remember senator wyden and hatch are going to decide how this is paid for. senator gillibrand. >> i can't tell you how grateful i am that you have pulled together this distinguished panel of witnesses to discuss the importance of investing in our nation's infrastructure. and our transportation systems. this is an issue obviously that unites both labor and business because the united states cannot maintain our competitive global edge without -- it is as simple as that but reauthorizing map-21 in new funding to shore up a trust on the run the risk of doing damage to our economy if congress fails to act. there will be serious consequences for each of our states are businesses both large and small as well as for working families who depend on our transportation networks just to get to school to get to work to get home safely and reliably. we all know that the highway trust fund is projected to become insolvent at the end of summer. the effect would have severe impacts of my state of new york. new york has 628 federal aid highway project scheduled to begin in 201

wyden is an interesting new chairman.al, but very dependent -- independent on tax issues, budget issues. he wants to enact tax reform. i do not think he can do it this year. but he has established a very good working relationship with orrin hatch. >> first of all, happy valentine's day from me. agree that the tax code is an absolute travesty, regardless of party. why can't they get together, throw it out, and write something new? end the mortgage deduction? you want to and charitable contributions? you want to and the health care exclusion? you are and enlightened man in a distinct minority. focusing on the parts, and not the whole. 1985 and 1986, all the right elements. a partisan stuff on the hill. it was a tough slog. it is really going to be a tough slog now. >> i do not understand why all americans want to pay for everyone. charityide i want a gift, i should pay for that myself. if i decide that i want to buy a house, i do not need you to help me purchase that house. all just spend our own money and pay our own fair

wyden: madam president, i note the -- i see senator murray. i was going to note the absence of a quorum, but my colleague from washington. mrs. murray: if the senator could withhold. madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: madam president, i just wanted to come to the floor this afternoon to take some time to talk about a law that this chamber passed back in 2009, and i'd like to talk a little bit about what it means to serve in this body and what our responsibilities are and why our constituents sent us here in the first place. i have now served here in the senate for more than 20 years, and i have seen my share of controversial legislation. i have seen democratic bills that republicans couldn't stand and i have seen republican bills that democrats would never vote for and i have seen bills that pretty much everybody boofd, but what i have seen in the last four years since the affordable care act was passed by congress and signed by the president is something new altogether. since the day that law pas

i've begun discussion with chairman wyden and ranking member hatch on funding the highway trust fund. they know they have that responsibility, and i know we will all work with them. to all of our witnesses, thank you for being here, and for your advocacy for a strong transportation system. we need you now more than ever. you have been with us through these battles before, and we won those battles because of our unity. whatever our differences may be in other areas, and we know we have them, we don't have them here. and being partners is critical to our success. and with that i would turn to my ranking member, senator vitter. >> thank you, madam chair, and thanks to all of our witnesses. and thanks for today's hearing, madam chairman. it very appropriate that as we hopefully are finalizing a wrta conference, our first big piece of infrastructure work on this committee and we're very hopeful about that, we increasingly turned our attention to our next big infrastructure work, which is the next highway bill. we are both excited to do that and are both actively doing that. thanks to our w

senator ron wyden. thank you so much and congratulations. you are an advocate of tax reform. but there is no way you can do a comprehensive reform this year. >> the challenge will be a two step drill. we had about 50 of what are called tax extenders. these are measures like research and development and energy that expired. my hope is we can get them reenacted promptly. so we do not sacrifice important investments. and then use them as a bridge toward comprehensive reform. >> you mention the rnd and renewable issue. are there other extenders that should be killed? >> my first choice would be to go to comprehensive tax reform rather than have to proceed with the extenders. the reality is, when the house leadership last november declared that obamacare was their primary issue, that changed the timetable. i'm not going to sacrifice critical issues like research and development on the altar of some actions. >> can you do that this year? >> it would be a big lift. a comprehensive reform package this year. but we can make headway. >> and can you do pieces of it? >> my view is the ta

we'll talk to senator ron wyden.expected to be the next chair of the senate finance committee. he has views on all this. auto sales news to tell you about, chrysler reporting u.s. sales in january of 127,000 units. that's the best january for chrysler group since 2008. the jeep ram -- you don't like the jeep by the way, ram and fiat brand all saw sales of 8%. >> the jeep wave, if you have a wrangler, not the commander. the new jeep cherokee, i'm sorry, is ugly, awful, hideous. >> i have to agree with you. >> it's a pontiac aztec. >> we're back in a moment. century link. your link with what's next. ok, here's the way the system works. let's say you pay your guy around 2 percent to manage your money. that's not much, you think except it's 2 percent every year. does that make a difference? search "cost of financial advisors" ouch! over time it really adds up. then go to e*trade and find out how much our advice costs. spoiler alert. it's low. really? yes, really. e*trade offers investment advice and guidance from dedicat

