well the latest that the bill has passed out of the senate judiciary committee as of this morning this is in the eyes of a whole lot of people here the first major hurdle of course the bill has yet to face the full senate and the house but as of now what this says is that as you mention police and other federal agencies must obtain a warrant and able to in order to have access to any individual's electronic communications we're talking about stuff that's stored in your g. mail google docs and facebook and twitter before the law is much different and it's really crazy to think that we have gone this long that the last version of this bill was as you said back in one nine hundred eighty six it's twenty twelve now and they have finally done this and something important that i should mention is that as of just a few days ago there was some different language in the bill that made it so that twenty two agencies federal agencies like the federal communications commission the securities and exchange commission would have been able to obtain information simply by saying it was necessary to an

this bill which the senate judiciary committee passed, will preserve that right. >>shepard: the united nations story coming up and the stow -- story at white house ahead. [ male announcer ] this december, remember -- you can stay in and share something... or you can get out there and actually share something. ♪ the lexus december to remember sales event is on. this is the pursuit of perfection. the lexus ♪ cember to remember sales event is on. ♪ [ male announcer ] everyone deserves the gift of all day pain relief. this season, discover aleve. all day pain relief with just two pills. >>shepard: the vote is happening at the united nationses and this is the palestinian leader aback head of the wet bank and leader of the palestinian people. as he came to the electric turn to give the speech he got a partial standing ovation at the general assembly. i say partial because you know everyone was not standing up but the vast majority were. when the vote is complete we will let that and we waiting to hear from morsi overseas in egypt. >> and it turned out not to be a speech

. >>> this morning the senate judiciary committee will consider a bill touted as a major step towardwards your electronic privacy. undercurrent law a warrant is needed only for e-mails that are less than six months old. critics say the bill will do little to keep law enforcement from combing through e-mail. >>> i-team exclusive, state prison officials denied parole for one of the chowchilla kidnappers. fred woods and two other men abducted a busload of children from the central valley town in 1976. they drove them to a quarry in livermore and locked them in a buried van. the 26 children and bus driver managed to dig their way out after 16 hours before the kidnappers could deliver a five million dollar ransom demand. one was released, in february. the parole board denied woods' release the board said he didn't take full responsibility for his role in the crime. exclusive new details on the kidnapping tonight on abc7 news at 6:00. >>> new york still cleaning up from superstorm sandy and nation another problem, looting. thieves raided a school in queens and took off with $100,000 worth

for the new digital world in earlier versions of the bill the democratic chairman of the senate judiciary committee vermont's patrick leahy said the law should protect internet users by requiring law enforcement agencies to obtain a search warrant before looking at any e-mail but a new version of the bill heavily influenced by law enforcement agencies makes it even easier for the government to read our e-mails as seen ever reports the new bill would give twenty two different agencies the legal authority to read emails private google docs person to person twitter messages and private facebook posts all without a search warrant the law also doesn't even require the f.b.i. and homeland security to notify the user or even a judge at the end of last week under pressure from several privacy organizations including the american civil liberties union senator leahy dropped his support for this new law but as a right now the bill still remains loaded with intrusive provisions and it's still scheduled to be voted on by the senate later this week so what more do you need to know about it what does privacy mean

>>reporter: as member of the senate judiciary committee senator durbin of illinois haas is doing a broad review of prison other policy. >> voters want to make sure those in government spend their money well and not wasting it. i also think they don't want america to be known as a country that does inhumane thing to the prisoners and incarcerates them unfairly for any lengthy period of time not justified. >>reporter: this week vote signal a new direction for california which was at the fore front of introducing law like 3 strike. >> all eyes on california here. california started this trend as it starts so many trends and people are really lack to go see what people in the state are going to do with 3 strike law. >>reporter: adam director of public policy safety research at the center on the state says other states have also started to temper sentencing laws. >> those states may willing to revisit what they have done and may go a little further and other half of the state that haven't broached this issue in a serious way will probably say maybe now it's time. >>reporter: mean time for tho

