it s hard to say. democrats and republicans were very divided over this piece of legislation. of course, in the 1600-page bill, there was also a lot to like. there was more funding for the to fight the ebola epidemic, also more money to fight isis in iraq and syria. so there seems to be plenty enough senators voted for it. but i think republicans and democrats were frustrated with this bill. yeah, i want to talk about one key part of the bill that concerns school lunches. the bill would relax standards which is being seen as a big blow to michelle obama. what does this mean? well, this has been kind of this contentious point for a long time. we ve seen republican congressmen talking about this for a while. and essentially, this just is kind of a, you know, defense against michelle obama and the obama administration. there are a lot of republicans who feel as though her program has infringed on the rights of, you know, schools to serve lunches that they deemed fit. so i think th
democrats and republicans. i am concerned about maintaining the strength in dodd/frank to go after the reckless practices of financial institutions. i would much prefer to see that in separate legislation debated on the floor of the senate and not included in this bill. you heard my colleague kristen welker at the white house saying sweeteners were put in, sir. do you know who put in the dodd/frank sweetener? no, i don t. i really don t. i know there have been bills sent over to us from the house that contained modifications in dodd/frank. we certainly knew that the republicans were trying to weaken the protections of dodd/frank. i know there were a lot of negotiations of different provisions and we were successful in protecting the integrity of dodd/frank. there were certain provisions that could have an impact and we ll have to watch that closely. let s move on to the cia torture report. let s hear as former vice president dick cheney in a new interview this morning. we did w
in perhaps, sir, what is the best sign you want to look at in a silver lining picture. it s a compromise because it seems like both sides were unhappy with this bill. well, the good news is that we ve got a budget done. no longer gridlock or the fear of a government shutdown or continuing resolutions. our agencies are fully funded for a year. for those of us who really support what our agencies are doing, they can now plan their full year, do their work, whether it s in research at nih or protecting our borders. we do have funding that will allow us to move forward. okay. in terms of specifics, senator, what did the democrats get in this bill that you wanted, and what did the republicans get that you did not want to give up? i think that when the budget priorities within the caps that were approved, the democrats got their priority areas funded helping our children in health care, we got the money that we need, certainly in fighting the ebola internationally and could impact ou
of dodd/frank, who put that provision in the bill? do we know? well, the word is that citibank had a lot to do with that. perhaps even suggesting the specific language. and, you know, this is a bad deal. we ve gone through a terrible, terrible economic time in this country. dodd/frank was an effort to make sure that never happened again. that the taxpayer would not be on the hook for these risky investments. and this is rolling back those protections. and it s a giveaway to the big banks and to l way street. and i think it s a shameful part of what has happened in the last few hours in washington. michael, did i hear you agree with the governor? yes, no, i think this provision is a real, real problem down the road. i mean, look, we re going to
revisit this in three, five, ten years when you re allowing the banks to get into a business in which they re taking the savings, pensions and the dollars of hardworking americans and put it in the market. investment banking is a separate enterprise unto itself. it should not be comingled with the banking opportunities for small business owners and for families. and i think this particular provision is going to come back to bite the american people down the road. so that s having said that, i think that at the end of the day, i guess i m a little bit pessimistic, but a little bit hopeful in terms of what you saw play out, alex, in the last few weeks, that harry reid and mitch mcconnell along with john boehner and nancy pelosi, up until she realized she was on the wrong side of the issue for her base in the house could actually navigate this these waters and get a bill together to get to the president for his signature. and that may bode well for some