mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: my friend from ohio talks about common sense. common sense dictates to me that the republicans who run the senate have months to turn their attention to bills like this. they also have months to do something else. after almost 200 days, we have been waiting, waiting for the republicans to have a hearing with merrick garland. the supreme court is at a stamped still. nothing's being done. a new term and they basically are afraid to take cases of controversy. why? because it's 4-4. so common sense dictates to me that we should address the vacancy of the supreme court caused by the death of justice scalia. march 16, 2016 he was nominated. we're approaching october. to date, the senate has not held a vote, even a hearing. it's nice a few of you have decided to break with the republican leader and even met with the man. that was nice of them to do that. why haven't they held a hearing? because they know they can't hold a hea

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: the republican leader and i have had a number of conversations. ms. pelosi: the senate is not in order. mr. reid: i would yield to the senior senator from michigan. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: mr. president, i want to thank the majority leader for his comments and conversations we've had publicly and privately and our senate democratic leader as well for being such a stalwart in all of our -- and all of our colleagues. we in the senate have done the right thing and moved forward on a wrda bill that has an important package for flint and other communities that have lead and water issues. at the beginning of this week, there was a house bill that did not include anything for flint or anything around lead contamination. we now have a commitment. there is going to be something in the house wrda bill and a commitment that the final bill will include the work that we did in the senate, so i just want to thank again senator inhofe, senator boxer, all

mr. reid: would be happy to. mr. schumer: every organize -- organization has what they call unsung heroes. on the battle feedz they're the soldiers. in the automobile plant they're the assembly workers. in the hospital it may be the nurses. the organizations can't go on without these people. they are the heart and soul of these organizations, and they do their work quietly but proudly. if you had to pick someone who personifies the unsung hero of this body it would be tim. he does his job every day. you can see when you talk to him the pride he has, the knowledge he has in doing the job and doing it well. barbara boxer mentioned there are lots of moments when everyone is in a stir. never tim. he calmly and directly gives you the right advice. he is a hero, a hero not only to those of us who are here but i think to every member of this senate. and, tim, we love you. we love you. god bless you. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the next part of my p

mr. reid: yes, it was. mr. mcconnell: i object. mr. reid: i object to the initial request. the presiding officer: objection is heard to the original request. mr. toomey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: let me just briefly observe what's going on here. i don't think it is any mystery to anyone who's been following -- been following what's happening here. the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania yields. mr. reid: mr. president, came to the floor -- i'm busy, i'm sure he's busy. i came to the floor to be a gentleman and as how him to go first. i have a speech to give. i came here. i have agreed to let the republican leader -- i don't need to agree -- i said that i would be willing to do this right now so the republican leader could give his speech later. but i mean, i think it's rude to say the least -- now he wants to give a speech here and prevent me from giving a speech to the senate. i think that's not being very collegial, and i'm disappointed that he would do this. so he can go ahead and talk as long as he wants

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: we have given everyone our amendments. there's seven. and i think that everything can be worked out on all of them. there's one that's relevant to the underlying legislation that is offered by the senator from connecticut. i'm trying to think who is the senior there. one of the senators from -- senator blumenthal. and i am not sure that i want to go into this deal. both of you have to approve that amendment. i think we should at least be allowed to have a vote. we have agreed, we have agreed to half-hour debate on it is plenty. based on that, if you guys can't work something out, i want to have a vote on blumenthal. six of them. senator boxer can do what you think is appropriate. on this one, with blumenthal, if you can't work something out, if this isn't satisfactory, i want half-hour debate and a vote on it. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i might just say i think we have a b

mr. reid: mr. president, i come to the floor today to give the people of flint, michigan, the assurance that they're going to get some help. after more than a year, i've had an opportunity to meet with senator stabenow, talked to her a number of times this morning. i've had occasion to visit with the majority leader. and i've spoken to leader pelosi, and i am convinced that there's going to be help for flint in the lame-duck. they've been waiting for help. they deserve help. and i'm very happy it is going to come. the people there deserve their relief. what's going on there has been wrong. but now i feel very comfortable in being able to say that the people of flint, michigan, i've had conversations with people that have -- i've been given the assurance by the republican leadership that something will happen in the lame duck. we've been waiting a long time to get this done, and it is going to happen. as indicated a minute ago, i've had a umin of conversations with leader -- i've had a number of con

