mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: democratic whip. mr. durbin: madam president, let's look at the reality of what we face at this moment in this country, in this chamber. the republicans are in majority control of the united states senate. the republicans are in majority control of the united states house of representatives. the republicans are in control of the white house. the republicans through their appointees have a pretty decisive edge when it comes to the united states supreme court. in other words, when you look across the spectrum, the three branches of government, the republicans are in control. what are they offering us? the fourth c.r. now, a c.r. is washington talk. it's a continuing resolution. what does it mean? it means that the republican majority has failed, failed in 119 days to produce a budget for the united states of america. the republican majority in the house and senate with their president have failed to come up with a blueprint for spending for this great nation that we serve and are proud to be part of. their f

mr. durbin: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to legislative session for a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 282, s. 875. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 282, s. 875, a bill to require the comptroller general of the united states to conduct a study and submit a report on filing requirements under the universal service fund programs. the presiding officer: without obje

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the distinguished senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, first i want to thank my colleague from texas. i particularly liked your speech about daca and the dreamers. i've given a speech very similar to that a few times on the floor and thank you. i believe you. i do believe you really care and i'm hoping we'll both have a chance to demonstrate that very soon. so thank you for those kind words. mr. president, we think back of our memories as kids growing up. today's sunday and i remember so many sundays when i was a little boy. sunday was our family day. dad liked to get up early and mom liked to sleep in. dad would get up for 7:30 mass in east st. louis, illinois, and i'd jump out of bed, too, because i knew after mass, dad and i would go out to some greasy spoon restaurant and get eggs and bacon. it was something i looked forward to. then we'd stop at a bakery and pick up a donut for mom, get home in time to see her wake up, give her a donut, coffee, and then she'd be off to 11:00 mass at st. elizabeth's and then we'r

mr. durbin: let me say at the utset what we are trying to achieve is to fund the military and the critical agencies of our government immediately and to do it with a budget, to do it with appropriations bills. i have to use that term and remind you, yes, we used to have appropriations bills in the united states senate. not anymore. we deal with continuing resolutions. we mr. chairman. lurch from week to week, day to day, month to month. we aren't doing the men and women of the military any favors with this kind of approach. so make no mistake about it, the democrats are soundly behind our national security and we want to fund them properly rather than the wait they've been funded to this date. but let me address another issue that's been raised, and my name has been mentioned. -- by my friend from texas. there's been said on the floor tonight there's no urgency. where's the urgency when it comes to daca? where's the urgency when it comes to dreamers? if you want to know the urgency, look into the gallery behind me. look at the people who have gathered here late this night who are following

mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to thank my colleagues, senator flake from arizona, senator klobuchar from minnesota, for bringing this timely issue to the floor. we are facing an attack on an american institution, an attack on our freedom of press. sadly, the president is making some award of some kind to what he considers to be corrupt media. i'm afraid once again that his actions will cast a shadow over our constitutional commitment to the basic freedoms we enjoy in america. we all know why freedom of the press was included in the bill of rights. because the founding fathers, those who crafted those critical words that have led us for more than two centuries, believed that there should be accountability, accountability when it came to the government, its actions, and to public officials. that accountability sometimes is painful, as senator flake has acknowledged. many of us as members of the senate, house, and other political roles really hated to receive certain phone calls, questions from memb

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the distinguished senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, first i want to thank my colleague from texas. i particularly liked your speech about daca and the dreamers. i've given a speech very similar to that a few times on the floor and thank you. i believe you. i do believe you really care and i'm hoping we'll both have a chance to demonstrate that very soon. so thank you for those kind words. mr. president, we think back of our memories as kids growing up. today's sunday and i remember so many sundays when i was a little boy. sunday was our family day. dad liked to get up early and mom liked to sleep in. dad would get up for 7:30 mass in east st. louis, illinois, and i'd jump out of bed, too, because i knew after mass, dad and i would go out to some greasy spoon restaurant and get eggs and bacon. it was something i looked forward to. then we'd stop at a bakery and pick up a donut for mom, get home in time to see her wake up, give her a donut, coffee, and then she'd be off to 11:00 mass at st. elizabeth's and then we'r

