. >> cnn's sunlen serfaty is up there. sunlen, what are you hearing? >> reporter: john, this just enters the next phase up here on capitol hill and the hard phase, i should say, after that extraordinary meeting yesterday at the white house. lawmakers have backed off here on capitol hill and have to actually go through what this legislation would actually look

>> sunlen serfaty, sunlen in the basement of one of the senate office buildings.s how we know stuff is going down. that's where all the work happens there in the basement there on capitol hill. i want to bring back david chalian and gloria borger to talk about this. this is really interesting. we don't know for sure that there are enough votes. we're going to get a clearer picture here as democrats start coming out of that room. but whether they do or not, whether there are enough democrats, gloria, to join republicans and vote to reopen the government, it is hard to imagine a unified democratic caucus on this issue, right? >> right. there is a split and we saw it publicly because dianne feinstein put out a release. she's up for re-election. liberal state of california, which she says you have to allow a vote on the dream act as an amendment to much must pass legislation which means the budget, the continuing resolution. clearly you're going to have democrats who are saying, what did we get for this? we got a vote that maybe we were going to get anyway. why did we

sunlen? >> reporter: that's right. a lot of moving parts. the republican leadership has put forward a short-term spending plan. here's what we know about this new spending plan. first, it does not address daca, which, of course, many democrats wanted included in this spending bill. it include as six-year extension of children's health insurance program bill that democrats wanted to see in here. it delays three key obamacare taxes and republicans in the house are trying to push forward without democrat support, push forward just with republicans and that's where the big wildcard in all of this is. those conservatives in the house, members of the house freedom caucus emerging late last night saying that they are not so sure they can get behind this. there are a lot of moving parts of this today. we will see the white house cheap of staff john kelly up here on the hill. the house republican leaders are meeting behind closed doors trying to gauge the interest in their caucus, can they get behind this and a lot of focus right now on can the house

sunlen, thanks very much. sunlen serfaty up on capitol hill. >>> joining us now, democratic congressman hakeem jeffries of new york. he's a member of the judiciary committee. congressman, thanks so much for joining us. >> thanks for having me on, wolf. >> describe your initial reaction, if you can, when you first learned that the president of the united states made these racist, inflammatory remarks about people from african countries. >> well, i was deeply saddened for our country and what it means to have a commander in chief, who would conduct himself once again in such an irresponsible way, but unfortunately, wolf, i was not surprised. this a man who throughout his entire adult life has never hesitated to fan the flames of racial hatred in order to advance his own petty political, personal or professional objects. we know for five years he perpetuated the racist lie that barack obama was not born in the united states of america, as part of a malicious effort to delegitimize the nation's first black preside

i want to go live to capitol hill, where our sunlen serfaty is standing by. sunlen, thankfully no serious injuries or really any injuries at all among members of congress. >> that's right, jim. we're hearing from multiple sources that among the members of congress, their staff, and many families who were, in fact, traveling on that train from d.c. to west virginia today, that there were no extensive injuries. we're hearing minor injuries. some people describing bruises, small injuries. many of them even saying likely, you know, potentially in the next few days people might have whiplash. those sorts of things. but no serious injuries to people on the train, according to multiple sources. the white house press secretary, sara sanders, has said that there is one fatality confirmed and at least one serious injury, unclear exactly who those people were. in talking to members of congress on the train, we've heard many of them say after the initial collision, that initial bang that their train had with that garbage truck on the tracks, the immediate need was for th

let's go to our congressional correspondent sunlen serfaty.len, are we once again talking about the risk of a potential government shutdown? >> reporter: we are, wolf. lawmakers are at an impasse here over daca, which has been entangled into the negotiations over a spending bill, a spending bill they have to get solved before that deadline that's taken away on january 19th. here you have both sides entrenched in their positions. democrats saying they won't agree to any spending bill if it doesn't address da kca and extended the protections for d.r.e.a.m.ers. then you have president trump on the other side he continues toist insist that the wall he wants to build be funded. this is something he brought up with congressional republican leaders at camp david. here he is this weekend. >> we want the wall. the wall is going to happen or we're not going to have daca. we want daca to happen. we all -- everybody, i think i can speak for everybody. we want john cornyn from texas, we all want daca to happen, but we also want great security for our count

