a signal to president xi that the u.s. stands very firmly with taiwan and it will be taken as such by beijing. >> bill: thank you, jennifer. good to have you on today, michael pillsbury and dan hoffman and smitty. >> sandra: chuck grassley joining us at 1:00. >> bill: we'll see you then. here is harris. >> breaking news now with house speaker nancy pelosi on the ground in taiwan. china has been threatening the united states for days not to go there and one chinese state media commentator with these chilling words, pray for pelosi. i'm harris faulkner and you are in "the faulkner focus". nancy pelosi becomes the highest ranking united states official to visit taiwan in a quarter century. the last speaker of the house to go there was newt gingrich

in 1997. china is angry over the support for the nation of taiwan with threats of major military response and reports of chinese fighter jets flying and armed tanks at the ready. both taipei and washington, d.c. are bracing for any reaction. at first they wanted to see if there would be any harassment of pelosi's plane on the way in. next we'll see and watch for both those governments to see if anybody will want to harass her plane on the outside or rather on the way out. by anybody i mean china. house armed services committee member mike gallagher is in "focus" for us. so we want to go straight to him right now. congressman, first of all, the importance of this trip and why china is having such a sharp reaction. >> first i salute the speaker for going ahead as she planned. it was an important signal to

send to the chinese communist party we have will not be intimidated. neither the ccp nor the executive branch gets a veto over the travel of members of congress, particularly constitutional officers. this is entirely consistent with the language of the taiwan relations act as well as the taiwan travel act. speaker pelosi did not violate in the protocol. a useful way of fostering deeper ties between taiwan and american officials. i salute her for that. what we need to do going forward on a bipartisan basis. i wish republicans have come with her. to take the steps necessary in congress to arm taiwan to the teeth so they can defend themselves against a possible pla invasion as well as increase training exercises between our two countries and rebuild our own military so that the chinese never feel like they have an opportunity to take taiwan by force. >> we had talked about this on

the program a week ago, congressman, about there needing to be a bipartisan delegation for a few reasons. the world sees how divided we are politically. it sends a message that we're clear on who our enemies are. >> i totally agree with that. i don't know if she reached out to republican offices and they couldn't go. my office received no such invite. i would have been happy to accompany her on the trip. that being said, i do genuinely believe it is a rare area of bipartisan agreement. you've seen bipartisan calls for enhancing assistance to taiwan and increasing our funding for the pacific defense initiative. the seize the initiative fund. a lot of areas where we can move forward and learn the right lessons from our failures in ukraine and afghanistan and apply those lessons in the

indoe pacific before we lose world war iii through surrender or battlefield defeat. >> i'm curious. is it gamesmanship that the president of the united states wouldn't throw his weight behind the house speaker all in the same political party and let the world see there might be daylight within that party that has both chambers on the hill and the white house? or is there something else afoot? does he not want to seem touched by this so he has clean hands to do -- i don't know what you do. you have iran, russia, china. your thoughts on it. >> i think it is fear. quite simply this administration seems to be afraid at every step of the way of provoking our adversaries. if you've seen what happened in ukraine consistently signal what we're not going to do out of fear of provoking putin. the same thing i think is true here. we're so risk averse and afraid of provoking the chinese

communist party we put ourss in a straight jacket and restricted our ability to move aggressively and think creatively. there is a divide in the administration. those with a more realistic view of china and want to work with republicans and the wing of the administration that believes climate change is our biggest threat and we need to have a more cooperative relationship with the chinese communist party to combat climate change. i think the second camp is naive and responsible for a lot of incoherence on the strategy of china. >> they aren't paying attention to what russia and some of these countries are willing to do out of hate. you don't have to look down the road for change. climate or otherwise. you have immediate change per weaponry that they willing to kill millions of people with right now china against ukraine and -- russia against ukraine

and would love for it to go further as they want more land. i will ask you to stand by for a second to get a quick report on the ground. greg palkot is watching. tell us about the plane landing if you can. >> not since a long time ago so many people watched a plane land, harris. in fact, we got the touchdown about 20 minutes ago at taipei airport. we watched the u.s. air force plane land and we watched nancy pelosi, speaker of the house, get out. it was a monumental moment. a lot of nervousness on the run-up to this, harris. one of the multitude of threats coming from beijing is there could be some kind of interruption or interception of that flight. that didn't happen. there were so many planes up in the sky along with her plane from taiwan, also from the u.s.

