van hollen number 1. senator van hollen: this is the amendment that would reverse the tax increase about $800 billion on millions of middle class families from the 2017 tax cut and pay for it by taking the estate tax threshold back to where it was at $11 million per couple. i urge adoption of the amendment. senator enzi: i would ask my colleagues to oppose this. eliminating the cap on state and local taxes would reduce revenues by $620 billion according to the tax policy center and 780% of that would go to families earning and comes no where near offsetting the loss. please call the roll. the clerk: mr. grassley. mr. crapo. mr. graham. mr. toomey. mr. johnson. mr. perdue. mr. braun. mr. scott. mr. kennedy. mr. cramer. mr. sanders. mrs. murray. mr. wyden. ms. stabenow. mr. whitehouse. mr. warner. mr. merkley. mr. kaine. mr. van hollen. ms. harris. mr. chairman. enator enzi: no. the clerk: thrr nine yeas and 11 . senator grassley: mine is side-by-side to the amendment mr. van hollen had and i don't need a r

enzi: senator van hollen. sen. van hollen: thank you, mr. chairman. wasteful spending would be a bad thing regardless of what federal agency it was in? mr. vought: yes. sen. van hollen: and isn't it true that the defense department has been the major federal department that for years couldn't pass an audit or even complete an audit? mr. vought: not until this administration. sen. van hollen: in past years, is that true? mr. vought: they have not done the audit as required by congress. sen. van hollen: in this year they did not pass an audit. mr. vought: they did an audit. sen. van hollen: but they didn't pass the audit. right? mr. vought: they have completed the audit. sen. van hollen: they didn't pass the audit? they had a lot of work to do? mr. vought: they did. sen. van hollen: that didn't stop you from putting more money into defense? mr. vought: it did not. sen. van hollen: obviously, we want to root out wasteful spending no matter what agency. just because there's an increase in a budget doesn't mean that everything else in that budget is someho

laura: senator chris van hollen, thanks so much for joining us. sen. van hollen: thank you. laura: with the mueller report behind him, president trump turned his attention to the middle east, hosting the israeli prime minister in the white house. he formally recogned the golan heights as israeli territory today. israel captured the disputed ,and from syria in the 1967 war a move rejected by the un security council. the israeli leader cut short auhis u.s. visit b of a in gonzalo has -- in gaza landing north of tel aviv.yi israel is ca out strikes on hamas in response. i spoke to mr. nicholas burns, former u.s. ambassador to native who is now at the harvard kennedy school of government. how much of an escalat this of a long-running conflict? nicholas: well, it is certainly a threat to israel and israeli civilians. if the particular israi family

laura: senator chris van hollen, thks so much for joining u sen. van hollen: thank you.ra: with the mueller report behi him, president trump turned his attention to the middle east, hosting the israeli prime minister in the white house. he formally recognized the golan heights as iaeli territory today. israel captured the disputed la from syria in the 1967 war a move rejected by the un security council. the israeli leader cut short his u.s. visit because of a in gonzalo has -- in gaza landing north of tel aviv. israel is carrying out strikes i on hamresponse. i spoke to mr. nicholas burns, former u.s. ambassador to native who is now at the harvard .nnedy school of governme how much of an escalation is this of a long-running conflict? nicholas: well, it is certainly a threat to israel and israeli civilians. if the particular israeli family heght not have gotten into bomb shelter, they migki all have beeed. this is a vicious attack by hamas and we have seen in the past. the israelis certainly have a right to defend themselves. laura: meanwhile, the president is upgrading f

van hollen. senator van hollen: i thank my colleague. i want to support this amendment. what's proposed in the budget is effectively a pay cut for federal employees. and the way it works is. this it requires federal mes to put more toward their pension without getting a single additional penny in pension benefits. so money taken out of your paycheck today, no benefit in the future, flat out pay cut. i think it's a very bad thing to do to hardworking federal employees. who have been working hardener country and just had to go thraw 35-day shutdown. senator enzi: other wishing to speak in support? in opposition? i'll lead off. these are reconciliation instructions that have to go through quite an extensive process to ever become a reality of a request. but it's a first step toward addressing our overspending problems and avoiding trillions of dollars, recondition silluation are simply a target for committees, it's not prescriptive, it's up to the che of jurisdiction how they decide to hit their tar

