mr. peters: mr. president, i rise today to speak in proud support of american workers, the men and women who built our cars and our homes, who move american-made products across oceans, lakes, and highways, who teach our children every school day, who take care of our families when they get sick, and who keep us safe in our communities. mr. president, i have seen firsthand the importance of unions, both in my home state where i grew up and across the country. this is deeply personal for me. my father herb was a public school teacher and an active member of the michigan education association. my father-in-law raul is a proud member of the united autoworkers, my mother, madeliene, found economic opportunity as a nurse's aide. she fought for a better workplace for our colleagues, and then she went on to organize her workplace and later served as a union steward with the sciu. my parents raised me in a middle-class union household and instilled in me both to stand up for rights and to never take those ri

peter: why? mr. szabo: section 230 is designed to create platform immunity for content posted by others. a good analogy would be if i and madeo linkedin.com a defamatory statement about liabley, i could be held but linkedin would not and the reason that's so necessary is beause platforms would never in a position to manage, regulate all the content that's on there. what it also does is opens up a speech. free genesisoll back to the of section 230, it started on'sse of two services -- called prodigy, one called compuserve. prodigy was the family friendly internet service makeder that would screen, it was -- and somebody put on a libelous statement on it and the financial institution went after prodigy. the new york court looked at it and said, well, compuserve, liableecided they aren't because compuserve does no screening whatsoever. they're more like a library. where the librarian's not really responsible for the content between the covers. prodigy, because you say that you're going to screen and mak

mr. peters: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. peters: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. peters: mr. president, i'll also ask unanimous consent that privileges of the floor be grantinged to the following member of my staff -- sara anderson for today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. peters: mr. president, next to our people, the great lakes are unquestionably michigan's greatest resource. they are more than an economic engine. they are more than a source of drinking water for 40 million people. they are more than a destination for tourists, boaters, and anglers from across the globe. while the great lakes are certainly all of those things, in michigan they're also a way of life. they are, quite simply, home. you can't sit on the edge of one of our massive inland seas without feeling a sense of awe and gratitude. mr. president, next to me is a photo of the straits

mr. peters: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to be allowed to speak for five minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. putin putin mr. president, -- mr. peters: today we are debating legislation that will dramatically reshape the american economy. it was rewritten and continues to be rewritten in secret by one party. it didn't have to be done this way. this process could have had broad bipartisan support. we could have passed legislation that was fair, simpler, and fiscally responsible. we could have passed tax legislation that was truly focused on middle-class families and raising their wages. instead we have a bill that fails dramatically on every single one of these principles. this bill fails in so many different ways that i think it is helpful for us to talk about each myth that is being told. first, let's dispense with the myth that this is a middle-class tax cut. the bill makes dramatic, permanent cuts to corporate taxes while making very small, temporary changes to the taxes that middle-class families pay. according to the joint committee on taxation,

for poor mr peter hore to scott school but a quick transition to fairy tales happens only in fairy tales in reality it doesn't work that the individual elements of the market were shocking for people who grew up in a socialist system because a lot of them still got unsuitable nor the guzzlers shut your wish. the former soviet citizens couldn't do anything with the vouchers because their value meant nothing to them. so they gave them away or exchange them often in return for daily necessities or they invested in stocks without knowing what was behind them. i would say. yes but you know in the soviet union people really didn't understand why they had to make money. no matter how much money they had they still couldn't buy an apartment anyway we did you will of the apartments were allocated by the state though it would be with you no matter how much money you had you couldn't buy property or an apartment for your daughter not even a car. and you could bring but. now you could if you knew how but most russians didn't know you got laid there you know. but if you were clever you could amass a