it is hard to believe that beijing would have tried something like that. she did go the long way around, harris, her route from malaysia to taipei, taiwan, was all the way around the philippines missing the south china sea where there is a big chinese military presence. it was clearly trying to avoid any kind of entanglement with any chinese military on the approach, harris. >> all of those are blessings she is on the ground. i will go back to congressman gallagher now. we wanted to get the particulars there. we see quite the delegation. congressman, they had lit up a building that said welcome speaker pelosi. this also sends a signal to china from taiwan. what does taiwan want to communicate with us oh than the ground representative? >> i think this was the risk of her backing down. imagine how demoralizing it

would have been to our friends on the ground in taiwan. it sends a strong signal of support for them that america stands proudly and strongly with our partners in taiwan. we will not be deterred by the threats of the chinese communist party. what do they want going forward? i mentioned some initiatives we can take to improve our foreign military sale process to taiwan. for example, my understanding is the harpoon anti-ship missiles that they've purchased aren't scheduled to be delivered until 2028. that's too late. we need to expedite the delivery of critical systems particularly missiles and mines in order to help taiwan defend itself. i believe we've entered the window of maximum danger here and the pla will make a move. >> i don't mean to cut in. i watch history being made for the second time like this in a quarter century for our nation to send a high-profile leader to taiwan. and you tell me that it is

going to take until 2028 to deliver something that is critical, harpoon missiles. we already know the company that china keeps. three watching to see what russia has been able to do against ukraine even though we're sending them billions of dollars and weapons and everything. is that a smart calculation and true friendship is what i'm trying to ask? we've seen pelosi on the ground. would you leave your friends hanging high and dry for another six or seven years? >> part of that friendship will involve a little bit of tough talk. we have been trying to convince the taiwanese to invest in asem it rick systems and not by legacy capabilities that would be less effective. the better our overall diplomatic relationship is the better position we are to have that conversation. ukraine, the hard math is we burned through seven years of javelin missiles in ukraine. we don't have the ability to buy them and stockpile them in

europe and the indo pacific. we need to use the defense production act for. not green new deal project just for the progressive base of the democratic party. >> i want harp on this but it is the reality the world watches us grapple with we promise to help taipei and promised to help ukraine and others. we burn through so much fossil fuel to give the nation right now electricity. we have to do that. we've been having black-outs and brown-outs and water issues even in my state. no water pressure and boiling and so on and so forth and it takes electricity to get the water moving. we aren't quite in that green space but these people need our help right away. >> also for all these electric vehicles that we will be subsidizing. electric vehicles i'm not an expert but they need electricity. and that will be a problem

going forward. or the solar panels, right? the plants in which the solar panels and parts are being made and manufactured are not using solar energy, right? the tragedy and irony of the john kerry strategy on energy and climate change is that it really amounts to giving china supremacy over solar panel supply chains made by slave labor in china in dirty, coal-fired power plants. you can't make this stufp. it is absurd and why we need to focus on the true threat to america over the long term is the chinese communist party and rely on innovation to help climate change while not destroying our domestic economy. >> thank you so much for handling the breaking news with me now as we watch history be made. thank you for being in "focus." i want to get more reaction to this, though, from capitol hill where aishah hosni is right now. i watched you reporting all morning law. will she, won't she.

she did. now we wait to see what china will do next. what's happening among our lawmakers who were bipartisan in support of this except for the white house? >> exactly. that's a key point i want to hit on in a moment. you are right. there has been so much bipartisan support for this moment and what a moment, right? took my breath away when i was watching it. we're watching history take place live on television right now. the first time in some 25 years that the speaker of the house visits taiwan. and really sends this strong message to china defying china and its aggressive rhetoric against the u.s. in trying to dictate what it is that we can and cannot do. whether you agree with the speaker's policies or not. i know there are many out there that don't like her and don't like what she stands for but i can tell you that for those of us that cover the speaker here on capitol hill, we knoll that she is not one to back down and