the other big development here on capitol hill had to do with the ranking member of the senate judiciary committee, chuck grassley is now asking the justice department as well as the fbi to provide all the names of the individuals who were involved in the investigation into the cia director and also, those who signed off on the court orders that gave investigators access to his e-mail account, eric. >> thank you very much, catherine herridge. representative peter king, member of the house intelligence committee who was in the closed door hearing and questioned david petraeus directly, spoke about what he heard from petraeus. >> i had a very different recollection of what he told us on september 14th. he barely mentioned terrorism at that time. he deemphasized it, he emphasized the video, he emphasized spontaneous demonstration and as far as the terrorist questions, he really minimized it totally. and also on the talking points, megan, which came from the cia, the famous talking points that supposedly susan rice relied on, they said talk came from cia, specifically mentioned al-qaeda and that al-qa

. >> good evening, the regular republican on the senate judiciary committee, senator grassley, wants them to know who signed off on the fbi investigation and mon storing david petraeus's personal e-mail and what is the relationship with his biographer came to light after a fbi background check. and the department official under president bush said that they seemed to be investigating the benghazi controversy with the same particular approach he used in the fast and furious gun running scandal. >> senator grassley's questions covered a very broad scope from the beginning of investigation throughout it up until its conclusion and it seems to me they want to get to the who, what, when and where, about why they started and. >> they recently defend the decision not to make the notification. >> had we made the determination, na that a threat existed. we of course would have made that known to the president and also to the appropriate members on the hill. >> and the head of the house and senate intelligence committee recently seen this no note-- >> and catherine herridge with the latest, th

we have just learned that chuck grassley, the ranking member of the senate judiciary committee, has sentto attorney general eric holder and robert mueller pressing for details about the role of their departments in the investigation. among his questions, why wasn't the president informed of the investigation, which began in the summer, before last week? today, attorney general eric holder defended his action. >> we felt very secure in the knowledge that a national security threat did not exist that warranted the sharing of that information with the white house or with the hill. but when we got to a point in the investigation, it was very late in the investigation, after a very critical interview occurred on the friday before, we made that disclosure when we got to that point to share the information, we did so. >> but did they do so soon enough? lewis gutierrez joins us now, the intelligence committee and republican representative jason chaffitz. let me just start with you, representative gutierrez. are you satisfied with attorney general holder's explanation as to why he did not tell th

my biggest supporter on the senate judiciary committee was senator orrin hatch.e wrote an ro biography in which he takes great pride in the president, president clinton having called him before he nominated me and before he nominated just prior and said i'm thinking of nominating ruth later ginsberg, steven briar, and i said they would be ok. it was that bipartisan spurred, there were no hardboiled questions. they were mostly using me to speak through me to their constituents to show how caring they were, how well informed they were, they spent a lot more time talking with us than i did. the white house was very concerned about my aclu connection. i helped launch the women's rights commission and had been on the council for seven years. there was not a single question about my aclu affiliation. that would not have happened in recent years. i think what it will take is a great statesman on both sides of the aisle. this is not to fall one party rather than the other. it started with bob bork with the democrats. babbitt been the over 30-vote on someone as superbly q

separately, the ranking member of the senate judiciary committee, chuck grassley n a letter to the attorneyeneral and the fbi director is asking for a detailed briefing before the end of next week on the legal authorities obtained to monitor the former cia director's e-mail by the fbi as well as the legal analysis that allowed them to conclude that they did not need to notify congress, nor the white house of this ongoing investigation with national security implications, jon. jon: katherineer ridge in washington, thank you. jenna: now we turn to afghanistan where nearly 70,000 u.s. troops continue to fight today. afghan president hamid karzai is accusing the u.s. of violating an agreement on transferring detainees. this comes as leaders in kabul oppose offering immunity to american forces after that 2014 withdrawal deadline. this is a key sticking point in negotiations with the u.s., and we saw a similar debate emerge as we were withdrawing or drawing down in iraq. conor powell is live in kabul with more. >> reporter: well, jenna, this is just the latest in a long line of disputes between p

