mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to address the senate in a colloquy with the senator from south carolina as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: mr. president, 19 months ago, a terrible thing happened in benghazi, libya. four brave americans were murdered, and the issue has never been not only resolved but as each of the last 19 months has ensued, the issue of how and under what circumstances this heinous crime was committed continues, and the senator from south carolina and i, the senator from new hampshire and some others have vowed we will never give up on this issue until the truth is known and the people who perpetrated it are brought to justice. we have seen another page turn in this chapter of cover-up and obfuscation by this administration by the belated 19 months later release of the following emails. first one we will not pay much attention to. this is from the benjamin rhodes, who is supposed to be the public relations -- public a

mr. mccain: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: what is the request? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: first, reserving the right to object, what the senator from louisiana has characterized as the majority leader's position on the pending legislation has not been stated by the majority leader and i suggest he talk, the senator from louisiana speak to his leadership and work with the majority leader to resolve differences on amendments. i object. mr. vitter: madam president, reclaiming the floor --. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: let me read the exact text of a hotline. hootline is a message that goes out to all senators. quote -- "the majority leader in in consultation with the republican leader would like to enter into a unanimous consent agreement on s. 2262, the energy efficiency bill. the only amendments in order would be five amendments to be offered by the republican leader or his designee related to energy policy with a 60-vote thresh

mr. mccain: and the next day, the station chief sent a message there was not, slash, not a spontaneous demonstration. mr. graham: that was the 15th, so i will get to that in a second. so this is in real time. people are reporting a coordinated terrorist attack. there was no protest. the video had nothing to do with this because there were no protests. why was this? they are far less culpable in the eyes of the american people and myself if, in fact, this was caused by a video we had nothing to do with, a protest that you could not see coming. the truth of the matter is this was a coordinated terrorist attack that you could see coming for months, and it was a result of a broader failure of policy. why did they not want to admit that. they are seven weeks out. it undercuts everything they were trying to tell the american people about their foreign policy. this is the smoking gun that shows they were consciously trying to manipulate the evidence to steer the story away from a coordinated terrorist attack of the security into the land of the internet video, causing a protest. that, to me, is unacceptabl

mr. mccain: madam president, i yield the floor. mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: this weekend, americans will gather to remember all who have fought and perished so that we might live in freedom. memorial day is our chance to honor their extraordinary sacrifices. of course, kentucky has long played a proud and vital role in the defense of our nation. i'm honored to represent so many kentuckians in the armed forces, including those stationed at fort knox, fort campbell, the bluegrass army depot and members of the reserves and kentucky national guard. one of the reasons memorial day is so important to me is because it allows americans to reflect and give thanks for all that we have, to recognize that none of it would have been possible without so many americans we have never met putting everything on the line for us. that's why the men and women who protect us deserve our full support when they are deployed, when they are training and when they return home. most americans certainly agree with that statemen

mr. mccain: and the next day, the station chief sent a message there was not, slash, not a spontaneous demonstration. mr. graham: that was the 15th, so i will get to that in a second. so this is in real time. people are reporting a coordinated terrorist attack. there was no protest. the video had nothing to do with this because there were no protests. why was this? they are far less culpable in the eyes of the american people and myself if, in fact, this was caused by a video we had nothing to do with, a protest that you could not see coming. the truth of the matter is this was a coordinated terrorist attack that you could see coming for months, and it was a result of a broader failure of policy. why did they not want to admit that. they are seven weeks out. it undercuts everything they were trying to tell the american people about their foreign policy. this is the smoking gun that shows they were consciously trying to manipulate the evidence to steer the story away from a coordinated terrorist attack of the security into the land of the internet video, causing a protest. that, to me, is unacceptabl

mr. mccain: thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i'd like to mention to my colleagues with this vote, we will be making history in some respects and i think we should all be proud of the fact that this nominee, diane humetewa of the hopi tribe will be the first native american woman to be on the federal bench. i appreciate a positive vote. it's a proud moment for her, her tribe and native americans. thank you. the presiding officer: under the previous order -- is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 96, the nays are zero, and the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider are considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate will resume legislative session. under the previous order, the question occurs on the motion to proceed to h.r. 3474. all those in