there were many expectations along the way this past week that she would make this trip and make good on those plans that we kept hearing about. she have is a bold one and she has been in a very similar moment before. if you remember about 30 years ago back in 1991, i believe it was, when she went to tinmen square and went with lawmakers and stood there and held up a pro-democracy banner in opposition of the chinese government to honor those protestors who had lost their lives in fighting for democracy. she did that and was essentially chased away by chinese police. i actually went back and watched that video this morning and it was quite a sight to see for 1991 for the speaker -- not then the speaker but for her to do that along with other lawmakers. i just want to also bring up,

you know, there have been rumors swirling on capitol hill for quite some time that the speaker might be retiring after she -- after the mid-terms later on this year and this would be what a way to cap off her tenure here on capitol hill to be able to say look, this is my legacy and this is how i stood up for human rights. she has repeatedly stood up for human rights, specifically in china. i think you raised a really great point. that is the question of what does it say about the white house and how the speaker of the house takes action? >> i think that's the question. >> that's the question. >> congressman gallagher of wisconsin and i were talking as she was on the ground and now we have moments ago video on the screen. we understand that she is still projected to meet with the president of taiwan. these are huge moments and she

is not the only person to have been there. not the only speaker. newt gingrich in 1997 was there, too. but these are rare moments and we will watch them. the one perhaps sticking point for gallagher and many others, republicans and democrats, is more didn't go? why does it have to be here? more might have gone a made a bigger footprint in history. right now we have the speaker of the house. china is pretty mad. aishah hosni, thank you reporting with reaction from capitol hill. the leader of al qaeda is dead. president biden down played the terror group's presence in that country but were they letting him take cover in afghanistan? the taliban, were they really doing that? i thought we had communication

back and forth. the administration personally on this show, admiral kirby, when he was at the pentagon and now inside the white house, that they would work and talk with the taliban to get soef our people home. to get those behind enemies lines who helped us out and that they would potentially house the head of al qaeda? we'll get into it. jason chaffetz next. me, and nee call newday usa. i'm tatiana, here to say you can get an average of $60,000 with the newday 100 cash out loan. that's at least 25% more cash than you get at a bank. it lowers your payments by an average of $600 a month, too. with today's soaring home values, the time to turn your equity into cash is right now.

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>> the search is underway for those behind these evil acts. i have directed the full resources of our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and to bring them to justice. we will make no distinction between the terrorists who

committed these acts and those who harbored them. >> harris: keep those words in mind as we talk about this story today. those who harbor them. president biden announced to the nation last night that the united states had taken out the top leader of the terrorist group behind the deadliest attack on u.s. soil. the administration said they aimed drone at al-zawahiri standing on the balcony. the military launch that strike in kabul over the weekend. flashback to when biden said this. >> president biden: what interest do we have in afghanistan at this point with al qaeda gone? we went to afghanistan for the express purpose of getting rid of al qaeda in afghanistan, as well as -- as well as getting osama bin laden and we did. >> harris: eric shawn is live

in lower manhattan. it is so fitting you are there today. you also were reporting on september 11th, 2001. your report now. >> yes, harris, good morning. as that day 21 years ago another tuesday morning, very similar, bright blue sky greeted new yorkers as they woke up and terror from the sky hitting the twin towers what was known as ground zero. there is today a generation later very much different feeling. the killing of al-zawahiri and in a sense bringing justice and relief from those who are here, a sense that american power and resolve and commitment will not wane or falter in fighting terrorists who targeted and continue to pose a threat to our nation. here at the site of the

memorial, museum and the two huge waterfall at the imprints which was once the site of the world trade center people have a new sense of commitment and resolve because of what happened. nearly 3,000 people were killed at the world trade center site not to mention those at the pentagon and the airliner. the taliban have not changed their stripes. despite the war in afghanistan and the blood and treasure of our country, the radical islamist terror threats still exist. many very grateful for what happened and the administration was able to take out the last architect -- living architect of that dark day that struck us then. terri is a widow of the one of the victims of 9/11. her husband tom was killed. she said we are deeply grateful for the commitment of american's intelligence agency and military sacrifices made in

