Cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Created by americas Cable Television company as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Next, pennsylvania senator bob casey and pat toomey on the Election Results and what they mean for the commonwealth. They join an event hosted by the Washington Post, looking at the Trump Campaigns legal challenges and the biden transition. This runs about 45 minutes. My home state, pennsylvania. We are joined by senator pat toomey and senator bob casey in a moment. Two senators from pennsylvania. First, the headlines. Georgia is heating up. The secretary of state announced a hand recount. President biden is up in the votes. That is going to be a state that everyone in this country will have their eyes on between now and the january 5 runoff. Speaker pelosi meanwhile in the house remains in charge. Challengended off no despite democrats losing seats in the house of representatives. It is a testament to her power. Its also a sign democrats were ambitious who were ambitious in the house are probably going to wait it out until pelosi decides to retire at one point. When you lose seats, usually there is a leadership challenge. Not this time. Finally, biden and Prime MinisterBoris Johnson had a phone call that was productive. Boris johnson spoke to the house of commons in recent hours and said it was a productive call. He also notably referred to President Trump as the former president. It is an acknowledgment from one of our top allies, the u. K. , that they have moved on, even though President Trump has not. He has refused to concede. Lets bring and bo bring in senator bob casey of pennsylvania, a democrat, a longtime leader in the state of pennsylvania. He has been in the senate now for quite some time. Senator casey, from the scranton area of pennsylvania. Great to have you here. Beingr casey, i remember with you in scranton in 2017 right after President Trump was elected. Even then, we were talking about 2020. Pennsylvania was going to be a key state in the campaign. As you look at the results and reflect on the past campaign, where is pennsylvania right now politically speaking . Sen. Casey it is very much a close estate as we can tell by the Election Results. Donald trump won in 2016 by 0. 7 . 44,292. I memorized that number. But now joe biden is winning by a similar margin, as we speak, on the unofficial count. About 47,000. That will grow and could hit as high as 80,000. It is a close state. What we have to recognize that Going Forward. We have to learn a lot on our side from 2020 if we are going to get ready for the 2022 election coming up, where we have a governors race for an open seat, as well as an open seat for the u. S. Senate with senator toomey saying he is not going to run. That is significant that we have a lot at stake in 2022. I am grateful the people of pennsylvania elected joe biden, because you can see in his campaign, he followed the strategy, which i and others thought was necessary to win the state. We are happy about that. You mentioned 2022. Longtime pennsylvania political observers have said senator casey might want to be governor himself. Are you in any way thinking about a run for governor in 2022 . Sen. Casey im not. Im very happy with the work i am doing in the senate. I am blessed to have the chance to serve another term. I want to concentrate my work not just on the work i do on behalf of the people of pennsylvania, but also to help joe biden succeed, because if he succeeds, then i think the nation and our commonwealth will be better off. Bob could you ever see yourself running for governor down the line leader in your career . Sen. Casey i just turned 60 years old this year. David lawrence was about 68 when he got elected governor. Theres always inspiration out there. [laughter] bob president elect biden is from scranton. Are you privately pushing for the president ial library down the line to be in scranton, pennsylvania rather than delaware . Sen. Casey we have not gotten that far down the road. We are still at 47000 and the margin is still climbing. We at least want to certify the results before we talk about a president ial library. When you consider the issues that joe biden talked about, it set forth a real detailed plan. The virus, and jobs, the economic ditch we are in, you can see those challenges right here in pennsylvania. Number one, we still have a very high Unemployment Rate. September, 518,000 people out of work. A little more than a percent. 8 . That is low from where it was in april through august. Secondly, we have a raging virus. Numbers going way up in pennsylvania. 243,000 cases roughly and more than 9,000 deaths. Just in pennsylvania, you can see the challenges that confront the new administration. Bob is a stimulus package going to be the First Priority for President Biden . Sen. Casey i hope it does not have to be his First Priority upon taking office. I hope we can get something done this month or in december. I think that is what we should try to do. When i say something, i mean something robust. Something substantial. Not just a limited scaled down proposal that leader mcconnell has set forth. Bold, robust, relief strategy, relief bill. Real strategy, a to get the nursing home and case number and deaths down. Over 91,000 people have died in nursing homes. That is an abomination. A failure for the greatest country in the world. 