Foreign. To me, the press. Now I'm trusting Weber in Washington where it has been a difficult day on Capitol Hill as we cover multiple breaking news stories. At this moment, we are less than 36 hours from government shutdown, while at the same time lawmakers are mourning the death of American trailblazer Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Senate's longest serving female lawmaker in history.
We'll have much more on the senator's enduring legacy and reaction to the news of her passing in a moment. But amid that sad news, right now House Republicans are huddling behind closed doors in the basement of the capitol as Speaker McCarthy tries to regroup after failing to pass a short term spending bill. Just a few hours ago, a group of conservatives tagged that bill. At 21 Republicans voting no ahead of the vote, McCarthy accused any holdouts of helping Democrats.
I can't understand why someone would side with President Biden and keep the border open. We'll see when the vote comes if those individuals vote that way. You should ask him that question. The failure of today's vote punctuates a wild and chaotic stretch for Speaker McCarthy as he faces threats from hardliners inside his conference to oust him from leadership if he makes a deal with Democrats.
House Republicans did pass three or four appropriations bills yesterday, but those alone don't do anything to avert a shutdown. And tomorrow, Congressman Dusty Johnson, who helped negotiate the short term deal, voiced his frustration with his colleagues after this afternoon's failed vote. Listen, if we could get some sort of CR that cuts spending and secures the border, I'd work with anybody to get that done. I think you see that approach building a little scheme in the Senate.
The snapdragon measure that I offered would have kept government open, cut spending and secured the border. I'm still a little frustrated that 21 Republicans sided with Democrats to defeat my measurements. Now it's worth noting, even if today's short term bill had passed, provisions like any border security measures Johnson mentioned all but guaranteed its failure in the Democratic Senate. Joining me now from Capitol Hill is Ryan Nobles.
And with more on what the practical impact of a shutdown might be is NBC News Pentagon correspondent Courtney QB Ryan, I have to start with you. What's the latest there after this failed vote? Well, there's really a sense of turmoil on Capitol Hill, Christine, with no clear idea what the next step will be in order to at least make some sort of last minute attempt to prevent the government from shutting down. But the real sense here is that all those opportunities have really passed and at some point, members of the House and Senate are going to have to take a step back, restart the negotiations and try and find a way to limit the damage of the shutdown.
Meaning how quick, quickly can they get out of it after the government does shut down? Midnight on Sunday, we're starting to see some of the blame game start to crop up. And a lot of that blame is being put squarely on the shoulders of conservative House Republicans who have just turned every potential opportunity and even a short term spending plan. We saw that today where Kevin McCarthy put a bill on the floor loaded with desires that the conservative wing of his party was looking for and they still turned it down.
So the question has to be asked, what's it going to take? Listen to what the Democratic leader in the House had to say about the negotiations. At this point, these so called moderate members of the Republican conference have been missing in action. There are a variety of different procedural vehicles that are available to us, including a discharge petition, one of which that is live and that all we would need are six Republicans to partner with us and we can move legislation to the floor that would end this GOP government shutdown and this national nightmare for the American people.
And Chris, a lot of times when we cover Capitol Hill, we joke that there is always someone out there on the Internet or some other corner of the universe that flips what we call the West Wing type of solution to a problem like this, something that, you know, if you look at it on the books, probably something you can pull off, but it's really just something reserved for air and sort and script, not necessarily something that happens in the halls of Congress. But we've reached the stage of needing some sort of West Wing, the TV show type solution in order to keep the government from shutting down. And that's what you heard the minority leader talking about right there, this possibility of a discharge petition which would allow them to bring a piece of legislation to the floor of the House without the speaker, the Speaker's blessing. But they need a group of Republicans to join with Democrats in order to make that happen.
They have a vehicle, a piece of legislation they could do that with. Right now, though they don't have willing partners. And that's been the biggest problem in this process from the very beginning, is that it's been very hard, at least on the House side to get Republicans and Democrats to work together. Well, Ryan, what a great analogy there.
Speaking of potential Hollywood ending, the Senate is trying to have this end run workaround by passing a continuing resolution, a short term bill Potentially this weekend. That would have bipartisan support. But would that be enough to avert a shutdown? Ryan?
I mean, it really depends on the timing of all the Kristen and whether or not they can still cut a deal with Kevin McCarthy. So here's the issue. You know, the Senate has in place a bipartisan continuing resolution short term spending bill does include funding for Ukraine. It doesn't.
It does include disaster relief. It has why bipartisan support on the Senate side. The test vote on this kind of over 70 votes. The problem is it's not enough to pass on the House side.