and it wasn't until senator wyden and senator udall put their feet to the fire and said, well, come back here and show us where it's been useful, and nsa couldn't do it. nsa had to shut that program down in 2011. the internet metadata program. and then when we're discussing this telephone metadata program, the director first came out and said there's 54 cases where this was -- it helped prevent 54 attacks or something like that. and then it was down to, like, 32 or whatever. and then all of a sudden we found out he wasn't really talking about the metadata program, the 215 program, he was talking about the prism program. and where you knock on the front door of the agency, the company with a warrant or an order from the fisa court. so when it came town to the actual -- down to the actual metaday program, it came down to one success. one success. and, actually, the deputy director actually admitted this on the -- the deputy direct canner, just left nsa, engel, admitted it on public radio about a week ago. it was one case, a guy in san diego who sent $8,000 to some group in somalia. i mean,

remember senator wyden and hatch are going to decide how this is paid for in their committee. senator gillibrand. >> i can tell you how grateful and that you pull together this distinguished panel of witnesses to discuss the importance of investing in our nation's infrastructure and our transportation systems. this is an issue obviously that unites labor and business because the united states cannot maintain our competitive local edge without a strong network of roads bridges and rail to move people and products safely and efficiently forward. it is as simple as that but with deadlines looming to reauthorize map-21 and new funding to shore up the highway trust fund we run the risk of doing real damage to our economy if congress fails to act. there will be serious consequences for each of our states for businesses both large and small as well as for working families who depend on our transportation networks to get to school, to get to work and to get home safely and reliably. we all know that the highway trust fund is projected to become insolvent by the end of the summer. the

wyden personally.is that everybody that i have dealt with in our intelligence community is really working hard to try to do a very tough job to protect us when there are constant threat streams coming at us, but doing so in a way that's consistent with the law and consistent with our constitution, consistent with our privacy rights. i am actually confident that we can continue to have the best intelligence service in the world but win back the confidence of both the american people as well as folks overseas. but it is going to take some time. it is going to take some work. partly because the technology has just moved so quickly that the discussions that need to be had didn't happen fast enough, didn't happen on the front end. and i think that we have the opportunity now to move forward in a way that is going to make a difference. >> a lot of members of congress -- not just like the fringe ones -- the ones who are actually serious lawmakers have said to cnn that they would not let their family members g

and senator ron wyden, i believe wyden with work with camp to make some of the tweaks to get things throughthem back in the batter's bock. steve, what did you hear? >> i don't great with everything, but this is a big day for tax reform. for my friends that are republicans in congress, i'm sick of the republicans being in this fetal position. this is a big issue for republicans. it's popular with voters, it's pro-growth, and jared, if you don't like this plan, let's see the democrats put something on the table. we haven't cleaned out the stables since ronald reagan was president. >> i like that point, as i said earlier, i think this is a good play to start the conversation. when you end accelerated depreciation, all you're doing is collecting same thing, he phases down the corporate race very slowly, so it looks better in this decade than the next. there are other timing problems, but these are problems i think can be managed. i don't like the way he goats after the earned tax credit, but again, we can talk about that. >> steve moore, is there enough in here to satisfy middle-class desires?

wyden: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr.wyden: before he leaves the floor, i just wanted to make a few comments about senator baucus. our part of the world has sent to the senate some of our most distinguished and thoughtful members. the great pacific northwest sent wayne morris from my home state to the senate and warren magnuson and scoop jackson of washington state. i noted senator cantwell was here. and frank church of idaho was sent to washington. and mike mansfield of course, senator baucus' mentor and pioneer in terms of promoting closer relations between our country and asia. the first thing i wanted to say, madam president, i think it is very fitting that max baucus this afternoon joins that very special group of senators from our part of the united states. second, i do want to caution senators on one point. the distinguished senator from utah and i have had a little bit of a laugh about this. max is exceptionally friendly, and he always tells senators our paths are going to cross again. i look forward to working wi

