senate. it is also one of the most powerful committees, and one of the largest. we are so grateful to the generous donors who helped make this evening possible. , independentca community bankers of america, , leonardoor america l , and mr. terry ehrman. thank you all so much for making tonight possible. we will begin the evening with the presentation of the colors and the pledge of allegiance. please rise. > >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. .> please be seated several distinguished guests have joined us this evening. senator that cochran, chairman of the cochran, chairman appropriations committee, senator patrick leahy, vice chairman of the committee, several current community in -- committee members, including barbara mikulski, former chairwoman of the comm ittee. and i saw suzanne collins. thank you for joining us. we also have several former staff

, being senator -- we mentioned senator heller before. also now senator shelley moore capito of west virginia who was a no is saying yes to this procedural vote and also rob portman, senator from ohio, he was a no and now he's yes on this. let me bring in a couple more voices as we await the results. julie rovner, and we wanted to talk to you because you've been covering health care since 1986 in congress and you have never seen anything like this. >> no, this is an amazing vote. this is basically 51, presumably, republican senators proceeding to debate on a bill they don't know what the bill is. this is a bill that could, in theory, affect a sixth of the u.s. economy. there doesn't seem to be any consensus for any pieces that have so far been offered. i think the hope of the smoenat majority leader is they get on this bill and put it on the fly as they go. >> i was looking at the face of the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, and he is -- what's he, a masterful tactician is what he's been referred to. he's used to getting these vot

senator reynolds. senator reynolds: thank you, mr. president.an the minister also explain the importance of australia providing overseas assistance to countries in our region? >> minister. >> thank you. our budget stands for fairness, opportunity, and security. responsibly supports a strong and prosperous and secure region especially in our , indospecific area. we know providing good aid , particularly in our region is , good for australia's national security interests. and oda contributes to poverty reduction and stability. and australia will benefit if citizens in our region are healthy, they are well-educated, and are making an economic contribution in our own countries. and if our neighboring countries are stable, they are well-governed and open to trading tunlts. and overseas development assistance complements the other steps the government is taking to ensure we live in a safe and prosperous region. >> thank you, minister. senator reynolds final , supplementary question. senator reynolds is the minister : aware of any further development a

carr: yes, senator. senator udall: thank you. senator thune: thank you, senator udall. what i will do, i am going to intend to stay through entire at least first round for everybody but senator wicker does have to go. i am going to recognize him next and then we'll continue to move down the list that we have here. so senator wicker. senator wicker: thank you, mr. chairman. chairman pai, accelerating broadband development in rural areas is a priority for many embers on both side of the dais. i worked with you to make sure data collection methods regarding mobile broadband question is standardized. it's necessary to make sure that funds to use broadband deployment are targeted to truly underserved and unserved communities. in rural america and in my state of mississippi. would you agree that standardizing data collection is important to target funds accurately to deploy the broadband in underserved and unserved areas, and will you commit to ensuring that the baseline coverage data collected from carriers for the mobility fund phase 2 challenge process be standardized? and

trish: what's crazy is you have senators like senator collins from maine, like senator murkowski who won't even vote to debate this, to even have the conversation. >> that's a disgrace. trish: that is so badly needed. >> no courage, and they wonder why the american people are so angry at politicians? they get up every day and go to work, whether they want to go to work or not, they do their jobs. these people are given enormous responsibility, enormous power and can't do the most basic thing i'm going to vote to move to proceed. if i don't like the way the bill is constructed, let's build it differently. it's a shameful moment. >> you are absolutely right. it's a cop-out. and what it boils down is a senator saying i don't want to go back to constituents and say i cost you your health care. you know what, senator? find something that does make sense, come up with a positive solution. i feel it's the nanny state where you are afraid of being called out one way or another. it's a disgrace. if they can't get this done, a tougher time with tax reform and good luck getting re-elected. this

welcome, senator strange. he comes here because senator sessions went on to become attorney general. he has seen the senate for three months, four months maybe? five months now. i'm sure he has his impressions of this body and they may be different from what he thought about it before he was elected. but i can tell him for sure that this is a much different senate than the one patty murray was elected to, much different than the one i was elected to. even my friend, mike enzi from wyoming. even the one that he saw. i see my colleague senator schatz from hawaii here. how long have you been here now? four and a half years. he's a newbie. he has not seen the senate i was describing. can you believe there was a time in the senate when there was an important measure and members would come to the floor -- i'm not making this up -- and actually hand it to the clerk and say i'd like to make an amendment on this bill. we would handle it and sometimes we voted it and sometimes you won and sometimes you vote. that actual

