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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Dies at Age 90; Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) Holds News Conference as Shutdown Looms; Biden Threatens to Veto House GOP Stopgap Funding Bill. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 29, 2023 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We'll be hearing from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. He's going to be speaking to reporters on the eve of this government shutdown. What is his plan to avoid that now? Stand by for updates there.

Also this hour, we may hear from President Biden, who will be honoring the outgoing chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a huge day here. General Mark Milley is at a farewell ceremony that will be taking place. We're keeping an eye on that.

And we are also continuing to follow the breaking news of Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. She has passed away at the age of 90 years old. She was a trailblazer, the longest serving female senator in U.S. history. She has been serving in Congress since 1992, a storied political career starting back in San Francisco.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And that's where we begin. Feinstein was the first female chair of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and then went on to become the city's first female mayor. That was back in 1978. She inherited that seat in the wake of the assassination of the city's mayor and San Francisco Board Supervisor Harvey Milk. It had a lasting impact on her. Feinstein then went on to become the first woman from California to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

During her long lasting career in Congress, she fought for sensible gun laws, helping to pass a federal assault weapons ban, championed LGBTQ rights, and even helped establish the nationwide Amber Alert Network.

She worked, by the way, up until yesterday. She cast her final vote on the Senate floor on Thursday, voting on legislation to prevent the government shutdown that is currently looming.

BOLDUAN: Trying to do that, just that. And we are hearing from her colleagues this morning and will be throughout the day, of course, Senate majority leader, the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, he called this a very, very sad day. He is expected to speak from the Senate floor soon. We'll be looking out for that.

We've also received a statement from Dianne Feinstein's office, from her chief of staff that reads this. Sadly, Senator Feinstein passed away last night at her home in Washington D.C. Her passing is a great loss for so many from those who loved and cared for her, to the people of California, that she dedicated her life to serving.

Senator Feinstein, he goes on to say, never backed away from a fight for what was just and right. At the same time, she was always willing to work with anyone, even those who she disagreed with, if it meant bettering the lives of Californians or the betterment of our nation.

There are few women who can be called senator, chairman, mayor, wife, mom, and grandmother. Senator Feinstein was a force of nature who made an incredible impact on our country and her home state, that from her chief of staff.

SIDNER: All right. Everybody, we are going to go now to Dana Bash. You spent quite a bit of time with Senator Feinstein. Can you give me some sense for you as to what this means in the context of the way in which she got to where she was and the impact, the huge impact she had not just only on the Senate, but on women?

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you just gave a long list of firsts for Senator Feinstein starting back in San Francisco. I'd like to add to some of those firsts, because she was not only the first woman to represent California and the U.S. Senate. That happened in 1992. She was the first woman to sit on the Judiciary Committee. She was the first female chairwoman of the Rules Committee. She was the first woman to co-chair the Inaugural Committee. And she was the first female chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. It kind of goes on and on and on.

And I was looking back to start with that last one as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee. One of the things that she, just like many of her colleagues who was around during the vote to support the Iraq War, she was a very important voice because of her role on the Senate Intelligence Committee. And she said that she read the intelligence and she really believed that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. She said she really believed it. This isn't based on what she was told. It was based on the way she read it. And she called it one of her biggest mistakes. And she said, what's my lesson? The lesson is you take it all with a grain of salt.

And so that is really one of the things that is striking and important. And it's a lesson for all of us as people. Never mind those who are in Washington and covering Washington. But it is to not only acknowledge your mistakes, but try to learn.

BOLDUAN: Dana, can you jump in?

[10:05:00]

Let's listen to Chuck Schumer. He's speaking on the floor right now.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): -- whoever graced the Senate, whoever graced the country. She has a great job. She had so many amazing, wonderful qualities, wrapped up in one incredible human being. She was smart. She was strong. She was brave. She was compassionate. But maybe the trait that stood out most of all was her amazing integrity. Her integrity was a diamond. Her integrity shone like a beacon across the Senate and across the country for all to see and hopefully emulate.

