give the administration credit. to stay ahead of congressional slammed, avoid being it's important for the ministration to show what it's going to do. i hope that what david tessler said is a hint that when treasury comes out with its next sanctions, and i'm not giving i hope iting, addresses this. you nailed it. i agree that there is considerable potential for cooperation with europe to use the sanctions tool in response to a different kind of russia present in the ukraine. their attacks on our western political systems and use of dense information, and cyber hacking -- disinformation and cyber hacking. the french, spanish, bals, the polls, -- poles, there are -- thethat --the pol pols, they're facing that. i don't think russia has forgotten the last few days of the french election. there are tools including section 241, my personal favorite. i think, i think that the u.s. and europe have the potential to make it clear to the russians that there will becomes a quinces for further interference , and the stars may be

the overarching framework is the administrative state. third, for some cato libertarians what matters is not whether one say citizen or a client, but the consumer. for them, the transnational consumer in the global marketplace is superior to the rieft a free people to rule themselves by determining, for example, their own immigration policy. immigration enforcement by the trump administration is an example of republican government, small "r." it's based on the principle of sovereignty of the people. those core principles of sovereignty and consent are directly challenged by two forces in america today. by progressives and by some libertarians. on the transnational progressive left, nancy pelosi makes a clear case for open borders. quote, she says, we are all americans north and south in this hemisphere. this is a community with a border running through it. so much for citizenship. libertarian alex nor ras stat at the cato institute declares america's core founding principle is the enlightenment they're riff rights. freedom of movement sin

the former administration, the obama administration said that they would follow buy america policies for rif. does the current administration also believe in that buy america needs to be followed for the rif program. >> i think this administration, this president in feels very strongly about that. so we have been very, very tough on it. the buy america provision. it's not in the infrastructure proposal that's been discussed, but it's an overriding statute that all of us need to abide by and do abide. >> now i recognize mr. webster for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, secretary, for being here today, i appreciate your willingness to come and testify about something that's an important issue for all of us. i'm from central florida, we depend on transportation, it's a huge part of our economic engine when it deals with tourism. and we're a big user, i would like to keep going on the tifia program. we in central florida are big users of tifia. when you are talking about broadening the ability of state and local governments to apply for a tifia loan? is there a pecking

the administration should be applauded for that. ne thing i have noticed more from the treasury said but i think it's from state as well, the senior officials letting the professionals and people who have been doing this for years they've given them the room to do their job correctly. that's encouraging when i think about how the stools tools are applied. >> i think there's some cracks in the implementation. and i think that's a lack of expertise or willingness, i think their resource related. sanctions are a tool that everybody turns to now. congress asked there hasn't been a corresponding investment of these tools. i think this is a resource related issue for anyone in government you're going through a chaotic policy process but with the venezuelan e-mail that came out which impose some smart sanctions in general there is a provision that targeted venezuelan government the issue with implementation is it targeted all night at the same time they released the executive order it exempted effectively everything except one venezuelan. t

that's a far cry from what the administration is promising. i think the president on the campaign trail saying saying we'll put a trillion dollars into infrastructure and folks up at the university of pennsylvania wharton school of business said issue don't think so. also concerned about the administration's proposal give projects incentive award based almost entirely on the percentage of nonfederal money they would raise regardless of project quality and benefits. might want to rethink that. there's something to be said for more money for -- to set the leveraging of federal -- more nonfederal money with the federal money, but project quality has to be among the considerations. does is make it safer or reduce police or maked easier for us to get to from place to place and disappoint bid the degree to the the administration is focusing on roll backs of regulations. gutting environmental protection is not always achieved time saving saving and rarely does and would potentially put our communities at risk and deprive the residents who would be mos

hopefully the administration can support that. hopefully you can support it in an effort like i said to take the dollars that we can and leverage as much as we can in a common sense way. >> i will bring this back to the white house and also epa administrator. >> good. thank you very much. secretary james, it's good to have you here also. arkansas is a real state that relies heavily on agriculture, as you know very, very well. in fact, we're the number one rice producing state in the country, third in the continent. the list goes on and on. ag is number one in our state, as it is in so many other states throughout the country that we forget about. $16 billion to our economy. many hard-working arkansans rely heavily on the inland water ways and ports to ship their crops across the nation and export them all over the world. tell us the consequences for rural and agricultural dependent states if we do not invest in our nation's inland waterways and ports, and do you feel the administration's principles for infrastructure properly addre

