Here. Please no live blogging or tweeting. Corker its a pleasure to be with you. I do enjoy doing these kinds of things. I realize that it is a gift to serve in the senate and to wake up on a daily basis and deal with issues that matter. I have enjoyed very much dealing with senator menendez. We have a number of issues in the senate. We have had a good run as far as causing things to happen. I think, instead of me giving a lot of opening comments i would rather just take questions. Cook let me throw a one or two ceremonial softballs in the monitor tradition. What do you expect from tomorrows meetings at camp david and how worrisome is it that some gulf state leaders did not show up or are not showing up . Corker behind the scenes many expressed great frustration. You know, we bump into these people, and there is a lot of concern about the realignment they see taking place and concerns about just the iran deal itself. There are some concerns about some of the positions that the United States has taken in yemen or the calls that are being made to calm things down. Some is real. Some is convenience issues of leaders being here. But certainly, there was an arms producer in my office yesterday, this is certainly anecdotal. But i do think there is an effort in the region now to really begin building up militarily and concerns about the United States commitments to the region and to various entities that have been our allies. I think it is real and some folks not being here is a matter of convenience. One last one from me and we will move around the table. Alan a colleague from Fortune Magazine wrote that the us cannot deliver on a trade deal it has spent nearly a decade negotiating. What is your view of what happened yesterday in the senate . Corker the second week of dealing with the iran bill trade had entered as a complicating factor. Generally speaking, i very much agree with that writer. I was in Southeast Asia last august. I think for us to fail to pass tpa and then fail on tpp would be a major setback. It is very important in many ways, and good for the citizens of our countries. I think it is going to be dealt with. I was talking to staff coming over here and understand there is a new offer, if you will, relative to moving this package along. There are differing viewpoints as to what happened coming out of finance and what the commitments were relative to which packages would be linked together at what times on the floor. But based on what i understand ten minutes ago coming into this meeting is maybe there is a path forward. It is important to our country and incredibly important to the region and this is something where we cannot fail. We have to reach an agreement and move ahead with tpa. We want a balanced and fair trade agreement and we dont want to, like we have done on other things we need to continue to negotiate in a way that is in our national interest. But tpp done right is important for the country. Cook john stan from buzz feed . John the administration has been criticized for checking out on the negotiations. Where does that stand . What could it do to pick up the ball . Or is that sort of too late . Corker; i notice the media is not tuned out on that for some reason. So, look. I have spent a lifetime trying to produce outcomes, do things that matter, produce results. And i think all of you recognize that at least the way the amf was sent forth, the passage of it is going to have zero affect on anything that is happening on the ground at present. Every witness coming from the administration states they believe the administration was already on legal grounds in going after isis isil whatever you want to call them. This isnt a pejorative statement its an observation. No democrats supports it as it was sent over. And no republican, or i dont know of any, but i dont think any republican nor democrat, believes there is a strategy, if you will in, in syria, relative to the entire conflict. Republicans are looking at what was limiting amf. They are concerned about embracing that because then it would appear you are embracing a nonstrategy in syria. There is a few complications here. And the whitehouse is going back to the end question and exhert zero effort. There is going to be no effort whatsoever to pass it. I appreciate them talking with members on the committee. Now, i agree with many people who inquired that it doesnt mean we should not deal with the issue. Their staff, my own staff, is divided. Mostly believe they probably are at the fringes of what they are doing being legal. Its on the fringes. Much of what the democratic push, again this is not pejorative, most is limited on the next president. It isnt about authorizing what is being done, it is about limiting the next president. If you look at those things it is a different type of authorization is it not . The activities have been underway for some time. We are beginning to have discussions. What i dont want to do is go through a process that indicates for to rest of the world that somehow the United States is divided on the issue of dealing with daesh. I dont want to do that. I dont think that is a good thing for our country. On the other hand i understand that if there is a path forward, where you can complete the process successfully, it is Something Worthy of pursuing. We are beginning to have those conversations to discuss how we rectify the forces that have been a part of this from the beginning. If a path forward can be seen that can be solved, none of this has one iota of affect relative to what is happening on the ground. Now i will stop there. There are things on the ground that need to be dealt with. It is pretty fascinating and one of the big problems with the administrations Foreign Policy is there continues to be divisions. It is amazing. If you are in the building and in the whitehouse your voice is obviously heard. If you are outside of the building then in essence it is very difficult to have any impact on the Big Decisions that need to be made. But think about it. We have a clean and equip program underway. You know, it is a train and equip program that is overt other