Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

House To Vote On Short-Term Bill To Avoid Shutdown; Dems Say They Need More Time To Review 45-Day Stopgap Bill Because They Don't Trust What Republicans Put In It; WH Officials Consulting With House Dems On 45-Day Stopgap Bill; Remembering Dianne Feinstein's Life & Legacy; Tributes Pour In For Jimmy Carter Ahead of Birthday. Aired 1- 2p ET

Aired September 30, 2023 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:04]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And this hour, the U.S. is on the brink of a possible government shutdown. And the House is in session right now looking to vote on a short-term funding bill at any moment now. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy's 11th hour plan would keep the government open for 45 days, but relies on Democratic support in order to pass.

Democrats say they need more time to read through the proposal and see what's actually in it. Just moments ago, House Speaker McCarthy expressed his frustration about the process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I have tried for eight months. It took me a long time to finally get the appropriation bills on the floor. They were delayed. I tried yesterday with the most conservative stopgap funding bill you could find that secured our border, that cut spending, and I couldn't get 218 Republicans on. This will be on suspension. It takes a higher threshold. But what I am asking Republicans and Democrats alike, put your partisanship away.

Focus on the American public. How can you in good conscience, think of the men and women who volunteer to risk their lives to defend us to say they can't be paid why we work out our differences. That is unfair. I cannot do that to our men and women in uniform. And so, we're going to keep government open.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. That was House Speaker Kevin McCarthy who has actually spoken quite a few times this midday on Capitol Hill, imploring that he wants cooperation from Dems and Republicans to try to get this short-term spending bill passed. I'm joined right now by Congresswoman Debbie Dingell. She's a Democrat from Michigan. Congresswoman, great to see you. So, you know, first off is the House Speaker's frustration well placed in your view? REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): Well, Fredricka, it should be placed in his own caucus. We should not be standing here today looking at a government shutdown. All the things that the viewers just heard him say about how irresponsibility is how it doesn't ensure our national security. We should not be asking the men and women in uniform to fight for us for free are all right. But we got a bill this morning from them.

That gave us 15 minutes before they wanted to vote. We asked for 90 minutes just to be able to read the bill. None of us have decided what we're going to do. Every Democrat I know in this caucus wants to keep the government open. Republicans are this is solely on Speaker McCarthy and members of his caucus' shoulders. And we are all here. And we're going to do everything we can to find a solution to keep this government open, but not one that risks other things like women and children and our national security.

WHITFIELD: What is it you're concerned that might be in this latest proposal? I mean, your colleague, Representative Jason Crow says, you know, they misrepresent, misrepresent over and over again. They continue to use lies and deception to push through their agenda. So, we need to make sure that we know what's in the bill. That part of, you know, the narrative of needing more time.

How much more time do you think you need in order to get through the 75 pages to get complete understanding about what is being offered here?

DINGELL: Look, we're going to move fast. They gave us 15 minutes. You see a procedure on the floor right now that's trying to get us to 90 minutes. It's all we asked for, Fredricka. We're 90 minutes. And anybody who's watched these Republicans in the last year, and the way that they operate know that you got to read every word because you don't know what's going to be buried in there.

What's going to be buried that can hurt somebody. All of the members are reading this bill, the chairs of the committees are reading these bills and staff with good -- that know other subject area. We are ready to -- we're all here. We're -- wanting to do something. But, you know, Republicans are the ones that say we won't vote on anything without 48 hours' notice, which in normal times is the right thing to do. 90 minutes is not a lot to answer.

A 75-page bill cannot be read in 15 minutes, understood, digested and know what you're voting on.

WHITFIELD: House Speaker McCarthy has said this afternoon when we put them on the air live at least three times now where he has stepped out and, you know, he says it's a basic C.R. A simple, you know, short- term spending bill, his summarization is that it would add National Disaster money. It would allow for troops and border agents to get paid, but it wouldn't include as aid to Ukraine. Do you trust it? It's as simple as that?

[13:05:00]

DINGELL: No, I don't because we're hours have picked up some programs that would be significantly cut apparently.

Medicaid would -- and some children and women's issues could be potentially in impact for trying to understand that. This is really stupid with this one thing, but it's not stupid. We're trying to understand if this bill gives members a pay raise because it's not the place to do what if it does? So, I know it sounds, you know, but there are a lot of members of our caucus that do not believe members should be getting a pay raise when we are in these kinds of times.

