merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, our nation was founded on a powerful principle encapsulated by the first three words of our constitution -- we the people. we were meant to be a in addition, in the words of abraham lincoln, of the people, by the people, and for the people. not a nation by and for the most powerful, not a nation by and for the most privileged. yet time and time again, we are seeing a complete and total corruption of the vision of our constitution. we have seen this earlier this year with one trumpcare bill after another designed to rip health care away from 20 million pour million americans to deliver tax giveaways to the richest thi in america. we have seen it in conversation a budget just recently that reversed that and said in order to give $4.5 trillion of tax giveaways almost entirely to the richest americans we will take -- take $1 trillion out of medicaid and half a trillion out of medicare. we've seen this powerful conversion of standing our constitution on its head, and now we have

merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, climate destruction is the seminal challenge of our generation. it affects everything from our farms to our forests to our fisheries. we're seeing huge impacts around the world. disappearing ice in the arctic, melting permafrost, dying coral, raging fires, more powerful storms. everywhere you look, it's having an impact. and it's certainly an impact that we need to pay a great deal of attention to because it is hurting human civilization, and the impacts are just beginning. they're going to become worse over time. in response, communities across the globe are transforming their energy economies. they are certainly making their economies more energy efficient, from increasing the insulation in buildings to improving vehicle mileage to having the greater efficiency in appliances, and to replacing fossil fuel energy with clean renewable energy. how much do you know about the changes under way, about the dramatic modifications of our energy economy and the impacts of climate di

senator merkley. you mr.kley: thank secretary, and bank both of you secretaries -- and thank both of you secretaries. secretary tillerson, i believe you say to the retention of the digital for first use of nuclear weapons has been a foundational doctrine that is helped keep the peace over the last 70 years. i catch that right? sec. tillerson: yes senator. sen. merkley: i would say maybe not. it has been assured retaliation that has kept that piece. there is a significant -- that peace. there is a significant difference between the two. i believe i heard what you refer to that we hadn't considered the use of nuclear weapons after world war ii. did i hear that right? sec. mattis: senator, i said that we have not initiated the use of nuclear weapons since world war ii. sen. merkley: but we have had serious conversations about the potential of using a nuclear weapon as a first use weapon both in vietnam and korea. mr. chairman, i would like to submit for the record a cia --ument that goes through analyzin

chairman thank you. : senator merkley. sen. merkley: if you are a fan of a bill that gives foreign corporations a big advantage over american corporations, then this tax scam bill is for you. if you are a fan of higher deficits, imposed on our children and grandchildren, then this tax scam bill is for you. if you are in favor of despoiling the arctic national wildlife refuge, anwar, then this bill is for you. if you like the idea of taxes going up on 87 million middle class americans, then this bill is for you. if you like double taxation on what you already pay in your state and local taxes, then this bill is one you will really like. if you enjoy the idea of throwing 13 million people off of health care, then you will really like this bill. and if you are determined to make it harder for everyone else to buy health care by driving premiums up, then this bill is yours. if you think it really makes sense to spend two-thirds of the benefits, trillions of dollars, the top 1%, then this is a bill that is just your best friend. thi

merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, we have a very important role in this senate, to provide advice and consent on nominees. our forefathers who wrote the constitution envisioned that this power would be used rarely because a president, knowing that this power existed, would appoint -- would nominate highly suitable people for the posts that they were intended to occupy. but we haven't seen highly suitable people coming through this chamber this year. in fact, we see one person after another so fabulously unsuited for the office or position to which they are nominated. we saw scott pruitt, who took on and attacked regulations designed to create clean air across this tun time after time after -- this country time after time after time. very close association with the fossil fuel industry that wanted to allow more par particular illegal immigrants -- particulants which cause a tremendous amount of health problems in this country. we saw betsy devos come through this chamber, a person who had been nominated to b

