mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. schumer: madam president, i don't want to prolong this. i make two quick points. number one, my friend from kentucky thinks he knows what's better for the kurds than the kurds know. the kurds hate going into the arms of syria, hate it. second, if our friend from kentucky believes that anytime we've a small number of special forces in different places and we have them all over, that we need a declaration of war, then his view is different than 99.9% of america and from every other single person in this chamber. we do not need a declaration of war for a small number of special forces to be there to protect us against terrorism, and my friend from kentucky knows that. i yield. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: if our goal is to create a kurdish homeland and to defend it for them, hell yes we need a debate and a vote and authorization of force. you can't just say we're going to stay there forever. it would take tens of thousands of troops if you want to pacify cer

mr. schumer: thank you, everybody. announcer: house leader mccarthy also answered, before taking questions from reporters. mr. mccarthy: just been in a meeting. i see a pattern of behavior with speaker nancy pelosi. storms out of another meeting, trying to make it unproductive. the other democrat stayed and had a productive meeting, the general from the joint chiefs, the secretary of the defense, and the president in this meeting stated what his number one goal is, to make sure america is safe. we talked with the general, listen to the plan, very productive between the democrats who actually stayed in the meeting. unfortunately, the speaker tries to make everything political. her own statements were not productive, to storm out of the meeting, which i have watched before during other crises, is really not the ability of a speaker or the style of how a speaker should carry herself out. if she would be focusing on the issues that most americans are concerned about, her whole focus has to be on impeachment. we are sitting

mr. schumer: some of the other members stayed behind, they wanted questions. i waited a moment, i wanted to ask him about intelligence reports on the turks and syrians guarding isis. ms. pelosi: we also expressed our concern that we had been asking for a an all-member, that means bipartisan, briefing to the house of representatives on what is happening in syria and it was scheduled for tomorrow , but they canceled it. so that was part of our question too. why are you not briefing all the members of congress? mr. schumer: thank you, everybody. mr. mccarthy: just been in a meeting. i see a pattern of behavior with speaker pelosi. she storms out of another meeting, trying to make it unproductive. the other democrats stayed and had a productive meeting. the general from the joint chiefs, the secretary of defense, and the president in this meeting stated what his number one goal is, to make sure america is safe. we talked with the general. listened to the plan. very productive between the democrats who actually stayed in the meeting. unfortunately, the speaker trie

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: minority leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, madam president, over the past few weeks the house of representatives has continued to hear testimony as part of its impeachment inquiry which stems from allegations that president trump pressured a foreign leader to investigate a domestic political rival. these allegations were deemed credible and an urgent concern by the inspector general of the intelligence community who is a trump appointee. that's how this all started. not with some democrats stirring the pot, but with a trump appointee, a very well-respected man, saying that these allegations were credible and urgent. the public record -- the public record -- shows that the white house delayed more than $391 million in assistance to ukraine to help the country stave off russian aggression. in a memorandum of the president's phone call with ukrainian president zelensky released by the white house itself, the p

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority leader. mr. schumer: i believe history will show that the country, the senate, and even the senator from kentucky will regret his blocking of this resolution. i yield the floor. mr. paul: mr. president? the presiding officer: the snow shower for kentucky. mr. paul: sit i would like to ask unanimous consent that we introduce senate bill 2624, turkey arms sales, which would eliminate any further sale of arms to turkey and instead of sending a fake message or a senate -- sense of the senate resolution, would actually be binding legislation and would tell the turks, yes, we are serious. we object to your incursion into syria. you need to respect the territorial integrity of syria, and we are, therefore, no longer going to be selling you arms. i ask unanimous consent that this be passed. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator for idaho. mr. risch: reserving the right to object, mr. president, our colleagues -- th

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the minority leader. mr. schumer: i believe history will show that the country, the senate, and even the senator from kentucky will regret his blocking of this resolution. i yield the floor. mr. paul: mr. president? the presiding officer: the snow shower for kentucky. mr. paul: sit i would like to ask unanimous consent that we introduce senate bill 2624, turkey arms sales, which would eliminate any further sale of arms to turkey and instead of sending a fake message or a senate -- sense of the senate resolution, would actually be binding legislation and would tell the turks, yes, we are serious. we object to your incursion into syria. you need to respect the territorial integrity of syria, and we are, therefore, no longer going to be selling you arms. i ask unanimous consent that this be passed. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator for idaho. mr. risch: reserving the right to object, mr. president, our colleagues -- th

mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. i am rising once again to ask the senate's consent to move to the house resolution condemning the president's abrupt decision to withdraw u.s. troops from northern syria. despite the pandora's box of problems the president's decision has opened, the slaughter of our partners, the kurds, and i think many of us on both sides of the aisle ache for the kurds who risk their lives, many of them lost their lives so our soldiers would not be in harm's way. the strategic gain -- could we have order, mr. president -- m

mr. schumer: mr. president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, mr. president, three weeks ago, a small number of u.s. special forces were working with our syrian kurdish partners to conduct operations against isis and hold more than 10,000 detainees, many of them hardened isis fighters. it was a product of half a decade of hard work by american and coalition forces, and the kurds to degrade isis, to put them on the run, stabilize a post-conflict of interest region. today, only three weeks later, as american troops continue their withdrawal from our bases in northern syria at the president's orders, president putin and president erdogan have announced a plan to establish russian and turkish control of a region that was once patrolled by american and kurdish forces. our partners, the syrian kurds, have been killed and wounded in erdogan's invasion and forced to leave their homes in groves. and most importantly, the upper hand we

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the democrat leader. mr. humer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: now, madam president, we woke up this morning to learn with profound sadness that our friend and colleague, congressman elijah cummings, the son of sharecroppers who became the chair of the house oversight committee, passed away last night at the age of 68. it was the first thing i saw when i read the paper this morning, and it hit me like a punch in the stomach. in his 23 years in congress, elijah amassed a legacy that will live on long after his sudden passing. he served the people of his maryland district with selflessness, passion, and grace. since it only happened this morning, i can't do justice to the legacy of elijah cummings, but i'd like to share a few reflections, and i know that my dear friend, senator cardin, was close like this, like brothers with elijah cummings, and they had worked together on so many things for maryland and the country, that i know he is

mr. schumer: madam president? the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. schumer: madam president, i don't want to prolong this. i make two quick points. number one, my friend from kentucky thinks he knows what's better for the kurds than the kurds know. the kurds hate going into the arms of syria, hate it. second, if our friend from kentucky believes that anytime we've a small number of special forces in different places and we have them all over, that we need a declaration of war, then his view is different than 99.9% of america and from every other single person in this chamber. we do not need a declaration of war for a small number of special forces to be there to protect us against terrorism, and my friend from kentucky knows that. i yield. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: if our goal is to create a kurdish homeland and to defend it for them, hell yes we need a debate and a vote and authorization of force. you can't just say we're going to stay there forever. it would take tens of thousands of troops if you want to pacify cer

mr. schumer: thank you. now, madam president, over the past month evidence has emerged that the president of the united states pressured a foreign leader to investigate one of his leading political rivals. a whistle-blower inside the intelligence community first raised alarms that the president applied pressure on ukrainian president zelensky to pursue an investigation that would benefit president trump politically. the president himself then released a memorandum of his conversation with president zelensky which demonstrably validated the whistle-blower's concerns. in the weeks that followed, the house has received testimony from a number of state department officials who have filled in additional pieces to this very troubling puzzle. rudy giuliani's efforts to dig up dirt on the president's political rivals were well known within the state department and the national security council. is ambassadors to the e.u., gordon sondland was heavily involved with mr. giuliani. and we continue to receive additional i

mr. schumer: are we in a quorum? the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. the leader in recent days has charged that because the house of representatives is now gauged in its constitutional duty to examine presidential wrongdoing, that somehow democrats are not interested in legislating. it's a curious criticism coming from leader mcconnell. democrats not interested in legislating? from the man who proudly calls himself the grim reaper. since the midterms, the democratic house majority has passed hundreds of bills with bipartisan support while leader mcconnell has deliberately focused the senate on anything but legislation. he has turned this chamber into a legislative graveyard. democrats want to vote on things gun safety, how about it? health care, how about it? infrastructure, how about it? democracy, improving our democracy. none of these -- on none of these things will leader mcconnell even dare to put a bill

mr. schumer: mr. president. madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: we're not in a quorum. mr. schumer: thank you. madam president, the republican leader has been falsely accusing democrats of delaying the overall process. he just seems to be in a box and pulls things out of thin air. the crux of the issue, as everybody knows, is that the republican leadership in the senate and on the appropriations committee has refused to sit down and negotiate with democrats on bipartisan allocations to the various agencies. this has -- this is always how we have done the appropriations bills when we have succeeded. democrats and republicans sit down together and negotiate the 302-a's and b's, but here the republicans without consultation of the democrats just unilateral ly propose taking over $12 billion from critical health programs and military families to pay for the president's border wall, a wall that president trump promised mexico would pay for. democrats, of course, are no

