senate ought to work. but republicans shouldn't do and mustn't do is squelch any chance to bring something this critical and sacrosanct as the right to vote. if there's any that has debate in the chambers voting rights they say they want more bipartisanship we are ready to give it to them for they have another opportunity for a bipartisanship tomorrow when we will begin to debate. i hope that will take our offer. simply standing silent with her arms crossed, refusing to allow the senate to function is unacceptable. and now i have an important announcement on progress for the president's agenda. i am pleased to announce that in agreement has been reached to lower prescription drug prices for seniors and families in the build back better legislation. fixing prescription drug pricing has consistently been a top issue for americans year after year including the vast majority of both democrats and republicans who want to see a change because they simply cannot afford their medications. we have heard this from p

eight senator has seven minutes -- each senator has seven minutes. please try to remain within your allotted time. following the first run of questions, if senators wish to ask additional questions, we will have a second round with three minutes each. if you would please stand. raise your right hand, the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help you god? let the record reflect he answered in the affirmative. the floor is yours. >> thank you. every day the women of the department of homeland security confront critical and complex challenges as we work to achieve our noble mission of safeguarding the american people , our homeland, and our values. the dedication and talent of our workforce is unsurpassed. i am privileged to serve alongside them. our department is expansive. the third largest in the federal government. more than 20 agencies and offices work together to fulfill the many responsibilities we have. from investigating, apprehending, and helping to bring to justice those who exploit will run, to a swing those in distress at sea.

senator wyden, senator klobuchar, senator murphy, senator cortez masto, senator bennet, and senator kelly. and i also want to sincerely thank senator sinema for working with us to reach this agreement. we are going to build on this success as we continue making progress on the rest of build back better. we are close, we are determined, we are confident that we will succeed in rewarding the trust that the american people have placed in us. now on voting rights. shortly before his death, the great john lewis offered the american people a parting message. when you see something that is not right, he said, you must say something. you must do something. democracy is not a state. it is an act. and each generation must do its part to help build what we call the beloved community. the words of the great late john lewis. well, today the senate is being called to take action because across our beloved democracy, something indeed is not right. something malicious is afoot. a lie, a terrible lie, spread by the former president of the united states is eating away corrosively at the foundations of our

bryce: thank you, senator. chair manchin: thank you, senator. now, senator hickenlooper. senator hickenlooper: thank you, mr. chair. as senator king mentioned, this is a really useful and productive panel and session. i want to get back to a discussion, again, about why has price gone up so much. and mr. nalley, maybe you can -- i mean, basically, the reserve calculations, both in this country and globally, haven't changed significantly. except for some minor disruptions, i am aware of, the lifting costs haven't changed that much. is it some function during the pandemic shutdown that the supply chain basically got somehow -- they're dormancy, made them less sufficient, less resilient, is that fair to say? mr. nalley: sorry. i am not quite sure -- senator hickenlooper: i find it perplexing to see why we have seen such large swings in the price of crude oil when reserves, lifting costs, all the basic calculations that generally go towards price of most of our products in the world seem to indicate we are still in a commodity that where price is often dictated by producers t

senator leahy, who was first elected in 1974 is the longest current serving senator in the senate president pro tempore. >> mr. president. >> majority leader. >> yeah, i come to the floor today a little sad, but mentally full of gratitude. earlier today our dear colleague senator patrick leahy announced he'll retire from the senate at the conclusion of his term. this chamber has a history of dedicated servants, but only one patrick leahy, for eight terms the senator from vermont

in the senate, that's different. in the senate you have each state whether maine or nebraska or california or new york, each has two but still within the senate when you have carcasses and ait partisan majority of one of the other with the filibuster, you have the opportunity to make things deliberate. it doesn't always work that way but it's there and when it does work that way, it's what the senate was all about. the world's greatest body. liberty is sort of a word on a shelf in politics right now. as we think about, it's one of the things that can drive it. if you have to have the six people threshold or a cloture vote not talking inside baseball moment for everybody else, you and i both understand the purpose of the boat is not to be overused but be available for rare times when it's necessary to bring together the senate to do things on a 60 vote level. you have an escape with the budget reconciliation approach resolution that gets you out of the filibuster but the unfortunate thing was both parties knocked down