mr. durbin and mr. graham wants for pretend security and chain immigration that's a different animal and i'm not for it. >> meanwhile, moderates have their own ideas. >> they won't be locked down by thinking about what the house or white house will do. we'll move on our own. >> add to the fragmentation, the democrats may use the deadline for government funding february 8, a little while away, as leverage in the immigration debate. mcconnel and ryan both support the framework. ryan saying it will help reach a balanced solution. mcconnel said it will work towards guidances for agreement. it will be very complex, if any agreement is reached at all. >> shannon: a lot of room for negotiation. thank you. >>> davos was an eye-opener for many in the media. not only did the president get a warm welcome but the media was taken by surprise when a chairman of the world economic forum took the president's side on fake news. >> it was remarkable to hear the founder of the world economic forum take jabs at the preside

mr. durbin and mr. graham and hopefully we can pursue those and hopefully his statement about how far he wants to go and who he wants to include will predominate. yesterday,a tweet the memorable line from the , something the president has said before in private. the president said americans are dreamers. you tweeted you have it backwards. rep. hoyer: americans are dreamers, but his comment was we understand you dreamers, many of them came with us. i had a young woman. rep. hoyer: you did a facebook live. quite she was a wonderful 19-year-old who came from el salvador. she is now in college and wants to be a social worker. delightful young woman. i had nowhere near the poise she had. she is a dreamer. she dreams of making a life here. most came to this country. they dreamed of a better life for themselves and their families. we are dreamers to, of course that is the case. americans have vision. americans have made a great country because of that vision, and willingness to work hard. but the point is, the

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. durbin: let me thank my colleague from tennessee. he's my friend. we worked on a lot of things together. i respect him very much. we've done good things in areas like medical research and other areas. thank you for coming to the floor. let me say at the outset, you and i are of the same mind when it comes to the future of the united states senate. we have seen better days in this chamber. in the past year, i don't believe we've had one honest, open debate with amendments on the floor, not one. maybe got close on a couple, but not like we remember it. when it was an open process and members brought their best ideas to the floor and the senate decided things, debated and decided things. we've lost that. i tell new democratic colleagues, god, you would have loved the old senate. it was a great place. what you see today is a shell of what it used to be. and the second thing i'd like to say is i may have an old fashion view of these things but it's one i feel very strongly about. i do not h

mr. durbin, mr. grimm incented, -- in the senate and holy we can pursue those and hopefully his statement about how far he wants to go and who he wants to include will dominate speculative tweet yesterday from the presidents memorable line from the speech and very much a space, something axios jonathan swann reports this morning is something a president has said before in private. the president said americans are dreamers, too, and you tweeted you have it backwards. >> well, americans are dreamers but what his, and, of course, was, we understand you dreamers, many of whom came with us, i had a young woman, gabriella hernandez from speeding you did a facebook live video. >> she is a wonderful 19-year-old. she came from el salvador at the age of four and has gone to elementary school middle school, high school. she now in college, once to be a social worker. delightful young woman. at 19 i had nowhere near the poise that she had, but, and she's a dreamer and she dreams of making a life here which is wh

mr. durbin: madam president? the presiding officer: democratic whip. mr. durbin: madam president, let's look at the reality of what we face at this moment in this country, in this chamber. the republicans are in majority control of the united states senate. the republicans are in majority control of the united states house of representatives. the republicans are in control of the white house. the republicans through their appointees have a pretty decisive edge when it comes to the united states supremeou. in oer words when you look across the spectrum, the three branches of government, the republicans are in control. what are they offering us? the fourth c.r. now, a c.r. is washington talk. it's a continuing resolution. what does it mean? it means that the republican majority has failed, failed in 119 days to produce a budget for the united states of america. the republican majority in the house and senate with their president have failed to come up with a blueprint for spending for this great nation that we serve and are proud to be part of. their fourth f

