to bring new leadership forward and build upon the good work that president obama and vice president biden have done. and in my own state i had the backbone to take on the nra and i will do it again to pass comprehensive gun safety legislation. i'm running for president to bring new leadership to our country and build on president obama's progress. i need your help. thanks a lot. inside the exhibit, first in the nation, shaping presidential politics since 1992. lena landis. you began in 1992. >> that's correct. the senator from maine was the presumed democratic favorite. senator george mcgovern does better than expected. even at that time iowa was shaping presidential politics. >> well-known campaigns and some less well known. >> in 2008, representative john cox from illinois keeping to iowa -- came to iraq hoping to catch fire. he would hand out bags of potato chips with his sticker on them. >> how did you get some of these ? the story behind them? >> a lot of them come from every day iowans. people also donate them to us. was active in the jesse jackson campaign. signed fora caucus jesse

to bring new leadership forward and build upon the good work that president obama and vice president biden have done. and in my own state i had the backbone to take on the nra and i will do it again to pass comprehensive gun safety legislation. i'm running for president to bring new leadership to our country and build on president obama's progress. i need your help. thanks a lot. inside the exhibit, first in the nation, shaping presidential

under obama and joe biden we have made huge progress. the economy is not anywhere near where i wanted to be a no one whose objective and deny the we've made progress. i think the president deserves credit for that. in that blurb isblu that the next president has to be incredibly aggressive in bringing new people into the process. unless we change that political dynamic it will be wall street and the drug companies and the fossil fuels industry because of the great power, they will be able to continue to dominate the legislative process in washington. that is what i think at is what i wrote and is what i believe. the next president has got to do everything they can to change the process. can you give us an update on the debate? sanders: the dnc decided that the wanted to six debates. we were not consulted. we were told that's the way it is. what i said from day one along with governor o'malley is that we should have more debates. was notcampaign particularly interested in more debates. a week ago, 10 days ago, secretary clinton decided th

i believe that under obama and joe biden we have made huge progress. the economy is not anywhere near i want it to be but nobody can deny the fact that we has made -- we have made progress. .he resident deserves credit i think the next president of the united states has got to be aggressive in bringing people into the political process. that is what i mean by a political revolution. unless we changed that political dynamic, it will be wall street and the drug companies and the fossil fuel industry because of their great power, they will be able to continue the legislative process and washington. that is what i think, i wrote and what i believe the next president has got to do everything to bring more people into the process. yes? later, --e debate i want you to remember this. if anyone wants to argue with me, find your the dnc decided that they wanted to do six debates. we were not consulted in we were told a few hours before that is the way it is. six debates. day one along with governor o'malley, i think we should have more debate. clinton campaign w

flying around on twitter and statements by the campaign, barack obama would not be a progressive, joe biden would not be a progressive. jean shaheen would not be a progressive. even the late great senator paul wellstone would not be a progressive. i'm not going to let that bother me. i know where i stand. i know who stands with me. i know what i have done. but i don't think it helps for the senator to be making those kinds of comparisons because clearly we all share a lot of the same hopes and aspirations for our country that we want to see achieved. i don't think it's appropriate that planned parenthood endorses me or the human rights campaign endorses me, they are thrown out of the progressive wing and put into the establishment. that's just not -- that's just not anything we need to do. host: just a few minutes left this morning on the "washington journal." we are asking if you could change the presidential primary, the nominating process for the candidates, how would you do it? we asked this question with just five days to go before the first in the nation primary in new hampshire. here

staff director of the senate caucus on international narcotics control working for then senator joe biden. i'd also like to welcome senator cruz to join us. for our panel. we are so excited. we are going to have brief remarks from all of our stakeholders and our panelists followed by a little bit of "q&a." >> thank you so much for taking the time for us. chief, did you want to start us off and give us a little bit of a sense of what you're seeing here in hooksett, new hampshire? >> i'm the chief of police here in hooksett. i thank you for inviting me here. it's a very important topic. we have been hearing a lot about it. i'd like to give a little perspective of the local law enforcement. although hooksett is a small community here in new hampshire, we are not immune from this plague. what we are seeing on the frontlines in a small community such as hooksett is families that are being destroyed by overdose and addiction. in 2015, the fire and rescue used narcan 31 times. we responded to a drug overdose deaths in the last two years just under 10. those are astounding numbers for a small com

