mr. sanders: mr. president, every now and then there are figures who come along and play a profound and transformative role in the period in which they are living, and phil hoff is one of those people, and we're here to celebrate his 90th birthday and the work that he has done in vermont and around the country and the life that he and his wife joan have lived, which has done so much for the people of the state of vermont. phil hoff was the 73rd governor of the state and was in many ways the founder of progressive politics in our state. it is now recognized -- and we say this proudly; i know not everybody necessarily is as proud of it as we are, but vermont is now one of the more progressive states in the united states of america. we've been a leader for the rights of working people, for the environment, for women's rights, foi gay -- for gay righ, for kids. we're proud of that. but none of that would have happened, we would not be where we are today if it had not been for the work of phil hoff, who wa

mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. sand sand thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. sand sand the senate voted to pass legislation written by senator john mccain, republican, and myself, to address the crises facing our veterans community and the v.a. and to protect and defend the men and women who have put their lives on the line to defend us. mr. sanders: and i want to take this opportunity again to thank senator mccain for his very strong efforts on getting that legislation passed. mr. president, as you know, the legislation that we passed here was estimated by the congressional budget office, the c.b.o., to cost about $35 billion, and at just about the same time, the house of representatives passed legislation dealing with more or less the same issues, and the bill that they passed in the house was estimated by c.b.o. to cost $44 billion, $9 billion more than what we passed here in the snavmen senate. now, in the last six weeks, my staff, my colleagues, and i have been wo

mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont is recognized. mr. sanders: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. sanders: mr. president, i wanted to inform the members about an important hearing that was held this morning at the senate veterans' committee. and i also want to thank the members of the senate who in the midst of a very partisan environment last month voted with 93 votes, overwhelming support to pass a very significant piece of legislation to help the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend our country, the legislation that was written by senator mccain and myself. and i thank him very much for his help in this effort. one of the important provisions in that legislation was an understanding that the needs of our veterans are a cost of war. they are a cost of war quite as much as guns and tanks and planes and missiles are a cost of war. it seems to me to be fairly obvious that if we spend trillions of dollars fighting the wars in iraq and afghanistan, it is absolu

mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i would ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, as chairman of the senate committee on veterans' affairs, i wanted to just take a few minutes to update members of the senate as to where we are on some very, very important issues that impact veterans all over this country. the first point that i want to make is i think some good news. the committee had a hearing yesterday to hear system regarding the confirmation of robert mcdonald to be the new secretary of v.a. i think i can speak for the whole committee in saying that we were very impressed by what we heard from mr. mcdonald both in terms of his passion for the needs of veterans and also his administrative knowledge, his management skills as the former head of one of the large corporations in america. i think he left us with a very strong impression. the result was today, a few hours ago by unanimous vote, the senate committee voted to confirm robert mcdonal

mr. sanders: i would be happy to yield to the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i would through the chair like to address the senator from vermont. first, thank you for your bipartisan effort with senator john mccain which led to an overwhelming bipartisan vote on the floor of the senate to address what we consider to be a crisis in the veterans administration. press reports have suggested in the most extreme situation that some veterans were lives being compromised because of the failure of the v.a. to provide timely care to these veterans. it resulted in an investigation of v.a. facilities all across the united states. it resulted in the resignation of the secretary of the veterans administration, and promises for dramatic reform. but i have to say to the senator from vermont, what you accomplished with senator mccain was tangible. i'd like to ask you two or three questions about the current state of affairs. how long was it -- how long ago was it that we passed on the floor of the senate this bipartisan measure? secondly, did this measure involve emerg

mr. sanders: mr. president, yesterday the house voted 420-5 for this conference report. they understood that taking care of veterans, as senator mccain just indicated, the men and women who put their lives on the line to defend us, who have survived so much -- sacrificed so much that this is a