i thank senator durbin. mr. president, i want to speak about net neutrality. if you don't know what that means, you really do when prompted because it means that you turn on your phone. you go on the internet, and you decide what you want to see. and what you want to see or hear in the case of video, you have the right to have that access and to have it as speedily as any other content that is offered on the internet. you should also have the opportunity for entrepreneurs coming out of their garage of their family home that have a new idea and they suddenly want to get it on the internet, that because they are financially impaired since they are just starting out, that they should have an opportunity just like the big boys do to get their ideas over. and within the obvious boundaries of what is appropriate in language, et cetera, that you have the right to get the content that you want, and to get that content unimpeded on these tablets that we carry around in our pockets. now, mr. president, that right to get this content is threatened, and it's threatened be

mr. durbin was. >> funny how your memory can kick in like that. >>> the trump administration is reportedly on track to remove 1 million immigrants in the next two years. that includes hundreds of thousands of d.r.e.a.m.ers, haitians and others from central america who have lived in the u.s. legally in some cases for decades under temporarily protected status plans that the administration is now ending. in an interview yesterday, kirsten defended the comments. >> i take a little bit of offense to the comments and the suggestions that the president is racist. what he's looking at is the exact merit-based system we have in australia and canada and i'm sure we're not suggesting australia and canada and their leaders are racist. >> but the president seems to be suggesting you'd rather have a janitor from norway than a doctor from haiti. >> i disagree. >> why would merit have to do with the country? why wouldn't it have to do with your qualifications? >> i think it does. i think he's trying to move away from a quota-based system, whether that's a quota of underrepresented countries or a quota of

mr. durbin turned on him in what was supposed to be a confidential meeting. i don't think there was any signing of a document of confidentiality but he felt a standard had been breached, a standard in which you don't gossip about what happened in a meeting with the president. >> one other quick one on capitol hill boy corey booker senator from new jersey i don't know if you saw this but was quite something let's take a quick look and listen to corey booker. >> you're under oath. you and others in that room that suddenly cannot remember, your silence and your amnesia is complacent. i hurt. what dick durbin called me i had tears of rage when i heard about this experience in that meeting and for you not to feel that hurt and that pain and to dismiss some of the questions of my colleagues saying i've already answered that line of questions with tens of millions of americans are hurting right now because of what they're worried about what happened in the white house. that's unacceptable to me. >> ben, you okay with corey book er's approach there to the secretary?

mr. durbin wants and senator graham wants, a focus on daca first then pretend security and pretend borderl and pretend chain migration that's a dirnts animal, i won't be for that. >> some of the moderates don't want the president's blueprint to derail their work. but after complaints of some lawmakers they didn't know what the president wanted, now they know. chris? >> mike emanuel on capitol hill, thank you. the education department and the house energy and commerce committee are the latest to announce investigations into the sexual abuse scandal involving former michigan state university and usa nim gymnastics sports doctor larry nassar. the school's athletic director resigned today. yesterday,mate's president quit. wednesday, nassar was sentenced tos ams 175 years in prison. many victims say their complaints about nassar were ignored to school officials. the entire board of usa gymnastics announced it will resign today. some republican lawmakers now say the fix was in during the hillary clinton e-mail investigation. this comes after the release of the latest batch of texts between two

mr. durbin, who have been talking with him, theyust have more credibility than the president. >> let me ask you a couple of questions about the substance of the disagreements here, something we heard from mark short is that the white house is not willing to negotiate over the status of daca, d.r.e.a.m.er recipients while the government is shut down. how much is that a point for you? >> i think it's a nonstarter. it's the kind of bullying that the president does have a reputation for. and i suppose that's what he did on wall street and that's what he did in his business negotiations, where he would lay down a law such as that. i'm not going to talk to you unless you do this or that. that's a nonstarter. and that does not shows isity, that he really cares about getting to some kind of conclusion that we can all sign off on. >> let me ask you about the continuing resolution. it was floated last night that maybe there could be a shorter one, one that goes until february 8th. i was wondering what you might say to somebody in your district, 33rd district in california who looks at congress today

