>> cordes: today on "face the nation." trump makes a big concession on immigration. but will he stick to it? as the president prepares for his first official state of the union address he gives republican leaders what they have been begging for, his proposal to protect young immigrants. but some conservatives think it goes too far. plus, the "new york times" shakes up washington with a report that mr. trump ordered top white house lawyer to fire special counsel robert mueller last summer. >> fake news, folks. fake news. fake stories. >> cordes: we'll get reaction to that report and go behind the scenes on immigration with maine republican susan collins,

vermont independent bernie sanders and top liaison between house and capitol hill, marc short. pair of house members tell us how they're trying to break the immigration impact, texas republican hill bud and california democrat pete aguilar. and illinois democrat twomey duckworth will be the first u.s. senator to give birth while in office. she's discovered some rules that need changing. >> senate to behind the times. >> the senate is behind the times. we're going to work on that. >> cordes: as always we'll have plenty of political analysis of the week's news, it's all ahead on "face the nation." good morning, welcome to "face the nation" i'm nancy cordes. we've got a lot of ground to cover today and we begin with the republican senator from maine, susan collins. she led a bipartisan effort to reopen the government last monday and her group of about 25 senators is now working to

influence negotiations over a bill to protect children of undocumented immigrants and increase border security. senator, welcome. >> thank you. >> cordes: i want to talk about immigration but first i want to get your reaction to the latest news that was first reported in "new york times" that despite months of white house denials, the president actually did express a serious interest at one point in firing special counsel robert mueller. >> i think it's important to understand that the president cannot directly fire mr. muell mr. mueller. the only person who has that authority is the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein and he's the one who appointed mr. mueller in the first place. i asked him about that at a hearing last year and he was adamant that he would -- any white house pressure to fire mr. mueller. >> cordes: doesn't it sound like the president was trying to obstruct justice? >> i that i the president was

frustrated and angry about the investigation and did he what he should have done, which was to talk to his lawyer in the white house and clearly white house counsel said, you can't do this, mr. president. very unwise for you to try to do so. and here it is seven months later the white house counsel still there and mr. mueller is proceeding with very aggressive and thorough investigation. >> cordes: there's a big difference between wanting to fire someone and actually going through with it. you have not wayed in yet on these two bipartisan bills that would essentially protect mr. mueller from an undue firing. does this latest news change your call can you husband? >> first of all i commend the two groups of senators, plus senator lindsey gram for working on bipartisan legislation to have the strength and safeguard in the law to protected special

counsel from a firing. and that was what used to be in the lawman eye years ago when we had an independent it expired in the late 90s one of the few senators who wanted to extend it. so i'm totally open to adding that safeguard. >> cordes: you're on the senate intelligence committee where a lot of these interviews have taken place so far behind closed doors. would you support open hearings with big players like jared kushner or donald trump junior so the american public can hear what they have to say? >> i think we're open to hearings, we've had 12 already. and they have been very interesting hearings but my interest is making sure that we don't compromise in any way the special counsel's investigation. so we have to be careful to coordinate testimony, to make sure that we're not interfering in that way. >> cordes: now to

immigration. after weeks of confusion over the president's position on the so-called dreamers, the white house has now issued a list of what it wants to see in a bill that would provide legal status to that population. here is the highlight. a path to citizenship up to 1.8 million young people, 25d billion to pay for a border wall and additional security. an end to family-based migration for all but spouses or children under 18. and an end to the diversity visa lottery. these are some major changes to the immigration system in exchange for protecting this narrow slice of the immigrant population. >> it's helpful to know what the four pillars are that the administration is looking for, congress is going to work its will, ultimately will see what the president is willing to sign. it seems to me that the two important things to tackle right now and that are our group will

be making some recommendations to both who have legislative authority and this issue is to protect the dreamers and also to strengthen border security. the other two issues are very important issues, very complicated issues as well. >> cordes: why do you think the white house suddenly came out embracing a pathway to citizenship? >> i tie directly tolt president for this issue, i found that he was very sympathetic to a case that i told him about of someone in main, who came to this country at age four, didn't even know that he was not a citizen until he went to apply for a driver's license and then his parents told him. and it's pretty compelling when you know that the average dreamer was brought to this country through no fault of his or her own at age six. and to say that those young people should be shipped back to a country that they have no