mr. peters: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i understand that real tax reform is absolutely necessary. in 2013, the harvard business school published a report that identified the most important priorities to promote american growth and competitiveness. two of the eight priorities were tax related. first to simplify the corporate tax code with lower priorities statutory owth and rates and fewer loopholes. and second, to reform the taxation of foreign profits so we don't disadvantage american businesses and workers. many democrats would work with the majority to achieve these pro-growth tax reforms. that's how it worked so well in 1986 under president reagan and speaker statutory rates and fewer o'neill. don't hould not and we need to balloon the federal debt to achieve these goals. that's why republican proposals in the house and senate are so harmful for our country. we know that national debt itself is anti-growth. that's why the same harvard study that advocated tax reform also prioritized a stable federal budget. pu

mr. peters, standing on the sign looking at the people on the bus stop and said it's a violation of the code so and so. i told you in the last meeting that yellow has 200 cabs with that sign for two years and they're not in violation but i am in violation. this is the way you are running the taxi industry. coming to that, 400 cabs are moving in the city which are legally required to have the top light connect with the meter but 400 cabs have a different meter not connect with the top light. a very serious incident happened one cab was driving his light was on but the customer in the cab. the customer in the cab somebody flagged him and said i want your cab he said i have a customer and he said your light is on. he said it's a switch system and not automatic. the customer on the street pulled the gun on te driver. he has to see if there's a customer already in the cab. can you not shut down this 40 400-meter tonight? otherwise if he was killed you're liable because you listened to this from me ten times and you didn't do it and it was going to be killed that day. you are totally liable and sh

senator peters: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. hassett, you have certainly been engaged in a high profile debate of sorts over the impact of the administration'stax -- administration's tax proposal. what it will have on wages for working americans, and i think there is certainly an awful lot to dive into regarding that argument. but to be brief and somewhat skeptical, i think i'm in pretty good company that i think a majority of economists are skeptical in some of the numbers we have heard from the administration. so i believe that many working families back home in michigan are also very skeptical about that. but for them, i don't think many michiganders are holding their breath to see iftheir boss's boss's boss tax cut trickles down to them to see either in increased growth or in wage increase. instead they want to know how this tax proposal is going to impact them. how it's going to impact their pocketbook. they certainly have to worry about everyday challenges about buying a car and paying for daycare and providing for a secur

mr. peters: mr. president, there are a number of matters where we disagree here in the u.s. senate. they range from deeply held foundational beliefs to the smallest details of legislative language. but despite these agreements, i believe there's a lot that we can all agree on. i hope i speak for every member of congress in saying that in this great nation of ours, hard work should always be rewarded. if you play by the rules and do the right thing, you should have an opportunity to earn a good life for yourself and for your family. our mothers, fathers, and others before us have worked hard to ensure that we have a fair shot at the american dream. unfortunately, it feels like the fabric of american dream has started to fray for far too many families. even more troubling, we are seeing nominees from this administration that seem committed to actively unravel the support and the protections that help workers get ahead. today we are considering the nomination of peter robb to be general counsel of the national labor relations board. mr. robb would be responsible for ensuring safe worki

mr. chairman. >> next up, senator peters. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for putting together this hearing. this is an incredibly important topic, and i think it angers most folks as they hear about this incident and the impact that it's going to have on over 140 million americans, in the case of the equifax breach, over 4 million in my state. i just want to pick up, expand a little bit before i ask some questions, on senator cantwell's questions to mr. wilkinson. my understanding, i just want to be clear of this -- this was a vulnerability that was discovered. a patch was created, the information went out. and that means, what my understanding is, when these go out, bad guys find out about them as well. you are basically broadcasting that there is a vulnerability that people can figure out pretty easily. at least some of the experts i've talked to have said, this was not a sophisticated hack, it was a pretty him am hasimple hae road map was pretty much put out for folks to take. we have had discussions had national or state actors, highly sophis