we need maximum pressure at this time. >> senator van hollen, there's also been reporting by "the newk times" that north korea was continuing its hacking of our banking institutions and our utilitiesns during the summit. what does that say to all of the president's talkof about friendship and praising kim jong-un? >> well, as senator toomey indicated, this is a malign actor in many different spheres, right? so they continued hacking even though they were at the negotiating table, at least pretending to be willing to do a deal. they of course backed out of a deal. and so we think that the best way toth achieve our goals, the u.s. goals of denuclearization on the korean peninsula is to exert maximum pressure. and to do that you've got to plug the'v holes in the economi sanctions regime. >> and senator toomey, what did you think of the president accepting kim jong-un's denial of any knowledge of the torture of otto warmbier? >> look, i don't know, you would have to ask the president why he takes that view. my own view is kim is certainly responsible for that atrocity, as he is for the en

news4's darcy spencer has just spoken with maryland senator chris van hollen. darcy? >> erika, we are working to get reaction to th mueller report from both sides of the aisle. as you would expect, there has been strong reaction, as you just showed, from republicans. m many of them saying,idike the prt, this is a vindication and confirmation the president did not wrong. but what about democrats? some are saying this clearly did not exonerate the president,ngnd they're go try to figure out what their next steps are going to be. as you said, i just spoke to senator chris van hollen within the last hour, a democrat who represents montgomery county. >> on the question of whether or not the president obstructed justice, mueller did not reach a conclusion. and the fact that attorney general barr, who was hand-picked by the presidentre hed that conclusion within 48 hours is not going to hold weight with the congress and public. we need to see the full report, and we need to see all the backgrhend materials and we can all reach our own conclusions. >> and maryland democratic

van hollen: they did. it was a $21 billion windfall, and a lot of it was used for stock buybacks that helped a lot of executives. during that same period of time we saw a loss of 4,300 jobs among those 23 banks. does that surprise you, big tax break and yet, a loss of jobs among the big banks? chairman powell: it must be several million people. senator van hollen: it was sold on the promise we would see these new jobs generated. i want to ask you about the increase in wages. it's always good to see an increase in wages. of course, nominal wages are only half the equation. you have to look at rising costs when you look at real wages. isn't it the case when you look at real wages and the rise in real wages during the last term of the obama administration, real wages rose faster during that period of time than they have since the beginning of the trump administration even with the tax cut, isn't that the case? chairman powell: i just don't look at in terms of those time frames. the way i would say about wages

of course maryland senator chris van hollen, we're hearing fro him. the national park service demanding immediate action, faster services and asking the agency to work with the federal highway administration and van hollen said lowering the speed limit is not an adequate substitute f repair and won't ensure the safety of the commuters on the heavily traveled parkway, that, of course, the bw parkway. the park service, of course, lowered the speed limit on the parkwayou between 197 and 32 as a result of the conditions here. that's the very latestn this back and forth about funding and when we can expectx, a permanent fix for these stretches. back to you. >> all right. molette green, thank you. >>> today d.c. mayor murual bowser will deliverire state of the district address at the unersity of the district of columbia. tune in to hear her plaor second terms. >> get ready for an afternoon spilled with basketball so whether you're a sports fan or onot, it's hard not notice all the march madness around here, feefrks righ >> going to get ugly. >> 70 teams are

