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Tropical Storm Ophelia Threatens Parts Of Eastern U.S. Including Alexandria, Virginia, And New Jersey Shore; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas To Visit Rio Grande Valley As Migrant Surges Continue At U.S.-Mexico Border; Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Speaks At United Nations General Assembly About Ukraine War; House Republicans To Begin Impeachment Inquiry Into President Biden; Studios And Writers' Guild In Negotiations To Reach Labor Contract. Aired 2-3p ET.

Aired September 23, 2023 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Allison Chinchar is tracking Ophelia from the CNN Weather Center, Polo Sandoval is on the New Jersey coast, and Brian Todd is in Alexandria, Virginia. So Allison, bring us up to date. What is this storm doing now?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: So we just got the latest update in from the National Hurricane Center. Winds are now down to 45 miles per hour, still tropical storm strength. Those wind gusts still up around 60 to 65 miles per hour. But notice the scope of this storm. You talk about the center of the storm is still over areas in North Carolina but those rain bands extend well off to the north. It's raining right now across portions of New York, New Jersey, even Massachusetts from some of these outer bands.

With that said, the heaviest rain is still mainly focused across portions of Virginia and North Carolina. You have got some pretty heavy bands making their way across portions of Raleigh right now. But you're also starting to see them spread farther north into places like New Jersey, Delaware. And that is going to be the general trend as we go through the next 24 hours.

You have got flood watches in effect for several states here, and also that red color indicating flash flood warnings. That does include the city of Raleigh and then communities off to the east. Basically, the concern there is they have already had two or three inches of rainfall. They're still and anticipating an additional one or two inches on top of what they've already have, so there is the concern for continued flooding in that region.

By the time we get to tonight, the bulk of the rain really is going to be focused more over the mid-Atlantic region. And then by the time we get into early Sunday morning, now the bulk of the rain is really positioned over portions of the northeast. So if you live in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, it is going to be several more hours before you really start to see an end to that rain.

So flooding potential both days, today and tomorrow, just two separate areas. Today the focus is really going to be mainly across Virginia and North Carolina. Overnight tonight and into tomorrow that transitions and focuses more across the northeast, specifically Pennsylvania, New Jersey, portions of New York as well as Connecticut. So again, rainfall there, most of these areas likely to pick up about two to four inches, but some spots could pick up five or even six inches total before this system finally exits.

And it will exit, and it's going to also continue to weaken as it moves off to the north and then eventually out towards the east as it pushes out into the open Atlantic. But that is still going to be about 24 to 36 hours from now. So you will continue to see those wind beginning to calm down every few hours that we go past, but they peaked at pretty impressive amounts. Cape Lookout, North Carolina, topping out at 73 miles per hour. But even other states, it's not just there. Seattle, New Jersey, topping out at 68 miles per hour, and other states and locations still having pretty significant high wind reports up around those 50 and 60 mile per hour ranges.

Storm surge, we're starting to see some of those have already peaked for the day, especially across North Carolina. But as you go farther north, we have got high tide coming for some of these area either imminently in the next hour or some of them in the next two or three hours. So you're going to still continue to see, Fred, some of those water levels begin to rise as we approach that high tide, especially for areas of Maryland, Delaware, as well as New Jersey.

WHITFIELD: More to come. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

Let's go mid-Atlantic right now. Our Brian Todd is there in Alexandria. And so already some high water and quite a few cars are turning around. What's going on?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Fredricka. This hour is really when we're starting to feel the effects of this storm in earnest here in Alexandria by the Potomac River. This street, Prince Street is starting to flood. This is a very vulnerable area for flooding even in normal times. But look, the river, the Potomac River is starting to lap up over the seawall here and onto the street. And high tide is not for another hour.

I am going to be joined here in a second by Ebony Fleming. She is a spokesperson for the city of Alexandria. As these streets start to flood here, it's particular vulnerable in this area of Alexandria. Ebony, thanks for joining us. Sorry to drag you out in this weather. What are you telling residents now to do as we hear this storm approach in earnest?

