Senator sessions look, its not going to be an in person entity. Proper background check. You need to be defending the peoples public safety. If you need more money to do this, you need to ask for it. If you want to rubber stamp the process, keep doing the way youre doing it. Ms. Saldana, section 1373 of title 8 of the u. S. Code provides among other things quote, a federal state, or local Government Entity or official may not prohibit or in any way restrict any Government Entity or official from sending to or receiving from i. C. E. Information regarding a citizenship or immigration status lawful or unlawful of any individual. Close quote. Dont you think that resolutions by City Councils or state governments or sheriffs in certain jurisdictions, directing their officers not to honor detainers or otherwise notify i. C. E. That they have arrested someone thats unlawfully in the country could violate or would violate section 1373 . Secretary saldana well, all of that is part of litigation, senator. Quite frankly i think we have taken that position in litigation, that is the case. Senator sessions they do have to supply information. In other words, you have taken the position which i understand you correctly, youre correct, to say cities, you have to comply with this law. Secretary saldana yes. Again, is it more practical to work through all this morass of litigation or can we work with these jurisdictions to try to get them to cooperate . I think its the latter. Senator sessions i understand youre saying that. Forgive me if im not persuaded. This has been going on for many years. It came up in 2007 when we had a debate about all of this. And it was wrong then and its wrong now. Its gotten to be i think its 300 or so jurisdiction that is are sanctuary jurisdictions out of what, 17,000 . But some are very big cities. Very large immigrant populations. So its a huge matter, but most cities are cooperating. If you want to know what i hear, the complaints about the federal government enforcement from our Law Enforcement officers, is that you wont allow them to help you. If they arrest somebody and call your office, nobody comes. Nobody cares. Nobody responds. And so thats the big problem weve got in the country, maybe bigger than the other. At any rate, i hope that you will understand, ms. Saldana, that youre talking with is not going to change the situation. Do you have any cities that have indicated to you they are going to make a change in their policy . Secretary saldana i mentioned the numbers earlier, sir. Just as a matter of focus we have looked at these 49 particular and 33 are working, have come and said they will work with us in some way or another. Again, taylored to their needs. We have tailored to their needs. We only had five of those 49 say no. Well continue to work with them. Senator session im sure after all the events of the last few months are certainly should be willing to listen about this. But i have serious doubts that we are going to see any change unless Congress Takes some action or unless this Administration Takes some action. Ms. Saldana, i know one problem you have im sure is frustrating to you is countries not taking back criminals that you have arrested and ordered deported. Can you tell us the status of that situation . Secretary saldana yes. As you know the department of state obviously has a vast interest in this and i have work with the department of state and met with the individual who is overwho overcease these relationships, and we are oversees these relationship, we are working hard to open doors. I went to china a couple months ago, beijing in particular, and china has been a challenge for us. We have signed together it kind of a standing agreement that they will actually have two people here to help process chinese going back to the country repatriating from this country. Thats some progress. We continue to work with them. I have worked with south american countries. Iis vitted gawk malla quack malla and el salvador and we continue to work with my counterparts there to try to ensure that we have and assign a memorandum of understanding with them. Senator sessions working with them and working with them is one thing. But this has been going on for years also. Many years. How long have you been in office . Secretary saldana seven months. Senator sessions i cant blame you for all thats gone on. I want you to know i understand that you have professional training and you understand the world. Are there powers and actions the United States government can take without legislation that would put pressure on these countries to accept back individuals who we have ordered deported . Secretary saldana obviously this is in the province of the department of state largely because there are relationships with international countries. But, yes, i understand that they have some authorities to do that. As you know, senator, its a very complex picture when it comes to International Relationships and one Agency Issues and may not hold sway over the Bigger Picture in the relationship with that country. Senator sessions i remember the former chairman of this committee a number years ago was outraged by all of this. And actually offered legislation that would mandate reducing mandate a reduction of visas from countries that dont comply. Doesnt it cost you a lot of money and create huge time involvements in dealing with situations where a country wont take back one of their own . Secretary saldana its a great challenge, sir. Thats where we face issues where we cant get papers, cooperation from those countries, and we have to release them under that Supreme Court opinion after a certain period of time. Senator sessions under Supreme Court opinion if a country wont take them back in a year goes by . Secretary saldana i think its actually more