Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Post State Of The Union Preview 20180130

Hello everybody, thank you for being here. I fell and broke my arm, so excuse my appearance. We are eager to talk with kellyanne conway. We are going to start by talking about the state of the union tomorrow night. A big speech, and one year ago, the president gave his spur speech in a joint address to congress. He got pretty good reviews, it went pretty well, and it lasted a short while. In the days that followed there were some controversies that created a more polarized environment on the hill. What can the president due to set that bipartisan tone . Kellyanne first of all, thanks for having me. Ae president is working on bipartisan, forwardlooking speech that is positive in tone and content. The speech is a reflection on the past years accomplishments. Notccomplishment is checking off a box, a to do list, but what is the next accomplishment to happen in your own life. How is that a framework for working together in 2018 . I would point out a few things that are pretty recent. 23 weeks ago, the undeterredeld forth with a bipartisan group. It was unexpected. By all accounts, very pleased to have that kind of transparency, that kind of exchange. That is good for transparency, accountability, democracy really. It is that conversation that we need to keep having. That particular meeting was about immigration and you see an openness and a flexibility by this president on the daca recipients. He will address that to mark and his speech. Immigration will be one of the major points covered. 1,ill go back to october when the president came out with his afghani policy speech. A little bit of a diversion. I know you wrote about it at the time and were criticized for aying, new President Trump, the strategy. It will be bipartisan and tone tone andnt in content, because that is the only way to function in this town as a democracy. You saw an example of that during the government shot down shutdown. We were very happy that Many Democrats came around and voted to reopen the government. You talked about immigration, which is going to come up in the speech tomorrow. The white house has a framework that includes something for the dreamers. Is that a redline for the president . As he committed to sink some kind of is he committed to seeing some kind of legal status . It would include those who never availed president obama to action. It includes those who never took the action in addition to those who did. There is 25 billion for enhanced security at the border. The president will talk about how it subornation a sovereign nation must have strong borders. We have helped other countries secure their borders and protect their sovereignty. He is governing on enhancing security at the border. That includes the wall and other security measures. That is his redline, he has always made that very clear. I think it is a great symbol of how cooperation and discussion can be had on the same issue with 2 very diversion to priorities the emergence divergent priorities. This president put out a plan a few months ago where he talks to themmigration, an end visa lottery system and in out daca recipients. How do you help him manage and navigate the currents in the Republican Base right now . How does he manage being compassionate with the dreamers and coming up with some sort of legal status for them while satisfying his base, that is very hardline on immigration . He is the president of all americans, including the millions that did not vote for him. He added that were up. He said it will your at the hilton he said it when we were at the hilton. You have to take that very seriously as president , because it is just like that tax cut and job act. People now see it is helping of 3 millionards people already. Employers and companies have taken action. You are talking about a direct investment in your workforces, workplaces, raises, obviously bonuses, but also capital investments. The Broader Community is being invested in and even some benefits that have long been seen as the province of the other party. I think that is ridiculous. Everybody thinks about childcare and the wellness of their employees. You got Many Employers now taking action because of this tax cut, and they are saying that. They are saying, because of the tax cut we are doing xy, z. The president s base is the entire country. I have many good examples, because in addition to working on the issues of the day, i tend to have some things in my portfolio that i can legitimately refer to as nonpartisan issues in search of bipartisan solutions. , in i go around the country do not ask them, how did you vote, are you registered . You just cannot care when youre serving the country. I think people that feel that way are the ones who should serve in government. Today is a busy newsday. The Deputy Director of the fbi has stepped down. Hey is going to be formally retiring in a couple of months, but he stepped down immediately from his position. As the president celebrating is the president celebrating . Say over theuch to last few months, i am curious to know how the white house is responding . Kellyanne i have not seen any reaction. The white house had nothing to do with that decision and you have to refer your questions to mr. Mccabe and the fbi. But the president had criticized his leadership personally. I had also read that he planned on retiring it at some point. It is not a surprise move. We have seen it before. In any event, that is what Sarah Sanders has said, and that is what is occurring right now as the news is breaking. Putommittee has together a report, a memos adjusting that the fbi may have relied on politically motivated or questionable sources to justify one of those requests. In the rest of the investigation in the rush investigation, this is something house has to decide in the next couple of hours. Should that memo be released . And should that necessitate any further changers changes . Kellyanne the president went to quantico in december, he has Great Respect for the rank and file. You are talking about the few people who are in charge of investigation and what we see. I dont have any special knowledge, obviously. Some very disturbing statements about the president , we expect people to have political points of view, they support to the support. At least one attended the president s political opponents victory party. Nine victory party, i suppose. Aside, we believe in transparency and accountability. The legion of people, including in the media, who have been covering russia and the investigation for over a year now, and the president has made clear that there is no collusion , he calls it hoax and an excuse for losing an election. More portly, it is transparency, those who are in charge of this feel that it is ready to be released to the public, they should make that decision. To pick up on that point, does the president think that the messages that you are talking about, is that evidence that the Law Enforcement community was working against his campaign . Kellyanne the Law Enforcement community is very large group of people, we should never generalize. Now,what is being revealed ronically two help guide the campaign. It is foolish. I dont know why anyone would think otherwise. You would have to do that otherwise. , discreterticular matter. Let the committees decide what they think is best. This is the president who has talked about prosperity, security, strand, and security being his priorities. He will talk about a safe, strong, proud america in his state of the union address. Trying to dignify all career types. Donating millions dollars to the department of labor. We are not a nation telling everybody that they must go to a Fouryear College and get a degree. What we hear from employers and governors all the time is that there is a labor shortage. I grew up so i grew up outside of new jersey, most people want through a skilled trade and were able to support themselves. This is somebody who is trying to tell america to be proud regardless of their choice of career or job. We want to find things that bind us together as a nation. He will talk about that in tomorrows state of the union. He probably is not going to talk about the russia investigation. That is the shadow that hangs over the work he is doing as president. Sarah sanders said at the press briefing that it is about time, everybody watch wash russia fever out of the system. The president said she was looking forward to testifying under oath with robert mueller. , considering his businessman, exaggerating details and saying things that are not to not , in 2007 he had 30 misstatements, do you worry at all that he could be putting himself in position where he could perjure himself . Kellyanne the question of whether or not he testifies is really for his attorneys. I am not his attorney. Attorneyst one of his did say that he has not decided whether or not the president will testify, he will let everyone know when the decision is made. I know another attorney also said that that decision will be made at another time. We have also said from the beginning that the president has said that everyone is cooperating. We have turned overloads of documents, people have testified for many hours, everybody is complying and cooperating. But when my colleague Sarah Sanders says is a time it is to wash russia fever, you will find collusion, the election will be nullified, we were promised that we are going to see the 70,000 votes in three states that donald trump one as president fair and square. Somehow, youre going to see some nefarious activity and those photo be turned around. Whatyou go back to everybody was saying a year ago, a little bit crazed. None of that has come to pass. We do have an investigation, everybody sees it, Everybody Knows it is happening. That may, the details be should not get public. The fact is that we are fully cooperating at the white house and the president s attorneys said that he is fully cooperating. He has also said that he looks forward to it coming to an end. In the meantime, we are cooperating. There is inherent risk for anybody talking to the fbi, especially if youre the president of the United States where a lot has happened. What otherknow people have been telling mauler in their interviews with him, is there no concern at all about whether he can be caught up unintentionally . Kellyanne while you are asking questions that are really for his counselor. Well, youre asking questions that are really for his counselor. To be frankly to be frank, i think in the span of one month, i dont understand why someone can ask why the democrats voted against tax cuts. I dont know why they voted to shut the government down. These are the kinds of things i work on. I dont understand it. I dont know what this tragedy is the strategy is. I want to work with you on infrastructure. With you on the state of union where he will talk about rebuilding the nation. But you do that in a bipartisan fashion. Roads, bridges, the infrastructure, technology, the fact that we dont make anything or build anything as a country, that is bipartisan. System Traffic Control was designed for a time when we had