Breaking Trump News [8PM] 9_30_2023 _ Latest Trump News Sep 30, 2023
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00:00 indication that this thing is going to be resolved anytime soon.
00:02 But let's hope that something happens before midnight.
00:04 Otherwise, as you know, the government shuts down.
00:08 Clock is on.
00:09 Good to see you, Eamon.
00:10 Good to see you, my friend.
00:11 Enjoy the rest of your evening off.
00:12 And as we mentioned, just a few hours before a potential government shutdown, Republicans
00:17 and Democrats reached a deal in the House that includes a 45-day continuing resolution
00:24 with disaster relief funds, as well as an extension of a federal flood insurance program.
00:29 Of course, there was the FAA reauthorization.
00:32 The one thing not in there that seems to be the reason for this holdout, no Ukraine aid
00:37 at the moment.
00:39 But the Senate is expected to vote on the House-passed measure.
00:43 It has been delayed for hours now by Democratic Senator Michael Bennett over his concerns
00:48 about that Ukraine aid being left out of the CR.
00:53 Bennett reportedly wants a promise of quick consideration of aid to Ukraine.
00:58 Others say the leadership is actually working on a written commitment for just that.
01:04 But a long delay could trigger a shutdown if the Senate does not reach or act, as we
01:10 said, by midnight.
01:12 We are now under four hours from the government shutting down.
01:15 Let's cross over to NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitale for the latest.
01:19 So of course, all eyes on Michael Bennett, all eyes on what is happening behind the Senate.
01:23 Tell us what is happening at this hour, where you are, and what the details of this holdup
01:27 are.
01:28 Look, for now, the stall continues.
01:31 And you hit the very simple reason, or maybe not so simple from a policy perspective, of
01:35 why Michael Bennett is doing this, which is holding up the consideration and ultimate
01:40 passage of this continuing resolution because there's no Ukraine funding in it.
01:45 That would have been a nonstarter for many on the House Republican side.
01:49 It's why it's not in this continuing resolution in the first place.
01:53 But then, of course, there's also the idea that leadership on the Senate side is working
01:57 towards some kind of commitment that could get Bennett on board within the time that
02:01 they have left, allow them to avoid a shutdown, and then allow them to circle back on Ukraine
02:05 funding.
02:06 Because I think what's really important right now to remember is that this is a 45-day stopgap
02:11 measure that lands us right there before Thanksgiving in November.
02:15 That means that during these 45 days, they're going to be doing the rest of their appropriating,
02:20 figuring out how much the government is going to be spending across various agencies.
02:25 There are 12 appropriations spending bills that we've been talking a lot about.
02:30 During this time, it's also entirely possible that the things that fell off the table—what
02:35 I'm thinking of specifically is on the House side border security provisions and on the
02:40 Senate side Ukraine funding—there's also the possibility that they could try to come
02:44 together on something like that.
02:45 I had one Republican member here in the halls just in the last few minutes say they think
02:50 it's an opportunity for negotiators on the Senate side and negotiators on the House side
02:55 to come together with something that allows each to get what they wanted on either border
03:00 or Ukraine and feel like they're doing so in a bipartisan fashion.
03:04 Now what this person cautioned, and rightly so, because we know how quickly bipartisan
03:10 things can fall apart on the Hill, is whether or not they can actually do that.
03:14 But I think that's one of the things that I'm looking for during this 45-day period,
03:19 not just the machinations inside the Republican conference, potentially in retaliation for
03:23 McCarthy and the way that he handled this, but also if there's actually something constructive
03:28 that could come from it.
03:29 I know it's a tall order and a high ask for Capitol Hill, where the bar is basically on
03:33 the floor these days, amen?
03:35 But nevertheless, I'm going to choose to be an optimist and say that this could be something
03:39 that we look at.
03:40 Nevertheless, that's getting ahead of ourselves.
03:42 Without Michael Bennett releasing this hold, they are not going anywhere fast on this,
03:46 and that means we would still be in a shutdown posture.
03:49 As I look down at my text chain, which is always moving here on Capitol Hill lately,
03:55 we think that we could hear from leadership soon.
03:59 Seems like they're trying to work on a fix for this, but we'll see.
