of these charges. all of these people that are calling in that seem like they are attorneys, they should just let the legal process work its way through the courts and then determine whether or not this man, like i said, in the end is guilty or innocent. that is my comment. thank you. host: one more call. dave on our republican line from texas. caller: i was calling about our southern border, and the only reason that i could see joe biden would turn such a blind eye to the southern border is the fact that the cartel has paid hunter biden some amount of money for him to look the other way. host: how do you make that connection? caller: can you tell me a reason why he would turn a blind eye to the open border like this? host: because you associated

with hunter biden, i am curious how you made the connection. caller: the same reason china does not get any flak. host: ok. dave in texas finishing off this open forum. thanks to all of you who participated. and that is it for the program today. an >> "washington journal" continues. host: a lot going on in washington this week. joining us is katherine tully-mcmanus. she is there congress reporter. we will talk about those in bit. thanks for joining us again. walk us through what to ask back during the week --walk us through what to ask during this week. >> the observance of the jewish holiday. guest: tomorrow, congress will

be back. what we expect is pushed in the pool of the house to continue -- push and all of the house to continue. senator mccarthy decided to keep three hundred billion dollars in ukraine aid and a but central package that he hopes to put on the floor this week for his conference to vote on two potentially avert a government shutdown. however, it was the case last week, this package is packed with republican priorities, especially immigration on the border. which will be no chance in the democratic controlled senate. they are clearing a vehicle for stopgap spending bill so they can weekly to move forward on spending legislation to avert the shutdown it is unlikely

they will take up whatever the house is considering at this, this republican led effort. the house will also be taking up for individual spending bills, which is a part of kevin mccarthy's promise to pass 12 individual spending bills for the next fiscal year one by one, in order to not have situation at the end of the year. his members wanted to see top line numbers from each bill so they could do calculation and also to keep closer i on what is going into those bills. however, with the number of days left until the end of the month, passing those individual bills to avert a shutdown is a possible. they are out of line with what democrats would agree to in the senate. you find this divided government

is pretty far from a solution. to avoid a government shutdown is looking more likely. host: is that because the top line numbers that were agreed upon, has that changed? how much? guest: yes. the republicans and democrats have together and are sticking to the gnash from the debt limit agreement which --from the debt limit agreement which included president joe biden. mccarthy is under immense pressure from republicans in the house. we are looking at massive ending cuts and those individual spending bills proposed in the house. continual resolution under this action in the house which is vaguely a 8% spending cut. not including the expense and

veterans. host: when it comes to house republicans, who is speaker mccarthy's largest opponent at this point? guest: there is about a handful of real hard conservative. some of the members -- not necessarily representative of that group as a whole. we are looking at -- last saw about between five and eight objectors within the conference that over and over again were tanking residual measures to move on to these. it is a small contingency of his narrow majority. even that number of republican's disagreeing with him and the larger conference can bring down a bill on the floor.

this congress --the procedural vote to tee up action on the floor for a bill has gone down. that had not happened under pelosi, paul ryan. the last time we have seen that is in the early 2000. i think 2002. the cambridge era is the last time we saw this happened it really is something that has been so mundane that the majority would vote for it. . the minority would vote against it. majority rules. it was the -- that paved the way for consideration of the underlying bill. now we are seeing is the small group of conservatives wilting this procedural tool as a

weapon. to show their dissatisfaction with the process, the contents of the bill and the ending levels they would like to see

>> with the new records because this part of the administration, and seems as though he wants to shut down and keep the border open. the real thing to do is to keep government running. host: there are the speaker's thoughts.

can you add to that? >> speaker mccarthy is in this difficult position because if you think that those conservatives within the conference are unsatisfied with these republican led spending bills, these republican led legislative priorities, how many republicans do you lose if you and together with democrats -- if you band together with democrats? there are enough republicans in his conference that i see that as a totally untenable approach for him to cross the aisle and work with democrats. they would like to do everything republican only. any concessions made to democrats he is choosing between making concessions to the most conservative wing of his own party or making concessions to democrats who run the senate and have the presidency.

the most conservative republicans see themselves as a check on the democrat senate. they see this as almost given up their majority if you were to work with democrats. -- giving up their majority if they were to work with democrats. that is such a slim majority, that is a way for him to give up less to his conservative right wing. instead, just win a handful of democratic votes. of course, the bills that are under consideration right now, the individual spending bills, the continued resolutions, the stopgap spending bills, both of those are tilted so far into the republican priority camp that right now, democrats would not even consider voting for those. host: on our independent line, this is lando. go ahead. caller: i wanted to call in.

i wanted to say that elected officials, people elected to their jobs, they should be able to put differences aside to make decisions. the cost is too great to shut down. we need in the time of divisiveness to work together regardless of her own personal. there should be no reason we cannot reach across the aisle and with each other. i think as a younger person i cannot see anyone who i would want to vote for because everybody is so divided. i want to see people stand out and work together. those are the people i want running this country. host: as we heard earlier during the first hour from the problem solvers caucus, this vehicle that possibly gets it to the floor for a vote, can you elaborate on what they're proposing and what a discharge position is? guest: they are looking at compromise, this is a problem

solvers caucus, it was created to reach across the aisle and come up with a moderated solution. to these standoffs that we see between republicans and democrats. the problem, the problem solvers face that often times their proposals cannot win the majority of either republicans or democrats. because both of those parties encompass a special wide range of views. while they can come up with a compromise between some republicans and some democrats, they have rarely found a path that wins the number of votes necessary. a petition is an option, if you have enough signatories you can move something forward. against frankly the will of leadership. in a majority party.

