and the nomination is confirmed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session for a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. res. 440. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 440, designating april 2018 as second chance month. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceed to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent -- the presiding officer: the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the help committee be discharged from furth

confirming her on a nomination almost unanimously on a vote of 94 - 2. four years later they did so again with john kerry with a vote of 94 - 3. we may have disagreed on a wide range of issues but did those disagreements prevent us from confirming to qualified nominees? absolutely not. as the case in point when secretary carey was confirmed the syrian civil war was raging. many of us disagreed with the policies in the middle east. my frustration is that secretary carries policies differed little from his predecessors. rather than turning her votes into destructive votes we voted almost unanimously for his confirmation. there is an understanding at the time that even if you disagreed on certain policies pack custom is under siege today it's under threat. before not careful then partisanship will get the best of all of us. abandoned widths which pompeo's nomination is something i fear the founding fathers would never have imagined much less condone. if we continue down this path a dangerous precedents will take root making any nomination under any presiden

what is the status of support in back committee for the nomination? >> i would say it is close to near certain he does not have support for a favorable recommendation. we have had at least one republican, rand paul, come out against. all democrats with the exception of chris coons. he told me on thursday he is leaning towards voting against mike pompeo, who he voted against for cia director. >> what are rand paul's principal objections so far? said he objected to mike pompeo's military interventionist policies, including his advocacy's for the war in a rock and his advocacy for potential military intervention on iran over its nuclear weapons program during the obama administration. host: you tweeted this about chris coons, saying i am leaning voting against the nomination, final decision yet to be made, foreign relations voting monday evening. give us a sense of why senator cowan and other democrats are opposing his nomination? guest: democrats have cited, in addition to his previous objection to the a ron deal, his statements equivocating on russian

pompeo's nomination. >> madam president, i rise in strong support of the nomination of mike pompeo, our current cia director, to be the next secretary of state. and i must say i've watched with interest the proceedings the day before yesterday in the foreign relations committee, the debate was interesting on both sides. and ico appreciate the fact that accommodations were made so that mike pompeo's nomination could be presented to the full senate with a positive vote. i am disappointed that so many of my democratic colleagues has stated that they will oppose this nomination, and i heed the admonition of one of the members of the democratic party at the confirmation vote before the committee. when this member asked that senators not question the motives of anyone who takes a position one way or the other with regard to the nomination of mr. pompeo. and so i will heed that admonition, madam president, and not question the motivation of any senator who votes either yes or no on this nomination. i will simply observe this. mike pompeo is a highly qualified nominee, a distinguished former me

pompeo's nomination was the right thing to do. i still believe the president deserves his team and disagreements on policy alone are not a t sufficient reason to reject the nomination but i gave mr. pompeo the benefit of the doubt with three chances to answer the questions that i thought were extremely important and assuage my broader concerns about his nomination. he did not answer those questions in any way that was satisfying. so with a clear conscience i will be voting against his nomination. let me be clear. this is not about politics. this is not about denying the president and his team just for the sake of it. it's about the role of congress and frankly the cabinet to provide a check on the senate. i'm sorry. it's a roll about congress but also the cabinet to provide a check on the president who might go off the rails and undo the respect for rule of law the tradition of rule of law that we have had in this country for so long. it is my view that the next secretary of state in this moment of history with a president who see

that his nomination was nearly sent to the floor without recommendation is an utter disgrace. this is a graduate of west point, a man who served our nation honorably as a cavalry officer in the united states army. this is a talented litigator who graduated from harvard law school, where he served as editor of the law review. this is an accomplished businessman, a former member of congress, and a current director of the central intelligence agency. this is a man who is qualified to serve in every respect. and yet some of my colleagues wanted to block director pompeo's nomination on the grounds that he supports our president. give me a break! to these colleagues i say, enough. enough of the partisan games. enough of the political grandstanding and self-serving sank money. -- sanctimony. delaying this nomination undermines the esteem of this body and the very safety our nation. obstructing director pompeo's confirmation would be a significant break from the bipartisan process that has characterized these kind of nominations in the past -- over my past 42 years. for example, when

