mr. pruitt -- mr. pruitt chooses to defend and protect the needs of the biofuel industry over the needs of our children? that is not someone worthy of representing the american people. that is not someone worthy of heading this agency. and, you know, let's just stick to mr. pruitt's own words, not the words of oh, not the words of my constituents, but in his own words. this is what he said about the agency that he's been chosen to lead. mr. pruitt describes himself as, and i quote, a leading advocate against the e.p.a.'s activist agenda. he said this on his linkedin page. we bein accessed this in januarf 2016. on the role of the e.p.a., he said, an i quote, i believe the e.p.a. has a role to play in our republican form of government. air and water quality issues can cross state lines and can sometimes require federal intervention. at the same time, the e.p.a. was never intended to be our nation's front line environmental regulator. unquote. this was his testimony before the house committee on science, s

mr. pruitt. no, mr. pruitt stood by his friends in the oil industry and the heck with everybody else. mr. pruitt has been consistent in his work for big oil. as attorney general, he dismantled the environmental protection unit in his of course, dismantled the environmental protection unit. he appointed a billionaire oil man to be hi -- to be his 2014 n chair. and he ignored the citizens he was sworn to protect. that is the measure of mr. pruitt as a public servant. a states attorney general is supposed to serve the people. right now, massachusetts' attorney general maura healy is leading a case to prove that exxonmobil deliberately deceived the public about the impact of climate change on our economy, our environment, our health, and our future. good for maura. did scott pruitt join that suit? of course not. pruitt ran to the defense of one of the world's largest corporations whining about how that corporation felt bullied. instead of working as the attorney general for oklahoma, mr. pruitt has se

mr. pruitt -- district judge ruled that mr. pruitt's office will have until tuesday to turn over these e-mails. unfortunately, the senate will vote on his nomination in just a moment before these documents are released and give the american people an opportunity to see what they contain. i would strongly urge that the nomination vote be postponed until these e-mails are released and they can be fully considered. the e.p.a. administrator must be someone who is committed to improving and enforcing laws and regulations that safeguard clean air and clean water for our americans. mr. pruitt's record of undermining critical health and environmental protections demonstrate that he is simply not the right person to lead the e.p.a. i urge my colleagues to oppose mr. pruitt's nomination. and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. delaware mr. president, a few -- mr. carper: mr. president, a few minutes ago we stopped everything and the chaplain for the u.s. came in and gave us a prayer. we have a bible study

mr. president pruitt has failed to a -- mr. pruitt has failed to appreciate the significance of that point. he has, in fact, developed a long list of lawsuits filed, but through all of that litigation, he has delivered very little for the people of oklahoma, the very people who elected him to represent them. and why should he then -- why should we expect that he will protect the interests of all americans and the environment that we all share? during his six-year tenure as attorney general of oklahoma, scott pruitt stated only in one instance a lawsuit against an egg farm that he could recall initiating an independent lawsuit as attorney general against private air polluters. it was later revealed that even this claim was misleading. that it, in fact, -- it turned out it was his predecessor that had actually done the leg work and initiated the proceedings along with the assistance of the e.p.a. in the 2014 "new york times" article, it was reported that mr. pruitt used his official position as oklahoma attorney general to protect

mr. pruitt this. how much does it cost to lose an organ like i have, to lose a parent or child from cancer? how much sick days and inhalers cost? families already struggling to make ends meet. many of these costs are not in dollars alone. thank you, sarah. sarah is a mother, a registered nurse. she wrote to me earlier this month to express her concerns regarding mr. pruitt's nomination. in her letter she explained to me that she was born in 1978 in western new york state, just miles away from the love canal neighborhood, the site of one of the most appalling environmental disasters in american history. for those who don't know, don't recall, love canal was a planned community that eventually had to be evacuated after 22,000 barrels of toxic waste were dumped in the nearby canal, 22,000 barrels. families whose homes were contaminated with chemicals and toxic waste had to leave. many faced serious health challenges later in their lives. these were the real threats we faced before we had the e.p.a. or la

mr. pruitt declined to name a single one. mr. president, the foundation of a future where all americans have an opportunity to thrive starts with a healthy environment and healthy families, and e.p.a. serves an important role in protecting the health of our people. we must do better than having an administrator who has fought so tirelessly to undermine the work that this agency does. mr. president, i'm also concerned by an e.p.a. administrator who has consistently voiced skepticism about the clear facts on climate change. throughout my time in office, i have always fought to protect our environment and have been a strong supporter of curbing the impacts of climate change. as a state senator, i sponsored legislation that allowed new hampshire to join the regional p greenhouse gas initiative and i helped pass the state's renewable portfolio standard to maintain and grow new hampshire's clean renewable energy sector. and during my time as governor, i worked with members of both parties to strengthen and build on those efforts, signi

