i say, i like senator vitter on many issues. i disagree on this issue. i think we start taxing these people. they are already benefiting from the social serve thes and encase system. so let's tax them. from a security point of view, this is helpful and i think that this is not an amnesty. you are letting people go of a crime. these people are going to have are to pay taxes and crimes. i cthink it is a brilliant program. the only thing stopping it is president obama if he does not agree to it. >> if this does not have border security in it. the republican party, to me, if you give the free flow of immigration for workers, there can still be border security, there could be -- right? anybody who wants to come for legitimate reason ares wants to come. >> right. >> larry, can i ask a question? >> what i want to say, all right i'll direct it tow. the gop should be the party of growth and opportunity and the party of entrepreneurship and the party of upward mobilitity. here is my point. if the brainyacs come in because we want them to stay and want to attract t

vitter. mr. vitter: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: madam president, i have a very simple, straight -- madam president, if i could have order? the presiding officer: order. please. mr. vitter: madam president, i have a very simple, straightforward motion to commit. it would commit the bill back to the finance committee for seven days only with instructions to find savings, cuts equal to the amount this bill would increase the debt limit. very seufrp, -- simple, straightforward and reasonable. this would take $30 billion to $40 billion a year, which is very, very doable. madam president, the american people are asking when are we going to turn to the spending side of the equation. president obama talked all through the campaign of balance. well, we've had the tax increases. now we're having the debt increases. when are we going to have any new spending cuts? this would at least start in a modest way reasonable spending cuts. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: would the senator call up his motion. mr. vitter: yes,

vitter tweeted, "sadly, harry reid has revealed himself to be an idiot."enator reid said he misspoke. >>> a group critical of president obama's choice of chuck hagel to be secretary of defense has purchased the website domain chuckhagel.com. they attack his views on israel and other topics. >>> at the news conference announcing his nomination, outgoing defense secretary leon panetta joked about his decades in washington and his future plans. >>> the time has come for me to return to my wife sylvia, our three sons, their families, our six grandchildren and my walnut farm. dealing with the different set of nuts. >>> and that's your morning dish of "scrambled politics." now here is bill karins. >> that was good. >> that was a good line. >> i don't think that was scripted. i think that was off the cuff. >> it went over very well. >> wasn't sure if he should say it in front of the president or not. >> he's getting out anyway. >> good morning, everyone. our january thaw continues. it felt like march across much of the country. temperatures were in the 40s and 50

in order to any of the amendments or the vitter motion prior to the votes. there be two minutes equally divided prior to each vote and all after the first vote be ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: reserving the right to object. thank you. first of all, let me make a comment if i could through the chair. it is my hope that we don't have, ultimately have sequestration with the military with the defense department. i've been very concerned about that and do everything i can to preclude that from happening. in the event that did happen, we are looking at about a month from now, and i have an amendment that i wanted to put on this bill. i could do it with any other way too, perhaps as a free-standing bill. i'd like to explain what it is and ask the distinguished majority leader a couple of questions. the amendment that i had, or it could be in a free-standing bill, would give the secretary of defense the flexibility to implement the cuts under the sequestration in the least harmful way possible. it would

you just heard david vitter say this is the same old thing.e mood the same old thing and what's the white house strategy here in this, what they're trying to do is a pretty quick push. >> i think the momentum is on their side. he just got re-elected to president, won the latino vote. republicans are concerned about that. and there's a consensus from a political perspective and i think for policy reasons that this is the ship that's moving now. they have to get on it if they want to be onboard. and i think the republicans, there's some momentum on their side to get something done. it may not be everything the president wants but i would be shocked if there weren't some sort of comprehensive immigration bill passed. >> to that point there is movement in the polls, a new poll that finds voters largely agree with the president on the big general issue. 51% say undocumented workers should stay and apply for citizenship. 20% say they should stay but as guest workers, 24% say they should leave. of course then you have those conservatives like david v

