Cold war, how democracy could be presented in a way that it hadnt, in that america had come of age and had as much dignity and had a right to maintain that dignity on the world stage. She did that with betty ford by taking very, very personal and really emotional issues, and not losing the power of that, that using that to help others. I think it is those like michelle obama, Eleanor Roosevelt it really is Eleanor Roosevelt, but they realize time is ticking. Anything can happen. In a moment, your husband cant ould die. You have an opportunity to make a change. People will like you and hate you no matter what, because of the way you look, because of what they give out you. You have to say to hell with it. Those have been the game changers. Ms. Swain i want to say thank you to our panelists. My colleague mark, back there he was the executive producer for our first lady series. All those clips the video and pictures thank you very much, mark. [applause] for our cspan audience, sorry those of us who are here get to have dessert and coffee. I would like to invite on behalf of cspan anyone whos here to stay. We have a book signing in that always makes me feel rather embarrassed. But if you are interested in buying it, all the proceeds of the book go to the cspan education foundation. We use it to do teacher scholarships, student documentary contests. You are helping a good cause. Thank you so much for being here tonight. [applause] she was considered modern for her tied called mrs. President by her detractors, and was outspoken about her views on slavery and womens rights, as well as one of the most prolific writers of any first lady. She provides a unique window into colonial america. Abigail adams, sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans original series, first ladies influence and image. From our washington to michelle obama, sundays at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv. As a complement to the series, cspans new book is now available first ladies president ial historians on the lives of 45 iconic american women, providing lively stories of these fascinating women. It is available as a hardcover or an ebook through your favorite bookstore or online bookseller. Coming up tonight on cspan, we look at the senates vote today confirming Loretta Lynch to be the next attorney general of the United States. We will have reaction from the president , as well as minority leader reid and other senators. Later on, Senate Democratic leaders voting earlier today to discuss the judicial process in the senate. U. S. Attorney Loretta Lynch confirmed today by the u. S. Senate to be the next attorney general, replacing eric holder. That vote, 5643, five months approximately after president obama nominated Loretta Lynch for the attorney general position. Ms. Lynch will become the first africanamerican woman to hold the post in the United States. 10 republicans joined with democrats today in voting for Loretta Lynch, joining with all democrats. Kelly ayotte, thad cochran, susan collins, jeff flake lindsey graham. Orrin hatch, ron johnson, mark kirk, Mitch Mcconnell and rob portman. Just one senator did not vote ted cruz of texas. He was on the floor today in opposition to the nomination, but he did not take part in the confirmation vote. Ashley parker of the New York Times wrote after railing against Loretta Lynch, ted cruz escapes confirmation vote. Where in the world was senator ted cruz . He voted against a procedural motion to move ahead. Mr. Cruz missed her final vote on thursday afternoon. The reason . He had to catch a flight to texas for previous commitments in dallas. He was the only senator to fit the vote. His team on social media and email quickly pushed back against the idea that the senator was shirking his congressional responsibility. He voted against cloture. That is from Ashley Parker in the New York Times. We will show you a number of highlights from the debate on the senate floor leading up to the confirmation vote for Loretta Lynch. First, we want to show you president obamas reaction after hearing that the confirmation vote went through. Pres. Obama before i start with other issues, i want to say publicly, for the first time, that i am very pleased that Loretta Lynch has been confirmed [laughter] [applause] america will be better off for it. [applause] she spent her life fighting for the fair and equal justice at the foundation of our democracy. She has been a great job helping our communities, keeping them safe but also making sure our citizens are protected by equal justice under the law. [applause] she has got credibility with water enforcement but she has also got credibility with communities. She knows one of the things i want to work with her on is making sure that all around the country we are rebuilding trust with respect to our Police Forces and making sure that they and the communities together are working so that everybody feel safe and everybody feels like the law is working on their behalf. I cant think of a better person to do it. We are very proud of her and she will do a great job. [applause] comments from the president after the vote today confirmed Loretta Lynch, 5643 in favor of her confirmation as the next attorney general. She will be the first africanamerican woman to hold that position to replace eric holder. We will show you a number of clips and highlights from todays debate that will back up to before the vote for