the great lake, for new york, illinois, we have had numerous conversations on the great lakes. -- rob portman of course portman, of course. we appreciate you lisa murkowski and the style on what you conduct yourself. urkowski: this is not just paper, this is hope. that stack of papers, that consolation of ideas and concerns in the hopes and fears of people all across the country, this is hope. for the individual who is wondering if they are going to be able to keep their apartment after the first of the year. for the food banks that i have been talking to, who came together on a call to me to say, it's unprecedented what we have seen around the state in terms of the need of individuals who are coming to the food banks. people who have never been to the food banks before, accept to be there as volunteers -- except to be there as volunteers, now they are there as consumers. this is hope for the small businesses that right now are struggling as we have all come indoors for the winter. there is no dining outside in alaska, or in maine, or in new hampshire, or in utah. this is hope. this is hope f

and now, i get to introduce my colleague rob portman of ohio. he and i have negotiated with him driving in the car, we've been-- but it was a hands-free phone, i hasten to say. but rob, as you know, has a very distinguished career as a director of office management and budget and u.s. trade representative and distinguished and able senator from ohio. rob portman. >> angus, thank you. i think that ang go us -- angus as an independent understated the importance of this moment, it's not just bipartisan, it's tripartisan. we're glad you're with us. let me just say, i've given, i'm told my my staff now, 20 speeches urging colleagues on both sides of the aisle and specifically the leadership to produce another covid-19 bill. why? because it's definitely needed. last one was the cares package in march, nine months ago, think about that, think about what's happened since. some of you have had to listen to those speeches and actually very few who probably did. [laughter] >> but the point i kept making, there's a lot of common ground here. we've got some d

joining us with more on the latest, senator rob portman, and senator joe manchin. head bipartisan efforts to try and get a relief package senator portman is a republican. senator manci -- senator mcconnell said you are sticking in town until this is done senator portman do you have plans to stay in washington. do you think it will take through the weekend to get it finished. >> i'm skeptical at year end because it tends to get pushed back i think we'll finish up on saturday it means we'll probably see something short-term on friday night to deal with the continuing resolution for government shut down i think we'll get it done this weekend, and we should it's been nine months since we passed the c.a.r.e.s package people are hurting unfortunately the coronavirus health care crisis has gotten worse, not better recently, and the economy is not as strong as it should be we need a bridge between now and when we have the vaccines available. that's what this is, an emergency package to get us through the next few months, to the march, april time frame when we'll have the va

rob portman is working that today.nd when we continue next. ♪ ♪ irresistibly smooth chocolate. to put the world on pause. lindor. made to melt you. by the lindt master chocolatier. ...i was just fighting an uphill battle in my career. so when i heard about the applied digital skills courses, i'm thinking i can become more marketable. you don't need to be a computer expert to be great at this. these are skills lots of people can learn. i feel hopeful about the future now. ♪ in a on the most reliable, pnetwork with xfinity mobile. i feel hopeful about the future now. they can choose from the latest phones or bring their own. and because they get nationwide 5g at no extra cost, they live happily ever after. again, again. your wireless. your rules. your way to stay closer together this holiday season. switch and save up to $400 a year on your wireless bill. and get $300 off when you buy the samsung galaxy note20 ultra 5g. learn more at xfinitymobile.com. >> bill: steve mnuchin saying president trump will sign off on a slim

. >> bill: senator rob portman said that they will possibly get a deal by saturday. so we'll see if that's the case. senators staying in d.c. over the weekend. thanks, howie. nice to see you. talk soon. >> thank you. >> bill: mitch mcconnell said the senate will work over the weekend. he warns not every detail is nailed down just yet. chad pergram covers congress. he's live on the hill now. chad? >> it's darkest before the dawn. that's where we are as they try to finalize a package for covid relief and fund the government. mitch mcconnell reiterated christmas is the worst time of the year on capitol hill. >> we in congress are no strangers to december funding deadlines or the occasional pre-christmas cliff-hanger. in that respect, the situation we face now is familiar. >> nancy pelosi and chuck schumer spoke last night with steve mnuchin. they traded offers again today. [inaudible] >> now, the last mile on legislation of this dimension is always the hardest. a group of 14 house conservatives is urging president trump to veto the bill. they say the plan is take it or