04:00 I'm going to jump in to interrupt you really quickly because Senate Majority Leader Chuck
04:04 Schumer is speaking, and we want to cross over to hear what he says.
04:06 Let's listen.
04:08 Without objection.
04:09 I move to proceed to H.R. 5860, which was received from the House and is at the desk.
04:15 Clerk will report.
04:18 Motion to proceed to H.R. 5860, an act making continuing appropriations for fiscal year
04:23 2024 and for other purposes.
04:26 Madam President, I know of no further debate on the motion.
04:30 Is there further debate?
04:33 If not, all in favor say aye.
04:35 Aye.
04:36 Opposed, nay.
04:37 Ayes appear to have it.
04:38 Ayes have it.
04:40 Motion is agreed to.
04:42 Clerk will report.
04:43 H.R. 5860, an act making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2024 and for other purposes.
04:52 Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent there be up to five minutes for debate equally
04:58 divided between the two leaders or their designees, that upon the use or yielding back of time,
05:04 the Senate vote on the passage of H.R. 5860 with 60 affirmative votes required for passage
05:10 and with no amendments or motions in order to the bill prior to the vote on passage.
05:18 Is there objection?
05:19 Without objection, so ordered.
05:21 Now Madam President, Majority Leader is recognized.
05:23 I have very good news for the country.
05:27 Democrats and Republicans have come to an agreement and the government will remain open.
05:33 We will have avoided a shutdown.
05:36 Bipartisanship, which has been the trademark of the Senate, has prevailed and the American
05:42 people can breathe a sigh of relief.
05:46 But this is a bridge CR and Leader McConnell and I have agreed to continue fighting for
05:52 more economic and security aid for Ukraine.
05:56 We support Ukraine's efforts to defend its sovereignty against Putin's aggression.
06:02 So thank you, thank you to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their excellent
06:08 work.
06:09 The bipartisanship here in the Senate set the tone for today's result and I hope it
06:15 sets the tone for the future.
06:18 Yield the floor.
06:19 Madam President.
06:25 Republican Leader is recognized.
06:28 With just a few hours to spare, the Senate is now in a position to prevent a harmful
06:33 and unnecessary government shutdown.
06:37 As I've said for weeks, the clearest path forward has been to pass a straightforward
06:43 short-term funding extension.
06:46 It gives us time to continue a number of important discussions about outstanding priorities.
06:53 From securing supplemental relief for victims of natural disasters to restoring security
06:59 and sanity at the southern border that the Biden administration has dragged into chaos,
07:05 to putting stronger restraints on the president's reckless spending, to supplying Ukraine with
07:11 even more of the lethal assistance it needs to repel Russia's invasion.
07:20 From that particular point, Madam President, most Senate Republicans remain committed to
07:25 helping our friends on the front lines, to investing more heavily in American strength
07:33 that reinforces our allies and deterring our top strategic adversary, China.
07:40 I'm confident the Senate will pass further urgent assistance to Ukraine later this year.
07:47 But let's be clear, the alternative to our action today, an entirely avoidable government
07:55 shutdown, would not just pause our progress on these important priorities, it would actually
08:01 shut them back.
08:03 And in the process, it would saddle the people we represent with unnecessary hardships.
08:10 So I'm glad our colleagues in the House have taken action on a continuing resolution that
08:14 keeps critical government functions going at their current rates of operation.
08:21 Passing this measure, keeping the lights on, will allow us to return our attention to making
08:27 headway on full-year appropriations our colleagues have been working on literally for months,
08:33 and it will give us the flexibility to meet urgent supplemental priorities, both at home
08:40 and abroad.
08:41 Therefore, I would urge our colleagues to join me in supporting this important step
08:47 in the right direction.
08:51 All right.
09:01 So as you just heard there from both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as
09:05 the Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a government shutdown seems to have been averted for now.
09:11 With Chuck Schumer saying he had very good news to tell the country, that in fact him
09:17 and McConnell have committed their promise to fighting for more resources for Ukraine
09:21 after this short-term funding is ultimately approved and extended for 45 days, till the
09:27 middle of November or so.
09:29 McConnell there also taking a victory lap, saying that his caucus, the majority of which
09:35 is committed to funding Ukraine with more American military weapons and resources, but
09:40 said that as of now, this is the short-term extension that he and others in his caucus
09:45 sought a while ago.