confirmation in the senate. We start off with Senate Minority leader, the former majority leader, harry reid. President , the wall street journal had a great editorial today. To show you how senseless it was, ill read a line from it. The headline the g. O. P. Used its advice and consent power to beat harry reid. Think about that, mr. President. A major newspaper in this country that is the audacity to say the g. O. P. , the republicans used its advice and consent power to beat harry reid. Reading the editorial what theyre talking about is the republicans were really smart in delaying Loretta Lynch to be confirmed. Mr. President , the reason that she was delayed is because a very vital issue came up with the trafficking bill that dealt with womens reproductive rights and it took a long time to work that out. In fact, it took us a long enough time to work it out until the republicans capitulated to what we wanted. We protect the womens right to choose. The hyde language no longer allowed, as was in the underlying legislation no longer allows the hyde language to apply to nontaxpayer money. So for them to say that they beat harry reid, they didnt beat harry reid. What they did was beat up on themselves. Loretta lynch it took longer to confirm her than if you take every attorney general who has been submitted to the senate for confirmation, add them all together from the time we were a country until today add them all together and they didnt take as long as it takes to confirm this good woman. So to think that they beat harry reid i repeat, all they did was beat up on themselves. Later today the senate will do something that it should have done months ago confirm Loretta Lynch as the 83rd attorney general of the United States. I repeat prior to 82, add all the time together how long it took to confirm them and it wouldnt add up to as much time as the republicans have stalled this good woman. Shes as qualified a candidate as ive ever seen during my time in the senate which is more than three decades. So qualified in fact that today will mark the third time shes been confirmed by the United States senate. Twice before unanimously confirmed as u. S. Attorney for the Eastern District of new york. By all accounts, Loretta Lynchs confirma after awhile it seemed that it would. We had senators, republican senators who were saying what a wonderful woman she is. Shes great. They were very vocal in their support. The senior senator from utah, the senior senator from south carolina, senior senator from arizona. But it soon became apparent the republican leader pressed these people a little bit and suddenly they werent as interested in moving the lynch confirmation along, even though thats what they said it they should do. Her nomination dragged on, has dragged on for months. In fact, i repeat, shes waited longer to be confirmed in the first 54 attorneys general combined longer than attorneys general nominated by every president from George Washington to Woodrow Wilson and beyond. What should have bee quick confirmation will be anything but that. Instead mrs. Lynch became the first attorney general nominee in history to be filibustered. The editorial from the newspaper is really insulting mr. President. They said that reid accused republicans of racism and sexism. I dare, i dare anyone to find a single word that i said dealing with race or sex. I didnt do that. But maybe thats something the republicans hoped i would do, but i didnt do that. There was even a Hunger Strike. Listen to this, of this editorial from the wall street journal. Reverend al sharpton vowed a Hunger Strike until ms. Lynch received a vote, and they have in parenthesis al please go through with it. I guess i was naive in thinking my republican colleagues would treat Loretta Lynch with the dignity that she and her office deserve. Perhaps my mistake was forgetting that for republicans this isnt about Loretta Lynch. Its about president obama. Because republicans will do everything and anything they can to make president obamas life more difficult. They said they would do that when he was elected and theyve stuck with it. President obamas cabinet officials have been treated worse than any president in history. Todays vote on Loretta Lynch marks the seventh cloture vote the republicans forced on a cabinet official during the obama administration. Forcing cloture, that is terminating a filibuster is something that was rare in the entire history of this country. It was used only in most extreme circumstances. But once ms. Lynch was confirmed, five sitting members of the president s cabinet will have been filibustered by senate republicans. Put that in contrast, it rarely happened before. Rarely. Unlike todays senate republicans, democrats showed restraint in our disagreements with president s over appointments. We showed great deference to his choice for president. By that im talking about george w. Bush, the latest bush who was president. Some say thats water under the bridge. There will be those republicans who after confirming lynch today will say alls well that ends well. Theyre wrong. Im pleased that she will be confirmed as attorney general. Her nomination process is proof of all that is wrong with the republican leadership. Senate republicans made Loretta Lynchs nomination linger more than ten times longer than the average attorney general and youve heard what i said before about that, just to spite barack obama. The viciousness