About the strike and where negotiations stand in just a moment. Meanwhile on Capitol Hill Congress is divided on how to avoid a Government Shutdown with the house and senate pursuing two very different courses on a funding solution. And also ahead, one of the most influential democrats in congress is calling for senator bob menendez to resign following his indictment on bribery charges. Well show you what the new jersey democrat had to say about the piles of cash hidden around his home. Good morning and welcome to Way Too Early on this tuesday, september 26th. Im jonathan lemire. Thanks for starting your day with us. Well begin this morning with new nbc news polling that shows that americans think republicans ar better than democrats at handling most key issues. According to the latest survey registered voters trust the gop more to handle Border Security, the economy, crime, and immigration. Republicans are also trusted more to protect Constitutional Rights and by a slim margin protect democracy. Its hard to believe in the wake of january 6th. Meanwhile democrats are narrowly favored when it comes to looking out for the middle class. Theyre also trusted more to handle education, covid19, abortion rights, and health care. Since an nbc news poll taken last year, republicans have somehow flipped the script on the issue of protecting democracy. Last year dems held a 7Point Advantage over the gop. Now republicans lead by one point. The gop has also made serious gains on the issue of looking out for middle class. The current 2 point lead for democrats is down from the 8 Point Advantage back in 2019, and the smallest the gap has ever been in the history of this nbc news poll, which dates back to 1989. Worrisome trends there perhaps for democrats. Meanwhile the top democrat, president joe biden, hell join striking auto workers on the picket lines today. The president will meet with Union Members in wayne county, michigan. Sources are telling nbc news uaw president shawn fain is expected to be there. Tens of thousands of auto workers walked off their jobs nearly two weeks ago after their contract with general motors, stellantis and ford expired. Theyre demanding better wages which the president supports. I think the uaw gave up an incredible amount with what the industry was going over and they saved the automobile industry. And i think that now the industry is roaring back, that they should participate in the benefit of that. And taking a look at significant increase for Salary Increase for executives and growth in the industry, they should benefit from that. According to the white house this is the first time a sitting president has visited a picket line in modern times, but its not the first time for biden. Back in 2019 when he was running for president , biden joined several strikers including a uaw picket line in kansas city. Joining us now White House Reporter for the associated press. Darlene, great to see as always. Lets start with that brand new nbc news poll. Some pretty surprising numbers, to be candid, and worrisome ones for democrats and in particular the Biden Campaign on issues of defending democracy, which just seems hd to fathom but also on ones that voters may be thinking about as they head to the llot box, issues like the economy, crime, immigration and Border Security. Whats your take . Good morning, jonathan. Well, those are all issues that President Biden has been struggling on since he took office. Certainly the economy, immigration. I think what one of the things you see with the Immigration Number is a carryover from the trump years where he was very prosealing the border, blocking immigrants, and he was just viewed stronger on that issue by the public than democrats are. And so some of that would seem to me to be just a bit of a carry over from that. So, darlene, lets talk about the president s trip later today. We just heard him there. Hes always been prolabor. He identifies himself as being very friendly with the unions. Hes had experience on picket lines before. This also seems to me this seems like a bit of an unofficial start to the campaign. The president is going there today and we know donald trump is going there tomorrow. Trying to win support of Rank And File members and michigan is one of the most important states on the battlefield. Thats right. Michigan is one of the handful of states that will help decide the 2024 president ial election next year, so overlaying the visit by both President Biden and former President Trump is 2024 president ial politics, and both men kind of using the visit to try to appeal or tap into some of the angst amongst Working Class people about the economy and their jobs and so forth. The uaw and former President Trump have been concerned about President Bidens push for auto makers to move toward Electric Vehicles, and thats one thing well see former President Trump trying to exploit, perhaps tomorrow when he visits. And then you have the president who has said that hes the most prounion president ever in the history of the United States of america going there to walk a picket line, to kind of demonstrate that, in fact, he is behind the uaw workers. Yeah, certainly the white house trying to create important images for the president. As you say darlene trying to stand for the union movement. Thank you for joining us this morning and getting us started. Meanwhile, in the building behind darlene, congress will be back in session today and the House Republican leadership is looking to move forward with the series on individual Spending Bills. However, debate on those bills wont get the house any closer on a solution to avoiding a shutdown, which likely means both chambers will need to approve a Stop Gap Bill in order to approve the Government Funding. House speaker Kevin Mccarthy said yesterday his caucus is working on such a plan but did not provide any details. Mccarthy, did, however, express his frustration over the conservative hoed outs in his ranks who said they would oppose such a move. Why would they want to stop paying the troops or stop paying the border agents, the coast guard . I dont understand how that makes you stronger. Dont understand what point youre trying to make. Meanwhile, the New York Times is reporting members of the senate had begun working on a Stop Gap Funding Bill of their own to send onto the house. A major Sticking Point is whether to include contentious provisions such as aid for ukraine or Border Security or whether to focus the bill solely on funding the government. Donald trump, meanwhile, returned today the Campaign Trail in south carolina. The gop front runner held a rally in somerville yesterday. This was the first event in the state since back in skbrl. During his speech trump talked about the 2016 president ial race and appeared to confuse his then opponent jeb bush with former president bush. They thought bush was bush was supposedly a military person, i said great. He got us into the middle east. How did that work out, right . But they all thought bush might win, remember jeb. You mean hes ashamed of the last name and immediately started using the name bush. Not really sure what thats about, and theres also a part in his speech where he said windmills are killing whales. Well have much more on the president s remarks ahead on morning joe. Still ahead on Way Too Early weve got new reporting on the southern border where illegal crossings have been rising steadily since the start of the month. Also ahead federal agents say they found stacks of cash wrapped in jackets and gold bars hidden in the home of democratic senator bob menendez, but the lawmaker from new jersey says theres an innocent explanation for all of that. Well bring you his story. All that and a check on weather and sports when we come right back. Heck on weather and sports when we come right back listen, your deodorant just has to work. I use secret aluminum free. Just swipe and it lasts all day. Secret helps eliminate odor, instead of just masking it. And hours later, i still smell fresh. Secret works ohhh yesss. Fisher Investments in this market, youll find Fisher Investments is different than other Money Managers. Ohhh yesss. other Money Manager different how . Arent we all just looking for the hottest stocks . Fisher Investments nope. 