09:47 So Ali, it seems, you know, we started the hour with a little bit of uncertainty, but
09:51 we got our answer as quickly as one could possibly get from the two leaders on the Senate
09:56 side.
09:57 Where does it go from here?
09:58 You got to love that, Eamon, finally getting some answers here after a little bit of a
10:01 waiting game with just enough time for us to eat dinner here on Capitol Hill.
10:05 But look, I think there's a few things that are really interesting in the ways that both
10:09 leaders spoke here on the floor.
10:11 Of course, noting the fact that this is bipartisan in nature, that this is a stopgap spending
10:15 bill that allows them to continue negotiating on the appropriations front while also not
10:20 shutting down the government.
10:22 The fact that both McConnell and Schumer are able to provide a united front, saying that
10:27 they are in agreement that there should be future economic and military aid to Ukraine.
10:32 I did take note of the fact that Senator McConnell said that that would come later this year.
10:37 That's good news to, in his words, most of his caucus.
10:41 But at the same time, it alludes to the idea that not every Republican and not every Democrat
10:46 are in lockstep on the path forward for Ukraine.
10:49 You've seen senators like J.D. Vance and others say that they need more transparency into
10:54 how Ukraine is using this money before they continue providing aid to that country that's
11:00 fighting its war against Russia.
11:02 Now it seems that they're moving on to the vote.
11:05 I know that the leaders said that there could be up to five minutes of debate, but I believe
11:09 that they might be even foregoing that.
11:11 We'll see if anyone comes to the lectern and actually starts speaking.
11:14 But even still, five minutes and then you're on to the substance of this vote.
11:18 It is expected to pass in overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion.
11:22 And then we'll see.
11:23 Are we back to this November 17th or in the days leading up to that?
11:27 We know this is a place that really functions off of deadlines, so I would say that that's
11:32 likely.
11:33 But at the same time, it goes back to what we were saying, Eamon, which is that both
11:37 sides of this building have things that they want to come together in some kind of a supplemental
11:42 funding capacity, be it Ukraine funding or on the House Republican front and some on
11:47 the Senate Republican side doing something on border funding and security.
11:52 All of those things got left out of this current package.
11:56 There is some reason to think that there could be an attempt at bipartisan action on that
12:01 front.
12:02 And then we'll see.
12:03 That's an open question.
12:04 But certainly this is good news now, seeing the Senate break free of that stalling and
12:08 able to move forward here in just the next few minutes.
12:11 So Ali, let me ask you perhaps a little bit of a wonkier technical question, which is
12:15 because we were expecting the government to shut down at midnight and the question of
12:18 whether or not just between now and the next four hours they can get something to the president's
12:23 desk.
12:24 What happens, you know, minute by minute?
12:26 Will they be able to get something to the White House for signature before midnight?
12:29 Should we expect perhaps a signature tomorrow morning and still have the government function
12:33 for a couple of hours?
12:35 Or what do we know about that?
12:36 No, you've got to imagine that this is not a far distance to travel between this side
12:41 of Pennsylvania Avenue and the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House.
12:45 As soon as the Senate passes this, they are going to get it to the president's desk.
12:49 Even though a shutdown overnight, for example, over Saturday into Sunday, we've seen weekend
12:54 shutdowns before.
12:55 They are not overly disruptive.
12:57 They last a very short period of time.
12:59 There's no need to do that in this situation.
13:01 Clearly, the Senate is going to dispense with their business at least in the next half hour
13:06 or hour or so, and then we'll see this be able to go to the White House.
13:10 That's really the minute by minute of this, watching the ways in which it works its way
13:14 from the House, where most of these members are now out of town, to the Senate, where
13:18 you imagine they're going to be following suit, and then of course to the White House
13:20 to avoid this.
13:21 And of course, we will be watching it every step of the way and bring you any updates
13:25 as it happens in real time.
13:27 NBC's Ali Vitale, don't go anywhere.
13:29 We're not clear just yet.
13:30 I know you're hungry, but don't go anywhere.
13:32 Well, I ate already.
13:33 I'm good, Eamon.
13:34 Dinner's on us if we get to that point.
13:35 Ali, thank you so much.
