chad pergram is on that story on capitol hill. aupdate tonight. >> louis dejoy, the postmaster general is trying to get into the house of representatives to rescind some of those proposed changes. here is what louis dejoy said today. "he was acting to avoid even the appearance of any impact on election mail. he won't/hours of post offices, won't remove mail processing equipment and it won't remove the blue drop boxes, overtime will be approved as needed. democrats say he only acted because of the backlash. >> it appears maybe the hand has been caught in the cookie jar and they are taking it out and leaving the cookies in place. >> nancy pelosi called louis dejoy's actions insufficient. >> i don't, frankly, trust the postmaster general one bit. and nonetheless, we are happy to accept what he said and that's what we have in our bill. >> president trump suggests democrats are trying to steal the election with mail and voting. >> we have to get voting right, you can't have millions of millions of ballots sent all over the place, send

to chad pergram, they are saying what the trump administration may be planning. noon. chad. >> good afternoon, sandra. the postmaster general, there

. >> harris: chad pergram live on capitol hill now. chad? >> good afternoon. it's very to have a saturday session of congress, and it's even rarer to do it in the middle of the august recess and recall everyone. that kind of underscores that the democrats think there is a crisis at hand here. rank-and-file democrats were putting a lot of pressure on house speaker nancy pelosi to do something. president trump is skeptical of mail-in voting. >> universal mail-in is a very dangerous thing. it is fraught with fraud and every other thing that can happen, and we have to be very, very careful. we have a very big election coming up. >> the house returned saturday to undo many of the changes democrats they could slow the mail and even interfere with the delivery of ballots undermining this fall election. house democrats began pressuring house speaker nancy pelosi to act after the president suggested last week democrats wanted to much for the postal service in the next coronavirus bill. pelosi encouraged her members to take a day of action tomorrow, drawing attention to

>> dana: chad pergram, thank you. want to bring in fox news contributor stephen hayes, gave me your take on where things stand right now. you've been around, you've seen big pieces of legislation try to get through. what about the situation? we have an economic crisis, congress out of session and you have these two sides so far apart. >> yeah, my best advice is to listen to what chad pergram says because he's got great sources and he's a great reporter. i think he's got it exactly right. they are at something close to an impasse. it's not quite a total impasse because as chad reported, they've been having intermittent discussions. but they're not serious substantive discussions and they don't seem to be moving towards one another in these negotiations. i think senate republicans in particular are frustrated with the president, frustrated with the white house, they sort of had to take a backseat to steven mnuchin and white house negotiators. the white house was making arguments that many senate republicans didn't want

chad pergram is large on capitol hill. come from the postal service board of directors, correct? >> reporter: that's the postal service board of directors. nancy pelosi is saying if they want this, let's give them the money and to put pressure on senate republicans. they'll pass the bill later tonight and say why isn't something happening with the senate which is controlled by republicans. democrats believe the bill is suspension. peter i depass defazzio from or. >> what does this mask say, united states postal service. they can get mail no matter they live. they can get prescriptions. they can have a small business in powers, oregon, pretty remote from everything and use the postal service. >> reporter: mark meadows mentioned to capitol hill, criticized the house is only focus on the postal service and not a coronavirus aid package. >> she's here doing a slimmed down version, very slimmed down version of a negotiation that took place a few weeks ago so it doesn't seem to correspond with the action that's being taken in th

chad pergram is live for us there. chad? >> hi, harris. from reuters a couple minutes ago. this is a draft statement from the postmaster general, louis dejoy. he says the post office retail hours will not change, and processing equipment will remain in place and they will not close and email facilities. he also says the post office is able to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall and it will be delivered on time. this comes as the chairman of the senate governmental affairs committee, ron johnson, announced that he was going to preempt this house hearing for louis dejoy schedule on monday, to friday. and have him in this coming friday. here's what ron johnson had to say. he said he wanted to give the postmaster general an opportunity to tell his side of the story before he appeared before a hospital house committee. house oversight committee chairwoman carolyn maloney since democrats are concerned the administration is trying to sabotage voting by mail. >> let me tell you that experts are predicting that there will

congressional correspondent chad pergram takes a look at what is next. chad. >> kristin pick your movie dr. strange, edge of tomorrow, groundhog day. when it comes to the chronic virus bill, congress is in a temporal loop with the same thing happening over and over and over again each day. these talks these last week the senate settled into a meeting daily with just an hour or two. and top congressional leaders are daily on multiple kb telnet cable tv channels but never met in the same room. lawmakers are nervous. >> another day has passed and nothing has happened. another day fighting for your health or how you will pay for your rent or how you will feed your kids is a brittle and terrifying things. >> the chasm seems whiter now than ever. >> sometimes you reporters asked why can't we resolve our differences? i want you to see how vast those differences are. it is no wonder we have a vast difference because this administration under congress has never understood the gravity of the situation. >> democrats pitched a $3 trillion deal and republicans $1 tril

