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"washington journal" continues. host: this is max cohen of punch will news, reporting on congress and here to talk about important deadlines coming up for congress. thanks for coming on the program. guest: they swear having me. host: in the newsletter this morning, the first line of punch bowl says this, there is a warning siren blaring and speaker kevin mccarthy's direction and the message is even a prime position to -- can get jammed by the senate. what is going on? guest: this is referring to the battle over the supplemental funding request of the white house a $40 billion in aid for ukraine, disaster relief, and money to secure the southern border. kevin mccarthy and his republican congress have not been on board with this request but yesterday we saw senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, a top republican in the senate, back this, and this is backed by senate democrats so we have a unified senate in favor of this request and in favor of not shutting down the government at the end of september, a different story.

host: first of all, ukraine spending, why is it part of the package? guest: the white house wants to give more assistance to ukraine in the spending battle. there have been restraints on how much you can raise money in defense spending so another avenue, more aid to ukraine military, economic, a supplemental request and that is one way democrats and the white house and many senate republicans and more mainstream republicans want to do this but it is crucial in the house to get action with the freedom caucus type republicans who say we should not be sending money to the ukraine, focusing on united states itself focusing on crises of the border for example. host: border security being part of that and even how that relates to disaster relief as well. guest: the white house was putting together bunch of things to win over republican support. i think the board of secured measures was a play by the white house to say let's get bipartisan support. if we can get things that are priorities that republicans

have, maybe they will support things that they see as democratic parties and factor in wildfires recently in hawaii and elsewhere throughout the country, disaster relief, it is an important issue to replenish funds fema has and fema says they need more money to do with natural disasters across the country. >> as far as the timeline in the senate, what do we expect to see as far as activity on these various measures? >> is tough to say right now because the house is a key component but i would say some expect this $40 billion supplemental request in the short-term continued revolution to fund the government so we're looking at end of september timeline in my opinion, and also an effort to stop a government shutdown. host: the continuing resolution, talk about and what is the danger of the government shutting down because of a lack of money? guest: i think we need to be realistic that there is a real danger of the government shutting down because there's a difference in the house and senate on this issue.

we talked to a bunch of senators, last night i was talking to republican senators who told me they were concerned by what they saw from house republicans in the sense that house republicans are demanding some very partisan aspects in return for their vote for continued resolution. it would only be to extend the deadline from and of september 2 middle of november. we are lot -- we are not looking to pass a full year spending bill yet, and some of the house republicans say i want to vote to continue a resolution i need an impeachment against president -- impeachment inquiry against is a joe biden or defunding the jackson special counsel, things that will not happen in the senate, no way. we are looking at a big difference in the senate as we said in intro, they are more unified in the house because both republicans and democrats largely want to keep the government open but house republicans said a government shutdown is ok with me if a mean some programs we don't agree with are not funded. host: when it comes to the shutdown being ok, do either

speaker mccarthy or minority leader mitch mcconnell buy into that? guest: deathly not mccarthy and mcconnell. although he is not saying it as forcefully as mcconnell. i think mcconnell wants to show house republicans rule and have a narrow majority that they can leave the country and govern. he does not want to shut down but many members on the right of this conference would be ok with that. he needs to thread the needle and what he has done in past months is give redmeat to his republican members. we saw that in the nda on the site. give concessions on conservative wish list priorities in order to get a larger bill passed. we might see that again. host: max cohen is our guest. if you ask questions related to that, you can do so on the line, democrats to so -- 202, 748-8000. -- democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independents, (202) 748-8002. if you want to text us, you can do that at (202) 748-8003. in light of the various bills coming from the senate, what is the sales pitch speaker mccarthy has to make to his various factions in the house? guest: they are make an opposite claim in terms of his factions a saying we need something in this bill to make is vote for it. they do not want to see the senate as something they want to accept. there is this big diversion between house republicans and senate republicans on many issues. senate republicans by large are more willing to play ball with democrats. we see mcconnell do that and more establishment friendly senate republicans do that this year and house republicans say we have the majority in the house, we are equal portion of this congress, why should we give in? i give a sense that speaker mccarthy would be we want to keep government open because we want to keep our majority end of voters think we are shutdown party, that might hurt us next year. and he will say maybe i would give you any impeachment