vitter is concerned undocumented immigrants is going to gain citizenship before the border is securedubio did criticize the role that border security plays in obama's plan. >> security must happen. these promises have been made in the past about border security and they've never been kept. if we can't find a way to guarantee that, this bill is not going to work. >> jennifer: border security issue is critical in this debate. joining me to discuss how this all plays out for immigration reform and much more is kelly got. joining us from new york, she's the political correspondent for the root. great to have you inside "the war room" again kelly. >> great to be back. >> jennifer: so yes president obama sat down with spanish language news outlets. here is one question from univision. >> is this going to be a battle between you and marco rubio? >> obama: i don't think so. look we put border security ahead of pathway to citizenship. we've done more on border security in the past four years than we have done in the previous 20. >> jennifer: this is a key issue is it going to come down to the

republican senator david vitter calls rubio, quote, amazingly naive on the issue. we'll get the first read on mark murray. >>> you can always join the conversation on twitter. what do you think of the hearings so far for chuck hagel? constipated? yeah. mm. some laxatives like dulcolax can cause cramps. but phillips' caplets don't. they have magnesium. for effective relief of occasional constipation. thanks. [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'. >>> on capitol hill today, reports a secret deal is under way to move forward on gun control legislation. "usa today" reports a bipartisan group of senators including republicans coburn and kirk along with democrats manchin and schumer, it's working on a proposal to expand background checks on gun buyers. that is a policy that was soundly rejected by nra's wayne lapierre yesterday but one that most americans support. on monday, president obama will travel to minneapolis to promote the white house's proposal on gun violence. in an interview with jose diaz balart the president was asked about gun violence in hom

vitter: thank you, madam president.nd through the chair, i also want to thank my distinguished colleague from tennessee in joining me together, as he mentioned, we're writing the attorney general today about a matter of real concern and that's why we come to the floor. madam president, we're both very troubled by recent report report the department of justice is targeting who to prosecute for the incidental killing of migratory birds under the migratory bird treaty act. they're not targeting who to prosecute by looking at birds killed, they're targeting who to prosecute based on the type of business these various people are in -- legal business -- and in particular the type of legal energy these companies produce. what am i talking about? well, on the one hand, oil and gas producers, traditional energy producers, are clearly being targeted. they are being targeted for prosecution, as i say, under the migratory bird treaty act. they're being charged with incidental killing in a particular case that a court has dealt with

leland vitter is following this live from our middle east bureau. what else did we hear? >> essentially this is the same old from president assad. he acknowledged, we're at war. he also offered up this peace plan of sorts, some kind of negotiations with the cease-fire. essentially it's the same thing he's offered in the past. it's important to note he's giving russians diplomatic fire power. you guys wanted me to talk about having a new government. i'm happy to talk about it and give the rebels a chance to pass, which they did. it's important to look at the optics. a cheering crowd in damascus at the opera hall and it was given live on states television and meant to rally the troops, especially the are regime royals. they control much of syria in the army and air force. rebels said this was a disgrace and they have no interest in talking while president assad is in power and they'll continue their fight. they have zero in terms of negotiating with president assad and said there's no point negotiating while he's in power. the other point assad makes is he's blaming foreign

and vitter went after florida senator marco rubio calling him amazingly naive to believe the plan would not amount to amnesty. >>> lamar alexander of tennessee talked to chuck todd on "the daily rundown" about gun control and video games. take a listen. >> i think video games is a bigger problem than guns because video games affect people. but the first amendment limits what we can do about video games. the second amendment to the constitution limits what we can do about guns. >>> senator john mccain appeared at a breakfast in washington where he told a joke about himself and the low approval ratings of his colleagues. >> a guy ran up in the airport and say anybody tell you look like john mccain? i said, yeah. he says, doesn't it sometimes make you mad as hell? >> that's your morning dish of scrambles politics. >>> we tern to nbc meteorologist bill karins with the weather channel forecast. good morning you to, bill. >> the last 48 hours have been a blur. so much cleanup to be done. now we're doing it in bitterly cold temperatures, too. the problem is all the way up through connecticut.