EBONY FLEMING, SPOKESPERSON, CITY OF ALEXANDRIA GOVERNMENT: You can see it's pretty nasty out. So if you don't have to be out on the roads, then stay home. For those individuals who need to be on the roads, however, exercise caution while driving. Some of our lights might experience outages, so making sure we abide by the looking at the four-way stop. For those individuals who are still at home clearing the patio as it is so windy, clearing gutters, hopefully you have done that already because it seems like the storm is already here. TODD: What about this area of Alexandria? If we pan over you can see

this street is starting to flood. King Street over there starting to flood. This is particularly vulnerable. Why is that?

FLEMING: So we are at the waterfront, and we're on a marsh. It's built on a marsh, so it's susceptible to flooding and then high tide. So with the wind and high tide, it is just a combination of issues that will lead to more flooding.

TODD: You've made sandbags available to all these businesses. Have people been taking advantage of that or not?

[14:05:00]

FLEMING: Absolutely. So there are businesses on King Street and along the waterfront area that have taken advantage. And I'm sure as the water rises more people will put them out.

TODD: Thank you very much for joining us, Ebony. Good luck to you and everybody else down here.

FLEMING: Thank you very much.

TODD: Thank you. All right, guys, we will show just you a little bit more of this as people are starting to turn around here on Prince Street. Several cars have come down here, Fredricka, and realizing what's going on here have turned right back around. King Street over there is starting to get flooded a little bit as well. These areas are very vulnerable even in normal times. But ss we pan out, you can take a look at the seriousness of the storm. Really the wind and rain kicking up here in earnest. The whitecaps out on the Potomac River, it's getting serious now. The last couple of hours was just kind of a tease for this. We can really start to feel it right now.

WHITFIELD: We can see it too. Brian Todd, thank you so much. And folks will have to heed Ebony's warnings and take her advice, just stay indoors if you can. Thanks so much.

Polo Sandoval is on the Jersey Shore, but I don't see any people around you anymore. Earlier you had folks who were walking around. Now they have gone inside.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and there were just a few that we saw in the last hour here, Fred. That rain really does come and go here on the Jersey Shore. But what really has intensified are the winds. What's telling is behind me, you see some of those decorative palm trees flailing in the wind. But perhaps what's the most telling is if you look just off Jersey Shore you can see those wind whipped waves. And it really speaks to that potential for deadly rip currents, which is why officials here have actually locked up the gates for beach access. We have seen one determined individual on the other side of those gates.

But for the large part, most folks here in New Jersey are choosing to ride out the storm indoors. In fact, most of the businesses here on the boardwalk are closed. There's one pizza joint right in front of me that said they've actually been serving pizza since 1950, so this storm isn't going to stop them. So they're still open for business. But again, just saw one individual behind me, very few folks. For the most part people have decided to stay in. I will say that in terms of flooding, we have not seen any significant flooding yet. But again, it's all about the wind. We have been in worse conditions, but it doesn't take much to topple some of those power lines, and then you end up with a potentially deadly situation of course with power outages. So that is really what we are monitoring here in New Jersey as the conditions will continue into today, and potentially, as you just heard from Allison, into tomorrow as well. But perhaps not as bad as today. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: As Allison said, the storm is not finished. Thank you so much, Polo Sandoval, appreciate it.

Now to the ongoing response to this week's surge of migrants at the southern border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection has resumed operations at the International Railway Crossing Bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas, after the agency shut it down.

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is set to visit the Rio Grande Valley in southeast Texas today and will tour McAllen, Texas, with the president of Honduras. CNN correspondent Rafael Romo is here with me now. So a lot of cities along the border are expressing they are stressed. Mayorkas is there to perhaps convey some relief or at least a hear their grievances?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICAN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Some relief, some hope. And speaking of grievances, there is plenty coming from the government in Texas. The government is saying, it is railing against the Biden administration, saying border communities are overwhelmed and overrun by the large number of migrants arriving there and calling the situation a crisis. Governor Abbott announced he has directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to deploy additional buses to the border cities of Eagle Pass and El Paso. The purpose is transporting immigrants to what Abbott calls self-declared sanctuary cities, which are municipalities mostly run by Democrats. Abbott said last year Texas has bussed nearly 12,000 migrants to our nation's capital, nearly 15,000 to New York, and an additional 8,700 to Chicago.

