Washington post. And the creation of an alternate reality in alabama. Weve seen malicious, false attacks which reflect the immorality of our time. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. The first calendar year of the Trump Presidency is almost over and republicans cannot point to a single major legislative accomplishment. Despite total control of the federal government. Which is why the gop is now in an absolutely desperate sprint to pass a tax bill and to avert a possible Government Shutdown set to take place just ten days from now. One that could turn what has already been a terrible year for the gop into an utter and complete debacle. We begin with the looming shutdown. Today the top leaders in congress Mitch Mcconnell, Chuck Schumer, paul ryan, nancy pelosi were supposed to meet with President Trump at the white house to hammer out a bill to keep the lights on this. Before the meeting the president undermined the negotiations tweeting, meeting with chuck and nancy today about keeping government open and working. Okay, fine. Problem is they want Illegal Immigrants flooding into our capital country unchecked, weak on crime, i dont see a deal. Chuck and nancy as the president likes to call the two most democrats in the country pulled out of the white house meeting in response to that manifestly hostile tweet. With his tweet this morning, President Trump made sure that todays meeting is nothing but a photo op. These issues are far too serious for these kinds of games. Mr. President , its time to stop tweeting and start leading. Schumer and pelosi offered to meet with mcconnell and ryan to negotiate directly but they were rebuffed, instead the Republican Leaders went to the white house to sit around a really big table with the president and have empty chairs with placards and pretend this was all chuck and nancys fault. So they decided not to show up. Theyve been all talk and theyve been no action. And now its even worse. Now its not even talk. And i just think its very regrettable our democratic colleagues in leadership chose to not participate because we have to negotiate these bills to get this worked on. Ive been in this position under a couple of previous president s. I cant recall ever turning down an opportunity to go down to the white house. They should be calling immediately and saying, we want to see you. Probably they wont because nothing to them is important other than raising taxes. Well be Fact Checking that claim by mcconnell, that he never did this to president obama. First to the drama over the tax bill. Thats the other item moving through congress today. Any mad rush towards the end of the year. Today the Senate Budget committee voted along stark party lines to send that bill to the senate floor as protesters urged them to kill a bill that gives to the rich and takes from the poor. Report the vote. Kill the bill, kill the bill kill the bill, kill the bill the ayes are 12, the nays are 11. Kill the bill, kill the bill the bill is reported out. Capitol Police Arrested 36 protesters who attended the hearing to oppose a bill the cbo says would hugely benefit corporations and the very wealthy, particularly wealthy heirs, while undermining obamacare and leaving most people who earn less than 75,000 a year worse off. Republicans in their desperation to deliver legislative win are tweaking the bill to try to get enough votes to pass by friday. Two gop senators who expressed reservations ron johnson and bob corker voted aye, yes, out of the Budget Committee today anyway, amid pressure from fellow republicans to get on board. If the republicans cant pass this tax bill, then well pay dearly for this. We have the presidency, the house, the senate. And i think high time we got together. President trump today went to capitol hill to meet with republican senators later expressing optimism the votes will be there to pass the bill. We had a good day today. We had a phenomenal meeting with the republican senators. We had it was very special, that meeting. In many respects i wish you could have been inside that room. It was very, very special. The camaraderie. Somewhat of a lovefest. They want to see it happen. They want to see it happen, not only for the Republican Party, i think much more importantly, they want to see it happen for the country. Im joined by Barbara Boxer, former senator from california, and jim manly, longtime spokesperson for senator harry reid. Mcconnell says he cant recall a time he was invited to the white house and didnt do it, although in 2010 he skipped an obama din tore eat with the federalist sew sight. Mcconnell would pretend to be busy to prevent a meeting being scheduled because he didnt want his base to see him with obama. What do you think of mcconnells claim he would never stoop to such a level . Ha ha ha that laughter is on the record. What he said is factually inaccurate as has been widely reported this afternoon. He in fact skipped a meeting with the president to go speak before the federalist society. And i think there was at least one other time in the past when Republican Leadership refused to go down to the white house as well to negotiate with thenpresident obama. I mean, its just not true. Were also, it strikes me, barbara, sitting in were in the world that Mitch Mcconnell created. He sort of pioneered a kind of strategy for dealing with an Opposition Party president. And do you think the strategy today from Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi of not going in response to that tweet was the right one . Oh, absolutely. And i dont think it was a strategy. It was just the right thing to do. You think it was an organic response to what the president said . I really do. Look, if i invited you over for dinner and just before you came i tweeted out and said, chris hayes is coming over for dinner, think