mr. sander ark? -- vander ark? >> guest: we're an advocacy or the. we're trying to help people understand what the future looks like and make it happen sooner and better. >> host: and this is something you run, correct? >> guest: i do. and we just are wrapping up a new book called "smart cities" that explains what every city should be doing to take full advantage of these digital learning opportunities. >> host: now, when it comes to silicon valley and some of the larger tech companies, are they on board? are they donating computers, etc., to schools? >> guest: i would say they're not on board to the ec tent they should -- extent they should be. there are many technology canes selling -- technology companies selling equipment to schools, but unfortunately, most of the products that are being sold to schools today are still consumer products. so if you look at apple, the ipad has been extremely popular with schools, but it's still a consumer consumption device. it's not designed well for schools, it doesn't have very good teacher management capacities

mr. brown: i thank senator sanders. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, madam president. i first of all applaud senator sanders for his work on the veterans' conference report that -- i spoke today, i was with the presiding officer of north dakota, at a breakfast today at the air force caucus. and as important as the air force is in north dakota, it's really important at wright patterson air force base in dayton, ohio, outside dayton. and one of the things i talked about at this breakfast was how proud i was when it looks like the senate does not get as much done as we'd like, what senator sanders and senator mccain especially, with a supporting cast but principally the two of them, were able to negotiate with sometimes reluctant, sometimes erratic house of representatives on some of these issues, that they were able to negotiate a really good veterans' bill that will do primarily three things. one, make those accountable at the v.a. actua actually account. second, would take care of those who've had to wait longer than 30 days for their

mr. sanders in the senate represents what can pushed byn priorities the american people are received in congressnd you have two people willing to work diligently and compromise to get things done. we heard just a short time ago that the house of representatives has pulled the border bill. terme head into the mid- elections, is immigration reform the august missed opportunity for this congress? >> it's hard to say it's the against missed opportunity as long as washington has not confronted long-term fiscal challenges. on immigration in particular, what you see going on is it's a national issue in the minds of many but it's a regional issue when it comes to the republican party. until it becomes more like national party, it's difficult to see immigration policy moving forward. fax john boehner is telling reporters the crisis on the border is one of the president's own making and says mr. obama should not take unilateral action on the border. as we head into the midterms, this is not going to get done and this is something that will probably not be on the agenda until next year. at what point will

mr. sanders: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: as the chairman of the senate committee on veterans' affairs, i rise today veterans' affairs, i rise today >> as chairman of the senate committee affairs for veterans in short support of robert mcdonald to serve as secretary of the veterans affairs administration. madam president i also want to think majority beater reid for moving this nomination for word as quickly as a has and i hope very much with the very strong'' the u.s. senate will vote to confirm robert mcdonald as secretary of the veterans administration. before i talk about his qualifications i want to take a moment to express my sincere said -- thinks touche and secchi for his dedication to our nation as a soldier and head of the da 2 take care of those better injured and those who perished on the battlefield. he set ambitious goals and under his leadership said v.a. made strides to reduce homelessness to transform the of system from the 21st century i think him for his service. >> it is my strong belief that mr. m

mr. sanders: mr. president, as chairman of the senate committee on veterans' affairs, i wanted to just take a few minutes to to just take a few minutes to spin mr. president as chairman of the senate committee on veterans affairs i want to just take a few minutes to update members of the senate as to where we are in some very very important issues that impact veterans all over this country. first that i want to make is they think some good news. the committee had a hearing yesterday. i think i can speak for the whole committee and saying that we were very impressed by what we heard from mr. mike donald both in terms of his passion with the need for veterans and also his administrative knowledge, his management skills as the former head of one of the largest corporations in america. he left us with a strong impression. the result was a few hours ago by unanimous vote the senate committee voted to confirm ross mcdonald as our new secretary of the va and i hope very much that his nomination will get to t