91,000 represents resident deaths as well as worker deaths, we have to get that down. I have a strategy to do that if we fund it. Secondly, communities of color need help in this pandemic. They have been disproportionately affected by case numbers and death numbers. That means a big boost to medicaid to make sure we have coverage for those americans. And certainly people with disabilities are a vulnerable group. They suffered disproportionately. We need to make sure there are options for seniors and people with disabilities to get them help in home or communitybased settings. That is leading out Food Assistance and state and local government help. You can see how big this has to be to provide the relief that we need. I hope we can get it done this month or next. Bob President Trump and his campaign are mounting legal challenges in pennsylvania. You are as plugged in as anybody with the state legislature, the democrats and the republicans. Do you think there is any movement afoot to change how pennsylvania sends its electors to the Electoral College . Sen. Casey there is no doubt that is a strategy of the trump team. There is no question about that. I think they will try to solicit support from republican elected officials and others in our state. I think that is a pretty steep hill to climb. I was heartened that some state republican legislative leaders have already said that they are going to follow the law and the Electoral College. But i put nothing past the trump team, because they are both desperate and defeated. They will try anything to try to change the rules and even break the law to win. Bob how would they do that . Sen. Casey somehow, to try to undermine the existing laws in the Electoral College and try to get people to vote a different way than their electoral standing would require them to vote. But of course, they are already lying over and over again. The president has lied about voter fraud and all the rest. We know there is no widespread voter fraud across the country. There is certainly none of that in pennsylvania. They will keep trying. So far, on their lawsuit and legal actions, they have not won a single one. I think they will continue to lose as joe biden is elected. It is just a matter of time before the election is validated by way of the Electoral College. Bob when youre talking with your colleagues in the senate, and maybe even some republicans command they see the secretary of defense terminated, they see different intelligence officials being put in who are trump intelligenceo key positions, what is their impression and what do they think is really going on with this president and this administration in the lameduck period . Sen. Casey on the democratic side, there is great concern. We are not surprised by that. I think there is probably also significant concern on the republican side. I have not had a chance to engage with republican senators yet. We only got back just on monday. But i wish republican senators would stand up and tell the truth about what happened here. Joe biden was elected president. He is the president elect. The faster that the transition is able to kick into gear fully, especially as it relates to our National Security, his team, he and his team should be Getting National security briefings at the rate and at the depth that every other former president elect has been getting. That has not happened yet. It puts us at risk. It just shows you the lengths donald trump will go to undermine our National Security. Andpe republican senators house members would say to the white house, you have got to do a barehave got to at minimum to provide the National Security briefing. So that we do not have a gap Going Forward. We know our adversaries are looking for those kinds of gaps. We cant afford that. Bob what happens if President Trump refuses to concede and the Government Services administration does not formalize a transition until after the election is certified in congress . Is there anything you could do in the senate to prod that alon g, or are your hands tied . Sen. Casey im not aware of anything except leader mcconnell got his caucus to unify and come together on maybe passing a statute or an amendment that would mandate that kind of action being taken by the administration. Absent that, im not sure there is anything in the near term the senate could do. I think the ball is in the court of the Senate Majority on that. But i am hoping more rational voices in the administration will allow that part of the process to go forward. It does not make any sense. It does not benefit anyone if this process is dragged out. Bob what is your view if the of the georgia runoff races on january 5 . Do democrats actually have a shot . Sen. Casey i think they do. My analysis here is pretty limited. Not much more than very limited in the sense i dont think i can offer any more than anyone else could. But the fact that joe biden looks like he is going to win georgia, or come close, i think it is a good harbinger for the two senate races, the runoff. I cant go below that depth because i was so immersed in pennsylvania. I think it is pretty remarkable whats happened in the president ial race in georgia. I think that provides a really Good Foundation for the senate races. Stacey abrams and so many others who work here for so many years, especially the last couple of years, i think their work has borne a lot of truth. Bob what does the senate look like in 2021 . Knowing you may like to see some bipartisanship and all that, what is the reality if it is majority leader mcconnell . Does anything get done beyond keeping the government open and passing budget bills, or do you have a real confidence a big ticket item could be achieved . Sen. Casey it is of a sleigh a lot better off if we win the two seats in georgia and we have a 5050 tie and effectively have the majority. We