roughly 100,000 passengers per year. We now have closely one billion. I dont know what is partisan about that. The president will commit to at least 1 trillion infrastructure and bring the process down from. Ight to 10 years to about two you get to criticize the proposal, but you dont have 10 or 20 years to do it. We will get to the democrats in a second, i want to pin up one thing about russia. Reports over the weekend, confirmed by the post, are that President Trump ordered the white House Counsel to firing mueller as the special counsel back in june. A number of white house officials said that he had never contemplated that, including you. Im wondering how we should make sense of that, when the president talks about firing mueller, is that in order, directive, is that him talking, what do we make of that and how do we square everything . Kellyanne that has never been discussed with me. It has not been discussed with mr. Cap has said publicly that it has never been discussed he had just gotten the job, i think he and general kelly had arrived pretty much the same week. Event, that has never been, i am not aware of this discussion. I would like to point out that when interviews like that are played when you show the president saying that he is not doing that. , it is never used to review the allegations in the news. While,nly used to show look at that demise not have been true. It was a bit different than the you nor New York Times reporting. People have to assess which one they think is more the main point is mr. Mueller is there, he is investigating. We are now practically in february, the white house is fully cooperating, we respect the process. Want to talk about the midterms coming up. The role he plays in helping the president through the political strategy. We are going to hear next from nancy pelosi, who i think would like to take back the house. My question for you is what are the odds that democrats can take back the house and what does your party need to do 10 months to prevent that from happening . I think the Campaign Strategy that failed in 2016 is not necessarily the best strategy for an election. At the same time, we are well aware of historical trends. Does suffer power grievous losses in off year elections. 1994. Linton did in historic gains in the house and senate at that time. The same thing happened to president obama in 2010. But then, they were excess successfully reelected. Things are different this time. As our wideopen about historical trends. 2010, atok at 1994 and that point, people were trying to run and justify their vote for the Affordable Care act. There was a time when people were getting nervous about it. They were worried about keeping their health care. About being able to keep their doctor. They were worried about the loss of benefits, loss of jobs, loss of hours. Of course, the reduction of quality. It took a lot longer to pass the Affordable Care act than was originally planned. So you had democratic members in the house who voted for it, then tried to defend the vote. This is different of this year because the centerpiece was the tax cut. The republicans who voted for it will be out there saying i voted for a tax cut that now means apple is bringing 20,000 jobs to the u. S. , repatriating billions of dollars of wealth. The 274 companies and counting that have made direct investments, because of the tax that i voted for, and that is benefiting members in my particular state. So i thought the ballot has been cut in half, that will go backandforth over time. I think that, knowing what the headwinds are, when you think about how these members will run , defending something, or crowing about something, their constituents and plus the Regulatory Framework having been improved, you see everybody from the franchises to larger employers, jobseekers feeling very bullish. The confidence numbers are up and employment is down. That matters to people. Manufacturing jobs are up. Those are all big numbers. People know their 401 k s are fatter. The 529 Education Investment has been next expanded. There are Different Things people will see over time that will be helpful. The other thing that is a wildcard is the the continued retirement. We had retirement of another , hee republican chairman retired. No one knows where these retirements will end. Everyone knows about the october therese, it seems to me could be election day surprises for people focused on being called out right left and center. For their behavior, allegations of their behavior, and worse. I think that is in both parties. I think that is a wildcard that no one can part that no one can anticipate. What is your assessment of the me too movement and how and what sort of impact do you think this will have 10 months from now politically . The democrats seem to think of the work in their favor and result in more women voters turn against this president and against their party. I assume you might have a different view of that. What do you make of that movement and its political power . Kellyanne anytime people who feel like they are powerless or inferior to someone treating them poorly, that is a very positive thing. I have been treated that way myself. I tried to talk about it on live tv in 2016 but nobody really cared because of who my candidate was. I have been treated that way. And time someone can speak up, male or female, about the way they have been treated i think that is very positive. I believe in due process. I believe in people feeling like they have a voice. Is ito movement started after you had this slew of applications allegations. Harvey weinstein for instance, that was the centerpiece for the beginning. I dont want to bring 550 things into one question and one answer. At the same time, we have to have a larger conversation about the workplace environment. It does seem to me that the me too movement cannot be based on a womans political beliefs or where she works or who she is or whether she is in media or hollywood or professional sports or she is a conservative. It simply cannot happen. I dont feel comfortable explains my daughters, and my son that it all depends on who the victim is and where she works or what she wears or what her politics are. That would be a terrible message to send. I hope we have a larger conversation about respect in the workplace. So far, i dont see that. If the women in this room were to tell me that they want their daughters i am listening, but i highly doubt it. We are out of time kellyanne i am 51 years old, i have definitely been on the receiving end. When i was younger and prettier, it happened to me. I want to tell you on a serious note, ladies if youre listening, every time that happened to me i was afraid, i was ashamed like it was my fault , but i never looked at those men, i dont want to look i dont want you to look at those men as powerful and intimidating. See them for who they are, weak and pathetic. To prey upon someone who is in a position where that person feels the cant speak up, that is the message i like to use the i like to send. Thanks for having me. I want to get one thing on the record which is the super bowl is this sunday, your Philadelphia Eagles are up against the new england patriots. President trump is a big patriots fan. Are you going to watch the game with them . Kellyanne the president has respect for the man who owns the patriots, we are happy to have the patriots at the white house in 2017. But there is no reason that they need to come back again. The more americans who can visit the better. Now you have me getting an epic violation for promoting the Philadelphia Eagles. Lifelong eagles fan, very excited. I feel that whoever wrote the youy is right, just when think your career is over you get called back up and great things happen. I think the super bowl is a really great night and i have to that bringsis one americans together. We all eat a little too much, stay up a little too late, go green, go eagles. Thank you very much for being here. Offre going to hand things to our National Political correspondent. [applause] kellyanne thank you. [applause] good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today. We are thrilled to have here the House Democratic leader nancy pelosi, who is the one and only woman to have served as the speaker of the house. It makes her the most powerful woman in american history. In politics, anyway. Before we get started, i want to remind you guys, our audience in the room, that if you have any questions or comments the post live. First of all, i would like to talk about our topic today which is the state of the union address. We know the president is going to be talking a lot about immigration, he put out a framework of the deal. Expanding the number of dreamers who would get protection, it also includes some money for his wall. And some pretty radical restrictions on legal immigration. Their got sweeteners in for the left and right. Is there a deal to be had and especially a deal to be had in time to protect these seven to are000 young immigrants who looking at a pretty steep deadline in february . There has to be a deal to be had, at an agreement to be reached. Lets discreetly deal with the dreamers, and some security, and if we want to go to the other subject of comprehensive immigration, we do all that entails. It is a bigger subject that takes more time. Dealight now, there is a an agreement to be reached. Presented and seems like the president is right there, then he is not. It is discouraging because what he put forth in this framework not in keeping with what immigration has meant to america. We are a country of immigrants unless youre born as native americans. And god bless them for their contribution to our success. Every immigrant who comes here with hopes and aspirations to make a future better for their children and families, and scribes to our to what our founders had in mind. Take the opportunity to make the future better for their families and for our country. When they come with that hope, determination, courage, and optimism, this immigration makes america more american. That is not what happens in the president s bill. You mentioned that democrats are open to resources for Border Security, does that mean democrats have come around the idea that the president can get some money for his wall . We are talking about Border Security, what is that. We all have a responsibility to protect our borders. Every country must do that. That means north and south in our case. We have been receptive to saying what is it that the border what areis there they suggesting to meet their needs . That is what we have in some of our legislation. That is appropriate to the number of people we are trying to protect. Another, when there was a bipartisan bill to senate, that was agreed to and had more money a passders, it also gave citizenship for 11 million people. Number a much smaller than the comments are border protection, in keeping with what the Border Patrol has said they need. While money is not a dealbreaker while money is not a dealbreaker . Yanne a lot of people have come through unsuspected, there are many things about border protection, and if there is some physical structure, so be it. But the 