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Schumer: Voting for GOP Spending Bill is Best of Bad Option; Senate Holds Initial Vote to Pass GOP Spending Bill; AOC on Dems Supporting GOP Bill: "There is a Wide Sense of Betrayal"; Vance on Possible Recession: "You Never Can Predict the Future"; Trump to Give Speech at Justice Department. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired March 14, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on "Inside Politics" a party in turmoil. At the end of this wild week, it's not the party in charge of all branches of government, the one with an unpredictable president who is betting the global economy on his trade war. It's actually the Democrats now riddled with chaos and back fighting. I have new reporting from inside their tumultuous private meetings.

Plus, from daytime talk show to Senate confirmation hearing right now, Dr. Mehmet Oz is trying to convince Senators that he's done talking dubious supplements and ready to lead the agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid.

And is Donald Trump in his expansionist era where learning his inspiration may be a little-known 19th century president who fought a war with Mexico to expand the United States to the Pacific Ocean. I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and "Inside Politics".

In roughly an hour from now, the Senate is expected to vote to advance a funding bill that will keep the government's lights on. Republicans need 60 votes. As of this moment it's unclear if they have it. What is clear is that there are a lot of Democrats fuming at their Leader, Chuck Schumer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Mr. President, as everyone knows, government funding expires at midnight tonight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: One the biggest issue, perhaps at this point, is not the decision for the GOP spending bill. The Minority Leader said he concluded that supporting the bill is the best of bad options and better than a shutdown. Most of his caucus disagrees.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SCHUMER: It's not that this CR is good, it's not that voting for it is good. It's horrible, but the alternative is worse, and we have to look just a month ahead and see how bad a shutdown would be for all the things we believe in. They could cut half the government. They could tell employees you not essential and never bring them back permanently, firing them.

It's a disaster. And in a few weeks, if there was a shutdown, everyone would be complaining in howling, why did they cut -- why did they eliminate SNAP? Why did they cut so much of Medicaid? But they could do all that on their own. That's the problem. There is no check on them with a shutdown.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): If you do nothing, you sit back and say it is going to be terrible. And that's right, a shutdown will be terrible, but our job is to put the onus on the Republican President, the Republican House, the Republican Senate, the people who control the government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, according to Democratic Senate sources I've been talking to, the biggest frustration inside the Democratic Caucus isn't just Schumer's decision, but the indecision most of the week, the lack of clarity about what Democrats should or would do played out in a series of private Senate Democratic meetings that got pretty intense.

In one notable moment, I'm told that Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado, who has not been shy about his frustration with his party leadership in the past, erupted during one of those meetings. Two sources familiar with the moment tell CNN that Senator Bennet accused the Senate Democratic leadership, his leadership, of having, quote, no strategy, no plan and no message on this spending bill.

And as for President Trump, well, he saw a wounded Schumer this morning. He whipped out the rhetorical salt to pour in the hopes of making it worse. Here's what he posted, congratulations to Chuck Schumer for doing the right thing. Took guts and courage. He added that it was a quote really good and smart move by Senator Schumer.

I'm joined by a talented group of reporters here on this Friday. CNN's Lauren Fox, Josh Dawsey of "The Wall Street Journal", Zolan Kanno- Youngs of "The New York Times". I mean, kind of classy. You got to get it, to get it, but obviously I heard you all giggling. We all got it. Lauren, you just walked in the studio from the Capitol. What are you hearing right now from your sources?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's going to be tight. I mean, the universe of votes available at this moment to get this thing across the finish line on the Democratic side is really narrow. And we should just remind everyone that ultimately, Democrats don't have to vote yes on the final bill, but they do have to vote on a procedural vote to get it started, and that is what we're watching.

It's going to happen in the one o'clock hour, but it's going to be really hard for Schumer to get the number of votes he needs. There are still about a dozen outstanding votes right now. But Dana, that is not a huge number. So, many Democrats, including a lot of new Democratic Senators, they've already come out and said that they are no.

Some Democratic Senators came out early in the week and said that they are no. I'm thinking of someone like Senator Chris Coons, who typically is on the side of leadership, and in this case, he is not.

BASH: Yeah. And let's just kind of take a step back about I mean, I sort of went through some of the frustration about the fact that the Democrats didn't have a plan, and went through a lot of iterations and a lot of pretty intense meetings trying to find a plan.

