>> 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 saer burlington, vermont, this morning, senator sanders thank you for being with us.>> t your take on the white house immigration pral specifically these dramatic restrictions to family-basedthee visa lottery. can you live with these changese daca population? >> i have aspects of those proposals, serious

concerns. i think, ncus right now has got to be to do what the american people wanteds that 80% or more of the american peoplend got to restore the legal status that trump took away from800,00e people who came to this country when they are two 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 shoulds where we should be spending less money. you cannotplvision of the govere thing that you spent last year. terrible andgovernment. >> cordes: sen for, the president is giving his first state of the union 'dresshi shos biggest achievement so far, the tax cuts, are n popularity as some of these big companies hand out thousands, ad 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

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that connection reestablished. senator, i was asking you about the fact that his biggest achievement so far the tax cuts are popularity as some of these big companies hand out thousand . do you think that the public should be pleased that workers d dollars in their pocket? >> well, sure, everybody should be pleased when anyaise. but what we should also understand that that tax os $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 . it's making -- doing everything we can to see thatmocrats

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. people are deeply concerned about the declinn middle class, only major country on earth not guarantg our kids will have lowest standard of living than we publd universities tuition free. what we need to do as a nation e a government that actually works for working people and n otllion contributors. there are enormous problems facing thisrunsor president haso 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 b r type of narrow focus that can get 218 votes can get to the

id y think if he had said nothing about it publicly is indication of the political constraints thatme h conservatiu were to back something that doesn't get majority of theose . >> you're assuming that this can't ge majority, i don't agree with that presumption. also the fact that the president has come out and said, let's permanent legislative fix or 1.million idhat also many of the proposals that we'r. >> this is exactly what the president asked for. a daca fix wit 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. mind three homeland security secretaries that have told us that it's going tote thd proposals once we have an agreement. we need to gets done quickly, wt will do for this dreamer sure tt that situation does not happen. that's why we're working so in the house and senate in bipartisan basis to get this done. hurd

you are on the house intelligent committee, have you seen this memo thatleges that the fbi's russia investigation is based on flawur implies that the investigation is bias and what do you think of >> seen the memo. i voted to release the memo to the rest of our colles so that y understand what we're looking at. for me, i spent 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

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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.

>> cordes: welcome back to "face the nation" i'm nancy cordes. joining us now is white house legislative affairs director marc short. thank you so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me back. >> cordes: first off why is the president want to fire special counsel mueller and why did he decide not to. >> he never intimated to me that he wanted to fire mueller. there have been a lot of sensational reporting on that. keep in mind that report dates to some june conversation we're now in january, mueller is still special counsel. tom mcghan is still running the office. proven no collusion with the russians naps the investigation is not over. >> of course it's not because it's continuing to drag on and dragged on for a long time. at great expense with yet no evidence of russian collusion.

so reality is that mueller is still special counsel, mcghan still head of the office, president never end mated a desire to fire robert mueller. >> cordes: have you advised the president or others advised him of the consequences of firing either special counsel mueller or rod rosenstein his recent reports have suggested the president has now turned some of his ire towards. >> i have no reason to believe that, or counsel one way or the other on that. as i said never intimated that one way or another to me not a conversation i'd be involved in, no reason to raise its. >> cordes: how serious do you think that this memo that purports to outline fbi mistakes when it comes to the investigation, you just heard congressman will hurd on the house intelligence committee he believes it should be released at least among other members of congress. >> right. we haven't read the memo it's classified, hard to speculate

what is in the memo. i think that we typically prefer transparency so if there are concerns that i think would be helpful for americans to know about it we'll be open for that being released. >> cordes: phone it releases -- >> plenty of way you can redact the document to make sure the message not revealed. if there are concerns, the american people should know that. >> cordes: i want to ask you about immigration. lawmakers have been begging the white house for weeks to come out with your immigration plan, you do, you get mitt from all sides. you've got a conservatives calling its am mess tee, democrats saying, that this is false choice, bakesly creating pathway to citizenship for dreamers then taking away whole bunch of other rights in exchange. >> well, let's keep in mind a few things. when they said they have been waiting for us, the white house submitted our priority many months ago. when general kelly was still secretary of dhs he asked congress to address this. >> cordes: republican leaders

