Transcripts For CSPAN2 Sen. Corker Sen. Warner On Bipartisa

CSPAN2 Sen. Corker Sen. Warner On Bipartisanship November 17, 2017

Too close to the Election Year but then the republicans were doing the same even passing simple bills together. So start by asking the question is there any point to buy partisanship anymore end what point does it serve . Bipartisanship means when you pass a piece of legislation that will serve the pass the test of time now one supports the other the other Party Immediately begins to try to unwind it. If you can get 70 or 80 percent success on the other side there is always some overlap then again that will stand the test of time and for what it is worth in the Foreign Relations committee, we never start a process without a bipartisan way with a marker on the intel committee. Do you agree . I agree. If there is one thing i have learned and why we do have had careers in the business with the idea to say i will take ideas from this half of the room but not ideas from this half of the room . That is fundamentally foreign to anyone from a business background and in politics that could be the whole endeavor where theyre only success is fundamentally different from that principle. And i would also argue there is no other system in terms of democracies around the world that is built like cars for girl that was set up to require that forced compromise Neither Party has a monopoly on truth and if you dont have that bipartisanship they dont stand the test of time but you will end up in the repeated gridlock. After one of the debates if we cannot find ways to break through this bin will we stand the test of time . I was never a fan until recently but in many ways whoever wins i think our system works better for the most part over the last cater 10 years but that should raise questions in my mind. So to talk about a universal truth what is going on . So talk about your home states. Whenever we are together. [laughter] i think we turn the keys to the extreme. How did they get the key . They bring the energy this sense of we have is of meridens of red shirt and blue shirt and i would argue that it has gotten worse we are concentrating too much power not a critique of any prospective leader but republican and Democratic Leaders in the house and senate where in the settings that we can always Work Together there were more worse Power Centers that were a distinct that they could concentrate into the Party Leadership and then when it is reinforced we end up with this divide. I think you do think in terms of the chairman so what is your observation . What do you feel on chairing a committee that is traditionally bipartisan . Do you agree . I would make up a different point why Foreign Policy is so important to the safety of men and women in uniform at least that the insurers hedge it is important that we Work Together in with Foreign Policy to make sure absolutely it stands of a test of time i have never been partisan but number one, i know people back home dont like to hear this but washington reflects the country and the country is very divided. Second, talk about the way the whole congress has changed, we used to have people in the northeast that were republicans weigh more liberal bin southern democrats. So bipartisanship was easier to come by but now if you would get the map and follow ideology it does not overlap as much we have basically destroyed the senate. That 60 vote threshold is off now when i first came here it wasnt quite this way but when i came in 2006 fast forward two years later what happened with the outside groups started to score the votes not even the actual vote but the cloture vote so now bullseyes schumer is under pressure to block and we have taken something that was supposed to be used to stop debate because it had been debated so long overusing it to stop from going ahead. So now that requires you to allow something to go ahead. Or that threshold will have rules that i hope does not happen. I dont believe the country is as divided. There are regional differences but we generate a lot of that enthusiasm for mr. Trump and the thought of just get things done feeling so i dont want to start off with disagreeing. What do you think about that bifurcated media culture where people are getting their information only from one news source that it is the universal truth . We didnt have to worry about that i am feeling at the New York Times. [laughter] but do you have feelings . Even in your own states . I think everything you watch past 6 00 in the evening is detrimental to your thinking. [laughter] [applause]. Anger leads many articles at length and so i have no idea what he is thinking about things and yet, most people go through life and now kids are just getting these headlines which dont give any news, but the evening cable programs even though i respect many of the commentators, i really do, i just cant watch it and its sad to me that our nation is really entertaining. Its where you keep the base excited and bridled up and if you can build upon that and want to go more energetic or extreme than what youre doing, then you make more money and people are viewing it as news, but its not. And it hurts. And we both grew up in the age where we started with Just Three Networks and you have basically Walter Cronkite and there was a common back stitch but you can argue about. I was in the Technology Business longer than politics, but this enormous ecosystem that we created this social media and the increasing number of people in those devices, the average couple of guys that used to be on facebook and google say look at the device is about 150 times a day and again, we are the only kind of an giving the companies every time we look at the devices more information about us. They are not driven to one side or the other but if you look at a conservative story, theyve got to produce a more conservative and outrageous story. So where is the common square where you start with the same news front and now we have different sets of facts and the ability for outside forces