So, all we want, 90 minutes. Let's understand what's in the bill and what we're voting for. So the public doesn't do human outcry after it passes. And unfortunately, enough things have happened in the last year. You can trust but you got to verify in this world we live in right now.

WHITFIELD: So, Congresswoman Dingell, McCarthy needs about 100 Democrats on board with this kind of plan in order to get it, you know, over the finish line. He appears to be working really hard to make sure he pleases is somewhere between 13 and 20 Republicans who have stood in the way of previous measures from passing. Do you believe that you are at this juncture mostly because the house speaker has been worried about trying to keep his job?

And please a minority of Republicans in the House who keep reminding him that, you know, all it takes is one vote and he loses his gig?

DINGELL: Look, it is very clear that those dynamics have been a play. We have a majority of Republicans and Dems who have for some time been in agreement on many issues. You know, I don't think -- I think bipartisanship and compromise are not dirty words. A country's better when we work together and try to find that common ground. There is a small group of Republicans, the Freedom Caucus, that hot step too many things -- called too many political things over people's head.

And at some point, you got to decide what's right for the institution. But, you know, I'm going to remind people, if you've got time, and you're glued to what's happening in Washington. There was a gentleman by the name of Speaker Cannon about 100 years ago who was not popular and had many of the kinds of issues the Speaker head. And he finally challenged him and a lot of people thought he would lose and I -- my office is in the Cannon House Office Building.

At some point, individual politics has to go to the wayside, and we need to do what's right for the American people. We should not be where we are today. Closing the government is not what's good for the American people.

WHITFIELD: What's your gut say is government shutdown eminent or do you believe something can happen in the next 11 hours or so?

DINGELL: I never give up hope. Spring's eternal but we are not in a good place at this hour.

WHITFIELD: All right. Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, thank you so much. Great to see you. Appreciate it.

DINGELL: Good to see you. Thanks, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's go to the White House now. Priscilla Alvarez is there. And so, Priscilla there -- there's been a lot of chatting between the White House and House Democrats. Any progress being made?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Fred. The White House is consulting with House Democrats over this short-term funding bill. And we have learned through our colleague Annie Grayer who spoke with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at the White House is still evaluating this bill. So, we have not heard from the White House yet publicly on this and whether they would back it and are asking House Democrats to coalesce around it.

Those are still all open questions. But throughout the course of the day, President Biden has been briefed by his staff over the fast- moving developments on Capitol Hill. And, you know, White House officials are still calling back to Republicans and the spending deal made between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Biden earlier this year that was intended to avoid the situation we're in now and have hammered Republicans over what is happening now saying that it is incumbent on them to avoid a government shutdown.

In the interim, Fred, is all of this is happening. The White House and federal agencies still have to contend with the very real possibility that there could be a government shutdown. And that means continuing to brace for that, be it sending notices to the workforce, as well as starting to notify employees that would be temporarily furloughed or it telling them that they will be essential and therefore have to come to work without being paid.

And as just to take a 30,000-foot view here in terms of what the administration has said could happen in the event of a potential shutdown. What they're trying to avoid here is a situation where for example, the Small Business Administration can provide loans to small businesses. Where disaster recovery projects are put on hold or that millions of women and children could go without food assistance. And bottom line, millions of federal workers and active-duty troops could go without pay.

[13:10:09]

So, that is what the White House says Republicans need to try to avoid because it's all of what could happen in a government shutdown. But again, all of this fast moving, the president continuing to be briefed the White House poring over the details of this short-term funding bill.

WHITFIELD: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much. Keep us posted there from the White House.

Let's go to Capitol Hill right now. Lauren Fox is there for us. And you've been very dogged, you've caught House Speaker McCarthy at least three times now within the past hour and a half. What's happening right now, now that we know the offer is being made to Democrats to read through this spending --this proposed spending bill. What is happening? What is the holdup, if any?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Democrats are still trying to decide what to do. As you can imagine, they were a little bit caught off guard this morning when House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced he was going to put this clean bill on the floor. Basically, it is a 45-day short-term spending bill that would fund the government through November 17th. It includes disaster aid, but as one Democrat put it to me, there are some trust issues with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

So, they want to look over this 70-plus page bill, make sure that there's no poison pills in it, make sure that there's nothing in here that actually would be a Republican policy that they don't support. And there have been some Democrats raising concerns about it. One of them Representative Rosa DeLauro, who you see there on your screen on the floor of the House of Representatives.