last four administrations versus 79 in the first 14 months of our administration. that is more than -- that is roughly five times the number of the last four dministrations combined. senator schumer is essentially weaponizing a senate procedure and demanding cloture votes on our nominees that he essentially supports. 11 of the president's nominees have been approved without a single dissenting vote. still forced to go through 30 hours of debate to essentially slow down the senate calendar simply for the purpose of obstruction. even senate democrats have begun to call this out and to say it is getting to the point of ridiculous. at this rate, the united states senate would take 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. so let me give you one more example of the comparison historically. in the first entire term of the george h.w. bush administration, his entire four years, he faced one cloture vote. in the entire four years of the clinton administration he faced 10 cloture votes. under the george w. bush administration, the entire fir

also the case that the administration is rejected the 50-50 partnership developed by the obama administration. >> i may by wrong -- >> excuse me. i could ask my -- proposed to eliminate funs and amtrak funds, tried to block all omnibus funding and now with your confirmation, threaten other lawmakers with the protect and ask the speaker to kill it. is it fair to say the states doing up in when this is the administration's sorry record on this project? >> that is your characterization. it takes me too much time to have to answer every miss of misstatement and -- >> what was the question. >> ouch time? >> 200 -- 200 -- two minutes and four second. >> well, madam secretary, you may have misremaining two minutes accommodate your best to happy and why the president of the united states is i killing the most important infrastructure project in the northeast, probably any country, and why it has actively undermined the efforts of the previous administration to work out the very issues you just addressed. please take my time and tell us why the project, which is so important,er is being killed persona

after media reports he is leaving the administration. white house legislative affairs director mark short was also at the briefing. he talked about delays and feeling -- filling key positions because of the senate confirmation process. this is half an hour. sarah: pulling out the big guns for friday. serious business. good afternoon. let me start by addressing the blackhawk helicopter crash in iraq. at least from initial reporting, the crash does not appear to have been caused by enemy action. however, this incident is under investigation. this tragic crash reminds us that all our courageous men and women take extraordinary risks every single day in service of our country. american troops alongside their coalition partners continue their efforts to defeat isis in iraq and syria and to prevent its re-emergence. as the president tweeted, our thoughts and prayers go out to the loved ones lost. their sacrifice and service to our country will never be forgotten. looking ahead to next week, the president will be traveling to new hampshire on mo

he's been there before the administration. he's independent of the administration. under the obama administration as well. that's really the genesis here. this is part of the inspector general's look at how the fbi handled the entire clinton investigation. now we've become aware of what happened here and made a recommendation to them to look at it. mccabe appealed to the attorney general who accepted the finding. we still haven't seen the inspector general's report so we don't mow what the facts are in what he's doing. he does say he was trying to defend the fbi. the question from the reporter was that the fbi was trying to deep six the investigation of the clinton foundation. and he wanted to set the record straight that it was the justice department that was trying to at least throttle that back. >> pete williams, great to have you here this morning. that'll do it for me. i'm dara brown. at the top of the hour it is hugh hewitt. but first it is "your business" with j.j. rambart. how do you win at business? stay at laquinta. where we're changing with contemporary m

in addition to the administration's legislative proposal, i will look internally at the civil administration's authorities, policies, and regulations and procedures to identify opportunities for increased efficiency and effectiveness. i want to stop focusing on the process and focus on the results. simply put, the army must ensure that we put the federal funds that we are entrusted with into the ground effectively and efficiently. to me, let's move the dirt is the goal. in closing, the time has come for us to focus on outcomes as we rebuild america. the way that we use our water resources significantly impacts the economic advantage afforded to us by our river systems. it will determine if we protect and restore the capital assets afforded healthy ecosystems, and it will determine how we protect life and property from the coast to coast threat of flooding. i look forward to working with this committee in the future to improve the ways that we can invest in our water resources. thank you, mr. chairman, members of the committee. this concludes my statement. i look forward to taking any of your q

