congress and the nation, join us on c-span for preview of the eastern,tarting 8 p.m. then state of union speech, live speech, following this the democratic response from congressman joe kennedy, also comments reaction and from members of congress. tuesday night, live on c-span, free c-span radio app, and available on the desk top, phone or tablet at c-span.org. >> this week on newsmakers, senator from oklahoma, number wo republican on the armed services committee, senator james inhove, thank you. you.ood to be with >> patrick kelly, defense and ter with cq roll call joe gould, congressional reporter with defense news, joe, go ahead. so senator, senator, we heard

today from senator cornyn. out ofas optimism coming the last cr vote that ultimately increase on defense spending, that budget caps would be lifted. hat message do you have for leadership as far as breaking to a passe, and getting larger deal to fund federal government? senator: yes, get away from cr's. i can remember when i first started, it was understood, we were going to have appropriations bills, 12 bills and have not quite frankly, the partisan element to this, because we have to pass them out, majority, we can't get them on know.loor, as you minority can block for -- now as far as the one that has to pass, is the one for our national

defense. nd we have to get past the budget caps, have to get, give an example, if we don't do right now, it is when we pass authorization bill military, $700 billion, we have to go and can't get the cap and go to strict r, that is going down to $549 billion and that would absolutely be devastating, we've military and ur can't do it unless we pass it or we -- ions bill jim mattis has linked instability to readiness problems, you're the chairman of he readiness subcommit of the --ed services committee, how where are we now in terms of crisis.s

does congress share any part of prioritize ven that readiness enough? enator: during the obama administration, i hate to be really y blunt, but we suffered in our military and i don't say this really critically obama, because he's very proud liberal and proud liberals don't care that much about military. had a policy we couldn't do anything to repair the military and sequestration, unless we do thing for social programs. that is not what the institution be , we are supposed to defending america first. i've had three committee earings now on dilemma we're facing and we can still win, we we in battle and will win, will lose a lot of people doing it. eadiness equates to american lives and these right now are ground brigades, for example, a ready to be activated,

we are missing 1500 pilots right now, 1300 of those are actually pilots, we have our f-18s those, sees a third of you know, less than half of them are working right now. cover those things up, win, ther vehicles, we can but we're going to take a lot of sacrifices winning. it s important people know, is very important for our officers to let the people in that we have serious problems because without awareness, ut their we're not going to get the attention of house members and senate members that have to make the decision on budget for the dilemma or fixing the we have right now. host: and looks like the house to take action on some of the issues. earlier this week

said they will vote on same defense spending bill that july, stripping it out bill, and vote og that for the freedom caucus and they will lift capos spending programs. talked already, do you envision day when they will vote raise caps and vote on bill that has passed the house? enator: i would say this, i applaud the house for doing this, we have to have budget military andor the taking that action will in my opinion, making it easier in the we have a lot of people that, i think all of republicans support that, i feel the democrats are little bit more i think it d do it, is a great start, i -- applaud doing that and putting us in that position. that has to be done. be done things have to

to fix the dilemma we have, one is, we got to have other iations bills and ways we have to raise the caps a other is we have to be in position where senior uniform personnel are talking about the problem. have the credibility, when i talk to people and i tell risk we're he facing, i think is greatest risk in the history of this country, have the credibility, but they do if they are in uniform. what i just now said, the risk there, is very greatest hen i say i've said manyd, times before, i look back in days of the cold war, two super powers and we knew what they had, they knew what we had, something.n meant doesn't mean anything anymore. we have countries like north korea, north korea on november 8, fired rocket that has range

to reach here we're we're sitting any place in the continental united states. that is something we're working on now, trying to get ground interceptors where they need to be, that is the threat we're facing now. house is e action the talking about doing, i want to make sure they do it. >> the national defense strategy was unveiled this past friday, portion, at least. so you mention this is greatest national have seen, defense strategy says united states greatest threat from russia and china, i'm wondering you have seen classified version of the report and what -- senator: things i can't talk about right now, agree,o-three strategy, i in terms of the greatest

you are talking about the 2-3 strategy. i agree in terms of the greatest threat, eventually would be russia or china -- and china. the other three are important, too. that is the strategy he is putting down as a priority, so you really have two different types of strategies. i mentioned north korea.

