mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: my gosh. i want to thank my colleague for his kind remarks. i didn't expect him. i didn't realize this was going on until a few minutes ago and i shot over here. grateful to you. thanks for that. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: mr. president, is the senate in a quorum call? the presiding officer: no. mr. toomey: thank you, mr. president. i rise this afternoon to say a few words about a colleague, a friend, a mentor, and a man that i admire very, very much and have so much respect for, my colleague senator hatch. you know, in pennsylvania, as in many states, along the sides of the roads in various towns you often see these commemorating plaques of historically significant places. in pennsylvania there are these beautiful cast aluminum, they are painted blue and there's gold lettering and they tell you something unique about little burrows, towns, villages, or sometimes sites in big cities all acro

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: mr. president, i stood before this body in march of this year to protest our country's unconstitutional intervention in saudi arabia's blood did i war -- bloody war in yemen. i was proud to stand with my colleagues, senator sanders and senator murphy, to file a discharge motion of our resolution, s.j. res. 54, that would remove u.s. armed forces from yemen. at that time members of the foreign relations committee requested additional time to study the issue and to debate the resolution in the foreign relations committee. the chairman of that committee, my friend and colleague from tennessee, senator corker, requested this with the commitment to, quote, bring forth legislation to actually appropriately deal with many of the issues relative to yemen, saudi arabia, and ourselves. close quote. so with that, the senate voted to table the motion. since then, the committee has held a hearing on this issue and introduced a separate, bipartisan bill to address it. but no further action has been take

mr. president. >> that's enough. >> mr. president, i had one other question if i may ask on the russia investigation. are you concerned that you may -- >> i'm not concerned about anything with the russia investigation because it's a hoax. >> are you -- >> that's enough. put down the mike. >> mr. president, are you worried about indictments coming down in this investigation? >> mr. president -- >> i tell you what, cnn should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. you are a rude, terrible person.

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. sullivan: mr. president, i want to echo what my colleague from tennessee just mentioned about a lot of bipartisan accomplishments here on the senate floor over the last several weeks. really important ones. he led the charge on the opioid bill which is going to help our entire country. and so many others. they don't always get reported in the press, but it's important to make sure that our fellow americans, our constituents know that that's happening. and what i want to do this afternoon, mr. president, was talk about another one, an important one, a really important accomplishment that we just were able to achieve here on the senate floor a couple of hours ago, and that's the coast guard authorization act of 2018. and a number of senators have already been down on the floor. john thune, the chairman of the commerce committee, that's where the oversight and responsibility of the coast guard lies, in the commerce committee. senator wicker from mississippi, senator carper, so many senators contributed

mr. president. >> president trump: wow. go ahead. he gave me a fair interview the other day. so i might as well let him ask a question. >> thank you, mr. president. you told me the other day that you are an open book. >> president trump: i think i am an open book. >> so pointblank, democrats go after your tax returns, will you try to block that? or will you allow it? >> president trump: look, as i have told you, they are underwater. they have been placed on time. they are extremely complex. people would not understand the them. it is taken by the biggest and best law firms in the country. same with the accounting firms. they are very, very, large powerful firms in terms of respect and value respected. a big firm. a great law firm, where you know it very well. they do these things. but people do not understand tax returns. i did a filing of over 100 pages, which is in the offices pity them with people went and saw that filing, they saw the magnitude of it and they were very disappointed. they saw the

mr. president. >> thank you, mr. president. this morning, i spoke with president trump and secretary pompeo and my statement reflects the concerns at the highest level of the american government. for the past four years, the international community has spoken with a strong, clear, and largely united voice denouncing russia's aggression against ukraine. the united states, the european union, and its member states and many other countries, have imposed sanctions against russia for its unacceptable conduct in crimea and eastern ukraine. sunday's outrageous violation of sovereign ukrainian territory is part of a pattern of russian behavior that includes the purported annexation of crimea and abuses against countless ukrainians in crimea. as well as stoking conflict that has taken the lives of more than 10,000 people in eastern ukraine. and it shows no sign of decreasing. what we witnessed this weekend is yet another reckless russian escalation. let's be clear about what is known. ukrainian ships set sail from one ukrainian port to a