of oregon would ban the use of asbestos.senator jeff merkley it's a known carcinogen, cases all kinds in all kinds of productsalexandra limon / @alexlimonnewsother democrat senators supporting the bill include dianne feinstein of california and senator dick durbin of illinois they say as many as 15,000 americans die each year of asbestos related diseases and as many as one third are veterans.in 1991 a federal court of appeals ruled that the epa couldn't completely ban asbestos in part because of the costs and because the agency didn't provide enough evidence about the safety of alternate products.previous attempts to pass laws in congress to ban asbestos have failed.in washington alexandra limon ( grant ) we know asbestos is a problem in parts of the north bay fire zone. people were being kept out of the journey's end mobile home park in santa rosa after the environmental protection agency came in. it found possible contamination in the rubble. whatever problem there was, the e-p-a said it fixed it earlier this week. as we saw in alexandra's story... there is long list of items that a

merkley? >> no. >> mr. cain? >> no. >> mr. king? >> no. >> mr. vanhallen? >> no. >> ms. harris?no. >> kill the bill! >> mr. chairman? >> i. >> report the vote. >> kill the bill! kill the bill! >> mr. chairman, the is are 12 and the nays are 11. >> kill the bill! kill the bill! >> the bill is reported out. >> kill the bill! kill the bill! kill the bill! kill the bill! >> that's how it went. you saw the headlines about that today. it sounded like a neat and tidy process. it wish the republicans got their no debate, party line hearing today. what they are trying to do with this really enormous bill will hurt the american poor and hurt the american middle class quickly and significantly and for a long time and it will throw 13 million americans off their health insurance. and so what they are trying to do is very, very unpopular and that's why they are trying to go fast. that's why they are trying to outrun the resistance to what they are doing. they are also likely to get another non-partisan report on the cost of their bill and who it hurts as soon as tomorrow night and so they ha

merkley: thank you. our constitution starts with those three beautiful and powerful words, we the people. our foundersen vision add nation, the form of government that wouldn't result in government of, by, and for the powerful and privileged but instead would really deliver for the american people a form of government that provided a foundation for every american to thrive. quite a contrast to many of the governments of europe that they had seen function on behalf of the privileged and the powerful. well, we have an issue before us that certainly is about government of, by, and for the people. it is the issue of the children's health insurance program, often referred to as chip. this program has expired for 46 days. 46 days, putting children's health care at risk throughout our country. why isn't this bill on the floor right now? why isn't it being passed by unanimous consent right now? or at least being debated and amended and passed. we have five states, five states, that are running out of money in th

senator merkley and i have plenty. come visit. everybody says stop the tax breaks from doing business overseas. senator sanders pointed out, territorial taxation, says, hey, if you do business outside the united states, a whole new array of tax breaks that aren't red, white and blue. so we'll have more to say, but i'm just going to close, mr. chairman. i never, ever, ever thought that i would see a key discussion on the budget foundation for $10 trillion worth of tax policy changes be completed in less time than it takes to wash a car. >> senator whitehouse. >> mr. chairman, because the coverage of this won't show it, let me just say for the record that every single republican senator has left, except for the chairman, like folks running away from the scene of a crime. mr. chairman, back in 2009, before you voted against the senate passage of the recovery act, as the economy was teetering into disaster and we tried to hold things together, you said then, the american people are telling me and my colleagues to stop spending money w

as i believe me i was the so what is the fun about soit was afforded even merkley normative years behind it to tolerate it if you could still make the most money. everybody of the. and you don't need to sell your dreams. nasa. dot. com is why that was why i'm super. fast no me. but this is paul at the end so we have my best lines by a guy few of us listen to me for miles but the way that the part of the system. my own. fault because i got from all of them with me i was power was the fuel than the op but me it was common it is and i'm sure you've often said that if this is the science of work and obviously we're going to stay in. one pam on and on then fine bye and you know i must be honest going in this is obviously me it's i'm just thinking of us. you pam and disarm him of you dance with raping foremast. i'm sure. we have many more. champions league sega best now i want to ask you this is song of somalia as of and does the playing it is . an admission than any make and this minute. as it does. become. a sort of new tool and that's just one young man's obsessed over the should be i can c