we send the nomination to the floor. yesterday we had an opportunityo to debate the nomination it to a legal vote. that is not obstruction, that is a process agreedin on a in a cooperative manner and then to confirm a wide range of. nominationson we voted for the nominees for cabinet members, nikki haley confirm that the un ambassador 96-for, john kelly as the secretary homeland security 88-11, secretary of state john soma 94-6 and the body come from secretary of defense a vote of 98-1. so it seems republicans complain about democratic votecomplaineds only when they don't get what they want. i would say it is the president who is politicizing many of the nominees by nominating people he must know often cannot draw broad bipartisan support. there are many qualified candidates this president could have nominated for this position who i ensure my colleagues and i as well as others would have been happy to confirm. let me close with some more actual facts. in the relations committee we spent 80% 86 nominees to the floor, 77

nominations required are 60 vote threshold. the blue slip process for the nominations was respected and a thorough process to select qualified nominees from the administration wasas in place. second, it was a time of historic gridlock over the nominations compared to today just 22 judicial nominees would convert during presidentnt obams last two years in office and if you've been in congress since harry truman was president. in stark contrast to 2013, last year was actually a record-breaking year for advancing judicial nominees and we highlight the fact that come equipped with senate republicans are closing in on the record for the most circuit court appointments for the first year in office and in the first year president trump confirmed 19 judges compared to just 13 for president obama and the same time to go. if the judges confirmed, told for circuit court the most confirmed in the first year of any presidency since the federal appellate courts were established. as a member of the judiciary committee, i seem t i've seen ts a

has withdrawn his nomination. the allegations swirling around the nomination of dr. jackson were troubling, raised lots of questions. but the real blame here falls on the administration for once again being sloppy and careless in the vetting process. dr. jackson didn't go through a careful vet, where some of these things might have been discovered beforehand and he wouldn't have had to go through the process that he went through. the veterans' committee did the right thing, and they didn't seek to go after jackson. people came to them. when people come to them, particularly military folks, with serious and troubling allegations, they have an obligation to investigate. and i want to salute chairman isakson and ranking member tester for pursuing those allegations. it is -- dr. jackson went through a maelstrom, and he should tell his patient, i guess, the president, that he -- the president -- is what caused this problem by not properly vetting, by making these decisions on the fly, by making sure they don't count. our obligation above all is not to any one individual,

give us a sense why senate democrats are proposing his nomination. rachel: democrats have cited, in addition to the director's previous opposition to the iran deal, his past statements equivocating the russian government interference in the 2016 elections, some objectionable comments he made about muslims and their potential complicity in terrorist attacks if they were not condemning them, as well as his stances against gay civil rights. and also the sense that he, a number of senators don't think he will tell president trump things he does not want to hear. there is concern about who will and whethero jump they will speak truth to power. >> do you think the meeting between mike pompeo and whether they will speak truth to power. >> do you think the meeting between mike pompeo and kim jong-un reported after the confirmation hearing had any influence on his democratic opposition or rand paul and whether they willopposition? rachel: it is hard to tell. at least one senator, robert menendez, explicitly objected to it. he felt mikehe felt mike pompeoe dis

i want to give a little history on nomination votes.ted his nomination unanimously. hillary clinton was confirmed by a vote of 94 to 2 on the senate floor. we voted her out 16 to 1. condoleezza rice was confirmed by a vote of 85 to 13 on the senate floor. this committee favorably reported her nomination 16-2. and both this committee and the full senate unanimously voted in favor of colin powell's nomination. now to our nominee and to his qualifications. he graduated first in his class from west point, first in his class. he served our nation in uniform as a cavalry officer, patrolling the iron curtain before the fall of the berlin wall. and as he testified in this committee, it was there he learned the power of diplomacy and the effect we can have on the world through appropriate diplomacy. i think all of us know those men and women who've worn the uniform, the people we hold on the highest pedestal. we know they more than anyone respect diplomacy, because they know if it is successful, it's the thing that keeps our men and women out of