alleged programs that have been underway to go after a different enemy. But you know, in a public forum, the joint chief is saying that you know, obviously it is a practical issue to have a train and equip program and know you will introduce people trained in isis to go back to the arena but they have not asked for an authorization. They are debating that. They know as a practical matter it will absolutely fail because you will no longer be able to recruit people to the program that are going to be barrelbombed but they have not asked for that. It is an interesting in the very beginning, i have huge respect for our state Department Envoy general allen. He is a true patriot. I have spent a good deal of time on the phone with him and in person. But it is evident that again the administration has not been willing to make decisions that will cause things to move along. It has to be frustrating for all of those who occupy space outside of the building i would say probably including the Vice President. But you know these decisions are not being made. The humanitarian issues, which i think one of the lowest moments of u. S. Foreign policy, the lowest moment of u. S. Foreign policy since i have been in the senate which is eight years and four or five months was the time frame in august 2013 when we figuratively jumped into the russians lap to avoid dealing with assad. And the affects around the world are real and deep. I think it is going to take a long time to overcome that. I think that is one of the reasons you asked me the earlier question about people in the region right now in iran and this meeting taking place next week created huge distrust. I could give you, me travelling to saudi arabia immediately thereafter, and the kinds of things that have been said about our country and our willingness to actually follow through. Again, let me come back to that. The minor decisions, well i dont want to say they are minor, but the decisions of getting turkey involved on the ground, and the fact that, you know, the nofly zone if you want to call it. We use air exclusion zones because we can do it in a different way than the norm in certain areas of syria, but not dealing with the humanitarian crisis that has come out of this is beyond belief. I have been to the refugee camps. I cannot go again. I cannot go again because i have been there and looked these people in the eye whose sons and nephews and cousins and uncles and brothers have been part of the opposition. And we told them what we were going to do and we did not deliver. 220,000 people at least are dead. We have not done the things we said we would deliver. The general cratered and may be making his way back in now. But there is a lot to this that makes the aumf more complicated than the norm. Not the least of which is obviously a lack of commitment by the United States to actually deal with the issue. I have wandered around on this area. I use to use the word containment to describe what we were doing in syria and it would upset Administration Officials when i used that word. Now they use it. Cook zach from politico. Yes, sir . Zach yesterday, senator shelby unveiled his bill to help community and regional banks and the fed and mortgage finance. What do you think of the bill . And we are already hearing senator brown and warner say it is overreach. Do you think senator shelby will have to dial it back to win the democrats . Corker i dont know. I think there are real concerns on the democratic side about the bill. As far as how it will be handled, i dont know. I am just getting to go through it. My staff went through it extensively title by title. I think there is huge issues around the Community Bank issues that need to be dealt with. Some of the other areas are where the division began. I dont know enough yet to answer. It seems like that with every question you ask me. I have not had a conversation yet with shelby. I dont know what his plan is. Obviously what i dont want to participate in is a solely partisan effort that doesnt produce an outcome. Back to my earlier comments, i think we understand a partisan effort on a banking bill is not going to produce an outcome. What i would like to see us do is figure out a way to produce an outcome. I hope that is where senator shelby is and wants to be. As to if this is the beginning document and he plans to move in various directions i dont know. But hopefully i will in the next 24 hours. Cook mary . Mary you told me a couple months ago you would rather lay down in the Railroad Tracks than have another short term extension. Seems to be that is where we are headed. What did you think . Corker look, the writing is on the wall. I will be stunned if republicans deal with the Highway Trust Fund responsibly. It isnt going to happen. The republicans, my friends, us, i am part of this although i disagree with this policy. We are becoming the party of what conservative means is spending almost the same amount, sometimes more, but not paying for it. And that is conservative behavior today. It isnt what i grew up or what tennessee as you know embodies. We have zero road debt in tennessee because we pay for our roads as we go. But the budget i think you know we had a little hitch there and im ready to make a point and made multiple conversations on both sides of the capital to talk about this next years progress. The first step toward showing we can responsibly deal with issues that matter is the highway bill. But it very much appears to me there wile be a kick the can down the road. We will engage in generational theft again what we are good at doing and do something irresponsible. This is like the simplest math issue right . People talk about Social Security being a simple math issue and medicare is more difficult, but the Highway Trust Fund is certainly the simplist of math issues. It has been paid for by user fees. It is absolutely evident that republicans are not going to deal with user fees. You would think the next step would be to lower the amount of money going into the infrastructure. If you are not raising user fees you would think you would spend the amount of