senate. it is also one of the most powerful committees, and one of the largest. we are so grateful to the generous donors who helped make this evening possible. , independentca community bankers of america, , leonardoor america l , and mr. terry ehrman. thank you all so much for making tonight possible. we will begin the evening with the presentation of the colors and the pledge of allegiance. please rise. > >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. .> please be seated several distinguished guests have joined us this evening. senator that cochran, chairman of the cochran, chairman appropriations committee, senator patrick leahy, vice chairman of the committee, several current community in -- committee members, including barbara mikulski, former chairwoman of the comm ittee. and i saw suzanne collins. thank you for joining us. we also have several former staff

carr: yes, senator. senator udall: thank you. senator thune: thank you, senator udall. what i will do, i am going to intend to stay through entire at least first round for everybody but senator wicker does have to go. i am going to recognize him next and then we'll continue to move down the list that we have here. so senator wicker. senator wicker: thank you, mr. chairman. chairman pai, accelerating broadband development in rural areas is a priority for many embers on both side of the dais. i worked with you to make sure data collection methods regarding mobile broadband question is standardized. it's necessary to make sure that funds to use broadband deployment are targeted to truly underserved and unserved communities. in rural america and in my state of mississippi. would you agree that standardizing data collection is important to target funds accurately to deploy the broadband in underserved and unserved areas, and will you commit to ensuring that the baseline coverage data collected from carriers for the mobility fund phase 2 challenge process be standardized? and

the senator from utah. mr. hatch: is if appropriate to make a -- is it aappropriate make a speech at this time? the presiding officer: it is. mr. hatch: thank you, mr. president. president ronald reagan used to say that people are policy. attacking a new president's policies therefore often includes undermining his ability to appoint his or her -- his or her ability a month men and women to lead his administration. the constitution gives to the president the power to appoint executive branch officials. the senate has the power of advice and consent, as a check on that appointment power. in the early months of the obama administration, senate democrats were clear about how we should carry out our role in the appointment process. less than two weeks after president obama took office, the judiciary committee chairman said he wished that the senate could have put the new justice department leadership in place even more quickly. just three months into president obama's first term, the chairman argued that, quote, at

the senator from tennessee and the senator from washington. the senator from utah. the senator from oregon. they have worked well together in the past. they can work well together in the future. there is suggestions that we are interested in that come from members on the other side of the aisle. senator from maine and senator from louisiana. let's turn the page and work together to improve our health care system. let's turn the page in another way. all of us were so inspired. by the speech and the life of the senator from arizona. he asked us to go back to regular order. to bring back the senate that some of us who were here have been here a while remember. maybe this can be a moment where we start doing that. both sides will have to give. the blame hardly falls on one side or the other. but if we can take this moment, a solemn moment, and start working this body the way it had always worked until the last decade or so with both sides to blame for the deterioration, we will do a better job for our country, better job for this body, a better job for ourselves. and fi

the senate will stand in recess the senate will stand in recess open up for debate. >> host: year is where things stand. the senate came in at noon eastern today. they have recessed the republicans and democrats going to weekly party meetings. we expect them to come back at 2:10 p.m. eastern. the timing of the vote getting a little more clarity. the bout will be on a motion to proceed whether to begin debate on health care legislation. timing information here from our capitol hill producer craig kaplan talking about mitch mcconnell's comments rather appeared his intention is to do whatever it takes, no matter how small to get the house and senate gop into conference on health care. craig kaplan also says senator mccain will return to senate about 2:45 to cast a vote on a motion to proceed and talk to the press after that. senator paul who had earlier handouts then this morning the majority leader and for me to plan for today is to take up to 2015 clean repeal bill as urged. if that is the plan to read senator, i will vote to proceed to the snow. i also now believe we will defeat the

senator klobuchar. sen. klobuchar: thank you very much, senator schumer. and thank you so much for the work you have done. this is our moment. we have been waiting for this moment for months and months, in fact for years, because all we have ever heard since we started talking about changes we would like to see to the affordable care act has been repeal, repeal, repeal. the last few months we are on two versions of the house bill, two versions of the senate bill, and every single time it seems to get worse. we are now at a position where people% of the american approved the last republican version of the bill. last thing we hear about is repeal again. if they want to have a vote on that, fine, but we know where this is going to end up, and it will end up where we should have begun, and that is working, democrats and republicans, on positive changes to the american people to the affordable care act. we have never said it was a perfect bill. in fact the day it passed, i said it was the beginning and not an end. that is why i am a strong supporter of senator