removing such evil from our lives. terri's husband, toming was an investment banker and called her before he perished. as he see live here now the site is a solemn site. tourists and visitors looking at the names on the granite side of the memorial. there is a white rose in front of one name indicating today is his birthday. michael richards, an african-american sculptor was in his studio on the 92nd floor that day. 38 years old and perished. perhaps al-zawahiri's killing a pointed message that america will not give up. harris. >> harris: we will never forget and hunt you down and kill you. that's what my dad used to say. combat pilot. eric shawn, thank you. the "wall street journal" editorial board said justice was served but ask the more important question now that's looming. were the taliban providing

sanctuary for this terrorist? republican congressman michael waltz with a similar takeaway. >> i think this should be celebrated. i also think, though, it leads to a lot of questions. number one, what was the leader of al qaeda doing in kabul? why was he someone who has been in hiding for decades now, why did he feel so comfortable to really be out in the open? >> harris: jason chaffetz former utah congressman and fox news contributor. >> there are an untold number of people behind the scenes in our intelligence agencies that were able to pull this off. the ability of america to hunt you down anywhere on the planet is second to none. i applaud the president for taking the shot. he said and told america and

the world that al qaeda was no longer present in afghanistan. nobody believed that ever. that was a facade. but the fact that he took the shot, i'm glad that he did. again, hats off to the intelligence services because all moving parts it takes to fire a drone and hit the target on a balcony is truly amazing. >> harris: when you harbor somebody that you know is a mortal enemy of ours, and then i have the then pentagon spokesman, now advisor inside the white house admiral john kirby telling me on this very program when i pressed him are you working with the taliban to try to get our people out left behind enemy lines and those who have helped us? and he said yes, they were doing something. they were willing to work with the taliban. so how long have we known that al-zawahiri was sitting there, or did we not known?

>> we've probably known for some time and watching him and knew every movement and you want to make sure you know who he is communicating with and disrupt the network. let's not pretend that afghanistan has an organized government. there are factions, al qaeda, the taliban, others, but this is as third world of a country. you can go back to 800 b.c. and it was more organized than this. it is one of the most desperate places on the planet. but that's also why you need a presence and why people in the various intelligence agencies just do heroic work in order to get it done. >> harris: quickly, though, should we be more worried than ever about what the taliban can accomplish? if they keep company with scorpions who want to kill us. >> you would look at north africa, places like libya where we don't have as much

intelligence type of operations. afghanistan continues to be a place, along with parts of pakistan and others where these people can thrive and again it presents a huge intelligence issue. let's not forget about lots of parts of africa, particularly north africa. >> harris: i want to go now to taipei in taiwan. we can take a live look now outside the speaker's hotel where she will be staying and you see just huge gathering of people. normally we would say media. look at the children and crowds. you have the little girl in the front row in the yellow shirt. we know at least what we've been told is that the president of that nation later -- they are 12 hours ahead of us. it is coming on midnight. 11:29 their time at night. so sometime tomorrow for them the speaker of the house is set to talk with their president and what would you think would be accomplished there?

what needs to be said? >> i think her mere presence is -- speaks volumes. i do think she should have followed long-term tradition taking a republican to show that the united states of america, that they have the support of the united states of america. i thought it was a missed opportunity and it was very selfish of her if she didn't take one. i don't know who else is on the trip but i have heard there is no republican. i think the people of taiwan know that the strength and might and support of the united states of america is in many ways their best hope of protecting their livelihood and their lives. but i think as americans we also need to say the taiwanese need to be able to defend themselves and they need to invest in that the way the investment probably should have been made earlier on in ukraine. that i think has to happen. >> harris: when congressman

gallagher joined me a few minutes ago as speaker pelosi got on the ground that tough talks have to happen with taiwan for them to be prepared to do some of the things moving ahead. he is glad that relationship is going to be stronger because those conversations need to happen as well. we could be, he said, as far as 2028 from the harpoon missiles that they need now to get ready. jason, we're just getting this in. we want to know what the chinese state media put out. they have tweeted. can we pop it on the screen? pelosi has landed in iowan opening an area of high intensity competition between china and the u.s. over taiwan strait. taiwan is close to chinese mainland and beijing has sufficient cards at hand. we will play them one-by-one confidently. the pla is announcing a series of actions based on what i know