it was called wyden/bennett after democratic senator ron wyden of oregon and republican bob bennett who were main backers. democrats ended up abandoning the idea in favor of obamacare. you know what happened to bob bennett for his sin of co-sponsoring this legislation? this. >> government health insurance that pushes you out of your current plan. citizens can only buy health plans approved by the government. job killing tax increases on employers. >> yes, bob bennett was one of those so-called establishment republicans purged by tea party grassroots for the sat betrayal in large part because he favored, quote, a government takeover of health care. even though he actually voted against obamacare. he was dumped by the state's gop convention. ultimately replaced with mike lee who proudly waves the banner for the tea party in the senate. bennett's main prab with the grassroots is he committed the unforgive bl sin of proposing, yes, a conservative alternative to obamacare he actually seemed to want to make the law. and, of course, there's the obvious fact that the entire mandate and subsidy

if ron wyden were here, i would say he is a democrat who is an advocate of privacy. i would not that hillary clinton and that cap or a. areou and your father popular on the web. they are getting pushback from republican leaders, especially in the house. internetink this libertarianism is an overly vocal minority or is your party's leadership ignoring an important part of this country? >> i think there is a growing movement. if you look at the use, they voted 3-1 or president obama. if you look at the polling data spyingcause of the nsa and president obama has become an extension of the bush administration with less concern for civil liberties, there has not been as many people speaking out on this. through, there was almost a hatred for bush from people who believed in civil liberties and thought he had gone too far on the war. president obama has carried on all of those things. he did bring some troops home. as far as your right to privacy, he has gone up far beyond what bush has begun. i think there is a growing mood among young people looking for something differe

and finally jess wyden from facebook wants to know what do you like better making music or making movies music without a doubt you know it's the freedom i can go in with my producer and just do as many records as i want how i want to do it with a movie you need over one hundred people to really pull it off you know from from promotion and marketing to you know add it in this so you know it's just a different there's there's different but down to it you like music music yes ok we play a game called if you only knew you member the first girl you kissed yes on the first girl i quote was her name her name was. iris iris was where was it in school was it was in school and i was iris davis in school i was in the fourth grade for fifth graders the first real real oh you know if i would have been iris she moved to paris california when i went to sixth grade and never seen again she made a mistake she should have hung on to you yeah favorite food my favorite food is got to be steak biggest regret biggest regret. whom biggest regret i don't have a lot. i guess. i guess not now not been able to wor

senator ron wyden. thank you so much and congratulations. you are an advocate of tax reform.s no way you can do a comprehense

senator wyden and senator hatch are going to decide how this is paid for. senator gillibrand. >> i cannot tell you how grateful that i am that we have this distinguished panel of witnesses to discuss this in our nation's infrastructure and in our transportation system. including with labor and business without a strong networks network of roads and bridges to move us forward. real damage if congress fails to act. including businesses both large and small as well as the pending in our transportation networks to get home safely and reliably as well. we all know that the highway trust fund is projected to become insolvent and that would have severe impacts in my state of new york. 40% of these projects are on bridges that are on need of construction or repair. this includes the highway trust fund to start the projects next year and this includes restricting the use of roads and bridges that are no longer safe including the capacity for which they were originally designed. this could result in detours and delays and problems of getting things that need to be br

he never could get it through the senate or the entire congress and now, i guess his buddy, ron wydento try it and see what happens. >> what is their intent? is that part of the income equality debate? >> it would be helpful. if you give them 500 a year and tax- free account that helps those who are 75 percent below the average household income. and so it would be significant. >> this is taxpayer dollars. do you like the idea? >> do i like the idea. i like the idea better than some. but what is the bad idea is coming up with a program rather than clean up all of the programs that clearly haven't worked and put together a metric and judge their success and keep those. the federal government has so many programs, that not even health and human service or education department, none of them know what is replicated and what they are costing us. it is extraordinary. >> is the principle of helping kids who need money for college good. but inflating the cost of education? every kid. >> it is a fair point. on that point, i want to squeeze this in quickly. among college grad. accept in ten had

that is senator wyden, who would like to ask a 10 second western. questions will be sent to the panel, and hopefully you will respond to them promptly. >> your 10 second is upon you. >> this is a question for the record. collection of these phone records by law-abiding americans, is it necessary to prevent terror. you said that it was because of its timeliness. as you know, the independent review condition that commission, said that it is not the case. they could get the data in a timely way without collecting all of these phone records from law-abiding americans. for the record, i asked this before as well, give us an example of a time when you have needed a record any relevant phone company did not have it? i want to say that that is possible within 30 days to have an answer to that. i have asked that repeatedly. >> you had a long 10 seconds. be grateful. ladies and gentlemen, thank you. gentlemen, thank you very much. this committee appreciates the service of the people you represent and your service. we are turned. -- adjourned. [captioning perf