now alaska may nominate.alter coley the man sitting to the left of mayor daley is george done the financial chairman. thought many to be an air to mayor daley as a possible candidate. the doorkeeper who is known as fish bait miller for the house of representatives is letting what look like security guards in her guy don't know what the meaning of that is. perhaps nothing. may nominate, second, or pass. >> mr. chairman, arizona passes. nominated, now kansas. walter: it got out of order there appeared earlier tonight, alaska had passed or rather had , yielded to california and then it yielded to iowa the nomination of senator mccarthy. they got all out of order. >> it is the intention of the louisiana delegation by unanimous vote to nominate favorite son at request of our governor, we will pass. walter: as you heard, there is a floor and move to recess this convention in view of the violence in chicago tonight and the developments here. mike wallace is with frank make what's and maybe they can shed more light.

you may nominate, second, or pass.alter: the man sitting to the left of mayor daley is george dunn, the financial chairman of the cook county board of finance. >> alaska, having yielded -- walter: many to be in line for mayoral candidate some day. , known aseper "fishbait" miller. for the house of representatives, he's letting several men who look like security guards through to the rostrum. don't know what the meaning of that is. perhaps none at all. arizona, may nominate, second, or pass. >> this to chairman, arizona passes. >> now having nominated, now kansas. walter: they got out of order there because earlier tonight, alaska had passed, or rather had iowa,d, then yielded to the nomination of senator mccarthy. it got out all out of order. >> it has been the attention of the louisiana delegation a unanimous vote to nominate its favorites son. at the request of the governor, we will pass. walter: as you heard the report, there is a move to move to recess this convention for a week or two in view of the violence in ch

of the 86 nominations on which the senate invoked cloture in the 115th congress, only two nominations used 20 or more hours post cloture and 74 nominations used eight or fewer hours post cloture. to address the issue back in 2013, a bipartisan supermajority of the senate supported a temporary change to the rules. this is not what is before this committee today. during the 115th congress it's been critical that the senate have time to thoroughly vet and consider potential nominees. for example, matthew peterson, a nominee to a district court judge was unable to answer basic legal questions, posed by louisiana republican senator kennedy. and he was just one than 25 nominees that was withdrawn by this administration. the american people deserve qualified judges. i have worked well on our judges in minnesota and have supported the judges after discussion that the administration has put forth. this can work. but it has not worked in all cases. and that is why we believe because of vetting issues and also because of the time that we need to look at certain judges and administration nominees

d, nomination. nomination shall be a letter on nominator letterhead. the nominator shall submit a letter that includes the name of the business, a paragraph that notes the business's eligibility criteria, business address and contact information. two, the nominator shall be a member of the board of supervisors or the mayor at the time of nomination. the nominator need not still be a member of the board of supervisors or the mayor when the small business commission makes the final determination to add the business to the legacy business registry. c, the business has operated in san francisco for 30 or more years with no break-in san francisco operations cedeing two years. number two, the number of years in business in san francisco shall be 30 or more years in the past, and the start date shall be the start date of their articles of incorporation. number three, the founding location of the business shall be used to determine the number of years the business has operated, even if the business has moved from its founding location. number four, the busines

the clerk: nomination, the judiciary. stuart kyle duncan of louisiana to be united states circuit judge for the fifth circuit. mr. mcconnell: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: mr. cornyn: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. cornyn: are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. cornyn: i would ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: madam president, yesterday, after some drama, in a rare ability of civility on the part of senator coons, for which i applaud him, the senate foreign relations committee approved the nomination of mike pompeo as secretary of state. this despite chairman corker's repeatedly pointing out how qualified for this appointment director pompeo actually is. but apparently it fell on deaf ears. this sort of treatment is unprecedented in my memory, certainly, for a secretary of state. director pomp

