this is a great moment for the united states senate. this is the way the senate is supposed to function and this is the way the senate is supposed to exercise its per prerogatives it relates to foreign policy. a great moment for our body. senator cardin. mr. cardin: well, first to senator corker. there's a reason why members want to conserve -- serve on the senate foreign relations committee. we had a long list ofle members who wanted to -- of members who wanted to join the committee. the reason they wanted to join is not only because of the issues we have globally, but this is a committee that is bipartisan and respects the views of every single member, both democrat and republican, that is on the senate foreign relations committee. the bill we have before us reflects that in the best tradition of the united states senate and the foreign relations committee. that is due in large part pause of the -- large part because of the chairman. this is an important moment in the united states senate to be able to vote on a bill that is consequent

on september 21, 2016, 71 united states senators supported a tank sale to saudi arabia by 71 votes to 27. in other words, 71 united states senators rejected rand paul's proposal to stop the sale of tanks. i would argue that a tank is not nearly a precision weapon as the weapons we're talking about here to be given to the air force. if you're worried about collateral damage in yemen, i understand your concern. precision weapons would help that cause, not hurt it. and you've got to understand who we're dealing with in yemen. we're dealing with iran. saudi arabia has a border with yemen. the iranians are backing a force called the how hi -- out his to bring down a government in yemen. from a saudi perspective, everywhere you look you see iran encroaching throughout the mideast. the theocracy in iran is the biggest threat to world order and that is saying a lot given the world as it is. and i say that with confidence because what iran is trying to do is destabilize the mideast in unprecedented fashion and our allies are tired of it. now is the time to stand with them, with their imperfect

the top democrat in the united states senate. thanks for being with us tonight. >> good evening. good evening, ms. maddow. >> thank you. let me ask you, top line for your reaction tonight to the sworn testimony today from the attorney general. did he set anything to rest in terms of the russia collusion question or the prospect that the investigation into that has been obstructed? >> no. i think he raised more questions than he settled. when you compare his testimony to director comey, director comey was forthright, even on occasion when some people thought it might have hurt him, but he told the whole truth and nothing but. he didn't hold anything back. jeff sessions seemed to be avoiding almost every question, few exceptions. and when the president, when the people around him, why do people suspect us? well, if you had done nothing wrong, the obvious conclusion is you'd be happy to talk about things. but if you're worried you might have done something wrong, then the conclusion is you better avoid it. and this idea when these -- the information is not classified and when the pr

in bringing a bill that a faxed one sixth of the economy of our country to the floor of the united states senate without deliberation bear committees and without transparency to the american people. madam president, when i got to the united states senate i worked hard to get onto the senate finance committee.en i did that because the jurisdiction contains areas where i devoted a good part of my public career too. including issues of taxation and issues concerning social programs in our state, that also included healthcare, an area ime worked on in the legislature. i wanted to be on the committee that had a role in developing the health policy of this nation. i thought i could add to that debate with my experience and i wanted to make sure the people in maryland had a voice as we developed policy in america. madam president, that role is i being denied by what the republican leaders doing in bringing this bill to the floor without the benefit of hearings. let me repeat that. there has not been one hearing held on the legislation being brought forward by the majority leader. there has not been one

it should have been sent to the united states senate. you know who had the power to do that? your administration had the power to do that. you could have changed the deal. you could have gone to the united states senate and done what you said should have been done, have a full-throated debate with the american people. you chose not to do that why? >> the decision not to send it to the senate was made by the former administration. >> i know. but you could have changed things. you could have done it. >> it's clear that the demerits, the efficacy in environmental outcomes was a bad deal for this country. the president said he's going to put america first in trade, he's going to put america first in national security and border security, he's going to put america first in contracting the reach of washington, d.c. and he's going to put america first with respect to the environment and international agreements. i think what is being missed in all this the president said on friday paris we're getting out of because it represents a bad deal. the targets said about it previous administ

united date senate. the senate -- the united states senate. the most delivered a body in the world, the senate which has been known as a body that allows for , benefits from the views of all 100 members, that each of us have opportunities to have our voices heard, that tradition has been damaged by what the majority leader has done in bringing a bill that affects 1/6 of the economy of our country to the floor of the united states senate without the --eration by committees without transparency to the american people. madam president when i got to the senate i worked hard to get onto the senate finance committee. i did that because the jurisdiction in the committee contains areas that i have devoted a good part of my career too. anduding issues of taxation social programs in our state. it also included health care. an area that i worked on when i was first in the maryland state legislature. i wanted to be on the committee that had a role in developing health policy of the nation and thought i could add to that debate with my experience and i want

