>> the senate now in recess until 2:15 p.m. eastern for the weekly caucus meetings. treasury secretary steven mnuchin will be meeting with republicans at the lunch to make the case for opposing a measure by democrats to disapprove of the treasury department lifting sanctions on three russian companies. when the senate returns my nor you later chuck schumer is expected to call for a vote on that resolution. you can find live coverage here on c-span2. >> daniel flatley report from bloomberg news. he joined to discuss the decision to be sanctions on russian firms and democrats resolution to overturn it. countless more about the resolution ahead of the afternoon vote. >> guest: sure. this resolution was introduced i senate minority leader chuck

schumer earlier this month with the intention of perhaps bring it to the floor which he is now doing today. it stems from a decision made by the treasury department in december 2 the list three companies owned by a russian oligarch social is basically voicing his disapproval with this resolution of this move to delist these companies and it will come to a procedural vote today and if it gets 51 votes it will move forward, the debate will move forward, and the head of that vote treasury secretary steven mnuchin is due on the hill this afternoon for the senate republican conference lunch to sort of make his case as to why the sanctions should be lifted at this point. >> host: lets start on the

floor first. why is minority leader chuck schumer forcing a floor vote on this resolution? >> guest: right. it's a good question particularly because last week schumer said that he would not allow or that they would block, democrats would block any votes that don't reopen the government. government. but this is a particular issue that it think in his remarks, senator schumer has said, that he wants to stop the trump administration from lifting the sanctions particularly as the mueller investigation continues into russian interference. and because this resolution is privileged, meaning that he doesn't need consent from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell to bring it to the floor, he does not, there's nothing stopping them from doing this. and he announced he would do this over the weekend. today is the vote and also in the house majority leader steny

hoyer is introducing a measure similar to this in the house so it's kind of a one-two punch that democrats are delivering to the republican position at this point. >> host: you mentioned secretary mnuchin meeting with republicans during the weekly meetings today. what exactly is his view? you mentioned he's going to sort of bring up his support. actually against reversing this decision. what's his angle? >> guest: right. so these sanctions were put in place earlier in 2018 in the spring of 2018, and they include the three companies that were sanctioned, clued the second-largest aluminum manufacturer in the world. and so secretary mnuchin and the treasury department have basically gotten involved at the behest of people who by this aluminum and the markets kind of

went into some turmoil after the sanctions were imposed. the markets have kind of recovered since then, but secretary mnuchin is not alone in his move or at least in his view on this. some ambassadors from the european union sent a letter to senator schumer last week saying please don't move to disapprove the sanctions. let the sanctions be lifted because we rely companies and other countries rely heavily on aluminum produced by these companies. so there is certainly of you that would support lifting the sanctions. i think that the democratic position that is some concern that, with regards to the client of paul manafort and manafort's obviously was looked at a prosecuted under the mueller

investigation, that there's just a lot of stuff going on that the want to see play out before they agreed to or give consent to lifting the sanctions. >> host: are you hearing any republicans who support the resolution, who support keeping the sanctions in place against these companies? >> guest: sure. no, i haven't heard, i haven't spoken with any republicans at this point support what schumer is doing. but i haven't heard any republicans who have dismissed it entirely. i spoke to senate foreign relations committee chairman jim risch yesterday who said that he would likely vote against shimmers resolution. but apart from that most republican senators have said that they're looking at the issue and that they look for different from secretary mnuchin today. it could be that that is some republican support for this incident. the only need a couple of votes at least to move forward with it

and there's certainly enough senators who are somewhat that concerned about russia and the appearance at least of the mueller investigation and some conflict of interest they may vote with democrats on this. so it could go in schumer is favored at an event if republicans with you from secretary mnuchin, if they feel he is a strong case, this may be dead in the water dependent on what happens during the conference lunch today. >> host: as this unfolds will continue following you on twitter. reporting at bloomberg.com. thanks so much. >> guest: thank you. >> the senate considered legislation today to provide military assistance to israel and put new sanctions on syria. democrats blocking that bill saying lawmakers should be working on spending bills to reopen the u.s. government. the senate in recess until 2:15 p.m. eastern for the weekly caucus meetings.

treasury secretary steve mnuchin would be meeting with republicans at the lunch to make the case for opposing a measure by democrats to disapprove of the treasury department lifting sanctions on three russian companies. when the senate returns minority leader chuck schumer is expected to call for a vote on that resolution. when the sin is back at 2:15 p.m. you can find live coverage on c-span2. -- the senate is back. >> over the course of this partial government shutdown we've seen our democratic colleagues engage in increasingly acrobatic contortions in order to dodge a serious conversation about the urgent humanitarian and security crisis down at our southern border. their refusal to come to the t negotiating table has serious implications for the hundreds of thousands of federal workers going without pay. and for all americans to deserve a nation that can secure its