inquiry vote, not impeachment itself but opening it up to let's vote on this thing which many freedom caucus republicans have said this is important for us, we think joe biden has done excellent and we can get in on that later and that has been praised by some like marjorie taylor greene as an acceptable compromise for them to fund the government for short period of time. host: what is the preparation as far as the house and senate doing as far as preparing for a shutdown? guest: we are not there yet. we are early september so they are not serious conversations happening about that now. what i would say is to your last question how is mccarthy pitching this? he will say to members in addition we want more time to pass our very conservative spending cut full year fiscal 2024 year spending bill so that might be his also rhetoric is that you guys want to cut spending, that is a huge priority for house republicans

that we can get there that we need more time to past appropriation bills through the house because so far very few have passed in the house and the senate. host: kathleen's in mississippi, joins us on our democrat line for max cohen a punch bowl news. aches were calling. go ahead. caller: the problem is we should not be working on daylight savings time to dock. we should not have to go and get payday loans and people working in the education system getting paid less money. it is sad they are cutting off everybody on medicaid. medicaid expansion. we are here. everywhere, this is going global.

stop killing us and our children. thank you. guest: i think medicaid funding was mentioned there, that is something of a kratz have tried to claim republicans are trying to cut and that would be a big campaign issue and issue on the spending to come, democrats say republicans in the shutdown would wreak havoc on many programs vulnerable americans rely on and expect that kind of rhetoric and is argument to come to the fore as we get closer to a government shutdown, democrat argument is the shutdown has the biggest impact on the poorest of society, the ones who depend on government programs the most. host: republican line from teresa in tennessee, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: i'm well, you are on with our guest. caller: first of all, i do not like the way joe biden is extorting this country saying you either approve my ukraine funding or you don't get no disaster aid. why is he putting it all

together like blackmail to republicans? he knows they don't support funding ukraine as much as he does but he is going to throw that disaster aid in with it and porta security? you really think joe biden will secure the border? what does he need more money for border security for? another thing on kevin mccarthy, if republicans cannot get rid of kevin mccarthy, we will vote him out. i would rather lose the house than have kevin mccarthy go in with the republicans and doing everything joe biden once and mitch mcconnell wanting every penny -- agreeing to every penny joe biden says for $40 billion and now you know why joe biden has, and said i hope mitch mcconnell stays healthy. he needs him long enough to get that stupid bill. it is ridiculous. it is ridiculous and $700 to the

people who lost their lives in hawaii? it is just crazy. host: you put a lot out for our guests so we will that him respond to what he wishes. guest: interesting points with the ukrainian disaster relief. this is another argument for a lot of conservative republicans lately is wide between the two things together, they would support a clean bill just disaster relief don't support ukraine funding. i would say this is not anything new in washington. parties and politicians twin together priorities to build a coalition of votes. i do think the white house might have a stronger hand here because there is such a need to get disaster relief out that many politicians might say i do not support as much aid to ukraine but there are communities suffering in the united states so may be a smart political play. interestingly kevin mccarthy points clearly a lot of angst among the republican base against the speaker and collars like that and also members of mccarthy's own conference are not totally happy with the job

performance and that expense a lot in my opinion his actions as figure of the house. he is worried about a conservative revolt, motion to vacate is always thrown up in these instances, he was on my case last night threatened -- even matt gaetz the into outs mccarthy if he did not get his priority. it's a difficult job mccarthy house to satisfy the conference and remember as they just mentioned, he only has a five majority to bring tact is vulnerable incumbents with tough reelection races in 2024. host: bill in ohio, independent line, hi, bill. caller: hello, max. i wondered if you could help me out if i got that information or something. we were talking about fema requesting more funding. when we heard on a report that fema responders were staying in five star resorts and kind of wasting money it seems like. why could they not stay in a more inexpensive hotel?

