secretary mnuchin. sec. mnuchin: let me first comment on -- all due respect, i believe i am following the law. clear, on29 makes december 1, 2020, that the authority provided under new loans, guarantees, or other investments shall terminate. rep. waters: thank you very much. i will reclaim my time. do you agree, mr. powell? sec. mnuchin: let me continue. the transfer of the funds is not up to me. when funds come back, they go into -- rep. waters: reclaiming my time. i need an answer from mr. powell. do you agree with mr. mnuchin? chair powell: the secretary has sole authority. his reading of the law is the authoritative one and we accept it. sec. mnuchin: if i was politically motivated, i would not have extended the four facilities in deference to the fed's view that were non-cares act facilities. if i had been trying to be political -- rep. waters: my time is expired. i recognize the ranking member mr. mchenry for five minutes. secretary mnuchin, let me give you a moment to answer. it sounded like there are

secretary mnuchin, you may proceed. sec. mnuchin: thank you. ranking member brown and members of the discusse i'm pleased to the unprecedented response to support the coronavirus pandemic. we continue to work to implement the historic cares act with speed, efficiency and transparency. our job not be complete until every american gets back to work. when i last testified for you in september, i stated america was in the midst of the fastest economic recovery from any crisis in u.s. history. i'm proud to say while there are still more work to be done, that statement is even more true today. in the third quarter, gdp grew by 33 percent, beating expectations and nearly doubling the previous record set in 1950. americans are getting back to work, the october jobs report showed the economy has got back 12 million jobs since april. more than 50% of all lost jobs due to the pandemic. the private service sector which includes industries impacted by the initial economic shutdown has regained 58% of the lost jobs. the unemployment rate decreased to 6.9%, a

mnuchin two -- and secretary mnuchin two questions. one, your thoughts on the framework, do you think irrationally this kind of bridge to emergency relief is needed at thispoint -- do you think kind of bridge to urgency relieve is needed up this point? chair powell: it sounds like you are hitting a lot of the areas that could definitely benefit from help, and some of the areas that are going to be experiencing a challenging winter. but i can't really speak to the particulars of the bill. sen. warner: understood. i appreciate that. secretary mnuchin, i know that you have not seen any of this, but you are negotiating on many of these. again, directionally, not going into particulars, using this kind of effort is needed? sec. mnuchin: let me first say i did comment earlier to senator scott, and i applaud the work you have done on the cdfi program, so i very much support that. that could create $100 billion of lending quickly. i look forward to reviewing with you the overall package. i do think that more fiscal response is needed. i think

think of how lazy steve mnuchin's staff has to be that none of them even bothered to tell steve mnuching up against one of the very best questioners in the history of the united states congress, house and senate. steve mnuchin demonstrated two things today, his ignorance of governing policy and his laziness in preparing for a confrontation with katie porter. congresswoman porter made the point to mnuchin that it is illegal for him to move $455 billion away from the covid relief effort until at least five years from now on january 1, 2026. >> secretary mnuchin, is it currently the year 2026, yes or no? >> first let me comment, i do believe there is an economic -- >> secretary mnuchin, it is my time. >> -- second of all, okay -- >> reclaiming my time. >> the time belongs to the gentlelady. >> reclaiming my time, mr. mnuchin, would you start by answering my question? and i will ask you others. is today the year 2026? yes or no? >> of course it's not 2026. how ridiculous to ask me that question and waste our time. >> well, secretary mnuchin, i think it's ridiculous that you're play acting t

mnuchin: thank you, mr. chairman. let me first say i want to thank the senate for passing the 0,a.r.e.s. act, which was 96- in an unprecedented response. i lived in the lbj room for over two weeks, so i am very familiar. i personally negotiated many of these provisions. matter of fact, i brought the c.a.r.e.s. act with me because i reference it and keep it next to my desk. mr. chairman, i would just ask you to recall, you and i were sitting outside senator ,chumer's office with his staff after 1:00 a.m. in the morning on the night that we finally finished this, and i asked you to come sign off on behalf of the leader and others the final redlines. so i would direct you to section 4029, which is very clear, which says, "except as provided in subsection b, the authority provided under the subtitle shall terminate." it was very clear. so my decision -- first of all, i want to thank chair powell because he has been a terrific partner in everything we have done, and i really want to thank him and the people at the fed. he