i want to commend the administration's efforts to hold the chinese accountable. i think it's clear to everyone that they undermine our economy and our workers and holding them accountable is certainly the right thing to do. i would also ask the administration to try to do right by our friends and allies throughout the world, the europeans. here in the americas, the argentinians are concerned. these are countries that are trying to do right by the united states and their own people and strongly encourage you to do everything you can to accommodate them so we can continue building those important alliances and friendships. i agree, i think trade is best conducted -- business is best conducted with people with whom we share values. i think as long as the administration's policy fits that idea, it can be successful. there are very obvious risks that you have heard repeated here numerous times today. i want to bring a separate issue -- but is very important to the farmer community in my district, south florida is home to the largest -- one of the largest ag producing

at this point in the past four administrations combined, the last four administrations, the senate had conducted 17 cloture votes, combined. cloture votes in essence being a filibuster on a nominee. 17 cloture votes in the last four administrations combined at this point. today, the senate has had 79 cloture votes in the first 14 months of our administration. 17 over the last four administrations, versus 79 in the first 14 months of our administration. that is more -- that is roughly five times the number of the last four administrations combined. senator schumer is essentially weaponizing a senate procedure, demanding cloture votes on our nominees that he even eventually supports. 11 of the president's nominees have been approved without a single dissenting vote yet still forced to go through 30 hours of debate to slow down the senate calendar simply for the purpose of obstruction. even senate democrats have begun to call this out and say it's getting to the point of ridiculous. at this rate, the senate would take 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. 11 1/2 years to confirm our nomin

the problem is not the administration. nator: don't you think the white house needs to send us the name of someone who supports the banks? mr. lighthizer: i just want a quorum on the bank and to have this start working. that is what you want, too. senator: we will take you up on the offer. we will work every day to make sure we have great u.s. products and customers international markets. said, we predecessors cannot afford to ignore or misunderstand china. said thathe probably in the 1970's or 1980's, because he realized that china was not only a markets, but a competitor. i am someone who believes in cooperation. there are days we are going to compete with them and cooperate, depending on what the agenda is. what avenues are we going to take to present -- protect the $7 million export agricultural market from my state from being retaliated against in this trade war the president is basically embracing? there is azer: variety of things. i don't think the president is embracing a trademark. that is not an accurate st atemen

how the administration would modify the relief to adjust for real world effects. we would also live to have you focus on what the administration's vision is for how it will contribute to a multilateral coordinated strategy for counteracting the global overcapacity crisis and how long the administration envisions these tariffs would need to be in place to address the national security threat that your department has found. i hope you can provide, mr. secretary, clarity on these issues over the course of the hearing this morning. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. without objection, other members' opening statements will be made part of the record. today's sole witness is secretary ross. secretary, the committee's received your written record. it will be made part of the formal hearing record. you reserve five minutes to deliver your oral remarks. mr. secretary, you're welcome. we're pleased and honored that you're here. you may begin when you're ready. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, mr. ranking member, and members of the committee. i thank you very much

in which case, all power to the administration. there's nothing wrong with playing a high stakes tough game. sometimes you can't do it the way the foreign service bureaucracy would prefer you to do it, which is methodically and step by step. so i'm not knocking the high stakes. but, but the north koreans have been down this road before. they've been doing bait and switch for 20 years. ask anybody who worked in any of the administrations about what it's like when the ruling dynasty gives its word. to make this work, we will need a durable frame work so everybody knows what our strategic-- what our strategic choices are and what we're looking for. now, i hope we're there. i'm not going to trash the announcement last night, it might lead to something. but we've been back and forth on whether or not we would talk to the north koreans at all. and sanctions cannot be turned on and off instantly. it requires a lot of pushing. so, it's a question mark. on russia, i think the gap between professional competence and the implementtation of san