guest: i can assist barely speak to that instance. i'm not familiar with that report staying in certain accommodations but i would say i think the problem with the money is certainly larger than a certain number of nights at the hotel. i think to respond to these disasters requires billions of dollars and i think it is $12 billion the government is requesting for fema so we're talking about a larger picture here in terms of responding to these devastating wildfire floods. host: $60 million is the actual figure. it is tied to the thing you have been talking about, max cohen our guest, a lot of things going on with senate this week. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, and independents, (202) 748-8002 . max cohen, i want to play you little bit from the white house press briefing yesterday. john p or talking about the supplementary request, the white house desire to see that happening giving their case for it. [video clip] >> what we asked for today is

basically anomalies, that is what they are called, see our anomalies, to be clear about that, and to give you a rundown on august 10 we sent congress a supplemental request for critical emergency funding as you asked. that includes funding for disaster relief, $12 million as you heard from the administrator and also from liz moments ago supporting the people of ukraine and combating the fentanyl crisis which is incredibly important. today, omb set a technical package to congress called anomalies to avoid disruptions to government programs during a continuing resolution. that included an adjustment to wic, the supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children. without this adjustment, states would be forced to implement waiting lists, causing women and children to go hungry and pushing vulnerable families into poverty. so for some clarity, this is

what congress should pass, pass both the supplemental request and technical package i laid out with a continuing revolution -- resolution to prevent a government shutdown. this is something congress can do, prevent a government shutdown, they need to prevent a government shutdown. what i listed out are critical programs americans across the country, american families across the country, certainly need. host: that was from last week, not yesterday. but go ahead. guest: one aspect i want to touch on from what the white house press secretary said was government agencies need special assistance during the continued resolution period if there is one. this is not the ideal way to run a government. i think most outside of service would agree that you want ideally a year-long funding package at the end of the fiscal year and the acceptance we will have on continuing resolution, which is a fact, they will not be agreement on the full year spending deal by the end of september. it is acknowledgment of how typical it is in a divided washington to get these packages

passed. even a cr, all of the agencies will tell you that is not ideal for them because they have these flasks they are putting forth in fy 2024 process that are not going to be met in continuing resolution, which is a short from stop measure. host: jay is in indiana, you are next up. caller: my comment, thank you, c-span, micro comment is you can draw straight line from ronald reagan saying government is the problem. to today's gop who just refuses to govern or participate in our government. they are there to turn off the lights and padlock the front door and walk away and shut it down and my question for the guest is, in today's gop, what is the incentive for them to

actually govern? and how does the gop, the serious moderate republicans, how do they emerge from this in a way with some kind of consensus where they can actually work with democrats or we can have compromise? it seems they are stuck in a we don't want to govern, we hate government, feedback loop that keeps repeating over and over again. host: thank you, caller. guest: i think in that caller question is a distillation of what is happening in the republican party in some respects in a sense that may route conservative republicans come to washington and this is part of their campaign page, we want to curtail the federal government in our everyday lives and cut spending to these programs and agencies, which the mission does not align with our values and that is something the freedom caucus has been pushing for during the spending fight.

that's a stark contrast to democrats who buy large want to increase funding to programs and shape them in a way that long to their values. -- that aligned to their values. he's talked about more established republicans come i go back to the house republican and senate to publican -- republican dynamic. when they passed the funding levels or caps during the debt limit situation, mccarthy came back and said those are taxed. we can go lower than that and that is what house republicans are trying to do an appropriations bill is go lower than the cap they set during the debt limit fight and federal republicans are taking a different tact, saying those are the caps and we will go up to them and there is not the same desire for severe spending cuts in the senate republican conference as we see in the house republicans conference. host: two things before continuing on calls unrelated to deadlines, how do senate republicans feel about minority leader mitch mcconnell's health? guest: this is something i was