mr. pruitt joined as the attorney general of oklahoma. once again slowing down our effort to protect the clean waters of america. mr. president, i've talked numerous times on the floor of the congress about the chesapeake bay and how proud i am to be a senator from maryland. one of the six states that are in the chesapeake bay watershed along with the district of columbia. we know that the chesapeake bay is a national treasure. it's been so designated by many presidents of the united states. it's the largest estuary in our hemisphere. it contains the watershed 64,000 square miles, has over 11,000 miles of shoreline, 17 million people live in the chesapeake bay watershed, 150 major rivers, $1 trillion to our economy. and, mr. president, it's part of the heritage of my state and our region. we are proud. it's part of our life. it's part of why people like to live in this region because they know the chesapeake bay makes their life so much more enriched and so much more valuable. the chesapeake bay is in troub trouble. i could talk about it f

mr. pruitt but also generally in support of other nominations. but with regard to pruitt, mr. mcgurn says this, and i quote, the fierce opposition to mr. pruitt speaks to the progressive fear that he might help restore not only science to its rightful place but also federalism. and i think that's what scott pruitt is going to be about when he is confirmed tomorrow and finally gets down to working for us, the taxpayers, as administrator of the e.p.a. this is about the one-month mark in this administration, and we are slowly getting past this unprecedented slow-walk effort by our colleagues. i certainly hope with the 1,100 other appointments that have to be submitted and have to be spoken to by this senate, that we can hasten up the process so we can pass legislation and be about the business that our constituents sent us here to do. approving attorney general scott pruitt would allow us to move forward with the people's business with a man who has demonstrated courtesy, intelligence, patience and professionalism, and i will be honored to be one of those voting yes tomorrow when

mr. pruitt give for failing to even try? mr. pruitt stated that he lacked the statutory authority to file that type of legal action. now let's think about that for a minute because, again, it doesn't take a law degree to sort of understand the problems with that statement. you see, scott pruitt was more aggressive than any other attorney general in our country's history in suing the e.p.a. often using completely novel theories in court that lost, novel theories that lost. he was trying to find all kinds of ways on behalf of polluting industries to stop the e.p.a. and thought of creative legal approaches to doing it. and yet when it came to the children in his state, 111,000 suffering from asthma, one of the highest rates in our country, could he think of one novel thing to do on their behalf, file one lawsuit to try to help those children? but no, he claimed he lacked the legal authority. what scott pruitt lacked was not legal authority. i believe what he lacked was any interest in trying to truly help those kids to stand up for

mr. pruitt was confirmed by the senate last friday. [applause] good afternoon, epa colleagues. i am honored to have the opportunity today to present to you our new administrator scott pruitt. give him another round. [applause] >> as you know, administrator pruitt comes to us from the state of oklahoma where most recently he's been the attorney general. prior to his service as attorney general administrator pruitt was in the state senate of oklahoma for eight years. he originally hailed from the state of kentucky. he earned his bachelors degree from georgetown college in kentucky then moved to oklahoma where he graduated from the university of oklahoma at tulsa law school. before entering public service, he practiced law for a private firm in oklahoma. administrator pruitt and his maryland, arers, the devoted parents of two children. got to love those names. administrator pruitt, in addition to his years of experience in the public sector is also a successful entrepreneur. as a co-owner and general managing partner of oklahoma city's aaa minor league baseball affiliate, the oklah

mr. pruitt could think of these examples i just mentioned. mr. pruitt could think of only one specific instance in which he filed the settlement after his predecessor completed an investigation in how a dozen or so poultry producers illegally disposed of animal waste. so let's take a closer look at that case. the poultry companies in the northeast corner of oklahoma were not properly disposing of 300,000 tons of animal waste per year. the attorney general pruitt's predecessor had sued the companies for damages caused by pollution and forced the companies to change disposal practices, but mr. pruitt in this case rather than advocating for the judge to make a ruling, he negotiated an agreement with the companies to do a study on the appropriate levels of phosphorous in the illinois river. so while some might say, well, isn't that a good step, he let the agreement expire that was already in place to reduce that waste and did not seek a former extension. he shut down the environmental unit that helped start the lawsuit against those companies. this un