She's the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. You know, Democrats are having conversations with the White House. They're having conversations with their Democratic colleagues in the Senate. Because there's a question. Do they want to give up a fight for Ukraine? There was $6.2 billion in the Senate, short-term spending bill for Ukraine. Some of that money, Democrats argue is really essential, even though it's only for a 45-day spending bill.

But Democrats are weighing. Is it worth potentially shutting the government over that issue? One of the Democrats that I talked to, Adam Smith just a few minutes ago, he's the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He said he is as dogged of a supporter of Ukraine, as you will find here on Capitol Hill. But he's not sure he would be willing to shut the government over it.

So that is really what Democrats are weighing at this moment. And he said, you know, Democrats still want to go through this bill. He made no promises about how we would vote. But there is really sort of this push and pull the Democrats are feeling right now, given the fact they didn't think that they would be in this position in this moment. So that is why you've seen the delay of more than an hour and a half at this point.

That is why you're starting to see questions from Democrats about how they want to proceed here.

WHITFIELD: And then Lauren, you got new reporting on what the U.S. Senate may consider because they have had a handful of bipartisan measures to offer up. What's the latest?

FOX: Well, they are basically in a holding pattern as well. They were supposed to have a procedural vote right at 1:00. That seems to be delayed as these conversations between House Democrats, Senate Democrats continue. You know, one of the things that is really interesting is that Senator Rand Paul who has been slow walking this process in the United States Senate because of that Ukraine aid that was included in the bill.

He said, if the House bill came over as -- (CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: I wonder if we should listen to House minority leader, a Hakeem Jeffries. Let's listen in.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Can take a little while. We want to talk about why we are here at this moment on the brink of a shutdown. That was entirely unavoidable. And has been brought to us by the extreme MAGA Republicans who have decided that rather than pursue the normal legislative process of trying to find common ground, not as Democrats or Independents or Republicans but as Americans rather than try to pursue policy achievements through the normal legislative process.

But they want to threaten the American people with a shutdown to try to drive your extreme agenda down the throats of the American people. Why are we here? At this moment on the brink of a catastrophic shutdown that will hurt everyday Americans. Hurt children, hurt families, hurt older Americans, hurt veterans and hurt the economy. Why don't we at this moment when from the very beginning, we have said that there's an opportunity to come together in a bipartisan way consistent with the spending agreement that House Republicans themselves negotiated. Themselves negotiated.

[13:15:03]

And from the beginning of this process, we've said nothing more, nothing less. Simply keep you your word with respect to the agreement that you negotiated. And what's -- just so that -- just so that the American people understand -- just so that the American people --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The House will be in order.

JEFFRIES: Just so that the American people understand what we are talking about when we say simply that an agreement was negotiated. How did we get to this point? Well, heading into the 117th this Congress, heading into this Congress, we said that we are willing to find common ground with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, whenever and wherever possible. In the best interests of the American people, governed in a bipartisan way, in the same way that we governed in the previous Congress where we passed bill after bill after bill to make life better for the American people.

And so many of those legislative efforts whether it was the infrastructure investment and jobs act. Where we created millions of good paying jobs for hard working every day Americans to fix our crumbling bridges, roads, tunnels, our airports, our sewer and water system or mass transportation systems. And it was bipartisan. Largely Democratic in the House, but bipartisan. We passed gun safety legislation for the first time in 30 years.

Why? Because we believe that we should do something about the gun violence epidemic in the United States of America with a fierce urgency of now. And not, as some of my colleagues want to do. Unleashed weapons of war that are not used to hunt deer, they used to hunt human beings and shred children. And so, we worked in a bipartisan way to pass the Safer Communities Act to make progress for the American people.

And then we worked on the CHIPS and Science Act, that will bring domestic manufacturing jobs back home to the United States of America. As opposed to our jobs moving in the other direction. And to invest in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, to ensure that our young people have the skills to succeed in the 21st century economy and are competitive to continue to elevate American exceptionalism that was done in a bipartisan way.