it was a proposal made in a speech in southern california by democrat ron wyden. he is a senator from oregon. the proposal is as you suggested, bill, $500 to go to each and every baby born in america. every baby is an american citizen if you're born here. $500 straight -- bill: tell me about this democratic senator, ron wyden. oregon, and he will get a bit of a promotion soon? >> this week he could become the chairman of the senate finance committee, replacing senator max baucus. that is the tax-writing committee. he would become the top tax person in the united states senate. this deals with tax and handing out money. he is a powerful guy. bill: powerful indeed. didn't chuck schumer have an idea like this couple years ago? >> 2009 this proposal was raised at that point by senator charles schumer and his suggestion was, $500 to every child born in the united states that money would go towards college or towards a house, or towards eventual retirement. bill: where does the money come from? >> taxpayers. bill: taxpayers, right? >> federal taxpayers. you and i bill,

a few of our member said on finance which will be extremely helpful working with senators wyden and hatch who both have expressed interest in working with us. now we will send -- turned to senator sessions and i will remind you when we have four votes at 11:30. >> madam chair thank you for the hearing. it is important. the infrastructure situation is facing a financial challenge in the future and we are all worried about it. i believe it represents a valid legitimate expenditure of federal dollars. a lot of things we do around here are not valid and a legitimate federal interest but certain infrastructure problems certainly are. we have the director of office of management and budget testified before the budget committee yesterday. just for example today he testified that last year interest on the debt that we pay out of our revenue that comes in was about $230 billion. he projected last year at the end of 10 years that would rise to $830 billion. this year he says in 10 years from today in annual interest payment will be $890 billion in 2024. this is a stunning diversion of money from un

here are some of your emails on democratic senator ron wyden of or gone.oposed to give every child 500 bucks courtesy of the federal government and your taxpayer dollars. an draw from texas writes, government teaching children how to save mon, like wolf teaching sheepdogs how to guard the flock. amen. she agrees. parents teach kids how to save. it is not the government's job. they can't run health care. no one gave my kid 500 bucks. they worked for it. good stuff, darlene. we love to hear from you. go to gerriwillis.com. finally tonight every once in a while you get a window what is really going on and how thing really work. that is what happened tonight when we talked to dennis hill, an insurance agent in north carolina. hill found hits efforts to enroll his clients on federal obamacare exchange, frustrating. nearly half the applications he files gets turned back with obscure and odd questions. and despite being told by hhs, health and human services, to keep on enrolling people despite notices asking for more information, hill is beginning to wonder whet

. >> but senator wyden of oregon seems to be against this.sonable guy but he and others say with jacked up prices the consumers would pay higher prices and businesses would pay higher prices and why don't we keep it right here at home. what's your response to that? >> well, prices actually through this renaissance have come down almost to% in most parts of the court and so it's been very beneficial. you know, taking these restrictions off, larry, it just opens the door for more efficient marketplace and certainly prices further to the consumer. >> lower the trade deficit, promo promote economic growth. last one, harold hcamm. 10 million royalty owners across the country. not just you but across the country creating unbelievable wealth. i want to ask you, just off the top of your head, how many millionaires between the shareholders of your company, the shareholders in the natural gas companies and the fracking companies and the whole oil story, how many millionaires do you think you've created? 10,000? 20,000? 50,000? it's got to be a huge num

remember senator wyden and hatch are going to decide how this is paid for in their committee. senator gillibrand. >> i can tell you how grateful and that you pull together this distinguished panel of witnesses to discuss the importance of investing in our nation's infrastructure and our transportation systems. this is an issue obviously that unites labor and business because the united states cannot maintain our competitive local edge without a strong network of roads bridges and rail to move people and products safely and efficiently forward. it is as simple as that but with deadlines looming to reauthorize ma [ captioning performed by the national captioning institute ] captions copyright national cable satellite corp., 2014 ] hy trust fund is projected to become insolvent by the end of the summer. the effect would have severe impacts and my state of new york. new york has 628 federal aid highway projects for 2015 which requires approximately $2 billion for the funding. 40% of these projects are bridges that are in need of construction or repair. without the new funding from

