>> on the phone with us is jordain carney, senate reporter from the hill. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell announced plans last

month to canceled august recess. why was the recess canceled? talk to republican senators, they say it was because they have 20 of nominations, and funding with government, and bread and butter legislation to get through plenty of what keeps them here through august. there was a lot of pressure from conservatives and the president to cancel the august recess. they hadn't finished nominations and funding government. reasonsators played the that they are staying because they know if they left, trump would criticize them. >> some of the work they planned includes, next week not excluding the things you mentioned, extending the national flood insurance program past the tuesday deadline. and going to congress with the house and five-year farm will,

and the senators planning to vote on the defense policy bill. why is this bill so significant to the current arms services committee share? why should we expect the senate to pass it? defenseational authorization act passes congress very easily. there was some controversy with dealer language on the cte -- zte deal. used that language and removed it in conference. it will not go forward. when it was announced earlier, we heard rumblings that democrats, maybe some republicans who aren't happy with the deal, would come together and block it. that would be very unlikely. we don't expect it to happen.

the senate also apparently continuing to work on federal spending legislation next week. what is the status of passing these bills and avoiding the possible government shutdown deadline of september 30? >> mcconnell and chuck schumer tried to put a premium on passing these appropriations bills and avoiding a shutdown, or avoiding another ominous bill that all the funding bills together as they passed. the president threatened to veto before backing down. they are going to pass the second appropriations package next week. that includes funding for interior and agricultural housing, urban development, financial services. after that, they are going to try to move funding for the defense department and funding

for health and human services together. they are going to marry them together. they are normally controversial bills, lightning rods for controversial amendments. they are going to hope they start to nullify the controversy on both sides. the question out there is what do they do about border wall funding? the senate appropriations committee passed a funding bill that included $1.6 billion for border barriers. the house appropriations committee would include more like $5 billion for barriers. they will have to work out the difference and hope president trump doesn't threaten to shut down the government if he doesn't get more money. he wants $25 billion in total. >> supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh is continuing his capitol hill meetings next week. his first meeting with a democratic senator is monday,

senator joe manchin. that will be followed by indiana senator joe donnelly august 15. what senate democratic leadership said, and how does that play into the strategy in opposing the nominee, which won't have his senate judiciary confirmation meeting until september? >> you do have the first two democrats announcing they will meet with him. leadership,cratic members of the judiciary committee, say they are not going to meet with him until they get a deal on documents from his time working in the george w. bush white house, where he was staff secretary and legal counsel. you had some back and forth among leadership blaming democrats -- that same bill ours trying to stonewall -- are trying to stonewall them.

sayingy came out democrats are trying to go on a fishing expedition. it seems like there is an impasse on what documents they will request. >> you can tweet jordain carney, read her work. we want to thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me on. journal,'s washington live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. coming up saturday morning, national farmers union president roger johnson discusses the impact the trump administration tariffs are having on american farmers. senior research fellow christine mcdaniels talks about ongoing u.s. trade disputes, and the impact of tariffs. ben austin, a contributor for the new republic, on his recent battling innovative approaches for policing. be sure to watch "washington journal," saturday morning at

7:00 eastern. join the discussion. afterwards,, on former white house secretary sean spicer discusses his book "the briefing politics, the press, and the president." he is interviewed by michael steele. >> ronald reagan and donald trump are about 180 degrees apart from each other. yet, here we are in this space. how did you navigate that? we are both reagan conservatives in that regard. was it a little bit of a dance every once in a while? how did you do it? >> with respect to the president, there is no question. he is not traditional, in terms of how he speaks. he also connects to people in a way that most politicians never have. he talks very bluntly in his own style. i don't think he would have won the nomination if it wasn't for that style.

there is always this balance with elected officials, they say all of the right things, but they don't necessarily get anything done. in the case of trump, there is a lot of getting things done, but people just don't like the tweets or how he interacts. i'm a results oriented person. i look at how the country is doing, are the people doing better, is the country safer? net net, most people would generally agree that if we can get the right and done for the country, that is a better place than somebody just talking about the right things to get done. >> watch afterwards sunday night at 9:00 eastern, on book tv. >> c-span, where history unfold daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television companies.

today, we continue to bring you unfiltered coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c., and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. joining us from baltimore for today's newsmakers is a member of the forms relations committee, senator ben cardin. thank you for being with us. >> it's good to be with you. >> we have and gear and of the washington post, and lisa mascaro, from the associated press, chief congressional correspondent. anne will go first. >> i wanted to ask you a little bit of what seemed to be a pretty consequential week in foreign policy news, in general, but particularly on the question of russia and the u.s. relationship with russia going forward.