In a statement Abbott said the following, "Until President Biden upholds his constitutional duty to secure America's southern border, Texas will continue to deploy as many buses as needed to relieve the strain caused by the surge of illegal crossings." Meanwhile, the Biden administration has announced several steps being taken to address the situation, including the deployment of 800 active-duty military personnel, adding capacity to border facilities, and continuing to conduct deportation fights.

The problem, Fred, goes beyond migrants who have made it to the U.S. southern border. On Tuesday, Mexico largest railroad operators suspended service of several northbound train lines after reporting half-a-dozen injuries and deaths of migrants. Homeland Security Secretary, as you said, Alejandro Mayorkas is expected to meet at the border this afternoon with Honduran President Xiomara Castro. [14:10:06]

So it will be happening in the next few hours. Very important meeting because Honduras has the second largest number of citizens from Central America that are apprehended at the U.S. border by Border Patrol.

WHITFIELD: And so is it the Honduran president who feels that he stands to gain more from the conversation, or is it Secretary Mayorkas who feels like they could get more intel an understanding as to why so many Hondurans are making their way to the border?

ROMO: Traditionally it has been the idea of having a shared responsibility. The countries, the origin countries trying to do what they can to stem the flow of migration to the north. But U.S. officials also trying to help financially to create opportunities locally so that these people don't have to leave.

WHITFIELD: Rafael Romo, good to see you. Thanks so much.

Let's talk more about all of this with Raul Reyes. He is an attorney and immigration analyst and CNN opinion writer. Raul, great to see you. So the border surge has been an issue for years. What do you believe is at the root of the latest influx?

RAUL REYES, CNN OPINION WRITER: There are two factors in play. One is the factors of the countries of origin, which is economic authoritarianism, economic instability, growing climate change. Those are the factors that push migrants to leave their countries of origin because they have no future there.

But on the American side of the border, the bigger problem is not just the numbers of people at the border. It's that our broader immigration system is so dysfunctional, it is outdated and out of touch with reality of the 21st century. We have not updated our systems, immigration system since 1986. We have 10 million undocumented people here. And some of the measures that we have seen in recent years like DACA or temporary protected status, those are just band-aids on a bigger problem.

So until as the country, and I'm talking about Congress specifically here, we stop focusing so much on the ebb and flow of the border numbers and tackle this much larger problem of our outdated immigration system, unfortunately will keep coming back to this same status quo of human suffering and overwhelmed border cities.

WHITFIELD: So give me a good example of what is updating the immigration system.

REYES: For starters, let me remind you, Fredricka. First of all, the people coming, who are arriving at our borders now, they are not undocumented or illegal immigrants per se. They are pursuing asylum claims. Once they come to this country, we have a backlog of 1.6 million asylum cases. The average asylum case text four-and-a-half years to process start to finish. So a good way to address this would be to send more resources into

immigration courts to support personnel, and to processing all of these large numbers of people so we don't have huge crowds of people at the border, and also a tremendous population within our borders waiting for an asylum case that may be five years or more.

And again, bigger picture. It's Congress that got us into the problem. And the only we can get out of it is by Congress taking action on immigration. Whatever measures different presidents have done such as President Obama with DACA, President Trump with some of his immigration bands, and now President Biden, those are just temporary. The solution must come from Congress if we're going to address this in a meaningful way. And so far Congress has not shown any propensity to cooperate and to compromise and get us past this situation.

In the meantime, again, we just see so much suffering. And these pictures, they're quite disturbing. But politically, they are one reasons why President Biden has, I believe, a 31 percent approval rating on immigration, because people see this, and whatever they know about immigration or our system, they know it's not right. It's upsetting people. And the only way we will get beyond this is if we just look beyond the border and look at our broader system, and hopefully update it, fix it, and provide more resources.

WHITFIELD: So when the White House announces this week the expansion of a humanitarian relief program for Venezuelans already in the U.S., makes an impact or makes a difference, allowing hundreds of thousands more people to be eligible for work permits, is that at least a short- term solution? Are you hopeful about that?