want to get things done. We want to tackle the virus. We want to jump start the economy. We want to expand health care, confront climate change. So much weve got to do. If we are in the minority, even if it is narrow, that will be difficult for the country, because leader mcconnell seems to believe by virtue of the last couple years, especially the last two or three years that the , senate is a nomination machine and little else. I think the moment we are in, the actions by the senate should meet the moment we are in. Which means we have to tackle some really big problems. I am hoping that because joe biden will engage with Senate Republicans and we will try every day to work with leader mcconnell, if he is a majority leader, we dont know that yet, we can make some progress. Our country faces the kind of challenges that i dont think any new administration has faced since march of 1933, when fdr took the oath of office. Bob who are the kind of people you would like to see in the cabinet . Can you offer any names you would like to see as part of the Biden Cabinet . Sen. Casey i dont want to try to make any news on that, because it would be speculation. Bob we welcome that here. [laughter] sen. Casey i know you do. Has you are a senator who a feel of what could get done. You are more of a centrist on different issues. Sen. Casey i feel president elect biden is going to have a great team around him. Part of that is his years in the senate. He knows talent, he knows the confirmation process. His years as Vice President obviously offer another layer of experience about what has to get done early, Lessons Learned from the early days of 2009, so i think hes im not going to give him advice on the people he should have in his cabinet, but obviously, the confirmation process will be more difficult if republicans maintain the majority. I think he will get a good team around him. One thing about president elect biden is he is not going to be afraid to surround himself with the kind of strength and substantial figures that some president s dont like around. Some president s have insecurity about them. They dont like people in the cabinet that might outshine them on particular days. I think joe biden is going to get the best talent available, whether or not that means bob but hes got decisions to make. I will be more specific. Secretary of state, do you go with ambassador susan rice or your colleague from delaware, senator chris combs . Combs would be an easier nomination than ambassador rice. He could nominate elizabeth warren. Choices have to be made. For republicans, it could be a ripe fight if a liberal is nominated. Those are the dynamics from my itch, but maybe you see differently. Sen. Casey there is no question. The predicate to those kinds of comparisons will be who has control of the senate. We still have two races to settle in georgia. We could be at a 5050 tie, then we have Kamala Harris breaking harris as Vice President to break ties. We will wait to see what happens. Im not going to name names. That would get everyone in trouble, including me. Bob lets be clear, senator casey, are you open to being in the cabinet, or not . Sen. Casey i am very happy with the work i have to do in the senate. Bob you mentioned the lessons of 2009. I think back to that period, as a reporter, covering the Affordable Care act. Do you think because congress is so narrowly divided, do you think president elect biden should put off pursuing a public option for health care for a year or two . Sen. Casey i dont think so. I think we should do everything we can to expand health care. Even if we get another decision from the supreme court. I am hoping the Affordable Care act will be upheld. I hope it is upheld. I think we should pursue any strategy, any option to expand coverage. I think we learned a couple of things in the obama administration. The recovery act was a little too small. We were trying to get republican votes. I think you have to make any new Jobs Initiative big and bold. I will be announcing a new deal style jobs program. Number two, i think you have to, at some point, if the majority is not an republican hands, when joe biden puts out his hand and Mitch Mcconnell bites his hands, you have to move on and either schedule a vote and spend some time on the road and drum up support and pressure and make it more painful when republicans block things. All of those lessons i think are difficult to implement, but i think we learned a lot in the first couple of years of the obama administration. Bob what is your concern, if any, about what is happening in philadelphia . The president has been relentless in his attacks on election officials, local officials in philadelphia, about the election. Do you believe it could cause unrest or even Something Else . Sen. Casey i dont think that is going to happen. I would be surprised if that happened. Because he has tried it before. And there was not that kind of voter intimidation at the polls with firearms and the like. What the president is doing in philadelphia is not about votes or anything having to do about the election. Its racism. He is engaged in a racist attack on philadelphia. It is a continuation of what hes done over and over again. The bad news for the president is, mr. Schmidt, the Republican City commissioner, has reported now that there is nothing wrong with the vote in philadelphia, there is no voter fraud. That is consistent with all the reporting. Try as the president might, hes not going to be successful in either convincing people that there is voter fraud or in overturning the results of the election. Joe biden won pennsylvania