>> reporter: the ranging member of the senate judiciary committee is now asking fear detailed briefing before the end of next week on the legal authorities obtained to monitor the former cia director's e-mail by the fbi and the legal analysis that the fbi and the justice department did not need to notify the white house of the ongoing investigation. and these questions go to the heart of the investigation fan the notification process and why the attorney general or eric holder believed he had the legal authority not to advise congress or the president given their national security interests. martha: meanwhile secretary of state hillary clinton will testify at the next hearing on the benghazi attacks. that is set to take place in early december it's going to be an open hearing, by the way. republican lawmakers say the obama administration is not being up front about what happened. pete king says these hearings are really we have to remember about the families of these four victims. >> it would be easier for the country and for our foreign policy if we have the administration be honest a

senator, thanks for his big heart, especially his big hard toward his people. mr. president, i -- his big heart toward his people. i want to make a few comments before the chairman of the judiciary committee addresses the senate. and i'm very happy that he's here because he knows about what i'm going to talk about, which is the attempts at suppressing the vote in the state of florida done a year and a half ago by the state legislature and the governor. they did a number of things to try to suppress the vote. the first thing they did was to make it much more difficult to register people to vote the league of women voters that had been registering people for 72 years in florida stopped because of the onerous provisions of up to $1,000 fine that would be upon their members if they didn't turn it in within 48 hours. and that was thrown out in court as unconstitutional. but it was a year and a half later with all of those registrations not having been done. but then what they did, they constricted the number of early voting places, constricted the number of early voting days, constricted the number of early voting hours. and what do you think was the result? it's what you've seen on tv. the lo

and he wrote to the chairs of both the senate and the house judiciary committees about the distinguished senator's opposition to this cost-neutral public safety officers' benefits program reform, and he concluded concluded -- and i quote mr. canterbury -- "fraternal order of police views this not as embracing a principal of federalism, but a ploy between local and state officers that serve at the local level and employees that serve in the federal government. when a police officer puts himself in harm's way, he does not stop to think about jurisdiction. he does not ask the offender if he's committing a local, state or federal crime. he acts in the best interest of the safety of those he's sworn to protect. and a family that loses a loved one in the line of duty should not just be left to drift because their loved one was a local firefighter or state trooper and not a federal agent." mr. president, i would hope that the senate would overwhelmingly pass this bipartisan piece of legislation. again, i think back to my own experience in law enforcement as also the experience of senator ben ni

and, of course, he and i sit together -- or sit side-by-side on the senate judiciary committee, and i -- i congratulate him. these are milestones worth being noted. he, senator grassley, has had far more friends than mine. so i congratulate him, his wife barbara was kind enough to introduce -- both to recommend my wife for a cancer awareness award and then to introduce her just before we recessed. and it's been that kind of a relationship. those of us who live in rural areas, as the distinguished presiding officer knows, we require certain bonds and so i applaud the senator from iowa. and, mr. president, on a -- i have another subject if i -- if i might. incidentally, what is the -- what -- what is the parliamentary situation? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the following hour will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half. mr. leahy: mr. president, i'll take from the majority side. i know -- we all know that congress is now back

senators as standing for a qualification for the appointment. this fact was born on to me one afternoon during the course of the confirmation hearings. in the course of those hearings, the chairman of the judiciary committee, senator biden, as he was then, put a pointed question to me, a question that went right to the heart of qualification for the office. he called attention to the fact that i was a rural republican from almost as far north as you can in the north east. he posed the question whether i really could appreciate and hear the voices of people from a vast country who are very different from myself. he said -- how do we know that you will listen? it was a tense moment in the hearing. thanks to warren, i had an answer. i said -- mr. chairman, anyone who has been a close friend of warren rudman's for an appreciative amount of time knows how to listen. [laughter] [applause] if the hearing had been w been about warren, i could have gotten the agreement on the senators about a lot of other traits about warren that i have learned years back when i served under him as a senator ayotte mentioned in the attorney general's office. the people who did listen -- every man and woman to whom warren spoke alw