mr. brady: thank you, peter. i'm now proud to introduce the chairman of the budget committee whose hard work cleared the way for tax reform and who's been such an advocate for our families and our small businesses, chairman diane black. mrs. black: thank you, mr. chairman. what a thrill it is to be here today. our tax code is 31 years old. it's full of complexity. it is full of things that people don't understand even to be able to fill out their own form. as has been said, we promised we would have a tax code that is fairer, flatter and simpler and today we rolled out a plan that meets those very promises that we made. people, 90% of the people will be able to fill out their tax form on a simple postcard side. in my district it will mean in the state of tennessee that 20,000 jobs will be created with additional amount of about $2,200 in the family's pocket. and so we have done what we promised to do and i'm very proud. i know we still have more work to do, but we have done what we told the american people that w

i'd like to submit for the record, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. peter gross who talks about the impact on just an engineering firm and what it does because there's always winners and losers and when there's no expert testimony, and when you just jam this down because you want to political win, not a win for the american people, but a win for the republican conference, congratulations, you'll probably get that win for your conference but at the expense of many, many american people. and it's so disturbing to us on this side that not only -- and i quote mr. brady here, when he was on "morning joe," talking about when questionried about h this will possibly make up this money, you said, well, you're right about that. you make a good point. we're not going to see this growth. this is just phase one. the next phase is we're going to make these cuts. what are those cuts? those cuts come in the way of chain cpi. and what are they aimed at, they're aimed at social security and medicare. so for all of you out there, you understand why there's no expert testimony

you sfrurnl, people like peter mr prn and and so to put this in context it's like every day people in show up and are looking around, wondering who is going in next, what are they saying? who is saying things about the settle purn and that the person who has the most difficult time is trump himself. one of these forfem about it, trying to fegt what's going on opinion so that makes it very difficult to put them on this sfrrks if you've got fueler and 2 on the hill, is it kind of con are on sfloshlg and sfrrj and that was an example of the inability of these congressional kmds or their laflurnls sflrj and she's all righted resulted in plrm we still focus on the:and it frn snurks and we're lucky to see more leaks. >> and then section or, maybe 1010 but it's a pretty small number, brian. >> okay be my park. >> coming up, prum is currently en route to sfrrnl "the 1 hour" back after this. this is what it's all about, jamie -- helping small businesses. damage your vehicle? we got you covered. [ glass shatters ] property damage? that's what general liability's for. what?! -injured employee? -

hosted on third kind of vantage as it has a lot of science fair to those of us with much peter's kidney dr fenced and mr damaged but kind of his announcement about nixon this i see isn't a matter of given that one shouldn't own harm the ideas in. a missing person yet on the machine be disputed haun what i mean if you miss being a grocer hard for fish to really go hardly power for harmed any kind of answer you can live. louder as you did under instrument and dust finish ever do you think you noticed in time the convicted was under slice and not as on this loud knock but on the snail. if you can my sense sure enough. yes. but. you will get current just yet in this current a current on club issue one have. yes and she can see also two counties optimist votes is decent and that's what i did as a group that wanted to own one and i think for me it is island and must know enough to haul in lots of home computer poe's own attended to for god for going to a little guy to get a new snow in ottoman so vehement in florida i was othman voted pieces of insecure munched to come to iraq and enough to win just lewinsky

mr. macron? peter: he has to wait, i guess. guy: this is moving in his direction.to see the fdp helping merkel out? ther: one of the things imf lilly certain about is that markets would probably not be on this minority government to much , particularly as the spd is very much more on board than the jamaican coalition would be on some of the european plans. let's face it. the market likes anything that has european- integration written all over it. if the stb backs merkel on these things, the market will probably like it as long as merkel does not fall prematurely. the cdu, csu, and coalition talks seem to be pretty well at making compromises with the greens. if they are not that far apart, i mean, what are the huge differences between schulz and merkel that they would not be able to work together? rainer: you could argue they have a lot of common ground. that is the narrative described by peter which would also see -- if marco and the greens were to form a minority government, they backing inre of the many european areas and on social policy, for example. as you sa