and that vote margin keeps growing. Bob where is the catholic vote in pennsylvania . As a catholic yourself, president elect biden a catholic from scranton, pennsylvania, like you, are they voting on issues beyond abortion rights . And if so, what are those issues, in your mind . You are in touch with more catholic voters in pennsylvania than most people. Sen. Casey as a native of the state, the catholic vote is often referred to as probably not in any election really a monolithic vote. There is a diversity to that vote, just as there is diversity in every category. I think in this election, President Trump won that vote in pennsylvania, as he did in 2016. But those of us who are catholic, democratic elected officials, we have work to do. Because often, we allow the other side of the republican side of the catholic elected officials, the catholic vote, to dominate the conversation. We have to do a better job of talking about issues that relate to peoples lives. For example, when i talk about medicaid, it is pretty hard to say you are following the gospel when you are out to cut medicaid, the women and infants program, the supplemental nutrition assistance program, you are out to destroy the Affordable Care act. It is pretty hard to say were being consistent with the gospel. But we have got some work to do. That is work that i continue to undertake. Very often, we have allowed loud, extreme voices to speak for all catholics when they dont. Frankly, they dont speak for the pope, let alone the catholics in pennsylvania. There is work to be done on my side of the debate. Bob final question. When you look at 2022, you say you are not ready for governor. In that open senate seat race, should democrats move toward someone who is more like a bob casey democrat . A little bit more centrist, to make sure that seat moves democratic in 2022 . Sen. Casey it will depend upon a lot. A think we will nominate someone to run not only a competitive, clean race, but it is wide open. There will be a number of contenders for that. It is still pretty early. I think it is going to be wide open. Im not sure that i want to impose a predicate or a label on that nominee. Our state has changed enormously. Just in your lifetime, even more dramatically, in my much older lifetime, the votes the democrats are getting in suburban communities are extraordinary. Even from 2016 to 2020, the vote went up in Montgomery County by five percentage points. Joe biden won Montgomery County by 26 points. It was 21 last time. Delaware county way up. Chester county even more dramatic. The suburban vote for democrats is really rising and has potential to grow even more. We have got some work to do in rural pennsylvania. But joe biden is able to shave some of those margins a little bit and do better in northeastern pennsylvania. I think a democrat being nominated in 2022 without an incumbent senator on the republican side is a really good chance. Bob senator bob casey, look forward to seeing you in pennsylvania again for an assignment in coverage. Until then, all the best. Thanks for stopping by this afternoon to talk about our home state, pennsylvania. Sen. Casey thanks so much. Bob we are now joined by pennsylvanias other senator, pat toomey. Patrick j toomey, republican of pennsylvania. Senator toomey, great to have you here. Sen. Toomey great to be with you, bob. Bob im not sure how much you have heard of my conversation with senator casey. You may even talk to him from time to time about this, but how do you see pennsylvania politically . Has it changed since you first came into office back in 2011 . Sen. Toomey sure, its changed in a lot of ways. But if you look at the election week, there is no question that most republicans are disappointed that the president does not appear to have won this election, but every other place on the ballot, republicans did remarkably well. It is irrefutable. We picked up seats in the state house, the state senate, we won three statewide row offices in pennsylvania. We have incumbents running in very difficult races. They all won. As i say, i think republicans are disappointed with the way things appear to be going at the top of the ticket, but everywhere else it is true about the country. Who was suggesting republicans are going to pick up seats in the house . I think we have an excellent chance of holding the senate. We flipped a couple state legislatures, did not lose a single one. For all the predictions of a blue wave, it is not even a ripple. Bob so if republicans are on the upswing in pennsylvania and perhaps elsewhere, why are you retiring in 2022 . Maybe you are going to rethink that decision now . Sen. Toomey no, that would be your speculation. That is not going to happen, because my decision is based on a personal decision. I have long been sympathetic to term limits. I imposed term limits on myself in the house and served only the three terms that i said i would. And i always thought and openly acknowledged that i will serve two terms in the senate. When i finish this term, which i intend to, i will have been in elected office for 18 years. For me, that is enough. Im glad republican prospects have been Getting Better and look really good at this point. But that does not even begin to change my thinking. Bob there are a couple of reports in the Washington Post today, one editorial page, another in the news section with officials current and former raising alarm about the lack of a formal transition process for president elect biden, for the gsa to not work with the biden transition team. Are you concerned as a u. S. Senator about that lack of a formal process for