senator jeff merkley of oregon. we are at the half hour now. katey tur and i are waiting for the president to speak. i said katy tur and me is what i said earlier. >> i understood what you were meaning. i'm getting hammered on what i said, i'm relatively new to politics. >> you are a veteran, don't be mistaken, katy tur is a veteran. jeff bennett is a veteran joining us now from the white house where this thing hasn't started. what's the hold up? >> reporter: we would imagine that he is speaking to the white house pool just about now. i can tell you that his comments to the white house pool of reporters are expected to focus not just on north korea briefly but more so on taxes which of course is the topic of the week as the senate begins its marathon debate on the republican tax bill. as the president just returned from the white house where he was trying to rally the took place speaking to member of the last few holdouts who could throw a last-minute wrench into things as we saw with the health care debate months ago how that collapsed in spec

merkley: mr. president, i ask that my intern zack foot be granted privileges of the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you. a few moments from now we're going to come to this chamber to vote on the nomination of peter robb to serve for the general counsel on the national labor relations board. quite frankly, if we allow this individual to be confirmed, it will be a severe slap in the face to american workers. this is an individual who has made a career out of attacking the ability of american workers to get a fair share of the wealth they create, and yet here is a proposal to put him in a leadership position at an agency whose purpose is to fight -- to make sure that workers get fair treatment. how does that make sense? take someone whose fought to undermine the ability of workers his entire life and put that person in charge of making sure that american workers are treated fairly? certainly it goes exactly in the opposite of the argument

merkley: the last loophole i will point out is the trump tax loophole. we know on the one tax return we have from president trump, the only reason he paid tax was the alternative minimum tax and the fact he paid $38 million in taxes that year and we're told he only paid about $5 million if it wasn't for the alternative minimum. so there we have it. another big provision for the richest of america. this is not a bill that helps the middle class. it raises the tax on millions and millions of middle-class americans while provision after provision after provision is targeted at the very richest americans. we need to stop this bill. thank you, mr. president. mr. toomey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: mr. president, i believe the senator from vermont is next up, but he has graciously agreed to let me take two minutes of our time, time out of our side now, before he speaks. so i appreciate that. thank you, senator sanders. our colleagues were talking about a number of topics, too. the salt controversy and the ot

sits on the budget committeesenator jeff merkley / orgeon (d)this meeting is about merging a bill thata bill that destroys the budget. and so it's horrific on all accounts.senator wyden sits on both the budget and finiance committees -he's concerned with changes he says were made to the bill overnight in secret to get hesitant republicans on board..senator ron wyden / oregon (d)they believe they'll get the votes by even handing more breaks to the people at the top, the powerful, the multinational corporations, the campaign donors.natsrepublican members of the committee who were heckled as the entered the room all voted in favor of the tax reform bill.including south carolina senator linsday graham.lindsay graham / south carolina (r)if this bill works the way i think, all these loud people will have proven to be loud. and i will have proven to be right. if it doesn't do what i think it will do, then we will lose. so we're going to rise and fall on how this affects the american people.nat pop bernie sanders cheeredall of the democerats voted against the bill.the vote means the full senat

and speaking after i speak will be senator whitehouse of rhode island, senator merkley of oregon and senator durbin of illinois. i thank them for standing up for american workers. people in ohio, in my state and around the country, as i said, work harder. they work longer than ever but they have less and less to show for it. over the last 40 years g.d.p. has gone up, corporate profits have gone up, executive salaries have gone up all because of the productivity of american workers. g.d.p. goes up, corporate profits go up, executive salaries explode upward. workers are more productive but workers have not shared in the economic growth they created. hard work just doesn't p pay off like it did a generation off. it's no coincidence that over that same time frame we've seen attack after attack after attack on the labor movement. corporate special interests have spent decades stripping workers of their freedom to organize for fair wages and for benefits. the case of the supreme court agreed to take up janus vs. afscme is another in an attempt to chip away. these are librarians, police off