2000 by the way, the mexicans are not paying for. If you know anything about the region, it is a community with a border going through it. Families go back and forth, children go to school, people by the groceries. They visit family and friends. In mywall there is to, view, too expensive, ineffective, almost immoral. A lot of people think there is potential for bipartisan agreement is on infrastructure. The president has talked about sums of money. He has not put a lot of detail into what you would like to see, what are you going to be listening for tomorrow night on that . The president has always talked about infrastructure. Immigration. Out we had thought that when he wased about infrastructure, that a trillion dollars to be invested into infrastructure. What they have come up with now is this many plan which is 200 billion, that is over 10 years, it does not even come close to what we need. We have trillions of dollars according to the society of civil engineers, trillions of dollars deficit. Mean forwhat it could america if we made a real commitment. The trillions of dollars puts forth highspeed rails, broadband, Water Systems, some of our Water Systems are 100 years old made of brick and wood. They really need to be replaced. It is a health issue almost. It could helpat grow the economy all over the country and create good paying jobs. The care and feeding goes with the jobs that are out there. It would also stimulate the economy in many other ways. Create jobs in the building, sustain commerce in the process. Improve the quality of life in terms of the investments of infrastructure which takes cars off the road. President s proposal meets none of those standards, it put some of the burden on states and cities. State and local governments, which he had just flat in the face with the state and local tax reduction. You are going to get less resources and youre going to have to raise taxes if you think youre going to get some collaboration. By the way, some of the money that you already put up for infrastructure, that is no longer going to be counted in all of this. It is a bad deal for state and local government, and state of doing build america bonds. Where state and local government takeover over and another part of it is you cannot expect to put forth some mini program that subsidizes the private sector, to build the infrastructure. We have guaranteed their loan, and now theyre going to build it, own it, and charge tolls. So the taxpayers taint what is paying twice. Afrastructure has never been source of partisan disagreement. We have always found our way, because Everybody Knows that this is important to our country. Commerce, to improve the quality of life, to move products. Especially where time is important in terms of parish ability. We really need to do this and we have always understood it. , theis another example immigration bill and this bill, as a tax bill. That you will be attracted to the fact that we have this little goodie in there for you. A little goodie in the tax bill that gives a banquet to the 83 going to top 1 a little statement about infrastructure with thet of it is not role of federal government is in terms of fed in terms of infrastructure in our country. President eisenhower recognize it as a National Security initiative. On immigration, were going to give them citizenship in 10 or 12 years, at the same time where are going to upset the rest of our immigration. A little teaser, and a big problem. The three eyes. Immigration, infrastructure, intelligence would be the third one. In california, we always have. He three is the italians, irish, israelis. To think we are to do that right now with infrastructure, the problem with intelligence it is seriously undermining our country. I would like to ask you about that, you between your time on the intelligence committee, and your years as leader, you have been let into every crucial intelligence question. I dont think theres anyone in congress who has had as many years of dealing with highly sensitive intelligence issues as you have. What are the implications and the ramifications Going Forward of this that we have seen between the executive and the Intelligence Community . What is happening now is that massive politicization of intelligence. We have to protect the Intelligence Community from that. What is happening is that, let me put this in context. I dont know if anybody will ever catch up to me because i started in the early 90s as a member, then i have the ranking position. Eric swalwell is here, another small another member of our committee. The speaker and the leader have the privilege, and responsibility, to deputize who is on the intelligence committee. Of theot a question Politics Committee making proposals. It is a personal appointment. Members,man, ranking leader. Tried over the years to honor the fact that this is about our security. In the old days, it was mostly about force protection. It still is, how to protect our forces. To avoid conflict, but when we go in to make sure that there are all kinds of multinational issues. A seriousally responsibility. The speaker has appointed somebody who is totally irresponsible. Politicizing the process. It should not be happening. For example, he is talking about that isg a document predicated on another document that was put together on the basis of a total misrepresentation. It is like the wrapup smear. Let me do a terrible document, now write a report on it, and release it. Now, as you said, i have seen most of the underlying documents, i can tell you that the memo that they referenced is a misrepresentation. This is the steel document . I cant talk about what is in their. The underlying documents i have , you usually do things in a bipartisan way, it is a false, misleading, misrepresenting and now they are doing a memo on top of it. It is like a wrapup smear. This is bad, now we are going to tell you about it, now we are going to release it. It is highly unusual. I hope they dont vote to release it, if they do then we will have a the Ranking Member has said that there will be an attempt to mitigate for the damage that they are putting out there. We rather not have any of it go out. , do thinkent has said he has read the underlying documents or the memo, that they are going to put that out. Forces. About protecting this is about the integrity of our intelligence. It should never be politicized. That is what they are doing. Since we are spending time together, i thought we wouldnt waste any of it with the niceties. You mentioned the vote that is coming up in the house. There is also a vote coming up in the senate. One specifically that would outlaw abortion after 20 weeks. Is mr. , trying to do, it is a procedural vote. What do you think he is up to hear . I think he is up to saying tohis is doctors what they can or cannot do or what is legal if they do. This is about the health and other wef the should not be going down this path. Sad because i grant people their decision on where they are on these issues. I come from an italian american, catholic family. I think they are coming around on some of this. To go into Something Like this, if somebody is doing something wrong right now, they go to jail. , in effect, has no effect except that it is a show off. I would like to turn to my favorite subject, which is the midterm. Which are looking pretty good right now for democrats. You have, it is always difficult for the first go around in the midterms. You have a historically unpopular president. Ballot is the generic would you rather see a democrat or republican in your seat. The politics average on that polling has the democrats up by eight. That looks like you guys are in pretty good shape, my question is what keeps nancy pelosi up at night . Eating too much chocolate during the day. Tax bill is really the dark cloud. That hangs over the capital. The fact that the republicans rushed through this tax bill, trillions of dollars of impact on our economy. No advice as to what the impact will be on our future. A bill that is 83 of it goes to the top of the benefit of the benefits go to top 1 . 86 million americans, middleclass families will be paying more in taxes as a result of this bill. Halfy a trillion and a dollar taxpayer makes dollar tax breaks, adding nearly 2 million to the National Debt when you put in interest on the debt. Robbing from our childrens future. Excuse to then say that we cant spend too much money on the domestic budget because we have this deficit. The deficit they created. They said it is going to pay for itself with all the growth. If it is, then we have money for the domestic budget. If it isnt, then you should not have done it in the first place. That is covering our caps. Ations on the i thought we were close to a solution on the tax bill, it has but a little fear of the lord and do some members. They know we have a tax cap agreement, it will increase the deficit. It has gone to be pretty protectable, youre going to see a lot of yourself on television and campaign ads. We have already seen one in pennsylvania quite recently. One of the arguments that they are making in the and is taking issue with your use of the word from to describe the average thousand dollars that people are going to get in their pocket from this bill. I notice that you use the word goodies rather than crumbs. Either way. It is not a question of a thousand dollars, it is a question of the billions of dollars, the banquet that they have put for the top 1 . I dont begrudge anybody their success, wealth, achievement. Cartoon, it is a middleclass mouse, a piece of cheese on the mousetrap, and the fat cat waiting for that middleclass person to take that shes. That theyconscionable would have 83 of the benefits going to the top 1 . That is my point, it is not what it is, it is what it isnt. What it is for the banquet of money at the top and extraction of money, and trying to sell it as something that usually glad to get. That you should be glad to get. No. Our people deserve better. If you had a bipartisan discussion on tax, we would talk about what makes sense. They did not want to engage in that because they were afraid of it. Toy would get more benefits many more people, and that was not their goal. The goal was trickledown economics. If it trickles down, that would be good. If it creates jobs that will be good. If it does not, so be it, that is the free market. That is what they tell it. What is going to be critical for you guys in this election. Having the right kind of candidates and the right kind of districts . There. E 23 districts out a district that Hillary Clinton one. You want to talk politics . Let me get to your first point. They always like to i am so proud to come from San Francisco and i are proud of our values, but that seems to be what they like to do with a gpt, cable car. That is how they put this all forward. Play, ome from a that is the anthem of our city of San Francisco. It is a song of st. Francis, our patron saint. They want to characterize my city in a certain way and identify a candidate with me. We are really proud of who we are. Some of these candidates, i have never met. It is important for these candidates to come from their communities