So what needs to happen here over the next 48 hours or so is that Kevin McCarthy's got to make an agreement with Chuck Schumer that if you put something else in this or you take something else out, maybe you pull the Ukraine funding out, maybe you add in something having to do with border security and then Kevin McCarthy can say, you know what, that's enough for me to get the majority of the Republican caucus to jump on board. You guys pass that. Maybe it happens after the government shuts down Sunday morning and they do it Sunday afternoon in time for the government to reopen back on Monday. But nonetheless, that negotiation still needs to happen in order for that escape hatch to be pulled.
They're just not at that point quite yet. Yeah, it's starting to look like a question of how long, not if the government's going to shut down. No court of the Pentagon. They're watching all of this very closely.
What are the potential implications for the military? That's right. Paychecks. Yeah, that's right.
Oh, absolutely. I mean, that is one thing that we do know at this point. At this point, if in fact there's a government shut down active duty of members of the military and reservists who are on federal active duty will be expected to continue to come to work and will not be paid. Now, in the past, there have been times where the US Government has faced other shutdowns and they've been able to figure out a way to keep the military paid at this point, we still do not expect them to pay if the shutdown goes into effect this weekend.
Now, in addition to that, as if that's not already concerning enough for members of the military, many of whom, according to advocates that we've spoken with, especially younger enlisted, only keep about $3,000 in savings at any given time. So the paycheck alone is concerning. But in addition to that, the things that among the services that we expect to be curtailed under a government Shutdown medical services will continue. Emergency medical services at military hospitals, but elective services will not.
Prescription drug coverage and pharmacies will stay open. But if they're manned by civilians and civilians are furloughed, it's not clear how many they'll be able to continue the staff at the same level. So some prescription drug services may be impacted. Now, some base services, things like commissaries.
At this point, we expect that commissaries in the United States will be shut down. Overseas, they may say open, but we're also waiting for a finalist. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will get a whole list of options and he will decide what will and will not be accepted. We should hear that over the next couple days.
Kristen, a really urgent situation for members of the military that you paid their Courtney, thank you so much for that. And our thanks to Ryan Nobles as well. And with House Republicans meeting right now behind closed doors, I spoke to Republican Congressman Bob Good of Virginia just moments ago. And I began by asking him what he wanted to see Next from Secretary McCarthy.
What I'd like to see him do is agree to try a one week continued resolution where the commitment to pass two or hopefully three bills in the next week that allow the government to stay open and we can make progress on passing our spending bills. As you know, we passed four spending bills at the House while the Senate has passed any. So House has been more active. We should barely pass all 12 hours.
And I regret that we have not. But that would be my hope that he would do that, that he would give us the calendar, the commitment to pass all of our spending bills. I think we could do that by October 15th. That would minimize any impact of a shutdown.
The Senate is not willing to go along with keeping the government open. At least the House could pass its bill, send the Senate and do that. I would think by October 15th. Congressman, as you know, those spending bills are not enough to keep the government open and they wouldn't go under bipartisan support.
But I do want to follow up with you on this one week CR Is that realistic? Do you think that that could potentially pass and avert a shutdown, or is it shut down alternative at this point? Well, a shutdown is probable. Based on past history.
The Senate hasn't shown any willingness to cut spending, any interest in securing the border. Unfortunately, the Senate Republicans have joined the Senate Democrats trying to raise spending, at least from Alicia McConnell standpoint. And then it's still kind of amazing the Senate still hasn't passed any spending bills. Can you just imagine If Hakeem Jeffries was agreeing with us to cut spending, the House would have long ago pass our 12 bills if Democrats were agreeing with us.
But that said, we're responsible for what we do in the House and we should have already passed our 12 bills. But we can do that now. We need to continue the moment from last night where we passed three bills, regret we didn't pass all four, but we need to bring the AG bill back and the other bills for as quickly as possible. And again, I would support a one week continuing resolution to keep the government open while we were passing those bills.
If we passed with three bills to do another week and get this done by segment October. But Congressman, again, as you know, those four spending bills wouldn't keep the government open. They wouldn't get bipartisan support. The Senate's on track to potentially pass a CR with bipartisan support at some point this weekend.
But let's just take a step back because McCarthy did cut a deal with President Biden in April and now the Republican Conference is basically saying we want to cut spending below that. So is it incumbent upon the House to figure out how to move forward at this point? Well, that was a terrible deal for the country when Speaker McCarthy essentially surrendered to the Democratic in the Senate Democratic White House, it was basically an agreement to keep all the policy Biden issuer policies in place not to cut our spending. And that's the reason why we haven't passed our spending bills because one third of Republicans voted against that deal and didn't support it.
So that there's no way to get to a majority we have. A third of your party doesn't support the deal that you make. If he would have stuck with the limit, save, grow deal that we made that we compromised to pass an increase the debt selling out of the House back in April that would already pass our spending bills. So he needs to fight to pass the spending bills and cut our spending and implement our policy just as hard as he fought to become Speaker.