Now, there were some areas where our Republican colleagues refuse to do what was right in our view for the American people. And that's why in some instances, we needed to just act to put people over politics. People over politics. And so that's what we did with the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act. But our bipartisan track record continues, we stood up for the men and women who have served this country and who were exposed to burn pits, the toxic substances or Agent Orange.

And through the PACT Act under the leadership, Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Mark Takano. We stood up for our veterans to ensure that millions of them would get the health care that they deserve. And we got the pack day over the finish line.

Once again, it was bipartisan in nature. We understood that there were greater threats to our democracy because of what occurred with the former president of the United States of America who incited a violent insurrection and tried to potentially use some loopholes within the Electoral Count Act to effectively steal the election.

[13:20:09]

Undermine the principle of free and fair elections. Halt the peaceful transfer of power. And so, we held the commission, committee on the leadership of Chairman Bennie Thompson who did an incredible job of presenting the stakes to the American people.

And so, the January 6 committee explored the consequences of what happens when one individual and people who blindly follow them could undermine the very fabric of our democracy. It's important to know the January 6 committee was also bipartisan in nature. It was bipartisan and every single witness that was presented worked with the former president. And there's still that more that needs to be done in that regard.

But one of the legislative results of the January 6 committee's wonderful presentation and exploration was that we passed reform to the Electoral Count Act to strengthen the institution of our democracy as part of the principle that we will never again allow a single individual sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to try to undermine American democracy. We won't do it.

And that bill was bipartisan in nature. We also passed the American Rescue Plan, at a moment of great crisis, the very beginning of the previous Congress. In the midst of a once in a century pandemic, that cost so many lives, so much pain, so much suffering, so much death. And so, we moved decisively under the leadership of President Biden to pass the American Rescue Plan was put shots in arms, money and pockets and kids back in school.

We passed the child tax credit as part of that reduced child poverty in America by hand, by hand. And not a single Republican would join us as part of the effort to make sure that the American Dream is alive and well in every single ZIP code. And we reduce poverty and these were things that were done for everyone. Every single American regardless of ZIP code. Urban America, rural America, exurban America, suburban America, small town America.

The heartland of America, Appalachia. We're committed to putting people over politics. That's what we were able to do with the American rescue plan and allowed the United States of America to emerge as the strongest economy of any advanced economy in the world. And that wasn't a guarantee. And we know we have more work to do. We know we have more work to do. And we want to get to work.

But instead of getting the work on behalf of the American people solving problems, joining and partnering with us in a manner that's designed to find common ground. Extreme MAGA Republicans have been marching us to a dangerous government shutdown which we'll get to in a moment. But we ended the previous Congress by passing the Inflation Reduction Act. Striking a dramatic blow against the climate crisis.

Setting our planet on a sustainable trajectory forward. The largest investment and combating the climate crisis in the history of the world. Because we recognize that these extreme weather events will not go away --

WHITFIELD: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries there using a so- called Magic minute, you know, to lead his narrative about how all this was avoidable. He says, you know, we're on the brink of a shutdown. It was avoidable rather than pursuing common ground as Americans, they, he's referring to MAGA Republicans, he pointed that out want to threaten a shutdown.

[13:25:05]

Our Lauren Fox has been very dogged and on Capitol Hill in this working Saturday for many members of Congress. We know that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has put forward a short-term offering to try to keep government open for 45 days while all sides tried to work out their differences. But Hakeem Jeffries there saying, you know, it didn't have to be here. He, you know, set and pose the rhetorical question of, you know, why are we here?

So help us, Lauren, understand why is it we're here. Some 10 to 11 hours before a potential government shutdown, if not for passage of at least this measure that they are now considering?

FOX: Yes. I mean, once again, Congress is very good at delaying things. And that is exactly what happened. What you're seeing on the floor right now is Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader using his so-called Magic Minute. And the reason it's called the Magic Minute, is because you never know how long leaders will go using that device. This is basically another delay tactic as Democrats are trying to continue to work with their colleagues over in the Senate at the White House to try to understand the best path forward right now.