duncan's nomination is, frankly, unconscionable. our court system should be a level-playing field where no matter who you are or where you live, you receive fair and equal treatment. in contrast to that spirit, this nominee has spent a significant part of the past decade advocating for the denial of rights for women, minorities, and the lgbt community. i have absolutely no confidence that this nominee will stay true not only to the letter of the law but to the spirit of the law as well. our constituents sent us to washington to look out for the best interest of all americans. that is what we need to move away from and that's from divisive nominees and instead focus on the confirmation of qualified consensus nominees. it is clear that mr. duncan is out of step with mainstream american values, and i urge my colleagues to join me in opposing his nomination. mr. president, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: ms. warren: mr. president? the presiding offi

they have approved the nomination and fairly report nomination of cia director mike pompeo to be the next secretary of state. fox in other news organizations reported the full senate may act on that later this week. to let you know how the process went here, a series of tweets and reporters covering this -- 10.ially the vote was 11 to is missingof georgia today and he is back in washington, but he had been given the eulogy at a friend's funeral. and it was at that senator corker try to get democratic senators to vote present so they can get the nomination to the floor with a verbal meeting. chris coons voted he will wrought present although he opposed pompeo to accommodate senator isakson that she chose to vote present. the final vote on passage approval of the nomination was 11 republicans and nine opposed democrats, and senator cowan's of delaware, a democrat boy present. in almost to the senate floor for debate and final vote. tonight on unmarked cases. the des moines independent school district and the case about student free speech. from i5, five students will work black arm ban

chiu: nominations are closed. and now there's public comment. >> friends does not have a position on this but i will say this. i know we have a vice chair nomination which follows this process so the public should be advised we will be electing two officers of the body today, the chair and the vice chair so that may assuage the interest of new member of the public who may have dropped in today and it's always good to see new members of the public. thank you. >> thank you. any other public comment? seeing none. madam executive director. >> commissioners, i will call alphabetically, state the name. >> vice-chairperson d. chiu: commissioner chiu. >> commissioner kopp. >> no. >> commissioner lee? >> chiu. >> commissioner renne? >> chiu. >> and commissioner ryan? >> chiu. >> thank you, with four votes and one no-vote commissioner chiu is elected president of the commission for the coming year. thank you for that. >> vice-chairperson d. chiu: thank you. now i would like to open nominations for vice chair. >> madam chair

nomination unanimously. third clinton was confirmed by a vote of 94 to two on the senate floor, we boarded her 16 to one, thisccountability in committee favorably reported the nomination 16 to two. this committee unanimously voted in favor of colin powell's nomination. nominee -- and to his qualifications. he graduated first in his class at west point. uniformd our nation in as an officer patrolling the iron curtain before the fall of the berlin wall. is testified before the committee, was there he learned the power of diplomacy and the fact we can have on the world with appropriate diplomacy. i think all of us know those men and women who have worn the uniform -- people we both to the highest pedestal. we know they, more than anyone, support diplomacy. they know if successful it is what keeps our men and women out of harms way. mike pompeo knows that. he stated that clearly with conviction, and a think we all know that. he graduated from harvard law school, having been an editor of arvard law review. his ow

of the 86 nominations in which the senate invoked closure, only to nominations used 20 or more nominations used eight or more. 2013,ress the issue from the senate supported a temporary change to the rule. the is not what is before committee today. it has been critical that the senate have time to thoroughly that and consider potential nominees. for example, that the peterson, a nominee to a judge was unable to answer basic legal questions. he was just one of the more than 25 nominees that has withdrawn from this administration. the american people deserve qualified judges erred i have worked -- qualified judges. i have supported the judges in minnesota after the discussions that the administration has put forth. it has not worked in all cases. we think this is a very bad time to change this i don't want to private members from sin what they want to set, durbine asked senator and alexander if there would like to comments. senator mcconnell, if you would like to start your comments. sen. mcconnell: i will yield to center alexander who was in the middle of discussion in 2013 leading to the tw