, the themes that shaped all eight years and problems that the administration continued to go back to. one example is immigration which is on the table from day one and there's many attempts to deal with that issue right through the end of his presidency. i wrote a chapter about his relationship with the conservative movement from congress, republicans in congress to the conservative madia which again, is not a theme that was important one day or two days of his presidency, but really i think impacted everything he could or could not do and another is his counter terrorism and how did he fit compared to what had happened under president bush. so all of them are really themes that occurred and that shaped the entirety of the eight years and rather than just a short wend o window of his presidency. >> you mentioned the book on george w. bush and another eight-year presidency, what were the takeaways from that in terms of what you should and shouldn't do in this new effort to -- to analyze, to write about the obama administration? >> well, it was useful when the bush book was finished, t

problem is not the administration? you think the white house needs to send us a name of smp who supports the bank? >> all i want is to have a quorum on the bank and have it starts working. that's as far as my interest goes. i think that's what you want, too. >> we will take you up on the offer. we work everyday to make sure the that great u.s. products can reach the customers and international markets. speaking of that, one of my predecessors -- kind of amazed he said this -- warren magnusson, "we cannot afford to ignore or misunderstand china." i'm pretty sure he probably said that in the '70s or '80s. why? he realized china was not only a market but a competitor so i believe in co-op tirition. there are days we'll compete and some days we'll cooperate. so what steps will we take to prevent the agricultural market from my state from being retaliated against this trade war that the president is basically embracing? >> well, i would say there's a variety of things that i guess -- number one, i don't think the president i

at this point in the past four administrations combined, the last four administrations, the senate has conducted 17 cloture votes combined. that in essence being a filibuster on a nominee. 17 cloture votes combined. today the senate has had 79 cloture votes in the first year. 17 versus 79 in the first four months of our administration. that's five times the last four administrations combined. senator schumer is essentially weaponizing a senate procedure and demanding cloture votes that he eventually supports. 11 of the president's nominees have been approved without a single dissenting vote. still forced to go through a 30-hour of debate to slow down the senate calendar simply for the purpose of obstruction. even senate democrats have begun to call this out. to say it's getting to the point of ridiculous. at this rate, the united states senate would take 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. 11 1/2 years to confirm our nominees. so let me give you one more example of the comparison historically. in the first entire term of the george h.w. bush administration, he faced one cloture votes

so far the administration abdicated leadership on the global stage. we have heard senior officials assure us there is no military solution to this conflict, any political settlement is necessary. this administration is actively dismantling the state department and antagonizing the potential to play the most critical role toward a political settlement in the humanitarian crisis. the secretary of state for the middle east, the ambassador in riyadh, a failure of leadership. the dangerous approach to diplomatic institutions, we will not be in position to promote political solutions and our military once again will be called on to the could do the critical work of diplomacy and development distracting attention from other pressing challenges, a failure of leadership. regarding a broader double medic strategy the admin station failed to develop a preventive strategy to confront you ran including holding you ran accountable continuing to provide missile supplies and training to the houthis. across land and sea, we know lebanese hezbollah operatives are in yem

or the clinton administration. vonnie: expand on that. matt: somewhat say that trump is not the most consistent resident and has changed his mind from day-to-day. if you are advising the trump administration from the perspective of goldman sachs, that hasn't gone exactly as planned and witnessed the departure of gary cohn. i am not sure the latest engagement with the white house would be considered a very successful one. shery: we were talking about the legislation and senate bill on dodd-frank and how it is playing in wall street since they have lost gary cohn inside the white house. what does the future hold for big banks, including goldman comes to dealing with the trump administration that is so unpredictable? matt: the answer remains to be seen. it is an unpredictable administration. other than the fact that they are opposed to regulation -- to the extent that it will be opposed to any kind of regulation on any kind of industry that is good for the banks. trump's at times, bombastic about bankers and he targete

if you want to blame him for the things the administration does badly, you have to give credit for thedministration does well. that is the way credit works. >> do democrats need to give them more credit for today's move? >> i love the late move in the fourth quarter is when we're trying to give credit. i think there were a number of different pieces of the -- the previous sanctions bill that they just let languish until it was politically untenable to leave it there without implementing them and so i think that sure, we can give them credit but is this what this is about -- >> this is a response -- >> they are retaliating -- >> and if it is such a tough response to an event and it is a tough response, why is there mixed messaging and why is the administration expelling these diplomats and those intelligence agents, why is the president not getting on the phone with vladimir putin saying, enough is enough. why is it a congratulations. >> if you are looking at -- >> the white house said he did not mention about the spy poisoning. >> you don't know what communications we're having with ru