They are still going through this legislation, still trying to understand if it indeed is just exactly as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Republican leaders described it. They have some trust issues with the Speaker. And you heard from Jefferies, just a few moments back there where he said we could have avoided this. He is referring to a debt deal that was made between McCarthy and President Joe Biden that set spending levels for an entire fiscal year.

And the expectation was always that Republicans and Democrats would try and work along those contours to come up with a way to avoid this moment that you are seeing right now unfold at the U.S. Capitol. And as we wait to see whether the government is going to shut down. What happened instead was you had Republicans in the House of Representatives marking their bills up at a much lower spending levels because of hardliners who were holding the House floor hostage, arguing that Kevin McCarthy had cut a bad deal.

So, McCarthy turned to them and basically moved forward with a series of spending bills that were at such lower levels that they were never going to get Democratic support. And so, that is what is being alleged here from Jeffries. That is what he's talking about when he says this moment could have been avoided. But what's happening right now is the Senate has delayed a vote right now in their chamber because they are having conversations with their Democratic colleagues in the House.

Again, if the bill that has been presented is as how speaker Kevin McCarthy described it, it's a 45-day short-term spending bill that includes disaster aid, but does not include about $6.2 billion in Ukraine aid. And that is something that Republicans and Democrats in the Senate wanted to see in this package. So, right now, Democrats are just trying to have a conversation about whether or not they need to keep fighting for that aid or whether or not they might be comfortable moving forward without it.

They're also again, scrubbing the legislative text to just make sure there's no surprises. Again, they did not expect to be here today playing out as this has.

WHITFIELD: Right. So, Lauren, I'm going to ask you to school us some more on all of this, because you're so good at this. And we're all learning so much. I mean, I just spoke with Congresswoman Debbie Dingell who said, look, we just want 90 minutes, 90 minutes to pour over all these pages and have a clear understanding about what's in it. And I wonder, well, this Magic Minute is an opportunity for the minority leader to speak as long as he wants to, quite frankly, right?

Is that part of the objective here to -- that he's going to speak as long as he can, maybe not 90 minutes, but take up a good amount of time while other Democrats are poring through the language, looking at over. We also understand the White House is talking to house Dems about what may or may not be in it. Can you kind of give us an idea of what likely, you know, is happening as they're trying to get more clarity on all that is in the package?

FOX: Yes. And I think for the American public who may not spend their time reading legislative texts, like lawmakers or reporters do appear on Capitol Hill. It's not the easiest few pages to go through, right? This bill is about 70 pages long. And it's not written as if it is a novel, it's written in a really dense way that just takes time to go through. So, you can expect that yes, this Magic Minute is being used as an opportunity for members to read through the legislation.

You can also expect that there's just some strategy playing out behind closed doors, right? This isn't just about what's in the bill. It's also about whether or not Democrats want to accept this offer from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. If they want to continue to have a fight with him, if they want to have a standoff as the government shutdown looms.

[13:30:01]

And if they want to make that standoff about Ukraine funding because again that is something that has been a top priority of Democratic leaders.

But also some Republican leaders. And chief among them is Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who, at every turn, has reminded people at the mic, in his conference, behind closed doors that this money is essential.

And in the long term, might actually save the U.S. money because it could deter Russia in Ukraine and potentially prevent them from moving further into potentially a NATO country.

That is why this is so essential and why Democrats are being very careful about their next steps.

And you can expect they don't like the fact they are getting this at the last minute. They don't like the fact that they weren't alerted by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of the direction he was going.

But just to wind back a couple of hours ago, when Republicans initially went into their meeting, it wasn't clear this was how they were going to move forward. It wasn't even clear a half an hour into that meeting how they were going to move forward.

We were getting early reporting that potentially they were going to put these one-off bills onto the floor of the House to actually avoid the impact of the shutdown, not avoid a shutdown. So they went in a different direction as their members continue to have conversations.

So that is what's playing out behind the scenes. But obviously, a lot of phone calls, a lot of conversations.

I asked House Speaker Kevin McCarthy when he walked by about 10 minutes ago if he's talked to the president, if he's talked to Jeffries, if he's talked to Schumer. His argument was, catch up with me later.

He was obviously on his way to have his own conversations.

(CROSSTALK) FOX: So we're still waiting to see.

