welcome back to "face the nation." we're joined now by the co-chairs of the bipartisan problem solvers caucus,

pennsylvania republican brian fitzpatrick represents the district that was narrowly carried by kamala harris, and new york democrat tom suozzi represents the district that went for president trump. so, you all have to find the middle. and that brings you together and brings you here today. it is good to see you in a bipartisan fashion and this conversation take place. i want to start with you, congressman fitzpatrick. there is this potential government shutdown looming march 14th. speaker johnson says there is going to be a vote on tuesday. will republicans be able to pass this on party lines or do you need democratic votes? >> well, that remains to be seen. the text was released yesterday compliant with the 72 hours before a vote. we're digging through it like most bills. there is good in there and some not so good in there and we have to make an accurate decision. tom and i are friends, we came in together, we co-chair this bipartisan group together, and we do lament the fact of any single party bill. the construct in this country is if you get 218 votes, you get everything, if you get 217

votes, you get nothing. that doesn't make a lot of sense. the reason why we do what we do is we want two-party solutions including on the cr. it remains to be seen whether the votes are there or not. we'll be learning over the next 24 4hours what is in it. >> so you haven't decided your vote? >> correct. >> what about you. leader jeffries said in a letter, democrats cannot back it. you have the text. are you a no? >> right now i'm a no. there has been no outreach on a bipartisan basis. what brian and i are trying to do in this environment, you can imagine, is not too easy. everything is very fractured. everything is very divisive and to overcome that requires trust building and people to work together. in the case of this cr, there has been offers to negotiate, and there has been very little negotiation. it is my way or the highway type of thing. i think that's going to go on for a while. i think the leadership is going to try to do my way or the highway for a while and at some point they need democratic votes and then people start negotiating. >> a while meaning we could be

staring down a shutdown march 14th? >>le with, we'll find out on tuesday or wednesday. i believe the government funding runs out the end of the week. but it is incumbent upon every legislator to read the text and make an aggregate decision. does the good outweigh the bad? we never want to shut the government down. i believe no budget, no pay. i think you'll have a much different outcome. so people need to put their money where their mouth is. >> right now the republicans are counting on all the republicans in the house to stick together to pass this through the house with no democratic votes. that's what they're counting on. that's why they have conducted themselves this way. then it goes to the senate. in the senate you need 60 votes. you don't have 60 votes with the senate republicans so it is going to become a challenge for the senate republicans and the senate democrats to decide who is going to get blame for this thing? wouldn't it be better to work together to find common ground.

this is not normal what we're doing. a full year continuing resolution is not the normal process. there is a lot of bad stuff i see in this bill that i don't like. >> and i will add, i've lived through government shutdowns ais an fbi agent and it is horrific. surveillance teams get shut down. it is massive implications that most people don't realize, you never want to shut the government down. it should never happen. and it is a symptom of a broken system that we're even talking about this. >> let me follow up with you on that. you're the only fbi agent now who is a congressman. the top agent at the new york office, james dennehy, said he was forced out of his job due to clashes with justice department officials over directives. he had been supportive of bureau leaders who resisted turning over the nations of those agents assigned to carry out investigations related to january 6th, 2021. are you concerned about all this political pressure? >> i'm very concerned. i'm a huge defender and supporter of the bureau. best job i ever had in my life,

most honorable job i had in my life, keeping america safe. i care about the agent population and the professional support staff that worked there. they're tremendous people. they're completely nonpartisan. 14 years in the fbi, i never heard any political talk whatsoever, which is pretty remarkable. so -- >> directly contradicts what the homeland security secretary said at the top of the program, she went at the fbi. >> i want to differentiate, so there have been problems on the seventh floor of the j. edgar hoover building that they did politicize things, people like jim comey. he did it as a former director but it undermines everything he did leading up to that point. fbi needs to be completely nonpartisan, completely a-political. i think part of the polygraph testing that comes in, when you're an act coming through the process, you get tufted on drug vulnerabilities and foreign