united states senate and the i eign relations committee, was privileged to join with, and vice president biden to d and others and working put together plan colombia. late 1990s, colombia was becoming a e of failed state, sieged by difficulties, guerilla movements. remember reacting to the news almost the entire supreme assassinated in colombia. responded and passed plan question midst big marks, as you know well. come to us at a as anhere colombia stands example of possibilities and, privileged to now visit twice as secretary of transformation that one witnesses is absolutely rema remarkable. violence is at the economy is cades, growing. this is one of the strongest partnerships in the hemisphere. colombia, under the president's reached aadership, has pivotal stage in the effort to try to end the war with the fark.group, i'm grateful that the united states has been able to support step in this by historic process. went to colombia three ago, he asked for our help. because of our early engagement, would sayy natural we of course. we were pleased to be able to help. negotiations are always diff

i would be all for biden. the rest of the candidates right now, they are a bunch of actors doing what their handlers tell them. host: do you think there is a real chance that joe biden could jump into this thing? toler: i think it's about 70 one. the arts aren't good but we need someone like him. -- the odds aren't good but we need someone like him. the closest i would see is john kasich from ohio. i have been voting my whole life and it's a disheartening to see what we have right now. they are like a bunch of wild dogs in a fight. it's just not right, it's not what america's -- not what we are governed by. the democrats line. caller: i am 55. i have been watching politics for 50 years and i have never seen a politician like bernie sanders come up to run for president before. i feel like he is talking about a revolution and a good one. ist can anyone say that he suggesting that isn't a good idea for the american people? he is talking about the corruption. he is harkening back to fdr elected three times and the

. -- wet becomes about should all rally around joe biden." governor christie looks to build on rubio's surge. he argued rubio had not been involved in any consequential decisions like governors had to confront on the job. a look at 70 back and forth from last night's debate between chris christie and marco rubio. [video clip] >> i think the experience is not just what you did, but how it worked out. under chris christie, they have downgraded nine times in their credit rating. this country already has a debt problem. we don't need elect someone visits. that running up and destroying the credit rating of the state. let's dispel this fiction that barack obama does not know what he is doing. he knows exactly what he's doing. he is trying to change this country. the once america to become more like the rest of the world. we want to be the united states of america. thisi'm elected president, will become once again the single greatest nation in the history of the world, not the disaster barack obama has imposed upon us. >> i do want to bring in gove

he has thousands of bills and i don't think anyone believes that joe biden should be president of united states. barack obama knows exactly what he is doing. he is taking a systematic effort to make america more like the rest of the world. that is why he passed obamacare and systems like the stimulus and dodd frank. ofn i become president america, we are going to embrace everything that makes us the greatest country in the world, and lead our children with the best that anyone has the world. [applause] david: senator rubio, thank you. governor christie, you said, fullyonce, shame on you, twice, shame on me for electing a first-term senator. you have a response? mr. christie: sure, every theyng they wake up, wonder what kind of speech they can get or what kind of bill they can drop. i have to worry about the kind to deal with have for the people who elected me. , you shouldn't compare yourself to joe biden. in aave not been involved consequential decision where you had to be held accountable. you just simply have it. and the fact is -- [applause] mr. christie: the fact is when you talk ab