mnuchin has the president's prophecy? rep. hoyer: he has the person with whom we have to talk. so, we are talking to him. we hope to the aunt -- we hope the answer to that question is yes. it was yes in previous occasions. not just on covid, you remember that he and ms. pelosi reached a budget accommodation two years ago which set the spending levels for two years, and that was agreed to as well. so, we have had an experience where the president has in fact acted consistently with representations made by secretary mnuchin, so we will see. again, the president, i want to make it clear, if you listen to his five-minute whatever adjective wants to apply to it, he did not say that he would veto the bill, he said it was insufficient, which is why we responded to try and, consistent with the president's request to accommodate his corrections. >> you tried to do what he wanted and republicans do not wanted, you ask for some things and republicans do not get it. where can you go from here that does not shut down the government? i

secretary mnuchin? sec.chin: again, let me first comment on -- and in all due respect, i believe i am following the law. section 4029 makes very clear on december 31, 2020, that the authority provided under new loans, guarantees, or other investments shall terminate. rep. waters: thank you very much. i am going to reclaim my time. deep agree, mr. powell -- do you agree, muster powell? sec. mnuchin: let me just continue. the transfer of funds is not up to me. when funds come back -- rep. waters: reclaiming my time. i need to have an answer from mr. powell. do you agree with secretary mnuchin? chair powell: the secretary has sole authority over the c.a.r.e.s. act funding. the fed is not involved in that. his reading of the law, thus, is the authoritative one, and we would accept it. sec. mnuchin: i would also to say if i was political he motivated, i would not have been said -- i would not have extended the core facilities that were non-c.a.r.e.s. act facilities. had i been trying to be political -- rep. water

secretary mnuchin, call me, we'll get this thing done. get this done. >> we'll talk more about white house staffing as the president-elect is expected to introduce his economic team shortly after noon east coast time today we'll get to a lot of the calls that david and jim mentioned as well, the downgrade of oxy moderna, argus, barclays takes fedex to overweight and the treasury secretary and the fed chair at senate banking. we'll take q and a around 10:30. features strong. i will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night it's true, i will rescue you oh, i will rescue you [what's this?] oh, are we kicking karly out? we live with at&t. it was a lapse in judgment. at&t, we called this house meeting because you advertise gig-speed internet, but we can't sign up for that here. yeah, but i'm just like warming up to those speeds. you've lived here two years. the personal attacks aren't helping, karly. don't you have like a hot pilates class to get to or something? [ muffled scream ] stop living with at&t. xfinity can deliv

i want to address a couple of things directly to you, secretary mnuchin. you know senator menendez and i along with senator tillis, nema, france allies have introduced a bill that makes loans less and supposed to be forgiven. loans$150,000 unless makes up 85% of total loans, but only 26% of the dollar amount. both chariman powell and secretary mnuchin have said during this hearing that what businesses need is grants. forgiveness was a major component of our bill. once again, in my view, congress did what it often does and does not prescribe a bunch of a solution which allows for a bureaucracy, which i fear more than the devil itself, to come up with their own rules and regulations always aimed at cya. no understanding of how a business operates or how it keeps employees. , it waspass ppp designed to be forgiven. it was designed to keep people on payrolls so they imported the unemployment rolls. weise morse -- we forced small lenders to use the program. i've talked to hundreds audible times, hundreds of banks, consumer banks, large banks, credit unions, eve

do you agree with secretary mnuchin? >> he has authority under the act the fed is not involved in his reading of the law thus is the authoritative one and we accept it. i would also say if i were politically motivated i wouldn't have extended in deference to the view that were lawn care act facilities. so trying to be political -- >> my time is expired. i recognize the distinguished ranking member for five minutes for questions >> let me just give you a moment to answer. the ac expires on december 301st of this year. that is in the law so lete give you the opportunity to give a full answer on your decision with the exchanged stabilization funds. >> thank you very much. there are three sections i direct people to. 4029 which is the termination date of december 301st of 2020 to make the new loans guarantees or others to terminate. that is perfectly clear. section 4003 which references the proceeds so when they come in we allocate whether it is the return of an airline loan or money from the fed, we allocate it very clearly

