islands for millennia for nesting or having to find alternate locations. all of the formula of things that you would expect from a warming planet, we are starting to see how interconnected these elements are. we want to use this as a part of the conversation so people can understand the many nuanced ways that global warming is infecting -- is affecting environments. this was part of c-span's cities tour. you can view more of our visit that c-span.org/citiestour. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> one month away from -- >> i think the big wild card the government shutdown situation is president donald trump.

he has repeatedly called for a good government shutdown. he is still talking to associates, thinking it is a good move to do is shut over immigration before the election. mitch mcconnell and paul ryan are against doing that at all costs. they have tried to pass a series of packages of appropriations bills to at least get most of the government put on full-year funding and leaving the homeland security, justice department, commerce department, as sort of a stopgap through the election. that is the plan, but it could run into some turbulent times it president trump really insists on vetoing some of these bills. he has signed the first of these packages which would at least

reduce the impact of any shutdown to more of a partial shutdown. >> the house has been out for summer recess. the senate has mostly been in. you mentioned some of those spending bill packages, but could you give us a sort of an overview, a round up of the packages that have been passed, what their status is. the senate passing nine of 12, the house passing six. >> they are calling them minibuses, three parts, legislative affairs, which funds congress itself, military construction and veterans affairs bill that funds the be a, it has the energy and water title which funds the army corps of engineers and the department of energy. the biggest problem with that bill has been veterans health funding. signed. choice act was into law by president trump with a lot of fanfare. it would increase services for

veterans as far as being able to access health care. that bill doesn't have any direct funding and there has been a fight over whether to provide direct funding by making cuts to other programs which would raise the cap to accommodate extra spending, or to declare an emergency spending that is not subject to the cap. i have pitched richard shelby comedy head of the appropriations committee, who has -- who would rather call it emergency spending, versus mitch mcconnell who would really like to make the cuts, who doesn't think we should alter the cap sort make would -- or mess with them in any way. the argument has been, if we can not cut the caps, we are also not going to raise them. that is going to be the big issue, to see how they square that. i think they will probably split the baby and sort of declare emergency spending on a small level and leave the bigger question about funding to next

year. that is the source of the packages. another one involves the defense department, labor, and hhs. this is a very tricky thing because the house has passed a defense bill but has not passed the controversial labor, house and human services bill. it is controversial because it includes things like planned parenthood, abortion, funding of obamacare. it really divides the body. the senate has combined them and successfully passed that as a second package. it looks like paul ryan is willing to go to conference with a senate on the package even though house hasn't passed its version. this could cause some consternation from conservatives. all ofal one involves the other bills, funding for the state department, commerce, justice, homeland security, and

that could probably be packaged with a stopgap measure getting us through the election. >> you mentioned president trump and his white house budget director said they do want -- said they do not want another on that this, another huge all packaged together spending bill. how are they planning on dealing with the border wall and other controversial issues. >> the idea would be for trump to sign this first minibus package. the second week of september or somewhere thereabouts. then you have gotten it down from a 12 bill to a nine bill on the this. you get a second package done, you can get down to a six bill. they can say, look, we are meeting you halfway. i think that is where we are headed. the bigger issue for trump is not so much the on the this, but that his border wall is not being funded. the white house budget office

has worked with the house to provide $5 billion this year for the border wall. the senate has set 1.6 billion. the republican from west at the end ofus august that she had gone to the voters with the big question of, what do you cut to provide that? do you cut transportation funds, health-care funds? there is a big reluctance in the senate to make those cuts for a waste ofto be money, a border wall that can be defeated by a nine foot ladder. it is not exactly as popular among republicans as it is with trump-pence some of his core voters. >> it to supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. the senate judiciary committee will be meeting to take up his nomination, his confirmation hearing.

a couple of republicans, couple of democrats that you will be keeping your eye on during the questioning, and what issues will they be hammering with judge kavanaugh. think he question is, are there going to be any republican defectors. because the filibuster has gone nominees,preme court in some ways, democrats are boxed out of this if republicans can stay together. they have a razor thin majority. susan collins and lisa murkowski, essentially pro-choice republicans, whether they can vote for someone who many believe would end up overturning the roe v. wade abortion decision. this is something that susan collins has been indicating what looks like an openness to kavanaugh. murkowski has been more circumspect. of course, rand paul, who is often willing to disrupt the best laid plans of mitch

mcconnell, but maybe not in this case. hows interesting to see brett kavanaugh response to questions about executive power and executive privilege. he has made comments that have raised eyebrows about whether or not a sitting president can be indicted, about whether or not he can be charged with crimes. that is all very relevant to the molar investigation. said coons, a democrat, brett kavanaugh should expect a lot of questions at the hearing on that question. >> the senate has been dealing with a lot of executive nominations, judicial nominations, how has the senate been able to really rapidly go through all these nominations? >> again, just because the filibuster is no longer with us, the democrats are really not as empowered as they were in the past. the decision was made when harry reid was the majority leader to do away with the filibuster.

there are a few cases of nominees that were blocked, but -- there was one with tim scott over potentially racist views. democrats have not done all they can to gum up the system. we've seen 60 major judicial common -- judicial confirmation so far and it will probably be 68 by the end of the week in the senate. there is the farm bill, a very big issue in rural america, that will expire at the end of the month. we have the violence against women act, the federal aviation authorities, and also a real desire to get something done on opioids. the plate is full for congress in the coming weeks. >> we will continue to follow you on twitter and your

reporting at bloomberg.com. thanks so much for all the insight. >> c-span's washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. sunday morning, head of labor day, a look at right to work laws with national right to work legal defense foundation president. rogers talks about the role of labor unions. journal,washington live at 7:00 eastern on sunday morning. join the discussion. >> national book award-winning author jack woodson is our guest ,n "in-depth" fiction edition our call-in program. her other novels include "brown girl dreaming."

brooklyn," "miracle's boys," and many other books for children and young adults. jacqueline wilson, live on sunday from noon to 3:00 p.m. eastern. he sure to watch next month with author geraldine brooks. will be ourmeltzer guest in december. book tv on c-span2. weekend, family, friends, and colleagues of the late senator john mccain continued to honor his life and legacy with a funeral service at washington national cathedral. the day began with the senator's casket departing the u.s. capitol, where it had been lying in state since friday afternoon. from there, it was taken to the vietnam veterans memorial where cindy mccain laid a wreath in honor of her husband's military service before heading to the