with which the majority Leaders Party has treated the president is unconscionable and is bad for our country. Republicans have become so blinded by their nastyness that they even named filibusters of made filibusters of cabinet officials the norm around here, the first time we had a secretary of defense filibustered they did it. The first time attorney general they did it. How sad that in the future we can expect delays and filibustered nominations like Loretta Lynch to no longer be the exception but the rule. How unfortunate this harry reid and the debate from today on the floor of the senate leading up to the confirmation vote for Loretta Lynch, confirmed by the senate today, 5643. As you might imagine, a lot of chatter on social media today about the nomination and the vote in the senate. One cspan viewer writes that ted cruz did all he could do. 10 of his colleagues believe her when she says she will pull the constitution doubt it. He is referring to the 10 republicans who joined in favor of the Loretta Lynch nomination. A democrat from barrelom maryland tweeting that the senate has finally done right by Loretta Lynch. The hill writing about the work of Mitch Mcconnell saying that he quietly went 60 votes to avoid a filibuster. Mitch mcconnell is one of the 10 republicans that supported the confirmation. Couple of Facebook Comments mike says forcing her to weight 100 60 days was stupid, unprofessional, and made republican senators look like class fools. Gail says this not a good thing, it is not a historic thing, it is another nail in the constitutional coffin. Loretta lynch winning confirmation to be the next attorney general. Over the next hour, we will show you some highlights of todays debate republicans and democrats debating the nomination leading up to that 5643 vote in the u. S. Senate. Mr. Sessions mr. President well be soon voting on confirmation of mrs. Lynch to be the attorney general of the United States of america. That office is a part of the president s cabinet but it also is an office that is the chief law officer for america and it the top official in our government is required to adhere to the law, even to the point of telling the president no if he gets it in his head, as president s sometimes do, to do something that violates the law. As corporate lawyers do for the c. E. O. Of corporations. Mr. President , you cant do this. This is wrong. Dont do this. And at some point attorney generals have been none to resign before they would carry out policies that violate the law. So we are deeply concerned in this country about the president s executive amnesty the unlawfulness of it, the breadth of it the arrogance of it to the point that its a direct assault on congressional power and legitimacy direct attack on laws passed by the peoples representatives and weve got a big problem. Ms. Lynch has said, flatout, that she supports those policies and is committed to defending them in court against any complaint about it. So i think congress has a real role here. We do not have to confirm someone to the highest Law Enforcement position in america if that someone has publicly committed to denigrating congress violating law of congress violating even wishes of congress and the american people. We dont have to confirm anybody. Its a Power Congress is given. The president is asserting powers. Ssert the president is asserting powers hes never been given in the constitution or by the american people. I think we should do that. Let me note im goings quote i was going to say this anyway but i was pleased that mr. Andrew mccarthy, who prosecuted some of the top terrorist cases in america former u. S. Attorney, assistant United States attorney, very critical and very strongly of the belief that she should not be confirmed but he says this a vote against ms. Lynchs confirmation is not an assessment that she has performed incompetently or unethically in a prior government position. It is a vote against the president s blatantly unconstitutional policy and against mrs. Lynchs support of that policy. Senators are bound by oath to uphold the constitution. Ms. Lynchs prior laudable record has a federal prosecutor cannot overcome her commitment to violating the constitution. Requestings we have a right to assert that. Were paid to make decisions about that. And i think mr. Mccarthy is correct. Congress was given certain powers as a coequal branch of government not only to protect the congress as an institution but to restrain other government branches from overreaching. And one of those powers is the senates power to confirm or not confirm, and this check on executive powers can be used as Congress Sees fit. But, it should not be abused, as the president should not use his nominees to abuse the constitution or to advance an unlawful agenda. The attorney general is the top Law Enforcement officer in the country. This is not a tra traditionally a political position. It is a law position. Anyone who occupies the office must serve the american people, and under the laws and the constitution of the United States. Theyre not above it. The Supreme Court has clearly held the president is subjected to the laws. Its always been a part of the law of the land. The senate must never confirm an an to an office such as this who will support and advance a scheme that violates our constitution and eviscerates established law and congressional authority. No person who would do that should