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: on a codel that i led, we were going to stop in israel. and i told all the senators who were with me that i wanted to take time while we were there to meet my favorite statesman that i'd ever met, and that's shimon peres. as my friend, the republican leader, outlined, he has a distinctive resume. and i will always remember eric cantor, the republican leader in the house at the time. i called him and i said, shimon peres is going to be 90 years old and it would be wonderful if we could get that gold medal done by the time -- during that he's 90. and eric delivered. it wasn't easy, but he delivered, and i always, always will remember that. it meant a great deal to this man who had received so many different awards, but to get the highest distinction that we as members of congress could give someone is something he deserved. as i've indicated, the most inspirational public servant i've ever encountered. when we met him in israel, he didn't let me down and was stunningly visionary, l

mr. reid: the united states is a nation that has always been and must always be governed by its people. later on today, i'm going to see ambassador baucus. he is someone that always talked about we have got to make sure the people are determining what we do. so america must never be subject to undue influence from foreign powers, potential conflicts of interest involving our nation's elected officials deserve our highest scrutiny. that's why i found yesterday's kurt eichenroll's article in "newsweek" very frightening. i ask consent that that wrielg be submitted to the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: the piece is very, very thorough. i will only quote a few things because of the time of the senate. the article says, if elected, donald trump would be, and i quote, the most conflicted president in american history. and almost every foreign policy decision he would make would raise serious conflicts of interest and ethical quagmires. the author details how donald trump,

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i have a few things to say in a minute, but the first thing i want to say is before coming to the senate, before i came to the house, i was a trial lawyer. i tried over 100 cases to juries, and some of those cases were very, very difficult. during the time that we were there in court with the opponent attorney, there was -- there it was very hard. but as i look back to those days, never after a case was completed were there any hard feelings between me and my adversary during the trial. the reason i mention that today, i was thinking of my time here in the last few years. i have been in the senate a long time. one of them, someone who has been here a long time but not as long as i have, is the assistant republican leader. he's had a distinguished career prior to coming here in the law. he was a member of the -- i'm sorry, the texas supreme court. he was noted for being the lawyer that he is. so i want to say to him, he's here on the floor today, we have had our differences. we sp

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: i appreciate very much my friend, the assistant leader, for always looking out for me, as he has for 34 years. i appreciate it very much. we came together here 34 years ago to congress, and i appreciate all he's done over the years, especially his friendship. mr. president, quickly, it is hard for me to understand how my friend, the republican leader, can stand here and talk about zika. let's just look back at what happened. we passed here with 89 votes, a compromise zika funding bill. democrats and the president wanted more money, and we agreed to $1.1 billion. it flew out of here. it went to the house. the house decided they wanted to do a few things. they wanted to strip funding for birth control provided by planned parenthood. remember two million women visited planned parenthood last year. and with all the problems with zika now, there are a lot more that are going to be showing up at planned parenthood. the legislation exempts pesticides in the clean water act. it cuts vete

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: it seems it was just a few minutes ago -- it wasn't, it was 15 years ago -- that just a few feet from where i stand now i went to a meeting. it was approaching 9:00, and no one was in the room, s-211. senator breaux from louisiana walked in. he said, flip on the tv. and we did. we could see a tower had been hit in new york. we thought a plane had hit it by mistake. and so we shut off the tv and senator daschle came in and started the meeting. and just a few -- in just a few minutes some people came in and ushered senator daschle out of the meeting. he came back in quickly and said, the building has to be evacuated. there's a plane headed towards the capitol. by then we didn't know -- but as i walked out of that room, i could look out the window -- we all could -- see the smoke billowing from the place we learned was the pentagon. so i'll always remember that. of course i will. and, of course, remember, we've learned since the many heroes of that day. people running toward, not aw

mr. reid: snrp. the presiding officer: the democrat leader. mr. reid: mr. president, this republican congress and especially as we head for yet another unearned recess, i feel compelled to comment on how republicans have treated the president of the united states during the last eight years. history will look back and note the republicans in congress president obama with unprecedented disrespect. no one expected them to agree with everything that he did or tried to do, but americans deserve better than the way republicans behaved toward president obama. mr. president, a day or two after president obama was elected the first time, republicans met here in washington -- all the republican big names -- and they came to two conclusions: number one, obama would not be reelected. they failed on that one, quite miserably. but, number two, that they would oppose everything that president obama tried to do, and they have stuck by that, without any question. america will be better with a responsible opposition party that found a way to make its differences with presid

mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: virtually every time donald trump says or does something discriminatory -- and that's often -- the media has a bunch of words to describe his actions. the press uses words like "prejudice" and bigot" to name but a few. yet there's always one word that many of the press conspicuously avoid: "racist." they never label trump as a racist. but he is a racist. donald trump is a racist. racist is a term i don't throw around lightly. madam president, we've all, with rare exception -- i don't know who it would be -- but have said things that are not politically correct. but i don't know of anyone that when that happens doesn't acknowledge it and, if necessary, apologize quickly. but donald trump doesn't believe the racist things he does and says are wrong. he says them with full expwents to demean and -- with full intent to demean and to denigrate. that's who he is. each time he is given a chance to apologize and makes amends, he refuses and doubles down. the media is not holding account

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: the republican-led senate recently returned from the longest summer recess in more than half a century. it's depicted here in my -- in the chart over my shoulder. the black lines are when we are not working. where there's not black lines is when we worked, keeping in mind that many of our workdays are not like the workdays that people out there whom we represent work. some were days of three or four hours at the most. but the republican senate just sumly doesn't work. the fewest working days since 1956. o how our country has grown since then. but that's -- that's it. a picture is worth a thousand words. i'm going to say a few more things. we're here today, but the republican-led senate is on track to work fewer days in 2016 than any year since 1956. i was in high school. the republicans owe the taxpayers who fund their paychecks an apology, and they really do, for showing up fewer days to work this year than in all those many decades. you'd think the republicans would be embarras

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senate minority leader. mr. reid: my staff has been working diligently to work with the majority to come up with a way to go forward on the spending. especially we need to take care of that but also zika funding. i'm not going to lay down any markers here today. we're still trying to work something out, but i do want to say this. the republicans need to get away from their vendetta against planned parenthood. we're not going to have any funding going someplace else. planned parenthood should not be part of zika funding. last year, more than two million women received care at planned parenthood clinics all around america. they didn't go there for abortions. they came there because they needed help with their health care. women needed that. they still need it. they need it more than ever now with this scourge that's sweeping our country, and that's zika. so just make sure that everyone understands we're not going to play any games with planned parenthood. it's through. do your veteran -- vendetta place else. it's n

mr. reid: mr. president?fficer sphesh the democratic leader. -- the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: my entire caucus got the message. we understand einstein's definition of "insanity," doing the same thing over and over again. and the over and over again, my friend should understand, is the fact that republicans have voted 70 times to repeal obamacare. 70 times. each time were the same result -- each time with the same result. so, no, every one of my senators got the memo, as he said. if someone would spend a minute each day flipping through the newspapers about health care, they would understand that obamacare has changed america for the better. 20 million people -- 20 million -- have the opportunity now to go to the doctor when they're sick or the hospital when they're hurt. that wasn't the way it used to be. and the american people are beginning to realize that the constant carping about obamacare is -- from the republicans is wrong. it's wrong for a number of reasons. the american peop

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the minority leader. mr. reid: i too am glad to be back. i appreciate all the people here that we spend so much time with and all your good work. we've been gone for seven weeks. the baseball season is about over. i wish it went year round, but it doesn't, so all good things come to an end and we'll have that over with in about month now. mr. president, today the republican senate returns to the longest summer recess in more than 60 years. i'm still stunned that the republican leader decided to have a seven-week vacation and it was more important to do that than funding our nation's zika response. we're -- or giving merrick garland or meeting with him or preventing terrorists or criminals from buying guns. in a "new york times" report in detail on sunday, climate change is here. military installations like those in virginia as an example but they are not the only ones are in peril of not surviving. whole neighborhoods are under water. highways and bridges are impassable. but seven weeks of vacation and not a w

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: the republican leader just said that, what are the democrats trying to do, have built-in dysfunction? mr. president, during the eight years i was majority leader, we had overcome 644 filibusters led by the republicans -- 644. in a comparable time, lyndon johnson, who was a majority leader for six years, had to overcome one and arguably two filibusters. two compared to 644. so don't lecture us on building dis-financial. they've in-- dysfunction. they've invented it in the modern senate. this afternoon the senate will vote on cloture on the c.r. proposed by the republicans, and i appreciate the good work done by appropriators -- ours led by senator mikulski. they've done good work, and tremendous progress has been made. the republican proposal will likely fail to get cloture this afternoon, for good reason. the republican legislation misses the mark. it seeks to keep in place the status quo in regard to undisclosed, unaccountable dark money that's flooding our political system. and