mr. pruitt: thanks, catherine. thank you so much. [applause] mr. pruitt: well, thank you, catherine. it has been a joy to meet catherine and spend time with her. i do thank you for the hat. i'm excited about being in a city that actually has a major league baseball team because that's going to be exciting in the evening to enjoy some good baseball and i'll make sure i wear this hat as we attend those games. and the parent club of my aaa team was the texas rangers, so during the american league we're going to be ok to cheer for the nationals for the national league, so excited about that. it's been an honor and joy to be with you this morning. i've gotten a chance to meet with some of you and as i spent time with you this morning it was abundantly clear to me that you love what you do. there's an old saying that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. so i want to say thank you for catherine, for her leadership the last month and a half or so, it took a while to get here, but thank you for that. and i want to say thank you for those who have served this for quite s

mr. pruitt doesn't think mercury exposure is a threat to public health. mr. pruitt has solicited thousands of dollars in campaign contributions for himself, the republicans attorneys general association. all the republican attorneys general, and there are three dozen or so of them. they work together to raise lots of money to keep themselves in office so they can continue to do some of the work they do, and some of the work they do is stand in the way of good environmental policy. he's refused for years as senator merkley has pointed out, as senator carper has pointed out consistently to disclose some 2,600 documents shoring correspondence between his office and the companies supposed to insure to follow the law. we know what some of those companies are. what's he hiding? why won't he tell the senate what's in those documents? why does the senate leader not want us to see those documents now? he is saying we have to vote on this now. it just happens we'll be looking at documents over the next few days, but apparently it's not going to be able to affect this vo

mr. pruitt. and i'm going to try really hard not to impugn his personal motivation. i have no doubt he feels sincerely about the issues that we're arguing about. i don't have any reason to believe that he is personally -- that he has personally done anything improper, but i think it's totally reasonable for us to see what's in those e-mails next tuesday. this isn't that we're trying to drag this thing out for six weeks or six months. this isn't that we're trying to cook up an issue. i didn't know about these e-mails actually until monday. i didn't know there was a court case. and i was perfectly ready to say, look, it looks like they've got the votes. we'll have our argument. maybe we can per intaid a -- persuade a couple of people. certainly susan collins has been a profile in courage. and there are members of the united states senate on the republican side who have been on the right side of climate but you no he what? all that gets washed away. all that gets washed away because you don't get to

mr. pruitt. vetting the nominees is an important role, and one they take seriously as do my colleague, but there is a point when vetting has been turned into ob strstruction, and that what we are witnessing here today. mr. pruitt has answered more than 1,200 questions from this committee. 1,200 questions. that is over 1,000 more answers that on the incoming nominees for epa administrator from the last four administrations. lisa jackson nominated by president obama to be epa administrator at the start of the presidency and viewed as a very controversial pick be many on this committee was asked 202 questions. 202 questions compared to 1,200. so i would ask my colleagues on the other side, what is the true purpose of their witch hunt? because if the answer is to get more clarity on mr. pruitt's policy views and position, chairman barrasso has given you unprecedented amount of time and opportunity to get those answers. surpassing committee standards set in 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2013. in fact, some of

mr. pruitt has shown he has the commitment, intellect, experience to lead this change, and i think that will be critical for america and certainly for my state of alaska. mr. chairman, what is going on here? the outset, my colleagues are out literally me in the hallway. this is simply a senatorial temper tantrum. andtorial temper tantrum, as all the parents here know, temper tantrums waste a lot of energy, but they do not accomplish anything. the american people deserve that her. i ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to come back to the committee. let's get to work, and here is the important thing -- i think it is really important to recognize sometimes this committee is viewed as a very partisan committee, but this is a committee that actually gets things done. with the new set of the epa, we can do that in a bipartisan way. i'm glad to see the former chairman is here. first two years in the senate, this committee was the most active committee. with republicans and a democrat and we stillhouse, got those things past. i would ask my colleagues -- sees the temper tantrum. let's g

mr. pruitt, to release those emails and associated communications. judge timmons said, and i quote, there was an abject failure to provide prompt and reasonable access to documents requested. scott pruitt's stonewalling of public records was, in her words, an abject failure to provide prompt and reasonable access. so understand under the court order, the first batch of emails and associated communications will be released next tuesday. and then there will be a second batch that will be released under her order in 10 days. that's sunday the 26th. now, these are going to be scanned documents that will then be transferred to the initial organization that asked for them. so they go to wisconsin. then we will get copies and we will attempt to review them, but they're going to be p.d.f.'s. they won't be easily searchable documents, if you will. it will take some time to look through these. therefore, we requested this morning through unanimous consent request that the vote be put off until march 3. and march 3 would give us equivalent of about 48 to 72 hou