be confirmed and we dont need to be apologetic about it, colleagues. So ms. Lynch has announced that she supports and if confirmed would advance the president s unlawful executive amnesty scheme a scheme that would provide work permits trillions in Social Security and medicare benefits tax credits up to 35,000 a year, according to the Congressional Research service and even the possibility of chain migration and citizenship for those who entered our country illegally. Or overstayed their lawful period of admission. So the president has done this even though congress has repeatedly rejected legislation he supports that would allow this scheme to be implemented. He asked for it. Congress considered it. Congress said no. President obamas unlawful and unconstitutional executive action nullifies current Immigration Law to a degree most people have not fully grasped how far hes gone in these actions. The immigration and nationality act is the law of the land, and his actions replaces them with the very measures congress refused to adopt. Even king george iii didnt have the power to legislate without parliament. So during her confirmation hearing in the Committee Judiciary committee i asked her plainly whether she supported the president s unilateral decision to make his own Immigration Laws. Heres the relevant portion of the transcript. Sessions i have to have a clear answers to this question. Ms. Lynch, do you believe the executive action announced by president obama on november 20 is legal and constitutional, yes or no . Ms. Lynch as i read the opinion opinion thats the department of justice opinion which would be under her supervision i do believe it is senator. Of course the lawful duty of the toarpg is to enforce the laws that exist of course, the lawful duty. Attorney general is to enforce the laws that exist not ones that she or the president wish existed. One of the most stunningment wills of the president of the United States scheme is the grant of work permits to up to 5 million Illegal Immigrants taking jobs directly from citizens and legal immigrants in our country at a time of high unemployment and low wages. Peter kersinow, commissioner on the u. S. Commission on civil rights has written at length about how this undermines the rights of u. S. Workers especially africanamerican workers and other minorities suffering from high unemployment. He says, those citizens who are suffering from high unemployment and low wages have their rights undermined when the president ignores plain law that protects them from an excessive surge of illegal workers. So at her confirmation hearing i asked ms. Lynch about what she might do to protect the rights of u. S. Workers. By the way the attorney general holder our current attorney general, astoundingly in comments he made some months ago declared that there is a civil rights to citizenship in america for people who enter the country unlawfully. How can this possibly bethat the attorney general can get so removed from his responsibility to enforce the law that he says if someone comes into the country unlawfully, they have a shifl right to citizenship . So that was part of the reason i asked her this question quote who has more right to a job in this country a lawful immigrant who is here or a citizen or a person who entered the country illegally . Ms. Lynch i believe the right and the obligation to work is one shared by everyone in this country regardless of how they came here. And certainly if someone is here regardless of status, i would prefer that they would be participating in the workplace than not participating in the workplace. So this individual would be the chief Law Enforcement officer of our country and i believe that is a fundamentally flawed statement and comment. Its unprecedented for someone seeking the highest Law Enforcement office in the country to say someone in the country illegally has a right to a job when the law says if youre here illegally you cant work. This nation, as George WashingtonUniversity Law professor jonathan turley, who has testified a number of times here often called by our democratic colleagues, put it, this nation, he says, is at quote a constitutional Tipping Point. Professor turley, who is a nationally recognized constitutional scholar selfdescribed supporter of president obama testified before the house of representatives in february of last year before the president announced this november amnesty and said this quote the current passivity of congress represents a crisis for members crisis of faith for members willing to see a president assume legislative powers in exchange for insular policy gains. The short term insular victories achieved by this president will come at a prohibitive cost if the balance is not corrected. Constitutional authority is easy to lose in the transient shift of politics. Its far more difficult to regain. If a passion for the constitution does not motivate members of congress, perhaps a sense of selfpreservation will be enough to unify members. President obama will not be our last president. However, these acquired powers will be passed on to his successors. When that occurs, members may loathe the day that they remain silent as the power of government shifted so radically to the chief executive. The powerful personality that engendered this loyalty will be gone but the powers will remain. We are now at the constitutional Tipping Point of our system. If balance is to