you can force a vote on something. i will be interested to see how their effort progresses this week. i do not anticipate that they will be getting the votes for the progressive caucus and the democrats or the freedom caucus within the republicans. they will be something really centered on moderates and right now, there are so many flashpoint issues that each party does not want to discuss or does not want to budge on. like mccarthy said earlier, the border is something that is so complex and the parties are on totally opposite ends of the spectrum on how to handle it. i do not know how the problem solvers plan to deal with that. i will be watching closely this week. host: from the tennessee democrats line, good morning.

caller: thank you for the balance you provide, i am a democrat supports the shut down. here is why. mccarthy is so weak, i do not want to see him fail. he has been handed a very weak position. just to get the gavel and he session did not have much hope in the problem solvers caucus as your guest mentioned a moment ago. with regard to the border in particular, i feel like a teacher who has given an assignment that is due right after the christmas holidays and half the class is not completed it i have to stay home with the class to coax them through and get them to present at project. the border, last week you had a guest, he was a representative from texas.

a border district and he was asked a question and he disregarded it. here is the thing about the question. it was suggested by a caller that if there are no senate bills by labor day, -- by the fourth of july, there is no summer break for congress. if there is no senate bills by labor day, their weekends are gone out a full hour weekdays. here's the thing about the border, i think we are really doing a great disservice to the people who come across. immigration law is such that unless you have some sort of violence by your state or government you are not going to be able to immigrate. host: i will have to leave you

there, i apologize, thank you for the call, you put a lot out there for our guests. if you want to break that down? guest: i think that there is that impasse. while both parties will say over and over again that they do not want to shut down. i talked to republicans last week who were very clear and very clearheaded in saying publicly that when the government has shut down they have worn the blunt of the blame and they do not see that shifting at this point in the impasse right now. we are in the middle of if this next shutdown happens, many of them were resigned to saying this is going to be negative for the republican party and for republican governments. that has not relieved the

divisions within their conference as they go forward and try to solve this problem. on the border issue, i think that the caller makes a point that this is a major issue that is facing our country, both parties are approaching it so differently and really have a different perspective on those folks who are coming across the southern border. and, that is really one of the crocks issues, -- crux issues of public perceptions. host: has there been any questions in hind sight of why they would take this break if it was going to bring us to now? guest: the august break? host: frankly, many of the spending bills are not ready. guest: for prime time. they had not been fully sorted out in the house. and so, there is such an ebb and

flow in congressional action while that you may be making them stay in is -- we are probably popular with the american people. it is my guess to have and watch their representative working through the summer. the reality is you end up with a hurry up and wait situation. folks have also why not stay in the weekends and things like that? often the bills are not done. it holds people in washington without something or a product that is ready to go on the floor and to get a vote. it really stirs up discontent among congress itself which can lead to lashing out a leadership and even -- at leadership and even more cooks in the kitchen time to finalize those bills. host: as to speaker mccarthy

coming from the democratic line, have any democrats in congress extended any sympathy to the position he is in? guest: i know that majority leader schumer in the senate has said i feel for where he is at. is working with a small majority, divisions within his conference. it is a position that schumer has had in the 50-50 senate when his democratic votes were not necessarily aligned. he has also been really clear. we need to get a deal before a shut down. he is telling mccarthy they are working across the aisle or the main goal is republicans. that has got them in line. he has launched his counterpart in the session, to mcconnell, over and over again. i do not think republicans see those two leaders as operating in the same way.

yes, democrats acknowledged that mccarthy is not necessarily the cause of all of this. he is having a tiny majority and naysayers. host: let us hear from ray, in new york city, democrat line. caller: you mentioned social security benefits will not be affected by this, what about federal government pensions? host: i do not know if that was a question from the background? the viewers brought up social security earlier. our folks impacted if they work for the federal government and the shutdown happens? guest: the shutdown will of course begins on october 1. the day that all of those checks go out is different. the direct deposits or checks, whichever you have set up. and, it would not necessarily

hold those checks going out. if it does not go that long. if it is a few days, those checks that are set to go out in the middle of october towards the end of october, those are necessarily affected -- not necessarily affected. federal employees paychecks, if your pay period is -- if the shutdown does not reach the pay period, those checks would not be affected. a key thing to mention on the employee's side, that in 2019 after that really long shutdown in modern history, they did pass legislation to ensure backpay for federal workers. that did not cover contractors which make up a huge amount of the work done within government. it does take that question a way of whether that income is just

lost or is it guaranteed backpay? that is not how people who have a rent, mortgage, phone bill, electric bill to be paid imminently. that backpay will come later after the shutdown. host: on top of that i noticed that you brought up the 27th amendment when it comes to legislative pay during the time. can you elaborate? guest: this is members pointing out press releases and put out legislative proposals suggesting that they could hold their own pay. do not pay congress if they cannot get their jobs done, it is a logical argument. the 27th amendment really does prohibit the changing of legislators pay in between elections. it is basically enacted so you cannot politically punish

members of congress for example, if all of congress was the opposite party of the president you cannot just stop their pay. what is on the table and many members will do this is if the government shuts down, it is a pledge to donate their pay, that also highlights that you do not need your paycheck you are getting from serving congress which usually constituents will take note. it is a nice sentiment but also it highlights how wealthy members of congress typically are. that has changed in recent years. the other option which is still being talked about is having checks withheld by the payroll entity on capitol hill and saying what if we like other federal workers are insured backpay but it does not hit your account while the government is shut down. the 27th amendment -- >>