ever in any of the fantastical situations heard of a plot line so ridiculous that a sitting united states senator and an ambassador of a foreign government he could lieutenanted in an open setting with hundreds of other people to pull off the greatest caper in the history of espionage? >> thank you for saying that, senator cotton. it's just like through the looking glass. i mean what is this? i explained how in good faith i said i had not met with russians

in bringing a bill that affects one-sixth of the economy of our country to the floor of the united states senate without deliberation by our committees and without transparency to the american people. madam president, when i got to the united states senate, i worked hard to get on to the senate finance committee. i did that because the jurisdiction of the senate finance committee contains areas that i've devoted a good part of my public career to, including issues of taxation and issues concerning social programs in our state, but it also included health care, an area that i worked on when i was first in the maryland state legislature. i wanted to be on the committee that had a role in developing the health policy of this nation. i thought i would add to that debate with my experience, and i wanted to make sure the people of maryland had a voice as we developed health policy in america. madam president, that role was being denied by what the republican leader is doing in bringing this bill to the floor without the benefit of hearings. let me just repeat that. there has not been one hearing held

and with the affordable care act and with the ofri restoring united states senate itself. for and we need the senators to say i will not go for anything there that has the bin day public hearing that has been jammed down the american approach and how will impact my state's hospitals and for the three republicans to say whatever order this is the only way the bill is not a total disaster a yield the floor.. >> mr. president i am grateful for the recognition my and for my colleague from hawaii or from across the country coming to the floor tonight this will be a long evening because there are a lot of folks were frustrated it isn't just frustration about the actual bill itself but a lot of it is building p. because of the broken this of the process. man has been conducted behind closed doors on both sides of the aisle and with the regular order. and to bring about a better process and to create the opportunity to reflect on the american health care act that the debate would happen and would come about that the american public would see go through the debate this very constit

senate armed services committee had just left that committee and in fact, had just left the united states senate because at the beginning of february, had he just been confirmed as the next attorney general of the united states. his name is jeff sessions, former alabama senator, former senate armed services committee member, jeff sessions. now, in the course of his confirmation hearing to become attorney general, he had volunteered to have minnesota senator al franken that during the course of the presidential campaign where he had been such a high profile supporter of donald trump, he said he had not met with any russians. he volunteered that under oath at his confirmation hearing talking to senator al franken. he then put it in writing. some of the questions they asked out loud, some in writing at these hearings. pat leahy submitted a question to jeff sessions. he asked him "have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the russian government about the 2016 election either before or after election day." jeff sessions gave a one-word answer to that question. no. but then on marc

>> i'm optimist tick and the members of the united states senate are working diligently and i was in the session before coming to a close before mome memorial day and in the house of representatives there are detailed discussions of what could be one of the largest tax cuts in american history and the onerous burden that today frank placed ton -- on the american economy and rebuilding america's infrastructure, so it will be the best in the world and i'm on capitol hill a lot and they are working diligently to move this agenda forward and there is a lot of work to be done and not a lot of time to do it and i'm optimistic that come the end of this year, we are going to replace and repeal obamacare and the tax cuts and the economy that is continuing to grow for america. >> sean: for those people and the millions in poverty on food stamps and out of the labor force and the lowest homeownership in 51 years.

repeatedly and in a controversial way in today's testimony by attorney general jeff sessions at the united states senate do want to just hit one thing before we go, though. and that is that last question that i just raised with senator chuck schumer of new york. the president has his personal lawyer now an outside lawyer who is apparently defending him on the russia issue. it's a business and real estate lawyer named mark kasowits who has never done anything like this. mark has bragged that he's the one who got the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york fired, despite the fact that the president and attorney general had told preet that he can stay in his job. they're sourcing this to four people. they're familiar with these conversations. they say that kasowitz that he told him, that this guy is going to get you with the implication of being that trump should then fire him so he cannot come get him. if that is why he was fired, that raises it's whole whole new set of questions about behavior, improper or otherwise of this administration for people who might be in a position to investigate t