>> jessica schneider -- i'm sorry, sunlen serfaty, thank you so much for being with us, sunlen. really appreciate it. >>> new reaction from the stunning report from the gau guardian this morning. the president's former chief strategist, steve bannon, says that don junior's meeting with the russians was treasonous. >>> and the palestinians fire back. what does this mean for the president's hopes of achieve whag he calls the ultimate peace deal. stay with us. at whole foods market, we believe in food that's naturally beautiful, fresh and nutritious. so there are no artificial colors, no artificial flavors, no artificial preservatives in any of the food we sell. we believe in real food. whole foods market. >>> some fascinating new developments this morning. the president's former chief strategist, steve bannon, commented on donald trump jr.'s meeting at trump tower, where he was promised dirt on hillary clinton. bannon says, even if you thought that this was not treasonous or unpatriotic or bad blank, and i happen to think it's all of that, you should have called the fbi immediatel

>> sunlen serfaty on capitol hill. part of the reaction is sheer confusion now. >> reporter: that's right, john and poppy. this was already on some very shaky ground before the president's retreat and now more so. you have some wondering is this the president just not understanding the plan that republican leaders put forward or the policy of it, was this just a very poorly worded tweet of the president or is he actually really undermining the republican strategy going forward to try to get this short-term spending bill through? chip was put into this spending plan to entice many democrats, and some republicans to get on board. get on board with the short-term plan and put some of those demands off until later. it was seen as a bargaining chip in these talks, so this certainly serves as an 11th hour monkey wrench that rubca really did not need right now. up until this morning, you had republican leaders pushing towards potentially a holding a vote later today on this spending bill. they did not have the votes yet, but

cnn's sunlen serfaty is on capitol hill with the latest on this.met last hour behind closed doors. what were the marching orders? >> i think it is in the phase of waiting, waiting for some direction from their leadership what the plan forward, what the path forward is. it is certainly not a good sign when both sides are not talking to each other and we know, cording to sources, telling cnn, that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and minority leader chuck schumer they have not spoken as of now, since last night. we do expect to see both of them on the senate floor in a few minutes when they gavel in. and certainly the tone of those remarks will be so important, we saw a lot of back and forth finger pointing late last night in the senate on the floor from these two leaders. that is not helping anything, also not helping anything as you said, the math here, for republicans, they don't have the numbers to put this short-term spending bill

cnn's sunlen serfaty is on the hill for us. what is this we're hearing, legislative business had to be momentarily halted on the house floor? >> this was just a few minutes ago. you know from your time covering capitol hill, these moments of heated partisan rhetoric typically happen on the house floor. today, one member called out another member for that very thing. we had texas republican congressman pete sessions down on the floor, and he was criticizing chuck schumer, the way he's handling the government shutdown. and his democratic colleague, congressman perlmutter called him out. he demanded for him to be sanctioned for his words to be struck from the record for impugning the character of someone else. so it led to a temporarily legislative halt on the floor of the u.s. house for just a few minutes, led to just a sort of side huddle with some members of leadership, and ultimately, it was withdrawn. so at the end of the day, not a huge thing, but certainly this moment really does signify how tense everything is up here, how

sunlen, thank you so much. sunlen serfaty, joining us.ongressman adriano espaillat is here with us as well, a democrat, a member of the house foreign affairs committee and a member of the caucus. you're going to vote against, if -- let's say the house passes tonight, it comes to the senate, you're going to vote against it, even though you're in the house of representatives -- you're going to vote against it, right? >> that's correct. i will vote against the cr. it doesn't include daca. it won't include c.h.i.p. or it won't include funding for community-based clinics, or even help for our -- >> but it does include funding for the children health insurance program for six years, affecting 9 million kids. it does include that. and the argument is, as far as the d.r.e.a.m.ers are concerned, the deadline is, what, march 6th. you have another month or so to deal with it. why not keep the government operating, not disrupt the lives of millions of americans, and then work on the d.r.e.a.m.ers over the next month? >> well, their lives have always

