in article 2, section 2, of the constitution, one of the real honors of serving here in the united states senate is the opportunity to offer advice and consent for nominees to the united states supreme court. these are lifetime appointments. nine individuals throughout most of our history determine the balance that we keep between the three branches of government. it's so important -- and this body has historically treated it in such a solemn manner -- that in over 230 years of our history, no nominee to the united states supreme court has ever been denied a seat through the use of a partisan filibuster. unfortunately right now, members -- colleagues from the other side of the aisle are threatening that very precedent. as i said on the floor earlier this year, president donald trump promised the american people he would nominate an unwakering supporters of the constitution to fill the vacancy left by the late-justice scalia. this president has kept his promise. he has nominated somebody who was nominated here in the united states senate by a voice vote by members who are still here in the united

i hope that the leadership of the united states senate will see this as a friendly challenge. >> general time has expired. has the potential to revitalize representative democracy. >> in 1986, the cable industry launched c-span2 to carry the senate live. all our congressional coverage is broadcast live and is searchable for free on c-span.org. these are provided as a public service of our cable and satellite affiliates across the nation. trumpjanuary, president nominated judge gorsuch to the supreme court. he currently serves on the 10th circuit in colorado. fill themed, he will seat of justice antonin scalia a who died last year. here is the president's announcement. [applause] president trump: thank you. thank you very much. thank you. thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. when justice scalia passed away suddenly last february, i made a promise to the american people. if i were elected president, i would find the very best judge in the country for the supreme court. i promised to select someone who respects our laws and is representative of our constitution and who loves our const

>> every supreme court vote in the united states senate for over 200 and some years has been an up or down vote. neil gorsuch deserves that. i am committed to having him on the supreme court.

migration to the united states. senate represe refugees.prese they sit on the floor of the senate representing some of our great states, and yet with this president, he is asking them and all of us to ignore this history.ooking for we have accepted more than 150,000 refugees from the former yugoslavia. over 100,000 soviet jews who are escaping thousand soviet jews who were skipping some arg religion, looking for freedom they came to the united states. there refugees were flee in regimes hostile to our country. some argued the hostile elements could be hidden amongst them. think about the hundreds of thousands who came from communist controlled cuba into the united states. were they subjected to extreme vetting? no. there are people whose that we come here looking for freedot and we opened our doors and they have made us a better country because of it. the the united states was not fined by the fear mongers when it came to these refugees joining us in the united states. we shouldn't be today. today. let's be clear, refugees

he served for eight years in the oklahoma state senate and in 2010 was elected attorney general of oklahoma. then they call you general. on every 17, united states senate confirmed him as the fourth seat administrator of the environmental protection agency. please welcome the honorable scott pruitt, administrator of the epa. [applause] >> good afternoon. it's a pleasure to be here with you today and i saw the mayor last week at the conference mayors event in dc as well. so it's good to be with you. i want to say first and foremost, i appreciate your leadership. as mayors of your respective cities and towns across the country, you deal with very difficult issues from law enforcement to zoning, trying to find answers for your citizens at the local level. i had that same duty and responsibility as attorney general and today, we deal with similar issues at the national level with respect to environment and growth and jobs. so i want to commend you for the leadership you show locally and appreciate your time here today. i look forward to working with you. it's been said that friendship is part of partnership and as i think about the role of ad

[applause] that is why the first resolution i cosponsored at the united states senator was to combat anti- israel bias to united nations and reaffirm that the united states state just as secure to state solutions. [applause] if someone who personally prosecuted a crimes, i also believe that we cannot stand by while anti-semitism, hate crime and bigotry are on the rise, whether that is a swastika on a jewish family and children services in san francisco, but the burning of a mosque in tampa. that is why i am pleased to announce for the first time. aipac, i'm introducing the senate resolution that condemns targeting of jews as well as any form of religious by bias, misogyny or other hateful acts targeting minorities across the united states. [applause] let's be candid, many, including those in this hall have been directly impacted by the outrageous incident targeting the jewish community. this violence and hate is alarming and simply unacceptab unacceptable. no one should have to worry about their children's safety when they drop them off. [applause] no one should have to be afraid to p

