Thats that this is a question of president ial leadership. At the end of the day, it will come down to the president of the United States being willing to lead in a big picture and in a more macro sense, make a decision what he can support and pull the trigger on it. Here was Lindsey Graham in our conversation just a few minutes ago. What the house sent over is unacceptable to me. The cres can i the militar chs kill the military. I appreciate House Colleagues but we need to get this done. Were inside the 10 yard line. We need a white house that can make a decision and stick to it. And andegreeia, Lindsey Graham has cultivated his relationship with the president and the attempted skill of talking to the president through the television. And i think theres a lot of message sending going on that look, the way out of this is for the president to live up to what he talks about as the tuesday
version of the president from last week when he seemed to embrace willingness to deal with a bipartisan solution to dealing with this problem, not the thursday version of the meeting so infamous between graham and durbin and other republican senators and lawmakers one of whom Lindsey Graham kind of threw under the bus talking about tom cotton, his colleague from arkansas ho said has essentially turned into the steve king of the senate. Steve king The Ultimate Immigration Hard Liner in the u. S. House, not exactly kind words there, but thats the opportunity for a deal here is one that gets led by the white house, not by the operators here on capitol hill. Thanks to garrett and casey for that. Chuck todd, weve seen this movie before. Weve been through Shutdown Traumas for the nation. But weve never seen it with donald trump in the oval office. Thats the big differentiator. Also weve never seen it with a unified Party Controlling the house, senate and the white house. You dont usually have these kinds of disagreements. Theres actually look, Lindsey Graham is right on this. Not just that it needs president ial leadership, theres a real opportunity for this president. Theres always been a chunk of supporters who voted for hip. They didnt like him personally, didnt like his but thought maybe his style will shake up this place. Will sort of Keep Washington from being this constant and maybe having somebody who doesnt have any true ideology is the way to make the place work. So theres a part of donald trump who claims he likes to be the negotiator, the art of the deal guy and an opportunity to sort of separate himself from congress. Remember, you know, one thing both parties, members of both parties agree, they dont like congress. So these shutdowns are usually opportunities for president s to lead, to be the adult in the room, to bring everybody together. Now, President Trump when hes given the opportunity to be the adult in the room usually chooses not to be the adult in
the room. So thats the wildcard today. But i think the only way this gets averted today is if somehow the white house actually tries to play a meaningful and a slightly above it all role here a little bit and try to find some and try to find a way to give the democrats an offramp here a little bit. But ill tell you, i still think were headed to at least a mini shutdown. Right now both parties, ill say this both mcconnell and schumer just specifically but then larger both the democrats and republicans think they can win this argument. Republicans believe they can win the argument certainly in the short term, hey, whats another 30 days . We just want to buy more time. Democrats think they can win the argument in the longterm. Enough is enough. How often are we going to keep kicking the can. When you have two parties both are convinced they can win an argument, then youre not going to have enthusiastic ways to find an offramp. One quick question. When you talk about president ial
leadership, we saw what happened yesterday when he tweeted incorrectly about the chip, the Childs Health care program and had to be corrected on twitter by republican senator leadership member john cornyn. So if hes engaged, he has to have the facts. Its not just him deciding what he can live with. He has to know whats in the deal. Theres no doubt i may be what im describing of what this president has an opportunity to do may be fantasy here. This would be maybe it is Aaron Sorkins version of what a president could do in a situation like this. Im telling you what the opportunity is there. Obviously his past performance says something else. But there truly is an opportunity here and frankly the only way i think a shutdown is averted today is if the white house attempts to play a meaningful negotiating role. You know, what i dont get is, where is the urgency . And by the way, i think the house i want to believe in some green shoots that somehow
the house deciding to stay in means theres something happening. It would have been political malpractice if the house went home without a deal. If they went home before knowing what the senate would do, that that would be malpractice and look like they wanted the shutdown. I think for optics sake, the house has to stick around this week. The government shuts down, no member of congress can leave town, period. And certainly no president go to maralago. You guys hang on a second. Weve got one of the big players on the hill, democratic senator chris coons who opposes the republican short Term Government funding bill and jones me now. What do you think is happening behind the scenes . Is Chuck Schumer trying to negotiate something with the caucus or with the white house . None of us want a shutdown. Democrats in particular see the ways in which a Shutdown Government hurts people. But we are out of patience for shortterm patches for unmet promises. And i do know that senator chuck