sunlen? >> ana, there certainly are a lot of items on congress's to-do list here because they left back in december, leaving a lot of major issues left unresolved. first and foremost, as you mentioned, january 19th, that is a major deadline that they are facing right away, once they get back to fund the government, to keep the government open and funded to avoid a government shutdown. also adding to the mix, look at this long list, they have to fix daca, stabilize obamacare, renew long-term funding for the children's health insurance program, potentially looking at reforming entitlements, that's something that speaker of the house paul ryan, at least house side, says he would like to look at this year. the senate, they are back tomorrow. the house is back next week. we know that they will start immediately looking at a way to avoid a government shutdown. congressional leaders are sitting down with top white house aides on capitol hill tomorrow and then house -- then senate majority leader mit

out on capitol hill, and sunlen, this is truly a fluid situation. now we are less than five hours away from a shutdown of the u.s. government. where do things stand right now? >> well, certainly it is a fluid information, erin. and news in the last moment right as we were going on air is senator majority leader mitch mcconnell will have a vote tonight. vote take place at 10:00 p.m. eastern time. we believe the vote that they are going to push to is one that they've been pushing to all day. house passed spending bill with four week extension. many members of course not on board with that plan. we expect that this will indeed fail. we heard in the last few minutes heidi high camp north dakota come out and say she will indeed vote for the spending plan but joints two other democrats as of now that will cross ranks and vote with republicans. not enough for republicans to get the 60 votes they need. so all day they have been pushing towards this now set 10:00 vote on the senate floor tonight. that will fail. the big question that has remained all through

sunlen serfaty is on capitol hill to tell us about that. sunlen, what are the sticking points here? >> well, i can tell you, brianna, there are major sticking points and there is a lot of pessimism in the halls of capitol hill in advance of the big meeting over at the white house. yes, as abby said, they are going to be sitting down with a group of lawmakers bipartisan, nearly two dozen lawmakers, but going into that meeting, there is a lot of partisan rhetoric, a lot of finger pointing, a lot of skepticism at the amount they have to get done. as you said both sides are really entrenched in their sides right now. democrats say they won't agree to any sort of spending bill that doesn't address daca. they're holding firm to that. you have president trump insists that any spending bill fund the border wall, $18 billion worth of a border wall, that he wants. a big campaign promise of his. so going too that meeting, both sides really entrenched and already trying to point fingers at the other. both sides essentially saying that other side is holding this deal hostage and i can tell you a

sunlen serfaty is live on capitol hill. is the budget deal now in jeopardy because of this, sunlen?they're at an impasse, brianna, as that big government shutdown deadline of january 19th looms large over the negotiations. you have democrats saying look we're not going to agree to any spending bill that doesn't include daca, extending provisions for d.r.e.a.m.ers, and then president trump and many republicans who are saying, you know, really trying to capitalize on one of his campaign pledges, president trump saying look i'm not going to agree to any spending bill if it doesn't include funding for the wall along the border. he's pushing for $18 billion in funding. this is something that he talked with over the weekend at camp david when he huddled with many republicans and certainly really ramps up the pressure on a big meeting that the white house will be having tomorrow by camera, a bipartisan group of congressional leaders to talk about not only daca but the spending bill and the entanglement of the two issues and going into that meeting you have at least one democrat, dick durbi