but rob portman said you cannot have someone so overtly partisa partisan. he knows what he's talking about, rob portman will not be accused of being a terribly partisan republican. think he's right there. if she had nothing to be ashamed of, don't delete the tweets. it's a sign of guilt. >> look, i think rob makes a good point. that shall be hashed out in the senate hearing. the fact that republicans like ned and others are talking about neera tanden tweets is so outrageous to me. i cannot even believe are having this conversation in 2020. last time i checked, what comes to may be calling people names on twitter thing saying bad things about people on twitter, i'm in a 1600 pennsylvania avenue or the president calls one senator. [inaudible] kennedy: and he was voted out of office. neera tanden has a massive, massive swath of federal power. thousands of millions working beneath her. >> you know what candidate that's a fact what's debated out the united states senate. but republicans if you're going to die on the hill and nasty tweets that's the wrong hill fo

we've been working and growing this group of democrats and republicans from dik durbin to rob portman, people well respected witeir political caucus us, democrat and e publican. wetten people all in between. and this is the only game in town. there is nobody else that has done what we have done and stuck with it. nobody thought we would have a bill. e we havbill, 748 billion dollars, close to 600 pages we put together and presented it tonight. it will be on the internet. you can seet. you can look at every piece of it. it is not perfect, i'm sure of that. people are going to say there are things you left out. i remind you, this is an emergency covid relief bill. only until april 1, joe biden o comes in president in january. he can evaluate the economy, what we need to be doing, and present it where isd. nee this gets us through the difficult, challenging time. >> woodruff: excuse me, senator. i listened to your news w conferenh the other republicans and democrats who were on board with you on th compromise which raises the question, again, where is the leadership and the rest of these

thursday ohio senator rob portman spoke about the covid relief bill that he and a bipartisan group of senators have worked on. >> mr. president, i'm here on the floor again today to talk about the need for us to pass a legislative package that i would call an emergency package to deal with our covid-19 crisis that we have in this country. as we talk today on the floor of the senate, there are negotiators working busily in a room nearby to try to come up with that package and that's a good thing. i know they've run into some road blocks, at least so i've been told. we need to work through those road blocks. they're relatively small compared to the overall importance of the small businesses, helping those hospitals, helping those families who find themselves without a paycheck through no-fault of their own, and my open is that we can get there. the legislation that is being looked at today, which may be part of a larger package that we'll vote on either tomorrow or the next day, is, as i understand it, informed by work that a bipartisan group of us did over the past several weeks and i

poison the waters here, but there are a certain number of republicans, i would put marco rubio, rob portmanjosh holly in the game we're going to need stimulus not just relief now but a longer term plan to have more resiliency in the economy. i think there is still a possibility you could get a bigger package but the good news is the treasury secretary as chairman of the financial stability oversight council still has a lot of levers to pull to reconnect main street and wall street. i think you'll see janet yellen, if she's concerned as well as others on the team, i think you're going to see those folks coming in and thinking about ways to curb wall street. thinking about ways that, okay, if we are going to have to keep interest rates low, if we have to run the economy, how can we make sure that we don't brew up these enormous financial bubbles in -- while we're trying to keep people employed. so i think that will be something that can happen. >> first and foremost it's past the point of disappointment in congress, both republicans and democrats, they can both hit me on it if they want, but

deeply conservative member from alabama, to the likes of more moderate or centrist republicans like rob portman or susan collins, all expressing an interest in this. even secretary mnuchin and president trump having optimistic messaging from the white house. it has been a remarkable turn of events, falling between losey looking at a shrinking house majority and senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, who has really held strong in terms of the $500 billion number and as a result was able to get democrats to go below the $1 trillion mark. jonathan: within the bill as you know is 160 billion dollars in state and local aid. i think we will get more today on what's inside this, but i have heard, as you have, many have as well on the administration that they are uncomfortable with what they perceive to be poorly managed states. can you maintain that position given what's playing out across the country right now over the last several weeks? lisa: republic -- kevin: republicans say yes provided the price tag stays low. even beneath that, once it is released, i will be looking carefully at the text to s