>> senator, our u.s. customs and border protection personnel have physical contact and questions each individual at the port of entry. if there is any question with respect to that individual, any derogatory information or any questions that bears on the individual safety of the american people, that individual can be placed in secondary -- >> wait a minute, that's not my question. my question is standard security procedure, the standard screening procedure for refugees, if they are you said 100% of a theo vacuees are screened. >> they have all not been given interviews -- >> why not? >> because we have to be mindful of the fact that we're in an emergency situation to evacuate u.s. citizens, lawful permanent residents, and others -- >> and what percentage do the special immigrant visa holders and what total did those constitute? >> i have that information for you, if you'll give me one minute. >> the answer is an extremely small percentage. maybe 60,000 who have come to the country. my question is why are

we are joined by senator thune and senator amy klobuchar and senator ed marquis. they have all been extraordinary leaders in this effort. and today, i should note, is the first time that tiktok and snap have appeared before congress. i appreciate you and youtube for your testimony this morning. it means a lot. our hearing with facebook whistleblower frances haugen was a searing indictment, along with her documents of a powerful, gigantic corporation that puts profits ahead of people, especially our children. there has been a definite and deafening drumbeat of continuing disclosures, about facebook -- they have deepened america's concerns and outrage. and have led to increasing calls for accountability, and there will be accountability. this time is different. accountability to parents and the public, accountability to congress. accountability to investors and shareholders, and accountability to the securities and exchange commission and other federal agencies. because there is ample credible evidence as we start an investigation here. but today, we are concerned a

we had former senator blake in turkey, warmer senator salazar as well. in many parts of the country, there are countries with no american diplomat. no american top diplomat. >> that is right. that is a significant problem. i just returned from leading a bipartisan delegation that went to five different countries. in almost every country we went to, the absence of a currently serving u.s. ambassador was noted by our counterparts as a significant challenge. we have tremendous career diplomats charging to represent us. we were in qatar and israel but we are still waiting for confirmation hearings for very qualified nominees to represent us in belgium, germany. qatar. nick burns is our nominee to the ambassador to china. i am continuing to work with colleagues to try and clear the holds that have been placed on many nominees for senator cruz. your core question, what am i hoping for? out of the virtual summit? it would be some clearer guardrails. i am also hoping there will be some progress around climate partnership and around trade. there has been a great

on the senate side. none of what was said was exactly new, the tone alarm people, but substantively nothing has changed. but something did seem to change after senator manchin spoke today, the progressive caucus has now apparently decided that they are willing to vote on the bill joe manchin wants them to vote for. the senate bipartisan infrastructure bill, even without a guarantee that joe manchin will vote for the reconciliation bill. >> is every progressive prepare to vote for the bipartisan infrastructure? bill >> i do believe we're going to deliver our members with both bills. i just have to believe with the president says, and the president said right after the senator spoke, that he is confident he can deliver 51 votes for this win. i am going to trust this president, our members are going to trust the president. >> joining us now is democratic congressman -- he's a member of the congressional progressive caucus, representative khanna thank you very much for joining us tonight. so, nancy pelosi sa

sphere's the thing about the senate. here's where a small state like vermonthave not just a seat at thetable but a voice at the estable . for decades , i've been privileged to fight for vermont. from the small growing vermont ideas like revitalization of ourhistoric downtown to school programs , to organic farming, all of which have become increasingly popular across and to vermont's trailblazing approach to criminal justice reforms and victim advocacy to taking vermonters outward view of the great green mountain state as open and welcome for anyone including those fleeing desperate situations in far out places. on all these issues and so many more it's been an honor to represent the great state, but i believe the greatest state of vermont and the united states senate . i'm going to have more to say about the challenges and rewards and unafraid some disappointments of the last 46 years at a later time. now i want to separate the accomplishments that my constituents have achieved for vermont over the last five decades. i