. >> members of the united states senate have said it is a nonstarter. >> it is dead on arrival. >> chinaets its economic targets, and britain accounts for brexit. >> i call it cautiously optimistic or upbeat, but with few giveaways. >> jamie dimon fires from the hip in an exclusive interview. >> the banking problem's not his biggest people say. >> wilbur ross draws the battle lines on trade. >> we have been in a trade war for decades. >> plus, executive insight from the geneva motor show. and international women's day,

body has sworn an oath to upheld standing right over there, right over there requires the united states senate to provide its advice and consent to supreme court nomin nominees. over the years a lot of questions, what does advice and consent entail? well, judge garland was denied a hearing and a vote. a good man, i think an extraordinary man was treated badly, badly. and so is our constitution. i believe the unprecedented obstruction our republican colleagues mounted last year against judge garland was a shameful chapter for the united states senate. judge garland, a consensus builder, one of those qualified judges in our country, waited 293 days for a hearing and a vote that ultimately never came. i'm still deeply troubled by the 293 wasted days and i am still deeply troubled by how judge garland was treated. i believe judge garland still deserves a hearing and he still deserves a vote. while i do not believe that two wrongs make a right, i believe that this may be our only opportunity to right a wrong and erase enormous black mark of the senate's failure to consider judge garland leaves on t

as i said, he misled the united states senate. it's pretty outrageous. i agree with the comments of nancy pelosi when he said that is beyond naive to think that anyone would believe that -- it stretches credulity beyond belief. >> let's look at the focus of this which are these meetings that he had with the russian ambassador. was there anything inappropriate that happened in those meetings? >> well, we don't know. and this, by the way, is why i called for a joint white house senate select committee to investigate russian interference in our elections and our political system and any contact with the trump campaign or transition or during the administration that they have had with any russian officials and what conversations may or may not have taken place. clearly, there's a steady drumbeat, now a trickle, of new information coming out about the trump campaign and the trump administration's contact with russian individuals. this is beyond disturbing. and needs to be thoroughly looked at. i also support one of my colleagues, his effort, to an independent

and that is why the first resolution i co-sponsored as a united states senator was to combat anti-israelias at the united nations and reaffirm that the united states seeks a just, secure and sustainable two-state solution. [ applause ] and, as someone who's personally prosecuted hate crime, i also believe that we cannot stand by while anti-semitism, hate crime and bigotry are on the rise, whether that's a swastika on a jewish children and families bus or the burning of a mosque in tampa. that's why for the first time at aipac, i am introducing a bill, against targeting minorities across the united states. [cheers and applause] and let's be candid. many, including those in this hall, have been directly impacted by the outrageous incidents targeting the jewish community. this violence and hate is alarming and simply unacceptable. [ applause ] no one should have to worry about their children's safety when they drop them off at the jcc. [ applause ] no one should have to be afraid to put a menorah in their front window or on their front lawn. [ applause ] and no one should ever have to fear

respect, they know exactly -- they know exactly what's getting ready to happen here in the united states senate. i just think we owe this to people who are getting ready to run for the united states senate or maybe people are thinking about running for reelection, we should go ahead and have this discussion so they will know whether they're running for a six-year house term. a six-year house term. because we don't have the maturity, because we don't trust each other, because we're on this constant deescalating deal and our leaders don't talk to each other, and fight and all those kind of things happen, because we're getting ready to take this institution to a place that i don't think many of us are going to be proud of, but again, for people who are thinking about running for the senate, let's go ahead and clear it. let's have a discussion about this legislative issue so that people will know if they're seeking election to the united states senate, they're in essence going to sign up possibly for a six-year house term. with that i yield the floor. i want to say as i yield the floor, i'm at a pl

committee consideration and favorable by the united states senate. thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> thank you mr. president. now we go to the senate minority leader. i understand you have a very tight schedule, mr. president. you are not required to stay. you are excused. [indiscernible] mr. chairman, i am delighted -- would be pleased to say [indiscernible] >> -- i was delighted and honored that somebody on the committee -- i don't have any questions. [indiscernible] >> i read your statement this morning. i wanted to ask if you have read any of the opinions of judge bork since he has sat on the bench in the circuit court of appeals. >> i have read various analyses pro and con of those opinions. i have read those that have been submitted to me by the people that are favorable, and i have taken the time to read some of the analyses that are critical. >> mr. president, have you had a chance to read any of his law review articles, and particular, the "indiana law review" article , or any others that are controversial in nature? >> i have not read in