with a little bit of money and a few number of hackers to manipulate the news that comes on any of our devices no matter how non factually based thats only going to exponentially worse in. You mentioned the interference. Lets talk about that a little bit more. You have made an effort to make that bipartisan. Do you think that your committee can produce a consensus document . We have the consensus that they interfered in our elections and i think we will have a clear consensus that they didnt change the votes that they touched the Electoral Systems and they need to up their game because they will be back and weve got to figure out a way to sort through i o pin collaboration with social Media Companies that bear some responsibility if we are still in the disclosure to be partners in this. I think there remains a huge open question and one of the things weve tried to do is the question of was there or not inclusion i am keeping an open mind until the end. We have more people to talk to. I think if we can come through a bipartisan conclusion, it would be extraordinarily valuable to the country. Having the issue like this and some split i think would be very determined to let time will tell. Does it bother you the president of the United States is using this to basically look at all of the probes into russia is a witch hunt . Spinnaker isnt a Single Member including all the people President Trump appointed. They were reluctant to acknowledge the suggestions at first. You talk to the french and their cycle and they know about the disinformation campaign. Heres the frightening thing. Add up all of the money they spend and double it down and theres still one airplane so this is a great investment in the way that i think the conflict will start to play out and of course it bothers me that we dont have a whole of government approach to stop it. It could be the chinese or some other entity going forth on how to prevent that. Looking at that, in an odd way do you think that President Trump has created some bipartisanship thats pushed a lot of democrats further to the left. Remember when they said there is moderate democrats that will have to vote for the healthcare bill it didnt work out that way. I think we can all agree they would be unified against the president , but senator corker do you observe the areas with democrats and republicans together i know the senators made a big deal about the policy differences and how to address beas issues so do you think that in that way there is a Bipartisan Coalition . I dont know that i want to do the cause and effect necessarily. Bernie sanders and rand paul. I rest my case. [laughter] i dont want to jinx something but theres a number of other things. I think what is happening in the senate ive seen the senate and i think your committee is doing the same thing, i know we are. I think they are beginning to rise to the occasion. I want to be careful about my comments because of some of the things that happened the last 60 days but there i is an better correction coming out of the white house that typically would come out of the white house like on a healthcare bill typically the white house would produce what it is they want to pass. Tax reform worked closely together. I see the Senate Rising to the occasion. Ive been proud of the recent hearings we had. We just did one on the Nuclear Issue is. Moving back to the place all of us would like it to be we are going through some big issues right now and from our standpoint and many standpoints and in inappropriate wa an appro these big issues and. I see the Senate Taking up some of the vacuum where you might have things directly coming out of the white house. Theres a little bit more candid about some of your feelings. In terms of your personal journey shall we say, you played an inside outside game if you will. You wouldnt hold back on your criticism of things they did. Did he ask you to be president of the state and is that something people assumed you would want to do . We will get back to that. You tried to do both things but some things seem to make you throw up your hands and say forget it. What can you tell us from behind the scene as . [applause] first of all i dont think so there have been some issues at the top. These are the people i was dealing with anyway. Im talking with generals and others and nothing has really stopped. Who knows, i was one of those people that sometimes gets called for times a week by the president and when a big decision was being made and he had his staff sitting around the oval office, they would call before a big decision was being made and i am still someone that was called about the big things but yes, i think what probably began is i was critical when i needed t it to be in by this constructive when i needed it to be. They were meant to be constructive and where things got a little bit more cursed was after the charlottesville deal. The governing model for dividing the country to solidify the base is just not one that i could adhere to. [applause] there was something about the episode thats turned up the volume a little bit. He had not yet demonstrated stability nor some of the confidence necessary to be successful. The world needed to be successful. At the meeting ended fine and i dont know what the second series was. One sunday morning they were repeating something i said, i dont know what it was but it generated a tweet. I dont know, i just typed out the response and he said lets take a 2 20 minute breath on ths one. [laughter] its just not the way that i conduct myself, but i think that half the time you have to push back. I know its going to sound pretty boring. Ive been meaning to tell you about for ten years now. I do think there are moments in their relationthe relations come Intelligence Committee we have virtual unanimity with fairly significant t bill didnt get a lot of attention right now with nine democrats and nine republicans on some relief for Community Banks and putting the band back together on the reform, which is literally one of the most complicated issues ive ever dealt with. But, there are things that frankly just to see off. It was only trying to be done for one team and now missing a vote or two, which i can already tell you what the results are going to be, i spent years trying to get the country to focus on the debt and deficit. I was an advocate for the bill as well and i worked in the only place where being a gang member is a good thing. We need reform in the country, but this process where it is done with one team only, there was a great visual contrast. The president Ronald Reagans proposals from the last time we reformed, and President Trump was a flyer. We are talking about something now that would have 10 trillion worth of an effect. Its going to badmouth 1. 