, david vitter, i think he said rubio was, quote, nuts. >> naive. >> naive. >> naive.aybe he said it's nuts or something like that, but yeah. it looks like the conservatives are starting to push back against this belief that immigration reform is going to happen no matter what. >> well, and you see marco rubio who's been working on this for a long time, sort much making headlines now, but i remember being in meetings with him many months ago where he was trying to figure out a way to make this an area where there could be compromise. so you're finding even in how he's describing it, it's different. for him, he calls it a path to a green card, not path to citizenship. wanting to remind people that citizenship takes many years to achieve. and so he's trying to take a little of the sting out of it by trying to take a more practical approach by just sort of arguing a case for why it matters to business as well as families and sort of the history of the country to be more open to the idea of, as he says, legal immigration that he believes republicans do support. this is tho

vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr.president, i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm going to lay out and discuss a motion to commit which i have at the desk, and we're going to be voting on that motion to commit later today. very simple, very straightforward. in fact, i'll read it. mr. vitter moves to commit the bill, h.r. 325 -- that's the, of course, the debt limit increase which we have at the desk which we're debate -- to the committee on finance with instructions to report the same back to the senate within seven days with legislative language that makes changes in existing programs that reduce federal spending by the increased amount required by section 2-b over the fiscal years 2013 to 2022. close quote. so, mr. president, it's real simple. whatever we're increasing the debt limit by, we're reducing spending. and the idea is that we start actually paying for what we spend, or at least payin

compare menendez story with larry craig because the allegation is true they are more akin to david vitter is serving in congress and admitted seeing prostitutes. prostitution is legal in dominican republic. >> sean: actually it's legal in parts of the united states. >> he admitted it. >> sean: let's back to to this, the toe tapping, i'm sorry. there is a double standard. >> you say it's funny and you are laughing. you like the media, you know the media likes anything salacious and sexy. >> you are laughing now. >> it wasn't sexy enough. he may not have been with a legal prostitute. >> if you say that prostitution is legal in the dominican republic, then why did menendez stiff the prostitute. he didn't even pay her. >> these are allegations. no, but in all seriousness, if he did something wrong, he broke the law. i'll be the first one to come show and say he broke the law and he needs to be prosecuted. >> sean: all right. he did, that is the point. you are making my point. i'm losing all control. bad situation. just gotten a whole lot worse. american made f-16s have been transferred to the

vitter: thank you, mr. president.nanimous consent to speak for up to eight minutes and i would ask the chair to notify me when six minutes have elapsed. mr. durbin: i will not object but i ask consent to amend the consent that i follow the senator from louisiana in speaking. the presiding officer: without objection, both are so ordered. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. and through the chair, i want to thank mr. durbin for his courtesy in light of another engagement i have. mr. president, i also rise to join my colleague from alabama, to join many others, to express real concern on this topic of illegal immigration and the ne need, the desperate need, to fix this problem, to solve this problem. mr. president, i believe we all want to cherish and hold up and continue the proud tradition of this country which is founded on immigration. mr. president, one of the many things that makes america unique is that we are a nation of all of us immigrants. none of us somehow have some blood oath or blood tie to this land that

but when you look at what happened to marco rubio in the last day, senator david vitter of louisianaed him amazingly naive. i think the republican party is trapped between what it has to do to succeed and survive and its tea party elements which are going to ghand purity. >> now when you look at cynthia, the fact that american people say clearly that any number opposed support the president's agenda, 53% support same-sex marriage, 62% support a path to citizenship for immigrants. 80% say climate change is a serious threat. 58% want to see further gun violence-free safety legislation. it seems like the republicans are painting themselves into a corner and if they go into this sequester fight, it's only going to get worse. >> that's absolutely right. they are painting themselves into a corner. and let me just say that a lot of the reason that president obama's favorability ratings have improved is not just that the american people support his -- the policies that he supports, but it's also true that the president is exerting comforts leadership. and that is also what americans want. th