[12:05:00]

But also, why this is so hard? There are several levels to it. Maybe the biggest is the desire, the need, the sort of screaming from the rooftops by so many Democratic rank and file members of the grassroots do something. Stand up to Donald Trump, use whatever power you have. Congressman Moskowitz was on CNN with Wolf just a few minutes ago, and he kind of articulated that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): I'd like to see the Senate for a period of time -- you know throw down on cloture. If this was Mitch McConnell, Mitch McConnell would not be giving any votes on cloture. I think we're giving him too easy on cloture.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, you know, Trump, in the first couple months here, first 50 days or so, has had passed a number of executive orders -- you know almost 100 executive orders, or not more, and has had all sorts of acquiescence from corporate America. He's at his entire party and locked up with him.

And for the much of the country that does not like him, they have not seen really much resistance his presidency. They've seen agencies sort of taken apart. He obviously promised to do that. They did it. They've seen the tariffs. Much of corporate America behind this scene says we don't like the tariffs, but publicly, they don't really want to buck him.

I mean, he's at the apex of his power. And you know, a lot of the Democrats, I think, who really thought that there would be some pressure against him, have been surprised how little resistance there has been, and they're clamoring for more. I mean, I think that's I was watching this video last night of Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, who was just begging, sort of the other Democrats to sort of stand up with him and take on Trump.

And I don't know, some of the appetite seems to be growing a little bit, but Trump still has a significant amount of power without too many elements of the political system, or really much of America, standing up against what he's doing. BASH: Yeah. And I think that the question, and this is obviously where Chuck Schumer finally fell, is, is this -- why is this the fight that we're going to pick? Because it is ultimately a loser, whether or not it's going to be directly a loser for Democrats politically or Republicans, probably more Democrats, but on the substance of what they're trying to do, they will have to cave at some point, the Democrats.

And so that goes back to the original question that I've heard from so many Democratic sources, which is, why even let it hang out there that this is going to be the fight to pick from the beginning when it's really not winnable, especially since when you look at the actual bill, even though we have pointed out some cuts that Republicans have put out -- put in this bill. Largely, this is a Biden spending bill that the Republicans had to hold their nose and vote for in order to get it passed, particularly in the House.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: That's right. And if you're the Democrats, here for Schumer and other Democrats, the concern was, if you do, let this go to a shutdown, now you have the possibility of furloughed federal workers. What have you one main attack line that we have seen from the Democrats thus far is attacking Trump and Elon Musk for upending the federal bureaucracy.

Gets a little bit harder to do that when you're in a shutdown. And now the White House and other Republicans are pointing to Democrats and pretty much faulting them for a shutdown in which the federal workers that Democrats are claiming to be defending -- you know are now facing the repercussions from the shutdown.

But to Josh's point, I think on the other side, you also had building frustration up until this point to seize this opportunity to have some act of defiance, because there has been an absence of an act of defiance and recently.

BASH: And that's my that kind of comes back to my fundamental question, which is it is about expectations, and setting expectations from the Democratic leadership for the desire to fight back, to say, like we're going to do it, but this is not the Hill we're going to die on.

John Fetterman just talked to our colleague, Arlette Saenz, and I'm going to clean it up here, because it's definitely morning on the East Coast -- on the West Coast, he said that a shutdown would be an effing disaster.

But at the same time, I just want to play a little bit of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She was at an event in Virginia last night, and she, as she is what to do, kind of articulated the point of view of the sense of betrayal, because the expectations were set at a different level among Democratic rank and file members.

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REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTES (D-NY): There are members of Congress who have won Trump held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States, who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people, in order to defend Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.

[12:10:00]

Just to see some Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think it is a huge slap in the face, and I think that there is a wide sense of betrayal if things proceed as currently planned.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, Lauren, I want you to come in, but just to be clear, my sense is that she's conflating a couple of bills there. I mean, when she's talking about cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, that's not in this bill. There's another bill, but that's not in this bill.

FOX: Exactly. And a lot of Democrats have been making this point that this bill cuts Medicaid. It does not that is a --

BASH: Right.

FOX: -- different bill that got passed out of the House of Representatives. But I would just point out I do think it's so interesting that House Democrats and Senate Democrats were on such a different page. Their leadership was clearly on a different page.

Schumer said last night in his pen and pad that he's in constant communication with Leader Jeffries, but clearly both men decided they needed a different outcome, and the luxury for Jefferies and House Democrats is they can vote no on this, and they weren't responsible for the shutdown because their votes were never needed in the House.