mr. president, mr. president, i asked you on monday if there was anything that you regret in your first two years and you said at times you could have, should have, used a quote, softer tone. your critics as you can imagine, your skeptics, they say they're not holding their breath happening. will you indeed change your tone to get things passed through congress after losing the house? you said you might extend a olive branch. what would that look like? >> i would be very good in a low tone but when things are done not correctly about you, written but, said about you, on television on where it is you have to defend yourself. i would love to do various, much easier than what i have to do. i have to go around, going around is much easier than facing somebody being treated fairly but when you're not treated fairly you really have no choice. i would love to have a very even, modest, boring tone. i would be very honored by that. but you know what? when you have to fight all the time, fight, because you're bein

mr. president, mr. president, i asked you on monday if there was anything you regret in your first two years and you said that at times you could have and should have used a, quote, softer tone. your critics as you can imagine, your skeptics say they're holding their breath on that happening. will you indeed have to change your tone if you're to get things passed through congress since you lost the house and you might extend an olive branch. >> i would love to have -- i'd be good at a low tone but when things are done not correctly about you, written about you, said about you on television, on wherever it is you have to defend yourself. i would love to do very even toned -- much easier than what i have to do. i have to go around and going around is much easier than facing somebody and being treated fairly. but when you're not treated fairly you have no choice. i would love to have a very even modest boring tone but when you have to fight all the time fight because you're being misrepresented by the media

the presiding officer: question. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent that the quorumming dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, this weekend president trump will head to argentina for the g-20 summit where he is expected to meet with president xi of china to discuss our trade relationship. i have opposed the president on most things -- that's hardly a secret -- but we actually agree on the issue of china. in fact, i agree more with president trump's views on china than i did with either president bush or obama. and i've been supportive of the administration's aggressive course of action on china. china must be made to understand we are dead serious about changing its behavior on trade. to allow foreign companies to compete in its markets, to end illegal dumping of cheap goods into our markets, and most importantly to end the abusive practice of technology transfers and trade espionage that threatens our intellectual property and know-how. for these things don't just thr

mr. president. have you seen any evidence that russia or china intervened in yesterday's election? pres. trump: we are going to make a full report. and unlike the previous administration, we have done a lot of work on that issue. if you speak with the fbi and the department of justice, speak to homeland security, we have spent a lot of time. it gets very little coverage in the papers. you cover the nonsense part, but not the important. this is very important. we have been working very hard on china and russia and everyone else, looking into our elections or meddling with our elections. people tend not to write about it. we have worked very hard. >> what do you intend to say to president xi and to president putin when you meet with them? pres. trump: i have a good relationship with both. i know president xi better, but i think i have a good relationship with both. i actually had a very good meeting in russia that you people did not agree with, because it didn't much matter, frankly. but the fact is th

thank you mr president you have campaigned as a pro-life president you have to finda the rights of unborn children you know a divided congress it's unlikely passed right it to pass the pro-life bill are very tough issues how are you going to push forward your pro-life agenda is going to push i've been pushing i've done a very good job to very happy with me but it's a tough issue for the two sides is no question but what do you do it is great to have what am i going to what i won't be able to explain that to you because it is an issue that is a very diverse of polarizing issue but there is a solution i think i have that solution and nobody else does what we're going to be we're going to be working on that yes go ahead. she took your place but that's ok. mr president just a quick question on rural america in states like indiana north dakota folks turned out for republican candidates could you talk a little bit about what this means for your agenda in terms of trade and the farm bill. and the farm bill is working really well i mean we could have had it approved any time but we were looking t

mr. president. pres. trump: go ahead. he gave me a fair interview the other day, so i might as well ask him a question. >> thank you, mr. president. you told me the other day that you are an open book. pres. trump: i think i am an open book. >> so, point-blank, democrats go after your tax returns, will you try to block that or will you allow it? pres. trump: look, as i have told you, they are extremely complex. people would not understand them. they were done by, among the biggest and best law firms in the country, same thing with the accounting firms. the accountants are very, very large, powerful firm from the standpoint of respect and how they are respected. big firm. a great law firm, you know it very well. they do these things, they put them in. but people don't understand tax returns. now, i did do a filing of over 100 pages, i believe, which is in the offices. when people went and saw that file and saw the magnitude of it, they were very disappointed, and they saw the detail. you'd get far mor