reid's contributions to conservatism and protecting the environment.. while also promoting the need for cooperation on healing the environment. mr. obama honored reid and his tenure on the hill.. and poked some fun at the silver state senator. anybody who's ever gotten on the phone with harry reid...you'll be mid conversation and wants he's kind of finished with the whole point of the conversation you'll still be talking and you realize he's the president of the united states. (laughter) and it takes you like 3 or 4 of these conversations to realize he's not mad at you, but he doesn't have much patience for small talk." president obama is scheduled to address the importance of protecting public lands in hawaii today. governor brian sandoval continues his efforts to end painkiller abuse in the silver state today.. "we want to make is evidence based. we don't want to throw things against the wall and hope they work. that is the purpose of this conference." on wednesday.. sandoval talked about the importance of education.. and making sure doctors understand the issues and consequences of over-prescribing drugs. at least one person di

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: reserving the right to object. bob dole, who we all knew and still know is a wonderful man said and i quote -- "as we all learn around here, if you don't keep your word, it doesn't make much difference what agenda you try to advance." close quote. bob dole. so it's very difficult for me to allow senator thune's bill to advance today. i have great respect for him. that's without any question. i'm still waiting though, on republicans to keep a promise that they made nearly 18 months ago on the senate floor. they came to me and said it's so important that jon kyl who i also like from neighboring arizona. they had somebody they wanted to put on a very important commission. and i didn't want to do it because i thought it was fair that we had somebody to pair with. that's what we do around here. that's what mcconnell has done. i respect that. i said give me your word and we'll go ahead and do this. no problem. i got their word. senator mcconnell and senator thune. they said they would

mr. reid: mr. president, by now, most americans are well acquainted with donald trump, but especially donald trump's head-scratching slowing an, make america great again. he has his little hat he wears when he doesn't want his hair to be messed up. that slogan offers a peek inside the minds of donald trump and his republican followers here in congress. these republicans want to believe that our country isn't great. they want to believe this nation 's founding. they don't want to listen to the facts. they just want to follow trump. earlier this year, speaker ryan echoed donald trump when he said in criticizeing president obama, here's the quote -- "we think the policies aren't working. we have flat wages." close quote. why do republicans spend so much time rooting against economic growth and ensure americans' access to health care? why do they root daily against health care? because they think anything so radically based with president obama is failing even with facts to the contrary. despite what d

has still been unable to bring them to completion frankly because it has been blocked by mr. reid. it takes two to tango. if one side decides not to do appropriations because their president will back them up. that is part of the legislative strategy. at any other area in part we can point to a tremendous track record in the past. >> do you anticipate short-term or long-term, do you think -- if they insist on a short-term, do you think republicans would go with that? where do you think you guys are with that? sen. cassidy: that is a bit more process. i personally would favor a longer-term. people are not investing now. businesses are so nervous about regulations and tax rate that they are not making the commitment for that investment which then creates jobs. our long-term capital investment is the lowest it has been in decades. we need that certainty. i would favor the longer-term bill giving businesses a certainty. hopefully taking an economy that is growing at 1% to 2% for eight years and growing up to 3% to 4%. we need that growth. we are more likely to get growth with certainty

surely had mr. reidthe democratic leader, cooperated with us and allowed these bills to come forward, we could have taken the 54 republican senators who appreciate the fact that we've stayed within the budget guidelines and a few of these unanimous democrat votes from the appropriation committee and gotten our vote done in regular order. it's regrettable that we are at this stage, but clearly a little cooperation from this end of the hall would have been very, very helpful. >> [inaudible] donald trump called for more profiling by law enforcement. do you agree with that -- >> yeah. i don't have any comment on that. >> [inaudible] >> do you think -- [inaudible] >> my understanding is that a veto override requires a roll call vote, and at whatever point the president vetoes it, we'll have to take it up, and there'll be a roll call vote on the override. senator cornyn's already addressed that issue. our assumption is that the veto will be overridden. i would add, however, that i do think it's important and i

