This is Washington Week. Funding the provided by. [music] kevin kevin advice for life. Life well pnned. Learn more at raymondjames. Com. Babble. A Language Program that teaches reallife conversations in a new language such as spanish, french, german, italian and more. Babble0 to 15 minute lessons are available as an app or online. More informationab ate. Com. [music] additional funng is provided by kaiser permanente. Yuen foundation. Mmitted to bridging cultural differences in our communities. The corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viers like you. Thank you once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. The migrant crisis on t u. S. Mexico border continues to confront political leade, from e white house to congress to the debate stage. The latest development, reports of horrific cchditions for dren at detention centers. In that photo of migrant father ooscar Martinez Ramirez and his young daugh ir, who drownedn the rio grande. House spe fought with republicans and members of her own caucus to add language to an emergency aid bill that would further hold the Trump Administration countable. But on thursday, the speaker said House Democrats would reluctantly pass the senate bill, which included 1 billionf for bordilities and close to 3 billion for Migrant Children. It passed. 305 votes to 102 votes. Joining me tonight, dan balz, chief correspondent for the washington post. Susan page, Washington Bureau chief for usa today. Carl hulse, chief washington correspondent for the new york times. And author of confirmation bias. And kimberly atkins, senior Washington News correspondent for wbur, bostons npr news station. Susan, youre writing a biography of speaker pelosi. She moved forward on a bill she didnt want to pass. Why . Because it was better than nothing. Getting the 4. 5 billion that would go a long way to helpingbl this ter situation with Migrant Children who have been separated from their parents, it was worth the cost of taking a bill that had been negotiated on the senate side and was opposed by some members of her own caucus. She shevote that has a divided caucus on this issue. But i think that tosortray t as a big loss for her is incorrect. She held control of hersh caucu. Got it through because she thought it was better than the alternative of letting it go down. Whats the price she pays, carl, with liberals who are frustrated that they took up a bill passed by senate republh,ans . Y think theres a little cost to this. But i totly agree 100 with you. This is what happens in divided government. Some point, you have to make a deal. This was a deal negotiated between democrats and republicans. What it allowed them to do i was surprisedhat could geto a finish here. What it allowed them to do was to be able to go home a say, listen, weve really addressed this crisis. And, you know, i always say too its not a bad thing for nancy pelosi sometimes to get attacked from the left. Shesow, it shows that being a pragmatic, moderate manager of the house. Was it perfect . No, but it was an accomplishment. And they were ableo get i together. Those votes were pretty strong and she compliedit the rule, which we all know. She had more than half of her caucor voting f this bill. Does the Trump Administration continue its hard line policies . Weve seen a shakeup atrt the dement of Homeland Security security, border patrol. Yes. In short, they do. They see this as a winning they see that Border Security and being tough on iigration is whats gonna get president prump reelected, is whats going to k republicans in control of the senate. Theyre not gonna give that up. Ifnything, theyre gonna push even harder. Weve already seen them labelin democrats as wanting open borders, really attacking them for policies like wanting to give Illegal Immigrants health care. They see this as their biggest issue. That helps fuelhem forward in 2020. And this issue isnt going away. There was some bipartisanship this week. The Supreme Court will decide whetheio the trump administr can shut down the dreamers program, daca, next term. That wilrt s in october and then be decided perhaps in the spring or summer o 20, just months before the president ial election. It will be interesting to see how quickly the Supreme Court tries to dispose of that issue. I mean, im not sure that the justices really wanted to take this on. T but eventually had to. And there is a possibility now that it ishere, at the Supreme Court, that that might spur some kind of a legislative or a deal democrats in congress. Who knows . Weve been up and down the hill on this many times. But to havehat issue the middle of the president ial campaign, in addition to Everything Else that is going on with this iss k, and is exactly right. The Trump Administration sees this very much as a winning issue. Mo ats believe, and their biggest applause line out on the campaign trail or one of their biggest is, when they attack the president for separating children from their parents at the border. But nonethess, democrare aruggling to come up with policy that is a real alternative to what the republicans have. A nd theyre having a real debate inside of the Democratic Party. Debatest at the two this week. Theyre talking about whether they should move to decriminalize crossings over the border. Where do you see the party ving . Is thaoing to become the standard, the policy for democrats . Well, theres support for it. You saw Julian Castro really using that, his support f the idea of making it a civil penalty, not a cri be an undocumented person here. He used it to really bludgeon beto orourke, his,ellow tex on the debate stage. But it does open democrats to criticism, that they are having what President Trump called open borders, where you really reduce theenalties for coming into this country without having permission ts do so. Thathe risk that democrats face. Yeah. When i was watching the debate, you know,ll t democrats i think all of them raised their