nominations required a 60 vote threshold. the blue slip process was respected and a thorough process to select qualified nominees from the administration was in place. second, it was a time of historic gridlocked over judicial nominations compared to today. 22 judicial nominees were confirmed during president obama's last years in office, the fewest since harry truman. that is for you missouri. lastark contrast to 2013, year was record-breaking for advancing judicial nominees. highlighted the fact that "senate republicans are closing in on the record for most circuit court appointments for a president's first year in office." just 13. compared to of the judges confirmed last year, 12 or circuit court. the most confirmed in the first year of any presidency since the federal public courts were established. as a member of the judiciary committee i have seen the process and pace at which nominees are being advanced. the judiciary committee reported 44 judicial nominees to the senate floor last year but in president obama's first

i had a pose that nomination committee and i will oppose on the floor.

then he was nominated for secretary of state. now, that's a whole different ballgame. anyone nominated for such a critical position, security position, deserves the most careful and thoughtful scrutiny. with that in mind, i met with mr. pompeo privately where i interviewed him on foreign policy. frankly, on many issues, our views were not the same. he was far more hawkish than i would prefer our diplomat to be. frankly, my views were probably on this issue a little closer to the president's, who remembered, as i do, that iraq -- in iraq, we spent over a trillion dollars, we lost close to 5,000 of our bravest young men and women, and iraq doesn't seem much better off today than it was then. so my view was that he was too quick to recommend strong military action when diplomacy might do. but at the same time, i believe that the president should get to pick his team, so president trump wanted a more hawkish secretary of state, it would be concerning to me but it is his decision. and mr. pompeo answered my questions with the same candor and forthrightness as our previous m

for those reasons i was great honor place the nomination and second the nomination of reverend channing the lips. phillips.g -- low -- ♪ also a clip we were unable to show because of the violence downtown and that story upstaged the convention here. >> we will continue to call the role of the states. walter: unless there is a , and there some time might be because of the nature of this convention, there are no other nominations to place. --cks -- illustrious united >> illustrious united state senator as that his name not be placed within nomination and will cast 98% of his plate to the next president of the united states hubert humphrey. >> you see george smathers break there in the center. there in the center. >> i think we will listen to this rollcall unless some other news comes our way. governor john connally. i keep remembering senator tom connally of texas. >> mr. chairman, hawaii passes. >> mr. chairman, idaho passes. >> illinois! illinois! presidentfor the next of the united states hubert 34 --ey, 34 mccarthy, and 100 four votes for next president of the united states heward hum

va nominees get nominated unanimously. there have been no zero votes out of the senate in the past 30 years. that's because there is a robust tradition of bipartisan consensus on veteran's issues. on this as pales. if we are being honest that zero no votes record for 30 years is also because the senators who work on issues fully expect they will be assaulted ahead of times at the va. they expect no surprise, consensus picks. they expect no controversy. there was apparently no consultation with the veteran's committees in congress. there was no vetting and no interview for the job, either. there is now bipartisan concern about his experience and what's emerged in his backgrounds since the rubber hit the road on this nomition na. there is one more chapter for the book eventually written about what can possibly go wrong when you nominate someone for a big gigantic high profile important job without ever checking their background. joining us now is arti shapiro who did this break through interview with senator john tester whic

it's not just the high-profile nominations. scores of unobjectionable, unobjectionable choices for all kinds of posts have languished on the senate calendar. it took months and months and several deadly accidents to persuade senate democrats to stop obstructing a fully qualified nominee to head the federal railroad administration. or take the example of district court judges. with only one exception we've had to file cloture on every single district court nominee. it doesn't matter if every democrat on the judiciary committee supported the nominee. it doesn't matter if every democrat in the whole senate supports the nominee. no matter what, our colleagues across the aisle are insisting on obstruction for no apparent reason. here's some of the final vote totals for these district judges. 96-1. 98-0. 97-3. 95-0. 96-0. 98-0 once again. 100-0. back in january it took more than a week of the senate's time to confirm four district court judges, and not one senator voted no on any of them. a whole week to do four district judges, and