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sunlen, what do we expect?> reporter: ana, this is certainly a big meeting today to discuss the budget bill and ending deadline which looms large, set for january 19th. the leaders will sit down at 3:00 p.m. today in speaker of the house paul ryan's office and top of the agenda list is setting the domestic and defense spending levels. ahead of this meeting, going into this meeting, democrats really trying to draw a line in the sand here, saying they will continue to insist on parody here. meaning that they want equal spending for defense and domestic programs in the spending bill. also, you have in this mix, these issues of daca, funding for c.h.i.p., the disaster aide bill that democrats will continue to insist potentially be included in this spending bill, and keep in mind here, they do -- democrats do have some leverage. the fact that they -- that republicans cannot pass this through without democrat support. so that adding into the starting point today of negotiations. ana? >> all right, sunlen serfaty on c

i want to bring in sunl sunlen serfaty. she's on capitol hill.mbers she covers day in, day out. normally, sunlen, we're talking about policy, and this is a very unusual situation that we're seeing where these republican members heading to what is normally a pretty quiet retreat, a party retreat in west virginia, have -- they're on this train, and it has hit what appears to be a tractor trailer carrying, according to reports from some members of congress on the train, trash. >> that's right. and brianna, it's worth remembering this is an annual retreat, as you said. typically a time they leave washington all together and go out and really have some good policy discussions within their party. that train they were on left union station earlier this morning, making the few-hour trek out to sulfur springs, west virginia. certainly those anecdotal tweets and quotes of congressmen and women on the train, certainly for the most part right now giving us key information on what's going on, trying to piece together what exactly happened. also worth noting t

sunlen serfaty on capitol hill. the latest, sunlen, on the discussions an the proposals to protect them? >> there's a lot of uncertainty up here on capitol hill, john. a lot left still in limbo, but negotiators are continuing to sit down and try to work all of this out. last night there was a meeting of the senate working group, lawmakers emerged from that meeting saying that they were, indeed, making progress throughout the day but they're not there yet. not at the point where they can put together and put out a proposal for capitol hill to look at writ large. they are working in the phase right now of trying to put pen to paper and actually putting something down, not only to address daca protections but family migration, the diversity lottery and, of course, what border security will look like. will it satisfy president trump's demands for a so-called wall that he called for throughout his campaign, how much money will be put towards border security. this is something a top democrat involved in these negotiations

cnn's sunlen certificaserfaty i capitol hill. are there enough votes to avoid a shutdown in the house? >> we simply don't know yet. speaker of the house paul ryan staying far away from making any sort of predictions on vote counts himself. he spoke at the press conference here on capitol hill and he was asked do

>> sunlen serfaty, thank you so much for that report. joining me is democratic congresswoman jiapal to talk about this, a member of the house judiciary committee. thank you so much for making the time as you talk to us from off the house floor. we appreciate it. >> great to be with you. >> on the table now in the immigration discussions, you have daca, you have border security, but there's also as part of some of the pillars of discussion, chain migration or family reunification, depends on who you're talking to there, the idea of ending the diversity visa lottery. you said putting the other issues on the table is absurd, tell us why you think that? >> these issues are part of the larger conversation on comprehensive immigration reform. they were on the table when we were talking about legalization and a path to citizenship and the backlog and family immigration system which has been a central tenant of immigration policy in this country for families everywhere. now to add those two things to this discussion, is disingenuous and would le

. >> cnn's sunlen serfaty is up there. sunlen, what are you hearing? >> reporter: john, this just enters the next phase up here on capitol hill and the hard phase, i should say, after that extraordinary meeting yesterday at the white house. lawmakers have backed off here on capitol hill and have to actually go through what this legislation would actually look like. lawmakers, kevin mccarthy, dick durbin, john corbin, steny hoyer among the group that would sit down today behind closed doors on capitol hill with administration officials and start to go through all of that. coming out of that meeting at the white house yesterday, there was considerable statements, rosy outlooks of claims of progress made, but aides here tell us on capitol hill that there is considerable amount of this that needs to be sorted out. a lot of real questions and clarity over the actual policy that needs to get written. a huge divide between both sides. so certainly, behind the scenes, it's not as optimistic as those are saying in front of tv cameras. and no doubt, a huge new d