do you think merrick garland was treated fairly by the united states senate? >> senator, a couple things in response to that if i might. going back, the absurdity doctrine was never presented to the court. and it usually applies in cases where there is a scrivener's errors, not just when we disagree with the policy of the statute. so i appreciate the opportunity to respond there. >> when there is a scrivener there? >> scrivener's error. sorry. not just when we disagree with the policy. with respect to -- >> well, if i read my statutory interpretation from -- let's see, this is from the notre dame law school, national institute for trial advocacy, this is a pretty well-known exception to the plain meaning rule. and i think you can apply it without it -- i mean, don't you think it's absurd that this man was put -- given that choice and then fired for it? don't you think that was absurd? >> senator, my heart goes out to him. >> never mind. >> my heart goes out to him. it's just not my job -- >> how do you think merrick garland was treated by the republicans? >> se

committee consideration and favorable approval by the united states senate. thank you very much mr. , chairman. joe biden: thank you very much, mr. president. now, we will go to the senator minority leader, republican leader, senator bob dole. you are welcome -- i understand you have a very tight schedule, mr. president. do not feel required to stay. i mean, you are excused. senator deconcini: mr. chairman, i wonder if the chairman would indulge me to ask the president a question, seeing that he is going to leave. it will only take 30 seconds. gerald ford: mr. chairman, i am delighted, and i would be pleased to stay and respond to questions if you or other members of the committee would like to pursue that. i have a schedule, but nothing today is more important than my presence before this committee on this vital matter. so i am delighted and honored if somebody on the committee would -- joe biden: well, mr. president, maybe to accommodate your schedule, i do not have any questions, and i do not think anyone else does. obviously, senator deconcini has one. sen

mary anne, is there anything unusual about a united states senator meeting from an ambassador from another country? isn't that generally what they are supposed to do? >> for most senators. the difference with jeff sessions is the timing and the role he played in the trump campaign at the time. everyone was talking about russia hacking this election. it was also around the time when obama imposed the sanctions against russia and russia was mad at obama and clinton. jeff sessions ran and led the foreign policy and national security team for donald trump. of course, the ambassador of russia wanted to meet with jeff sessions during that time. judge jeanine: i never said jeff sessions ran the national security team. >> carter page. judge jeanine: at the time he met him, the fisa warrant was turned down. there wasn't enough to get a warrant. >> i'm not connecting the two. judge jeanine: i am. i am saying there was something there and the obama administration was trying to get to it. they didn't have a scintilla of evidence to get a warrant. david, if kislyak was such a bad dude that another stat

public hearing the committee hilt -- held with director komi eric clabber when they came to united states senate to testify on the completion of the report of the last administration the full committee had an opportunity to ask all of the members' initial questions and as this to have opportunities to come back in and official capacity to share answers to questions we might have. the staff has been provided the unprecedented amount of documents that include up to this point heavily been shared with the gang of faith and staff directors it is safe to say our staff currently is working with through thousands of analytic products to determine if the process the reviewer's went through to compile their report were an agreement and their ratings match the to date providing dozens of pages of documents a majority of those were with within weeks of completing i might say we are in constant negotiations with the intelligence community about access to where we access the documents and if we have the capabilities to use computers. this is not abnormal is in every investigation i have seen so idol find thi

federal corporation and its board members are nominated by the president of the united states, confirmed by the united states senate. the house transportation and infrastructure committee and the senate environment committee are responsible for oversight of t.v.a., have held hearings to discuss t.v.a.'s budget and policies. so as a united states senator, mr. president, i'm here today to exercise my oversight responsibilities on t.v.a. clean line energy partners, a texas-based company, is proposing to build giant