REYES: I am hopeful about that, because normally asylum-seekers have to wait six months before they can even begin to work in this country. Under TPS those who registered and probably vetted, they can work right away. And what that will do, that will start getting them off city social services programs. They can start the rind their own housing, they can pay taxes, contribute to the cities and states. And that is a positive development.

[14:15:06]

But again, TPS lasts for 18 months. What happens when that time goes by? So it's a band-aid fix. I think the mayor of New York, the governor, other mayors around the country welcome it. But it is not a lasting fix. And unfortunately, the way our political system is designed where there's no cap on asylum-seekers, no country limits on asylum-seekers, we will ultimately come back to greater numbers of people and the question of what to do with them.

But I welcome this. It shows to me that President Biden is listening to some of the mayors around the cities. What would be ideal, I think, is that some of these Republic mayors in the border states, instead of being so antagonistic with the Biden administration, if we saw more cooperation in terms of how they are handling this unprecedented crisis.

WHITFIELD: Raul Reyes, we'll leave it there for now. Thank you so much.

REYES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Still to come, Russia gets its turn at the United Nations General Assembly after many world leaders including Biden and Zelenskyy denounced the war in Ukraine. We will have a live report from the U.N. Stay with us.

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[14:20:20]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Today Russia got its chance to address the United Nations General Assembly, the same body that heard from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier in the week. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is, and he is on the attack against the U.S. verbally. CNN's Richard Roth is at the U.N. So Richard, what is Lavrov saying?

RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: The defiant Russian foreign minister went after the United States and European allies on a variety of issues, in effect saying this Ukraine border was all Washington's responsibility. In a speech before his press conference, the Russian foreign minister laid out how we felt that the U.S. and others were there true global threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We are working with those that respect themselves and who will never betray their national interest because someone from Washington has told them to. We know how American diplomats travel around the world and prohibit meetings with our diplomats and with representatives of Russia in general.

I will say the following. The U.S. is superpower, that's clear to everyone. But to run around like this threatening everyone, only then to show one's obsession with domineering, it is simply embarrassing for a great nation to act this way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROTH: On other aspects about the Ukraine peace deal, peace offerings, he says it's not realistic. He also did not give any indication, Fred, that Russia would be rejoining the Black Sea grain deal. He said we don't reject it, but he explained why he did not like it. He said Russia has been lied at to one point. Fred?

WHITFIELD: All right, so Richard, it sounds like Russia, they're saying it is being victimized globally. So earlier this week Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was addressing the General Assembly and actually asked for greater unity to help defeat Russia. What was the reaction to his message?

ROTH: The reaction from most of the members was good. This morning and this afternoon Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov explained after he got a question why he did not sit in the Security Council chamber while Zelenskyy was there speaking or in the General Assembly all. He said, I knew what he was going to say. I had 33 other meetings to do. And he rated Zelenskyy's remarks as not his best. And he basically kind of said that there was no need for any Zelenskyy versus Lavrov moment.

WHITFIELD: Very interesting. Richard Roth, at the U.N., thank you so much.

Coming up, House Republicans holding their first hearing next week on the impeachment into President Biden. What to expect straight ahead.

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[14:27:35]

WHITFIELD: Next week House Republicans will hold their first impeachment inquiry into President Biden. The hearing will take place on Thursday as the GOP controlled House Oversight Committee will hold a public hearing into the Biden family's business dealings. It will take place two weeks after the House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced that he was opening a formal impeachment inquiry.

With me now to discuss, Lis Wiehl. She is the former federal prosecutor and she also served as the deputy chief investigative counsel for Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee during President Clinton's impeachment in 1998. Lis, great to see you. So a committee spokesperson told CNN that the hearing will focus on the constitutional and legal questions Republicans are raising about Biden. So from a legal standpoint, what are you expecting from the first public hearing?

LIS WIEHL, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: First of all, they're going to be sending out subpoenas with their subpoena power to Hunter Biden for his bank records and also other members of Joe Biden's family. So I would imagine some of that first hearing is going to be either about getting those subpoenas out or getting the return and getting agents to talk about what they found. It may be a bit too early for that.