working on yesterday when the senate came back from recess asking republican senators about this, by and large it needs to be said the senate republican conference stands by mcconnell including his top leadership, allies who would be in line to replace him should he leave the senate, john cornyn, john thune, all saying they trust leader mcconnell and the trustee is in good health and cited this doctor's note that the attending physician released yesterday which said mcconnell is not suffering from a disorder among other things. there are couple other dissenting voices in the gop conference, rand paul was one member i spoke to yesterday, he has a doctor ophthalmologist and said he does not by the judicial expo nation by the doctor. he said to cite these episodes as dehydration is not about diagnosis, he thinks it is a neurological event. we heard josh hawley, another conservative republican saying the fitness and health of the

leader is important. he has concerns as well as tommy tuberville, another conservatives senate republican saying he is concerned about the health. host: this was one of the things we talked about and it fell by the wayside a little bit but as far as senator tuberville's hold on military appointments, is that stone place? guest: it is very much in place and has been brought before this week as we are entering september and the end of the month is the end of the chairman of the joint chief of staff mark milley, his tenure will end at the end of september, his replacement is up for nomination and has not been voted on by the senate and what is happening now is republicans are saying bring cq brown, this important military position, to the full senate floor for a vote. democrats say no if we do that that will set a precedent for voting on these other nominees that up her bill is blocking, doing that because of the pending on abortion policy. he does not support the policy of paying for service members to travel to get abortion care.

democrats are resisting mats, though to be fair in the past this position, the chair, the joint chief of staff, has been brought to the senate floor because it is an important position but democrats are worrying about playing into what about -- whataboutism and other nominees will not be cleared with you know ms. consent. there's an interesting disconnect. i think a lot of senators say publicly they agree with ideology and a sense they do not support the pentagon abortion policy but a number of senior republicans have also said including leader mcconnell that they do not agree with the tactic, that he should not be blocking all of these military positions -- military promotions. they think there is a readiness problem. so far to the state no one in gop leadership exerted the pressure necessary you might say to change senator tuberville's mind. honestly the rhetoric, he is not changing anything and his holds on these hundreds of positions continue. host: michelle is in new york,

you are on with max cohen punch bowl news. caller: hi, guys. good morning. i used to be a democrat, i'm from new york, but i switched my parties. there are three things i want to bring up, first off, mitch mcconnell, his health, fetterman's health, others health, this is an issue. it amazes me how the media will this go in on a republican yet does not speak out about anything else. these are people who had their finger on the nuclear button and it is ok they cannot even make a full sentence. mike mcconnell has brain damage, i know what is happening. tupper villas doing the right thing. he's holding back. we should not be involving our military readiness in this ideology with abortion on demand.

third, they are expecting our people linked to ukraine who are spending our money over there on yachts and everything else is all proven while we have 1700 students come up to 2000, still missing in hawaii. not one media outlet covers it. right wing, left-wing, side wing, any of it. these students missing, mccarthy was standing there when the reporter was asking him in hawaii why haven't these children applied for school? do no one -- do you want to know why? because they were killed in the fire. host: we will leave it there. guest: i think on the point about mcconnell, health and health of politicians, i would like to push back a little bit on the claim the media is not covering other politicians and their health. dianne feinstein, her health has been a primary of coverage for hill reporters and how she is often unable to identify where

she is, she is not sure how to vote on things about prompting of staff and that has been a major issue and it is a fair point that mcconnell is not the only politician who is eligible and i -- elderly in congress, not the only one suffering from a number of health issues. it's well-known members of congress are well above the median age of this country and leaders of this country are many times in their 80's and we see that with the president, with mitch mcconnell as well. host: how has the issue involving senator feinstein been resolved? is she still in congress? is she actively involved? guest: she is still here, actively involved. to be fair i think it has taken a backseat in recent weeks given how many major new developments but we saw before recess in a prominent abbess owed she was in senate judiciary committee hearings, she was called on, she started giving a longer speech and made her dissent to vote yes. she was not sure part of the meeting it was so she is not