mr. mccain: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i'd like to thank the senator from new york for his five-minute speech. i am pleased to join today with my friend and colleague, senator flake, to express support for this diverse and historic slate of nominees to the united states district court for the district of arizona. between today and tomorrow, the senate hopefully will vote to confirm six judges to the federal court in arizona and i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting these nominees. i'm very pleased to have worked with my colleague, senator flake, together we put together a group of people who devoted their time and effort in our state, who represent the best and the brightest legal minds and judicial experience people in our state in a bipartisan basis. and we acted, very frankly, on the recommendations -- the unanimous recommendations of this group of outstanding citizens of arizona that put forth these recommendations. i'm very proud that some of these nominees are, indeed, historic, including the fact that

mrs. mccain tweeted what a joke. my two sons serving in the military should talk to her. indeed.eather? >> she should go visit them on the front lines. the number of measles cases, the highest in the past 20 years, the c.d.c. says there's been 288 confirmed measles cases in the u.s. since january 1. the contagious respiratory disease was eliminated from the country 14 years ago, so experts say most u.s. outbreaks are traced to unvaccinated people traveling internationally to areas where the disease is common. >> have you ever been called cynical? well then you may have a hard time believing this one, a study that says cynical thinkers are more likely to develop dementia later in life, three times more likely. the researcher interviewed senior citizens and engaged their level of cynicism and then talked to them eight years later and found the more cynical of the bunch were more likely to have dementia. >> there is a new study that finds women appear prettier if a pleasant smell is around them. the study concerned fish oil and rose oil, which of course is pretty good smelling to te

mr. mccain if he has a ten-point plan for fixing the va like he did the country and boarder but more importantlyan, i want you to know we're tea party members and very dear friends have arranged for dan to see a specialist at the arizona back and pain institute here in phoenix. he's going this afternoon to see that specialist. it's paid for by our tea party friends. >> wow, if there is anything else we can do to help, please let us know. thank you joe and sally and i'm sorry, it's up forgivable. >> sean? >> yeah. >> sean, pop one went in the 28th of september, right? >> i think it's a disgrace, inhuman -- >> they called you after he had died while he was waiting for the care, even though he's literally urinating buckets of blood. >> right, but they gave him a rheumatology appointment october 8th, a rheumatologist, they were more concerned with his arthritis. >> i hope america is paying attention. >>> my next guest is ex poiposi what happened during her tenure in west virginia. she blames the va for two suicides and says the treatment is worse than if they weren't treated at all. dr. margaret is

mr. mccain can continue to have their press conferences. this is a way for lindsey graham to draw attention to himself. he has a primary coming up. this is a popular subject for him. it's something he continues to talk about. i don't think he's going to let it go anytime soon. >> dana, what's amazing to me is the polling on this. you suggest this is not a great strategy. fox news asked a poll question, if you are talking leading questions, here is the textbook example. i'll read it. the poll asked, in the aftermath of the benghazi terrorist attacks, the administration incorrectly claimed it was a spontaneous result to a video even though the administration had intelligence reports the attacks were connected to terrorist groups connected to al qaeda. do you think the administration lied to help the president during the ongoing re-election campaign or not? even with that phrasing, with that leading verbiage, the respondents say 30% of republicans are looking to get to the truth. 63 say republicans are motivated only for political gain. it is

mrs. mccainstralian rapper iggy azalea joined the beatles in a small club. you know the one -- ♪ i'm so fancy ♪ there you go. and two on the billboard top 100 chart, "fancy" poised to be the hit of the summer it seems. the beatles are the only other act to grab the number one top spots with first two hits back in 1964. >>> harvard university is holding its 363rd commencement. this years celebration comes amid a disturbing new report. >> a survey finds 12% of the women graduating say they were sexually assaulted at the school. thattal tos a pattern of colleges nationwide highlighted by a report from a white house task force. the trend is leading former students to take a stand. many alumni are withholding donations until changes are made. lisa paige is president of the alumni network for harvard pwomen. good morning. >> good morning, norah. >> that same poll showed that only 16% of the students who were sexually assaulted even reported the assaults. >> that's right. >> wow. >> when a woman finds h