[applause] mr. reid: when i was told tuesday we were going to do this event here, i said, cool, man, cool. oor choice of words. i'm happy to be here today with joe biden and nancy pelosi. two of my friends, people i've come to know so well, and appreciate so much. in the senate we stand in amazement. longest recess since the 1960's. with everything to do but we do nothing. it is squandering of the resources of this country. merrick garland has been waiting almost 180 days. everyone knows that it has put the supreme court in a very difficult position. 4-4 decisions all the time. some we like, some we don't like. but it's unfair. we should have a full contingency of supreme court justices. zika. yesterday, we learned that scientists have found a zika virus go into people's eyes. causing blindness and a lot of visual impairment. we don't know about see chasm we do not know all the problems with zika. the president told us way back in february we had to do something and we have done nothing. except pass a bi

unfortunately, we see mr. reidn the senate who is drying , and i knowof lines that both parties are trying to work the political structure to deal with how they can best retain or take over the senate house, wepeople's would like to get the work done. let's get the work done. cleveland, ohio on the democrat line, this is lee. caller: hello representative, how are you? guest: i'm doing well. how are you? doing well, thank you. thank you for your commitment and your service. i'd like you to elaborate on the congressman's comments regarding the minorities living within flint, and specifically how the house -- and their blocking tangible progress? i didn't hear the comments, so i'm not able to comment on them accurately. as far as something specific that he has said. i know that in the debates that we have had about flint, it is howrtant that we look at the situation occurred. and then what responsibilities the state government had. and also, the local government. it isn't that you don't want people helped, that is not

reid? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. let me join you in welcoming the members of the panel and thank them for their outstanding service to the nation and ask them to convey our thanks to the men and women who serve so proudly in the military of the united states. the challenges confronting our military services. for 15 years our armed forces have been in continuous military operations, while men and women have performed their duties superbly and doing all we have asked them to do and more, it had impact on our soldiers, marines and their training and equipment. the military leaders before us today have an important task. as they plan their budgets fiscal year 2018 and beyond, they must amendment emerging threats for the future and how our military will address and ultimately defeat those threats. as we are reminded on our country is facing many complicated and rapidly evolving challenges that do not offer easy or quick solutions. for example, we have seen our near competitors learn from our past successes and make advan

mr. chairman, senator reid, members of the committee, thank you again, i look forward to your questions. >> thank you very much general. yesterday you and i had in a a classified setting, conversation that i've been thinking about ever since and i know there are a lot of things you can't say in an open hearing, but is it correct to assume that our adversaries, specifically the russians but also the chinese are attempting to or have achieved an ability to cripple our operations in space. >> i believe they are building those capabilities today. we have an amazing space in both the chinese and the russians ini particular have been watchingemy those capabilities be employed on the battlefield for the past 20 years and in response to that, they are building counterspace capabilities that the lanai is those capabilitiesg and conflict. >> so they are developing capabilities specifically designed to cripple our capabilities in space. >> yes, sir, they are. >> that's the thing the united states of america is doing. >> we are not going down that path. >> so again, i understand this is an open hear

reid represents the old establishment. every elected official. looking at special interest groups and lobbyists. he would have strife against mr. trump who strikes against the institution harry reid comes from. >> does senator reid have a point? for years trump has perpetuated the conspiracy theory. now he delivered a sentence refute yating that. can that wipe away five years of that? >> i do and i will tell you why. >> it does wipe it away? one sentence means the things he said in the last five years are for nought? >> let me finish this. mr. trump has been a candidate since last year june. he's a private citizen before that. the hillary campaign surrogates, whatever you call it, started this nasty whisper campaign. joe biden and hillary clinton started this. unfortunately it perpetuated into this. this birther movement did come, as "morning joe" said on your station, jake topper said on cnn. >> i have to stop you, bruce. the clinton campaign, that's not true. hillary clinton in 2008 did not start the birther movement. >> she -- >> wait a second. i want to play sound that donald trump has talked about over the last five years r

reid. >> thank you very much, mr. trump. thank you, gentlemen. mr. clark, you and your colleague, looking back when you filed your complaint were you anticipating extended litigation or was wells fargo cooperate in the very beginning without recognizing this problem and settling. >> it was interesting, senator, the initial response we filed, they said something to the effect we don't give our customers any accounts or services or products they don't need. they didn't say in response to our complaint we didn't give wells fargo customers anything they didn't ask for. it was pretty telling to us. we negotiated with wells over a period of time, ultimately joined by our partners here as far as negotiations complaint. but at the end i think they cooperated -- in the sense we ended up with what we believed to be a robust series of reforms. the largest penalty in the history of our office. and because of the cooperation and working together with the other agencies here, those are forms and practices nationwide. >> with respect to the negotiations, would you