WHITFIELD: Yes, OK.

Well, we're going to take a short break for now.

When we come back, I want to ask you more about the Senate offering, because there have been bipartisan Senate offerings, not stopgap measures, but instead proposals moving forward.

And there have been some hiccups along the way in that, especially as it pertains to Ukrainian funding.

Let's take a short break for now.

Lauren Fox, thank you so much.

We'll get back to all eyes on Capitol Hill, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:36:14]

WHITFIELD: All right, we're following breaking news on Capitol Hill. There you still see House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries there, who is imploring that all of this was avoidable.

There was an agreement between Republicans and Democrats to move forward in a bipartisan fashion to serve the people. Here we are, now just hours away from a possible government shutdown.

This, as House Democrats are also now considering trying to read through some 72 pages of a stopgap measure that has been proposed by Republicans in the House there.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier saying it was an important measure, one that would buy about 45 days' time to keep government open.

It would allow for national disaster relief money and allow for payment to U.S. troops and Border Patrol, but it would be without aid assistance to Ukraine.

Let's talk about all of this as these goings-on on Capitol Hill continue. I want to bring in David Swerdlick, he's back now, with "The New York Times," and Juliegrace Brufke, from "Axios."

Good to see you both.

So, David, let's pick up from where we left off. If we remember where we were at that point.

Which was about this kind of impasse or if there is hope that perhaps there will at least be 45 days of government working while both sides try to work out money, areas to cut to spend.

Is that too hopeful to even think this might cross the finish line today?

DAVID SWERDLICK, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Fred, we're going to see. If you're a parliamentary procedure nerd, this is your day.

A motion to adjourn fails, so the minority leader has a magic minute to consider a continuing resolution to kick the can down the road for 45 days to prevent a government shutdown. We'll know by midnight if that's going to happen.

On the substantive question that you asked, you have this situation where I think right now the speaker has realized that his holdouts are really trying to hold out.

So his choices are either try and negotiate for 45 more days or try and figure out a way that he won't take political heat for using Democratic votes to pass a bill that Republicans want to pass on their own.

I think, as we talked about before, he's trying to look like the adult in the room without signaling to Republicans that he is caving on their priorities.

I heard him today say that this was a really conservative bill. There's a clip of Congressman Crenshaw going around on Twitter of him using that line as well.

I think the majority of the Republican caucus wants to find a way to get this done without starting a war with those 21 holdouts threatening the speaker's speakership.

WHITFIELD: Juliegrace, is there a consensus that Republicans want to be able to move forward and not be subservient to, as we heard Hakeem Jeffries say earlier, he says the MAGA Republicans area holding things up.

Is there a consensus among the majority of Republicans in the House and Senate who say they don't want to continue to give them that much power?

JULIEGRACE BRUFKE, CAPITOL HILL REPORTER, "AXIOS": I've talked to multiple conservative hardliners who still maintain they won't go through any continuing resolution and are going to threaten Speaker McCarthy's speakership over it.

And are furious that he's potentially going to bring up a bill that doesn't include spending cuts or border security.

[13:40:02]

So right now, he's in a difficult position. I've spoken with Congressman Matt Gaetz multiple times over the past few days, who's asserted that a motion to vacate will be brought to the floor to attempt to oust him from his speakership if something is brought up that Democrats -- is palatable to Democrats.

So it could be an interesting few hours. WHITFIELD: Oh, yes. You heard McCarthy earlier, House Speaker McCarthy, who came out about three times this morning and says he has no fear, he's not worried about his job.

You know, more emphatically, as Juliegrace just said, if I have to risk my job to stand up for the American people, I will do that.

Does he mean that? Is he posturing? Is that just to redesign the narrative here, or is he saying he's going to go past those 20 or so Republicans and take on the support of the majority of Democrats who want a deal?

BRUFKE: I think he's in a position right now where showing weakness will be bad for him with far-right critics really kind of looking to take aim at him right now.

That being said, it's unclear whether Democrats would walk off the floor or potentially vote for him to save his speakership, if they strike a deal there or supporting the C.R. with the Democrats.

So it will be interesting.

WHITFIELD: Interesting, indeed. It is that.

All right, Juliegrace, David, thank you so much to both of you. I appreciate it.