mr. president. when ian a month ago, last briefed the security council on the situation in ukraine, i brought to the council's attention the reports of increased tensions and underlined the need to avoid any escalation, provocation, or miscalculation. regrettably, a serious security incidents took place near crimea close to the see of as off only yesterday. i wish to underlined that the u.n. cannot independently verify the circumstances surrounding the incident. however, reports indicate on 25 november, and incident involving three ukrainian vessels and at least one russian vessel took place near the kerch strait when the former attempted to enter the sea of azov. , number of ukrainian sailors although the exact number remains unclear, were reportedly injured in the event. it had previously notified the russian federation of its intent to sell these vessels to the ukrainian port in the sea of azov. that requires entry through the narrow kerch strait. the russian federation meanwhile claims that ukra

mr. president. mr. president, i rise rise today to express my concern about the humanitarian crisis in yemen and share my views on the resolution that is currently before us. the conflict in emwhyen has persisted for far too long. i strongly support the efforts of the u.n. special envoy for yemen, martin griffith, to bring the internationally recognized government of yemen and the houthis to the negotiating table in the near future with the goal of reaching a sustainable political solution. i also welcome the call by secretary mattis and others for a cease-fire that would provide space for such negotiations to occur while also providing a measure of relief to the yemeni population that has suffered so who are riskily during this conflict. according to the united nations, half of yemen's population are on the brink of famine and entirely reliant on external aid aid for their own survival. these challenges have been exacerbated by mass displacement in much of the country and recent fighting in the vicinity

mr. president. >> wow, this is -- go ahead, jim. he gave me a fair interview the other day, and so i might as have him ask me a question. >> and picking up, you told me the other day, that you are an open book. >> i think that i am an open book. >> and point blank, the democrats go after your tax returns and will you try to block that or allow them to have that? >> well, look, as i have told you, they are under audit and they have been for a long time and extremely complex, and people would not understand them, and done by the biggest and the best law firms in the country and the same thing with the accounting firms and the accountants are a very large and powerful firm from the standpoint of respect and highly respected. big firm. a great law firm that you know it very well. they do these things, and they put them in and people don't understand tax returns, and did a filing of over 100 pages of the office and with when people went to see the filing and the magnitude of it, and they were disappointe

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: mr. president, the 115th congress is drawing to a close, and we've accomplished a lot over the past two years. our goal for this congress was simple. make life better for the american people. and a big part of that was getting the economy going again. after years of economic stagnation under the obama administration, american families were feeling the pinch. growth was sluggish. wages were stagnant, and opportunities were few and far between. for too many families, getting ahead had been replaced by getting by. we were determined to change that, and so we took action. we passed an historic reform of our tax code that put more money in american families' pockets and made it easier for businesses to grow and create jobs and opportunities for american workers. and now we're seeing the results. robust economic growth, the lowest unemployment level in almost 50 years, a record number of job openings, growing wages, near record confidence among small businesses, and the list goes on. in human te

mr. president. >> thank you. . >>> you told me the other day that you're an open book. >> i think i am an open book. >> point blank, democrats go after your tax returns will you try to block that or allow them? >> look, as i've told you, they're under order and have been for a long time. tlaifr extremely complex. it doesn't go by the biggest low firms in the country. the accountants are very large powerful firm from the standpoint of respect. highly respected. big firm. a great law firm. you know it well. they do these things and put them in. but people don't understand tax returns. i did do a filing over 100 panls in the offices and when people went and saw that filing and the magnitude of it, they were disappointed and they saw the detail, you get far more. i guess we filed that three times but you get far more from that than you do a tax return. when you're under audit -- i'm under continuous audit because there's so many companies and it's a very big company, far bigger than you would understand