mr. ryan: we've passed appropriation bills. i think members of our caucus realize that when harry reid and senate democrats want to stop the appropriations process for political reasons and political motivations, they have the tools to do that. so i think people in our caucus under the reality of the moment that this divided government presents us with. having said all of that, we still have passed some appropriation bills. the senate even has passed some appropriation bills. but i really believe that the senate democrats made a decision somewhere in this year to slow things down and prevent further activity. my hope is that after the election they'll drop their political shenanigans and we'll get on to doing the serious business of actually appropriating. if we don't, we'll do another c.r. reporter: why weren't some of those conservative priorities that i outlined, the funding planned parenthood -- mr. ryan: i think -- i think people realized this is what divided government gets you. you don't always get what you want in divided government. reporter: it's divided on your side of the aisle. mr. ryan: democrats have a vote in this. democr

reid. >> thank you very much, mr.nd i would like to join in welcoming secretary carter and general dunford in giving the security challenges that face the united states your appearances before the commit year are always deeply appreciated and very timely, particularly this moment. while significant work remains to defeat isil, the united states and coalitions, military operations have resulted in important gains in both iraq and syria. most notably isil has been driven out of the territory the group once held and isil lot its hold on the stiff of manbij, and several key towns. the effect of-the-operations has been to cut off key supply line and tree strict ability to move equipment and personnel across the battlefield. as a result it appears isil is under more pressure now than any other time. unfortunately, in syria it appears the cessation of hostilities is not going to hold and we look forward to your assessment of the progress of the military aspects of this campaign and whether there is a possibility of a renewed

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator reid and gentlemen for being here today. i'm going to pick up a little bit on senator mccaskill's expression of frustration and expand back. many times the american people hear different stories, different information from different source and i would like to highlight part of that today and get your response to that if you could clarify it. "the wall street journal" published an article by general petraeus last month and it was entitled the myth of the u.s. military crisis and he characterized the army's weapons military in the following way. while some aircraft and other key weapons are aging and will need replacement or major refurbishment soon most equipment remains in fairly good shape and according to the sources in the military, army equipment on a mission capable rates today exceeding 90% and that is historically high leve levels, general do you believe general petraeus was correct in his assessment that the equipment and the mission capable rates are what he says they are and what does that tell us or possibly what

mr. weiner was speaker. it is a tough job. harryve to deal with reid, barack obama, nancy pelosi. it is not an easy job. i have the most respect for the individual who holds that office. i think paul is a great communicator, a conservative individual who understands policy in a deep way. i do believe we need to push a little more in certain areas. i thought last fall was the time to set a new tone. we had just gotten a new speaker. attacks inerrible san bernardino and paris. isis said they were trying to exploit our refugee law and get that people into the country she will do terrible things to americans. 40's --ugee bill was with 47 democrats, it was probably a 95% issue. everyone said that is good, common sense. even 47 democrats voted for it, a republican bill. the president says he will veto. harry reid says he will filibuster it. we went to the leadership and set put that on the omnibus bill. tell the president if you think it's more important to let refugees in this country who were not properly vetted, you think that's more important than paying our troops, i will take the argument and have that

mr. trump. >> well, there's no love lost between harry reid and donald trump. earlier in the week he went after trump about his weight and yesterday in a speech reid showed if there were any punches left, he was unafraid of pulling those, too. >> we face from donald trump, a candidate, a notorious con artist. donald trump is only trying to help one person, donald trump. i don't care if he wants to be president or city commissioner, donald trump is going to benefit donald trump. if given the opportunity, donald trump will turn america into a big scam, just like trump university. let's be clear about donald trump, he's a spoiled brat raised in plenty, who inherited a fortune, used his money to make more money, and he did a lot of it be swindling working men and women. why would he change as president? trump is a human leech, who will bleed the country and sit at his golf resort laughing at the money he has made. >> new national polls could not be any tighter for trump and clinton. in a fox news poll, trump leads clinton by one point, 46 to 45. when third party ca