And then the legal and constitutional issues, Fred, and here is the thing. It seems like a darn rehash. Let's go through these impeachments just one by one, if that's OK. When we had Clinton, right, Kenneth Starr was the independent counsel. He was presented by Linda Tripp in real time her voice recordings with Monica Lewinsky. And it really raised questions about his veracity, Clinton's veracity in office, was he lying in office, right? And then there was the Tripp deposition.

In addition to that, so that was all real-time. In addition to that when you go to Trump, you had the insurrection, you had the call to Ukraine, all of these happening in real time while they were presidents, both of them.

Now with this with Joe Biden, you have an inquiry that is looking back years to when he was vice president, first of all, over things that have really been hashed out and rehashed out by and under the Trump administration. The Department of Justice looked at him them. The Treasury Department looked at him then and found nothing. So Fred, what are they really thinking they're going to get as far as huge legal and constitutional issues when the bar is supposed to be so high? Don't forget, high crimes or misdemeanors.

[14:30:05]

WHITFIELD: And then when you mention that there will be subpoenas involved with this inquiry, we have seen it in recent inquiries and committee hearings that people defy subpoenas.

WIEHL: Right.

WHITFIELD: And without honoring the subpoena and getting the testimony or seeing the evidence, what will there be to discuss? Because like subpoenaing banking records, do you see that a bank will comply?

WIEHL: It might. I would think that it really probably would, because you're talking about -- a bank does not want to be brought into this kind of inquiry, right, even if the holder of the account does not want it done. Once you have started an independent inquiry, which is an impeachment inquiry, they have the subpoena power to do that.

Where I see more issues, Fred, like with what you're talking about, is bringing individuals in. Not bank officials really, because they don't really have much in the game. But bringing in officials, bringing in people that supposedly overheard conversations, that kind of thing, I could see those folks saying no, not me, and defying that subpoena. But to great consequence because you're not supposed to do that.

WHITFIELD: So the GOP committee says it will bring in constitutional experts to discuss why an impeachment inquiry is warranted. What might that involve?

WIEHL: This harkens back again to the Clinton administration. I remember being on the D.S. with everybody else, with all of the congressmen and women. And we did the same thing, brought in constitutional experts to talk about first what is impeachment, what is the level of impeachment, what does it mean, kind of giving a history lesson, almost, Fred, to people.

During the Clinton administration there hasn't been an impeachment since Richard Nixon. But now impeachment is just kind of part of our vocabulary. It almost seems like it is a tool that is used by a House that is different from the White House, right, the House is run by somebody, a different party than the White House. So I don't know that we really need that constitutional refresher, but they will do that. And every inquiry has done that, and that's really all that is going to lead to.

WHITFIELD: Lis Wiehl, we will leave it there for now.

WIEHL: You got it, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Thank you.

In this quick programming note tonight, CNN journalists spotlight the changemakers whose creativity, heart, and grit inspired them. See how these community champions use their many talents to uplift society. Catch profiles of these "Champions for Change" tonight at 8:00 p.m. We'll be right back.

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[14:36:56]

WHITFIELD: The writers' guild and studios are meeting for a fourth consecutive meeting today, offering a glimmer of hope that an end may be near for a strike that's dragged on for nearly five months now. CNN's parent company Warner Brothers Discovery is part of the negotiations with the union. CNN Camila Bernal joining us now with more. Camile, what are you learning about how the day is going?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fred. So it is really hard to know exactly what is going on behind the closed doors, especially when there is a blackout period. But what we know is that they don't have a deal yet because they would have already told us. So we are still waiting. Those negotiations are in progress.

And what we have been told is that there was sort of an advancement, there was progress in those negotiations, especially after a long time of not talking. And so the fact that they are there on a Saturday, the that this is the fourth day of these marathon sessions, is just giving a lot of people hope. A lot of people in the industry feel this is a good sign, the fact that the CEOs, the heads of studios are at the table. That includes Warner Brothers Discovery, Netflix, Disney, NBC Universal. Those are the people at the table with the union negotiators.