senator cortez or senator tilling from his office, perhaps. or senator cortez from hers. senator ossoff from his. senator smith from hers. one moment. senator haggerty is just a couple moments out. i will -- i will ask one more question. the white house gathered as you know over 30 nations last week and called for accelerated cooperation to combat international ransom ware efforts. this effort shows your focus, the administration's focus on protecting cyber security of u.s. companies from such attacks. how does treasury work cooperatively, how does congress work cooperatively mr. deputy secretary with treasury to address the problem of sanction violations through crypto currency in cases of ransomware? >> senator, thank you for the important question. and as you know recently we sanction our first crypto exchange for the facilitation of ransomware payments. we're continuing to look at using our sanction authorities to go after those that use crypto payments to violate our laws by committing crimes. we want to work closely with congress. one of the most important areas for

senator tillis. senator tillis, i don't know if your mic is on. senator? >> may regret it but hi, mr. attorney general. thank you for being here. in response to the memo, i know you've repeatedly said this is not about parents. 15 years ago, i was pta president, participated in a lot of school board meetings and still watch it on public access when i'm home. the basis for your memo was substantially the letter that you all received. received. is that correct? >> that was an important part, yes, senator. >> do you think there was -- i have seen some of the widely reported situations and some school board meetings, but is there really any empirical basis -- i have seen a lot of raucous school board meetings. i have participated in them. did the doj do any real work outside of the public reporting to say there's a disturbing trend that requires the kind of what we consider to be overreach on behalf of the doj? >> no, as i have explained, what we looked at was the letter from an organization that represents thousands of school board members and school boards.

so i'm hopeful that senator scott and maybe perhaps senator tillis or senator toomey or senator cramer will call out those people who do character assassination. >> do you not think she is a member of the young communists? >> i'm not here to answer your questions, senator kennedy. senator warren is recognized from massachusetts. >> thank you, mr. chairman. professor omarova, i know that the giant banks object to your willingness to enforce the law and that you may cut into big bank profits so they and their republican buddies have declared war on you. the attacks on your nomination have been vicious and personal. we've just seen them. sexism, racism, pages straight out of joe mccarthy's 1950s red scare tactics, it's all there on full display. welcome to washington in 2021. now, one claim is that you intend to nationalize the banking system. let's just get this nonsense out of the way. does the fcc have the power to end private banking and to use all consumer deposits to a public ledger? >> absolutely not. >> if the fcc did have that power, is that something you would support? >> absolu

senate, 20 years ago, it was a 50/50 senate 5 as well. how about you set the stage by contrasting those two moments and what is different about a 50/50 senate today versus a 50/50 and it 20 years ago. >> i'm not sure there's a real difference in terms of how it would work, having 50/50 means that at least in terms of the numbers, yet to get somebody to squish over across the aisle from the other party to vote for something that you want or the vice president is theid tiebreaker. and i think the senate back in 20 years ago was less divided than it is today. a hyper partisanship began somewhere between 20 years ago and today and roughly maybe ten years ago. that was in earnest so it is a hyper partisanship but i think difference today and iti was back then. and the other thing that occurred, is 911, it united the country which may have counted for more or less partisanship but morep bipartisanship in the thinking of finding solutions. the same thing could be the case of today with the outside influence on the united states right now by fore

wyden: we go now to senator cassidy and then senator bennett. senator cassidy. sen. cassidy: thank you. i enjoyed our phone conversation. i know there's been a discussion of this recently earlier, but as regards to immunization, why are we not requiring those who are being allowed to come into the united states to be vaccinated for covid before being released to the united states? particularly the context of the biden administration is asking they have an excess to inquire their employees to get vaccinated. i'm not quite sure i understand the exception for those being allowed to come here illegally. mr. magnus: senator, thank you for the question and i think any of those individuals migrants coming in should be immunized. sen. cassidy: and should be required to be allowed to continue? mr. magnus: that's something i definitely want to explore. it seems reasonable to me. sen. cassidy: a couple other issues. your law enforcement background is without parallel. on the other issues for example we discussed the jones act. cbp has jurisdiction over the jones act. the trade