mr. sanders came out upset. it seemed there was a lot of discord there. the theme on the hill has been do not expect anything to get done. on issues, v.a., highway trust fund, so right now we see these versions of their bills working their way through committee, but there's so much distance on how exactly you address these issues that no one seems optimistic that we will see them, and we will certainly not see this done before the recess, and there are questions when you get back in september whether anything will get them. >> let's go back to the house. on the lawsuit republicans and the house speaker want to bring against obama, where does that stand? >> it could very likely get a vote next week. it has moved on out of committee. it could very well get a vote next week. the question will be how well the president -- how the republicans want to set it on the calendar. it is a question of whether they want to do it before the recess or after. we are not sure exactly when we will see the vote. boehner's caucus is in line on this. >> are they doing this bec

mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso barrasso: mr. pres? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: mr. president, last week i heard the majority leader speak about people who are happy with the health care law. i agree some people have actually been helped by the law, but many americans -- many americans have been hurt by the law's destructive side effects. republicans have given examples from people from all across the country, in all ages, in all kinds -- of all ages, in all kinds of situations being harmed by the health care law. and what we found is a disproportionate number of those being hurt are women. these are middle-class americans. they work hard. they do the right thing. they just want to care for themselves and their families. the health care law that the president wrote and every democrat in the senate voted f for, this law is standing between them and the lives that they want to live. that's

mr. sanders upset.t wit it seemed there was a lot of discord there. the theme on the hill has been do not expect anything to get done. issues, v.a., highway trust fund, so right now we see these versions of their bills working their way through committee, but there's so much distance on how exactly you address these issues that no one seems optimistic that we will see them, and we will certainly not see this done before the recess, and there are questions when you get back in september whether anything will get them. >> let's go back to the house. on the lawsuit republicans cannot house speaker, wants to bring against obama. where does that stand? >> it could very likely get a vote next week. out ofmoved on committee. it could very well get a vote next week. the question will be how well how theident -- republicans want to set it on the calendar. it is a question of whether they it before the recess or after. we are not sure exactly when we will see the vote. boehner's caucus is in line on this. >> are they doing this because they have no vote on impe

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator hirono. senator heller. >> chairman sanders, thank you. ranking member burr for quickly scheduling this hearing for this nominee. and welcome, mr. mcdonald, and to your wife, also. welcome. and i look forward to -- thank you by the way for the discussion we had in my office. in a short number of months congress, veterans and the american public have had a glimpse into the failure of va to provide quality care to veterans across this nation. it's disturbing to say the least that many of our veterans went without health care because employees decided to cheat the system. every type i'm home i hear from nevadans of stoirls and difficulties faced with the va and many of them are doubtful that it will ever improve. for example, at the las vegas va hospital, more than 6,100 veterans were forced to wait more than 30 days for an appointment. just last year, a blind female veteran waited more than six hours in the emergency room before seeing a nurse or a doctor. in a small town outside of las vegas, 6,000 veterans waited more than two years for a c

mr. sanders has been in an attempt to try to negotiate something that both bodies could support, be proud of and certainly would speed access and care to the veterans. >> i can't speak for him, mr. chairman, but i am convinced he's ready to sit down and have a dialogue in the same way we do with conferences on every bill that gets up to the four senior members. i'm still optimistic and i will remain optimistic. thank you for all of your hard work. >> thank you, senator coburn. >> i just note that the senate session is going to prove new head of the v.a. that's my understanding. we will go through the senate this afternoon. the would tell you explanation should be lower unless we add title 30 to him for any conference room. because if you cannot hold accountable employees under your leadership, you will not fix the v.a. my only recommendation is whatever we do, that title 31 authority be given to him so in fact he can clean the mess up. >> the accountability piece we oth had is in there. 31, 38? again, the house believes and our position that it does cover title 38. i hear you, the intent

mr. sanders as to who was going to chair. i said let's be co-chairs. all right? let's be co-chairs. i asked the senator earlier this week could we do this yesterday, and he said, no, didn't want to do it yesterday. .. and i asked him to the share it with everybody here. it is not a conference report. it is an offer. it is the, our offer is on the same amount of paper that va's justification for $17.5 billion is on. and it wasn't done as a partisan move. we met at 9:30 -- >> secretary sitting in front of us. >> we met at 9:30. look, it was an offer. it wasn't intended to be a house offer. it really wasn't. i wasn't trying to get y'all's buy-in because i know you can't do that but it was to say the house is prepared to put money -- $10 billion has been in the negotiations from probably the second day. hard money. have you seen it in the press one time? probably not. what you see is the house is trying to do it on the cheap. and so today it was an attempt to bring it forward and say look, here's where we are. the house position is, it is difficult to fund any of the $17.6 billion witho