by him and bt senator murphy is one that calls on the senate to take an honeste look at saudi arabia today in a relationship with the united states and may i add one other elemento on a personal basis? it is so rare on the floor of the united states senate to see what we've just seen this morning. a proposal for an amendment to be debated, an amendment to be voted on on the floor of the senate. may times that's happened this year in the united states senate. what used to be the most lucrative body america, the great debating society and so forth, has turned into place of rubberstamps and unanimous consent. and i'm glad, win or lose, and her effort here on this amendment that the senator is bring this important issue to the fore. i thank you for making it a bipartisan effort in the process. >> unless at the concerns are allies would the junior senator from kentucky will move to discharge a resolution of disapproval against america arms sales to saudi arabia. it's importa

by him and by senator murphy is one that calls on the senate to take an honest look at saudi arabia today and the relationship with the united states. and may i add one other element on a personal basis? it is so rare on the floor of the united states senate to see what we have just seen this morning, a proposal for an amendment to be debated. an amendment to be voted on on the floor of the senate. i could count on one hand how many times that's happened this year in the united states senate. what used to be the most deliberative body in america, the great debating society and so forth has turned into a place of rubber stamps and unanimous consents. and i'm glad, win or lose, in our effort here on this amendment, that the senator is bringing this important issue to the floor. i thank him for making it a them call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. graham: thank you. i take the floor today to strenuously argue against the proposition being pushed by senator paul and murphy and

really are substantively factually saying that this is probably one of the low moments of the united states senate in the way that this process is being done. mr. murphy: there is right outside the senate chamber a picture of the authors of the connecticut compromise, two of the connecticut delegates to the constitution convention. a shout out to connecticut. but no, you are right. the idea of the house is that it is supposed to respond perhaps more quickly to the temporary passions of the public, which is ironic given that the passion of the public today is in deep opposition to this piece of legislation. unfortunately, the house is responding to the passions of one very small portion of the public, which is the sort of extreme republican base which may be the only remaining segment of this country which supports the american health care act. this place is supposed to be able to step back and look at the long term, look at the long view. that's why we have six-year terms so that we don't do something that may feel good in the moment politically but has devastating impacts over the course of time.

then, and only then, did we bring the bill to the floor of the united states senate. and when we did, we spent 25 consecutive days in session debating the bill on the senate floor in front of the american people. in short, democrats spent months making compromise after compromise in the hopes of getting republicans on board only to learn that they never had any intention of working with us at all. they never cared about expanding access to care or reducing drug costs for seniors or making insurance affordable. it didn't work with us then and it is certainly not working with us now. behind closed doors 13 republican men are debating just how many millions of americans will lose their coverage under this bill. is it 23 million? is it 20 million? 16 million? behind closed doors they are discussing just how high the age tax should be on middle-aged workers. is it $8,000 a year, $12,000 a year? behind closed doors they are picking and choosing which consumer protection it's to gut? should they bring back lifetime limits on coverage, which is a real problem if you have a ser

it only takes three republicans in the united states senate to restore the united states senate itselfestore the hearing process, to restore public confidence and restoresa bipartisanship. all we needal are three republin senators to say i won't vote for anything if there hasn't been a public b hearing. i won't vote for anything that's beingn jammed down america'sg throats. i won't vote for anything without being able to go back home and figure out how it wille impact my state's hospitals. this is not an unreasonable ask. we're just asking for three republicans to say let's be a senate again. let's restore order and transparency and to things the righton way. because that's the only way this bill will not be a total disaster.is i yield the floor. >> mr. president in. >> senator from new jersey. >> i'm grateful for the recognition. i amsefr grateful for my colleae from hawaii. really my colleagues from across the country who are going to be coming to the floor tonight. this is going to be a long evening because there are a lot of f folks who are frustrated. now,no it's not just frustrat

in fact had just left the united states senate because at the beginning of february he had just been confirmed as the next attorney general of the united states. his name is jeff sessions, former alabama senator. not course of his confirmation hearing to become attorney general, he had volunteered to minnesota senator al franken that during the course of the presidential campaign where he'd been such a high profile supporter of donald trump, he said he had not met with any russians. he volunteered that under oath at his confirmation hearing talking about to senator al franken. he then put it in writing. senator pat lay hee of vermont submitted a question of jeff sessions in writing where he asked him have you been in contact with anyone connected to any part of the russian government about the 2016 election either before or after election day? jeff sessions gave a one-word answer to that question, no. but then on march 1st this year, "the washington post" published this story documenting the fact, quirk with multiple sources, despite thosen jeff sessions stating without any caveat he