the senator from utah. mr. hatch: is if appropriate to make a -- is it aappropriate make a speech at this time? the presiding officer: it is. mr. hatch: thank you, mr. president. president ronald reagan used to say that people are policy. attacking a new president's policies therefore often includes undermining his ability to appoint his or her -- his or her ability a month men and women to lead his administration. the constitution gives to the president the power to appoint executive branch officials. the senate has the power of advice and consent, as a check on that appointment power. in the early months of the obama administration, senate democrats were clear about how we should carry out our role in the appointment process. less than two weeks after president obama took office, the judiciary committee chairman said he wished that the senate could have put the new justice department leadership in place even more quickly. just three months into president obama's first term, the chairman argued that, quote, at

we now know that senator senator mccain and others have voted no.t is enough to kill this skinny bill. that means, they are back to the drawing board. what senator mccain wanted to do before returning to arizona was to move forward with the national defense authorization, which is a bill that he is obviously very close to with the senate armed service committee. he wants to move that through. we will see where mitch mcconnell goes next, but he is getting on the floor now. let us listen in. >> and, so there won't be anything until they finished the vote until they have all 100 senators cast their ballots. >> what we are looking at here is the big picture. this is a big defeat. you saw vice president pence clearly working to try and get mccain to change his mind. and then, there were a bunch of senators who were around lisa michalski >> this does not necessarily kill the bill as brett says. but what were the mistakes that republicans might have made? even on the floor as senators crowded around the senator from alaska, with deciding the money that dea

the senate gearing up for a key vote open debate on health care as senator john mccain returns from his cancer diagnosis to cast which could be the deciding vote. his surprise announcement came last night. meanwhile, president trump expected to make some comments at this hour as well before a white house meeting with the prime minister of lebanon. we have team facts covered for you. kristin fisher at the white house, but first, chieftain correctional quest want to come up mike emanuel. mike, how big is senator mccain's return? >> it is potentially huge. they can get too close to 50, he could help get to 50 to pass this vote. his return to the senate is lifted the spirits of a lot of his colleagues. >> we all know senator mccain is a fighter. that is by his remarkable life, public service. just as again it is evident of his quick return to the senate this afternoon. i know he is eager to get back to work, and we are all very pleased to have him back with us today. >> republican sources say one idea being floated to rank-and-file senators is passing what is being described as a skinny bil

the senator from tennessee and the senator from washington. the senator from utah. the senator from oregon. they have worked well together in the past. they can work well together in the future. there is suggestions that we are interested in that come from members on the other side of the aisle. senator from maine and senator from louisiana. let's turn the page and work together to improve our health care system. let's turn the page in another way. all of us were so inspired. by the speech and the life of the senator from arizona. he asked us to go back to regular order. to bring back the senate that some of us who were here have been here a while remember. maybe this can be a moment where we start doing that. both sides will have to give. the blame hardly falls on one side or the other. but if we can take this moment, a solemn moment, and start working this body the way it had always worked until the last decade or so with both sides to blame for the deterioration, we will do a better job for our country, better job for this body, a better job for ourselves. and fi

senate floor. that is what regular order is. and what i just described usually takes about nine months. least on a complex health care legislation like this. that is what senators mean when they say regular order. when john mccain said last week it was time to return to regular order on health care legislation, that seemed to me would he vote against the bill that mitch mcconnell was dictate together senate from the top down. last week senator mccain said congress must now return to regular order holds hearings receive input from members about parties and heed reblg mcommends of our nation's governors so we can have produce a bill that finally provides americans with aks to quality and aforable health care. what he said to mccain might be premature. >> i want to thank senator john mccain. very brave man. he made a tough trip to get here and vote. so we want to thanks senator mccain and all of the republicans. >> senator mccain voting to proceed to the debate today does not mean that he will vote fo

i was just on a trip with several of my colleagues, senator warren, senator perdue, senator graham, senator whitehouse, and among other places that we spent the fourth of july as i have for many years in kabul and outside of kabul with men and women of the military with a number of events that we do for them with the fourth of july, a town hall meeting with a large number of men and women who are in uniform. senator graham, as happens once a decade, asked an astute question. he asked, how many in the room were there for more than the first time in afghanistan? majority raised their hands. he said, how many have been here more than twice? majority raised their hands. he said, how many have been here three times? a significant number raised their hands. in other words, to me, it was something that was a graphic demonstration of the incredible burden that our active-duty military has been bearing over the last 15 or 16 years. they are brave, proud, the best navy we have had in a long, long time, but they are not fully equipped, and they are not fully trained, and they are not given the authori