mr. sanders who was going to chair. as of let's be cochairs. >> s the sender at a later this week. return to negotiate all day yesterday, trying to figure out when we could do this time and time and time again done better not unilaterally call me. no the house position that could be its shares of the committee and for senator sanders to take a good effort on my part to make him the kutcher and to stop us from having a public meeting. sitting down this year i did share the offer. i said to share at the ready here. is not a conference report, it's an offer. it's on -- our offer is on the same amount of paper is va justification. so it was not done as a bipartisan move. we made it 930. >> we met at 930. it was an offer. it was not intended to be a house offered a spirited rally was not. i was not trying to get because and you can't do that. it was just to say the house is prepared to put money, $10 billion that has been in the negotiations properly the second day. hard money. have you seen it in the press one time? probably not. the house is trying to do it on the cheap. here is where

mr. sanders, has been in an attempt to try to negotiate something that both bodies could support, be proud of, and certainly that would speed access to care to the veterans, and -- >> i can't speak for him, mr. chairman, but i do -- >> you can watch this meeting in its entirety at cspan.org. we leave it now to go live back to the capitol where a bipartisan group of senators are holding a briefing on the situation in gaza. this is lindsey graham. >> -- and our friends in israel, so we will be unveiling a resolution that i think is an important statement and an important time. everybody would like the violence to stop, but we want the violence to end forever, and our belief is that there's no moral equivalency between what's happening between hamas and israel. hamas is doing everything it can to put its civilians at risk hoping that israel will attack a target and civilian casualties will ensue for political purposes and they're doing everything they can to kill israeli children. the best way to protect palestinian children is to stop trying to kill israeli children. at the end of the day a

mr. sanders has been in an attempt to try to negotiate something that both bodies could support, be proud of, and certainly would speed access of care to the veterans. >> i can't spell speak for him, but i'm convinced he's ready to sit down and have a dialogue in the same way we do with every bill. i'm still optimistic and i would remain optimistic. and i thank you for your hard work. >> senator coburn. >> i note that the senate this afternoon will approve a new head of the v.a.. it's my understanding bob mcdonald will go through the senate this afternoon. and i would tell you yyou the expectation should be lowered until we add title xxxi authority for him. if you cannot hold accountable your employees under your leadership, you will not fix the v.a.. so whatever we do, i recommend title xxxi authority be given to him so in fact he can clean the mess up. >> the accountability piece that we both had is in there. the house believes and our position that it does cover title xxxviii, but i hear you, the intent certainly is there and that's something that we certainly can look at. because i co

mr. sanders: i rise today in strong support of the v.a. conference committee report, which i expect are and hope will be on the floor here within a couple of hours. that conference committee report was passed yesterday by the house by an overwhelming vote of 420-5, and i hope very much that our vote here in the senate will be as strong as the vote in the house. mr. president, the conference committee legislation that we will be voting on frankly is certainly not the legislation that i would have written. i think it is fair to say it is not the legislation that the chairman of the house veterans' affairs committee, jeff miller, would have written. it is, in fact, a compromise, but it is a compromise that i can strongly support, and i hope that all of my senate colleagues will support it as well. this bill, mr. president, does a number of very important things to address the problems facing the veterans of our country. right now, veterans in many parts of this country are on very long waiting lists before they get v.a. health care. i think i