pruitt to be epa administrator. ahead of that session, here is a portion of mr. pruettitt's confirmation hearing from january 18th. >>> thank you. just a couple of quick questions before we go back and forth. i just ask if you can please describe your environmental philosophy of what you would do to protect our environment. >> well, mr. chairman, as i indicated in my opening statement, i believe that the role of the regulator and this may not sound too exciting, but is to make things regular. and i think one of the -- the difficult challenges we see with individuals across the country is the ability -- the inability to predict or know what is expected of them as far as their obligations under our environmental laws. i really believe, mr. chairman, that if confirmed as the epa administrator, this public participation, cooperative federalism, rule of law being the focus of how we do business at the epa is center to restoring confidence and certainty in those that are regulated. clearly the mission of the epa as i indicated in my opening statement to protect our nat

pruitt. what's your message to them? are they are they wrong in mr. schumer: look, everybody person is making up their conscience. the overwhelming number of democrats for him. overwhelming numbers against. is there any -- for him. susan. right. we respect her for doing t we wish more republicans would. reporter: what was your reaction to the president's omments yesterday? >> you said a mouthful. senator schumer: i would say one other thing. there is a -- there's speculation, there's an a.p. report that says that they are considering, the administration, is considering 100,000 national guard troops to round up immigrants. that's despicable. that would be one of the most un-american things that would happen in the last century. i just hope it's not true. the fact that it might even be considered is appalling. >> thank you-all very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

mr. pruitt and a couple of democrats said they're voting for him. watch that vote live on c-span2 starting at 1:00 eastern. also this news, former republican house leader bob michael has passed away. he served as minority leader for 14 years, and he managed passage of many initiatives by two republican presidents through democratically controled congresses. mr. michael retired one election too soon to be a part of the republican house majority that swept into power in 1994, former leader bob michael was 93 years old. and here are the results of c-span's survey of presidential historians ranking every past u.s. president on ten leadership attributes, a cross-section of 91 historians ranked the former leaders and the results are on the c-span website. the top five presidents, abraham lincoln, george washington, franklin roosevelt, theodore roosevelt and harry truman. see the full list on our website at cspan.org. also coming up sunday historians richard norton smith, edna medford and douglas brinkley will talk about c-span's o25017 presidential histor

mr. pruitt led a historic water rights settlement between the state of oklahoma, oklahoma city and the chak ttau and chick ttau nations. they will be length thiny and c, he has been praised widely for the principals of cooperation, hard work and perseverance to enable parties with conflicting interests toward common solutions, we commend you for your demonstrated commitment of working with a variety of stakeholders in these very challenging sw challenging situations and look forward to the commitment to the many challenging issues that face this issue as we strive to protect the people of the united states. i am confident you will find that the dedicated public servants of e p a share your commitment to working hard and in close cooperation with our dedicated partners to carry out our shared mission. we all understand that's the only way we can fulfill the many responsibilities that congress has given us. following the law and using the best science to protect the health of our families now and in the years to come, administrator pruitt we are eag eager to hear your vision, and talk about t

mr. pruitt sued 14 times at attorney general. the white house said president trump plans to introduce travel ban sometime next week. they asked circuit court to stand down on full review. it's not necessary since it will narrow next week. rem jekted a motion to reinstate the ban last week. that agreed that request and will ask the full panel to hear the appeal. >>> parents are waiting for more details if it's spreading. the county health department confirmed active health patient is a student, staff member orval tier at the school. acco according to the letter the patient is -- willing not return until cleared by the health department. >>> relief any type of an -- >>> more ghost ship fire were issued and retracted leaving families wondering if safety will be top priority in oakland. >> looking to prevent another ghost ship fire oakland city leaders are changing procedures at the police department. chief sent e-mails directing officers to notify them of party or code violation. the president of the police officers association say

mr. pruitt to that position. publicans for a second straight day, doing something we really have not seen, to suspend the rules altogether, to send pruitt's nomination to the floor. so right now, this just happened, pruitt was approved by 11-0 vote. all 11 republicans voting yes. democrats did not show up, suspending the rules, sending pruitt to the floor of the united states senate. now the third nomination to go through this unusual procedure, a sign of the lengths republicans are going to make sure donald trump gets his cabinet as democrats do everything they can to stall and delay and frustrate some of the more controversial nominees, carol. >> all right, drama on capitol hill this morning, manu raju, thanks for your fine reporting. >>> up next, donald trump says a prayer for arnold schwarzenegger and his "apprentice" ratings. >>> all right. everyone is still buzzing about what donald trump said about arnold schwarzenegger and his "apprentice" ratings at the national prayer breakfast in washington, dc earlier