13:36 Let's bring it to the conversation, former Alabama Senator Doug Jones, and with us here
13:40 on set, Molly Jung Fast, host of the Fast Politics podcast.
13:45 Let me start with you, Mr. Jones, and just get your reaction to how this has played out.
13:49 First of all, your big takeaway.
13:51 Having served in the Senate, you know a lot of these people, and getting to this point,
13:55 just give me your takeaway that we've averted a government shutdown and whether or not we
13:59 needed even to be at this point.
14:01 We didn't need to be at this point, Eamon.
14:04 I think that's the biggest takeaway right now.
14:06 Look, everyone is breathing a sigh of relief that we avoided a shutdown.
14:11 I lived through a couple of these things, particularly the long one in 2019.
14:14 I kept working to try to get things going on because Alabama has so much federal, is
14:21 dependent on so many federal dollars that it really hurt our state when we shut it down.
14:26 But the fact of the matter is, this is no way to run a railroad.
14:29 You know, Mitch McConnell said, you know, he has been saying for weeks we should do
14:34 a clean CR.
14:35 No, you should have passed the dang thing.
14:37 You should have gotten all the appropriations done by September the 30th and move on to
14:42 next year's appropriations.
14:44 It's really not a good system that we have, but at least, the one thing I'm very proud
14:49 of with the Senate is that they did look at this in a very bipartisan way.
14:54 It's going to pass with a big vote, I believe, and that's the way it should be.
14:59 And hopefully they can prevail over the next 45 days to keep the far right at bay and have
15:07 McCarthy once again talk to Democrats, talk to his more moderate caucus, and let's get
15:13 this thing done and move on from the middle of November.
15:17 What fundamentally changes, Senator, in the next 45 days?
15:20 I mean, in reality speaking here, what changes for Kevin McCarthy?
15:23 I mean, he knew this was going to happen, or he knew that this was an outcome that was
15:28 most likely going to happen, because he wasn't going to necessarily give the extremists everything
15:32 they wanted.
15:33 And he, as we have seen time and time again, loves power and is not going to do the right
15:38 thing so he doesn't lose those extremists.
15:40 Now he has put himself in a situation where he potentially can lose power, according to
15:44 Matt Gaetz, but at the same time, he's still going to have to deal with the situation 45
15:49 days from now.
15:50 He's going to have to deal with that, but I think, as was said a few moments ago, this
15:55 is going to give some folks some opportunities to sit down and talk a little bit more without
15:59 the pressure of a government shutdown immediate.
16:02 They're going to start that this week.
16:04 I mean, I can assure you, they're not going to wait.
16:06 They're going to talk about funding for Ukraine.
16:08 They'll talk about border security and how they might can come together.
16:12 And at the end of the day, I think what McCarthy has done with this is to show that at the
16:17 very end, he will give his far right caucus a lot of leeway, but at the end of the day,
16:22 he will come forward.
16:24 And this was passed by Democrats.
16:26 I mean, 200 plus Democrats voted for this in the House of Representatives, and he actually
16:32 put the government and our country over his political party.
16:38 And I'm hoping they'll do that again.
16:39 I think there's a lot of opportunities between now and then.
16:42 We'll see how it changes, but it can change from day to day or it cannot change.
16:47 We'll see once we get to that 45-day period.
16:50 Amali, let me bring you into this.
16:51 So your thoughts on what has transpired today, and specifically with Kevin McCarthy?
16:55 I mean, this is not a situation he needed to find himself in.
16:58 As Senator Doug Jones there said, it was the Democrats who got this across the finish line.
17:03 At one point I saw today Speaker Jeffries trending on the website formerly known as
17:09 Twitter, and an indication that ultimately Kevin McCarthy is no longer the speaker of
17:15 the House.
17:16 He's just speaker in name only.
17:17 I mean, look, Republicans didn't do this out of the goodness of their own hearts, right?
17:21 They did this because they see the writing on the wall.
17:24 And you have to wonder, like, they were headed towards a shutdown, and then that impeachment
17:29 fiasco happened, where they saw how bad that went.
17:33 And I have to think that there was a certain amount of scrambling behind the scenes.
17:38 And remember, McCarthy is making a calculus here that there aren't MAGA people, there
17:43 aren't votes for a speaker to replace him.