let's start with sunlen serfaty on the hill, abby phillip at the white house. sunlen, at the capitol, the clock is ticking. >> reporter: the clock is ticking, briana, the president's tweet not helping the already complicated efforts up here on capitol hill after the president tweeted about the c.h.i.p. extension. a lot of people up here saying does this mean he does not understand the policy, is it a poorly worded tweet? or is he really undercutting the republican strategy to try to push this short-term spending plan forward. many members really scrambling up here to try to really decipher what that tweet means for the overall negotiations, and the fact that republican leadership is now pushing to try to hold a vote this evening to get the short-term spending plan through the house. that's not to say there is a lot of complicated efforts on the senate side that they also have to overcome. we will hear from speaker of the house paul ryan in just a few minutes. certainly top on the agenda is what do you think president trump meant by that tweet, how does this imp

. >> i want to go to cnn congressional correspondent sunlen serfaty. she's on capitol hill. sunlen, you have covered dick durbin for a long time, i've covered dick durbin for a long time. i think it would be fair to take his word and his credibility over what we've heard from the president and it seems like from what you're reporting that a lot of republican lawmakers are saying that as well? >> that's right. brianna, we are getting a sense that after that meeting in that oval office yesterday, that many democrats and republicans came back up here on capitol hill and discussed those words amongst themselves. we heard this morning from republican senator jeff flake who said he spoke with people in the room and essentially confirmed what president trump said. he just tweeted this out moments ago, quote, the words used by the president as related to me directly following the meeting by those in attendance were not tough, they were abhorrent and repulsive. we're also hearing from republican mia love from utah. she called for president trump to apologize, and notably she's the fi

sunlen is out front. and sunlen, as this vote begins, what's happening?reporter: yeah, erin certainly huge vote for the house. taking place you see certainly members there sitting in their seats waiting for this big vote. we believe that house republican leadership does indeed have the votes that they need to get this passed through tonight in the house at least the first step of a two-step process. i saw speaker of the house paul ryan walk from his office to the floor smiling. certainly a lot of drama at least on his side. out and really ironed out in the last hour after he ws able to secure the house freedom caucus on board this bill. they had certainly been withholding their votes for most of the day. we will be watching this vote along with you. the magic number 215 votes that the republicans need to get this passed. an accounting for certain vacancies and steve scalise out recovering from surgery. when it gets passed through tonight and believe it's a win, big problem still over in the senate, we believe the senate will be pushing towards having a pr

sunlen serf >>> will she? or won't she? so many questions swirling around oprah winfrey after a housing golden globe speech triggered talk of a 2020 presidential run. >> seeing interesting reactions including a luke warm response from house minority leader nancy pelosi. she says i think one of the arguments for oprah is 45. i think one of the arguments against oprah is 45. 45 of course meaning president trump. pelosi continues, if we're going into a place where they've devalue waiting experience you might as well have somebody who knows what they don't know and get the best possible people there. >> oprah's speech getting a warmer reception from ivanka trump. she says just saw the inspiring speech. let's all come together, women and men and say time's up. united. some vicious responses on line to that tweet given allegations against her father. for more on what oprah is thinking there's brian stelter. >> reporter: oprah winfrey has no official comment about all this 2020 chatter. she's pretty much the only one staying silen

i just want to go over to our congressional correspondent sunlen serfaty who has a statement from the capitol police. >> that's right. the capitol police say they are indeed on the scene. typically when you have members of congress and the leadership, they have some sort of detail with them from capitol police. no surprise that they were on the scene, likely that they were on the train themselves, but they do say in a statement provided to cnn that congressional officials, including the united states capitol police, are on the scene and are working closely with partner law enforcement agencies in response to the incident. we are, of course, as you've been noting, hearing stories and seeing those pictures tweeted out by members and of course right now you see the live picture of the scene of just how devastating that was. it certainly should be noted that this is an annual retreat that members of congress go to. many cases, they bring their spouses, they bring their children. so certainly this amtrak train that was chartered to go from washington, d.c., this morning over to sulfur spri

