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Will President Compromise on 2,000-Mile Concrete Border Wall; Senate Reaches Tentative Deal on DREAMers; States Being Allowed to Require Work for Medicaid; States Push Back on Exemption of Only Florida from Offshore Drilling. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 11, 2018 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[13:30:00] SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R), SOUTH DAKOTA: It's not up to me. I shouldn't be the one that is sharing that with the rest of the country. They are the ones who need to share that. And they worked long and hard at it. I'm not going to take anything from their thunder.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I know they've been working really hard on it. And it's generous of you to spend some time to explain this. It's really important.

I want you to listen to Kellyanne Conway, the counsellor to the president. She was on CNN last night with Chris Cuomo, talking about the wall. What exactly is enhanced border security and what role would the actual wall be along the U.S.-Mexico border. I want you to listen carefully to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLYANNE CONWAY, TRUMP SENIOR ADVISOR: The president has discovered that part of it will be the physical wall, part of is better technology and part of it is also fencing. There are rivers involved, I'm told. There are mountains involved. And there's terrain that is not conducive to building an actually physical structure in some places.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: That sounds like a compromise, moving away from a 2,000-mile concrete wall, right?

ROUNDS: Absolutely. In fairness, while it's something he pointed to, because people can envision a wall as security, most of us said, from day one, we want a secured border. That means a secured system. That includes, in some areas, surveillance and, in some areas, electronics or fences, and in some areas, it's fences. And in some areas, it may be an active barrier, a physical barrier itself. There's something else involved as well. The ports have to be modernized. And you have to make it easier for trade to move back and forth in those areas. You take a look along the Texas border at how trade piles up in those inland ports, and so forth. And part of the border security requires a system so we can actually move the commerce back and forth easier than what it does today. That's another thing we can talk about when we talk about infrastructure. There intertwined parts in this process that fit together. Infrastructure very well may be part of that discussion.

BLITZER: It's an important point, indeed.

As you correctly point out, it looks like -- I suspect you will have the votes in the Senate to pass it. The question is whether the speaker will allow it in the House of Representatives. The last time there was comprehensive immigration reform, as you well remember, it passed the Senate and didn't come up for a vote in the House. They want a majority of the majority on board. And what will be critical, and I think you are right, will be the reaction from the president of the United States. If he gets on board, then this tentative deal looks like it could pass.

You are smiling.

ROUNDS: We would like that first tweet to be a positive tweet. After that, we can move forward.

BLITZER: We will see what the president tweets.

Senator Rounds, as usual, thanks so much for joining us.

ROUNDS: Thank you.

BLITZER: We are going to have much more on the breaking news. A major development. How will the president react to this tentative deal? We will go live to the White House when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:16] BLITZER: We are following the breaking news. A tentative deal among some Senate Republicans and Democrats to allow the so- called DREAMers, some 700 or 800,000 people who were brought as children to the United States illegally, allow them to stay in exchange for enhanced border security, including at least a partial wall.

Dana is still with us.

The deal, it's a tentative in the Senate. You have to pass it through the Senate. I suspect it will pass in the Senate. Then it goes to the House, where there could be problems.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. I think even taking a step back further, the question is, this deal -- and, again, it is just among a very small, but important group of Senators.

BLITZER: Three Democrats and three Republicans.

BASH: Three Democrats. They were bringing in people along the way, even the most conservative and hawkish of Republicans. They were consulted and brought in.

But the big question -- and I was literally texting with someone in the administration during the break -- is the House. It's whether or not the House speaker is going to be able to take this deal, which allows for the DREAMers to stay and get legal residence, some form of it, and certainly adds border security -- there's a lot more, but those are the two key components -- whether or not the House speaker is willing to put something along those lines on the floor of the House, knowing full well he'll lose a lot of Republicans and will need Democratic support.

But the question is, this is really a chicken-or-egg question, Wolf. Is the president going to say, I'm signing on to this, before they know the speaker will do it, or is the speaker saying, I'm not going to do this until I get the political cover I need from you, Mr. President. I guarantee a version of that is going on as we speak. Which is why, again, the president says I will take the heat, find a deal, we'll make it happen. It's so important, because people like Lindsey Graham, the Republicans, like Dick Durbin, sitting in that room that couple of days ago, are going to be saying to the president, you said you would take the heat, here it is, take it.

BLITZER: He said I will take the heat if they come up with a deal. Republicans and democrats in the Senate have come up with a deal. We'll see the reaction from the president and the White House. More important, the president than the White House, because --

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: -- sometimes you get different --

BASH: That's a good point.

BLITZER: different reactions.

Other important news, Dana, sweeping policy shifts. The White House said states can now compel some Medicaid enrollees to work, volunteer, go to school or entered job training in order to receive Medicaid benefits. The new guidance acknowledges that not everybody will be able to work to quality. That includes people in poor health, pregnant women, people in areas of high unemployment. And it also specifically calls out the opioid epidemic, saying time spent in treatment it can count towards the mandate, and those in intensive recovery programs can be excused.

Dana, this is potentially significant development the administration has put forward.

[13:40:19] BASH: This is one of many examples of elections having consequences. This is a classic bit of Republican conservative credo, which is there should be government benefits, there should be a federal safety net for every American, but it can't just be giving it to everybody without anything in return. The fact that they have said, as you pointed out, the some of the most extreme cases are going to be exempt is noteworthy. It's unclear how far this is going to go and how widespread it is. But to me, this is case in point of Republican credo winning the day at a time when you would expect it to, Republican in the White House and Republicans in Congress. This is an administration policy.

BLITZER: Elections have consequences. BASH: They do.

BLITZER: They certainly do.

Stand by. Don't go too far away.