mr. mccain: mr. president, 19 months ago, a terrible thing months ago, a terrible thing >> mr. president 19 nuncio a terrible thing happened in benghazi, libya. for brave americans were murdered, and the issue has never been not only resolved but as each of the last 19 months insuring the issue of how and under what circumstances this heinous crime was committed continues. the senator from south carolina and i and others that will never give up on this issue in tell the truth is known in the people who perpetrated it are brought to justice. we have seen in the page turner in this chapter of cover and confiscation by this administration by the belated 19 months with a police of the following humans. first we will not pay much attention. this is from the benjamin roads to is supposed to be the public relations and public affairs office for the national security council. back, obviously the propaganda organ. the purpose is to underscore the these protests are rooted in an engine and video and not abroad or failure policy. i tell my colleagues that that was not a fact, that was not

similar to other presidential contenders, like bob dole and john mccain, mr. reagan's age did become a campaign issue. not only when he was originally elected, but when at age 73 he sought reelection against walter mondale in 1984. here's how reagan handled the age issue. >> i'm not going to exploit for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> question. can hillary afford to shrug off concerns that she will be too old for the job in 2017? i ask you, mitch. >> she can't afford to shrug it off. one of the things where you demonstrate by doing. in 1979, reagan had a light campaign schedule, so the word was out, you know, he may not be up for it anymore and he put that to rest by going out there very aggressively and showing he was up for the rigors of the campaign and important for an older candidate to have a forward looking optimistic campaign so you don't get hit the way mccain and dole did. >> what about the democratic coalition? isn't it youth centered? >> look. it is -- it may or may not be youth centered. the bottom line is, in the demo

the vbs for the chance to be just enough to just be here by barrett's by the two marys mccain's complaints derided mr chavez reputation for hard work and go to ours it's not that i might need to add to that that that's important it's what you do with out telling. their debut queried mr kelly's repeated references to g so not cooperating which on their own piece of property function she saw. learned that instead of chewing on complaints need to lose perhaps this particular report might not be necessary in tone it down or tv news good throws. and i have to cross over the top of the cars on the twenty fifth jan says the government buildings to swirl the joint by the crime comes on and paul reynolds protein first this was the minister don spy controversy was the one who tenaciously clung to power why this decision now wounded and the pew report is the latest in a long line of controversies to thank the minister for justice. if you think like we had the on field the new fortress which was the internal costs the report and the penalty points system now and some would say that of reports and results with. t

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator reed. senator mccain. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i thank the witnesses, general amos, with all of these proposals that we are examining today, it seems to me from previous testimony that the biggest problem really is sequestration. would you agree? >> yes, sir, i would. >> by far? >> by far. >> general odierno? >> i agree, senator. >> so unless congress and the president act together all of these savings will pale in comparison in the challenge that you will face as a resumption of sequestration, would you agree? >> i think we've said before that under sequestration we can't meet defense strategic guidance we have many concerns and also affects compensation, and other things we want could accomplish within our budget. >> by the way on commissaries had the thought. why not have people compete to provide those services? why not just open it up for competition? no subsidy, see who wants to provide the best services. that might be a thought you might consider. general welsh, should we be purchasing rockets for our eelb program from russ

mccain feingold law. first, i was pleased to see the endorsement by my colleagues on this panel, mr. mcgahn and mr. reiff, in their written testimony today of the mccain-feingold coal of prohibiting "six and seven figure contributions" to national party committees, " in exchange for access to executive branch personnel as well as members of congress. i agree such huge contributions were and are potentially corrupting and give rise to the appearance of corruption. and thus are bad for our democracy. i worry that they will resurface after the mccutcheon decision through the device of contributions to party committees participating in joint fundraising committees. i also worry that the supreme court's majority in citizens united and mccutcheon does not share the same concern about a corruption inherent in congress where the executive branch -- or the executive branch selling access that mr. mcgahn, mr. reiff, mr. ornstein and i do. my second point about party committees under mccain-feingold is that they have actually done quite well financially. look at the picture of two elections, 2000, the last pre

