mr. mccain: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i thank the distinguished majority leader and urge him however possible to bring up the defense authorization bill, which i hope we can do sooner rather than later, as we have done for the last 50 years. i thank the majority leader. mr. reid: madam president, if i can respond to my friend, i had a long conversation yesterday with the chairman of the committee who we're working with and the ranking member is senator mccain. i understand the importance of the legislation. i know senator mccain is working on that to try to narrow the focus of what we will do when we get on that bill. we will get on it. it's only a question of when. mr. mccain: i thank the majority leader. i would just like to mention to my friend from connecticut as we continue this colloquy. there is another aspect of this i would appreciate comments on. we all agree that bashar assad will go. we know that. now, the question is, how many die? how many wounded? how many killed? what happens to weapons of mass dest

mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i ask unanimous consent further proceedings under the quorum call be suspended and i be recognized. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: i rise again today to once again urge the majority leader of the united states senate to bring to the floor for debate one of the most important pieces of legislation that comes before this body each year, the national defense authorization bill. on several occasions i have approached the majority leader and asked him to consider this legislation, legislation that for the last 50 years this body has taken up, debated, amended, passed, conferenced with the house of representatives, and sent to the president for the president's signature. last week, the majority leader leader, the senator from nevada, stated that senate consideration of a controversial and flawed bill on cybersecurity, a bill that has not been considered in the regular order, is more important and of higher national security priority than the defense authorizati

mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from arizona is recognized. mr. mccain: i thank -- i'd like to ask unanimous consent to take just four minutes on -- or five minutes on morning business and then speak on the -- on the pending legislation. the presiding officer: is there objection? so ordered. mr. mccain: mr. president, i noted my friend, senator lieberman, on the floor a second ago and i know he joins me in this statement. i'd like to just take a few minutes and pay tribute to ambassador ryan crocker, who ended his tour this week as the u.s. chief of mission in kabul, afghanistan. as some of my colleagues may know, ambassador crocker's health has unfortunately been poor so he's returning to receive some much-needed care. but what my colleagues may not know is that ambassador crocker's health has been poor for some time and the people who care about him most -- his family, his friends and colleagues in the foreign service and our secretary of state herself -- told ambassador crocker long ago that he needed to leave his post and that he needed to get

mr. mccain lost, that he didn't get this out and tidy up some of his offshore accounts. >> there's obviouslyng there because if there was nothing there, he would say have at it. so there's obviously something there that compromises something he said in the past. many of these politicians think i can do this, i don't have to do this. >> the best thing to do is just get everything out in the open and say, hey, i have nothing to hide and i'm going to release my tax returns. >> those are all republicans talking there. today, romney showed no signs, he still refusing to show how he made his money. >> john mccain ran for president, and released two careers of tax returns. john kerry ran for president. his wife who has hundreds of millions of dollars, she never released any tax returns, more things to pick through or opposition research and to be dishonest about. >> there's a chief shot. excuse me, david, the use of his chivalry, what is that about? what's the worst case that he knows but we don't? >> you've missed a wild two weeks and you've been missed my myself and other reporters at "huffington

mr. mccain had no answer to that and failed to aggressively expose his opponent's weaknesses.s what happened. now, going forward, mitt romney has a very important choice to make. his running mate must win him some votes. right now there are four names at the top of the list. marco rubio. paul ryan, bob mcdonnell and rob portman. condoleezza rice not considered to be a player at this time. so let's take them one by one. senator rubio very popular among conservative americans and would get romney votes in the vital state of florida. the downside, the senator is inexperienced and has had some financial problems. a florida ethics commission said that mr. rubio was negligent in misusing a state-issued credit card. that commission also said the action was not enough to legally pursue. senator rubio might also help mitt romney with hispanic americans but that is speculation. congressman paul ryan, he is a money guy with credibility on the economy. at age 42 the wisconsin resident is young, but is already in his seventh term in congress. ryan is articulate, may help deliver wisconsin