wyden takes the opposite position on all these issues. that is from "washington post".com. >> former israeli ambassador to the u.s., michael oren spoke monday about the future of the middle east and the perception that the u.s. is recoiling from the region. he also discussed the israeli-palestinian peace talks, the fallout from the arab spring and what is next for u.s. policy in the region from the atlantic council, this is an hour and 20 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> it's a great pleasure to welcome you all this afternoon to the atlantic council. and fred camper, president and ceo. this event marks the beginning of an important new initiative that the council, the introduction of the first public events around our first ambassador resident of the briscoe cosigner on security council. there are a lot of reasons why the atlantic council was delighted to have been able to bring on board israel's former ambassador to the u.s., michael oren, starting february 1st. so we are getting him here shortly after he began the atlantic council.

. >> when we say tax reform, when we say ron wyden is a fan, and i'm a fan of tax reform, we're almoster talking about the same thing when we use that phrase. i certainly am not a fan of republican tax reform and republicans are not fans of democratic tax reform. but it's the phrase that everybody uses for wildly different ideas. david corn and ezra klein, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> they haven't cast the movie yet because the story is still playing itself out right now. the disappearing of a president. and that story is so hard to believe the details of it. including the girlfriend who's on the run with him. that's coming up. and michelle obama uses snl grads to get her message out there. to talk to you about hotels. all-you-can-eat is a hotel policy that allows you to eat all that you can. the hotel gym is short for gymnasium. the hotel pool is usually filled with water. and the best dot com for booking hotels, is hotels.com. it's on the internet, but you probably knew that. or maybe not, i don't really know you. bellman: welcome back, captain obvious. captain obvious:

. >> when we say tax reform, when we say ron wyden is a fan, and i'm a fan of tax reform, we're almoster talking about the same thing when we use that phrase. i certainly am not a fan of republican tax reform and republicans are not fans of democratic tax reform. but it's the phrase that everybody uses for wildly different ideas. david corn and ezra klein, thank you both for joining me tonight. >> they haven't cast the movie yet because the story is still playing itself out right now. the disappearing of a president. and that story is so hard to believe the details of it. including the girlfriend who's on the run with him. that's coming up. and michelle obama uses snl grads to get her message out there. my sinuses are acting up and i've got this runny nose. i better take something. truth is, sudafed pe pressure and pain won't treat all of your symptoms. really? alka seltzer plus severe sinus fights your tough sinus symptoms plus your runny nose. oh what a relief it is my dad has aor afib.brillation, he has the most common kind... ...it's not caused by a heart valve problem. dad, it say

i know senator ron wyden from being in the house.ed compromise tax reform bills in two previous congresses and done that with republican senator. theee is some similarities what he tried to put forward and what i'm trying to do. i think there is going to be a strong basis for a good working relationship. >> have you started discussions with him? >> i talked to him several times. he is aware of what i'm trying to do. he just become chairman. i look to work with him even more when we work forward. >> speaker called this beginning of a conversation. you see the way i it is billed in number of different outlets. call this the republican tax reform plan. is this republican tax reform plan. >> look, there is a lot of bipartisan ideas in the plan. research and development tax credit is something i and congressman sandy levin worked on for years. many tax provisions get introduced. reforms get introduced by a republican and a democrat. there is lot of bipartisan issue @n this bill. but look, somebody had to take the bull by the horns to star

it wasn't until senator wyden and senator udall put their feet to the fire and said come back and show us what's been useful. nsa couldn't do it and nsa had to shut that program down in 2011. the internet metadata program. then when we're discussing this telephone metadata program, the director first came out and said there's 54 cases where it helps prevent 54 attacks or something like that. and then it was down to like 32 or whatever. and then all of a sudden we found out he was only talking about the metadata program, the 215 program. he was talking about the prison program. where you knock on the front door of the agency, the company with a warrant or in order from the fisa court. so when it came down to the actual metadata program, it came down to one success. one success. and actually the deputy director actually admitted this on -- just left the nsa, admitted it on public radio about a week ago, it was just this one case in the case was a guy in san diego who sent $8000 to some group in somalia. he didn't even have anything to do with the united states but that's the one success