4 but based on a group we both respect in the federal budget all these kind of exploding timebombs, 500 plus Million Dollars of these exploding things and another 2. 2 trillion. And the kind of unwillingness to sit down and say we have to find a way to make america competitive on the international basis and we often make the tax code simpler that would mean trying to bring money back to. It felt like after the healthcare debacle took two or three times failing that was an effort given me a lot of lamar alexander, patty murray how can we put some together on health care and then it slowed down a little bit. If this effort on the finance fails, we ought to be able to do this in a way that makes us more competitive. The lack of fiscal responsibility is such an embarrassment. Lets talk about this tax bill it would raise the dead by a trillion dollars over ten years and likely passed by a single democrat. Curious how you think that could have gone differently. You were complaining about the process and you mentioned the obamacare process. Is that a positive comparison even though it ended up being completely partisan in the end coming and how do you personally think that the situation could have gone better . Of course we are not comple complete, but i think both sides of the aisle have through the years begun to take greater and greater advantage of the reconciliation of us never intendethat was neverintended tt is the process by the way where one side of the aisle if they have control of both sides can pass which is the 150 plus one vote. So its not good. Above rule you cant really end up with a product that works as well as if you did it under regular order and you dont have all those things that keep you from doing it in the most elegant and appropriate way. We can come up with a Better Process if we took a longer period of time to make it happen so you end up in a situation where you say i wish we were doing it in a different way that this is the way that its being done, the decision is being made at a different level so then you come into do yo in to do you lie substance or not. Is it a substance you agree with or not and i think for the republicans do two things they were elected on his healthcare reform and tax reform and i hope what is going to occur in the process after it is completed we can move to a regular order issue where there is some sort f an urgency around dealing with those issues and moving them out of the way. The only thing i would add to that, what i heard from so many of my colleagues we should and e excessively to our death. The only place in america if we are running 600 billion this year we high five each other. We would be bankrupt and the notional idea. America ranks in new york the competitive tax we have a Smaller Government then im advocating here so one of the things i hear is if this effort doesnt go through democrats von and we will be at a disadvantage. If you want to find a way to bring back 2 trillion find a way to bring back a modicum of the tax relief, sign me up but what to do it anyway that has input from both sides and also doesnt add dramatically to the debt because going back to what bob earlier said, not that its going to be a precursor of next year though i hope it will be. [applause] [inaudible] you are not going to have any certainty because if they win next year the first thing they will try to do is the one Party Solution on taxes and health. It isnt so complicated that there isnt a way to figure it out. Voting against rid of the popular bills one of two people against a very popular veterans bill wasnt even attempted to be paid for. If the bill was completed if i feel during the ten year bill it doesnt add to the deficit. [applause] we will see the growth assumptions and they are not completed yet. Its not going to produce the deficits but lets see maybe we will prove that out. One of the things when you use a trillion and a half number, we are seeking the current wall to the current policy. All of you know we keep the policies in place but we keep kicking the can. My point is a i think they are over at demagogue in it and we are overselling it and what i want to do is see what is completed and. I think any nation, he said at last week when youve are reachable employment and do a tax cut with borrowed money, you get huge unemployment and dont have substantial debt you can get growth but with this it hasnt played out in any nation in the last 50 years and secondly when some of my republican colleagues acknowledged as much they made some of the things around businesses permanent and some of the things people really like in the middl middleclass run for e years and what the chairman said it is we always come back and fix those. Thats why this group that i have respect for that is bipartisan on the budget as any group i know said it isnt a 1. 4 chilean dollar number you add up the number because what will happen when the tax cut comes out a say we have to continue it. Lets tell the people the real cost and again come he probably hasnt dug into it as much but this has a series of exploding policy issues and we just ought to be straight with people if we add this much when both teams have gone up 23 and are dead already we ought to at least be straight with you. Bo

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