the problem is not the administration. >> the problem is not the administration? t you think the white house is someone who supports the bank? >> all i want is to have a quorum on the bank and to start working on it and that's as far as my answer goes. that's what you want to. >> we will take you up on the offer. we work every day to make sure that they are great u.s. products they reach the customers and international products is speaking of that one of my predecessors and i'm kind of amazed that he said that warren magnuson we can't afford to ignore or misunderstand china i'm pretty sure he said that in the 70s or the 80s. why? because he realized china was not only a market but a competitor. i'm someone who believes there are days where going to compete with them in their days where going to cooperate on what the agenda is. what avenues are we going to take to protect the 7 billion-dollar export agriculture market in my state from being retaliated against in this trade war that the president is basically embracing >> i would say there are friday of things. numbe

the trump administration has hard decisions to make in the near future. if china really believes what they have said for 25 years, which is they do not want north korea to have nuclear weapons, now is the time for them to act. and if they do not act, it will tell us a lot about china. host: that was from cpac in february. guest: outlining his concerns about china, there is a broad consensus with those views. one important and goldman -- element of these deliberations, when it comes to north korea, is that china does prop up the north korean regime. the north korean regime cannot survive without china. issues the existential when it comes to how to tackle north korea. what he said about piracy, what he said about discrimination against foreign investments, what he said about propping up the north korean regime and also increased chinese military presence in the south china sea, a real geopolitical hotspot, our concerns widely shared by republicans and democrats in washington. it important thing when comes to north korea is to know that the north korean reg

"it's even worse than you think -- the trump administration doing to america." and the spacex oration with the book "endurance, i year in space, a lifetime of discovery." on sunday come our live with women in the military featuring thebook "code girls -- untold story of the american codebreakers of world war ii." and then a discussion with the book "citizen newt." the book "goabout back to where you come from." watch our live coverage of the 10th annual tucson festival of books on c-span2's book tv. ♪ >> in this year's a studentcam competition, we asked students to choose something in the u.s. constitution. they competed for the chance to win cash prizes. we received entries from 46 states. the first prize winner for the goesschool east category to a student from montgomery blair high school in silver spring, maryland. the first prize winners of our high school central category are two students, one from whitefish bay, wisconsin. goes to first prize boise, idaho. the first prize winner prime minister east category is three students from it eastern middle school i

and i welcome the administration initiating these talks in a diplomatic track. is challenge reminds us fighting for israel starts long before the battlefield. it means fighting in the halls of the united nations and in the capitals of europe and sometimes within one's own party to do what is right if we want to hold iran accountable each time it violates u.n. security resolutions like testing missiles or delivering weapons to hezbollah. we need a fully funded, skilled, and experienced diplomatic corps to get the job done. that's why i reject the administration's efforts to recklessly slash funding for the state department and the u.s. agency for international development. how else can we expect to combat bias, one-sided and hateful acts of the united nations that not only unfairly target israel but seek to delegitimize the jewish people to their ancestral homeland? it's disgraceful to see organizations and missions of the united nations fail to take actions on war crimes in syria and the gross human rights violations of the iranian regime or the venezuelan regime

at $2.3 billion, the administration would zero that out. which is aiv part a, large and flexible funding stream that would go pro friday of purposes including several which are relevant given the conversation we have had around school safety, school counselors, well-rounded education services. those are all funded under title .v part a the administration has proposed to eliminate that funding stream. thee iv part b which is 21st century community learning centers funding stream which primarily funds afterschool and helps summer programs and extended learning time. that is authorized at $1.1 billion. only in fy 2019, the most recent budget for the year that would begin october 1, 2018, the administration would zero out program, which serves as the backbone of many state education data systems and is potentially concerning if that funding goes away. at the same time, we have seen the administrations budget school innovations and choice programs, increasing the funding available in existing programs and proposing new programs that are not curre