He needs to keep the commitments that he made in order to become speaker. And that's what it's going to take to fund the government from the outside at least. And I hear what you're saying, you don't like the deal that he cut. But the bottom line is he did make this agree with President Biden.
So again, isn't it on the Speaker's shoulders and the House to try to resolve this issue? Given that, given that you're saying we're not going to go along with that deal that was Struck well, the House Republicans are not going to go along with the deals to do in Senate. So people like Houston tell on the House Republicans. Senate Democrats haven't passed anything out of the Senate yet.
They certainly haven't pass any spending bills. Republicans have passed four. And while we should have passed all 12 bars, we've done more progress in the Senate. Democrats have.
Well, it's not just people like me. Former Republican housekeeper Gingrich had this to say about the opposition to the continuing resolution in the House. He said, quote, I find it hard to understand what they want because they change constantly. That's a big part of the problem.
What would you say to Speaker Gingrich? What is it that the holdouts want? I don't think anybody else really cares what Speaker Gingrich has to say. He looks at that through a speaker lens.
I'm sure that he wouldn't want House members not doing whatever he said when he was speaker. But we returned a regular order here in the House. Every member has a voice. It takes 218 houses pass legislation.
And we certainly didn't have a majority or strong majority of Republicans vote for that terrible deal. We're not going to vote for it again. Now let me turn now to some chatter that we are hearing amongst your colleagues. There's some reporting that some Republicans want to see a motion to vacate against Peter McCarthy early next week after today's failed vote.
Is that warranted? Would you vote yes for that? We're focused on trying to get the best outcome we can get for the American people. It isn't about who the speaker is.
Again, Speaker McCarthy needs to join us in that fight just as hard he did for Speaker. If he put that same effort into passing our spending bills and leading this Republican conference to pass our bills, as he promised to do, by the way, back in January. He also promised back in January to cut the spending to the levels we voted for back in April. He failed.
Only he can provide the leadership that we need to do that, and we're focused on that outcome. But we do expect holding accountable what he agree to do when he became speaker. Congressman, let me just push you a little bit on that because I didn't hear an answer. I know you're saying it doesn't matter who the speaker is, which is a pretty strong statement.
But how I'm sure that you'd like to make it about speech I want is what members of your conference are saying, that their discussions happening. Would you support that? Do you think that's the right course of action? Do you think that's warranted?
Well, I have not shied away from saying I think everything is on the table to hold the speaker accountable, to do what he said we do and keep the commitments he made in order to become Speaker. But we're still focusing on that path forward to try to get this government funded out of the House. We don't control what the Senate does. If we pass our bills out of the House and go to conference committee and negotiate and see what best deal you can get.
But what we certainly can't have him do is go surrender to the Senate, surrender to the White House and agree to what Schumer and Biden want to do like he did with Destiny. That's a non spotter in the Republican majority. Let ask you if quickly, if I could, about the impeachment inquiry that kicked off this week. I'm gonna play for you a little bit of what the lead Republican witness Jonathan Turley had to say yesterday.
Get your reaction on the other side. This is a question of impeachment inquiry. It is not a vote on articles of impeachment. In fact, I do not believe that the current evidence would support articles of impeachment.
That is something that an inquiry has to establish. I also do believe that the House has passed the threshold for an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of President Biden. So the lead witness there yesterday saying there's not enough evidence for an impeachment yet, although he did support the inquiry, was that a setback to the overall impeachment inquiry effort? Well, you're beginning the inquiry.
How would you already have an inclusion that you're going to have a conviction, in fact that you're going to impeach? That would be a pretty biased inquiry. What we have though many members of the media, there's no evidence. There's no evidence.
As a matter of fact, I had someone on CNN tell me that recently. Someone NBC told me that recently there's no evidence. But we've got emails, we've got text messages, we've got audio recordings, we've got eyewitness testimony, we've got bank records, we've got shell companies llc, we've got visit history, we've got travel logs. All of that confirmed the president knew all about what his son was doing.
He's involved with what his son was doing. He's been accused of $5 million bribe to him personally. How would we be derelict and our responsibility not to investigate if a sitting president may have accepted a $5 million bribe in exchange for policy related to the Brisbane company that his son worked for in Ukraine. We would be derelict, unresponsible to the American people not to pursue that.
But we'll see what evidence goes. We're not going to conclude like you might have. There is an evidence to convict the president. We'll see what evidence takes us and we'll respond accordingly.
Congressman, to be clear, I have not come to any conclusion. But all have not presented, as Jonathan Turley said, evidence that directly links President Biden to his son's business dealings. They're smoking. I think most people understand why we're having the inquiry.