in response to pelosi's possible visit to taiwan, beijing has formulated a series of counter measures including military actions. your thoughts on that tweet. >> if there was ever a doubt that we need to make sure that the united states of america has the biggest military in the world. they have surpassed us in the number of ships in our navy. we need to invest in our navy and our capabilities. it is a very dangerous place. it is a dangerous place in that china is expanding. the south china sea, the danger islands and others, those places if you talk to anybody in vietnam or the philippines, china has a role of expansion and they are desperately wanting to do that and they have been picking on the little people that don't have the kind of military might that the united states of america has. but we need to have a biggest, baddest military on the face of

the planet bar none and it takes a long-term investment. >> harris: i see activity to the left of everybody's screen. we're waiting to see the speaker of the house arrive at the hotel where all of these people have gathered. some of them obviously are media from all over the world and taiwan, of course. but many of them are citizens and you can see a mix of families, people mixing in. this is a motorcade. we'll wait to see if we would even get a glimpse of the speaker of the house. look at all the children. everybody running toward it. you talk about a glimmer of hope for people who maybe think the world don't see them as a target by china and then you read that tweet and their counter measures because she is there and all these things that they will unleash and you know they hear that talk, jason, on a daily basis. those threats are part of the nomenclature as common as hello. right now they have a friend on the ground in the united states

and one regret would be why not a bipartisan delegation? do you have to make everything political? no, you don't. you could do this together. >> that would have shown true leadership from the speaker to have it by a bipartisan. take somebody s even a rank and file member from the united states congress and show that both sides of the aisle that the united states of america does support this. look, the speaker is on the ground. other members of congress are on the ground. this is a security threat. we don't know who each of those people are. the fact that you have people swarming motorcades, the taiwanese better make sure the speaker stays safe. we need her back up in the air when she is done with her visit. i hope she has a safe one. >> harris: from what we knew earlier, i would assume the same way on the way out, u.s. military planes protecting her and being there, and that commentator from beijing i was reading the tweet from, there

was a different commentator said she better pray if she were going to taiwan. the state media, the mouthpiece, if you will, of people who hate us on the planet. and we'll see a couple of things here. i just want everybody to understand that less than an hour ago speaker of the house landed and when you see her standing in the tarmac pictures those are moments ago. now we know that outside the hotel is a lot of activity as her motorcade has arrived. jason, one of the hard parts about looking forward in all of this is that we cannot predict necessarily what china will do. yet they want us to believe that everything is on the table. but they need a relationship with us, too, financially, business-wise as well. >> there is. look, this is why, when we have a national debt nearly $40 trillion, it puts us in vulnerability with china. when we have to rely so much on china for so much of our

ability to obtain goods and other types of things, it creates a vulnerability. the relationship with china is so complex that there is a national security component. a space race that is going on. a lot of members of congress have been briefed on and more serious than anybody realizes it. you tie it with taiwan and others going on. it takes a stead' hand and somebody who understands what's going on here and making sure that any mistake that is made is dealt with very appropriately very swiftly. >> harris: i want to turn to politics for a moment. you saw the president of the united states announcing the drone kill of the top leader in al qaeda and now you have nancy pelosi on the ground. the president not saying anything about that. i'm sure you have a quick thought on that.

the two things happening bilaterally. your reaction. >> it is typical that an administration and president will not foreshadow the movement of members of congress into other countries until they are up out of the air and back on safe space. that is typical and normal. when the chinese start evidence to threaten the united states of america the president of the united states or maybe somebody very senior at the pentagon should have really pushed back and let the world know you won't push the united states around. the one that i would worry about that doesn't get enough attention because we have to be able to fight on multiple fronts is iran. iran is one of the biggest state sponsors of terrorism that there is. they are developing a nuclear bomb and we better be paying attention to what's going on there while we're paying attention to asia and paying attention to afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq. it is very complex out there. >> harris: we just saw the motorcade pulling into a