senate floor. that is what regular order is. and what i just described usually takes about nine months. least on a complex health care legislation like this. that is what senators mean when they say regular order. when john mccain said last week it was time to return to regular order on health care legislation, that seemed to me would he vote against the bill that mitch mcconnell was dictate together senate from the top down. last week senator mccain said congress must now return to regular order holds hearings receive input from members about parties and heed reblg mcommends of our nation's governors so we can have produce a bill that finally provides americans with aks to quality and aforable health care. what he said to mccain might be premature. >> i want to thank senator john mccain. very brave man. he made a tough trip to get here and vote. so we want to thanks senator mccain and all of the republicans. >> senator mccain voting to proceed to the debate today does not mean that he will vote fo

i was noticing that called senator after senator after senator, are they all in there at the same time, what happens if they miss their vote. >> they call the rule after alphabetically. they don't have an electronic system where they vote by card, like they do in the house of representatives. sometimes there are senators that miss votes. on a boat like this, they had 100% attendance. this is why it was critical for john mccain to come back. you do have people who miss votes. it happens, there have been times where they have a fly in day, late on a monday afternoon where senators are flying in from the west coast or wherever, and they don't start those votes until 5:30 in the afternoon, and sometimes, they will have bad weather here in washington, d.c., and they will hold the votes open until 6:30 or 7:00, because they want those senators there. and they will call ahead, their offices will comb to the cloakroom and say, senator so and so won't make it, hold before open. there was a key vote some years ago or senator brown of ohio, his mother had died, and he was a key vote, they have th

senator jeff sessions was the first senator to endorse the candidacy of donald trump. senator jeff sessions was the only republican senator who endorsed the candidacy of donald trump before donald trump won the republican presidential nomination. and this week, senator jeff sessions has become the new trump enemy, the new hillary, the new obama, the new lyin' ted, the new little marco. we now have the beleaguered attorney general jeff sessions according to donald trump. and so for republican senators, donald trump has finally crossed the line that he crossed with a majority of americans during the presidential campaign. >> jeff sessions is an honorable man. he did what i believe any ethical attorney general would do under the circumstances. >> jeff has been very loyal to the president, and i think he deserves loyalty back. >> he is one of the most honest people you would ever know. he is a man of very high integrity. jeff sessions has my confidence. >> i think that his independence has been proven by his willingness to recuse himself. >> kenneth starr, the special pros

he comes here because senator sessions went on to become attorney general.ns he is saying the senate for three months maybe, and i'm sure he has impressions of this body and they may be different than what he thought about before heo was elected. i can tell him for sure that this is a much different senatee than the one patty murray was elected to, much different than the one i was elected to head mike enzi, much different than the one he saw. they see my colleague senator schatz and wyden. how long have you been here brian? four and a half years. he's a newbie and he has not seen the senate that i'm describing. in the senate where we would bring important measures on many different issues and membersak would come to the floor i'm not making this up and actually handed them to the clerk and sad like to offer an amendment to this bill and that we would debated in both and sometimes you want and sometimes you losto in the moved onto the next next amendment. that actually happened on the senate floor and for people new to the senate they don't believe it but it did over and over and ove

senator schumer: let us pray. [laughter] senator schumer: i mean, we haven't seen it. and i told the president we want to work with him on issues like infrastructure. but his idea of bipartisanship is he comes up with a bill, we have no input and then we should support it. that's not just how the world works. reporter: you said the president's tweet about letting obamacare implode was small. are you trying to call his bluff? what if republicans refused to work with democrats on -- senator schumer: it will -- [phone ringing] senator schumer: i shut it off. hurt the american people and him. a large number of republicans and trump supporters, they are saying it is on his watch. his job as president is to make people's lives better, not wage a political war and hurt people to make a political point. it will fail. it will fail and his republican colleagues know that. reporter: you talk about the bipartisan ship. how did you read those comments and can you point to one particular policy you think you can work with republicans? senator schumer: i think there are a bunch. the

senator danes: senator perdue, thank you for holding this press conference. many of us here came from the private sector. there is a lot of private sector experience here. one of the great gaps between the private sector and what goes on in washington, d.c., is the word that senator perdue used is results or lack thereof. look at a couple of the scorecard issues in the united states senate for congress. the budgeting process has worked four times in 42 years. that's 10%. of 197 presidential nominations to agencies, the senate confirmed 48. that's a 24% score. two out of trump's judicial nominations is 9%. the senate confirmed 23% of trump's 216 nominations. that's 11% score. as senator perdue mentioned, we have health care, we have budgets. only 31 scheduled days in the senate between now and the end of our fiscal year. september 30 to get a budget passed. this past year we were seven months into the fiscal year before we finally passed a budget. i don't see any reason why we need to be leaving this town in august. we should be here doing the people's busines

