and gentlemen, the majority whip of the united states house of representatives, the honorable steve scalisety of new orleans where we host the national world war ii museum, where we pay tribute to those brave men and women of the greatest generation that defended our freedoms during world war ii. almost 73 years ago today 80 brave airmen stepped forward and volunteered from a mission that they knew very well may be their last. these 80 men, the doolittle tokyo raiders believed our freedom, liberties and defense of our nation, our american way of life, in fact, were worth flying into the own known and risking their lives for. they believed that their selfless participation in this mission was simply, as they put it, doing their job. after japan's attack on pearl harbor, the american war effort was demoralized and wounded. lieutenant colonel james doolittle and his men's heroic raid over tokyo turned the tide in our favor and telegraph add message to the rest of the world that america will not back down and, in fact, america will fight and will win. today as members of the house and senate le

in louisiana, we are lucky to have steve scalise as majority whip. he brings clarity to the situation and brings power. in our louisiana delegation, if we have an issue that we want pushed to the front burner, where do we go? we go to scalise. bill: you talked about your background, but what in your background best qualified you for being a member of congress? rep. abraham: probably the veterinary and the physician role. it does take some study to get to those particular places in life can eat up here in congress, you have to do your homework. you do not just come every day and show up. i'mi go home and tonight, usually reading material from the previous committee hearings for the rest of the week. my staff has given me tasks to bolster myo hopefully knowledge base for whatever comes down deep hype. -- the pipe. it takes a lot of after-hours work to stay ahead of the game and you have got to stay ahead of the game here. bill: some of the numbers i've to -- to -- talked speaking about the figures of after-hours work, and number of them are staying in

the president responded to mitch mcconnell and other members of congress, including steve scalise who tweeted, mr. president, the americans deserve to know the details about the secrets ideals. you will have your chance to comment when we take your calls in about one hour. has the administration made its case for the iran nuclear agreement. call and after the president's speech. you can add your thoughts on twitter and our facebook page. now the president speech from earlier today at american university. [applause] pres. obama: thank you. thank you so much. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. everybody, please have a seat. thank you very much. i apologize for the slight delay. even presidents have a problem with toner. [laughter] it is a great honor to be back at american university, which has prepared generations of young people for service in public life. i want to thank president kerwin and the american university family for hosting us here today. 52 years ago, president kennedy, at the height of the cold war, addressed this same university on the subject of peace. the berli

times have you found yourself going to the house floor and not knowing what the vote is about four steve scalise has to fill you in on where you're headed? rep. abraham: every morning, i -- my staff brings me a list of what we will vote on that day. we have actually discussed that in prior week to what is coming up. as far as knowing what we are voting on, i read every day. if there are amendments that may have an undertow that i need to seek leadership's opinion on, i can go to scalise or mccarthy. there always on the floor and i can go to those people. i look at the louisiana delegation. we have very good congressman who have been here a while and they know the issues. i will talk to them from time to time and say, hey, fill me in on what we need to do here. bill: what are some of the items that have been working on in the early part of the 1/14? rep. abraham: for louisiana, it has been issues with fema. the epa's water rule goes back to my foresters and how the epa is affecting their livelihood. they expect me to push back, express their interest, and be a representative. and that is what we

in louisiana, we are lucky to have steve scalise as majority whip. he brings not only character and clarity to the situation and brings power. in our louisiana delegation, if we have an issue that we want pushed to the front burner, where do we go? we go to scalise. bill: you talked about your background, but what in your background best qualified you for being a member of congress? rep. abraham: probably the veterinary and the physician role. it does take some study to get to those particular places in life. being up here and show up. and i go home and tonight, i'm usually reading material from the previous committee hearings for the rest of the week. my staff has given me tasks to do that also bolster my hopefully knowledge base for whatever comes down the pipe. it takes a lot of after-hours work to stay ahead of the game and you have got to stay ahead of the game here. bill: some of the numbers i've talked to -- speaking about the figures of after-hours work, and they number of them are staying in her office. they're living accommodations are in t