casey -- jeff merkley. the problem was, two of the three tweets were deleted.washington post." democrats have spread the false claim that families making less will face a tax hike. it's the opposite. most families would get a tax cut. >> democrats are too quick to oppose this. republicans decided early on they were going to use the word everyone has heard, reconciliation instructions, to have a republican-only bill. if that were to fail, and it might, and it could. democrats will come to the table. i don't know how many will support it but it's not a bipartisan process. it's a partisan process. they feel liberated to bash it. >> bret: for reconciliation to get 50 votes plus one coming up to have certain guidelines. to be able to do that in the senate. one of them is it cannot increase the deficit or debt. there is also other guidelines called the byrd rule that makes it basically how you fit this circle peg into the circle whol whole. there are some restrictions that house members are not going to like when they -- when push comes to shove, if they want to chan

koonce force his leadership and hard work and recognize senators isakson, rubio, young, cane, and merkley for their contributions to this important bipartisan legislation before our committee. this bill would establish a process for conducting objective reviews on how well multilateral institutions carry out their missions with our funding. the authorities sunset after four review periods and 11 years. through this process we'll be able to evaluate their performance in an objective way. the review will look at performance, management, accountability and transparency. align immigrant with u.s. foreign policy goals and efficiency. the u.s. spent around $11 billion to support the work of these entities and we owe the u.s. taxpayers good value for their money. these reviews will help us make better informed decisions about how to prioritize scarce rescourses and also provide solely ground for advocating for changes and reforms. others such as the united kingdom some australia have done similar reviews of their multilateral and contributions with good results, by the way, multilateral aid cont

merkley: amendment that will make all methodology more transparent. i think we have to continue on a bipartisan way to make sure that what 48 we are investing is done well and wisely. i appreciate the opportunity to work together on the bill. >> i think that people understand that this gives us the ability to strong support those agents that we believe ought to be strong supported if they are producing good results. thank you. with that, we will now move to the hearing. the hearing itself will come to we think them for joining us today over the last 15 minutes. a number of members on both sides of the aisle and this audit office committee have raised questions about the executive authority with respect to warmaking. anduse of nuclear weapons from a diplomatic perspective, entering into and terminating agreements with other countries. as i mentioned publicly, this is one in a series of hearings where our committee will examine all of these issues but today is my hope that we will remain focused on the topic at hand, the authority and the process for th

merkley? >> no. >> mr. cane? >> no. >> mr. king? >> no. >> mr. vanhallen? >> no. >> ms. harris?> no. except for one of us. i write them a poem instead! and one for each of you too! that's actually yours. that, that one. yeah. regardless, we're stuck with the bill. to many, words are the most valuable currency. last i checked, stores don't take "words." some do. not everyone can be the poetic voice of a generation. i know, right? such a burden. the bank of america mobile banking app. the fast, secure and simple way to send money. replace the full value of your totaled new car. the guy says, "you picked the wrong insurance plan." no, i picked the wrong insurance company. with new car replacement™, we'll replace the full value of your car plus depreciation. liberty mutual insurance. >>> this is going to be a kind of a clip and save thing. it's not a public service announcement. i feel like it is trying to be like a public service. this is a list i used to be able could keep in my head. but today we had a name added to the list and when i tried to add the list, i was humbled. the li

they focus at the state -- not only the koch brothers, was senator merkley calls the koch cartel, but mercer money that really backed trump and ultimately led to his victory? >> this is my point. i'm not when a city or criticize all of them. they went out and you know what? they're sitting in the white house. we have to get smarter estimate kratz. we have to fight. i'm not into -- i'm tired of the whining. it is time to fight. from the day i took office i've been fighting on progressive issues and have beaten them, but i have had to do it as an executive. my legislature would not be with me on these issues. we need democrats who are fighting on the values that they believe in. too many democrats today put their finger up in the air and say, which way the polls are going. > i don't do that. i believe i was the first person in the south statewide to come out for marriage equality. i told women i would be a brick wall to protect their rights and i told the nra to go jump off a cliff. f" rating. you know what? i won. if i did not win the next day, so be it. my life in a change. democrats

democratic senator jeff merkley he told reporters in yangon were profoundly disturbed by the violent and disproportionate response against the hanger by the military and local groups of course he's referring to the main mark military there now in early november u.s. lawmakers proposed to tonk it sanctions and travel restrictions on the memo military officials over their treatment of course that get to come into fruition and have you seen the number of politicians are sharing their photos of meeting of the minds daters but it's actually left many people asking what are they actually doing to solve the rangar crisis now we know this is a story many of you i'm going to arrive years at home are following quite closely you can always get in touch with me with your thoughts tweet me off ali my twitter handle is at sorry sorry thank you very much for that now after getting on for seven years of war in syria there is hope from some sides at least that fighting may be nearing the end present a shot assad rarely leave syria but he's flown to russia to thank his major military ally for what he

