i was mr. wyden 123. -- i was mr. widen 123. people may not like my party, but they saw a redeeming qualities and keeping me around. it allowed me to be more independent in my voting record, because i had earmarks and other things to fall back on and just voting with the party on certain issues. these numbers now do not have that, so they are judged by their party kid as a result, people are voting party, not person. it continues to advance the movement from a democratic model to a more parliamentary model in terms of how we elect people. it has been bad for government. i would bring them back with more transparency. host: trenton, new jersey, democrat. no ahead. ahead. thank - go caller: thank you for having me on c-span. i am a former republican. i do not agree on anything the republican party stands for right now. i am a vietnam veteran. i did not have no bone spurs. here,ot going to stand listening to somebody defend the aesident, who should not have lawyer that we pay for. bank --ake it to the there are two thirds of us wai

i was mr. wyden 123. -- i was mr. widen 123.ple may not like my party, but they saw a redeeming qualities and keeping me around. it allowed me to be more independent in my voting record, because i had earmarks and other things to fall back on and just voting with the party on certain issues. these numbers now do not have that, so they are judged by their party kid as a result, people are voting party, not person. it continues to advance the movement from a democratic model to a more parliamentary model in terms of how we elect people. it has been bad for government. i would bring them back with more transparency. host: trenton, new jersey, democrat. no ahead. ahead. thank - go caller: thank you for having me on c-span. i am a former republican. i do not agree on anything the republican party stands for right now. i am a vietnam veteran. i did not have no bone spurs. here,ot going to stand listening to somebody defend the aesident, who should not have lawyer that we pay for. bank --ake it to the there are two thirds of us waiting

wyden and their staffs, who are our senate partners on this necessary effort. in particular, i would like to thank our staff for their hard and great and good work. mr. speaker, i'm proud of the process and the product. the record must be clear, members of the house and the senate spent many years reaching ideas to help taxpayers. the oversight subcommittee held 14 hearings and round tables to reach out to taxpayers and stakeholders. we asked questions and listened to the responses. we asked democratic and republican members to provide feedback and even opened a public comment period on the draft bill. we came together. we studied, we listened and we respected the taxpayer. mr. speaker, this has not been easy. we work hard to correct misinformation that this bill would tie the hands of the i.r.s. and hurt taxpayers. at a time when there is so much tension and rush to judgment, our coalition remains thoughtful and fair. after the house passed this legislation earlier this year, new information came out and am proud that we came together and requested an investigation and the i.r.s. responded quickly and took action. mr. speaker, despite every single c

mr. ambassador. if you won't act interest, what else will this administration turn a blind eye to? so yesterday you told senator wyden that you would do whatever it would takes to address core enforcement concerns held by many members. does in mean you are open to changing the text of the agreement? mr. ambassador. >> so, i don't think it's necessary to -- to change the text of the agreement to meet the legitimate needs of members -- needs which i agree with. but as a general matter i have a process. the speaker has given me a. i'm going to work with the members the speaker has instructed me to work with. and i'm going to come up with a conclusion. and that conclusion will be what it is. and i'm going to satisfy the members. and i'm going to do what is necessary to satisfy those members on things that i think are legitimate, which by the way, 99% i agree them on walking into the room. as you know well. and i'm out of time. but i also appreciate working with you this year and last year on this process, congressman. >> thank the gentleman. let me recognize the gentleman from north carolina to inquire. mr. holding. >> t

mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: before she leaves the floor, i just want to tell my colleague from wisconsin i think i speak for the distinguished senator from nevada as well that we're counting on our colleague from wisconsin to come back to this floor again and again and again to try to pass her bill. and i just want to tell her i will be with her every step of the way because i think, colleagues, what we're looking at without the distinguished senator from wisconsin's bill is a new golden age for scam artists peddling insurance that isn't worth much more than the paper it's written on. and i was struck by my friend from wisconsin mentioning the old days of junk insurance. i was around for those old days. i remember when the health insurance system in this country was basically for the healthy and wealthy. if you were healthy, no sweat. you could get insurance. if you were wealthy, you just went off and paid the bills. but the insurance companies could go out there and clobber people with preexisting conditi

mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, tonight i'm going to speak about saudi arabia's brutal murder of u.s. resident and journalist jamal khashoggi. this despicable act has been condemned by the congress, by the american people, and by governments and citizens around the world. but donald trump and members of his administration won't talk about it. they seem to think it's just fine to sweep this atrocity under the rug. i'm here to describe why the congress must not let this happen and how i intend to do everything in my power to make sure that it does not happen. the senate is now debating the defense authorization act, which this year includes the intelligence authorization act. i serve on the senate select committee on intelligence, and the intelligence bill that is part of the defense legislation contains an amendment that i offered with my colleague, senator heinrich, senator harris, feinstein, and bennet. and that amendment requires that the director of national intelligence provide a public report identif