you saw senator wyden in the interchange with mr. clapper this week being vocal. i think that -- i agree with much of what you just said, but what is tremendously unhelpful, i think, is to have statements, as in the hearing the other day, aying that snowden's disclosures have done great harm to the national security without any kind of specific information that helps the public, let alone journalists, evaluate the truth of that statement. it is just, to me, troubling. it reminds me -- you know, istory is often a guide in these situations. during the pentagon papers case, the solicitor general erwin griswold made the passionate argument that the disclosure of the pentagon papers was very harmful to the national ecurity. a few years later, after he left office, he was asked what harm to the national security did the publication of the pentagon papers caused? he admitted none. in this case, none of us know how to evaluate the truth of what mr. clapper said the other day. but the lack of specific information, i think, is harmful to the public ability to figure ut wher

it wasn't until senator -- wyden and udall put the feet to the fire and show us.hen we're discussing the telephone meta data program. they said there's 54 cay cases where it helped prevent 54 attacks or something like that. then it was down to 32. then we found out he wasn't talking about the meta data program. the 215 program. he was talking about the prism program. and knock on the front door of the agency or the company with a warrant or order from the fisa court. when it came downtown actual meta data program, it came down to one success. one success. and actually the deputy director actually admitted this on -- just left nsa admitted on public radio about a week ago with one case. and the case was a guy in san diego who sent $8 ,000 to some group in somalia. it didn't have anything to do with the united states. it's the one success for collecting all of your telephone records since 2001. so that's what i hope is that we can start starting understanding the useful programs from the youthless programs and the apply not just the standard of some guy in the back

we would love to see someone like senator ron wyden get involved as an individual, not as a senator. let me share with the president said on this program. [video clip] the have ordered that transition away would proceed in two steps. effective immediately, we will only pursue phone calls that are numberps removed from a associated with a terrorist organization, instead of the current three. i have directed the attorney general to work with the foreign intelligence surveillance court so that during this transition. the database can be queried only after a judicial finding or, insert -- or in the case of a true emergency. i havetep two, instructed the intelligence community and the attorney general to use this transition to develop options for a new approach that can match the capabilities that and fill the gaps that the program is designed to address without the government holding this metadata itself. back to me with options for alternative approaches before the program comes up for reauthorization on march 28. during this time i will consult with relevant committees in congress to s

overor wyden now takes finance. we look forward to building a relationship as we move toward recommendations on making sure the federal government knows how they can build upon its rather than replace it. any update from the state level? >> thank you very much, governors. we want to give you a bit update on all the hard work all of you are undertaking and the way in which the national governors association is supporting network. binder, youin your can look at the role of governors right now and there are summary stories about what governors are doing and frankly, greator shumlin do such a discussion about the role all of you have to bring together these disparate resources and have a really construct the conversation. it is absolutely changing health care in this country and it's very inspiring. worksre idea here if this is that there are three main movements governors are bringing together. everyone thinks about governors as purchasers. you are the largest purchasers of health care in the state. but in fact, govern

e-mail metadata program was a roaring success until they were forced by only two senators udall and wydeno put up or shut up and they couldn't put up so they had to shut the program down. while i'm thinking of it just so i can mention it but we were talking about whistleblowers and so forth and penalizing whistleblowers. where are the penalties to the u.s. government for breaking the law? where his clapper? [applause] es he is an indian been criticized by the government let alone indicted and how many people from the warrantless seeds dropping the operation were prosecuted? that was a complete violation of the foreign intelligence surveillance act. even in a time of war you only have five extra days to do warrantless eavesdropping. nobody ever gets punished. there's this lack of accountability. general alexander headed the nsa captain of an aircraft carrier that ran into the rock of gibraltar. what a navy captain still be running a ship? he still running the nsa after the worst security breach in u.s. history. there's no accountability within the administration. you have to start with acc

last year senator ron wyden asked nsa director james clapper whether the nsa collected any type of datall on millions or hundreds of millions of americans. clapper, who was under oath, responded by saying, no, sir. we now know that this was a blatant lie. furthermore it could not be ignored that the author of the patriot act, representative jim sensenbrenner has been quoted on saying on multiple occasions that congress would never have passed or twice reauthorized the patriot act had it known the full breadth of the nsa's snooping operation. the fact is, as usual, when you give the government an inch, they take a mile. we simply can't afford to play around with our most basic, fundamental human rights. back in may the 4 -- before the revelations of edward snowden came to light i introduced legislation to restore transparency, accountability and confidence to our national security apparatus. hr-1847, the electronic communications privacy act, is designed to increase protections for electronic communications, including personal e-mails, of u.s. citizens, and addresses the privacy concerns