And so we are waiting to hear exactly what happens, but a lot of these writers say that their demands are extremely important. We're talking residuals, higher wages when it comes to streaming. We're also talk about A.I. and writers wanting to be the ones writing those scripts. And so they have been on strike for over 140 days. And a lot of them say that they will continue to be on strike for as long as it takes. Here is one of the writers that I talked to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB ESTES, SCREENWRITER AND DIRECTOR: We have to win these negotiations in spades. There is no option. There is no backing down. There's no getting less. There's only getting more from my view.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERNAL: -- telling me, they also say we want to go back to work. A lot of them are telling me I am ready to go back to work. This has been an extremely difficult period for a lot of these writers because for many it is about putting the food on the table, about paying your rent. They have not been working for months. And aside from the individual struggles, this economic impact already surpassing more than $5 billion. And it is not just Hollywood, it's not just the writers and the actors. It really is sort of a domino effect to many industries and Los Angeles as a whole because it really has had an economic impact here and really everywhere.

But keep in mind, the writers still do not have a deal, the actors don't have a deal. So even if the writers come to a deal, you have to wait for SAG-AFTRA to come to an agreement with the studios as well. So it just doesn't mean that productions are going to go back to normal anytime soon, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Very tenuous still. Camila Bernal, thank you so much.

BERNAL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we'll be right back.

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[14:44:17]

WHITFIELD: We are watching Capitol Hill where at any moment we expected from Congressman Garret Graves, a key ally of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on where the budget talks are today. Earlier McCarthy addressed reporters admitting that he still lacked support from a handful of Republican hardliners as the countdown towards the September 30th shut down gets a little closer. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us now from the White House. So Priscilla, what is the approach in the Biden administration on what's happening on Capitol Hill and what's not happening?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: The Office of Management and Budget is preparing for the potential shutdown. And on Friday, they formally initiated that process, essentially having --

[14:45:00]

WHITFIELD: So sorry about that, Priscilla. Let's now go to Capitol Hill, Congressman Garret Graves.

REP. GARRET GRAVES, (R-LA): We just finished A Republican conference telephone call where we were talking about the path forward, and certainly on a path right now to begin moving appropriations bills. We're going to be moving Department of Defense, Homeland Security, department of Agriculture appropriations as well as state and foreign operations.

We are trying to get this process on a path where we can truly reduce spending and address a lot of the fundamental problems that this administration is causing, particularly at the border, in areas like energy, inflation, and just the inability of Americans to make ends meet.

Obviously, with the end of the fiscal year, I think an important part of this strategy is going to be ensuring that we do everything we can to avoid a government shutdown. We should not be in a situation where we are asking our troops to go out there and put their lives on the line and yet not be paid. We shouldn't be in situation to where we are fighting to close the southern border but not have our Border Patrol paid. I think this is an unreasonable situation, and I think it would be a failure on our part if we actually reached that point. I think that Republicans are aligned on the strategy, at least 95 percent of them, and we're going to continue working to do this.

The last one I want to make. I want to remind everyone that the appropriations bills that we are moving forward are the appropriations bills that the appropriations committee reported or voted or passed out as far back as May of this year. There have been aggressive efforts by the members standing here as well as scores of other Republican members of Congress to try to get these bills to the floor for a vote as soon as possible. And those efforts have been thwarted despite much effort by the entire leadership team, the speaker of the House, the majority leader, the whip and others.

With that, I want to turn Congresswoman Erin Houchin, I'll say it again, a member of the Rules Committee that just finished voting a little while ago on reporting the rollout for the four bills that determines the conditions under which these bills will be considered.

REP. ERIN HOUCHIN, (R-IN): Thank you, Garret. We've just came out of the Rules Committee. We're going to have maybe the largest rule we've ever passed out of the Rules Committee that contains four appropriations bills with hundreds of amendments that are allowed to be offered for the process. Again, I want to reiterate what Congressman Graves said in that many of these appropriations bills have been noticed, they have been out of committee for months. We have been trying to get these bills to the floor. A handful of people have sort of been standing in the way of that.