senator wicker. senator wicker: thank you, senator cantwell. mr. administrator, let me start off with safety management systems. you mentioned voluntary adoption of these. who is -- can you give us the manufacturers who are engaged in that, making progress in voluntary s.m.s.'s? mr. dickson: we have currently among the transport category air framers and engines, we have boeing, pratt whitney and general electric. and i have to look up but i believe gulf stream in there as well -- is in there as well. and a number of others. a number of other manufacturers, six in the pipeline that we have not fully accepted. senator wicker: then, supply us with those names on the record. there's supposed to be a notice of proposed rulemaking with regard to the mandatory s.m.s.'s. when will that notice of proposed rulemaking be issued? mr. dickson: senator, we're making good progress on the s.m.s. rulemaking. i believe it will be next fall. about less than a year from now. and then we'll have it out for public comment. and then we'll proceed on from there. senator w

negotiating with both senators. . they have been actively engaged in the discussion in crafting the bill before us. at this point, with the text and the votes, we are ready to say we trust you, mr. president. we said you could get 51 votes and we have enough of the other information that we are ready to go forward with that. >> you have concerns at all that there could be major changes to the legislation you are pass and a house on build back better during the vote-a-rama in the senate? rep. jayapal: i have made clear that is a concern and the white house assures me the president believes we have 51 votes for this bill. we will have to trust the president and i know he has been engaged in the negotiations with both senators. this is not something he came up with on his own or. talking to us. . this is something he actively negotiated and there were tremendous changes made to the bill that these two senators requested and i would hope that if we want to rebuild the trust and really keep everybody together and deliver u

, not only senator manchin and senator sinema, but others. on the drug pricing, we have been a sickly drilling down and getting senator sinema's input and senator schumer's input and i believe the drug pricing provision ac is it. i guess there could be changes, but i don't think they are at significant and the fact that we have negotiated pricing and savings as the cbo showed, it means this is a provision that saves money and at the same time does a lot in terms of affordability for seniors and others. the same would be true for methane. nancy and i and the group went to glasgow for the climate conference and they were touting international action on methane. you have an important provision with regard to methane that was worked on with the senators and house members over the last few weeks. i believe just using those as an example that this is pretty much it. there may be additional changes but in terms of paying for it and in terms of the actual substantive language, i think we are pretty solid at this point. there is no reason why this bil

the senate? do they have a compromise they're proposing to get the sanders and manchins of the world on board? >> reporter: i think you'll see congress negotiate that within themselves, of course the senate democrats. you saw president biden get involved at the tail end of the infrastructure negotiations. i'm not sure that's always where the white house wants the president to see he is right in the middle of that. but often it is the president who gets people on board at the end of the day. he is very close with senator manchin and often speaks and talks with him about his concerns about the size and scope of this bill. today president biden has called speaker pelosi according to jen psaki to congratulate her on the passage of this bill. this was a vote that the white house was expecting about 12 hours ago, but because of that speech by kevin mccarthy that lasted 8 1/2 hours overnight, it's a passage of this bill they are now getting from the house in broad daylight. so it does come as president

i hope you will join senator fischer, this senator, senator tester, and senator wyden and several others senators in the last 24 hours that have joined this effort. these reforms are long overdue, and we can't let these special interest groups like the north american meat institute stop this important legislation like i just described for you, they described it -- they stopped it in 1998, and thank god senator daschle didn't give up because the next year he eventually got it done. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a snow: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, this morning, the majority leader came to the floor of the senate to talk about the democrats' reckless tax-and-spending bill. he repeated the claim, the claim that the bill would actually reduce inflation. it won't. just like the claim the president makes that