oregon democratic senator john merkley posted this. "happy small biz saturday. cap small and support local businesses like tender loving empire, which sells locally made goods like records press that cascade pressing that create local jobs, power local economies and add so much hard to our communities." tonight on c-span, david brooks and historian ronald white discuss character and the presidency. comparing past administrations to the trump white house. david brooks talks about dwight eisenhower. character you build is to identify your core sin and fight it. we all have some weakness, and for one of my characters, dwight eisenhower, is weakness was his temper. the story i told was ike at eight or nine going trick-or-treating. his mom would not let him. he got said that he punched a tree in the front yard and rubbed all the skin off his fingers. his mom sent it to his room and let them cry for an hour and then came up to bind the wounds and recited from proverbs. he who conquers his own soul is greater than he who conquers a city. he said it was the most importa

senators as they're leaving, leaving on their last votes after the thanksgiving holiday, senator jeff merkley and he said that he thinks that the ethics investigation is the right place to start. wasn't willing to go so far to say this ultimately could cause the expullion of senator franken, but this clearly has put a lot of people in a very difficult position here on capitol hill and this is, you know, between this and what's been going on in alabama with roy moore, there's a real kind of feel of reckoning going on. >> is there a concern that the reactions between senator al franken and the ones to candidate roy moore are going to put senators in a difficult position if they're going to take a hardline against roy moore and let's be honest, the allegations are very different, roy moore's been accused of touching children, a 14-year-old girl, and harassing teenagers, and franken has been accused of harassing a grown woman while also not acceptable, they are quite different, but is there -- is there a concern it's going to put them in a tough spot if they want to say roy moore gets elected, ex

i'm glad that senators wyden and portman, sullivan, merkley, scott, collins, kaine, heller, shaheen, murray, schumer, murkowski, young, graham, schatz, booker, and hassan, isakson and sanders are all supporters. we have good bipartisan support from people who understand that this crisis is real and that it is only going to grow. but we also know that the additional tax credit would create almost 450,000 new jobs over the next ten years. that is because housing is stimulative to the economy. construction alone supports over two million jobs, and it helps by making sure that that economic impact to g.d.p. is realized now through this investment. it also helps us save money as economy in a country by putting a roof over people's head. one of the reasons i was so excited to work with senator hatch on this is because in his home state, utah had made such great progress in dealing with their homeless veteran population. the community just decided by putting a roof over someone's head, they actually helped lower overall costs. one study found that placing people in affordable housing lowere

i want to also recognize isaacson, rubio, young, cain and merkley for their contributions to thisct bipartisan important legislation for the committee.. this bill will establish a process for conducting injected reviews on how well multilateral institutions carry out their missions with our funding, the authorities after review. eleven years. through this process we will be able to evaluate their performance in an objectiveve wy and we will look at performance, management, accountability and transparency alignment with us foreign policy goals and efficiency. the us has been around $11 billion to support thesehe entities and we owe the us taxpayers good value for their money. these reviews will help us make better informed decisions about how to prioritize scarce resources and it will also provide solid grounds for advocating for changes in reforms. others such as the eye kingdom and australia have done similar reviews of their multilateral contributions with good results, by the way, multilateral aid confusions with good results in a i urge you to support this effort will greater accountabilit

merkley: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent for my intern kaylay davis to have privileges of the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. merkley: thank you. climate disruption is a challenge of our generation. we will see it in the change of carbon dioxide and methane being emitted from disappearing glaciers, dying coral reefs and more powerful storms and raging fires. so it's the responsibility of us in this generation, in this time to take action. and indeed communities across the globe are taking action. they're increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and vehicles and appliances and they are replacing carbon-polluting fossil fuel energy with renewable energy. this is such an important issue, how much do you know about the changes underway? well, let's find out. welcome to episode 7 of the senate climate disruption quiz. our first question is since the year 2000, the rate of global carbon dioxide pollution has decreased dramatically. decreased sl