agreement by friday there will likely won't be a deal at all which is almost hard to believe but chad pergramour congressional correspondent will explain it all to us now, he's on capitol hill. chad? >> these talks are stalled, hundreds of billions of dollars apart and you have republican senators just leaving the capital, the last mode of the weekend they were very skeptical that there could be a deal, there's just too much of a divide here at this stage and that's why they are getting worried that there may not be ideal. house speaker nancy pelosi continues to insist on an extra $600 a week for those off the job. >> when they come to the table and are like "$600? how could it be?" they are just demonstrating their condescension to america's working families. >> republicans are offering only $400 of extra jobless benefits of a week and pelosi rejected any stopgap renewal of aid. mitch mcconnell was at the white house this morning. any accord will need democratic votes because some republican's are reluctant to take further action. >> about 15 or 20 of my members that believe that we have alr

chad pergram with the latest. hey, chad. >> good afternoon, neil. there was a meeting today on capitol hill with the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, also the secretary of the treasury, steve mnuchin, mark meadows, and the senate minority leader, chuck schumer. they met for about two hours. that meeting is broken up now. in fact, we are expecting to you sometime this hour from steve mnuchin. mitch mcconnell. nancy pelosi says that they talked a lot about cost and numbers and what it would cost to reopen the schools. listen. speak on our discussion has to be on how we defeat the virus, and that takes policy. the virus is the villain. we can open our economy. we can open our schools, but we can only do it if our children and our families are safe. and opening our schools is a place where we spent a great deal of time. >> this is why working out an agreement in august is so crucial. extra benefits last coming in many schools are trying to open in a few weeks. chuck schumer is say says they n evaluating how many can reopen with additional safety prec

congressional correspondent chad pergram watching it all on capitol hill. y? >> not much so far, they are starting that meeting right now and they have been meeting every day for about a week and a half now without a lot to show for it and that's the starting to concern a lot of people here on capitol hill. notably, lisa murkowski, a republican senator from alaska. >> i've been talking to members on the other side of the aisle about what we might do as individual members to help facilitate a little more progress. we don't have answers for people right now that i really worried so we are going to keep working. >> part of the problem is republicans can't come together in the senate on the plan, any final agreement would need democratic votes to clear a filibuster. that's why democrats like the minority leader chuck schumer aren't moving. >> the republican leader is so tied in a knot by his own caucus and his president that all he can do is give "alice in wonderland" partisan speeches. all he can do is threaten for a sham votes that will not pass and will not a

. >> harris: let's go to chad pergram on capitol hill with the latest on this. chad?ere are no talks scheduled, and hearing the speaker of the house use that salty language -- i've covered her for a long time -- that kind of exemplifies why people are upset about where these talks come or the lack of talks -- nancy pelosi says there won't be any talks scheduled until republicans are willing to accept a bill worth $2 trillion. that's between the $1 trillion and three chili dog figures here. they are miles apart. listen to the speaker. >> we passed their bill 90 days ago. it took them until two weeks ago to come back with a meager piecemeal bill that they put forward. >> here is the controversy, republicans are willing to spend $1 trillion. democrats want more than $3 trillion. democrats offered $2 trillion, but that involves some fuzzy math. democrats will shrink their bill to just $2 trillion because it would cover a shorter time period. that makes it cheaper. this royals the senate majority leader, mitch mcconnell. >> the speaker and the leader have not considered an

back to you. >> dana: chad pergram, thank you. in our panel, chris stirewalt and donna brazile. we were talking about this issue before dejoy made this news so just want to tell everyone, i want to tell you what speaker pelosi said because even if dejoy takes these actions, this has become quite the partisan fight. watch. >> don't pay any attention to them. their purpose is to frighten people from voting. the more chaos they can create, the more fear they can instill about your vote is not going to count and it won't matter and don't pay attention to their scare tactics because that is a victory for them. >> dana: now that dejoy has taken this action, do you think she will back off a little bit? >> nancy pelosi, going to back right off. the president made this matter much worse because he threatened to ruin the election or impede the election by withholding the money. even if it was an empty threat, it still gave rise to all of this. was exactly as is often been the case, it gave democrats exactly what they wanted which was fuel f

