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President Lashes Out At "Pathetic" GOP Leaders, Calls For "New & Energetic Republican Leadership"; Mitch McConnell: Will Vote Tomorrow On Defense Funding Bill; Chuck Schumer: "We Should Not Adjourn" Before Voting On $2,000 Checks; Chuck Schumer: "$600 Is Not Enough" To Help Families Through Pandemic; Senate Faces Critical Votes On Relief Checks, Trump Veto Override. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired December 29, 2020 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: It is top of the hour. I am Brianna Keilar. We are standing by for first clues from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on how he'll handle two tests of Republican loyalty to the president?

Will the GOP led Senate side with Democrats and stand with President Trump on increasing pandemic relief checks to $2,000? Will they stand up to him by overriding his veto of $740 billion defense bill?

With 22 days left in office, the president is already lashing out at "Weak and tired" Republican leadership. More than 100 Republicans sided with Democrats in the House to override his defense bill veto last night.

So far, though, he is keeping support of both the Georgia Republican Senators who are facing critical runoffs next week. Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler today announced that they'll now support sending Americans $2,000 checks. From his golf club in South Florida, the president is now likely watching closely to see what Senator McConnell will do?

What have CNN's Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill who is also watching very closely to see what Senator McConnell will do? What are we expecting Lauren?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, that's right. All eyes are on the U.S. Senate at noon today. That's when we expect that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell could give the first indications of what he plans to do about the fact that the House overwhelmingly passed those $2,000 stimulus checks?

There are now five Republican Senators, including David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both running for re-election in State of Georgia on January 5th who says they now support this proposal. We also know that Josh Hawley as well as Senator Lindsey Graham supports this proposal. So what is McConnell going to do? I mean, one of the hardest and most difficult parts of this for the Majority Leader is the fact that there are still a large number of conservatives, fiscal conservatives in his conference who are lukewarm on the president's proposal, and putting something on the floor that divides your conference is never a great idea when you're the Majority Leader.

So we are going to watching at noon to see whether or not McConnell gives us any indication of where he goes from here? You can also expect that Senator Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat, is going to try to get an unanimous consent agreement to just pass this House bill on the floor for those $2,000 checks, whether or not he gets that of course is unlikely. Any one Senator could object, Brianna.

KEILAR: So what are Democrats planning to do? You said Republicans could object to this. But what are Democrats trying to do to really put the pressure on Republicans when it comes to increasing the amount of these relief checks?

FOX: Well, what can always happen at the end of the year when there are a large number of items that Majority Leader McConnell wants to get finished is any one Senator could delay the process. That's exactly what Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, is threatening to do.

Essentially he is saying McConnell, I want to make sure that we're going to vote on these $2,000 checks, and if you aren't willing to put it on the floor, then I'm going to make it harder for you to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, override vote of the president's veto.

Now that's going to be complicated, of course, because that could push the vote into the New Year, New Year's Day to be exact Brianna and of course this is a time when lawmakers want to be home they want to be with their family, they don't want to be on Capitol Hill, but that's what Sanders is threatening at this moment that would push the vote from tomorrow when McConnell wanted to have it into Friday.

KEILAR: Congress in on a holiday, I do not think so. We'll see. Lauren Fox, thank you so much for that. For more on how President Trump is reacting to all this, I want to go to CNN's Kaitlan Collins who is covering the president there in West Palm Beach. Kaitlan, the Republicans are definitely in a tough spot here, and the president is really keeping the pressure up, he has been sending out tweets, rather harsh tweets aimed at Republican leadership.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Aimed directly at Mitch McConnell. They don't name him specifically but it is pretty clear who the president is talking about when he says that Republicans need new leadership, and is calling the current leadership of the Republican Party weak and pathetic saying that of course excludes him in his tweets.

A lot of this has to do with what we are seeing that Lauren just laid out on Capitol Hill, but a lot of it also has to do with the fact that more and more Republicans, Brianna, are acknowledging reality, and talking about the fact that Joe Biden has won this presidency.