with but the issues you're dealing with are manageable at this point"but democratic senator jeff merkleyon says both republican plans won't manage to help the middle class.the big picture is that this is a multi trillion dollar heist of the american treasury to deliver those benefits to the very richest americansthe full house is expected to vote on tax cuts next week.the senate finance committee will begin its debate on monday.in washington, i'm mark meredith. (pam) new at six. the national archives is releasing more than 13- thousand records related to the 1962 assassination of president john f. kennedy... today's release of kennedy records is the fourth so far this year. last month president trump directed agenices involved to review each of their redactions during the next 180- days. he said, the agency heads need to be extremely cautious in recommending that any of that information still needed to be withheld from the public. government agencies now have until march to tell the national archives why any part of kennedy's records ..... should be censored. the john f. kennedy collecti

led by senator cardin, my colleague, senators markey, schatz, merkley and i went to tell the nations gathered there that the trump administration does not represent american views on this issue, nor american determination to tackle the climate challenge, and it was not just us who went there to say we are still in. american governors, mayors, universities, and major corporations all brought the same message, that notwithstanding the trump administration's efforts to separate us from the paris goal, we are still in. the urgency of the experts at our nation's universities and federal agencies is reflected in a major multiagency climate report that was released last week and makes an astounding contrast to the position taken by the trump administration. the climate science special report will serve as the scientific backbone for the fourth national climate assessment due next year. the authors' list is a who's who of top university scientists and agency experts from noaa, the e.p.a., nasa, our national labs, the national science foundation, and the departments of agriculture, defense, e

senators cardin, markey, schatz, and merkley and i sent the message that most of our constituents and the majority of the american people believe -- that climate change is a serious threat to our country and the planet and that american action and leadership is necessary. a an entire day was dedicated to the changes we're seeing in the world's oceans. this is where the industry's liers and climate deniers get stumped. the oceans bear the brunt of our carbon pollution. sea levels are rising. watersare warming, and seas are acidifying. these unbelievable measurements have no answer from the climate denial apparatus, so the denial apparatus just chooses to ignore the oceans. but we can't ignore the oceans. certainly not in coastal states. the reality of ocean climate change hits home along our coasts. warming waters move our fisheries around. sea level rise erodes our shores. and we must prepare for more frequent and intense hurricanes and storms. the trump administration is more or less completely crooked on this subject. but even they had to throw in the towel and release without amend

national democrat, but here in oregon, we have two marvels in senator ron widen and senator jeff merkley i retired here six years ago for the second time. i retired here partly after a due diligent search of the politics of oregon, was it really as crazy as it sometimes seems, which it is sometimes, but nevertheless, there is a basically a liberal democratic conscience based political environment, which is absolutely 180 degrees from that in the state of texas, where i was born, raised, and went back and became a journalist. those are my favorite politicians right now. >> host: all right. that's jack in medford, oregon. let's hear from lizan in santa rosa, kaz. hi. >> caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. wanted to ask charlie how he could possibly still be a republican? i know he addressed that slightly. and how he could have thrown his vote away by not voting for hillary, sole qualified candidate on the ballot. trump should never have been on the ballot. he is unqualified. this is the most important job in the world, and how is it that 30% of this population doesn't understand t

merkley: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. president, we've seen a number of battles here recently that involve the question of -- is our country going to make laws by and for the powerful or by and for the people? we saw a health care debate where my colleagues across the aisle wanted to rip health care from 20 to 30 hardworking americans -- million americans from hardworking americans, but fortunately we were able to stop that. we saw the conversation here on the floor about the arbitration fairness regulation, which says nobody should be forced into an arbitration when the other side gets to hire the judge, gets to promise the judge future business, and gets to determine the outcome of the decision, and yet my colleagues across the aisle voted for the powerful to be able to have this fixed system to cheat the consumers of america. and then we had most recently this question over the consumer financial protection bureau, and the people of the united states loved the fact that we finally have an organization that fights for t