We are going to keep moving forward. We're going to keep trying every single day to get these bills through, because every single day we are fighting against what the Biden administration is doing or not doing on the border. And this rules package in particular contains some strong border provisions that we hope the Senate and the president will take seriously.

REP. BRYAN STEIL, (R-WI): Thanks. I think what I walk away with from the call we just had is actually how unified the Republican Conference is on two things. One, to address the runaway spending and the reckless spending of the Biden administration, and two, to get serious about securing the U.S.-Mexico border. The conversation we are having here in the final days is the tactics to get us there.

But I think the strategy we are unified behind. Hopefully over the next few days we will be up to move these bills forward and ultimately make sure we are not shutting down the federal government. There will be a stopgap period of time that would be needed to complete the appropriations bill, but the work we can do this week I think will really build the momentum in the appropriations process but also give us that opportunity to get the stopgap funding bill across the line so we can complete the work of the appropriations.

HOUCHIN: And the vast majority of Republican Conference is unified on this front, and I think we are exactly where the American people are, which is reduce spending and secure the border. It's certainly something I hear. I know these guys probably hear it, too, every time we go home, everything we get calls to our office. It is let's reduce spending, let's secure the border. So those are the two things that we are bringing to the forefront in our appropriations package. I'm excited to see these bills come to the fore, get a rule through, and continue to do the work. Again, the congressman stated the stopgap measure that we're working on. Yes, we are working on a stopgap measure, but we're also at the same time collectively working together to try to move our appropriations.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this a new stopgap measure that was introduced in conference, or will this be reworked out. What's going on here?

GRAVES: Exactly what that looks like, not sure right now, continuing to have conversations. I want to make a point that I think is important. We saw several days ago where people like Congressman Byron Donalds, Congressman Chip Roy, Scott Perry, Dusty Johnson, and Kelly Armstrong worked out a really good approach that I think gave us a path to actually reduce spending, to secure the border, and something that was absolutely worth fighting for.

[14:50:05]

I think that every day we get closer to the end of the fiscal year, the opportunities or the leverage to force this White House, to force President Biden, to cave on those issues is waning. And I think that is a huge mistake. So we are continuing to work on this, and also another party of the speaker of the House is the debt commission to look at long- term debt saving, ultimately hundreds of billions and trillions of dollars through mandatory spending programs to be part of this as well.

(CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We understand that the speaker floated a 45 day C.R.?

GRAVES: Look, I want to be clear. There are people in the conference that are talking about 14 days. Other people have talked two months. A decision has not been made on this. Right now, I think our front burner issue is the four appropriations bills.

(CROSS TALK)

GRAVES: I'm sorry?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The speaker is open to 45 days?

GRAVES: I'm just going to say again the discussion the conference is somewhere between 14 and 60 days at this point.

STEIL: Another way to look at this, right, is the focus is to make sure that we don't have a shutdown, to provide the stopgap. And so to get a stopgap across the line is priority number one. The conversations are exactly the timeline of that. We will see how that plays out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What did the holdouts say on the call? Did they respond to your message? Do you think they're moving any closer? Where does that stand?

GRAVES: Can you clarify message?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The holdouts. When you give them a message of we have to pass our conservative bills, exactly the message you laid out to reporters yesterday, the message I'm assuming was laid again on the call, what did the holdouts say? Did they speak up? Do you know what their position is now?

HOUCHIN: I'll weigh in on that and not risk with respect to the call, but with respect to my conversations that I've had with members over the last few days, particularly members of what you would consider some of our New York delegation that they might have much different districts than some of these other folks that we're talking about. And they've been having conversations. And their conversations have been productive.

So you've got folks like Marc Molinaro working in conjunction with other members, trying to find a solution here. We are working every day to come together, and I think we are closer every day to getting to some degree of consensus that will get some of those people who have been on the fence?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Enough, though? Enough?