mr. sessions: well, senator mccain, would you yield for a question? mr. mccain: yes. session just from your perspective -- you have been our this committee for a long time, you've served in the military. you're the ranking republican on the committee. in your judgment, based on the observations that we have -- and i know you openly and aggressively condemn waste and abuse in the defense department -- but do you think the defense department can maintain its view -- maintain its responsibilities with this cut? mr. mccain: well, i'd just respond to my friend, i don't think that in the dangerous world we live in we can afford to have the smallest air force in history, the smallest navy since before world war ii, the smallest army since before world war ii either. but, most importantly, we have to continue to modernize. we have to continue to invest, as my friend from alabama knows. and fact is that we have a crisis with iran, we have a rising challenge with increasing activities of china, we have an unsettled north africa, we have an arab spring going on all over the midd

mr. mccain and also senator lindsey graham for coming to her defense.. and i think, in this instance, michele bachmann and the four other members who signed this letter, kind of reflect what's bad about it. that's kind of wallowing in this swamp of misinformation, internet rumors and pushing it out as if it's true. you know, that's a shame. this is not something that is unusual for michele bachmann. she went on one of your shows three or four years ago and called for an investigation of anti-american behavior by liberal members, liberal democrats in congress. this is what we've expected from her. unfortunately, you know, she likes the spotlight. i would imagine she may not actually be too upset about the coverage here. >> as a matter of fact, we mentioned this bachmann defended her claims in a letter to democratic congressman keith ellison of minnesota. i spoke with him just a short time ago. >> congressman, good morning. >> good morning. >> michele bachmann says she has sent you evidence about her concerns. what's your reaction to what you got in the m

mr. mccain: i thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the -- this body for 50 years has passed the national defense authorization act, and for 50 years it has reached the, after conference has reached the president's desk and been signed by the president of the united states. there are many pressing issues that confront the united states senate, the congress and the nation. but i don't think we should forget that our first obligation is to secure the safety of our citizens, and that can only be done by training, arming, equipping the men and women who are serving in the military. mr. president, we passed through the senate armed services committee a couple of months ago the national defense authorization act, and it has some very important components in it to continue to support the men and women who are serving, and their families, and provide them with the equipment and training that they need to defend this nation. we are still in conflict in afghanistan. we are on the brink of a crisis with iran over nuclear weapons. we ha

mr. mccain: i ask unanimous consent further proceedings under the quorum call be suspended and that i be recognized. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: madam president, rarely do i come to the floor of this body to discuss particular individuals but i understand how painful and injurious it is when a person's character, reputation and patriotism are attacked without concern for fact or fairness. it's for that reason that i come to the floor today to speak regarding the attacks recently on a fine and decent american, huma abadeen. over the past decade, i've had the pleasure of knowing her during her long and dedicated service to hillary rodham clinton, both in the united states senate and now in the department of state. i know huma to be an intelligent, upstanding, hardworking and loyal servant of our country and our government who has devoted countless days of her life to advancing the ideals of the nation she loves and looking after its most precious interests. that she has done so while maintaining her character stick decency, warmth and good -- characteristic decenc

did last time around is because when mitt romney was trying to get john mccain to pick him as the vice presidential nominee, mr. romney gave to john mccain 23 years of his own tax returns. 23 years. mr. romney felt okay disclosing that much about himself in order to try to get the job of vice president. but now that he wants the job of president, not so much. >> i have already put out one year of tax returns. we'll put out the next year of tax returns as soon as the accountants have that ready, and that's what we're going to put out. >> you know what, i put out as much as we're going to put out. people will have a couple years of tax returns. that's plenty. >> this is getting worse for mitt romney. over time. because of course, the criticism on this is not just coming from democrats. it's coming from his own side. >> should release the tax returns tomorrow. it's crazy. you have to release six, eight, ten years of tax returns. >> if something is going to come out, get it out in a hurry. i do not know why given that mr. romney knew the day that mccain lost in 2008 that he was going to run for president again, th