a solution on vice president biden quest on how to produce a which won'thighway deteriorate. who are you supporting in the 2016 campaign? caller: you donate politicians. what you need is me. i am the one -- i'm the one who produces the solutions. midland, texas. he brings up a couple issues that are being talked about right now. specifically the flint water crisis if you could jump in on that and how that has changed the tone of the debate and how in places is playing where you are seeing candidates gather and voters gather in new hampshire. it is certainly a serious issue. not one has, p or because it is in michigan, but i think there is an understanding on the part of folks here that watch what is going on in michigan that this is a failure of government. because itnment that promised to much, not in the case of providing water, but in city areas, it caused the to go bankrupt because it promised to much. it lost its ability to meet its core functions. in many ways, it is an early warning example of where we are going as a country unless we draw back from excessive we bring

a solution on vice president biden quest on how to produce a which won'thighway deteriorate. who are you supporting in the 2016 campaign? caller: you donate politicians. what you need is me. i am the one -- i'm the one who produces the solutions. midland, texas. he brings up a couple issues that are being talked about right now. specifically the flint water crisis if you could jump in on that and how that has changed the tone of the debate and how in places is playing where you are seeing candidates gather and voters gather in new hampshire. it is certainly a serious issue. not one has, p or because it is in michigan, but i think there is an understanding on the part of folks here that watch what is going on in michigan that this is a failure of government. because itnment that promised to much, not in the case of providing water, but in city areas, it caused the to go bankrupt because it promised to much. it lost its ability to meet its core functions. in many ways, it is an early warning example of where we are going as a country unless we draw back from excessive we bring

the way i have been explaining it would be like if joe biden was running and he lost pennsylvania. bernie sanders has been a longtime politician in vermont, which is next door. they know him. that is the argument hillary is not better nationally but, all politics is local. host: senator sanders really carried the youth vote and clinton acknowledged that she has worked to do with younger voters. how can she make a better appeal? actually -- and i am slightly over the youth vote, because i am 31 years i have found that hillary is at her most effective when she stops trying to be likable. when her knowledge -- i don't think she is ever going to be someone who inspires the passion that bernie sanders inspires in the youth vote, just like with obama. i think that if she is true to herself, her depth of knowledge, instead of trying to go on ellen peoplecing, i think that might stop thinking that she is trying to hard. host: thank you. katie is next from new hampshire. you are an independent? caller: i am actually a republican. host: who did you vote for? trump: i voted for donald . i can

and the results of his efforts and joe biden, against unprecedented republican obstruction, we have made in north's progress. but you know what? last i heard we lived in a democratic society. -- i heard, the >> the book that hillary clinton prices latest. from organ, a republican. caller: good morning. issuey has been a major neither one of the candidates discuss that. [indiscernible] isn't this exactly what the democrats denounced? dirty water? this is troubling that neither one of the candidates brought this up. created hugely timber industry organ -- in an oregon. significant and important. i don't understand why it wasn't address. host: from the washington post, celebrity endorsement. ,tewart and petersburg virginia. a democrat. what you learned? black and proud military. also bernie sanders is going to on generate 20 -- every february 27. are very powerful in this area. president obama came here in 2008. to going to go out to try votes for hillary glen because she is best qualified. host: now we have glen. glenn? going to move on to and and a ton of each -- anne in daytona beach. ca

as a brief stint as policy director to vice president biden's election campaign, i was lucky to have him gamble on me and serve as my chief of staff. e's worked tirelessly to the residents of the second congressional district. are you truly one of your kind. from your very unique fashion to your quick smile, your cool demeanor and ability to make everyone you meet feel like they are your best friend. it was my honor and privilege to call you my chief. on behalf of the families of the second congressional district and this congress, thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. it >> mr. speaker, today i rise to recognize retired united states air force colonel, carlyle "smitty" harris of tupelo, mississippi. on this day in 1973 after nearly eight years of being held as a prisoner