You've got eyewitness testimony, Joe Biden visit with the business associates about witness testimony who says that Joe Biden received a $5 million bribe. And those in the Oversight committee who've seen all the evidence say might be as much as $100 million Biden crime family has received. Even grandkids getting hundreds of thousands of dollars and not millions of dollars for the Biden brand, whatever that is. And everybody knows sportswear really is access to Joe Biden.
That's a sitting vice president. Again, your lead witness says he has not seen evidence yet to just Democrat Party. But we've got the majority vote. We're gonna see where the inquiry goes.
If they impeachment, that's what we'll pursue. All right, Congressman Bob Good, thank you so much for joining us. I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Coming up, honoring Senator Dianne Feinstein's life and legacy as tributes from across Capitol Hill in the nation pore in the iconic lawmaker. Before Feinstein was a senator, she was a mayor and a trailblazer for women in politics. In 1984, in her first of 21 appearances on the press, Feinstein pushed back against criticism that voters didn't want a woman on the ticket amid speculation that she might be Walter Mondale's running mate in the race for president. Listen to what she said.
Why would a woman on the ticket help? A lot of people think it might do more harm than good. Well, this is an interesting thing. One of the things that's happened is that there's been an enormous shift in public opinion.
That shift has been far beyond anything that I thought would happen and that the public is now open to the concept of a woman. Having said that, when you talk about which woman, every woman brings an upside and a downside. But the concept is clearly established in the minds of Americans. When you compare or add to the fact it's estimated that there will be 9 million more women voting than men.
I Think the dynamic is clearly there. Welcome back. The flags of the U.S. capitol in the White House have been lowered today as the nation mourns the death of California senior Senator Dianne Feinstein, who passed away this morning at the age of 90.
Senator Feinstein was the longest serving female center and a political fixture both in Washington and California. She broke barriers with a long list of first. She was the first woman to serve as San Francisco mayor, the first woman elected to the Senate from California, the first one to serve as a Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, and the first woman to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee, to name a few. A black cloth and a vase of white roses now sits on her desk in the Senate as the President and her colleagues pay tribute to her long legacy.
Many of them using the same word to describe the late senator. Trailblazer. She was a historic figure. Trailblazer for women and a great friend.
Diane made her mark on everything from national security to the environment to gun safety to protecting civil liberties. Country's gonna miss her dearly, and so will Jill and I. The sign of a hero is someone who fights for others, who endures for others, no matter the cost, no matter the odds. And the sign of a friend is someone who stands by your side to fight the good fight on the good days and on the bad.
Diane Feinstein was all of this and more. Diane was a trailblazer. And her blood home state of California and our entire nation are better for her dogged adequacy and diligent service. The longest serving woman Senator from California, she came here with Barbara Boxer.
She stayed on and she left on her own terms. A lot of emotions on Capitol Hill today. I now want to bring in the Democrat from Washington, Senator Patty Murray, who served with Feinstein in the Senate for more than 20 years. Senator Murray and Feinstein both joined in the Senate in 1992, a year known as the Year of the Woman.
Senator, thank you so much. And my condolences for the loss of your friend and colleague. Thank you so much. We actually served together for 30 years.
We came here together in 1992, the year of the Woman. And she was a dynamo, a stalwart, a giant, a trailblazer. All the words you will continue to hear. But she was also a personal friend and I will miss her dearly.
I know you will. Senator, what will you remember most about her? You know, I think for the nation and her state that she represented so well and for all the people she worked with, they will remember the legislation and you will hear so many pieces of legislation talked about over the coming days and weeks that Diane was part of. I think for me, it was the personal touch that Diane had.
She heard us. She saw us. When someone was in need, she was there to talk to you, to invite you to dinner, to console you, to give you a personal thing, like she did once for me many years ago. A picture that she drew of flowers.
I think you can see those for many people. Or a purse that I admired one day, and she sent me one like it. She was a dear friend, and she wanted people to be seen and heard, and she saw and heard them and spoke for them. Well, she was a woman of many first.
You are the first woman to hold the title of president pro temporary of the Senate. We use the term trailblazer, but she really was one. She really helped pave the way. She was among those who helped pave the way for women in politics.
Talk about what that term means as it relates to her. For so many people who have come up to me today who said, I'm here in my job, whether it's here working in the Capitol or wherever they are, or even as politicians, I'm here because I saw Diane do it. And that meant that I could. And I pursued my dream because she was there to show me you could do it.
That's what a trailblazer is, somebody who paves the pathway for people to come behind them and to really make a difference for their country and the people that they love. Well, you talked about the legislation that she helped push through, and obviously at the top of that list, you have to think about gun control, of course, the report on the CIA's interrogation program, legislatively, what made her so effective? And don't forget women's rights. Even back in 1992, when so many people didn't want to stand up in the floor of the Senate and fight for the right for women to have an abortion.