mccain feingold law. first, i was pleased to see the endorsement by my colleagues on this panel, mr. mcgahn and mr. reiff, in their written testimony today of the mccain-feingold coal of prohibiting "six and seven figure contributions" to national party committees, quote, in exchange for access to executive branch personnel as well as members of congress. i agree such huge contributions were and are potentially corrupting and give rise to the appearance of corruption. and thus are bad for our democracy. i worry that they will resurface after the mccutcheon decision through the device of contributions to party committees participating in joint fundraising committees. i also worry that the supreme court's majority in citizens united and mccutcheon does not share the same concern about a corruption inherent in congress where the executive branch mr. mcgahn,ss that mr. reiff, mr. ornstein and i do. my second point about party committees under mccain-feingold is that they have acalonone quite well financially. look at the picture of two elections, 2000, the last presidential campaign before mccain-feingo

mr. chairman. senator mccain? >> thank you, mr. chairman. ms.farkas, my understanding is that the -- we have committed $3 million worth of mres. $7 million of health and welfare assistance, $8 billion worth of nonlethal military assistance for the ukraine assistance and state border guard services, is that correct? >> i -- it's 18 million total. there's about -- >> then my numbers are correct. >> they probably are. >> i just asked if my numbers -- if that's correct. the mres have been delivered, right? >> the mres have been delivered, right. >> how were they delivered? >> they were delivered by -- through ucom by a german company. >> they weren't flown in by u.s. air craft into the airport at kiev, right? >> they were not. >> of course not, that might be provocative. now, how much -- how much of the rest of the 7 million and 8 million have been delivered so far? >> excuse me, senator mccain. excuse me a minute. expressions of approval or disapproval of any remarks at this hearing are not in order. senator mccain. >> senator, i don't have the exa

mr. mastria. senator mccain. >> thank you to the witnesses. we have an important going on. we saw this previous -- do you believe that's an accurate depiction of malvertising? >> i do and frankly no matter what the numbers i believe it's a problem. it's a serious problem and we are using all of our tools at our disposal. >> what you think the google and yahoo! guys would say that it's not accurate? >> i don't know senator. >> in my view this is certainly. >> we haven't done our own independent research but i have no reason to doubt the statistics. regardless it's a significant problem for consumers. >> the only other question i have her, this seems to me consumers are being harmed whether it be a quote sliver as the witnesses testified or whether it's more widespread and on the increase. would you agree that it's on the increase? >> i don't know but according to this light it looks like it is. >> the person -- make the consumer that is harmed has no place to go for help or compensation it appears. do you agree with that? >> i do. >> so what do we do? >> i think this is a ve

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator mccain. senator blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you all for your service, your extraordinary dedication and contribution to our nation, and i join chairman levin in saying to you and the men and women who serve under you that we owe you a tremendous debt of gratitude both in peace and war. general dempsey i hadn't intended to ask this question but i'm encouraged to do so by one of senator mccain's questions. on the purchase of russian helicopters for the afghan military what would it take to convince you that we should stop those purchases, literally, today, since the money that we're spending on them goes to russian arms export, the russian arms agency that in turn is fuelling and financing assad in syria, and also now the troops that are on the border with ukraine. what would it take you to -- what would it take to convince you that we should stop those purchases right away. >> an alternative, senator. we have -- i just came back from afghanistan on saturday. and afghan security forces did an absolutely rourkable job of man

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator mccain. they's hearing is about third parties that operate behind the scenes as consumers use the internet. thearticular, subcommittee's report outlines the enormous complexity of the .nline advertising ecosystem simply displaying at the consumer see as a browse internet can trigger interactions with the chain of other companies and each link in the chain is a potential weak point that can be used to revert privacy or host malware that can inflict damage. exampleseen a dramatic in the visuals that senator mccain presented to us, as well as his outlined in the report. is outlined in the report. report andittee's senator mccain's opening statement highlight the hundreds of third parties that may have access to a consumer's browser information with every webpage that they visit. according to a recent white house report, more than 500 million photos are uploaded by consumers to the internet each day, along with over 200 hours of video every minute. the volume if information that people create abo