in the meantime, the latest on capitol hill from chad -- chad pergram. the president put democrats on the defense. what is likelihood of them coming up with something to their liking, what are you hearing? >> there is chance this could prompt talks, the president taking executive action was negotiating point by the white house. after two weeks of talks that basically went nowhere, the white house indicated it had no other choice than to take executive action. listen. >> this president instructed his administration to find every way possible without democrats unrelenting and lacking in any sort of care or empathy for the american people, when it comes to negotiating tactics if they are not going to act and care for the american people, he would. >> john: trump administration met for two weeks. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell blamed democrats for not helping those out of work. >> over the weekend, president trump took steps to soften the blow of the democrat's hostage tactics on american families who need help most. >> republicans used to rail again

dana. >> dana: chad pergram, thanks. let's bring in the panel. news contributor and "washington times" opinion editor charlie hurt and former tennessee commerce met harold ford jr.. great to have you. we are here in washington, d.c., for coverage tonight. i want to read to you from "the new york post," she writes about the democrats saying "spoiler alert. democrats can't really bridge the gap between the biden lefton sanders far left. instead they plan to unify their party for spending the hours between now and thursday lambasting donald trump is a terrible person and even worse president. that's all they've got. that's with their voters want." harold ford, is that what you are hearing about as they kick off tonight? >> first off, thanks for having me on. glad to be back. i hear different things. i would remind liz and others who write about the convention, and dana, you and charlie know there's always division going into a convention. in 2016 there was not unanimity around donald trump. there was not unanimity around bill clinton in '92. this is

chad pergram, thank you very much.t to bring in republican, rissman mark green of tennessee, who will get a chance to question the postmaster general dejoy when he appears before the house oversight committee, and that's on monday. good to see you today. i want to start with kind of where you want to see this go. we do have a vote on funding from the house tomorrow. what do you think we will see on monday that was different from what we saw today? >> i think the goal for us is to make sure the truth gets out there, and that we refute some of these accusations from the left. you look at the need for cash, that question, during the covid crisis they've made an extra $2.8 billion in package deliveries and have enough cash on hand to operate through august of next year. so much so that the $10 billion loan in the cares act isn't even needed until next fall. this assertion that we've got to quickly get them cash to set up a voting system for elections in november, it is just a false narrative. i want to just make sure we ar

. >> harris: congressional correspondent chad pergram is live for us on capitol hill with the latest . chad? >> hey there, harris. democrats are still not pleased with the action yesterday by louis dejoy, rescinding a lot of these actions, cutting back some of the service issues they were very concerned with. let's start with alexandria ocasio-cortez, democrat from the bronx. >> postmaster dejoy can say whatever he wants about what changes will or will not happen in the future. he has lost the trust of the american people. he has lost our trust to make sure that he will follow through. >> democrats are asking why postmaster general louis dejoy was trying to make the changes amid the pandemic. that sowed fears about the capabilities of the postal service during the coronavirus crisis and raise questions about the fall elections. >> to do it normally would be bad. to do it during covid, when people can't go to the stores, the drug stores, and everywhere else where they need necessities, is nothing short of outrageous. >> white house chief of staff mark meadows says president trump never

joining us now at the very latest is our own chad pergram. chad. >> hey, jason.e don't have a big meeting at 9:00 on the saturday morning in the speaker's office with the speaker of the house, senate minority leader, the white house chief of staff and the secretary of the treasury unless you're dealing with a big crisis. that's what they are wrestling with right now. they try to get some resolution, try to jump-start these talks. they are not going to have any aids in the room and that tells you a lot. under normal circumstances if there was an impasse like this, you likely stop talking. the coronavirus crisis is so severe they can't. white house chief of staff mark meadows has he made multiple offers tile speaker nancy pelosi and all were rejected. meadow says the democrats are entrenched, aren't fudging. why, they may not have to. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says he has 20 republicans who oppose any big bill that the democrats want. democrats think they will hold the cards because any new bill will require democratic votes. pelosi indicated today tha

. >>> chad pergram joins us right now. left to head out to ohio, the president did talk about the tenuous status of talks right now on the coronavirus stimulus bill, and that he would take matters into his own hands, a theme he's echoed repeatedly, including talk of a potential executive move on cutting the payroll tax. i don't know where all that stands, but i bet you chad pergram has a pretty good idea, as this deadline fast approaches. chad? reporter: well, that's kind of hanging over these talks like a sword of damocles the president might impose a moratorium on evictio evictions. you talk about suspending the collection of the payroll tax, maybe something on student loans. that's the backdrop that's behind these talks here, as they progress or don't progress. they are hundreds of billions if not trillions of dollars apart. the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell went to the white house this morning and he is frustrated at the pace of the talks. >> a second straight week of political theater from our democrat collea