leader, senator mcconnell.f you want to fix health care we're here to sit in with you right now and fix it. and i was naÏve enough to think that because i was on the h.e.l.p. committee i might be included in the discussion about health care. we've had hearings in our committee meeting hearings on nominees, on pensions, on higher ed, on the fda but there's been one taboo topic on the h.e.l.p. committee since i got on it in january. h we are not allowed to have a hearing about health care. h we haven't had hearings about the house bill. we haven't had hearings about the senate proposals. we're being told by not goingav have a hearing, we'll just rush whatever we do to the floorit either on a house proposal, senate proposal or senate repealed. we will completely skipped knowi committee. now mr. president, you know a bit about this committee.on have a doctor on the committee. senator cassidy from louisiana. our chair -- >> we will leave this at this point and go live now to just senator senators have just gaveled i

or what senator schumer and senate democrats apparently believe is a better course. no reforms, no changes. just bailout insurance companies by throwing billions of dollars at them without any reform. we're not interested in that. we think we got a better plan. we invite our democratic colleagues to join us. under the budget process they have an opportunity to offer amendments to the plan. there's no restriction. so we would invite them to participate in the process to come up with a better product than the failure of obamacare, much less bailing out insurance companies by throwing billions of dollars at them trying to prop up a failed experiment. >> the news on health care doesn't get any better for people in this country. there are going to be two million fewer people this year with insurance than had it last year, so the number of uninsured goes up, the costs continues to go up, probably a correlation of there and the highest number of people in this country in a gallup poll now cite health care being their number one concern, highest number since 2007 and in fact

senator schumer: i think there are a bunch. the things i mentioned at the beginning had bipartisan support. even leader mcconnell said a few weeks ago if this fails we'll work with chuck schumer and the democrats and the first -- thing we want to do is try whether in the budget negotiations or elsewhere, we want to have -- the insurance industry, hardly our allies, said one way to keep premiums down is to have cost sharing permanent. that will have bipartisan support. even talked to paul ryan this morning about working together on these kinds of things and there's a thirst to do it and i just hope, as i said, the magic moment of john mccain last night has lasting effect and makes us work together in a better way and both sides are to blame for the past. reporter: senator, democrats have made opposing president trump a big part of what you're about right now. are you ready to say the democratic voters, we will work with republicans and get something signed by this president? senator schumer: my first conversation with president

in this, senator sullivan, senator young, senator heller, senator murkowski and others have worked on this proposal. i'm pleased that we have received a commitment that the senate will vote tonight on this approach, again, to help those on medicaid expansion and other low-income americans get access to affordable health care in the private market. this plan has two parts. first, it provides an additional $100 billion to the long-term stability fund in the better care reconciliation act to help people with out-of-pocket expenses such as deductibles and co-pays, ensuring those who transition from medicaid expansion into the private insurance under a new system not only have the tax credit to help them, which is part of the underlying bill, but also have this additional help for affordable coverage options. second is a medicaid wrap-around that allows states to provide cost sharing assistance to low-income individuals who transition from medicaid to private insurance and receive a tax credit on the exchange. the state could use this flexibility in combination with this long-term stabilit

president, first i want to thank senator cork,i thank to thank senator crapo and senator brown, senator schumer and mcconnell l for their help in getting us to this moment. this is an important moment for our country. and i'm very proud of what we were able to accomplish. a senator: order, mr. president. the presiding officer: members will come to order. mr. cardin: the legislation we are about to vote on will give the united states the strongest possible hand to stand up against the aggression of russia. russia attacked us and our democratic institutions. russia invaded the sovereignty of other countries, including ukraine and georgia. russia has participated in war crimes in syria. and this legislation will give the united states the strongest possible hand in taking action against russia, mandatory sanctions are included in this legislation in regards to the energy sector, the financial sector, intelligence and defense sector. not only with primary sanctions but with secondary sanctions. this legislation provides for a democracy fund working with europe to protect ourselves against r

