kellyary mattis, general and my friends, tillis. i would not be here without their support. who have come to the military world strive to be like them, a leader. outside of the military oath i have taken, this is the third time i have taken a federal oath, in 2006 and in 2017, my wife is with me. we have known each other since we were young and north carolina. nothing i have done would have been possible without her. as the president noted, our high school was three blocks away from the va hospital. that experience left a lasting impression upon me. mr. vice president, as the head of the space council, my son adam is here. he is playing hooky from his internship. my daughter is not with us today. she is in her first day as an intern in this missoni and. -- smithsonian. the bible i will take my oath on reminds me of the 100 anniversary of the war to end all wars. it was a bible taken into battle by my wife's grandfather, who never ventured beyond two or three towns in south carolina. by the time he was 18, he was marching into the cauldron of france. on the battlefield was a

kellyary mattis, general and my friends, tillis. i would not be here without their support. who have come to the military world strive to be like them, a leader. outside of the military oath i have taken, this is the third time i have taken a federal oath, in 2006 and in 2017, my wife is with me. we have known each other since we were young and north carolina. nothing i have done would have been possible without her. as the president noted, our high school was three blocks away from the va hospital. that experience left a lasting

secretary mattis, general john kelly, and my friend tom tillis. i would not be the -- here without their support. they are with the military world strives to be. itside of the military oath have taken, this is the third time i've taken the federal of andce and just like in 2006 2017, my wife julie is with me. we've known each other since we are against errors in north carolina. nothing i've done would've been possible without her. three blocksol was away from the fayetteville ba hospital. -- fayetteville v.a. hospital. adam is here. he is playing hooky from his internship at the space center. my daughter megan is not with us. she is in her first day as an internet the smithsonian. the bible i will take my oath on reminds me of the 100th anniversary of the and of the war to end all wars. it was a bible taken into battle by my wife's grandfather, who had probably never ventured beyond three or four counties in north or south carolina but by the time he was 18 he was marching into the cauldron. on another part of that battlefield was a young captain

chairman. >> thank you, senator tillis. would you please raise your right hand and confirm your pledge. do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give for the senate committee on veterans affairs would be the true, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? please be seated and please introduce your lovely wife julie so everyone can get an eye on her. >> thank you, sir. my wife julie is behind me. we have known each other since we were youngsters growing up in fayette well. as you know, mr. chairman, she has a very strong georgia connection. her grandmother -- that's the real smart. that's right. in 2006 and 2017. she is with me and nothing that i have achieved would have been possible without her. mr. chairman, senator tester and distinguished members of the committee on veterans affairs, this is the third time i have appeared in the confirmation chair. i mentioned how long i've known my wife and one of the apps hacks of our relationship in those early years is that our high school

tillis: thank you madam president. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 477, senate 3093. i ask unanimous consent that the bill be considered read a third time and passed, and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: madam president, reserving the right to object. this bill being offered by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is a partisan political stunt designed to distract the american people from the crisis created by donald trump's zero tolerance policy. almost 3,000 children have been ripped from the arms of their parents and traumatized by the president's cruelty. this bill would allow the trump administration to continue to traumatize children by forcing them possibly indefinitely into so-called family detention centers. by offering this proposal, our colleagues are calling for the

tillis. sen. tillis: well, welcome. before i get into the questions primarily towards ms. kraninger, ms. reed, i want to talk a little bit about what we -- thanks to both of you for coming to the office, but i want to talk a little bit about what i believe, why i believe the ex-im needs to become functioning again. you talked about an increasing number of equivalent agencies in the global markets. i for one think we have got to get away from this either/or proposition, talking about the reality that if we don't have this in our toolkit when we are competing in the global market, that we disable ourselves, much the same way we do when we get out of economic incentives. do you agree with that? ms. reed: yes, senator. sen. tillis: do you think that with the ex-im bank, for the improvement, the transaction would go a different way? can i get your commitment to come back either to my office or before this committee and tell us what that would look like so we can get to a better place and better ce