have come a long way in seven years and we should be proud of the accomplishments of the obama and biden administration. [applause] but, we have got to be honest, and acknowledge we still have a long way to go to create the nation that i know all of us believe we can create. [applause] i have been all over this country talking literally to hundreds of thousands of people. nobody i know thinks that it is acceptable, that it is moral, think that it is sustainable that in the united states of america we have more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on earth, that it is worth -- worse here here today then 1928. that is not acceptable. it is not acceptable to me the owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. it is not acceptable the 20 wealthiest people in this country own more wealth than the million americans. it is not acceptable that one owns more wealth than the bottom 40% of the american people. when we talk about the economy -- it's not just well. it is income. , we have many people, millions throughout our country working not one job but to jobs and three jobs

the cancer part is this is seated with the vice president biden's initiative. just to give an idea here, they usually try to target initiatives like these. these are arguably time year and then rifle shot since we are trying to find common ground between this white house and the republican caucus. >> let's turn to war funding. budget. you have tweeted about this. the white house budget keeps total for fiscal year 17. what's going on here? right now, house leadership was to put together their own budget resolution. they're having some pushback from members and their own caucus who are upset at the overall spending levels. one possibility that happened last year is they made trying to increase defense spending to help votes from members concerned about defense spending . one way to do that would be to try to include a higher oco number. but today, that number shows they have no interest at least so far in a higher oco number. house gop leaders may be on their own when they try to increase oco. briefly, i want to touch on the response speaker ryan immediately writ

the cancer part is associated with vice president biden's moonshot initiative. that is another thing that they are in be budget within the white house said that they hope they can work its republicans on. here,o give an idea usually, they tried to call target initiatives like this rifle shots. these are arguably even tinier than rifle shots in terms of trying to find common ground. let's turn to war funding. something we heard in the past budgets, the overseas contingency operations budget, you tweeted about this. $73white house budget keeps billion in the oco. what's going on here? jonathan: right now, house leadership wants to put together their own budget revolution. that is sort of the way to set the stage for the appropriations process. but they are having some pushback from members in their own caucus who are upset at the overall spending levels, that were negotiated in last fall's budget deal. -- and itsibility happened last year -- is they may try to increase defense help buy votes, for lack of a better term, from members concerned about defense spending

and then when president hillary clinton is elected she can nominate an obama, biden sanders. is there precedent -- when presidents have an opposition party as a majority in the senate to present more moderate candidates? and if they control the senate a more provocative candidate? so should republicans take what obama gives, which is likely to be more moderate than america in 2017? host: thank you for the call. guest: that's a great point. because in a sense, assuming that the republican position holds as we heard last night, they're really sort of playing for double or nothing. obama is as you say likely to pick someone who thinks is a plausible candidate who, i guess on air might have been a consensus figure as we said justice anthony kennedy was a more moderate figure than the reagan administration wanted but they recall dealing with an election year. so they picked someone who was they thought would be acceptable to the opposition party. the republicans are banking on the theory that they will control the presidentsy and the senate in the fall. or early next year. they ma

not know -- this country economically has come a long way under president obama and vice president biden in the last seven years. [applause] now, shouldn't: be too hard on our republican friends. they suffer from a serious illness called amnesia. they can't remember where we were seven years ago when we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. we were running up a record-breaking deficit of $1.4 trillion. when by the way, the world's financial system was on the verge of collapse. other than that we were in good shape when bush left office. we have come a long way in seven years and we should be proud of the accomplishments of the obama and biden administration. [applause] senator sanders: but we have got to be honest, and acknowledge we still have a long way to go to create the nation that i know all of us believe we can create. [applause] senator sanders: i have been all over this country talking literally to hundreds of thousands of people. nobody i know thinks that it is acceptable, that it is moral, thinks that it is sustainable that in the united states of america we have more income and w