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator tester. senator mccain of arizona is not a member of this committee, but given that there is is allegations that it and raise the treatment in phoenix, sentiment became requested it, before the committee and we welcome them today. today. >> i think you mr. mcgurk of what you think of adapting for the opportunity to make a brief statement this morning, particularly given that many of the series allegations that will be discussed at today's hearing involved the treatment of veterans in my home state of arizona. since our nation's founding, americans have been fighting in faraway places to make this dangerous world safer for the rest of us. they have been brave, sacrificed and suffered. they their wounds from more losses they will never completely recover from. we can never fully compensate them for. what we can cover the injuries they suffered on our behalf and for their physical and emotional recovery from the battles they thought to protect us. decent care for our veterans is the most solemn obligation a na

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator mccain, for being here. i know you have a busy schedule. need to leave, please feel free to, but thanks for being here. appreciate it very much, senator mccain. and now we'll turn to senator manchin, who probably has some good words to say about a person from henton, west virginia. senator manchin, welcome. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you senator alexander and all of our colleagues here. let me just say that first of all, senator rockefeller wanted to be here. he wasn't able this morning, and i'm just so thankful and honored to be able to set here on his behalf and on my own behalf and for all the people in west virginia that we're so proud. i want to put a little bit of a personal touch because sylvia comes from where most of us come from. when you talked about the railroad, senator alexander, she comes from a railroad town. she knows about turning that engine. she knows about basically that round house. that's where she comes from. and this is a lady that has done it. she knows how to do it and she's watched it. we're all a prod

mr. wehrey, it seems that senator mccain was saying if we do not intervene, the war might d on longer andal qaeda might have been strengthened. do you agree that was a risk? >> i do agree. if the war had dragged on, you might have seen the de facto firtition of libya, gadda holding onto loyalist areas. the country might have been come -- have become a haven for jihadists. >> were these referrals seen as pro-western -- were these rebels seen as pro-western? >> they were. in my interactions with them after the revolution, even islamists in the east were supportive of nato's help in their interface with nato. by and large, the remained pro-western. what happens in any opposition there are splinters, so you had groups peeled off that were more radical and have links with radical groups, but i think he was accurate. >> thank you very much. i yield back. gentlelady.he i would let members know that there will be a vote on the floor at approximately 10:55. we will remain here taking questions, probably for the first 10 or so minutes after they called the vote. we will then recess until approximat

mccain-feingold must be revisited. thank you for the opportunity to present these views. >> thank you. mr. norman ornstein. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman, and it is really a pleasure to be here to talk about this issue. i want to miss part by commending senator ted cruz for his full- skirted support of disclosure. i look forward to his vote for the disclose act when it comes up in the senate. >> i wrote that down myself. [laughter] >> i also want to thank senator roberts for putting up the text of the first amendment which i read and reread as i have done so many times. i am still looking for the word money in the first amendment. i just have to say that, if money is defined as speech then the rights of citizens as equals in this process to participate simply gets blown away. those who have lots of money have lots of speech. those who have little money have very little or no speech. having said that, i want to really talk about to larger concerns that are generated by the multiple recent moves that i believe have knock the pins out from under the regulatory regime that has long operat

mr. chairman, and ranking member burr, and the members of this committee. >> thank you, senator mccain. i would like to now welcome retired u.s. army general eric shinseki, secretary of veterans affairs, to the first panel. as most people know, secretary shinseki is a graduate of west point, served as a chief of staff for the army from 1999 to 2003, retired in 2003 after a near 40-year career in the u.s. army. following the september 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against our country, secretary shinseki led the army during operations iraqi freedom and serve simultaneously as commander general, nato land forces in central europe, and commander of the nato-led stabilization force, bosnia and herzegovina, -- a fewt to note few of the many awards -- the distinguished metal, the barn star medal, and the purple heart. mr. secretary, thank you very much for being with us today. secretary shinseki is accompanied by dr. robert petzel , who is the undersecretary for health. mr. secretary, your repaired remarks will be submitted for the record. what i would like to do now is if both of you could rise