mr. pruitt. there was a vote scheduled at 1:00 p.m. you can watch of the live senate coverage on a companion network, morning.this the house isn't it will take a break next week and when they come back, they will continue on more of the president's nominations. new jersey, independent caller. say thanks for everything c-span does. it is a great channel. and i want to start off by saying i am not a trump supporter. and some of the things he says are really worrying. but, given all of that, i want to point out that fake news, his favorite term, i think the origin of it was a buzz feed article. and i remember reading it. as soon as i saw that, i knew it would be a bad narrative to push. it was -- it set up a dichotomy of the article itself was either mainstream news or fake news. and i think when it is set up aboutay, it portrays true as an underdog of sorts. and it was just the wrong way to go about it. as anportrays trump underdog of sorts. not only has he shot it down, but it is important to point out the article, the proper not a list

mr. pruitt: if you ask business owners what has been their impediment to grow their business, it is regulatory uncertainty. it is making it up as they go. agencies acting in a way that the statute says one thing but we are going to do the opposite. that cannot continue. we have to send a message across the country that we are going to provide certainty by living within the framework congress has passed. we are going to see regulations rolled back that aren't consistent with that. clean power plants, the methane rule, we have plenty to say grace over. gina: exactly, i love that. you described what it was like to walk in that first day and have people, whatever. you were controversial. i said to you -- this is a homecoming year. it seems like here's is been here forever, we'll love him there but this love is flipping others on their head for other audiences. so tell me what you shared with me about your optimism of the people you have to work with. scott: from day one, sharing as a person. how i believe is a leader, whether you are leading the epa or a business, you have to listen and learn and

mr. pruitt nominated and actually confirmed. he has been confirmed, has he not, to the epa? the truth is, there are callers who want to talk about truth, the truth is that climate change is a real phenomenon, it is not made up, and the earth is not an infinite resource. we are putting so many poisons into our atmosphere, into our water, and the earth just cannot handle it. it is really unfortunate that we -- i ample who still stressed out as you can probably tell. calling in from union, washington on our republican line. good morning. caller: good morning, kimberly appeared -- kimberly. outer: i am stressed because i watch a lot of politics, c-span, i have for 20 years so i get stressed out when i hear democrats call up and make the accusation that the president is lying or some other republican is lying but they never give examples, it is frustrating, i could give you plenty of example of president obama when he live, go to political act and look up the truth meter on president obama, they won a pulitzer prize, a few points, i will then that other colors did on. peopletress

mr. pruitt could take place friday afternoon. follow live senate coverage on c-span2. c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up thursday morning, california republican congressman will discuss contact between trump campaign aides and russian intelligence. also budget issues in the future of the affordable care act. washington democratic congresswoman will join us to talk about her work as a leading member of the party's new coalition. what c-span's washington journal becoming live thursday morning. next, house republicans along with senator rand paul talk about congressman mark sanford's placement bill for the affordable care act. this news conference is 30 minutes. >> i wanted to go ahead and open up this press conference to introduce what conservatives are coalescing around for a solution for health care concerns for americans. we are joined today by our some -- our senate colleague rand paul who has worked with is very closely. thank you senator. governor sanford, who together will put forward a definitive pla

mr. pruitt had between him and the industry in oklahoma.see what this he have to say when those e-mails come out next week. brianna. >> we just heard from mitch mcconnell, you were at this q & a and i dare say you got one of the more interesting answers from him. tell us about what you asked him. >> reporter: senator mcconnell has been making comments in recent days about some of donald trump's tweeting and p his comments themselves, taking the focus away from the republican agenda on capitol hill and i asked him if he's concerned about that. take a listen. >> yesterday's news conference a concern that the president is taking your party off message. >> well, i've been pretty candid with him and with all of you that i'm not a great fan of daily tweets. what i am a fan of is what he's been actually doing. as i look at what we might have expected from a president mitt romney or a president marco rubio or a president jeb bush at the beginning of their tenures in office, i can't see much difference between what president trump is doing and what