jon: chad pergram on capitol hill, chad thank you. we await white house reaction to the proceedings in the house of representatives as president trump continues attack on mail-in voting and promises to veto any measure that makes it out of the house and senate. meanwhile the trump administration is revving up for the republican national convention which begins on monday. rich edson is live. >> the republicans turn is to have a modified convention. the events will culminate at the end of thursday when the president gives his acceptance speech at the white house. the republicans will be hosting events with speeches throughout the country both in washington and in charlotte. >> it's great, great number of voices from all across this country on what this president has done not just through the time of testing through which we have passed but the first three years. joe biden said democracy is on the ballot and characters on the ballot. let me tell you something mariyah i think your viewers know the economy is on the ballot. republicans hav

chad pergram has the latest. chad, i noticed they've made progress on a couple things but they are still pretty far apart. >> that's right, there is still a chasm. you think of a bill like this of this magnitude, 15, 16 major areas and they've narrowed the gap on a few major issues. they set an interim deadline of friday of trying to get an agreement and get this into legislative form sometime next week. mitch mcconnell is frustrated by the glacial pace. >> while americans are struggling, the democrat leadership moved about 1 inch, 1 inch in eight days. for the sake of the millions and millions who need more help, let's hope they decide to get serious soon. >> treasury secretary steve mnuchin and white house chief of staff mark meadows offered a plan to extend unemployment benefits through mid-december, however people only would get $400 a week rather than $600 a week. that ate expired in july. they would also suspend evictions nationwide. democrats say they need more for food aid and help for state and local gove

chad pergram tracking from the hill and joins us to lead this hour. chad. >> charles: good afternoon, bill. no new talks scheduled here. there was thoughts maybe the executive action would jumpstart talks. in hamilton, the room where it happened, this is the room it never happened, they never got a deal. both sides of the aisle think they will get a bill in form, maybe not right away. here is senate minority leader schumer. >> unworkable, narrow and weak. what is more important than what is in the executive orders is what is not in the executive orders. money to open up schools safely, money to help state and local governments, money for adequate testing regime. >> drove up the cost of the bill. democrats said they were willing to meet in the middle around 2 million. the cheaper price tag is democrats squeezing the duration of the bill. americans will not pay the payroll tax, it funds medicare and social security, but workers must pay that tax later. congression congressional actions, the white house defends mr. trump's gamble. >> this president instru

chad pergram is live on capitol hill. good morning. will talks continue today? don't know. they aren't expected to continue. the real reason here is they've only moved millimeters, inches over the past couple of days and why there is so much consternation. let's start with the white house chief of staff mark meadows. >> the president is right to be frustrated with congress. we've been here now going on two weeks and we still don't have a deal. >> democrats are just as vexed that there isn't more movement from gop negotiators. >> we have always said the republicans and the president don't understand the gravity of the situation and every time we meet with them it is reinforced. >> we don't expect more than a skeleton crew on capitol hill until or if there is a bill which to vote. republicans struggled to align votes for a temporary extension of jobless aid. >> mike: how concerned are rank and file members about having nothing to vote on? >> a lot of tension there and a lot of skepticism from republican members in the senate that they can get a deal at all. there

chad pergram live on capitol hill. when could we see the talks resume? >> not any time soon.orning. the senate will be here at 11:00 with a skeleton staff. we don't expect anything to happen any time soon. we're in the august recess. the capitol is a void. nobody here. silent. the white house says they're ready to go. senior advisor to the president kellyanne conway. >> they are the ones who left the negotiation table. the president took executive action over the weekend. he knows americans are looking at their rent bills and making sure they have security now and they won't be evicted. >> the executive actions provide $400 of extra benefits each week for those off the job but states must account for a quarter of that money. some states aren't sure that they can afford it or just how fast they can provide the aid. >> give me your timetable? are we talking next week, two weeks, a month? >> i think within the next week or two most states will be able to execute. >> democrats are very skeptical of that timetable. there is a lot of concern on capitol hill the aid won't get out th

chad pergram on capitol hill. >> reporter: this is rare to have the house of representatives in session on a saturday morning, certainly in august. the last time they did this of any consequence had legislation on the house or floor of the senate when they recalled members was probably in august of 2006 in the middle of hurricane katrina. this bill is about the postal service, $25 billion. democrats say this is an emergency. here's jim mcgovern, the chair of the house rules committee. >> this is a five alarm fire for our democracy. we need the boxes back, we need sorting machines back. it's clear that none of this will happen unless congress passes the bill. that's why it's urgent we act immediately. >> reporter: president trump threatened to veto the bill last night. the white house called it an overreaction to media reports and added today's vote was political theater. tom cole of oklahoma says democrats are going too far. >> mr. trump's own pentagon urged him to strike iran, he thought about it, didn't do it. w