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mrs. cortez masto: thank you, mr. president. the bureau was created in the aftermath proliferate financial crisis to protect americans from predatory and abusive practices and ensure that financial institutions play by the rules. since 2010, the cfpb has investigated and held accountable abusive student loan companies, predatory payday lenders and fraudulent multinational corporations, just to name a few. it has also protected our nation's veterans and active duty service members from targeted scams and illegal debt collection practices. the cfpb has secured over $12 billion in relief for americans, and just this past april the consumer financial protection bureau sued wells fargo for creating millions of fake accounts, for destroying credit scores and forcing millions of customers to pay phony penalties and fees. the people at the cfpb work every single die make the system safe and fair for hardworking families. we can't go back to the way things were before the cfpb was created. we can't go back to a time when there

mr. president, the caravan was not an invasion. it is a group of migrants moving up from central america towards the border with the u.s.. president trump: thank you for talking. >> why did you characterize it as such? president trump: i consider it an invasion. you and i have a difference of opinion. do you think you demonize immigrants during the election? president trump: no, i want them to come into the country, but i want them to come in illegally. they have to come in through a process, i want people to come in and we need the people. president trump: you know why we need the people, don't you? we have hundreds of companies moving in. we need the people. >> your campaign had an ad that showed migrants climbing over walls -- -- weren't president trump: they were not actors. they did not come from hollywood. these were people -- this was an actual, you know, this happened a few days ago. they are hundreds of miles away, though. they are hundreds and hundreds of miles away. that is not an invasion. president trump: honestly, i th

mr. president. i yield back my time. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding rule 22 all postcloture time on the farr nomination expire at 12:00 noon on thursday, november 29, if the nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered, made and laid upon the table and the president be immediately notified of the senate's action. further, that notwithstanding rule 22 the cloture vote on the kraninger nomination occur at 1:45 on thursday, november 29. and that if cloture is invoked on the kobes or kraninger nomination all postcloture time be yielded back and the senate vote on the nominations at a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the minority leader but not before december 4. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: mr.

mr. president -- mr. president, i asked you on monday if there was anything you regret in your first two years, and you said that at times you could have and should have used a, quote, softer tone your critics, as you can imagine, your skeptics say they're not holding their breath on that happening, will you indeed have to change your tone if you're to get things passed through congress after losing the house and you said you might extend an olive branch >> i would love to have -- i would be very good but when things are done not correctly about you, written about you, said about you on television, wherever it is, you have to defend yourself. i would love to do -- much easier than what i have to do. i have to go around and going around is much easier than facing somebody and being treated fairly when you're not treated fairly you have no choice i would love to have a very even, modest, boring talk. i would that but you know what, when you have to fight, all of the time fight because you're being misreprese

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: madam president, this evening the leader or someone standing in for the leader is going to come and close out the floor with a number of unanimous consents. one of them will be unanimous consent to push consideration of the national flood insurance program, to reauthorize it a week down the road. i will not object to that request for unanimous consent, but i do want to speak to the predicament of the national flood insurance program. for coastal states this is a very big deal and is this a program that is now completely out of step with the conditions that coastal states see before them so we have got to get this fixed. the liability of the national flood insurance program ran up to $30 billion after hurricane harvey. it borrowed $30 billion from the u.s. treasury, and that's its borrowing limit. it basically maxed itself out. so in october congress forgave $16 billion. we moved that from a liability of the national flood insurance to a liability of the united states, in ef

mr president. what c.n.n. should be ashamed of itself having you working for them you are a rude terrible person you shouldn't be working for c.n.n. . i think that's not there are very rude person the way you treat sarah huckabee is horrible and the way you treat other people horrible you shouldn't treat people that way and going to peter in jim's defense i traveled with him and watched him he's a diligent reporter basile i'm not a big fan of yours either so i understand to be honest i'm so let me ask the question if i can at you repeatedly lart you are the best mr president you repeatedly over the course you can just sit down place. well when you when you report fake do snow when you report fake doos which c.n.n. does a lot you are the enemy of the people go ahead mr president over the course over the course of the last several days of the campaign sir sir at the end of the campaign you repeatedly said that americans need to fear democrats he said democrats would unleash a wave of violent crime that endangers

mr. president. another way to say that, is that perhaps the responsible center in american politics has disappeared. and it is because of the -- [applause] mr. baker: it is due to a lot of things. we are a pretty evenly divided country, red state, blue state. we do have a constitutional requirements to redistrict. if you live in a state dominated by republicans, they will draw more and more safe districts on the right. and for democrats, more and more safe districts on the left. people go in washington today to represent us in congress and they longer take their families up there. there is no longer any social interaction in washington between the two parties. and the next to last thing, you have the advent of the internet. and that really makes it easy to be divisive. divisiveness sells. comity does not sell. if someone says something outrageous, they can get on tv. and lastly, part of this problem is the responsibility of the media. our media today are no longer objective reporters of the facts the