memory of, that they don't know is really a pretty difficult position to take. >> cordes: do you trust the president to stick with this position? he's already getting a lot of blow back from conservatives who call it amnesty. >> i give the president credit for putting in writing and saying that this is what he wants to see happen despite the criticism. >> cordes: there's going to be criticism from both sides on whatever we come up with. so you now have got 25 senate moderates all squeezing into your office periodically and they're hoping to influence this immigration negotiation that's primarily going on now between the number two or the whips in the house and senate thatth group of four. seems like those four leaders are going to be much more focused on what house republicans can live with than what senate moderates can live with. >> well, we hope to have an influence on the president but we don't control the pen. and senator durbin and senator

cornyn are the leads in the senate. but they have been very open to input and i think ideas will be put to them. and we'll see what they come up. but if they agree i have a feeling that that will be a bill that can can go all the way to the president's desk and that's our goal. >> cordes: senator susan collins of maine thanks for being with us. appreciate it. joining us now vermont independent senator bernie sanders. he is in burlington, vermont, this morning, senator sanders thank you for being with us. >> my pleasure. >> cordes: i'd like to get your take on the white house immigration proposal and specifically these dramatic restrictions to family-based migration and the end of the visa lottery. can you live with these changes in exchange for protecting the daca population? >> i have concerns about aspects of those proposals, serious concerns. i think, nancy, that the focus

right now has got to be to do what the american people wanted to do and poll after poll shows that 80% or more of the american people understand that we have got to restore the legal status that trump took away from 800,000 young dreamers are people who came to this country when they are two or three years of age and we cannot let them be put in a position where they are facing deportation. the main focus in my mind make sure that dreamers have legal status and a path towards citizenship. >> cordes: but the political reality, senator, is that congress is run by democrats. at some point do you have to say a bad deal on dreamers is better than no deal on dreamers? >> well, i think i speak only for myself where the bad part comes is the idea of a wall, which i thought was a great idea in the 15th century when china

built the great wall. not so smart today when we have technology that is much more effective and more cost effective in terms of protecting the border. i think you're going to see a lot of debate about how much money we should spend on border security. but i would also say, nancy, that the issue that we're dealing with is not just about daca. it is about the fact that we're four years into a fiscal year, republicans have not given us annual budget, enormous issues out there are issues like decent funding for the community health center program, 27 million people get health care from community health centers, not been reauthorized. v.a. has 30,000 vacancies, veterans are not getting the care that they need. social security administration not providing service for the elderly or disabled. student debt in this country. we have enormous issues which we've got to address. daca is one of them but there are other important issues as

well. >> cordes: and senator, obviously i said congress is run by democrats, of course it's run by republicans. you are painfully aware of that. speaking of fiscal responsibility, though, what do you think your party got out of that three-day shut down, was it a good strategy? >> yes, i think from a moral perspective it was the right thing to do. that is, to say to these 800,000 young people, we are not going to allow them to be subjected to deportation, senator collins just said, many came to this country when they were two or three years of age, they didn't even know that they were not american citizens. we have got to stand with these young people. the other thing, nancy, is we received information from the department of defense a few weeks ago and they said, this is the department of defense, we cannot run our operations we cannot do long-term planning

without an annual budget. continuing resolutions are very detrimental to the military and to many other agencies of government. we are a $4 trillion government. there are areas where we should be spending more money, areas where we should be spending less money. you cannot simply spend every division of the government the thing that you spent last year. terrible and inefficient way to run a government. >> cordes: sen for, the president is giving his first state of the union 'dress this week and polls show that his biggest achievement so far, the tax cuts, are now gaining in popularity as some of these big companies hand out thousand dollar bonuses, are you glad that these people have more money in their pockets? senator, can you hear me? all right. it appears that we have lost our audio connection with senator sanders, we'll take a commercial break and be right back.

you're a life of unpredictable symptoms. crohn's, you've tried to own us. but now it's our turn to take control with stelara® stelara® works differently for adults with moderately to severely active crohn's disease. studies showed relief and remission, with dosing every 8 weeks. stelara® may lower the ability of your immune system to fight infections and may increase your risk of infections and cancer. some serious infections require hospitalization. before treatment, get tested for tuberculosis. before or during treatment, always tell your doctor if you think you have an infection or have flu-like symptoms or sores, have had cancer, or develop any new skin growths, or if anyone in your house needs or recently had a vaccine. alert your doctor of new or worsening problems, including headaches, seizures, confusion, and vision problems. these may be signs of a rare, potentially fatal brain condition. some serious allergic reactions can occur. do not take stelara® if you are allergic to any of its ingredients. we're fed up with your unpredictability. remission can start with stelara®. talk to your doctor today. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options for stelara®.

