. trump is expected to nominate heather nauert as the u

has joined us here in the chamber chairman of the judiciary committee senator grassley mike lee, pat leahy and others who have worked on this bill sheldon whitehouse and i have worked primarily on the prison reform bill the current bill hasis undergone major improvements over the last few weeks which i'm very proud of. previous versions of the legislation had a number of very positive attributes. back more than -3/4 of the bill was based on the corrections act that senator whitehouse and iod introduced in 2014 which is the prison reform component of legislation. the remainder of the sentencing of these bill were more controversial and many of my concerns were shared by members of the law enforcement community. as i was looking at were members of on the bill is clear that many could not support the old urchin of the bill and needed the primary sponsors bill just a moment ago to work with them tow try to make it more accessible to lawd enforcement which is going to send the signal i think to many other senators about whether they should get kind of bill. madam president we have all learned h

you know, i was talking to senator pat leahy, senator from vermont, democrat from vermont, this morning about this very issue. and he's seen a lot here in the senate. he's been in the senate for a long time. over four decades. and you knowad what he said to ? it's important to remember on these kind of, when these kind of things happen, it reminds everybody in this body we are the united states of america. finish the united states of america. we take care of each other when we know bad things are happening in different parts of the country. and, mr. president, kind of related again to this reaction, senator murkowski and i had ab opportunity toto go -- an opportunity to go out to the incident command center. and, yes, there's times when you don't feel like the different levers of government are working or coordinating. well, this -- and, by the way, our first responders include our military, our national guard, who do such a good job. but this incident command center would give any american pride. they were all there, almost like na battle, a war, an op center for the military people wa

i thank senator leahy, the coauthor of the second chance act on the other side of the aisle. this has been be -- ip want to thank the president for this legislation. i also want to thank those members of the senate who have been so involved in this, particularly my colleagues on the judiciary committee, senator durbin, senator lee. i just talked to senator lee about this legislation a moment ago. he's been tenacious, senator grassley, senator feinstein, senator booker, senator whitehouse, and others. this legislation will make a difference in my state of ohio and around the country and i encourage my colleagues to support it. i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: mr. president, let me speak for a moment about this act. the sponsors, as you just heard and supporters like senator portman, have proceeded here with very good intentions. as you just heard a compelling case to finding ways to help people who have made a mistake or more have an opportunity to turn their life around. one of the reasons that i'm concerned about the legislation is that

judiciary committee, senator grassley, mike lee, pat leahy, others who worked on this bill, sheldon white house and i who worked on the prison reform bill, the current bill has undergone some major improvements over the last few weeks, which i'm very proud of. the previous version of the legislation had a number of very positive attributes. in fact, more than three quarters of the bill was based on the corrections act that senator whitehouse and i introduced in 2014, which is the prison reform component of the legislation. but the remind ee ereminder-- remainder were more controversial and shared by members of the law enforcement community. as i was gauging where members stood on the bill, it was clear many could not support the old version of the bill and needed the primary sponsors of the bill, who i mentioned a moment ago, to work with them to try to make it more acceptable to law enforcement which was going to send a signal, i think, to many other senators about whether they should get behind the bill. madam president, we've all learned how to get things done here in the senate and th

leahy: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i commend my two friends, the senator from missouri and the senator from minnesota for what they've done. and, madam president, as you have known before, i must speak briefly, but it's about senate joint resolution 54. this would remove the u.s. armed forces from hostilities either in or affecting the country of yemen except those forces in operations directed at al qaeda or associated forces, and unless and until a declaration of war or specific authorization for such use of u.s. armed forces has been enacted. i want to commend my distinguished friend from vermont, senator sanders, for the leadership and perseverance he's shown on this issue. and he has rightly insisted that the congress, which alone has the power to declare war, acted in response to the humanitarian catastrophe in yemen, a catastrophe, we have to acknowledge, that the united states shares responsibility for causing. as a result of our support for the saudi military. the saudi military, by any

patrick leahy was a mentor of mine. had two agreed dads. i'm finding mentors as i walk of this extraordinary building and the buildings surrounding it. serve, are myt i mentors. i had thousands of conversations and those are the mentors that i and appreciate the most. >> you're a adoptive father. of influence did he have on you? >> a man who reminded me to judge people by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin. are my core principles. dean phillipslect democrat of minnesota. thank you. spoke with representative elect jim bare four-term over for todd --tative representative elect jim baird. how did you decide to run for office? >> i cared great deal with this country. i'm a veteran. that means a great deal that we preserve all the things that we have in this country and the freedoms i have. i have children and grandchildren and constituents back in that congressional district that i think deserves the opportunity to have the isortunity that we think appropriate. thisw would you go about campaign? >> like all the ot