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. schatz: how much time remains? the presiding officer: five and a half minutes. mr. schatz: thank you, mr. president. we just took one of the most reckless legislative actions in this body's history. we are blowing up the american health care system, wndz we -- and we don't even know what comes next. i want to be clear. the senate has never before voted on major legislation that would reorder about one-sixth, one-fifth of the american economy and impact millions of lives without actually knowing what the bill would even do. there has been no bipartisanship. there has been talk of it but there have been no real discussions. there have been no public hearings. and let me say something about hearings. this is not a technical point. this is the way a legislative body does its work. this is the way we figure out whether our bill is any good or not. and this is the way the senate has always worked. we don't do major legislation without hearings, but that's what we're doing today, and that's

senator jeff sessions was the first senator to endorse the candidacy of donald trump. senator jeff sessions was the only republican senator who endorsed the candidacy of donald trump before donald trump won the republican presidential nomination. and this week, senator jeff sessions has become the new trump enemy, the new hillary, the new obama, the new lyin' ted, the new little marco. we now have the beleaguered attorney general jeff sessions according to donald trump. and so for republican senators, donald trump has finally crossed the line that he crossed with a majority of americans during the presidential campaign. >> jeff sessions is an honorable man. he did what i believe any ethical attorney general would do under the circumstances. >> jeff has been very loyal to the president, and i think he deserves loyalty back. >> he is one of the most honest people you would ever know. he is a man of very high integrity. jeff sessions has my confidence. >> i think that his independence has been proven by his willingness to recuse himself. >> kenneth starr, the special pros

senator murkowski, senator , two prominent republicans within this republican-controlled senate sayingy are not going to -- that means no more senators in the republican party can come out against this. if they do, it is dead on arrival. it is down to the wire now in terms of whether or not they are going to be able to get this through. scarlet: talk to me about what it means -- we just talked about the tie-break situation. what happens in a tie-break situation? >> it heads to the vice president and we will have the motion to proceed. i want to take this a step out of politics. the american people are going to be watching this. the merck and people will be looking at washington procedure -- the american people will be looking at washington procedure -- what i do wonder sometimes is what are the american people really thinking about when they watch this? isn't this what they voted to get behind, politics as usual? what's interesting is how many people have learned about the health care system and their insurance options and the industry. it's always interesting to think , do the republi

i was noticing that called senator after senator after senator, are they all in there at the same time, what happens if they miss their vote. >> they call the rule after alphabetically. they don't have an electronic system where they vote by card, like they do in the house of representatives. sometimes there are senators that miss votes. on a boat like this, they had 100% attendance. this is why it was critical for john mccain to come back. you do have people who miss votes. it happens, there have been times where they have a fly in day, late on a monday afternoon where senators are flying in from the west coast or wherever, and they don't start those votes until 5:30 in the afternoon, and sometimes, they will have bad weather here in washington, d.c., and they will hold the votes open until 6:30 or 7:00, because they want those senators there. and they will call ahead, their offices will comb to the cloakroom and say, senator so and so won't make it, hold before open. there was a key vote some years ago or senator brown of ohio, his mother had died, and he was a key vote, they have th

he comes here because senator sessions went on to become attorney general.ns he is saying the senate for three months maybe, and i'm sure he has impressions of this body and they may be different than what he thought about before heo was elected. i can tell him for sure that this is a much different senatee than the one patty murray was elected to, much different than the one i was elected to head mike enzi, much different than the one he saw. they see my colleague senator schatz and wyden. how long have you been here brian? four and a half years. he's a newbie and he has not seen the senate that i'm describing. in the senate where we would bring important measures on many different issues and membersak would come to the floor i'm not making this up and actually handed them to the clerk and sad like to offer an amendment to this bill and that we would debated in both and sometimes you want and sometimes you losto in the moved onto the next next amendment. that actually happened on the senate floor and for people new to the senate they don't believe it but it did over and over and ove

