tv U.S. Senate U.S. Senate CSPAN November 15, 2021 7:27pm-8:02pm EST
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[background sounds]. the impact of the abortion law have on communities and families in texas, the house judiciary committee has both pro-choice and pro-life advocates that question recently, watch tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on "c-span2" in our line is cspan.org or watch full coverage on c-span now, our new video app. a new mobile video app from cspan, c-span now download today. >> washington journal, we like to take a look at the week ahead on mondays and washington to do that with this week we are joined by congressional reporter with the health, and mike, let's start with reaction on the hill this week and headline of the story democrats expect to pass
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$1.75 trillion biden package this week explaining how they intend to do that predict. >> it is a huge way for the democrats and they been with this bill for literally months is is kind of the current time and elites want to get it done and the fight is been very public and is kind of been the only game in town and this is the joe biden campaign on any want to get it done and was the legacy defining piece of legislation in the spice of course as they have in public, have been pretty embarrassing and put embarrassing is been the housing is the senate and the mothers against liberal and the congress and his white house and all democrats on the democrats and anytime you have the narrative, it can be embarrassing and they say that this is the thought making process and yes that is true but it has been a particular missing one because of the length of it because of with the laser focus on every kind of detail that is happened it so this way, thousand nancy pelosi was to bring this to the floor and
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there is no scheduled a date tos bring to the floor but the plan is to do that before they leave for the long skinny holiday had to do so they had to get a commitment from a moderates who are holding out lastly as a policy wanted to pass this on friday and that hit a kind of a break all in the form of these moderate democrats and she said no we need to have an unofficial county and cost estimate from the congressional office which is typically a routine step on any piece of legislation because of the floors, you have to get a cost estimate in this case, they work ready to bypass that step in the got the estimate a lot of the provision but not this and as a whole, that is important anyone permission and becky might cost one thing but if you put all these things together the way the interact can change the cost of the course of time and so that's what they are waiting for and that is going to take time. in the moderates in the end
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committed to on a bill vote this week if they can additional information, from the cbo and policy has said that they are giving that information so they seem to be on course to bring it to the floor. but at the end of the day, what they wanted to move beyond it the process. ... they want to move on. they want to get it done and start talking about the benefit of the package. they think that this is the week to do it. host: what is harder for the currents? democrats, passing the building back better act at the senate they can lose
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exactly zero votes. the moderates in the house and senate hearing a lot about joe manchin curses at them in the senate. in many ways they been negotiating on behalf of the process has been of back and forth including abiding. his manchin and cinema can sign on to something that will be just fine with the moderates of the t house. when they pass it goes to the senate they're supposed to be changes made in the senate matches going to object to certain privileges that the
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sum of the climate change in language some of that methane admission language that might get altered in the senate. that would laze going to ping-pong back to the house eventually. this could go into december depending how messy it gets. the margins are slim about the house and the senate's heavy lift in both places cruxes are still being written as we speak? >> is still being written we are told they are really close were not going to change any provisions on a major skill at this point. most of the bill is written. they've already out passed out of the rules committee last friday. if there are any changes that willha be minor and it will be a legal ease technical language that will be important for the implementation of this stuff but it will not be important
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for the actual benefits the benefits will not change of the house bill. in terms of how much this will cost and how will get paid for? >> the numbers they have provided to the committee, plus he put out a letter on friday six committees have already been given numbers by the cbo. with numbers the white house had predicted. out of the cbo are similar to the white house then there's going to be no problem with us we are going to support it. we were getting more today, so a lot of those numbers are rolling the final accounting the full score all interactive
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will probably not be done by the time they vote on a bill if that happens this week. that moderates have made their concessions on that front on the process front. so far at the numbers seem to be sticking with the white house predictions. as the chairman of the ways and means which has the jurisdiction of a huge chunk of this legislation. because he wanted to be deficit neutral everything paid for we are overcompensating on the revenue side. we went the number to be higher over there in case something goes wrong with the cbo score he is claiming this will not only pay for itself it will reduceef the deficit over the ten year window over which the spending applies right now. >> in the cbo score does come
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back different from those predictions, so what? an democrats object? does it only matter politically has forest pressure on individual members if they would support something that cost more than expected? what happens at those numbers are off as their penalty? >> there is no penalty. they're very good at passing bills onto the deficit there is no penalty. there can be a political penalty i should say that. the tea party wave of 2010 was predicated on this idea that was an existential threat to democracy. and it did not matter when trump was in office and trillions of dollars on top of the debt. there is no penalty for that. it seems among these voters. what would happen if the score
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comes back extremely differently from what theynd expected we would not see that until to the senate assuming the house passes of this week. with the moderates of said in the very short statement a couple of weeks ago in which case we will work with pelosi and the committee had we will come some more language we will tweak it a ghetto makes the whole thing is paid for. >> if you and want to understand how the whole things works what's happening behind the scenes that will be a great time to call in a long time congressional reporter with the hill 202,748,000 democrats republicans 8001 independence (202)748-8002. mike willis now if giving a chance to take a sip of water will get to the calls for you. alan and main independent good morning. speech three good morning thank you very much first he's been a mike seems guy.