for the latest, we turn to cnn's sunlen serfaty on capitol hill.orter: good morning, david and christine. a big meeting today. a group of lawmakers will head over to the white house to meet with president trump to find a way forward on daca and the deadline to get the government spending bill passed by january 19th. lawmakers are at a real impasse for daca which has been entangled into the negotiations over the spending bill. democrats saying they won't agree to any spending bill that doesn't address tadaca, then president trump pushing hard insisting any deal must fund the wall along the u.s./mexico border he wants to ild about. he spoke about this when huddling with leaders at camp david. here's president trump this weekend. >> we want the wall. we want daca to happen. we all -- everybody i think i can speak for everybody. we all want daca to happen but we also want great security for our country. so important. >>reporter: of course building that wall and making mexico pay for that was one of candidate donald trump's biggest campaign promises, bu

so a lot of issues and not a lot of time. >> thank you so much, sunlen. >>> all right.he president's failure to get an immigration deal done. is it tax fault? that is it according to lindsey graham. >> i think someone on his staff gave him really bad advice between 10:00 to 12:00 on thursday. >> of course 12:00 is when that meeting happened. now infamous meeting. who specifically gave that president bad advice, senator graham would not say, but senator dick durbin who of course had that bipartisan deal with lindsey graham and who is the man who confirmed what the president said in that immigration first was happy to come out and say who was to blame. >> any effort to kill immigration reform usually has mr. miller's fingerprints on it. >> he's referring to steven miller. out front tonight a friend of the president for over 15 minutes and white house communication director for president obama. so jen what does it mean if steven miller is running the ship? he's young and formerly a staffer before jeefff sessions before he became attorney general. >> steven miller was proba

let's go first to capitol hill, cnn's sunlen serfaty is there on the status. where are we?e clock going, 15, 13 hours, 59 minutes until the shutdown, sunlen. >> it is never a good sign when both sides are not talking to each other. and yet here we are, under 14

cnn's sunlen certificaserfaty i capitol hill. are there enough votes to avoid a shutdown in the house? >> we simply don't know yet. speaker of the house paul ryan staying far away from making any sort of predictions on vote counts himself. he spoke at the press conference here on capitol hill and he was asked do you think that this new plan that you guys have together will have enough support in the house to pass? he said, look, we haven't even whipped it yet, staying away from any, making bold predictions whether it would pass or not. certainly house republican leadership behind the scenes they are feeling a bit more confident and spending bill that came together overnight and presented to their conference. that keeps the government funded for at least the next 28 days until february 16th. the new plan does not address d taxt ca, what many democrats want to see included in the spending plan. but it does add funding for the children's health insurance program, extends that for another six years, something that many democrats want

sunlen serfaty is there. >> reporter: certainly a lot of fast moving developments this morning. we heard from many senators leaving that meeting behind closed doors. and essentially saying, look, we don't know the path forward here. some democrats saying we want more promise, more firm assurance from senate majority leader mitch mcconnell to have -- to move forward on immigration, move forward if they agree to the spending bill before february 8th. that's something that we heard from a democrat leaving the meeting a few minutes ago, senator amy klobuchar. >> hopefully we can resolve this in the next day or two. but this group's importance is not going to end there because we're going to, as we move forward with the dream act, we need a group of democrats and republicans, some version of the dream act. >> you said in a day or two. does that mean the vote today is not going to happen? >> i would hope it gets resolved as soon as possible and i can't tell you what day. >> reporter: so no firm commitments there, of course. leadership is still as of now pushing towards a 12:00 noon vo