mr. sanders. well played. thank you very much. >>> let's check in with carson. >> it's funny.ean. we've been keeping tabs of these tagged sharks on the free app. these are some of the pings that came up. there's one shark in particular whose activity caught our eye. that's lydia. lydia is a grown female. look at the amount, 25,000 miles. essentially lydia has swam around the earth. tons of activity going on there. a lot of fun to track. we invite you to do that. shark pictures coming in. carrie sent this one of her daughter catching one on the beach. keep them coming. back to you. >> thank you very much. >>> well, we'll take a turn now to possible downsides to the fitness tracking devices a lot of us wear. today's jenna wolfe who happens to be a certified personal trainer has the story on it. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. people love their fitbits, the athletic bracelets. for millions they are a great tool to help get in shape. in one year alone the percentage of people wearing them has doubled. but some claim it's backfiring saying instead of taking off the pounds,

mr. president, is that miller and sanders underwe owe american veterans. isn't it good we're talking about this rather than impeachment of the president or suing the president? look in the papers today. the american people are totally opposed to this. we shouldn't be off on those tracks of impeachment, suing the president. we should be legislating on exemplary standard and that is what i hope is completed this week when the conference report comes to us from the house to complete this legislation. it is truly a good day for the american veterans and the american people. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: america makes a promise to every man and woman who puts on the uniform. in exchange for their service, our country pledges that they will be well trained, well equipped and treated with the dignity and respect they deserve. it's the least we can offer to the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who put everything on the line so that we can live in freedom. it's a solemn pact and that's why the

mr. -- chairman sanders, and ranking member burr, for convening another very important hearing to address the issues at the va. it's critical that we continue to have these oversight hearings to do everything we can to hold va's feet to the fire and make sure that accountability is there. we know some things now that we did not know at the last hearing. we know for a fact that va's wait list manipulation in and access to care issues is, in fact, systemic. report after report has confirmed this. in fact, 77 facilities are currently under investigation by the va inspector general. it's an astounding number. i believe the scheduling problems are the tip of the iceberg. now we have allegations of whistle-blower retaliation and improper payment of claims. the cancer doesn't seem to stop. but it must be stopped. while i appreciate your efforts, secretary gibson, i think you have done some things and they are recognized and acknowledged. but i think we'd all acknowledge there's so much more to be done. there has to be accountability for wrongdoing or these issues will continue and the senate wil

bernie sanders chairs the senate veterans affairs committee. we're pleased to welcome mr. mcdonald here and his wife well. we are going to be learning more about mr. mcdonald's many qualifications during his introduction and throughout the course of this hearing, so i won't spend time repeating what we're going to be discussing shortly. it i do want to say is that thank mr. mcdonald for accepting nomination, and when he and i chatted he said something to me that i thought was extremely important and revelatory. i asked him why he wanted to this verythis job in difficult moment with so much partisanship in the congress and and whatin the v.a., he said was the president or commander in chief asked me to want to do well by my country and i accepted that challenge. much fornk him very that. that the veterans administration runs the largest care system inth the united states of america. today, today, see the scope of it, over 200,000 veterans are walking into the doors of v.a. to get health care, just health care. truth is that the vast majority of those veterans feel about the

mr. burr, in the senate and to senator sanders, because as we continue to negotiate through, there never was a willingness to quit by either side. i'm grateful to the 24 other conference committee members who worked with us, for their input, their ideas and their willingness to embrace this compromise. it was brought forth by diligent, focused effort and a willingness on all sides to put aside differences of opinion and ideology and focus not only our disagreements but how best we could all help our veterans. while not perfect, this is an example of all the good work we can accomplish when we work together and, remember, it is the veteran who is sacred, not the v.a. and with that i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. all time for debate has expired. the question is will the house suspend the rules and adopt the conference report on h.r. 3230. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative -- mr. miller: mr. speaker, on that i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: th

mr. president, i came to the floor to, first of all, compliment senator sanders for the outstanding job he did working on a bipartisan basis to pass the veterans access, choice and accountability act of 2014. what a great job they did out of a scandal, a terrible scandal affecting our nation's veterans, where they had to stand in line simply to see a doctor in the very country that they fought to defend, now found that they had to defend themselves against v.a. bureaucracy and in some places duplicitous action. well, the sanders bill goes a long way, again, working on both sides of the aisle and both sides of the dome. gosh, when we do this, this is why i wanted to be a senator. i know this is why many others wanted to be a senator. coming here, working on concrete problems, shoulder to shoulder, bipartisan basis, hands across the aisle, hands across the dome and they did it. they now -- when that sanders -- when this bill is passed, we will reduce the long wait times for veterans, we will increase doctors and nurses and specialty providers. it will allow veterans to see local providers if