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i very informed guy in terms of congressional matters. he remindsds me of howard beale from that network it's a little disheveled but he knows what is talking about. in terms of party within congressional, within congress and very interested for the first district in maine. >> you yourself are going to run? >> yes. yes. >> as anou independent? not an independent that does not say anything. in terms of party affiliate which you have in the previous episode, i made the party i did not like either of the parties.
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now i am a global green anti- empire piece party candidate. we obviously have to changee the nature of the government we are in. it is not really a representative government at all. >> sorry i got you side tracked what is your question for mike willis? >> mike in terms of the capability of running for office is the host called it global green anti- empire party and beach party. anyway i have no peace. we have an empire so we should be anti- empire. the only party in the world at house parties and over 100 countries. it comports a lot with the greener deal.
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which is addressing and let's abiding goes crazier than he is. he is not going to start a nuclear war. >> are you asking mike to assess your chances in the race? >> i love it. >> you want to jump in and play political pundit? >> i am not a campaign report of a go for it if you can get people to go into that ballot box and put a check next to your name, then go for what is to lose. >> jamaal charlotte northland republican good morning. good morning good to talk to you. mike you look all right. [laughter] i will say this, i am very disappointed in joe biden. he ran on raising minimum
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wage. all of this of fluff and stuff they put in these bills they did not put anything in here for working-class people as far as the minimum wage is concerned in my opinion. and also i feel like it is really sad with a dense american class american bite is far as taking of business and making sure things are done. time and time again we voted on different parties and none seem to trickle down to the working class man and woman, that is my opinion very. >> when you take from that is democrats try to approach this massive bill? >> that is exactly the problem they're trying to address there's a lot of things they build it back a better act,
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this $1.57 trillion bill that aim to address the disparities in theha stagnation we've seen over the course of 40 years. there iss no minimum wage in there you might remember when that minimum wage past the house i got to the senate and kyrsten sinema. famously some would say intimacy gave the thumbs down and so it did not go through the senate and from with the majority that includes an extension of the child tax credit childcare subsidies, it includes expansion of daca tickets is an enormous a package they think they are addressing those things even as they have failed on minimum
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wage. >> i want to come back to that story to theho front page of the hill.com now the democrats expect to pass biden package week. what i think they call in your line of work essene setter story for the week. this is the story what is going to be happen on capitol hill this week. so question on how you do a story like that on twitter, who wants to know how often you speak to the actual legislators? do you stack talk to the staff more than the members? how do you determine what is information versus spin when you do that? >> that is a great question. when congress and the house and senate have different schedules, my focus is on the house. when congress is in, there's a done dozens if not hundreds of reporters writing on the capitol building counseling talking to lawmakers, to staffers, and then when they are gone you try to get them on the phone both lawmakers and staffers. you try to get the information from the source.
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the question about spin is a very good one also. no one wants to get taken for a ride. if you have been here long enough and covering you know who to trust you not to and even those you trust you trust to verify. you've got to fact check the numbers and in cases when you can't try to attribute it toeo people rather than writing it matter-of-factly. it is a very good question we are constantly up there in the capitol talking to members. in a debate like this it's the only t way to do it everything is moving so quickly. a story he wrote now might be irrelevant in an hour literally because some provision of the bill has already changed because some closed-door negotiation between pelosi and somebody else. it has always been an influx and moving at the speed of light which makes it a very fascinating debate to watch but a very good question for.
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>> hills of florida this is surely democrat good morning. >> caller: good morning. hi, thank you for taking my call. what i would like to say is, i would like to tell democrats i'm so very proud of them. they have been fighting tooth and nail the republicans are not going to do anything. when they do they get attacked and stuff. they just have to realize they have got to fight this on their own and we are depending on them to deliver for us. they made us so proud, so far the democrats have. we need them to go out and talk about what they are doing for the people more. they need to tell them what they are doing because it should be much higher than it is i love the democratic party, thank god for them. >> mike willis on the polling and messaging,. >> right.