have said they have no idea. >> that was convenient explanation. we are clear with congress what we wanted, we put our priorities in writing sent them to congress october the 8th. we sent another document back in december. what this piece finally did refined what our position is on daca population itself. i think the president said at very publicly at the white house he said i will give cover on my side. the question is, if schumer and a less see step up. i understand challenges in managing that. but the president supports a very -- tremendous compromise to get this resolved once and for all. it's perplexed congress or decades. he's showing leadership to finally gift done. >> cordes: democrats say by preventing immigrants from sponsoring parents or adult children or siblings, they are tearing apart families, cutting legal immigration by 50% in fact here is what the largest dreamer advocacy group says. let's call this proposal for

what it is, a white supremacist ransom note. >> that's even ridiculous to try to refond. here is what it does. we're trying to protect the nuclear family, nancy. so we're providing those visas for spouses and children, trying to protect that. what is happening right now in our visa system you're providing visas for aunts and uncles and siblings and continue to go on, it's called chain pry breaks a. four-man backlog you can't get children and spouses in because you're taking care of so many different distant cousins. what our proposal it protects nuclear family and focuses on them as proposed to extended relatives that are continuing to get sweet country and get priority over children and spouses. >> cordes: dupes than belong in comprehensive immigration negotiation. that is much more narrow plan that is related to this specific population, young people who are brought into the country. >> congress always has reason to do something later. that president is trying to solve a problem that's been perplexing our country for decades. he's offered very rational

compromise to get it done. the system was born out of many conversations with democrats alike. and republicans to get to to point, it's actually help us get us done and protect us so we don't have this problem several years from now. if you do border security and daca all you do create incentive for more people try to flood the border i'll get citizenship in the future, too. they need to fix it all. there's lots of things we're not doing. we put aside a lot of our requests to say, let's keep this more focused. this is a very focused, rational proposal. >> cordes: a minute left. ask you quickly about the state of the union, the president giving his first state of the union address on tuesday. he's going to outline 1.7 trillion infrastructure plan. but if you look at the fine print, it's only about $200 billion in federal fundss it realistic think you can leverage another 1.5 trillion in private, state, local money when start out with that little? >> i think it's very realistic to leverage those dollars. we continue to roll back

regulatory funds, more privatete investments coming in. lot of people who said the president couldn't create two million jobs in the first year. who said we wouldn't see unemployment at 17-year low. said we couldn't see gdp at 3% also said after tax package edge one month, 3.1 million workers have either received a pay increase or bonus. the president is making enormous impact on our economy, turning that country around, i wouldn't bet him against him on the infrastructure plan. >> cordes: something tells me the economy will be a big focus of his speech tuesday night. white house legislative affairs director marc short. >> thanks for having me. >> cordes: we'll be right back with our political panel, don't go away.

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talk to your doctor today. janssen wants to help you explore cost support options for stelara®. council. >> cordes: help us make sense of this week's political news we're joined by bloomberg white house reporter jennifer jacobs. dan balz chief core accident at the "washington post." rachel badd and ed o'keefe congressional reporter for the "washington post" also a cbs news contributor, thanks everyone for joining me today. jennifer, i want to start with you. just heard marc short say the president has not expressed a serious interest or expressed an order to fire white house special counsel, is that true? >> if you ask didn't aides you hear different recollections. i've talked to a dozen, some of them say, i don't remember the president ever saying anything like that in fact they say, he never ordered the white house

counsel to fire mueller. apparently this was a conversation with a very small, tight group. so it depends on who you talk to. but keep in mind, 48 white house officials campaign staff or people affiliated with the campaign have spoken with mueller or to the congressional committees, a lot of people who are preparing for testimony over speaking with mueller. there's a particular group that share a lawyer that's three ban, reince priebus and done mcghan talking about their recollections back at the time, this could have come up in one . i've also heard from one person that t tension between don and ty cobb, theres. depending who you ask, some will say they have no recollection o, but it was to a tight audience. >> even republicans were notprie

possibility of firingafter all s investigation is a witch hunt 22 i think that the reporting that has been done on this has been pr ory was broken by "new york times" it was quickly confirmed by many other i think that there's little doubt that this happened. a surprise that it happened. there are a series of things that the president has said and done over the course of many months tipped kate his distaste for this investigation and his desire in one way or another to get in the way of it. now, what that adds up to is going to be left to the special counsel to make declaration then people can draw further conclusions from that. but we know that he is unhappy with this investigation. >> cordes: senate aides are working very quickly to try to combine these two bills that are out there that would basically protect the special counsel from firing, is this incident, is

that -- gives that legislation more momentum. >> conceivably because we're talking about it after months of not talking about it. two different plans that essentially permit judicial review in the event special counsel would be fired. what's notable is that there are republicans involved in this because over the summer when this became an issue, they got concerned and understood that this could become a thing. the problem is, we have seen this morning and seen recent days republican leaders shay we don't see a need to bring this up legislation right now. that said, i can call talking to democratic aides in the last few months, if this had happened, if it happens in the midst of all the ongoing negotiations over the budget and immigration and the threats of shutdown, democrats would conceivably put halt to it all and force the issue by either having that legislation attached to the bill or at least saying, we're not doing anything until you address this. but this isn't necessarily that, because it happened so many months ago and evidence of people stood in the way of it.