I think a major miscalculation that happened early on is Democratic leadership gambled that Republicans weren't going to get their act together and be able to pass this. They had to flip about 30 House Republicans who voted no on a very similar bill in December to vote yes, this time, and Donald Trump is, turns --

BASH: And that's my point. Is that once they saw these House Republicans, the most conservative Republicans who never vote for a spending bill like this, particularly at Biden budget levels, largely vote yes. Why not take the W on the Democratic side? They're not and just really quickly, I want to play some examples of what the Senate Democrats who are going to vote no are giving as their reasons.

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SEN. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA): This is not a hard decision. I am a hard no.

SEN. LISA BLUNT ROCHESTER (D-DE): I'm voting no to make sure that we save our democracy.

SEN. ANDY KIM (D-NJ): This is an effort try to hand power over to the presidency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm telling Donald Trump no.

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): This is saying, let's just give up even more of our constitutional authority.

SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): I am even more hell no. You don't stop a bully by handing over your lunch money, and you don't stop a tyrant by giving them more power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. Well, we'll see what happens in that first test vote, which is going to start in about 45 minutes. For now, President Trump's economic policies are fueling new uncertainty. Why is Vice President Vance talking about the Roman Empire while trying to calm fears? We'll explain after the break.

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[12:15:00]

BASH: Thank God it's Friday. Look at that, a glimmer of good news. We could all use it. Stocks are actually rallying today. The DOW is surging by about 500 points right now as we are ending pretty rocky week for the markets. Also today, a new report shows consumer confidence fell to its lowest level in more than two years as the president ratchets up his trade war.

Now, in case you need a recap of the week in the Trump economy, I know I do, let's take a look. On Monday, the DOW fell almost 900 points after the president wouldn't rule out a recession. On Tuesday, another nosedive, the DOW hit a new six month low as Trump announced another set of tariffs. Quote, eye on the market. 50 days of grey. That's what JP Morgan wrote on Wednesday. The S&P 500 entered correction territory yesterday, and Vice President Vance was asked to reassure business leaders. Here's his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Roe wasn't built in a day of course, this is not going to happen overnight. But I think that both businesses and workers are ultimately going to benefit from President Trump's policies.

LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: Can you rule out a recession, even a temporary one?

VANCE: Well, look, I think you never can predict the future, but I think the economy, the fundamentals the economy, are actually quite strong right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My panel is back, Rome wasn't built in a day, but it burned pretty quickly. And that's the concern here.

DAWSEY: Well, that is digital concern that things could go down quickly. You know, I think a lot of what you're seeing was frustration with the corporate America, with -- you know folks who have investments in America, folks who do business around the world. Aren't really the tariffs as much? They certainly don't like the tariffs, and they wish that Trump was not doing the tariffs.

But Trump has consistently said for decades that he is going to do tariffs. He wants tariffs. He wants tariffs. What they sort of hate are the wild vacillations on the swing say we're going to do them, that we're not going to do them. We're going to remove them. We're not going to remove them. I mean, I was talking to lots of folks this week.

And of course, the reporting who were just saying, we want him to set up policy, we're going to set up policy and say, here's how you get exemptions, here's what you do, here's the numbers for each industry, here's numbers for each country. And he's not doing that. And it's like -- you know I think one of the reasons why is he likes the idea of being able to -- you know use them, sort of as a threat, as a as a stick -- you know, as a carrot.

Well, let you out of his tariff. But a lot of what you're seeing this week from the folks we talking to about the economy is less a reaction to his tariffs, because I think a lot of people expected those and more to how he is --

BASH: On again, off, again, off, again, on, again --

DAWSEY: Right, the isolations.

BASH: Yeah. So, let's look at what voters I want you to come in. I want to look at voters, what they say.

[12:20:00]

And this is a focus group that we go to pretty regularly by a wonderful man named Rich Tau, who actually said to us this morning that he has whiplash based on what he is hearing week to week in his own focus groups. So last week, he talked to swing voters in Arizona who said Trump is doing a good job, particularly last month, forgive me, Trump is doing a good job on the economy. Let's listen to what Michigan swing voters told him about the president.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everything I believe is going to happen. I think is going to go the opposite direction.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's getting to the point where I'm almost scared to watch the news.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of his actions have just been disruptive and creating chaos.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think anyone would have voted for him if they expected to see what we're seeing now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was voting for him based off of the economy the first time around. And I'm seeing a significant decline.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's, very scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, just to emphasize these are swing voters, meaning they voted for Joe Biden in 2020 and Donald Trump in 2024.

FOX: I mean, I think it's just fascinating to hear people who openly admitted they voted for Trump because they trusted him on the economy just a couple of months later, saying this is not what I signed up for. In fact, this is the opposite of what I signed up for, because in a lot of ways, Donald Trump wasn't secretive about what he wanted to do on tariffs.

