fine words with dignity, independence, confidence to preserve the necessary impartiality to conduct a fair trial? that question should weigh heavily upon every single he heard more about the impeachment process when mitch mcconnell spoke to reporters outside the senate chamber. afterward, reporters also spoke with salmon democrats -- senate democrats. >> against all odds come all these moving pieces are coming

together, unfortunately at the end of the year. i wish our colleagues on the other side had kept the agreement we reached last summer. we wouldn't have ended up with two massive minibuses, but that having been said, all of the presidents priorities are in the bill, the two bills. the republican members are happy with provisions related to taxes and spending, and i'm particularly thrilled to say goodbye to the metal goal -- medical device tax, the health insurance tax, and the democrats are excited to get rid of the cadillac tax. the defense we want and there are some issues a lot of us care about. senator young is standing behind me and are deeply interested in

d21, raising the ability to purchase tobacco to age one, so there is a lot to like in both of these bills. we will be moving to of them when they come over. in the meantime, 13 district judges we will have to process before we get to the appropriation bills, but i think we are ending on a pretty good know here in spite of all of the challenges swirling around both the house and the senate these days. >> the leader pointed out we are on the right path to get all of this done. it would have been nice to finish these bills earlier in the year, which we tried to do democrats consistently objected to that, but a big win today, the authorization bill getting done. congratulations to chairman in

inhoffd all the folks -- e and all the folks who worked hard. the largest troops pay increase they have seen in a decades. in bomber that will end up south dakota and as the leader pointed out, if we can get these minibuses across the finish line, we can fund a lot of other critical, important priorities for our military readiness, one of which is funding for 98 f-35's which are essential to air dominance in areas and theaters around russia and china. overall, i think this is a good way to wrap things up. i'm encouraged we will get all of these done and continue to fund important priorities like veterans, the v.a. mission act, which has been authorized for a few years, receives about $9

billion in fy 20 and a little more than that in fy 21. that provides the care for those who have served and defended our country in the past. we've just got to get through the weekend hopefully anything will come together and we will be able to do that. wondering what republicans will be talking about the next couple of weeks at home, it will be the fact that christmas came early for american workers this year. every republican senator is going home with a handout that talks about the fact that over 7 million jobs were created as insident trump was elected, november, the u.s. economy created 266,000 new jobs, shattering all expectations, the wages continue to rise with average hourly warnings at 3.1% year-over-year growth. the average american family has seen a $5,000 increase in take-home pay. unemployment fell to a 50 year low at 3.5%, and his story to

unemployment in all of the categories where they measure unemployment. women, african-americans, latinos, veterans. historic low unemployment. better trade deals like the usmca and with china, eight cuts were regulation. cut and jobs act continues to benefit workers across the nation. what republican senators will be talking about all across the country over the next couple of weeks at home. as of about 1:00 this morning, senator grassley and others finished up the tax extenders package and so current tax policy in one way or another has been extended. the health extenders, we will have to visit that again in the spring, but all of those short-term health policies extended until the 22nd of may.

these bills when people look at them that took a long time to get there but make a difference. in four years, we've increased for healthent to nih care research by 40%, another $2.6 billion in this bill. we fully funded what is believed to be the amount of money necessary to reach president trump's cabinet unlimited -- goal of eliminating the hiv epidemic. we've expanded the opioid money so it can now be used for other additives. things that come right along with an opioid addiction. much more flexibility in that $3.8 billion, and whether it was childcare needs or a head start, record levels of funding democrats and republicans could agree to without a lot of language that would be new to the bill. it took us a wild to get there, but when people look at this

bill, they like -- will find lots of things they like. >> congress has been able to pass a bipartisan national for 58 authorization act years and i am so thankful that this year, we were able to accomplish that, as well. congratulations to chairman helping spearhead a difficult process, but one that was successful. within that package, a number of initiatives were passed, some of which i am proud of, making sure we are giving our servicemembers the pay raise they have deserved for so very long. that has been accomplished. we are also expanding services for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence within the military, and also providing the resources and the authorities necessary for our special operations command, so those are