mr. chairman, and ranking member burr, and the members of this committee. >> thank you, senator mccain. i would like to now welcome retired u.s. army general eric shinseki, secretary of veterans affairs, to the first panel. as most people know, secretary shinseki is a graduate of west point, served as a chief of staff for the army from 1999 to 2003, retired in 2003 after a near 40-year career in the u.s. army. following the september 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against our country, secretary shinseki led the army during operations iraqi freedom and serve simultaneously as commander general, nato land forces in central europe, and commander of the nato-led stabilization force, bosnia and herzegovina, -- a fewt to note few of the many awards -- the distinguished metal, the barn star medal, and the purple heart. mr. secretary, thank you very much for being with us today. secretary shinseki is accompanied by dr. robert petzel , who is the undersecretary for health. mr. secretary, your repaired remarks will be submitted for the record. what i would like to do now is if both of you could rise

mr. rove. in 2000 denied involvement in a whis ter campaign aimed at then john mccain, centered around the fact that he had an illegitimate black child and in 1994 implied ann richards was shock, horror, a lesbian. joining us, casey hunt and michael moynahan. do you think that health issues could actually cast a shadow over hillary clinton's candid e candidacy? >> she wouldn't be the first person to deal with health issues. you mentioned john mccain, he had to relesion his health records from the war timer ra because people were insinuating he was damaged as a pow. for him running on this great record as prisoner of war and apply it to his health now, it's something we've dealt with over and over again. >> especially in this case this doesn't seem there's any basis in fact for these claims. >> right. >> michael, is this an old hat trick for karl rove? >> it is but it's a particularly dumb one, isn't it? this sort of fuel of evidence here is that she was wearing glasses after she had a traumatic injury. >> very incriminating. >> and like doctor rove, i'm not a medical doctor but the idea -- this

mr. president, we need-under generals si. we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into the hospitals. >> to arizona republican senator john mccainagrees.

mr. president, we need-under generals si. we need you to roll up our sleeves and get into the hospitals. >> to arizona republican senator john mccain who agrees. what is making this scandal resonate is that it's getting bipartisan bashing, including that democratic congressman who says this is inexcusable. how big do you think this is? >> i think it's a centipede with lots of shoes yet to drop. we're hearing of 26 different va hospitals around the country with allegations to varying degree of failure to meet the needs of the veterans, and coverups, and it's a scandal that is not going to go away, my friend. >> now, the argument for these delays, the president touched on it yesterday, they've been going on for 0 long time, hey if improved things but it takes time. what did me mean by that and was he just trying to spread the blame around? >> i love modern technology where you can replay individuals and particularly office holder's words when the president was running in 2008, he made these commitments about going to eliminate the delay and we would have a new va, and i said that we had to give flexibility to the veterans to get the

mr. obama informed outgoing afghan president car we karzai, both candidates, have said they will sign the deal, and president obama is counting on them to do that republican senator kelli aiot, and john mccain, and lindsay graham call the time table a monumental mistake. time table have helped afghanistan military meet its goals. and nato partners deliver on commitment. critics suspect that by making time table public, the president is really talking to his political supporters. >> afghanistan will not know a perfect place. -- will not be a perfectct plac, it not america's responsible to make it one. future of afghanistan mus must e decided by afghans. >> president will out line america's postwar policy in a commencement address at westpoint on wednesday. his critics say he is relick tan to use some -- reluctance to use some of the power he has. >> thank you wendell, heavy fighting leaving more than 50 pro russian separatists dead. petro poroshenko won by 56% vote, and moved t paint himself as a peacemaker. saying his first mov move as president will be to meet with the east. >> our first guest said that elect resul in europe are a real slap in the face to vladimir putin, here it discuss th