i want to give a little history on nomination votes. john kerry was confirmed by a vote of 94-3 on the senator floor this committee favorably reported its nomination unanimously. hillary clinton was confirmed by a vote of 94-2 on the senate floor. we voted her out 16-1. condoleeza rice was confirmed by vote of 85-13 on the senator floor. this committee favorably reported the nomination 16-2. both this committee and the senate unanimously voted in favor of colin powell's nomination. now, to our nominee. and to his qualifications. he graduated first in his class at west point. first in his class. he served our nation in uniform as a calvary officer before the fall of the berlin wall. as he testified in this committee, he was there he learned the power of diplomacy and the effect that we can have on the world and i think we all know that. it graduated from harvard law law.l of harvard that was after serving. he founded his own company serving as ceo for more than a president serving as that another company. i know some things have been sai

have been opposed to this nomination for a long time. to me the most important event in for policy is the last two decades has been the iraq war. the president has repeatedly, for years even before he was a candidate, said that iraq war is a mistake. for me to understand if you move forward the iraq war was a mistake and regime change in iraq made things worse. templeton made iran worse, and if one who wants to go to war with iraq now is to go to iran. east moree the middle chaotic. we did the same thing in libya. many were saying we had to top assad and get rid of isis, and when we turned our attention from awsat isis, we did get rid of isis. regime change hasn't worked. itokingly said that when coffee is gone, are they going to elect jefferson? didn't have a history of western morals or ideas our democracy. sometimes we get worse. when of iran's best allies -- or one of iraq's best advice is iran. the president understood this, and my fear is that director pompeo doesn't shed that point of view. i asked them here, and he said it was a

jackson's nomination.to quote to you a little bit from this inspector general report on him which was sent out by the white house tonight. quote, the medical inspector general command climate findings were based on observations obtained from both officer and enlisted focus groups and 14 interviews of staff members conducted over a two-day period. inspector general climate finding one, lack of trust in leadership. trust in the organization is noted to be between 2 and 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. there is a severe and pervasive lack of trust in the leadership that has deteriorated to the point where staff walk on egg shells. the lack of trust is largely attributed to the open division between captain kuhlman and captain jackson. ronny jackson was captain at that point. both captain kuhlman and captain jackson complain about the other to subordinates and seek alliances from them. the inspector general described an opinion among white house medical unit staff that, quote, captain jackson undermines captain kuhlma

did you discuss her nomination with the president? >> no we didn't and ty -- i think it is unlikely i will change my mind and i think it is not good for someone to be ahead of the cia that -- torture and she's a bad choice to head the cia and sends a terrible message to our enemies. i have family members in the military and i don't want them serving with the knowledge that other countries will say i guess torture is not so bad because the u.s. has apointed someone to head their agency who engaged in extraordinary rendition and meaning secretly taken to a country that has a different view of human rights and allowed this to happen on their territory. but specifically the prisons were taken to another country because it is illegal to torture people in the u.s. and so that is important thing. and i think that is not the kind of person we need to lead the cia. >> well the president keeps saying you've never let him down. so on this particular nomination you might wind up letting him down. we'll see what happens when the vote comes up. let

that pretty much ends the drama over pompeo's nomination.ut the confirmation of the president's pick to replace mike pompeo as head of the cia, that is another one that may not go smoothly. gina is the nominee. her reported involvement in the cia's torture program during the george w. bush administration is turning into a really serious issue for her nomination, and it's not democrats who are the only ones raising concerns here. today, senators received this letter signed by over 100 retired military leaders, senior ones, 109 retired generals and admirals, saying that they too are concerned about her nomination. that is the sort of thing that tends to get senators' attention. joining us now is one of the retired generals who signed this letter sent to the senate today. general irvine, thank you so much for giving us some of your time tonight. it's a pleasure to have you, sir. why did you sign this letter and what are your concerns? >> well, we have a number of concerns about this nomination. and probably the biggest is that torture, and let'