it's not reserved to these five senators. i've talked to a number of republican senators today. in fact, every republican senator that i've talked to today said that they do not want this bill to become law. the skinny repeal. that they only want to use it as a vehicle to get into the conference committee where they can hash it out with their house colleagues and come up with something that is something that's a little bit more pal lathable, both a repeal and a replacement. i talked specifically to mike rounds of south dakota who said that he has great concerns that if the skinny repeal were passed into law that it would really disrupt the insurance markets and also be dangerous for medicaid. he definitely doesn't want it to become law. the fact that you see a group of very powerful republican senators, and these are all well known republican senators, that are essentially going to come out and do a press conference arm and arm, they're sending a message here to the house of representatives and to speaker paul ryan specifically saying we are only voting for this because we trust

senator johnson: it would not. reporter: senator graham. senator graham. senator graham. senator mccain. what do you say to people -- you gave this big speech about returning to regular oorder, say you want to work with democrats, what do you say to people who say you should vote no? and send this thing back to committee -- senator mccain: right now i am voting no. unless i see that there is a path to a conference that will come out with a result that will address the challenges. the status quo in my state is unsatisfactory. that's why i'm working with the governor of my state who has proposed three different amendments which i will be putting up for votes as we go through. if it satisfies the governor, then i would be satisfied. right now, my governor is not satisfied. reporter: has the parliamentarian said your amendment would be conferenceable? senator graham: i'm 99% sure we'll get a memo from the parliamentarian saying the graham-cassidy-heller, maybe johnson, bill will be conferenceable. and that block has been checked. i really wasn't too much worried about anythin

senator reynolds. senator reynolds: thank you, mr. president.an the minister also explain the importance of australia providing overseas assistance to countries in our region? >> minister. >> thank you. our budget stands for fairness, opportunity, and security. responsibly supports a strong and prosperous and secure region especially in our , indospecific area. we know providing good aid , particularly in our region is , good for australia's national security interests. and oda contributes to poverty reduction and stability. and australia will benefit if citizens in our region are healthy, they are well-educated, and are making an economic contribution in our own countries. and if our neighboring countries are stable, they are well-governed and open to trading tunlts. and overseas development assistance complements the other steps the government is taking to ensure we live in a safe and prosperous region. >> thank you, minister. senator reynolds final , supplementary question. senator reynolds is the minister : aware of any further development a

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: thank you, mr. president. you know, it's been an amazing process. i've been here a little over ten years and i've never seen anything like this. we voted for cloture a few days ago to move to debate. nothing. and now we've got a bill here today that, as the senator -- as senator murphy has already pointed our, will rip health care away from millions of people, increase premiums by 20% a year. and basically solve none of the problems that are out there that need to be solved. -- that effect americans every day, especially rural americans. and i must thank the senator from washington, senator murray, for the motion to take this back to committee. this is where we should have started. we should have started in the committee process, like our forefathers had designed this place how to work the greatest deliberative body in the world. but it didn't. every bill that's been drafted bay select few in a back room with no input from anybody, especially people from rural america. so it i

>> well, you've had certain senators -- republican senates come out of that. susan collins, west virginia senator and so without those votes it's hard to see it go fore ward, but per happens there are other amendments that would be presented that would make them more comfortable with voting on this. we'll see what happens. certain senators who we expected might not vote for the motion to proceed yesterday ended up opening debate. so there may be some deals ahead for them and for their states. >> i think a lot of americans are hearing policy and senate rules and conference commit tees, but the fact is, in three months open enrollment begins. in three months, millions of americans who don't have health care who have to start making some big decisions. that to me is what's really interesting here is that we still don't know what it's going to look like, the american health care consumer. >> that's right. and if they are unable to pass some sort of repeal or replacement bill, they're going to have to work with democrats to make sure that next year isn't a complete

, being senator -- we mentioned senator heller before. also now senator shelley moore capito of west virginia who was a no is saying yes to this procedural vote and also rob portman, senator from ohio, he was a no and now he's yes on this. let me bring in a couple more voices as we await the results. julie rovner, and we wanted to talk to you because you've been covering health care since 1986 in congress and you have never seen anything like this. >> no, this is an amazing vote. this is basically 51, presumably, republican senators proceeding to debate on a bill they don't know what the bill is. this is a bill that could, in theory, affect a sixth of the u.s. economy. there doesn't seem to be any consensus for any pieces that have so far been offered. i think the hope of the smoenat majority leader is they get on this bill and put it on the fly as they go. >> i was looking at the face of the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell, and he is -- what's he, a masterful tactician is what he's been referred to. he's used to getting these vot