coronavirus stimulus they do seem to be talking, maybe past each other but i don't know where it's going chad pergramon capitol hill. chad? >> reporter: neil there is that old expression, just don't stand there do something and that's kind of what senate republicans are starting to do, getting nervous also folks at the white house, mark meadows the white house chief of staff. he has been talking for several days now about doing a skinny bill, a piece of legislation, that just pertains to coronavirus. listen. >> i think the out lack for a skinny deal is better than its ever been and yet we're still not there. let's add in the things that we can agree upon, perhaps funding for school, ppp, maybe even the stimulus check although i don't know that we could get an agreement on that. >> now the push for a new coronavirus bill is an effort by republicans to contrast themselves with house democrats meeting saturday to pass a bill to bolster the postal service. republicans want to send a message they are working on coronavirus and not just the post office. fox is told that about 12 or so house republicans wil

meantime to chad pergram on the back and forth in those coronavirus stimulus talks. i guess the good news, chad, is that they're talking, right? reporter: that's right. they continue to talk but there is a chasm of difference here between the sides. they're talking about unemployment insurance. they're talking about extra money for schools, how they reopen. they're talking about state and local government money. they're talking about money for the postal service. that is a big ask about it democrats. senate minority leader, house speaker, they have been in the house talks more than a week. they met on saturday. they will meet again this afternoon. treasury secretary steve mnuchin coming to capitol hill alongside with mark meadows, white house chief of staff. they will meet with the senate republicans this afternoon. they will go back into the conclave. they got a sense yesterday that they were starting to crack the ice a little bit but they're not there somebody who is not in these talks, senate minority leader, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. that is signific

congressional correspondent chad pergram live on capitol hill. who would bring the lawsuit, chad? would be the house democrats and the senate democrats here. article 1, section 9 clear that the power of the purse resides with the congress. but we don't know what they will do just yet. there are no more talks scheduled yet on another coronavirus bill yet but we think there will be a bill at some point. it might not this be this week or next week or this month but there is a lot of people on capitol hill who say there has to be a bill because the situation is so dire. here is the senate minority leader chuck schumer. >> senator schumer: the executive orders are not doing much so the bottom line is similar. the republican friends should come back to the table. we have agreed to meet them halfway. >> the trump administration offered around $1 trillion. democrats asked for more than $3 trillion. last week democrats said they would compromise, meet in the middle $2 trillion. but that is tricky math. democrats were only willing to cut the price tag because they would limit duration of th

to chad pergram, they are saying what the trump administration may be planning. we begin with chad this afternoon. chad. >> good afternoon, sandra. the postmaster general, there is a push by a lot of house democrats. more than 170 trying to implored nancy pelosi to tack on coronavirus relief onto the postal service so that they will debate tomorrow. that is not in the cards. they are going to meet this afternoon, and it is specific to coronavirus. this bill infuses about $25 billion, and lewis t dejoy says that the post office is fine right now. >> on election night, we do need legislative reform. this organization continues to perform, which is why it has such high readings. other organizations -- all areas and so forth. >> dejoy said the postal service would send a letter to all americans explaining how it is handling vote by mail, which means they would be an additional 161 million pieces of mail and the postal bloodstream next month. he says the president nor anyone in the trump campaign has ever talked to him about trying to tilt the field towards mr. trump.

chad pergram has the latest. that's right. they will forge ahead. the postmaster general, this morning, nancy pelosi talked to him on the telephone. she caught his announcement yesterday, misleading. there are democrats who just don't trust them including greg meeks, a democrat from new york city. >> rain, snow, hail, nothing stops the mail. we have a president of the united states who says, with himself and with the assistance of his political cronies, he slowing down the process. >> $25 billion, that's a spent some of the changes, even though he halted many of those yesterday, and it guarantees the belts for the election go as first class mail. there haven't been in person talks about coronavirus legislation and house speaker nancy pelosi, the secretary of the treasury, they last spoke a week ago. mark meadows says the postal service bill opens the door way to broader bill. >> i call on nancy pelosi to not only finally fix the post office, but that finally things that are hurting americans because of this pande

congressional correspondent chad pergram is on the hill with the latest. ot really going to go home without getting this done, are they? >> we didn't think there would be talks today and a jobless figure coming out this morning from a bad jobless could spark the talks and look what is happening. they are back in the negotiating room today. they have talked for a while now. a couple of weeks to let of progress and both sides are unwilling to push back on the table. the lack of progress has imposed consternation on both sides. here is the white house chief of staff mark meadows. >> if the compromises that secretary mnuchin and i put forth on behalf of the president are significantly greater than the compromises that we saw from the other side of the negotiating table. >> the sides cannot even agree what they disagreed on. republicans have angled for a bill costing $1 trillion. democrats were locked in at $3.4 trillion. house speaker nancy pelosi said there is a little bit of give on the democratic side. >> it is hard when your values are so different in terms