Diane feared that not at all. She stood up and fought for women's rights. I think the part of her that was compassionate and understood people made her such a dynamic for speaking out for issues she cared about deeply and saw personally. That is historic, and it's why so many people today are grieving her.
What do you think it was that gave her that strength, that ability to get legislation passed that otherwise would not have. But she didn't give up, and she didn't stop talking to people who disagreed with her. She was a listener. She would take the time to learn and to read all the briefs and ask questions and.
But she also Talked to people and she said, I don't understand this, or you tell me how you feel. That's how you become knowledgeable. That's how you get support. That's how you get things done.
And she was a master at it. Well, she was someone who understood the power of bipartisanship. And we are obviously at a moment when it seems as though the government is poised to shut down this weekend. What, what are your thoughts, Thoughts right now as we get closer to this shutdown?
What's your message to your colleagues there on the House side as they struggle to keep the government open? Well, let's remember what Diane always fought for was that our country would work for people, and it would be solve problems by working together to get it done. You don't get it by going into a partisan corner in the Senate. We have put together a bipartisan bill to keep the government open so there is not chaos.
People don't want chaos. Diane was the opposite of chaos. She was peaceful and serene, and that's what she wanted our country to be. And I think that the message I think I take away today is we need to work to make it work.
That's what Diane would have done. That's what we're doing in the Senate. And I plead with Speaker McCarthy and the House Republicans don't put our country in chaos. Work to get things done in a graceful way.
Senator Murray, just finally, is there any one story or memory you'd like to leave us with? Oh, there's. There's so many. I think probably for me.
Is Diane stealing us? When it came to coming to the floor to fight again, I could name gun rights, women's rights, I mean, gun safety, women's rights, LGBTQ communities. But honestly, what I remember so vividly is when she took on the CIA and with all that guts and courage, had the amazing ability to come to the floor and do what was right. And I think that was really the core of the principle of Diane, which was tell the truth, do things right, make your country better.
Well, that's silliness so often on display. And we just thank you so much, Senator Marie, for joining us to remember your dear friend and colleague. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Thank you. And now joining me as MBC News chief Washington correspondent, Andrea Mitchell. Andrea, I want to say my condolences to you also, because you have covered her for years. Talk to me about your remembrances of Senator Feinstein.
I think Senator Mary certainly has it right because she was. She had a spine of steel. And I was really enjoying the recollections of Barbara Boxer, who came with her to the Senate. So no woman had been elected from California until then, and certainly not two women from the same state.
They were running together at the same time. Barbara Boxer, now former senator, retired, recalls that she came from a small district, didn't have a lot of money, was far more progressive in politics. Dianne Feinstein was known statewide. She had a lot of money and raised a lot of money and was much more moderate.
And instead of running separately, which they could have because they would have been natural competitors, she wanted to run together. And they took hands and they both got elected. Senator Feinstein got sworn in a couple of weeks earlier, so she had seniority technically, but they both got elected in the year 1992. Her reaction point out to the way Anita Hill had been grilled in 1991 by an all male Judiciary Committee.
And there was a real public outright about that movie, came out and voted. And so Senator Feinstein sent Senator Boxer a great cartoon, a drawing of Thelma and Louise going together off the cliff, you know, holding hands. And that's what their campaign had been like. And they were kind of stunned that they both got elected.
And that was transformational. That along with Patty Murray, was known as the, you know, the mom in tennis shoes. I think the way she described herself in her campaign, you know, up there also on the west coast, of course, there was just a sense of vitality, but it was her bipartisanship all along, working across the aisle and across branches of a much more liberal of California political party. But, you know, she got everything.
The Brady belt, assault, weapon ban, all that was, you know, part of her legacy came after the tragedy of the twin assassinations that she, you know, witnessed and then had to announce to the city of San Francisco. Then she became the mayor and the rest is history. And she was, she cast, I should say, her final vote yesterday, just yesterday. It's hard.
It speaks to her strength, stealing and vitality and everything you're describing, I mean, we've seen her, she had shingles, she was quite ill, you know, out for a couple of months grieving her, the loss of her husband, just this last winter. But then she came back. She walked onto the center floor just yesterday. She looked pretty good and was and invited former colleague Congresswoman Jane Harmon, elected in that same year from California, to come over.
And they were sitting this great picture of them together at five o' clock yesterday. I know that Nancy Pelosi and others were celebrating a mutual friend's birthday last night. And so There were a lot of celebrations in Washington. So it was just overnight.
And her daughter thankfully had flown back just last night and was apparently there when she passed. That's wonderful that she was able to be there. I do want to ask you, Andrew, because she had announced she was not going to run for re election. So there is a race for her Senate seat.
But at the same time, Governor Newsom is now tasked with appointing someone in the interim. I want to play a little bit of what he told Chuck in a recent interview. Yeah, interim appointment. I want to get involved in the pleasure.