contacts. and the . >> this all comes down to a busting of norms. and things that we have been used to for years are all trying to be disrupted and i think in some ways very dangerously. we can't see this politization of the fbi. it is a dangerous thing for our country. >> are you going to talk to the fbi director about any of this? >> absolutely. absolutely. director patel worked on our committee, he was a staffer on the house intelligence committee, which i sit. and i look forward to having a conversation with him. >> congressman suozzi, illegal border crossings as we just discussed, they're at a historic low. president trump made that point when he was addressing congress this week, was he right that he didn't need to wait for congress, that it was really messaging from the white house beyond? >> we have seen a reduction in crossings. we saw it under the end of the biden administration as well after he did his executive orders saying no asylum applications between the ports of entry. we need to make a permanent law. congress has not done its job for 30 years. we nee to secure the border, we

need to fix the broken asylum system and we need to treat people like human beings by fixing our legal immigration system. >> do you have an opening to do any of that though? the two of you together? >> i was working on this before i became the co-chair of the problem solvers caucus with morgan lutrell from texas, talking about the details, trying to build a coalition of business, badges and the bible to work together to support an effort like this. now brian and i as co-chairs of the problem solvers caucus are taking those efforts and others and we have a working group as well to say, as soon as that opening arises, we're ready to make a deal. >> i know, but you are talkin about you can't even agree to keep the lights on, right? >> okay, but -- >> you're talking about really hard substantive things. >> what is going to happen is the homeland security is going to need money. they're spending money like crazy and the cr is not going to fix the problem. >> that's going to go to reconciliation. >> you can't fix everything through reconciliation and you can't fix asylum and can't fix the dreamers and a whole bunch

of other stuff through reconciliation. there is going to be an opening that is going to come when they need democratic votes. and my argument to my democratic colleagues is we should be looking to finally fix this broken immigration system once and for all, secure the border, fix asylum, dreamers, farm workers, essential workers and other people we need to keep -- >> if i may add, one reason i'm so excited about tom being the co-chair is he shares my passion and the passion of so many people about this issue that there is a border security piece and there is an immigration piece and we're a country of immigrants. all of our families came into this country through other places. italy, ireland. >> my father was born in ireland. and brian fitzpatrick from ireland as well. >> that's a huge advantage we have over our eadversaries. nobody wants to move to russia or china or north korea or iran. everybody wants to come here. that's a huge economic advantage and huge national security advantage. we can combine border security and the rule of law with

bringing the best and brightest people into this country and also people that are truly fleeing oppression, that's what america is about. >> margaret, every problem we face in our country is complicated. you know this as well as everybody. >> that's an entire political campaign, why don't you just -- >> which doesn't make sense. what you need is people who may disagree with each other on certain issues. instead of saying i think, i think that, how about this, how about that, you try to find a g compromise in the middle. it is not a dirty word. we have to move our country forward not with this my way or the highway, you're one of those, that's not working for our country, people want us to work together to solve problems. >> let me ask you, i know you feel very strongly about supporting ukraine and its fight against russia. ben hodges, who is a retired general who commanded u.s. army europe said he's having a hard time understanding how withholding intelligence, and military support from ukraine, advances strategic interests or helps make america great.

can you explain that? >> well, i will say this, we'll get a full briefing on this this coming week. key in on what is not being said here. what kind of intelligence and who can't share it, right? so, what i suspect and i will get confirmation of this next week is that it is the over the horizon intelligence striking into russian territory. >> also satellite. >> possibly. but -- >> maxar technology -- >> we have seamless intelligence sharing with the uk, to give you an example. there is no restriction on uk sharing that intelligence with ukraine. what i suspect is happening here and i could be proven wrong this is an escalate to de-escalate tactic by the administration to bring the parties to the table and to come to a conclusion, just conclusion which means success and victory for ukraine. i want to emphasize that. i get asked, what does that mean. what victory means for me is vladimir putin regrets his decision to invade ukraine. that he wishes he did not do that. and that's really going to be the test here.

if we reward dictators from invading democracies, we're sending a message to all other dic dictators, if you do that, you will be rewarded. >> trump has been wrong in the way he handled this. you cannot reward a dictator. the ukrainian population and a free and fair election is dictated by the european commission that oversees free and fair elections. putin is the dictator. putin invaded zelenskyy is democratically elected. we cannot reward the guy responsible for murdering, for kidnapping, for raping, all the awful things that happened to the ukrainian people, we need to stand up for the ukrainian people. >> we know the secretary of state, the national security adviser and president trump's envoy are meeting with ukrainian officials tuesday. one of the things that i took note of, congressman fitzpatrick, you tweeted that you have an outcome determinative number of members