. >> joining me now is democratic senator chris van hollen from maryland.enator, thank you. >> good to be here. >> for being here today. let me have you weigh in. you've met with the warmbier family. is it possible that kim jong-un didn't know about the treatment of otto warmbier? >> no, it's not possible. kim jong-un knows everything that happens in his country, certainly with respect to an american who has been held prisoner there. and kellyanne conway, this is the cleanup brigade once again, trying to clean up after the president. >> did she clean it up, though? >> no. >> did she clarify anything for you? >> no. because it was clear what the president said. it was a despicable comment. he has said he has a love affair with kim jong-un, who is a brutal dictator who is responsible for the death of otto warmbier. i've met with the warmbiers, they're incredible people trying to get justice for their son. when they see the president of the united states cozy up and for the president to say he believes this dictator over what we know happened, it's a really lo

we spoke to maryland sriator van hollen by phone. >> people want to see the report and reach their own conclusions oucluding why mueller did not believe he cld exonerate the president on the question of obstruction of justice. >> according to the attorney general, the mueller report concluded the trump campaign did not collude with the russians. according to the a.g., mueller said trump was not exonerated from obstructing justice leading tto criticismt the a.g. made a hasty decision. we also spoke to the virginia congressman gerry connolly by phone. >> i think we have to and before we do that, congress must have the entire report. an annotated and unsummarized by the attorney general. >> the house majority leader tatement thata the full report needs to be released. congress must remain abulwark of justice and the rule of law and house democrats will do our part to ensure that it performs it's duties faithfully under our constitution. rats told me tonight they want to hear from the attorney general. they want to hear from robert mueller himself. this fight clearly f from over. back to y

we spoke with maryland democratic senator chris van hollen by phone earlier this evening. >> this has bn an investigation into fundamental issues about russian electionsce in our and questions about whether or not there was obstruction of justice. the taxpayers have paid forhis report, and they deserve to read itn full. >> now, trump's supporters are claiming victory because so far no one has been indicted for colluding with russia. and mueller's team recommends no further indictments relat to his investigation. but as nbc news politicalck director c todd told us tonight on news 4 at 6:00, indictments can still ce from cases mueller turned over to otheauthorities. >> it is possible that the work -- there could be indictments based on the investigations he's done, based on the work he's budone. no more indictments from him. and thereo appears tbe no new sealed indictments. that doesn't mean there isn't old indictments that may get unsealed somewhere else. the u.s. attorney in the district is handling roger stone. sdny, the southern district of new york. they have a bun dhf these. the e

liz: i would like your reaction to senator chris van hollen arguing against president trump. >> i think we'll get the votes to pass this veto of the emergency resolution. we were talking about authoritarian tendencies. this is the president of the united states take unconstitutional means. liz: your take on that. >> i used to be uncertain about that myself. until he made the declaration, i read the declaration and looked at the a tiewts. it seems to me he is making and has made a very strong legal case for this declaration. that said, there may be some among us who don't like this, we view this as extra authority that the president is taking particularly in the appropriations process. if we pass laws that give him this authority, then he has the authority. but this vote coming up on the motion to disapprove in my view is on an action that is legal in the law. we don't have to write the policy. i happen to like the policy. but we need to build this wall and give him all the resources, and i think he has them. >> great to have you on, senator. it was a volatile day for the markets. invest

we spoke with senator chris van hollen who met with the federalt park service leek and said, look, you simply have to do something. here's what he had to say. >> it just should not deteriorate to this point. obviously therwewere r there other conditions and winter conditions. the nional park servi we got them to focus on this and hopefully we'll have a road in good repair and reliable for ople in the very near future. >> reporter: again, soubthbound portions of closed, and just to t this into perspective the park service tells me they have already used more than 130 tons of asphalt to fix the potholes that all of you drivers out there have been complaining about. finally something is being done. >> all right. let's hear it for tpu asphalt. a for answers after two overseas crashes in six months. what officials are now saying about oversight as boeing shows off what i says is a software fix for the problem affecting tear m 737ax jets. >>> plus the reaction this evening after education secrety betsey devos proposes cutting nearly $20 million in federal funding for the special olympics. ha

meanwhile, senator toomey and democrat vis chris van hollen introduced a bill to impose sanctions for any bank that does business with kim jong-un. >>> insurance practices, a source with direct knowledge of the matter tells nbc a subpoena has been issued to the trump organization's insurance company as part of an investigation into the policies and claims tied to trump's namesake. the move by the fork state department of financial services adds to the growing scrutiny facing the trump organization. during michael cohen's public testimony last week the president's former fixer was asked about practices when it came to insurance. >> to your knowledge, the i'd the president ever provide inflated assets to an insurance company? >> yes. >> who else knows that the president did this? >> allen weiselberg, ron lieberman and matthew calimari. >> a top law maker say democrats plan to formally demand president trump's tax returns if about two weeks. congressman bill parscale says they will seek a week's of tax returns from the treasury department. they were almost ready to go. the chairman will