i didn't becausi think that's our job on the intelligence committee but i heard senator mccain say we have homeland security, we have judiciaryarmed services, foreign affairs, and intelligence committees. so for the sake of trying to get everybody on the same page without having constantly to call these witnesses over and over again, and monopolizing really the next year it is maybe a good idea but my focus on this as a former prosecutor has always been why did those americans die and what could we have done to prevent it? . for me it all boils down to the security at the two compounds there was grossly inadequate and it's something that hopefully in the future how do we improve on that and we have a lot of improvement to do because the way that we secure that compound on 9/11, we were only asking for trouble and trouble came. >> when you say grossly inadequate how do you mean? >> well, basically we had less than a handful of security there for the ambassador. i don't know why the ambassador was there on 9/11 to begin with but that is a whole other story. secondly we're relying on local libyan militia who if there was anythin

so the senate might be talking about it, but people that matter like lamar smith who was the chair of the judiciary committee, hasn't made a statement. he's bringing back the word amnesty real quick. >> words that matter, you have bobby jindal, the governor of louisiana, i feel like we should get a plug every time we say politico, but he says governor jindal says we must not be the party that protects the rich so they get to teep their toys. we also had enough of this dumb-down conservatism. we need to thrust the intelligence of the american people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of voters. so i mean he didn't say amnesty but we saw the heated rhetoric to insight fear and get people fired up and ready to be against any kind of program for the 12 to 14 million people in this country right now who obviously will not all be sent back to their home countries. >> i think that's right. they have painted themselves in sb into a corner in this respect. the republican base is not in favor of a pathway to citizenship. when people talk about comprehensive immigration reform, that's what they are talking

this is -- falls within the jurisdiction of the judiciary committee but the chairman, whose amendment it is, and the ranking member, senator grassl grassley, have both approved this amendment and i would simply alert other senators that if they wish to speak on this amendment, for or against, that it is our intention to proceed to a vote on the leahy amendment following the speaking of senator paul and senator feinstein. so i would ask unanimous consent that we proceed in that way. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. levin: i thank the presiding officer. mrs. feinstein: i thank the distinguished chairman and i thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: thank you very much. madam president, i am introducing an amendment which essentially was dealt with, a version of it was dealt with last year. the cosponsors of the amendment are senators paul, lee, coons, collins, lautenberg, gillibrand, and kirk. i ask unanimous consent to add senators tester, johnson of south dakota, saunders, whitehouse, and heller. the presiding officer: without objection, so or

i think i've seen and watched on the judiciary committee and the intelligence committee real problems with military commissions. and i think the senator graham understands that and has seen it as well. and i do not believe that the rate of conviction in any way equals the rate of convictions in federal courts. and the times given in federal courts. so it's very -- i really think this is very much a kind of political movement that guantanamo, isolated from everything, run by the military, is going to keep people for the rest of their lives without any ability to see them or go there or have any kind of communication. now, maybe that's what some people think. a terrorist act is also a criminal act. it is a heinous criminal act. and so, i really urge a "no" vote on this. and hopefully, if it passes it can be removed in conference. i yield the floor. mr. levin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. mr. levin: how much time remains on the opponents? the presiding officer: three minutes. mr. levin: mr. president, i very much oppose this amendment. we have a court system in this country which is second to none. and

judiciary committees. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> you're welcome. >> listen, first of all we want to talk about senate majority leader mitch mcconnellats of not being willing to compromise. take a quick listen. >> republicans have stepped out of our comfort zone, and yet we rem remain at an impasse. leading us to ask why. because a vocal minority on the hard left continues to argue to leaders of their party from the president on down, that democrats in washington should do absolutely nothing about short-term or long-term spending problems. >> so congresswoman he says that the republicans are outside their comfort zone. are democrats also out of their comfort zone? is everything on the table? not just medicaid and medicare, but also obama care? >> the president has made it abundantly clear that he's prepared to compromise if, in fact, the republicans understand that we have to raise taxes on the richest 1% or so in this country. they're not willing to do that. basically, what they're saying is, we can, you know, get the resources that we need, the revenue, rather, that we need, by closing loopholes, and some reforms. but they're not