mr. pruitt, oklahoma's attorney general cleared a parliamentary vote which supports strongly breaking along party lines. watch that vote c-span2, 1:00 today. dominick, on the line from new york. republican caller. caller: how are you doing. i watch the conference yesterday with president trump and the man's doing everything he said to do. i live in a place in new york, last year nine kids died of an overdose of heroin. i moved up here 21 years ago. you couldn't buy a marijuana joint. but yet the kids are dying from hair win. they busted a kid in the high school with 80 bags. they tried him with intent to sell, but he says, no, no. they told me to give it away. just give it out. he got intent to distribute. the problem is the border was screwed up. bonnie frank and chris dodd -- barney frank and chris dodd bankrupt everything. we couldn't get work. six million constructions out of work. it was a big mess. the democrats walked us down a dead end. now you have a president that's doing the right thing and the democrats don't want to give him a break. i listened to nancy pelosi the other day and

mr. pruitt could take place friday afternoon. follow live senate coverage on c-span2. c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up thursday morning, california republican congressman will discuss contact between trump campaign aides and russian intelligence. also budget issues in the future of the affordable care act.

mr. pruitt answered over a thousand questions, what are your thoughts? >> so funny, they are doing this because they are oracle posed to -- opposed to extreme vetting for potential terrorists, but they don't mind extreme vetting for someone with a proven career record like pruitt. people should let that sink in. what is it this democrats want, it appears that -- they are asking him a thousand more questions than anybody els has been asked in his position, that is extreme vetting, it is not just that it is punitive, we both know it. if the situation were reversed, the democrats would be crying about this. >> do you think that democrats would not put someone up for this role who is not interest in heading the agent. agent. liz: okay. >> he does not believe in climate science. >> i would say that you know it has been proven that past administration, the obama administration obam, use the epaa to pad pockets of his friends by creates false narrative about environmental cast a -- >> all right. >> this is legitimate. liz: all right. we'll have you back again.

pruitt of oklahoma to be administrator of the environmental protection agency. could i have a motion to approve and report the nomination favorably to the senate? >> mr. rman, i so move. >> is there a second? on this matter i ask for a recorded vote. the clerk will call the roll. [roll being called] >> the nomination of pruitt to be administrator is approved and reported. the funding resolution to fund the committee through 2019 in three financial periods. >> bill: there it is. this is a strange thing, folks. if you're watching at home or at work or on your mobile device, you are seeing stuff the same way we are. we are looking at committee rooms that have people on one side and empty chairs on the other. the second day in a row it happened. scott pruitt moves forward in committee. senator grassley, good morning to you and thank you for your time. generally speaking, has the decorum of an otherwise stately senate as we watch judge gorsuch make his way toward more meetings today, is the statelyness of the senate in free fall? what is going on there. >> only because of one senator, senator schumer, the new leader of the united states senate. he is dictat

mr. pruitt spent a lot of his time suing the environmental protection agency. >> senate democrats wanted to delay a vote of pruitt. they ordered him to release thousands of e-mails with oil and gas executives by next week. pruitt has refused to release the e-mails for more than two years. >>> bucks county officials say the trump and clinton campaigns owe them $25,000 for rallies they held in new town township last year. supervisors have written the new athletic club sports training center where the trump campaign held a rally in october. they're asking for help getting the $19,000 spent from the campaign. they've asked the bucks county democratic committee for help for a rally tim kaine held the same month. kaine spoke at bucks county commute community college. >>> philadelphia mayor hopes taxes can renovate parks and recreation centers. future projects using the bevererabeve beverage tax is on hold. aundrea cline-thomas is joining us to explain. >> the fight never fizzled after it passed last summer. in recent weeks it has intensified forcing the mayor's administration to come up with a

mr. pruitt seems to have spent a good part of his career fighting to dismantle federal protection. my state, neighboring states. those the end of america's tail pipe depend on cleaner air and cleaner water. >> pruitt is expected to be confirmed by a narrow margin when the vote comes up this afternoon. >>> 6:37. a chilly morning, but we've been looking forward to the warmup and what we're going to see tomorrow in a big way all week long. >> getting kind of an indication right here looking behind us. clear skies. accurate forecast in your neighborhood. >>> get a great view of the sun coming up this morning: just about ten minutes. if you're heading out right now, it's cold. even at the shore. view from the hotel. a cold winter morning for all of the neighborhoods, but we'll see bright sunshine today. the winds have died down. and with light winds, it will be warmer. especially with all the sunshine. won't be as cold this evening. chilly evening, yes. not going to be falling into the 20s tonight. heading out right now. 20s. the in philadelphia. nine mile an hour wind. look at this, su