but for nominees like john mccain it didn't translate into votes. running against mr. obama four years ago, mccain got 4% of the african-american vote. well below the 11% george w. bush received when he ran against john kerry in 2004. now, the president's support and his approval ratings remain high among african-americans, but democrats are worried about turnout. and romney's hoping his economic message will resonate, at least to the point that voters aren't motivated to turn out against him. jan crawford, cbs news, houston. >>> today the cbs news, charlie rose will sit down with an exclusive interview with president and mrs. obama which you'll see portions beginning on friday on "cbs this morning" and then on cbs sunday morning. >>> congressman's jesse jackson's unexplained absence from the house continues to raise questions this morning. his office says he's receiving intensive medical treatment for a mood disorder. tara mergener reports from washington, d.c. >> representative jesse jackson, jr., has been out on a leave of absence for more than a month now with littl

but for nominees like john mccain it didn't translate into votes. running against mr. obama four years ago, mccain got 4% of the african-american vote. well below the the report. >> representative jesse jackson, jr., has been out on a leave absence for more than a month now with little explanation as to why. more than two weeks afa bankruptly leaving his office issued a cryptic statement saying mr. jackson was suffering from exhaustion. a week later they issued another release saying jackson's condition was more serious than originally thought and that he was receiving extended inpatient treatment. >> i think you've heard enough that he has some health challenges. >> but not everybody was satisfied with those explanations. >> i think the family would be well-advised to give his constituents as much information as is appropriate. >> as a public official, though, there reaches a point where you have a responsibility to tell people what you're facing and how things are going. >> with pressure mounting for many of his colleagues here on capitol hill, congressman jackson's o

presidential contender to address the n.a.a.c.p., but for nominees like john mccain it didn't translate into votes, running against mr. obama four years ago, john mccain got 4% of the african american vote-- well below the 11% george w. bush received when he received when he ran against john kerry in 2004. now the president continues to have strong support, high approval ratings among african americans but some democrats are worried about turnout and, scott, romney is hoping that his economic message will resonate at least to the point that voters aren't motivated to turn out against him. >> pelley: jan, thanks very much. today the house of representatives voted to repeal president obama's health care law. it is the 33rd time that house republicans have done that even though they know the repeal won't go anywhere, it won't be considered by the senate-- which is controlled by the democrats-- and, of course, the president would veto it. with so much urgent business before the house, why spend so much time voting to repeal the law over and over again? we asked nancy cordes to look into it. >> the bill is passed. >> repo

mr. mccain: here we are with 41 months of over 8% unemployment in america, the national defense authorizationl languishing in the shadows while we continue to have this debate, and obviously there's no doubt in most people's minds that with the full knowledge of the sponsors of this legislation that it will not pass, it is obviously for certain political purposes. i oppose cloture on the motion. my reasons for opposing this motion are simple. even though the subject of campaign finance reform is not. in its current form, the disclose act is closer to a clever aattempt at political gamesmanship than actual reform. by conveniently setting my thresholds for reporting requirements, the disclose act forces some entities to inform the public about the origins of their financial support while allowing -- allowing others, notably affiliated with organized labor to fly below the regulatory radar. as my colleagues i am sure i have a long history of fighting for campaign finance reform and to break the influence of money in american politics and regardless of what the united states supreme court may do

mr. obama's challenger, senator john mccain, released just two years and told us today that's good enough for romney, too. do you think it's creating a distraction, though, that the obama campaign... >> that's exactly what the obama campaign wants to do is create a distraction. anything to avoid the economy that's in the tank. >> reporter: even newt gingrich now backs romney on this issue. >> well, i thought that he owed it to the country to share more. he's agreed now to go to two full years of disclosure. at the time he hadn't done that. >> reporter: but he had this advice for the romney campaign. >> i think they've got to be tougher, more direct, and i think they will be. >> reporter: part of the challenge for romney here is that it was his own father, george romney, who set the standard for presidential candidates when he released 12 years of his tax returns, scott, when he was running back in 1968. >> pelley: nancy, thank you. in utah last night, an airline pilot suspected of murder made a desperate attempt to fly away. what happened next is now calling airport security into question