mr. president, mr. president, people have -- you talked about -- >> excuse me. >> you talked about middle class tax cuts on the campaign trail. how will you get democrats to support that policy? >> you have to ask them. >> what is your -- >> excuse me. you know what my plan is? i'll ask them. and if they say yes i'm all for it. if they say no there's nothing you can do because you need their votes. go ahead. >> thank you. francesca chamber, dailymail.com. you said many times on the campaign trail that you didn't want nancy pelosi to be speaker, at least you suggested that and spent a lot of time talking about her -- >> i would have -- so -- let me answer. would i have preferred winning by two or three or four? i would almost have to think about that. but certainly i like to win and if i win she's not going to be speaker. >> what did she say to you, though, yesterday that made -- >> we had a great conversation. she loves this country. and she's a very smart woman. she's done a very good job. she was reall

mr. president. i think we've gone over it and made the decisions that need to be made. i see that the commission attorney is present, so may i ask mr. russey to come up regarding abextensions? >> commissioners are required to vote on every matter that comes before the commission unless you have a legal conflict of interest. i also mention that you should take public comment before you vote on this matter. >> commissioner covington: thank you, mr. russey. >> president cleaveland: okay. given that, do we have -- chief, would you like to add something -- >> sure. so it's been brought to my attention, and i think it's valid. when you're looking at being inclusive, there are members of the command staff that have not achieved the rank of batallion chief, so they're not captains. some of them may be interested in applying for the position, but they've not held the position for ten years or more. >> commissioner covington: we've already discussed that. [please stand by] . >> all in favor of accepting the br

mr. president, you honor us by being here tonight and we are very -- [applause] mr. baker: we are very appreciative and very grateful for your being here. we were having dinner and when ed was announcing all those big dollar numbers, i looked at the president and said, mr. president, 10% of that is yours. is, i'm not hell it letting you off that cheap. i want the rolodex. mr. obama: jim still uses a rolodex, by the way. [applause] john, what was it like. say,nk it is fair to considerably different than it is today. it was not, as you pointed out, kumbaya movement. i worked for a president who was considered to be an ideologue. a was considered such hard-line conservative that he used to joke, our administration is so conservative that the right wing never knows what the far right wing is doing. he was able to reach across the aisle. people forget this, but president reagan had a democratic house for his entire presidency. tip o'neill was the speaker of the house. he and president reagan really didn't see anything hardly i to eye onardly eye-to- policy, but they both a

have this opportunity mr president to gun it said he's not going to follow your sanctions and he's going to keep buying oil from who said the president of the gun. turkey i know i know and you can i meet him soreness can understand is it ok you can i meet him so now you can have this talk and some company i got take the same steps that present are the guys doing so let me just say about the euro. so we're poor we opposed just recently the strongest sanctions in the history of our country just about oh i guess north korea is there too but i gave some countries a break on the oil i did it a little bit because they really asked for some help but i really did it because i don't want to drive oil prices up to one hundred dollars a barrel or one hundred fifty dollars a barrel because i'm driving them down if you look at oil prices they've come down very substantially over the last couple of months that's because of me because you have a monopoly called opec and i don't like weight and i don't like that monopoly i don't like it and oil prices are coming down so rather than deciding to be as tou

mr. president. just as a follow up to the retreat that we had about a month ago, i think it would be prudent of us to have a subcommittee to go over a number of the items that were put forth to prioritize the items going forward and to also, you know, present to the commission those items to be voted on. i did ask the president -- or suggested to the president that we have a subcommittee of the entire body of the commission, and he has fined commissioner nakajo, so commissioner nakajo served on the public safety transition team, so he has that knowledge base. also, i suggested to the president that the two deputies who are there the entire day, that they also be included, and i think -- i think that, you know, having them as a brain trust would be great. the two commissioners will be making the decision about presenting anything to the entire commission, but two deputies would be wonderful. then, a suggestion came in recently regarding the people who worked on the public safety team with commissioner

mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that ariel casillo, a legislative fellow in my office be permitted floor access for the remainder of the 115th congress. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. hirono: i thank my good friend, the senator from florida, for speaking out on the critical importance of the affordable care act for millions of people in our country and calling upon this administration to support health care for all instead of what they're doing to the health care of millions of people in our country. mr. president, turning to another matter, nearly 12 years ago, on december 7, 2006, president george w. bush nominated thomas farr to be a u.s. district court judge for the eastern district of north carolina. today, 12 years and three nominations later, his name is again before us for confirmation to the very same vacancy which has remained unfulfilled, or unfilled all this time. when mr. farr was nominated for his vacancy,

mr. president. >> go-ahead. me a fair interview the other day so i might as well ask him a question. reporter: you told me the other day that you are an open book. >> i think i am an open book. reporter: point blank, democrats go after your tax returns. will you block that or will you allow? they areave told you, extremely complex, people would not understand them. they're done by the biggest and best law firms in the country, same thing with the accounting firms. the accountants are large, powerful firms from the standpoint of respect, how they are respected, big firm, a great law firm, you know it very well, they do these things, they put them in. but people don't understand tax returns. i did a filing of over 100 pages, i believe, which is in the offices and when people went and saw the filing and the magnitude of it, they were disappointed. they saw the detail. you get far more from that. i guess we filed that now three times. you get far more from that and you could ever get from a tax return. i

the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, i rise today to speak to senate resolution 54, legislation brought forward by senators lee, sanders, murphy, and others more than eight months ago. the past two years have reminded us time and time again of the urgent responsibility of the congress to perform real checks and balances and to steadfastly defend our american values both at home and abroad. i thank them for their continued efforts throughout this intervening months to shed light on the devastating humanitarian crisis in yemen and to make sure this body fulfills its oversight duties. over the last three and a half years the tragic humanitarian crisis in yemen has continued to deteriorate. more than 10,000 people are dead, 14 million people on the brink of starvation. we've seen the heartbreaking photos of malnourished, starving children on the brink of death. we've learned in u.n. reports of the cholera outbreaks that jeopardize more than 10,000 people every week, and we've come to the conclusion that the status

[applause] in that spirit, we are gathered to honor president and mrs. have devoted their time and talent since leaving office to listening to veterans, to honoring their stories, and to working to ease their transition to civilian life. after leaving office, president bush said he would dedicate the rest of his life to serving veterans, and so he has, and we honor you for that service. [applause] and anyone who has heard mrs. bush talk about the importance of adult literacy and honoring veterans cannot fail to be inspired, and we are so honored that she, too, has devoted her energy to inspiring veterans and all americans to become better and deeper readers. thank you for that great service. [applause] the bushes have decided to honor veterans by donating today's liberty medal prize to a charge to keep, which is the campaign to endow the work of the george w. bush institute and its military service initiative. [applause] together, president and mrs. bush inspire all of us to live up to the shining example of america's veterans, who remind us how important

mr. president, mr. president, people have -- you talked about middle class tax cuts on the campaign trail. how will you get democrats to support that policy? >> you have to ask them. >> reporter: what's your plan for working with democrats? >> my plan is i'll ask them. and if they say yes, i'm for it. if they say no, there's nothing you can do because you need their votes. >> reporter: thank you, mr. president. you said many times on the campaign trail that you didn't want nancy pelosi or the speaker or suggested that. you talked about her and chuck schumer. >> it's not a question of want. let me answer it. would i have preferred winning by two or three or hour? i would almost have to think about that. but certainly i like to win. and if i win, she's not going to be speaker. >> reporter: what did she say to you yesterday that -- >> we had a great conversation. we had a warm conversation. she loves this country. she's a very smart woman. she's done a very good job. she was really -- i mean, she's had. >>

mr. president. i would like a quick summary of the changes that were proposed because this document does not reflect our discussion we had this afternoon, so if miss callahan can give us -- >> president cleaveland: all right. miss callahan, can you regurgitate -- >> i believe that was the three. i just wanted to confirm with the education requirements, if we were leaving those degree types as is or was there any other comment on that? okay. >> president cleaveland: commissioner veronese, did you have a question? >> commissioner veronese: well, point of order. i don't think we have the information necessary to approve this if it is not going to contain the initial information of ten years. >> i do expect i'll have it within a few minutes. point of order, you might -- or approve the hiring plan, for example, or hold it in bans, that approach. >> president cleaveland: do you feel more comfortable with that, commissioner veronese? >> commissioner veronese: ness. >> president cleaveland: okay. thank you.

mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: mr. president, i rise today in opposition to the nomination of thomas farr to the eastern district of north carolina. those who sit on the federal bench are bound to uphold the constitution for all americans, regardless of race or gender, ethnicity, or political leaning. but mr. farr cannot be trusted to defend equal justice under the law. working to disenfranchise voters with a particular hostility towards african american voters has been his lifelong passion. consider his work for jesse helms' 1990 senate campaign. we all know helms' record on race. when the justice department brought a lawsuit against the helms' campaign for sending over 100,000 postcards to mostly african american voters, falsely warning them that they were ineligible to vote and could be prosecuted for casting a ballot, it was mr. farr who defended the scheme. yet despite serving as the helms' campaign attorney, farr denied having any involvement wi

mr. president to the conference you share. [applause] >> i want to thank you mr. president. [inaudible. i think we are looking at the best and destroyed if ever had. >> i think that's true. i think we are closer than ever before. >> mr. president i want to say thank you for hosting this event it's a journey replicated by many folks in this room. it's a cherishing of our culture. >> say something. it's such an important thing you are doing. >> i thank you mr. president for celebrating this very important holiday to recognize the value of diversity. >> it's the way we feel and we'd love your country. we have great great respect for the prime minister, tremendous respect to please give him my warmest regards and we'll be talking to them soon. thank you very much everybody. [inaudible conversations] >> thank you very much everybody. we will be talking about it. [inaudible conversations] the supreme court heard oral argument whether the injection protocol is cruel and unusual punishment for somebody with a rare medical condition for at the center of the case is a blood vessel malformation to

mr president... iwill take sure you are unhappy about that. go ahead. mr president...nd then we can go... places like george up, people waited in line for hours to vote and voting machines were not working... do you think that's a reason the candidate lost? concerns are being raised. i was not involved in georgia, other thani was not involved in georgia, other than i love the state. as the president are you concerned about the access people have to voting.” heard it was very efficient in georgia but again you would have to ask the state governments because it is one of those things you have to ask them. go ahead, please. please, go ahead. thank you mr president, you expressed some concerns about social media companies unfairly censoring conservatives during the election, do you anticipate working with democrats to regulate these companies are you satisfied?” with democrats to regulate these companies are you satisfied? i would look at that, i think it's a serious problem but at the same time you start getting into speech, that's a dangerous problem. that could be the b

mr. president. we know that adler, maxene, ship and et cetera will all take it a step too far in their fervor for payback and the voters won't like that at t all. president trump will have to be more creative in advancing his agenda b forward. but in the meantime, he should feel really good about what he accomplished. especially since the voters may have under witnessingly given the president something he has needed for so long. aon clear, and worthy opponent. and that's the "angle" coming up. beggest losers last notice? hollywood. they still haven't got the memo. ram arroyo is here. next. >> laura: time for our seen and unseen, where we explore some of the big cultural stories of the day. >> it could beay the biggest hollywood flop ever, maybe since "ghost buster" reboot. the political advocacy did not achieve awhat he hoped. joining us raymond arroyo. of the released "mother angellaa." hollywood had a horrible night. they accused me of trolling taylor swift, by the way in the "hollywood reporter."

mr. president. i yield the floor. >> senator from vermont. >> consents to speak up for up to ten minutes. >> let me thank senator leahy for his leadership on this resolution at a time when many are coming together around an issue of enormous concern and also one of the leaders in the other 17 cosponsors of this resolution. mr. president, in a half-hour or so are we going to be casting one of the most important foreign-policy votes that we have cast in recent years? is a vote to demand that the humanitarian crisis in yemen be addressed. it's a vote that will tell the dictatorship in saudi arabia that we will no longer be part of the destructive military adventurism and a vote senator of the just mentioned that says the senate respects the constitution of the united states and understands the issue of homemaking putting our young men and women's lives at stake is something determined by the u.s. congress, not the president of the united states. it is a congressional decision, not a presidential decisi