the problem for donald trump, this is a former it senate ally. it was pushed to the senate. you want someone who is more fiery, who will attack some of his old opponents. several of the disagreements. some are more loyal to the president and the campaign. confirm the attorney general if he embarrasses him, he may quit or asked for his resignation. >> jon: he also, the president also, rachel, said he thought hillary clinton had suffered enough, and she ought to be left alone. notes one of his statements after he won the election. why now go after his attorney general and suggest she be prosecuted? >> that is exactly a question that was raised by breitbart, which is very pro-trump conservative publication. they normally align with president trump, came out blasting the president or knocking jeff session. you yourself have been hard on hillary clinton coming lock her up, lock her up, and then all of a sudden backing off after the election same, you feel sorry. there are people who are not happy for blasting jeff session the way he is. it is interesting. i was coming out of a pr

the senate will stand in recess the senate will stand in recess open up for debate. >> host: year is where things stand. the senate came in at noon eastern today. they have recessed the republicans and democrats going to weekly party meetings. we expect them to come back at 2:10 p.m. eastern. the timing of the vote getting a little more clarity. the bout will be on a motion to proceed whether to begin debate on health care legislation. timing information here from our capitol hill producer craig kaplan talking about mitch mcconnell's comments rather appeared his intention is to do whatever it takes, no matter how small to get the house and senate gop into conference on health care. craig kaplan also says senator mccain will return to senate about 2:45 to cast a vote on a motion to proceed and talk to the press after that. senator paul who had earlier handouts then this morning the majority leader and for me to plan for today is to take up to 2015 clean repeal bill as urged. if that is the plan to read senator, i will vote to proceed to the snow. i also now believe we will defeat the

senator klobuchar. sen. klobuchar: thank you very much, senator schumer. and thank you so much for the work you have done. this is our moment. we have been waiting for this moment for months and months, in fact for years, because all we have ever heard since we started talking about changes we would like to see to the affordable care act has been repeal, repeal, repeal. the last few months we are on two versions of the house bill, two versions of the senate bill, and every single time it seems to get worse. we are now at a position where people% of the american approved the last republican version of the bill. last thing we hear about is repeal again. if they want to have a vote on that, fine, but we know where this is going to end up, and it will end up where we should have begun, and that is working, democrats and republicans, on positive changes to the american people to the affordable care act. we have never said it was a perfect bill. in fact the day it passed, i said it was the beginning and not an end. that is why i am a strong supporter of senator

graham, senator rubio and senator capet. senator graham? >> you were asked by senator murphy about how many people will drop coverage, voluntarily, i guess for lack of a better world. the cbo report indicates to me, that 15 million people will drop coverage they have today, because they'll be no fine if they don't provide if they're not covered. do you understand it that way, too? >> senator, i have not, let me say this. the cbo report is something that before i comment on -- >> do you know the answer to my question? >> senator -- >> my question is it's my belief that the cbo report says that 50 million americans will drop the coverage they have today, because they won't have to pay a fine because we'll eliminate the fine. >> senator, i won't contest your belief. >> well i may be wrong. but you know, check it out. you don't have to answer right now. are you familiar with the returning worker problem with h 2 b visa program? >> yes, i am, senator. >> you have the authorities as i understand it, to fix that problem, legislativ

senator schumer: let us pray. [laughter] senator schumer: i mean, we haven't seen it. and i told the president we want to work with him on issues like infrastructure. but his idea of bipartisanship is he comes up with a bill, we have no input and then we should support it. that's not just how the world works. reporter: you said the president's tweet about letting obamacare implode was small. are you trying to call his bluff? what if republicans refused to work with democrats on -- senator schumer: it will -- [phone ringing] senator schumer: i shut it off. hurt the american people and him. a large number of republicans and trump supporters, they are saying it is on his watch. his job as president is to make people's lives better, not wage a political war and hurt people to make a political point. it will fail. it will fail and his republican colleagues know that. reporter: you talk about the bipartisan ship. how did you read those comments and can you point to one particular policy you think you can work with republicans? senator schumer: i think there are a bunch. the

that he's in the senate. that said, i don't know about the article, the january politico article, that suggested that someone in the ukraine wanted to pass some information off to the clinton campaign, but i think i know the answer to this -- i think you know the answer to the question, did ukraine hack the rnc's database, did they hack, kellyanne conway, did the clintons want to build a hotel in kiev? i think there's a big difference here and we know what russia did and that's a big deal. and thank you for saying that part of your job is making sure it doesn't happen again. we here of course have oversight over the fbi. will you come before us periodically so that we can do our oversight? >> yes, senator, i expect i'll be seeing a fair amount of the committee if confirmed. >> and likewise do you think that attorney general sessions should come before us periodically so we can exercise our oversight? >> well, senator, i don't speak to the attorney general and his appearances, but i'm sure he values this commi

