Good afternoon. I feel really bad that i will not be wishing you a good afternoon for another five weeks. Ok. Thank you for coming. After a stunning rebuke in the midterm elections that delivered a Historic House majority, leader Mitch Mcconnell faced a choice. In a newly divided government he could have chosen to work with the democrats to advance legislation where interests align. No one expected him to pass a democratic agenda but congress should be in the business of finding common ground. Seven months into this congress , we all know that leader mcconnell unfortunately chose a different path. Leader mcconnell has turned what used to be the worlds greatest deliberative body into a legislative graveyard. The perfect complement to our get nothing done president. From health care to gun safety tech Climate Change republicans , just say no, despite the overwhelming consensus of the American People on these issues. Even on the least controversial, least partisan issues, violence against women act election , security, or to active status for venezuelan nationals, leader mcconnell said it has been a big, black hole. There has not been a single bill open for amendment all year. Not one bill. In the minority, leader mcconnell complained bitterly about the same procedural tactics and that he would run things differently. Let me tell you, minority leader mcconnell would be aghast at how majority leader mcconnell is running the senate. Recently, there have been a few solitary bright spots. We passed a bipartisan agreement to raise domestic spending 10 billion more than defense spending and we permanently reauthorized the 9 11 Victims Compensation fund. If not proud side pressure, amateur of the senate would have done either of those. Two things actually came through they did because of democratic efforts and pressure. ,ut those few accomplishments sadly, or the exception not the rule. After nearly three years of leadership under a republican president , Senate Republicans only significant legislative accomplishment is a hugely unpopular and unsuccessful tax bill that favors the very wealthy. In three years, Senate Republicans managed only to tie a twoton anchor, when it comes to taxes, around their necks in the form of a tax bill. An anchor republicans up and down the ballot will be forced to wear through 2020. If you note, in the 2020 elections, not a single republican that i can recall campaigned on the tax bill, it had become such poison. And that is their only legislative accomplishment. Looking forward, i believe senator mcconnells legislative graveyard is simply unsustainable. The American People are fed up while Health Care Costs continue to rise, drug costs do the same. Income inequality continues to the top 1 garner more and more of the wealth and income in this country. Gun violence claims 40,000 americans per year. Climate change wreaks greater devastation every season, and the entire National Security and Intelligence Community warns about foreign interference in our upcoming president ial election. These problems arent going to be solved by appropriations alone. Confirming more farright judges will not make one ounce of improvement in the daytoday lives of average americans and probably make things worse for most of them. The pressure on leader mcconnell to bring legislation to the floor is growing greater every day. I am not naive. I dont think leader mcconnell will change his behavior overnight. But i do want to make one prediction. I predict that the pressure will continue to mount on republican senators, especially leader mcconnell, and they will be forced to join us in taking meaningful action on Election Security this fall. On the issues where republicans continue to stymie progress, democrats will force the issue. In september, we will be putting republicans on the spot for two cra votes. One to protect americans with preexisting conditions and from junk insurance plans, and another to help middleclass homeowners who have been devastated by the administrations new rules on state and local tax deductions. Lastly, i want to say one thing about what had in the Senate Judiciary this morning. Instead of working with democrats to solve the root causes of migration from latin andica, chairman Graham Judiciary Committee republicans are breaking their Committee Rules to jam through a partisan bill that would allow President Trump to keep children, young children, in cages for a longer amount of time. We cannot and will not support this partisan process or this partisan bill. How fitting. Republicans end another work period by helping President Trump continue his unamerican, inhumane and highly unpopular immigration policies when it comes to kids at the border. Ready for your questions. Yes. Reporter the president , right before you came in, announced on twitter that he was going to reimpose tariffs on china. I wanted to get your thoughts on that. Sen. Schumer i havent seen what he said so i cannot comment on that in general. We have to be tough on china. They have taken advantage of us. America has lost trillions of dollars and millions of jobs because china has not played fair. Being tough on china is the right way to be but i have not seen these tariffs. Reporter related to that, what kind of progress do you expect recess periodhis over the u. S. M. C. A. . Sen. Schumer there is not a deadline. The closer we get to the next election the harder it is. Speaker pelosi and i are united in that we believe we talk about this a lot we believe that you need strong and enforceable Labor Protections in this bill, as well as environmental protections and some undoing of some of the things on prescription drugs. If that doesnt happen, there wont be a bill. Plain and simple. Reporter it was six years and change ago that you guys had a bipartisan bill through the senate. Here we are again. What should be done on the approach on the border, a set of but this bill hasnt been tackled. Sen. Schumer what we should do is just what you said. The answer to this is comprehensive Immigration Reform. It got broad bipartisan support, it dealt in a far more comprehensive way with all the problems because, whether it is border security, what to do with hereeople who are not legally, how to change the existing rules on immigration so we can get more people we need highendb areas, both phds, and lowend farmworkers. People who work in the stores and that is the right answer. President trump called me a few months ago and asked what can we do on immigration . I said mr. President , if you , look at the language of comprehensive Immigration Reform, you might find it better than you thought. That check to the answer. Weve learned over the last five years that little piecemeal approaches do not work. Republicans say on Election Security that the Intelligence Community is already doing other things. So are these Election Security bills a stunt, as they say . Sen. Schumer we want to do something on Election Security. We do. But we want to do something on Election Security. If leader mcconnell would bring something to the floor and we can debate it, we are forcing his hand. And i think you have seen by his reaction, it is having some success, because he knows that ieing it is not going to be good for america, or the republican party, and quite frankly, not very good for him. We are going to keep pushing and my prediction is our relentless pushing for Immigration Reform will produce results. The Intelligence