. >> everybody felt mnuchin was representing the white house.d to mnuchin yesterday, and that was the assumption everybody had. >> i was on a call with secretary mnuchin, and he had talked about getting to this point, having negotiated presumably on behalf of the president of the united states. that was his person at the table. >> joining me now is david ferrer hold, msnbc analyst. do you feel like steven mnuchin feels like the most blindsided person in america, and even if he was, shouldn't he have expected it even a little bit? >> it's hard to get into it, but mnuchin felt he was empowered to speak for donald trump and had been for months. i don't think mnuchin believed this erroneously, i think trump had put him in charge of this and trump had shown no interest in these talks until they were over. so mnuchin did feel blindsided, but i'm not sure what else he could have done. he was playing the role he had been playing for months when all of a sudden trump decided past the 11th hour, when the bill was already approved by congress, that he want

in the u.s., steve mnuchin's counter offer.he treasury secretary proposes a 916 billion tell the treasury plan that includes state aid but democrats call parts of it unacceptable. we will talk about that as well. this is bloomberg. ♪ matt: welcome back to bloomberg markets. this is the european open. we had 37 minutes away from the start of cash trading. we see green arrows on the screen in terms of futures, mainly because the optimism driven from the u.s. record close yesterday. treasury secretary steven mnuchin pitched a new $916 billion house proposal to nancy pelosi. this marks the white house's first move since the election to break the stalemate. democratic leaders called it progress and said it should not be used to obstruct ongoing bipartisan negotiations. william is still with us. markets reacted very positively to any sign of more stimulus from the u.s.. how key is it that money is spent here to help the economy recovery -- recover? economic data is weakening quite significantly. you look at the labor market report. t

i have had a number of conversations with secretary mnuchin. it helped us drill down on some of these numbers. >> a lot of work has been put into this. we are working diligently to have a bill ready as quickly as possible. unemployment, right? governments, 160. you have additional on and thatnt insurance, includes gig workers and people covered under the cares act. else, everything to make sure that we haven't missed anyone. vaccine development distribution there iswill make sure a sufficient amount to take care of that. aside for rural so they don't get left behind. education, we have a tremendous need in education. forbearance on student loans. housing assistance and rental. we have nutrition. we are talking about all forms of nutrition. feeding people that don't qualify for snap. we see in line, not judging by the car they are driving but by the mouth they have to feed. broadband we know is a tremendous challenge. opioid addiction continues to be rampant in my state. have hit everything and we acknowledge that we do it right. thank you all.

i know he thinks the world of secretary mnuchin.ut he's got a difficult negotiation job and he didn't get everything he wanted. the president was disappointed the checks were too small. i know he wanted them to be large for as long as i've known him. i don't think it humiliates secretary mnuchin who has a strong track record of four years of accomplishment. so having to cave on a bill and give up things the president wanted is politics. >> he has a funny way of showing his appreciation and respect for mnuchin. thank you for coming on. we appreciate it. happy new year to you. >> same to you. >> thank you. >>> still to come, the u.s. has now administered nearly 2 million coronavirus vaccine doses. now another potential vaccine is on the horizon as novavax enters phase 3 of clinical trials. >>> plus dr. anthony fauci warning of another wave of cases as millions of americans travel for the holidays. >>> new details on the nashville christmas day bombing. investigators have identified the suspect involved as new surveillance video is rel

mnuchin, as you know, has pulled back. we're going to abide by the cares act.st some 550 billion will be returned to the treasury as per the congress. that will be extinguished. however -- and this is really the key point where we are -- we would like to are purpose that money and repurpose it to key areas such as p if pp -- p if pp small business and unemployment assistance and maybe some direct checks mailed from the treasury department to those who are having a rough time. so let's repurpose that money. it's right there, it's a big chunk of it. it's nearly $600 billion actually. maria: so why repurpose it, larry, and what does that mean? does that mean a potential incoming administration does not have access to that, to allocate it the way they want to allocate it? >> well, look, they can't -- [laughter] you know, these are congressional laws. this was done by the cowers -- cares act last spring, you know, with some small amendment as along the way. there are other things going on regarding appropriations bills and maybe continuing resolution. but, again, th

