Watch booktv this weekend on cspan2. President biden has picked Denis Mcdonough to head the Veterans Affairs department. He previously served as white house chief of staff during the last four years of the obama presidency. His confirmation hearing he was asked about veterans access to healthcare, modernization efforts in the das responds to covid19. This is just over two hours. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] i i want to call this evening to order. I want to welcome everybody. I appreciate all that are here, all those that are online. The purpose of this hearing is due from the i president s nominate to serve as secretary of Veterans Affairs, Denis Mcdonough. Before i talk about him i just want to say i appreciate this committee all the reasons we sat on this committee thats been bipartisan and its been nonpolitical, and we tried to do the best by our veterans whether you are the republican side for the democratic side of the aisle. I particularly appreciate the re
Briefing with officials on operation warp speed to give an update on the status of a coronavirus vexing. They discussed how a vaccine would be distributed across the authorizede one is for emergency use. This is one hour. Hello, everyone, and thank you so much for joining our weekly operation of warp speed briefing. While we continue to face concerning epidemiological trends across much of the country, we also continue receiving good news through operation warp speed. With modernas announcement on monday, two companies have now filed eua applications with the fda. Out of the three companies that have showed promising data for efficacy in phase 3 trials. On top of that, more owssupported candidates are well on their way in that final phase of Clinical Trials. The fda has now scheduled a meeting of its vaccine Requirement Committee to review the Moderna Vaccine on the 17th following their meeting of the Pfizer Vaccine on december 10th. We also learned this morning that the United Kingdom
Lets do the right thing and lets do it the right way. With that i will yield the floor. I come to the floor today in opposition to the nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court. I am truly disappointed my republican colleagues have chosen to grandma through this aminee in the middle of pandemic when an election is underway and tens of millions of americans have already cast their ballot. The senate should be focused on a bipartisan relief package to help americans across the country who are struggling to pay the b bills and put food on the table during the pandemic. Instead, the only priority has been to push through a nominee who will alter the balance of the court and affect the lives of generations of americans days before the ballots will be counted to decide the next president of the United States and the makeup of this very body. The stakes in the nomination couldnt be higher. I want to read an excerpt from tuan email i received from a constituent this is from da
President trump announced your nomination, he tweeted obamacare will be replaced with a much better and far cheaper alternative. In reality, there is no alternative that protects the millions of americans who depend on the Affordable Care act every day. The truth is President Trump and the republicans in congress are fighting to take Health Care Away from the American People in the middle of a pandemic. President trump has said he wants to protect the American Peoples health care. The reality is right now hes asking the Supreme Court to take it away. Klobuchar asked you earlier today but did not receive an answer, prior to your nomination, were you aware of President Trumps statement committing to nominate judges who will strike down the Affordable Care act . I would appreciate a yes or no answer. Be barrett i want to careful. As im sitting here, i do not recall seeing those statements. I do not recall seeing or hearing those statements, but i do not know what context they were in. I c
Americans are watching on television as well. San francisco was the sight of the signing of the american charter. It is an appropriate place to hold this debate, the subject of which is foreign and defense issues. The questioners tonight are max frankel, henry trewhitt, and richard valeriani, Diplomatic Correspondent of nbc news. Rules are the same for the first debate. Questions will be alternated between candidates. Governor carter will take the first question. Each question sequence will be as follows. The question will be asked and the candidate will have three minutes to answer. His opponent will have two minutes to respond. Prior to the response the questioner may ask a followup question to clarify with up to two minutes to reply. Each candidate will have three minutes for a closing statement at the end. President ford and governor carter do not have it prepared remarks with them this evening but they may take notes during the debate and refer to them. Mr. Frankel, you have the f