Committee would be the first to say there is more than needs to be done. They has said it to me. General saytorneys they dont have enough money to secure your election machinery from Cyber Attacks and interference. Need paper ballots just in case, got for bid, they accounts. I have not gotten one good reason from republicans like they should not do it. That they hope not think if russia interferes, it will benefit them . Is it i hope not because they are afraid of President Trump who has a childish view that if he admits there was russian interference it makes is his election illegitimate . Who knows . Reporter understanding you are on the same page with Speaker Pelosi on the impeachment issue, is there any threshold of all at which you think impeachment proceedings should start without nancy pelosi coming out and saying it is time to do it . Sen. Schumer i speak with nancy pelosi three or four times a day i was just at her office, and i think we have the same view. Lets get all of the facts and then make decisions. Reporter a bunch of democratic president ial candidates have criticized the record of president obama in these debates. Do thing that is appropriate . Sen. Schumer im not going to comment on what they said. I think president obama is a very, very popular figure in america to this day because he did a very good job. Did he accomplish everything . No. If you compare the Obama Administration to this administration it is night and day. And americans are realizing that. Reporter back to the impeachment question. Does the political calculus change now that more than half of House Democrats are calling for impeachment inquiry . Sen. Schumer everyone is going to do what he or she thinks is appropriate. I think, as i said, Speaker Pelosi is handling this appropriately. Reporter on immigration, understanding that you reject the piecemeal approach and you are for comprehensive, i want to , but senator graham wants his immigration bill to become heart of the discussion. What do you sen. Schumer i am against Lindsey Grahams bill. I cant imagine the house accepting any appropriations process with that bill in it. Lets go comprehensive. Lindsay knows that too. Lindsey graham in 2013 took a lot of political grief and showed a lot of courage in putting together a bi it is interesting, it was the last major bipartisan approach on immigration, it was the most comprehensive, and it would have been the most successful. Lets go back to it. That is the answer. Reporter i would like to ask ratcliffe d for dni, there are concerns that he patted his resume. Do you think that disqualifies him . Sen. Schumer i dont know the details about the padding of the resume. When i saw this man at the hearing, i said this reminds me of general flynn when i saw him on tv before a mass of people saying, lock her up i said somethings wrong here. , a threestar general or a congressman, a leader of the Intelligence Committee, should not be acting the way he is. He strikes me as extremely unqualified in every way. You know, this is serious. This is about war and peace. If we dont have a dni who speaks truth to power, the first who first is able to come up with an unbiased view of what they say and in an unvarnished way can tell the president , we are in a much more dangerous world, i could hardly think of a worse choice than him, padding resume or not. Reporter you have painted a fairly bleak picture of the senate right now. A senate potentially broken. Is that impacting if you could put on your campaign hat, for a minute sen. Schumer what hat is that . Reporter the campaign hat. Sen. Schumer we are all living in a few minutes. [laughter] reporter is that making it difficult to attract candidates . Is the climate here impacting your ability to attract candidates . Sen. Schumer we have great candidates. If you look at the candidates we have they are fabulous in state after state. They are not your traditional oldtime politicians. The majority of our candidates are women, many are veterans. Many have unique backgrounds, brought up on a farm, created a new business that was successful. We are excited about our candidates and we are excited about 20 20. Reporter but it is no secret that there are two governors running for president that had been for all as potential senate candidates. Sen. Schumer i think the candidates we have are as good as any traditional politicians , probably better in this day , and age. Reporter do you expect all 12 Appropriations Bills to pass . Be necessary . Sen. Schumer well, i hope the c. R. Will not be necessary. Neither side wants a continuing resolution. It is better than a sequestration, thank god we got rid of that. The republicans have an impetus, we have an impetus because we feel so strongly that with these huge forces like globalization , automation, and technology buffeting around the middle class, they need some help from a strong force. That is us. I am hopeful we can get this done. Yes . Reporter given the no poison pills agreement in the spending cap legislation, how do you think that democrats and republicans are going to work towards some of the more controversial issues in the spending bill like border spending . Sen. Schumer some are poison pills, some are not in hopefully but hopefully, we can work these out. Last question, ladies and gentlemen. Reporter do support the drug price legislation of senator wyden and senator grassley . Sen. Schumer i think it is a good step but it does not go far enough. We democrats will caucus and we think unless we get a vote on negotiation of drug prices, which is far more sweeping than was done there despite senator wydens very fine efforts, if we dont get a vote on sabotage, we are not going to let a republican friends get away with improving drug price issues very modestly, along the edges, and continue to sabotage the health care system, which raises drug prices and makes them less accessible, it would be wrong. So before these bills come to the floor, we will ask for votes on those amendments and maybe others. Thank you, everybody, and have a good break. Thank you very much. [indiscernible] [laughter] should have got a good picture [laughter] [indistinct conversations] announcer cspans washington journal, live every day with news and policy issues that impact you. Coming up this morning, a look at facebooks Digital Currency with a professor from georgetown university. Also, Inspector General offers up a new report detailing hospice violations across the u. S. And a Bloomberg NewsHealth Policy reporter on the , andarette company juul the rise of teen vaping. Watch live at 7 00 eastern this morning. And be sure to watch podcast week next week starting at 7 00 a. M. On monday, we talk with a host of the washington examiners examining politics. Tuesday, we talked to the producer of the daily. On wednesday, we talk to the host of global dispatches. On thursday, we talked to the cohost of i will tell you what. And on friday, the host of congressional dish. Announcer saturday morning at 10 30 eastern on cspan we t show you the first of to the democratic president ial debates cnn, and ahosted by second round of president ial primary debates on sunday, at 10 30 a. M. Eastern on , or listenpan. Org with the free cspan radio app. Former Vice President joe biden visited bakersfield restaurant in detroit today, making some Campaign Stops after last night debates. Heres a look. [chatter] [cheers and applause] [indistinct conversations]