senator john mccain's office just announced that senator mccain will return to work in the senate tomorrow is almost unbelievable. he just announced last week that he's been diagnosed with brain cancer. but senator mccain expects to be back in the senate in time for the vote on obamacare repeal tomorrow. he's expected to vote to open debate on the republican plan which will be an act forward furtherance of passing it. thanks for staying with us. let me get your reaction to this news about senator mccain, your colleague in the senate. who has had significant health challenges. seems like he'll be back. >> i'm glad my friend is feeling better. look, they are pulling out all the stops, and so are we. i'm so glad to be able to tell your viewers this is urgent, urgent business. what mitch mcconnell wants to do in either of these two approaches is turn back the clock. he wants to go back to the days when health care was for the healthy and wealthy, the insurance companies could discriminate against people who had preexisting conditions and deny coverage. what i want to say tonight to your viewer

senator chris murphy here tonight.s for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> we're trying to figure out whether this is -- i guess, whether this is a normal pothole or if this is an axle breaker. how big of a deal are the defections tonight? >> there's a couple of wheels off of the bus tonight but this is a bus full of republicans ultimately determined to deliver it to its destination. you have to look at this effort to repeal the affordable care act. this is a perpetual motion machine. they are not going to give up on it. but the statements tonight, paired with those from susan collins and rand paul, they feel a little bit different. susan collins says it's time to sit count and work with democrats. jerry moran's statement tonight criticizes the behind closed doors process and says it's time to start over. so you have a feeling that this is now beyond a couple small fixes. i think it proves that reports of democrat ice death were probably greatly overexaggerated. the fact of the matter is it's tough to overhaul a f

after senator after senator, republican senators saying they don't want skinny bik ra. they don't want it to become law, but they're going to vote for it. i mean, just think about that. we are at the end of this process. they have voted down multiple options, and now their way of getting to a bill is to volt for a bill which they've just said they know will increase premiums for millions shf people, 20% increase in preem yuls. it's like -- >> you were at the white house when that was what the democrats did. don't worry, we'll fix what you don't like in conference. and there never was a conference. >> oh, my god. we had a bill -- >> i understand that. no, no, no. and i'm not going to compare the two. because it's not -- you did hold hearings and all this stuff. but you skimmed the conference too. >> and then people had to make a decision. but this proves my point. that bill was deliberated on four hundreds of hours. it was -- just to be clear, it's five o'clock eastern time. we still don't have bill language for a bill that's going to ap effect one sixth of the economy.

i don't think that john chafee, senator john chafee, beloved senator, neither he nor senator hatch, senator grassley came up with that. i think it was an idea from the heritage foundation. it was a good idea. it was a good idea in 1993. it was a good idea in 2006 in massachusetts and it was a good idea when we folded it into the affordable care act as one of the major pillars. i want to go back and revisit 2009 just for a little bit. there are those who believe that there was no bipartisan involvement. it was just hustled through without a lot of thought or debate. as it turns out i think we spent 80 days all told in the united states senate in 2009 debating the bill in committees, two committees of jurisdiction. i served then and serve now in the finance committee. we spent a lot of time in debates and markups. people had a chance to offer amendments, debate it. the health, education, labor, pension committee spent a lot of time that year, 2009, similarly, bipartisan hearings, bipartisan amendments, debate. all told i believe over 300 amendments were offered. in senate committees of jurisd

senator mcconnell lost kansas senator jerry moran and utah senator mike lee. they both issued statements tonight at the same time. mike lee said, in addition to not repealing all of the obamacare taxes, it doesn't go far enough in lowering premiums for middle class families, nor does it create enough free space from the most costly obamacare regulations. and, yes, that statement is self-contradictory. what you're going to see in all of the republican -- almost all the republican opposition to this bill is that the republican senators opposing it lay out principles that are absolutely unmeetable by any form of this legislation. senator moran criticized the closed-door process that produced the bill, and he said, we should not put our stamp of approval on bad policy. furthermore, if we leave the federal government in control of everyday health care decisions, it is more likely that our health care system will devolve into a single-payer system, which would require a massive federal spending increase. we must now start fresh with an open legislative process to de

senator from maine, the senator from louisiana.o let's turn the page and work together to improve our health care system. and let's turn the page in another way. all of us were so inspire d by the speech and the life of the senator from arizona. and he asked us to go back to regular order, to bring back the senate that some of us who were here, have been here a while remember. maybe this can be a moment where we start doing that. both sides will have to give. the blame hardly falls on one side or the other. but if we can take this moment, a solemn moment, and start working this body the way it had always worked until the last decade or so, with both sides to blame for the deterioration, we will do a better job for our country. better job for this body. better job for ourselves. >> and finally, i'm glad that the leader asked us to move to mdaa. we need to do it. i can say on this side of the aisle, we will move expeditiously. i know the searpt from rhode island has worked with the senator from arizona on a list of amendments that ca