and then when president hillary clinton is elected she can nominate an obama, biden sanders. is there precedent -- when presidents have an opposition party as a majority in the senate to present more moderate candidates? and if they control the senate a more provocative candidate? so should republicans take what obama gives, which is likely to be more moderate than america in 2017? host: thank you for the call. guest: that's a great point. because in a sense, assuming that the republican position holds as we heard last night, they're really sort of playing for double or nothing. obama is as you say likely to pick someone who thinks is a plausible candidate who, i guess on air might have been a consensus figure as we said justice anthony kennedy was a more moderate figure than the reagan administration wanted but they recall dealing with an election year. so they picked someone who was they thought would be acceptable to the opposition party. the republicans are banking on the theory that they will control the presidentsy and the senate in the fall. or early next year. they ma

the white house had 10 names, they ran them by joe biden's people and senator biden said we could go along with these names and not this name. one of the names they said don't go with was robert orc. one of the names they would go along with was anthony kennedy. and reagan nominated kennedy and he won 90 7-0 in a democratic senate. so it means a process like that. or the president and the consultation some and discussion about who will be a good choice. ist: the current chairman turn crossley and he has said he is open to hearing. guest: i think that's what he said. after the, shortly death, he seemed to say that it should be reserved to the next president. and then he had an interview with radio reporters were he seemed to say, we will take it one step at a time. and that said he was open to holding a hearing. and i don't have inside knowledge on this but my belief is that there was public pressure and the senate will at least think we should hold a hearing. assuming this is not somebody who they think is oh, they are unacceptable. they have got themselves in a situation now where t

they ran them by joe biden's people and senator biden said we could go along with these names but not this name. one of the names they said don't go with was robert bork. one of the names they would go along with was anthony kennedy. and reagan nominated kennedy and 97-0 in a democratic senate. so advise and consent means a process like that where the president and the senators have some consultation and discussion about who would be a good choice. host: the current chairman is chuck grassley and he has said he is open to hearings. guest: i think that's what he said. originally come he seemed to say, shortly after justice scalia's death, that this should be reserved to the next president. and then he had an interview with radio reporters in iowa where he seemed to say, we will take it one step at a time. he seemed to say he was open to holding a hearing. and i don't have inside knowledge on this but my belief ofn this is that because public pressure and whatnot, the senate will at least hold a hearing and consider the president's nominee assuming it's not somebody who they think is si

this is a republican presidential candidate who has given money to jimmy carter, to joe biden, to hillary clinton, to tom daschle, to ted kennedy, to chuck schumer, to charlie wrangle, to anthony weiner, to john kerry. seeing a panoply of pro-abortion democrats that donald has supported not just once, but for decades, devoting his own money to helping elect and reelect those candidates. carolina who south cares about the service of supreme court justices, we know as a fact that donald trump does not care about conservative supreme court justices. why do we know that? because nobody cared about supreme court justices would make contributions to these democrats. that is fundamentally incompatible. you cannot be funding the democrats fighting for liberal judicial activists on the court and claim you actually care about having conservative supreme court justices. the people of south carolina should know if donald trump ever became president, we would see consistent with his lifelong pattern of who he supported, that his sister, a radical pro-abortion judge would make a phenomenal supreme cour

obviously vice president biden has a unique perspective on this situation. presidedeone who has over the hearings of, i believe, for different supreme court justices. he has his own unique insight into the kind of criteria that a president can and should use when choosing a supreme court justice. president obama has drawn on that expertise and experience from vice president biden in announcing his nomination of the elena kagan to the supreme court, and i am confident that president obama will be drawing on vice president biden's knowledge in making this decision as well. what president obama is focused personchoosing the best and the united states of america to fill this job. again, i'm not going to get ahead of the process. i do not know if the the p has expressed interest in this job -- the vp has expressed interest in this job. but he has pointed out that there is a number of senior level judges, judges that serve on the appellate courts, who have actually gotten strong bipartisan support in the senate. there is a track record that the president has of ap

tomorrow, at the funeral, there will probably be more people, including vice president biden. when will the supreme court get back to business? guest: back on the bench on monday morning, hearing arguments in the first batch of cases, where it would just be the eight justices. we are not expecting any rulings next week. they put off their private meeting they were held today to discuss new cases they might take, so they canceled that. some of the courts actions will be put off couple of weeks. after that, we will see how they handle having one justice down and how it will affect the outcome in of cases coming up. will be onnce hurley duty up at the supreme court today. on the front page of the year times yesterday, groups are mobilizing for a court fight. president obama and his lawyer were blunt as they jumped into experts incal washington believed to be one of the hardest battles in a generation. obamaor adviser to mr. urged dozens of the president's in theirt to hold back condemnation of republicans for refusing to hold hearings to replace justice scalia, who died last week