agree on and what might pass some of those involved include dick durbin, as well as republican rob portman who tweeted this today, "congress should not leave d.c. for the holidays until we've passed a bipartisan covid-19 relief bill. he highlighted money for small businesses and schools, health care providers and vaccine distribution and unemployment insurance, and flexibility for state and low aide there is agreement on all of those issues but the old roadblocks are still there, too. that is how much money should go to state and local governments and whether certain businesses should get special liability protections. all of this is coming as a new government watch dog came out saying there are flaws in the unplouu unemployment system. they found the weekly tally has been wrong because there's a back log of people filing claims so some people were counted more than once. some states have been playing certain unemployed workers less than the full benefits they need that means for some workers, their average weekly payout is actually below the poverty line and it's unclear how fast or even

that rob portman, a former white house budget director who proposed an elegant solution. a package that would let tramp asked -- trump ask congress to cut spending. could inbound the money for up to 45 days meaning it could not peace spent until after he left office. , a day on theore golf course helped change trump's mind on the stimulus bill. in florida. where do you come down on this issue of $2000 direct payments? caller: remember, this is a one time payment and i know most congressmen receive anywhere from $15,000 to $20,000 a month. complainingy are about citizens making $2000 payment that they do only one time and the thing about it, what did they think the people under $75,000 earning is going to do with that month? they are not going to save it. they are going to prime the system that republicans are always talking about. men makeness that money when people spend money. americans national gross product 70% is people spending money. reasoning,know what they must not have taken economic classes. lookseels good, what good. they don't think for the future. the money

this idea that john cornyn and rob portman are signaling they can't support neera tanden because shen tweets about senators is just absolutely ridiculous and appalling. and it should not be taken with any seriousness by any members of the media. i mean, these people pretended like they didn't see the president of the united states' tweets for four years, and now we're to believe they had their feelings hurt by neera tanden's tweet. all i've seen so far is some hypocritical b.s. from them. as far as i'm concerned she's a person that is qualified and has demonstrated that she's qualified. and i hope that joe biden backs her up and that there's a really big fight to support her and make sure that she gets through and expose these guys for the hypocrites they are. >> well-put. thank you for taking the time to say that. thank you to both of these gentlemen for joining us this tuesday night. to jason johnson, tim miller, both friends of this broadcast. thank you so much. >>> coming up, it is now the season for testing. if you're looking to get tested post whatever you did for thanksgiving,

from dk durbin to rob portman, people well respected within their caucuses.e have people all in between. lythis is the ame in town. there's nobody elsene that has hat we had done and stuck with it. nobody thought we would have a bill. we have a ll, $748 billion, close to 600 pages, and we put it to present tonight. it will be on the internet. it' onot perfect, i'm su that it's not perfect, i'm sure of that. . i remindou, this is an emergency covid relief bill. joe biden becomes -- judy: and senator -- sen. manchin: difficult times. judy: excuse me, ite lto your news conference with republicans and democrats on board with you, which raises questions, where is the ?eadership and the rest of these political parti as we know for the democrats, one of the main sticking point has been aid for state and local governments. that money appears to be in a second proposal as well as so-called liability protections for businesses, hospitals and others,. my question on that is, why isn't there agreement there, and is that still going to hold up agreement on this? sen. manc

susan collins and kelly loeffler and lisa murkowski and rob portman and these people who were stuck inetween the traditional pillars of the republican party, which is smaller government, less debt -- donald trump doesn't care about that. and voting against more money for people who quite clearly, on its face, need it. it's a terrible position as the -- forget the leader of the country, which i think he abdicated long ago, but the leader of your party, it's a terrible position to put those senators in to vote on. >> i will also say, as we say thank you to you, there's a statement from mitch mcconnell, the senate majority leader, which we will talk about. what is absent is there's going to be a vote, which is not surprising. chris, thanks for coming back. >> yep. >>> as i mentioned, mitch mcconnell just responded to the president signing this bill. we will have more on what this says and what it means for you out there who are looking for, hoping for help. it looks like the president signed it. you will get some. stay with us. the new myww+ is our most holistic program ever. you get more