mr. rush. in 2003 when senator mccain introduced tax certificate as chairman of the fcc it was an enormous proponent and remains so. >> thank you very much. mr. chairman, without objection i would like to enter into the record the fcc's section 257 report recommending that congress reinstate a tax certificate policy. i would point out that the statement of former fcc commissioner michael j. comps, accompanying that order and being the source for the minority ownership percentages that i cited earlier. and with that, mr. chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. >> gentleman yields and there's no objection to the gentleman's unanimous consent motion. so that will be entered. now the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. markey. >> thank you, mr. chairman, very much. miss sohn, can you tell us about the telecommunications marketplace? >>> so it will have negative effects both for competition and consumers. one is because there are these side agreements -- okay, there's a spectrum sale and affiliated side agreements. one is a marketing agreement, one is a reselling agreement. it's an agreement between

mr. romney knew the day that mccain lost in 2008, that he was going to run for president again, that he didn'tut and tidy up some of his offshore accounts and all the rest. he's done nothing illegal, nothing unseemly, nothing improper but lots that's impolitic and he's now in the politics business. >> and then there is this, from alabama's republican governor, robert bentley. quoted by the a.p. saying quote, if you have things to hide, then maybe you're doing things wrong. i think you ought to be willing to release everything to the american people. >>> after the comments went viral, governor bentley quickly back-tracked saying he was taken out of context. >>> also this morning, a major development in syria, as the international committee of the red cross says it now considers the conflict a civil war. that means international humanitarian law now applies, raising the possibility of prosecution for war crimes. this as some of the heaviest fighting yet has erupted in the capital of damascus. at least five people were killed. nbc's ayman mohedin joins us with more. what's the latest in the bruta

mr. udall: john danforth, thad cochran and john mccain. i would ask the chair for an additional two minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: you can see why i'm disappointed with the partisanship that has taken over this important issue. it's not like the problem of money influencing our elections has been solved. the recent supreme court decision struck down laws that my republican colleagues voted for. i hope that they would be willing to work with us now to pass disclosure laws that will withstand judicial scrutiny. and, mr. president, i would ask that my full statement be put in the record as if spoken. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: and with that, i would yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: mr. president, thank you. i'd like to thank my neighbor, the senator from new mexico, for his kind words and his leadership on this issue. i've been privileged to have the chance to cosponsor a constitutional amendment that would, i think,

mccain's people looked at it and said, let's go with sarah palin. so whatever's in there is far worse than just the first year. >> the obliviously rich mr. romney made his case this morning to his oblivious friends at "fox & friends." >> you know, john mccain ran for president and released two years of tax returns. john kerry ran for president, you know, his wife, who has hundreds of millions of dollars, she never released her tax returns. somehow this wasn't an issue. the obama people keep on wanting more and more and more. more things to pick through, more things for their opposition research to try to make a mountain out of and to distort and to be dishonest about. we're going to put out two years of tax returns. we've put out one already. >> joining me now, krystal ball, co-host of msnbc's "the cycle." david cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winning reporter, tax columnist for reuters, and a psychologist, and steve schmidt, a former senior adviser to the '08 mccain presidential campaign and a senior strategist in the bush/cheney '04 presidential campaign. so steve, we have to go straight to you. 23 years' of tax returns handed over in the

mr. romney knew the day mccain lost in 2008, that he was going to run for president again, that he didn't this out. >> he should release the tax returns tomorrow. it's crazy. you've got to release six, eight, ten years of tax returns. >> bill, six, eight, ten years. why not do this and this entire issue goes away in the near term? >> we appreciate that we're going to receive political advice from everyone across the political spectrum, but the fact is, governor romney has released his tax returns and that's the reason the democrats are continue to talk about it. he released over 500 documents and it's important to remember that none are required, so governor romney has gone above and beyond what is required of him to be transparent in these tax returns. 500 pages from 2010, the full schedule and we also released the 2011 estimates and when those are ready, we will release those, too, so that the tax return issue is just another distracting issue from what the people want to talk about. >> considering all the grief you've gone through -- >> again, luke -- >> no, that you're holding on to s