we expected a decision last june that we thought that it would be forth coming and the administration had more internal commotion going on in there and they did not come out with the decision or at least an initial proposal until this march. so it is a long time in coming. but, mr. ross knows the steel market globally very well, and he knew about the plants in my district. i was very impressed with his granular are knowledge of what is happening in the steel industry. so i have high hopes. >> let's go to first call, and that is from ed. ed joining us from our republican line this morning from lawrenceville, georgia, and thank you for calling the program. you are first up. thank you, and go ahead. >> caller: good morning. well sh well, from my observance, it seems that the people in the steel unions are quite glad what president trump has done. what i would like to ask the representative is, you know, for the most part, the democratic party seems to be against everything that the republicans do, and yet, most republicans, and we are not hunter/gatherers like your voters, but 42% of ame

there's no real difference in the way that the obama administration and the trump administration provided this support by, with, and through our allies, the saudis and the emiratis. and it's clear why this has been the policy of the last two administrations. yemen is a place of great geopolitical concern. when i visited bahrain reasonability with our colleagues -- recently with our colleagues, visited the fifth fleet there that's housed in bahrain, we heard concerns about a choke point near an area called the bab al mandem. i probably butchered that pronunciation but we heard more frequently about the straits of hormuz through which a lot of world's commerce and oil flows. bab al mandeb is off to the east of yemen. it's only 18 miles at its narrowest point and connects the red sea to the indian ocean. it's one of the reasons it's so important geopolitically because 3.8 million barrels of oil pass through each day, many of them in route to the suez canal and beyond. bab al mandeb shows the geopolitical importance of yemen and the surrounding region. when the rebels attempt to shut down shi

>> i know this is something a big focus of many in the administration. especially with secretary t12 people should choose the professions they want to do we should help them finance their investments but we should not pick winners and losers you may choose to have a low-paying job because that is something that you love and that is the beauty of america we don't assign people that our education policy kind to a much better job helping people acquire specific technical skills and there are ways one could think of to help encourage that by making more available for such investment. >> moving to the debt with your thoughts of the progrowth policies to help be on a better fiscal footing? >> the president prioritize the tax bill in the first year understanding the game that we played with the hypothetical is harming america's workers so every economist will tell you that entitlements are exploding in present value we don't have a way to pay for them but in my prior life i even testified before this committee on potential growth benefits but i think the preside

toughest action by the administration. explain why and why the president doesn't talk about it. >> it was the toughest action taken by his administration. the treasury department, if you look at the list of sanctions released this morning, it is a near mirror image targeting individuals listed on the mueller indictment from february 16, one month ago. it's striking this investigation that the president has repeatedly described as a wish hunt. his administration sees similarities but you're right, we didn't hear the president talk nearly as forcefully as his own administration has in that statement from the -- france and germany and the uk in condemning the attack but the president did for the first time say he believes it was russia so, john, one more example of the president often not speaking as strongly but no question today, these sanctions are strong. perhaps not as timely as some would have liked but they will feel them. john? >> progress, one would say. jeff zeleny at the white house. to fred pleitgen in moscow. i'm

i want to see diplomacy from the trump administration. this week's visit is an opportunity to press forward on a path for ending the war that certainly was my message. the limited support the united states provides as leverage the trump administration needs to use it. i invite my colleagues to join me in holding demonstration to account pushing them to drive this conflict towards a political track. invite my colleagues to join to have oversight to counter the activities. and finally, i want to be very clear that my vote is not a blank check for u.s. military support nor an endorsement of the current policy and strategy and not a thumbs-up that we should continue businesses usual. i will review future decisions with respect to future arms there's no more time to waste. we must move towards a political settlement in the war the people must see improvements immediately. i look forward to working with my colleagues i look for to this continuing debate before the senate foreign relations committee. ideal before. >> the senator from tennessee. >

turning away from personnel within the administration. personnel in the mid terms elections, danny, the insurgent candidate of senator heller, abandoned his candidacy to run for the house he said at the urging of the president. will the president be involved in other contested primaries involving republican incumbents and try to discourage these kind of challengers who i might add more often than not are backed by steve bannon and sebastian? sarah: i can't get into any specific races due to a little thing called the hatch act but i can tell you the president is going to continue to support people that support his policies and his agenda and certainly those will be the type of candidates he'll look to support. reporter: thanks, sarah. couple. north korea -- i want to go back to shannon's question. has the united states received any direct or indirect confirmation that they are interested or is the united states acting on the representation of their negotiations? sarah: again, i can't get into the details of the preparations and the progress