mr. secretary. >> chairman mccann, ranking member reid. thank you for inviting us on encryption. with your permission i've submitted a longer written statement and would ask it be made part of today's record. >> if you'll hold for a minute, secretary lettre, i forgot my own opening statements. >> i wondered about that. >> i thought you were going to spare us. >> probably should, given the calendar, but, could i just, i'll go ahold and hold you secretary lettre. encryption has become ubiquitous across the counter terrorism fight. messaging applications developed by some of our most innovative companies to create a safe haven where they can operate with near secrecy and at arms' length from enforcement. from syria to san bernardino to paris to brussels to perhaps even orlando, isil has utilized encrypted communications that just a few years ago were limited to a select few of the world's premiere military services. this is a complex and differ problem with no easy solutions. we must balance our national security needs and the rights of our citizens. we must also recognize that auth

reid. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. stumpf, for being here. me try to clarify your position going forward with issues of compensation. not just ms. tolstedt but your own compensation. will you formally recuse yourself from board deliberations? >> i'm not even involved in board discussions around what the hrc does with anything with respect to me and/or as they recommend to the board so there's no recusal required. i'm happy to do that. i'm not even involved in that. >> it will ultimately come up to the board for a vote of affirmation of the compensation committee, correct? >> it would. that's done in executive session without me. it's always been done that way. >> in 2013, when you learned of this, what did you do? this has been asked several different ways. did you inform the regulators or instruct to inform the regulators of a growing problem? >> thank you. yes. i should have mentioned that earlier. yes. our primary regulator was informedyes. >> did you inform the board at that time? >> yes. i can't recall the exact meeting. but i can -- but

reid. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. we'd like to join you in giving the security challenges that face the united states and you're always deeply appreciated and very timely. particularly this moment. while significant work remains to at the feet isil the united states in coalition military operations have resulted in iraq and syria. most notably isil has been driven out of a significant amount of the territory and a number of keyboarder crossings in syria and key towns in iraq. the cumulative effect has been to cutoff key lines of communication for isil restikting their ability to bring in fighters and move equipment and personnel across the battlefield. it appears that isil is under more pressure now than at any other time in the campaign. unfortunately in syria it appears the cessation of hostilities is not going to hold and we look forward to the progress and the aspects of this campaign and whether there is a possibility or renewed in the knew tour. we're also focused on our military operations and diplomats and oth

reid. >> thank you mr. chairman, and thank you, mr. stumpf for being here.on going forward with respect to the issues of compensation, not just miss tolstedt, but your own compensation. will you formally recuse yourself from board deliberation? >> well, i'm not even involved in board discussions around what the hrc does with anything respect to me and/or as they recommend to the board. so there's no recusal required, but if-- but i'm happy to do that, but i'm not even involved in that. >> it will ultimately come up to the board for a vote of affirmation of the compensation? >> it would and i'm not part of that. that's done in executive session without me, it's always been done that way. >> in 2013 when you learned of th this, what did you do? this has been asked several different ways. did you inform the regulators instruct someone to inform the regulators for a growing problem? >> thank you, mr. reed, i should have he thinks med that, but, yes. our primary regulatory was informed at that time. did you inform the board at that time? >> yes, i can't recall th

reid. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. stumpf, thank you for being here. let me clarify your position with respect to going forward with not just mrs. tolstedt but your consideration. will you recuse your self from board discussions. >> i'm not involved with anything the arc does in respect to me and as the board. i'm happy to do that but i'm not involved in that. >> it will ultimately come up to the board involving compensation, is that correct? >> that's done in executive session without me. it's always done that way. >> in 2013 when you learned of this. what did you do? this has been asked several different ways. did you inform the regulators or instruct someone to inform regulators of a growing problem? >> thank you, our primary regulatory was informed at that time. >> did you inform the board at that time? >> yes. i can't recall the exact meeting, but i can -- but it was sometime in '13. and i know in 2014 various committees of the board were made aware of this -- the risk committee, the audit and examination, the corporate responsibility. >> did you

reid and house democratic leader nancy pelosi. the president says they discussed ways to keep the government open -- and to provide more federal funding in the fight against the zika virus. mr. obama hopes to have an agreement in place - before congress breaks in november. mike pence will make a stop on capitol hill today. the indiana governor and conference with house speaker paul ryan, majority leader kevin mccarthy, and other g-o-p leadership in the house of representatives. pence will try to rally the house behind running mate donald trump.... and he will also focus on keeping the house and senate majority in the upcoming election.. and here's a different view of the campaign...one you could easily get lost in. a farm in brookshire, texas - designed the candidates faces into this year's maze...complete with question marks and the word "no" the famers say - they just want to give people a laugh.. it takes about 45 minutes to get through the maze... much quicker than the actual campaign. former president george w bush will be in colorado springs today -- he'll be at fort carson - for a job fair. the fort carson transition summit runs today and tomorrow... the goal is to h