chairman. >> thank you, senator tillis. would you please rise and raise your right hand and affirm your pledge. do you solemnly swear or affirm that the testimony you are about to give before the senate committee will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god? please be seated. please introduce your lovely wife julie. thank you sir. my wife julie is behind me. we have known each other since we were youngsters growing up in fayetteville and as you know mr. chairman she is a very strong georgia connection. her grandmother was from folkestone georgia. that's the real swamp. >> that's right. in 2006 and 22007. [inaudible] >> distinguish members of the committee on veterans affairs, this is the third time i have appeared in the confirmation chair. i mentioned how long have known my wife and of aspects of our in those early years is that our high school was about three blocks away from the fayetteville veterans hospital. every day on our way to from high school we would see a sign outside the veteran

tillis. senator tillis: a lot of people have tried to boil complex subjects down into simple yes/answers. there is only one i heard where i felt like we deserved a yes/no answer, do you or do you not like peanut butter? ms. kraninger: i like peanut butter, thank you. rep. tillis: outside of that question, i think it is absurd to say that this is nothing more chan the sort of got tactics some members used to try and, well, support their narrative. i will get on. how big is the cfpb, how many employees? ms. kraninger: eckstein hundred employees. rep. tillis: do you think -- 1600 employees. rep. tillis: do you think you have people who have worked for credit agencies, business lending, any number of financial field? ms. kraninger: yes, senator. they have a wide variety of skill sets and expertise being brought to bear. rep. tillis: would you see yourself ending up in the morning, coming in early, and writing out the policies or directing the affairs of the agencies? ms. kraninger: senator, it is

that's senator thom tillis of north carolina., we will talk with former rnc chairman and mississippi governor haley barbour. that's coming up next. from washington, this is bloomberg. ♪ shery: this is bloomberg markets: balance of power. i'm shery ahn in new york. david: i'm david westin reporting from washington. when president trump named brett kavanaugh as his supreme court nominee last night he urged the senate to confirm him quickly. but whatever the timetable, the process will be inextricably interwoven with those midterm elections in november. a man whoour is understands the intricate ways of politics and washington like few others. he was governor of mississippi for eight years and chairman of the republican party when it reclaimed the house and senate. governor, great to have you here. you have watched more than one of these senate confirmation battles. as you take a look at this one how similar will it be to what we have seen before and how different will it be? >> it starts off different because it is so polarized. no

on stage is tilly, with her all—female schoolgirls drumming group.ses indigenous culture from across australia, for a mixed audience. renowned australian indigenous country music singer troy cassar—daley is a regular performer. what it does is bring people from the outside and helps immerse them in some cultural things they will never see in sydney, black and white people should all come here and carry this bit of the spirit home. touch your foot over their near uluru and take a bit of that feeling with you, it's not hard to feel it, it's a great place. and then as night falls, a new way of stories being told is revealed. indigenous australian fashion brands using material with the paintings that tell the ancient stories of the creation time. led by australia's leading indigenous model. indigenous art work is on canvas and things like that but it's really great that now it's being put into fashion, it also has lots of meaning behind it, there is a story behind it, it's notjust a normal dress you would buy in a shop. it's special. elder auntie alison

on thursday i was with senator tillis at the nato summit in brussels. i repeatedly heard from our allies there who are asking the question, should we go it alone? is the united states going to be there when we need them? are we going to hold up our article five commitment that we agree to in nato? the international order that the united states established is indispensable to peace and prosperity. it has kept that stability for the last 70 years and we must never waver from our transatlantic commitment. we are not going to let vladimir putin unravel the international order that we have built in the last 70 years. sen. schumer: thank you. i think my colleagues, all three, well said. before i take questions, while we were speaking, president trump tried to squirm away from what he said yesterday. it is 24 hours too late and in the wrong place. if the president can't say directly to president putin that right andg and we are that our intelligence agencies andright, it's an effective worse another sign of weakness. it tells president putin continue to take a