let's bring in cnn's sunlen serfaty on capitol hill.n, how will hatch's retirement affect the senate? >> reporter: well, it opens up the senate seat in utah, jake, a solid red state, and, of course, gets some new blood up here in congress. hatch had been serving mere for over 40 years and there was a lot of speculation where he would retire or not at the end of his term. certainly he labored over this decision to announce he will retire, will not run for re-election. here is part of his announcement made online earlier today. >> when the president visited utah last month, he said i was a fighter. i've always been a fighter, but every good fighter knows when to hang up the gloves. for me, that time is soon approaching. >> reporter: and hatch had been personally lobbied often directly by president trump who wanted him to stay in his seat and continue serving, running for re-election. this, of course, now opens the door for mitt romney, a fierce donald trump critic, to potential run. he is most widely seen as the person who most likely wil

shared by so many up here especially when you have no end in sight, and no way out as of now. >> sunlen, thank you so much for state of play there on caple toll hill. i have a panel with me here in washington on this saturday afternoon. and so let e's start, april rya and good to see you. >> good to see you. >> with the president's tweet there where he is talking about all of the women across the country marching, but it is one of those -- and tell me is it one of the situation where is the women marching are saying that this is the apple and the president is saying, no, no, it is a ba nnana and you know it i an apple. >> and he may say it is orange, too, because he likes the orange. but either way. i really find that tweet very interesting a. year ago, i guess tomorrow you would say sean spicer came to the podium and screamed in that ill-fitting suit about the numbers with the march and today on the president's anniversary he is trying to be above the fray and talk about, yes, you have the right to march. and we know that the president does not like when somebody opposes him and challe

sunlen, republican senators met last hour behind closed doors. what were the marching orders? >> i think it is in the phase of waiting, waiting for some direction from their leadership what the plan forward, what the path forward is. it is certainly not a good sign when both sides are not talking to each other and we know, cording to sources, telling cnn, that senate majority leader mitch mcconnell and minority leader chuck schumer they have not spoken as of now, since last night. we do expect to see both of them on the senate floor in a few minutes when they gavel in. and certainly the tone of those remarks will be so important, we saw a lot of back and forth finger pointing late last night in the senate on the floor from these two leaders. that is not helping anything, also not helping anything as you said, the math here, for republicans, they don't have the numbers to put this short-term spending bill forward, so likely we'll see the course of the day today, the cloture vote fail and then the big question is what next. already there has been no absence of blame to go around

sunlen serfaty, thank you. >>> republicans are facing opposition on the bill from some within their own party, specifically the more significant wing, house of freedom caucus. joining me now, alabama congressman mo brooks. nice to have you on, sir. >> my pleasure. >> so we have it on record i read that you would be a yes vote for this bill. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> we heard from your chair, mark meadows, who said that the republicans don't have the votes yet in the house. do you think you're going to get those votes for this to pass? >> you don't need the votes right now to pass it. what you need the votes for is when we actually have it on the house floor. and i believe the time it gets to the house floor later today, they'll easily be enough votes to pass the continuing resolution. >> you do? >> on the house side to avoid a federal government shutdown. >> what about some of the members who have said, you know -- who either aren't quite a yes or are nos, who are concerned there's not enough defense spending in there, that it's not tough enough on immigration policy. do y

sunlen serfaty joins me from capitol hill. so many things, where do we begin? >> well, congress, poppy, just does not have the luxury of easing into this new year in any way. they have several big ticket, major items that are top on their plate that have to be attended to as soon as possible. many of these issues left unresolved from last year. first and foremost, they are, again, barreling towards the potential of a government shutdown. circle january 19th on your calendar. that's the day they have to extend funding for the government. also into their mix, the extension of the daca for so-called d.r.e.a.m.ers, extension of children health insurance funding, dealing with parts of obamacare, and there is some talk, at least from the house side, from speaker ryan, that he wants to potentially tackle entitlement reforms, adding into this mix, of course, this is now a mid-term election years year. things are not easy in an election year so that adds into this complicated agenda they have. up here on the hill tomorrow white house aides will be meeting with top congr