subterranean parking garage at the hotel where we are told the speaker of the house will spend the night and then possibly meet with the president of that country. the only reason i use words like possibly and reportedly. somebody has the schedule but we don't have it yet and part of the reason that you mentioned, to keep that group along with the speaker of the house safe as well, i would imagine. jason chaffetz. thank you very much for being in "focus" right now with your perspective and experience in all of this. i want to get to more politics. we'll continue to follow the sneaker's progress and bring you any news there. 12 hours ahead. it is almost midnight there. at day break there you might anticipate things to pick back up. meanwhile let's get to this. a new york magazine story called the kamala conundrum. the vice president's slip in political traction saying she has reached an unparalleled low point. it adds she was partly a victim

of enormous expectations. former trump treasury official put it this way. >> kamala harris has never been asked tough questions or challenged over the entire careers by left wing press whether california or washington when she is thrust into a position like this she has no idea what she is doing. >> harris: the article cited her repeated drubls with the biden white house and falling popularity. a recent poll puts her favorability at 26%. that's behind president's 35%. power panel. doug collins and kevin walling. great to see you. doug, you first. kamala, does she dig out? and some of the criticism has been that she just wasn't ready for prime time to begin with. your thoughts. >> i think you just saw the

problem. they have both a problem. biden and harris both have a problem that is perception and polls are showing it and frustration is showing. it is internal. one of the things you can't forget she ran for president and did so poorly she dropped out early and got no support. it is interesting to me that later on now we're wondering why sthe is not universally accepted across the democratic party. not just her campaign but now how she has handled the office. it is not just what republicans are saying about her. it is what is happen and seeing internally in the white house and other democrats. i have never seen a time in which a president may be questioned about running again but always a vice president seemed to be would be logical surrogate to step in. no one seems to say that is the logical progress of the democratic party and biden not being on the ticket in 2024. kamala harris needs to be left out of the equation. >> harris: what do you do with her at this point? >> the vice president will continue to crisscross the

country. indiana talking about the demise of roe. in miami in advance of hurricane season. this vice president is incredibly active, incredibly going out on the road meeting with americans. >> harris: but have you heard her talk? >> she gives speeches every time she is on the road. >> harris: it's green goddess dressing, a word salad. we have so much breaking news. senator manchin of west virginia coming up next. when key democrat kyrsten sinema holding out on a massive spending bill supposed to help inflation. republicans are raising alarms all over the place on this. >> how worried should america be if she should have had cave

like joe manchin did? god help us if they end up getting to spend these billions of dollars we don't have. >> harris: so much debate on whether the bill will help americans struggling or cripple them with taxes and more. senator joe manchin of the great state of west virginia signed on to that bill last week. he made a deal with senator schumer. he is in "focus" next. there he is. in this market, you'll find fisher investments is different than other money managers. (other money manager) different how? aren't we all just looking for the hottest stocks? (fisher investments) nope. we use diversified strategies to position our client's portfolios for their long-term goals. (other money manager) but you still sell investments that generate high commissions for you, right? (fisher investments) no, we don't sell commission products. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in our client's best interest. (other money manager) so when do you make more money, only when your clients make more money? (fisher investments) yep. we do better when our clients do better. at fisher investments, we're clearly different.

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>> harris: the fate of a massive democratic tax and spending bill was announced last week by joe manchin and chuck schumer. moderate democrat senator kyrsten sinema hasn't said whether she will support it. a lot of questions looming over whether the package democrats are calling the inflation reduction act will actually help american families struggling with rising prices or hurt them. a wall street jurn appear op-ed argues the inflation reduction act is an insult to used car salesman adding like the lemon sitting on the back of the lot. it is giving a little touch-up a fresh coat of paint. reduced price tag and bright

new description. focus now west virginia senator joe manchin. great to have you in focus. >> i know we've talked about this for a while. nice to be with you. >> harris: we have been talking about this for a while and let's start there. how did this deal come about so quickly and so quietly? you were a hold-out like kyrsten sinema. >> i wasn't a hold-out. i was opposed to the bbb at 3 1/2 trillion dollars. when it came down to us last december i couldn't do it and i was up front and told him i can't get there so that's over. but i always wanted to do something i could for my country. this is all about my country, not about my politics or someone else's politics or my friends on the republican side or democrat side or whoever is upset with me. had nothing to do about any of it. what can we do for the country? inflation is the greatest threat we have hurting everyone