>> i think the treasury secretary, steve mnuchin did a very able job of explaining that he is simply following the statutory requirements of the c.a.r.e.s. act in taking the steps to comply with the statutory provisions and wind down the program by december 31st of this year. now there are provisions in the act that allow existing loans that have been made to be administered and adjusted over time but the congress did not give. the treasury secretary and the administration the latitude to change the law unilaterally. that requires legislative action. there were some who might wish to see him take different steps thankfully he's following the law. >> the wall street journal piece said steve mnuchin said it would be better used on another pandemic relief bill and there was word yesterday that the house speaker has agreed to or approved of the measure proposed in the senate. $908 billion on pandemic relief. what's your feeling on that measure? >> i think there is a need for timely, targeted, temporary additional relief to the economy, obviously we've seen some additional shutdowns aroun

we will now proceed to secretary mnuchin's testimony. at the end of the testimony, we will begin the first round of questions. secretary mnuchin, you may proceed. >> thank you very much. pleased to join you today to discuss the treasury department's work on executing the national security loan program established under the cares act. the treasury has worked diligently to implement every piece of the cares act, including the national securing program. the cares act provided $17 billion to loans to business, critical to maintaining national security related to losses incurred as a result of covid. it authorized treasury to make loans. the statute does not define that term. treasury issued guidance that the company can meet one of the criteria. number one, the applicant performs under the contract or ordered under the defense priorities and allocations systems regulation, 15 cfr, part 700. number two, the applicant offers -- operates under top security sfr 2004. 32 or number three, based on the recommendation and certification of the secret

. >> on wednesday treasury secretary sten mnuchin and federal reserve chair jome powell testify before the house financial services committee about the federal responseo the coronavirus. that's livet 10 a.m. eastern on c-span. at two p.m. t house is back theegislative work on a bill requiringhe securities and exchange commission to phibit and diesel this to any foreign company whose public accounting firm does not adhere to u.s. auditing standards. c-span2 the senate is back at canadian eastern to consider jucial and executive nominations, and on c-span3 at 9:15 a in a senate armed services subcommittee hears some na and marine corps leaders about mility readiness. that is followed in the afternoon by a senate homand security subcommittee hearing on the government's response to cyber threats durg the pandemic. >> tuesday on capitol hill lawmakers held a news conference to unveil a bipartisan covid-19 emergency relief bill. the measure would provide $908 billion in aid and include a liability provision to temporarily protect businesses from coronavirus lawsuits. this is 40 minutes. >> p

treasury secretary steven mnuchin and federal reserve chaired room powell encouraged

this have just heard about proposal from steven mnuchin and. we are trying to talk to lawmakers to figure out where they are, how much they support it. but coming from the white house, it is very positive. mitch mcconnell has been attentive to what the white house wants and get it through. so it's important that it has the backing. another thing will be kevin mccarthy, who recently told a bloomberg supporter he is on the deal. at this point, things are looking positive to get something done. shery: what happens if we get the stimulus package? could there be more on the way? nancy pelosi was already talking about more measures needed after joe biden takes office. >> absolutely. i think she sees things will be easier to move with a biden administration, a president who will negotiate and work to get another stimulus package done. that's part of the reason she came down from her initial request of $2 trillion for the current package. so i think there's a lot of hope there will be another stimulus package early next year. that depends on control of

we did two big packages was that -- with secretary mnuchin. but understand how to get to yes -- and what leader mcconnell has is about 20 members of his republican caucus in the senate that have said they will not vote for anything. nothing. they support no action whatsoever. in a tough position to be responsive to the people who elected him leader when almost half are against doing anything at all. a sense of what it's like in your district? what the situation with covid question mark with your infection rate and hospitalization, and dare i say, the death rate. also the employment situation. rep. kildee: it's all tough. death inad our 10,000 michigan do covid. does the fatality rate seem to be coming down, largely because health care providers have learned a lot from these for several months in the treatment has improved dramatically. but cases continue to go way up. we are at all-time highs in terms of the number of new cases every day, thousands upon thousands of new cases every day. hospitalizations are up. of the not hit some critical num

we will be following the new proposal steven mnuchin has presented to nancy pelosi.as we understand, $600 checks to americans. house leader kevin mccarthy saying he will support this. we will continue to follow that going into the next hour. asia" isg daybreak: next. ♪ haidi: good morning. i'm haidi stroud-watts in sydney. we are counting down to the major market open. shery: i'm shery ahn in new york. welcome to "daybreak: asia." markets set for gains after stimulus optimism lifted wall street to another high. republican leaders and the administration are pushing a new 900 billion dollar relief package. the u.k. rolls out the first