thank you very much. >> now we'll have questions for our three presenters, sarah, tim, and tilly. commissioners, questions? commissioner sullivan? >> i have a question for tim, our m.t.a. representative. it's about sf park. sf park is the dynamic pricing intended to always kind of create 10 to 15% open spots on commercial areas. >> correct. >> what's -- has that now been rolled out citywide, and what's the status? >> yeah. that was a pilot. it was initially federally funded, and just this year -- actually maybe last year, it left the pilot phase and has been expanded citywide? i'm happy to send you a link and that the sort of principle behind that is, you know, the curve in our public right-of-way is an important resource, and it's also an important tool for us to use in order to achieve the mobility system that aligns with some of the policies and priorities we have. and pricing is obviously something that the public responds to. so that -- that's sort of the -- the sort of underlying, underpinning of sf park is a dynamic pricing. it doesn't fluctuate a whole lot? i'm not an expe

you heard senator tom tillis saying i can't figure out why they wouldn't be tauging about that. in fact, he disagreed with the decisions that judge kavanaugh made with regard to the affordable care act. there may be day late and places where democrats and republicans can get together. maybe that's fantasy. but i want to move on to a democrat in alabama. remember, him, he beat out roy moore, the floridaed candidate across the aisle. i don't know that we -- the flawed candidate. i don't know that we know enough about him to know how he'd vote? he has another contest coming up in november as well. what will it look like for doug jones? >> well, doug jones isn't up this year but he will be up the next cycle, he doesn't get a full six-year term. he campaigned in alabama as some one who would protect a woman's right to choose, difficult in a conservative state. he won anyway in that race. he's some one who was a prosecutor, lawyer, know as lot about the law. it is interesting the judicial crisis network, conservative group, that's airing ads in defense of kavanaugh, has targeted him i

tillis: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come here again sadly -- the presiding officer: the senator will suspend. the senate is in a quorum call. mr. tillis: mr. president, i'd ask unanimous consent that a quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tillis: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come here as a full philment of a promise -- fulfillment of a promise i made a couple of months ago to bring to the attention of the american an injustice occurring in turkey. i'm here to talk about american pastor andrew brunson. he's from a church, he's from western north carolina. he spent 20 years in turkey as a missionary. he started out just missionary work without a church. he built a very small church that maybe could house 100 people in euz -- izmir. in 2016 pastor brunson was apprehended and been in prison ever since. he was in prison for almost 19 months without charges. for the vast majority of that time he was in a cell designed for eight people and it had 21 in. without charg

senator tillis: final question i have. the alien identifier, it sounds we have a disconnect where some think we separate these children and we are not tried to do our best in the documentation to keep these family units identified in either electronic or paper records. -- chief, you said you try to link whoever comes or whoever is apprehended together together, and it sounded like through the process over to aj just that there is identifying information to find that you did the people who are apprehended initially at the border. did i hear that right? >> yes, sir. when we ever had somebody, each individual is given an alien registration number. within our system of record, agents go winur and identify family members related to those individuals and both the narrative of what is called a form i213 and make reference to those we can go back and look at the alien registration of the specific individual and find out who else is associated with them. that includes members beyond just parental, and parental or legal guardian are

tillis: thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call:

i think senator tillis will laugh at me. it dates from shakespeare. it is beaten into our heads from the time we raise our hands. i will tell you, i'm not casting aspersions on anyone, i was amazed walking into headquarters in some parts and being told that i was the first secretary that many of those folks had seen. i mentioned in the first statement that i gave at the va that i have to be a bottom-up organization. that anyone who sets in the secretaries chair and claims he has the answers should not be there. walking the post means talking to the people and the veterans were using va services and getting out in the field. >> thank you. >> mr. wilkie, i think of the right man for the job. senator sanders. >> and mr. chairman. thanks for being here. let me be blunt and tell you what my dilemma is. the veterans organizations in the veterans in the state of vermont are quite proud of the va. they feel everything being equal, once they get into the va they receive high-quality care. there is, to the best of my knowledge overwhelming opposition to the pri