We will have much more on the breaking news. A Republican Senator saying a bipartisan deal has been reach on the fate of the DREAMers. But any agreement certainly depends on the White House. We'll go there. We'll get reaction. Stay on top of the breaking news right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:45] BLITZER: We are following breaking news. Want to quickly get reaction from the White House as soon as possible. A bipartisan deal that will allow some 700,000 or 800,000 DREAMers to remain in the U.S. in exchange for enhanced border security.

Our correspondent, Jeremy Diamond, is joining us live from the White House.

So you've heard about the so-called Gang of Six, three Republican Senators and three Democratic Senators. They've came up with an apparent compromise that allows the DREAMers to remain legally here in the United States.

What are you hearing initially -- and I want to stress the word "initially," Jeremy -- from the White House?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Despite the deal between the Gang of Six members, a senior official I spoke with just a little while ago, said the White House hadn't yet been briefed on these details. Expressed some initially skepticism about the possibility of such legislation gaining any traction in Congress. This official said he would be, quote, unquote, "skeptical" that a deal reached by these members of the Gang of Six would be able to pass the House, in particular. The reason for that is this Gang of Six is views as more liberal in terms of immigration, and the makeup of the House Republican conference is more conservative than that in the Senate. This underscores the challenges that the White House and Congress are facing. After the meeting the president had the other day, he kind of left the door open. There's a lot of discussion about what could actually pass Congress and what the president would sign -- Wolf?

BLITZER: We will see if Lindsey Graham can convince his new friend, the president, to take the heat. The president said the other day he is ready to take the heat and support what they come up with, Democrats and Republicans. We will see how that unfolds. It could pass the Senate. We will see how it comes up for a vote in the House. It won't unless the president enthusiastically comes out in favor.

DIAMOND: That's right.

BLITZER: We're waiting for the briefing.

All right, Jeremy, thanks very much.

Much more on the breaking news coming up.

Also, other important news we're following, including governors from both sides of the aisle, they are crying foul after the White House exempts only the state of Florida from its offshore drilling plans. I will speak live with the governor of Washington State. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:52:20] BLITZER: An aggressive Interior Department plan to allow an historic amount of offshore drilling is being met by opposition from some of the nation's governors who would be affected by this new policy. This was the map of offshore drilling plans off the coast of the continental United States. But now you can see they are striking Florida from the map. Republican Governor Rick Scott protested to the White House, met with the Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The next day, Florida was taken off the list.

Joining us from Seattle, Washington, is Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington State.

Governor, thanks so much for joining us.

JAY INSLEE, (D), WASHINGTON STATE GOVERNOR: You bet. Good morning.

BLITZER: Why do you think Florida was taken off the list?

INSLEE: Well, look, there has been a bipartisan revulsion against what happened here. Because both Democrat and Republican governors, 15 have objected to this, six Republicans. And the reason is that we believe America deserves a president who will protect our beaches, from sea to shining sea. Not just those that have a political pal who is in trouble in a Senate race in Florida, which is the case with, frankly, a non-stellar environmental record that's trying to look good, and not just protect places where you happen to have a golf course with a beach around it. This president deserves and has an obligation to protect all of our beaches.

And the story throughout the country, both in Republican and Democrat states, right now, is that we all have the same thing I have in Washington, a $400 million recreation industry, a $1.5 billion fishing industry. I have 11,000 jobs in the tourism industry on the Washington beaches that are every bit as important as the Florida recreational economy. And that's true from South Carolina to California to or Oregon. There's nothing unique about Florida, except there's a Republican governor in trouble running for the Senate and a resort that Donald Trump has. Maybe I have to buy Donald Trump a golf course in Washington to get him to protect us.

BLITZER: But you know --

(CROSSTALK)

INSLEE: But this really is outrageous. BLITZER: Governor, the secretary, Ryan Zinke, says he expects to meet

with all the governors involved. You sent them a letter today. Have you gotten a response, spoken to him personally, to protect the Pacific waters off your state?

INSLEE: No. We wrote them in August, strenuously objecting to this plan. We got no response. We wrote him a week ago, Governor Brown, of California, and Governor Brown, of Oregon, a week ago. We've gotten no response. We've written and called again today with no response. They are a day late and dollar short. This is, unfortunately, just a repeated series of chaos and outrage that we've experienced under this administration.

And it's interesting that it has, to me, provoked such a bipartisan outrage about this from the governor of South Carolina. And now even Nathan Deal, in Georgia, has expressed concern about this. So this is legitimately a bipartisan outrage at this political favoritism to a peninsula that happens to have alligators and an endangered Republican for the Senate. This thing stinks to high heaven. It won't stand.

Here's the good news. The good news is there is every reason to believe we will succeed in blocking Donald Trump from this outrage, yet again, like we have in his Muslim ban, because we have a lot of tools at our disposal to challenge this in court, because it's obviously arbitrary and capricious. We have a lot of tools to prevent using our ports to access this. And, frankly, not as much interest as they may think in the oil industry.

But this is also, frankly, the tip of the iceberg, if you will, because this is a president who is still mired in the industries of the past. We are growing jobs like crazy in solar energy, electric cars, electric batteries. That's the future of this. He's not going to the future. He wants to go backwards to the days when we had oil spills. We had two terrible oil spills in '88 and '91.

[13:56:33] BLITZER: Yes.

INSLEE: We know what it looks like on the beaches. This won't stand.

BLITZER: Governor Inslee, thanks so much for joining us.

INSLEE: Thank you.

BLITZER: All right. Lots going on. Coming up, we are standing by for the White House press briefing. Looking at live pictures coming in from the briefing room.

After a quick break, we'll also update you on the breaking news. A Republican Senator saying there's a tentative bipartisan deal on the fate of the DREAMers, but another Senator pushing back a bit, saying they do not have a final deal yet. Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)