i've worked with senator wyden and blumenthal on trying to fisa and with where technology is going andernment is obtaining new information. i think this is a huge case, whether it's my case that goes forward or another, it does need to get into the light of day and we need to not allow questions of constitutional to be decided in secret without any argument for the plaintiff or without any argument for those who think their privacy has been invaded. >> rand paul, senator from kentucky, thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you, wolf. >>> just ahead, the winter storm is hitting small businesses hard. but what if this is your biggest time of the year? how the snow could actually ruin valentine's day for a lot of florists out there. >>> and the administration has announced new obamacare numbers. is it a disaster or a real sign of progress? ♪ [ male announcer ] to truck guys, the truck is everything. and when you put them in charge of making an unbeatable truck, good things happen. this is the ram 1500. the 2014 motor trend truck of the year. ♪ and first ever back-to-back champion.

oregon senator ron wyden perhaps giving every newborn $500 in the way of a savings account and his wayt do you make of this? he says it's the way to fight poverty. give every newborn $500 and goes into an account in their name for housing, college, retirement. charles: everything from the left to fight poverty is about giving stuff away rather than the getting something from the recipients. >> in ten years, over 3,000 weeks, in 20 years won't cover college, by the way, 10% is being generous. stuart: where are they going to get 10%. stuart: we don't know where the money is going to go, the $500 invested in what, stocks? i don't think so. charles: it won't be stocks, if they weren't good enough for social security main. stuart: where are you going to put it. charles: in treasuries, 8% and then-- but the point is that, it's so disinagainous and i can see some poor mother sitting around thinking, well, my kids are cover. there's a fund out there and they've got $500, it's going to cover college. it won't. we need to be pressing this country about getting-- you want to change poverty, help

remember, senator wyden, senator hatch, they will decide how this is paid for in that committee. senator gillibrand? >> i cannot tell you how grateful i am that you have put together this distinguished panel of witnesses to discuss the importance of investing in infrastructure and transportation system. obviously this is an issue that unites labor and business. the united states cannot maintain our competitive global edge without a strong network of products moving safely and efficiently forward. with deadlines moving to reauthorize, with new funding to shore up the trust fund, we run the risk of doing real damage to the economy if congress fails to act. there will be serious consequences for each of our states, large and small, as well as for the families who depend on these networks just to get to school and get to work, to get home safely and reliably. we all know that the fund is projected to become insolvent by the end of the summer, it would have a severe impact in my state of new york. there are 600 28 federal highway project aid projects that require approximately $2 bill

you saw senator wyden in the interchange with mr. clapper this week being vocal. -- i agree with , butof what you just said what is tremendously unhelpful, , think, is to have statements as in the hearing the other day, saying that snowden's disclosures have done great harm to the national security without any kind of specific information that helps the public, let alone journalists, evaluate the truth of that statement. it is just, to me, troubling. it reminds me -- you know, history is often a guide in these situations. during the pentagon papers case, the solicitor general erwin the passionate argument that the disclosure of the pentagon papers was very harmful to the national security . a few years later, after he left harme, he was asked what to the national security did the publication of the pentagon papers caused? he admitted none. in this case, none of us know how to evaluate the truth of what mr. clapper said the other day. but the lack of specific information, i think, is harmful to the public ability to figure out where t

center ron wyden replaces him on finance one was in sender barelegged takes over the gavel on the energy committee. senators maria cantwell of washington, jon tester of montana will chair the small business and indian affairs committees respectively. some news in the house, congressman doc hastings of washington announcing he will not seek reelection later this year. attend the republican chairman of the natural resources committee said in a statement last friday, isolate or my 73rd birthday of our have the ability and seniority to continue serving, it is time for the voters to choose a new person. that's from doc hastings. house democrats today, tomorrow holding their annual policy retreat in cambridge, maryland. democratic leaders have a briefing set for 4 p.m. eastern. we plan to carry that live for you on c-span. president obama also speaking to the group tomorrow morning. politico reporting that democratic congressional campaign committee chairman steve israel told colleagues at the retreat that the president will headline at least six fundraisers for house democrats this year quote