Dianne Feinstein would typically say when you asked her how was she voting on something, let me study this issue before taking a position. Let me go home and read on it. And when she came back, if she believed the cause or the vote was right and vital to many issues she cared about, she not only voted for it, there was no stopping her in getting it done.

She would take on any force, any special interest, any opponent with relentless integrity and would wear those opponents down until she succeeded. Again, her integrity just shone through them and she won and she won and she won, and each time made the country a better place.

I saw this up close when she passed the assault weapons ban, a passion of hers after what happened to her in California. The NRA was a relentless, often mean-spirited and chauvinistic foe. They oozed vitriol against her. But they didn't scare her, they didn't stop her and they failed against her. Like most of her opponents, they failed against her. Her perseverance, her strength, and most of all, her integrity shown through.

I was privileged to carry the bill in the House after she had passed it in the Senate. She guided me every step of the way. And her strength and her integrity strengthened all of us who were fighting that uphill fight. And as we went through that bill, it became clear to me, Dianne Feinstein is not like the others. She's in a class of her own.

Of course, it wasn't just the assault weapons ban she fought for. Her accomplishments also included championing the Violence Against Women Act, protecting oversight authority during the investigation into U.S. torture, fighting for climate justice, fighting for marriage equality, fighting for reproductive justice. The list goes on and on.

As chair of the Intelligence Committee, Dianne fought for what was right, even if it was hard and difficult, and took months and years to dig in and find out what actually went wrong. She never stopped. She took on the CIA and asserted Congress' oversight authority during the investigation into United States' use of torture.

And through all of her accomplishments, this one and all the others, she always displayed the quintessential grace and strength none of these sons of guns against her ever rattled her. I remember a few years back when a particularly nasty senator tried to put Senator Feinstein down in a condescending, many would say chauvinistic way, she reacted not defensively but with strength and poise and integrity. And within three minutes, she put this colleague in a place, in his place. And by the end of it, everyone in the room, on both sides of the aisle, were smiling.

That was Dianne to a tee, powerful, prepared, unflappable. She had to be. Whenever she did something, she was often the first to do it. She was elected as the first woman president to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman to serve as mayor of San Francisco, the first woman to serve as U.S. senator for California, the first woman to chair both the Senate Rules and Intelligence Committees, the first woman member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the list goes on and on and on and on.

[10:10:00]

Our nation will be forever thankful to Senator Feinstein for the accomplishments she fought for. I too am personally indebted to Dianne, not just as a colleague, which, of course, I am in so many ways, as a colleague, but as a friend and as a father of two daughters.

Dianne's work extended far beyond the United States Senate floor, as she gave a voice, a platform and a leader to women throughout the country for decades. Dianne didn't just push down doors that were closed for women, she held them open for generations of women after her to follow her. She gave a voice, a platform, a model for women across the country who aspire to roles in leadership, in public service, who want to leave their own mark on the world, who want to make this country a better place for others.

Today there are 25 women serving in this chamber and every one of them will admit they stand on Dianne's shoulders.

So, Dianne's impact extended far beyond the Senate floor and far beyond politics itself. So, today, we grieve. We look at that desk and we know what we have lost. But we also give thanks, thanks to someone so rarefied, so brave, so graceful of presence, served in this chamber for so that someone like that served in this chamber for so many years.

In closing, let me just say this. The sign of a leader is someone who dedicates the whole of their spirit for a cause greater than themselves, 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.

Dianne Feinstein was all of this and more, a friend, a hero for so many, a leader who changed the nation, sorry, a leader who changed the nature of the Senate and who changed the fabric of the nation, America, for the better.

As the nation mourns, this tremendous loss, we're comforted in knowing how many mountains Dianne moved, how many lives she impacted, how many glass ceilings she shattered along the way. America, America is a better place because of Senator Dianne Feinstein.

