Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this saturday. Im fredericka witfield. Right now were watching on capitol hill lawmakers on the house floor with a potential Government Shutdown less than 12 hours away. Theyre now trying to discern whether a proposed lastditch effort measure to keep the Government Funding will be something theyll be voting on momentarily. Right now were looking at pictures of House Members voting on trying to get extra time to look at this latest measure before it goes to vote. House speaker Kevin Mccarthys latest plan is a 45day Spending Bill that would allow the government to continue working for at least 45 days while they try to work things out. Lauren fox is joining us from capitol hill. Priscilla alva rez is tracking potential responses from the white house. Lauren, democrats say they need more time before making any decisions on this plan . Reporter yeah. What youre seeing play out on the floor is a delay tactic by House Democrats. They are trying to buy themselves more time to have a conversation within their caucus about whether or not to support this shortterm Spending Bill. This is an opportunity to try to give their members a little bit of wiggle room to figure out if they can back this proposal that would fund the government for 45 days through November 17th and would include billions in disaster aid, but no money for ukraine aid. That is the key flashpoint between the house and the senate. The senates proposal includes 6. 2 billion for ukraine aid. This house proposal doesnt. Democrats are irate. They feel they are being squeezed by the House Speaker. They say they are trying to read through the details to understand what is actually in there before voting on it. A couple of them are calling out the House Speaker for this being sort of a rich move by him, given the fact that republicans and house conservatives have been saying they want to give their members 72 hours to look over legislation before they vote on it. So democrats trying to understand what is in this bill, trying to make sure they are making the right decision. Obviously this is a move by republicans to try and have a position in this negotiation to try to force democrats if they would rather have a shutdown or ukraine aid. That is a Pivotal Moment and something House Republican leadership is trying to force right now. Lauren, if democrats are successful trying to get more time, how much time are we talking about in order to get through, read through this proposal before it would be put to a vote . Reporter they can use these procedural hurdles for a long time. It will be up to democrats to decide how much time they actually need to go over this legislation. Again, this is just an opportunity for democrats to go down downstairs, have a Caucus Meeting and decide how they want to proceed. Because this bill would come with a suspension of the rules, a lot of democrats are going to be needed, dozens, likely close to 100. You have democrats having to decide in a pretty large way whether or not theyre going to get behind this. You can expect theyre having conversations with the white house and republican colleagues who they trust on an individual basis. That is what youre seeing play out. All the twists and turns are happening as a shutdown is looming in just hours. Lauren fox, thank you so much. Well check back with you. Lets go to the white house, priscilla alvarez. We understand conversations between democrats and republicans are under way right now. What do you know about the conversations . Reporter thats right. White house officials are consulting with House Democrats on this shortterm bill, according to a source familiar. But the white house has not yet publicly weighed in on whether they support it. As you heard from lauren, all of this is happening very quickly. We know throughout the course of the day the president has been briefed on each of these fastdeveloping moments on capitol hill and that in the interim we continue to hear from the white house it is incumbent on republicans to avert a shutdown and they are the ones to blame. What federal agencies have been doing is preparing for a potential shutdown. Kevin mccarthy. The government is shutting down. I cannot look at the troops in the eye and them worry whether they can pay their car loan or their house payment. Lets keep it open while we finish the work we have to get done. What do you say to democrats who say this is rushed, that they need more time to read this bill . Are you willing to give them a couple of hours. How is it rushed with a basic cr . Theyre making lies. No, this only goes 45 days. It has nothing to do with anything else. The only thing thats added in, it helps the faa. Again, the house passed an faa bill. The senate has not. Were trying to solve problems the senate has failed here. We add the Disaster Money for people in hawaii and florida and california that were devastated, that the white house asked for. All we do is say, keep government funded as is, make sure the faa can go forward, make sure the troops and Border Agents are getting paid. [ Inaudible Question ] i tried to make sure [ Inaudible Question ] if you ask questions, let me answer, okay . I tried every different way. Youve watched me day after day after week after week. I tried to pass the most conservative funding bill to keep us going to secure the border. That didnt get enough votes. Here we are hours away before the government shuts down. All im saying is giving an opportunity to keep government