the transition for the president elect . Sen. Toomey i would note that vice President Biden has indicated he does not see a problem. He thinks the transition is going to go smoothly. I have also said, it does appear as though joe biden is likely to be certified as the president elect relatively soon. I think it would be better if he the transition process we have had in the past. My guess is that will probably begin relatively soon. Bob what gives you that confidence . Sen. Toomey i just think thats where its probably heading. Bob are republicans beyond yourself ready to take your position . Is that made it where this is heading . Sen. Toomey its not my fault. I am just telling you i just think that is where its likely to go. Bob do you consider joe biden to be president elect . Sen. Toomey bob, as i have said, there is a process we go through. It is perfectly fine for the media to make their projections. And after a certain point, the media has a certain amount of evidence to make those projections. That being said, elections are not determined by media projections. They are determined by counting votes. And we are almost finished with the vote count in pennsylvania for instance, we are finished in many states, we are finishing in others. But even that is not the end of the process. If it is close enough, as you know in pennsylvania, there is an automatic recount whether theidates want it or not if enough. S narrow it looks like the margin probably will be slightly outside what would automatically require a recount. But then the losing candidate can still seek a recount. So that is probably going to happen. Then there is litigation. We are a Litigious Society and our elections have litigation pretty frequently. I think we are going to adjudicate several disputes. That is all part of this process. It will be done soon enough. I think the outcome will be clear. Bob President Trump continues his legal challenges, including in pennsylvania. He is also attacking the integrity of the election in tweets, urging his supporters to share that view. Any advice for the president when it comes to his rhetoric about the election . Sen. Toomey i am not the editor of the president s twitter feed. Long ago i decided it is not best for me to decide on what the president should say in public. He has strong views and is not shy about saying what is on his mind. That is his business. How do you believe pennsylvania will handle the Electoral College . Do you see any effort inside the gop to put an emphasis on maybe making some changes as the process unfolds . Sen. Toomey you may or may not be aware, but the republicans have a majority in the statehouse and state senate. And Republican Leaders in both parties made clear the Pennsylvania Legislature exercised its responsibility for determining how electors are going to be selected. They are selected by the popular vote, the will of the people of pennsylvania. The electorate is not going to d on this boat and try to put forward some alternative. That is just not going to happen. Bob when you look at the termination of secretary esper, other personnel changes inside the Intelligence Community in recent days, by President Trump, what do you see happening . What do you think is happening inside this white house . Or what do you know is happening . Sen. Toomey president s get to make that decision about their cabinet members. It is not a state secret that defense secretary esper and the president had disagreements about public policy. It is not shocking the president would make a change. That is what i think. Bob looking ahead to 2021, do you see any possibility of gun control legislation with you and senator manchin and perhaps a president bynum . Biden . Sen. Toomey i dont know. I believe as a strong supporter of the Second Amendment that background checks are completely compatible with a very robust Second Amendment. I still advocate for the expansion to background checks. We attempted to get it done some time ago. I dont know whether that is something that joe biden will make a priority of. I dont know whether i will be able to persuade enough republican colleagues in the senate. I still hold the view that expanded background checks is good public policy. Bob have there been discussions recently about it . Sen. Toomey the truth is, the discussion has recently been all about the election. Bob what about when you look ahead to 2021 Republican Party spending in the fiscal situation . You first came on my radar in 2004, when you challenged then senator specter in the republican primary. You were a spending hawk back then, a fiscal conservative. Do you believe your party has lost that value as a core principle . And will it ever return . Sen. Toomey no, i dont think it is fair to say we have lost that value as a core principle. I think you have to look at the the recent history suggests the contrary. The cares act is an extraordinary amount of money we theed to spend, but circumstances required that. It has been 100 years since we have had a pandemic like this. Never in history did the government respond to any certain circumstances by shutting down the economy. Making it illegal to go to work, illegal to open a business. And so, in the absence of an economy, which is a difficult thing to even grasp, we felt we needed to come in and replace lost income for the people who would be completely in desperate circumstances and keep the economy alive so that when we went to the other side we have strong growth. So we did that. I think it was the right call. There were a lot of provisions i would not have put in if i had to write the bill by myself, but i swallowed those because i thought the circumstances required it. Lets look at where we are today. We are in the midst of a remarkable, really terrific recovery. It is not done. But the economy is recovering much more rapidly than almost anyone thought. All the smartest economists were convinced we would be lucky if the Unemployment Rate at the end of this year got below 10 . It was 6. 