. >> sunlen, thank you very much. we have been listening to different members of congress in response to the impasse. here is virginia democrat tim kaine. >> i think my critique of this place is everything is run by the caucuses. of course i want the caucuses to be strong. i strongly support my caucus leader. there's got to be noncaucus space where people can work together not just with folks in the same party. all of us in the room felt the same way. we are sitting around in susan's office again and again, dispatching to talk to the leaders, coming back, doing the same thing, shuttle diplomacy. we have a strong degree of trust in each other that we want this outcome of opening the government and finding permanent protection for d.r.e.a.m.ers. even in the room said we have to find permanent protection for d.r.e.a.m.ers and that's important. in terms of trust in mcconnell or you could ask the republicans, trust in schumer, we think this group of 30 helps with that. everybody can remember a slight this or that happened

cnn's sunlen serfaty is there. >> reporter: it is a crucial day and crucial week. congress has four working days to keep the government open and operating. they need to get a deal before midnight on friday night. and as of now, there is no resolution up here on capitol hill. both sides really are becoming more entrenched in their positions. at this moment, it seems the direction that this is all heading is that republican leaders are likely going to separate daca, separate that out with the spending bill and attempt to pass some sort of short-term spending bill. but that is exactly where this becomes really tricky and where the threat of a potential government shutdown becomes potentially very real. you have republican leaders in the house who need to corral support within their own party, many house conservatives, defense hawks, are not happy about the needing to potentially pass another stopgap measure. and in the senate, you have republican leaders who need democrat support to get any spending bill through. they need 60 votes. you have senate democrats, many say

. >> sunlen serfaty is outfront in washington tonight.what can you tell us about this meeting, how it came to be and who was there? >> erin, this briefing happened in early december up here on capitol hill. a small group of lawmakers took this briefing, about a dozen democrats and republicans and at least one republican senator took this meeting. this meeting was set up by a former u.s. attorney at the request of many lawmakers. a briefing specifically to look at donald trump's fitness, mental fitness to be president. i spoke with one of the psychiatrists that briefed these lawmakers, dr. bandy lee from yale university. when i spoke to her today, she said the lawmakers in that briefing were engaged, they were asking questions, interested, and specifically in that briefing she said she believes according to her professional opinion that donald trump is showing signs of impairment is what she told them. she believes he's become very unstable very quickly, that he is unraveling. again, in her opinion. and that she believes he seems to be los

i go to sunlen state. i felt useful. i felt like i was actually accomplishing something with my life over there. >> yeah. >> as weird and little sense as it might make, i felt like i was being a good marine, and that means, you know, i'm not going to lie, there have been nights i'm trying to go to sleep and i'll lie awake in my bed just thinking about iraq for hours. looking at the clock, oh, it's only 12:00. look back, it's 3:30. just go to bed. and i can't. >> you've lived in a hot zone with somebody for 15 months and, you know, every day you have to say a prayer hoping that today is not the day or, you know, knowing that the person standing next to you would lay their life down for you the same way, you know what i mean? you guys just met. so for me it's a family. it's not -- to this day i would die for them. because of everything i've got going on, i've developed slight ocd, so my psychiatrist says that it's the loss of control. and because i was so used to being overseas and everything was, you know, and now being b

sunlen sur fatih has spoken with jeff flake. she joins us. what's he telling you?reporter: some confidence from both senator flake and senator graham, both of whom i spoke with moments ago. senator flake saying there are ideas up here on capitol hill percolating that give him confidence that a shutdown can be avoided. of course the who, what, when, where, why of this so sport. the details of these plans as they potentially change, as they push toward a 10:00 p.m. vote tonight, those would be important to hammer out. moments after that, i spoke with senator lindsey graham, who indicated that, yes, he would be onboard for a potential three-week continuing resolution. now, that's important because as we know the plan on the table, the plan that the house pass san diego a four-week c.r. previous to this, senator graham was not onboard with any sort of he's indicating he has some wiggle room here. that's something he would and could get behind. the question is would he be able to bring others? i asked him as he walked away, have you talked to the white house about this?