right now that's in the senate bill. the only way this does not become law is if four men behind closed doors take it out in conference. and that would be an outage because this bill is supported by 66 senators -- >> brennan: you're worried it will. >> including josh hawley, ted cruz, who will be on your s sas. hony bills inby those four individuals, not many? on the house side it's supported by 220 house members. democracy should not be shunned. this is something that should not be done behind closed doors in the dead of night. it should be allowed to pass and everyone should make sure that their voices are heard on this issue. if we want justice for service members, justice for sexual assault survivors and justice for every female service member, you need this reform. >> brennan: all right, senator, thank you for coming in. >> thank you. >> brennan: all right. >> thank you, margaret. >> thank you, margaret. >> brennan: we'll be back in a minute. ♪ now listen to the beat ♪ ♪ kinda pat your feet ♪ ♪ it's all ri

the next two senators will be senator murphy and senator murkowski. i hope to be back by the end of that. >> thank you very much, madam chair. thank you to all of you for your service to this country during an incredibly trying time. i thought that senator collins' line of questioning deserved a followup. she asked a good question, she says we have good vaccination rates in maine, so why do we still have so many deaths. but i think it's important to sort of step back and look at the national data here. i'll direct this to you, dr. walensky. i was looking at a survey of national data that was published now back in the spring, so it's a few months old. but in it, it suggested that if you look at the ten states with the lowest rates of vaccination versus the ten states with the highest rates of vaccination, it's back and white. you are four times more likely to be hospitalized if you live in one of those states with the lowest rates of vaccination. you are five times more likely to die if you lived in those states. and so, you know, each individual senat

and senator cutin cinema as well. -- and senator kyrsten sinema as well. is that fun? sen. manchin: there is nothing fun about it. i kept thinking -- because i was a in 2009 when they were doing the affordable care act. i was the governor in 2009 when they were doing the affordable care act. if i'd been the senator when it came down to a swing vote, i could've made a little bit of a difference there. i understood how it was delivered in the states. i understood people that could go without it and people who need it, but also people who could abuse it and take advantage of it. i thought there was a better way to do it. 10 years later, i found myself in a position in every vote. who would have thought it would come down to this? david: is it your view we should keep the curren role? even for the voting rights bill you authored? sen. manchin: i watched the democrats use it against trump in a lot of things. we were able to stop things that did not make sense to us. how can we, two years ago, three years ago, 39 democratic senators led by our leader basically sign letters, pleas

>> thank you, senator hawley. senator rowan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. did you mention that the formatting should be changed as soon as possible? the manufacture of this product needs to have a date until after the point of sale. do you support that change? >> i used to work with them here in the senate. i'm not a legislator. i think i'll leave that to the legislators, if i could. >> shouldn't they get information to the customer before the consumer purchases the goods? >> i support that, yes. >> since mr. dugan supports it, do you also support it? >> we want to work with the committee to fine-tune some things in the bill, particularly timelines and thresholds, which are very important. >> it sounds as though you support the concept of disclosure information? >> correct. >> yes, i do. >> yes, i do. >> thank you. so mr. muderick, you have brought to the attention of these online sellers about maybe amazon, that they have online unsafe products and they don't take it down. you've been asked a number of questions relating to section 230. i'm wondering wheth

cornyn and senator white house with a sentencing measure co-sponsored by senator grassley and myself and signed into law by the president. senator grassley and i send you a letter may 5th urging the department to reject the proposed rule and instead enact a rule of reducing recidivism. it's been more than five months we still haven't received a response. the first step act crowd the bureau prisons to grant release in extraordinary and compelling circumstances such as a once in a century global pandemic. under the trump administration, listen to these numbers, the bureau of prisons denied all but 36 of 31,000 compassionate release petitions filed during the pandemic. in the first six months the biden administration, bureau prisons approved just nine requests. when the infection rate was six to seven times the national infection rate and the death rate equally appalling when compassionate release requests were received. 31,000 of them. only 36 were allowed. meanwhile the pandemic has been devastating in our bureau of prison facilities. 265 inmates have died, including six within the la