do you think merrick garland was treated fairly by the united states senate? >> senator couple of things in response to that if i might. going back the doctrine was never presented to the court. it applies if cases where it's error and not only we disagree with the policy and statute. i appreciate the opportunity to respond there. >> when there's a scribner there.ner's error. not when we disagree with the policy. with respect to -- >> if i read my statutory interpretation from the notre dame law school, national institute for trial advocacy, this is a pretty well known exception. there's plain meaning rule. i think you can apply it without it. don't you think it's absurd that this man was put -- given that choice and fired for it? >> my heart goes how to him. >> never mind. how do you think merrick garland was treated by the republicans? >> since i became a judge, ten years ago, i had a candidate of ethics that precludes me from getting involved in politics. reason why judges don't clap at the state of the union and why i can't even attend a political caucus in

september and i'm assuming he knew he these meetings and then he is testifying before the united states senatewhich telling the truth is essential to whether or not you'll get confirmed by the united states senate and the american people and again chris you can't just look at this as this one contact. it's trump not showing his taxes. we need to know what is going on here. it's the leaks that seem to have been very coordinated in the hacking that only effected one side of this presidential election. come on, we have to open up our eyes here. this is serious stuff and i will tell you to hear republicans soft step this stuff is very, very troubling. >> why? >> this is essential to our democracy. the current attorney general was meeting with the russians during a campaign of someone he endorsed. lied about conversations he was having with top russian officials. the president of the united states has not released his taxes. we have no idea what his relationship is monetarily or otherwise with the rush gsian government. meanwhile they're spending time and money and issues in dealing with the ukrain

senator cruz: for 200 years, the standard of confirmation for federal judge in the united states senate was 51 votes. that is how the constitution has operated. it's how the senate has operated for most of its country's history. indeed, no supreme court justice in history has been defeated because he was filibustered. he only argue example is abe fort is who withdrew nomination in the face of a scandal. no justice has filibustered. the notion of filibustering federal judges was largely the invention of chuck shumer in 2001 when george w. bush became president and senate democrats then began under precedented filibusters of federal judicial nominees. i hope that next week the democrats do not choose to filibuster judge gorsuch, a candidate for whom they voted unanimously a decade ago. if they do i'm confident the senate will return to the rules that have governed that body for two centuries. one of the easiest illustrations of that is to recall the nomination of justice clarence thomas. justice clarence thomas, i believe, has become one of the greatest supreme court justices in history b

know of that and then he said he did not have any contact as a campaign official as a sitting united states senatore's matter of senate arms services committee part of his job to meet with people like that. in this instance for all the things trump administration has been criticized rightfully or not this one reeena do you think democrats maybe over played their hand. >> i don't think they're mrirly over play into dangerous territory when they say purgey. they're saying sessions who is our top law enforcement in the nation. >> you've been calling him senator sessions. >> we look at him and say here's a guy that came out number one for trump and it was under sessions who said he's my gay and he campaigned hard for him. by recuseing himself he's doing the best thing again let's go back to the roots he was deeply involved in cam pane and did know of a number of officials with trump campaign that contact with russian am bar door. he should have been forthcoming of the i don't believe he purgeerred himself. i think he should got ba to capitol hill. >> you don't think written responses are good enough sd

. >> i don't believe there's anything wrong with united states senator meeting with ambassador from russia. >> right. >> i see you're asking questions about it, that's fine. but i think it was a perfectly reasonable meeting. i had professional nonpolitical staffers with me. and we discussed some important international issues. i learned something perhaps in that meeting. i usually did. so that's the -- what happened. people were -- ambassadors were coming by to see me pretty often. >> here with more on the sessions firestorm and what it means for trump administration is senior white house correspondent sara murray. >> tonight the administration had hoped would still be riding high on the glow of president trump's speech to congress which they feel was very successful. instead facing yet another firestorm over russia. saw attorney general recuse himself from any potential probe about interactions between donald trump's campaign advisers and suspected russian operatives throughout the presidential campaign. the president today says he has total confidence in jeff sessions so for now his job

for lack of confidence is more open government at all levels i hope the leadership of the united states senate will see this as a friendly challenge to open their. >> you gentleman's time is expired. >> and this will revitalize representative democracy. it's been met with respect to the president's tweets directed at him from the prior frustration then no information to support that and we have looked carefully inside the fbi the departmentju