. >> we do know that president biden. vice president biden and mrs. biden will be attending the funeral tomorrow. that funeral is at 11:00 a.m. at the basilica here in washington, just a few miles north of the supreme court. almost due north of the supreme court. and that will be live on c-span at 11:00 a.m., as well. justice and mrs. scalia, marine scalia have had nine children. cliff is in flint, michigan. what do you think justice scalia's legacy is? caller: i think for a lot of americans, justice scalia was a divisive figure on the court. while he claimed to view the constitution as far as its original intent, he was always 100% behind all conservative views. and that is like saying he had already pre-judged his opinion before he heard any case. 100% of the time, justice scalia was going to decide for whatever conservative views are. not what the constitution was. if we really looked at the constitution original intent. that means african-americans are three fifths of a human being. you cannot sit there and say i view it the way it was written. th

vice president joe biden will be among those in attendance, beginning 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. tomorrow night, live road to the white house coverage at the nevada democrat caucus primary. the results and candidates's speeches. taking your phone calls and tweets live at 7:30 p.m. on c-span. next, a look at some of the people that came today to the supreme court to pay their respects to justice scalia .live 11:00 p.m. eastern, bernie sanders holding a rally in henderson, nevada. flag drapedia's casket was taken to the supreme court. during the casket of the marble steps into the court's hall. the procession passed between 2 clerksf his former law that stretch from the plaza to the main entrance. justice scalia's son is a catholic preach. he presided the additional prayers -- the traditional prayers over his casket. passersby. respects, among them, the president and mrs. obama. >>> in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy conspiracy gsh spirit, my brothers and sisters, jesus says come to me all you who labor and are burdened and i will give you rest. take my yoke u

the vice president, joe biden, will be attending today. president obama and the first lady were among the more than 6000 people who paid tribute to antonin scalia a at the supreme court on friday. the public viewing was extended well past the original 8:00 scheduled and time. to joernest pointed biden's personal relationship justice. his casket was lying yesterday at the supreme court where, for the public was, able to visit. we are standing beside the casket. we will show you some of that until the funeral mass gets underway. >> a look at the supreme court great hall yesterday. we take you back live now to the basilica of the national shrine of the immaculate conception in washington, d.c. the funeral mass coming up this morning for supreme court ,ustice at the nee antonin scala who passed away at the age of 79. [organ music] ♪ [organ playing] >> [indiscernible] dear brothers and sisters in the lord, thank you for joining us today for the funeral mass of justice antonin scalia here at the basilica of the national shrine of immaculate co

the vice president of the united states joseph biden. former vice president richard cheney. former speaker of the house new wt gingrich, and so many other distinguished guests here present. priests,mer deacons, brothers and sisters under the lord, and friends who have come here to show their respect. as i extend this warm welcome to each of you, i also expressed gratitude to all that are here as i now ask justice scalia's son, father paul, to lead us in the church him.turgy for pray.et us we humbly implore you for your servant antonin, whom you have called to journey to you. since he hoped and believed in you, grant that he may be led to our true homeland, to delight in its everlasting joys. through her lord jesus christ, reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit, one god for ever and ever. amen. >> a reading from the book of wisdom. the souls of the just on the hand of god. no torment shall touch them. their passing away was thought and affliction. they're going forth from us a distraction. they are in peace. for, that they be punished, yet, it is there hope for immor