senator mccain was joined by senator lisa murkowski of alaska and senator susan collins of maine in voting no. no big surprise. the big surprise, mccain. senate leaders were paring down what they were voting for for days now. ending one a bare-bones repeal proposal. the big concern i heard repeatedly yesterday from republican senators, even those who were clear questions, is that the bare-bones proposal would eventually be voted into law. the entire idea behind voting for the proposal would be to send it to a conference with the house. now, early -- late in the afternoon, senator mccain joined several senators in having a press conference and saying, look, we will support this idea, but we're not going to vote for it unless we have assurances from speaker of the house paul ryan that they won't just pass the bill. they got assurances both in a statement where the speaker said the house was willing to go to conference, and in personal phone calls from the speaker himself. in the end, it wasn't enough for mccain. mccain telling reporters afterwards that the vote was the right thing to do. aga

the senator from tennessee and the senator from washington. the senator from utah. the senator from oregon. they have worked well together in the past. they can work well together in the future. there is suggestions that we are interested in that come from members on the other side of the aisle. senator from maine and senator from louisiana. let's turn the page and work together to improve our health care system. let's turn the page in another way. all of us were so inspired. by the speech and the life of the senator from arizona. he asked us to go back to regular order. to bring back the senate that some of us who were here have been here a while remember. maybe this can be a moment where we start doing that. both sides will have to give. the blame hardly falls on one side or the other. but if we can take this moment, a solemn moment, and start working this body the way it had always worked until the last decade or so with both sides to blame for the deterioration, we will do a better job for our country, better job for this body, a better job for ourselves. and fi

senator moran ought to get a lot of credit. he was within of a couple of republican senators who held a town hall over the july 4th recess. held it in a very tiny town in kansas with population 277. 150 people showed up at that town hall, including kansas city indivisible and others who made the trek out there to talk to their senator. that works. showing up and doing sit-ins works. it's about putting pressure on. hey we're watching you. i love seeing that. >> ezra levin, thanks for talking to us tonight. it's a big busy night with the breaking news. >> tomorrow is a big busy day, a national day of action. keep this pressure on and we'll kill this bill. >> magain the republican effort to repeal obamacare appears to have fallen apart. as you heard ezra levin say, a cofounder of a group nationwide organizing efforts that's really been trying to stop the republican effort to repeal obamacare. you heard him say this is not over. kraushsly optimistic. but four republican senators saying they'll vote no is enough to kill it. i for on

we begin with senator coons. >> thank you, senator sasse. for the opportunity to question the witness. mr. wray, thank you for your prior service and your continued willingness to serve our country particularly at this important and difficult time. i know this may not need repeating but let us not forget why we're having this hearing. your predecessor james comey was not even at the halfway point of his tenured term as fbi director when president trump abruptly fired him without cause and without warning. and president trump said when he fired director comey that he was thinking about the fbi's investigation of russian interference into our elections. an investigation that director comey was then overseeing. so now more than ever i believe it to be crucial that our next fbi director be prepared to be steadfastly independent. and as we had a chance to discussion before this hearing, it falls on you today not only to clearly demonstrate to our committee that you possess the legal investigative and management skills required for the position fo

senator feinstein? >> just a couple of quick questions before i get to the substance of my questions. did you discuss mr. comey or his firing with anyone in the white house, the justice department or the fbi? if so, who, when and what was discussed? >> i did not discuss those topics at all with anyone in the white house. my only discussion on the topic at all was deputy attorney general rosenstein making the observation to me that at the time that i first was contacted about this position by him was that now special counsel mueller had been appointed to deal with that issue and that in effect made for a better landscape for me to consider taking on this position. >> that was it? >> that was it. >> okay. let me go now to the things that we discussed in my office. my understanding is you served as the deputy attorney general's most senior advisor when the office of legal counsel issued the so-called torture memos in 2002 and 2003. one of the authors of those memos testified in 2008 before a house judiciar

trish: what's crazy is you have senators like senator collins from maine, like senator murkowski who won't even vote to debate this, to even have the conversation. >> that's a disgrace. trish: that is so badly needed. >> no courage, and they wonder why the american people are so angry at politicians? they get up every day and go to work, whether they want to go to work or not, they do their jobs. these people are given enormous responsibility, enormous power and can't do the most basic thing i'm going to vote to move to proceed. if i don't like the way the bill is constructed, let's build it differently. it's a shameful moment. >> you are absolutely right. it's a cop-out. and what it boils down is a senator saying i don't want to go back to constituents and say i cost you your health care. you know what, senator? find something that does make sense, come up with a positive solution. i feel it's the nanny state where you are afraid of being called out one way or another. it's a disgrace. if they can't get this done, a tougher time with tax reform and good luck getting re-elected. this