Today, I join with my colleagues in mourning our beloved friend.

BOLDUAN: Listening there to Senator Chuck Schumer, the top Democrat in the Senate, getting emotional as he bids farewell to a giant in the Senate, a good friend of his, Dianne Feinstein, who's passed away at the age of 90 years old.

Her Senate desk cloaked in black with white flowers on it, as it will be today. We continue to follow that. We do want to move over to the other side of the Capitol at the very same time, because House Speaker Kevin McCarthy is speaking to reporters as well. Listen to this.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Thank you all. Moments ago, the flags over the Capitol were lowered in memory of Senator Dianne Feinstein. As California's longest serving senator, Senator Feinstein broke barriers and blazed a trail for women. Her career was, by any standards, historic.

Speaking personally, I worked with the senator for quite some time, together on many different bills, but the one that I think stands out was our water legislation. It was historic. It was the first time in California history, the more than 25 years that we were able to pass water. It was the WIIN Act.

And I remember the hours and the nights that we would have to work to try to work through and the challenges. We come from different parties. We have different philosophies, but we put our state first. At the same time, Barbara Boxer opposed it. It was one of the last votes of the Senate. It had more than 70 votes at the time.

And I believe at the end of the day, the trailblazing of the first woman elected mayor, even coming from a different party, inspired women from both sides of the aisle to seek elected office and to have their voices heard. My deepest condolences to her family, her colleagues, and to her staff.

[10:15:03]

Last night, the House did something none of you sitting here thought we can do, the number of questions I could take from the number of weeks about doing appropriation bills. I told you don't give up on us because we're not giving up on the American people. We passed three appropriation bills, defense, state and foreign ops, and homeland security.

My biggest question is I don't understand why the Democrats voted against funding the government. In all, we have four appropriation bills done. There's 12 overall to get done. It's the discretionary spending every year that government is supposed to do. We have now in the House passed more than 70 percent of the discretionary spending on appropriations.

Need I remind you, how much has the Senate passed? Zero. Not one appropriation bill has passed the Senate. We've done what many have said was impossible. When I became Speaker, I said we're going to change Washington. And we did that by keeping our commitment to restoring regular order.

Bills that passed Committee in June and July have been open for amendments for months, struggled with a number of members who wouldn't allow it to become up, but I never gave up. 440 amendments were considered on the floor this week. And for those who are historians, we are the first Republican majority to pass the state and foreign ops bill through regular order since 2006. My entire political career as a member of Congress, the Republicans have never been able to do what they just did last night.

As we continue to get conservative wins and return to regular order, we actually need a stopgap measure to allow the House to continue to finish its work, to make sure our military gets paid, to make sure our border agents get paid as we finish the job they were supposed to do.

Another reason for the stopgap is to address President Biden's historic failure on the southern border. This is how bad things have gotten under President Biden's watch. In five days, there have been more than 50,000 illegal border crossings.

Put that in perspective. In just five days, that's more than twice as much as the average for the entire month in the last administration. A wide open policy hurts America. We've heard it from Democrat leaders across the country.

But despite the chaos, the president still won't go to the border, setting new records every day. Fentanyl at an all-time high killing Americans, and he refuses to go to the border. He's been one time in 50 years, one time in 50 years. He's had more dinners with Hunter Biden's foreign business partners than he has going to the border.

Think about that for one minute, something he said he's never done. He's done more than he's ever been to the border in 50 years as an elected official. He was less than 200 miles from the border this week in Arizona, less than 200 miles. And he couldn't even stop by for an 87-second photo op. I really makes you believe that President Biden is deliberately letting this happen and trying to continue to ignore it.

If Biden won't visit the border, why won't to at least listen to the Democratic leaders that are elected across this nation. The mayor of New York City says Biden's border policy will literally destroy the city of New York. The governor of New York says illegal immigrants should go somewhere else. The governor of Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. The mayor of El Paso says the city is at a breaking point. The mayor of Eagle Pass, Texas, says President Biden has abandoned them. Not one of these individuals is a Republican.