And so I think that's what a lot of the president's frustration here, where he is acting out, in a sense talking about these $2,000 checks that of course his own team was part of the negotiations for that Coronavirus relief bill that he did finally signed on Sunday night after sitting on it several days.

He never was involved in those negotiations, demanding those $2,000 checks, and of course now he is, and he put his own party in this tough position of where the Senate now has to make a decision where they're going to approve these $2,000 checks that initially a lot of Republicans were not behind, they weren't even happy with this $600 stimulus checks.

[12:05:00]

COLLINS: Now they're going to have to make that decision to either do that or defy the president. And so I think you're seeing the position that it is putting people in with Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue of course have got this runoff race ahead of them.

And so they have to make a decision that pleases the president but also to where they can stay in line with the party and where Mitch McConnell wants things to go. So I think people inside the White House are waiting to see how McConnell is going to navigate this?

They don't really know what the president's next step is going to be? So they're also watching to see what he's going to say when he gets on the Senate floor any minute now?

KEILAR: And we are watching that as well, Kaitlan. We're going to see what he says; we'll bring that to viewers as well. Kaitlan Collins live from Florida for us. I want to discuss what happens next with someone who knows the Majority Leader very well, Scott Jennings is a CNN Political Commentator and he is a Former Senior Communications Adviser to Senator McConnell.

Scott, I am wondering what you're looking for what you're expecting when we see Mitch McConnell hopefully soon on the floor giving us a sense of the path forward?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, a couple of things. Good to be with you, by the way.

KEILAR: yes.

JENNINGS: One, I think he is probably going to talk a lot about the NDAA, congress and strong majorities in both parties really care about that. The NDAA it looks like they're on track to override the president's veto. So I would expect a lot of talk about that.

Number two, you know these Senators haven't been together. And so actually would be surprised if McConnell knows exactly where everyone is at this moment? And so I wouldn't be surprised if we don't hear much about the clear path forward but rather that he will address the president's concerns but without a very specific path on how he plans to address them?

Then this afternoon and into tonight, I would expect the Senate Republican Conference to talk amongst themselves about where everyone is and what the plan is moving forward? So I would be shocked, frankly, if there's a clear path in this speech.

But one thing is true. Mitch McConnell has been a very, very solid governing partner for Donald Trump. When Trump has wanted to put something on the floor, McConnell has always done it. But he's always done it in a way that tries to get the most Republicans in his conference at the table and on board.

So it will take McConnell a few hours to pull that together I think which is why I would be surprised if he lays it out.

KEILAR: Scott, let's pick this conversation up after we listen to Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): -- up on the record, up on the journal and be printed in the record.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without objection.

MCCONNELL: To just have in the report.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clerk will call the roll. Mr. Alexander.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Scott, they're calling the roll right now. So let's pick this conversation back up while they do that and we await comments from the Senate Majority Leader. Can you talk a little bit about what a tricky situation it must be for these Georgia Republican Senators who have allotted the money secured from military installations military bases in Georgia from the defense bill? At the same time, the Senate will be voting on overriding the president's veto of that bill.

JENNINGS: Yeah, this bill is very important for Georgia, it has a lot of military facilities, and frankly it is important for the country. The congress here in a very bipartisan way, I know we talk about the parties being at each other's throats all the time, but this is a very bipartisan bill, they've always passed the defense authorization bill, it is always bipartisan.

They did a good bill here. I don't think it was very smart politically for the president to veto it. It was almost certain that it was going to be an override situation for him. And so that leaves him looking weaker when the president gets an override vote like that. But for Perdue and Loeffler it's an important --

KEILAR: All right. Let's pause, Scott let's pause and listen to McConnell.

MCCONNELL: -- in the law. Yesterday, a bipartisan super majority of the House voted to reapprove the conference report of this must pass legislation. Today, the Senate will set up final vote for tomorrow, Wednesday, for this chamber to follow suit.

