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Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) Discusses Lawmakers Scrambling To Avert Partial Government Shutdown By Friday; DOJ To Unveil Findings From Uvalde School Shooting Review; "Succession," "The Bear," "Beef" All Win Big At Emmys. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 16, 2024 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:32:16]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The government will partially shut down here in just four days, unless lawmakers pass a deal to avoid it.

Today, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer will be taking the first step to try to advance a short-term spending bill to keep the government funded through early March.

The resolution will need bipartisan support to pass quickly, but both chambers are facing challenges that could threaten the shutdown.

Then on top of that, the House scrapped any vote today because of severe weather here in Washington.

Speaker Mike Johnson is also facing some fierce criticism from hardline conservatives over this legislation brokered with Democrats in the Senate.

The House Freedom Caucus writing on X, formerly Twitter, quote, "This is what surrender looks like."

Joining us now is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, Congressman Warren Davidson of Ohio, who also sits on the Financial Services Committee.

Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. Especially this very snowy afternoon. We appreciate it.

And I may already know the answer to this question, but will you be voting for the short-term deal?

REP. WARREN DAVIDSON (R-OH): Well, it's an honor to join you. Thanks, Brianna.

No, I will be voting for it unless it changes. So, the deal that's presented right now, basically just continues the status quo.

It's, quote, called a ladder C.R. It was supposed to be this new, novel approach. And in theory, it was going to give us some leverage so we didn't get more of the same. And unfortunately, what's coming at us is more of the same.

KEILAR: If you and three other Republicans do not vote for this, which is easy to see how that could happen, it would require Democratic votes to pass to keep the government open.

Is that acceptable to you? Something that ultimately former Speaker McCarthy was ousted for?

DAVIDSON: Well, Speaker McCarthy passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act in May. That was two-thirds of the House, two-thirds of the Senate. And it spent less money.

So, if we stuck to that deal, what past, not the alleged rumors of side deals, but what actually passed, we would spend less in fiscal year 24 than we spent in fiscal year 23.

But the plan that Speaker Johnson has agreed to personally with Senator Schumer spends more money than we spent last year. And it, frankly, spends outside of what was passed by two-thirds of the House and Senate.

So, it was bipartisan to spend less money back in May. Now the framework is, we have to spend more money. I think that's unacceptable.

KEILAR: Do you have confidence in Johnson?

DAVIDSON: Well, he's a good man. I do hope you develops more resolve.

And, you know, frankly, when he was seeking the position, if he said he was going to do the things that, frankly, he's felt that he needed to do since taking the job, I don't think he would build a kind of consensus that he's built.

So, I think that shows that we definitely have a lot of confidence in him personally. We put a lot of confidence in the person. And the reality is we haven't done enough work to get behind the plan.

[14:35:08]

This will get Democrat votes and, frankly, it will get at least 70, I think 70, 80 Republican votes, if all the Democrats vote for it. That will continue the status quo a little bit longer.

It should get Democrat votes because it's essentially the Democrat plan. It's the plan that Speaker Pelosi passed when she was speaker.

KEILAR: Will you rule out bringing forward or voting for a motion to vacate, which would ask Johnson?

DAVIDSON: I mean, for what he's doing right now, no. But I don't think the right answer is to bring somebody else in.

The problem is we haven't done the work to unite behind one plan. Some people say that's not possible, but we certainly haven't done the work to get there. KEILAR: What do you want, specifically, when Johnson is going to the

White House? We just found out that he's been invited with other congressional leaders.

So, he will be heading there with them to talk about supplemental national security spending, Ukraine, Israel, and border security.

What do you want him to tell the president during that meeting?

DAVIDSON: That border security is national security and we're not going to fund America's government unless we're going to secure the border.

He's left begging the president to change his mind. I mean, Joe Biden didn't accidentally develop these policies or frankly, his administration didn't, at the border.

They're for the border policies because of the implications and consequences of their border policies. They've been honing them for the entire presidency.

And we've -- look, 39 states have a smaller population than the amount of illegals that have been processed through under Joe Biden. I mean, there's only 11 states with a bigger population than what Joe Biden put into our country illegally.

He's not going to change his mind. We are going to have to make the demand. And I expect Speaker Johnson to make that demand.

KEILAR: What you're saying is there is there are only 11 states, what?

DAVIDSON: That have a bigger population than the amount of illegals that have come in under Joe Biden's presidency. So, that's how many --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Let me ask you, at this point, because you know that some of your progressive colleagues are frustrated with him, right? Because he's actually considering changes to asylum.

And I can't fact-check numbers on that exactly right now, to be clear. I just want to be clear about that.