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president, i would ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, this is an exciting day. after years and years, there are some of my republican colleagues have begun to understand that we cannot continue a dysfunctional health care system which allows 28 million americans to have no health insurance, which forces us to pay the highest prices in the world by far for health care, and even higher prices, outrageously high prices for prescription drugs. so i understand that senator daines has introduced a medicare for all single-payer system. i congratulate him. it sounds to me like the republicans are beginning to catch on about the need to transform our health care and join the rest of the industrialized world. so i say to senator daines, if he is prepared to vote for this legislation and if he can get maybe five, six more republicans to vote for this legislat

senator danes: senator perdue, thank you for holding this press conference. many of us here came from the private sector. there is a lot of private sector experience here. one of the great gaps between the private sector and what goes on in washington, d.c., is the word that senator perdue used is results or lack thereof. look at a couple of the scorecard issues in the united states senate for congress. the budgeting process has worked four times in 42 years. that's 10%. of 197 presidential nominations to agencies, the senate confirmed 48. that's a 24% score. two out of trump's judicial nominations is 9%. the senate confirmed 23% of trump's 216 nominations. that's 11% score. as senator perdue mentioned, we have health care, we have budgets. only 31 scheduled days in the senate between now and the end of our fiscal year. september 30 to get a budget passed. this past year we were seven months into the fiscal year before we finally passed a budget. i don't see any reason why we need to be leaving this town in august. we should be here doing the people's busines

the amendment by senator donnelly and others will do what senator john mccain asked us to do yesterday. go back to the regular order. go back to the committee process. go back to the way this democratic institution is supposed to work where we hear from our constituents, we hear from the doctors, we hear from the nurses. we don't cover our eyes and ears to the facts and the truth. and that open process is designed to protect the american people. it's designed to american people from bills just like this one where this senate took that dangerous first step down the road on proposals that only 11% of the american people think is a good idea, 11%. i can't even find that 11% myself. i've gone all over the state of maryland to those parts of our state that voted for donald trump as president and those that didn't. i can't find 11%. in maryland who are for this bill. so that's why what we call the regular order around here is supposed to protect the public interest because when you have a committee hearing on a bill like this and the doctors and the nurses and the hospitals all come out and

or what senator schumer and senate democrats apparently believe is a better course. no reforms, no changes. just bailout insurance companies by throwing billions of dollars at them without any reform. we're not interested in that. we think we got a better plan. we invite our democratic colleagues to join us. under the budget process they have an opportunity to offer amendments to the plan. there's no restriction. so we would invite them to participate in the process to come up with a better product than the failure of obamacare, much less bailing out insurance companies by throwing billions of dollars at them trying to prop up a failed experiment. >> the news on health care doesn't get any better for people in this country. there are going to be two million fewer people this year with insurance than had it last year, so the number of uninsured goes up, the costs continues to go up, probably a correlation of there and the highest number of people in this country in a gallup poll now cite health care being their number one concern, highest number since 2007 and in fact

senator graham and senator rubio and then senator capito is the list i have. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you asked, senator murphy, about how many people would drop coverage voluntarily i guess the lack of a better word. the cbo report indicates to me, maybe i'm reading it wrong, that 15 million people would drop coverage today because there will be no fines if they don't provide come if they are not covered. do you understand it that way? >> senator, i have not, let me say this. the cbo report is something that before i comment speedy do you know the answer to my question? >> senator -- >> my question is, it's my belief that the cbo report says that 15 million americans would drop the covert sent today because they won't have to pay a fine because it will eliminate the fine. >> , i will not contest your bullet. >> i may be wrong but check it out. you have to answer right now. are you the money with the returning worker problem of h-2b visa program? >> sim, senator. >> you have the authority as i understand it to fix that problem. in other words, legislatively except for last y

i want to thank the cosponsors here in the senate, senator paul, senator donnelly, senator murphy, all of those who played in the congressional baseball game. also in the house, the managers of the republican and democratic teams respectively, joe barton and mike dwell. this is one of the best institutions in congress, one of the most bipartisan institutions, this congressional baseball game. we're able to raise a lot of money for needy causes and also for the capitol police. we want to make sure a lot of the money that was raised this year, that a portion of that money can go to these deserving individuals who helped us out and in a very real way saved our lives. i ask unanimous consent that the committee on rules be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 3298, and that the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 3298, an act to authorize the capitol police board to make payments from the united states capitol police memorial fund to employees of the united states capitol police who sustained serious line of d