Soon, this important legislation will be passed into law. President Trump is rightly noted this year's defense bill does not contain every provision that we Republicans would have wanted. I am confident our Democratic colleagues feel the same way. But that is the case every year.

And yet for 59 consecutive years and counting Washington has put our differences aside, found common ground, passed the annual defense bill. Not once in six decades has congress let differences prevent it from completing this work for our national security and our men and women that wear the uniform.

This year's NDAA will continue our momentum in rebuilding and modernizing our armed forces and it will authorize the personnel, equipment, tools and training we need to reinforce the national defense strategy and to deter great power rivals like China and Russia.

[12:10:00]

It will cement our advantage on the seas, on land, in the air, in cyberspace, and in space. And the bill will help us continue to recruit, retain, support men and women that keep us safe. It provides a pay raise for the troops, improvements for military housing, child care, and more.

So Madam President, for brave men and women of the United States armed forces, failure is simply not an option. So when it is our turn in congress to have their backs, failure is not an option either. I would urge my colleagues to support this legislation one more time when we vote tomorrow.

Now, on another matter, on Sunday, President Trump signed into law another historic bipartisan rescue package. It will provide major support to American families through what we hope will be the home stretch of our fight with the Coronavirus.

Congressional Republicans, Congressional Democrats, and President Trump's senior team had all worked together to pass hundreds of billions more dollars in urgent assistance to people who need it most. This new law will set up a targeted second round of paycheck protection to save jobs.

It will renew and continue federal programs that helped laid off workers endure the crisis. It will send more cash to households. It will invest billions in vaccine distribution so the success of Operation Warp Speed kills the pandemic as fast as possible, and much more.

This bipartisan compromise was our shot at getting help to working families on the urgent timeline that they need. Once again, I want to applaud President Trump for signing the bill and getting this much needed assistance into the pipeline. During this process, the president highlighted three additional issues of national significance he would like to see congress tackle together. First, as he explained, the president would like further direct financial support for American households, second, growing willingness on both sides of the aisle to at least re-examine the special legal protections afforded to technology companies under section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, including ways it benefits some of the most prosperous, most powerful big tech firms.

The third subject since every American regardless of their politics should feel the integrity of our democracy is beyond approach, exploring further ways to protect the statuary of America's ballots while continuing to respecting the federal government's limited role in standing behind state and local government who actually run elections.

Those are the three important subjects the president has linked together. This week, the Senate will begin a process to bring these three priorities into focus. I move to proceed to calendar number 480S3985.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The clerk will report.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Motion to proceed to S3985, a bill to improve and reform policing practices, accountability and transparency.

MCCONNELL: Unanimous consent that following leader remarks on Wednesday December 30th, the time until 1:15 be equally divided between proponents and opponents of the bill, with the opponent time being controlled by Senator Paul or his designee.

Further, upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate voted on passage of the bill, the objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding. Finally it passed the motion to reconsider and leave on the table with no intervening action or debate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there objection?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Reserving the right to object.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Democratic Leader.

SCHUMER: Well, thank you, Madam President. Now, the Senate is here this week for a rare holiday session to address two major issues. The president's veto of the annual defense bill and the effort to send $2,000 survival checks to millions and millions of American families, something Senate Democrats strongly support.

The Senate should be in session to address both issues. There are only a few days left in this session. We should not adjourn until the Senate holds a vote on both measures the NDAA veto override and House bill to provide $2,000 checks for the American people.

As we all know, the Majority Leader controls the schedule on the floor. So Leader McConnell holds the key to unlocking this dilemma. The solution is a simple one. Put both bills up for a simple up or down vote and then let the chips fall where they may.

I believe both measures will pass, as they should. But Leader McConnell must allow the Senate to vote on both pieces of legislations, the defense bill and the $2,000 checks, before we go home.

