but i have great regard and respect for every united states senator's point of view, and i would say that every senator ought to have the ability to express their views on behalf of their constituents, but we can only do that if we allow the senate to function. i was on the senate floor not longing a praising the fact that we finally were successful in the appropriations process, that we passed fy 2017 appropriations bill. for too long the appropriations process has been broken down and we have conducted business in the united states by a continuing resolution. i thought we were back on a path in which there was enough agreement, respect among members, enough setting aside of partisan differences to actually accomplish legislation. i was pleased that we did that, but today we fall back into the pattern when something happens, we want to make a political point, we then obstruct the ability of others in the united states senate to conduct their work, to express their opinion, to gather the information that they need. this came to my attention, what transpires today, because -- because t

constituents can have access to at least some kind of the same benefit that they have as united states senators. i urge my colleagues to vote against that resolution. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. ms. duckworth: mr. president, thank you. our nation faces a retirement savings crisis. too many seniors live in poverty after -- after a lifetime of hard work and too many people are facing retirement who have not been able to put away the adequate savings that they will need. that's a problem not only on a human level and on a moral level but on an economic level. when seniors are forced to live in poverty, that hurts all of us and it's a strike against our nation's values. as more people have to spend money to take care of their retired parents and relatives, that hurts our economy. for millions of seniors, they do not have family members who can spend those resources, it so -- so it is taxpayers who will have to make sure that seniors have a place to live, food to eat, and medicine to keep them healthy. that's why we must do everything we can to help people to save for retiremen

that means we set aside party labels and adopt just one label, the -- united states senator, and with that let us make sure there is a clear, full, credible, honest investigation of how russia tried to influence our elections -- a full, a full come a clear, honest investigation if russia has ties to anyone in our government. and a full, clear, honest, understanding of how we make sure that never happens again to either republicans or democrats. was listening -- i was listening to our friend and colleague talk about the russian investigation and i agree 100%. it is our responsibility to get of it.bottom i got involved in the elections in france, using the combined process known commonly as active measures.

as the united states senator, the attorney general defied silicon valley billionaires and they're all me of largely us -- their army of lobbyists, and public relations firms. he stepped up when they tried to line their bottom lines with interests that would have impaired law enforcement's ability to hunt child predators with social media wraps and protections. when we saw a spate of mass shootings, then senator sessions did not just give speeches. he championed changes to ensure officers around the country can get the training they need to respond to active shooter incidents. he also approached changes to the officer safety's benefit program to expedite assistance to the family of officers killed in the line of duty. and throughout his tenure in the united states senate as attorney general of alabama, jeff sessions has worked hard to cultivate strong, collaborative relationships across the federal law enforcement community. such collaboration is more than critical as our country faces unprecedented threats from international terrorist organizations and transnational criminal gangs. at

during his tenure in the united states senate as attorney general of alabama, jeff tosions has worked hard cultivate strong, collaborative relationships across the federal law enforcement community. such collaboration is more than critical as our country faces unprecedented threats from international terrorist organizations and transnational criminal gangs. attorney general sessions, on behalf of all the men and women of the sergeants benevolent symptom -- organization, we distill upon you and honorary membership in our union in recognition of your commitment to doing what is right for our communities and having the backs of law enforcement officers across this country. we present to you this plaque in honor of the sergeants annapolis organization. thank you. ag sessions: thank you so much. that is fabulous. i will cherish that indeed. you, yourthank all of 13,000 members who walk the streets every day and put their lives on the line, and the association that you have together. i respect that association and the work you do to make your city better and safer. is an honor for me indeed

that means we set aside party labels and adopt just one label, the -- united states senator, and with that let us make sure there is a clear, full, credible, honest investigation of how russia tried to influence our elections -- a full, clear, thorough, honest investigation to see if russia has ties to anyone in our government, and a full, clear, honest understanding of how we make sure that never happens again t mr. cornyn: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i was listening with interest to our friend and colleague from minnesota talk about the russia investigation, and i agree with her 100%. that it is our responsibility to get to the bottom of what