9 at the end of october with an expanding workforce. And wages are gaining. Gdp in the of our last quarter, so this is a remarkably successful recovery. It is going on all cylinders. Including myrats, colleague senator casey, who despite this robust economy, want to spend trillions more dollars. We are not in the same place we were in in march. What Speaker Pelosi and others want to do was not a good idea at all. Republicans have advocated something that is still quite ambitious, several hundred billion dollars. Maybe 500 billion, but something that would be targeted for a limitednd period of time. When you look at that divide, several hundred billion dollars of heavily targeted, and questioning if even that is necessary, versus several trillion dollars, i think it is pretty clear which party cares more about fiscal policy. Bob do you believe biden in january will move on a stimulus, that will be the first bigticket item he pursues . Sen. Toomey i certainly cant predict what joe biden will do. There will be an effort to do something in this lameduck session. I think it is pretty clear Speaker Pelosi did not want any stimulus bills to get done prior to the election. She was concerned that would help donald trump. Now that the election is behind differentght have a view. Joe biden might have a different view of what democrats should do in this regard, but i dont know what that will be. I think there will be a notblican consensus, unanimous, but a consensus in the senate that a narrow targeted bill could still make sena dn sense and probably have brought republican support, but if this is a multi trillion dollar liberal wishlist and bailouts for insolvent cities, that is not going to happen. Bob what is President Trumps role Going Forward . Sen. Toomey i am not going to tell him what his role should be. Bob how do you think he has influenced the Republican Party . Sen. Toomey there are a lot of ways. There is no question he has brought a lot of people to the Republican Party. I think it is fair to say the Republican Party is now the party of the working class. That is a very large part of our political base. The Democratic Party has really abandoned the kind of progrowth policies that are good for jobs and income growth. Workingclass people figured that out. That process was underway, that evolution, that movement, but donald trump accelerated it pretty dramatically. He also expanded Republican Party appeal to ethnic minorities. Adr all of the people whose he is exploding about this, he improved his vote totals among africanamericans and hispanic americans. The challenge for republicans is going to be, can we hold people that donald trump brought to the party and win back the people that donald trump drove away from the party with perceptions of his personality . Politically, the effects have been very significant. I think a preliminary look at the election this tuesday should be extremely encouraging for republicans. On the policy side, this administration is remarkably successful in many ways. It is just an objective fact we have the strongest economy of my lifetime right up until the pandemic hit earlier this year. We had record low unemployment. We had wages growing at an accelerating pace. We had a narrowing of the gap between the highest and lowest earners. We had an Energy Renaissance reducing co2 emissions. There was a tremendous amount of really good news, much of which i think came from the pursuit of conventional republican policies like rolling back regulations. And we had areas where there was tension within the republican coalition, such as on trade policy. I for one disagreed with much of what the president did and advocated. Bob do you believe the gop is a protectionist party right now . Sen. Toomey no, i dont think that would be a fair characterization. If you look at it with some very narrow exceptions and a unique case, china otherwise we are in the best trading environment in 100 years. It is that free global trade environment that we achieve the strongest economy of our lifetime and record low unemployment. It is very clear that even with the Trump Administration and a republican congress, we continue to have robust trading. By the way, the Trump Administration has been pursuing discussions about a freetrade agreement with the u. K. , with japan, so the message even from the Trump Administration on trade has been mixed. It has not been exclusively protectionist. Bob when you look ahead to 2021, you are as familiar with banking issues on anyone as anyone in the senate, at least on the republican side. Are you prepared to go to the barricades, politically speaking, if biden nominates someone like senator warren or another progressive to be the secretary of the treasury . How do you see that playing out . What are you prepared to do inside the senate . Sen. Toomey i doubt very much that secretary warren would be on the nominating table because the governor of massachusetts is a republic and replacing her with a republican senator would not go over well with senator schumer. The population of a cabinet is a shared responsibility. The president should get significant deference in putting together his team, even though most democrats in the senate were not willing to do