we are working together with our partners to try to do that, but asked general tilly also said, we must continue to extend the border outward so that we prevent people from ever reaching our borders because then it becomes too late. but the relationship we have with mexico and other countries continues to be very strong. >> thank you gentlemen. any thoughts? >> in arizona our focus is the southwest border into the territory of arizona as a state and we do have quarterly meetings to from the mexican army and the marine corps that we worked out through the northern command who has a responsibility for as you mentioned extending out over security beyond what is the physical border of the state line. but we have a great working relationship with them and that has improved significantly over the last five years with them helping us across the border intelligence and other agencies of government through the counter department and other groups on the border. >> the time is expired. we will do another round. mr. bacon from nebraska for five minutes. >> thank you and i appreciate all of you for

tillis: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i think last week or the week before you were presiding when i did a speech that i promised i'm going to do every week that we're in session until justice is served in turkey. it's a speech about this man. his name is pastor andrew brunson. he was arrested in turkey in october of 2016. if you want to sum up his crime, it's for being a missionary. he was -- he's been in turkey for about 20 years, has served the community well, has provided aid and comfort to syrian refugees, has provided a place for people in the turkish country who want to come into a christian church to do just that. he's got a small church in ishmir. can only seat 100 people in it. i should say he is from the black mountain area of north carolina, part of the same church that reverend billy graham was a part of. he went to turkey to pursue his passion and serving christ through missionary work. but in 2016, after the coup attempt, president erdogan implemented emergency powers and swept up thousands of pe

joining us now senator thom tillis from north carolina.ed the appeals to release him. what happens now? >> well, his next court date is scheduled for october. that will be two years that he has been held in prison. the vast majority of that time without any charges and once they levied the charges honestly none of them would rise to the level of keeping someone in jail in the united states overnight. turkey is not acting like a nato ally. in some respects if turkey were applying for nato membership today they wouldn't check all the boxes. you are at risk traveling to turkey. you can take a picture with the wrong people and find yourself in prison for two years. >> sandra: he is charged with espionage and collusion with terrorist organizations. >> they are absurd. a family member posted oh social media a meal they had. this came up in court in 12 hours. because that meal was a meal that was enjoyed by some of the people that may have been involved in the coup attempt, therefore he is guilty. that's the level of absurdity we're talking about

has there been enough of a shift from tillis into pompeo that we can begin to nudge back into a traditional expansion of american thought and mind? dr. bremmer: i don't know that pompeo is such a dramatic change from tillerson in the way that those two gentlemen actually see the world. i think they both see the world as it is. i don't think neither of them are in any way neocons. both need to believe america needs to maintain robust diplomatic and military capabilities. but, pompeo has a better relationship with trump. that is clearly very important. pompeo is not trying to gut the state department. that's very important. but in reality, foreign policy is being driven much more right now by the president than it is by either of his two secretaries of state or three national security advisers in just a year and a half. tom: to finish here on china and to move on to dr. bremmer's book at the end of this half hour and extend back to president trump and the rest, your wonderful book is a circuitous look around the south china sea. if you wrote it today, what would be the next chapter on asia's

chair. >> thank you, senator tillis. that does conclude the questioning for senators wishing to submit questions for the record they are due in one week, on tuesday, july 24th. we ask both nominees to respond to these questions by tuesday, july 31, so that we can vote that week on the nominations. we thank you both for joining the committee today. as senator tillis indicated, sometimes these committee hearings get intense. we appreciate you be willing to come forward and put yourself forward for service to the country. with that, this hearing is adjourned. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >>> thshgs -- c-span's "washington journal" coming up tuesday morning. mary ellen mcintyre discusses the future of the affordable care act. and ryan costello will be on to talk about the trump administration's foreign and trade policies. and then democratic maryland congressman

veterans and their secretary robert wilkie, they are joined by vice president pence and senator tom tillis along with members of mr. wilkie's family. thankent donald trump: you to vice president pence, secretary of defense, chairman johnny isakson, -- johnny, you