>> the president tuesday morning at 10:00 -- [ cell phone ringing ] >> mrs. durbin okay, you ready? let me give you a timeline here. tuesday -- >> i know about tuesday to thursday trump. the question is now we're next friday. >> you asked me a question, what would the president take. the point i'm trying to make is at 10:00 thursday morning, he thought this was a pretty good proposal. we could always make it better. now they've taken a hard-edged approach. all i can say is we're not going to end family immigration for daca. the tom cotton approach has no viability here. he's become sort of the steve king of the senate. i like tom but on immigration, he's putting something on the table that there's just no market for in phase one. as soon as the white house understands there's a bandwidth here for phase one that will include border security and daca and a few other things, we'll get a deal into if that doesn't happen in the next 12 hours, is the government shutting down tonight in. >> i am not going to vote for 30 days of chaos without any concept of how to bring it

mr. durbin wants and what senator graham wants, which is a focus on daca first and then a little pretend different animal and i won't be for that and neither will lots of conservatives, poor importantly lots of americans. it's all about where the priority is, where the focus is and it's got to be on border security. pete: mercedes, reassure folks like jim jordan that the focus is on the border securing the lottery system and chain migration and not increasing -- >> absolutely. clearly what the president is presenting is a focus on securing the border and ending chain migration and ending the visa lottery program. let me make this very clear. when you take the fact that it is $25 billion trust fund that would allow to secure not only the southern border but the northern border, as well as provide the needed personnel and more importantly close the legal loophole, then this is about ending catch and release. individuals are coming over the border and they're just simply released into our society. this sem powering our to be able to expedite the removal of the illegal immigrants. pete: you

mr. durbin: mr. president, first let me thank my colleague from south carolina. we have worked together for years mainly on this issue, and i just want to tell you, he has demonstrate extraordinary insight and extraordinary courage time and again. i know we wouldn't even be standing here in this conversation without him. lindsey, thank you. i know that some of the challenges that i've put before you have made life more difficult, and i hope you understand that i always knew you wanted to come to yes. you always wanted to fix this problem. one of the things which he said which i'd like to share is the passion we feel on this side of the aisle for the security of america. this morning i was invited for breakfast with secretary mattis at the department of defense. i was happy to vote for his confirmation. he's another patriot, a man who served as a four-star general n the marine corps. i respect him very much. i want to help him, as the ranking member of the defense appropriations subcommittee, i we in these dollar figures mean. it isn't just numbers on a page. we'r

mr. trump blasting senator durbin saying the illinois democrat, quote, totally misrepresented what the president said during last week's highlily publicized immigration meeting. mr. trump is now calling the senator, quote, dicky durbin in a tweet adding, deals can't get made when there is no trust. durbin blew daca and is hurting our military. for more we go to nbc's tracie potts in washington. tracie, good morning. >> reporter: hey, frances, good morning. durbin is defending himself saying he was at that meeting. he knows exactly what he heard despite other republicans who were there and administration officials coming to the president's defense. in this case, durbin says he is not changing his story. >> i know what happened. i stand behind every word that i said. what the president said in that meeting was so awful and so impactful on so many people that when he denied saying it, i felt duty-bound to clarify what actually happened. >> reporter: but others who were in that room sitting near the president say that they did not hear what durbin heard. they are defending president trump this morni

mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to thank my colleagues, senator flake from arizona, senator klobuchar from minnesota, for bringing this timely issue to the floor. we are facing an attack on an american institution, an attack on our freedom of press. sadly, the president is making some award of some kind to what he considers to be corrupt media. i'm afraid once again that his actions will cast a shadow over our constitutional commitment to the basic freedoms we enjoy in america. we all know why freedom of the press was included in the bill of rights. because the founding fathers, those who crafted those critical words that have led us for more than two centuries, believed that there should be accountability, accountability when it came to the government, its actions, and to public officials. that accountability sometimes is painful, as senator flake has acknowledged. many of us as members of the senate, house, and other political roles really hated to receive certain phone calls, questions from memb

mr. durbin: we have 14 kays -- days to do something about the dreamers issue, about daca. why do we find ourselves at this place? because on september 5 of last year, president obama -- president trump, as well as attorney general sessions, announced the end of the daca protection program as of march 5 this year. 780,000 young people who were undocumented in the united states but came here as children were given a chance by president obama to stay legally, be able to work locally, and not fear deportation. 780,000 of them. for the most part, they are students and workers who are a vital part of the community and they've done good things in their lives and promise to do even more. but the decision was made by president trump to put an end to this program. when he made that decision, he also challenged congress. he said, if we're going to end this executive order, do something. pass a law. well, here we are just about at the fifth month of the six-month period that he gave us to do our work and nothing has happened. some of us have been working on this issue trying to addres

