alluding to this legal battle that mattis has in congress needs a special waiver to be considered for this job. the fact that mattis has retired from the military for three years and there is a statute on the books that requires officers in uniform to be out of uniform for seven years. trump sending a little bit of a warning sign, a threat to congress, you better get this passed through. meantime, donald trump will take to the road tomorrow to des moines, iowa. and he holds another one of these thank you rallies friday in michigan. sunlen serfaty, thank you. republicans are using a short-term spending bill to speed up the mattis nomination. they re adding language to the stop gap funding make that opposes time limits on the debate over whether to grant that special waiver mattis needs to become defense secretary. they want him cleared to take over the pentagon when president-elect trump is inaugurated. the federal government runs out of money friday. the house votes on the spending
homeland security. and today, the administration is taking a new approach to convincing them otherwise. this afternoon, homeland security secretary jeh johnson s bringing in new firepower, his two predecessors both republicans, urging congress not to let the agency run out of money friday. we shouldn t compromise our homeland security just because republicans want to pick a political fight. reporter: but if homeland security shuts down will the public really notice? border patrol the coast guard and airport screeners would all stay on the job, unpaid. cleanup from superstorm sandy and hurricane katrina could slow down. office workers who cut those checks would stay home. this is government gridlock in congress at its worst. what is their purpose? what is their purpose? why don t they just do the right thing? reporter: senate republicans are offering a compromise, separate votes on the money and