But he is ticking off some progressive members of his party because of what he is willing to consider on changing for asylum in border security. I mean, does that give you any pause in what you're looking for here?

DAVIDSON: No, that doesn't change what I'm looking for. But look, the promises Joe Biden made are in conflict with the promises Republicans made. So, it's going to involve a fight.

You can't fold and fight at the same time. I wish --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Does it involve a compromise?

DAVIDSON: It might, but where is the Senate counteroffer? We passed H.R.-2 to secure the border seven months ago. And we just took a trip to the border and Speaker Johnson was totally on message.

We want to fund a bill and --

KEILAR: They're negotiating a bipartisan -- they're negotiating right now, right? You have a Republican who's in the negotiations. They are discussing --

(CROSSTALK)

DAVIDSON: Senator Langford is negotiating something in the framework for that deal, he says, that's not the whole deal. I mean, it better not be.

What they are talking about in the Senate right now is worse than doing nothing. It'll make the problem worse. It'll make America a bigger attraction for --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: He says he's using H.R.-2 as a starting point.

DAVIDSON: Well, he needs to check his asthma because he's off course.

KEILAR: And you say that you sent a bill over. I mean, Joe Biden also sent a bill to Congress. The Senate is discussing a compromise.

So, it's not as if the House is the only entity here that has sent some legislation or is working on legislation. There is --

(CROSSTALK)

DAVIDSON: The Senate has not signed legislation.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: I said working.

(CROSSTALK)

DAVIDSON: We're working on it and we should continue to wait for them to work.

Our position should be, we, of course, want to fund the government, but we're going to find a government that secures their border. Our proposal is H.R.-2 and we are anxiously awaiting Senator Schumer's proposal.

KEILAR: H.R.-2 has some things that, understandably, are nonstarters. You have, what? A three-vote majority? It's about to be I think, too.

And you're talking about a bill that moves -- children can be in adult detention facilities. It would be going from three days now, going to 30. It would reestablish indefinite family detention.

You talk about moving all of the asylum processes to points of entry and then you don't provide any resources to fund that.

So, there are some big holes. I mean, you can see that even from a conservative perspective, someone should come in and improve your bill.

So, I don't understand where the compromise is a dirty word or something --

(CROSSTALK)

[14:40:04]

DAVIDSON: Well, the compromise happens after there is a counteroffer. The compromise happens after there is a counteroffer.

And, frankly, the indefinite detention with families is families get to stay together. Before, it was, oh, we've got kids in cages. Now, it's, how dare we hold families together.

The underlying part of that you didn't mention is, you're free to leave anytime you want. You can go back to Mexico. You can't come and stay in America while you await the processing of your claim.

I mean, perhaps, you know, we would agree to something less than H.R.- 2. But why would we continue to negotiate against ourselves?

That's fundamentally the problem. People around the country are frustrated because Republicans continue to negotiate against themselves. We haven't even held out for a counteroffer from the Senate.

So, of course --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Are you --

(CROSSTALK)

DAVIDSON: -- some dialogue between the two.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: You have a bill -- you have a bill from Joe Biden. You're just certainly not -- I mean, understandably, it's not something that you would be OK with in the same way that a Democratic White House and Democratic Senate isn't going to accept what you have sent, as a whole. That's obviously the way it works.

But look, these negotiations are going to continue.

Congressman, I really appreciate the discussion with you. We will have to leave it there, unfortunately. But thanks so much for being with us today.

DAVIDSON: Thank you.

KEILAR: And still ahead, the Justice Department is set to release its findings in the Uvalde school shooting investigation and into the police response here. That's expected sometime this week, according to the superintendent.

We are going to dig deeper into some of the questions that still remain, next.

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[14:45:54]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN HOST: This Thursday, the Department of Justice will be releasing its critical review of how the police responded to the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

KEILAR: That's right. That's what the district superintendent told school board members at a meeting last night. And the findings may help answer why it took more than 300 officers more than an hour to stop the rampage that killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary.

We have CNN senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez, here with us.

All right, Evan, we don't know what is in the DOJ's report of this at this point in time.

But remind us what we do know so far about the response and what questions remain unanswered, especially, we should mention, these are things that have been ascertained largely by reporting.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly. I mean, Shimon Prokupecz, of course, has done a lot of the work that has exposed some of the shortcomings where more than 300 officers stood outside for 77 minutes before this gunman was finally stopped.

And of course, that's what the Justice Department review is now looking at.

What we are told is that they've looked at 13,000 pieces of evidence. They've interviewed more than 200 people, they've talked to some of the people who responded that day. They looked at some of the interviews those people have provided.