simplifies it nor is it revenue neutral, and i wouldutral like to submit for the record connecticut, from mr. peter grossi talks about the impact on the engineering firm and what it does because there are always winners and losers. and when there is no expert testimony and when you just gymnast him because you want a political win, not a win for the theican people but for republican conference. congratulations. you will probably get that win for your conference but at the expense of many, many american people. and it is so -- not only, and i quote mr. brady here, but it was on morning joe how you will possible make up this money, this huge debt you are placing on the american people and he said well, actually you are right about that. you make a good point. we are not going to see this growth. this is just phase one. the next phase is we're going to make these cuts. what are those cuts? those cuts come in the way of social security and medicare. so, for all of you out there to understand why there is no expert testimony it is because you know what that will do to you. not are out to cut entitlement

mr. special counsel. peter baker, chief white house correspondent for the "new york times" and an msnbc analyst, and jeremy bash, former chief of staff at both the cia and at the pentagon. with me here at the table, megan murphy, donnie deutsch is here, former secretary of state under the obama administration. but besides that, this zeal, this sort of bringing into the light what is sort of -- i don't know what better word, a political taboo, investigating and prosecuting your former political rival is just, you know, for an administration that churns through norms by the hour, it's stunning. >> it sure is. first off, though, i hope jeff sessions does not get a puppy, he's g ee's going to remember t him, he's not going to remember to give him water or to let him out. if he should get anything, he should get a cat, they're much easier. look, this very serious business, we take a leap, a giant leap as a country towards the banana republic line when special counsel is announced to investigate this uranium deal. th

mr. brady: thank you, peter. i'm now proud to introduce the chairman of the budget committee whose hard work cleared the way for tax reform and who's been such an advocate for our families and our small businesses, chairman diane black. mrs. black: thank you, mr. chairman. what a thrill it is to be here today. our tax code is 31 years old. it's full of complexity. it is full of things that people don't understand even to be able to fill out their own form. as has been said, we promised we would have a tax code that is fairer, flatter and simpler and today we rolled out a plan that meets those very promises that we made. people, 90% of the people will be able to fill out their tax form on a simple postcard side. in my district it will mean in the state of tennessee that 20,000 jobs will be created with additional amount of about $2,200 in the family's pocket. and so we have done what we promised to do and i'm very proud. i know we still have more work to do, but we have done what we told the american people that w

i would like to submit for the record the gentleman from connecticut, mr. peter gross who talks about the impact on the engineering firm and what it does. there always winners and losers. when there is no expert testimony and when you just jammed this down because you want a political when -- a political win. not a win for the american people, congratulations. you will probably get the win for the congress but at the expense of many american people. it is so disturbing to us on the side that not only -- and i quote mr. brady when he was on morning joe talking about when queried about this will make up this money, this huge debt your placing on the american people, he said, you are right about that. we are not going to see this grow. this is phase one. the next phase is we are going to make these cuts. what are those cuts? those cuts come in the way of cpi pit when the -- what are the aimed at? social security and medicare. understand why there is no expert testimony because you know what that would do to you. they are out to cut, not entitlements, because social

mr. long. senator johnson: senator peters? senator peters: mr. long, one of my constituents volunteered to the afl-cio to provide assistance in puerto rico. he was there from october 4 to the 18th. and he said the citizens remarked how grateful they were for the assistance provided by his group because no one else seemed to be there, was at least his experience on the ground. i know a group of national nurses united had a similar experience and made some of the same comments to me. it seems to be a common perception that assistance was not reaching the people in need in puerto rico, that there were distribution problems, that stuff may have gone to distribution centers, but was not getting to the individuals. my question is, why are we hearing that from volunteers, and do you believe that was an issue? mr. long: i cannot speak to the constituents' criticisms, but i can explain the logistics in terms of difficulties getting meals and water out. all the ports were damaged. it took this time not only to build the air traffic control system, open up