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if you look at these provisions individually go to something like that minimum wage that pole is a popular provision across the board it does not matter to the party it does not matter the era really. that has pulled very highly for many, many years. but that popularity is not gone to a legislative win on capitol hill. with the democrats have done kind of knowingow that knowing have very slim margins and knowing even popular provisions over the years have not been able to get across the finish line particular with the filibuster in the senate. they are leaning on a budget gimmick called budget reconciliation that allows them to sidestep the filibuster in the senate. so c they can take these popular provisions, they can pass them without a single republican vote and then they can take credit for all of it. they do not even have to say it's bipartisan because it's not going to be. a little bit different on the
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infrastructure partth of this lower number of senate republican votes including mitch mcconnell voted for the infrastructure build 13 republicans of the house voted for the infrastructure built. they build back better is strictly partisan on single republican vote. and then after words you can the campaign operatives are going to message like crazy that this was lopsided, there was no republican support for these very popular provisions like childcare and a child tax credit in all of these other things. a lot of claimant provisions and there are also popular if polls are accurate. so the flipside of that is republicans are going to accuse them of being socialist and expanding all of these federalha programs in ways the country cannot afford. that is the fight we're going to have all of next year heading into the 2022 midterms. >> were halfway through the conversation the hill this morning, step back from that
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week ahead in washington and talk a little bit about the other budget and government funding deadlines that are hanging over congress right now and what impact they could have on the floor time and the legislative planning for the builder back better act? >> that's a good question for the timeline we're looking at right now is already tight. it's the middle of november it sounds strange to say it is already tight. if the house were to pass the build back better act this week there's no time for the senate to do it before the thanksgiving holiday which is of course next week about the house in the senate will be gone. now you're looking at december, there come back there leaning up against the december 3 government shut down the government funding authorization fires expires on december 3 that got to pass something to extend short-term or something longer-term which
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would take even more heavy lifting. on top of that there is the debt ceiling. in her back september was a big fight. mitch mcconnell, who had vowed not to help the democrats with the debt ceiling he kind of caved in september and said we will do it for short term we will do it until december 3, same deadline. but we are not going to help you next time. if there are no republican votes are very few republican votes for lifting the debt ceiling in december, then you are looking at a government default which is never happened in the history of the country and a lot of economists warn it would be economic armageddon. not just here but globally. so if you're pushing a build back better this package is going to be competing for floor time with these two other huge, huge bills that have to hit the floor at the exactly the same time. so about the house in the senate right now claim they're going to be out of washington on december 13.
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but if you are a betting man you would not put any money on it. nobody's buying plane tickets home for the holidays just yet this could be a long december with all these deadlines. the other piece of this is the nda. the pentagon funding authorization which is hugelyza popular, always bipartisan 770 billion-dollar bill to fund the pentagon passed the house in september with overwhelming support. charles schumer the senate majority leader supports a car but wants to bring it to the floor but because it's going to take up some time is going to be an amendment to the whole on the senate. he does not want to occupy this huge chunk of floor time if build back better is going to come over. if he's got to do government funding. if he has got to do debt ceiling. now he's going this week to try to do the pentagon spending bill while he waits for the house to pass build back better. he has a window of time and he is going to try to do pentagon
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spending this week. why they can do it by the end of the week remains to be seen bro. >> just a couple things for a congressional reporter to cover are you saying? >> yes. >> anaheim republican good morning. >> caller: good morning. might you answer my question earlier how they were going to pass it through the senate. i don't think mcconnell is going to allow any of his members to vote, you are absolutely right about that. but you do you think the democrats made a mistake by breaking these two bills apart? they pretty much lost their leverage don't you think? stuart thanks mike willis? >> guest: that's a great question. if you asked the liberals they would have girth you wholeheartedly print that was the reason they did knowledge break them apart and they were insisting the build back better act come to the floor first before they vote for infrastructure. and again because of the thin
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margins over there they would've had the leverage to block the infrastructure build a more popular bill. what happened not last friday but the week before is the liberals and moderates of the house sat down and they were in a room until almost midnight on friday. thank hashed out a deal where the liberals of caved. we will take your word, talking to the moderates, will take your word you will vote for the build back better act we will vote for infrastructure today. just get the ball rolling. get joe biden a win. but at this devious car comes in then you have to vote for the larger larger bill. that is where we are now it's a non- binding agreement. it's funny the liberals held out for months and months opposing the infrastructure bill not on policy but on process. and then at the last minute they said we will vote for
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with literally two sentence statement from the moderate. there's not been a lot of trust between those two camps. suddenly the liberals that we will trust you. so that is where we are. the moderates could always renege. managed could put his foot down to have got infrastructure it's what we wanted the other stuff is too big. especially the inflation spike is in very vocal over inflation another huge influx of government spending might exacerbate it. this is congress anything can happen. but there's a lot of steak also for the democrats. mentioned biden's falling poll numbers. the results of elections around the country and state races a couple tuesdays ago. we are kind of in crisis mode and went to get some victories. they want to get some pucks in the net is some of them up there would say. there is a lot at stake it