But to your point, I do think it's the volatility that is really driving this concern. I mean, when you ask senators on the Hill Republicans to respond to some of these tariffs. Their answers over the last couple of days have been like, let's just wait 24 hours before I really know.

BASH: Of course he changes --

FOX: -- something I need to worry about. One Senator told me I used to call the White House or someone at the White House, like every time, and I'm just sitting tight for a second.

KANNO-YOUNGS: The Trump campaign also did raise expectations -- you know as well for immediate results on the economy.

FOX: Yeah.

KANNO-YOUNGS: They said when they would come into office, that they would bring consumer prices down immediately. They would address inflation immediately. I hear that interview from Vice President Vance, and I hear another comment that's an attempt to reset expectations and say that this is going to take time that then speaks to like a broader strategy for the Trump Administration, which is tariffs.

You know, their approach to the economy, a bet that Americans can weather initial economic frustration in order to bring manufacturing back to America eventually, but betting on the patience of American voters when it comes to economic frustration, that's real risky, especially if consumer prices go up.

DAWSEY: And it's one of the reasons he won in 2024. The polls showed the voters trusted more on the economy. Tony Fabrizio Trump's pollster and others would try to get them to talk about the economy, talk about cost of living, go out and talk about inflation, talk about what you're going to do on the economy.

Because they saw in their internal numbers that was the best issue of a Kamala Harris repeatedly. They wanted to talk about the economy. The economy attempts trump didn't want to talk about the economy. He said, it's boring. I'd rather talk about immigration. I mean, that's where he told his advisors. And now you've seen him talk less about cost of living than other topics.

You see him sort of do you know these aggressive actions on trade, and I'm curious to see how the American public will respond to that, because I think one of the key reasons people put him in the White House is they thought prices were going up and that he was better than the Democrats on making their life better.

BASH: Because they had an experience until COVID happened in the first Trump term, with the economy good, and so the people who were voting back then wanted to get back to that. I do want to switch gears and talk a little bit about your reporting this morning, and it is about what we're going to see later today, the president is going to go to the Department of Justice.

You write, Mr. Trump, once a target of prosecution by the Justice Department, is scheduled on Friday to deliver a major law and order speech in the agency's Great Hall, at least as much an expression of conquest and vindication as it is a friendly visit, friendly first visit to a key cabinet department.

As I bring you on, I just want to say in the long list of this is not normal. This is not normal. Presidents intentionally don't go to the Justice Department. There was an example of Obama going just to say thank you to Eric Holder when he was out the door. But it's -- that bright line that you know is supposed to exist and hasn't existed. He's just going to walk right across it.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right. It's not normal. And I think what you can expect is a speech that isn't just a victory lap of some of the policies that we've seen recently, as well as we're hearing potentially that you could have new a new announcement in terms of an immigration crackdown to speed up deportations.

[12:25:00]

But also symbolically, a victory lap of remaking Washington and the Federal Government's apparatus in Trump's image of shattering these norms of independent institutions and embracing something like the Justice Department that historically has had distance from the White House and had independence here.

Yes, it's just one speech, but when you look at it collectively, with actions like ousting inspectors general, eroding guardrails that would usually conduct oversight of the executive branch.

BASH: Firing the January 6th prosecutors.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Of course.

BASH: -- others.

KANNO-YOUNGS: You know -- both turning into, really the main enforcer of his agenda as well in the Justice Department. Then you see that this is more than just a speech and symbolically, really representative of Trump reshaping the federal government in his image. DAWSEY: That's right. I think what you're seeing at the FBI and DOJ is that there traditionally has been some distance from the White House in day-to-day decisions. They're not doing that. For some they're not even having the pre-tense of doing that. In fact, if you talk to a lot of the Trump advisors, they say FBI DOJ should not be independent.

They are part of the executive branch. They should report to us. So, we've done some reporting. Stephen Miller's calling into DOJ and FBI all the time. You have Kash Patel is FBI Director who one of the first questions he asked folks was, how do I get in touch with the Oval Office when I went to push job?

BASH: Which, again, is not --

DAWSEY: This is not. I mean -- and there -- and frankly, they're not trying to hide it. I mean, they are saying pretty out. Now we run the FBI and the Department of Justice in a lot of ways, so we'll see how that plays out.

BASH: OK, we're going to have to take a quick break. Coming up, Doctor Mehmet Oz is facing intense questioning on his ability to lead an agency that impacts the health of nearly half the country. We're going to take you to his Senate Confirmation Hearing after a quick break.

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