Why does President Biden and Congressional Democrats continue to ignore the border and ignore their own leaders? That is why I'm putting on the floor a stop-gap measure that will fund the government and secure the border.

No longer can the president ignore a problem he created that kills Americans every single day, destroys some of our greatest cities, and puts states in a state of emergency.

[10:20:07]

Every member will have to go on record of where they stand. Are they willing to secure the border or do they side with President Biden on an open border and vote against a measure to keep government open?

House Republicans are working through an impeachment inquiry to hold this administration accountable. Yesterday, we heard from expert witnesses who said that there is enough evidence for an impeachment inquiry.

Jonathan Turley, he said, and I quote, I do believe that the House passed the threshold for an impeachment inquiry into the conduct of Joe Biden. Bruce Dubinsky, the forensic accountant, as a fraud investigator, when I see smoke, I immediately look for the fire.

Why were members of the Biden family and close business associates receiving millions of dollars of payments from foreign entities and individuals? Republicans have been uncovering the Biden family culture of corruption and we will follow the facts wherever they lead.

SIDNER: All right, we made a really hard turn from the death of Dianne Feinstein, and actually something that you don't often hear, a very bipartisan moment there, where he talked about working together with her to get a water act passed, and then he launched into the government shutdown, blaming everything basically on Biden and the Democrats.

Let's get straight to Lauren Fox, who is on Capitol Hill, and talk us through what we just heard. There are some definite fact checks that need to be made there.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy clearly at a point where he knows that he has no good options right now to avoid a government shutdown. He walked the press through there, basically some victories that he says that his party had last night. Yes, they did pass three individual spending bills. They failed to pass another one with more than 20 Republican defections.

But none of the bills that they passed last night, none of the bills that he was celebrating would avoid a government shutdown at this point. That is because they are all dead on arrival in the Senate, and they only partially fund the full federal government.

Right now, McCarthy's focus is to try to get that short-term spending bill through the Congress, but he does not have Republican votes to do so. He may not even have the procedural votes to get over an initial hurdle, and that puts him in a position where there really are no good options right now.

And you saw there, he's trying to basically make this about the southern border. That is a message that he is intending for hardliners who say that they want to crack down on the Biden administration, but he's arguing if they don't vote for this proposal, then they essentially are just supporting the Biden administration.

But you also see him, and he has done this in the hall over the course of the last several weeks, blaming Biden for a shutdown. Of course, McCarthy and Biden had an agreement on spending levels That was part of the debt ceiling deal that they brokered in May and yet House Republicans have continued to move forward with individual pieces of spending legislation that are at far lower levels than what was agreed to between House Republican leadership and the White House. So, just a couple of things to keep in mind as you hear House Speaker Kevin McCarthy there. Again, the expectation is today around 11:30 there will be this procedural vote to try to pass a short-term spending bill with just Republicans backing it, but he doesn't have the votes right now. In fact, Representative Matt Gaetz is on the floor of the House railing against that proposal. He has been a key detractor of the speaker and has been threatening to potentially oust the speaker if he doesn't make good on a series of demands that conservatives have been arguing for.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. All right, Lauren, stick with us. Let me bring Dana Bash in on this one as well.

Dana. What do you see in Kevin McCarthy's attempted messaging out of this and in this tough moment that in this, as I've been kind of describing it, as the rock -- him being in a rock -- between a rock and a hard place of his own design.

BASH: I don't think it is Surprising that what you mostly heard there was not about the shutdown and spending, although he did talk about it a bit, but it was about Hunter Biden. It was about Joe Biden. It was about allegations, which we should say, as we've said, and as was demonstrated with this hearing that the Oversight Committee had yesterday, we don't have any evidence that Joe Biden committed any impeachable offenses. In fact, some right-leaning legal experts said that under oath yesterday.