venezuela we speak to founder and chairman of the mexican chamber of commerce of great britain evaluated tilly about what president elect andres manuel lopez obrador means for the world plus is no surprise given the e.u. policy on the jailing of demographically electric politicians on the day new spanish pm pederast sanchez meets catalonian counterpart we get the take of us by the european parliament. miti on foreign affairs jordy said that all the civil war coming up today is going underground but first on this day in one nine hundred sixty two singer bob dylan recorded the song that would make him a star blowin in the wind he introduced it by saying it was no protest song later though he said that the greatest protest song ever written was by someone we speak to today we caught up with the grammy award winning artist and film star known for you can get it if you really want harvey they come many rivers to cross i can see clearly now and countless others jimmy cliff speaks to us at a hotel in west london jimmy you're touring across europe across the world the big talk here across the world ob

and we will talk supreme court and nato when senator thom tillis, who sits on the judiciary and armedmmittee. david: president trump last night announced his pick for the supreme court to a packed audience in the white house.

tillis: madam president? the presiding officer: the north from -- the senator from north carolina. mr. tillis: madam president, i also tries make some comments about c.d., or as we all know him, dick spangler. i met him about 11 years ago when i first got in to the state legislature. his office is just outside of downtown charlotte. from the every encounter from that point forward, i never left without learning something more. it could be on any number of topics. i appreciate senator burr's comments. he was a huge tarheels fan. i remember when a former university president, we had a memorial service for c.d. or dick spangler. he spokes, and he got up. everybody had been saying, this is a celebration. he got up there and said, folks, this is a very important memorial service, but a celebration is just what you do just after the tarheels beat the tar out of duke. he loved the tarheels. and he loved the university system. and he loved a modern north carolina, an inclusive north carolina, a north carolina that, as a leader leading on the integration of schools. but i think the thing i

. >> senator tillis. >> well, welcome. before i get into some of the questions primarily toward miss kraninger, miss reed, i want to talk a little about what we -- thanks to both of you for coming to the office. but i want to talk a little bit about what i believe -- why i believe the xm needs to become functioning again. i think you in your open testimony talked about an increase number of equivalent agencies and the global markets. i, for one, think we've got to get away from this either or proposition and start talking about the reality that if we don't have this in our tool kit when we're competing and the global markets that we disable ourselves much the same way a state would get out of economic incentives. do you agree with that? >> yes, sir. >> do you also agree there may be things that could make the bank less politicized if we worked on proving that but for the involvement of the xm bank the transaction would not necessarily go the positive way and can i get your commitment to come back to my office or before thi

and i'm going to go over there with senator tom tillis so we have a bipartisan delegation. with us two resolutions. one that passed the senate last night in support of nato. and the other that's going to pass the foreign relations committee this afternoon. again, in support of nato to remind our nato allies that we in the senate and we in congress recognize the importance of the alliance and its contribution to our own national security here in the united states. >> so senator, are you heading over there to say don't listen to the president, listen to us? >> no, we're heading over there to remind our allies that there is a lot of support for nato. they have heard that from secretary mattis. they've heard that from secretary pompeo. >> you don't think they're doing that? >> i think it's important to continue to endorse the trans-atlantic relationship and the work that nato has done. i think the president has left some questions in the minds of some people about where he stands on nato. >> on that fine point, though, germany is captive to russia. i mean, angela merkel spoke o

over on capitol hill senator tom tillis sees today's developments also as a good first step but is keepingre to bring him home. >> when i met with him and the president several months ago he was definitely, he had lost 50 pounds and he was very much under a lot of stress. but i think that he is coping with very, very difficult circumstances. >> a 50-year-old evangelical pastor from north carolina who has lived in turkey for more than two decades was arrested in the fall of 2016 and charged with espionage and conspiracy to overthrow the turkish governmen government. his arrest has caused tension between the united states and turkey after his third court appearance last week and remanded back to prison, president trump tweeted a total disgrace that turkey will not release andrew bronson from prison. he has done nothing wrong and his family needs him. brunson's transfer to house arrest came midway through the first ever ministerial to advance religious freedom at the u.s. state department. a gathering of 80 senior officials around the globe. yesterday brunson's daughter appealed to the delega