mr. schumer: mr. president, i notice the -- are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask that it be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: even as we consider the package of appropriations bill on the floor this week, we have to think about how both parties can reach an agreement on all 12 bills that need to pass before thanksgiving. it's way past time for democratic and republican appropriators to sit down and hammer out a bipartisan agreement on allocations to the various agencies, known as the 302-b's. that's how we got this done in the past. democrats, republicans in congress have successfully negotiated two budget deals. the key to those agreements was that the president allowed congress to do its work and stay off to the side. i believe that again if left to our own devices, congress could work out an agreement to fund the government. as everyone remembers, the president's meddling and erratic behavior caused the last government shutdown, the longest in our nation's history. the best way to avoid another shutdown would b

mr. schumer:

mr. schumer is not remembering is we may get a transcript, but that doesn't reflect the facts. you need to be able to see somebody testifying. because when you see them testify, you get to deduce whether they're credible, whether they're telling the truth. you know, you're adjudicating voracity and credibility. that is important when you're weighing, if you're the trier of fact. the democrats are preventing that from happening, not just to republicans and not just to the media but all americans. that should not happen. >> charles: a lot has changed in the last 24 hours. it feels like maybe the process could be sped up here. i know that we've been -- the public has been wanting to get this done to learn the truth. is there a chance that that could be happening really soon? >> i'm not sure how they can get it done as quickly as they're saying. i mean, mr. schiff is now saying that he might have some open door hearings at some point. i don't know when he's going to fit them in before the thanksgiving recess. then you have to give to it the judiciary committee. >> charles: would yo

mr. schumer: madam president, today we come to an inflection point in the appropriations process this year. leader mcconnell has scheduled a vote on the defense appropriations bill which comes with a certain irony. a bill that's sphoased to provide -- pieced to -- supposed to provide resources for our troops and our families, steals money for them and puts it toward a border wall that president trump promised mexico would pay for. democrats will not proceed to a bill that steals money from our troops and their families. fluns know it's a nonstarter, and, yet, leader mcconnell is schedule -- has scheduled a show vote this afternoon to demonstrate something that everyone already knows, there is nowhere close for the necessary votes in the senate for president trump's border wall and of course it is not in the house. this is just a show vote. leader mcconnell got on the floor a few weeks ago and railed against show votes. he said i only want to put things on the floor that will pass. i understand that memories in politics is short. but the exercise we will go through this afternoon is absurd.

speaker pelosi, the president, and chuck schumer and kevin mccarthy and mr. mcconnell. got a two-year agreement for 2020 and 2021 for the total amount to be spent. we voted on got it passed. that meant the airport esper could go to work in a real way. the house appropriations system had been operating on a make believe number. petition they worked up passed 12 wills and adjusted for the agreement but the house got its work done. and before the end of the year. the senate on the other hand had basically not done much because we didn't candidate have the number didn't want to work without the number. they cranked it up in september. but nothing got done by the end of the month. so now we're operating under what's referred to a c.r. -- continuing resolution. terrible way to run a railroad. it simply says agencies can spend in the new fiscal year what they spent in the old fiscal year in the same way. they can't do a do away with the program they need to to do away with. can't start new programs they want to start. they are in autopilot until the congress gets work done and

mr. trump had a meltdown and senate minority chuck schumer describes the president's behavior as insulting saying he called pelosi a third-rate politician and cnn has also learned that the federal investigation of president trump's personal lawyer rudy giuliani includes a counter intelligence probe sparked by his ties to corrupt ukrainian figures. we'll talk about that with mike quigley of the intelligence committee and our correspondents are standing by. but first state to the white house. our cnn political correspondent abby phillip is over at the white house. tell us more about this dramatic walkout at the white house. democrats accusing the president of having a meltdown during this meeting just a little while ago. republicans say pelosi stormed out. what happened. >> reporter: moments ago house and senate democrats came out to the microphones to talk about yet another white house meeting with president trump that was derailed by some kind of dispute that seemed to stem from president trump's comments with house speaker nancy pelosi. the democrats say that this was about the president

takeactionpv.com >> trace: you heard from mitch mcconnell, new schumer talking about impeachment, let's listen. >> sondland was heavily involved with mr. we continue to receive more information about mr. sondland participation. his scheduled testimony in the coming days will be relevant and important. amidst all this, the white house is engaged in stonewalling and outright defiance of congressional peing r-- prerogatives. state department not comply with congressional subpoenas. the white house refused to cooperate with the house impeachment inquiry and the president publicly sought to bully and intimidate the whistleblower. additional facts were unearthed and are unearthed, we have a responsibility to consider them with best interest of our country in mind. the whistleblower was doing a courageous and patriotic act and must be protected, must be protected. institution made congress co-equal branch of government, that role must be respected. the matter at the heart of the inquiry concerns the very integrity of our democratic elections and must be investigated thoroughly, completely and in a nonport can manner. our founding fathers, fe