things to consider when it comes to nominations. what about the nomination for pa secretary? -- va secretary? >> the white house formally nominated dr. jackson. i don't believe we have a confirmation hearing scheduled yet. a little time.ke they are probably still affecting him. the white house is still preparing for those hearings. we have not heard a lot since the announcement from lawmakers. they have been focused on other issues. in the coming weeks, we are going to hear more and more. it is not a -- clear picture of his prospects. he is a pure admiral in the navy but he has no management experience. that will be the focal point of the confirmation hearing. he has been meeting with senators. there are so many problems with the veterans affairs department, and usually you want a reformer, someone who has been thinking about these issues, and i think senators are going to have a hard time trying to find out if has really thought about these issues in depth before the last three weeks or month. host: was there a snap judgment when this nomination came up at least? >> not for

of course the majority can approve of the nominations on a party line vote for all nominees up to and now including the supreme court since leader mcconnell elected to change those rules last year. why the need for further erosions to minority rights in the senate? republicans argue it's because their facing, quote, historic obstruction of the president's nominees. a few points on that. the democrats have cooperated with the majority of noncontroversial nominees, like career ambassadorships and civil servants for a long time now. before each recess there is a long list of names approved. before the last recess, the senate confirmed as nearly as many nominations in 2018 as president obama had confirmed in the analogous year, 2010. let me repeat that before the last recess the senate has confirmed almost the exact same number of nominees in 2018 as president obama had confirmed in 2010, the second year of his presidency. so this idea that it's historic, bunk. you can tell it's bunk because the president and vice president at the same time our republicans and the president himself on som

the er nomination, nasa, jameridensne o oklahoma to be administrator. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, later this afternoon, the senate is finally voting to confirm carlos muniz, well qualified for the department of education. i came to the floor last week to ask for this vote because i believe mr. muniz has been subjected to unreasonable delays. for example, mr. muniz was nominated by the president on june 6 of last year, 315 days ago. he's been pending on the floor since we reported him out of her health, education, labor and pension on october 18, 2017, 1881 days ago. in other words, he's been waiting six months following his approval by the relevant committee for the senate to consider this nomination. so it's time to confirm him. time to give secretary devos, an attorney and a general counsel. mr. muniz has extensive experience as an attorney in government. from january 2014 to 2018, he was a partner at the law firm of maguire woods in florida. prior to that january 2011 to 2014 he was deputy attorney

jackson to withdraw his nomination. sources tell us within the white house that there is a wait and see going on. they'd like to see if dr. jackson could, perhaps, survive the next 24, 48 hours, see if he could come out of this situation in a better position, perhaps, reschedule a hearing, but the question is does this report, these findings from back in 2012 make that more difficult? and as garrett points out, if he's suggesting to senators that he knew nothing about an i.g. report and yet, he appears to have ordered this up in 2012, that could be a big problem. >> ken thomas and garrett haake, thank you. joining me now is a member of the senate of the veteran's affairs committee. thank you for being here. >> good to be here. >> we got word confirming the allegations against dr. jackson include improperly dispensing drugs. being drunk while traveling on the job and a hostile work environment. have you heard that? >> i have. i don't have first-hand knowledge. that's what i hear. now that you're referencing the i.g. repo

more liberal nominees with republicans have more nominated conservative nominees.t represents an honest choice to the american voter. >> host: next call is tony in winter, california. tony is not answering or responding. we are not hearing him. we will move to georgia. were going to try robert in stone mountain outside of atlanta. robert you are on the tv. please go ahead. and does anybody else -- i'm not hearing anything. i apologize something is happening there with the phones and i'm not sure what it is. craig shirley's two most recent books, citizen new, the making of reagan conservatism and reagan rising: the decisive year 76-80. what was ronald reagan doing in those years when he lost the first presidential nomination. >> guest: he never stopped campaigning. it is interesting is that he gave the last speech in the kansas city convention in 1976 and he just lost the nomination to gerald ford against a scanned 70 delegate votes out of 287 cast and was supposed to be bitter and angry and deep down he was but he gives a remarkable off-the-cuff speech live on nati