[10:25:00]

So, the fact that that was a very big part of his remarks is quite telling about where he wants us to be focused and where he wants the conservatives who want him to be pushing on Joe Biden and on Hunter Biden to be focused. And it's sort of look over here and not on the fact that we are just hours away from the government shutting down entirely because of the fact that the House Republican Conference is split.

Maybe split is too strong. I think it's a big enough faction in a very narrow majority is saying, I'm not going to go there on anything, and he is, as you said, between a rock and a hard place. And, again, that is quite telling.

It sure is. Dana, stick with us, if you would.

SIDNER: To say the least. All right, thank you, Dana Bash.

Let's go now to the White House, where Priscilla Alvarez is standing by. Priscilla, what are you hearing from the White House? New information just in to you.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's right. So, this GOP stopgap bill that has these border security provisions, the White House is saying that President Biden would veto it, assuming that it even got to his desk, which, as you heard from Lauren, is also unlikely, given that the House Speaker doesn't necessarily have the votes. But this goes on to say, quote, playing partisan games instead of working in a bipartisan manner to fund the government and address emergency needs. That is what they're accusing the Republicans of doing.

And this is a delicate time for the White House. When it comes to the handling of the US-Mexico border, we have been reporting on an increase of border crossings. But the other side of that, what White House officials have been highlighting is that, in the event of a government shutdown, thousands of Border Patrol agents will go unpaid while they continue to enforce the border.

And you also heard House Speaker Kevin McCarthy talk about cities who are receiving an influx of arrivals. Those cities may not be able to get the federal funds they need to shelter migrants in the event of a government shutdown as well.

And those are some of the points the White House has been putting out in anticipation of a government shutdown, also including other agencies, such as the Small Business Administration, which will stop processing new business loans in the event of a shutdown, delays in long-term disaster recovery efforts, millions of women and children potentially going out without food assistance and millions of federal workers not getting paid, some of whom will be deemed essential and will have to work. But, again, they won't get that paycheck.

All of this of grave concern not only within the administration but also because of the wide-ranging impacts it could have on Americans across the country.

So, as we hear from Republicans, the White House is making very clear that there are real consequences here if they allow a government shutdown to happen. And to give you a glimpse of what that looks like just in the building behind, me senior aides are having to learn the jobs of some junior aides who may be furloughed in the event of a shutdown.

BOLDUAN: Priscilla, you also got a statement from President Biden about the passing of Senator Dianne Feinstein as well.

ALVAREZ: We did. This, of course, very personal to President Biden who served alongside the senator for 15 years, and in the statement he called her a pioneering American and a true trailblazer.

And I'll also read another part of this statement where he says, often the only woman in the room Dianne was a role model for so many Americans, a job she took seriously by mentoring countless public servants, many of whom now serve in my administration.

She had an immense impact on younger female leaders from whom she generously opened doors. Dianne was tough, sharp, always prepared and never pulled a punch, but she was also a kind and loyal friend, and that's what Jill and I will miss the most.

Again, the president served alongside Senator Feinstein when she was elected in 1992 until his election as vice president in 2008, the two having a close relationship. We should also note that the president is expected to speak soon at a ceremony marking the end of the tenure for General Mark Milley and we'll see whether he also addresses her passing there. Sara and Kate?

SIDNER: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

I want to go now to our Dana Bash, who spent a good amount of time with Senator Feinstein, who has died at the age of 90. She has been in Congress since 1992. So, she knows her way around the building.

I do want to talk to you about your experience with her. I think one of the things I remember hearing from her is that toughness doesn't have to come in a pinstripe suit, and we certainly saw that with Dianne Feinstein.

BASH: We certainly did. And I just want to take a moment, because there was, as you said, a lot happening there. Senator Schumer, the Senate majority leader, the way that he was understandably emotional, you don't see that all that often from someone like him, a brash New Yorker.

[10:30:05]