senator sumner and secretary seward saw for russian america. they brought a diverse, challenging, rich territory under the wing of the united states. alaska, i believe, is better for it and so is america. mr. president, i appreciate the senate's indulgence to tell a bit of the story of this day in our national experience and would like to close my remarks as senator sumner did on this floor nearly 150 years ago today by quoting him. as these extensive possessions constituting a corner of the continent pass from the imperial government of russia, they will naturally receive a new name. they will no longer be called russian america. how shall they be called? clearly alaska. clearly alaska. mr. president, as we celebrate the centennial of alaska's purchase from russia, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the the presiding officer: the >> the senate has been debating on whether to overturn an obama administration role of reporting regulations of government run retirement savings plans. the houses pass the measure and if approved in the senate, it will go to president trump. off the floor, senators are working on a number of nomina

the duties of the united states senate are set forth in the constitution of the united states. nowhere in that document does it say the senate has a duty to give presidential nominee a vote. this is senator schumer. and the last, july 27th, 2007, we should reverse the presumption of confirmation. we should not confirm any bush nominee to the supreme court except in extraordinary circumstances. that was the last year of president bush's last term. to my democratic colleagues, on november 21st, 2013, you decided when you were in charge of this body by 52-48 vote to change the rules of the united states senate with the nomination of executive branch appointments and all judges below that of the supreme court. i'm not going to ask you whether you think that was fair or not because that's not your job. i will say to the public, i thought it was incredibly unfair. i thought it was a power grab by our democratic colleagues that would change the nature of the judiciary for the rest of our lives. because what you have done is you made it that you can confirm a judge now within one party

work he never expected to do, conducting a special investigation of the president of the united states. the senator who holds sam ervin's seat now knows that his entire senate career will be judged by how he handles his duties investigating the president of the united states. >> served as an adviser on the trump campaign, can you say hand over heart that you can oversee an impartial and serious -- >> absolutely. i'll do something i've never done. i'll admit that i voted for him. we always hide through we vote for. that's part of the democratic process. but i've got a job in the united states senate. and i take that job extremely serious. it overrides any personal beliefs that i have or loyalties that i might have. mark and i might look at politics differently. we don't look at the spongesabilities we have on the committee differently. and that's to earn the trust and the respect of the intelligence community so they feel open and good about sharing information with us. because that enables us to do our oversight job that much better. >> every word of that directly shamed the way devin nunes has con

with the ambassador one time during the republican convention and the second time was in the united states senate office in a federal building and they were monitoring when the united states senator was having a private conversation with. if that is the case that's very concerning. is it possible that previous administration was listening to the conversations that took place in the trump tower? if that's the case, that's very, very disturbing of our future going forward to what the federal government has done to the american public. judge jeanine: i'm unaware of any claim of them listening to a conversation as being aware of a meeting between nor sessions and ambassador kislyak. i don't think there is any problem with it. the senator met with 25 ambassadors in the same year. there were public photographs of them together. no one is trying to hide anything. on this watergate type thing. for the fisa court to issue of this warrant and then for it to be denied and for them to go back. does it surprise you that the obama administration was doing everything in its power to monitor what was going on at

gerald ford, former president of the united states, introduced judge bork and action by the committee in full senate. during the hearings we also heard testimony from former , i wasustice who stated so concerned about the disinformation by some of these four-page ads, that i felt as a member of the bar, as a citizen, i had an authorization really to say what i mean. there was never a nominee i felt had better qualifications. theudge bork is not in mainstream then neither mia and neither have i been. chief justice bork also stated, it was astonishing to think he is an extremist anymore then i am an extremist. senatorame vein, former adverseabout advertising said, the thing that is just directing to me is that it is really not just propaganda. propaganda you can understand. dot is part of the way we things. but in this case, i have never seen such misrepresentation, such distortion, and such outright lies. i mean, there are people in very important positions in government who are lying to the american people. this was joined by others. others voicing their support for the judge. workssupporting judge