i mentioned earlier, rob portman said at daybreak yesterday they should have a deal saturday. we'll see if that's the case. here's neil. see you tomorrow. >> bill: all right. thank you, bill. in philadelphia, they're digging out and washington, digging in. at issue the covid-19 relief that you alluded to. we're getting close. what we don't know, the final details and increasing optimism that we will in fact have something for both parties to celebrate. i don't mean to be a tease, but that was good enough for a hat trick at the corner of wall and broad. the dow, the s&p 500, the nasdaq, all inching into the record books yet again today on optimism not only about another vaccine on the way, but again, as i said, the covid-19 relief on the way may be as well. welcome. i'm neil cavuto. this is your bullish world. continues to be bullish about a combination of events that goes the markets way. anticipation of another vaccine that would be approved later on today and out in the general public, in a matter of a couple of days, and of course, problem onthe relief front. let's go to ch

i think you'll see joe biden trying to really seriously talk to people like rob portman and people like lisa murkowski and people like, you know, john thune and others who, you know, now mitch is pretty good at keeping everybody in the corral and that's what you're seeing now. he was having difficulty keeping everybody in the corral on denying that joe biden had won this election. so he finally capitulated because he had real friction in his caucus over people saying, wait a minute, we can't keep being quiet about this. so in -- i can't overstate how important the georgia elections are. it is going to make a big difference to -- as to the role of mitch mcconnell going forward. >> so, claire, let me start with you, then, is how this covid relief deal came together, is that the model of how biden has to work with the senate is basically find a coalition of the willing on the right, and in this case it was, you had the three people we could have predicted, right, collins, murkowski and romney and bill cassidy, you brought up portman. cassidy is one of those guys that wants to be in the mix

i mean, we're going to hit rob portman's deadline here for the first count of the electors, and then, of course, the final deadline next week for that vote. after that, i mean, i really struggle to see how they have any answer at all. >> yeah. i think this could be that week, kasie, but you never know with this republican congress that really is beholden to president trump. but i do really want to note here that at the end of the day, these are lawmakers who are acting at the behest of their voters, because their constituency for the most part supported this president and support his continued legal fight, however baseless and unsubstantiated it is. and the president's false claims, you know, have really resonated with a lot of these voters, despite, you know, how corrosive they are to our electoral system and american democracy. but i talked to a few sources over the weekend who were, you know, remarked to me on the "washington post" story, once the president tweeted at it, reminding me of, you know, lawmakers really carrying out what their constituencies want, which is to ensure tha

still speaking senator rob portman on capitol hill.called easy stuff passed first. don't goo away key portfolio events, all in one place. because when it's decision time, you need decision tech. only from fidelity. you need decision tech. unlike ordinary memory want supplements-ter? neuriva has clinically proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. (submarine rings) - [man] captain, we're ready to dive. - [child] it's adventure in seeing the unknown. (dolphin chatters) it's imagination! - [man] we're ready to surface. and coming up for air. but really, deep down, a wish is hope. and right now, we need hope more than ever. that's why we need your help. by giving $20 a month, 67 cents a day, or any amount to make a wish, you make wishes real. (hopeful music) wishes provide hope and give strength to children and their families. wishes change lives. - [narrator] call the number on your screen, or visit wish.org

you heard that statement from senator rob portman.fort to january 6th in congress. >> byron: we always knew that december 14th would be a huge day and the electoral college vote and that would seal the election. the results are certified in all of these states. the last step is january 6 when congress meets to certify the results of the election. i think what we have seen from some people around the president and the last week or so is this pushing back on the idea that today, december 14 is a really, really big deal and they have much more time to mount challenges. but they don't have any challenges currently in the pipeline that could lead to changing the election results either certified elections, the electoral college has voted. this is a done deal now. >> bret: lastly, ben, very quickly the wisconsin supreme court, there was an effort to find any evidence. it just did not come. >> ben: i'm not sure that we have the mechanisms necessary to find the kind of things we need to look into coming out of this election. but i think that