hes a serial killer. You might decide that would be mean. And unfounded i should say on the record. Its a joke. The point im making is the things that they say why dont you read what they said . They want open borders, theyre soft on crime, they want to raise taxes, then he says come in . The whole thing is absurd. Heres the problem. And jim knows this so well. In the United States senate, you have to work together. Mitch mcconnell wont even allow a conversation to take place with Chuck Schumer to negotiate a bill. And then they are called up to the white house to say, lets avert a shutdown. On what basis is that invitation delivered . After you have basically said that these two people are horrible people . Its just ridiculous. And all i could say is they wanted to distraction with this, theyre in control of everything, jim and i know what happens when theres a shutdown looming. If everyone doesnt sit down and try to avert it, that shutdown will happen. Well, jim, it cracked me up to watch paul ryan. I thought it was amusing to watch paul ryan express concern his democratic colleagues werent there. Paul ryan, speaker of the house, hes got a 30vote majority, he can pass what he needs out of the house. What he knows and what Everybody Knows is he cant. Nancy pelosi has all the leverage in this situation to avoid a shutdown, am i right . Youre absolutely correct. Weve talked about this before. And just reinforces that reinforces the notion that this president simply doesnt know the legislative process. Again, to reiterate for your voters, the only way theyre going to pass something is with democratic voters. Why is that . Because House Republicans are going to balk at any deal no matter what. No matter what the dollar is, no matter the details. Theres a whole bunch are going to vote no. Because they dont believe in government, and they dont care if it shuts down. Believe me when i say that, they dont care. Theres the House Freedom caucus, a mustpass vote to keep the government open, you lose 20 to 30 votes depending on what he is herb nose that, which is why hes got to come to the democrats to cut some deal for the government to stay open. I want to get your thoughts on the fact that no democrat has supported this tax bill, even in states trump won by 10 points. You can imagine a version of a tax bill they would feel hardpressed to support, why not this one . They cant support this bill because it hurts all their people. The states theyre there are not very wealthy states. The people are middle class and working poor, for the most part. And this bill is robin hood in reverse. Weve seen it before. Ive been there before. Ive seen this trickledown garbage. The only thing that trickles down is misery. The deficits go way up. Weve seen it so many times. And my colleagues, be they moderate or liberal or conservative democrats, they get it. You know, you cant you have to learn from history. And we know what will happen. This is a horrible bill that helps the people at the top who dont really need help. And hurts the people in the middle who are desperate for help. And the working poor, who are also desperate for help. Jim, theres this very funny thing happening now where the idea is that its going to blow up the deficit but it will pay for itself with added growth and then some rps saying, what if it doesnt . What if our projections are wrong . Put a trigger in the bill to automatically shrink the deficit, calling the bluff a bit. The other republicans assess, god no, we cant did that. How significant do you think that is . I have no idea because i like you and everyone else has no idea how this triggers going to work. So until we see the details its difficult to war game it out. Again, yes, the irony, your bottomline point is correct. The irony of that argument is just, it highlights how devoid of facts are going on with the Republican Party. They do not care about details. They just want to get anything done. All right, senator Barbara Boxer and jim manly, thank you both. History suggests it would be exceedingly difficult for the party in power in this case the republicans, to place blame for a shutdown on the irnt party even though thats exactly what the president is trying to pull off. If that happens i would absolutely blame the democrats. Fit happens its going to be over illegals pouring into the country, crime pouring into the country, no border wall, which everybody wants. I got elected partially because of a border wall. Joining me, democratic senator tim kaine of virginia, member of the Budget Committee that voted to move forward with that republican tax bill. Lets start with the possibility of a shutdown that looms december 8th. How likely is that . What leverage do democrats have . Well, chris, look. Were in the minority party, as far as im concerned were not shutting government down, we are going to insist upon key priorities. Its only republicans who pitched the shutdown. When there have been shutdowns in the past its been because of republicans. And if theres a shutdown later this month, its going to be on the republicans that have the white house and both houses. Were going to insist on priorities that are good for the country and they can decide whether they want to shut the government down or not. I dont think the government of the greatest nation in the world should be shut down for five seconds. What are those priorities . Look, the priorities that we have are getting a good budget deal that has some parity between defense and nondefense investments. Trying to fix daca, which the president has encouraged us to do. Some of the supplemental relief to continue to deal with the aftermath of the hurricanes this fall. Those are some of the big priorities. And these are the priorities not just of democrats but i think theyre American Public priorities too. Youve got