hand. Health care for undocumented dimmigrants. Get their position. Oit this is the republicans are to bludgeon them with this. As soon as i said that, i said,g boy, thatna be a big issue for the democrats. It works in some places, but in the parts of the country where were gonna be really competitive in this president ial race, i think thats easy for the republicans to say, look, the democrats are looking out not for you but for people who upent evensed to be here. I think its going to be tough for the democrats. I understand their policut i think their opening themselves to attacks. I had a conversation a w year agh a democratic strategist. Point, even at that quite worried about the immigration issue, because he said there is a basic question aat democrats have a great deal of difficultywering. That is, if someone comes across the u. S. Border illegally, what do y do . And he said, democrats are very tentative inow they want to respond to that. D, you know, former secretary castro moved it in a direction that makes it even more difficult to try t you know, give an answer that in a general election is goingo be easy to do. And Vice President biden didnt totally lurch to thewheft he was asked about decriminalizing bordersi crs. He said you need to target people who commit crimes but he didnt embrace everybody on the left on that issue. He basally he sai you prioritize how you deal with people who are in the country illegally and those who have committed crimes are those whot he priority. And, yeah, you saw him on a lot of issues sort of reluctantly inch a little to the left. A lot of tim when those raised hands questions, he would kind of look around and see where everyone else was. He thinks that the way that the Obama Administration plus the deportations. I think he struggled explaining that. E Obama Administration. It was a lot of pressure on them at the time for deporting so many people. I do think he struggled explaining that. Lets step back. Two nights. 20 candidates. New faces, wellknown democrats. Tensions over policy, the past and the future at these debates. Senator Elizabeth Warren of massachusetts captured the populism in theh ranks w her call for structural changes in the government and the economy. Then on thursday, senator Kamala Harris of california had a breakout moment when she criticized former Vice President joe bidens record on civil rights in the 19 0s 1970s, when he worked to restrict forced immigration integration through busing. It was hurtful to hear you atalkut the reputations of two United States senators who built the reputations and career on the segregation of race in country. Its a mischaracterization of my position across the board. I did not praise racists. That is not true. Dan we were just talking about the democrats moving to the left on immigration. But when you a step back look at these two debates this week, is this a party moving to the left wholesale . What did you learn . Well, i think that what we learned is that, on the one hand, there are ideological differences within the party. And former Vice President biden is one place. And senator sanders and senator warren a in another place, and others are scattered around. Thats reality. But the other reality is that almost all of theav moved farther to the left. I mean, this will be, i think without a doubt, the most liberal platfor the democrats will write in the history of president ial politics. On one issue after another, people have moved to the left. The party has moved to the left. Senator sanders has a series of positions that he put out in 2016 that were not in the mainstream of the party at time. And many of them today are. People are quibbling, talking around the edges, but this party has moved to th left. I think the debate i thought in some ways, the debate on wednesday night highlighted that as much or more as it did thursday night. What about race and that confrontation between senator harris and Vice President biden . The Vice President was in chicago today, meeting with jesse jackson, and other leaders. He said had a solid record on civil rights. How significant was that exchange . It was very signicant. I mean, i think were seeing the deycratic party not onl plof to the left move to the leftu sort of move to the woke. What do you mean . No longer can you say, just forget about these really problematic things in my past. Believe me what i say now. They are moving to a differentio dire when he was in chicago, he got a chilly receptionrom jesse jackson. I think folks are really having a difficult time in this newcr deic party thats emerging. Its making joe biden look more like a relic from the past and they want to move forward. I think Kamala Harrishere did that. It was twofold. One, he still is holding on just from name recognition to a larger share of black voters in polls, even though its very early. She wants to cut into that. But she also wants to point out, this is a guy who, in the past, was dealing with things in a very terrible way. If you are saddling up with seooegationists, theres no for you in the Democratic Party of today. This is joe bidens problem. He has a huge record, been around forever. Joe biden talking about working with easeland and Mitch Mcconnell, this is something that gets him credibility. But in this current environment, its a negativeae thing. Mi bennet actually came after him pretty effectively, i thought in the debat where den is praising the tax deal he cut with mcconnell and michael bnetaid that was a horrible deal and we got taken to the cleaners andeve been fighting it ever since ch its interesting with Vice President biden, because hes seen as a rson who can attract the africanamerican vote. At has that through labor but it can diss quickly good you think about the africanamerican vote. When Hillary Clinton held mt of it and barack obama was challenging her. She held thatte for q some time until he won in the iowa caucuses. Seemed like a credible candidate. Then you