in west virginia at the gas pump, food store, energy bills and daily lives. if we have a chance -- if i ever had a chance to have an energy policy that was balanced and we could make sure we are producing more energy for what we have rather than going around the world asking other people to produce for us, shouldn't we do that? that's something we all wanted and what we got out of this. it's a great bill. >> harris: i read the part about what west virginia could see in terms of energy. we'll get into that in a second. you were absolutely right everybody is focused on inflation right now. every poll shows it. i'm looking at the penn wharton budget model that you watch and examine the detail of the schumer/manchin deal and it said something different than you just said. it said the impact on inflation, a quote, the impact on inflation is statistically indistinguishable from zero through 2031. penn wharton modelers are

saying we don't agree with those who think deficit reduction will lead in a straight line to lower inflation. but that's what the democrats claim for their bill. so both things can't be true. this is something that they are studying. so are you wrong or are you not giving all of the hard truth to americans about what this is going to cost them in terms of inflation? >> let's say maybe they are wrong. there are others different is that. moody's said different and a budget policy. another group came out. we had 17 nobel laureates last year when i said inflation is real, it will be here and hurt us immensely. they said no, no, it will be transitory. 17 of the brightest in the country were wrong. >> harris: let me ask you what cuts inflation in this bill. >> let me ask you this how could it be inflation -- my republican friends we have to start paying down debt. i've been a budget hawk my

whole life. we pay down billions of dollars. massive expenses. 3.5 trillion was bb. >> harris: how is it not a straight line? because i'm not saying and even wharton isn't saying it won't get there in a jagged line but you know how it doesn't? we're cooking a higher rate of inflation ahead of wages. even if everybody were to go out and get a job or two or three jobs right now their wages can't keep up with the cost of milk, bread and so forth. >> how do you do that? you have to produce your way out of this. you can't sit back and wait your way out. >> harris: will you open pipelines? >> build pipelines. >> harris: how are you going to sell that to the president of the united states. who on day one flipped a switch. >> it is part of the deal. it is part of the bill. all you have to do is read the bill, harris and you will see. you are not going to be able to do anymore off shore wind or on

shore solar and wind unless we are doing more production with drilling and extraction. it is all part of a balanced approach. we need more energy today so -- we also need to invest in the energy for the future. this is a balanced approach everyone has been talking about. everyone is upset for whatever reason because they are afraid it is a political bill. it is not a democrat bill. not a republican bill. it is not a green deal. this is a red, white and blue deal, harris. everyone is having a hard time understanding that we can walk and chew gum and do the great thing together if we start looking at our country first and quit worrying about our politics. >> harris: they see a senator who they thought was moderate. >> i have pushed back on everything, harris, i have pushed back on everything. >> harris: let's talk taxes. >> if you think i roll over i have been at it for 40 years. i have oef never been pushed into doing something i didn't think was right for my state or country.

>> harris: another criticism is that it will raise taxes. this is what was said about biden's position. >> he promised it wasn't going to raise taxes on anybody making less than $400,000 a year but the joint committee on taxation says that it is not true. >> that isn't correct. >> so the joint committee on taxation, which you guys heralded as an effective body when you were selling the infrastructure package, is not to be trusted here? >> i said it is not correct because i'll give you why it is not correct. it is incomplete. >> harris: we have to noef the bottom line on taxes. >> the bottom line on that. you want to hear the bottom line? the joint committee on taxation? that opinion was written by my friends on the republican side. not done by the whole joint committee. that is unfair, too. let's be accurate what we are doing here. the bottom line is how in the world can you be raising taxes

when we are saying the most wealthy corporations in america, 55 of them pay zero to help this great country of ours to defend ourselves. >> harris: how does this change that? that's part of the corporate structuring, right? >> a minimum of 15%. the tax rate was at 35% before 2017. it went to 21%. that was a tremendous savings but not good enough, i guess. all we're saying is 15% minimum most people around the country pay a 21% corporate or greater. why can't the greatest billion dollars of revenue a year, why can't they pay at least 15% for this great country? >> harris: are you trying to also say. this is the part that counts. people look at corporations and they know they have great tax accountants. heck, they have complete departments trying to come up with ways to find loopholes and to hire people as well. let's not forget that, too.

