mr. duckworth. will clark stepped up. he assembled a rescue vessel, paddled down dangerous currents and snatched mr. duckworth off his roof. miraculously, both made it to safety to the cheers of spectators. when offered the promised reward will clark refused saying he was willing to risk his life not for money but for his neighbor. will clark embodied the spirit of the people of north carolina. today that spirit is strong. last september, another terrible storm struck western north carolina. hurricane helene brought devastation, heartbreaking loss of life, destruction of homes/ businesses and ruination of infrastructure. it revealed our state character. since the hurricane, i've met a remarkable number of heroes, people who stepped up for neighbors. black mountain police chief steve parker and many others just like will clark a century before braved raging rivers to rescue neighbors in distress. the owner of w ptl, the local am radio station canton hardly left her post so she could broadcast essential info to the desperat

mrs. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallegos.. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. mr. rowe no. mr. hoeven. mrs. hyde smith. mr. johnson. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king cop. ms. klobuchar mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. alumnus. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mr. moran. mr. marino. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of souths. carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. she he. miss slotkin. mrs. smith. mr. thune mr. tillis. mr. turberville. mr. vane. hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. >> a quorum is present. a quorum is a president present. how to preserve the leadership time is reserve the senate will be in the period of

mr. chairman. >> senator duckworth, you are recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and secretary mattis had to have the waiver, as well. mr. hegseth, this is a hearing whether you are qualified to be secretary of defense, and one of the qualifications to answer my colleague's question is to win the votes of every member of this committee and to be confirmed by the united states senate, and you need to convince us that you are worthy of that vote because the people of the state of illinois because the voted me to betherapy senator. and this hearing seems to be a hearing whether or not women are qualified to serve in combat and not about whether or not you are qualified to be secretary of defense, and let me say that the american people need a sec def who is ready to lead on day one. you are not that person. ourour adversaries watch at tims of transition, and any sense that the person is put in the job not ready for the job, that puts us at risk, and i want you to explain to the american people, the committee who have to vote for you, and the troops deployed

mr. chairman. senator duckworth, you are recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and also, secretary mattis had to have this waiver as well. this hearing is about whether you are qualified to be secretary of defense. >> and one of the qualifications to answer my colleague's question is to actually win the votes of every member of this committee and to be confirmed by the united states senate. and you need to convince us that you're worthy of that vote, because the people of the state of illinois voted for me to be their senator, so that i could cast that vote. when it comes to picking who is going to be the next secretary of defense, this hearing now seems to be a hearing about whether or not women are qualified to serve in combat, and not about whether or not you are qualified to be secretary of defense. and let me just say that the american people need a secdef who is ready to lead on day one. you are not that person. our adversaries watch closely during times of transition, and any sense that the department of defense that keeps us safe is being steered by some

mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallego. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. every time i went to church with him was packed. started before sunrise and i was thankful that it got to walk in with my grandmother. esses we sat down, sunday school would start. my grandpa always been asking if he wanted into his church before. my grandma and i raise our hands. and then my grandfather would pull the congregation and we quickly found out that the church was full of people from all over the country to alter the backgrounds and beliefs. my grandfather address the most diverse sunday school class ever assembled, again. before he would deliver his bible lesson, my grandpa talked about his week, and election he would talk about. if you stop the conflict, he talked about it. if he eliminated disease from a village or a country, he would talk about it. when my brother jeremy died, he announced the news at sunday school. in fact, i i remember my

mrs. mcmahon. >> senator duckworth. >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms. mcmahon, thank you sponsors been so much time with me yesterday. i appreciated your candor and willingness to address my concerns that have to do with wwe is a 1099 employees especially as pertains to the health underperformers as well as the potential azimuth is going to be petted thespians motives but this is i don't want that to become the standard that a small business use 1099 employees to avoid paying and providing health benefits and for the protections for small business employees like anyone else. i appreciate you addressing my concerns about potential monopolistic practices at debbie debbie e asbell so thank you for that time. i want to focus on one of the goals of the sba. congress created the sba to achieve two goals. to up american small business and to make sure these firms with a fair amount of government contract. i want to focus on the second goal. as a member of congress committed to making government work better i'm concerned i'll settle for treatment system is not

mr. chairman. senator duckworth, you are recognized. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and also, secretary mattis had to have this waiver as well. um, mr. hegseth, this hearing is about whether you are qualified to be secretary of defense and one of the qualifications to answer my colleague's question is to actually win the votes of every member of this committee and to be confirmed by the united states senate. and you need to convince us that you're worthy of that vote, because the people of the state of illinois voted for me to be their senator, so that i could cast that vote. when it comes to picking who is going to be the next secretary of defense, this hearing now seems to be a hearing about whether or not women are qualified to serve in combat, and not about whether or not you are qualified to be secretary of defense. and let me just say that the american people need a secdef who is ready to lead on day one. you are not that person. our adversaries watch closely during times of transition and any sense that the department of defense that keeps us safe is being ste