going back to hurricane katrina, which my good friend, steve scalise talked about, that the total loss of life in hurricane atrina is over 1,800 people. 1,577 of those people were from louisiana. and let me break down some of the causes of death. 40% of the deaths were caused by drowning. 25% by injury and trauma. and heart conditions caused another 11%. and if you remember the devastation and destruction on the tv's that covered it, you understand the anxiety of the people that were down there, suffered. let me go into the other statistics, to just say, many people always say that hurricane katrina was one of the largest natural disasters in the history of the united states. i appreciate the sentiment, but factually that is not correct. hurricane katrina was a result combined e disaster with a natural disaster. the army corps of engineers noticed that the levees in -- that protected new orleans in the metro area were not sufficient. and when the storm hit, the evees washed away. there was a mississippi gulf outlet, it was designed by the corps of engineers to allow ship traffic to the

steve scalise complained about the secret side deals, and the president fired back important detail thereuestion about any part of the deal. that's what the president tweeted. here is cnn's chief national security correspondent jim sciutto. >> i am stating a fact. >> reporter: today the president made an impassioned, even defiant defense of the iran nuclear deal attempting to dissuade skeptical lawmakers from blocking the agreement. >> i have had to make a lot of tough calls as president, but whether or not this deal is good for american security is not one of those calls. it's not even close. >> reporter: but the skeptics got new ammunition today. cnn has learned that the u.s. intelligence community believes iran is attempting to clean up one of the most sensitive suspected nuclear sites. the military installation after satellite imagery showed heavy construction equipment including bulldozers. the president dismissed activity that iran can hide nuclear activity. >> nuclear material isn't something you hide in the closet. it can leave a trace for years. the bottom line is if iran cheats

from boehner all the way down to scalise, and in louisiana we're lucky to have steve as our majority wip. he brings not only some character and clarity to the situation, but he also brings some power. so as louisiana and louisiana delegation, if we have an issue that we want pushed to the front burner, well, where do we go? we go to scalise. >> you talked about your background a little, what do you think is in your background that best qualified you for being a member of congress? >> it's probably the veterinarian and the physician role. it takes some study to get to those particular places in life. and being up here in congress you have to do your homework. you just don't come up here every day and just show up. when i go home at night i'm usually reading my material for the previous committee hearings the rest of the week. my staff has given me tasks to do that also bolsters hopefully my knowledge base for whatever's coming down coming down the pike. so it takes a lot of after hours to stay ahead of the game. and you have to stay ahead of the game here. >> we tossed out the figures

going back to hurricane katrina, which my good friend, steve scalise talked about, that the total lossf life in hurricane atrina is over 1,800 people. 1,577 of those people were from louisiana. and let me break down some of the causes of death. 40% of the deaths were caused by drowning. 25% by injury and trauma. and heart conditions caused another 11%. and if you remember the devastation and destruction on the tv's that covered it, you understand the anxiety of the people that were down there, suffered. let me go into the other statistics, to just say, many people always say that hurricane katrina was one of the largest natural disasters in the history of the united states. i appreciate the sentiment, but factually that is not correct. hurricane katrina was a result combined e disaster with a natural disaster. the army corps of engineers noticed that the levees in -- that protected new orleans in the metro area were not sufficient. and when the storm hit, the evees washed away. there was a mississippi gulf outlet, it was designed by the corps of engineers to allow ship traffic to the n

steve scaliss. he also brings some power. as our louisiana delegation, if we have an issue that we want to be pushed to the front burner, well, where do we go? we go to scalise. what do you think is in your background that best qualifies you for being in congress? >> that's probably the veterinarian and the physician role. it takes some study to get to those particular places in life. and being up here in congress you have to do your homework. you just don't come up here and show up. when i come home tonight i read my material for my committee for the rest of the week. my staff has given me task to do that bolsters my knowledge base for whatever's coming down the pike. so it takes a lot of after-hours work to stay ahead of the game and you have to stay ahead of the game here. >> some of the members we've talked to have tossed out the figures speaking of after-hours work that a number of them are staying in their offices, their living accommodations are in their offices. are you a member of that club? >> early on i was and it was because of the finances. i refuse to pay exor by tant rent fees. i'm pretty tight with the dollar until diane found us something af