[12:15:00]

We will start the process on overriding the president's veto of the defense bill tomorrow. Today at the end of my remarks, I will ask the Senate's consent to take up the House passed bill to provide the American people immediate survival checks of $2,000 a person throughout this pandemic working Americans have taken it on the chin.

Right now, they're facing their hardest and their darkest days. Tens of millions have lost their jobs. Tens of millions are struggling to put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads. In the wealthiest nation on earth, modern day bread lines stretch for miles down American highways.

The fastest way to get money into Americans' pockets is to send some of their tax dollars right back from where they came. $2,000 stimulus checks could mean the difference between American families having groceries for a few extra weeks or going hungry.

The difference between paying the rent or being kicked out of your home that you lived in for years. It could buy precious time for tens of millions of people as the vaccine thankfully makes its way across the country.

Of course, we could have taken up this issue weeks ago, in the COVID bill congress just passed, Democrats wanted generous direct payments to the American people. Speaker Pelosi and I repeatedly asked our Republican counterparts how much they could support, their answer, $600.

It was a compromise many of us were not happy about. I came to the floor myself with the Senator from Vermont to ask that we double at least the size of those checks. A Republican Senator objected $600 was the most Republicans would support.

Well, my colleagues and my fellow Americans, $600 is not enough, not enough for the mother in Nashville, $4,000 behind on rent whose water was shut off earlier this month. Not for the medical receptionist in Macomb, $2100 behind on the rent. Whole electricity shut off in September on her son's third day of virtual kindergarten.

Not for 12 million Americans who have fallen on average nearly $6,000 behind on their rent and their utilities or the 26 million Americans who have had trouble putting food on the table in the past five days.

$600, no, that's not enough. So in a moment, I will move to have the Senate take up the House bill to increase that number to $2,000, which I might add had broad bipartisan support. I don't want to hear that we can't afford it. I don't want to hear that it would add too much to the deficit. Senate Republicans added nearly 2 trillion to the deficit to give

corporations a massive tax cut. Republicans just fought to include a tax break for three Martini lunches in the COVID-19 bill. So I don't want to hear it that costs too much to help working families get a check when they're struggling to keep their jobs, pay their rent, feed their families, and live a halfway normal and decent life.

Even in our deeply divided times, Madam President, this issue has United Americans from coast to coast and bridged the massive political divide here in Washington. Vast majority of the public, Republican and Democrat, strongly support $2,000 checks an overwhelming bipartisan majority in the House supports 2,000 checks.

Senate Democrats strongly support $2,000 checks. Even President Trump supports $2,000 checks. There's one question left today, do Senate Republicans join with the rest of America in supporting $2,000 checks?

Now some of my Republican colleagues have said they support the checks, but there's a major difference in saying you support $2,000 checks and fighting to put them into law. The House bill is the only way, the only way to deliver these stimulus checks before the end of session.

Will Senate Republicans fight for a vote on the House passed Cash Act or will they look some other way? Will Senate Republicans stand against the House of Representatives, the democratic majority in the Senate, and president of their own party to prevent these $2,000 checks from going out the door?

[12:20:00]

We're about to get the answers to these questions. So now, Madam President, I ask consent to set the NDAA, no, sorry. Madam President, where am I? Would the Senator modify his request to include a unanimous consent request that the -- to include unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of HR9051, a bill received from the House to increase recovery rebate amounts to $2,000 per individual, that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there objection to the modification?

MCCONNELL: I object.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection is heard. Is there objection to the original request, the Senator from Vermont?

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): Thank you Madam President. Reserving the right to object, we should all be very, very clear. Working class of this country today faces more economic desperation than at any time since the Great Depression of the 1930s and working families need help now not next year but right now.

Last night, the House of Representatives with a two-thirds majority 275-134 two-thirds bipartisan votes move to increase the direct payment going to working families from $600 per adult to $2,000 per adult. The House did the right thing.