millions of kids across this country on c. H. I. P. , a program thats funded the house passed it. Its sitting in the senate. Youve got letters going out in states to kids in the middle of Cancer Treatment including virginia, right. About uncertainty. What is going on . Why can that not be passed in the senate . Theres no reason it cant be because its got bipartisan support. I took to the floor about a month ago and said, dont hold c. H. I. P. Hostage till the end of the year when it has strong bipartisan support, ron wyden, orrin hatch have a bipartisan deal in the senate. This is a program that democrat and republican governors want us to fix and we have a deal. The Republican Leadership has decided that they want to not do it so they can make it part of these yearend negotiations. Chris, in virginia, for example, next week, in december, letters start to go out telling people in 60 days you could lose health insurance. Families getting these letters right before christmas about their kids losing health insurance. What a horrible thing. I am confident were going to fix c. H. I. P. But do it before we send out these letters to rattle everybodys cables ages and scam before christmas. The republicans are holding it hostage to get something they want. Were not walking away unless theres a deal that keeps c. H. I. P. Going. C. H. I. P. Is basically done, it could be brought up for a vote, its being held and slow walked. Right. The tax bill is being rushed headlong. Why are they rushing so fast on the tax bill . Chris, they are treating this tax bill i was the mayor of richmond. If the city council in richmond wanted to amend the leash law in our city, there would be a more transparent, open public process than what they have right now on a tax bill thats a once in 30year effort to essentially change the rules about the american economy. Not one hearing in finance, not one hearing in budget, a deal sprung at the last minute. The cbo has done enough work to say it punishes the poor and middle class, it increases the deficit, they havent been able yet to complete the work to determine whether its going to grow or shrink the economy. The republicans are rushing it for two reasons. One, it looks worse the more you look at it so we want to rush it. Two, theyre worried about the outcome of the Alabama Senate race. I reminded them today, when president reagan did this in 1986, he got 97 votes in the senate. Because they took 10 months to make sure that both parties would sign up for something that would be good for the economy. Theres no reason to rush this, and in fact well make a mistake if we do rush it. Chuck schumer and nancy pelosi did thought go to that meeting at the white house today after the president s tweet. They were criticized by the president , criticized by Mitch Mcconnell and paul ryan. Why not show up . Why not negotiate . Why not try to make a deal . Because the president lied about them. When he sent out the tweet, before the meeting, saying democrats just want to overflood the streets with Illegal Immigrants, it was a complete lie. We have a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill that weve had since 2013 to fix the immigration system that we had with a number of republican votes. Thats what we have on the table. Thats what we want. So if the president will tweet out a lie about you, that you want to flood the street with Illegal Immigrants, if hell lie about you right before the meeting, hell lie to your face in the middle of the meeting, they shouldnt have shown up. He sort of does that to everyone. Arent you confident Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi can roll donald trump if they get in a room with him . Heres what they really concluded. They dont need donald trump. Donald trump is going to sit at the end of pennsylvania avenue and tweet. While were going to find a deal. Then were going to send a deal to him and hes going to sign it. Youre saying hes not the one to negotiate with anyway, the deals going to be with no. Thats an interesting thing to say. Congress is going to do the deal, were going to send it to him, hes going to sign it regardless of whats in it. Senator tim kaine, thank you. Absolutely. Still to come, a Key Development in the growing web of connections between trump world and russia. Next, a surprising announcement from a prominent progressive member of congress. Representative Luis Gutierrez joins me exclusively to explain why hes not seeking another term. Think of your fellow man, lend him a helping hand, put a little love in your heart. Youll see its getting late, oh please dont hesitate. Put a little love in your heart. In your heart. In your heart. In your heart. In your heart. vo going on now, our subaru share the love event will have donated over one hundred fifteen Million Dollars to those in need. Today im announcing that i will not be seeking reelection. I am going to leave congress at the end of my term in 2019. But im not retiring. Congressman Luis Gutierrez stunned capitol hill when word leaked out he would not seek reelection next year. A decision he confirmed today. Hell require in 2019 from congress after 13 terms there. Did not rule out running for office in the future. Hes been one of the strongest advocates in congress for Immigration Reform, also emerged as a vocal critic of donald trump fighting the president s call for a wall on the Mexican Border and his decision to end daca protection for d. R. E. A. M. Ers. Since Hurricane Maria devastated puerto rico, gutierrez has been a leading voice demanding more support for the island, where over two months after the storm made landfall more than 40 of 3 million americans remain, to this day, without power. I love puerto rico. And shes in a lot of pain. And theres a lot of people that have turned their backs on her. And she needs to be reb