the paperwork and so forth that they are saying there is a lot of paperwork, do our departments, do we need to hire more people to help with the visas and the green cards and stuff like that to make things flow better? so that things really do get done? host: thank you for adding your voice. from roll call.com. the shutdown divergent. movie had on that bill signed by the president. februarydeadline is eight. all of today's programming is available on our website at c-span.org and our podcast this week is with cokie roberts of abc news and npr discussing why washington is broken in some of the recommendations she has in making changes or fixing it. it will be posted on our website, c-span podcast. and sarah huckabee sanders holding a 20 minute briefing as

congress is working through an agreement getting it to the president's desk. >> good afternoon. obviously, the impending conclusion of the coverage is leading today but i want to get to a couple issues first. first on northwest syria, we call on all parties to focus on de-escalating and resolving the syrian conflict and protecting innocent civilians. we take seriously turkey's concerns. security increased violence distracts from international efforts to ensure the lasting defeat of isis. qaeda be exploited by al

encourage turkey to exercise restraint, and sure in scopes are limited and duration, ensure a aid continues and avoid casualties. brutal to assure assad's regime cannot return and we will continue working diplomatically to end the syrian civil. in afghanistan, terrorists attacked the hotel and kabul. -- wettacks only serve commend the swift and effective response of afghan security forces. -- alsoorces, hour of seek to export terror around the world. we call on pakistan to immediately arrest or expand -- expel the taliban leaders and prevent the group from using pakistani territory to support

its operations. lastly, in regards to the government shutdown, we're sender schumer accepted deal that presidential put on the tail from the very beginning to debate immigration as a separate issue. a stigma from the president of the united states, i will read. "i am pleased him cards and congress have come to their senses and are now willing to fund our great military, border patrol, first responders, and insurance for vulnerable children. as i have always said, once it is funded i will work with my government toward funding. we will make a long-term deal on immigration if and only if it is country."for our >> how is the president going to work with democrats when he is running for -- i campaign ad that is calling -- how is he going to show leadership? , he is focused on

national security. he has been very strong and discussing the need for border security and tying that are likely to national security. that's a big focus of the president's campaign at the time and also since he is become president. in terms of specifics of us running, i can get into any details but his position in terms of the need for border security and how that impacts our security is something we've been very clear on. >> so he is bringing democrats here, bringing republicans here, how will this be any different. over the weekend he was only talking to republicans will stop there is going to need to be a deal with democrats. think there is a whole lot of daylight between where we are and where the credits are. we want to negotiating a took place and we are hopeful we can do that over the next couple weeks.

>> senator schumer claimed the deal on the table was much different today than when he had last week. forward,he ball move if it did at all between friday night and this morning. sarah: look, think democrats realized that the position they had taken frankly was indefensible and they had to --us on first finding funding our military, protecting border patrol agents, funding vulnerable children to the chip program. these are things they did not disagree with. they agreed with everything in the cr. republican state from. democrats i think realized they had to move past that piece of legislation so they can focus on the conversation they are desperate to have. craig so is that your contention that the deal chuck schumer excepted and lauded today is no different from the other deal? i do not think it is

drastically different, no. we understand, was there no interaction between the president and the campaign? sarah: that is something i would not be part of that process. president has some liberties i do not. that is something i would have to check on but i would refer you to the campaign because they are the only ones who can speak specifically to that issue. is reflectiveat that they aree complicit in and would be complicit and future murders because of the shutdown? sarah: i think of people are unwilling to close our borders, unwilling to and chain migration, unwilling to fix all the problems we have in our immigration system and are not willing to negotiate an actually do things at the excesses of the we know to be problematic then yes, that would be a problem and certainly allow for future

incidents to take place. john? >> is the two-year requirement from the president one of his top goals for the budget negotiations going forward, notches this fiscal year but two years? sarah: look, i'm not going to negotiate with you, here. we do made clear that is certainly our preference. john. >> several months ago the president called on congress to provide legislation for the. go recipients. -- for the daca recipients. would he sign a clean bill or would he insist upon funding for the border wall for mexico. sarah: we have laid out what we want to see. those priorities have not changed.

funding for security, that would certainly include the wall. >> tomorrow morning will begin the final round of negotiations. howard those negotiations going right now? what we are hearing right now is they are not going well. they've not been going well for the first five rounds. sarah: we don't have any specific announcement. we feel things are moving forward. we're going to continue with those negotiations. as the president said before he is going to make sure he gets the best deal for america and american workers. that will be a topic of discussion as we move forward in these negotiations. >> does the president feel he can deal with democrats anymore. for example, senator cowan said over and the weekend that the president did not know the difference between authorization and appropriation. there's been another leak about conversations behind closed

doors. trust? the level of sarah: i would not say it the highest level of trust that we are hopeful we can reach an agreement on immigration reform. i know they agree on most of those components and we hope they will come to the table actually ready to make a deal and less focused on playing political games. >> are you going to build a get big things done after this fight? sarah: we hope so. we hope democrats won't play politics but will rather put the needs of the country ahead of the political gamesmanship they have been playing for the past couple of months. starting with the budget and moving into immigration. peter. >> what about a pathway to citizenship for dreamers? sarah: we have said we would support a permanent solution for those in the daca program and i

think that would address that. crime she must have some position on this because -- >> you must have some position on this. sarah: i think we do hope to find a permanent solution. legal status versus pathway to citizenship or does it not matter to the president? sarah: right now we want a permanent solution for that program for right now a big priority is making sure we don't find ourselves having the same battle two or three or four or five years down the road so we have to have a responsible immigration reform that addresses more than just that daca program. said you would be open to permanent legal people infor 690,000 the daca program. what about beyond that? estimated withas

democrats want what potential he legalized 3 million democrats -- would potentially legalize 3 million? i think it was addicted for 1.7 million. in.redicted for 1.7 my sarah: we're going to look for the best solution. don't forget a big priority for this administration is making this program in its entirety. not just that one piece of it. >> certain people had the protection, others decided not to apply. as a white house open to applying a deal in this go round whatpopulation larger than was daca?

