Page 103 - Murkowski News Today

Those four, senators -- republican senator susan collins of maine, murkowski of alaska, item scott, and johnny isakson. i have spoken to all four of the senators in the last several days. all of them are withholding their support. they want to hear what mr. pud puzder has to say at the hearing. behind the scenes there has been a pretty intense effort by the republican leadership to try to lock down support. mitch mcconnell the majority leader views this nominee as very important. they had an eme...

Have been confirmed. were also including here, mike pompeo, the cia director, thats not technically cabinet, well call it that. eight cabinet plus pompeo, nine big confirmation votes have taken place so far. lets take you through this, its kind of shocking when you see the numbers, start on the republican side, of all the role call votes that have been out. thereve been nine right now. nine role call votes, 52 republicans in the senate, well 461 yes votes have been cast on these nominees for cab...

Anyone. >> reporter: that is the reality of the situation for the democrats on the hill. they are so close to potentially sinking betsy devos nomination with those two republicans. murkowski and collins. saying they will not support her. they still need one more republican to come out and break ranks to sink her nomination. they have not found that support. that is what led to this marathon. you have them in hour 18 of the 24-hour floor protest. many of the senators took shifts overnight blastin...

Theyre tree to do so. part of their power. schumer was asked about tactics the rest of the week and he gave us the old stay tuned. mike emanuel on the capitol hill. lets bring in amy stoddard from real clear politics. just about what we expected the last few days, right? >> yeah, we would have found out days ago if there would be a third republican in opposition besides collins and murkowski. so the nomination would be rescued by the vice president. but the democrats have said and reported that ...

>> the yeas are 50. the names are 50. the senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed. >> juan: dana, you had two republican women, murkowski of alaska and collins of maine who voted against devos. this is the first time we have seen this in the republican ranks. >> dana: its not that big of a deal but for those two senators, they have their phones ringing off the hook from their constituents, some people think those were fake calls b...

When bill clinton and george bush got along i think its great. heather: from people getting along and putting politics aside. we have some that definitely are not. they have been going at it all night long. lets go live to the senate floor for you. the democrats are staging that session. it has gone on all night. their goal to derail todays confirmation of education nominee betsy devos. >> difficult to imagine a worse choice to head the department of education. heather: well, the white house cal...

Senate, working for nebraskans and trying to get work done that will benefit the people of this country. im focused in my committee assignments. like i said, im on armed services committee. i chaired the subcommittee on strategic forces which is a vital committee, especially in this day and age when we need to make sure our nuclear deterrents is safe and effective. thats what im going to work on, national security and economic security for our families. >> lets talk a little more about another t...

The legal side. >> its been one of those few unifying moments, with mitch mcconnell, with the business community, but it does call into question himself judgment. he is facing a pitch battle to appoint gorsuch to the supreme court and when hes going out there and attacking judges and the independence of the third branch, i think it does give people pause and say, well, should we give this guy the discretion to appoint someone to the supreme court? it does complicate his message a little bit ther...

The issue such as torture, trump is trying to portray the strength while at the same time backing away from it almost away from the headlines. >> lets shift gears here too and talk about the cabinet. the cab snet still not in place, and we have one question hanging over all of this, will his nominee, will betsy devos actually get through. the story right now? two republicans have come out, collins, murkowski, theyre no votes. that believes that every republican stays in line, that leaves exactly...

Of our new secretary of state. rex tillerson, until recently the ceo of his lifetime employer, exxonmobil, is now this nations 69th secretary of state. on the confirmation front, the vote to confirm senator jeff sessions as attorney general has been delayed likely because his vote as a sitting republican senator is so badly needed now that betsy devos is in trouble. she is trumps selection for education secretary. she is now being accused of plagiarizing answers to committee questions from an ob...