mr. durbin and others, about whether there can be a deal to keep the government open in the face of the wrinklesnvolved here, which among other things, include daca, the pathway to not citizenship but to staying in thecountry for the young children of illegal immigrants so schumer has left the white house. and he has gone back to the capitol. and we'll, of course, be monitoring what goes on there. >> in the meantime, the oil market is closing for the day. let's het to jackie at the cnbc commodity desk >> crude prices losing steam a close of $53.31. a loss of about 1% on the day, and a loss for the week as well of about 1.5%. for the month, though, oil is still up 10% this week, there wasn't a big fundamental catalyst there was some technical andy is investment strategist with matthews asia he's lived and worked in china for more than 20 years yesterday, and i appreciate you reading my piece, which is basically all this trump stuff and government shutdown stuff may have taking attention away from china hasn't been a big headline, that maybe has some concerned the number was better than expected t

still, president trump insists that senator dick durbin, quote, misrepresented what was said at the oval office meeting when mr. trump reportedly questioned why the u.s. needs more haitians and called some african countries shitholes. >> i know what happened. i stand behind every word that was said. >> lindsey graham not denied durbin's account saying his memory hasn't evolved. >> the discourse right now is pretty low. we're producing some pretty good policy, but those of us in my business need to up their game. it's pretty embarrassing when you have to take your children out of the room just to report the news. >> reporter: white house officials focussing on semantics for their defense telling cnn that senators tom cotton and david perdue heard mr. trump say shithouse rather than shithole. >> i don't know if changing the word from hole to house changes the impact. i am stunned that this is their defense. >> reporter: homeland security secretary will be testifying before the senate judiciary committee in just a few hours. she was among the people in that oval office meeting and has said she does not recall the

mr. durbin -- senator durbin. >> and let me join the course, heather. because i know you're a native of illinois, grew up there. and thank you for telling your story. i'm sorry you had to tell it, but we need to see that these gun tragedies are real human beings who are dying in front of us, and we need to do more to stop it. we have two tragedies here. we have the tragedy in las vegas, the tragedy in texas which has been referred to. and two different circumstances. in one the man in texas never should have had a firearm, the system failed. but the system is not perfect nor is it designed to be even close to perfect. there are loopholes in the system. there are ways to avoid a background check for a gun. i know that. 48% of crimes of guns used in chicago come from gun shows where tlfr no background checks. to say we're going to fix nix is to really apply it to every firearm sale. otherwise we're saying tsa just check every other passenger. we would never say that. when it comes to guns, we say that in america. the other thing, though, is the nature of

mr. mccarthy, senator durbin, senator cornyn and myself to try to get the process which we could discusss that both sides want to discuss. we believe central to any action that we take is the protection of the d.r.e.a.m.ers, making sure that they stay here in this country, the only country that they really know, and a policy that is supported by the overwhelming majority of the american public and i would suggest apparently supported -- he was articulating his support of that with dianne feinstein. senator grassley said the same thing. at the end of the meeting the president said, is there anybody here in the room -- and there were 24 members, 17 senators, 7 house members. is there anybody in this room who disagrees with protecting the d.r.e.a.m.ers? he said daca, but the d.r.e.a.m.ers. and no one indicated any opposition to that. so i think there's a consensus. i think there's an overwhelming majority of the house, i think there's a majority of the senate who all, once a bill gets to the floor which protects d.r.e.a.m.ers, will vote for it. that's what we're discussing. >> i'm glad that

mr. trump called blank hole countries. >> when dick durbin i had tears of rage when i heard about his peer yens. >> cory booker accused neilson. >> your silence and amnesia is complicity. >> controversy rocked negotiations over legal status for daca recipients. democrats say so-called dreamers have been in limbo long enough. >> without finding responsible compromise we are going to see the federal government shuttle down friday. >> they're threatening to withhold their volts on unrelated bill to keep the government running. >> so if there is no deal on daca you will vote no to fund the government. >> i am going to see what happens by end of the week. >> this has turned into a s-show. >> south carolina republican, lindsay graham insists the best way forward is a bipartisan daca deal reached last week that was, months in the making. . he says the president initially seemed to back the measure. >> should be a bill of love. >> but was steered away by immigration hard-liners on his own staff. like, chief of staff, john kelly, and senior adviser, stephen miller all. all of we cannot dupe this wi