senator schumer: i think there are a bunch. the things i mentioned at the beginning had bipartisan support. even leader mcconnell said a few weeks ago if this fails we'll work with chuck schumer and the democrats and the first -- thing we want to do is try whether in the budget negotiations or elsewhere, we want to have -- the insurance industry, hardly our allies, said one way to keep premiums down is to have cost sharing permanent. that will have bipartisan support. even talked to paul ryan this morning about working together on these kinds of things and there's a thirst to do it and i just hope, as i said, the magic moment of john mccain last night has lasting effect and makes us work together in a better way and both sides are to blame for the past. reporter: senator, democrats have made opposing president trump a big part of what you're about right now. are you ready to say the democratic voters, we will work with republicans and get something signed by this president? senator schumer: my first conversation with president

senator ben sasse presiding. senator patty murray. let's turn to chris stirewalt.someone who knows a thing or two about the white house press office, dana perino. previously press secretary to george w. bush. a lot of back-and-forth about the bill. you just heard what senator thune said. let's hear a democratic senator earlier tonight. >> this is nuclear grade bonkers what's happening tonight. we are about to reorder one fifth of the american health care system then we will have two hours to review a bill which at first blush stands essentially as health care system arson. >> bret: senator murphy. >> he ain't all wrong. this is a horrible way to reassure people that you care about their health insurance and their family and all of their stuff. this is as bad or worse than what democrats did in 2009 when they were stumbling and tumbling through on obamacare. i will put it this way. you are talking about what's going to happen, there will be fake debate on insincere amendments to a nonexistent bill buried >> bret: other than that, it's a-ok? >> we wonder why people d

and to the senators who courageously, senatormy cullsky and senator collins and senator mccain,

president, first i want to thank senator cork,i thank to thank senator crapo and senator brown, senator schumer and mcconnell l for their help in getting us to this moment. this is an important moment for our country. and i'm very proud of what we were able to accomplish. a senator: order, mr. president. the presiding officer: members will come to order. mr. cardin: the legislation we are about to vote on will give the united states the strongest possible hand to stand up against the aggression of russia. russia attacked us and our democratic institutions. russia invaded the sovereignty of other countries, including ukraine and georgia. russia has participated in war crimes in syria. and this legislation will give the united states the strongest possible hand in taking action against russia, mandatory sanctions are included in this legislation in regards to the energy sector, the financial sector, intelligence and defense sector. not only with primary sanctions but with secondary sanctions. this legislation provides for a democracy fund working with europe to protect ourselves against r

it's not reserved to these five senators. i've talked to a number of republican senators today. in fact, every republican senator that i've talked to today said that they do not want this bill to become law. the skinny repeal. that they only want to use it as a vehicle to get into the conference committee where they can hash it out with their house colleagues and come up with something that is something that's a little bit more pal lathable, both a repeal and a replacement. i talked specifically to mike rounds of south dakota who said that he has great concerns that if the skinny repeal were passed into law that it would really disrupt the insurance markets and also be dangerous for medicaid. he definitely doesn't want it to become law. the fact that you see a group of very powerful republican senators, and these are all well known republican senators, that are essentially going to come out and do a press conference arm and arm, they're sending a message here to the house of representatives and to speaker paul ryan specifically saying we are only voting for this because we trust

leader, senator mcconnell.f you want to fix health care we're here to sit in with you right now and fix it. and i was naÏve enough to think that because i was on the h.e.l.p. committee i might be included in the discussion about health care. we've had hearings in our committee meeting hearings on nominees, on pensions, on higher ed, on the fda but there's been one taboo topic on the h.e.l.p. committee since i got on it in january. h we are not allowed to have a hearing about health care. h we haven't had hearings about the house bill. we haven't had hearings about the senate proposals. we're being told by not goingav have a hearing, we'll just rush whatever we do to the floorit either on a house proposal, senate proposal or senate repealed. we will completely skipped knowi committee. now mr. president, you know a bit about this committee.on have a doctor on the committee. senator cassidy from louisiana. our chair -- >> we will leave this at this point and go live now to just senator senators have just gaveled i