You would not appoint anybody that is filed for this is completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don't want to tip the balance of that, but you were going to buy by it would be essentially a caretaker in Africa. We hope we never have to make this decision.
But I abide by what I've said very publicly on a consistent basis. Yes. So to be the indication for me at the point, there's obviously this fierce race for her scene, you have Adam Schiff, you have Katie Porter, Barbara Lee. Well, he has said that it will be a black woman and he has said it will not be, as you just saw one of the competitors, not to give him a fair advantage.
So he's going to have to after she's memorialized, I'm sure there'll be quite a lot on the Senate floor as well as back in San Francisco, as Nancy Pelosi told me today. But then he has to appoint someone. That person then has to subsequently, within the time frame, get run for election. And that would probably be the same time as a November election.
I'm not sure when they would schedule a special election to serve the remainder of her term and then in 2024 run again. So that's going to be two very expensive races. The person he points doesn't necessarily have to be the person who runs but might want to run. But in any case, you've got Katie Porter, very popular, much more progressive properly, you know, black congresswoman and former Black Caucus leader.
And of course, Adam Shenton, who has national, you know, celebrity, if you will, from the beach. So it's gonna be a lot of tough politics in California. It is. We're gonna watch it closely.
You're gonna watch it closely. But for today, Andrea, thank you so much for helping us remember, Senator, I really appreciate it. And coming up next, candidates in California will have the latest reporting from an eye where Donald Trump, Ron Desantis and Other Republican rivals are set to take the stage at the state's Republican convention. You're WATCHING THE PRESS now.
Welcome back. Just days after skipping the second Republican debate in California, Donald Trump is in the Golden State where he's about to speak at the California GOP's fall convention. Senator Tim Scott is set to address California Republicans later this evening, as well as Ron DeSantis. Aside from who wins the sixth primary next year, there is controversy right now over how California conducts the contest.
NBC's Vaughn Hilliard has the very latest from Anaheim. Kristen is absolutely right. There is a reality that five months from now on Super Tuesday, the day that California primary voters would go to the polls, while California could very well be the primary game changer because of a new delegate allocation rule here passed by the California gop. That rule being that if a candidate gets more than 50% of the California primary vote, they would take all of the 169 delegates out of the state of California.
Again, if a candidate gets more than 50%. So if that is a Donald Trump or let's say it's a consolidated field at that point and it's a Nikki healy or Ron DeSantis, that is about 14% of the entire national delegate count that would be coming out of the state of California. It could be very crucial. If any of the candidates states get under 50, they would be allocated proportionally the number of delegates out of California.
But again, we're talking about a timeline here that Super Tuesday, California is going to be a player this time around. As for the California GOP's platform here, we should expect a vote to come out of the convention here this weekend by about 200 of the delegates out of California to make two changes to their platform. One of them to remove language that says that marriage is a union between one man and one woman and the other one that says that currently as the platform states that life begins at conception. Those two changes have been met by some backlash, including by Harney Dillon, who is the National RNC Committee woman from here, who says the platform should remain as it is right now and that this party here in California should not be Democrat light.
But this is going to go that ultimately comes here to the California GOP, of course, Donald Trump as well as Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott. They will be addressing here this crowd on this Friday and over the course of the weekend. Fascinating dynamics. One, thank you.
What we're following breaking news out of Fulton county, where one of 19 co defendants in the Georgia election interference case has reached a plea deal. Scott hall pleaded guilty to five counts, all of which were considered misdemeanors because of his status as a first time offender. He'll serve five years probation as part of the deal. Scott, who's a bail bondman, had been charged with seven counts in the case.
He's the first of the 19 code defendants in the case to plead guilty. After the break, we're digging deeper into the consequences of the government shutdown and which party may get the worst of the blame. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now. Welcome back.
Barring some sort of legislative miracle, we are just a matter of how we're from government shutdown. And conventional wisdom says there's a political downside to shutting down the government. But as we've seen from hash shutdowns, the follow doesn't always translate to the ballot box. Back in 2013, our NBC News Wall Street Journal poll showed that a majority of Americans blame the Tea Party fueled Republicans for their shutdown of the Affordable Care act.
And the party took a nosedive in popularity with voters. It cost Republicans that November in Virginia's gubernatorial race. But voters didn't seem to punish the party in the 2014 midterms. In fact, Republicans padded their majority in the House and flipped control of the Senate.
Joining now to successful this on set is Tamara Keith, senior White House correspondent for npr, former New York Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley, and Sarah Fagan, former Bush White House local affairs director and an NBC News contributor. Thanks all of you for being here on an incredibly busy Friday. Tim, let me start with you. It seems like a shutdown is all but inev at this point.