17:46 That's his sort of his gamble, is that they don't have someone else to replace him, because
17:50 they don't.
17:51 I mean, you can't see a four-vote majority in the House electing a Speaker Matt Gaetz.
17:56 I mean, nobody wants that.
17:57 So I do think he is just trying to, like, save the House majority at this point.
18:03 And I don't think he should get any credit for that.
18:05 And I don't think this was Republicans acting because they're bipartisan and they love America.
18:10 I think this is acting because they know they're going to lose the House because of this.
18:13 As we saw on the Senate side, certainly with both Speaker McConnell, Senate Majority Leader
18:18 Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell there speaking, the Ukraine issue is going to be front and
18:22 center over the next 45 days.
18:24 They seem—those two gentlemen, at least, seem to be committed to the idea of getting
18:27 more resources.
18:28 Not as clear whether the entire Republican caucus will be behind it, as Ali Vitale was
18:33 explaining.
18:34 But it seems that on the House Republican side, this is going to be an issue that remains
18:41 front and center for the Republicans.
18:42 There's going to be a showdown.
18:44 And what I thought was so interesting was watching Schumer and McConnell sounding much
18:49 more like they were on the same team as McCarthy and, you know, and MTG and the MAGA caucus.
18:56 So I think it's going to be a real problem for Republicans.
18:58 I mean, they put themselves in it.
19:00 Look, I mean, Kevin McCarthy made this Faustian bargain to become speaker, and there is a
19:08 one-vote motion to vacate, and he could lose this job at any time.
19:12 Yeah.
19:13 Doug Jones, thank you very much.
19:14 Molly Jung Fass, please stick around.
19:15 We're going to come back to you later on in the show.
19:17 Coming up next, I'm going to speak with Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley about today's developments
19:21 and what the next 45 days hold.
19:23 Stay with us.
19:24 I talked to Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
19:27 He has not gone to vote, as we were expecting.
19:29 So we are going to change things up right now.
19:31 We want to bring in, as the Senate is voting on the House pass CR bill, I want to bring
19:36 in now Democratic Congresswoman Angie Craig of Minnesota.
19:39 Congresswoman, thank you so much for jumping in there.
19:43 Looking forward to talking to you about this.
19:44 We have the Senate screen there up to see the vote as it takes place.
19:48 But let me just get your reaction to how this has played out over the last couple of hours
19:52 between the House side and now ultimately the Senate voting on this.
19:58 Well, I'm incredibly pleased that the House was able to come to a bipartisan resolution
20:04 on this issue.
20:06 We hope certainly that the Senate will take up the House bill and get this to the president
20:11 this evening.
20:13 It would be a tremendous loss for my constituents.
20:16 We have a huge air traffic control center in my congressional district in Minnesota.
20:23 And I am very concerned if we shut down the government.
20:26 And I'm really proud that Democrats were able to come together today on a bipartisan basis
20:32 and help get this done.
20:34 Can you tell me about what Democrats perhaps wanted to get in the CR that they did not
20:41 get or where there was a compromise?
20:43 We know Ukraine aid has now been the focus of the last couple of hours, certainly for
20:46 Senator Michael Bennett.
20:47 But what was it that got Democrats to vote yes for this?
20:52 Well, there were a number of issues under discussion in caucus during our emergency
20:58 meetings today.
20:59 One of those was the fact that this bill left out funding for Ukraine.
21:05 There is a strong bipartisan support in the House, as you saw from an earlier amendment
21:11 vote this week on the House Democratic and Republican side.
21:16 So we would have loved to see Ukraine, but we were less than 12 hours at that point from
21:22 the government shutting down.
21:24 And we have another bite at the Ukraine funding.
21:27 We will keep fighting for it.
21:28 I think it's critically important.
21:31 There was also another issue that hasn't been talked about a lot here, but Republicans in
21:36 the first iteration of this bill had included a pay raise, cost of living increase for members
21:43 of Congress.
21:44 So it got some lively discussion.
21:46 In the Democratic Congress, I am adamantly and was adamantly opposed to members of Congress
21:52 getting a pay raise.
21:54 So that got some lively discussion, and ultimately Democrats got that pulled out.