of us just explained by senator van hollen and that would have the effect so that the wealthiest estates will perfectly hit the family-owned businesses, farms and ranches congress what to do everything we can to encourage the family enterprises to be passed on to the next generation of kids and grandkids by expanding the reach the democrats are advocating against that goal and it hits the agricultural sector particularly hard in the states where the crop land values have increased tremendously over the last years and farmers don't generally buy farmland one day and sell to the next. they do it in the farming operation efficient and to pass on to the next generation. my amendment would make permanent the levels included in the tax cuts and jobs act and it would continue to protect family-owned businesses, farms and ranches from confiscation as opposed to a plain old tax increase. i would urge my colleagues to support the amendment. >> others in support? >> the future man and others in opposition. >> let's be clear when the american people express contempt for the united states congress th

senator, i've already seen colleagues of yours, including chris van hollen, expressing their shock and dismay about reports about the president lobbying his administration to file suit to block that merger. what's your reaction to it? >> i think as you correctly pointed out, this is a long line in abuses. the fact of the matter is it may be that that merger was worthy of a high level of scrutiny. whether it was because of the malevolent motives of the president, it's just more proof the president is out of control. you've got a couple different avenues here. you've mentioned impeachment but you can also take powers away from him that were granted to him through the legislative process. approval of mergers would be one of them. you could -- you could put more boundaries around the president's ability to influence that decision. right now in the foreign relations committee, we're talking about sanctioning saudi arabia because the president has refused to do that, has violated the law and not given us a report on the culpability of the saudi regime that he's required to do. congress can a

senator chris van hollen tweeted this as a result of your reporting, if this report is true it is deeply mergers need to be closely examined and reviewed on their merits not because the president wants to retaliate against a news organization. i will be writing to the department of justice to get the bottom of this and make sure it never happens again. is it your reporting that it was really at its heart about punishing cnn? >> well, i think we need to know more, but you can say that the impact of it was that it would hurt cnn. this was a merger that was going to help the company that owns cnn, time werner, and it was going to also it would hurt that company and it would help fox, which is the rival company, the rival news organization. and then fox had its own merger after this, it's own sort of huge deal, and that went flying through the trump administration and trump -- they publicly endorsed it even before the justice department had taken its position on it. >> interesting. speaking of fox, another big scoop, in your piece is that there was a fox reporter, diana falzone, she and i wo

. >> senator van hollen. >> thank you. i am very concerned about your decision to first delay and then rescind the mandatory underwriting provisionals of payday lending. the role. it seems to me you are getting a total green light to predators around the country to take a -- to take advantage of consumers. we sent you a letter on february 13 on this issue. did you get it? >> i did. >> have you responded as of today? ? >> i believe we did. >> i just checked -- >> the response is due on friday. >> i think it would have been useful, knowing you are going to come in front of this committee, to give a response. it has been almost a month. is inhink the due date the letter. >> it would've been useful to have that information. i am looking at the notice you provided in the federal register n the delay role -- delay rule and the rescind proposal. bank regulators for years have found that an aspect of predatory lending is deliberately lending to people that do not have the ability to repay their loans and relying instead on their a

exempted are initial issuances and short-term debt the sponsors are peter defaz owe in the house and van hollenin the senate aoc is a backer with gillibrand and getting cred from joe stiglitz the idea is around for a few years and the democrats feel it's a different moment with support of taxing the wealthy and projected to raise $777 billion over a decade so that could go a long way to pay for a green new deal or perhaps even medicare for all back over to you guys. >> ylan, thank you very much for that and this is -- been another area of debate across the spectrum. >> well, it feds into this idea of wealth taxes and some of these economic theories coming out from the left. earlier we talked to larry summers. he wrote an op-ed today in "the washington post" criticizing the left's embrace of so-called modern monetary theory which basically assumes that the federal reserve can monetize debt taken on by the federal government and the federal government in aoc's plan, for instance, pays for the new green deal with a fed and lower interest rates and asked summers about this on "squawk on the street.