if he tries again, you may see a grind to a halt on the hill. >> cordes: saying this is a red line. rachel at the same time you've got house republicans trying to give the president a little bit of cover and pushing that notion that the very foundations of this fbi investigation are flawed. are biased. are they winning hearts nds on that argument? >> they're winning over a lot of the republican base, a5% of reps think that the russia undermine the credibility of the president. going back to this, i thinkrs at necessarily going to put legislation on the floor to thae this reporting, it happened seven months ago and theyt ultt do it. as susan collins menti t doesn'e ability to do that. is at the dj going to all

thinks his job. you see republicans holding up right th between two fbi officials they think had seiments, one expressing how he is not want to probe hillary clinton we worried she would win the presidency and she would be their future boss. after the fbi, i think republicans are winning over their base on thisf course support mueller. >> cordes: rachel raises a good point. if the psi mueller but at the end of the day didn't go through with it, doing it matter? >> well, it matters because it does show his desire and sentiment particularly at that moment. and it's important that don mcghan stood in the way of it to agree we're not sure. but he prevented frit happening. but to rachel's point, if he moved to try to do this there are other obstacles that he would face. but again if he did it and again were blocked i think it would

create bigger firestorm than this incident that we didn't know about at that time. other than his friend chris ruddy who indicated in public interview on pbs that the president was in fact considering this sort of thing. not as though this was totally tightly held, he had obviously shared it with mr. ruddy of his desire at the time. but there are safeguards built in but we go back to the saturday night massacre with richard nixon enduring watergate. it took a number of steps ultimately for that to be executed, but it could be the same kind of thing we would have this time. >> cordes: turn to immigration and ed, now that the white house has finally laid out its stance, notwithstanding marc short saying it's been out there for months. does it give conservatives cover to support a dreamer bill that they know is going to anger a

significant segment of their base? >> if the changes in family-based legal migration are part of the final package and get the 25-30 billion in border security, yeah. but if not, they will stand against it. i think what this plan from the white house which is being released monday shows now is that the debate over whether or not legalize or provide legal protection to people who are protected by daca is basically over. just an issue of how many. what the president going all the way to $1.8 million that settles it the fact that chuck schumer went to the house a little more than a week ago, sat with the president basically agreed on $25 bill join border funding means that's over. democrats have now flashed that card if that is the price to pay, so be it. there will be some that don't like it. basically put them there. so the questions are those other issues regarding family-based migration, changes to what's called the diversity lottery included, that i think now is where the fight will be. that is an issue of can a daca recipient's parents stay here

legally, can they bring brother and sister, could their spouse get in if they're old enough and married. those are emotional fights now over the size and scope of one's family within we get the legal status it's going to be a painful piece of the debate. why you're seeing some, have narrow debate over daca and border security. that's congress for, easier fight over border security and daca which we have agreement on. >> cordes: jennifer, why did the white house come out in favor of a pathway to citizenship? >> they have been privately signalling that they would be willing to give the dreamers a pathway to citizenship, concession was going from the 690,000 to 1. 8 million that is a change. like march said they have been saying that for awhile, allow the path didn't want to show their cards out man iep. i was told by one trump insider this would help with republican, college-aged women. lot of things come down to the electorate how things turn out in the vote. they also don't want to appear too nativist.

but speaking of the vote one thing to keep in mind the dreamers wouldn't be able to vote themselves until about 2028 long after trump is gone. >> cordes: long pathway to citizenship. rachel, you wrote this week about the fact that speaker ryan is essentially a centrist on this issue, but he's also afraid to cross conservatives. >> the immigration debate is not about the future of dreamers but the future of a speaker. paul ryan has said many times that he is sim fa anesthetic to the dreamers, they came here at young minors, and the united states is home. however a very conservative house republican conference works by the way do not support a pathway for sit shin to this population, they made him promise when he became speaker that he would never put immigration on the floor that doesn't get the majority of the majority. however, what we're talking about on the senate probably would not get a majority of the majority. the one anecdote i would say to

for this toxic concoction for the speaker president trump if he protects it. >> cordes: thank you so much, rachel, ed, dan, jennifer, appreciate you being with us today. and we'll be back with our conversation with illinois democrat tammy duckworth who is expecting to break a big barrier in the senate.