senators of his generation. and they got things done like the chemical test treaty. he worked with the judiciary committee the crime bill. this is a congress that has -- >> why couldn't they do that over the past four years -- recreate that kind of cooperation? >> because you had 83 or 89 tea party republicans who went to the united states congress saying that not only would they not compromise but they wouldn't talk to democrats. my way or the highway. strom thurman who ran in 1948 never took that tact in the '80s and '90s and through the latter half of his career. jesse helms who went to the united states senate the same year my father did, very different fundamental philosophies. they knew to do the business of the american people, they needed to establish a relationship and get work done. and sometimes make compromises. but i think that's going to change things. not only is the president going to win, but the tea party darlings are not going to win. you're going to see claire m mccaskill win against todd akin. i think it's going to send a strong signal to the moderate and even conservative republicans

senate helping to lead the way. he understands how important the finance committee is. he understands how important the judiciary committee is that i'm on. he understands how important the biggest authorizing committee is. i've chaired that. i've chaired the judiciary committee x. with mitt romney's -- and with mitt romney's election, i intend to chair the finance committee. i hope we can do that. and if we can, we're going to get this country under control if that's where it happens. >> moderator: i'm going to ask a follow-up. given your position on the finance committee and the importance of these issues, would either of you favor a mix of increased taxes or at least retaining the taxes on people earning over a quarter of a million a year as part of an overall solution with budget cuts but reinstituting the taxes as they were before the bush tax cuts? mr. howell and then mr. hatch. howell: yes. and you've read my platform, and i've said from the very beginning that we have to go back and insure that we do take that, because we're facing a financial cliff. this sequestration that could happen could devastate al

to be assigned to the judiciary committee's subcommittee on immigration so that i could be a part of this debate, and i hope that i will join leaders in this effort, like senator schumer and senator menendez, in proposals to repair a broken system. and, clearly, our immigration system is in dire need of reform, comprehensive reform that will include the dream act. i've met and i've seen and experienced firsthand the stories of these dreamers that make the case so compellingly for the dream act, to enable them to earn their citizenship and continue contributing to the greatestation in thnation in thf the world, america. as we return from thanksgiving having expresseddure gratitude for our -- expressed our gratitude for our families, for our community, for our country, what better time to address this measure for people who appreciate maybe more than most of us the importance and value of citizenship? for more than a decade, senator durbin has championed this measure, and i'm honored to work with him on this effort. as attorney generals i advocated it at the state level but obviously only the federal government can change the laws relating to citizenship. and th

i've filed that bill to this year's ndaa as amendment 3115, along with the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, senator leahy. inow, senators feinstein and pal have a similar but slightly different approach to resolving the problems created by the detainee provisions passed last year. their there are efforts under way to ensure that whatever passage we take is supported by the greatest number of members possible and i look forward to being a part of those important discussions. i know that we addressed this issue in part last year, but in speaking with other members, i know there's a renewed interest in getting our detention policies right. both from the point of view of counterterrorism effectiveness and constitutional protection. i believe both security and freedom are critically important, and i don't think we have to choose one over the other. i want to thank my colleagues for remaining diligent in addressing the detention policies that remain a concern because americans must remain engaged on this issue. madam president, i yield the floor, and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding

senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 6063 and the senate proceed to its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 606 an act to amend title 18 united states code with respect to child pour nothinggraphy and child exploitation offenses. the presiding officer: is there an objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection the committee is discharge and the senate will proceed. mr. levin: mr. president i ask unanimous consent now that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate and any statements related to the bill be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. levin: i understand that s. 3637 introduced earlier today by senator reid -- that's senator reid of nevada -- is at the desk and i ask for its first reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the tile for the firms. the clerk: s.

president, that the judiciary committee be discharged from consideration of s. res. 518 and the senate proceed to its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 518, congratulating the southern baptist convention for electing reverend fred lutter jr. as the president of the southern baptist convention and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. levin: i ask now unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate and any related statements be placed in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. levin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 605 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 605, designating the week beginning november 26, 2012, as national tribal colleges and universities week. the presiding of