mr. alexander: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i wonder if i might ask the majority leader a question. madam president, if i may ask it through the chair, as i understand it, there are a total of 14 district judges on the calendar who -- and that the majority leader is the only one in the chamber who has any, who has the right to bring a judge from the calendar to the floor. if i heard him correctly, he has asked for four district judges. he filed cloture on four district judges. the way i understand the senate procedure is that means we have an intervening day tomorrow, and we can start voting on wednesday, because we changed the rules at the majority leader's request to make it easier to confirm district judges, there is only in effect one hour of debate on each he district judge. two hours equally divided and if the democrats decided they didn't want to use their hour, we could use our hour if we wanted to, and that there never has been in the history of the united states senate a district judge denied his or her seat

mr. alexander. >> mr. alexander? mr. alexander? hello?nd the camera pulls out, revealing oh, look, nobody's in any of those desks. there's some staffers leaving, one guy is carrying around like a white board, but none of the people you can see there are republican senators. there are no senators on the floor. nobody to speak. the republicans forgot to show up, oh, there goes the board. republicans forgot to show up for their own protest. there's nobody there. at one point, this guy, he stands up, looks around and then puts his hand in his pocket and sits down and just puts his head in his hands. that's pretty much all the action. our blessed cspan stays on it until the bitter end. finally, they are forced to go to this. this was supposed to be the republicans big, all night stand, but when they forgot to show up, cspan decided they couldn't just keep the camera running, so they went into rolling senator james inhoff reruns while they waited for a live republican senator to show up and get on the floor of the senate and get back to the bus

mr. alexander: i noand speak for more than ten minutes when i get the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: certainly i don't have any objection to that. mr. alexander: may i ask consent i be allowed to speak for as much time as i require after senator reid does what he wants to do on the floor tonight which would not interfere with the senator from new hampshire going ahead at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you. mrs. shaheen: thank you, madam president. and senator alexander. i came to the floor this evening to talk about the importance of congress doing its job and passing a budget. we need a budget that's going to provide certainty for our economy, that will eliminate reckless spending cuts and will cost -- foster job creation. we hear this week that senator budget committee chair patty murray and house budget committee chair paul ryan may be close to just such an agreement. i think that's very good news because we need a budget deal so we can put an end to the manufactured cris

mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, we're watching america pass from the hands of the greatest generation to the hands of the debt-paying generation, with nothing to show for it but the bill. for months republicans have challenged president obama to fix the federal debt, to save entitlement programs that americans depend on, and to rescue young americans from being forever known as "the debt-paying generation." earlier this year, for example, i called on the president to show the same kind of leadership that president johnson did on civil rights, that president nixon did on china, that president carter did on the panama canal treaty, that president reagan did on social security. confront your own party, say what needs to be done, do what needneeds to be done. this hasn't happened. i appreciate very much the efforts of the senator from washington and representative ryan to try to bring certainty to the budget process. that's why i voted today to allow a vote on the house

mr. alexander? [chanting] >> yes, we can! yes, we can! >> the sergeant of arms will restore order in the gallery. >> we are back with alan gomez talking about immigration. our year in review. you talked about this immigration -- conservatives trying to sway. how far did they get? >> not very far. it is progress for them. what you saw was a different tactic that they were pushing this year. in previous fights, it was a traditional hispanic advocacy groups. pushing for reform and that was counterbalanced by people on the traditional right and other groups. what you've seen this time around is a collection of bibles, badges and businesses. that the putting the pressure on republicans. it is graded more space for republican to give them cover. the chamber down here is ok with it, let's go forward. that has been a big change. house leadership still said that if they wanted to get something going moving forward. >> in terms of that, they want to get something going, what has stopped them forgetting something on the floor? >> who knows? the sena

mr. alexander? [chanting] >> yes, we can! yes, we can! >> the sergeant of arms will restore order in the gallery. the sergeant of arms will restore order in the gallery. >> we are back with alan gomez of "usa today," talking about immigration. our year in review. we sell the senate floor debate. what about in the house, you conservatives trying to sway members of the house gop. how far did they get? >> not very far. at the same time, for them to say it is not dead is progress for them. what you saw was a different tactic that they were pushing this year. in previous fights, it was a traditional hispanic advocacy groups. immigration supporters pushing for reform and that was counterbalanced by people on the traditional right, u.s. chamber of commerce and other groups like that. what you've seen this time around is a collection of bibles, badges and businesses. you have religious leaders, law enforcement leaders, and business owners putting the pressure on republicans. this has created more space for republican to give them cover. they can

mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. i want to congratulate the senator from missouri for his comments. sometimes i think republican senators especially should begin and end every speech with an answer to the question, what would you do if you were in charge? the senator from missouri has said that very eloquently. and i.t it's not the first times been said on this floor. he mentioned that the law was passed three and a half years ago. we counted it up one time. we mentioned 173 times the republican proposal for a different approach to health care in this country. we said, don't expect senator mcconnell or any other republican to come in here with a wheelbarrow with a 3,000-page republican bill. we don't believe in that. we believe in a different direction, a different approach. we don't believe we're wise enough in washington to write 3,000 pages of rules to govern every aspect of our health care system in america that takes 18% or 19% of the economy. we live in the iphone age when we want to increase the personal freed

mr. alexander? [chanting] >> yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! yes, we can! >> the sergeant of arms will restore order in the gallery. the sergeant of arms will restore order in the gallery. >> we are back with alan gomez talking about immigration. our year in review. you talked about this immigration -- conservatives trying to sway. how far did they get? >> not very far. it is progress for them. what you saw was a different tactic that they were pushing this year. in previous fights, it was a traditional hispanic advocacy groups. pushing for reform and that was counterbalanced by people on the traditional right and other groups. what you've seen this time around is a collection of bibles, badges and businesses. that the putting the pressure on republicans. it has created more space for republicans to give them cover. the chamber down here is ok with it, let's go forward. that has been a big change. house leadership still said that if they wanted to get something going moving forward. >> in terms of that, they want to get something going, what has stopped the

mr president my name is so alexander closeness from argument and faculty. some time ago the salaries of top russian bureaucrats were adjusted according to the salaries of the russian president and prime minister so the question was why the bureaucrats will receive at least five four hundred fifty thousand roubles a month isn't too large a salary as compared to the average salaries and pensions and will this followed by some new anti corruption regulation. will this become plain mentored by. complimented by requirements for restraint thank you so much it's so nice to work with you today you are answering your own questions it does not only apply to you but to. ask the previous questions too. so i have cited the figures to you and although there are clearly some difficulties and gaps on the whole i think the russian government has been quite a fish and it was a difficult year for the global economy and now that we have over fifty hundred to turnover with the european union and many european countries who are clearly in decline or stake nation we were still ma

i appreciate general alexander, mr. cole and mr. litt being here. we're going to be renewing our examination of government surveillance activities. and it seems every time we have these, there's been a series of new revelations. and the latest disclosures raise some significant questions about the scope and wisdom of our surveillance activities both at home and abroad. so it's clear that we have a lot more oversight work to do. in the last week there have been press reports that the nsa is collecting billions of records a day of cell phone locations around the world and can track individuals and map their relationship. there have also been reports the nsa is monitoring online video games. which just in the press reports raises a question, because we can do something, does it really make sense to do it? especially as last month the administration released a set of documents revealing details about yet another massive dragnet collection program in addition to the phone record program. and this time the nsa was gathering in bulk an enormous amount of i

alexander daryn professor of law and also live from moscow region mr durrant thank you very much thank you. and we've also heard from alexander marker is a legal expert and blogger says nonstop visits by high profile foreign politicians and more a case of meddling and trying to find peace i cannot actually imagine such a thing i trying to imagine a situation where they say there was a right you sent along. or a big protest in central london let's say somebody from a foreign country say russia came along and attempted to negotiate between the protesters and the government is used most strange to me i have to say and i wonder whether it's a tool why is it actually it seems to me that when outsiders involve themselves in the affairs of a country which they don't always understand well let's remember mr ashton doesn't speak ukrainian she doesn't speak russian she's probably not very familiar with the political internal political situation in the ukraine one wonders what possible compromise was solution they can help to. ukraine's prime minister says they process are preventing key payments

political commentator and former crime advise alexander nick ross of mr grasso thank you very much indeed for your time we appreciate it thank you. so we have. the live streams going from one of russia the world's richest men to a high profile criminal recall how he ended up in jail and back in february nine hundred ninety seven he became chairman and c.e.o. of the private corporation you cause which produced a fifth of russia's oil within six and a half years he was one of the country's richest men he was arrested on fraud charges around the same time links to the promise of his asian of a state assets he was eventually found guilty in may two thousand and five and given nine years in prison and appeal sawyer knocked out of that sentence in december two thousand and six there was a second case and he was charged with three hundred fifty million tonnes of oil he was found guilty again and given a fourteen year sentence but the court counted time already served and political analyst and expert on russian german relations alexander rar was one of the first to greet me. on german soil and he