schumer is working hard and diligently. I spoke with, listened to more than a dozen other senators in the gym here this morning, Senator Schumer was working hard moving back and forth between folks in Senior Leadership and more junior members. One of the things i was working to do was to help republican colleagues understand how we hear it when Mitch Mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate takes to the floor last night and says this is all about illegal immigration, something that has no urgency to it and we dont need to fix now. When we saw last week President Trump on tuesday choose to convene a bipartisan meeting and welcome legislators to come bring him a daca fix and then on thursday a strong Bipartisan Group of senators come back and say here it is. Weve worked it out. Big investment in Border Security, some of the issues in terms of Family Migration that the president demanded and daca, and then the president blows it up. It is hard for democrats to
believe that there is seriousness on the part of republicans about addressing it at another time. This also will hurt lots of other things unaddressed. Disaster relief, Childrens Health insurance program, Community Health centers. Its just stacked up to a point where we need a deal. Andrea, within the next hour, believe, you will see Senator Schumer bring to the floor an amendment to the house cr bill, the bill in front of us that would put on the table all the things that we think we can agree on and we should agree on today to avoid a shutdown. Lets drill down. What will be in that package . You talked about a list of things just now. Are we talking about Border Security . C. H. I of i. P. , dreamers, Disaster Relief for puerto rico . Yes. A robust Disaster Relief package that addresses puerto rico and the virgin islands, western wildfires as well as texas and florida and the hurricane recovery funding. Theres also a pension issue
that i think is not widely known but is a longstanding unevolved issue that would be addressed in this. It would also ensure in the event of a shutdown, Department Of Defense personnel would be paid. It addresses a wide range of issues from funding for the Opioid Crisis to Disaster Relief to our now months overdue Budget Agreement that would allow us to move forward on appropriations for the fiscal year that started in october. Is your caucus united behind this . Is joe manchin on this. It hasnt been put in front of the whole caucus. But what from i can see the basic outline put out this morning, i would expect our whole caucus would support it. What does that do in terms of procedural votes in terms of cloture and what the republicans are putting forward . Thats a great question. At this point, the leadership of both caucuses would need to agree that were going to take a vote on this. It includes the bill that has been worked on so hard by
about this, what kind of guarantees would Senator Schumer and the rest of you democrats demand in order to proceed with a cloture vote and do a shortterm three or fourday Continuing Resolution . You have to get it written almost in blood to be sure that the president wont change his mind or Mitch Mcconnell will go ahead with it. Thats the challenge. Senator mccanal last night said without president ial leadership, without clarity from President Trump exactly what hes willing to sign op to, how can we negotiate over daca. That is the unresolved question. Im encouraged that President Trump has apparently chosen to delay his trip to go play golf at his resort in florida and his 100,000 a head fundraiser tomorrow to celebrate his inauguration. Im encouraged to hear the house is choosing to stay in. Weve got all the players in. We know what the menu of issues is. This is a Perfect Moment for the president to exceed our expectations and show that he
really is the dealmaker that i think millions of americans who voted for him thought he would be. This is also a moment where we could fail to come together and the result would be an unfortunate and unnecessary shutdown. It is a place where the leadership of the senate it can start by being the folks here who show that we are sincerely committed to moving this forward. That would be a critical first step for the leadership of the Republican Caucus to say we know this is going on too long, several of our own members, there are republicans you just heard senator graham, senator flake and others who vote against the house passed cr. This is the time for us to be mature bipartisan leaders who will avert a shutdown and move forward on a broad, bold resolution to these challenges. Thank you so much, senator chris coons. Get back with us with any updates please. Chuck todd is still with me. You heard the outlines of what the democrats are about to offer. Do you think it can fly . I think it all depends on the