>> to your point about north korea. the national defense strategy

prioritizes missile and also prioritizes investments in nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons modernization, and also cyber. choices.is about are there parts of the defense budget where you see disinvest?es to where can we give up? >> part of the strategy is that -- that general mattis came at with cash came out with is that -- that is what happened primarily during the obama administration. artillery is a good example. we are behind both russia and china in artillery capability. , lot of our allies, germany for example, they are ahead of us. part of the strategy outlined

talked about getting so that we are at least equal or better in all of these areas. cyber is another thing. not many people are aware of the capability someone can do with a cyber attack on america. that is something that is kind of new, and not many people are familiar with it. but they could put us out of business and we cannot afford to do that. other areas are acquisition. chairman about -- the of the senate armed services committee, john mccain, has always been a tiger about doing something about acquisition. he reminds us we have gone through our ground capabilities. remember the system we were first going to use, the crusader system? we spent $2 billion on that, then jumped the system with the future combat system. that we spentlion on it, then we jumped it because the acquisition was not going right. the same thing with some of the

helicopters. that is one area that has got to be -- even though it does not have the immediate effect of trying to stop something catastrophic from hitting us today, that we have to look at the future. maintenance is the other thing we talked about, something that people are not familiar with. -- if we have a serious maintenance problem, trying to maintain a lot of the vehicles, that is a maintenance problem that has got to be corrected. the strategy is right. in order to do that, we have to accomplish what we started out with, and that is do something about lifting the caps and getting an appropriation bill. people do not understand -- if you just do a continuing resolution, that means you take what has been given to us by obama and you have just got to bring it forward and do the same thing. we want to rebuild, be superior. america'ssserting leadership in the world, and we

want to be able to afford that. >> the pentagon under president trump and also under president for --ave both asked that is something you have been consistently opposed to. would agree to something like that as a means of allowing to pentagon some headspace free up funding for other priorities? >> this is one of the few areas where a lot of the republicans disagree. when they came out, there are .wo things that happen a base realignment and closure commission. that is what it stands for. they go through and make -- the reason i'm every bto it now, with

racground, the first three or four years it costs huge amounts of money. right now we can't afford huge amounts of money. we have to take care of maintenance problems we have first. that would be regardless of any other issue. that is the reason i would oppose it now. does not mean i would oppose it in the future necessarily. we are in a rebuilding mode. we've got to be right now. when you start rebuilding, let's say you go out and close installations in america because they are not being used right now, we don't know when we get into rebuilding mode, maybe that insulation we will have to have. i have to say a lot of my colleagues do not oppose it. >> on the topic of rebuilding

america's military i understand yesterday the senate was briefed on the nuclear posture review released in february. the congressional budget office says it's going to take $1.2 trillion to -- out to 2046. adam smith today said you could have an effective nuclear deterrent for far less than 1.2 trillion over that span of time. what do you say in response to that? >> adam smith, good guy and all of that but he is the democratic leader over there. they have different priorities. they also ported president obama -- inority on you can't terms of the triad, i know what's been in the press since then. i can freely talk about that. we've got a problem with our

nuclear arsenal. ever since the cold war we have not done anything to modernize it. we're just like we were back then. at the same time we are doing nothing. both china and russia are working hard to make sure they get ahead of us in this area. get busy andt we that is what the meeting was about. when they cannot with their final report this has already been in the media. position to in a start working on it. there are three elements of a triad as a nuclear deterrent, submarines, your air, and your ground. we are working on some of those areas. i was complementing john mccain .n his leadership one of the things we did was make sure we increased our missile defense system, make

sure we are paying attention to some of the old parts in the triad. we are still using b-52s. until we have a be 21 coming along, probably another eight years before that gets there. -- notin the process until six years from now. we've got to get that turned up -- that deterrent up to be competing with russia and china. >> a little more than five minutes left. >> one thing we have heard in recent weeks secretary of state tillerson signal some support for an indefinite u.s. troop , to dealin iraq, syria with the aftermath of the islamic state.