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator mccain. let me call first on general welsh. by becoming you can leave them on. i don't think you turn them on and off. stomachs before mr. chairman. ranking member mccain, members of the committee, my wife is with us this morning. she is sitting to my right in the blue suits in the front row. with her is her sister, her friend, wife of air force lt. general stephen mueller and then mr. steve massey of a family friend who is a very proud virginia native and a great patriot. betty and i have been married for 34 years and i've always found our relationship fascinating because she needs me for absolutely nothing. and i need her for everything. she is the most beautiful, talented intelligent woman i have ever known and she has raised our great children mark, john, matt and liz while i wander the world. sheave rocks and if you are confirming her this morning we would like to take about five minutes by an confident you will be more delivered with me. mr. chairman, thank you so much for allowing her to be here. it is a tremendous honor

mr. romney knew the day mccain lost in 2008 that he was going to run for president again that he didn't get up offshore accounts and the rest. he's done nothing illegal, unseemly, but lots ill politic. >> this current situation is better than if it's a zero percent tax rate, hiding more money than he claimed. >> the calendar says the olympics start, stretch this out to the middle of gymnastics or something. >> i agree with you there, toure. i don't think the romney campaign is stupid. i think they have clearly thought this through. there's entirely possible there is something in the returns like a zero percent effective rate that would be more damaging than the charges they are hiding something. the problem with the zero percent rate, not only is that bad for romney, it undercuts the republican narrative that quote, unquote, job creators need another tax cut. it's damaging to his candidacy, the entire republican -- >> he could have mentioned it five years ago and it would have died when it happened and we'd have forgotten about it by now. like obama saying long, long before, hey, i smoke we

mr. romney knew that the day that mccain lost in 2008 that he was going to run for president again, that't get all of this out and tidy up some of his offshore accounts and all the rest. he has done nothing illegal unseemly or improper, but all of this is in politics and now he's in the politics business. >> cenk: get them all out now because you're in a lot of trouble. is that george will getting on top of the top rope? don't do it. that's an elbow from the sky. those are two different wrestling moves. either way romney is in trouble. elected republican officials how about governor robert bentley of alabama. let's listen to him. >> in fact, i was asked today that question, do you think that governor romney should release his tax returns? i said i do. i said, i released my tax returns. i may be the only public official in alabama who does, but i release mine every year, and i just believe that people should release their tax returns. >> cenk: romney is in a lot of trouble. is that governor bently? no no. look. if there is one place he could run to for solace, that's fox news. their most

mr. romney knew the day that mccain lost in 2008, that he was going to run for president again, that he didn't>> he should release the tax returns tomorrow. it's crazy. you have to release six, eight, ten years of backs tax returns. >> reid, do you think the growing president bush from the right will become too loud for him to ignore? >> i think it's sort of a no-win situation for romney. if he doesn't release the returns, president obama's campaign will going after him calling him the most secretive candidate since nixon. fe does release the records, he has a lot of money in various accounts that the democrats have already made light of. there's going to be a lot more of that in five or ten or 15 years of tax returns. so this is a real tough poe sig for them. i'm not entirely certain how they get out of it. >> which is worse, susan? is it clear? >> it's not clear. i guess you have to know what's in the tax returns to know which is worse. i think the history on this is once you have an issue like this, there's a drum beat, a drip, drip, drip, and that you end up releasing them sooner or later.

mr. romney knew the day that mccain lost in 2008 that he was going to run for president, that he didn't get all of this out. >> release the tax returns tomorrow, it's crazy. you've got to release six, eight, ten years of back tax returns. >> you talked to him on friday and this is your questions to him about whether he'll release more of his tax returns. >> john mccain ran for president and released two years of tax returns. john kerry ran for president. you know, his wife -- >> i just want to clarify this, then. after february of 1999, you never attended a single meeting for bain, a business meeting, even by phone, attended a meeting regarding bain or bain controlled entities? >> you've asked quite a few questions there so let's go through it. i didn't involve myself in any way with bain capital's enterprise after february of 1999. >> on the tax returns and on when he left bain capital. >> he tried to make it very clear he had no involvement with bain capital after 1999, when the company began outsourcing jobs. on the issue of taxes, i said to him when you were vetted four years ago by joh