alexander. joining me now live from london mr mccurry is so welcome to our see nice to see you and talk to you as well so i may have thought of how sad is that he doesn't want to be involved in politics or business and won't of fun as the russian opposition or do you make of the decision well i think that's probably what i think that's what we want our i think that's i mean clearly some sort of deal has been done whereby he will leave russia. the problem is drawn to the third you cause case is dropped i'm sure it will be dropped. down to the whole affair and i think that's really what's happened. there are poor that germany is former foreign minister hans dietrich met twice over the past two years to discount. rate what's in it for germany why is there such attention to this case in germany. i suspect we're germany has a very very strong economic and political relationship with russia and i suspect that a lot of people in germany wanted to resolve this matter it was harder to get to get it out of the way so that they could continue with their relationship with with russia without it's a matter of

alexander to the g. of. a from the talking magazine mr putin. will previously you said that it's enough to subsidize the korean economy so what is the reason for such a generous aid to ukraine right now. to get spanked any payback from them what kind of economic or political guaranteed you have. provided for us to offer such assistance and will ukraine join the customs union you. were seen a post which said ukraine. ok please ask your question i guess it's going to be roughly the same and i'll try to respond to both your questions. you know with blue cross from the ukrainian agency. thank you for starting with ukraine where are you i didn't start with ukraine you start it. your kremlin journalist raised this issue so here's what i'd like to clarify the world for three years you've been suppressing. ukraine know with high prices for garrett's for natural gas and now you for come up within discount does it mean that previously the prize for natural gas was unfair for the. brother for your neighbor and brotherly ukraine. so how do we move forward.

more of the situation in ukraine notionally from political commentator alexander the crossover as well i'm from london tonight mr crossover evening to you and i must talk about what this is done for president ghana covert politically i mean this deal the series of deals that was signed in russia look at likely to save ukraine from default it would have happened within six months we think of it signed up with the e.u. surely it's done in political good isn't it as well. well i think they're going to have a human side in the rush hour where you can not cite froebel and i think that the government protesters would have said the people that i think there is no particular form does nothing that they know program that those protesters have and to be honest with you i think the only reason why they're still there is because they feel the mind of the european union behind them and those foreign politicians like some of the mccain of us coming all more and basically basically inflaming tensions i think insects are quite the mazing that we see european countries sending their political is that because because it's this pr

senator alexander said i'm stunned and surprised and disappointed by what i've learned and i immediately placed mr. loskarn on administrative leave without pay what do we know regarding this investigation and this arrest? >> reporter: it's stunning not only to those who worked alongside ryan loskarn but senator alexander from tennessee and up for re-election. one of those shocking moments where we don't have a lot of facts yet but a real jolt to his colleagues here. what we know is this investigation was carried out early this mork at his home not far from capitol hill. once the senator was informed, he put out that statement expressing his own shock and dismay, putting his chief of staffs on administrative leave without pay pending this investigation. he's a well liked staffer on the hill, working in various offices, prior to being the chief of staff to lamar alexander, he worked broadly for not republicans. we don't have details about the specifics. there is of course, further investigation being done, including the computer system used here on capitol hill as well as the personal search that wa

granting working at the national security agency, keith alexander who runs the national security agency, both were interviewed on 60 minutes. and mr. legett was asked, should mr. snowden be given amnesty to limit the harm to the administration, staunch advocates of bringing snowden to justice. jay carney's view, here he is: >> our position hasn't changed on that. what i can tell you, is this: mr. snowden has been accused of leaking classified information and he faces felony charges in the united states. he should be returned to the united states where he will be . >> you said it, mike viqueria, in washington, thank you. >>> syrian war plains once again attacked opposition positions in the city of aleppo a day after air strikes killed 76 people, the united nations is asks for more help for those affected by the civil war that has left over 100,000 dead. >> desert 88thed beyond all imagination. the people of syria cannot afford another year, another month, even another day of brutality and destruction. >> well activists say at least 28 children were killed in sunday's attack. the strikes come as winter sets in helping to make life e