>> cordes: we're back with senator sanders, glad we got that connection reestablished. senator, i was asking you about the president's state of the union and the fact that his biggest achievement so far the tax cuts are gaining in popularity as some of these big companies hand out thousand dollar bonuses. do you think that the public should be pleased that workers are getting another thousand dollars in their pocket? >> well, sure, everybody should be pleased when any worker gets a raise. but what we should also understand that that tax proposal will add $1.4 trillion to the deficit and at the end of ten years, 84% of the tax benefits will go to the top 1%. nancy, at a time of massive income and wealth inequality, billionaires and multi-national corporations do not need tax breaks it is the middle class and working families who do. >> cordes: senator, you met

last weekend with all of your top advisors and one of the main things that you discussed was a possible repeat bid for president in 2020. is there any big news you'd like to break here on "face the nation"? >> i'm sorry, there is no big news. i talked to my co-workers, political advisors every other week, every week we do by telephone occasionally we get together. i'm afraid to say it was not a big deal. >> cordes: it sounds like it's something of a big deal, your own son, levi tweeted, bernard is seriously contemplating a run in 2020 and i don't mean a jog. >> i love my son very much but he is not -- he is not aware of all of the things. right now what our focus is is on 2018. it's making -- doing everything we can to see that the democrats regain control of the senate and

the house. >> cordes: if you were to run again, what would you do differently? >> i don't wouldn't speculate about 2020. nancy, the american people are deeply concerned about the decline of the american middle class, only major country on earth not guaranteeing health care. our kids will have lowest standard of living than we do and public colleges and universities tuition free. what we need to do as a nation whether i run or not, is create a government that actually works for working people and not just for billionaire campaign contributors. there are enormous problems facing this country, whoever runs for president has got to focus on the needs of workers, be prepared to stand up for the 1% and create an economy that in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world addresses the issues of poverty and health care and education. >> cordes: we'll stay tune

for your decision. senator bernie sanders of vermont thank you for joining us. >> thank you very much. >> cordes: we're joined now by the authors of the only bipartisan dreamer proposal in the house, congressman will hurd a republican from texas and pete aguilar is a democrat from california. welcome to you both. >> thanks for having me. >> cordes: gentlemen, your plan in a moment. but first, is the president's proposal a step forward and in what ways is it a step back? >> i appreciate the president putting his plan forward and narrowing what we like to see in a bipartisan solution to this issue of dreamers and daca and border security. i still believe that a narrow bill is most important that we can get through our congress both houses, house and senate. because the more things you add you start creating coalition of opposition. let's get it done in the next couple of days and go on to the

next issue. >> cordes: white house is not narrow. seriously overhaul the nation's immigration. >> that's true. most important thing we can do to protect dreamers. i do appreciate that it addresses that issue. but some of the changes that they are proposing are devastating to our immigration system. and i feel are better left for comprehensive immigration reform. let's keep it narrow as will mentioned, focus on daca and border security and move on get those issues off to the next step. >> cordes: here is what you propose, so far you have 53 sponsors, evenly split between democrats and republicans in the house, you would allow dreamers to apply for permanent residency. you would increase border security though not be as much as president's proposal. not give the parents of dreamers legal status, essentially this is a bill that is much more focused on the daca population rather than being conservative immigration wish list. >> well, i'd start with this is

strong border security, this is not appropriation bill. we said let's deal with the authorization, let's deal with how we secure our border, it's 2018, we have not gotten operational control of our border. i have more border than any other member of congress, 820 miles of it. and we don't have control. we should be utilizing some of the latest and greatest technology. this plan does that has well as fixing the problem for a population that have gotten here through no fault of their own. >> cordes: do you both think if the house speaker were to allow a vote on your bill wait pass? >> without a doubt. this is the only bill that would have 218 votes on the house floor. we feel very confident about that. we have had number of discussions with our colleagues, this is the type of bipartisan abroach that the american public wants to see. it's important that if we're going to fix thisd daca issue have border security this is the type of narrow focus that can get 218 votes can get to the president's desk.