him and by senator murphy is onedd that calls on the senate to take an honest look at saudi arabiao today and the relationship withr the united statesand may i add one other element on a personalo basis? it is so rare, on the floor ofam the united states senate, to see what we've just seen this morning. a proposal for an amendment to be debated, and amendedca, amendment to be voted on on the floor of the senate. a i can count on one hand how many times that has happened this year in the united states senate. what used to be the most deliberative body in america and a great debating society has turned into a place of rubberstamps and unanimous consent. i'm glad, win or lose, in our effort here on this amendment that the senators bringing to support the issue to the floor

today, it was news in the united states senate. >> you testified at the armed services committee youere not aware of the president or white house personnel contacting any in the intelligence committee with a request to drop the investigation into general flynn. yesterday, the "washington post" reported you had been asked by the president to intervene with director comey to back off of the fbi's focus on general flynn. which one of those is accurate? >> senator, i will say once again i am not going to get into any discussion in that in an open hearing. >> both of them can't be accurate, mr. director. >> senator ron wyden of oregon doing his best to try to get an answer from the director of national intelligence. these serving officials fromhe juice dertment and intelligence community saying they could not or would not answer, they didn't feel it was appropriate to answer a lot of the senator's questions. tomorrow, that same committee will start in again bright and early and this time their star witness will be fbi director james comey. we know something about what james comey will tes

ruiz, 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 call the chair, and i plan to be back within about seven minutes. i hope that that will fit your schedule because we certainly want to hear your testimony. >> thank you. >> the committee stands adjourned subject to call of the chair. >> the committee will come to order, ms. ruiz, 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 farmworker justice. farmworker justice is a national advocacy organization that supports farmworkers in the u.s. to improve their living and working conditions, health, occupat

inside the united states could not be a target of section 702 because he's inside the united states. >> would there be a warrant required? >> yeah you'd have to get a title one order. >> senator, from a legal perspective -- >> how do we follow the russian ambassador? >> foreign officials located inside the united states, surveillance of them would have to be conducted pursuant to a traditional probable cause based fisa order. >> okay. so let's assume for a moment that the national security advisor in transition is talking to the russian ambassador and the russian ambassador's outside the united states. can you collect without a warrant? >> foreigners abroad who -- >> well, outside the united states, he's a foreigner. could you collect without a warrant? >> if the foreigner abroad was reasonably expected to -- >> okay. so if he's in the united states you can only collect if you have a traditional warrant, is that correct? >> a fisa court order warrant, yes. >> is it possible to find out if i lindsey graham was incidentally collected talking to a foreign leader abroad? is that possible? >> senator, we have to comply with the terms of our minimization procedures which generally

period -- maria: right. >> and here we are again seeing the same thing unfolding where the united states senateinority of democrats to block the will of the president, to block the will of the majority of the house, to block the will of the majority of the senate and of all the american voters who sent us there. and the american voters need to start getting on the senate. they need to get their ruleses changed so they can adequately address these very important problems that we as a country face. maria: so you don't know if you'll be able to get tax reform or tax cuts done in 2017, is that what you're saying? >> i don't know. i'll be mildly surprised if we're able to get new the senate the legislation that we promised the american people that we would pass. i'm confident that the house will do its work, but i'm not so confident with respect to the senate just based on their past history x. their past history has been that that is where good legislation goes to die. maria: right. wow. congressman, thank you very much for your candor. we will be watching the developments. >> thank you. maria: mo

the people of wisconsin did not send me to the united states senate to take peoples health care away. and i won't stop fighting to protect the health care that people have today. together, we must stand up for zoe, fight for her family, and fight for every american who lays awake wondering if the health care they have today will be there tomorrow. fight on. >> bravo. >> great job. [applause] >> and we ask you, those of you from local papers and outlets to talk to your senators about the person that they are holding up to represent the millions of others. we will take just a few quick questions. any? okay. then thank you very much for coming. the fight goes on. we are going to do everything we can to win this fight in the names of these people, and the so many millions more they represent. thank you. >> the fight goes on. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> the senate will be back for more speeches on the health care log replacement built in about 45 minutes or so. nothing official yet but it is possible there could be action into sin as soo

