democrats held a news conference on the rules change with senator chuck schumer, harry reid, and patty murray. >> thank you, first i want us -- want to thank senator reed for his leadership. we all know today's a sad day. things should have never gotten to this point. an extreme group has waged a successful war on government. thatlieve firmly government must function to help average families. but unfortunately there's a group on the hard right who wants to stop everything dead in its tracks. executive nominees and legislation. we have seen their success. we've seen the wings of the republican party and believes -- when aysfunction judges blocked their goal is served. when a cabinet post goes unfulfilled for months on end they think they win. dysfunction is their goal. as soon -- 9% rating is a cry by the american people for the congress . our income is declining. our lives are becoming more difficult. stop the gridlock. republicans are grinding the senate to a near standstill. and they're using rules intended to bring people together the terrace apartment the age old rules of the senate are b

senate, i sat down with democrat patty murray, the four-term senator from washington state, who is opposed to gorsuch becoming the next supreme court justice. >> what concerns me at the end of the day is a lifetime appointment on the supreme court. someone's judgment and their beliefs and terms of protecting people's rights in this country is extremely important and, for me, he did not pass the test. >> woodruff: you made a particularly point about speaking about his position on reproductive rights. why is that so important to you? >> this supreme court will consider cases coming to it that ultimately could overturn roe v. wade which means women could lose their constitutionally protected right to make their own healthcare choices. that is an issue i've seen in my own lifetime. eth has made a real impact on women, their person, their health and the economy and i do not want to see this country go backward. >> woodruff: you spoke of your own awareness in your college life. >> roe v. wade was not the law of the land many years ago, and i remember as good today as i did then, a friend of mine

on the senate democratic side, patty murray washington was first elected in 1992 will be the democrats' number three leader. this dynamic in terms of the proportion of women in each party in congress has been shifting since the 1980s. -- since the 1980's. for republicans, the percentage of women has remained remarkably constant. but, for democrats in general, it's got up with a slight downtick in this election. among democrats, the women's caucus is more racially diverse than ever in the 115th congress. women of color are not better represented than ever with a record-setting 38 women of color, 35 democrats and three republicans serving in the 115th congress. of the 14 nonincumbent women elected, nine are women of color. the number of women of color in the senate has quadrupled to four. the first asian-american women senator in 2012 will be joined by kathryn cortez masto of nevada, the first latina center in the u.s., and pamela harris of california, the first black woman to serve in the u.s. senate in two decades and tammy duckworth of illinois will be -- one more note on women in con

on the house senate democratic side, patty murray from washington who was first elected in 1992 willbe the democrats number three leader. this dynamic, in terms of the proportion of women in each party in congress has been shifting since the 1980s. for republicans the percentage of women has remained remarkably can't and constant but for others it's been a slight downtick in this election. >> among democrats, the women's caucus is more racially diverse than other in the 115th congress. women of congress are better represented than ever with 38 women of color, 38 democrats serving in the 115th congress. of the 14 nonincumbent women elected, nine or women of color. the number of women of color in the senate has quadrupled to four. she will be joined by catherine and kamala harris, the first black woman to save and serve in the u.s. senate in nearly two decades and tammy duckworth of illinois. one more note on women in partisanship in congress. women in both parties, research has found has been more likely to talk about women and more likely to prioritize issues that disproportionately

i have a tough time imagining a democratic senator doing the ivanka, patty murray bipartisan bill on's rights. that's probably going to be a tough hill for her to climb. >> is education the place she should tackle. yesterday when they were speaking to an astronaut from the international space station how important it was for girls to study s.t.e.m., women to go into s.t.e.m. fields. she mentions it today. yet, public schools, board of education budgets are being shredded. is education a place to move the needle? she has betsy devos's ear. >> i think education are too big to tackle and the debate is always robust and ongoing. that's not place she can be effective. she can be effective in terms of trying to do some of the things she's talked about on equal pay. that is actually something that could resonate with some more moderate republicans in the congress but i'm still very skeptical of the entire idea that ivanka represents empowerment or supports empowerment for anyone over herself because she did not say anything about the numerous times donald trump said offensive things about w

i sent a letter along with senator patty murray, elizabeth warren, nine other colleagues expressing our concerns to secretary goes about her -- secretary devos about her delaying this rule. in our letter we made clear that these delays undermine the rule and are going to be a danger to students and taxpayers. but it's also a betrayal of students not to ensure they're treated fairly after they're taken -- been taken advantage of by for-profit schools. today split co. reported that -- "politico" reported that the trump administration has dramatically slowed if not stopped processing applications from tens of thousands of students seeking to have their federal student loans discharged after they had been defrauded by for-profit colleges. think about that. a student is about to sign up for a for-profit school. make he doesn't know much about higher education. but his parents say, well, listen, if you can get a pell grant and a federal student loan, this must be a really good school. well, he's defrauded into signing up for a school that is too expensive and is offered a worthless degree. th

democrats held a news conference on the rules change with senator chuck schumer, harry reid, and patty murray. >> thank you, first i want us -- want to thank senator reed for his leadership. we all know today's a sad day. things should have never gotten to this point. an extreme group has waged a successful war on government. thatlieve firmly government must function to help average families.