john king was confirmed by the united states senate on march 14 of 2016. i disagreed with secretary king often, but he was confirmed by and accountable to the united states senate, as he should be, and as our constitution envisions. all of president obama -- president trump's cabinet members are confirmed, but this is how long it took. all of president trump's nominations were made before his inauguration i did, but the senate confirmed only two of those nominations on day one because senate democrats would not agree to anymore than that. a third cabinet nominee was confirmed on january 31. to compare, by january 31 in prior administrations, president obama had ten nominees confirmed and george w. bush and bill clinton each had 13 confirmed. now, please keep in mind that it's impossible for democratic senators by themselves to defeat a trump nominee. confirmation requires only a majority voting in present, that is usually 51 senators. there are 52 republican senators, and in addition, the vice president pence can vote in the case of a tie. there is no 60-vo

i am wondering about the politics and policy of this as it moves into the united states senate. in the senate, 10 senators face election in states that president trump won. what are your concerns as this legislation moves on? rep. defazio: this bill is not a factor in the races for those senators. look this was a really bad will , -- which was immensely unpopular in polling. it was rejected by the american

that is not a measure that should be passed by the united states senate. tor diane feinstein, thank you so much. sheer a look at the ongoing debate. the final passy probably in the next hour. the uncertainties . wondering, what if? i let go of all those feelings. because i am cured with harvoni. harvoni is a revolutionary treatment for the most common type of chronic hepatitis c. it's been prescribed to more than a quarter million people. and is proven to cure up to 99% of patients who have had no prior treatment with 12 weeks. certain patients can be cured with just 8 weeks of harvoni. before starting harvoni, your doctor will test to see if you've ever had hepatitis b, which may flare up and cause serious liver problems during and after harvoni treatment. tell your doctor if you've ever had hepatitis b, a liver transplant, other liver or kidney problems, hiv or any other medical conditions and about all the medicines you take including herbal supplements. taking amiodarone with harvoni can cause a serious slowing of your heart rate. common side effects of

meanwhile, this go to the united states senate for rand paul. senator, if you were to look at what you've seen come out of the house and we don't know the details what do you think? >> you know, the house freedom caucus made the bill a lot less bad. what i'm still concerned with, this is the first time that republicans have affirmatively put their stamp of approval on a a program where federal money, taxpayer money, is paid to insurance companies. i really frankly am not excited about subsidizing the profit of insurance companies. they make a lot of profits. they want to quadrant off the individual market where they don't make money and say oh, we want everybody to have insurance. as long as the taxpayer pays for it and premiums come down as long as you subsidize of people that get sick. that's what insurance is about. when you get sick, that's when the insurance company is supposed to pay. they just want to reap the profits and stick the taxpayer with the rest of the bill. so about 300 or 400 billion for insurance company profits. it boggles my

every ready in the room knows the answer is it in the united states senate that we can encourage more of our colleagues on both sides of the dial to carry every level because the opportunity is truly extraordinary. and as of now? there are no partisan lines just preexisting conditions it is the blank slate that allow us to benefit america and americans in banks to highlight this and my hope is in the years to come those ideas you're producing a becoming a reality in or out there for all to see the court to continuing to here today to achieve prosperity. thank you very much. [applause] [inaudible] think gifford that compelling a thoughtful vision of collaboration of the of western hemisphere have a few minutes for q&a. please raise your hand if you have a question. >> thank you for your time to look at the relevance of cannot agree with you more. i am from mexico in definitely one of the biggest challenges but talking about corruption and assure you know supply and demand of how the drug is consumed as the cows from the u.s. to the border. >> that is a very valid point and i don't talk