but secretary mnuchin is trying to stop that.w it back, from the federal reserve, even as mr. powell, a chair of the federal reserve, a man not known for hyperbole, says that the economic outlook is extremely uncertain. so, we need to listen to him, leave the money where it is, and allow the federal reserve to step up and use that money, to lend to cities and states because they are in dire needs of funds, and they're the ones on the front lines of this crisis. >> yeah, look, i mean, i'm pointing it out because that was true then, too. right? and suffering is a coefficient of pain and time. so, time has only made a lot of things worse. that's why i don't know why the money wasn't spent, then. and my concern, now, is why should we expect any better? what reforms are in place to make sure it's more efficient, getting more money to more people? and not doing the other thing we saw last time, which is giving money to the banks, who give the money to their friends in bigger businesses and not those small businesses that we need to fee

do powell and mnuchin actually have a relationship?> they have a pretty good one at least until this last flash point. i'll talk about that in a second but first i want to get to this idea here. president-elect joe biden as you said introduced his new economic team yesterday, joined a chorus of key washington players calling for new relief from the pandemic but while there is agreement on the need for new money, there is as yet no new agreement. >> right now the full congress should come together and pass a robust package for relief to address these urgent needs but any package passed in a lame duck session is likely to be at best just a start. >> the market likes that talk of a bigger package and first comments, his pick for treasury secretary janet yellen signaled that the biden administration will focus on minorities and women and those hardest hit by the pandemic. >> so many people struggling to put food on the table and pay bills and rent it is an american tragedy. and it is essential that we move with urgency >> so her soon to be

schumer have agreed to a $900 months after hree turning down an offer of $1.8 treasury secretary mnuchin. and chuck schumer said we act ed the save our stages or indie music venues, broadway, comedy clubs, indie movie theaters and more. jobs.are people's i won't stop fighting for him. york.ew adriano espaillat from new york saying congressional democrats gridlock to the agree on a $900 billion emergency package that will emergency relief to n.y. 13 individuals. vern presentative buchanan, republican from florida, saying, although it have,onger than it should congress finally has a targeted covid relief bill to help struggling americans. the bill provides most americans with a $600 stimulus check,

tuesday treasury secretary steven mnuchin and federal reserve chair jerome powell are on capitol hill for a senate banking area on the coronavirus response. that is live at 10 a.m. eastern on c-span. at 3 p.m. a discussion on economic policy under the incoming biden administration from the brookings institution. on c-span2 the senate returns at 10 a.m. eastern to consider executive and judicial nominations. 12:30 p.m. president-elect joe joe biden introduces his economic personnel which includes the nominations of janet yellen as treasury secretary and neera tanden as white house budget director. >> you are watching c-span2, your unfiltered view of government. created by america's cable-television companies as a public service and brought to you today by your television provider. >> next, hearing on ways to combat plastic pollution in the oceans. a senate appropriations subcommittee look at the economic and environmental consequences of pollution, waste management assistance for developing nations, and ways to support ocean conservation. >> senator leahy, sorry'm late. so then. d has

wants to go down in history as the loader who saves small business will it be secretary treasury mnuchineaker pelosi or both of them or worse case, neither. in the future people are going to study this particular period, the same way we studied the great depression or the lat late '70s. young student also read bit. and decide who was heroic, who recognized some things are bigger than politics and, look, you want to be on the right side of history, for pelosi and mnuchin, that means they have to save all the small businesses and those who lost the jobs and could do more and put forward a bipartisan group of senators it takes money from the federal reserve and part of the stimulus and throws in a hundred billion and more to ago as insurance for small businesses crushed through the pandemic through no fault of their own not to mention $300 a week extra jobless benefits for the unemployed it's a whole lot better than nothing and maybe we can get the food lines down in this country while the broader economy is doing okay as i outlined there is a ton of pain concentrated in the industries dire

secretary mnuchin passed something quickly.irman powell, the risk of overdoing it is less than the risk of under doing it. was anyone listening yesterday? we saw that bipartisan bill that some were pushing from the house and senate in "the washington post," and i saw very little from leadership on either side gravitating towards that bipartisan offer. kevin: i was struck by secretary mnuchin's comment yesterday, in which he said that small businesses need grants and not loans. that is the crux of the republican argument right now as they try to move forward in terms of the negotiations not just in the lame-duck, but around the corner with a biden adminstration. both speaker pelosi as well as leader mcconnell dusting up their policy playbooks, and talking with their caucuses about additional plans to get through stimulus in the lame-duck, but neither side making overtures for the middle. , -- who justonest won a six-year reelection battle. as someone like a president-elect biden and a likely secretary-treasurer yellen are going