running for reelection leslie clear -- let's be clear. she will end before then and that is the main update with her future. o'connell is a different story, he has not announced what is happening at and in the moment of time he is not going to announce any plans to stop serving in congress as we understand it now. host: will he speak with fellow republicans about these issues,\? guest: we are not sure of your there's a senate gop lunch today they have -- as they have their weekly lunch and he will confirm that he will address reporters following the lunch. that was one -- that was the venue when his first episode happened on camera if you remember when he froze for around half a minute and had to be ushered away by staff and came back later in the press conference and answer questions. this will be the first time he will be facing questions from the d.c. press corps following the latest episode in kentucky. he will be certainly asked about this episode. he addressed it yesterday, briefly during his speech on the senate floor he alluded to it as an incident that got a lot of

media attention but nothing more. trying to make light of it which is the mcconnell way. host: let's hear from larry in virginia, democrats line. caller: yes. him i on? host: you are on. go ahead. caller: what i think is both sides of congress, they will do whatever it takes to do something to the other side. what i have to say is this, people who believe in democracy and freedom, they better get up and smell the roses because, for some reason, they think donald trump or some kind of a messiah or something like that. he can just wave his hand and everything will be all right be a me tell you now, at this time are now, there will be some sad and sorry people. host: ok. that is larry from virginia. let's hear from jerry in

florida, independent line. you are next up. caller: good morning. host: morning. go ahead please. caller: i was just wanting to comment about joe biden and his policies compared to drums. joe biden, for some reason he is growing on me. some of the policies and decisions in the world in meeting with other leaders and everything, it is just unbelievable and trump really needs to be reelected. he was growing on me but now he is not. i was just kidding, check you later. host: that was jerry in florida, turning to the house concerning president biden. he said the possible question of an impeachment inquiry. where is it as of today? guest: speaker mccarthy has been vocal over the august recess, speaking to television networks, saying moving forward in the

direction of opening speech makers, what exactly will be heb and beached for is not entirely clear as of now and i one may clear i think the connection between joe biden and some of his son, hunter biden's, crime has not been definitively established what has been established as then vice president joe biden had a greater involvement in hunter biden's business deals then he previously let on, the extent to which we know which was revealed by testimony by one of hunter biden's associates that hunter biden was with his business partners and had a meeting and's put -- put his father on speakerphone and they would not talk about business, they would talk about weather or other chitchat stuff and that link between hunter's private deals and his father who was in office, vice president, is a concern to many republicans and goes be on what we previously had known. this has been termed by republicans as corruption, as lies by joe biden. i think that might form this

impeachment inquiry, what the joe biden do, what did he do privately and right now it looks likely that mccarthy is moving in the direction of a vote on his impeachment inquiry. once you have the inquiry, it seems likely in my mind that leads to impeachment. how this all plays out it was interesting because i'm not sure at this moment in time the car the has the votes to impeach biden. or the votes to open inquiry. he will not open inquiry and find joe biden and nothing wrong. so the inquiry vote is key. host: where is that resistance then from the house republicans or whatever factions, where is the resistance coming from? guest: the 18 house republicans that represent districts joe biden one in the election, these are the 18 most honorable members of kevin mccarthy's conference. this is bad politics for them in many ways. you don't want to be running for reelection in a presidential year in a district that voted for joe biden and you are

talking about impeaching him tightly because that is not the issue these vulnerable republicans want to focus on. they want to talk about the economy, inflation, criticized the biden administration yes but i think the fear is focusing too much on impeaching president biden will frame these somewhat more moderate republicans as partisan and be compared to the far right of their conference which is the last thing they want to do in a tough race against democrats. host: the house oversight committee chair consistently says he has evidence or at least what he would say is evidence about alleged wrongdoings. what is he basing that on? guest: i think a lot of it is dealing with that business connection, alleged business connection, between joe biden and hunter biden. right now there is still no evidence biden metal door was involved in hunter biden's business deals but i think what they are trying to do is say the president was untruthful. many times he said definitively i'd know nothing about hunter's