as this candidate did in pennsylvania. This is important because your title and her job discussion are the same. Representative. You are not representing my district and im not representing yours. Job description, representative. Title, representative. Your point is exactly right, there has to be a connection between the candidate and district. The districts make those decisions. History is on our side in terms of the of the president s numbers go low 50, the next year will be bad. Tell me where the president is the november before the election, and i will tell you if the door is open for us. 50,he president is under but when clinton was president s numbers went down and they won. Bushs numbers went down and we won. Went down and they won. There are many other things going on and you have to be strategic, coldblooded in terms of your decisions of where to allocate resources. What you never underestimate your opponent, but you dont overestimate them either. I have never seen them more enthusiastic at the Grassroots Level wanting to take responsibility to run for office, support for friends. That gives us opportunity. Again, this nine and a half months, itand a half is not today. If it were today i think it would overwhelmingly win. It is not today. We do have to make sure that we have truth. We say to each other, this is about authenticity. , they candidates go out are not running like donald trump, they are presenting himself and their purpose is presenting them self, and their purpose is what they know about the subjects and judgment they have and how they think strategically to get the job done. How that attract people to them. This is personal between the members and their between the candidates and their districts. And you are not a big fan of litmus tests, for democratic candidates, issues like abortion, getting people to declare whether they would vote for impeachment of President Trump. Are you concerned that you have all these potential 2020 president candidates out there, they do see seem to be picking up on these issues that look like it could become a litmus test . , is that a problem is that problem for some of your 2018 candidates . \ no. I appreciate, it is certainly something that should be reviewed. Our party is ag, democratic party. It has a lot of vitality, diversity, and the rest. It is not for us to go in and say that you should be the candidate, this is how you should is about what the candidate can attract. For, you have kept the party so unified, i dont. What unifies the democrats and the senate, we are together on our better deal, better jobs, better pay, better future. It is our unity about the Economic Security of americas working families. Whatever differences we have on some of the other issues, we are unified about that is our value system. Ourt respecting responsibility to meet the needs of the American People. Americas working families. Makesso in a way that sure people all participate in the prosperity and growth of our country. It also i think my possibility as a leader is to be unifying, not just in my caucus but in the country. To have transparency and openness. Do ando a tax bill, lets immigration bill, lets do an infrastructure bill. Lets do it openly so people can see what the choices are. Issues like impeachment, and the rest. , butwill take its course it is not a unifying thing for the country to go down a path at this point in my view. Overwhelmingly, i think a lot of people in the public have a different view on that. If i were out there, i might too. I have a different responsibility here. Transparency, unity, bipartisanship. That is why we come here. We dont come here to do party work, we come here to honor the values of the country. That is to try to in the solutions you choose, to bring people together. Jack, on twitter, asks if you get that gavel back, what is your top priority . Not about me getting the gavel back, i just want the democrats to have the gavel back. And the American People to have it back. It is not about me, our i think right away we would do ething to, again, list lift up the American People in terms of their Financial Stability and Financial Security. Part of that Financial Security is access to quality, affordable hair care. Attacks agenda so that they can participate in creating growth. You are not going to have growth in the economy unless you have Consumer Confidence across the board. Agenda that we are putting together in our better deal. The Job Initiative that creates growth, good paying jobs. It increases the paycheck. Lowers the cost of prescription drugs, lowers the cost of your communications each month, the rest. It would be about jobs and growth. We have time for one last question. Im going to ask you, wanting we are seeing this year is the extraordinary numbers of women stepping up to run for office. At every level. There were, last time, Something Like 75 women who joined the mix running for governor. ,omen, when the run for office have a different set of challenges than men do. What is your advice to women candidates as they step into this arena . Bewhat my advice the would what it has always been. 23n i came to congress women, forage 35 members in house, 23 women. 435 members inhouse, 23 women. Republicans were up to maybe 20, we made a decision to do that. A third of our caucus is women. Half of our congress thing, when i got when i ran for office, be yourself. ,now your power, beaver you are you may see be who you are. Authenticity is what matters. Ho you are, your sincerity share your purpose, why are you running . Is it about climate, education,he a womens right to choose whatever it happens to be. Know your subject. , thinkur vision strategically. This is how i think i can get something done. If you show your vision, knowledge, plan, you will attract. You have to connect. That is why i say show them what is in your heart. This is not for the faint of heart. Women are so needed, when youre , way howe decision important it is that you make this decision to run. Nothing is more important nothing is more wholesome for our political process than the increased participation and litter and leadership of women. [applause] that is all the time we have today, that is a great note on which to end. Thank you so much for being with us today. [applause] i am going to hand things off to my colleague who is going to lead the next discussion. [applause] thank you, byebye. I hope you know, i got the questions in advance. I made sure that i shared them. I asked for them. She will give them to me. It is going to be really fun. Good afternoon, thank you so much to all of you. Fireworks are starting already. I am our onair politics reporter on the washington post. We have this panel today to talk about communications in the trump era. Let me introduce my guests. Congressman falwell, democrat who has represented thank you for being here. From House Press Secretary 2001 to 2003 under president bush, he now runs his own strategic medications firm. The former chairwoman of the Democratic National committee. Im a local girl. She also managed former Vice President campaign. It aint over until its over, we will see what happens next. And the former Senior Adviser to the trump president ial campaign and currently serves the president of the american continental group. Washington. Before i get started let me let me remind the audience that you can send us questions. Use the post live. Well get the sum of those later on. We will try to keep it a little bit brief. What do you want from the president , versus what you expect to hear . I hope he speaks to the millions of americans who are not yet feeling the thrust of this economy. There is no denying that the stock market is up, unemployment is at near full employment, the gdp hovers around there are so many people who could not whether a 500 emergency. A car tire going flat, a washing machine going flat, people are not saving more. Theyre going to bring to debt. How does this tax bill reach them and help lift their hopes . Do you expect to hear that message . I hope so, yeah. A lot of Americans Still want to know how this is going to help them. I want to hear [applause] i want to hear president who does what president s do. Unifies us, talks about bigger things. Unites the country. The Trump Presidency has been such a fascinating one to watch. He has so many compliments, so many good things that he has done, but every time he moves the ball down the field he gets a penalty flag for unnecessary roughness. Moment thattaneous gets him. 50 moments like this where million americans, unify. The american that people elected donald trump, knew that they were electing somebody with warts and all. It does not surprise anybody who has a settlement with a point star. The reason is that the American People hate washington so much, they think this place is so broken, they did not care. They wanted to send somebody who will get things done. Now, he is entering a phase where he needs less disruption, and more getting things done. They did not elect disruption for disruption sake, they elected disruption for getting things done say. The president promised to come to washington, d. C. And to and politics as usual. He has been an unusual president , i agree with my colleague. I think tomorrow night he gets an opportunity to tell the American People what he has accomplished over the last year. File his tax plan, which is not popular. But the president is going to try to recast himself as a different reality tv star. Someone who has knowledge about the world, he is going to brag about his trip to he is going to give us a lot of dazzling numbers to show that he has made a lot of progress in jobs, stock markets. He is going to take credit for a lot of things. When he is finished his speech, and get back to the white house and start tweeting, what is the president , what is the lasting impression we are going to have from this president . Is he still going to be the divider in chief or it will he come across as the commanderinchief . Have a lot of expectations. Every time a think he has hit a presslestone to reset his his presidency, he is gone back to a new form. The question is will he go back to the popular fry brand firebrand, or the new president that wishes to unite the crunch the country . Are going to see an aspirational donald trump tomorrow. I think it is going to be a shining city on the hill kind of speech. I think the president does very well. Last year, when he spoke to congress, he had that kind of speech. It was not a state of the union, it was an aspirational speech. When the speech was done, everybody said wow what a great speech. People wanted to see him govern like that. It has been said that the president was elected to come to d. C. To shake things up. The folks out of the campaign trail are none too happy with the current state of play. A disruptorto be and a uniter at the same time. It is a difficult, fine line to walk. The president is entering a phase if youre going to get anything daca, this incredible offer of citizenship for up to 2 million folks. Something that neither president clinton even offered because they could not get it done on their own caucus. The Republican Congress