>> thank you, chairman sanders, miller, michelle and mr. burr, as well. and thank you all for being here. as a position of practice for 26 years before coming here last year, served 234 the army, continued to serve in the reserve and i was in iraq for a year to serve in a combat support hospital, '05, '06. i have had the honor of taking care of our troops, not only in theater, but state side. like my docs throughout the united states, i trained at a v.a. i've been able to see the inefficiency that is exist within the v.a. system. we can't ignore it. there are some issues that i think are treated much better within the walls of the v.a. because they're troop-specific and i think they can be handled better by enlarge. in the va, i know we have tremendous care givers. we do. but what we're lacking in the v.a. is efficiency. and we're lacking, seemingly, administrators that have scruples. and that truly care about their patients. >>> we're seeking to take action because we know because we come from private practice and know the dimpbs. and it took about a yea

mr. chairman, i yield back. >> thank you, congressman michaud. senator burr? >> chairman sanders, miller, thank you. let me ask at this time unanimous consent to enter into the record senator joe hynes' comments. let me say, we owe everything to our vets, we owe everything they need to be provided. we're all aware there's widespread systemic failures that plague the department of veterans affair health care system. the culture that has developed at the va and the lack of management accountability is simply reprehensible. it's becoming increasingly obvious that a cultural problem has taken deep root in va and simply increasing funding will not solve it. in fact, it could prove to only reinforce the culture. reforms are desperately needed within va, and some of these changes can't be fixed through legislation. they must come from within va. but addressing the cultural problems within va won't provide relief for the roughly 100,000 veterans experiencing long waits across our nation today. it's now time for us. in partnership with the va. to begin to repair the damage that has resulted from systemic fai

mr. mcdonald, we are very pleased to hear your testimony. >> thank you, chairman sanders, ranking memberurr. veterans here and across the country, thank you for the privilege of addressing you today. i am honored to be before you seeking your endorsement to become the secretary of veterans affairs. thank you for scheduling this hearing so expeditiously. i would like to introduce my wife of nearly 37 years, diane, who is sitting behind me. we are blessed with a wonderful family. however, only diane was able to be here today. i would also like to thank senators brown and senator portman for their kind introductions and for their friendship and their partnership over the many years we have worked together to make ohio greater and to make the procter & gamble company greater. i very much appreciate the confidence that -- confidence of president obama in this nomination. the mission is to fulfill president lincoln's promise to care for him who shall have war in the battle and for his widow and his orphan. by serving and honoring the men and women who are merrick is veterans, i also want to cr

sanders from vermont would be following me. i would ask unanimous consent for that. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. wyden: madam president, reserving the right to object, just so i can be clear. so senator cornyn would speak next and then senator sanders would speak after you? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: madam president, the unanimous consent would be the senator from oregon, the senator from kansas, the senator from texas and the senator from vermont. mr. wyden: very good. i withdraw my reservation. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: madam president, just very briefly to describe where i think the internet tax debate is, is that we have republicans and democrats objecting to what i happen to think is in the country's national interest, and that is a permanent ban on internet past discrimination. so we have republicans and democrats objecting to that. now, my colleague from texas comes forward and says okay, let's not do a two-month extension because you don't want to consider this in the lame-duck session. but colleagues, if