open for 45 days because the senate has done their work. We finished doing our work so we can secure the border. If the Border Agents arent paid and were having all this rush in, what would next month look like . I dont want to do that. What would our military look like . Secretary of transportation was complaining about the faa. In here, we protect the faa because the senate didnt do their job and the house did. We keep it funded, keep our work doing. I have made sure house stays in session. People are not going home. People finished doing their work. Hopefully the senate will start theirs and well be able to move forward. That this preserves the status quo spending under pelosi and schumer . Its 45 days. When the government shuts down, those things keep going as well. Were trying to, in this short time period, make sure we get good bills passed, finish doing our jobs and win overall. To be able to secure the border at the end of the day, you cant quit. One thing you know about me, sometimes there are obstacles, but dont lose sight of where the objective is. I dont think the American Public should be punished. If i want to be the adult in the room and the democrats want to vote no and shut the government down, thats on them. What has the president done to keep this government open . Are they lobbying against this bill . Because thats what im hearing. What could they oppose on it . We want to secure the border. We didnt have enough republicans to help us do that. So here we are hours away, keep it open, keep the work going so we can cut the wasteful spending. Are you worried about losing your job given the fact that youre bringing this to the floor . Think about that for one moment. I never fear that. But if i lose my job for looking out for the American Public, for taking a stance for our troops and Border Agents, then im not quite sure what people want. Because this allows us the time to get the job done. But why should they be punished because the senate did nothing . Think about this question. If somebody wants to remove me for putting americans first, so be it. You saw House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy say, its a basic, cr, a shortterm Spending Bill to keep the government going for 45 days, giving him and democrats and republicans enough time to work something out. This is a measure he wants to go for a vote today. Democrats are saying, wait a minute, we need a little bit more time to read through all of this. The House Speaker there clear that it would allow for money to keep paychecks going to u. S. Military, border patrol, but it would not include money for ukraine, the 6. 2 billion in u. S. Aid money. Lauren fox there asking many questions to the House Speaker. He says everyone should be on board, said hes worked really hard and hes also placing blame its Many Democrats who have not been on board with this, but that is absent the fact that there have been a number of republicans who have not been on board with his earlier proposal. So where do things stand . Reporter you heard from the House Speaker that he is viewing himself as, quote, the adult in the room. He made that point earlier today when he was asked whether or not he was afraid he would lose his job if he brought a clean Spending Bill that would fund the government through November 17th to the floor. When we pressed him on the fact that democrats are frustrated that they feel like they have not had enough time to look over this proposal, that once again, if the government is shutdown, he says it will be on democrats, that he is acting as the adult in the room. Repeatedly you see there a defiant speaker, because he knows that even bringing this up, even entertaining the idea of a 45day clean cr that includes funding for disasters, that that could potentially trigger a vote to oust him. That is why he says if they want to make that decision, thats up to them. But he says he is not afraid of losing his job and he is not going to make decisions based on that reality. Lets play back the tape a little bit, because over the last week, House SpeakerKevin Mccarthy has made every effort at every turn to try and get his republican colleagues to back something on a shortterm Spending Bill to keep the Government Funding. He has given conservatives intense cuts on domestic spending, he has tried to provide robust Border Provisions to satisfy that hardright flank that he claims he is not afraid of. Its a huge question. The two biggest questions for me are whether or not this bill can pass, whether or not democrats are going to rally around it. They are meeting in a caucus right now trying to make that decision as a Democratic Caucus who also have the other looming question. What does this mean . What does this decision that mccarthy made today mean for his future . You asked, are you afraid of losing your job, pointblank. He says, im not fearful. He was very defiant, saying hes not fearful. Yet, you just helped convey how he has acquiesced to a small contingent of republicans who are placing demands and they keep reminding him that his job is on the line. So which is it . Is he trying to appease the minority of the republican majority there, many of whom republicans have said theyre on board with earlier bipartisan proposals set forth by the senate . Is he being honest or disingenuous saying hes not feeling pressure from Republicans Holding his job over his head . Reporter there was a revealing moment where he said, i tried, i tried every thing i could think of to try and get