saw africanamerican voters in South Carolina and elsewhere go to him. I think we dont want to overstate the impact of two nights of debates. Joe biden has a long history, been very successful raising we think hes going to have a big money raising figure coming outn. S on the other hand, this first debate really reinforced the questions that a lot of democrats, including democrats who like joe biden, have about whether hes a credible candidate and whether hes a candidate that can lead a partyn that always to go with someone new and fresh and looking at the future. And race wasnt the only issue confronting biden. He also faced issues aboutas whether hear enough to the left. We also saw race as an issue for mayor pete buttigieg. Killed aolice officer black man in his city. He apologized. Eid he steady his campaign with his deb turn . I talked to a number of people and got quite mixed responses. Umber of people thought he had done well, shownio contr and seemed to address it in a rerious and kind of standup way. Oteople did not think he did that well, that this you know, after ar of months in which hes had, you know, a pretty dramatic introduction to the arican people and has used his intelligent very tellect very effectively, this has brought home aus ser problem that he has. One is a lack of a relationship with the africanayrican communnd nobody can win the democratic nomination without a relationship. And the second is age. He wants to make a generational argument. Theres a generational argument tose made in t campaign. But a number of people have said, in this situation, he has looked quite youthful. I mean, oe isy 37 years old. And that that is not working in his favor. Medicare for all. Someone like buttigieg says he was medicare for all who want it. Others say medicare for all. Senator harris, as much as she had a breakout moment, she was also talking that she doesnt want to get rid of private insurance. Is this a complicated issue for democrats moving forward . Its very complicated. Look, even obamacare was not full ilemented in a way that people wanted. We saw what a fight it was, howa many and Court Challenges it took. So the idea on the one hand this brandnew system that youre building from scratch, this really difficult, it reinforces this idea that the republicans are pushing that the democrats are socialists. On the other hd, Health Care Costs are rising. We still havent dea with drug companies. The voters do want something, and at least its a plan, wherea the repub have nothing at all. I think the interesting thing is the democrats crushed republicans in 2018 on health care. This is their best issue. P whsident trump came out recently and said im going to have this new plan, and the republicans on capitol hill said hit talking aboutlth care, but the democrats dont want to get into a fight over health care and neutralize themselves on their best issue. They have to figure out a way around this. People in the United States, theres a lot of people who like their private health i surance. If yrt talking about eliminating that whole industry, people get nervous. Thetss some strategis that i talk to who say that the tenor of the Health Care Debate has shifted since 28. It clearly helped the democrats. Just in a few months. Primarily becau the conversation has moved within the Democratic Party, away from the pconditions issue, which they were able to hang around the necks of the rublicans, to the question of medicare for all, single payer, big govement and what the Trump Administration calls socialism. Why wasnt there much discussion, if any, about robert mueller, the russia investigation, impeachme . Ell, i think one reason was because those questions were not particularly raised by t moderators. The candidates didnt always respond to the questions that they weresked. [laughter] they didnt raise those issues either. And that is if you talk about issues where with me tcare for all,res a difference between whats going to work in a democratic mierm and whats primary and whats likely to work. The idea of impeaching president reallys something that animates voters who are most likely to participate in decratic primaries a caucuses. It is not the issue likely to most animate americans who are going to determine the general election. Well, the first thing was interestin becau Mitch Mcconnell was much more the boogeyman than donald trump. Which candidate are you watching in the months a weeks to come . Ill keep on eye on bill de blasio. Showed some media savvy on wednesday night. Pulled the party to the left. Senator harris. She had a good night. Well have to see if she continues that. Im actually watching for a weird thing. Im watching, like, beto orourke and the former john hickenlooper. Are they going to just drop out and runor the senate . Which is what a lot of people want them to do. Hickenlooper . And would be a formidable candidate. Kamala harris, for a firsttime debater on aational stage, that ive ever seen, this 11th. Ive got my eye on her. I agree with susan on that. I also think, of all the candidates who participated in those debates, that Elizabeth Warren was one who was able not to g down into the weeds of her policy initiatives but to talk abo the theory behind them and the idea of where we stand in america and who shesgh ng for. Meanwhile, President Trump, hes in japan. For the g20 summit where he will address several issues, incling the ongoi trade dispute with china. But he made headlines on friday during his meeting with russian president vladimir putin. The two leaders shared a laugh out election interference by the russian government. It underscored the friendly relationship the president has tried to maintain with putin just months after the special counsel reported that russia conducted a sweeping operation to sway the 2016 campaign. Surprised by what happened on friday or is this a defiant president postmueller report . Its ver w consistenth how hes behaved before. But every time