david: so you have a republican colleague in the senate, senator capito. how do you get along? sen. manchin: very good friend of mine. we get along good. one night we were voting late and we missed the plane. i said, i'm driving. you want to ride with me? she said count me in. about 10:00, we take off for west virginia. i drive a little bit fast. at night i drive fast. david: within the speeding limit. sen. manchin: i won't say that. [laughter] we were driving and we got picked up for speeding. david: when you get picked up, they know who you are so what do they do? sen. manchin: state policeman comes to the door and he says, governor? i said, i am a senator. he was a trooper when i was governor. i thought i was in pretty good shape. david: i guess you did not get a ticket. sen. manchin: the funny part was when he said, my god, it's both of you. [laughter] david: are you worried the senate and the house could flip to the republicans in the midterms because that often happens. sen. manchin: we did not have a much of a buffer going in. david: are you worried about this? sen. manchin:

now turning to the senate, they have a couple problems with senators, mostly joe manchin, the centrist from west virginia who has had concerns all along with the size of the bill, with some of the spending programs, including some that were named after it passed the house. and also, to a lesser degree now, senator kyrsten sinema of arizona, who has had concerns with the revenue increases the democrats have put into pay for spending, including proposals for raising taxes on corporations. so, they have worked hard, democratic leadership, to address those concerns, but now what we will probably see is big changes, or at least small changes, to the bill in order to try to win the votes of the senators. and as a final wildcard, you have a change that was made in the house to the state and local tax deduction, which really upset senator bernie sanders of vermont. so the left wing of the party, essentially there is a tax cut for higher earners tucked into the bill in the house, and may change in the senate. host: the president has had a big win with the signing of the infrastructure bill, so

senator kramer of north dakota is -- senator crammer of north dakota is recognized -- senator cramer of north dakota is recognized. senator cramer: thank you. i look forward to supporting your confirmation. first thing i want to do, mr. chairman, is correct the record that got real fuzzy when senator kennedy asked secretary yellen a couple of times about debt and deficit and she said that the build back better plan is completely paid for. she said the c.b.o. agrees with her. senator daines touched on it. i want to read directly from the congressional budget office's score. c.b.o. estimates that enhancing this legislation would result in a net increase in the deficit totaling $360 billion through 2022 through 2032 period. that's the 10 years. i have the chart year by year. it's $155 billion next year alone. it continues for five years. and then in the last four, it shows some -- you know -- turn-around. of course, all of that five years of revenue or beyond the first five years, is built on the premise these programs aren't going to be continued which we know any casual observer of am

i understand senator durbin and also senator haggardy will be introducing mayor emmanuel and senator hickenlooper will introduce mr. caplan. i see senator durbin is here with us. let me turn to senator durbin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and ranking member roche. it's an honor to have the opportunity to share a few words for rahm emanuel to be the next ambassador to japan. we had a chance to speak to the new iaea director. mr. grossy. we talked about, not only iran's future in nuclear program but also north korea. it reminded me that japan, one of our most important allies in asia, is at the forefront of several key national security priorities for our nation. notably the nuclear threat on and from the korean peninsula. chinese actions in the south china sea and regional economic pressure. the undermining of hong kong's democracy and threats against taiwan. with the dawn of the aukus pact, they've signalled -- we need to be sure our allies and friends and partners, like japan, have a clear understanding of our goals. that's why the appointment of a new ambassador to japan is timely a

senate here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almighty god, make us instruments of your love. lord, use our senators today as ambassadors of reconciliation. direct them in their work, surrounding them with your gracious love. let all their plans and purposes be in accordance with your holy will. may they desire to serve you and country with faithfulness. lord, enlighten them with your wisdom so they will find solutions to the problems that challenge our nation and world. make them good stewards of their calling, guiding them to use their influence for your glory. we pray in your gracious name. amen. the president pro tempore: please join me in the pledge of allegiance. 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. ms. hirono: mr. president? the president pro tempore: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. ms. hir