senator johnson: it would not. reporter: senator graham. senator graham. senator graham. senator mccain. what do you say to people -- you gave this big speech about returning to regular oorder, say you want to work with democrats, what do you say to people who say you should vote no? and send this thing back to committee -- senator mccain: right now i am voting no. unless i see that there is a path to a conference that will come out with a result that will address the challenges. the status quo in my state is unsatisfactory. that's why i'm working with the governor of my state who has proposed three different amendments which i will be putting up for votes as we go through. if it satisfies the governor, then i would be satisfied. right now, my governor is not satisfied. reporter: has the parliamentarian said your amendment would be conferenceable? senator graham: i'm 99% sure we'll get a memo from the parliamentarian saying the graham-cassidy-heller, maybe johnson, bill will be conferenceable. and that block has been checked. i really wasn't too much worried about anythin

work if theyis were concerned about senator mccain? >> they say he will be back next week to debate this. we will see, it is that clear at this rate, a letter senators are concerned primarily about his health i know they are thinking about him a lot. guest on twitter grade she also writes for the washington examiner. thank you for your time. >> tonight on afterwards a journalist reports on how fear tactics are used to influence public opinion in her book. she is interviewed by a washington post critic. postu have the washington will feel properly reported on this, as opposed to saying donald trump why are you smearing john mccain? i am not here to focus in downtown or john mccain. behavior for that, does not mean i support him or i am cheered him on. i see that as a separate thing. it is rather you must be supporting him because you said this paid it has nothing to do with that. out about that including some of the washington post coverage. >> watch afterwards tonight. >> now a house judiciary subcommittee hearing with federal, state a

i was just on a trip with several of my colleagues, senator warren, senator purdue, senator graham, senatori whitehouse. the fourth of july n an outsi -- kabul and outside f kabul. there were a number of events that we do with them for fourth of july. we do a town hall meeting with a large number of men and women who are in uniform. senator graham, as happens once every decade, asked an astute question. he asked how many in the room were there for more than the first time in afghanistan. the majority raised their hand. he said how many have been here more than twice? the majority raised their hands. he said, how many have been here three times? a significant number raised their hands. in other words, to me it was something that was a graphic demonstration of the incredible burden that our active duty military has been bearing over the last 15 or 16 years. they're brave. they're proud. they're the best, maybe, we've had in a long, long time. but they're not fully equipped, and they're not fully trained, and they're not given the authority and responsibility that they need in order to win thi

my friend, the senator from delaware, senator coons, put it best. he said, they said, yeah, we'll sell you a car. it'll be cheaper, but it'll have no butcher and no steering -- but it'll have no bumper, no steering wheel. it won't serve its purpose. the insurer can say, no hospitalization. no payment for drugs. what good are they? it is a talking point. it doesn't help people. it hurts them. the cruz amendment would also make insurance unaffordable for americans who need it most, creating what even the very conservative american action forum say would be a death spiral in the marketplace. and again my friend shall the senior senator from iowa, said the cruz are amendment would, quote, annihilate the preexisting condition requirement, unquote. that's not church schumer. that's not -- that's not chuck schumer. that's not bill nelson. that is chuck grassley, one of the most senior republican senators from the great state of iowa who says that. i.t. not fake. it's real what he said. can't wash it away. and the cruz amendment winds back the clock in a am

senator mcconnell lost kansas senator jerry moran and utah senator mike lee. they both issued statements tonight at the same time. mike lee said, in addition to not repealing all of the obamacare taxes, it doesn't go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families, nor does it create enough free space from the most costly obamacare regulations. and, yes, that statement is self-contradictory. what you're going to see in all of the republican -- almost all the republican opposition to this bill is that the republican senators opposing it lay out principles that are absolutely unmeetable by any form of this legislation. senator moran criticized the closed-door process that produced the bill, and he said, we should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy. furthermore, if we leave the federal government in control of everyday health care decisions, it is more likely that our health care system will devolve into a single-payer system, which would require a massive federal spending increase. we must now start fresh with an open legislative process to de

the senator from tennessee and the senator from washington. the senator from utah. the senator from oregon. they have worked well together in the past. they can work well together in the future. there is suggestions that we are interested in that come from members on the other side of the aisle. senator from maine and senator from louisiana. let's turn the page and work together to improve our health care system. let's turn the page in another way. all of us were so inspired. by the speech and the life of the senator from arizona. he asked us to go back to regular order. to bring back the senate that some of us who were here have been here a while remember. maybe this can be a moment where we start doing that. both sides will have to give. the blame hardly falls on one side or the other. but if we can take this moment, a solemn moment, and start working this body the way it had always worked until the last decade or so with both sides to blame for the deterioration, we will do a better job for our country, better job for this body, a better job for ourselves. and fi