he does this, it raises concerns about our electoral system. He was met today with comment from former president jimmy. Cart you were with him in virginia. Where president caraid that he did not he said the russians elected President Trump, responsible for his election, asked if that meant President Trump was an illegitimate question, president carter iicated thate thought he was. This is extraordinary, a former president , who has devoted his posttresidential years in p to looking at the credibility of elections abroad. I thought thisas quite extraordinary. And its just weeks before olmueller testifies on cap hill. And i think what it does, donald trump is the one person left in washington who does not take seriously the russian interference in the election, because to him, it undermined his claim on the presidency. I just think that was a disturbing image for him to be it wasnt just the grin. He also discussed their mutual dislike th putin of reporters and the media. And its we must note reporters have been killed in russia. They are assassinated in okssia. He made a about getting rid of them, which was very disturbi. On the impeachment front, especially with mueller coming to tes one, it makes it looks like he is encouraging russia to get involved i 2n0. On the other hand, its still about 80 members of congrss but growing number today. Joe kennedy a close ally of nancy pelosi, came out and said he wants impeachment proceedings to go forward. That number is growing. I thinkuellers testimony is only going to push more people in that direction. This is a growing problemth for president. The president , over in japan. There is a reportt j tonight that hes going to head to south korea and go to the dmz perhaps. He said after some very president xi, i may go try to meet chairman kim of north korea. Hope he sees thi sees this tweee president wrote, and could meet him at the border just to shake his hand and say hello. Whats the point about this g20 . Is it about a trade deal with china . Is it about engagement with north korea . I think the keyword in that tweet is may. I may go meet him. The president likes to constantly keep things shaken up we saw that as he was en route to japan, trying to shake up the relationship with japan where he had justeen aew weeks ago, where he was treated fabulously. Yet on the way over, he caused a problem. So i think that for him, hes got all of these problems in the air. I dohink this is aimed at solving any of those in any way. The key one obviously is china. Are they going to be able to move forward with any kind of an agreement on trade . But given everything that weve seen so far, you have to be skeptical. Thisweet reflect think, the president s growing confidence in doing what he wants to do on the foreign stage. Early on in his presidency, you saw a lot more guardrails, others advisors and there were more people then. Willing to say you cant do that, thats going to disturb our all no one behaves this way. You dont just invite the head of north korea to meet you at the dmz if youant t shake hands. But the president feels like he is now he has done this j for two and a half years and he is increasingly willing to follow his own instincts despite what anybody else tells him. Well, you know, when he had done some of the things in the past, people would say thes s gonna fall. And the sky hasnt necessarily fallen. So i think youre right. Hes more confident about doing what he wants. I do think hes confident but i also tnk as part of this north koreasouth korea thing, ns got iran bubbling over here. Ds to keep this other part of the world calm while he deals nkth that. I te wants this picture at the demilitized zone, listen, i have this under control. Ill keep that underontrol. Theres domestic implications too. This meeting with chinese president xi jinping is incredibly importa to farmers, to manufacturers, to a lot of people who make up his base he at home. And theyre sticking with him so far, but their patience is getting thin. If he doesnt come back with at least the beginnings of a solutiondeo this t war, its going to be a big problem for him. And farmers are having a har time. Its a tough season for them out there this year. That is an important voting constituency. Two reporters from farm untry in illinois. Three. Kansas. Wonderful. Michigan im philadelphi its all right. [laughter] up next, in the Washington Week extra, we will discusshe Supreme Court and its latest decisions and carlsh book. Wa on our website, facebook or youtube. Im robert costa. Have a great weekend [music] Corporate Funding for Washington Week is provided by. [music] panel. A Language Program babble. A Language Program that teaches real life conversations in a new language, such as spanish, french, german, italian and more. Babbles 10 to 15 minute lessons are available as an app or online. More information on babble. Com. [laughter] ah. [laughter] [music] kaiser permanente. Financial Services Firm raymond james. On addi funding is provided by the yuen foundation. Committed to bridging culturalce differ in our communities. The corporation for public broadcasting. And by t contributionso your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you youre watching pbs. As mel time, the bakers took on pies and tarts. Yo oh, a tart. Are u a pie or a tart . Yeah, im a tart as well. Ka s pork pies won over the judges. Its a greatlooking pie there. And the pastry, really lovely. Mel finally winning h star baker. For others, it wasnt such a good week. Come on. There is a plumbing issue here. Whats in the egg whites . Lavender. Lavender . [coughs] and it was norman who left the tent. [indistinct] so which of the remaining six. Is it alien autopsy week . It does feel a bit like that. Will get a rise out of yeastleavened cakes. Its dipped slightly. I think its gonna be sad. Make cakes fit for swedish royalty. This is sse classic swedish pr cake. And produce monumental dobos tort. Its what i call a show stopper