of the congress who ready, willing and able to do whatever it takes to avoid putin from being rewarded. that sounds like you're threatening leverage with votes. how would you use it? >> it is not a threat. it is us making very clear that we view this issue to be existential to world peace. these are the lessons of world war ii. when we had -- when germany invaded poland in 1939 and had leaders including neville chamberlain and many other leaders around the world saying it is not our problem, we don't want to provoke or escalate and a problem that could have been nipped in the bud early turned out to be the costliest and deadliest war. we had to send our young, our youth in our country to fight on omaha beach. we should never get to that point. we should learn from the lessons ofhistory. the dictators want to relitigate the outcome of world war ii. freedom won over dictatordictat. they want to relitigate that. we have to be mindful of history and how we approach this. >> if putin gets away with this, just because ukraine is a

smaller country, think about latvia and lithuania and estonia and moldova and poland. they're all next. and we have to stand up against -- >> and putin said that. >> president trump said it is all different when he's in charge. i intneed to ask you before you, because of the districts and the unique characteristics of it, the one you represent, earlier this week we saw guidance from the chair of the national republican congressional committee urging members to hold virtual town halls, suggesting that holding them in person was not a good idea. will you still hold town halls with your constituents? >> yes. >> because some have gotten quite heated recently. >> i think every member needs to find the best way to communicate with their constituents. there is a number of ways to do that. what chairman hudson is referring to are the -- what is turning out to be a circus, a three-ring circus, you go to a high school jgymnasium, the protesters shinow up, hold sign

up, they are getting shouted at by people there to make a spectacle, oftentimes funded by dark money groups. it is about communicating to your constituents in a way you can get your message out, you can hear their concerns and every single district does it different depending on where they're at. >> you, congressman suozzi, during the address to congress this week, you did see texas democrat congressman green be disruptive. weighs pulled out of the chamber because of that. later censured with the votes of nine democrats including yourself and 214 republicans. why did you take that vote against a fellow democrat? >> because if it was a republican doing the same thing to a democratic president, i would have voted for that as well. and the bottom line is it was a strategic mistake on our behalf as well. because instead of talking about social security cuts, and talking about medicaid cuts and medicare cuts, and talking about the things that the president said in his speech like ukraine or firing people in different

departments that makes no sense whatsoever, we focus too much time on disruptive behavior. and the conduct of the democrats. that was a strategic mistake as well as something that just is not appropriate for the decorum of the u.s. house of representatives. >> was that message from democratic leadership not clear then? >> i think it was clear. i understood the clear message. let's not make the story about us. let's make the story about president trump and how we disagree with it and we squander the opportunity. >> thank you for doing this in a bipartisan fashion. we'll be right back. i felt stuck. but zepbound means change. zepbound is for adults with obesity to help lose weight and keep it off. it's changing what i believe is possible when it comes to weight loss. it's changing how much weight i lose. up to 48 pounds. and some lost over 58 pounds. ♪

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russian affairs on the national security council. good to have you back. >> thanks, margaret. >> so, the u.s. pauses of lethal intelligence sharing including targeting data for u.s. provided weapons like himars, we also know it extends to satellite imagery, which is no longer being shared with ukraine. what is the practical impact of that and the military freeze? >> i think we can see the impact. it is certainly on the one hand emboldened russia to step up the attacks and also not just blind sided but also partially blinded ukraine. we heard from the previous segment that there is still some sharing with allies like the united kingdom, of course which is part of the five eyes sharing with the united states. but frankly none of the other allies including uk have the same access to satellite imagery as the united states does. so even if there is some sharing, not much restrictions, there has an impact. and i think it will be an impetus to our other allies to

start stepping up their capabilities and the virtues of sharing with the united states. this is a two-way street. we have to remember that other countries also share pretty vital information with the united states, even if the scale is not quite the same. >> canada, the uk, australia, among those who do so, you think they will essentially punish the u.s. by not sharing intelligence? >> i'm not sure whether it is punishment, but a lot of questioning about what actually happens with this. if you're bundling together intelligence, effectively the united states is putting prestriksp prerestrictions on that. was that prediscussed with our other allies, particularly in the midst of basically a conflict that is as we heard, you know, over and over again the largest land war in europe since world war ii. this is unprecedented in terms of the actions of the united states in this regard. it is not just affecting ukraine. it is having effects on our other allies, directly affected,