like 180 days. We can extend the period of time. But theres a point at which we have to release them. Senator sessions that takes a loft your officers agents time and effort. Secretary saldana it does. Senator session you have to pay to hows people in way hi quality prisons instead of deporting them promptly. Secretary saldana thats correct. Senator sessions i have a recollection was the customs chief in years gone by when he shut the border down with mexico over some disagreement over their responsibilities caused quite a stir. He just closed the border. I would just say to you, ms. Saldana, i think its time for the state department and your department to stand up and say, we are not going to except accept this anymore. If you dont accept back promptly people we deport, then youre going to suffer serious consequences. And any relationship that deals in visas is a reciprocal relationship, isnt it . So that if we accept people, and they agree to take them back, likewise if they accept individuals from the United States and they deport them, we accept them back. Is that a law that requires that or is that Just State Department agreements with these countries . Secretary saldana im sorry. Youre way above my knowledge here when it comes to the state department. Senator sessions you dont have to stand up to the state department. Looks like we all are. This cant continue. We dont have the money to continue to bicker with these countries for years and years yearns and not get this matter settled. Well try to work on that. I think legislation would be appropriate, too. Although its not necessary. If the president and the state department stood up and were clear on it, it could be fixed promptly, in my pp. In my opinion. I may submit some additional questions for the record. We are having some problem getting answers to our records. Mr. Rodriguez when do you plan to send us your responses to our questions for the record following the march hearing of oversight of your agency . Director rodriguez as soon as possible. I thought we had satisfied all of those requests. Well make sure to get those to you. As soon as possible. Senator sessions i dont believe we have. Director rodriguez if there are outstanding requests, that is obviously not happen about that and well happy about that and well act quickly to respond to that. Senator sessions the record will remain open for one week. If there is nothing further but i will say one more thing. Both of you are good law officers. You know how the system works. And i hope you know that things arent going as well as they should. A lot of that is because of administration policy. At some point youll have to decide whether youre going to execute that policy or not. Some of the policies, i think, cannot be defended. But i respect your integrity and i appreciate your commitment to your country and your service to your country. The hearing is adjourned. Secretary saldana thank you. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the house of representatives is in recess until 2 00 p. M. Today. The house is considering three bills, one requires the Veterans Administration to submit to congress a report on its medical care for veterans. The other authorizes the state department to revoke passports to people affiliated with Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The third bill requires all federal agencies to establish an equal Employment Opportunity program to deal with discrimination complaints by federal employees. Later in the week, legislation will deal with the regulation of toxic coal ash and voluntary labeling standards for genetically modified foods. The house is back in session 2 00 p. M. Eastern live here on cspan. Secretary of state john kerry testifies before the Senate ForeignRelations Committee which he chaired when he was in the senate on thursday. Hell answer questions about the Nuclear Agreement with iran. Also testifying at the hearing Energy Secretary ernest moniz and treasury secretary jack lew. Thats on thursday. See it live on our companion network cspan3. Cspan gives you the best access to congress. Live coverage of the u. S. House, congressional hearings, and News Conferences. Bringing you events that shape Public Policy. Every morning washington journal is live with leekted officials, policymakers, and journalists and your comments by phone, facebook, and twitter. Cspan created by americas Cable Companies and brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Next hour i am taking a look at the white house and Congress Talking about specific issues and two guests joining us for that discussion and were joined by Kristina Peterson also jeff mason of reuters, he is there white house correspondent. To both of you, good morning. I cannot think of any singular event that deals with these two bodies. Kristina peterson lets start with you, what has been the announcement and where is congress at on the deal . Republicans were very skeptical in the week leading up to the deal and it became clear that they were probably not going to like the deal very much and that has been reinforced since it has been released. There has been no outright gop support that i can think of just people expressing deep skepticism and very doubtful at this. Iran for producing a Nuclear Weapon. Democrats have been more guarded and have said they want to take time to read the bill and talk to experts. I think what we will start to see is democrats deciding one way or another if this is a deal that they can support. So far we have seen some cautious encouragement but so a lot of questions that people say they have about the deal. A lot of them making statements of the u. S. Has passed its plan for iran as well. I think they felt the white house is not respecting the fact that they had fought quite hard to get this legislation