STEIL: I think at the end of the day we'll get there, and the reason for that is that we're incredibly unified on the underlying strategy of addressing spending and securing the border. The conversation in the final days here is going to about the tactics of how to get that done, going back to the number of days and exactly what that looks like. But I think at the end of the day everyone is unified knowing that a shutdown is not productive for the country. We have an opportunity to address reckless spending. We have a huge opportunity to address an absolutely unsecure U.S.-Mexico border.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not everyone is unified on this right now. They've said that a shutdown is not a bad thing, that he'd rather have a shutdown than a continuation of Biden and Pelosi policies. So it seems like some members kind of want a shutdown, are OK with it. So how do you convince those people that just don't think it's bad?

STEIL: I'd say the unification is on addressing and on the border. I think the tactics of how we leverage to get to that spot is where that conversation is occurring. I don't believe that a shutdown is good for the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Understood that the first thing you guys are looking at now is that rule on Tuesday to get this rule moved so you can start with those appropriations bills. And when you see the specifics of the C.R. still up in the air, we're a week away from the shutdown deadline now. And this is going to be the parts of the C.R. that kicks off negotiations with the Senate. Is there a date, a target date of when you can actually have this final proposal on the floor so members can weigh in? Because time is running out.

GRAVES: Look, we're well aware of timing. Number one, we have a stopgap measure that was introduced, and you're aware of that. It's been noticed. There's a potential to use that. There's the potential to introduce another one, of course, with the 72 hour availability to ensure transparency. And so we have looked at all those options. We're aware of timelines, of getting something back and forth between the Senate. But I'm going to say this again -- the opportunity for us in a stopgap to reduce spending and to get conservative wins, as Congresswoman Houchin mentioned on the border and others, it decreases every single day we wait.

And so I think the sooner that that strategy is really, I guess, consolidated in the Republican Party or consensus is developed to that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can I just follow up to that? Schumer this past week, he started the process for bringing off their own C.R. Is that putting pressure on you guys to beat it to the punch.

GRAVES: So that's the exact scenario that I think all of us predicted weeks and weeks ago, that if the House did not step up and be leaders on this as we saw Congressman Roy and Congressman Donalds and Dusty Johnson and others do, than every day that passed this was further empowering Senator Schumer to dictate the terms of a stopgap spending bill, as opposed to the House where we could score political, conservative political wins.

[14:55:02]

WHITFIELD: All right, a working Saturday for some members of Congress, and you're seeing right here a consensus, at least from this trio of Republicans saying that for them they believe a majority of House Republicans do not want a government shutdown as a deadline looms now just less than a week away.

Priscilla Alvarez is back at the White House. Perhaps this is encouraging for the White House to hear, but this does not mean a majority of Republicans are onboard with a plan, just according to these members of Congress coming from Erin Houchin that she believes that most Republicans, most Republicans that she has spoken with do not want a government shutdown.

ALVAREZ: These are key allies of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who were at this press conference and trying to project some confidence when the reality is the clock is ticking on a potential shutdown.

But even as they said a majority of Republicans don't want a shutdown, the reality is they still do not have the votes to get all of these bills to the finish line. And even if they did, some of them would be dead on arrival in the Senate.

Now, another thing that they were talking about there was a stopgap measure to at least buy them some time. The reality for the White House in scenarios like this is that they have to prepare either way for a potential shutdown. That's what the Office of Management and Budget was doing just yesterday when they essentially told federal agencies to dust off their plans and start to prepare for this possibility. That includes, for example, how many people are going to get furloughed, who is considered essentially and working without pay, and what comes to a halt, what federal activities come to a halt?

What the White House wants to see is that the services that Americans use every day aren't disrupted in a significant way, and there are some services that continue. Border protection, federal law enforcement, air traffic control, all of that would continue. But again, these are federal employees that would go without pay. And that is not an ideal scenario either.

And so the White House is monitoring all of this very closely. But from the administration standpoint, what they have to do either way is prepare for what happens if this shutdown does go through a week from now. And even though those Republicans were trying to project confidence, the reality is again that time is of the essence on this, and they still do not have everyone behind these bills.

WHITFIELD: And you heard from Louisiana Congressman Garret Graves there saying we shouldn't be in a situation where you're trying to close the border but not pay people who are working in Border Patrol. Priscilla Alvarez there at the White House, thank you so much.

And thanks, everybody, for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. SMERCONISH starts right after this.

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