. >> good afternoon president tillis and commissioners. i am with the department staff.the hmo for you is a request for conditional use authorization to establish and legalize a nonretail sale and service use of the ground floor of the subject building located at one front street. specifically the ground-floor space is 5800 square feet and is intended for use as an employee cafÉ for a first republic bank. it has offices in the subject building as well as in other offices nearby. officially this is considered an expansion of the office used to the ground floor with the cafÉ considered an accessory use. office and nonretail sale service use -- within the c3 oat district at a long market street. prior to occupancy by first republic bank, this space had been utilized as a retail banking branch for bank of the west. first republic had pulled permits in the spring of 2016 for interior tenant improvements and ground-floor exterior storefront modifications. however, this permit and the subsequent permit referral have characterized the use of a restaurant that which would be prin

the legislation authored by bipartisan group led by senators coons and booker on our side, senator tillis and graham on the republican side, that passed out of the judiciary committee. leader mcconnell, if you're serious about checks and balance, if you're serious about making sure that president trump obeys the law and protects our security, put that bill on the floor now. it will pass. fourth, the president must release his tax returns and insist that the 12 russians indicted for election interference are handed over. the president has refused to release his tax returns, but these bizarre actions that he has taken which seem so to indicate that president putin has something over president trump, something personal, and it might be financial. we need to see the tax returns. finally, we must move the election security legislation immediately. senator klobuchar has legislation, bipartisan. senator van hollen has legislation, bipartisan. senator harris has legislation. we need to move it. leader mcconnell talked about it a little bit. let's move it quickly, but remember, the president still

of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable thom tillis, a senator from the state of north carolina, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: orrin g. hatch, president pro tempore. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i'd like to talk this morning about the president's well qualified nominee for the supreme court. a number of us have already met with judge kavanaugh. more senators from both sides of the aisle have meetings scheduled. by all accounts, including my own, he's a fair and thoughtful jurist with a brilliant legal mind. but some senators have a different view than their colleagues, different from the experts. here's how the junior senator from new jersey characterized this nomination with the senior senator from massachusetts right beside him and here's what he said, mr. president. we're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. you're either complicit in the evil, you're either contributing to the wrong, or you're fighting against it. this, mr. president, from a member

. >> sandra: senator tillis joins us now. where does it go next?ate the president's commitment. he and i have spoken about this. secretary pompeo, the administration has real owe done great work to get us to a point where he is released on house arrest but we need to continue the pressure until he is back in the united states and reunited with his family. >> sandra: president erdogan making it clear. they can't make turkey back down with sanctions. we won't step back. is the threat of sanctions going to work and bring this pastor home? >> well, i think that we have to apply -- it's a very complex scenario in that we need turkey as a strong nato ally. they're in a complex part of the world. we understand some of the internal and external challenges that president erdogan is dealing with. this man is illegally imprisoned. he is charged with things that wouldn't keep you in jail overnight in the united states. we want just treatment for pastor brunson and talk about all the very positive things that we should be doing with turkey. >> sandra: what does

and let's say hello to tilly smith of harbor springs, michigan. turning 100. a painter as well.ming up. kathie lee and sheinelle are overseas in london, doing a preview of the mom mamma mia here we go again movie. >> another reason for breakfast. >> i don't even know what that means, but it doesn't sound good. they're having fun over there. meantime, megyn kly "today" is up next. dylan is on the job with a professional bridesmaid for hire. we'll l dylan explain that. first, your local news and weather. weather. >>> this is a news 4 today news break. >> 8:56 is you time on this monday, july 16th, 2018. good morning to u. right w, we want to get a check on the roads with melissa how is it going? >> good morning. on alexandria southbound 395, seminary crash on the left side. inner loop and outer loop of the beltway looking okay. just some slowdowns in the typical spots, and memorial bridge after lincoln circle,ep firetment activity blocking the right side. >> thank you. 'll take a wickreak and check the forecast next. >>> good monday morning. temperatures warming heinto 80s. washin