professor of law dr alexander don't rein believes the opposition leaders that deliberately out of a plane the actions of the authorities in order to curry favor from their foreign backers. mr political is just a puppet he is nobody his words should not be taken seriously everybody understands that he is playing somebody else's game. and ukraine belongs to the ukrainians you could see koreans themselves should decides if you. consider any possible for the old one first of all polish european american involvement absolutely intolerable into domestic affairs office a great ukrainian nation what's going on in ukraine right know including the chance to disperse the protesters is being done a very delicately much more delicately but you can expect in many other countries of the world americans should not exaggerate what's going on right now. the west has a right expressed outrage at the actions of the ukrainian authorities the u.k. foreign secretary said it's unacceptable while be you last secretary of state gave his opinion an even stronger terms as as he's gonna check out reports now from washington. it's not often that you hear the word discuss that from a diplomat it's usual

mr. chairman, about location information. i really am way over my time. thank you for your indulgence. this is on the issue. general alexander in a hearing hearing -- let me go beyond that. last week the "washington post" asked intelligence official speaking on the record to ask how many americans have had their location information collected by the nsa. the official answer, quote, it is awkward for us to try to provide any specific numbers. right after he said that, the article says that an nsa spokesman interrupted the converse nation to change that answer. do you believe it is difficult for this administration to estimate how many americans about their information collected or do you think it is awkward? >> i think it is difficult, but i think we are talking by each other at the medics name. under the business record highs, there is a series of questions that senator wyden and others have asked. we have locked down that road. as you know, that is on the court said we are not doing that. we don't do that. a few records were done to check to see if technically could be done. that was the first set of issues on the business

from mr hodder crossed himself in less than two hours time out of the live from there lynn and peter many thanks indeed for that. and political analyst and expert on russian german relations alexander rar was one of the fust to greet me. and soil and here's what he told us his face didn't change in the past ten years i haven't seen him for ten years. i think he didn't lose his humor he's still. very strong mood alexander rah was invited by those for my german foreign minister to trade kagan sure to consult him in his push to release her confiscate cast politician of poor people from the euro skeptic i'll turn to germany party heart of why her confiscate is enjoying such a woman welcome in his country people germany do know very little about. i mean he was known as an audit guard who had been put on trial in russia and send him to jail for the last ten years that is all that people in germany don't understand that mr cosby is not a freedom fighter or something like that that he was a businessman before he was imprisoned and not very much known to the german public and i would suggest that the german politicians should welcome mr edward snowden maybe in the same way in germany but th

recently with the head of the nsa chief alexander and before we sat down he said that i really don't like questioning this. [laughter] >> so let's start with tom rid. mr. thomas rid, you have come to a definition of what cyberwar is and is not. and i think that we all agree on this panel that we have seen gradation of cyberactivity and intellectual property and corporate secrets, state secrets, espionage that is cyberenabled and we see occasional cyberattacks on infrastructure, which is what happened in operation of the games and against iran's nuclear program. we see denial of service attacks in an effort to bring down banking systems or freezing of the entire "new york times" website, as was managed to do over the summer months. so for a good number of hours. and then, there is the overall cyberwar, which you described in these terms, and for those that i hear that did not have to suffer through this, which is near a thousand pages long. so it's very good in new york for killing rats, but you use a very classic definition of cyberwar. so which of these will not occur? espionage is happening, some infrastructure attacks are happening. clearly denial

alexander payne. or quentin tarantino. it's the same kind of a feeling as i had with mr. kazan. and it's very challenging. all on the script. when we go in the house and there's a scene where i say, this is my room and my old house. and the wife says you know this is where woody's little brother david died and will my son says to me do you remember that, dad? and the line that's written is i was there. i was there. who says stuff like that? but this guy has it in his script already. you don't have to come up with that stuff. and that's just, my daughter laura, did a series called "enlightened." that's enlightenment. you know? it's been wonderful so far. it feels good that people the biggest thing is i'm trying to get people to go out and see the movie. because we're kind of like the little engine that could with all the movies that are out there. >> you were saying, bruce, that you actually saw the script for the first time ten years ago. >> yeah. >> but it took that long to get the movie made in part because alexander payne wanted to make it in black and white. >> that was the biggest issue he a problem

alexander not waiting for an arraignment, much less a conviction in the case and releasing a statement saying, i am stunned, surprised and disappointed by what i have learned. the courts will judge mrt under these circumstances, he cannot continue to fulfill his duties as chief of staff. in a couple hours we expect ryan loskarn will be here at court, where he will be arraigned, likely in enter a plea, set up some sort of bail arrangements. >> a lot of the materials just coming in to us all, including you. is this part of a sting? the home is one thing. where they able to get much material out of his office, the senator's office? >> reporter: well, you have to look, if you look at how a lot of child pornography cases are prosecutored and investigated these days, you don't necessarily have a lot of physical material, much of it is conducted online. so a simple hard drive may contain, you know, more evidence than any amount of physical evidence that you would have saw, you know, 10, 20 years ago. we think that basically this was centered on his personal computer. that was taken into custody by the investigators. >> wow. distressing, no matter how you slice it. chris lawrence, keep us