what do you see as the mission there? does this administration has to explain to the american people and congress what troops would be doing there after the fall of isis? whereould rather hear matus is coming down. i think the world of our secretary of state. you're getting into some technical military issues. as tol take some presence the level of american presence, we've had some great successes. you can't get up and walk away. one of the bad things that came out of the obama administration, they came out and made statements as to what they're going to do. what are troop level is going to be on a certain date. , theis the worst thing american people know but enemies know also. he's probably right but as to the numbers, i want to wait and

matus comesretary up with. >> does the pentagon need to send a representative to the hill to brief on the topic or present an open hearing? >> it can be an open hearing, close hearing, it does not really matter. most open hearing and up in closed hearings if they .re saying they can't respond i would say it's going to be both. in a lot of the zones we are talking about with seven members of the senate, and one from the house in a short talk time to make our own determination. a lot of times you have to go there to really find out. you have to talk to troops on the ground. you have to talk to commanders on the ground. you always get more accurate

story than having an open .earing in washington let me come back with that knowledge. >> that raises the question of leadership for armed services committee. is battling mccain brain cancer. are you steering the ship in his absence? >> the answer is yes i am chairing the meetings that we are cheering the meetings consistent with what john feels we should be doing. deciding what hearings we are having, that's a decision coming out of the chairman, john mccain. during his recovery, he cannot be here and stopped everything now. he is calling the shots and i'm showing up. we haveast question

prepared, in october there is a political poll that came out that says 55% of registered voters supported, or trust democrats in congress more than president trump to handle national security issues. do you think republicans have become vulnerable on national security issues and you think that will be an issue -- >> i would like to see how that question is posed. the one thing no one questions -- when you have president obama with his policy that you could not put money into fence on this you put it in nondefense, that should tell american people who was the strongest on national defense. if the vast majority, or small majority of people who think that somehow democrats are more in line for defending america than republicans, we've done not a very good job of communicating but it does not mean we change our behavior.

-- we still have a country to protect. . have 20 kids and grandkids they deserve protection and they will get it from us. republicans are a little stronger on national defense the democrats are. particularly with -- do you find the president's tweeting has been helpful to the dialogue on national security in terms of diplomacy? particularly with korea. >> i'm going to give you an answer that will shock you and get me in trouble. -- that is not the style of this president. when he says what he says to kim jong-un, the president of north

statementn --the un made the statement, i've got a button and i'm going to use it, his response, president trump's response was, use it, we've got a bigger button, better technology than you do and we will blow you off the map. that was the message you sent out. the next day north korea went to south korea and said we're going to join you in the winter olympics and they are working on things jointly no one ever believed that would happen. i'm not saying that's the only reason that happened. we got to reestablish ourselves as being a tough person, the leader of the free world. we got to act like it. i was always critical of the obama administration because it was an administration of appeasement. we are not appeasers anymore.

>> we have a couple minutes left. if we find ourselves as we approach every eight at another continuing resolution, or as senator cornyn said, or we are faced with another government shutdown, do you think legislation democrats tried to put on the floor should go forward? >> i think we can do that. i believe that would happen anyway. -- people say whose fault is was and all of that. there was just one vote that took place. 95% of the democrats voted to shut down government, 95% of republicans voted not to shut down government. i think the american people don't want government shutdown. polling is showing the very issue that would have caused

as proposedhutdown by chuck schumer was an issue having to do with daca and people are saying we are all sympathetic to the doctor kids and all that, -- the daca kids and all that, but not at the expense of shutting down government. i think we're going to win this thing. >> do you think there are president shares any responsibility or republican leadership with the way negotiations were handled and ultimately the shutdown? >> ultimately the shutdown, i guess that could be the case. .'m not say anyone is blameless there is an ultimate decision that took place and that is how the decision was made. you have to judge for yourself. the conversations between the president and the leaders of the house and senate and congress.