the i would go down to the national mall to protest the united states investment in apartheid south africa. i interned in the united states senate. i chaired the economic society. i was on the howard debate team. i pledged my sorority alpha cap alpha. us. of my sisters are with the notion of rejecting false choices that the howard taught us has carried me throughout my career. attorneythe district of san francisco, as the attorney general of california, and now as the united states senator. [applause] in my career, the conventional wisdom was that people are either soft on crime or tough on crime, but i knew we should be smart on crime. i was told prosecutors do not need to focus on recidivism. people said, that is not your job, keep locking folks up. as da i launched an initiative to help first-time offenders reenter society and not go back to prison. [applause] toldharris: i was prosecutors should not focus on the needs of children. but we created a bureau of children's justice that took on elementary school truancy. graduates, i share all of this with you to make the point there is no limit to what you can do. you must always

and i do encourage everybody to flood the phone lines in the united states senate. hem down again, just like they did on some of the other issues that we faced. turn out in huge numbers to these town hall meetings for united states senators. and let them know just how bad it will be when they take away their health care. >> senator chris van hollen, thank you very much for joining us tonight. i really appreciatette. >> thank you, lawrence. >>> coming up, george will wrote the column of the day, the column everyone was talking about. it was trending on twitter today. it was about the president. and he said in that column the dangerous thing is that he does not know what it is to know something. george will taking a look at the way donald trump thinks. that's next. it's a good thing that you are working with humana and your doctor to maintain your health. because in 5 days, 10 hours and 2 minutes you are going to be 67. and on that day you will walk into a room where 15 people will be waiting... 12 behind the sofa, 2 behind the table and 1 and a half behind a curtain.

so yes, theoretically the united states senate could pass that but you have a united states senate right now by and large controlled by the oil and gas industry and thus no interest in, in supporting the united states staying in paris. you have a couple of republican senators we can work with on that but not enough ultimately to get you to 50 or 51. i know we will probably have more questions on climate. we are putting as much pressure as we can in as many innovative ways as we can on this administration to stay in paris. i spend a little time every week thinking how i organize and private sector pressure on administration to stay in paris, i think it is important, but we do have to think in ways to work around the administration. ways states and localities can lead building green. pressure we can all put on companies we do business with, buy things from to make their supply chains green. i will give you one piece of good news before i move on to other know question, that there is hope is not all loss with republicans. we go through congressional review acts, congress within 90 days of a

senators, and in his opening remarks, he talked about the thucydides trap and how china and the united states need to avoid it. so that's the good news. at least on that issue we're on the same sheet of paper. there's other good news, and that is that this body, the united states senate, in many ways is the ideal place where we should be discussing, debating, developing, and, yes, implementing the kind of long-term strategic policies that we need to address as a country and develop with regard to the rise of china. in "the federalist" papers, madison talks about one of the important roles of the u.s. senate with its members having six-year terms and having significant powers in foreign policy is to be able to ensure a stable and lasting relations between the united states and other nations. indeed, perhaps more than any other part of the federal government, this institution, the united states senate, has the opportunity to act and think and debate and implement policies, strategic policies, for long-term interests of of our nation. and contrary to some conventional wisdom where you only hear

so yes, theoretically, the united states senate could pass that, but you have a united states senate that is right now by and large controlled by the oil and gas industry, and thus has no interest in supporting the united states staying in paris. you have a couple republican senators we could work on with that, but not enough ultimately to get you to 50 or 51. and i know we'll probably have more questions on clielt. we are putting as much pressure as we can in as many innovative ways as we can on this administration to stay in paris, so you know, i spend a little time every week thinking about how i can organize public sector and private sector pressure on the administration to stay in paris. i think it's that important. but we do have to think about ways we can work around this administration. we do have to think about ways in which states and localities can continue to build green. we can buy green things. i'll give you one bit of good news before i move on to the next question to give you the sense hope is not all lost with respect to republicans. we have been going through a serie

so my hope is from our eat in the united states senate from our sub committee and from our engagement such as this that we can encourage more of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to engage in the western hemisphere. i think the opportunities for our nation, for our region and ultimately for the world are truly extraordinary. the thing is because we haven't been debating it as of now there are no partisan lines. there are no preexisting positions. it's an open and blank slate in many ways. it allows us to write it in a way meaning the broader region. i thank you for the importance you continue to give it in highlighting this. my hope is in years to come as we come back and engage with you that many of the ideas that you're producing and that we offered are becoming reality and the fruits are out there for all to see. so again, i thank you for this opportunity to address you and look forward to hear from you, learn from you and achieve prosperity from you and our partners in the region. thank you very much. now we have a few minutes for q and a. >> thank you for your time and le