>> cordes: don't you think if he had said nothing about it publicly he's aware of it, is indication of the political constraints that he faces? some conservatives say if you were to back something that doesn't get majority of the majority you lose speakership. >> you're assuming that this can't get the majority of the majority, i don't agree with that presumption. also the fact that the president has come out and said, let's make sure that there's a permanent legislative fix or 1.million ids i think that also many of the proposals that we're forwarding in the usa act. >> this is exactly what the president asked for. a daca fix with sensible border security. common sense measures, this is the type of proposal that should garner signature and he should support we feel that we can make our case to our colleagues to get that done. >> this gets us to a vote on funding the government, this is what we always thought that this should be, it's a strong

baseline that has really good support on both houses. >> cordes: you are pushing your plan or on trying to get some of your ideas worked into the bipartisan negotiations that are going on among republican and democratic leadership? >> we should do both. that should be the foundation for the discussions that we have. so we've had conversations with senators about our proposal, we hope that this becomes the base for what is being discussed. we're open to making some changes as long as it garners support in the senate and can get to the president's desk. that's been our focus, that's what we've been working on for weeks behind the scenes and we feel that we're making good progress. >> cordes: what happens if we get to march 5th and daca is silt to expire and there is no legislation? >> it's a good question. i hope we don't get l. i think you've seen many folks in the white house have said that we don't want to get there, i don't think anybody in congress wants to get there. that's why we need to buckle up, sort this out over the next few

days i think we have couple of weeks and get this done before that march deadline. >> cordes: here is what a white house official also said this week, come march 5 if there's no daca deal the white house will not direct ice and dhs to deport dreamers if they are swept up in a raid they will be deported. they are not protected f. you're a daca recipient that's serious stuff. >> it's flat out unacceptable. we can't have policies that deport dreamers. that's compactsly why we're working so hard to get this done. also keep in mind three homeland security secretaries that have told us that it's going to take time to write the policies and proposals once we have an agreement. we need to gets done quickly, we need to offer the certainty that will do for this dreamer population to make sure that that situation does not happen. that's why we're working so hard, that's why we see efforts in the house and senate in bipartisan basis to get this done. >> cordes: congressman hurd you are on the house intelligent

committee, have you seen this memo that alleges that the fbi's russia investigation is based on flawed sources and methods implies that the investigation is bias and what do you think of its validity? ive. >> seen the memo. i voted to release the memo to the rest of our colleagues in the house so that they understand what we're looking at. for me, i spent almost a decade as under cover officers officer in the cia i was in the back alleys collecting information, i've served shoulder to shoulder with the men and women in the fbi and rank and file folks are putting us and keeping us safe. what we have to mike sure political leadership of these organizations are crossing am the ts and dotting the is. >> cordes: is? hurting the morale? >> i don't know the answer to that. i think what every rank and file member of the fbi wants to ensure is that everybody within that organization is following the law to its letter. >> cordes: thank you so much congressman hurd, congressman

aguilar. thank you for changing your plans to be with us. we appreciate it. we'll be back in a moment. ronoh really?g's going on at schwab. thank you clients? well jd power did just rank them highest in investor satisfaction with full service brokerage firms... again. and online equity trades are only $4.95... i mean you can't have low cost and be full service. it's impossible. it's like having your cake and eating it too. ask your broker if they offer award-winning full service and low costs. how am i going to explain this? if you don't like their answer, ask again at schwab. schwab, a modern approach to wealth management. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ what we do every night is like something out of a strange dream. except that the next morning... it all makes sense. fedex powers global commerce with vast, far-reaching networks... deep knowledge of industries... and, yes... maybe a little magic. ♪

>> cordes: coming up later in the broadcast, illinois senator tammy duckworth on becoming the first member of the senate to give birth while in office. >> we don't know what the maternity policy is for senators because there's never been one. so start your search with our teams of specialists at cancer treatment centers of america. the evolution of cancer care is here. learn more at cancercenter.com/experts new aveeno® positively radiant it's timbody lotion...glow on! with the moisture-rich power of soy. it transforms dull, dry skin to leave you glowing. new positively radiant® body collection from aveeno®.

what's going on? oh hey! ♪ that's it? yeah. ♪ everybody two seconds! ♪ "dear sebastian, after careful consideration of your application, it is with great pleasure that we offer our congratulations on your acceptance..." through the tuition assistance program, every day mcdonald's helps more people go to college. it's part of our commitment to being america's best first job. ♪ [ click, keyboard clacking ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ click, keyboard clacking ] ♪ good questions lead to good answers. our advisors can help you find both. talk to one today and see why we're bullish on the future. yours.

>> cordes: some of our cbs stations are leaving us now but for most of you we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." including marc short who is the white house liaison to capitol hill. our political panel and senator tammy duckworth. stay with us.

>> the chase has taken its toll. >> what a shot right there. >> last season's heavy hitters are pack for another crack at the pbr world title. cooper davis reeled in the big one again. >> in young season. new faces are stepping up. >> the guy can ride, denar barr boationa nobosais number one. >> pearl harbor just too much, bruiser's campaign begins.