>> senator patrick leahy. my late father, eddie phillips. i have two great as. great -- dad's. serve are myat i mentors. i do a lot of listening. >> your adoptive father, what info is did he have? >> a man who taught me to judge people by the content of the character is not the color of their skin. principles. core >> democrat of minnesota, thank you. announcer: we also spoke with jim baird who will be taking over for todd rokita. >> representative elected jim baird from indiana you represent the fourth district. how did you decide to run for office? >> i care a great deal about this country. i'm a veteran. deal tomeans a great preserve this country. i have children and constituents that deserve the opportunity to live the american dream. and have the opportunity we think is appropriate. >> how did you go about the campaign? campaigns, ither was a county commissioner so you have to look at the playing field and what you think your strengths and weaknesses are. the goals of the district, the go for letting the people know. >> you were a farmer? >> yes. i have always been around

i worked with pat leahy from vermont. and we worked on that for three congresses and finally got it through. it updated the patent system for the first time in 100 years. that was an example where the patent system was developed and had no idea when they came up with it originally on how it was going to adjust or be adjusted for these modern devices. anything related to a computer. and so we needed to protect our intellectual property in america and we needed a system that allowed inventors to protect what they invented. and so, the american -- act was invents act was enacted and the main satisfaction was helping the system. we were named legislators of the year which was a nice recognition. another bill that i entered had to do with immigration reform. that was a number of years ago but that was for the last immigration bill and it double the number of border patrol agents. that got a lot of recognition when it passed and i got some awards for that. those would be the two bills that have probably got me the most attentio

>>ly i leahy is not up to his -e is not up to his eyeballs in debt.ewing on the couch. he did it. because he can. well done. >> topic 3. california homeowner devoted his christmas lie light display to mariah carey. that may explain why he keeps having meltdowns, the display attracts thousands of people a day, and nonstop mariah carey music gives workers pstd. some people have wondered where electric bill runs. it is cheap, hoo to honon honorh carey have you too use dim bulbs. >> on maryland, flat scene tvs are a steal, this homeowner lost his tv, but, main character is the one who does not have a special set of skills. can pairly get it in the car. police have not caught him yet, there are a lot of people driving in maryland with their trunk open and tv flapping out. that night, the homeowner got a visit from christmas carolers. >> bear, go away. kennedy: topic 5. >> we salute an iowa gym teacher, arrested after coming to school drunk, the kids plays a spirits game of duck, duck, gray goose, the 38-year-old put the mug in mug shot, with flood alcohol

meanwhile patrick leahy said he didn't understand what can be gained from a trumpet shut down. saying that this type of debate is important it's not the place to have it in front of television cameras. >>> california senator harris is keeping her seat on the senate judiciary committee. harris is the senior member of that panel. senate leaders cut a deal with republicans to expand the size of that committee. a move that will allow harris to remain, and another republican to join the panel. >>> the death toll from last month's camp. has increased. the sheriff said that one more person has died. 80-year-old larry smith was burned while trying to put out flames that engulfed his car. he was being treated at the burn center, but he is now died from his injuries. his death brings the total number of deaths to 86. three people are still unaccounted for. >>> pg&e has more legal problems. for separate suits brought against the company. >> reporter: at noon a coalition of customers and environmentalists marked -- march 2 pg&e headquarters. barging into protest any communities or bailouts