congressional correspondent chad pergram reporting live from capitol hill and chad come attacks have been going on for a couple hours now. any idea where we stand? >> they started about 1:00 eastern and any time they are in there for a while, it's probably a good sign, the fact that people weren't coming out and trashing the other side. it's notable that president trump is not been directly engaged in these talks. he has deputized the secretary of the treasury stephen nguyen and mark meadows, white house chief of staff. the president and some epic blowups with house speaker nancy pelosi over infrastructure and other meetings of the white house last year. that is who is in the meeting today here on capitol hill. listen to the president. >> the fact that i'm not over there with crazy nancy, chuck schumer wants more than anybody and i would say nancy pelosi would be second, they want to bail out cities and states that have done a bad job over a long period of time. >> the biggest issue as you say in these talks is the extension of the $600 of extra unemployment benefits which expired la

chad pergram on all of this and what happens next. coronavirus bill for about a week and a half. it was a week ago today that the secretary of the treasury, steve mnuchin and house speaker nancy pelosi last talked by phone here. but remember the house of representatives is going to come into session on saturday to do a bill just dealing with the postal service. the white house chief of staff mark meadows, that shows there's a glimmer of hope. >> the outlook for a skinny deal is better than it's ever been, yet we are still not there. if speaker pelosi moves forward a single bill on postal, that could hurt the indication we have that she will do a skinny bill because obviously postal was part of the negotiation. reporter: some republicans are assembling what meadows referred to as the skinny bill. that measure would likely cost around $1 trillion. the plan would reup extra unemployment benefits to around $300 a week, down from the $600 rate which expired last month. the package would also include liability protections, pushed by senate

a professional correspondent chad pergram taking a closer look. ying on monday for the house oversight committee and the chairman ron johnson views that panel as "hostile." so he today joined in early is a preemptive strike. >> there's a lot of fiction and a lot of false narrative agendas. >> curtailing vote by mail, but in fact the joint it encourages mail in voting. >> the postal service will deliver every ballot across every ballot. >> support voting by mail. >> joining the president, he might not be on the same page. >> they will go to vote, that's got to be a big problem. >> did during democratic claims he's slowing it. >> with the presidents. >> i've never spoke with the president about the postal service. no negative impact on the election and it's an outrageous claim. >> the postal service several states the delivery delays could leave ballots uncounted but the say and solar notice went out in 2016 >> for the 2020 election. >> president trump says mailing voting creates chaos. >> it's a theory, if you don't have the end of the year, the cra

chad pergram on these fast-moving developments. now these changes, to prevent them, and you go back to where we were, january 1st of this year, that is slated for saturday, correct? >> it will probably be a vote on saturday here. it is rare for them to recall congress, certainly in the middle of the august recess. here you have a combination of that. some of that is facilitated to wedge this and between the democratic and republican conventions. rank-and-file democrats said they need to act on the postal service. among them, jerry connelly. >> it is not hard to connect the dots here. i don't think there's any mystery. they are attempting to suppress the vote by using the postal service. because this will be a narrow bill only focused on the postal service. and changes to policy. some hope to extend other areas of economic aid worker in a virus, but that won't be the case. they charge the president is trying to weaponize the postal service at election time. >> this kind of suppression come straight out of the dictators playbook. it

chad pergram is life on capitol hill with an update. >> it's really remarkable that there's no talks on coronavirus right now considering the state of the pandemic and the state of the economy. the thing we are starting to hear on capitol hill is they might try to put some sort of a coronavirus aid package into a big spending bill to avoid a government shutdown in september. that's why everybody is looking at september. house speaker nancy pelosi is skeptical. >> they said we all work better up against a deadline. no. the virus doesn't have a deadline, nor does it take a pause. the american people don't want this uncertainty so we can't wait until september 30th. some have said people will die. >> they have to fund the government by september 30th or face a government shutdown that could be cataclysmic in the middle of a pandemic so despite what pelosi says, september could impose a pressure point for action. now the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell kept the senate in session last week for just an hour or two each day in hopes of an accord but mcconnell formally dismissed every