22:01 There was some talk that the House—or is it the House speaker—excuse me, the House
22:07 leader on the Democratic side, Minority Leader Jeffries, did not at that point whip the members
22:15 of his caucus and left it up to you to individually vote for that.
22:19 Can you talk about that?
22:20 Well, I think that the leader did a great job of presenting the facts.
22:26 The amendments that had been coming at us all week were awful in the previous versions
22:33 of the CR.
22:35 This was an opportunity for Democrats to stand together and really show just how difficult
22:41 Speaker McCarthy has it with the MAGA Republicans in his own caucus.
22:45 So I think the speaker did a—the leader, hopefully one day speaker soon, did a great
22:52 job rallying us to understand the facts.
22:55 But it was actually the members who got up during caucus today and started talking about
23:00 why they are going to vote for this continuing resolution.
23:03 But remember, this is—you know, I want to be careful.
23:06 This is not a win today.
23:08 This is avoiding a loss.
23:10 We now have to come back and we have to work with our Republican colleagues and we have
23:15 to get a budget across the finish line.
23:18 So I would say that today was a good start.
23:21 It gives us the time that we need to get this done.
23:25 And I would just say to my Republican colleagues who have been very frustrated this week with
23:30 the element of control that the Freedom Caucus has exerted over the speaker, that I'm proud
23:37 to have voted with you today.
23:39 And we can—we can lead this country.
23:41 We can govern as a body if we get these bills put in front of us that are bipartisan, that
23:47 have input from both sides.
23:49 Just look at what we did today.
23:50 Let's do more of that.
23:52 Leader Jeffries called this a defeat for the MAGA Republicans.
23:56 Do you agree with that?
23:57 Do you see it as a defeat for the extremists or do you believe that they may now be emboldened
24:03 to remove Kevin McCarthy from the speakership?
24:05 Well, I don't know what the circus is going to do next week.
24:10 I just can't ever predict.
24:12 But what I will tell you is that this was a loss for the Freedom Caucus this week.
24:18 And it was a win for the country.
24:20 It was the start of a win for the country.
24:22 And we can do more of that.
24:24 And I would just encourage Speaker McCarthy to sit down with Leader Jeffries to continue
24:28 to talk because we can actually govern again.
24:31 We can show the American people that they can have confidence.
24:35 But if Speaker McCarthy continues to get led around by the nose by the Freedom Caucus,
24:41 his moderates in his caucus are going to be very upset and it's going to be very hard
24:45 to work with the Republican conference.
24:47 All right, Congresswoman Angie Craig from Minnesota, thank you so much for your time.
24:52 I greatly appreciate it.
24:53 It's been a very long day for you and your colleagues.
24:56 Up next, as promised, I'll speak on the House passed funding bill.
25:00 As promised, let's bring in Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
25:03 He has just come back from voting.
25:04 Senator, thank you so much for making time for us.
25:07 I know it has been a busy day for you.
25:08 I'm going to ask you perhaps the most obvious question, which is, tell us why you voted
25:13 for, I assume you voted for, but tell us why you voted for this CR.
25:18 Yes, I did.
25:19 Well, this CR completes the vision of the deal that was struck between the leadership
25:23 of the House and Senate, bipartisan leadership on both sides, and the President three months
25:28 ago and adds disaster assistance.
25:31 Now, there's other things that we want to tackle, most importantly, the supplemental
25:36 for Ukraine, but that wasn't part of the deal three months ago.
25:39 So that lies now ahead of us in the next couple weeks.
25:43 There was some reporting today that perhaps Senator Michael Bennett was the holdup for
25:47 this vote that was supposed to happen a couple hours.
25:50 Can you talk to us about what happened behind the scenes to get him across the finish line
25:55 and perhaps if there was anything else that was promised to allay the concerns of perhaps
26:00 Senators like Michael Bennett, yourself, and anyone else who wants to see more done on
26:04 Ukraine funding?
26:05 You know, we had a very intense caucus where many of us spoke to saying this cannot be
26:12 a moment in which we do not proceed with support to Ukraine, that that would be the end of
26:19 American leadership in the world, it would deeply damage NATO, of course it would sacrifice
26:23 Ukraine, that that cannot happen.