they want to get ron wyden on board. there is much more disagreement about how much revenue should be raised. to patty murray and harry reid who say that $1 trillion should be raised and that is doa with republicans. there is not going to be tax reform in the house of the senate because there would be an immediate roadblock when it got to the upper chamber. like i said, they put the brakes on it last december and they seemed to alleviate that hard line a little bit to allow them to put out a draft. this is a draft and this is not a real bill. it will be written in legislative language and they have to introduce it as legislation to go forward for markup or a vote on the house floor. what we're hearing from both conservatives, members of the republican caucus, and moderates, is that it is not going to go past the debate and the discussion. he may be able to have hearings on it. it will not happen until after the midterm elections on the house floor. >> on house floor, you tweeted about some of this this morning. you said

last year senator ron wyden asked nsa director james clapper whether the nsa collected any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans. clapper, who was under oath, responded by saying, no, sir. we now know that this was a blatant lie. furthermore it could not be ignored that the author of the patriot act, representative jim sensenbrenner has been quoted on saying on multiple occasions that congress would never have passed or twice reauthorized the patriot act had it known the full breadth of the nsa's snooping operation. the fact is, as usual, when you give the government an inch, they take a mile. we simply can't afford to play around with our most basic, fundamental human rights. back in may the 4 -- before the revelations of edward snowden came to light i introduced legislation to restore transparency, accountability and confidence to our national security apparatus. hr-1847, the electronic communications privacy act, is designed to increase protections for electronic communications, including personal e-mails, of u.s. citizens, and addresses the privacy con

e-mail metadata program was a roaring success until they were forced by only two senators udall and wydeno put up or shut up and they couldn't put up so they had to shut the program down. while i'm thinking of it just so i can mention it but we were talking about whistleblowers and so forth and penalizing whistleblowers. where are the penalties to the u.s. government for breaking the law? where his clapper? [applause] es he is an indian been criticized by the government let alone indicted and how many people from the warrantless seeds dropping the operation were prosecuted? that was a complete violation of the foreign intelligence surveillance act. even in a time of war you only have five extra days to do warrantless eavesdropping. nobody ever gets punished. there's this lack of accountability. general alexander headed the nsa captain of an aircraft carrier that ran into the rock of gibraltar. what a navy captain still be running a ship? he still running the nsa after the worst security breach in u.s. history. there's no accountability within the administration. you have to start with acc

you saw senator wyden in the interchange with mr. clapper this week being vocal. i think that -- i agree with much of what you just said, but what is tremendously unhelpful, i think, is to have statements, as in the hearing the other day, saying that snowden's disclosures have done great harm to the national security without any kind of specific information that helps the public, let alone journalists, evaluate the truth of that statement. it is just, to me, troubling. it reminds me -- you know, history is often a guide in these situations. during the pentagon papers case, the solicitor general erwin griswold made the passionate argument that the disclosure of the pentagon papers was very harmful to the national security. a few years later, after he left office, he was asked what harm to the national security did the publication of the pentagon papers caused? he admitted none. in this case, none of us know how to evaluate the truth of what mr. clapper said the other day. but the lack of specific information, i think, is harmful to the public ability to figure out

if ron wyden were here, i would say he is a democrat who is an advocate of privacy. i would not that hillary clinton i in that category. >> ok. speaking of the rise of libertarianism you and your , father are popular on the web. they are getting pushback from republican leaders, especially in the house. do you think this internet libertarianism is an overly vocal minority or is your party's leadership ignoring an important part of this country? >> i think there is a growing movement. if you look at the use, they the youth voted three to one for president obama. if you look at the polling data now, because of the nsa spying and president obama has become an extension of the bush administration with less concern for civil liberties, there has not been as many people speaking out on this. if you think it through, there was almost a hatred for bush from people who believed in civil liberties and thought he had gone too far on the war. president obama has carried on all of those things. he did bring some troops home. as far as your right to privacy, he has gone up far bey

ron wyden, the new chair of the finance committee saying there's a chance for tax reform, pro-growthto republicans still talk about particularly tea partiers and the need to raise the minimum wage. you could find a possibility for agreement around some of those issues. i think it's hard to see a path to that today. >> let me see if i'm getting this right. you think there's a chance of something around the minimum wage on a federal level? >> i do. i think democrats will stick to this issue. if you look at the national polling. even amongst the most conservative republicans, including members of the tea party wing of the party, there seems to be a desire to see that happen. don't get me wrong, i don't think it's an easy thing to do but i think there's a chance that something around these issues could come to fruition. >> i thought the tea party was a hands off party. >> if you look at the polling with be they are big supporters of raising the minimum wage. it may run counter to our thinking of them. i'm not going to sit here and try to psycho analyze that wing of the party. tea partier