chad pergram is on that live on capitol hill today. >> this was an effort to preemptively get insidetives plans to do legislatively this weekend rescinding some of those proposed changes. louis dejoy, the postmaster general says the election mail would not be a problem. here's what else he said "retail hours at post offices will not change. mail processing equipment and boxes will remain where they are, mail processing facilities will be closed and we assert that overtime has and will continue to be improved as needed. democrats like alexandria ocasio-cortez in new york aren't buying it. >> postmaster dejoy can say whatever he wants about what changes will or will not happen in the future. he has lost the trust of the american people. he has lost our trust to make sure he will follow through. after they said they would suspend taking mailboxes out, there were reports and confusion about whether that would happen or not. >> he is to appear virtually before a senate committee on friday and then before a house panel monday. chairman ron johnson says he wanted to get the first crack at h

chad pergram with more on capitol hill. chad?eporter: neil, you remember ron johnson the chair of the governmental affairs committee last week he wanted louis dejoy come to his committee on friday because he said the committee in the house was hostile. it was certainly contentious this morning. >> i'm tempted to ask after 240 years of patriotic service delivering the mail how can one person screw this up in just a few weeks? my last question is this. >> thank you, sir. >> what the heck is he doing. >> gentleman's time expired. >> thank you, sir. reporter: dejoy already preapproved over time for the postal service prior to the general election. >> this is continued misinformation regarding what i did since i have gotten there i never put a limitation on overtime. reporter: dejoy testified that the postal service is fine through the legislation and next august. 26 republicans joined all democrats with a bill over the weekend to infuse the post offers $25 billion. republicans say the democrats are trying to create a political wedge

chad pergram is following this closely. secretary mnuchin said we can work a deal ourselves. these are the parameters. where are we on this? >> it is hard to believe they wouldn't do another bill at some point later this month, be it that song in "hamilton" the room where it happened. this is the room where it didn't happen on capitol hill. democrats are dubious what the president is trying to do with the executive action, three memoranda, one executive order. article i, section 9 of the constitution, congress controls the power of the purse. here is house speaker nancy pelosi. >> the president's meager, weak and unconstitutional actions further demand that we have an agreement and any constitutional is a separate issue. reporter: even if the president can do it, it is unclear what the impact will be. unemployment benefits from extra $600 to $400 a week with states chipping in $100. some states say the budgets are so strapped they can't cough up the aid. democrats want extension of benefits a lower number. >> if the democrats wants to challenge us in court and hold up unemplo

chad pergram on all the fast-moving developments on capitol hill. those unemployment numbers certainly sparked a meeting here on capitol hill. we thought last night they would not have another negotiating session but right now, the secretary of the treasury is headed to capitol hill alongside white house chief of staff mark meadows to have yet another session with house speaker nancy pelosi and the senate minority leader chuck schumer. there's been a lot of consternation about the lack of progress in these talks. let's start with mark meadows. >> -- secretary mnuchin and i put forth on behalf of the president are significantly greater than the compromises that we saw from the other side of the negotiating table. reporter: the sides cannot even agree on what they disagreed on. republicans have angled for a bill costing about $1 trillion. democrats were locked in at $3.4 trillion but house speaker nancy pelosi says there's a bit of give on the democratic side. here is chuck schumer, the democratic leader. >> but their stance was disappointing. we aske

chad pergram is on the hill with a look at both of those races. chad?four members of the squad to face primary challenges today and next week. rashida tlaib in michigan today and ilhan omar in minnesota next week, the first two female muslim members of the house of representatives. let's start with rashida tlaib here. she is a freshman who won a full term in the fall of 2018 but something few people are aware of, detroit city council president brandon jones won a special election on the same day two years ago to finish the unexpired term of the late democratic representative john conyers. jones served in congress for a few weeks before rashida tlaib took office last year. the congresswoman made headlines on her first day in the house, she warned that the house would impeach the president and used a profane name for mr. trumpian turned to minnesota, another member of the squad, ilhan omar is. she represents the district where george floyd was killed on memorial day and another primary today for a democratic member, he faces a challenge from progressive c

arthel: chad chad pergram is n capitol hill with the latest. >> reporter: we're going to have a vote later this afternoon, probably two to three hours away on this bill that cost $25 billion infusing the postal service with all of that cash. democrats think this is essential. that's why they called the house of representatives in the middle of the august recess, in particular on a saturday. jim mcgovern, the chair of the house rules committee, let's start. >> i don't need empty rhetoric from the occupant of the white house or mr. dejoy. my constituents are my evidence. they have flooded my office with calls. they have stopped me on the street. something is happening here. whether this administration or of its allies want to admit it or not. >> reporter: he threatened to veto the bill last night. the white house calls it an overreaction to media reports, adding today's vote was political theater. rob woodall says today's vote is a punctuation point to the democratic convention this week. >> we're going to hear more about donald trump today than you're going to hear about the postal se