hardliners so support something to keep the government open. He said i put as Conservative A Cr on the floor of the house as i thought i could get, and it still wasnt good enough for those members. I want to walk people through what they put on the floor yesterday. That bill had 30 cuts for Government Spending across hhs and the department of interior. They were very significant cuts. They were not enough for hardright members. The calculation for mccarthy allies is that perhaps nothing was going to be enough, perhaps those members were never going to get to yes and they want to force the speaker into a potential position where he had to work across the aisle with democrats. Now the question is, did he wait too long to try and work with democrats and are democrats going to rally around this proposal at the last minute . You can hear through the conversations republican members had today in their Conference Meeting for about two hours that they as a conference had to work through this as well. When they went into the meeting they had one, when they came out, they had another. This is a very, very fluid situation. Obviously the speaker thinks he got there late, but he thinks he is making a decision that, in his view, makes him look like the adult in the room. It is a very fluid situation. Were looking at live pictures where theyre not actually voting on that cr, but instead theyre voting on whether democrats should be given more time to read through this proposal. Reporter what theyre voting on is basically this procedural step that democrats can use to try and just delay the vote on the actual shortterm Spending Bill. This is a delay tactic. This is an opportunity for democrats to continue having conversations with the white house about where the white house thinks they should go to continue conversations with their Senate Counterparts and whether or not they are going to put up a fight over the fact that there is not 6. 2 billion in ukraine funding in this legislation. I just want to point out that this bill would take some time to read. Its not massive spending packages that are thousands of pages long. Democrats want time to go through it and make sure theyre not voting on something thats going to be a surprise for them. 72 pages, if i heard you correctly. Lets bring in David Spurlick from the new york times. David, what do you make of whats taking place in this lastditch effort to try to keep government open . You heard the House Speaker saying i fear not losing my job, but instead im working ing for american people. Hes placing a lot of blames on democrats and the white house for putting him and america in this situation. Yet he says this cr is really simple, it just gives an extra 45 days to work things out, yes to National Disaster spending, yes to paychecks for u. S. Troops and Border Agents, but still theres a big no in this package to any kind of ukraine funding. How do you see things, david . I think that the speaker is in a tough spot and everybody is trying to figure out how much leverage they have and how much they should use it. The holdouts in the Republican Caucus since this Shutdown Threat started have been overplaying their hand in a way. Their party only controls half of congress, not the white house. They are a minority within their own caucus. Yet, they are taking an allornothing stance. Its working, isnt it . Democrats are like were not just going to agree to anything, because we control the senate and the white house. Speaker mccarthy is trying to play the role of the grown up. The problem is hes got the same problem Speaker Boehner had before him, that speaker ryan had before him, which is keep herding cats. He is not like Speaker Pelosi on the democratic side, who could sort of grab people by the collar in their own caucus and say, weve got to do this to keep the government open. It probably makes sense to do a 45day cr. But wheres the ukraine money . And now were kicking this down the road. Now were going to have to have the same argument. Perhaps as you draw the comparison that House Speaker pelosi was able to corral people before. Were not seeing thats House Speaker mccarthys style. However, if he is to get some time with this extra 45 days, perhaps hes looking at it as this gives him time to try to corral everyone. With this minority, its all or nothing. They are succeeding thus far, because he seems lik e hes sub v this is the sort of end point. House members of Congress Backed him to be speaker with the threat that if they didnt get what they wanted down the road, Something Like this might happen. When youre the speaker, youve got to be able to move your caucus and Move Business at the house. Theres no filibuster. Its just a straight majority situation. Youve got to try to keep your caucus in line. The reason i made that analogy about Speaker Pelosi, she was an expert vote counter, expert fundraiser. She commanded her caucus Definitivety Ly that people kne they could break from her, but you have to have good reasons for it and that down the road she might come back to you. Hey, david. We have more to listen to. Heres House Speaker mccarthy. Why do we have to shut down government four or five days because the democrats want to hinge just on ukraine. I want to look at our american troops and make sure they are funded. I think they take priority. Thank you, speaker. All right. You hear him, david, saying i want government working. I want people to get their paychecks. Hes flooding the air waves trying to control the narrative of h