but $400,000 was supposed to be the cut-off. i'm reading -- i am reading, senator, it is below that now. >> who is paying any taxes that doesn't have a corporation that has revenue of over a billion dollars a year? not one person. not one person, harris. you are you -assuming they will pass that on. >> harris: i am asking you a different question. i'm saying americans $400,000 and below now will be taxed. their taxes will go up. >> that's a lie. a pure, outright lie. >> harris: their taxes won't go up? >> not at all. how about the people saving as far as medical $288 million paying higher prices. they didn't assume that in the evaluation and didn't talk about any of that. how about gasoline prices go down because we produce more oil to make more gasoline. >> harris: experts are saying we could go back up before

labor day. >> be optimistic. believe in america. >> harris: i have to hit that. are you saying that mitch mcconnell and others in the senate are wrong about the numbers and americans taxes won't go up? >> totally, absolutely wrong. totally wrong. here is the thing. look at it through the american lens. i'm just answering questions. i want to answer these questions because what you are asking and the facts you have are completely wrong. >> harris: you guys are in the same chamber. it will be interesting when you finally get to stirring the stew here what it will be like. i want to get to this. you gave some interviews over the weekend on sunday shows. at one point you were asked a question whether or not you would like to see democrats do better than what they are forecast to do now based on the numbers. 98 days away from the mid-term. did you dodge the question when you said so i can work with either -- >> i never dodge a question. >> harris: let's roll the tape. >> let me give you an answer.

>> do you hope democrats keep control of the house and senate? >> i think people are sick and tired of politics, chuck. i'm not going to predict what is going to happen. i want to make sure we do something good. >> what result do you want? >> bill: do you want the democrats to keep control. >> i am not making decisions on that. i'll work with whatever you have. >> you don't care about the outcome this year? >> whatever the voters choose. i can't decide what's going to happen. >> harris: that wasn't dodge ball? >> this is not a political piece of legislation. this is an american legislation. we need energy, we need to pay down debt. we need to accelerate our permitting process so we can build things. >> harris: elections will need some help. >> i will not make a statement on that. >> harris: his poll rating is as long as congress's. you know that when you get into the surveys no one is that

popular. >> are you against something good to help our country? >> harris: are you kidding? service is in the bible. that's what we do. we serve our fellow man and woman. >> that's exactly what i'm doing. >> harris: don't make it personal because it's not. i'm asking that you have a president who can't really help anybody on the campaign with the numbers right now. it doesn't sound supportive of your own party and i'm asking why. >> i work with what i have here in the majority party we have as a democratic party. i'm working with the president who has accepted the proposal i put forward and negotiated. balanced energy policy. it's wonderful for our country. i know people who don't like the president and don't like democrats might be upset. it is not whether you like the president or you like democrats. do you like america? do you want to fight inflation? this bill does it. >> harris: the president of the united states. do you want to see him run in

2024? >> i'm not talking about 2022 and not talking about 2024. i'm talking about the american bill we have. inflation reduction act which is a red, white and blue bill. a great bill and i wish my friends would look at it for what it is. >> harris: when we get the cbo scores and if it shows the taxes are going back for americans below $400,000. you have to come back and we'll talk about it. >> i'm happy to come back and talk. >> harris: nancy pelosi on the ground in taipei. your thoughts. >> it was great what she did. we have all been there. mostly everybody in congress has been there. they've been great allies. they are great working partners and why would we not support those who support democracy and freedoms that we have? it makes no sense to me at all. it is not a threat. nancy is not to threat to china by saying we support taiwan. we want them to succeed. they are a great trading partners and appreciate the

freedoms they love same as we do. >> harris: ray -amen to all of that. i look forward to the conversation we have. >> see the facts. >> harris: you know i am. i'm a recovering perfectionist. good to see you. >> bye-bye. >> harris: that will wrap up the "focus". let's get into "outnumbered." >> harris: we are waiting for china's next move after house speaker nancy pelosi landed in taiwan about an hour ago. they are 12 hours ahead now so it is straight up midnight. not a lot of movement now. they've driven the caravan and the motive i in the last few minutes and we will await for the next movement thereby the speaker of the house. meanwhile china's foreign ministry released a statement a few minutes ago warning her visit is a serious