What are you hearing? Absolutely, that's there doesn't seem to be a mathematical way to make this happen because Speaker McCarthy can't pass anything and he certainly doesn't want to bring the bipartisan legislation that the Senate is trying to get together on. So I think the question is how long rather than avoiding it. Sarah, what do you make of that?
And again, as I just laid out, yes, there can be a short term price to pay for a government. But so far when we've looked back, it doesn't seem like it's really hurting the long term. Too soon to say how it might impact 2024. But what's your take on where we are?
Well, I think to your point, politically, like voters have such short memories. And so, you know, perhaps there's impact in Virginia, but in 2024, I think this will likely be a distant memory. I think, you know, where we go from here is I think there's still time to put something together. There's a scenario where you could put a week long compromise together and get a few other bills done.
Perhaps, but there doesn't seem to seem to be a path that's visible today. But Speaker McCarthy won, I think it was on 13 votes. So he's got a pretty remarkable scale. So I don't count him out yet.
Or maybe pain threshold. Exactly. Joe, what do you make of what we're seeing from Democrats and the White House? Because Republicans today I interviewed Congressman Bob Good.
He said, look, the Senate's got to work this out. We've been passing bills and now the Senate's got to pass one. Okay. The Senate does seem on track to actually pass a bipartisan CR this weekend.
But do you think everyone gets some blame here or do you think it largely falls on Republicans? I think you see a real trend here. Republicans control the House of Representatives. A Democrat is in the White House.
They become ultimately shut down at some point. It did happen during Trump when Republicans held the House and the Senate and that was over the border issue as well. But really this is not good governance. And we're really doing, I think in terms of the Republicans themselves, those modern Republicans, the Mike Lawlers of the world, you know, they had to take a tough vote today to cut 30% from Social Security.
Those are going to be television ads. You know, you'll see that over and over and over again. So it's not just those 21 who voted no, it's all those Republicans. Yes.
For somebody who votes. Yeah, yeah. Well, the House failed to pass something today as we're discussing. This is what Dusty Johnson had to say, who helped craft this short term continuous.
What I want, I always want two weeks. Let's give members an opportunity to say this on my fault. I'm going to keep government open, cut spending. It's your board.
I mean, this kind of goes to the point that we're making here, Tampa. And is that when Americans see that, when voters see that, does the frustration sink in? Yeah. I'm not sure how closely voters are following every single vote.
The challenge for House Republicans right now is they can't really say, well, we pass a bill to fund the government and that Senate and the president won't cooperate, they won't come our way because they didn't pass the thing that would give them the political cover to make that case. But are voters following it closely or are they going to say, oh, Cox, in all their houses, Washington, they can't govern. Congressman Bob Good, who I Interviewed earlier today, I asked him about this chatter that some conservatives might try to essentially vote to recall his leadership. Sarah, do you think he can hold on?
Can he survive this? Well, I think it depends on how this all plays out. But, you know, I think that's the biggest factor. Those same 20ish people didn't want him to ever become speaker.
And he is the speaker. And, you know, I think sort of short of going and cutting some deal behind their backs, you know, he has a wide popularity within that caucus. He does have some strong vocal naysayers, and they are making life very difficult for him. But there's, there's a path that he can navigate through.
It's not yet clear what it is, but I'm confident he can figure it out. And I should say, Congressman Good wouldn't commit to supporting him or not, which was very notable. Joe, if you're the speaker listening to some of these interviews, more and more people seem to be more vocal about questioning his past. But I guess the question is, if not Speaker McCarthy, then who?
That's a good question. You know, sometimes wo is better, right. For Democrats, I think part of the bigger problem for Republicans is that they haven't really accomplished much. What are you going to show for next year when you're running?
So it may very well be more heightened in terms of showing that how long it goes as well, how much pain is involved. Right. You know, so, yeah. Tam, final point in McCarthy, you think he survives?
The question is how long? I think, okay, because maybe he survives this CR or this moment. But you know, with every single one of these incidents where 15 votes to become speaker and then a rule fails, that never happens, like one step after another, he keeps her crossing a Rubicon of something that no speaker has ever had to stomach before. Yeah, it's really fascinating.
And we saw another fascinating moment with the GOP primary debate this week. And I want to read you some new reporting from the New York Times, which says the Club for Growth was testing anti Trump messages and more than 40 were ineffective. They write, quote, examples of failed ads cited the memo include attacks on Mr. Trump's handling the pandemic, promotion of vaccines, praise of Dr.
Fauci, insane government spending, failure to build the wall, recent attacks on pro life legislation, refusal to fight woke issues, openness to gun control and many others. Sarah Fagan, 40 of these messages were ineffective. What does that tell you? Well, I think in a national poll, Donald Trump is going to be ahead 40 points.