was not popular, it was not popular amongst all great deal of democrats. I think it must be a great deal in both parties dont like it. Something that i think everyone , wow, that was a great job. Lets see what happens wednesday . Mr. Swalwell i thought three weeks ago was the best day. He let the cameras in. I thought thats who he elected, the guy who is wheeling and dealing, saying lets come up something on immigration, ill sign it. But as ari said, you cant put two good days together. Two days later, we saw what he said and felt about these african countries, and the deal blew up. I still think congress can collaborate, but we need somebody at the white house whos going to take the deals that we come up with. David would you vote for the play as it stays now . Mr. Swalwell i would vote for the aguilarhurd plan. David would you support path to citizenship for close to two million folks, solving the daca problem for a wall . Mr. Swalwell the aguilarhurd plan. David would you support path to citizenship for close to two million folks, solving the daca problem for a wall . Mr. Swalwell i would vote for increased Border Security which would include a wall but not to cut legal immigration. That was never on the table and now the president wants to libby you want a more narrow more david two million folks that stand to become citizens, what would you say to those folks . Mr. Swalwell that were not going to bring you in and kick out your family members who have already david when they show up libby does the president address this head on . Does he pitch his immigration proposal and then [inaudible] donna the Government Shutdown is likely to occur again. Libby and then a deadline in march for the dreamers. Two big deadlines coming up. Ari your colleagues on the right are upset about this proposal as well. Mr. Swalwell graham and durbin took him a deal and he said you make the deal, ill sign it and we saw libby i want to swing it back to the communications here to a second. As you mentioned the president during his joint address had a lot of successes by the metrics of a president ial speech staying on message, staying on the teleprompter and within that same week big news broke about his attorney general during the Campaign Meeting with the Russian Ambassador to the u. S. The attorney general recusing himself from the russia investigation. So how long lasting is this state of the union bump and can it all be destroyed wednesday morning with the wrong tweets . [laughter] donna tuesday night. Ari it wont be that fast. [laughter] libby he seems to be a morning tweeter. Ari they corral their message with the various inputs. International, something goes wrong, something happens at a domestic agency, its uncontrollable. The problem with President Trump is of his own making. He too often creates his own problem Going Forward. He doesnt stay on that role. This is where i agree and i say this as somebody out of frustration because i want him to be successful. On policy theres a lot of donald trump i like. In terms of the nature and the way hes conducted his presidency theres a lot i do not like. And this is a big part of it. President s have to have that discipline to stay on message. If he had more of it hed have a much more successful presidency. If he did, last point, the 10 democrats in the 10 trump states up for reelection will be under withve pressure to vote trump. The reason they wont vote is because hes not popular. If he can get up to 50 nationally it will be a sea change in washington because those 10 democrats have to vote for him. Libby we do anticipate infrastructure coming up as an issue those red state democrats would love to get behind. Donna there are also 23 members of congress that won in districts where hillary carried. [laughter] so we also know that theres a lot of politics in 2018. I want to talk about the weather. The forecast tomorrow is light winds with the possibility of snow. Im a weather woman so i should talk about weather. There is another cloud that continues to hover around this presidency and that the trumprussia investigation and the question is, will he talk about that tomorrow . David of course not. Why should he . This is about government. Donna this is not nonsense. David yes, it is. [inaudible] libby lets let donna go. Donna once upon a time, if a Foreign Government interfered we he would both agree. Ari agree. Donna with an election coming up in less than 200 some odd days, we understand what issues we need to resolve. If you look whats happened in europe, they have built a firewall against foreign aggression, interference. What have we done . What have we done on capitol hill . Yes, this is something the president should be concerned about because he should be concerned about the health of our democracy. Libby i would like to hear from the congressman. Do you want to hear democrats talk about russia tomorrow . You have been on the intel committee. You have been behind the scenes. What does joe kennedy talk about tomorrow . Mr. Swalwell what the president could say is we are going to put together an independent Commission Just as we did after pearl harbor, after weapons of mass destruction, just as we did after september 11 and i wrote the bill with the republican support that would do that looks at issues not bob mueller is looking at but secure the ballot box in 2018 and 2020. Most believe russia interfered and we need to do something to not let it happen again. That would have bipartisan support that he has not acknowledged that. Ari its not waiting for the congress to tell him what to do. Hope the f. B. I. Folks are out on their toes. David im sure they have done this and the n. S. A. Has been leaning forward and the c. I. A. Has been leaning forward. If america is sitting home waiting for congress to act on this, then we have a long time. I would not donna but we need president ial leadership. Mr. Swalwell i thought the libby the news of the day. We saw the f. B. I. Deputy director Andrew Mccabe is stepping down. News out today. Phil rucker said that earlier. What do you do from a communications standpoint . Will that overshadow tomorrow night, ari . Ari no. The number of people in america who knows who the f. B. I. Director is nobody. The Deputy Director, this is washington news. What is important is we have an f. B. I. We can have faith in, trust in. I do think the investigation of hillary has raised a whole lot of issues that have not been adequately addressed including the fact now we learn hillary was sending emails to barack obama as president. When the comey investigation came out they took obama they cleaned it up, took obama out and made it a government official. Libby this seems like your Communications Strategy of pivoting the ari i am allowed to have my opinion. Libby in terms of communication strategy, is that something democrats need to do . Do you move to hillary ari thats why i objected what donna is saying. I am all for fortifying america, youre 100 right. It should already be underway. Outside Russian Election interference. An attack on one party is an attack on all parties. But face it. The whole issue of a russiatrump collusion is about donald trump cooperated with russia to hack the d. N. C. Thats what conclusion is about and theres no evidence. Libby congressman, do you bring this up if you are joe kennedy or steer clear . Mr. Swalwell i wouldnt look backward. I would look forward and say we have a responsibility to protect our democracy and thats something both parties should be interested in. Libby how important is the state of the union . We can certainly bring your next point up. I want to know, is that going to make news this week . Are americans going to tune in and focus on that or are they theyre thinking about their recipes for the super bowl. Americans want to know how the roads will get fixed. Schools that are failing will be repaired. Thats what people want to hear about. Secure borders. Path to citizenship for these daca kids. I believe that congress can get this done. The room and in negotiate it with outside politics. Unfortunately, everyone here knows, you heard minority leader pelosi up here talking about it. Up to impeachck the president. Is. s the buzz i said be normal. There are certain normal things people in this town ari yeah. That part of the presidency perplexed me. Be normal. There are normal things people in this town do because its an effective way to connect with the constituents. The president s dial is so much through twitter and other means and i think only goes skin deep and hurts himself. I would love to see him meet the people who are getting the bonuses, pay raise, 15 minimum wage through the natural economy instead of a government dictated mandate. These are the ways the president can connect with people and broaden his base. Libby why not do this road tour . Donna its called message discipline. Once upon a time when you laid out the three or four pillars of your state of the union, what happened next was, you know, you go out there and you start selling your program. You sell your vision. This president has a hard time keeping his what i call his eyes on the prize. Part of the problem i think is if he goes out there, he likes to rally his base. He likes red meat. He likes to return to that fiery populous who ran in 2016 and thats not a unifying president. Thats a president whos going to constantly campaign. And when he campaigns, he divides. Not a unifying preside. Thats a president whos going to constantly campaign. When he campaigns, he divides. Its also not enough. Onpresident with run just their base alone. Thats why youll see a pivot. Youll see a pivot here with immigration, trying to strike a deal. The president does want to sign a deal. He wants to protect the daca kid. Youll see a coming together on that. Does his team want to that . I think they do. There seem to be different house. S in white perception. Hats i think theyll see everybody wants a deal to get done. Same thing on infrastructure. These are great issues not just for american but theyre great issue. Al they require Ten Senate Democrats talked about. On sundaynchin was talking about sounded pretty republican to me. Le he sounded like that last year too. Innovationrt this economy, we have to move people around and have a 21st century bridge, tunnels. When the president came to Congress Last year and said i will invest trillion dollar in infrastructure. You know who stood up, democrats. Stayed seated, the republicans. That. Ont support second problem is that, dont your first with paycheck. The republican have spent thatillion on this tax cut we are now almost unable to fund any infrastructure spending. Thats a real problem. To hear you all about accountability. When the president goes out and talk about accomplishment and looks forward hearing my goals, important is it theres follow through . Talkedar we heard him about building a wall. Obamacare, that did not happen. Tax cuts, that did happen. Is american populace watching the president does. Or they listening to news reports places like fox news who are giving him arc pluses when some of the follow through isnt there . This is a check and balance election. Simple. Ems quite what