We're going to continue to watch what's happening on Capitol Hill.

Meantime, this, too, was a seismic moment and loss for America as Senator Dianne Feinstein died on Friday at the age of 90.

The California lawmaker was the longest-serving female Senator in U.S. history. Her decades-long career in Congress faced some of our nation's most explosive issues, including CIA torture sites and gun control.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R-ID): So the gentlelady from California needs to become a little more familiar with firearms and their deadly characteristics. And I say that because it is --

DIANNE FEINSTEIN, FORMER U.S. SENATOR FROM CALIFORNIA: (INAUDIBLE). Point of personal privilege for a moment, please?

CRAIG: Yes, certainly.

FEINSTEIN: I am quite familiar with firearms. I became mayor as a product of assassination.

CRAIG: I'm aware of that.

FEINSTEIN: I found my assassinated colleague and put a finger through a bullet hole.

CRAIG: Yes.

FEINSTEIN: -- trying to get -- I proposed gun control legislation in San Francisco. I went through a recall on the basis of it.

I was trained in the shooting of a firearm when I had terrorist attacks with a bomb at my house, when my husband was dying, when I had windows shot out. Senator, I know something about what firearms can do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: That was just one of many tough moments with that Senator on display.

Joining me right now for more on Senator Feinstein's legacy is former California Governor Gray Davis.

Governor Davis, what a pleasure to talk to you.

That was just a microcosm of who Senator Feinstein was throughout, up to the day before she died. Those who were with her, like Jay Herman (ph) --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- that was still on display the day that she died.

When you see what's going on, on Capitol Hill right now, and with this inability to work together, she is someone who notably worked with people on all sides of the aisle.

What do you suppose she would be thinking and feeling? She attended a procedural vote what a short-term funding bill on this matter to avert a government shutdown the day before she died.

What do you think she would be thinking and feeling today as we see on this working Saturday for people on Capitol Hill --

(CROSSTALK)

GRAY DAVIS, (D), FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: First, I want to say that clip of Dianne was the best mini video of her life and her skills. She was at the same time courageous, had grace and lots of strength.

So that very moment she became mayor, when someone smuggled a gun into San Francisco city hall, went to the mayor to try to get the mayor to appoint him to fill a vacancy, which was created by his resignation. The mayor wouldn't do it.

He shot the mayor. He shot Harvey Milk. And she momentarily came in, saw the dead bodies, put her finger in Moscone's head. She -- to see if he was still alive. She became mayor out of that tragedy.

[13:44:58]

And it was that personal strength, courage and grace that allowed her to pass an assault weapon ban in her third year as Senator with only seven Senators to get that bill passed against all odds.

It had never happened before. It would never happen today. And it has never happened since.

Now coming to the vote on the possible shutdown, she believed in crossing lines, bringing people together. That's the way I was raised. I would like to see America get back to that point.

Ronald Reagan used to invite Tip O'Neal, the Democratic leader of the House, over every Wednesday for a drink to see if there was something they couldn't do together to help the American people.

WHITFIELD: Right. As a lot of people know on Capitol Hill, the Hawk and Dove is one of those places where those meetings and moments would take place of bringing all sides together.

How are you remembering her today? I guess it's still sinking in for a lot of people who had their personal encounters in history with her of her passing.

DAVIS: With great fondness. We worked very closely together on an assault weapon bill in California to make some corrections, because the gun lobby tried to circumvent some of the provisions in her bill. We worked with her and her staff.

We worked together on an Amber Alert. California added highway messaging signs so the kidnapper was almost always taking the child in a car place.

Like 160 kids were found in a row without losing any. We provided all that data to her for a national bill.

We worked on the energy. You'll remember the crisis. That turned out to be a total scam by Enron. Fourteen of its executives went to prison. She worked night and day to help us correct that misjustice to California.

When she was on your side, you were going to win. And I can attest. When you were not on her side, you were going to lose.

So I've lost a dear friend and a great advocate for California and the nation.

WHITFIELD: Beautiful thoughts.

Thank you so much, Governor Gray Davis, for joining us and sharing your personal history with Senator Feinstein, your memories, and the legacy that she leaves. Thank you so much.