money coming in. That is not going to happen. We will spend the same amount. And we will kick the can down the road. Irresponsible, total failure abdication of leadership and again, the definition of conservative is now becoming spending the same amount of money about not paying for it. Cook chuck of the st. Louis postdispatch. Chuck the hundredth anniversary of what the pope and many other say is Armenian Genocide passed last month. The president hasnt used that term over the last seven years and didnt this year even though there was anticipation he might. The turkish government has hired the former speaker of the house as their lobbyist. What do you think it says about the lobby in this town and about the power of the revolving door . Corker you are more attuned to the revolving door issue than i am. I am still attuned to inside the building. The turkish issue, and the genocide issue, and the call from armenians to declare it in a certain way there are significant, you know, relationship issues that exist with turkey. I dont really think the cause of things not being more publically discussed is the revolving door. I think it is the relationship we have with turkey and it is important to so many things happening in the region. Cook francine from the monitor. Francine i want to go back to the aumf but tie it with iran. In both cases, congress wanted a say on aumf and on what to do about the iran bill. But it seems like once they get the opportunity to have their say they cannot figure out what they want to say on aumf. There is no agreement on what to do. Is that what is coming if we get a final iran deal . It comes to congress . It can not figure out what to do . It cant agree on how to deal with the bill and how to act on it . Corker with all do respect, i think that is a very unfair assessment. The first step in an aumf is to send one over. What congress has done, and i hope the house and senate will do or hopefully what the house will do this week is pass something. I hope they take back the power from the president. He has the National Security waiver today and that has been taken back. It is interesting i read today some of the stories many of you write and the discussion about democrats, you know, trade and countering the president , on iran it was fascinating to me how as we continue to chip away there is an avalanche of democrats willing to take back power from the president on iran. It is pretty fascinating. It took a lot of work. We got menendez and mccain who were close to the administration and they lobbied and lobbied and the president had him over multiple times. Then we end up having an avalanche. The aumf is an intellectual exercise. It is not something that is producing a result. We need to deal with it. But i do think they are on the fringes legally and operating in a legal fashion. I think that it is debatable. If i win the whitehouse maybe i shouldnt say that. They are close to the line. It will not change what they are doing. They cannot agree. They are having internal debates and been frozen for a long time. They have a policy of containment and you are not seeing much in the way of results. Cook paul from the Washington Examiner . Paul you were named one of the time top 100, i think. And your colleague alexander said you should be secretary of state you are such a great guy. I thought that was a nice thing to say. I was wondering, and understand you are both from tennessee, this relationship you have is beneficial and helpful to the state. I was wondering if you can talk about the secret to having both senators work so closely together and the benefit to a state like yours. Corker i could not be more fortunate to work with someone like Lamar Alexander who wakes up every single day trying to bring out the best in those around him. Lamar is someone who i first thought about running for public office, statewide, i sought out and spent a lot of time talking with. He and i both loved and cherished howard baker. Lamar was his staffer back in the day when senators have one staffer. There is a longterm relationship there. As a matter of fact we are having dinner tonight. But i do think it is beneficial in our state to have two people that dont compete in any way. Two people that wish only the very best for the other. Two people that celebrate the successes of the other. Two people who are very different with different backgrounds and have focused on different sets of issues and candidly follow each others lead when we know the other person has more expertise and knowledge in other areas. Lamars knowledge of higher education, having been president over university, over a University Oh university of a university and mine are very different. It is a great relationship. It is rare. You watch people in the senate and sometime people of the same party have more rivalries than you can imagine. And that is not the case with us. Andy glass from politico. Thank you. Following up with a question for the german, feature the chair around, the chairman, stipulating for the record, a deal with iran from the administration can be made and if congress is unhappy with the results it is not eager or willing to lift the sanctions. My question is are you concerned that russia, china, and maybe france will say we are out of here and the United States will be isolated on this issue . Yes, if the p5 plus 1 come to an agreement and the United States leadership obviously is a part of that and things come to congress and Congress Says no we are not satisfied with the deal. I understand fully the precarious situation that puts the United States congress in and our country. I understand. What i hope is going to happen and we know for sure that in switzerland during the political agreement time that took place around the first part of april i know for a fact that when the negotiators thought that congress was going to play a role, it looked like there was momentum that it had a positive affect. Ok . What i hope is going to happen is it will have a positive affect as we move ahead. One of my fellow senators mentioned to me that in the senate, the concerns they have been ra