white house reaction. It all goes i think its it certainly sounded like to me dras would like to find a way not to shut down the government but not agree to the cr. Right . Theyre looking for to see if there is any movement there. Can they make an offer that will look, will make the republicans look bad if they cant, at least agree to that or Something Like this. Lets see what it looks like. I think ultimately, again, i think the white house has to be the lead player here. And this is the problem. I think the trust issue. It does feel like were probably going to end up short of because of political paralysis and polarization that led to paralysis that well stumble into the shutdown for the weekend. But theres also, its so obvious how you sort of could break this impasse semi short term. Split the difference, go ten days. I mean, this doesnt seem to be, were negotiating how much more time were going to have negotiatiations gauche negotiations on daca. Agree how much more time you need to negotiate on daca. Exactly. Chuck todd, of course, youll be all over this. Make sure to watch chuck this afternoon at 5 00 eastern from mtp daily and on sunday meet the press. Coming up, president ial precedent. Donald trump about to become the first sitting president to speak live at the right to life march. Had Jackie Speier joins me with her reaction next. Youre watching Andrea Mitchell reports here on msnbc. Youre right it is a big deal. This is a renod to the president s base, members of the president s base who elected him because of his stance on obviously being prolife during the campaign. Remember this is not a position that the president has always held. He has talked about how he used to feel differently on this topic and has changed had his mind over the years. Remember too the actual event is only happening what, a mile or two away from the white house, not even. Yet the president is choosing not to go in person and to do this live via satellite. It is a step further than any president in the past but it is not quite the step of going to the event and being there in person. Remember of course, Vice President pence last year was involved with the march for life. And so we do expect to see the president any minute. Im checking the podium, walk out of the west wing of the white house and come and speak via the Satellite Link in the rose garden in front those gathered here. All of it happening against the backdrop of this potentialGovernment Shutdown. I am not expecting the president to mention the shutdown in these remarks. Theyll likely focus on the issue he is here to talk about, but it is possible as i look at my fellow White House Press corps colleagues lining the roads garden that the president will be asked about it after his remarks. In the audience i see Kellyanne Conway here who has been one of the president s point people on this issue along with a number of people, including younger kids here. You can see them behind me here, as well. And hallie, stand by for a moment. Your colleague White House CorrespondentKristen Welker is with the crowd along the march route. Kristin, i dont know if you can hear me. Its pretty loud there. We can hear you. Reporter i have to tell you a lot of emotion here today. Throngs of people energized by the fact that the president is going to speak. Via satellite. The people who are here, they find this significant, a significant moment for their movement. Now. Kristin reporter yes . It is a little difficult to make you out because of the loud speakers. If you could stand by. Were going to go back to haie and come back to you if theres a way to get farther away from the speakers, those loud speakers on the mall are pretty loud. Hallie, lets talk for a moment how president s reagan and bush telephoned in to the march when they broadcast that but never took the step. They always wanted to kind of mod due late their tone on this. Have distance. And have a little distance between them and this. Of course. Thats a good point. Yes, it is very loud where kristin is. We can hear the cheers coming through on the live Satellite Feed here in the rose garden. Youre right. In the past, president s have wanted to, as you say, moderate or put some distance there. So again this president is doing this is a first. This is a first for a president is to beam in live via satellite to address the crowd. You are hearing the organizers of the event too talking about the rose garden event and people are applauding now. This is mentioned over on the National Mall. I believe this is a tee up for the president as a hear the speaker on the mall introducing this. Andrea, im going to toss it back to you. I believe the president is expected to walk out any second here. Were expecting him to come out, the Vice President mike pence also had another event in the white house complex with his wife, karen pence. I think that is the introduction i believe for the Vice President who is a very strong supporter of the antiabortion movement. And well be leaving later today for The Middle East and ill be on that plane for a fiveday
trip to egypt, jordan and israel. Americans young and old on our National Mall at this very hour. Welcome back to washington, d. C. And welcome back to the largest prolife gathering in the United States of america. The 45th annual march for life. More than 240 years ago, our founders wrote words that have echoed through the ages. They declared these truths to be selfevident that we are each of us, endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 45 years ago, the Supreme Court of the United States turned its back on the unalienable right to life. But in that moment, our movement began. A movement that continues to win hearts and minds, a movement defined by generosity, compassion, and love. And a movement t