mr. chairman. thank all of you for your later shape -- leadership in the military and your service to our country. i have a comment upfront and i want to echo the comments that senator mccainade. this is about sequestration. as we look at these issues in terms of compensation and the readiness issues and challenges that you are facing right now, it seems to me that when we look at the overall budget, taking it out of the dod realm, 60% of what we are spending our federal dollars are on mandatory spending, entitlement programs, if we don't get together as a congress and address the bigger picture, those programs go bankrupt and he continues to squeeze out the priorities in terms of defending the nation in a challenging time. this was set up to be something that would never happen. yet, here we are. -- iotato show and i do of the courage that our men and women do and address the big picture problem with sequester. as i look at it, the one thing that worries me is when we went through the discussion, there was a disconnect that there were comparisons made between civilian personnel and the sacrifices that our men and women make every day. we are married to 70 in the military

mr. chairman, thank you for the of eternity to testify. i am here as a practitioner in campaign finance law. i represent over 40 democratic state parties. as a recent article explains mccain buying gold as had a profound effect, and i would like to provide a couple of examples that illustrate how the law has paralyzed most of the party activity in connection with state and local elections. it ought to be revisited. we agree that national parties and the limitation on solicitation by national party officers, federal candid it's command officers achieve the goals to address soft money practices of national level at the time of this passage. however, congress could have and should have stopped there. instead, little forethought to consequences they extended their reach to state and local party committees who unlike national orderly invested. under mccain fine gold state parties have been subject to a labyrinth of regulations seeking to enter a out of their activities and forced them into the federal system regardless of whether they have any relation to federal elections or candid it's. federalizing all elections. federal election activity with subject to traditional motor a

mr. chairman i yield. >> i thank the gentleman. all members may have 7 days in which to submit opening statements for the record and any quotes of senator behind say graham or john mcka yawn mccainould like to enter into the record the harvard-kennedy school entitled "lessons from libya" dated december 2013. an associated press article entitled' libya's guns fear for all, region's turmoil. global research. headline "nato's humanitarian in libya transforming a country into a failed state." the final one is listed as unclassified, a state department document previously referenced by congressman trey gowdy. the subject line is "libya update" december 12, 12:46 p.m. there is a paragraph pertinent to our discussions today. it's referencing the libyan ambassador when he said his government suspected former qaddafi regime element carried out the attacks i'd told him the group that conducted the attacks is affiliated with islamic extremists. this coming from the state department, going to victoria nuland, i would like to enter this into the record. >> what was the date and time on that. >> september 12, 2012, 12:46 p.m. this is hours after the attack. it's what the state department told

mccain, so the leading republicans on capitol hill. it is clearly their choice. -- he is clearly their choice. another pastor named charlotte harris is running. mr.lis doesn't reach this number, what happens ext? >> if you have a lot of energized tea parties or bunch of energized social conservatives, they could ring you problems. is the speaker of the house, a pretty firmd record. the -- it is no doubt that there is a conservative platform. he sounded even more conservative during the primary campaign in which i believe is little space as possible between him and the tea party candidate. ist: what can a position hagan in? president obama is not popular down here. his approval was in the 30's, i think, maybe low 40's. we have been bombarded over the air by all these groups that are criticizing her support of the ford will care act. carved -- she has not carved in identity out for yourself here. she has a little bit of work to do. this is going to be a national race. it will have natural implications for the senate. national -- be a host: can you expand on her television ads? caller: she has been going tillis, calling him to radical and criticizin

mr. mccain: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the proceedings under the quorum call be suspended and that i be allowed to address the senate as in morning business for such time as i may consume. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: as consideration of the national defense authorization act for fiscal year 2015 proceeds in ernest and with the recent release and annual assessments of the department of defense major procurement programs by the government accountability office and the pentagon's director of operational testing and evaluation, we are once again reminded of the d.o.d.'s chronic inability to rein in costs associated with its largest and most expensive weapon and information technology systems. this is, of course, a problem that the d.o.d., the department of defense, has struggled with for years. and during every one of these years, i've brought this problem to the attention of the american people, both in the senate armed services committee and here on the floor of the united states senate. so i need not go over again the frustrat