DAVIS: My pleasure. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:52] WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Former President Jimmy Carter turns 99 tomorrow. The Carter Center in Atlanta was going to celebrate on Sunday as well, but then moved their event to today, because of the threatening U.S. government shutdown.

Thousands of people from around the world have sent President Carter well wishes for this birthday mosaic that will be displayed across Atlanta.

The Carter Center is said to honor his 99th birthday with a naturalization swearing-in ceremony for 99 new American citizens.

Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, made their first public appearance in more than seven months last weekend when they took a ride through the Plains Peanut Festival in their hometown of Plains, Georgia.

President Carter entered hospice care back in February.

Joining us right now is Karin Ryan, senior adviser for human rights at the Carter Center.

Karin, great to see you.

So glad to see, in one of our live shots earlier with our Isabel Rosales, it was a pretty significant turnout at the Carter Center. How has the day been going?

KARIN RYAN, SENIOR ADVISOR FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, CARTER CENTER: It's wonderful. It's really delightful to see everyone showing up to express their appreciation for President Carter on his 99th birthday. It really is heartwarming.

WHITFIELD: It really is. He and Rosalynn looked really good last week in the vehicle as they were passing through the peanut festival in their hometown of Plains, Georgia.

What is this weekend going to be like for him?

RYAN: Well, with him, he's always thinking about sort of celebrating and appreciating what he has, what his -- great life that he's been able to live. He's surrounded by family, loved ones.

He's been in hospice care since February. And I think what he's concentrating on is really how to be himself and to enjoy the moment, and to really take in all of the appreciation that's being shared with him from around the world.

But also to -- one of the things about him is he's always nudging us to get busy fixing things that are wrong.

So he'll appreciate, and then, he'll say, OK, what are you going to do about climate change or something? So he doesn't tend to focus on himself that much. But I know he's enjoying the appreciation.

WHITFIELD: Hence, over the years, his Habitat for Humanity efforts, thinking of others, trying to fix things, make sure people have a way to have a roof over their heads.

So that mosaic. We saw pictures of a mosaic. And you talk about people have been sending sentiments from around the world. We understand that people have written him notes and letters from Ecuador to Australia.

Tell us where this idea came from to create this mosaic of all these sentiments.

RYAN: Well, I think when he announced, in February, he was going into hospice care, there was really an outpouring of gratitude for the life that he has led, and people wanted to find ways to express their appreciation.

[13:55:06]

And so our team here at the Carter Center, our wonderful communications staff and our leadership here, just thought, how can do this, how can we really bring together all of that love and appreciation?

So the mosaic is beautiful. And you can check it out on the Carter Center Web site. I really encourage people to participate. It's a way to really join in the celebration. It's really lovely.

WHITFIELD: You mentioned part of his legacy, conveying the message of fixing things.

What are you hoping people, especially the dozens if not hundreds of people who are turning up at the Carter Center today, what do you hope that they will come to learn, if not just appreciate, about this 39th United States president, his presidency, and the imprint that he has made even after his presidential years?

RYAN: Sure. I think one of the gifts of this period of time, really at the end of this last chapter of his life, it gives all of us a chance to really think about him as a leader.

This was an American president, the most powerful human being on the planet at the time. He was president during the Cold War. He had to deal with a really serious nuclear confrontation, all of this.

But what did he do? He did that, and he stood up for human rights, for human rights activists all over the world.

He worked for peace. One of the things that he's most proud of is that he never launched a war. We had four years of peace under his presidency.

He put solar panels on the White House and started an energy policy, adopted an energy policy that would have us on renewables by now.

So I think the chance we all have is to think about what he stood for all of these years, when he was governor of Georgia, saving the rivers of Georgia, when he was president, talking about human rights and peace. And since then, really, the great work of the Carter Center,

eliminating neglected diseases, advancing democracy and human rights throughout the world, all of this work. We get a chance to really reflect on that work.

It made me think about how we could contribute to peace and the global movement for human rights and climate justice. All of these things, I think that's what he would want.

WHITFIELD: Well, happy birthday, Mr. President.

Karin Ryan, senior adviser for --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: -- thank you so much. I'm sure he's hearing the message all day, all weekend, loud and clear from far and wide.

Senior adviser for human rights at Carter Center, Karin Ryan, thank you so much.

RYAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)