chad pergram. dejoy just telling senator sinema that every american in september will be receiving a letter that will tell them what the u.s. postal service process for election mail is. so chad pergram on capitol hill on all of that for us. meanwhile breaking news on the college admissions scandal. a sentencing has just come down for lori lochlin's husband. we'll have that for you after the break. it's time for the biggest sale of the year on the sleep number 360 smart bed. you can adjust your comfort on both sides... your sleep number setting. can it help me fall asleep faster? yes, by gently warming your feet but can it help keep me asleep? absolutely, it intelligently senses your movements and automatically adjusts to keep you both effortlessly comfortable. will it help me keep up with mom? you got this. so you can really promise better sleep? not promise... prove. and now, all beds are on sale. save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, free premium delivery when you add

congressional correspondent chad pergram reporting live on capitol hill. yesterday you were saying that the talks were basically dead in the water, are we still there? >> they are not moving at all, the senate has just gone out until september 8th here in case, unless they have a build on whic bill on which to vote, y are not here at all. the treasury secretary and speaker talked yesterday for the first time in five days and basically they couldn't even agree on which issues to disagree upon. they put out dueling statements later yesterday afternoon. here's the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. >> sometimes some of the reporters asked, why can't we resolve our differences? i want you to see how vast those differences are. for months and even until now, they have ignored the science. they called it a hoax. speaker pelosi says she told secretary mnuchin, don't come back unless you are ready for a bill that cost $2 trillion. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says democrats are stalling for a wish list. >> instead of staying focused on the real needs of

we want to bring in congressional correspondent chad pergram to talk about this for a moment. big introduction and this will be unlike anything presidential politics have ever seen because there is barely anyone inside that gym at the moment. >> very strange when harris was announced as the v.p. pick yesterday. usually if we weren't at a political convention what would happen here on capitol hill is that reporters like me would be chasing senators and house members up and down the hallways here asking what do you think? do you know harris? did you work with her on a bill? what's your impression? virtually none of that happened yesterday because, guess what? there is nobody here. they are on the august recess. very few people have been in the building here because of the pandemic, and so it was all digital. in fact, there were a couple people i talked to yesterday on the phone, not in person, they talked about the idea of having kamala harris being able to communicate online with people. you know, everything has been reduced to skype and zoom and virtual appearances here and tha

chad pergram on the do no harm issue. joe biden, kamala harris. in fact for those who want a passionate following and more for this democratic candidate, she just might provide that. that will do it here. ♪ >> dana: hello, everyone. i am dana perino with jesse watters, greg gutfeld, donna brazile, and katie pavlich. it's 5:00 in new york city and this is "the five." the speculation is over. joe biden's name kamala harris as his pick for vice president. both will appear together in delaware tomorrow. biden tweeting "eye of the great honor to announce i have picked kamala harris, fearless fighter for the little guy and one of the country's finest public servants, as my running mate."

that would be much closer to republican then democratic proposals, congressional correspondent chad pergram in alexandria, virginia, can the two sites come together on this? >> well, no talks in a long time here, and even though the president is now pushing $1.3 trillion, keep in mind that a lot of republicans want to come in at 1 trillion. there is also a lot of republicans that don't think that that on other bill is necessary whatsoever. they are going to need democrats to get us across the finish line. it is hard to see how this changes the equation. republicans aren't onboard at all and certainly democrats aren't on board. and white house chief of staff mark meadows blames the impasse on house speaker nancy pelosi. >> she puts forth on numbers suggest that she came down and yet she is willing to turn down $1.3 trillion of help that goes to the american people because she would rather them have nothing. >> coronavirus talks remain stalled and frozen with no thawing insight. >> we are not budging. understand this. >> how do you break the impasse? >> they have to move. why should there be

chad pergram has been following all of this for us and is live on capitol hill this morning with the ad, good morning. >> good morning, sandra. this is a preemptive strike by ron johnson of wisconsin, the chair of the senate governmental affairs committee to have louis dejoy in on friday before he goes before the house oversight committee on monday. ron johnson saying to fox news that he wants dejoy to have the opportunity to tell his side of the story before he goes before what he termed a hostile committee on monday. there are some members of congress, democrats, who believe that dejoy should resign even before he testifies. let's start with the democrat from maryland. >> you are not the great oz, you are the great impediment to a decent and working fabric of our society we call the post office and don't tell me or others that you are just trying to make the post office make money. the u.s. post office is not a business. it is a service. and it is a service to americans that we must always protect. >> is house plans to vote on saturday on a bill to bolster the service with $25 billi