senator, we thank you for your leadership on issues of consequences for the united states of relations in the western hemisphere and your friendship to the council of america's. thank you very much. ladies and gentlemen, welcome your senator. >> about a month ago something happened overnight and my eyesight started to deteriorate. is that normal after you 45 mark i am honored to be here with you today. i think the council of america's for inviting me to speak. it's actually a great honor to be here and this benjamin franklin room which is a hallowed place. it's named after the father of international diplomacy and a founding father. in particular, i want to thank the chairman of the council of the american society and the president and ceo of the american society and of course erica farnsworth which will be before our committee tomorrow, i hope you get a good night sleep, we will grill you hard. it's an honor to be a part of this conference. it's an exciting time in regards to the united states and the western hemisphere because it gives us an opportunity to rethink policy. in many way

when i arrived at gw, becoming a helicopter pilot or a united states senator were not a part of my wildest dreams. i came here because i wanted to become a foreign service officer, and i knew that there was no better place to prepare for the foreign service than the george washington university. so with the help of student loans, grants, a full-time job, i enrolled in the elliott school. when i got to my classes, i got -- [cheers] en. duckworth: woo hoo! when i got to my classes, i got to know servicemen and women and veterans from all different backgrounds, who were also student veterans. i always knew i wanted to serve my country, but my classmates at gw helped expand my vision of what that service could look like. these were individuals who were so unapologetically patriotic , but they also weren't afraid to think critically and criticize our government and how our nation conducts itself in the world. they helped me understand that our nation's strength doesn't just come from tanks and guns and helicopters -- although i do love them, and personally, i find helicopters sexy. [laughter] s

when i arrived at gw, becoming a helicopter pilot or a united states senator were not a part of my wildest dreams. i came here because i wanted to be a foreign service officer, and i knew that there was no better place to prepare for the foreign service than the george washington university. [applause] so with the help of student loans, grants, a full-time job, i enrolled in the elliott school. when i got to my classes, i got to know servicemen and women and veterans from all different backgrounds, who were also student veterans. i always knew i wanted to serve my country, but my classmates at gw helped expand my vision of what that service could look like. these were individuals who were so unapologetically patriotic but also weren't afraid to think critically and criticize our government and how our nation conducts itself in the world. they helped me understand that our nation's strength doesn't just come from tanks and guns and helicopters -- although i do love them, and personally, i find helicopters sexy. you do too, right? he used to fix black hawks. i used to break black hawks. so i

and i do encourage everybody to flood the phone lines in the united states senate. down again, just like they did on some of the other issues that we faced. turn out in huge numbers to these town hall meetings for united states senators. and let them know just how bad it will be when they take away their health care. >> senator chris van hollen, thank you very much for joining us tonight. i really appreciatette. >> thank you, lawrence. >>> coming up, george will wrote the column of the day, the column everyone was talking about. it was trending on twitter today. it was about the president. and he said in that column the dangerous thing is that he does not know what it is to know something. george will taking a look athe way donald trump thinks. at's nex ♪ ♪ i'm dr. kelsey mcneely and some day you might be calling me an energy farmer. ♪ energy lives here. so we know how to cover almost alanything.ything, even a coupe soup. [woman] so beautiful. [man] beautiful just like you. [woman] oh, why thank you. [burke] and we covered it, november sixth, two-thousand-nine. talk