he also did some time on capitol hill early on serving for his home state senator then senator joe biden. and more recently and where i t to know him he served as senior counsel to former senator the deceased senator frank lautenberg from new jersey. so mark is a terrific political mind. he is a first rate lawyer and a friend. and i'm thrilled to have him join my office and the agency. >> welcome. >> just two sad notes and two bitter suite notes. first, i wanted to note that diane douglas recently passed away. joined the bureau as a clerk typist. in 1986 she moved to omd where she spent the next 18 years in the finance department. in 2004, she went to cgb first in the reference information center as a technician and then to the consumer inquiries and complaints division. according to her supervisor, she always told me that she wanted to make sure that she had work to do. she didn't want to be sitting around with nothing to do. that was the mark she left for over three decades at this agency and all of us are grateful for her work both as a coworker and american citizen. secondly, i wante

we are very honored to have vice president joe biden. the president we had a great opportunity last night to associate with has broken barriers for his country. night, thened last realization and resolution of our founding fathers that all men are created equal and we see the diversification that has come in our country and we appreciate the opportunity to be with the president and for his service and dedication. welcome theet's vice president, joe biden and the president of the united states. barack obama. [applause] >> thank you. thank you, everybody. please have a seat. thank you, so much. please, have a seatthank you. please have a seat, everybody. it is wonderful to see all of you. i hope you had just the right amount of fun last night and not too much fun. believe, it is hard to that was the final dinner michelle and i get to host for you. like me, some of you might be in the final year of your last term , working as hard as you can, to get as much done as possible for the folks that you represent. fixing roads, educating our child

biden: mr. president, why don't you just assign the congress to them? [laughter] pres. obama: just assign the congress to them generally? v.p. biden: congress to the governor. [laughter] pres. obama: well, they've got their own legislatures. i know that they enjoy those interactions tremendously. [laughter] next, terry mcauliffe. where is terry? here he is. gov. mcauliffe: thank you, mr. president. let me first -- great night last night. thank you on behalf of all the governors. [applause] gov. mcauliffe: chaka khan. i've been listening to her for 40 years. pres. obama: that was michelle, basically, that put that together. i tried to take credit last night, and nobody believed me. [laughter] and rightly so. gov. mcauliffe: let me just say that we just finished, mr. president, four great days of the governors association with the great leadership of gary. but we met -- gary and i -- met with your team, jerry, about six weeks ago when valerie -- we laid out what we needed. your administration gave us everything we needed. we had the secure briefing at the fbi. so let me j

they talked about what vice president joe biden said. senator reid talked about the process and how it needs to play out in an election year. here is back to back statements from both senators. moments in theo -- ident's legal authority find no mention of a three-year presidency in our constitution. i do find the constitution, article two, section two which provides president obama in the -- with the authority -- the legal obligation to nominate justices to the supreme court, contingent on the advice and consent of the senate. this is how our system of government has operated for over 200 years. this constitutional prerogative is essential. it is inconsistent with the constitution. our founding fathers constructed the american democracy with certain assumptions of us. rational,ed us to be to operate in good faith, expected this government to be effective. republican leader's proposal is not of these things, it is an attempt to nullify what james madison and other founders envisioned. the founding fathers never run upd the senate to the c

indiscernible] talked republicans about joe biden's politics. how about that video undercut your message here today? senator reid: senator schumer laid out very clearly, we have not held up any nomination. that was in june and no one was being considered at the time. they are rushing for something that is not going to help them at all. we have time and time again -- let's go back to 1988, the last year of the reagan administration. what did we do? we had a hearing on kennedy and it was approved unanimously. this is something that is untoward. people make statements about a lot of things. but joe biden -- joe has made a few statements over the years about a lot of things but in this one instance, it didn't mean a thing because nothing was pending. he has a right to say. it didn't make any difference. there was nothing pending. eporter: did mcconnell make -- senator schumer: did grassley and mcconnell make a mistake? the public doesn't care about that. they care about us doing job. all this back and forth doesn't make a bit of difference. reporter