he did conduct personal business in oklahoma on pers simply clearly lied to the united states senatequestioned about whether or not he conducted business on his personal e-mail accounts. he did conduct personal business on his e-mail in oklahoma on personal business accounts. he lied to the senate about that. he told them he did not. who cares about e-mail? who cares about lying to the senate. scott isn't a hum drum who cares member of the trump administration. scott may be the most radical cabinet appointment trump has appointed to any agency. today scott pruitt took the almost unprecedented step of throwing out the window's the epa's scientific findings that one particular pesticide is unsafe and should be banned in this country. today scott pruitt took that scientific finding and threw it out the window, set screw it, don't care. and on his own say so, he decided that that own pesticide will now be legal. forget the process of determining whether or not it's safe. forget whether the scientists concluded in his own agency which is it is not safe. he threw that out the window and sa

let me conclude by saying i ran for the united states senate as a 29-year-old kid for two reasons. i ran for the united states senate because i came out of the civil rights movement. i was a kid in a segregated state that thought it was wrong and got engaged when i was in high school. there wasn't anything aerobic about what i did. sit ins and desegregating restaurants. but you know what, i came because i disagreed with quite frankly, almost all the old segregationists were democrats in those days when i got there 1973. and i started off on a committee as the most junior gu i think oy i think of her on the committee. the judiciary guy was strom thurmond. 30erved with him for some years, i think it was 28 years. and he and i actually became friends. people don't know that if you listen, if you try to understand what other geographic areas going through, if you listen, it can actually change you. hen strom thurmond left, voted for the extension of the voting rights act. he had a higher percentage of african-americans on his staff of any other, including teddy kennedy. didn't make up f

i hope, for example, that the leadership of the united states senate will see this as a friendly challenge to begin to open their -- >> under the rules, the gentleman's time has expired. >> the marriage of this medium and our open debate has the potential, mr. speaker, to revitalize representative democracy. >> and in 1986, the cable industry launched c-span2, to carry the senate live. all of our congressional coverage is webcast live, archived and searchable for free at c-span.org. c-span tv, radio, and online are provided as a public service of our cable and satellite affiliates across the nation. >>> and we're live on capitol hill now for a senate judiciary committee hearing on immigration fraud using k-1 visas, a type of visa that allows a foreign national to enter the country for 90 days to marry a u.s. citizen. the committee was set to get under way right about now. but there is a vote on the senate floor that is delaying this hearing from getting under way. but it should start shortly. we saw the chairman of the committee, chuck grassley, on the senate floor a short while ago, it sh

time in the history of the united states senate, a partisan filibuster will be used to attempt to defeat the nomination of a supreme court justice and to deny the senate the opportunity to have an up-or-down vote. now just to be clear, there are two votes here i'm talking about. one is the so-called cloture vote, where we close off debate. that takes 60 votes. and then once that passes, then it's clearly a majority vote, and 51 votes will carry the day. but what the democratic leader has suggested that they -- he wd deny the senate the opportunity to get to that second up-or-down vote. and that's simply unprecedented. and it's unprecedented for a very good reason. because in order to believe that 60 votes would be required to confirm a nominee to the united states supreme court would be to suggest that the founding fathers, when the constitution was written and when it was ralphed somehow believed -- when it was ratified somehow believe that the senate rules were incorporated in the constitution, when that's clearly not the case. clearly not the case. the constitution is a separate docum

becoming president, andrew jackson served your state in the house of representatives and in the united states senateved as commander of the tennessee militia. [applause] >> tough cookie. let's begin tonight by thanking all of the incredible men and women of the united states military and all of our wonderful veterans! the veterans! [applause] [chanting usa] >> amazing. there is no place i would rather be than with all of you here tonight with the wonderful, hard working citizens of our country. [applause] >> i would much rather spend time with you than any of the pundits, consultants, special interests, and certainly reporters from washington d.c. [applause] it is patriotic americans like you that make the country run well. you raise your families, love your country, and send your bravest to fight in our wars. [applause] >> all you want is a government that shows you the same loyalty in return. it is time that washington heard your voice and believe me on november 8th they heard your voice. [applause] [chanting trump] [applause] >> the forgotten men and women of our country will never be forgotten a