mr. chairman. >> senator duckworth, you are recognized. >> also secretary mattis had to have this waiver as well. mr. hegseth, this hearing is about whether you are qualified to be secular of defense in one of the qualifications to enter mike rawlings question is to actually win the votes of every member of this committee and to be confirmed by the united states senate. and you need to convince us that you are worthy of that vote because the people of the state of illinois voted for me to be there senator so that i could cast that vote when it comes to picking who is going to be the next secretary of defense. this hearing now seems to be hearing about whether or not women are qualified to serve in combat and not about whether or not you are qualified to be secretary of defense. let me just say the american people need a secretary of defense was ready to lead on day one. you're not that person. our adversaries watch closely during times of transition and any sense of the department of defense that keeps us safe is being steered by someone who is holding -- wholly unprepared for the job put america

duckworth. i would like to submit for the record a letter submitted by mr. grimes marriott that says anyone who would claim that pete mismanaged fund at that separate is the good of the facts. without objection it will be permitted to the record. senator budd. >> thank you, chairman wicker and congrats on your chairmanship for this committee. thank you for your leadershipf and handling of this picky doing a great job. so i want to also submit for the record a letter submitted by mr. daniel california operations manager for veterans of freedom. his letter states mr. hegseth and he conducted weekly meetings to meticulous review every dollar that organization spent. his hands on approach and dedication to financial responsibility insureds that's for free to operate within the budget. his letters also states he treated his staff with the utmost respect regardless of race or gender guy asking in this consent toin enter this ino the record. >> without objection, so ordered. >> thank you. mr. hegseth, congratulations on your nomination. thanks for paying for the co

hearing, including this exchange with democratic senator tammy duckworth, who, of course, is herself a combat veteran. >> you're not qualified, mrhegseth. you're not qualified. you talk about repairing our defense industrial complex. you're not qualified to do that. you could do acquisition and cross-servicing agreements, which essentially are security agreements. you can't even mention that you've done none of those. you talked about the indo-pacific a little bit, and i'm glad that you mention it or mention it. can you name the importance of at least one of the nations in the asean, in asean, and what type of agreement we have with at least one of those nations, and how many nations are in asean? by the way, i couldn't tell you the exact. >> no, you couldn't, because i know we have allies in south korea and japan and in aukus with australia trying to work on submarines with them. >> mr. none of those countries are in asean. none of those three countries that you mentioned are in asean. i suggest you do a little homework before you prepare for these types of negotiations. >> joining us now, allison jaslow, an iraq veteran army c

mr. hegseth, i hardly think you are prepared to do the job tonight. >> illinois senator tammy duckworth, on today's bruising hearing for pete hegseth. >> how can we ask these warriors to train and perform the absolute highest standards when you are asking us to lower the standards to make you the secretary of defense? >> then house democratic leader hakeem jeffries, on loyal opposition in the new congress. and jen psaki joins me with her exclusive interview with california governor gavin newsom on the fires burning in his state and the misinformation making it harder to fight them. >> but somehow, there's a magical spigot in california and northern california that just can be turned on, and all of a sudden there will be rain or water flowing everywhere. it's not helpful when all in starts right now. >> good evening from new york. i'm chris hayes. i want you to mentally bracket out for a second. the very serious allegations of sexual assault against pete hegseth, the man donald trump wants to be his secretary of defense. yes, it is an allegation borne of an actual police report filed afte

duckworth from last month. the washington journal highlights another person that mr.egseth will hear from, senator joni ernst, herself a combat veteran. this is from the wall street journal saying, mr. hegseth's performance will be closely watched and what is expected to be a contentious confirmation hearing today. also in the spotlight, senator ernst, a republican from iowa who supports the -- whose support of the trump transition team is seen as critical, indoor criticism from trump supporters last year after publicly raising specific issues that she wanted hegseth to address. the role of women in the military, sexual assault in the military come auditing the pentagon for waste and abuse. her vote could be the key to hegseth's future and her own. the senate armed services committee will force joni ernst to battle loyalty to president-elect donald trump with her long-running effort to combat sexual assault and support women serving in the military. she is up for reelection in 2026 and has a measured and her comments about hegseth. mr. trump has continued to back him

mr. hegseth must undergo the same high level of scrutiny as prior secretary of defense nominees. senator tammy duckworthd in iraq, said this, quote, he is not qualified to do the job. he has managed fewer people than the manager of an applebee's end quote, meaning it will be left to republicans to move trump's pick along if they choose to do so. a point made in new york magazine in this quote. it is the first serious test of donald trump's newly invigorated strongman model of governance, and of whether he can continue to bend the republican party to his will. on friday, we learned the top two senators on the armed services committee received the fbi's background check on hegseth, a coveted resource for them. in light of these allegations. and one senators have been asking for. nbc news reports this, quote, the 25 member committee does not necessarily need to review this background check to proceed with the nomination hearing, but two committee sources familiar with the process said it was unprecedented that the report took this long to get to the panel's top members. that is where we start the hour with