and when might this bill go to the united states senate, as everybody thought it had on the fourth of may? i yield to my friend, the majority leader, mr. speaker. mr. mccarthy: i thank the gentleman for yielding and his long question. let me first mr. hoyer: but he got the point, i'm sure. mr. mccarthy: let me answer the points you have made because i want history to be written correctly. first of all, you were shocked. i don't know why you were shocked. i thought you were going to say you were shocked that that exact same week, when you read the paper, that 94 counties out of 99 in iowa would have no health care if obamacare continued to go forward. i thought that would have hocked you. then when you wanted to -- shocked you. then when you wanted to put dates down and talk about 113 gs, we had more than hearings. that's more than the number of hearings you had for obamacare. .ur bill is less than 150 pages that's thousands of pages less than obamacare. you talk of c.b.o., you knowing lino -- knowingly know that c.b.o. scored this bill. those eight pageses of amendments you were shock

recusal by the attorney general of the united states for misleading the senate judiciary committee on his communications with the russians. just last week, the decision by the president of the united states to remove from office the man in charge of that investigation, the director of the fbi, james comey. then the fumbling that occurred afterwards as they produced memos which were then disavowed, as they backtracked on the real reason for the removal of james comey. then to have a sequel to a, a meeting with a foreign minister of russian as long as well as the ford russia ambassador and for the leader of the united states of america to disclose classified information to those two people in his office. to tell the story as it occurred is almost incredible for us to believe. the question now is what we will do is united states senate. there have been moments in history were senators from both political parties have been called on to put country of our party. to stand up together for the good of the nation realizing the oath of office that we have taken binds us to the constitution to t

. >> here is look at books being published this week: two united states senators have books coming. al franken recalls this campaign in giants of the senate. and mike lee reports on lesser known figures who influence the u.s. constitution in written out of history. senators franken and lee will appear on our afterwards program in the coming weeks. and tom coburn officers thoughts on reducing government spending in smashing the d.c. monopoly. gram explores the relationships between china and the u.s. in destined for car. and sean mckeek n takes a closer look at the edgnd of the rule or the russian leadership. watch were many of the authors in the near future on booktv on c-span2. ....

grassley: i think it is but not as much as the democratic obstruction in the united states senate of having to have a filibuster on almost every nominee for the cabinet and i have even heard now that we will have to file -- on the governor of iowa being the ambassador to china. and he was reported out of committee unanimously. i am more worried about the historical amount of obstruction than what you have brought out. but what you have said is some detraction. probably more for the white house than it is for the congress. we can move ahead on all of these things. in fact, you will hear the word "trumpcare." the weekend after he was sworn in, he was going to have a plan to present to congress within a few days. we never got such a plan. the house and the senate are moving ahead on health, on text revision and eventually we will be moving ahead on the third most important thing that we have to do, infrastructure. mr. lesniewski: getting to the obstruction point for a minute, makes me ask the question about the blue slip process for judicial nominees. there has already been some talk th

. >> two united states senators have new books coming out. al franken recalls this campaign in giant of the senate and mike lee reports on lesser known figures that affect the u.s. constitution in written out of history. franken and lee will appear on after words in the coming weeks. tom coborn officers his thoughts on government spending. graham explores the relationship between china and the united states through the trap in destined for war. and historian sean mcmeekan takes a closer look at the end of the rule over russia in the russian revolution. >> good evening, everybody. welcome to this author event. it is so nice to have you here. i am anderson and a member of the board of trustees.

while the deputy attorney general was confirmed a few weeks ago by the united states senate, when he brought the recommendation to the president of the director of the fbi should be removed president trump provided strong and decidedly leadership the american people have come to be accustomed from him and took the action necessary to remove director comey. now the president is in the process of evaluating individuals who will be able to fill that spot and leave the fbi -- and lead the fbi and restore confidence of the american people. this was the right decision at the right time. >> considering the bipartisan concern, why not support an independent panel? >> the evidence, the facts that are in public today are very clear, the former director of national intelligence has said there is no evidence of collusion. the president and i remain confident the committees in the house and senate looking into every aspect of issues that arise out of the election will be able to do their work in an orderly way. the president was informed several times by the former director of the fbi he was not