He's going to be very popular. This is not a National election. It's not a national primary. I remember back in the 2000 campaign, George W.
Bush led every single poll in New Hampshire and he lost by 18 points because independents came out and voted against him and voted for John McCain. So, so that dynamic can happen. It will take one of these early states to create a domino effect of change. I think that looks wrong today.
I'm not sugarcoating the odds of it, but I'm saying you've got to get to these early states and if one of these folks emerges and even significantly beats expectations, the dynamic will shift very quickly. That's a really good point. Tamara, do you first of all, your reaction to this reporting in the New York Times and even within these states though, Trump has a double digit lead in most cases. Right.
I don't think it's necessarily surprising that all of these messages failed. People have been trying to attack him one way or another. Many of those messages we saw on the debate stage this week and nothing has changed in the dynamic. There has to be like, you know, like an asteroid or something bigger than any of these individual messages because these candidates have been trying them.
They either don't believe it or they don't care. Right. You know, so he's still way ahead of the polls. You know, is it a matter of if they had started earlier, it could have made a difference.
You don't think so both of you agree on this one? No, no, I don't think it's a time based issue. I think it's that just you look back at the dynamics of the last many years related to Trump and I think it all started going south for chances of beating him during that kind of Ukraine first impeachment, where the electorate said that now has been debunked. That wasn't fair, it wasn't right.
He got impeached for something he didn't do and now nothing that is said about him is believers. That's an interesting point. Well, one thing that was said about him this week, Joe Crowley, was by President Biden who sharpened his attacks, delivered an entire speech about the threat to democracy that he believes. Former President Trump, what do you make of what did you make of that speech at this moment?
I mean, is it a sign that the general election has in some ways begun? Absolutely. I think they've already shifted their focus and gears towards Donald Trump. He's the inevitable nominee.
There's nothing to stop him. And I think you can see this in the Bates. The debates are going to be viewed by fewer and fewer people. They don't matter.
Even Trump said they're stopping the debates, really attacking each other. Right. You know, I think at the end, as long as he's not there, this is not real. The Bates, quite frankly.
And we're all either buying the second place or future, you know, great conversation. Thank you all. Hope you have a great weekend and a busy weekend covering developments on the Hill. Tamara, Jo and Sarah, appreciate it.
Still a con. Millions of borrowers are bracing for the return of student loan payments. This weekend. We're going to dig into what it means for you.
Anthony, behind the knacks to watching the press now. Welcome back. The start of October will bring new stress for hundreds of thousands of Americans who must begin making payments on their federal student loan payments again starting the first of the month. Those payments have been on hold for three years now.
The added expense could be devastating for many people still paying off their debts. The median student loan debt right now is between 20 and $25,000. NBC News Business and dial reporter Brian Cheng joins me now to break this all down. So, Brian, let's just give people the latest.
Has the Education Department taken any steps to prepare for this resumption of student loan payments? Yeah, but what the Department of Education is offering a grace period. So if you aren't able to make those payments over the next year, you will be immediately recorded to the credit bureaus, which means you won't get dinged in the ability to get a mortgage or auto loan for up to a year up to September 2024. After that point in time, the usual repercussions will take place.
But this is a big deal when you consider that, yes, we have that $25,000 in terms of outstanding debt, but there's also just the monthly payments for a lot of American households. It's going to be about $203 per month, according to Experian. That's money that's going to crowd out expenditures and spending that Americans didn't simply have to crowd out in the three years that we've had since COVID because of the relief that we got. So I talked to an economist to say, what's the impact of this going to be on other types of spending if people have to start figuring out, okay, if I'm going to make that payment to student loan debt, what am I going to stop paying for?
Well, number one, they're not going to stop paying for shelter. Number two, they're not going to stop paying for food. So credit card debt, auto loans, we could see those as being significantly impacted by this down the road, that's Professor Brian Adams from the University of Portland. You can see how that's kind of going to break the waterfall into other types of debt.
Perhaps not being paid was worth Christ in the big picture, this is going to tilt us into a recession. Goldman Sachs estimates this is going to drag about 0.5% of GDP, which isn't substantial enough to really tell us into a downturn, but certainly something worth watching. Brian, just in about 30 seconds. To follow up on that, what could the ripple effects be on the economy long term?
Yeah. Well, Chris, when we talk about the health of the American consumer, we have to remember they're still facing inflation. We're feeling this at the pump, we're feeling this at the grocery store. So if we do indeed get to a situation next year where purchasing powers still pinch, well, that can certainly weigh on American consumers that's already been having a hard time keeping up the prices.
All right. Well, we know you will track it very closely. Brian, thank you. Hope you have a great weekend.
Really appreciate you joining us. And thank you for being with us this hour. We will be back Monday with more MEET the PRESS now. NBC News NOW coverage continues with Hallie Jackson right now.
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