could go it alone, tom tillis reminded him that the american president cannot take a decision as momentouss withdrawing from an alliance. uss coequal branches of government. those are just some of the tweets coming out. next,ats line, devon is temple, georgia. caller: my question is to trump's base -- how do they believe a president who says that he just got our nato allies to increase their spending and then turns right around and the first president says, no, we did not actually agree to that, he is lying. how do we believe that? how do they spin that off? host: "the new york times" this morning saying it was the president strongly recommitting america's support for nato thursday, saying he had one great concessions from allies on military spending, adding the united states was not being treated fairly but now we are. the president adding "i believe in nato." briefed, to a person mr. trump said if other countries did not meet the 2% standard by january, the united states "would go it alone." warren is on the republican line from georgia. ofler: i have noticed a lot people called in and d

tillis: re -- mr. perdue: reserving the right to object. we need to focus on funding the federal government and confirming this president's nominees. right now we have just 23 working days the way the senate operates between now and the end of the fiscal year, 23, mr. president. meanwhile we have 329 nominees. these are presidential nominees waiting for this body to confirm them. we need to stay on track. this resolution is nor more than -- no more than political theater. this resolution was previously objected to by senator cornyn just last week. it will continue to be objected to again because it is unnecessary. the senate, house of representatives, and our intelligence community have all thoroughly investigated this matter. in fact, the senate intelligence committee has held 16 open hearings dating back to january of 2017. they all found that russia did, in fact, attempt to interfere in u.s. elections. we all take that very seriously. however, let's be crystal clear, they also found that there is no evidence that this interference impact

as senator tillis indicated, sometimes these committee hearings get intense. we appreciate you being willing to put ourselves forward for service to the country. with that this hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] >> sunday night on afterwards, former secretary sean spicer discusses his book, the briefing, politics, press and the president, he is interviewed by former republican national committee chairman michael steele. >> ronald reagan and donald trump are 180 ° apart from each other and here we are in this space. how do you navigate that? both reagan conservatives in that regard. was it a little bit of a dance once in a while? how did you do it? >> with respect to the president himself there is no question he is not traditional in terms of how he speaks, he has his unpredictable but he connects to people in a way most politicians never have. he talks very bluntly in his own style but i don't think he would have won the nomination if it wasn't for that style. i think there's always a balance with elected officials which is they say all the right

tillis: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. tillis: thank you mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. tuesday july 10. further, that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders to be reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. i further ask that following leader remarks the senate proceed to executive session and resume consideration of the bennett nomination. i ask the senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. tomorrow to allow for the weekly conference meetings. and finally i ask that all time during adjournment leader remarks, morning business, and recess count postcloture on the bennett nomination. the presiding officer: is there objection? witho

tillis: thank you, mr. president. and chair isakson, thank you for the kind words about the nominee for the veterans administration, robert wilkie. i'm here to proudly discuss his record. up until about six months ago he was my military affairs advisered and advisor on v.a. he has done an extraordinary job. he is a child of a veterans -- actually a veteran, a gravely wounded veteran from the vietnam war. he grew up on fort bragg, he is from fayetteville, north carolina. he's done an extraordinary job serving our office and mentoring my staff, working for leaders in the senate, leaders in the house, secretary gates, secretary rumsfeld, tries condoleezza rice and now general mattis. he is going to do an extraordinary job because he understands what it's like to be the son of a veteran, to be a member of the armed services himself -- he served in the air force to this day, the army previously. he has attended the army war college, has a law degree and a keen understanding of how this governing body works. he also has gre

as follows -- the clerk: senators mccain, inhofe, wicker, phisher, cotton, rounds, ernst, tillis, sullivan is perdue, cruz, graham, sasse, scott, crapo, reed, nelson, mc quais skill, shaheen, gillibrand, blumenthal, donnelly, hirono, kaine, king, heinrich, warren, peters, and brown. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate resumes executive session. mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, this past year and a half of the trump administration has been a constant daily barrage of scandal, corruption, and chaotic incompetence. and in this environment, the senate now considers the president's controversial nomination of brian benczkowski to lead the criminal division of the united states department of justice. it has been over a year since benczkowski was first nominated, and there have been repeated calls for his nomination to be withdrawn. why this man for this