you've got rob portman issuing a statement talking about we need to respect the process the founding fathers established, we must respect the will of the voters. you know, they had every right to pursue recounts and legal challenges. but there was, i thought, more movement toward sanity today than we had seen in a while, and i wonder what you made of it. >> yeah, i think that's right, but i think the most important thing is what you said at the beginning about the bar being low. i think that, you know, we've come to celebrate the fact that a relatively small number of republican elected officials are acknowledging the very clear fact that joe biden won the election a full month and several weeks after that happened. so i think it's great to see that mild outbreak of sanity here, but i think it's also really important to keep an eye on the big picture, which is how long it took for that outbreak of sanity to occur. >> and we should note, senator boxer, i've got to read you this can quote from kevin craner, a senator from north dakota. i'm going to read the whole thing just because it

republicans who have been involved in the informal talks include mitt romney, susan collins, rob portmanon extending unemployment insurance and funding for a vaccine distribution plan, but the senators seem to be parting ways on exactly the same issues that have stalled the talks all along -- state and local funding and liability protections for businesses. and while americans' financial struggles continue amid the pandemic, a new watchdog report from the government accountability office says that the labor department has consistently released inaccurate data in the weekly jobless claims report and has underpaid millions of unemployed workers. for that, let's bring in cnbc's joumana live from london. what can you tell us about the findings in this report? i'm sure people are extremely concerned about whether they're getting what they should be. >> right. right. and rightly so. as you mentioned, the watchdog released this report, suggesting that some of the data released by the labor department for these weekless jobless claims numbers are inaccurate, and that is a little bit concerning,

we also heard from senators rob portman and tom carper today, the democrat and republican in charge of senate investigations committee they really decried the lack of cyber preparedness by the united states and promised to hold hearings to get to the bottom of it shep, it's clear that in the new year, the new president and the new congress are going to be very focused on this issue. >> eamon, thanks. >>> what if your wine came from a sewage planti and a devastating fire on a chicken farm, on a cnbc trip coast to coast >>> florida. fire tears through several barns in dade city north of tampa. at least 250,000 chickens killed, according to authorities. firefighters say at least one propane tank inside exploded the nearest fire hydrant, three miles away the owners say this is a loss of about a million bucks. >>> new jersey here's your chance to blow up the former trump plaza casino in atlantic city. the boardwalk property scheduled for demolition next month, and for the right price, you can push the button that will bring it down. an auction house announced it's collecting bids. organizer

at this point john thune, rob portman, lindsey graham, john cornyn, several republicans have come around publicly and my guess is more so have privately, erin. >> yes. certainly not saying the same thing in private as in public. at least we hear that certainly about mitch mcconnell. our jamie gangel's reporting. thank you very much. i want to go to one of this nation's preeminent constitutional scholars, harvard law professor laurence tribe who as you know was part of al gore's legal team during the 2000 election recount. professor, always glad to have you with me. tonight here we are. the electoral college has spoken and this is done. now, it was done before but now it's constitutionally done. and yet now president trump is -- his advisers say there's one more final avenue to block joe biden's win and that is to take this to the floor of the house at the beginning of january, of congress on january 6th. is there any there there? >> no. but before i get there i do want to say it's a great honor this evening, erin, to be part of the opening act for the next president of the united states,

a solution came from senator rob portman.ant solution, a resurgence package that would let trump allow congress to cut the spending. while they are likely to protect the cuts, he could him pound the money up to 45 days, meaning it cannot be spent until after he left office. the president saying he signed it but he did not like the spending in the legislation. the washington post noted earlier this month that the -- hisg he rejected he own budget. -- sent out the text saying for relief is on the way, democrats made it harder than it needed to be but we will never stop fighting for what is best for families and our businesses. jon ossoff sent out a tweet reverse hisust opposition to 2000 dollars checks and joint democrats and trump in supporting the $2000 relief checks for his constituents." miriam in texas, a democratic caller. where you come on these $2000 stimulus payments? caller: good morning. republicans how the -- where is trump right now? that is the question i want to know. he is playing golf while people are starting