mrs. taft so much. they were friendly during t.r.'s presidency. it is during 1910, after taft shows his hand as president that hostilities break out. >> next is a call from alexandern indiana. hello. >> i have a question about theodore roosevelt. >> i'm happy to hear it. can you tell us how old you are? >> i'm 12 years old. >> have you studied theodore roosevelt in school already? >> no. i have wrote a paragraph about him. he is my favorite president. >> why? >> because i think he did a lot for this country. >> can you name one thing? >> he fought in the spanish- american war. >> what questions do you have about him? >> did he believe in god and jesus? >> thank you. >> yes, he was a devout christian. >> in fact, incorporating religion into edith's life, we talk about her religion and how it informed her life, she argued for applied christianity. she would urge her husband to think about how his policies affected the poor. she was a social gospel christian, taking care of the poor and being concerned about the needy. he was episcopalian. at the time, the church was devoted to social gospel, concern for poor people. >> in pennsylvania, you are on. >> thank you. i un

mr. chairman about location information. but i really am way over my time. thank you for your indulgence. this is on the capacity issue. general alexander in a hearing let me go dwhrooned. -- let me go beyond that. last week the washington post asked intelligence officials speak on the record to estimate how many americans had had their location information collected by the n.s.a.. the official answer quote it's awkward for us to try to provide any specific numbers. right after he said that the article says that an n.s.a. spokesman interrupted the conversation to change that answer. do you believe it's difficult for this administration to estimate how many americans have had their information collected or do you think it's awkward? >> i think it's difficult but i think we're talking by each other fy might explain. >> good. >> there was a series of questions on location information that senators had asked and we have walked down that road. that's one the court said we don't do that. there has been a few records that were done to check to see if technically it could be done. that was the first set of issues. so there is no location data t

mr. chairman about location information. but i really am way over my time. thank you for your indulgence. this is on the capacity issue. general alexander in a hearing -- let me go dwhrooned. last week the washington post asked intelligence officials speak on the record to estimate how many americans had had their location information collected by the n.s.a.. the official answer quote it's awkward for us to try to provide any specific numbers. right after he said that the article says that an n.s.a. spokesman interrupted the conversation to change that answer. do you believe it's difficult for this administration to estimate how many americans have had their information collected or do you think it's awkward? >> i think it's difficult but i think we're talking by each other fy might explain. >> good. >> there was a series of questions on location information that senators had asked and we have walked down that road. that's one the court said we don't do that. there has been a few records that were done to check to see if technically it could be done. that was the first set of issues. so there is no location data that we're using today p

mr. roker, the envelope please. here it comes. >> usher and kid dance off. antone alexander.ongrats. come on in. come on in. we have the one trophy because i want to ask between the two of you. we saw the dance off, we saw the video. who is the better of the two dancers? >> well, personally the video was great and everything but i'd like to give it to antoine. >> but i think he should have it. >> no, there's a reason. i want you to hold it for a reason. >> take it. >> take it. >> because you being 11 years old, your family did real good with you. you're an inspiration to me and all kids your age as well as the adults. i admire you. so you make the city of flint and your hometown and detroit look good. people around the world admire you. i know i do. so thank you. >> what a beautiful gesture. >> he deserves it. >> thank you. >> that's incredible. they're disappointed. they're not taking this very well. >> i'm sorry. >> but there's not much you can do about this guys. >> that's right, willie. >> he likes it. he's singing your song. see, it's catchy. >> right now we do have a wo

from alexander hamilton, he said the inevitable tendency of such a spirit is to sap the foundations of public and private confidence and to introduce universal disstrus and -- distrust and distress. mr. president, when a president with the cooperation of a legislature which rubber stamps judicial nominees for the purpose of ratifying a political agenda when this happens, the american people's trust in the judiciary will be badly damaged. and we are at the threshold of that moment now. of course, it also completely undermines our whole system of separation of powers. the fact is, when judges are seen as being at the beck and call of the legislature or a president, or a party, our individual liberty is simply not secure. again to quote hamilton, he said the general liberty of the people can never be endangered from the court so long as the judiciary remains truly distinct from both the legislature and the executive. he goes on to say -- and i quote -- "liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone but would have everything to fear from its union with either of the other departments." and when you have one party ruling this process, completely controlling this process, and