mr. pruitt represents a step backward, not a step forward. st person who should be the leader of the epa. >> pruitt is expected to sale through his confirmation vote. two red state democrats, heidi high camp and joe manchin of west virginia have said they will vote for pruitt. senator susan collins of maine is the lone republican to come out against pruitt. her vote will be offset by high camp and manchin. >>> in pakistan a slew of revenge killings and in baghdad a car bombing at an auto dealership has left 55 people dead. the common threat in both of those attacks claimed by isis. joining us on set, msnbc's cal perry. great to have you with us. claiming responsibility, isis, we often talk about isis being set back in the fight in syria and iraq. they have the ability and far reaching ability to carry out these types of attacks. >> they're trying to drive a wedge into islam and society. we have this claim of responsibility for the pakistan and iraq attacks. one of the reasons for that is in their claim of responsibility for the pakistan attack

mr. pruitt. we look forward to welcoming him to the epa. the website also posted his biography saying in oklahoma he had basically created this unit to combat unwarranted regulation and overreach by the federal government. many people see this as an indication of how he plans to serve. frank and julie, it is also posted on their website they plan to address the epa employees on tuesday after the holiday weekend. >> all right, jana, thank you. >>> dozens of bunnies seized. the search for a new home tonight after they were saved from being sold as meat. >>> in the north bay an unusual staff almost 100 feet up. why veterans are offended by this ripoff. >>> up next the search for protesters involved in this night of violence and vandalism at uc berkeley. tonight the pictures of who police need your help to identify. this is gus. someday, gus will invent this thing and change the world. this is the thing that could change gus' world. and this is the doctor that could cure that thing so he can grow up to invent this thing. sutter health. proudly

mr. pruitt's nomination. he will get the job.nto power, thousands of e-mails will be released after this open records lawsuit was filed by a group trying to get information about communications with industry groups during his time as oklahoma attorney general. we don't know what's in those e-mails. when they do go out, i expect them to be rather controversial at a time when he has been criticized on the left and being too cozy with the industry he is now charged to regulate. this comes as donald trump is trying to fill out the rest of his government. he's having a hard time in that area and national security adviser. admiral bob harward turned down donald trump's offer to take that position. now he is getting pressure to name other people for that job. including john bolden, former u.n. ambassador who is a conservative, loved by conservative hawks, neocons. and some in the libertarian wing of the republican party. one person pushing bolden is ted cruz of texas, former campaign rival of donald trump's. i spoke to cruz moments ago.

mr. pruitt's record. competitive enterprise institute is in some ways funded by the fossil fuel industry, but scott pruitt was a friend to the fossil fuel industry, to put it mildly, in oklahoma. there is a famous incident of him basically copy-pasting an email or concern directly from the e.p.a. at the hearings he said he understands it is an incredibly important job especially when it comes to the rule in regulating co2. >> jeremy mentioned the 14 lawsuits. i'm proud my organization is a co-playoff with attorney general scott pruitt in several of these lawsuits. these are meant to shrink e.p.a.'s overreach, its illegal regulatory overreach. i think, when you look at oklahoma, oklahoma is a big oil and gas producer. they're proud of it. they produce the energy we use. of course, scott pruitt supports that industry. it's oklahoma's major industry, and it helps the entire nation. so i think, if you look back at what president trump said in the campaign, he said, i want to get rid of the regulatory rampage t

mr. pruitt a his aides asked them for contributions for their political activity and at the same time taking letters from the oil and gas industry, putting them on to the state of oklahoma stationary and sending them on to epa. we know that requests for money were happening at the same time that he was suing the epa from people that wanted him to sue for money. so what's been asked for two years ago were all the e-mails that had to do with contacts to the industry. now yesterday an oklahoma judge said you have to -- it's unreasonable you've withheld them for two years, you have to provide them on tuesday. so the request is let's not vote until we see those e-mails. why would you need to rush to vote? >> why do you think there's such a rush to vote in. >> i suppose some would like to vote before the as far as get a chance to read them. if i were a senator, i would like to read those e-mails first. >> thank you for your time. enjoy the weekend. up next, president trump's relationship with the congressional black caucus. we will have the response from the cbc and also a little bit more about wh

mr. pruitt, but a couple of democrats have join his side, and the votes are being cast. ott pruitt will be the next epa administrator as a result of the vote just taking place in the u.s. senate right now. we will keep you updated. >> abby: a lot of things very closely at this hour, also keeping a close eye on president trump about to make some remarks at the boeing dreamliner debut, right now you can see the south carolina governor, but we are told the ceo of boeing will be introducing the president probably a few moments from now. we will keep you posted. >> jon: in the meantime, emergency crews in oroville, california, bracing for more rain, putting the region at risk for major flooding this weekend. that could mean more trouble for those living under that damaged dam. live from oroville with the latest, claudia. >> it has been coming down steadily all morning and repairs on the purple still weighs here at dam will be getting their first test over the next few days as warmer than expected storms bring up to 10 inches of rain. officials here say that they are pretty con