that for President Trump, i was willing to do that for president obama. And i think that is important. Having said that, especially when you have divided government, when the American People speak as they have, expanding the number of republicans in the house, probably giving us a majority still in the senate, growing republican majorities in state legislatures across the country, we have got to recognize we have a responsibility to advise and consent. People who are well outside the political mainstream dont bel ong in important seniorlevel cabinet posts. Ongoing discussion between a republican senator and joe biden should he get sworn in as president. Bob remind me, did you oppose any obama nominee for his cabinet . Sen. Toomey i certainly opposed some obama nominees. I dont remember whether i opposed specific people who were cabinet nominees. We confirm people far below the rank of cabinet secretary. I dont have that in front of me, so i dont remember, but i think i voted to confirm over 70 of the obama nominees that were made while i was in the senate. Bob that is kind of an oldschool view of being a senator, is it not, if a president elects them, they should have some room to pick their people . Sen. Toomey it is the way republicans have historically treated democratic president s. That was not reciprocated for President Trump to a large degree. I think it is a shared responsibility. We should provide advise and consent. Bob lets finish with a little bit of toomey talk. Indulge me. 2022, are you going to stay out of the primary for your seat or keep on the table the idea you could endorse a successor . Sen. Toomey i have not made that decision. I have not thought about it much. I have no idea what the field will look like. It would be premature for me to decide whether or not im going to play a role. Pennsylvaniace to republicans as they look to the Gubernatorial Race in pennsylvania . Sen. Toomey certainly not whom to nominate. That is up to the voters. The only thing i am sure about in pennsylvania in this context is it is going to be competitive, it will be expensive, and we need a good candidate to run a good race. If we have those things, our prospects are quite good. Youve got to earn it. A big, diverse population and Neither Party can take it for granted. Youve got to go out and earn it. Bob senator pat toomey of pennsylvania, republican, former house member, now senator, really appreciate your time this afternoon. Nice to have you and senator casey talk about pennsylvania. I grew up as a pennsylvania political junkie, so i appreciate you having fun with the questions. Appreciate it. I hope you all enjoyed those conversations with senator casey and senator toomey, pennsylvanias two senators, not always you get to see them back to back to weigh in on what is happening in washington. Interesting to me as a reporter how senator toomey is measured and is not overly enthusiastic, but is calling for an orderly transition of some sort. He was careful with his words. Lets also remind you this is our last postelection daily. Washington post live has been doing this for more than a week. I enjoyed doing this. I hope you enjoy these conversations at 1 00. This will be our final one. We are wrapping it up with the two senators from pennsylvania, but that does not Washington Post live is shuttering. I will be hosting programs from time to time. Make sure to watch tomorrow 10 00 eastern. A. M. My colleague will be with a famed immunologist dr. Carl june, discussing Cancer Research and david ignatius, on friday at 1 00. We have a conversation with alexander hardy. You can always head to washingtonpostlive. Com to register and find more information about upcoming programs. Washingtonpostlive. Com. Register and find our whole schedule. For now, i appreciate you coming by this afternoon for all these election daily conversations. We made it through the election. Lets carry on. Im bob costa. All the best. Announcer use your mobile devices, laptop or phone, and go to cspan. Org election for Election Results, the balance of power in congress, our latest videos on the transition of power. Go to cspan. Org election. Announcer cspans washington journal. Every day we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and discuss policy issues. Coming up thursday morning, a discussion of Trump Campaign election challenges with the executive director of the honest elections project. And we will talk with the not with a former democratic congressman about the validity of the 2020 election. Watch cspans washington journal live thursday morning and join with your facebook comments, calls, texts and tweets. Thursday, live on House Speaker nancy pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer hold a briefing at 10 15 am on cspan. At 11 00, a news constance News Conference with kevin mccarthy. A. M. , the at 11 00 Senate Returns to work on the judicial nomination of eileen cannon to be a u. S. District judge for southern florida. Announcer Ohio Governor mike dewine spoke wednesday about the recent surge in covid19 cases and hospitalizations in the state. He said he would be review issuing the state be reissuing the states mask order and new restrictions regarding social gatherings. This is 20 minutes. Gov. Dewine my fellow ohioans, good evening. Received, our country some very promising news regarding a Coronavirus Vaccine that pfizer is developing. The first results from p hase three, the final research phase, show it to be effective in preventing covid19. Thats great news. This should give us all great hope. Ascould be here as early december. We will be ready to get it out a