we are joined by rob portman. i hope you will stay for a while. >> thank you. i'm in the middle of a vote. >> as i have told them in advance, this is a conversation, we are not asking anybody to make a speech. we have questions. what i have done because there ae eight of you, i indicated first responder for each question. i will follow that script and put out a question, then turned to the first person. in,ody who wants to weigh we will keep going as long as we can. we have questions from the audience, if you have some, they will accumulate. webinvitation is on the page. submit your questions, and we will do our best to include all of those as we go along. that is what we will do. i will not introduce them, you can see them on camera, they are very well known. whos truly bipartisan, four served in republican administrations. and we have four who served in democratic conversations. we span the years from the reagan administration to the obama administration. we have an enormous depth of talent to contribute to the conversation. i will start with the biggest pict

rob portman put out an op-ed in his local people and he named december 8th as that deadline when theyave to say okay, we're done. we have had enough of this. but i think that the perception is that trump is going to be a force of some kind. i don't think any of us know what that will mean or what that will look like. if you're thinking i have to win a primary election in a couple of years, do you want that tape out there of you criticizing donald trump? it may come back to haunt you. we know how focused he is and how vindictive he can be if there are comments out there like that. so, you know, i think they sort of have gotten this far. they have made the bargain that whatever damage is done is acceptable in the realities they face. >> joe biden's pick to lead the budget office neera tanden can be difficult if the republicans keep control of the senate. she has clashed with republican lawmakers on twitter. which provoked backlash from some gop senators yesterday. senator susan collins of maine told reporters, quote, i did not know her or much about her but i have heard that she's a ver

senator rob portman, the republican of ohio, has called for hearings early next year, but hopefully it. sara >> still ahead on the show, it looks like tuesday nights at olive garden just got a whole lot more popular taylor swift name-dropping the restaurant on her new album and fans and the restaurant and the brand have taken notice in a big way. what the company's ceos had to say on t enis llhearngca about it when "closing bell" comes right back ♪ students of color typically do not have access to high quality computer science and stem education. ♪ i joined amazon because i wanted to change education and i am impatient. amazon gives me the resources to change the world at a pace that i want to change it. ♪ we provide students stem scholarships and teachers with support. ♪ i'm a fighter and i'm fighting for all students. see yourself. welcome back to the mirror. and know you're not alone because this. come on jessie one more. is the reflection of an unstoppable community in the mirror. ♪ ♪ tuesday night at olive garden ♪ ♪ >> well, call it the taylor swift effect taylor swift name-dropp

trump and had a political identity before trumpism took over the republican party, people like rob portman who served with you in the bush administration, people who are rock solid conservatives who did not come out of a conspiracy theory. there are a the lo of of those people left over there. and they know this is true. i cannot possibly believe that most of these republicans think it's part of a deep state conspiracy. they know it not true. ted cruz, who said he would argue this case before the supreme court, he knows this is not true. shame on him. he's doing this for what, to tap into trump's support? it's not worth poisoning the welfare reform of the conspiracy theorist base that trum of has created here. >> i want to come back to what's happening on the streets and outside the homes of public servants because another battlefield is the policy debates around how to protect ourselves from the raging coronavirus pandemic before vaccinations are available. i want to give a little con tb. show this. the state health board of debating mick health measures for pro technicaling different par

this is not trump at his best, this is trump at his most absurd, debased, and mitch mcconnell, rob portman, richard bur, people when i worked in republican politics, you may disagree with what they believed in but they were adults and they saw the sun come up in the morning, saw the sun go down at night, they're living in fact free trump landia. that's number one. and number two, what does the solution look like, where does it start? >> glad you saved the rudy flat lens question for me. i am a little more dignified for that question than a former elected official. i think the problem here is i think to simplify a little too much is incentive structures, what is the incentive structure for a sitting republican lawmaker to in essence tell the truth or do the right thing, protect democracy. usually we wouldn't have these questions because incentive structures were so obvious, but in a day where you have a huge amount of disinformation and misinformation flying about, where you have someone who as demagogue as he is, is talented whipping up a fervent base, donald trump, you have created perver