there's patrick leahy. let's hear what he's saying. opioid epidemic, critical infrastructure, rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and highway. they provide resources to protect the environment, help ensure the water we bring, the air we breathe is safe and clean for our generation and children and the next. and support key allies enable the united states to be a global leading. the role is being increasingly challenged by china and russia. i have to ask is the president really going to hold the american people hostage over a wall that he time and time again promised mexico would pay for? is he really going to force hundreds of thousands of federal employees, including the agency he depends upon -- >> we're keeping a close eye. the house was brought in. it was gavelled at high noon but they were dismissed quickly, waiting to be called back if they can take a vote on this shutdown. we'll keep a close eye on this as mentioned. joining me right now is former supreme commander of nato and from the harvard school, john nichols. admiral, to

leahy: mr. president, of course the senior senator from florida can speak with experience, because he's been there. something no other senator currently serving has ever done. mr. president, i believe they're bringing a chair over. if not, i'll go get it. mr. leahy: on friday, december 21, coming up fairly soon, 11 days from today, the continuing resolution, or what we call the c.r., under which much of the government currently operates, is going to expire. if we don't pass the remaining seven appropriations bills, bills that i believe the senate is prepared to pass, the government will shutter the doors of nine federal departments. dozens of agencies and services the american people rely on are going to halt. coincidentally, three days before christmas. now there is absolutely no reason for the government to shut down. the senate and house appropriations committees have been negotiating for weeks, and i commend senators on both sides of the aisle. they worked with us and certainly our staffs in

and in fact democratic senator leahy today told our team on capitol hill, cnn, that he was happy abouts, but also from some democrats. so he doesn't have this baggage that very clearly whitaker, for example, does have that has made republicans and democrats like so nervous about him being in place as the acting attorney general. on the other hand, though, as laura mentioned, they are going to be combing through these lawmakers his past statements, especially relating to the mueller probe, especially relating to the president firing james comey, some of these other hot button issues, and there could be some statements that pop up that do concern lawmakers. for example, he said, bar said that it was quite understandable that the president fired james comey. that is the sort of statement that democrats and some republicans might be a little nervous about, but overall, this is someone who is an adult in the room who will be viewed as a generally responsible pick at a moment when there was a great deal of nervousness about who the president could potentially put in this position, wolf. >> t

mike: for viewers at home looking at the screen, senator patrick leahy, speaking on the floor. can't hear him right now but my guess is he's giving folks and your full about this partial government shutdown. what does the showdown tell you about the next two years when democrats are in power in the house with a republican senate and donald trump? >> i think there are house members and senate that went to work together. one thing to ask donald trump for for christmas, can we have some consistency? can we stop what we are doing, the theatrics, shutting down the government when it doesn't make sense. things we need to work together on. and build the broadband, if we could stop some of this we are watching right now, there are things we can to do that we will work together on. mike: congressman debbie dingell, thanks for your time and merry christmas. >> not sure it is mary yet, but happy holidays. mike: thanks. heather: the us prepares to withdraw its troops from syria, this coming just two days after donald trump announced defense secretary james mattis quit his post. jillian tur

have one of the inverse we'll put on what is a whole lot of fun beliefs about and i mean about the leahy. dollar a lot and many hope wilma's gets a yard one of your friends or law made in america at thirty one at mesquite but the dates feel william ottoman on maharaj one monitor and that is the shot of mcmahon half a dollar will get ahead of the sun. when i get me playing. born why they hate the game. this time and the uprising was a resistible of. them and the muslim public forced the colorful week though it was to take action. to save us leave. the embarrassed stop best color from most those who demanded help from his protector the sole jukes all talk. as a general had to try to get well let's solve this will punch him at the suki whistle turn him of the suki enough sum up a few and he has that i'll let it live at that because most alone do it without order to get me on the market. where russia saw him afloat. in a towel and modes if i can has. a saloon. and the men let him know it is just a few and yes the men who you thought of as a. naïve enough to add some attention to what they ar

ugly confirmation battle for bill barr or anybody else but already, jake, bipartisan support, pat leahy, top democrat on the senate judiciary committee, telling our ted barrett on capitol hill, that this is sub-who will be supported by both democrats and republicans. >> all right. laura jarrett, thank you so much. in our money lead, the dow closing down just 78 points, making a big recovery. at one point today the dow was down more than 700 points, continuing a volatile week over fears that despite president trump's reassurances there's no actual three-month truce between the u.s. and china in this trade war, and the situation has been exacerbated by the arrest of a chinese executive in canada at the request of the u.s. government. she is the daughter of the founder of the tech jane the wahwa, it's second larger manufacturer of smartphones in the world and apple is the third. the u.s. commerce department said the u.s. trade deficit increased to a ten-year high and a record trade shortfall with china. despite this bad trade news and uncertainty about whether the president has a clear str