david vitter. still in the senate. calvert still in congress and of course our former governor eliot spitzer who had to resign in disgrace. not necessarily career killers and bizarre to me. if i had to vote for somebody who's known sort of prost tooit, i would note for that person. >> a lot depends on how you hand tell crisis. >> oh, we caught you with a prostitute. no good way to answer this. >> don't do the anthony weiner thing, don't follow that model. going back to your question, steve, about are republicans going to continue to nominate the sort of crazy candidate that is can't win? and i think some of that may actually hinge on the immigration reform debate that we're about to have. i mean, you already see the battle lines being drawn. how much of the conservative party goes with this? how much does this become a litmus test? if you support quote/unquote amnesty, then the tea party and club for growth coming for you. that's one thing that could potentially happen. another senator who is somewhat under pressure is

see what david vitter told laura ingrham today. >> i love marco but i think he's amazingly naive on this. this is the same old formula we've dealt with before including when it passed in 1986. that is promises of enforcement and immediate amnesty. and of course the promises of enforcement never materialize, the amnesty happens immediately. >> rick perry and newt gingrich both got stung when in the primary process they stepped out of the gop rank and file on this issue. could it happen to marco rubio? >> it could. but this is how he will define himself as a national figure. there's no doubt that marco rubio is running for president in 2016. he's going to think that he's going to try and bring the republican party along with him if he can. did he get out there maybe a little too visibly and a little too enthusiastically on day one with the gang of eight? perhaps. but i think he's thinking he's going to make a big national play. and he's going to work from the outside in. he's going to be the conservative who can appeal to the hard working, intense people at the grassroots in iowa, south ca

what the real intent of the second amendment was, so for him to quote this and just the absolute vitteralis really disheartening. >> i was just disturbed, disturbed as a human being that this is what our civil discourse has come to. what makes our country so great is it we're about passing power peacefully and not violently. in my last year as a member of congress, i would say perhaps half of the members of congress had to live wearing bullet proof vests and had armed guards. >> really? >> during the aftermath of obama care when there were the president was being held in eff effigy and these comments were blocking members of congress from being able to go and vote and you may recall that and people like john beau wisconsin were being called racial epithets. this wasn't isolated. this was happening in our nation's capital and around the country. whether it is guns or the issue of mental health or anything that is a hot button issue, where we can't talk to one another, and that i think is the more disruptive, disturbing thing. i felt threatened when he was threatening you. the fact that we'

as sessions made clear in a floor speech tag teaming with louisiana' david vitter also not a fan of this deal. >> no one should expect the members of the senate are just going to rubber stamp what a group that have met and decided. >> what heightens my concern is that we have history as a guide and history suggests this brand of so-called comprehensive immigration reform, this promise of enforcement as long as we have an am necessities, all of those things put together is a recipe for failure. >> by the way, though, the push for committee stuff is a way of trying to kill the deal overall. that's why you hear some folks, they're not coming out against it right away but when they're calling for committee action, it's their way of trying to kill it. more members of congress who don't want to publicly oppose this deal will continue to talk about the process, going through the regular order. that's what this whole thing is about as an effort to kill it. the senate is expected to vote on john kerry's nomination to be secretary of state today. easy confirmation. if he's confirmed and if his let

sat down with senator inhofe on the transportation bill -- and i will be doing it now with senator vitter on the wrda, the water resources bill -- you know, i laid out the five things i cared most about, he laid out the five things he cared most about, and to be honest, there were only a couple of things that matched. so we started with those things and then we met each other in the middle with the rest. and then the senate had a chance to work its will. when the bill got over to the house, it was stuck, it was trapped and we all went over there, all of us together, a bipartisan team to go over to speaker boehner, chairman mica and say, okay, let's get it done. and so it did. so it can get done. but we are where we are where we are. and this morning we had a choi choice, and, frankly, i was proud to see the overwhelming vote that we had. it was really amazing. 89-8. and i think -- i don't know what motivates every colleague. i only know what motivated me to feel that this was an important "aye" vote for me to cast. i will never forget this recession that we are just coming out of now, the