chairman bernie sanders of vermont posting a statement on his website saying -- mr. mcdonald brings us two very important qualities. number one, he is familiar with the military. the other is he has been the ceo of a major american corporation. that experience gives him the tool ko create a well run and accountable v.a. that vote by the full senate is expected either this week or next. >>> during a house foreign affairs committee hearing today, a state department official told lawmakers that the situation in iraq is extremely serious, and that the militant group i.s.i.s. causing the violence is no longer just a terrorist organization bus a full-blown army. >> isil is al qaeda, it may have changed its name and broken with senior leadership, but it is al qaeda in its doctrine, ambition and increasingly in its threats to u.s. interests. in fact it is worse than al qaeda. simp lie read what its leader says, and it is important to pay attention to what he says, because we cannot underestimate estimating the gots, capacity and reach of this organization. baghdadi, may 2011

mr. obama is doing carrying on policies that ruretting the country? no, i think she would be just like romney or bernie sanders'll would, all right. i mean, if that's the case, and whoever runs against her is going to have to make the. >> billy, we are screwed. the five front decks, the waterproof decks, they have all taken on water. it started to tilt. figure out your exit plan. stay on swimming for the u boat. >> just a quick note. if you would like to seat bolder fresher show in person, we will be in charleston, west virginia. october it 249, fizzle, the next night, saturday, october 2 ath. caesar's palace always a blast. big show at the wang center in boston on september 6th. tickets going fast for all the shows. check them out on bill o'reilly.com. bill o'reilly on deck. if you take in illegal alien children you can make some significant money. that report moments away. in new york state, we're changing the way we do business, with startup ny. we've created tax free zones throughout the state. and startup ny companies will be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in jobs and infrastructure. thanks to

mr. mcdonald, we are pleased to hear your testimony. >> thank you chairman sanders. thank you ravening member, and members here of the committee. thank you for the privilege to address you here today. i'm honored to be seeking the endorsement to become the secretary of veteran affairs. thank you for scheduling this hear so expeditiously. i'd like to introduce my wife of nearly 37 years, dean, who is sitting behind me. we are blessed with a wonderful family. however, only dean was able to be here today. >> i thank you for the fine is. >> to make ohio greater. i very much appreciate the confident of president obama, and i'm fully committed to fulfilling this charge to me, that's to transform the department into an organization that delivers on its mission. and by serving and honoring america's veterans. i also want to create an organization that lives by the core values -- integrity, commitment, advocacy, respect and excellence. over the last several weeks i've had the opportunity to meet with many of you individually. i deeply appreciate the committee's concern and un

mr. mcdonald, we are very pleased to hear your testimony. >> thank you, chairman sanders, ranking memberurr. therans here and across country, thank you for the privilege of addressing you today. i am honored to be before you seeking your endorsement to become the secretary of veterans affairs. thank you for scheduling this hearing so expeditiously. i would like to introduce my wife of nearly 37 years, diane, who is sitting behind me. we are blessed with a wonderful family. however, only diane was able to be here today. i would also like to thank senators brown and senator portman for their kind theiructions and for friendship and their partnership over the many years we have worked together to make ohio greater and to make the procter & gamble company greater. i very much appreciate the confidence that -- confidence of president obama in this nomination. the mission is to fulfill president lincoln's promise to care for him who shall have war in the battle and for his widow and his orphan. by serving and honoring the men and women who are merrick is veterans, i also want to create an orga

chairman bernie sanders of vermont posting a statement on his website saying, mr. mcdonald brings us two very important qualities. number one, he is familiar with the military because he served many years. the other, he's been a ceo of a major corporation. that experience gives him the tools to create a well run and account able v.a. that vote by the full senate expected either this week or next. a reminder, you can watch mr. mcdonald's entire confirmation hearing on our website c-span.org. >>> forty years ago the watergate led to the only resignation of an american president. revisiting 1974 and final weeks of the nixon administration. the committee as it considers impeachment of the president and charges of abuses of power. >> what you have here are questions about what the framers had in mind, questions about whether the activities that had been found out by the committee and by the senate watergate committee were, indeed, impeachable. thirdly, can we prove richard nixon knew about them and even authorized them. >> watergate 40 years later sunday night 8:00 east