other sources that are telling us and even people on capitol hill, lawmakers, even top democrat pat leahy saying this is the kind of person who would attract both democrats and republicans to get confirmed, brook. >> i asked how did bil barr and trump get appoint had had? well, it was the circle of lawyers who introduced the two. >> it doesn't apoor pat served as barr's assistant over here at the justice department. obviously pretty important to have the incoming white house counsel backing you. >> what do you think of this? >> you want somebody who is qualified, who's serious and who's respected. by all accounts, william bar is all of those things. i also think he has a previous working relationship with robert mueller. that's the biggest question that's going to be so they'll be able to work together moving forward. >> ely stay with me. -- it has been another turbulent day on wall street with just under an hour to go on the closing bell, 331 points down, in the red. quick reaction to what could be driving this after this. fidelity is redefining value. introducing zero account fees for b

vermont senator leahy squarely placed the blame for the partial shutdown on the white house. >> by doing that, they've denied vital services to millions of american citizens, more than 800,000 dedicated public servants and their families. they've been told not to expect their next paycheck for the foreseeable future. >> if you don't work for the federal government, there are still a few ways the partial shutdown could affect you. most national park employees are furloughed forcing partial closures. already open roads will stay open. but services that require staffing are closed. it's mostly affecting parks that require snow removal and popular holiday destinations like zion national park in utah. but some parks and museums are finding the money to stay open. new york state is ponying up the cash to keep ellis island and the statue of liberty open. it is the third time in five years new york has funded the attractions during a shutdown. the last time this happened in january it cost new york about $65,000 a day. smithsonian institute's 19 museums in new york and d.c. will also stay open.

would have to enter the information stream for some republicans to bail on this, and by the way, pat leahy, a senior democrat on the judiciary committee, former chairman of that committee, has said very favorable things about william barr. i think you're going to see a slew of democrats be interested in confirming barr to this position as well. i don't think any confirmation process in the current washington climate you can say is like slam dunk and easy, but we recently saw gina haspel who had lots of controversy around her nomination, the numbers and the math are around the president. >> on heather nauert, nominated to the u.n., as you point out, she doesn't have a lot of foreign policy or diplomatic experience. do you expect pushback on her nomination? >> undoubtedly, there will be pushback. there will be a lot of questions about what exactly the president wants that role to be now. it was something under nikki haley. will it be something different under heather nauert if she's in that position. i think that u.n. ambassador position is a storied one. president george h.w. bush held that

and patrick leahy said he is a man i have always respected and the best thing the administration canbody who would have ma skwro -- majority support. bar is somebody who has been confirmed before by the senate. >> that's true. on the other hand these are not normal times. what is happening is we have a president who just cares about appointing people who are going to do his bidding and that's not what we need as an attorney general. by the way, deputy attorney general rosenstein was also confirmed, and we have somebody like that and who should be the next attorney general, not whitaker and not this person being pushed forward. >> when we are talking about confirmations, cnn also learned the president is expecting to nominate heather nauert to be the next ambassador to the united nations. could you support her nomination? >> i would have difficulty because there are those of us who actually care about peoples' experience and qualifications. i do not know that being loyal to the president is the upper most qualification. it is for the president but it isn't for me. i think it shows ver

coming out, i come over here and i run into pat leahy. we are not exactly close.eld a press conference and attacked me when i was a candidate and said some totally inaccurate -- >> there were some words? >> some words. i matched the words on the floor of the senate one day, that senators scattering for the exits after the two of us exchanged our words. we can laugh about it now. >> it seems quaint, you realize, in comparison to today. >> it was mild compared. >> on a personal note, you watched president bush 43, the son, today in the rotunda and at the ceremony, a very emotional time for him, yes? >> i think so. i have known him very well for many years, was privileged to serve as his vice president, but i think this has been -- has to have been an event of major impact on him. again, as i say, it obviously wasn't unexpected, been anticipated for years, but i'm sure that it has had a huge impact. it was a very close relationship, and to have been there -- one of my favorite pictures is one of them the first day 43's on the job in the office, in the oval office, an