european allies directly af affected by this conflict. >> president trump said on friday when asked if this uptick in putin's bombing was directly related to the u.s. halt. here's what he said. >> i actually think he's doing what anybody else would do. i think he's -- i think he wants to get it stopped and settle and i think he's hitting them harder than he's been hitting them. and i think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now. >> yet earlier in the day the president had posted on social media he was considering possibly putting sanctions on russia. that is a contradiction. what do you make of what he said? >> i make of it exactly what he said. i mean, he's actually obviously putting himself in the shoes of vladimir putin. and saying if i were the aggressor, that's what i would be doing. if i wanted to make ukraine capitulate. so, i mean, yeah, he called it as it is. i don't believe what he said for a second about the sanctions. i believe more what he just said there in the oval office, sitting behind the resolute

desk. i think that's what you can take away from this. he's the president of the united states. he made it crystal clear, i think, and he sees obviously the ukrainians and he said that in the oval office during the meeting with president zelenskyy that he sees them on the back foot as losing and he's basically telling them they have to capitulate, very clear. >> you don't have the cards was the line he kept using. >> that's right. >> i know you were at the council on foreign relations this week, as was i, i had an interview with trump's envoy to ukraine, keith kellogg. we were discussing the president's decision to cut off ukraine, he said ukrainians brought it on themselves, and the decision was, like, hitting a mule with a two by four across the nose, you got their attention. it is quite a statement, comparing our ally to a farm animal here that needed to be beaten. do you think it was right to say

the ukrainian government was just not getting it? >> what they weren't getting is what president trump wanted directly from them, which was obviously to have president zelenskyy make a personal agreement with him in the oval office in front of all the cameras to thank him profusely for all the aid that was already provided to ukraine over successive administrations now. and basically to sign a deal on rare earths minerals and then basically leave immediately after that. and clearly president zelenskyy didn't really get that message. there is an important element here. in diplomacy, you really should not only be speaking in your native language. i think that there was a lot of this was lost in translation. first of all, president zelenskyy didn't fully understand that this agreement was just purely with president trump. and you may remember, if we all go back and watch that -- i watched it many times to try to figure out exactly where things are gone wrong and multiple points, one point when presidet zelenskyy said, look, you know,

we had deals with your previous presidents, basically with obama and biden and president trump dismissed all that and said those deals were not worth the paper they were written on, all the commitments to be made, because they were weak and it wasn't me. and president zelenskyy didn't follow all of this, because like the rest of our allies, he actually thinks that commitments made by the united states is supposed to hold over successive administrations. what we learned then, what he learned there is that is not the case. you're essentially going to have to make a new commitment with president trump. it is a personal commitment and that was what he was being told and he didn't fully understand. and i think in the future, when the ukrainians are meeting with the americans, they ought to have translators with them. as good as president zelenskyy's english is, there is two things he's missing, he doesn't understand the way president trump operates, i think he's probably got the message now, he doesn't always understand the knew nuances and i think our side

could do with some interpretation coming from president zelenskyy. my advice to president zelenskyy and the team around presidet trump, use interpreters, that's what they're there for. >> and your own government interpreters? >> right. and you asked that question, who is the interpreter to be used and general kellogg couldn't answer the question. >> right. europe seems to be taking these threats seriously and looking at an alternative to the american nuclear deterrent. an umbrella. that's -- does that mean that transatlantic alliance is gone? >> well, it doesn't mean it is gone. but there is a bit of a one-sided attempt to rupture it here on the part of the united states. i was at the munich security council. i heard vice president vance's speech, i was standing next to prominent europeans who were completely in shock. and immediately after that, as you well know, there were many statements coming out of germany, as well as countries like sweden asking whether the united states could be trusted on nuclear weapons. and we have to remember that

ukraine had nuclear weapons that it gave. >> gave them up. >> that's correct. >> with the promise of the security guarantee that was not delivered on. >> correct. >> fiona hill, thank you. we'll be back. i guess what i'm looking for from you is,

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that's it for today. thank you for watching. until next week, for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan. i had the worst dream last night. you were in a car crash and the kids and i were on our own. that's awful, hon. my brother was saying he got life insurance from ethos. and he got $2 million in coverage, all online. life insurance made easy. check your price today at ethos.com.

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