mr. chairman. senator peters. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to each of our nominees here today, for your willingness to serve in what are certainly very important positions. dr. esper, i'd like to ask about ground vehicle modernization, particularly the abrams platform. i believe modernization of the army's ground combat vehicle is one of the most pressing security issues we face as a nation. earlier at a subcommittee on modernization, lieutenant murray testified the abrams tank remains towards the top of its class with parity and not overmatch compared to our allies and competitors. this is very concern to us and sure to you to make sure our soldiers always have the advantage, never a fair fight. this information is of great concern. last year, general mcmaster testified before the airline subcommittee at the current funding levels the bradley fighting vehicle and abe hams tank will soon be obsolete but remain in inventory the next 50 to 70 years. our ally and competitors are investing significant resources in modernization. and it

mr. knicks, roger stone, peter smith, george papadopoulos, carter page. know, at some point it becomes far more difficult when we talk about mr. kushner and trump junior. >> what about stephen miller testifying. >> sure, stephen miller most recent one. that's reported. and i'm ont reacting to the report of that. it's natural for the white house to try to dismiss these as they get closer and hotter parts of this investigation. i understand the rational for what they're doing. it gets very difficult with the revelations about mr. miller and what we already know that done junior said, quote, if that's what it is, i love it. can we do this in august, knowing that he was getting dirt on hillary clinton. >> congressman mike questionly, thank you sir. >> thank you. >> when we come back, more on the testimony by the president's former bodyguard and their trip back in 2013. we're going to talk to our legal and intelligence experts about how the kremlin tries to gather intel. in there? i got this... that's the new man, huh? yup. getting kinda' close to my ride. wow.

mr. chairman. >> senator peters. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you to each of our nominees here today for your willingness to serve in what are certainly very important positions. dr. esper, i'd like to ask about ground vehicle modernization, particularly the abrams platform. i believe modernization of the army's ground combat vehicles is probably one of the most pressing national security issues that we currently face as a nation. earlier this year, at an air lands subcommittee hearing on army modernization, lieutenant general murray testified that the abrams tank now remains only towards the top of its class with parity, and not overmatch. compared to our allies and competitors. this is a very concerning i think to all of us. i know it's concerning to you, as well. because we want to make sure that our soldiers always have the advantage. never a fair fight. and this information is of great concern. last year, general mcmaster testified before the airline subcommittee that at the current funding levels, the bradley fighting vehicle and

peters. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you to eeach of you for te work they're doing in these disasters. given what's happening with the climate, we may be seeing more of these disaster, bigger, stronger, anincreased frequencyo it's important we take lessons learned from what we of seen here and a understand we'll probably have to be applying them again and again going forward. my time is short today, but i wanted to just alert you that i sent a letter to you yesterday in my capacity as a rnking member on theon federal managemt oversight subcommittee of this committee, and in that letter i asked a series of detailed questions about fema's response to hurricane maria and the humanitarian crisis in puerto rico. i'm not going to go into all of those details but i hope for a quick response because i'm sure our subcommittee will have further hearings on this matter and it will be helpful to frame this discussion. if i could have that entered into into the record. >> without objection. >> absolutely i'm aware

mr. chairman. senator peters. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to each of our nominees here today, for your willingness to serve in what are certainly very important positions. dr. esper, i'd like to ask about ground vehicle modernization, particularly the abrams platform. i believe modernization of the army's ground combat vehicle is one of the most pressing security issues we face as a nation. earlier at a subcommittee on modernization, lieutenant murray testified the abrams tank remains towards the top of its class with parity and not overmatch compared to our allies and competitors. this is very concern to us and sure to you to make sure our soldiers always have the advantage, never a fair fight. this information is of great concern. last year, general mcmaster testified before the airline subcommittee at the current funding levels the bradley fighting vehicle and abe hams tank will soon be obsolete but remain in inventory the next 50 to 70 years. our ally and competitors are investing significant resources in modernization. and it