mr. trump: i fully understand the african-american community suffered from dissemination. and there are many wrongs that must still be made right. they will be made right. reid: the church is the invitation for trump to speak is not an endorsement. formal rival ben carson joining tr him on a tour of the old neighborhood in detroit. hillary clinton not on the trail today. she is a record-setting month of fundraising. hundred $43 million raised in august. bernie sanders will be holding his first solo campaign event for clinton in lebanon, new hampshire on labor day. coming up, mike wankum with the forecast for hermine. the forecast of the mid-atlantic coast in the addition. >> a live look where tropical storm hermine hit earlier. it is now out to sea but still poses a threat. a waiting game for all of us up and down the east coast. and could be headed. >> for me blasted through the carolinas and virginia. battling coastal communities with rain and surf. >> i cannot even get on my deck. it was so black. >> 60 mile-per-hour winds strong enough to rip the site of this truck, and knocked down trees. >> it was like an explosion in my neck yard. everything went up i

mr. mcenroe. see that cord? just plug it into the connector on the right. so you can clearly see what's in and what's out? oh, absolutely. i like that. reid: breaking news out of new diane: we want to show you our first look at where the explosion took place tonight, in a dumpster in the chelsea neighborhood of new york city. you see it right there. new york city mayor bill de blasio says there's no evidence at this point of a terror connection in that explosion. 29 people were injured tonight, most suffering non-life-threatening injuries. player de blasio says -- mayor de blasio says the explosion was street and 6th avenue. there was a possible secondary device on 27th between 6th and 7th avenue. a robot has been deployed in that investigation. reid: in the meantime, one of the many faces of the boston strong spirit spent the day raising money to give life to amputees. the barking crab in boston to raise money to help amputees be fitted with prosthetics. >> running legs is not covered by health insurance. they make such a difference in people's lives to be able to regain a part of their former life. reid: many of those devices cost tens

the air earlier that some are tied to pacs just like harry reid is tied to special interest groups, him saying these negative things about mr. trump, all of this stuff is about to come to pass. this stuff has gotten so infected on republicans, democrat side and the best thing we can do is try to put race into this and marry this birther movement into it which is absolutely false on donald j. trump. >> can i say something from the campaign perspective? >> go ahead. >> from the perspective of someone who has worked on many campaigns, yes, the polls are very close and they're tight and donald trump is up in some places and there have been many polls that have come out that said lots of different constituency groups are not necessarily enthusiastic about what we're seeing on the democratic side so it makes zero sense for donald trump to have brought up and spoken about the birther movement especially from the democratic side. this is a galvanizing jolt to the democratic party, for racisracist -- races up and down the ballot. we'll keep talking about this issue. this doctor l drag donald trump down so the assertion and notion th

mr. trump: i fully understand the african-american community has suffered from discrimination, and that there are many wrongs that must still be made right. they will be made right. reid: the church says the invitation for trump to speak is not an endorsement. former rival ben carson also joined trump at the service and then took trump on a tour of his old neighborhood in detroit. pence in ohio today. the gop vice-presidential candidate stopping by a tailgate for ohio state university while campaigning. pence now says he plans to release his tax returns in the next week. he made the announcement in an interview with meet the press. pence says trump still plans to release his tax returns when his tax audit is completed. for her part hillary clinton not , on the campaign trail today. bernie sanders holds his first solo campaign event for clinton. he will be in lebanon, new hampshire on labor day. and president obama's trip to china off to a bumpy start today. first the president had to use a secondary exit from air force one because there were no stairs on the tarmac. then there was an argument between u.s. and chinese officials about where members of the american media

mr. president, this didn't have to happen. didn't have to happen. when the president wrote this law and had harry reid's office behind closed doors, have it written over in that area, ignoring the pleas of the republican, ignoring the please of the american people -- pleas of the american people who said do not do this to us. the democrats and the president said they know better. they know better than all of us. if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. turned out to not be true. if you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. turned out to not be true. premiums will drop by $2500 and that was per year. turned out to not be true. mr. president, the plight of this health care law has been very damaging to so many americans. there are people that needed help but the democrats should not have hurt so many americans in their effort who had insurance, who had something that worked for them, who had something they could afford in an effort to help others that didn't have insurance. and that's why, mr. president, these people are desperately asking for relief from a one-size-fit