we are now in the midst of a 15-minute vote on the floor of the united states senate, and we are hopefully going to be able to come back and hear your testimony and have a trade representative confirmed by the united states senate. an extremely important vote. so, i am going to state that the committee stands adjourned, subject to the call of the chair, and i plan to be back within about seven minutes. i hope that will fit your schedule, because we certainly want to hear your testimony. >> thank you. >> the committee stands adjourned subject to the call of the chair. >> the committee will come to order. you are recognized for your statement. thank you very much for coming. >> thank you, chairman roberts, and other members of the agricultural committee. thank you for the opportunity to present my testimony this morning. my name is virginia ruiz and i am the director of occupational and environmental health at farm worker justice. farm worker justice is a national advocacy that supports farm workers in the u.s. to support their live going working conditions, occupational safety and access to

here in d.c., wade has been doing a great job serving in the united states senate has a page. according to those who supervise him, as well as his fellow pages, wade is eager to take any opportunity to talk or learn about his state. the esteemed laura dove, herself, has referred to wade as, quote, alaska's best ambassador. now, i thought that's what senator murkowski and were i supposed to be doing, but it is a grand compliment. others say that he is a heart for public service. humor and kindness, he is extremely well-liked throughout this building. and in just two weeks wade and all the pages here will complete their service as senate pages. by the way, very, very hard work. up at 5:00 a.m., studying at 6:00 a.m., classes until 9:00, and then working in the senate until the wee hours. so i want to thank wade and all the senate pages for their service to the senate, to their states, to their country. wade's energy and upbeat outlook will be missed in this body, but even though he is leaving us in the senate, wade hopes to continue his service to his country by attending the uni

the granddaughter of an iowa's miner, the first woman elected to the united states senate from the state of minnesota. [ applause ] that's how america works. [ applause ] >> but, could my grandpa do that today? >> that's how we get to the second corner of iowa here of this economic agenda. we need to give american businesses of the incentives to invest and innovate right here in america. 13,000, that's a number of hardworking americans who are laid off. with china producing half the world steel and heavily subsidized production, american steel companies could not compete and american workers got hurt as a result. we need fair trade, we know what our agriculture products and minnesota and in iowa. we need to sell our american goods to customers around the world. but, we must do more to catch foreign companies who are breaking our trade loss. you know what our story is? we brought president obama's chief of staff mcdonough up to the first end. he said you know, my kid just graduated from pre-school and the teachers asked him what he wanted to be when he grow up and my kid said, "i want to

carper: i'm a 23-year veteran of the united states navy and naval reserve and a united states senator from delaware. if you're kicking off the season at one of those five-star beaches or celebrating this holiday with maybe a barbecue in your own backyard, i just want to wish you and your loved ones a safe and very special memorial day. that you remember that memorial day is about more than sandy beaches and cookouts. each year, we dedicate one day for reflecting on and thanking the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice to protect our country. it is a sacred day. on this day, we also remember the veterans who are still with havehese men and women who been a living testimony of the sacrifices made to protect the freedoms we cherish. it was one of the greatest honors of my life to serve our country for 23 years in the navy. and today as a senior senator for delaware, it is one of our test one of my top priorities to ensure our nation can care for those who are going to battle. we owe our veterans more than a debt of gratitude for their service. we owe veterans a steadfast co

let's assume that i'm not a united states senator, i'm working for a presidential campaign. i'm contacted by a russian agent who says i've got some hacked emails here and i want to visit with you about them. am i committing a crime? >> also, i think i should resist answering that hypothetical. >> okay. can you explain to me, not the law, but in your personal opinion, when interrogation techniques become torture? >> you may not the law? there is a statute -- as a lawyer and as a member of law enforcement organization, i would start. the definition of torture is laid out and american statutes. not sure i understand what you mean beyond that. >> i'm just asking our personal opinion about what you think constitutes torture. where he would personally draw the line drawing on your substantial experience. the >> general, any conduct that involves the intentional infliction of physical pain or discomfort in order to obtain information is in the colloquial sense, torture. it may not be torture under the statute, which congress chose to define at a fairly high level, but as a human be