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. tester: thank you, mr. president. you know, it's been an amazing process. i've been here a little over ten years and i've never seen anything like this. we voted for cloture a few days ago to move to debate. nothing. and now we've got a bill here today that, as the senator -- as senator murphy has already pointed our, will rip health care away from millions of people, increase premiums by 20% a year. and basically solve none of the problems that are out there that need to be solved. -- that effect americans every day, especially rural americans. and i must thank the senator from washington, senator murray, for the motion to take this back to committee. this is where we should have started. we should have started in the committee process, like our forefathers had designed this place how to work the greatest deliberative body in the world. but it didn't. every bill that's been drafted bay select few in a back room with no input from anybody, especially people from rural america. so it i

senate. you're here to buy a used car, truck, suv. that's smart. truecar can help. it's great for finding a new car, but you already knew that. it's also great for finding the perfect used car. you'll see what a fair price is, and you can connect with a truecar certified dealer. so, no matter what you're looking for... there it is. this is how buying a used car should be. this is truecar. ♪ >> john: efforts to repeal and replace obamacare stalled this week when republicans delayed a vote on the plan, putting it off until after their return from the fourth of july recess. it will they have enough votes to pass the bill? in a few minutes we will be joined by democratic senator joe manchin of west virginia, but first joining us now is republican senator rand paul was among a group of republicans opposing the current bill and here's some ideas on how to get repeal and replace been through. good to talk to you this morning, let me start off with a tweet that the presidents in earlier, which was ac

you ought to vote on the senate bill and he was out there making the case for the senate bill. which he hasn't done and frankly a lot of republicans haven't done write which explains why this senate bill is polling so poorly. >> i know. >> i think the president said look, i'm for this bill. vote on this bill, let's go. >> let me bring michael spare in here. we get into the policy of this a lot. what was real, what was not real about the accusations that the president made about obamacare? >> what was real is that there are people who are suffering from the high cost of health care in the united states. i'm sure that the people he had behind him -- >> had legitimate -- >> they have legitimate issues and problems. they're not the legitimate issues and problems of the affordable care act. they're legitimate issues and problems of the health care system that needs to be fixed in lots of different ways. what was not real in my view was the fact in the argument that obamacare is failing, that it's led to sort of the horrific outcomes that he's suggesting and that if we don't get rid

senate. >> reporter: uh-huh. that's right. john mccain did get an okay from his doctors to return. he is on his way back to washington. he could be here in a little more than an hour to take a vote, to be a part of the process to start debate on health care, but more importantly, to -- to return to work. that he -- the fact he got the okay. he felt he wanted to get in the game, get in the arena, as somebody who i respect, speaking to, knows him well was saying, not necessarily a be health care but about the defense authorization bill in which he is in charge of as chair of the armed services committee. the sanctions bill he's very much in favor of pushing through to get to the president's desk, sanctions against russia. things like that. you talked about drama. we'll see him talk on the senate floor about the process and about the atmosphere in the united states senate. it's hard to imagine he's not also going to be talking about his own very grim diagnosis of grain cancer. >> we'll stand by

welcome, senator strange. he comes here because senator sessions went on to become attorney general. he has seen the senate for three months, four months maybe? five months now. i'm sure he has his impressions of this body and they may be different from what he thought about it before he was elected. but i can tell him for sure that this is a much different senate than the one patty murray was elected to, much different than the one i was elected to. even my friend, mike enzi from wyoming. even the one that he saw. i see my colleague senator schatz from hawaii here. how long have you been here now? four and a half years. he's a newbie. he has not seen the senate i was describing. can you believe there was a time in the senate when there was an important measure and members would come to the floor -- i'm not making this up -- and actually hand it to the clerk and say i'd like to make an amendment on this bill. we would handle it and sometimes we voted it and sometimes you won and sometimes you vote. that actual