that isn't just a matter of doing as senator biden recommends as then senator biden recommended. that is doing as then senator biden actually did and that's what we are counting or republicans of the united states senate to do. and again, they shouldn't do it because they are forced into some position based on awkward quotes that they themselves have given and we know there are plenty of them and maybe we could discuss those as well. in some ways the important element of this, it's a constitutional duty. they swore to uphold an oath and fulfill the responsibility that the institution of the united states senate has to consider the president's nominee, to give that individual a fair hearing and give that person a yes or no vote. and there are at least two senate republicans yesterday who acknowledged that oath and acknowledged that if the president, when the president nominates someone the hearing should go forward. senator kirk specifically referenced the oath that he took, not just as a member of the united states senate but as a member of our armed forces. he takes that oath se

there was nothing that senator biden said that prevented the senate from fulfilling its constitutional duty. reporter: [inaudible] mr. earnest: i wasn't there in 1992. i was a senior in high school. of. it's hard for me to assess with a lot of clarity exactly what the dynamics were. but what is clear is that there was no vacancy at the time, there's nothing here that he said that prevented the senate from fulfilling its constitutional duty. and in fact in the same speech then senator biden made clear that he would be open to consultation with the white house, that was controlled by the other party, and fair consideration of the thomny that was put forward by the president -- nominee that was put forward by the president of the other party. reporter: could you tell us a little bit more about the president's -- [inaudible] mr. earnest: that's right. the president periodically has con -- convenes meetings with his national security team to discuss the ongoing effort to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. the president will convene the meeting or the next meeting on thursday at the state

doing as senator biden actually did. ont is what we are counting republicans in the u.s. senate to do. they should not do it because they are forcing -- forced into a position based on awkward quotes that they themselves have given. goodness knows, there are plenty of them. we could discuss those as well. in some ways, the most important element of this is they have a constitutional duty. they swore to uphold an oath, and fulfill the responsibility that the institution of the u.s. senate has to consider the president's nominee, to give them a fair hearing and give that person a yes or no vote. i know there are at least two senate republicans yesterday he would knowledge that oath and acknowledged that if the president, when the president nominates someone, the hearings should go forward. senator kirk himself specifically referenced the oath he took, not just as a member of the united states senate, but also as a member of the armed forces. he takes that oath seriously, and recognizes that giving the president's nominee a

there was nothing that senator biden said that prevented the senate from fulfilling its constitutional duty. reporter: mr. earnest: i wasn't there in 1992. i was a senior in high school. so it's hard for many to assess with a lot of clarity exactly what the dynamics were. but what is clear is that there was no vacancy at the time, there's nothing here that he said that prevented the senate from fulfilling its constitutional duty. and in fact in the same speech then senator biden made clear that he would be open to consultation with the white house, that was controlled by the other party, and fair consideration of the thomny that was put forward by the president -- nominee that was put forward by the president of the other party. reporter: could you tell us a little bit more about the president's -- mr. earnest: that's right. the president periodically has con -- convenes meetings with his national security team to discuss the ongoing effort to degrade and ultimately destroy isil. the president will convene the meeting or the next meeting on thursday at the state department. over the la

as senator biden actually did. that is what we are counting on republicans in the u.s. senate to do. they should not do it because they are forced into a position based on awkward quotes that they themselves have given. goodness knows, there are plenty of them. we could discuss those as well. in some ways, the most important element of this is they have a constitutional duty. they swore to uphold an oath, and fulfill the responsibility that the institution of the u.s. senate has to consider the president's nominee, to give them a fair hearing and give that person a yes or no vote. i know there are at least two senate republicans yesterday he would knowledge that oath and acknowledged that if the president, when the president nominates someone, the hearings should go forward. senator kirk himself specifically referenced the oath he took, not just as a member of the united states senate, but also as a member of the armed forces. he takes that oath seriously, and recognizes that giving the president's nominee affair h