earlier this week, even a democrat, patrick leahy, had praise for barr as his name was mentioned as ait remains to be seen how this will go down on the hill. but here we're seeing someone who might have perhaps an easier time of getting confirmed in the senate for a position that is under a lot of scrutiny. >> yeah. the significance of having some democrats where he is notable. we are going to hear likely from the president in just a few minutes as he walks across the lawn there to go to cans is citcit -- kansas city, missouri. >>> currently a cabinet position, whether it will remain a cabinet position is to be seen. former fox news host and journalist, what can you tell us about this pick by the president? >> she was someone in the president's sights for some time now. the president likes her way of handling herself at the podium. but a lot of people are raising questions about whether she has the qualifications, the foreign policy qualifications for this very important post, which is at the moment a cabinet level position. i know we're hearing from the president as we speak right no

you do have patrick leahy, democrat on the senate judiciary committee who has praised him before and said he would get his vote. and you do have the fact that william barr has said that the firing of james comey was totally legitimate because he says comey overstepped here, which i think you and the clinton team would agree on that point. >> the problem is donald trump didn't fire james comey because of how he treated hillary clinton because donald trump agreed with how james comey treated hillary clinton in the campaign. it's suddenly when he became his problem that he was sympathetic to hillary. look, that's my concern about this nomination. this is someone who is citing basically fake news around this uranium one allegation. it's from a book by a right-wing political activist that was totally debunked. and so i worry this is just another nomination from donald trump. i agree with scott that it's all about someone that the president has confidence in, but the problem is to have donald trump's confidence, you need to lie. and you need to believe fake news. i think that's who we have

>> in my years on the senate judiciary committee, we used to bring these facts to patrick leahy and he used to quote captain reno. gambling, i can't imagine somebody giving a million dollars. of course they wanted access. that's a complete nonstarter. >> that's why everyone does. nobody is spending that much money because they're dying to go to that party. >> boeing gives a million dollars because they wanted to have a nice time or see the massive crowds. of course they wanted access. i would be more concerned if in fact any of these entities were used as conduits for foreign money contrary to foreign law. i was going to say trump would have to be a fool for that to actually reach to him, but one never knows, but that would concern me legally if i were the trump organization. the influence and the access one is almost ridiculous. >> is that what sticks out to you? again, that is why people spend all this money to go to all of these things. it's what top donors do. the thing that keeps occurring during this administration is this self-dealing, is the president putting himself first? you

flexible on this issue and we're obviously consulted before i sought down with senator schumer and senate leahy. secondly, we're on criminal justice, we anticipate finishing that tomorrow. we just had another spirited discussion in our lunch about that issue, reminiscent of spirited discussions we've had over the last six years. we're now in final stages of getting to passage on criminal justice. >> what is different about the criminal -- >> dana: do i still have anna palmer? i do. you heard mitch mcconnell saying democrats aren't going to budge, but the white house is being flexible, they will figure it out. do you think this ends up, get spending bills together as nancy pelosi was suggesting, the seven get it done, wait until next year to have the fight? >> the momentum certainly seems to be in way we didn't 48 hours, even 24 hours, seemed more likely heading to shutdown. the holidays, always provide great incentive for lawmakers to come together and keep the government open, they want to be home with their families. i expect next 24 hours to playthings out. >> dana: anna palmer, good to see

senator leahy, my colleague from vermont who served as chairman before i took the reins, marked the occasion by presenting me with a larger-that-life gavel. of course that was a lighthearted moment and i appreciated his gesture of goodwill and collegiality. it's this spirit of camaraderie that sustains the united states senate and has guided the bipartisan accomplishments of the judiciary committee. the work 2003 do on the judiciary committee shapes our way of life in america to a great extent. this legislative jurisdiction includes constitutional amendments, bankruptcy laws, civil liberties, immigration, patents, copyrights and trademarks, antitrust laws, juvenile justice, criminal laws, and more. the committee conducts oversight of the justice department, including the f.b.i. and sections of homeland security department. it also handles consideration of judicial nominees. as chairman, i put forth a number of legislative priorities. i wanted to increase oversight efforts to hold government accountable and advance judicial confirmations. i wanted to strengthen whistle-blower protections and