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Welcome back as we turn to some of the mornings other top headlines, senator bob menendez remains defiebt and is refusing to step down while more democrats are starting to call for him to resign. Menendez held a Press Conference yesterday where he said he had no pla t upez his senate seat and continued to deny any wrongdoing. The Garden State Lawmaker also attempted to explain nearly 500,000 in cash that prosecutors said was found in his home stuffed in envelopes and hidden in clothing. For 30 years i have withdrawn thousands of dollars in cash from my personal Savings Account, which i have kept for emergencies and because of the history of my family Facing Confiscation in cuba. Now, this may seemed oldfashioned, but were monies drawn from my personal Savings Account based on the income i have lawfully derived over those 30 years. I look forward to addressing other issues at trial. All right. Meanwhile, two more Senate Democrats have called on menendez to resign including ohio senator sherrod brown, the chairman of the banking committee. In a statement senator brown said, Quote Senator Menendez has broken the public trust and should resign from the u. S. Senate. Decratic senator peter welch menendezs resignation saying in part, quote, the shocking and specific allegations against senator menendez has compromised his capacity to be an effective senator. Last night in an appearance on inside with jen psaki, former House Speaker nancy pelosi also called on menendez to step down while comparing the situation to indicted republican representative from new york, The One And Only george santos. If, in fact, were going to say if youre indicted you should resign, we have a situation in the house as you know from the state of new york that would hold to. But right now, sadly, because of the challenges that we face, because the skepticism that exists in our country about governance, about this Republican Party that doesnt believe in governance, doesnt believe in signs so wants to take down everything in order to give tax breaks to the wealthiest, weve got to stay focused on that, and for that reason itd be probably be a good reason if he did resign. Turning now to the border, cities across the u. S. Mexico border are sounding the alarm amid a new surge in illegal crossings. Nbc news Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainsley has more. Reporter the border crisis up close. Our cameras there as this group of hundreds of migrants illegally crossed the rio grande into eagle pass, texas. Border patrol removing razor wire installed by Texas Governor greg abbott. Behind me Border Patrol holding Young Children to try to keep them crossing in this area with razor wire. Federal agents start cutting the wire allowing migrants to enter the u. S. Most of these migrants are from venezuela. We meet this family with a 6yearold son who just cut his arm on the wire. What weve gone through on this journey, its not worth it he tells us. Deaths along the way, blackmail, they rob us, they kid nap he says. This young woman said she was sexually assaulted and extorted in mexico. They gather with hundreds of migrants under this bridge. Dhs officials tell us most migrants illegally crossing the border are processed and released into the u. S. Weve just learned in august over 300,000 migrants crossed the border, the highest monthly total ever. In just the last 24 hours, over 11,000 migrants were encountered by customs and border protection. The mayor of el paso sounding the alarm. Republican texas congressman Austin Fluger blames bidens Border Policies for encouraging more migrants to come. Stop abandoning us. This is not normal. Thats nbcs Julia Ainsley reporting. Well be stay on top of that story all week long. Still ahead here on were, well explain why the push to introduce more Electric Vehicles is a major issue in that auto worker strike. Plus september is living up to its reputation as a bad month for wall street. Cnbc will join us live for more insight whats driving the markets lower. Well be right back. Driving the markets lower. Well be right back. My most important kitchen tool . My brain. So i choose new neuriva ultra. Unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including Mental Alertness from one serving. To help keep me sharp. Try new neuriva ultra. Think bigger. [ ] try new neuriva ultra. Theres a way to cut your dishwashing time by 50 . Try Dawn Powerwash dish spray. It removes 99 of grease and grime in half the time. It cleans so well, you can replace multiple cleaning products. Try Dawn Powerwash. Makes the cut. The nights first touch down and the bengals go on top. Thats running back joe mickson scoring the first and only touch down for the bengals last night to put cincinnati ahead of the Los Angeles Rams for good. Burrow shook off a calf strain that had his status in question right up to the break. He still didnt look great but he through 250 yards. Beating the rams 1916. To tampa bay now. The Philadelphia Eagles won this one against the buccaneers. Both teams were undefeated going into the game. Quarterback jalen hurts through for a td and ran for a drive. The win sets the champions off to a 30 start for consecutives seasons for the First Time Since 1992. We turn to major league baseball. Teams are making their push for playoffs. To seattle the Houston Astros earned a much needed win after being swept by the lowly Kansas City Royals over the weekend. They beat the mariners 51 behind a vintage performance from ace justin verlander. He struck out eight batters taking a two run shutout in the ninth. The astros have now opened up a 1 1 2 game lead over the mariners for the third and Final Al Wild Card spot. Seattle needs some wins. Meanwhile in anaheim three consecutive home runs in the sixth inning lifted the Texas Rangers to a sixth straight win. This one 51 over the Los Angeles Angel a they took another step closer to the postseason. The angels lead the al west 2 1 2 games over the astros. Just two to clench a playoff. One of it best stories in baseball all yearlong. Also a note back to Wriggly Field over the weekend, it remains a magical place. Time now for the weather and lets go to meteorologist Angie Lassman for the forecast