americans will be looking for, whether they have a congress that can collaborate where helpssident them and lifts them. Immigration and infrastructure areas. Whether they willing to stand up and be a check on the president tries to fall through on wall and the muslim ban or some of the other policies. Check and balance election. I dont mind he hasnt followed through on the wall. Mind he hasnt followed hurtfulon some policies. Numbers came as a result meeting with leader leader schumer. Everybody the American People, his numbers finally came little bit. Eeds you saw the American People, wow democrats. With the he can work with other people. The president need to spend of his speech not talking his base but talking to that mom about whos concern still that job security. Who want to know if this tax trickle down to them. Will it help improve their job status, their wages etcetera. The president can reach that milestone, maybe perhaps, well see an improvement his numbers. How important was follow bush. H for president has it changed . Its always important. Important for president obama too. Support for American People for driven by two factors. I like and i believe in the president. Theres a personal element. And connection element. If they have no accomplishments. Thats important. Accomplishments. It resonates as Economic Growth pick up and wages likely to rise. In position to get substantial credit for it. Secondly, though, comes with get, if he can infrastructure and immigration three,hats a powerful tax reform and infrastructure and immigration. For lot ofential accomplishments. Well see what happens. Looms large to the cloud is that the government we still are to keep the government open in a week. Have to raise the debt ceiling. Sum limittal supplementals for emergency spending. Fatiguegreat deal of about spending money, about cooperating. Lot of fighting going back and to get those things they need to do done. Worki worked i used to on the hill many years ago. Passed 13 spending bills. Filibusters. No remember those days of cooperation. I believe this government can work again like that. Crisis to crisis here. Its become normal. What give you faith that can that . To im not certain. I would hope it can. Thats part of the congress go throughity to normal order. Take bills up and have hearing. Its pretty running mill boring life. Can the president have a voice . Thats why the president s sent here. Things up. Shake the Congress Needs to get moving. Been veryness, ive critical of President Trump when he said things like the shole he made. It works in both directions. Initially refuse to show up at his inaugural and tomorrow were hearing about democrats will boycott his state of the union. The atmosphere of washington that Everybody Needs to stop. From the congres congressman on that. Was at the inauguration. It was tough day. You took the first flight home. Manyter the treatment by republicans, after what i called president ent of barack obama at the state of the union, i dont have a lot of faith in confidence in my member of congress with regard to the state of the union. Im just going to let that go by me. Boycott has to stop. Im a former hill staffer. Respect the office of the presidency. I also believe it goes two ways comes to respect. Democrats topect hold moral standard and then to expressing one views. There are lot of member who are quite offended. Are americans quite offended by the president s remarks regarding those countries. The continent of africa, haiti salvador. Some of the members i know. You talked to few of them they up. Ded not to show there are some who will show up tomorrow. Up with other symbols to show these countries, of africa,continent we respect the continent. We love the people of africa. Of haiti. E people they will show that as well tomorrow. What does this do for town. How do you think the democrats need to comport themselves tomorrow and this week . Im showing up. A personals decision. Im showing up i want to be a check on the president. The role ofs congress. I want to see that i and there. Ues are areject you can make statement. Women will be wearing black in me too of the times up movement. I think those statements are important. Tolso dont think we want make news. We want to let his policy be should respond as vigorousal we can afterward. The president stick to the stript. Benefit him with his base or otherwise to go rogue . In off the cuff remarks. Conversation. What does it say about the presidency and what does it do his Political Capital not tomorrow night i agree. Going forward. The Trump Success if it will be successful down the road meaning the congress in 2018. Based on him be getting things done. Not just disruption. The American People took that elected him, because they thought he could. They thought a businessman going to washington in place of politicians, the businessman can get things done. Hes got to fulfill that end of be a successful president. Less of that unnecessary and more rhetoric normalcy is the future for trump. My teleprompter went out one year. I was there. The white house. Big print on the paper bring it in. Hydrate. Those diet coke. Hydrate so he look the part. President ist the bringing in several americans heroes. We all applaud. Like he did last year. We owe it to them. People that he will honor tomorrow night and pay people thatre admire that have inspired us with their bravery. This is ape that, to tuner marin americans in. Give him opportunity to make his case to the American People. Next day, well di dissect the speech. Say one thing. The resistance is growing. Of donald because trump. Tomorrow night for those who are still appalled at the election of President Trump, they get an opportunity to also go out there speak out. I want to make sure that people understand, there are millions of our fellow citizens who did the president who been waiting for the president to pivot. They have grown frustrated with this president and his policies. I expect that they will also a say when feature is over. With the democratic a benefit, is there to the president tweeting nexthing controversial day . I look forward to it. [laughter] i know you said that hes not midnight tweet. Of the morning i wake up. It looks as though he puts his the night before. Im looking forward to those tweets. Congressman, do you look forward to them . Is there a difference between strategy versus what it means to be a functioning congress and government. They bring anxiety for people. Y working i represent district on the west coast. Funny tothink its poke somebody who has Nuclear Weapons in the eye unless you have a strategy. A strategy to dealing with north korea this that, i maybe go along with it. Part ofelieves this is overall strategy. Will say for the first time north koreans and south koreans table goingat the to the olympics. This president has luxury road. G the can down the we should welcome that. Give him pass on north korea good thing. You one area well all be manyng about, that is how people view the state of the union. Im sure the president will tout numbers. Im looking george h. W. Bush record, 60 million. Followed by barack obama, 60 million following the tragedy and president obama his first year in office. Well see where the president will line up with the numbers game. Since were going to super bowl week, we just have to bring out this be reflection of Sarah Sanders . Remember last time there was press briefing about numbers yes, okay. Crowd sizes. Is that a reflection of the current presidency or is that a reflection of state of the union and the media environment now . Are low, inrs americans dont tune in. Has state of the union diminished its importance with era constitution. It remains central feature of our democracy. Tune inme for people to and see it with their own eyes what president does and say. Scripted and its on a teleprompter. Invented. Er were the stage craft of government remains important. Few thingse of the that unite us. We should watch. Obama. Ed barack i hope people watch donald trump. Instagram story and young people receive their news. In 1981, irget back will never forget when i was College Intern were actually friends. I like both these guys happy. O during Ronald Reagans there, duringas george w. Bush, it is so american. Forward to seeing the president. I continue to pray for this everyent as i pray for president. My grandmother taught us that as we were kids. Praying for john k. Kennedy. I look forward to commenting. To leave it there. Thank you so much to the panel. Really appreciate your time. Thank you. [applause] to hand things off to my colleague who will be doing our day. Panel of the thanks so much everybody. Good afternoon everybody. Crowd. A great los angeles i am ed okeefe of washington post. I ed good afternoon, everybody. This is a great crowd. Im ed okeefe of the washington post. I cover congress. So i spend a lot of time with these two, our next guests, senator shelly moore capito. Thaek both for being here. Of westellie republican virginia. Senator angus king smart from who caucus with the democrats. Us here. Join one thing i learned, they may tickets. Eturn the they may have to order a reprint. Those can become very valuable. Editor. Y needs an you said Bipartisan Energy and concentration as ive seen in years, why is that and why is it happening now . Because then part daca issue has important aspects for beth sides. A genuine energy toward getting something done. During the brief shutdown with this common sense collins office. Which started back in 2013. Us. E was a dozen of or 20. Me there were 151 15 last time there was 35 senators. Everybody wants to be a moderate sudden. Which is kind of cool. Of course its an election year. I want to ask you about those a little bit. Im curious if you agree. A moment seems to be of cooperation that perhaps we havent seen in the last few years. So. Think in addition to wanting to get things done, i think theres a quickly overather the last week or so that a is a miseryhutdown journey on any side. It doesnt serve the public. Serve us as policymakers. I think that there was a realization that on both sides that this is a miserable lets tryere in and to figure out how to get out of it. Partisan. Been rather over the past year and years past. Leader, your leader mcconnell and others said theres going to be attempts this year trying to bridge the and find ways to work together. Beyond immigration, which is concern, what do you think you two think are potential foror cooperation across the aisle . I think infrastructure has promise. We dont know to pay for and the of it. D structures all of our states have a huge modernizing our transportation system. We have thousands of bridges that we need repairs. On rule and i worked broad band issue together. Theres a huge one for lot of us. States like new york, gillibrand on a rural broad band issue. With that as a sort of rallying cry, i think we can possibly do that. Infrastructure traditionally been bipartisan. I think we can carry that off. I think opioids is another one. Its greatest Public Health state in the history that i heard of. Your state one of the toughest country. This can yous across parties. This