the senate -- on the senate on health care.he senate is scheduled to vote this afternoon on proceeding to debate on the actual bill. it's a two-step process. but yesterday, here at the white house, we saw president trump engaged in this issue, engaged in this matter, more so than ever before, using the power of the presidency, that unique megaphone, to make the case for why republicans, he says, should vote for this bill. >> for the last seven years, republicans have been united in standing up for obamacare's victims. remember repeal and replace? repeal and replace. they kept saying it over and over again. every republican promised immediate relief from this disastrous law. we as a party must fulfill the solemn promise to the voters. >> reporter: president trump engaged, and vice president mike pence engaged, as well. we received word monday evening that senator john mccain will be on hand today in the senate to also cast a vote in this. of course he is recovering and in treatment for an aggressive type of brain cancer. his vot

when you have such a tiny margin in the senate, every senator matters. he has not repaired the relationships with the senators he actually needs to pass his agenda. >> all right. so let's talk about how this dynamic plays out from here. you referred earlier to when mccain did that, you did hear a little bit of pleasant surprise. those were the democrats, but their leader, schumer, did put a cap on it somewhat uncharacteristically. why? because they've got proshs with the aca and need to figure out a way forward. let's hear to chuck schumer last night about what happened and m what it means. >> let's turn the page in another way. all of us were so inspired by the speech and the life of the senator from arizona. he asked us to go back to regular order, to bring back the senate that some of us who have been here a while remember. maybe this can be a moment where we start doing that. >> so who wants to pick up the ball on that? the last time chuck schumer did this, the president came out and mocked his emotion. he hasn't done that so far. in all objectivity,

i don't think that john chafee, senator john chafee, beloved senator, neither he nor senator hatch, senator grassley came up with that. i think it was an idea from the heritage foundation. it was a good idea. it was a good idea in 1993. it was a good idea in 2006 in massachusetts and it was a good idea when we folded it into the affordable care act as one of the major pillars. i want to go back and revisit 2009 just for a little bit. there are those who believe that there was no bipartisan involvement. it was just hustled through without a lot of thought or debate. as it turns out i think we spent 80 days all told in the united states senate in 2009 debating the bill in committees, two committees of jurisdiction. i served then and serve now in the finance committee. we spent a lot of time in debates and markups. people had a chance to offer amendments, debate it. the health, education, labor, pension committee spent a lot of time that year, 2009, similarly, bipartisan hearings, bipartisan amendments, debate. all told i believe over 300 amendments were offered. in senate committees of jurisd

senator hatch and senator leahy and other members of the judiciary committee. it's a great honor to appear before this committee today for the purpose of introducing christopher wray. the president's nominee to be the director of the federal bureau of investigation. history does seem to rhyme. in 1977, i introduced judge griffin bell to this committee recommending him to be confirmed as attorney general. like today, it was a challenging time for the department of justice as well as for the fbi. i described judge bell then as a man noted for his quick mind, his candor, his integrity and his independence. years later in may 2003, judge bell contacted me. i was out of the senate at that stage. praising chris wray as a rising star. he suggested that i recommend him to my former senate colleagues as a terrific choice to be confirmed to head the criminal division of the department of justice. since that time, i followed chris' career in and out of government. i have satisfied myself fully that my support for chris in 2003 was well placed. i can assure this committee

in this, senator sullivan, senator young, senator heller, senator murkowski and others have worked on this proposal. i'm pleased that we have received a commitment that the senate will vote tonight on this approach, again, to help those on medicaid expansion and other low-income americans get access to affordable health care in the private market. this plan has two parts. first, it provides an additional $100 billion to the long-term stability fund in the better care reconciliation act to help people with out-of-pocket expenses such as deductibles and co-pays, ensuring those who transition from medicaid expansion into the private insurance under a new system not only have the tax credit to help them, which is part of the underlying bill, but also have this additional help for affordable coverage options. second is a medicaid wrap-around that allows states to provide cost sharing assistance to low-income individuals who transition from medicaid to private insurance and receive a tax credit on the exchange. the state could use this flexibility in combination with this long-term stabilit