rob. portman: thank you, senator brown. let me say the focus of this hearing as you know is on the contribution plans and that's that we've got folks here talking about and we talked about the portman carden legislation which we can try getting on for some time. i totally agree with senator brown on the multi employer front. we've got to solve that problem. my understanding is that there are discussions ongoing with the house leadership in the senate leadership, and my fervent hope is in this final package whatever it is come with this continuing resolution i hope onis not -- whether it is the spending bill or whether it's a covid-19 package in some way that we include smalltime employer pension reform. i think we have a good compromise that is consistent with the plan will talk to in connection with the select committee which was formed to look at this but this is urgent for our businesses, urgent for retirees and is urgent for our economy so we cannot let the multi-employer plan program go under water which is what's going

senator rob portman talked about the pandemic when he gave comments on the relief legislation.ere is what he had to say. [video clip] >> we have a pandemic within a pandemic within a pandemic. we wereid side of this, finally making progress, and now we are going to have the worst year ever in terms of the number of people who have died from an overdose. it will be the worst year ever. after we finally made progress. 20 years of this and we were turning the corner. 22% reduction in ohio a couple of years ago and now we are back. it is the isolation, the despair, the joblessness. , not beingrs, too able to meet with your recovery coach and we know about the suicide rates. i appreciate working on that and would provide some help. host: let's go back to the phone lines and talk to jim calling from clarksburg, west virginia. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. it's not about addiction, it is about depression. people are starved and in congress they are playing games. trump is playing games with people's lives. he is golfing while people are dying. you have got to sit back and

several weeks when we were debating to include maggie hassan of new hampshire, angus king of maine, rob portman of ohio. for three or four weeks, we tried to write a relief bill. we did it by phone, by zoom, and through staff work that was endless. and finally tuesday of last week we were able to announce it, an $800 -- let me get this number right, $748 billion consensus bill for relief. we were unable to reach a final agreement when it came to state and local funding, as well as the question of liability. we set those aside. but we produced this $748 billion bill, much of which is included in this relief package which we're going to consider today. i want to thank my colleagues, democrats and republicans, for their patience and determination to reach that point. i really believe that we ended up opening the conversation. the leaders, thank goodness, moved in to follow on and make it a reality. and today we are going to seriously consider a measure to keep america's economy moving and to give us a fighting chance against the coronavirus. i think this bipartisan effort, this grassroots, biparti

going at them because of the terrible relationship that seems to have existed and then you have rob portmanhe concerns i have is both judgment based on the tweets i have been shown just in the last 24 hours, and it's the partisan nature that could be said of somebody else in office, but nonetheless, where do you stand? >> let me respond. three things, number one, if a nominee is taking incoming from the left and the right, i don't find that as a critique. i find that as essentially reaffirming. number two, i think it's pretty rich to hear anyone complain about anybody in public life tweeting too much, particularly rob's a great friend, but any of my republican colleagues that condemn someone out of hand based on their tweetage ought to look in the mirror first, and finally, i know neera, i don't agree with her on everything she has lived an american dream life she's south asian, she has lived with a single mom, and actually live and benefit from some of the programs that omb administers. she's whip smart and brings a great deal of experience to the position so i find her extraordinarily wel

senator rob portman told us congress has a responsibility to carefully review the spending bill in thekage as the covid-19 bill. he agrees with the president that congress should consider those rescissions. if you're interested in what the president wants on the chopping today" has this story. for corporate lunches, money for the border wall, money for the kennedy center and other cultural institutions, tax breaks for the liquor industry. you can find it at usatoday.com. house democrats have said they will not take up the president's rescission request. there are only a few days remaining in this congress to do so anyway. the chair of the appropriations committee put out a statement saying the committee has jurisdiction over rescissions and our majority will reject any rescissions submitted by president trump. let's go to connie on the independents' line. caller: good morning. i am glad i am able to talk to you this morning about this problem. independent because i feel this should have worked out better before. i asked but our representative did not return the call. the stimulus bill