in the agreement beat up the timeline for the nomination the comments could have delayed a final vote until friday to get support from every republican senator for democrats that they will support him an independent from maine who caucuses with gimmicky modesto mcgrath also came out of the boat. marking coverage of the final debate tomorrow on c-span2 here is some of the debates from today. >> i write to express my opposition to mike pompeo serving as the top diplomats. as i said earlier this week i am generally disappointed to cast a vote against the secretary of state nominee. i believe united states needs an effective leader on the world stage ruffian of the day as i consider the directors nomination including his hearing and his revelation had concern over three broad themes he failed to express poetic strategies for which he would advocate. he failed to be forthright with me and finally i don't have a satisfactory answer to theti question during the nomination process we had the opportunity to address all of these concerns and he was less than forthcoming on a number of issues. g

the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination, department of state. mike pompeo of kansas to be secretary. mr. mcconnell: i send a cloture motion to the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion, we, the undersigned senators, in in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of mike pompeo of kansas to be secretary of state7 senators as follows. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed no. the ayes appear to it. the ayes do have it. the motion is agreed to. mr. mcconnell: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar 619, richard grenell. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. all in favor say aye. all opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the mot

the president mo had nominated them -- the president who had nominated them deserved to have his team in place to carry out the policies that he had been elected to carry out. now, the same standard should be extended to director pompeo. he's eminently qualified for the job. he graduated first in his class at the united states military academy at west point. in 1986 he served as a cavalry officer. after active duty -- after active duty, he graduated from harvard law school where he edited "the law review." this is a great accomplishment before he entered politics because in addition to those things he also ran two successful businesses before he was elected to the house of representatives in 2010. he served in the house from 2010 to 2017. he was a member of the intelligence committee. in that role, he was at the forefront of information that is important to national security, ranging from the iran nuclear accord to the patriot act. he understands these issues. he is a person of significant capacity and again, maybe most importantly of all the qualifications, he was picked by the presi

plus updates on the mike pompeo nomination.ips' colon heah has this unique combination of probiotics. it helps replenish good bacteria. get four-in-one symptom defense. on a perfect car, then smash it into a tree. your insurance company raises your rates. maybe you should've done more research on them. for drivers with accident forgiveness, liberty mutual won't raise your rates due to your first accident. switch and you could save $782 on home and auto insurance. call for a free quote today. liberty stands with you™. liberty mutual insurance. in the 2018 lexusxus saes and es hybrid.standard lease the 2018 es 350 for $399/month for 36 months. experience amazing at your lexus dealer. i'm mark and i quit smoking with chantix. i tried, um, cold turkey. i tried the patches. i was tired and i was fed up. i wanted to try something different. for me, chantix really worked. along with support, chantix (varenicline) is proven to help people quit smoking. chantix reduced my urge to smoke. when you try to quit smoking, with or without chan

nomination of ronny jackson, physician, withdrawing his nomination today and we may hear speeches ofthat on the floor. live coverage of the senate now on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, who made the light

we've gotten a lot of nominations and the president has a very legitimate complaint. i've had to file 88 times in the trump administration, that's more than the last six presidents in the first two years together. democrats do have an opportunity to slow the process. we are working hard to try to truncate that. we are having to votes tomorrow because they've decided not to use all of the time that they could have used and we are continuing to put the pressure on. it's a legitimate complaint. >> martha: in terms of the august recess and the circuit court judges that are still out there, there are some who are concerned about whether or not republicans can hold the house and now there is increasing concerns potentially about the senate and i'll ask about that in a moment. they think you really need to put the pressure on these circuit court judges and to hold that august recess over the senators had to get that done. will you commit to doing that? >> it's been my top priority. we confirmed 12 last year which is a record for the first term of any going back to 1891. >> m