business and that claim has been called into question given the existence of the phone calls when he is talking. i think what they are hoping is they will get more information as this goes on but right now i would argue there is not the flaming gun. they are trying to connect also joe biden's foreign policy decisions as vice president with hunter biden's business deals in the same time. this is something which has not been definitively proven but that is the avenue they're trying to go down, potentially saying joe biden is an x country in hunter biden did it deal in this country and it is helpful for hunter biden. host: carol is in alexandria, virginia, democrat line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i was calling in regards to tommy tuberville, you had made the comment earlier. i'm not sure how he is allowed to bring religious views into government. this seems to be a reoccurring theme with the republicans. they need to remove their views. many of us don't feel the same way and we should not be forced

to feel the same way. that is all i would like to say for today. thank you for taking my call. guest: i think that is the reality of the senate, the interesting dynamic in the body is one member of the senate can hold up a number of nominees single-handedly and that is a unique aspect. -- aspect you don't have in the house. he is plucking unanimous consent for these noncontroversial nominees because of the abortion policy. it only takes one member of the senate to throw a wrench in the plans a leader schumer who wants to clears leads nominees -- clear these nominees. host: bill is in idaho, republican line. caller: how are you guys doing today? my question for you, mr. cohen, is you seem to know a lot about the inside things democrats and republicans are trying to do to get the bill passed for the budget. i would like to know what would happen if the government did shut down, given his opinion on what would happen with first of

all the government services i'm sure would shut down where you are wanting to get government services. with the congressman's pay be shut down? if it were, with a only just pass a bill to have it reinstated at a later date so they still get paid? and would not get hurt at all by this. government -- if the government shutdown, a lot of the public would get hurt very bad. they are not going to be able to get the refund of the money just by asking for it. when the government does pass this bill to get more money, how are they going to get their money? they are just going to print more. why is our taxes even being used to benefit the health of people instead of just the government? host: thank you. guest: the government shutdown, the most essential services will be funded and republicans have

argued this is worth it to extract spending cuts down the line. that is the main argument in talking about the policy of government shutdown is the reason many groups of conservative house republicans say they are willing to do a shut down, they say bring it on, because they feel it is worth it in the short term to cause a shutdown in order to get a more favorable fiscal year 2024 spending bill passed which has cut the government which they say will reduce the government that and deficit. so they say it is worth on the short-term period of a shutdown to non-essential services, democrats will say things like the shutdown, you can simply say people living paycheck-to-paycheck we will pay you back later because that might not work for those when a mortgage payment is due on any given day of the month. host: washington state, that is where carol is on the democrat line. caller: good morning. host: you are on, go ahead. caller: yes, my comment is that

i am a new 65-year-old elderly person and i am on a fixed income and fixed is the word and , as 65, people have to basically forced to be on medicare. i was on medicaid and now i my -- now i am on medicare. medicaid is no longer an option. i cannot afford to pay for my medication. there are quite a few things i have to take to keep going. i have been thinking that i would probably be better off fighting medicare because it is not affordable. i have to pay my monthly dues, 164 month and i cannot afford my

medication. i have to pay out-of-pocket now. it is better to be on medicaid than on medicare. so what can the president or also the -- i am a constituent of governor hensley and a constituent of president biden. what can we do to make medicare affordable? it is really hurting me. host: that is carol from washington state. she talks in large about the medicare/medicaid issue but if you would like to respond. guest: one thing we ever seen -- we have seen recently as medicare is allowed to negotiate drug prices which is something passed the inflation reduction act last summer which is a huge

victory for democrats who were pushing for this policy for a long time. the government can negotiate with drug companies to reduce prices of medications currently a limited list of medications at the moment, they are trying to expand it, that is major for people who want to lower the cost of health care. this is proposed by health care companies that say this is able to stifle innovations but that is lowering costs. host: how are guest is working a punch will not

talk about the partnership between australia and the u.s. about partnerships sharing. it is expected to start shortly.