the same with the agreements in the bush administration in 2005 and 2007. so we're early on in this play. really in the opening act. >> so what do you think kim's version of denuclearization looks like? is it precisely what the united states and the western allies want, which is as a matter of settlement to get nuclear weapons off the korean peninsula. is that something -- and particularly what chris hill said, you know, if he's willing to talk about denuclearization, should the united states be willing to offer some kind of security guarantee? >> that's been on the table really for a long time. if you look at the agreement that was reached september 19th, 2005, that was really the package. complete denuclearization of the peninsula, north korea gives up any prospect for nuclear weapons. in return willingness to negotiate a peace treaty to replace the armistice so there would be a permanent peace arrangement on the peninsula. recognition by the u.s. government and some kind of economic assistance. that's always been the elements of the package. because secur

i have used letters to the administration and the saudi government, an administration nomination, hearings, a senate resolution, and countless meetings, here, and briefings with administration officials, saudi officials and leaders of the n.g.o. community. my goal has been to address exempts to the delivery of -- creditments to the delivery of humanitarian assistance -- food, fuel into the country of yemen. we've seen some progress and i've been encouraged by this. the usaid world food programme cranes have been delivered and the red seaports have been opened. according to the united nations, since the ports were opened, we've seen more than 884,000 metric tons of food and more than 410,000 metric tons of fuel delivered to the ports of huda hudaydah and loan. why is the fuel so important? without the fuel, you can't run the water treatment facilities and, therefore, the cholera epidemic that has broken out in yemen will only get worse. so 884,000 metric tons of food and over 410,000 metric tons of fuel. this has resulted in the saving of countless lives in yemen. now, look, there is a cont

the administration effectively abdicated leadership on the united states. there is no military solution to this conflict and a political settlement is necessary. this administration is actively dismantling the state department and antagonizing the united nations, the two entities that have the potential to play the most critical roles in moving towards the political settlement in addressing the humanitarian crisis. we have vacancies for the middle east and the ambassador in riyadh a failure of leadership. but the danger approaches her diplomatic institutions, will not be in a position to promote solutions and our military once again will be called to do the critical work of diplomacy and development, distracting attention from other counters, a failure ofai leadership. regarding a broader diplomatic strategy, the administration also develops a comprehensive strategy to confront iran, including holding iran accountable for continuing to provide missile supplies and training to the houthis. across land and sea, but amazed hezbollah operatives and yet we have s

he defends the administration whenever it's drawn into court. he russian thing but he spent a year without filgt the position and changing the dynamics of the place. gregg: you have been around washington politics well before watergate. can you puncture the myth that the president can't order the attorney general to do this investigation or that investigation. ed: i was in the nixon administration. the reality there is were crimes committed. there was obstruction of justice. there were 49 people who were charged and the president did try to obstruct justice. this is not at all like that. the original burglary was not something nixon planned, but the cover-up was. the attorney general's position after that was strong. and eric holder protected the obama flanks. gregg: bobby kennedy did as well for his brother. be sure to vote in tonight's poll on whether you have any confidence attorney general jeff sessions will finally appoint a special counsel after a year investigating questions of collusion. on wall street, stocks surging following that stron

the administration, the president gets to decide mass transit money. i want to clear up the misinformation. brian: 1.6 billion, the 1.6 billion is the total s that wrong? i only heard 650 million goes toward the wall. >> 1.6 for the entire -- border also you need fences. you need cameras. you need electronic devices. you need aerial devices to be able to police it. in the mountainous areas you can't build a wall over a mountain. you need cameras and drones up there. it is a border wall system that the border patrol tells us they need. we fund their request, based on what they say they need to secure the border. different kinds of wall based on different kinds of conditions on the ground. that is it what we fund. steve: not the wall that the president inspected prototype? >> no, there is bunch those. there are more than one based on different conditions. in a river valley you don't want a stand-up wall that washed away in a flood. we have one that stand up to flood with a levy with a fence on top. steve: ultimately, mr. speaker, the president said i nee