because i want to discuss how we made that decision and some of the conversations i had with senator leahy and senator feinstein. you know their position on those weapons. i think if we can follow up on that i can give you sort of the back story. okay. thank you. >> amy mccullough with air force magazine. i wanted to go back to the space force question. right now, all of the services do something in space. >> right. >> so it is -- how much of the cost of the space force is going to be reallocating those resources? and how much of it is going to be new money that you need to find? and then to follow up on that, right now the air force is doing about 80% of the national security space portfolio. so it is probably a safe assumption that that budget is going to take a huge hit. how do you make sure it doesn't impact other areas of readiness by pulling that money out? >> yeah. don't let amy -- don't take her microphone. maybe just -- let's go back to the they are going to take a huge hit. why do you think they are going to take a huge hit? >> it doesn't seem like it would be a one for one excha

but we also have cosponsorship by booker, graham, whitehouse, scott, feinstein, cornyn, and leahy. these all deserve praise for reaching this deal. the product of years of negotiating and listening to each other is a bill that will reduce crime, strengthen faith in our judicial system, support law enforcement, and give thousands of people a better shot at living a good life. so as we go to this very important first vote on this bill to invoke cloture, i urge all of my colleagues to join with president trump and our bipartisan coalition of supporters to support the first step act. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: 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, do hereby bring to a close debate on the motion to concur in the house amendment to s. 756, a bill to reauthorize and amend the marine debris act and so forth and for other purposes with a further amendment # 0le. -- 108. the presiding officer: is it the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to concur in

flake and lee would be the next two, and on the democrat side, it's leahy now and then durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you know, listening to this, i was recently at the hidalgo port of entry. i saw the practice, cbp limits the number of asylum claims processed because of space and resource. now, at this major point, about 12 million people pass through there each year, 12 million, and your agency recently said they process only 50. dhs inspector general report from september very recent one found evidence that strongly suggests that metering at ports of entry increases illegal crossings between ports. do you agree with your inspector general that metering pushes asylum seekers to attempt to enter the country illegally? >> so, the practice of queue management, senator, and thank you for visiting us at hidalgo, where we've got a very hardworking staff. >> i was very impressed with the staff. the policy i have a little problem with, but the staff i was very impressed with. >> understood. at hidalgo today, for instance, and this is a report i get every day, there aren't any people wait

leahy said he seems like he would be a good choice. of gop leadership think he would be a good pick as well. that is really big news because as you know for basically the entire time that donald trump has been in office, he has hated his attorney general. in particular, session's recusal from the russia investigation. that put a sour spin on the relationship between the president and one of his most important cabinet officials. we know whitaker has been in the position for about a month, ever since the day after the midterms when trump announced attorney general, then at the time, jeff sessions, would be resigning. there will be the confirmation process for barr for this role. let me take part two, which is the u.n. ambassador and nikki haley leeching. she's set to leave at the end of the year. heather nauert is coming in. she has been the state department spokesperson under secretary of state mike pompeo. you see the two of them together there. prior to that, she did not have experience in the diplomatic corps. it is a remarkable elev

longest serving member on at least the republican side of the senate judiciary committee, i think leahy probably has me by a few months. i've seen a lot of judicial nominees in my time. in fact, i participated in the confirmation of more than half of article 3 judges who have ever served. a lot has changed during my time in office. i wish i could say that the confirmation process has improved, or at least stayed about the same, but it hasn't. it's declined. precipitously. the judicial confirmation process, simply put, is a mess. it hasn't always been this way. both sides used to work together. or at the very least used to try to treat each other's nominees fairly. the delay tactics that have become so commonplace used to be pretty rare. here's an amazing fact. one that's almost impossible to believe given the current state of things. before justice breyer was confirmed, he was justice breyer on the u.s. court of appeals for the 1st circuit. he was nominated to that position by president carter and he was confirmed on december 9th, 1980. think about that date for a moment. december 9th,