mr. pruitt's even at the epa? >> it's really shocking.u think about the fact that congress has done basically nothing on energy for several years and the very first thing this new congress does at the request of donald trump is to pass an energy law, the first thing they did and that was to allow more coal waste to get dumped into our lakes, rivers, and streams here in the united states. it is so taking us backwards to the 19th century. and that's their vision for an energy future, which is to allow more pollution for an industry that's really on its last legs. it really is a cynical hoax. >> okay. back to scott pruitt, there's a massive level of opposition to that nomination given his past actions against the epa. some say he made a career out of it. but he probably in reality had the numbers. what will be the impact if he's running the agency in your view? >> i think you look at the last six years he was in charge, he was elected in oklahoma to be attorney general. the very first thing he did was to eliminate the office of environmental

mr. pruitt's actions represent, the concerns, the grave concerns they have about what he will do to our environmentalotections, and just the depth of his stonewalling of the senate and more portly, the american people, about the true extent of his relationship with these companies and how much he will use his office to do their bidding and not advance the interest of all people. and that letter that senator merkley pointed out is an example of how he perceives his role is to represent their interest. he thinks that is representing government action. those corporations do not have a right to vote, the american people have a say in these measures and these statutes are on the books to protect us, not oil companies. companies that have polluted our waters and air and have harmed our climate. amy: one issue, the headline today, trump rescinding the obama directive on bathroom use, dropping protection for transgender youth. clearly now, the attorney general jeff sessions has played a key role. you wrote a letter opposing jeff sessions as attorney general. we are seeing this as one of his first acts. can y

mr. pruitt we could take a look at e-mails that are going to be ming out next week. but mr. mcconnellants to jam it through today bause he doesn't want to see those e-mails. i think they're very fearful of what's going to be in those e-mails, which is why they're jamming it through here today instead of waiting for us to have an opportunity to fully vet. >> if there's something in those e-mails even when they do come out, you know the american people will want to hear about it if there's something to see. the other big issue, let's talk about michael flynn. especially with your committee assignments, law enforcement sources are now telling cnn that michael flynn changed his story in his interview with the fbi but they also say they're not likely to pursue charges against michael flynn. your reaction? >> that's why we have to get more details, frankly. i would like to know exactly the conversations that occurred with the ambassador, what was said with the fbi, if he misled or lied to the fbi, obviously that is a criminal charge, that could still come about. we need to have mo

mr. pruitt has such deep political and financial ties to fossil fuel companies and front groups that it's hard to tell where they give off and he begins. he has served as the industry's mouth piece and attack dog for years. when he was asked during his environment and public works committee confirmation hearing to explain his dealings with the fossil fuel industry through secretive dark money groups that he operated, which have been tied to specific companies, he would be charged with regulating should he be confirmed, he provided misleading, incomplete and evasive answers. so we submitted substantive follow-up questions, asking him to set the record straight. once again, evasive and empty responses. right now, his record is a black hole of special interest secrecy about his dark money links to the fossil fuel industry, and that ought not to be acceptable to anybody in the senate. we have a constitutional duty to provide advice and consent on administration nominations. any senator who believes that congress should have a role overseeing this administration should take note of this. in re

mr. pruitt and a couple of democrats said they're voting for him. watch that vote live on c-span2 starting at 1:00 eastern. also this news, former republican house leader bob michael has passed away. he served as minority leader for 14

mr. pruitt and others are voting for him. you can watch it live on c-span2. here are the results of c-span's survey of presidential historians ranking every past u.s. president on ten leadership attribu attributes. they're available now, 91 historians ranked the former leaders and the results are on the c-span website. the top five president, lincoln, washington, roosevelt, theodore roosevelt and dwight eisenhower. the full list at c-span.org. on sunday historians norton smith and douglas brinkley will talk about the 2017 presidential historian survey. this is the third survey we have done on the subject starting in 2000. again, in 2009. and this year. watch the discussion live as part of washington journal, sunday morning, at 8:00 eastern time. >>> watch c-span as president donald trump delivers his first address to a joint session of congress. >> this congress is going to be the busiest congress we have had in decades. >> live tuesday, february 28th, at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span and c-span.org. and listen live on the free c-span radio app. >> this weekend