other words, as senator mansion, senator romney, senator cinema, a new market kelly from arizona, rob portman. stuart: the trump campaign sent an e-mail to supporters asking if he should run again in 2024. do you have an opinion on that? >> i think he's lining up to do it. everything we hear in washington is that the stars are aligning for some sort of announcement, whether he follows through and actually runs in 2024 i think he will suggest he is going to and just by doing that, stuart, it will freeze the field. there are a lot of republicans were looking at 2024 already but with trump in the race it's a different ballgame. stuart: are you feeling tired, bret? we are coming to the end of an astonishing year in news and politics an event right at the center of it throughout the entire year. a little weary perhaps? >> well, i mean, i'm ready for the holidays, i think. listen, this is our bread-and-butter. we will be down in atlanta for the runoff and we will be in washington right on the mall for inauguration. these are big moments in history. there is a lot of controversy surrounding him and

she is not steeped in the budget history or mechanics like a rob portman or josh bollton or leon panettawatch. she is such a political person and not somebody to control a 4.8 trillion dollar budget. >> trace: brad says it won't happen. the caveat is if the republicans maintain control of the senate. i want to play a sound bite and get your response. the former speaker newt gingrich on. >> you would have thought they would have run the traps, called a bunch of people and found out whether or not tanden was acceptable. i think it's a dangerous sign if this is the future of the biden administration that they can't do the basic blocking and tackling that you've got to do. >> trace: basic blocking and tackling means wouldn't you have run this up the flagpole before you said this thing out loud? >> quite frankly, trace, i guess we're in a time when you have to do that. i'm old enough to remember when presidents picked their own cabinet, their own staff, and it's a very different time. the bottom line here is although i'm hearing this from brad i'm not hearing from most of the republicans abou

senator rob portman talked about the pandemic when he gave comments on the relief legislation.ere is what he had to say. [video clip] >> we have a pandemic within a pandemic within a pandemic. we wereid side of this, finally making progress, and now we are going to have the worst year ever in terms of the number of people who have died from an overdose. it will be the worst year ever. after we finally made progress. 20 years of this and we were turning the corner. 22% reduction in ohio a couple of years ago and now we are back. it is the isolation, the despair, the joblessness. , not beingrs, too able to meet with your recovery coach and we know about the suicide rates. i appreciate working on that and would provide some help. host: let's go back to the phone lines and talk to jim calling from clarksburg, west virginia. good morning. caller: good morning, jesse. it's not about addiction, it is about depression. people are starved and in congress they are playing games. trump is playing games with people's lives. he is golfing while people are dying. you have got to sit back and

they have the quotes from several of them including senator rob portman, of ohio saying "the orderlyransfer of power is a hallmark of our democracy. even though i supported president trump, the electoral college vote makes it clear that joe biden is the president-elect." "while the electoral process moves towards a final conclusion, planning must continue. of the jointirman congressional committee on inaugural ceremonies worked with president-elect biden and his committee. senators quoted there. if you want to check out "the thes" story, and members of house including jeff fortenberry with this tweet, "the electoral college has voted and affirmed president joe biden's victory. i want to thank president trump for his service and wish president-elect the best as he assumes the responsibility of governing our great nation." this is duane in new york, -- york, independent. caller: the height of the hypocrisy, they are worrying taxes?unter biden's we are talking about trying to move this country forward during a pandemic, people who are suffering who needs the next payment on their mortga

senator rob portman of ohio issued a clear statement affirming the win, writing in part although i supported trump the electoral college vote today makes clear that joe biden is now the president-elect. senator lindsey graham of south carolina was a bit more evasive saying in part, quote, it's very, very narrow path for the president. i don't see how it gets there from here. given what the supreme court did and he added that he had spoken to biden and some of his likely cabinet nominees. senator joni ernst of iowa said, quote, like it or not, i know for iowans it's disappointing, but the process is what it is and the constitution will be followed. asked if that means biden is the president-elect, ernst said if that's what the electoral college decides today. okay. and senator john barrasso of wyoming said he would quote, respect the results of the electoral college vote today. even if he was disappointed. all right. joining us now nbc news capitol hill correspondent and host of "way too early," kasie hunt. also with us "new york times" reporter jeremy peters. >> kasie hunt, so it looks like