peter. >> well, thank you, mr. whip. you new jersey nethat the child becoming impatient with tax reform. walked out a couple minutes apg. became table pounder, get me this action now. we're directly attacking the status quo. the status quo of the tax code, the status quo of the internal revenue code is the problem. i want's the few that benefit under the status quo. it's everybody else that basically feels crushed by this and overwhelmed by this and we act as if historically this is a natural disast they're we can't do anything about. i want's not a natural disaster. the internal revenue code is a statue. tsms created by congress and it can be changed by congress. and what you sense right now, the optimism here on this podium, the sense of forward lookingness across the american public is people are longing for something that gives them relief. they're longing for something that will bring back sort of the competitive nature. look, there's two views of the economy that are competing for the affections of the american people right now. one view is wrong. it's the zero-sum game view of the

mrs de. rick said to the lad about the invasion. peter. who has. but in the business to come in on a. little bit and see if the. likelihood of my shoe. please kill me. i'm not saying that i never hear those fun. than that. one do you really think that in a country and to have acted methadone for so and. we have a. lot of guns. and i must have seen in the stomach. if. it is. a very it's not my last post. and the only way. the year on the internet has a cost cutting of an absolute. amount in a day money i think it's the same for me hickey and i have but it's good to maggie passionately that you live in. heaven and have only the. good this time and i have bought and been in the market it's a bubble little while absorb and most of us laugh later. because the wood that has been the bedrock is just. going to my loaded a car with fifty an hour the. sort of time i must get i've had to give businesses. because it's a look i looked at his new york and didn't happen to have shit that i haven't heard yet the. local high. school. not of elections they were not the best it was. and have not only to

consequence for millions of workers across our great country, and they deserve someone much better than peter robb. mr. robb has spent his career defending management and employers from workers fighting to form a union, unionized workers on strike, and workers who brought forward discrimination and disability claims. you don't have to take my word for it. mr. robb's biography on his own firm's website tells the story clearly. and i quote, he has extensive experience, including advising on mergers, acquisitions, plant closings, labor contract negotiations, both large and small, managing lockouts and strikes, discrimination issues, and disability claims. his litigation experience includes defending employers from unfair labor practice charges, age and sex discrimination charges, class action age claims and wager claims as well as bringing suits against labor organizations. with such vast experience and no nonsense approach, peter's clients look to him for sharp advice, rigorous representation and powerful representation. that is a description on his own law firm's website. mr. robb retaliated against wo

you have taken tens of thousands of pounds, peter shuttleworth, you owe them at least an explanation,. £70,000 from mrcan't even be bothered to talk to them, why not? they would really like to hear your side of things. anything at all, mr shuttleworth? tens of thousands of pounds of investors‘ money and you can't even be bothered to talk to them. nothing to say. last chance. you are quite a hard man to track down. and you are a very hard man to talk to. well, clearly peter shuttleworth doesn't want to talk to us today. tens of thousands of pounds of investors‘s money, investors have asked him what has happened to the money, we have asked him what happened to their money and he has nothing to say. now, an update for you on that story. since we confronted mr shuttleworth, he sent us an e—mail stating that all investors would receive a full refund by the end of november. we will keep you posted. still to come... i quickly regret trying to become the uk tree climbing champion. seven minutes remaining. next, online dating is more popular than ever but would you believe it, not everyone using the sites and

next the senate will vote to confirm peter robb as the general counsel of the national labor relations board. as i said yesterday, mr. robb's experience in employment law will help return the nlrb to its role as an impartial arbiter of labor disputes instead of a political cudgel for left-wing special interests as it was under the obama administration. then we will turn to another qualified individual who will help undo some of the damage of the obama administration, william wehrum, president trump's nominee to be the assistant administrator for e.p.a.'s office of air and radiation, who will put his experience to good use for our nation. the office of air and radiation is one of the most important parts of the e.p.a. unfortunately, under the previous administration, it was also one of the offices with the most significant overreach. this one office was responsible for 95% of the annual regulatory burdens that the e.p.a. forced onto our economy, according to one report, reportedly costing the economy at least $41 billion -- this one agency. so this is an office in desperate need of new leadership from an individual w