he announced wednesday, january 23, that he will reintroduce the legislation with david vitter. their legislation would create a constitutional amendment that limits senators and congressmen to three terms in the u.s. house of representatives and two terms in the u.s. senate. congress should not be a body of career politicians who have forgotten why they were sent to washington in the first place, senator toomey said. we are here to do the people's work to solve the problems we face and to leave to our children a stronger, safer, more prosperous nation. i kept my promise to serve just three terms in the house of representatives. i am pleased to co-sponsor a constitutional amendment to enact term limits for both the u.s. house of representatives and the u.s. senate. and i look forward to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to see this through. not allowing individuals to remain in office for an eternity is an important step that we need to take to restore confidence in congress, said senator vitter. call it potomac fever or what you'd like, but no -- but the lon

listen here to senator david vitter. >> i love and respect marco.his is the same old formula that we've dealt with before, including when it passed in 1986. and that is promises of enforcement and immediate amnesty. and, of course, the promises of enforcement never materialize. the amnesty happens immediately. >> well, i think -- >> what do you think -- because i've heard you say that you think that republicans should really be listening to senator marco rubio. >> well, i campaigned last year on the need to have a practical, common sense, honest conversation about where we're at. >> is that what we're having now? >> well, we're starting. i mean, i think we've had some progress in the last few days. and i actually think the president was remarkably tempered in nevada, and less partisan than usual. so i'm modestly encouraged. i don't personally believe, and i've said it over and again, that a comprehensive bill can pass. i think that it's too hard. i think that you could pass seven or eight bills that together form a comprehensive reform. my advice to

and louisiana senator david vitter is trying to stop it considering term limits in congress.l us about that 10:15 eastern time this morning. what did you think about term limits in congress? let us know on facebook and e-mail us, please, varney@foxbusiness.com. thursday morning, seven early movers, here we go. higher profits and disappointing outlook at the data storage company. melnox. and wift transportation is up big. disappointing from the flash memory maker sandisk, barely changed. terradyne makes chip making and down beat outlook. it's down 4%. better than expected forecast from the network equipment maker fx networks, it's up. and pose-it notes in your desk? most people do. 3-m make them. reports higher profits on strong sales and it's up today not by much. it's the world's biggest biotech it, better than expected forecast from amgen. moving up again, only just. dow is up. 13,800 is where the dow is right now. up next, a penny worth a million bucks. we have it for you and here is the question, why isn't gold taking off if everybody around the world keeps on printing mo

leland vitter has more. >> this speech is a combination of the same old, same old, all the rebels are terrorists. we're going to continue to fight and win this war, but it also provided a little bit of diplomatic cover not only for the syrians but also for their allies so the russians can now say, look, assad offered a peace plan and rebels won't talk. they would call it optics and they are important here. assad trying to get control live on state tv. a reminder that a large number of syrians support him especially among the upper class. despite offers for negotiation he was clear he has no intention of leaving and will win this civil war. to the past 20 ms. he says the rebels, we are seeing a growing number of fighters from foreign countries and much more turning syria into a islamic state. rebels say they aren't interested while assad is power. assad has shown he has well more than nine lives of a cat. last summer the state department said they thought damascus would fall within 36 hours. clearly assad is still in control. the speech was meant as a message that he will not go peacef

in fact, congressman david vitter of louisiana has introduced four bills just today, one of which wouldprohibit, i should say, taxpayer funding of any abortion provided by any entity that provides abortion including planned parenthood. he's also introduced another bill which would prevent sex-selective abortion. this is a growing trend, apparently, in the united states, especially in asian cultures. apparently, taking cues from china where the one-family, one-childbirth policy has led to an extraordinary number of abortions against females. arthel, back to you. arthel: this is certainly a serious topic, but that aside for one second allow me to sound like my mom, you need a hat on your held, doug mckelway. >> reporter: i do. i forgot to bring my hat, and it is bitterly cold. these people are much tougher than i am. they come out year after year in any kind of weather to demonstrate their cause. arthel: all right. doug mckelway, thank you very much. jon: you know we were having some audio troubles during an interview with gordon, we have fixed those problems or so we think, and we are ba