to the very first bill i introduced to the united states senate, very first one to cult the interest rate on student loans, right? that's it. bring it down. do not make a profit. i was being just a little cheeky. i said, how about if we charge students the same amount we're charging jp morgan chase and citibank when we loan them money. [cheers and applause] so anyway, ultimately we go through all this but here's the problem. because the united states government is making profits off these student loans they've already been budgeted. so all those politics have already been built into the budget. so, in order to push this bill through, what i had to do was come up with a way to pay for it. you actually have to pay to get rid of those profits, to balance off the profits. i proposed basically the bucket rule, right? only millionaires and billionaires would have to pay taxes -- pull out your violents -- -- violents -- violins -- have to pay taxes the same rate as middle class families pay. think about is. i know, it's so sad. so sad. but if they did that -- if they just paid at just the s

passed but republicans are now trying to force a still secret health care bill through the united states senate without any real debate can they be stopped let's asked a night's politics. will be for tonight's politics panel our brian pruitt contributor to red state and sam sax writer and co-founder of the districts thank you both for being here tonight great to have you guys so after democrats held a monday night talk a thought to protest the still secret g.o.p. health care plan mitch mcconnell said today that republicans would provide the senate with a discussion draft his phrase of their bill on thursday all goes according to schedule that would give the senate about a week one week to look over the plan before voting on meanwhile even some republicans like utah senator mike lee are starting to express frustration with how this is all been and will i be fine don't get me wrong to be voting on something soon. but we should be able to see it first we should have been able to see it weeks ago if we're going to be voting on it next week. john mccain rand paul lisa murkowski all have said similar

>> i understand but when it comes to the bill before the united states senate the fact of the matter is that people like you are going to get a tax cut. >> the fact of the matter is that those 6.5 million will no longer have to pay $3 billion in a penalty or tax to the federal government because they're not interesting in purchasing what the government wants to force them to buy. this system is run for the government, by the government, dictated by the government and it's not responding to patients' needs. 28 million individuals right now uninsured, 6.5 million folks spending $3 billion in tax penalty. premium is up, deductible is up. coverage going away. we haven't even begun to talk about the states where counties will have no insurance insurer next year. that system doesn't work for patients. that's what we're trying to fix. >> i'm not sure warren buffett will be satisfied that he got an answer to his. >> he i'm not sure that warren buffett is interested in insuring patients in those counties. that's keet. we need to look at every single american citizen and every single individua

you could haved changed the de, gone to the united states senate and done what you said should have been have a full throated debate with the american people. you chose not to do that, why? >> the decision not to send it to the senate was made by the former administration. >> i understand. you could have changed things. you guys could have done it. >> the focus of this administration is the merits and demerits of the palace accord. the demerits, efficacy, environmental outcomes was a bad deal for this country. the prident said he'going to put america first in trade, national security anborder security, put america first in contracting the reach of ng washington, d.c. he's going to put america first with respect to the environment and international agreements. and chuck, i think what's being missed in all this, the president said on friday paris we're getting out of g because represents a bad e deal. targets set by the previous administration, ou26% to 28% reductions in greenhouse gases. >> you can change thosdue targe. >> not under the afwreemt. >> you could have. >> the 26% to 28% reduc

you just wait for something which is rare and the united states senate. this chairman royce said let's extend the time at the center to keep asking because we are all concerned about that because it's our privacy that senator graham has raised. but what about the privacy of the americans who are not in this room? now we run into another problem. senator franken asked to the most basic information, how many americans have been swept up into the 702? you can't tell us. how are we supposed to believe that transparency is really the guiding principle and that we have such great data collection if you can't even identify for us how many americans have been innocently swept up into this effort, and can't answer senator graham supposed basic question. so mr. brooker, how are we supposed to have confidence that you are being careful not to involve more people unnecessary to keep america safe, not to avoid the constitutional requirement of a warrant if you want to do something about durbin or grandpa frank a someone else? >> it's a hard question it. i think like yo