isnt really a partisan issue. States seem to be affected more by it. Thats an area where it doesnt seem to be want the major points of the president s speech. On it. He touches this is a place where we need leadership what else what you guys like to hear from him tomorrow night . Personally i like to hear obviously, a strong speech that uniting speech that with the realizations. Will talk about the accomplishment, principlely on the economy. Think well hear about the tax bill . Think we might. We were talking about deciding stand and dont stand and clap. You look around and you realize one standing. Y that has happened to you right . One of my favorite pictures is i sat with a whole group of republicans one year. I stood up and applaud. Only person. Its one of my favorite pictures. Are hardthe unions because of all of this when to stand and not to stand. Sitting to a conservative republican. This. Ent obama was like obama said we need to cut Corporate Tax rate. I said stand up man. Then i realized, this is a 32nd ad waiting to be made. For conservative to be standing out in the state of the union. Stood for obama. Its going to be the reverse night. W they did Joe Lieberman other when he gave george bush a hug. The textdont see until everybody else does. Whisperer. Ve a mcconnell andr john cordyn. Just go for your gut. Is there anything else he spend his huge prime final money uniting. R thing thats not uniting parts in it. Energy. It does go into the Economic Issues as well. For certain parts of the country mine and this is a big thing for us. Have talk about energy, we questions about Energy Shortages and all these things. A uniting. Ts theres parts that arent so much. I think Energy Dominance is something that he can talk about. Of its going to be tone for his first year he played base. Much to his this is an opportunity to turn the corner. Debate. Is immigration he can be nikes nixon to china. Has on the to do something that others failed to do. On thatized opportunity, it will sail through him. Hoping that he widens the rapture in terms of who hes talking to. It will bethat, effective. People go into these things wanting to feel uplifted and peel positive. He can do and resist the underring to japan people, i think it will be successful. You been in those meetings regarding immigration. Later today again, given whats the conversations who are inple month the room is there something he say or should say . Think the challenge is to focus narrow. Not comprehensive. Mmigration getou if the republicans greedy on and tie to do all inir agenda on immigration this bill its going to make it very difficult and it could be very harmful to the country and to a lot of people. If they keep it narrow, we can get a bill. Today was pulled out not narrow. Its a question of whether he youis willing to give or guys he likes to negotiate. Involved in these bipartisan conversations . On thism involved issue. Problem we got, we want a around canada. Coming acrossns being nice to us and offering free healthcare. Its go the lets be real here, if he does wall, i let us build a will tell my grandchildren, i do not know how he will resist the temptation. I would hope that he does it in a way that riles up the base enough, but does not so disenchanted everyone else. Is in it is settled issue at this point . I prefer the term, wall system. Everybody, very few people want a 2000 mile long and 30 foot long wall. I have spent time in a big and national park, down in other texas near the rio grande. That wall there, you are denying access to people of a beautiful river and if you put in the middle of the river, it is an environmental disaster if. If you put it on the other side of the river, thats an invasion. [laughter] theres some real practical problems. And i hope we can do something that makes sense, economic sense and i think its, i think you agree. Sen. Capito i do. Sen. King the idea of a wall from sea to shining sea doesnt make sense. Ed you, senator are involved in another sort of lowerlevel but important , bipartisan conversation right now regarding the rules of the senate. And whether or not or how to revamp exactly how senators and how their staffs deal with the issue of sexual harassment. Sen. Capito right. Ed this was sort of unanimously approved, that all of you would have to undergo mandatory training and then you guys are considering exactly how to proceed, otherwise. Rules. Youre working with democrats and republicans on it. Whats going on with that . Sen. Capito we are working with senator blunt, senator feinstein and others, were trying to figure out what we have to put in law, with the rules committee members. What we found when this broke out, is that the system that is not, that was put into place in the 1970s to file a complaint , to have to go to counseling for six to 30 days before you could move to step two and all of these kind of antiquated, and really negative two were there for person who feels like they have been violated and have a cause, it was really not it was something that we needed to change. We did change the mandatory training in december, and everyone has taken it by now. If you are a supervisor, you take it at a higher level. Then we get into the process. Whether you are paying for it with your congressional account it is transparent. Who pays for these things, what you have to report we need to settle this. When the report came back, we realized that many of us are unaware that we had us system that does not work, and that needs to be modernized. Have you both taking your training . Sen. King yes, you definitely all have to do it. Host online . Sen. King online. Sen. Capito many of our offices already has them to like that. Host is a resolution likely soon . King i would say, soon. King the house has a pretty aggressive agenda on it, in terms of reporting and transparency. The president won West Virginia by 32 points, the most of any state in the country. Is he still very popular there . Yes, he is. Part of it is because we are a states. Ig coal we really took it on the chin for the last couple of years. For a lot of people in West Virginia, it was like, nobody cares about me to riyadh my family had worked for decades to power this nation didnt hillarys a something e i am not surprised that he won best touch huge numbers. It was Just Announced before we came out today that the president is going to come to West Virginia for the, were doing the republican retreat in West Virginia. And the president is coming, i believe on thursday, to address the lunch. Thats no surprise, most, whatever party youre in, the president would come. I immediately got a text from one of my mayors of us all town, can i be your waiter at the luncheon, so that i can see the president . Theres still a lot of enthusiasm for him. Our economy has picked up. Optimism has picked up. For people who struggle to find a job every day and feed their families, this is really, the popularity of the president s economic policies are going to carry the day. Host hillary clinfon won your state by three points. Sen. King she won by three, barack obama won by 12. He has a lot of, maybe the. One of the things he said in the campaign is i could shoot , somebody on fifth avenue, it wouldnt affect my poll numbers and i think theres a lot too that. Hes still very popular. Host what is it specifically that maintains that popularity in your state . At least in the parts where hes popular . Sen. King i think its a perception that he speaks for the average american. Which is sort of odd that a billionaire from new york speaks for the average wouldnt affect my poll numbers and i think theres a lot too american, but he has managed to capture and we could get into a long deep conversation about this phenomenon, but a lot of it is that ruled people have been in many ways, left behind. In a whole host of ways. Our rural areas are aging. The economies have been really hard hit by globalization. I think he has really touched on that. Thats one of the reasons shelley and i, we started the Rural Broadband caucus in the senate. Its very bipartisan, john boozman of arkansas, heidi hite Heidi Heitkamp from north dakota, a lot of people are participating. Broadband is one of the ways the rural areas have been left behind. Can you imagine youre looking at a house and the realtor says its a nice house but youll never have broadband. You cannot have a business in maine, without broadband. An urgents infrastructure, which is why i hope that the infrastructure plan, what ever it is, has a carveout that identifies broadband just like airports and railroads. Host does that literally mean, that you have to dig for wires . Or do you just, areas in the country with a lot of wifi . What has been done to get it . There is no one answer, it depends on topography. In some places out west, you could have a tall wifi tower and cover a large territory. In maine, because of our, and West Virginia, you need sometimes a wire solution or fiber solution. In maine we have a terrific broadband network, but its the middle and the last mile that are the problems. Its like having an interstate highway with no exit ramples. No exit ramps. You can look at it, but you cannot get on and off it. That is where we need some support. Capito capito satellite too,s another technology that is coming on. It holds good promise for rural america. Host i want to ask you a few things related to the news. You guys, weve hit that point in the election year, where we will start to see issues designed to your colleagues on the spot. One of them is the nice, where you will be voting on a bill that essentially bans abortion after 20 weeks. It passed the house overwhelmingly in october. Leader mcconnell vowed hell bring it up as long as he has control of the senate. But its unlikely oto proceed to final passage. Sen. King it needs 60 votes. Ed right, and it doesnt look like it will get that. Here under the auspices of bipartisanship, you discussed these incredibly pressing, important issues. Im curious, whatever shoe, whichever foot the shoe is on, is that a good use of the senates time to be holding these kinds of votes when you know that 60 votes arent there for something and yet youre trying to put colleagues on the spot . Sen. Capito well, i will defend the leader on this, i think every leader, no matter if you are a republican or democrat, is going to have these kind of votes. We know this, i mean, we have been there long enough to know and we expect it. So i dont think, i may be going out on a limb here. I dont think theres any surprise here from Chuck Schumer that this is what mitch mcconnell, hes only bringing it up one night, were not having a big debate on it. We will, it will not pass. I will vote for it but it will not pass. But it has a lot of, we have some great members of my republican caucus, James Lankford in particular who is wellliked across the board, and works across the board very well, and this is a big issue for him not just legislatively , but personally as well. These things are going to happen. Sen. King one of the things that has surprised me as ive been there is theres a lack of appreciation or whatever it is that what you do to them, theyre going to do to you. I