. >> if you were watching "meet the press" recently, david vitter was interviewing the president and he asked why no one could ever say yes to the president of the united states. the answer is, there is a group of republicans, probably about 40 or 50 of them, still living in the past and simply cannot come to grips that there is an african-american president in the white house. it is not about policy, because at this point, a compromise could be reached, but they simply have to say no because they cannot accept that an african-american families sit in the white house. i can understand it from their history, every day these people wake up and they would rather have a needle stuck in their eye than see that. >> that was marked in florida, and this is mimi in dayton, ohio, republican line. >> i have just recently gotten interested in politics. i have a question for you. i heard that the price of milk could possibly double. is that true for other commodities, too? to mislead you or anything. i don't know anything about that, but the milk issue was included in the senate bill. there was a

david vitter from louisiana says that rubio is out of touch when he talks about doing a path to citizenship just amazingly naive on this issue. this is the same old formula we have dealt with before, and that is promises of enforcement and immediate amnesty, and of course the promises of enforcement never materialize. the amnesty happens immediately, the millisecond the bill is signed into law. >> bill: and senator rubio, while he generally supports this -- does support this set of principles that the gang of eight released today, he has been critical of president obama saying he hasn't done enough about border security. president obama giving an interview yesterday slamming back and saying you don't know what you are talking about. >> we put border security ahead of pathway to citizenship. we have done more in the past years than in the prior 20. >> bill: there are more drones. and our economy is not doing very well, so there aren't as many jobs available. but the number of people coming across the border is way, way down. immigration reform looks like it is finally going to happen again,

and the timing has some folks suggesting, including senator david vitter who says she's resigning over account with a fictitious name and it's clear to him and many believe he's right. your thoughts? >> well, sure is beyond coincidence. you've got the reality she wasn't-- it's not uncommon to have multiple e-mail identifiers if you're in government, but they're official. here you've got richard windsor, the name of her dog, the e-mail you use to communicate only to very senior level people inside the epa. of course, a lot of the concern has been not only the political nature of what's going on at the epa, but the war on coal and that's what the the citizens independent group was concerned with initially. and then when you file an foia request. >> megyn: freedom of information act. >> when you don't know the name of the person involved. and you're utilizing this fictitious name to communicate with government officials at the highest levels and then, five months of stonewalling to get the documents and they say they'll release the documents again just like fast and furious, 3,000 at a ti

senator vitter in the democratic side of the aisle, but also people like jim demint and others have expressed a favorable view towards this approach. i realize the latter has been longer in the senate, but they represent the pointer. some people might say he would not have been in favor of this. so i think it's appealing. the difficulty is replacing complexity with people in capitol hill sent to the simplicity and something to me basically sound. winston churchill had a great quote that everything agreeable is unsound. i expect disagreement here. i hope i read in the national journal this week with regard to the new nominee for secretary of the treasury broke quite a long piece on this and is reputed favoritism for large financial institutions will not hold because he's a capable individual and i hope because his job. so i believe you might have support in the executive, but the support really is to come from the congress. they make the laws. they have created this massive thing called dodd-frank, which we are only partly through in terms of interpreting and figuring out how to work and i thi

senator vitter, for example on the democratic side, senator brown and others, but also people like jim demint and others have expressed a favorable view towards this approach. i realize the latter is no longer in the senate, but i think he represents a point of view that some people might say he would not in favor of days. so i think it is appealing. the difficulty is replacing complexity which people on capitol hill seem to love with the city. winston churchill had a great quote. he said everything agreeable, so expect disagreement here. i hope you read in the national journal this week with regard to the new nominee for the secretary of the treasury, where there's quite a long piece and is reputed favoritism for large financial institutions will not hold because he's a capable individual and i hope he does his job. so i believe he might have support in the executive, but the support really has to come from the congress. they make the laws. they have created this massive thing called dodd-frank, which we are only part weaker in terms of interpreting and figuring out how to work. and i