on september 21, 2016, 71 united states senators supported a tank sale to saudi arabia by 71 votes to 27. in other words, 71 united states senators rejected rand paul's proposal to stop the sale of tanks. i would argue that a tank is not nearly a precision weapon as the weapons we're talking about here to be given to the air force. if you're worried about collateral damage in yemen, i understand your concern. precision weapons would help that cause, not hurt it. and you've got to understand who we're dealing with in yemen. we're dealing with iran. saudi arabia has a border with yemen. the iranians are backing a force called the how hi -- out his to bring down a government in yemen. from a saudi perspective, everywhere you look you see iran encroaching throughout the mideast. the theocracy in iran is the biggest threat to world order and that is saying a lot given the world as it is. and i say that with confidence because what iran is trying to do is destabilize the mideast in unprecedented fashion and our allies are tired of it. now is the time to stand with them, with their imperfect

major opposition, moderates worry it guts obama care too much. >> this bill in front of the united states senate not the answer. >> reporter: several top health and medical groups agree. the march of dimes saying it's disappointed senate leadership has failed women, infants and families. rand paul coming out strong against the bill. >> i didn't run on allowing the death spiral of obamacare to continue just to subsidize money. >> reporter: it scraps sub sidis to lower cost. it leaves in place protections for people with pre-existing conditions. that could be major sticking point for house republicans who are paying close attention to what's happening in the senate. >> just like in the house, that's starting point. it's not the end point. >> reporter: the head of the house freedom caucus says he believes this senate plan does not have the conservative support to pass in the house, larry. >> kenneth, what are we expecting for this bill next week? >> reporter: what to expect early next week, negotiations, definitely. also the analysis of the potential impact on americans and not likely but possible

[applause] as the united states senator from vermont let me give you a brief overview of some of the serious crisis we currently face, crises which do not often get the attention they deserve, just are not talked about. as a student of james madison high school i recall my social studies teacher talking about how there was small, developing countries around the world that .ere oligarchic societies places where the economic and political life of the nation were controlled by a handful of very wealthy people. it never occurred to me as a kid in brooklyn that the united states of america, our great nation, could move in that direction, but that is precisely , in my view, what is happening today. today, in america, the top 1/10 of 1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. americans now own as much wealth as the bottom half of america and one family now owns as much wealth as the bottom 42% of our people. in the last 17 years while the middle cast -- class continues to decline, we have seen a tenfold increase in the number of billionaires. today in america, ceos are earning almost

and they're talking about bringing this out for perhaps passage in the united states senate toward the next two weeks. i don't know of anyone who has seen a copy of this bill. i certainly have not seen it, and i'm a member of the senate finance committee. senator carper is a member of the senate finance committee. we have not seen a copy of the bill even though we're the committee of jurisdiction, along with the help committee. i would certainly want to be able to look at this bill, make sure that there are public hearings and opportunity for input from all members of the united states senate. first those who serve on the relevant committees through the committee markup and then on the floor of the united states senate. but what i understand from the majority leader, that that may not be the case. that would be an affront to our democratic institution. that would be insulting the members of the senate and the committees that i serve on, the senate finance committee. but i need to mention that because we do know what the house of representatives sent over to us. now we don't know if tha

asked you to do any unlawful or illegal act since you've been attorney general of the united states? >> no, senator risch. they have not. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> senator feinstein. >> thanks very much, mr. chairman. welcome, attorney general. >> thank you. >> on may 19th, mr. rosenstein in a statement to the house of representatives essentially told them that he learned on may 8th that president trump intended to remove director comey. when you wrote your letter on may 9, did you know that the president had already decided to fire director comey? >> senator feinstein, i would say that i believe it's been made public that the president asked our opinion.

and then we turn to our friends in the united states senate, where these bills should be taken up promptly so we avoid the kind of tragic circumstances that have totally involved the lives of the people who are at the white house yesterday speaking up for their loved ones. they would much rather have preferred to have been spending time with those loved ones than be at the white house, they are completely dedicated to seeing that the laws are changed to protect american citizens. this is all about enforcing our laws and having respect for the rule of law and securing our borders and keeping americans safe. >> now a member of our leadership team, a member of the leadership committee, doug collins. >> thank you, mr. speaker, it's good to have the secretary here and the chairman and raoul as well. john adams once said we are a nation of laws, not men. and today is a good day for the rule of law. it's when we go back and state these are the laws and instead of politics and localities determining what they're going to follow and not follow, it goes to the basics of already being in law you're g