when you arrived in the senate 20 years ago it was a 50/50 senate as well. how about you set the stage forced by contrasting those two moments? what is different about a 50/50 senate today versus a 50/50 senate 20 years ago. >> i'm not sure there's a real difference in terms of how it would work. having 50/50 means at least in terms of the numbers you have to get somebody to switch over across the aisle from the other party to vote for something you want. or the vice president is the tiebreaker. celeste divided than what is today hyper partisanship to hyper partisanship thiss different today at 911 it accounted for less partisanship and more bipartisanship in the thinking of finding solutions. can we discuss from time to time. why the senate could not perform today it like it did before if there is trust, if there is an understanding, a mutual interest. we move away from divisive to divisive issues and spend more time talking about unity and what we find that we agree with. hear it and was in 2001 identified a marker ten years ago and you capped the trim lin

you might remember that when the minimum wage passed the house it got to the senate and senator sinema gave the thumbs down alaa john mccain. it didn't go through the senate. even with a democratic majority. but there are a lot of provisions in the build back better act that democrats say address the problem. that includes an extension of the child tax credit. childcare subdies. it includes -- subsidies. it includes an expansion of the a.c.a. benefits under obamacare. medicare benefits. medicaid benefits. public housing vouchers. worker training. the list goes on and on. it's an enormous package. so they think that they are adoctorsing -- addressing those things even as they failed on minimum wage. host: i want to come back to that story on the front page of the hill.com democrats expect to pass $1.75 trillion biden package this week. what i think they call in your line of work a scene setter story. this is the story of what's going to be happening on capitol hill this week. question on how you do a story like that from mlb on twitter who wants to know how often do you speak to the act

, not only senator manchin, but also with the chairs of the committees in the senate. i'll use two examples, one on the -- pricing. we have been getting representative sinema's input, and i believe the pricing provision that you see is it. i guess there could be changes, but i do not think that they are significant. the fact we have negotiated prices and savings, as the cbo showed, it means that this is a provision that saves money, and at the same time does a lot in terms of affordability for seniors and others. the same would be true for methane. we went to glasgow for the climate conference, and they were touting international action on methane. so we have this important provision with regard to methane, that wasn't worked on with the senators and with -- and was also worked on with house members. this is pretty much it. there may be additional changes, but i think that we are solid at this point. >> we have had changes with childcare that will now allow parents to go to work. you really cannot afford childcare in certain situations. pre-k, which is so valuable for

stay up-to-date with live video coverage of the political events and live streams of the house and the senate floor and see the congressional hearings in the white house events and supreme court arguments and even our live interactive learning programs washington journal, we hear your voices every day braided cspan now has you covered demo the app for free today. >> mark houck and his against a democrat wisconsin and he is a former chairman of the congressional progressive caucus predict will you give us a read on where you stand and when the progressive caucus stands when it comes to some of the spending bills on congress right now. >> i think we are ready to go and we just need to put it on the calendar and were ready to vote on it and last week, we asked for - we want to make sure that we had assurances that all the work that we have been doing for months and months is actually going to happen to the senate and the president gave us those assurances and we are set to go barring any other problems within the democratic side. >> what it that when he came to the infrastructure and social open

you arrive in the senate 20 years ago it was a 50-50 senate as well. what about you set the stage for us by contrasting those two moments. what's different about 50-50 senate today versus 50 years ago? >> i'm not sure there's a difference in terms of how it would work. having 50-50 means that at least in terms of the numbers, you have to get somebody to switch over across the i from the other party to vote for something you want or the vice president is thetiebreaker . i think the senate back 20 years ago was less divided than it is today. a hyper- partisanship again somewhere between 20 years ago and today, roughly maybe 10 years ago in earnest. so it's a hyper- partisanship i think that is different today than it was back then. the other thing that occurred is that 9/11 united it, united the country which may have accounted for more or less partisanship and more bipartisanship in thinking of finding solutions but the same thing could be the case today with the outside influence on the united states right now by foreign interests of being discussed fr