caucused with the democrats when they were in the majority and they took some steps and the republicans have done it. Thats one of the problems with the senate is the downward spiral where you know, they did it five years ago, therefore we can do it. Then you dream up something new and ugly and thats going to happen. For example, were about to lose the blue slip process in judges. Host i was going to get to that, next. Sen. King thats a process that requires some level of bipartisanship. Youve got home state senators who have to go along and tended to moderate. Whichever direction. If that goes away, i guarantee you, in four, five, six year the republicans are going to be really upset they dont have it anymore. And thats what i dont understand. When they make these changes that ultimately will be used against you. Sen. Capito well i mean, neil gorsuch is a good example. When the democrats were in charge, they moved the threshold down. Sen. King not for Supreme Court judges. Sen. Capito oh. Some circuitor court judges. Sen. King you did it for gorsuch. Thats my point. Sen. Capito but we havent, but oh, yeah, we did do it for district judges. Sen. King i say we im a member , of the Democratic Caucus but i didnt sign any oaths. [laughter] host yes or no tonight on that bill . Sen. King on the abortion bill . Well, i am in no, because i have done some homework. Ive learned that 99 of abortions take place before 20 weeks. So this is a solution in search of a problem. And that the abortions that do take place at 20 weeks or later usually involved some real serious complications and medical issues. Ive always thought that the place that the government ought to be is between a doctor and a woman. [applause] host and her are exceptions there are exceptions, and we are all we are one of only four countries in the world that allow this. Host one thing that caught my attention, senator cap the you gave an interview to a Radio Station in West Virginia, and you were asked if the democrats , try to play hardball again on keeping the government open, leader,enate majority mitch mcconnell, change the rules to reduce the procedural hurdle on legislation, from steve votes down to 50 . I thought your answer was interesting. That talk is getting more frequent and louder, you said. To be honest with you, i think the leader is considering what his options are here. Because the frustration is we , we cannot get the president s appointments through. Meaning it takes a little while for it to happen. I think were going to look into it and see what the possibilities are. Mcconnell is an institutionalist and doesnt want to go in this direction but hes getting pushed pretty hard. Are you saying he is more than ever seriously considering making this change in the rules regarding legislation . Sen. Capito now. I dont want to speak for senator mcconnell, he can speak a lot better for himself than i could. Not the legislation. Appropriations were stuck. On appropriations we can on appropriations we cant get anything done. Sen. King ive got an answer for that. Bill comes out of the Appropriations Committee with a supermajority, it goes straight to the floor. Sen. Capito we had some bipartisan. Sen. King and they ought to go to the floor. Sen. Capito i think, the main talk now is compressing the amount of time you have to consider certain district judges and circuit judges, instead of it having to be 30 hours, which doesnt sound like a long time, but if you waited into a weeks, it can be three days. I think there is a lot of rusher on senator mcconnell to be more welcoming to this, as you can see, and he has resisted. I think hell continue to do that for the exact same reason angus said. When the shoe ghones other foot who knows what will happen, with the majority, 5149 . You dont. But i know the pressure is building because im in the room when were talking about it. Host and it still comes up quite frequently, in your lunches. Sen. King it would be a grave mistake. For one thing it would turn , around and work the other way in some measurable number of years. Number two, i came to the senate, we had to get rid of the filibuster, it is undemocratic, all of that but i have learned and observed a couple of things. One, it really does require some level of bipartisanship. It requires some negotiation. The majority just cant run over the minority. And in the long run, legislation is better if its formed that way. Rather than, you know, the Affordable Care act was never fully accepted because it got no republican votes. I think the tax bill, we got no democratic votes. Its much better, you get better results and it forces and it it forces and cool the discussion down somewhat. One of the people that influenced me on this was karl levin, the great senator from michigan. I remember him standing up, and there was a moment in the Democratic Caucus in 2013, when they were really fired up to get obamas agenda through, we can only do it if we make this change. You know how in a meeting, the momentum sort of builds. Karl levin stood up and said, this is not something we want to do, because five years from now somebody could want to privatize , Social Security or privatetize medicare, youre not going to like it and you wont have any weapons left. Its, sir thomas moore, when a devil turns upon you and you dont have the laws available to protect you, what do you have left . Thats what were talking about. Host so, a lot of pressure, but it is also a reminder that everything is cyclical and congress, and it could go the riyadh real quick, as we wrap up here. Youre from a state that voted overwhelmingly from the president. Youre from a state that didnt. But lets flip it around. What is the thing that you most stongly disagree with the president on, senator capito . [laughter] riyadh real quick, as we wrap up here. Youre from a state that voted overwhelmingly from the president. Youre from a state that didntg that you strongly agree with the resident on, senator king . Sen. King i will go i most first. Strongly agree with him on trade. I think weve not really advocated for adequately, in favor of our country. Ive seen the effects of some of the trade bills in my state. And were asking, its hard for know go to a Small Company and say, you have to compete headtohead with a company in vietnam that doesnt have osha, fair labor standards act, e. P. A. , any of those protections, labor protections, but youve got to compete with them. I just dont think, that that makes sense. And i think that the president is right on wrangling those what he calls, onesided trade agreements to riyadh a think that is one place that i agree with him. Sen. Capito i think the thing i disagree with the president the most on is his tone. Is his, i dont mind the use of twitter, i guess weve all kind of gotten used to that. But seriously, when i read some of them, i go, are you kidding me . Are you really saying that . And its discouraging as a policymaker who is serious about wanting to get these things done, working with angus, its such a distraction. Because were not talking about how were going to build bridges and get wifi and all these great things weve talked about. Were talking about, you know, rocket boy and all these sort of terminologies that just distract from the real seriousness of what were doing. I love to laugh. We both love to laugh. I like a good sense of humor every now and then. But sometimes it edges beyond a sense of humor in my book and i dont think that serbs him well. I dont think it serves us well. And i dont think it serves you all well. Host do you know of any republicans, a lot of your colleagues say this to him. [applause] they have raised the issue with him facetoface, and not a Television Interview . Sen. Capito i tried to convince him before the election, the first time i met him. Im going to say one thing about the president that a lot of people probably dont realize , hes one of the best listeners i have ever been to in a meeting. Yes. He really listens to what you say. What he does with it is another story maybe, but he does listen in meetings, very, very the president that a lot of intently. And he gives everybody a chance to talk. So he was talking about somebody, this is during the campaign. Somebody that he was in a twitter battle with. I tried to tell him, this is what they tell us, a Campaign Consultant will tell you, if somebody is nipping at you, unless its something you really have to beat down, just ignore it. Sen. King dont make it into a twoday story. Sen. Capito ignore intently. It them a been i said all youre doing is , upping his twitter feed. Youre making him more important than, than he might be or get ting more of an audience. So, yes. I tried there, but it did not work. Im certain that his staff, it would be interesting to see a book of all the tweets never sent. [laughter] they are all saved in draft. Sen. King ive only met him once but it was a fun story. They took all the senators to the white house for a briefing on north korea. I guess i can say this in public. I had used the restroom. I said to the secret service guy, where is the restroom . He said over there in the little room. I went in, came back, and there was the president of the United States. Mike pence was there, i shook hands with mike pence and with the president. His one comment was, central casting, you look just like a senator. [laughter] king . . I went back to my office feeling pretty cool until my Communications Director gave me a column, the title of which ki . Was, central casting. Apparently he says that to everybody. Everybody. Host its interesting to see what we see tomorrow night. We appreciate you both spending time. Sen. King watch us, whether we stand or not to riyadh host i am going to, now. That is all the time that we have, thank you both for coming in. Thank you senators. [applause] host if youd like to view the clips of todays discussion or find out about upcoming programming, visit washingtonpostlive. Com. A reminder to make the post your destination for all your News Coverage on tomorrows each. We will have it Live Streaming on youtube, and of course, we will be live blogging and Fact Checking it live and in print. Thank you, everybody, see you soon. The cspansday on networks. The house takes up defense spending at noon. We will preview the president s state of the union address. 9 00 p. M. Has the speech on cspan and cspan2. At 10 00 a. M. The Senate Considers the nomination of two h to the eighth circuit court. Coming up in an hour. The National Correspondent on the rising cost of housing in u. S. Cities and how it is impacting the middle class. On thesman of illinois Trump Administration science policy. At 9 30, cspans capital tour continues in atlanta georgia. Our guest is the lieutenant governor. President trump is set to deliver his first state of the Union Tonight at 9 00 p. M. Go to cspan. Org for more information. Also, immigration, the economy, National Security is expected to be part of that speech. The president will reference the me too movement. Widespread change, not only in corporate america, but also in the halls of capitol hill. That is what we will like to focus on. The political impact of the me too movement