26:25 So all of us were saying the same thing, that we understand that the CR is based on the
26:30 deal three months ago and that therefore Ukraine was taken out, but there has to be a deep
26:37 commitment by both the Republican and Democratic leadership of the Senate that we're going
26:41 to get this supplemental done.
26:43 And that deep commitment was on display tonight.
26:46 In fact, just as I came off the floor, Mitch McConnell was speaking to reporters and again
26:50 he was speaking about the importance of doing the supplemental on Ukraine.
26:54 Yeah, I heard certainly in their comments both Leader McConnell as well as Schumer
27:01 there spoke about the need to have that Ukraine funding over the next 45 days, but was there
27:07 something, I mean when you think about the dynamics that have played out among Republicans
27:11 over the past couple of weeks, certainly on the House side, which is safe to say is in
27:15 disarray when it comes to the Ukraine side, but you also have some Republicans in the
27:20 Senate including the likes of J.D. Vance and others who are not as committed to Ukraine
27:25 funding.
27:26 How do you get them across the board in the next 45 days?
27:29 Well the fact is we don't need every Senator.
27:31 We need 60 Senators and when you have the leadership of both parties, that's excellent.
27:36 And by the way, in the continuing resolution, it provides the opportunity for billions of
27:41 dollars of transfer authority.
27:44 So there is authority for the President to keep supplying munitions to Ukraine over the
27:49 next few weeks as we work to put the Ukraine supplemental across the Senate floor.
27:54 And what do you say to those that might be concerned about what the Democrats gave up
27:58 on the House side earlier today with additional relief programs or funding programs for those
28:03 in need, social welfare programs and the concerns that some of those programs may be slashed
28:08 over the next 45 days?
28:11 Well the bulk of those programs were in the continuing resolution.
28:14 It wasn't on the House side so I can't speak to those immediate dynamics, but the
28:19 list that we saw when it came over to the Senate was a pretty complete list of all the
28:24 things we've been citing that we were most concerned about.
28:26 I'm sure there will be some additional vetting and examination of those details.
28:31 Things were very rushed here in terms of the moments of process, but I think people feel
28:37 pretty good about the set of things that are funded in the CR.
28:41 And by the way, realize that the MAGA far right was talking first about an 8% cut and
28:47 then about a 28% cut from what was agreed to among leadership of both houses and the
28:53 President three months ago.
28:55 Tonight we're delivering the full CR.
28:59 I guess some might be watching this and thinking what is going to change in the next 45 days?
29:03 I mean the same dynamics are still at play and in fact they may become even worse if
29:07 the MAGA extremists on the House side are emboldened to try and remove Speaker McCarthy.
29:13 And perhaps you don't want to talk about that, but genuinely what do you anticipate
29:16 changing in the 45 days besides just giving ourselves or giving yourselves more breathing
29:21 space to be able to negotiate this?
29:24 Fundamentally the dynamics or the ideological stances of the extremists in the House side
29:30 has not changed.
29:32 Think about this.
29:33 The Senate has been passing every single bill out of committee in a bipartisan matter, including
29:38 the toughest spending bill, Interior, unanimously.
29:42 The work between Susan Collins and Patty Murray has been just interwoven in a real teamwork.
29:48 And we kept saying the only way we're getting this done is if there is a bipartisan spirit
29:53 and strategy on the House side as well as the Senate side.
29:56 And what we saw tonight was McCarthy said, "You're right.
30:00 We've got to take the bipartisan strategy.
30:01 I'm going to do it."
30:02 He almost dared people to remove him.
30:04 And I'm sure in the next couple days before they come back in on October 2nd, so we're
30:09 talking two days from now, McCarthy's going to be thinking long and hard about the path
30:14 forward.
30:15 And just as there were surprises today, there'll be surprises ahead.
30:18 But I don't think the far-right MAGA extremists will be able to lead him around, kind of handcuffed
30:24 to them in the same fashion after tonight.
30:27 And do you think finally, you know, as the long-term spending bill comes up in the middle
30:32 of November or so, after this 45-day extension, you will be able to reach something more permanent
30:37 before the holidays?
30:39 Well, so we anticipate—we have 12 spending bills.
30:42 We anticipate they'll come in groups, kind of mini-buses, if you will, maybe two or three
30:48 at a time. We're determined...