senators. republican senators, including rob portman, ted cruz, tom ti tillis and lindsey graham shot back at trump's criticism saying, trump's tweet today suggesting sessions' recusal of a political ally is inappropriate. they are making the case to keep sessions on board and they're pointing to that outpouring of support that sessions is getting from republican senators, but even they acknowledge this rift may be too far gone for these hen to mend fences. >> sara, thank you very much. we're also following breaking news on capitol hill in a dramatic vote this afternoon. pence broke a 50-50 tie to allow the senate to debate health care. senator mccain, who was just back from being diagnosed with brain cancer, made a passionate plea for both democrats and republicans to work together. ryan nobles is on capitol hill for us. ryan, what happens next? >> the senate is set for 24 hours of debate after offering amendments to this bill which is now on the senate floor. it was tense right up to the fina

we now know that senator senator mccain and others have voted no.t is enough to kill this skinny bill. that means, they are back to the drawing board. what senator mccain wanted to do before returning to arizona was to move forward with the national defense authorization, which is a bill that he is obviously very close to with the senate armed service committee. he wants to move that through. we will see where mitch mcconnell goes next, but he is getting on the floor now. let us listen in. >> and, so there won't be anything until they finished the vote until they have all 100 senators cast their ballots. >> what we are looking at here is the big picture. this is a big defeat. you saw vice president pence clearly working to try and get mccain to change his mind. and then, there were a bunch of senators who were around lisa michalski >> this does not necessarily kill the bill as brett says. but what were the mistakes that republicans might have made? even on the floor as senators crowded around the senator from alaska, with deciding the money that dea

how is senator john mccain? >> well, his family is saying tonight that they are weighing their options to deal with what is a very aggressive form of brain cancer. this is something that they are dealing with because a few days ago we learned that john mccain had a blood clot and there was a mass they were checking on. it was cancer. they are weighing whether to move forward with chemotherapy or radiation. tonight there are leaders in both parties who are saying this is an american hero, that they want to rally around as he deals with this fight. former president barack obama said john mccain is an american hero and one of the bravest fighters i have ever known. cancer doesn't know what it is up against. give it hell." that from barack obama. hillary clinton said john mccain is as tough as they come am thinking of john and cindy and their children and whole family. we should note that meghan mccain is not just part of the mccain family but also part of the fox news family. she put out an emotional statement. i w

the senate will come to order. the senator from nevada. mr. heller: mr. president, i have got an amendment at the desk that would express the importance of medicaid in our individual states, and i'd like to just read from it two provisions that i think are important to this whole body, and that is that the senate prioritize medicaid services for individuals who have the greatest medical need, including individuals with disabilities, and also that we should not consider legislation that reduces or eliminates benefits or coverage for individuals who are currently eligible for medicaid. mr. president, that's the amendment i want everybody to express for their own states, how important the medicaid program is for their states, and i would urge a yes vote from my colleagues. thank you. mr. sanders: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president, i raise a point of order that the pending amendment violates section 313-b-1-a of congressional budget act of 1974. i would just remind the members -- the presiding officer:

the senate's not in a quorum call. the senator is recognized. mr. schumer: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, in a few short hours we'll vote on the motion to proceed to the house republican health care bill. i'll have more to say on the matter prior to the vote. at the moment, no one knows the plans that being -- that's being cooked up in the republican leader's office, but it seems to be his intention to do whatever it takes to pass anything, no matter how small, to get the house and senate republicans into a conference on health care. surprisingly, i've heard that my friend, the junior senator from kentucky, will vote yes on the motion to proceed. he announced it himself. it's true he'll likely get a motion on the motion to repeal without replace, but surely he knows that will fail. why would the junior senator from kentucky, a man who preached the repeal of the affordable care act, that republicans should stop at nothing short of repeal, why would he vote on the motion to proceed knowing he won't get what he wants? it's because, i believe, that he and some of the

senate set to gather at any moment now. mitch mcconnell will call for a vote in what the senate call as motion to proceed. motion to proceed to debate on the house gop health care bill. even though there are no guarantees he has the votes to move forward. no guarantee he has the votes, even to begin this debate. cnn congressional correspondent phil mattingly is following all this on capitol hill. a lot of chaos around town including right there in the capitol. still questions. what exactly are they proceeding on? >> reporter: on the first still, they still don't know. don't have commitments of 50 yes votes from senators as of yet. walk you behind the scenes. very important. in a few short minutes senator mitch mcconnell will lay out what's going forward. the strategy, leadership circulating a proposal based on if they are able to pass this procedural vote today and move to debate the order of amendments as they would come. hoping, this presented at a easy cloed-door lunch here in about 45 minutes, basically giving every sen