in place to give them 60 days to review the agreement and they felt that the white house going to the u. N. First did and and dont run around them and end run around them. There are still be time to give Congress Time to conduct its review and you didnt see democrats saying this is the reason im not going to vote for, it was more a sense of irritation that it was not necessarily a dealbreaker. Host so what is the white house stance about what is going on with congress . The white house Knows Congress eighth a look at it and they are trying to put on a show of patients, wanting to answer questions and get out with lawmakers and say this is what is in the deal but behind that the near of patients there is some impatience already from the white house about, look we spent a lot of time on this deal it is a good one dont question our motives behind it and dont question the fact that this is something that will be good for the American People. Guest i dont think the white house wanted this 60day review period. There was a lot of resistance when it came up and it seems like the white house openly allowed it to go forward when it became clear that there was a veto proof majority. It is kind of funny to listen to turner say it is only 60 days because congressmen and women will take a 30 day recess, i would spend a lot of time on the golf course. Host you also see secretary of state carol carry on capitol hill and it is a hard sell by this administration. Guest it is a really hard sell. Theyre not only appealing to people here and congress but the allies across the world. You have the defense secretary carter going to israel and saudi arabia so it is heartfelt a home at home and abroad but clearly here it is especially important because in many ways the administration feels like it would lose face and a more than that if congress does not support the deal. If you like a would not go through and be that the sanctions regime that helped give the United States and its allies a lot of credibility would fall apart. As far as the cell is concerned have you ever seen this activity on a specific effort . Guest we saw it in the trade when it was clear that would be a tight vote but what is clear about the iran deal is at they have been working with them for months keeping them briefed on the negotiations and really have in trying to do the groundwork and one of the most effective players in this has been the Energy Secretary. Democrats and republicans alike say he is really knowledgeable. They believe he is not spending them. It was interesting to see him at the talks looking unusual compared to the others but summit who really knows what he is talking about. Is trying to use that credibility back here in washington the same way it did during the talks. Host our guests are with us to talk about congressional and white house issues as we had for the break. Kristina peterson of wall street journal joining us. The numbers to call if you want to ask our guests questions about this or other issues facing congress or the white house. You can tweet your thoughts or post on the Facebook Page as well. Specifically legislators that the administration is targeting what are we looking at . Guest the big dog is senator charles schumer. He has not tipped his hand how he will come out on this deal. Because there are some powerful proisrael groups opposed to it that could be a factor for lawmakers from new york and new jersey who have large jewish constituencies and it is not clear how that will play out that he would certainly be an important person in this state. You also have some of the top democrats. Ben cardin is the top democrat on that panel and senator chris coons these are people that other lawmakers look to to see how they are reviewing Foreign Policy members. Senator menendez has been the most critical of any democrat on the hill so far. He hasnt said he would oppose the deal but he is sharply questioned many of the provisions. Those are some bellwethers aside from centrist democrats like senator joe donnelly and israel has been extremely skeptical with some of these new york, new jersey and Florida Democrats and it will be interesting to see if any republicans support this deal. There has been very little evidence that will occur. Host we see guest for sure. That is one of the hard sell we talked about earlier. The president in his News Conference last week began by saying take a look at the deal and study it closely. I want my staff to be available to we are available to answer questions. The stakes are so high for the administration. It is a legacy issue for the president as well. Getting support particularly from his own party is huge. As christina says, getting a nod of approval from republicans would be a real feather in their cap. Host the president played golf is this part of the strategy or is there Something Else going on . Guest it sure looks like it. It was said this was a game that had been in the works for many months and it was denied it had anything to do with iran. It was a pretty hot day so they probably would have preferred to be in an airconditioned room. On the other hand, the president does not play with members of congress very often, almost never. Saturdays and sundays, which she does nearly every weekend, it is with his closest aides or friends. It is hard not to raise the question, why these guys and why now . Host the president does not spend a lot of time with members of congress. Now these issues come up and yet he has his team doing that for him. Guest a couple flees ago it before the agreement was signed, you can tell when there is someone vote something the white house wants to see on capitol hill, there is an uptick in activity. It seems hard to believe it would be a total coincidence. Host scott is in san antonio texas. Thanks for calli