[indiscernible] >> thank you. >> house minority leader kevin mccarthy says arend shooting down a u.s. drone in international waters is "unacceptable." he spoke to reporters on capitol hill for about 10 minutes. >> good afternoon. [indiscernible] to successfully ratify the agreement.

the trade agreement with the neighbors to our north and south, to me, is one of the most important things we can do in this congress right now. especially as the president is preparing to have negotiations with china, it only makes us stronger. it only makes america stronger and that makes our economy with more jobs and more production. later today we will meet with prime minister justin trudeau in a bipartisan meeting. they are moving forward as well. and our congress will move forward because it was on the floor today but -- if passed, it will bring more jobs to america and our economy will be stronger. i will stop there and open to questions and comments. it does include the cost

increase. leader mcconnell said this morning that he does not support that. [indiscernible] >> my position on this is the same. i do not believe congress should only be a place for millionaires. seeing what leader mcconnell has doesin his opposition, it complicate the path for this to become law. i don't want to prejudge the .utcome here >> good afternoon. >> on these budget talks, it pose thishough, and i question at one assessment, do you see that the white house, where they have been on previous spending negotiations, that the president is fully dialed in on this? that it will be echoed down when it comes to --

>> very much so. i watched those who have been negotiating for the president, secretary minutia, chief of staff mulvaney, they are the ones in the room that might be compromised. the difficulty here, i understand what senator shelby said but i've been every meeting almostemocrats requested $400 billion increase over two years. i have watched this administration tried to find common ground, but every time we , speaker pelosi increase for more spending. the president has been trying to find a solution to how it can become law. right now we are spinning and wasting a lot of precious time on appropriation bills that are never going to become law. it would be important if we could put together an agreement

when it comes to the cap, the senate and house would mark up and a bill could become law and have the support of all. right tors within those numbers. >> [indiscernible] >> is very clear those are never going to become law. i believe that the majority in the house has made a mistake. the first row would to be to get an agreement on the cap number. they are writing to something that no one has agreed to outside of themselves, so it is wasting the precious time of the four on something that will not become law. wouldn't it be better to spend that time, and i want to give our secretary mnuchin a lot of credit. in the very first meeting when he walked in with the chief of staff mick mulvaney, it wasn't just some formal meeting, ok, let's sit down and have talks.

he said i'm willing to make an agreement today, something i have not seen before. i think we spent more than five hours on it. he wanted to get to agreement. unfortunately, others in the room do not. they want to continue increased spending, and that is not a place that we can go. >> you just left a secure briefing on arend. what can you tell us at this point, and what is your reaction to the downing of the drone? do you think retaliatory measures should be taken at this point? i sayon -- >> what publicly, it is unacceptable, droneng down the american in international waters. it is unacceptable for any country to do that. iran knows it is unacceptable. what we have watch publicly go tankers, thembing

uavs were able to capture that for the world to see. we've now heard of other shots being fired into saudi arabia. some reports i saw today publicly, watched other activities. iran has a long history of terror and that is not safe for the world when iran continues to have that behavior. it is unacceptable to shoot down an american plane and international waters. >> what is the appropriate response? >> i think the president will have waters before him like the other situation, and that's why we have individuals in that situation and i will measure the options and make a decision. >> [indiscernible] authoritythe 'srrently, he has two amf

sitting out there. the democrats are trying to theve it, and i think congresswoman from california put something in trying to deny the president the action to take any action or defend america against iran, which i think would be the wrong option. this is another reason we voted against the bills on the floor. >> nguyen has offered a one-year cr as a solution. --minute and has offered steven mnuchin has offered a one-year cr. >> what you really want to see as an appropriation process, the number one way it can work is you start with fundamentals. if everybody agrees on a number, then you go and work on pressure

-- are appropriations. that's what were trying to get to the very first basis. unfortunately, the democrat majority decide to move ahead and mark a bills before they had an agreement with everybody else. that has put us in a very difficult situation that could take us to point that we end up with a continuing resolution, that is not the way to govern our government. so we don't want to see that. we don't want to see the government shutdown, either. on a ran, do you think that -- or explain why going from the nuclear core with a rent would not lead us to a place -- is there any reason to think that withdrawal did not help facilitate the tinderbox we are in? >> you raise the question about removing ourselves from an agreement. when we created that agreement and iran was delivered billions

of dollars, did they spend that on their economy to make iran stronger, or did they find houthis? are they in syria creating damage and concern to israel, so if the question is by removing -- the answer is no. iran was already funding terrorism around the world and maybe with the agreement, they had more money to find it and create others. a reallaw -- i have concern about iran, always have had. i think the world is less safe when iran is able to play that way they have with the terrace around the world. >> you don't think that changes the political calculation? >> they were already funding groups, sending people into battle around the world, prior to when they were in the region. thank you very much. you have a question?

last question. >> do you think some sort of military retaliation by the u.s. would be justified? >> i would leave that to the experts, the military and those in the intel community and the to make that decision. it seems to me from what is anorted publicly, you had american drone flying in international waters. you had aggressiveness from iran shooting an american plane down and claiming to have done it as well. thank you. >> briefings were held for congressional leadership concerning the escalating tensions between the u.s. and iran. we have some reaction for members of congress, beginning with sentimental -- senate minority leader charles schumer of new york.