peter> . believe that there for you. >> thank you, mr. witt. you notice the children will be -- are impatient with tax reform. we're're going after is directly attacking the status quo. the status quo of the internal revenue code is the problem it is the view that benefits under the status quote -- the few that benefit under the status quo and everyone else feels crushed and overwhelmed. we ask historically this is a natural disaster that we cannot do anything about. it is not. it is a statute. it was created by congress, and it can be changed by congress. what you sense right now, the optimism here on this , is people are longing for something that gives them really they are longing for some -- release -- relief. there are longing for something that gives them back the competitive nature. one view is wrong. it is the zero sum game view of the economy. it's as if someone is accessible, it comes at someone else's demise. we reject wholeheartedly. the other view says when people are successful, it enters the benefits everyone. we are sensitive to

mr. speaker, why are you convinced you're going to get the votes today when you haven't won over the peterings of the world, what do you think the numbers look like for you? >> we feel very good about it. we have the best weapon in the world, steve scalise and patrick. they've been working with the workers. this is a promise that needs to be kept. and, by the way, this is stuff we need to continue working on, improving the tax cuts for everybody. to make sure that this works for everybody, no matter where they are. and now shows us that taxpayers in all states get a tax cut. so, look, i'm sure that there's somebody out there that is utilizing tons of loopholes because they're wealthy, and they have accountants and tax lawyers, and they don't like losing those loopholes. but when you take away those loopholes, everybody has a fair tax code, and we lower tax rates for people. if you want to -- the person watching tv right now wants to do the math in your head, you have kids, most taxpayers, your child tax rate goes from $1,000 to $1,600 per kid. that means another $600 per kid. your first $2

peter b. robb of vermont to be general counsel a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. our e.p.a. administrator scott pruitt has a little problem. you see the supreme court has ruled that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the clean air act. therefore, under the clean air act, the environmental protection agency which pruitt leads is legally obligated to regulate greenhouse gases. they must do this as a matter of law. moreover, the e.p.a. has determined that greenhouse gas emissions endanger the public health and welfare of current and future generations. and scott pruitt has said that he won't contest that endangerment finding. he is stuck with it. why? because he knows it's a contest he'd lose by a landslide. the climate denial nonsense he espouses has never passed peer review. it's not real science. and it would get bu

in 2001, the human rights activist peter tatchell attempted a citizens arrest of mr mugabe. tatchell is with us here on outside source. only a short clip, what happened after that?|j outside source. only a short clip, what happened after that? i was beaten unconscious by president mugabe's bodyguards which i think exemplifies the brutality of his regime. his bodyguards did that to me in broad daylight in the heart of the european capital city in front of the world's media. everyone said to themselves, if he does that in those circumstances, imagine what he's doing to his own people when no one is watching? what were the consequences in terms of the countries hosting mr mugabe reacting? neither the british nor the belgian governments were willing to ta ke the belgian governments were willing to take any action against mugabe's agents. they claimed diplomatic immunity and that was accepted. i'm left with permanent brain and eye damage. nothing major but of course thousands and thousands of zimbabweans have been murdered by his regime. political prisoners were tortured and subje

mrs. moore, wait until the b block. peter baker, what say you about roy moore and his wife thinking that the president should thank them? >> well, it's a fairly -- it's a fairly cynical point view of that roy moore's case of sexual misconduct allegations have taken attention away from other things that the white house would prefer not to talk about. i don't think it really changes anything important. there are other issues that people in washington can walk and chew gum at the same time. robert mueller has not stopped his investigation. and all the issues are being covered and will be covered in the media in the days to come. but it's -- >> let me ask you about the power imbalance because what struck me there is the moores have been emboldened by the standing they know they have. this was a power struggle and steve bannon, roy moore and sean hannity won. they directed the president. you want to talk about the president being someone's puppet? his puppet strings have been pulled. he has followed sean hannity's lead on the roy