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mr. trump, dicky durbin totally misrepresented what was being said.kup from two republican allies also in the room who just last week said they didn't remember the moment in question. >> i didn't hear it. >> i'm telling you, he did not use that word. >> another rern who was there, lindsay graham, would not go that far. >> it's pretty embarrassing when you have to take your children out of the room just to report the news. >> this comes at a critical time when a breakdown in championship might shut down the government. a majority of my caucus, myself included, we will not fund the government without a daca deal. >> thanks to hallie jackson for what report. >>> republican senator jeff flake is set to give a speech to the senate today. he previewed parts of the speech over the weekend when he appeared to compare jump's treatment of the media to that of joseph stalin. >> you compare in the speech president trump to joseph stalin by calling the free press, quote, the enemy of the people. >> well, i'm saying he borrowed that phrase. it was popularized by jo

mr. trump posted a tweet accusing the senate minority leader of misrepresenting his remarks. senator dick durbinthe number two democrat in the senate, is standing by his statement and he's challenging the vague and confusing denials by mr. trump and two republican senators' denials contradict by multiple sources. there's no denying that this controversy has helped derail efforts to protect young immigrants who came to the united states under the program known as daca. in his tweet tonight, mr. trump is blaming senator durbin and democrats even though the president personally shot down a proposed bipartisan deal. it is all adding more uncertainty to the latest efforts to avoid a government shutdown with the deadline just four days away. we're also following the fallout after a false nuclear missile alert that caused mass panic and chaos as hawaiians feared they were under attack. tonight, the state has suspended its nuclear warning siren system and the employee who triggered the false alarm has been reassigned. this hour, i'll talk about those stories and more with congressman who is a democrat o

dick durbin who heard mr. trump referred to the countries. >> this has turned into an s-show and we need to get back to being a great country. ? but durbin's republican colleague lindsey graham is all but confirming the president made the remark. >> i'm not going to talk about the meeting other than i know what i heard and i know what i said. >> he appeared to be speaking to the need. urging a second immigration meeting in front of the cameras last week referring to a bipartisan deal. >> this should be a bill of love. >> i will say, i don't think the president was well served by staff. i think the president that we saw tuesday, that that donald trump exists and somehow by 12:00 thursday, something happened. and i don't think he was well served by his staff. he is responsible for the way he conducts himself and so am i. i can't blame that on the staff. i do believe the staff was -- >> would that be general kelly? >> pretty much missed the mark here. i think general kelly is a find man but he is also part of the

durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i ask questions of the secretary i would like to ask the indulgence of the committee to introduce two guests that i've brought here today. a second year student at loyola university school of medicine in chicago. would you please stand? she grew up in savannah, georgia. in addition to medical school she volunteers at a clinic educating uninsured patients about disease prevention. her dream is become an ob/gyn working in under serve community and protected by daca. her future is in doubt. without the protection of daca, she does not have a legal permission to work in america. you cannot become a doctor without a residency. a residency is a job. if daca is eliminated and her protection is eliminated and right 20 work to work is eliminated her future as a doctor is in doubt. john came at the age of 9. he graduated from georgia tech, one of the best engineering schools in america with a degree in chemical and biomolecular engineering with highest honors and works as a chemical engi

mr. president. but the graham-durbin bill ensures that we will be right back here in a few short years. when we want is to give the solution on the daca side and protect america from repeating this mistake again and again and again. let me be very clear. if we do what's on table today in the graham-durbin bill, it would allowed the parents of daca recipients legal. it would put other children at risk as they come across the border illegally. thank god most of us have never had to deal with that. imagine putting your children at risk and coming across the border illegally. but according to this precedent, they will be given legal status and be able to sponsor their parents. here we go reigniting another way. we have not done anything to being right back here a few short years from now. i believe times for action. my colleagues, last night, talked about, welshing nobody else has offered up any sliewghtses. with, that's not true. there are three republican senate bills that relate to this issue, active bills, that have been filed. the language is out there. you can read them. there is one