So they've done all of that. They visited the school. They've walked that horrible hallway that we've now seen some of that police response video.

And look, this is going to be a very, very difficult day for the families in Uvalde who have had to deal with, obviously, for more than a year, a lot of their questions still unanswered.

A lot of the things that went wrong that day still a part of the problem.

We now have heard from the Justice Department. They've confirmed that they are going to release this report on Thursday.

And one of the things that we expect to come from this is, you know, some suggestions for police to be able to deal with these things in a different manner.

Obviously, everything that could've gone wrong that day did go wrong in Uvalde. We've learned so much about what could've been done in some of these shootings.

And because, obviously, we know that there is going to be more of these -- this is America and this keeps happening -- that it's important for police and families to know what to expect.

MARQUARDT: Evan, do you think that there could be criminal charges that are then filed against law enforcement officials in Uvalde or school officials as well?

PEREZ: We don't anticipate that. This review is done by the agency inside of the department that's aimed at improving policing. So, there is a separate investigation down there in Uvalde, which they say could have some kind of criminal element to it.

KEILAR: Interesting. We will be watching that as well.

MARQUARDT: Evan Perez, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

A brutal Arctic blast is bringing record-low temperatures and life- threatening windchills to large parts of the United States. Some people in Texas are even being asked to conserve power. We're keeping a close eye on this.

Stay with us.

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[14:53:11]

KEILAR: Television's biggest night finally returning after a four- month delay due to the Hollywood strikes and it did not disappoint.

MARQUARDT: No. It really was pretty entertaining. Some great, well- deserved awards.

Let's get to some of the major moments from last night's Emmy Awards with CNN entertainment correspondent, Elizabeth Wagmeister. She has more.

So, Elizabeth, what did you see? What do we expect -- actually, I believe we have a package. Let's roll that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the Emmy goes to -- ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):

The big winner --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Succession."

WAGMEISTER: -- was no spoiler.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bigger, faster, wilder.

WAGMEISTER: "Succession" closed its fourth and final season with best drama, best actress for Sarah Snook, and best actor, Kieran Culkin.

KIERAN CULKIN, BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES, "SUCCESSION": Don't pick it up. I couldn't do the button. I wasted all my time hugging everybody. I love you all so much.

WAGMEISTER: Best comedy was more of a cliff hanger.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "The Bear."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "The Bear."

WAGMEISTER: "The Bear's" big win became more clear as its cast began racking up big wins, including star. Jeremy Allen White.

JEREMY ALLEN WHITE, BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES, "THE BEAR": Thank you for believing in me when I had trouble believing in myself.

(HONKING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you guys leaving or are you just going to sit there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say? What did you say?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say it again!

WAGMEISTER: "Beef" won five Emmys, including best limited series and cast wins for Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, whose character embraced self- worth over suicide.

STEVEN YEUN, BEST ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE, "BEEF": Judgment and -- and shame is a lonely place, but compassion and grace is where we can all meet.

(CHEERING)

WAGMEISTER: The Emmys opened with a standing ovation for Christina Applegate, more than two years after announcing she has multiple sclerosis.

CHRISTINA APPLEGATE, ACTRESS: Very few of you probably know me from that debut -- I'm going to cry more than I've been crying - Baby Burt Grizzell on "Days of Our Lives." It was really a breakout role.

(SINGING) [14:55:07]

WAGMEISTER: The Emmy telecast honored groundbreaking shows, like "Cheers," "Martin" and "The Sopranos."

CAROL BURNETT, COMEDIAN & ACTRESS: It truly warms my heart to see how well men are doing in comedy now.

WAGMEISTER: TV legends, Carol Burnett and Marla Gibbs, not afraid to poke fun at what's historically been a man's game.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's the secret to working in Hollywood for so long?

MARLA GIBBS, COMEDIAN: Oh, that's easy, baby, the wage gap.

WAGMEISTER: Social commentary was a theme throughout.

NIECY NASH-BETTS, BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN LIMITED SERIES/MOVIE, "DAHMER - MONSTER": I accept this award on behalf of every black and brown woman when has gone unheard, yet overpoliced.

WAGMEISTER: RuPaul, Emmy's most honored person of color, addressing the politics of drag queen story hour after winning best reality TV competition.

RUPAUL, HOST, "RUPAL'S DRAG RACE": Knowledge is power. And if someone tries to restrict your access to power, they are trying to scare you. So, listen to a drag queen.

WAGMEISTER (on camera): It was a great night. Anthony Anderson as host did a fantastic job. A big night for diversity. Five of the 12 acting awards going to actors of color.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: What a night.

Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you so much for that.

And we will be right back.

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