senator boxer and senator inhofe, soon to be senator vitter, there has been a bipartisan coalition in the senate that wants to sustain investment in transportation at current levels. it's tougher in the house. speaker boehner was with us last cycle. and we got there, but the question is what kind of sustained revenue measures can you pass. and so, we're looking for a tax reform proposal that would change the subject from simply raising rates. because what boehner said, republicans will support increases in revenue, but not necessarily increases in tax rates. so we are trying to find what will have ressonance with a -- enough republicans in the house and get enough senators to join us and then we're off to the races. so the concept i want to put on the table is to replace the 18.4 cents per gallon excise tax on fuels with a sales tax on fuels. now there are 12 states that already have sales taxes on fuels. it's usually a combination, north carolina's one, new york's one. california used to. it's changed. but those states that have had sales taxes as well as fuel taxes are seeing their

complaining about extra spending as a matter of fact right after that disaster senators land rue and vitter. so democrat and republican came out with this enormous bill, $250 billion bill that they introduced for louisiana reconstruction. and i remember looking at it going through with my mouth wide open talking about how they were taking advantage of tragedy for a laundry list of pork and i did the math and i looked at what the cost of louisiana purchase was and i inflated it up to 2005 and actually it was more money than the louisiana purchase cost in 2005 dollars. so certainly we've been critical of overspending and making these christmas trees and done our best to pair them down. host: governor christie weighed in on the holdup for the vote documenting at least on his end from the state of new jersey about how they took care to kind of lay out what they needed. here's what he had to say. >> both new york and new jersey use it had international firm of mckinsey and company to assess and quantify the damage to our state. our professional staffs have spent countless hours with congressiona

all the sudden popped up david vitter, demanding a vote on a personhood amendment. an abortion-related and highly controversial one, at that, that he wanted to be added to the highway bill. the senate has ruled that -- rules that allow for a limited debate. any senator has any right to offer an amendment. that kind of cheap political scoring has no place in the senate. reidt: had senator kir allow that vote, it would have been easy vote for democrats -- had senator reid allowed that vote, it would have been an easy vote for democrats. sometimes, by stifling debate, i think he defeats himself. democratic debate, small-d democratic debate needs to happen in the senate to have the process working again. host: we want to show you some of the challenges the speaker faced in his reelection effort. 12 party defections. dennis sastre had five. -- dennis hastert had 5. newt gingrich had 9, and then he stepped down as speaker of the house. how big was this? guest: we do not know if it was small rebellions that will be inconsequential or if it is a harbinger of worse things to

senator vitter, for example, democratic side of the aisle, senator sherrod brown and others.ut also people like jim demint and others have expressed a federal you towards this approach. -- favorable view. i realize the latter is no longer innocent but i think he represents a point of view that some people might say. he would not have been in favor of this. so i think it's appealing. now, the difficulty is replacing complexity with people on capitol hill seem to love with simplicity. and something that is to me basically some. winston churchill had a great quote, said in finance everything is agree will is unsound and everything that the sound is disagreeable to so i sense some disagreement here. i hope what i read international journal this week with regard to the new nominee for secretary of the treasury, and a long piece, i believe it is purely reputed, favoritism for large financial institutions will not hold. because he's a capable individual and i hope he does his job. so i believe you might have support in the executive, but the support really has to come from the confe

for a time we collaborated with senator vitter from louisiana who worked with me on legislation with the g.a.o. and other things, and with senator isakson on that effort. so i know that many of my colleagues on -- republican colleagues are committed on these issues. unfortunately, some of their conservative colleagues blocked the legislation that would have given f.h.a. additional authorities to protect taxpayers. we shouldn't wait any longer. this is the, technically the last full day of this congress. we shouldn't wait any longer to enact sensible measures that will put f.h.a. back on a path to financial stability. with limited time left in the legislative session, passing the house's f.h.a. reform legislation, h.r. 4264, is necessary and is a responsible step to give f.h.a. additional authority to protect taxpayers. passing this bill won't prevent us from doing more next session. that's what i want to do. i think most members of both parties in the banking committee want to do that. i expect that we'll consider reforms very soon. in the meantime, though, we should pass this common