>> cordes: senator tammy duckworth is an iraq war veteran, a double amputee and soon she'll be the first senator to give birth while in office. the illinois democrat announced this week that she is expecting a second baby girl in april. a few weeks after her 50th birthday. she wants other women struggling with infertility to know what she went through. ten years of trying to conceive her first child and a miscarriage while campaigning for the senate. what did your doctor say about chances of getting pregnant at 49? >> he said it's the new 40. he said 50-year-old mom is the new 40. i have the most wonderful

fertility doctor, he helped me with abigail. if you're willing to go through the process with me step by step it would seem like it takes a long time but we want to do this right. i just had -- like being a mom. >> cordes: i remember that feeling when i had one i felt like super mom then once you have second one, all those illusions are shattered. >> we'll see. i decided to run for the united states senate when i was on maternity leave which was leap of faith to do that. i was congresswoman trying to breast feed, travel, campaign, do my job as united states congresswoman. it was really, really tough. there were a lot of tears and a lot of, why am i doing this. i just want to be home with my daughter. but then i would come across situations like legislation that i could pass i realize, i have to do this. this makes me a better legislator. >> one of the things that you notice when you're doing all

that traveling was that a lot of airports didn't have anywhere for you to nurse. >> no. i would go into airports, it's the handy capped stall in the public toilet. that's disgusting. you wouldn't eat a sandwich there, why should i nurse my baby there or pump breast milk, it's humiliating. i tried to pass legislation on it. it's out of committee, mandatory nursing rooms for moms at airports hopefully will get a bill. >> cordes: did you dream about going into politics before all of this happened? >> oh, my, lord, never. >> cordes: duckworth was helicopter pilot in the national guard. her call sign, mad dog. shortly staff material she deployed to iraq - 04 her black hawk was hit with a rocket-propelled grenade. as she was recovering she got a surprise invitation, 13 years ago this week. it. >> was senator durbin who found

me in the hospital, he invited all illinois servicemen and women at walter reed, wounded warriors to go to the state of the union. i was one to have who was well enough to go. my first strip out of the hospital. >> cordes: was it emotional to go into that gallery and look down see this democracy, that you sacrificed for. it's overwhelming. still gets to me. that feeling. i was missionless. i was a helicopter pilot with no legs. i was trying to find way to serve my country. we were having issues at walter reed. i just became an advocate for my buddies, i happened to be highest ranking amputee patient. i met senator durbin that night he made the mistake of giving me his personal phone number. i just started calling him. i didn't know any better. after about ten months of this he called me up said, you need to run for congress, that's how i got into this.

it's crazy. >> cordes: now you're standing on the floor of the senate and taking on the president on military issues. >> i have a message for cadet, if you cared about our military, you'd stop baiting king jong-un that could put 5,000 american troops and millions of innocent civilians in danger. >> cordes: you called five deferment, draft dodger. >> four for school one for medical reasons that he can't even remember what it was. i have a hang nail on my right foot, it's missing, we have guy who said he had a bone spur that kept him out of the vietnam but he doesn't remember where it was. >> cordes: do you think that disqualifies him from being commander in chief or making decisions about the military? >> no. i think he was elected rightfully to be president of the united states built i don't think that he has the right to question other people's support for our military especially

those of us who have served. >> cordes: duckworth is the first disabled woman in the senate. and the first member of congress of thy descent. >> that's a lot of firsts. how does that feel? >> unintentional. the whole being the first sitting senator to give birth i think is ridiculous, it's 201. we need more female senators. we are only 22 of us, a little overwhelmed by how landmark it is when it shouldn't be. it's the 21st century. >> cordes: even someone used to breaking barriers runs into obstacles now and then. >> there was policy in the house but no policy in the senate i have to figure that out. >> cordes: she recently discovered that children are still prohibited on the senate floor which complicates her plans for maternity leave. >> i'm going to take the time i need with my daughter in the middle that have there might be days when i have to -- we have lot of close votes that i need to come in and not let the people of illinois down. but then what do i do with my

baby? >> cordes: the senate to behind the times. >> the senate is behind the times. we're going to work on that. >> cordes: and we'll be back in a moment. [ 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: that's it for us today, thanks for watching. until next week for "face the nation," i'm nancy cordes. have a good one.

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