the moderates in the house and senate hearing a lot about joe manchin curses at them in the senate. in many ways they been negotiating on behalf of the process has been of back and forth including abiding. his manchin and cinema can sign on to something that will be just fine with the moderates of the t house. when they pass it goes to the senate they're supposed to be changes made in the senate matches going to object to certain privileges that the sum of the climate change in language some of that methane admission language that might get altered in the senate. that would laze going to ping-pong back to the house eventually. this could go into december depending how messy it gets. the margins are slim about the house and the senate's heavy lift in both places cruxes are still being written as we speak? >> is still being written we are told they are really close were not going to change any provisions on a major skill at this point. most of the bill is written. they've already out passed out of the rules committee last friday. if there are any changes that willha be minor and it wi

my colleague, senator sanders and senator menendez are working on this. i've been in touch with senator sanders and feel optimistic we'll find a path forward. >> what about cbo estimates. this is a 367 billion deficit. so how do democrats get this over the hump? >> well, so on the pay force here we're talking about how we pay for this which we do pay for this. there's been a lot of conversation about irs enforcement, for example. as you say, the congressional budget office is estimating how much revenue we can gain by basically going after tax cheats. everyone disagrees with the cbo score. some of the economists that have worked for republicans and democrats note that the congressional budget office is underestimating what we can get when we go after tax evasion which understand is hundreds of billions of dollars a year and mostly the highest income earners that are not paying what they owe in taxes and as a result everybody else ends up holding the bag. i think we're going to work that out. >> when you add build back better, add that to the infrastructur

he's the senate president pro tem and longest serving senator. he announced his retirement this morning in the vermont state capitol. >> good morning. thank you. very nice. this room is very, very special and i thank you all for being here. it's special to both myself. not just because -- that i used to ride my tricycle up and down these halls. a long time ago. i don't know what rules i broke. having grown up right across the street, my sister, mary, my brother. my son and i decided to gather here back in 1974 when parents, our children, including son kevin who is here, my sister, mary, and i used the room to announce my candidacy for the united states senate. at that time i was a 33-year-old, fourth term states attorney and i wanted to launch a campaign in vermont knowing vermont had never sent a democrat to the united states senate. never sent somebody my age. i felt i understood the knee need and values of vermont. i thought it was time for my generation to address them. one of the people i read in preparing for that was the dublin commentary

my guest today is senator john boozman, sooner senator from arkansas. dean of arkansas delegation. he's here to discuss the status of the biden economic agenda, what republican senators want. but first begin with food production. senator, welcome. thanks so much for joining us today. post live. senator boozman: thank you so much for having me. it's a pleasure. >> all eyes are on the cargo ships anchored off of california. talk about the supply chain issues we are seeing. specifically with regards to trucking. you are supportive of legislation to help train additional truck drivers to move goods more rapidly across the country. how do you think this is going to alleviate the supply chain bottleneck we are seeing? senator boozman: we have a huge problem on the ports. in the past we have had problems periodically on the west coast. now it's a real concern because we have it on both coasts right now. nobody really seems to know how to alleviate the problem. one of the solutions is, not only for the port problem, but just moving commerce in general, is to try to get more truck drivers.

shaheen, senator rubio, senator collins. we sat down and went line by line drafting the p.p.p. legislation that we're talking about. we negotiated back and forth in good faith on the provisions of this bill. it was truly a bipartisan ef effort. republicans controlled the senate. we worked with republicans. and we came up with a bipartisan bill to help america's small businesses. that legislation made 501( 501(c)(3)'s, nonprofits, and veteran nonprofit organizations with up to 500 employees eligible for the p.p.p. loans. this was a mutual decision. we knew it had some controversy associated with it. that are faith-base groups that people have concern about getting government support. there are different organizations that people might have concern. but we felt that during this pandemic, it was important to preserve our small business entities whether they were for profit or nonprofit. that was a bipartisan decision that was made by democrats and republicans. during the negotiations of march 2020, then chairman rubio add langu