biden: the nomination of robert bork is reported to the floor of the united state senate with a negative recommendation of 9-5. excuse me, the senator from wyoming? >> mr. chairman, i admired your remarks. you commented about a very human aspects of judge bork. i just want to report that i talked to him last thursday, and i was not going to say this, and he said, "did you call to cheer me up?" really but "no, not , i think when we get to the floor and get it all heard." he said, "do not feel any anguish or despair for me. i am a big boy and know what is happening. i have a fine job and will be doing it for the rest of my life i don't go to the supreme court." but we now go to the floor, and i want you to know that i think the worst four-letter word in the op-ed is "pity," and i do not think he needs any pity. i think all of us see him as a scrapper. sen. biden: i want to make it very clear that i do not in any weight pity judge bork, -- in an bork, but iudge would be less than candid with you if i didn't tell you i feel badly for him at this moment. >> this weekend on american history tv

how can you be fair in my case when you've already opined on its contents in front of the united states senatef the united states, fortunate enough to be confirmed, or go home to colorado and those cases come before me, i'm still faced with the same predicament. yes. >> such a motion were to come forward, it is not exactly kind of circumstance in which you would say, that would be frivolous. not necessarily an act of paranoid fantasy to say such a motion for recusal could be filed. >> no, senator, which is why we have a judicial canon that prohibits me from opining on cases that might be pending or impending. and, senator, there is a second reason that i think is vitally important too. it goes beyond the parties. it goes to the integrity of the judiciary itself. if persons coming to this table, this rather lonely table in this rather big room have to make promises or hints or previews or nudges and gestures about how they're going to rule in cases, then i don't know where we are as an independent judiciary. it is like a campaign promise for office, it seems to me. and, you know what, it hasn't

president, let me note parenthetically that of the four hispanic united states senators today, three can trace their roots to this cuban migration to the united states. , and their families fame -- were refugees. they sit on the floor of the senate representing some of our great states, and yet with this president, he is asking them and all of us to ignore this history . we have accepted more than 150,000 refugees from the former yugoslavia. over 100,000 soviet jews who are escaping the persecution of their religion, looking for freedom they came to the united states. some argued that spies who are hostile elements could be hidden amongst them. think about the hundreds of thousands who came from communist controlled cuba into the united states. were they subjected to extreme vetting? no. they were people who said that they were coming here looking for freedom and we opened our , doors and they have made us a better country because of it. the united states was not frightened by the fear mongers when it came to these refugees joining us in the united states. we shouldn't be today. let's

different experience than you had 10 years ago when you were confirmed by voice vote of the entire united states senate to a life tenured position. the senate judiciary committee undertakes no task more important than the one before us considering a nominee to the united states supreme court. as you know, historically these used to be pretty routine. but that is until judges became seen as policymakers rather than as an impartial interpreters and the players of the law. the nation is watching and i think that's a really good game. at a time when fewer and fewer american citizens know our founding story and the principles upon which it is based, this is a wonderful opportunity for a teachable moment. and i would encourage you to take every opportunity to engage in. we are considering a nominee of course left by the death of justice antonin scalia -- we've heard before, justice scalia was unique. his wit and style brought the constitution to life, for lawyers in their first year of law school and for the american public at-large. he led the most important legal revolution in our lifetimes, tethering judi

president, i have to say is this a sad day for the united states senate. i know many of us here today, certainly my democratic colleagues, are truly appalled. once again instead of working on the many pressing issues at hand, republicans are continuing their tired, dangerous obsession with attacking women's health. once again women's health is being used as a political football with republicans attempting to cut off access to vital health care services. and once again millions of families across the country are watching congress wdering why there isn't just one more republican who will stand up for them. mr. president, republicans just held a vote open for nearly an hour to force a vote that would allow politicians to discriminate against family planning providers. of course whenever they can't make a vote when women's health is being attacked, who do senate republicans call to break that tie in the senate? -- that tie in the senate? vice president mike pence. we've actually seen this before. we remember what happened in the nomination of secretary devos a

a constant flow of people from other countries coming through the office of probably every united states senator. when jeff sessions said that he hadn't met with the russians within the context of discussions -- discussing campaign, which was the heart of the question asked by senator franken, no senator was concerned about his answer that he hadn't met with the russians because they understood the context within which he was anning that question. -- answering that question. had that not been the case, some senator, like a chuck schumer, would have woke up the first day, instead of after they were able to turn it into a media story, mr. speaker. so we have a country to save. we have an obamacare to repeal. we have a health care policy in this country that needs to be rebuilt. needs to be rebuilt. logically. by preserving our doctor-patient relationship, encouraging competition between insurance companies, letting people be in charge of the policy they want to buy, providing full deductibility and fixing the lawsuit abuse and being able to sell insurance across state lines. and expand health savi