mr. president, i stand with the senator from virginia, senator kaine, with senator durbin, and so many of my colleagues who have been working on this for so long on both sides of the aisle, the leadership on both sides of the aisle. let's get this done, let's pass the dream act, and let's never forget that we all come from is recognized. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, a number of us are here today with a very simple, straightforward demand. we must act now to pass a dream act. very simply, the honor and integrity of this chamber are at stake. young people who would be covered under the dream act are americans in all but name. they came here as children. they grew up as americans. they go to our schools, serve in our military, and support our economy. they work hard and they give back and they believe in the american dream. deporting dreamers would be cruel and irrational, inhumane, and very simply repugnant to basic american values. just think of jonathan gonzalez cruz. he is a college student at southern connecticut state university. i had the privilege of meeti

reporter: president trump adding he didn't say anything derogatory about haitians, but durbin says also not true. that mr. trump asked aloud, do we need more haitians? nbc news today reaching out to the six other republicans in the room. one posting a statement without addressing the issue. two staying silent. senators tom cotton and david purdue saying they do not recall trump's remarks. and lindsey graham after confirming the comments to a colleague noting, i said my piece directly to the president yesterday. president trump working the phones last night, according to two sources close to the administration, calling friends to assess the damage. one describing his mood as belligerent. speaker paul ryan today delivering this muted rebuke. >> first thing that came to my mind was very unfortunate, unhelpful. >> i think we're going to negotiate. maybe we'll agree and maybe we won't. >> reporter: unhelpful to reach an immigration deal on this the anniversary of the 2010 haitian earthquake that left 300,000 dead, condemnation from haiti's ambassador. >> the stigma, the cliches, the stereotypes that revolves

is mr., senator durbin's credibility in question? am so glad you ran that, because i don't know if you've noticed, i mean, the media has talked about nothing -- >> right. >> -- since, but they haven't mentioned this line from durbin. even the left realizes, um, that's not going to help us. [laughter] don't mention it, don't tell anyone he said something so monumentally stupid. once again i'm reminded trump's instincts are so good. it is just the right thing to say, that's a good line. [laughter] it is so silly, and let's -- oh, sorry. stuart: before they went into that meeting, i'm being pejorative here, but do you think it's possible -- [laughter] stop laughing. do you think that the democrats went in thinking, you know, whatever he says on immigration, anything he says on foreign countries, anything he says about foreigners, we can make that full of hate, and that's what they did? am i imagining things? >> well, durbin has a history of this. he invents conversations. he did when obama was president claiming representative cantor sa

mr. trump called blank-hole countries. >> when dick durbin called me i had tears of rage when i heard about his experience in that meeting. >> reporter: new jersey democrat cory booker accused neilsen of enabling bigotry. >> your silence and amnesia is complicity. >> reporter: now some democrats say so-called dreamers have been in limbo long enough. >> without of without find something responsible compromise, we're going to see the federal government shut down this friday. >> reporter: they're threatening to withhold their votes on an unrelated bill to keep the government running. so if there's no deal on daca, you'll vote no to fund the government? >> i'm going to see what happens by the end of the week. >> this has turned into a s-show. >> reporter: south carolina republican, lindsey graham, insists the best way forward is a bipartisan daca deal reached last week that was months in the making. he says the president initially seems to back the measure... >> it should be a bill of love. >> reporter: but was steered away by immigration hard-liners on his own staff, like chief of staff john k

reporter: president trump adding he didn't say anything derogatory about haitians, but durbin says also not true, that mr. trump asked aloud, do we need more haitians. one posted a statement without addressing the issue, two staying silent. tom cotton and david purdue saying they do not recall trump's remarks. and lindsey graham noting, i said my piece directly to the president yesterday. president trump working the phones, according to two sources close to the administration, calling friends to assess the damage. one describing his mood as belligerent. speaker paul ryan delivering this muted rebuke. >> first thing that came to my mind was very unfortunate, unhelpful. >> maybe we'll agree. maybe we won't. >> reporter: unhelpful to a bipartisan effort to reach an immigration deal, condemnation from haiti's ambassador. >> the stigma, the stereotypes that revolve around haiti have got to stop. >> reporter: anger echoed by haitians in south florida. >> to say something about another country, another people, he should be ashamed. >> reporter: the countries of botswana and senegal trying to clarify the preside