nevada, walsh, stabenow, klobuchar, murray, sanders, harkin, durbin, udall of new mexico, casey, murphy, baldwin, tester, begich, whitehouse, levin, coons. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i'm very proud to be on the floor this evening with some colleagues who i greatly respect, and we have been working so hard across party lines to call the nation's attention to the problems that we're facing funding our transportation system. now, we all know there are many things in the world we can't control, and many that are causing tremendous frustration. i went home this weekend, and my constituents come up to me, and they said, senator, we can't even look at the television set. the tragedies that are unfolding. and they feel that, as i do -- and i know our president does -- that these tragedies that we are witnessing have been born out of historic animosities, and it's very difficult. if we could wave our wand and make things better in all these areas, we would do s

mr. elephant. come on, let's get to bed. >>> following six weeks of negotiations, it looks like there is finally a bipartisan deal on a plan to reerm the broken va health care system. senator bernie sanders congressman jeff miller, who chair the veterans affairs committees in both houses of congress have repeatedly reached an agreement and have scheduled a news conference on capitol hill this afternoon at 1:30 to unveil their legislative proposal. while details are still emerging, it is expected to propose billions of new dollars to hire more doctors and nurses, lease 27 new health clinics, shorten wait times for appointments and perhaps give veterans the option of going to see private physicians outside the network if their wait time is too long. all of this, there was massive bipartisan agreement in both houses and it was shocking they couldn't come together with just days to go before recess. >>> meanwhile it's time for our first number in today's data bank. five weeks. that's how long former governor bob mcdonnell's trial is expected to last. the governor's trial begins in richmond. mcdonnell and his wife, maureen, were indicted on 14 charges including accepting over $165,000 in gift

sanders of vermont. >> let's get to work. good morning. welcome, everyone, to what i think will be an important and productive hearing. we look forward and welcome mr. sloan gibson who is the acting secretary for the department of veterans affairs who will be discussing with us what he has been doing and what i perceive to be an active six weeks since you have held that position and we also look forward to hearing from him as to what he perceives the problems facing the va in the months and years to come. i would want to mention to the members of the committee that next week on the 22nd we will be holding a conformation hearing for bob mcdonald's the president's nominee for the secretary of va. last week -- not last week, last month, despite a partisan environment here in congress, 93 senators put their differences aside to vote in favor of a significant piece of legislation which we hope addresses many of the immediate problems facing the va. it an issue that senator mccain and all of us in the room worked hard on this and i want to thank you for your support. it is my hope that will be completed by the time we leave for the august break. it is cl

mr. capuano's bill that would require additional capital to be held by those that are enjoying this subsidy. and then there is my bill and bernie sander's bill that says too big to fail is too big to exist. since the purpose of this hearing is to focus on solving problems that have not been solved the biggest problem is we may be asked to bail out institutions again. and there are only two legislative proposals to deal with the problem identified in the republican report. i don't know if the current chairman can speak for the permanent chairman of the committee. but, i would look forward to asking him why we can't mark up the only two legislative proposals identified in the republican report to deal with the problem that we're talking about here. i have a question for mr. wilson, and that is -- as you already know the regulators are crafting -- regulators are currently crafting the qrm rule. do you agree that this rule needs to be issued promptly and closely track the language of the qm rule to ensure a transparent secondary mortgage market? >> i'm an advocate for if the bank keeps the mortgage in its portfolio those rules should not ap

mr. speaker, what's really disappointing is that i actually believe that we could have already come to an agreement if senator sanders had not insisted on moving the goal post and adding this $17.6 llion ask into a clearly defined conference committee. and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i have no further speakers and prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman reserves. mr. miller: the senate has a dozen of bills sitting including important changes to the processing of disability claims that has been so backlogged over the last few years, education benefits including the in-state tuition bill that passed unanimously out of this house that has sat languishing with the other 11 bills in the senate, waiting to e brought up for a vote. the senate could pass these bills, send them to the president and they could become law right away. again, to my colleague from california, i'd remind you that h.r. 357, the g.i. bill tuition fairness act did pass this house unanimously and you