open toe are negotiating with congress and making sure we get the deal that meets that criteria we laid out. >> still planning to go to dub those? sarah: if things go as planned with the reopening of the government, which we expect they will come in the presidential delegation will leave tomorrow and the president will later in the week. >> the priorities, where exactly does that rank? you talk about what needs to happen for it deal. the lottery program, the wall, daca, chain migration, other components may be there as well. the actual daca solution, how big of a deal is that one component for the president # sarah: we look at is all equal parts. that is why we laid out our

priorities. we know the wall will be part of this negotiation. that is something the president has committed to do but we do not want to do that without the other three components. it is like having a store with three legs -- two legs, does not work very well. we don't want to just kick the can down the road but deal with the issue in the long-term. >> what is he doing behind the scenes as his drama is unfolding? sarah: look, we've put out a number of different readouts he has had. calls the of had with members on the hill. he is met with a number of his cabinet to manage the shutdown. a big priority was making sure this was well-managed and was not as director mulvaney calls in"weaponize." leica was 2013.

it has been a big priority for the present. i think it meant -- went much smoother than in the past. the president was standing firm on exactly what he wanted to do do.what he did not want to it clearly worked because we are back where we started on friday and the democrats have now allowed this to move forward. hopefully, the house will move this through quick flip -- quickly. then we can start immediately on discussions on immigration reform. thanks when will we see him? sarah: we will keep you posted. i will certainly make sure you guys are aware when that time comes. thatll we see him sign thing? sarah: the time is not finalized. we have to wait on the house peace. there is also omb and legal reviews to take place before it actually hits that presidents desk so a lot of that is just timing and formality.

today? we see sarah: will keep you posted. >> does the president still have faith in wilbur ross? sarah: i spoke with the president this morning. inis 100% confidence secretary ross. he loves wilborn thinks he has been a strong advocate for the administration and has been a great leader when it comes to the trade discussion on steel, aluminum, and certainly his involvement in trade across the board with the administration. asked the president was there in september when he said dreamers have nothing to worry about. president was very clear in september when he said dreamers have nothing to worry about. is that still correct? sarah: we have democrats are willing to work with us to make sure we resolve this issue.

>> a lot of dreamers are sort of living on pins and needles not knowing what their fate is. what is the white house message to that population? sarah: i think they should protest on capitol hill. democrats are who forced a government shutdown by being unwilling to fund the government. we lost four days over this process, the from conversation should've been focused on immigration. if they had been part of the solution and so the part of the problem then i think we would've been further down the road on the negotiations on the package and hopefully we will not have problems like that in the future. >> two questions. first on the obvious. , then member of the leadership, set it to-day member, republicans in the house work committed to the three priorities the president laid

reopening process of the government. -- on thosedent three negotiations, ending chain migration come the ending of the lottery, and the wall? sarah: we have made it clear those are our priorities. look, these are the priorities we want to see in a package and we won't negotiate out with congress. we have been ready upfront front. i think i've said that about 30 times already today. those are the priorities we want to see in any legislative package. >> of other question is on a completely different subject. one santa would bear are 2 -- bayer are prepared

to merge. many fear this will lead to a monopoly in the seed industry and raise prices, which will community.rm is the president in favor of a merger? sarah: i will have to get back to on that. >> i understand you have laid out criteria of what you want to on a deal, but is the president saying if he does not get what he wants and those other areas he will begin to deport the dreamers? sarah: we have not determined that. we're hopeful we do not have to do that and we do not have to get there. we would like democrats to get serious about actually solving problems. they say they want to negotiate, so much so they were willing to shut down the government. if they're willing to go that far, surely they will be willing to come to the table and talk about resolutions to get something done.

that's what about the deportation protection from dreamers? sarah: in yes, that is the presence job, he'd did that because of congresses failure to actually address the issue. they are the ones that pass those laws. the president gave a six-month timeframe for them to do that and now i think all of america's counting on them to show up and make sure that happens. >> the president said that was a good thing for us, meaning politically, does he agree with that? sarah: i have not spoken with him about that. sorry. ]indiscernible sarah: and again, most of the parts they tried to maintain and keep open the unlike in past shutdown's they tried to minimize the impact on the

american people. in terms of turnaround time for a full reopen, as i said earlier, we are waiting on the house to vote and clear then it will go through the omb engine process and legal review. and hit the president's desk, we expect sometime early afternoon late evening which would make government offices already closed and said they would start back in full capacity tomorrow morning. if that changes we will certainly let you guys know but that is sort of what we tentatively expect at this time. >> i want you to respond to the criticism senator schumer lobbed over the weekend. president jell-o. today, they said the great dealmaker sat on the sidelines. out part of the president's strategy? sarah: what the president did clearly worked. the vote just came in.

i would say those numbers are much more the presence favor then and senator schumer's favor. i'm not sure what changed from him what he gained other than maybe nancy pelosi taking a bunch of republican members up for dinner to celebrate their shutdown. i'm not sure what else came out of the weekend. sorry, i meant democrat. >> following up, in addition to saying senator schumer negotiated like jell-o, [indiscernible] -- is the president using his policy pressure?o exert sarah: the president as well as the administration, we have laid out clearly in a three-page memo what our priorities and principles are for this process. we have been very consistent on that front. powers jason miller have