we will be following the new proposal steven mnuchin has presented to nancy pelosi.f.n covert relie it would involve, as we understand, $600 checks to americans. house leader kevin mccarthy saying he will support this. we will continue to follow that going into the next hour. "bloomberg daybreak: asia" is next. ♪ t. ♪ >> the following is a paid program. the opinions and views expressed do not risk -- bloomberg lp or its employees. the following is a paid presentation rod to buy rare collectibles tv. the california gold rush is considered to be the most impactful event to affect america's young. economy during its first 100 years. it has certainly had a long-lasting impression. of california soon needed a way to standardize the value of the new gold, so they set up at sayers

mnuchin told powell he will not extend the program.ld prefer the lending program to stay open since the pandemic has not receded. we'll hear all of that today. president trump's legal team alleging more election fraud during a hearing with arizona state ledg legislators yesterda. watch. >> we also had numerous issues of your workers, your citizens observing the poll officials, helping -- to the point of telling poll workers being observed changing votes, taking ambiguous votes or making sure they're cast for biden. maria: all of this as arizona and wisconsin certify joe biden's win in those states yesterday. the president slamming arizona governor, du doug doocy for doig so. >> the phony impeachment and all of the different things and on top of it you have a governor, doug doocy -- [boos] >> he rushed aside -- [ indiscernible ]. what's that all about? maria: maria: doocy responded in a number of tweets, saying we review every signature, every single one, he said, on early ballots by hand, unlike other states that use computers, prohibi

>> mnuchin and pelosi are expected to speak this afternoon via phone. do you know if they'll be talking about this proposal -- >> mark, do you know anything about that? >> well, i have to rush back to a banking committee hearing where secretary mnuchin is appearing and intend to ask him that, and like senator romney, i've had a number of conversations with secretary mnuchin. he's helped us drill down on some of these numbers. i think we're -- >> yeah, yeah. we'll wrap it up now. but as you can see, a lot of work has been put into this. we're working diligently to have a bill ready as quickly as possible. >> unemployment 300 a woke? >> oh, yeah, you saw the unemployment, right? >> per week? >> let me make sure you understand -- we'll go down the chart real quick. you have state, local and tribal governments, 160. you have additional unemployment insurance, that's $300 for 18 weeks, $10 billion a week, that's $180 billion. >> that includes gig workers. >> all the gig workers and everybody we covered under the first c.a.r.e.s. act. >> retro active december

treasury secretary steven mnuchin says stimulus payments could start being sent out as early as next week. the stimulus deal includes the following, $600 checks for people below a certain income level, an extension of extra weekly unemployment benefits. $284 billion in small business loans, and billions for vaccines and rental assistance. president trump is expected to sign the bill and did sign a stopgap measure last night to keep the government open for seven days to get the stimulus bill and spending bill done. >>> and now as a new variant of the pandemic worsens the situation in the u.k., two officials tell cnn, the white house is thinking of requiring a negative covid test before entering the u.s. 40 countries are banning travel from the u.k. over the new coronavirus variant that officials say may spread up to 70% faster, although there's no sign so far that it's anymore lethal. >>> pfizer and moderna testing their vaccines against this covid variant in the u.k. the ceo of biontech which helped develop pfizer's vaccine just spoke about the situation. cnn's fred pleitgen is live

it wasn't just mnuchin. just hours before the president poo pooed this co-vid relief package, his own spokesman was on television saying the president intended to sign it. that's why even if republicans and democrats were somehow to come up with some solution that met the criteria that the president in that twitter video laid out, nobody can be sure he'd sign that either. it's a messy situation where people are trying to decipher what the president's real intentions are, but what he actually seems willing to do seems to be guided oftentimes by political motivations and by where he's at with sort of other issues as opposed to the nuts and bolts of the legislation. >> mitch mcconnell sold this deal to his caucus only to have president trump reject it in favor of the president's proposal. how difficult of a position is mcconnell in right now? >> that is a very good question, and as you've seen, the president is attacking senate majority lead fresh all angles. that's what he spent his christmas eve doing, attack