mr. obama government the taste for it he pursued his executive power without apol apology. that sound bite of chuck schumerll come back at you. >> you take on the intelligence community, they have 6 ways from sunday at getting back at you. even for a practical hard nose businessman he is being really dumb to do this. >> what do you think intelligence community would do. >> i don't know, but from what i am told they are very upset with how he has treated them and talked about them, we need the intelligence community, look at russian hacking, without the intelligence community we could not have discovered it. >> a major politician. you saw that. >> i saw that that was from about three weeks before president actually was sworn in. still president election and you have all sorts of leaks of conversations with leaders of australia, and mexico, documents popping out. really looks like sabotage. i think one thing this is, we say personnel is policy, president should have gotten more people loyal around him, rather than letting people from hangover obama years sit there embedded. >> deroy thank you so much. >> you

the 200th day of -- chuck schumer and i called the president a couple of sundays ago, i think the 15th of september. that was the 200th day since we sent over hr 8, and i said, "mr. president, i pray for you and the safety of you and your family, and i hope that god will give you illumination and enlightenment to pray to work for the safety of other families in our country." again, the most recent, i'm not going to say the last, i hope it's not the last, but the most recent communication was in the same call by the president that admitted to what he said in that phone conversation. ok? >> thank you, mrs. speaker, are impeachment, do you plan for a full house vote on an inquiry? and chairman schiff, in the past, sometimes it has taken a long time, years, to compile documents and testimony from the white house. are you prepared for a court battle? how do you make sure that happens in an expeditious manner? speaker pelosi: first of all, there is no requirement that there be a floor vote. that is not anything that is excluded. some republicans are nervous about us bringing the vote to the floor. rep. schiff: to say that we are concerned that the white house will att

bill 7:44 said they passed out of the house led by senator schumer and rubio and were told through articles in the press and interviews but mr. bannon that he and others went to elements of the caucus which we are not privy to but argue that that rule should never come up because it should be in for politics. the last session will be very well respected and introduced a similar bill. with the speaker that never brought up. any member is free to put up this legislation in and would encourage my colleagues on the other side to do that i'd be happy to work with them. the context that it's everyone's fault defies what you've been told in the press with the dynamics of any other congress. having said that i want to turn my attention specifically to one case and we've got the process in that passion and mr. a no who was there last time and the families have become dear friends and came here legally by the way. they were here earlier under a tourist visa and invited to the united states to be part of a medical trial that was seven years old when they came here and her doctor was well respected at the university of california and ch

charities and join myself, senator schumer, a host of other colleagues in voting to get rid of these treasury department rules and stand up on the c.r.a. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. ms. ernst: mr. president, i come to the floor frustrated. frustrated by the fact that it has been 327 days since president trump signed the usmca, and the house has done nothing to take it up. it's not because the house hasn't had time. they have found time to do a lot of things, like continue on their partisan expedition toward impeaching the president. they passed a bill without a pay raise for our troops, spent a lot of energy on the green new deal, and one member of the house took the time to show the world she was frightened by her garbage disposal. so the question is, folks, what's preventing congress from getting the usmca done? from humboldt county all the way to hamburg, iowa, at my town hall meetings or during a visit to small business or manufacturing plants and everywhere in between, i have been hearing one thing consistently and across the board. iowans want the usmca no

mr. schumer: thank you, madam speaker, thank you, leader hoyer. i told the president, being from new york, as he was, we're particularly aware of the problems, the terrorism, that an organization like isis can create. and that someone no less than general mattis has said, isis has been enhanced, that the danger of isis is so much greater, worries all of us. i asked the president what his plan was to contain isis. he didn't really have one. he said the turks and the syrians will guard the isis prisoners. i said is there any intelligence evidence that the turks and syrians will have the same interest that the kurds or we did in guarding isis? and the secretary of defense was, thank god he was honest, he said we don't have that evidence. i said then how can we think that this is a plan when there are syrians and turks who are not our friends who isis, if they escape, does them very little harm, how can we let this happen? they didn't have any good answer. this is appalling. the president had no plan no real plan, for containing isis other than relyin

mr. schumer: thank you, everybody. announcer:

mr. schumer: now, madam president, we woke up this morning to learn with profound sadness that our friend and colleague, congressman elijah cummings, the son of sharecroppers who became the chair of the house oversight committee, passed away last night at the age of 68. it was the first thing i saw when i read the paper this morning, and it hit me like a punch in the stomach. in his 23 years in congress, elijah amassed a legacy that will live on long after his sudden passing. he served the people of his maryland district with selflessness, passion, and grace. since it only happened this morning, i can't do justice to the legacy of elijah cummings, but i'd like to share a few reflections, and i know that my dear friend, senator cardin, was close like this, like brothers with elijah cummings, and they had worked together on so many things for maryland and the country, that i know he is here sharing our deep sadness. now, truly, elijah cummings was not just a great congressman. he was a great man. he had a presence, a commanding presence when he entered the room. and he could be strong when

mr. schumer: my fellow americans, over the past month, evidence has emerged that president of the united states pressured a foreign leader to investigate one of his leading political rivals, and offense series enough to warrant a full investigation by congress, and that is what the house of representatives has decided to beginning of formal impeachment inquiry. we have the responsibility now to see that all the facts get out and consider those facts in the best interests of our country. when i studied our constitution in high school and college, when we learned one of the greatest threats are founding fathers feared was foreign interference in our elections, i said, why do they care about this? it hasn't happened in any real sense, but once again, we have learned how the wisdom of the founding fathers is relevant to this very day. if a foreign country can affect our elections, americans will lose faith in our democracy, this grand and wonderful democracy, so we must guard against that, but at the same time, we have to do two things at once. we can protect our constitution and do things a

mr. schumer: madam president. the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: are we in a quorum? poit we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, madam president. before i get into my main remarks on syria, i just heard the majority leader, leader mcconnell, say that he wants to see if we can do appropriations bills. we'll see if democrats want to legislate. well, give me a break. we have been waiting for six months, nine months since we started to legislate, and it's well known in the country that the senate is the legislative graveyard, that leader mcconnell has not put on the floor bill after bill after bill on major issues affecting the country that demand attention. and most everybody knows that he's proud that he's the grim reaper. so now to say will democrats want to legislate? well, it's all up to leader mcconnell. now, on the appropriations bills, of course we want to legislate when it's being done in a fair way. and there are some bills that came

mr. schumer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. well, mr. president, the scripture tells us that the lord is close to the brokenhearted, psalm 34: 146789 i pray those words are true because we have lost a member of the senate family today and many of us have lost a dear friend. we are brokenhearted at the news that former senator kay hagan passed away at the age of 66. i spoke to her husband, chip, a few hours ago. and i told him that from the moment i first met kay hagan, i knew she was special. she remained that way every day since. she was an amazing force, never loud but always strong, effective, hardworking, dedicated, principled, and just a kind hearted person. he told me that he and kay had just had a wonderful weekend, a dinner, a wedding, surrounded by friends and family. she even got to spend some time with joe biden who was in town. chip said she was just beaming. i take some comf

mr. schumer: now, mr. president, the house of representatives continues to investigate the circumstances of the president's interaction with the ukrainian president zelensky and whether he used the power of his office to pressure a foreign leader to intervene in an american election on his behalf. the facts that are already in the public domain are so deeply troubled and must be taken seriously. i know our colleagues in the house of representatives did not run for office to begin an impeachment inquiry but this task was thrust upon them by the president's alleged conduct and the demands of our constitution of our republic. here in the senate, our job is even more austere. we're assigned the power not only to examine the evidence but to render judgment. we all have a solemn duty to follow the facts impartially and let ourselves be governed by reason rather than by passion or by politics. that role means we have a responsibility to behave impartially in a nonpartisan manner from the outset. as my friend lead

mr. cardin: madam president, i want to comment on as the senior senator from maryland on the comments of leader schumer and the great hoss we had that we learned about -- loss we had that we learned about early this morning in the death of elijah cummings. i found out this information as i awoik this morning. it's a sad day for baltimore, for maryland, and for our country. two days ago i had a chance to talk to congressman cummings' wife to inquire as to how the congressman was doing. she explained to me that he was still in the hospital but he was using every ounce of energy he had to carry out his responsibilities as chairman of the oversight committee and as a member of the house of representatives. we all know that he used his energy every day on behalf of the people he represented. our nation has lost one of the great champions for social justice. what a powerful voice he was for those whose voices otherwise would not have been heard. it's a great loss. it's a great loss for the people of baltimore. his record of accomplishment on behalf of our city and our region is well known. and it's a persona