durbin flatly contradicting mr. trump's denial that he used that kind of language. we're also told that other participants told colleagues about the very vulgar remark, including republican senator lindsey graham. tonight, graham is all but confirming that, issuing a statement that he directly challenged mr. trump's remarks. on the same day that the president honored dr. martin luther king jr., there's little dispute about the ugly, ugly heart of what he said about keeping immigrants of color out of the united states and insulting the countries they come from. a source tells cnn mr. trump loves the controversy as white house staffers believe it will play into his political base. tonight, house democrats are planning to introduce a resolution to center the president, this as many democrats and others are now openly accusing the president of the united states of being a racist. we're covering all of that and much more on this hour with our correspondents and specialists also standing by. first, we'll go to our chief white house correspondent jim acosta. the african na

durbin? >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i ask questions of the secretary, i would like to ask the indulgence of the committee to introduce two guests i've brought here today. alejandro duran areola at loyola university school of medicine in chicago. would you please stand? alejandro grew up in savannah, georgia. she volunteers at a clinic educating uninsured patients about disease prevention. her dream is to become an ob-gyn, working in underserve the communities. she's protected by daca. thank you very much for being here. her future is in doubt. without the protection of daca, she does not have a legal permission to work in america. cannot become a doctor without a residency. a residency is a job. if daca is eliminated, and her protection is eliminated and a right to work is eliminated, her future as a doctor is in doubt. john magdaleno, please stand. john came from venezuela at the age of 9. in high school, commander of the air honor society and junior rotc, he graduated from georgia tech, one of the best engineer

durbin saying, no, mr. president, i stand by what i heard and what it tells me about you. >> i will tell you comments he made when i was in the white house i thought were vile, they were hate-filled and they were racial in tone. there is no question about it. you can't talk about s-hole countries in africa and why don't we get more norwegians and europeans in the united states without the inescapable conclusion that the president is raising race as an issue for immigration. >> this is kind of the key point from the meeting because that's just the general context, which is obviously very important. there was not a lot of trust to begin with on this issue. there was not a lot of trust on the democratic side, and there's not a lot of trust on the republican side in terms of what goals are in general. this blew whatever trust existed completely out of the water and some was probably gained in that tuesday meeting. >> one week ago today the president talked about an act of love. he said, you guys put something t

mr. president, i join my colleague from virginia, as well as senator durbin who has been working so hard to get this done to stand up for the dreamers and give my strong support once again for taking action on the dream act. we need to take up this bill. as senator kaine just noted, i also was heartened after the meeting and the white house, the fact that the president understands, said he understands that we just can't wait until march to get this done, that we need to get this done soon. for me, the easiest way to do this is by passing the dream act. the federal court decision in california yesterday will provide some temporary relief, as every single day, more and more kids fall out of status. that sounds like a legal term, but for them, it changes their whole life. and these are kids that literally believed our government. they were told you register, you sign up, we're going to allow you to stay. and then with one little moment and a signature, that all changed, their life changed. so it's our obligation now in the united states senate to get this done. we've already seen the harmfu

durbin says that the president did use a vulgar word to describe some immigrants during an oval office meeting last week. mror dicky durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the daca meeting. deals can't get made when there is no trust. democrats want the daca program protecting young illegal immigrants to be part of a deal to be part of a government shutdown on friday. major is at the white house with the latest. >> reporter: here's a big question for president trump this year, can he cut deals with democrats? last year all the biggest deals, well, only with republicans and bipartisanship 2018 is in trouble after a promising start. it was just a week ago cabinet room, president trump, a bunch of lawmakers, nearly an hour of televised immigration give and take where the president said he would sign anything because he could quote take the heat. well, then came the backlash. hard liners accused mr. trump of weakness and toying with amnesty by providing protection from deportation for immigrants brought to the country illegally by their parents and at the prodding of chief of staff john kelly and steerc