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sounds like they think they have all the votes to get this done. again the process is messy but it's a good question about separating those two bills. there was always this idea they had to be separate but they had to be married for one group. insa the moderates had said all along this is about deficit spending. but by agreeing to vote on build a back this week without a full accounting they sort of revealed the deficit spending was not the only thing. they just wanted to separate the two bills, go home to their districts and claim a big bipartisan win on a popular infrastructure bill and claim it was separate from the larger bill that is less popular, more partisan is going to be is in the campaign trail against them. sue and how much he may have you been cover the one sixth committee? >> on and off. we have others in the office to cover it more closely. it is certainly a backdrop of
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all of these conversations. >> lynn with the question on twitter just on the latest news from there. do you think the committee will holdea a marker meadows and contempt along with others who ignored subpoenas as steven bannon is preparing to show up in court today banded inside last week by a federal grand jury on two counts of contempt of congress after failing to comply with a subpoena. >> that is a good question and the answer is yes. d.o.j. was under a lot of criticism for members of both parties and that liz cheney's of the world as well as pretty much every democrat. why is merrick garland not pursuing this? there was a lot of excitement and praise on friday when they announce the event indictment. immediately betty thompson put out a statement this is
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indication of market meadows and others who do not want to cooperate with the investigation you are on notice you will be next. the answer is yes. >> ned independent. >> good morning. mike, defense authorization bill is extremely important that they address that. it is such a mess we do not even know our military is scattered across the world right now with the whole afghanistan thing they had to divert so many carriers to do that air lift if you would recall there is an earthquake in haiti we had to respond to do that. we are trying to modernize the whole defense department, but also pivot to the pacific right now. the other is the use of our
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national guard. they are having to deploy 500 troops for the trial in ohio because they might riot. our national guard is overstretched right now really bad. responding to wildfires and everything. >> will take mike willis, isn't that usually wanted the less political bills in congress? >> it's already one of the most popular. the question is not whether it will pass the question is when. that's the issue of humor picking floor time. as i mention he's shooting to do that this week. there are a couple controversial elements to this one. the house andts democrats in their put a stipulation that women will now be required to register for selective service we do not have a draft that
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men, when they turn 18 in this country they have to register the selective service and there are penalties foric those who do not do so. there are a lot of conservatives that do not like that provision. there is a thinking from the senate conservatives will offer ato memos district that language. she has learned how a lot of control over what can hit the floor that might not be one of them. there are couple little sticking point like that. schumer has expressed a lot of interest in appeal the 2002 war authorization that empowered bush to go to iraq. that is been around for almost 20 years and people on both sides of the aisle think it is no longer relevant and should be repealed the nda a might be thee vehicle to do it. there are some controversial elements in it for the most part of it is not controversial this money goes to every district in every state of the country. in fact the $770 billion is
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25 billion more than even the pentagon requested. this happens all the time where this is free money for districts and lawmakers love to bring home the bacon. the defense bill is an easy way to do it it's a noncontroversial way to do it and it will happen but. >> less than ten minutes left with my quills this morning is claudia white mills pennsylvania, republican good morning. >> good morning. how are you doing? >> doing well what is your question or comment? >> my question is, i am a republican living in amo democratic state. i watch so much of the politics going on on you know, the news. they never focus enough on those living with fixed income. they're talking about tax credits with people with
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children. how do they expect the seniors to you know, survive in this country? when are they going to start helping to take care of the seniors? sue and mike wells and provisions and build back better that may focus on those issues or don't? >> there are several in their. they do not go as far some would have liked it. the biggest fight they have had over this was an expansion of a medicare. had a number of liberal democrats bernie sanders being the most notable one, who wanted to expand medicare to include vision, hearing, and dental coverage. manchin in the senate was opposed to that it was pared back in a bidens of framework which introduced a fewnl weeks ago only including hearing and the house bill is expected to pass this week only includes
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hearing. whether sanders tries to amend that to expanded to include the other two, when it gets to the senate we do not know. is that a redline for manchin? that is a debate to come. there is also home care for the elderly. what else i'm trying to think. there's publicerc housing vouchers there's hundreds of billions of dollars in there for eldercare as well as education and benefits that are going to affect the younger generations as you rightly point out very. >> houston, texas, rodney good morning. >> good morning. >> go ahead sir. >> they keep bringing senior citizens outcome of the
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elderly. i am disabled, i cannot work trying to live out what they give us a month we cannot afford to eat or anything. we filed for food stamps and everything they talk about you make too much. i work two or three jobs all my life, paid my taxes, the sit here and starve spending our tax dollars to other countries are not happy to senior citizens on her own company. we went riding will be the quickest and best way to help you? >> could they send a stimulus check or something to pay bills? everything i own is sitting in a pawnshop i could not afford to get it out the talk about a stimulus they ain't never sending. i've been paying interest for over your just so i can get it
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