been looked at in a decade he has one sympathetic ear on capitol hill, democratic senator chris van hollenaid today he wants to figure out the appropriate time that executives should be banned from selling stocks around buybacks whether it's regulation, legislation, it's all part of the drumbeat trying to rein in this practice. >> this pressure on buybacks, do you think it is specifically only on buybacks or is it capital return in general? do you think if corporates shifted from buybacks towards dividends that there would be then a shift in the pressure and political rhetoric against them as well? >> i think the buybacks have become symbolic for the democratic party at the least. you know, since the passage of the republican tax law, since we saw so many companies engage in buybacks because they admit that $1 trillion level, i think that's why you have seen so much focus on this practice in particular and i think it creates a really sort of important symbol for democrats as they try to galvanize support for these kinds of ideas amongst americans and in the run-up to the 20 2020 presidenti

senator van hollen from maryland is on the bill. senator gillibrand from new york and senator merkley from oregon. the faziose, it is from oregon, you mentioned aoc from new york. lawmakers like them. there is a lot of support on the house and the senate side. far, not yet. hopefully we will get some on board. host: good morning. asker: i would like to since the democrats want to tax us again because we are already getting taxed on our 401(k) once we start having to take it out. do? do we need to thank you very much. any time you are purchasing a stock, bond, or derivative is when you'll get taxed. keeping it you are in is not as important as what sort of existing fees you are paying. if you are worried about this 1%. small less than i think that what is most important is for you to look at what existing fees your retirement fund is charging. that's not always clear. this is about transparency to make sure people have a better idea what the retirement funds are targeting. i would ask questions of your fund. how much are the fees and

van hollen: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the following senators be permitted to speak for up to five minutes each prior to the recess. van hollen, cardin, stabenow, schatz, markey, and heinrich. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. president. i'm on the floor today with a very simple question, and that is what is the republican agenda for tackling many of the major challenges we face today in the united states of america? we know what our republican colleagues are against. in fact, just yesterday the trump administration asked a federal court of appeals to strike down the entire affordable care act which would eliminate affordable health care for tens of millions of americans and strip away protections for people with preexisting conditions. so that's what republicans are against, the affordable care act. what are you for? you know, since january of this year the new democratic majority in the house of representatives has already

van hollen: there you go. mr. whitehouse: i thank senator van hollen for joining me in this colloquy and for speaking today on the floor. i see the distinguished ranking member of the finance committee here. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: just before they leave, i want to thank both senator whitehouse and senator van hollen for conveying the urgency behind this climate change issue. both of them have gone through the specifics of what this is all about, and suffice it to say, i share many of the concerns that they have been discussing here this evening. i want to thank them. madam president, tonight the senate is also debating another trump judicial nominee who is attempting to run away from what i consider to be appalling statements that were written in the not-so-distant past. this time it's neomi rao who is up for a lifetime appointment to the powerful d.c. circuit court of appeals. while studying at yale, ms. rao wrote that sexual assault victims were partly to bl

senators tom udall, chris van hollen, brian schatz, and sheldon whitehouse lead those efforts. in addition, we should acknowledge that senators ed markey and jeff merkley have long led bills to bring about comprehensive climate action. we need to get all the good ideas we can out on the table. and we need the republicans to come with ideas of their own. just this week, republican senator lamar alexander of tennessee proposed a "manhattan project for clean energy," reviving an idea he pushed a decade ago, which would increase funding for energy research. this is promising. so let's bring all the ideas to the table and take action on climate. taking decisive action is good for our health, our environment, and our economy. america can either follow or lead on climate change. democrats think we should lead. >> the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. >> asked not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country. >> and the people who knocked these buildings down. book,pan's new was the the presidents, ranking the best and worst chief executives remise ins