I congratulate them and now it is time for the Senate to step up to the plate and do what working families of this country overwhelmingly want us to do. Madam President, as a result of the pandemic tens of millions of Americans had lost their jobs and their incomes.

These families in the middle of the winter now face threat of eviction and the possibility of being thrown out on the streets. Hunger in America is at the highest level it has been for decades with moms and dads struggling to feed their kids and working families lining up mile after mile to get emergency food packages.

We are even seeing an increase in grocery store shoplifting as desperate Americans try to keep their families from going hungry. All of this taking place in the wealthiest country in the history of the world.

Madam President, over the last number of years as I think everybody in America knows congress has provided massive tax breaks for the very wealthiest people in our country which is one of the reasons why today we have more income and wealth inequality than any time since the 1920s.

In fact, in the midst of this pandemic, this terrible pandemic inequality has grown worse with many in the billionaire class seeing their wealth increase by hundreds of billions of dollars while average Americans struggle to put food on the table.

Congress is giving huge tax breaks to large corporations, so that some of the most profitable, largest corporations in America today pay zero in federal income taxes. We have just passed the largest military budget in the history of our country. $740 billion, more than the next ten nations combined.

[12:25:00]

SANDERS: By the way, there was almost no debate about the size of that huge budget. Trump's veto dealt with other issues. Meanwhile, over a half million Americans are homeless, half our working families are struggling to survive paycheck to paycheck, and in the midst of the terrible, unprecedented pandemic, over 90 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured in the midst of a pandemic and not sure if they can afford to go to a doctor.

Madam President, we are coming to the close of one of the most terrible and painful years in American history. That's a tragic fact. Over 330,000 of our people have died from COVID-19 and as we speak we are seeing record breaking numbers of new cases at hospitals, and hospitals around the country being overwhelmed with new admissions.

During the last year, the education and well-being of tens of thousands of our young people from child care to graduate school has been disrupted. And the terrible emotional isolation that this pandemic has caused where people are unable to spend time with their family or their friends has resulted in a huge increase in mental illness, drug addiction, and even suicide. Madam President, as I mention, the House has done the right thing. By an overwhelming vote, Democrats and Republicans voted to increase that $600 direct payment to $2,000. Recent poll came out, 78 percent of the American people think that was the right decision. They're hurting. They want help.

The leaders of our country, President Trump, President-Elect Biden, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, are all in agreement. We have got to raise that direct payment to $2,000. So that is where we are right now in this historic moment.

Do we turn our backs on struggling working families or do we respond to their pain? So Madam President, would the Senator modify his request that immediately following the vote on the veto override, the Senate proceed to consideration of HR9051, that the bill be considered read a third time, and the Senate vote on passage of the bill without intervening action or debate. Further, that if passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is there objection to the request for modification?

MCCONNELL: I object.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection is heard. Is there objection to the original?

SANDERS: I object.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Objection is heard. Under the previous order, the Senate will be in a period of mourning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam President?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Senator.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you Madam President. Madam President, this is a historic moment. We can see the suffering across our country. We can see how desperate people are. We can see how during this holiday season that people are looking at the prospects in the words of Tony Fauci where the worst may be ahead of us for these families.

The worst may yet to have been actually inflicted upon families, and our country, and yet the Republicans are refusing to allow for a vote on giving each --

KEILAR: I want to bring in Lauren Fox, who is tracking all of this from Capitol Hill for us. We heard as perhaps we expected there the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell focusing on the defense bill which he said on Wednesday they'll be voting. He didn't say veto override, but that's what it is. He was urging his colleague to again support it.

As you said Lauren, but obviously the big news here is on these stimulus checks and this is where disagreement is between Democrats and Republicans, increasing the amount of these stimulus checks from $600 to $2,000. We certainly saw some action there on the Democratic side about how to put the pressure on Republicans over this?

FOX: Well, that's exactly right.

[12:30:00]