let's let the american people be the judge. let's hope we do a better job next time. holfe,ator james in thank you for your time. we are back with our reporters ld and patrick kelly. , the impact of these continuing resolutions, those so-called stopgap spending bills on the military. what did we hear from the number two republican on the senate armed services committee? >> we heard from secretary tis, john mccain, it's the line they will repeat, that crs will affect training, maintenance, effects of the military that matus has said are worse than any enemy could impose on the force.

ofe wants senator inh to find a solution to. >> behind the scenes, you have had people negotiating a long-term spending bill for the military. what is at the heart of those discussions? the senator cap referring to budget caps. , the defense policy bill produced by the senate armed services committee called for roughly $700 billion for defense. that exceeds the budget caps set into law by the budget control act. fe referenced,o democrats have -- the budget gaps are what they have as

leverage. it needs 60 votes. this is the dynamic we have been living with for years. the question of the military buildup the president campaigned on that the national defense still has tots deal with the budget reality, this impasse we have seen shows the conversation has not changed all that much. fromch as we heard prodefense lawmakers after the last cr was passed that maybe there might be a breakthrough. >> you asked about this, but what the house republicans have

been promised, what is that and when can we see the vote? next 10ieve in the legislative days the house will the defense raising spending caps and also on a bill they passed in july, the defense spending bill. i think the logic behind voting on the bill again is partially political and partially to strip it out of the omnibus bill in which it was passed. we should be seeing that after the president's state of the union address is when they are looking to take those to the floor. that was part of a deal to get the house freedom caucus to vote on the continuing resolution. i guess we will see two votes in the house. >> if they raise defense spending to the have to raise domestic spending? >> what is interesting about that vote, we are talking about a vote on defense only appropriations in the house. i think most folks will

acknowledge that is a nonstarter in the senate. democratssomething would pass. you kind of have to ask what is the rationale. is it a messaging bill? something that allows republicans to show their bona fides on national defense heading into an election year and at the same time hurt democrats that might vote against it because they believe in parity. >> what are you guys watching for? there could be another two crs. what are you watching for? >> interested to see what the budget proposal is going to look like. , which will be after the february 8 deadline. really curious to see what the request will be.

trump's first stab at a defense budget since the first -- some the last one have carryover from the obama administration. the fy 19 budget will not necessarily be linked to the defense strategy which recently came out. also, i would be interested to see how the house vote goes. onany democrats vote for it? the senate side, does leadership think it is a good way to peel off democrats? we saw something on the split recently the cr. to they try to use it tactically ?n >> thank you both are you depreciate it. -- thank you both. appreciate it.

>> coming up today live on c-span, kiersten nielsen talks about combating terrorism at 11:30 eastern. a house gavel's and for general speeches at noon followed by legislative business at 4:30. members take up measures including a bill to strengthen protections for victims of sexual abuse. the briefing currently scheduled for 1:15 p.m. eastern time. a conference on internet security with remarks by lawmakers and cabinet members and the senate returns at 2:00 eastern to take up a bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks. c-span3 is live with tomorrow's state of the union address, hearing from kellyanne conway, house minority leader nancy pelosi and shelley moore capit o and angus king.

>> this week on the communicators, we take you to the consumer electronics show in las vegas and speak with industry leaders about developments in artificial , 300 60ence, robotics degree cameras and enhanced communications for self driving cars. watch the communicators tonight at 8:00 eastern on c-span2. >> the president of the united states. >> tuesday night, president donald trump gives his first state of the union address to congress and the nation. it joined us for a preview of the evening starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern than the state of the union speech live at 9:00 p.m. the democratic response from congressman joe kennedy. we will hear your reaction and comments from embers of congress . president trump's state of the union address, tuesday