in michigan. >> yes, senator. >> and of the united states? >> yes, senator. >> you see, minnesota has a lot of rural health systems, and so -- [[ inaudible ]]. >> i understand that. and when i went around minnesota on this one iteration, the first iteration of this bill i heard from hospitals, from nursing homes, clinics, that this was terrible for rural health systems. how would it affect your system in terms of your being able to employ the number of people you employ? what would it do to your system? >> we would have to come up with a strategy and cut, and when i look at my community i think of my community as the upper peninsula. i grew up there. there are seven other hospitals up there that -- that exist in counties that have some of the highest unemployment rates in the state. there are women in my hometown of newberry, michigan that travel 100 miles to deliver their babies, to markette, to potosky and sometimes to the sioux. we have delivered three babies in our emergency department in the last three years. we delivered a four pound pre

mine hope is that from our seat in the united states senate, from our subcommittee and engagement in forms such as this, that we that we can encourage more of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to engage in the western hemisphere and care about it at every level because i think the opportunities for our nation and region and for the world are truly extraordinary. the great thing about it is because we haven't been debating it for far too long as of now anyway, there are no partisan lines. there are no pre-existing positions. it's an open and blank slate and allows us to write it in a way that benefits america and americans in the broader region read i think you for the importance you've given it and continue to give it and my hope is that in the years to, as we come back and engage with you, many, many of the ideas you are producing and we've offered are becoming reality and the fruits are out there for all to see. i thank you for this opportunity to address you and i look forward to continuing to hear from you, learn from you, work from you and achieve prosperity together wit

time to time that it is sometimes difficult to find the things in the jobs that we have as united states senators in which you get the sense of. the there's a lot of challenges in getting things done, but the idea that we have come together to support medical research and find life-saving tours gives us something to take great satisfaction and gives us hope of what we have been able to accomplish in this regard is hen publicans and democrats, but a really as americans and be a role model as we find solutions to other problems. hope we try to find solutions as how we help the american people. uni, madam president, come from rural states and in any kind of healthcare solution we find we need to make certain we increase the chances that hospital doors remain open in rural communities across our state and make certain there are more physicians, not less, more healthcare providers that nursing homes are more available , pharmacies remain onai main street and in fact in our cases of our state you can findt ways i suppose that reduce the cost of healthcare only to discover you no longer have a provider,

he was confirmed just 14 days ago by a vote of 94-6 by our united states senators. it's well respected across both sides of the aisle. and served under president obama and he sent out a memo to the attorney general and it says restoring public confidence in the fbi. >> most of this letter focuses on hillary clinton's emails. this is stuff that as a candidate, president trump talked about this on the campaign all the time. all the sudden the white house is concerned about his handling of the email snz. >> no it's not all of a sudden. >> the first thing is all about -- that main -- >> the fbi's reputation and credibility. >> the fbi was wrong to usurp the attorney general. why are you concerned about the hillary clinton investigation? >> i think you're looking at the wrong set of facts. this man is a president of the united states. he acted decisively today. he took the recommendation of his deputy attorney general. >> he said one thing as a candidate and now he's concerned as president. >> he has lost confidence in the fbi director and took the recommendation to the

let's assume that i'm not a united states senator. i'm working for a presidential campaign. and i'm contacted by a russian agent who says, i've got some hacked e-mails here and i want to visit with you about. am i committing a crime? >> also, senator, i think i should resist answering that hypothetical. >> okay. can you explain to me not the law but just in your personal opinion, when interrogation techniques become torture? >> you mean not the law? >> that's right. >> there is a statute that defines torture in the united states and so that as a lawyer and as a member of law enforcement organization, that's where i would start, that the definition of torture is laid out in american statutes. i'm not sure i understand what you mean beyond that. >> i'm just asking your personal opinion about what you think constitutes torture. where you personally would draw the line drawing on your substantial experience. >> i'd say in general any conduct that involves the intentional infliction of physical pain or discomfort in order to obtain information is in the colloquial sense torture.