just a few of the things we have seen within the national defense authorization act, and as someone who served in the middle east as a company commander who wore the nation's uniform and and necessary items my soldiers had to have, the fact we are able to provide those now for our men and women to make sure they return home safely to their families upon deployment and redeployment, it does make me feel very good. i am thankful that we were able to get this accomplished in a bipartisan manner, get it or congress, and on to the president. as we just thankful approach years and that amidst the debate and disagreement, that has been occurring on capitol hill, we can get the year-end spending package could together -- put together. bipartisan and with many important things for the american people. we are funding the essential

functions of government, but we have now come together in a recognizedway and that our young people, our middle and high school students need protection from the scourge of tobacco through e-cigarettes something the leader and other members have joined me on and shown some real leadership on. for all doneand something that i have been trying to do my part to get accomplished ever since i entered the u.s. house of representatives, and that is get a permanent repeal of the obamacare medical device tax, thus providing certainty to one of our most innovative industries, insuring some measure of certainty to the families who depend on the medical device sector to remain vibrant for their livelihood. int importantly, advantage all of those patients who depend on next-generation medical devices to sustain their lives and improve their lives, indiana leading the way in this industry.

lastly, as a marine, i am really pleased -- and even prouder, that we come together and say it is time that we gave a significant boost to the salaries of the men and women who put their lives on the line on our behalf so we might be free. in pay for our military men and women. that's something to celebrate as we approach years and. year's end. hopefully we can get this package to the president's desk and we will act expeditiously as we approach the years end. therter: he said during clinton impeachment, it is not unusual to have witnesses in the pitchman trial. -- impeachment trial. three witnesses is pretty modest, have you had a change of mind? sen. mcconnell: you have the

senator schumer quotes for him, right? look, both of these cases are somewhat unique. what senator schumer is asking for now is not the procedure we agreed to in the clinton impeachment. there were actually two. the first that we agreed to was before he even got to the question of whether to call witnesses are not, and it laid out a process that seems to make sense and hopefully he and i can agree on, in which you listen to the house manner -- managers, the president's lawyers, then a period of time we could send written questions. remember, senators are not allowed to speak in these opening sessions. through thetions chief justice to the lawyers down front, and at that point, the partisan differences in clinton materialized over the issue.

it is safe to say in a partisan exercise like this, people sign up with their own side. what we may have felt 20 years ago may not be the same as today, and you can quote virtually any of us who were here during that period, it could be on the opposite side because of the nature of the process. we are going to get an almost entirely partisan impeachment. anticipate an almost entirely partisan outcome in the senate, as well. yourter: how optimistic are about reaching a deal with schumer? is working things out not an option? sen. mcconnell: i hate to repeat myself, but the first phase was passed unanimously 20 years ago and that took you through the presentation, the defense, the written questions, and then at

that point, they dealt with the second resolution dealing with the witness issue. that is where the partisan breakdown occurred. 51 senators in an impeachment proceeding, unlike normally on the senate floor takes 60. 51 will senator schumer has almost asked, arguing that the house didn't do a good job even though he is happy to vote for what they send over, he is arguing the house didn't do a good job so we need a different and better trial of her year. reporter: are you optimistic -- is unlikelyll: it we are going to agree on phase two. we will see if there are 51 members of the senate to want to take one of two directions, the

direction of the witnesses or going in the direction of voting on the articles of impeachment. the meeting with all 100 senators [indiscernible] produced the 1-0 unity at the atrt of -- the 100-0 unity the start of the process. sen. mcconnell: we ought to be able to agree because it take you -- it takes you through to the written question period and at that point there wasn't agreement on calling witnesses, there was a partisan split. that wasn't dealt with in the beginning, it was dealt with into the process. >> i'm asking about the start of the process. sen. mcconnell: i don't know why we shouldn't be able to agree with that because that past 100 -zero. chuck wants to put the second phase into the first vote. they didn't do that in the clinton impeachment. is the message to

americans who might have concerns about your ability to be an impartial juror given your about ther comments white house? an. mcconnell: this is political process, there is nothing judicial about it. impeachment is a political decision. the house made a partisan political decision to impeach, i would anticipate we will have a largely partisan outcome in the senate. i am not impartial about this at all. waiting for this process to make its way through the house, and other the house completed the investigation, do you believe the president acted appropriately when asking ukraine to investigate his rivals? sen. mcconnell: that will be argued in the senate in the coming days and my assumption is that we will turn to this after the first of the year. thank you.