for me to return to capitol hill and to appear before this distinguished committee of the united states senate. although i never had the privilege of serving as a member of the united states senate, i did have the great honor of 25.5 years as a member of the house of representatives. during my years in the house, my nine months as president of the senate, and 2.5 years as president of the united states, i had an abiding respect for the senate, especially its unique and special responsibilities under the constitution. in addition, in my 28.5 years in the nation's capital, i developed warm and treasured friendships with members of the senate on both sides of the aisle. i am pleased to see some of these cherished friends on the panel on this occasion. my appearance before the committee is for the purpose of introducing the honorable robert bork, judge of the u.s. circuit court of appeals for the district of columbia, who has been nominated by president reagan for service as an associate justice of the supreme court of the united states. under the constitution, article ii, section 2, the president

back up a lie bit and tell everyone that the prosecutor who micromanaged the prosecution of united states senator stevens that literally change the balance of power in the united states senate and enable the enactment of obamacare was one of the prosecutors in the merrill lynch case he went yellow highlighted and hidden evidence that showed merrill lynch executives were innocent. he got promoted during the bush administration to acting assistant attorney general for the criminal division of the department of justice. the other lawyers that i talk about in the book were promoted by president obama, even though they were appointed originally as bush enron task force prosecutors, there were promoted by president obama to his longest-serving white house counsel. general council deputy director of the fbi, the attorney general for the criminal division of the department of justice who recently left, was responsible for destroying arthur andersen and 85,000 jobs offer nothing on it to be reversed by united states supreme court 19 nothing because anderson had not committed an offense could most people d

that, too, was overturned by the united states senate. in fact, if you look at the total number of regulations that the administration and that the united states congress has been able to overturn, we're approaching $60 billion worth of regulatory relief that we have been able to give to the american people. $60 billion worth of regulations have been taken off the backs of hardworking americans, allowing them to do their jobs easier, allowing them to make ends meet easier. the and so i'm very glad that we saw blm.2 rule repealed, giving our people in colorado a better chance to have a say as to what naps their front yard and backyard. the waters of the united states has to continue to be something that we stop as we move forward. there are positive steps that we give our producers -- there are other positive steps that we should take to give our producers additional regulatory certainty. i know there's more that we can do and i hope to hear from our nation's farmers and ranchers. our farmers and ranchers in colorado on how congress and the

here as to what it means to meet with the russian official in your office in the role of a united states senator or as a surrogate for the trump campaign. there's much in this casm. some say he should step down, some say he should recuse himself. the latest here in what's at stake at the justice department where catherine herridge is. >> we're setting the scene here. there will be a two-minute warning that jeff sessions is about to speak. i want to set the scene. we've seen a highly series of un usual events today. this press conference was called with less than an hour's notice. highly unusual with reporters of every news organization descending here on the justice department. the key question here is whether the attorney general announced he will recuse himself from any elements of the russian investigation or whether he will stand his ground and that he has the confidence was president trump and he does not see that there's a conflict of interest. what is really under the microscope is then senator jeff sessions should have been more forthing in his confirmation hearings on capitol hill when

federal corporation and its board members are nominated by the president of the united states, confirmed by the united states senate. the house transportation and infrastructure committee and the senate environment committee are responsible for oversight of t.v.a., have held hearings to discuss t.v.a.'s budget and policies. so as a united states senator, mr. president, i'm here today to exercise my oversight responsibilities on t.v.a. clean line energy partners, a texas-based company, is proposing to build giant unsightly transmission towers from oklahoma through arkansas to tennessee, known as the plains and eastern clean line, to carry comparatively more expensive, less reliable electricity to tennessee and other southeastern states. for the first time federal eminent domain will be used over objections of both of arkansas' united states senators to acquire the lioness for the transmission line. in order to move forward for the construction of a single 700-mile high voltage line, clean line energy partners must find utilities in the southeast willing to pr-frp the power -- purchase the power produced by an oklaho