Cspan radio. Who will make the next move . The white house and congressional leaders say they want a solution, but House Republicans say they will not negotiate on immigration policy. That has been a key Sticking Point for democrats. The house and senate will continue weekend sessions. The president remaining at the white house, and parts of the federal government is shut down. Joining us is alex bolton, from the hill. Who are you talking to and what are you hearing . To senatorstalking of both parties who are having meetings on the side away from the leadership to try and figure out whether they can present a proposal that would have a Strong Majority in the senate to reopen the government. There was a meeting a little while ago convened by senator Susan Collins in her office. Ofwas attended by a number senators on both sides of the aisle. Joe manchin, the democratic aderate from west virginia, state from one by 32 points, he faces a top election this year. He voted against the shutdown. He voted for the fourweek continuing resolution. He is talking to his colleagues. What he told reporters earlier is he thinks there are 18 senators on board with a plan that would reopen the government. I cant hear what he is saying right now, but he is probably talking about that. The democrats i talked to earlier today say they may be willing to reopen the government without a deal on Immigration Reform, without a deal on the dreamers, the deferred action for childhood arrivals program, which trump rescinded in october. But they would need other concessions. Specifically, they want money for Community Health centers, an agreement on the spending caps so the defense and nondefense programs would be raised. They also want more Disaster Relief money, in particular for tuerto rico, which was hi by the hurricane last year, and wildfire damage in california and colorado. Host if you watched cspan last night, the body language last night with senator Graham Holding court and discussions with dianne feinstein. You mentioned senator manchin today. The key players presumably will be the senate leaders. Are Chuck Schumer and Mitch Mcconnell talking . Is paul ryan talking to the white house . Are these individuals trying to hammer out a longterm deal . Guest there was a pivotal meeting at the white house just afternoon between Chuck Schumer and President Trump, as you know. At that meeting, trump told schumer, work it out with mcconnell and ryan. As of a couple hours ago, those discussions had not yet begun in any seriousness. I spoke to the Senate Democratic whip dick durbin and he has been in the middle of this debate. He is the sponsor of the dream act to protect Illegal Immigrants who team to the country at a young age deportation from deportation. ,e were talking midafternoon there had not yet been discussions between paul ryan, Mitch Mcconnell, and Chuck Schumer. I think they are letting the dust settled, and they are trying to see how their members are reacting to the shutdown. That is one of the reasons why these leadership talks have not begun in earnest yet, because i think leaders on both sides of the aisle wants to know what their leaders are willing to do. As we discussed a while ago, some democrats are saying, we dont need a deal on daca. If we get Disaster Relief, the Children HealthInsurance Program extension, that may be enough. The problem is, that is something that divides the caucus. I spoke to durban, he says i spoke to durbin. He says any deal that leaves the dreamers out would be inaccurate. He is trying to figure out what his caucus cap except, and they are divided. Host we are talking with alex bolton of the hill newspaper. The headline, the fight turns ugly. Nationalratic committee has launched a digital effort against five republicans shut down theotes government. Of course, both senators cruise theyreare placing the blame on democrats and the senate leader. Guest i think both sides feel they have advantage here. Lingcrats point to pol that came out earlier in the week. What was interesting about this survey is it looked at the Senate Battleground states and found that in those states and these other states that will decide those Senate Majority in 2018 and beyond a plurality of voters, and this includes a heavy sampling of trump voters, say they would view the republicans as more to blame for the shutdown. Something like 40 something percent to 30 something percent. Shows their strong support there is strong support for protecting these dreamers from deportation. 81 . The democrats were pointing to that poll earlier in the week. There was also an abc News Washington post poll that showed only 28 would blame democrats. That is a pretty big advantage there. I still think Mitch Mcconnell and the republicans are feeling confident. Nationally at this point in the game, republicans may get the blame in the polls. When it comes down to the campaigns in september and october when democrats like john chester is running for reelection and Claire Mccaskill missouri,ri in they are going to be running at least in the case of chester and nelson they are going to be running ad saying these guyss voted against military families to help Illegal Immigrants. That was the message Mitch Mcconnell was developed delivering on the floor. That is a preview of what the attack ads will look like on the floor. Host the senate gaveling out past midnight and back today at noon, beginning with leader remarks. Lets begin with Mitch Mcconnell on the senate floor. The American People cannot why the senior senator from new york is advising his party to keep the government shuddered shuttered until he gets exactly what he wants on the issue of illegal immigration. Which has not even become urgent until march. Matters areher indeed urgent, they need to be dealt with right now. This particular issue is not urgent until march. I hope Senate Democrats are starting to realize all this. I hope they are starting to realize their constituents, the president , the house, and a majority of the senate are on one side of this. On the other side. All alone, the democratic leader, who invented this unfortunate hostage situation and let his party into this position. Is to end the full assurance and the foolishness, herding millions of americans who have done absolutely nothing to deserve millions ofing americans who have done absolutely nothing to deserve this. Its pretty clear here. ,ets reopen the government lets resume the bipartisan discussion on funding our troops, daca, and government spending, and all the other priorities that all of us can Work Together to resolve. Host Mitch Mcconnell and we are talking to alex bolton of the hill. Your is Chuck Schumer. The most important point is this. The republicans control the white house, the senate, the house. That is why america and the world are calling this shut down the trump shut down. It is the president and Congressional Republicans resp onsibility to govern. It is their responsibility to keep the doors open and the lights on around here. But the Republican Leadership cannot get a to mulch was resident on board with anything, and they dont offer up any compromises on their own. Poisoning this congress, and it all springs from President Trump. Has turned blowing up sorry, he has turned going up a partisan agreements into an art isan blowing up bipart agreements into an art form. Twice, President Trump walked away from bipartisan deals to solve all the issues before us. A week ago last tuesday, President Trump appeal to congress on National Television to come up with a deal and he said he would sign it. He said he would take the heat for it. But when a Bipartisan Group of senators brought him that up in ase, he blew it volcanic meeting at the white house. The same script played out with myself and the president yesterday. The president called me in the morning and asked that i come to the white house, and of course i accepted. We had an extensive and serious negotiation about every single outstanding issue. We came close to a tentative agreement on the budget after i lffered the pentagons ful budget request on the thorniest issue of immigration. The president said many times he would take a deal that included daca in exchange for the wall. I put that deal on the table in the oval office, a sincere effort, a compromise. I put the wall on the table and exchange for strong daca protections. It was a generous offer, and i believe President Trump was inclined to accept it and was willing to do a very shortterm cr. He suggested tuesday night, in order to get the deal finalized. Hours later, i got a phone call telling me this is not good enough. Host Chuck Schumer outlining where things stood today. Where do these leaders negotiate . Where do they go moving forward . Guest it is a very tough question to answer. Based on my conversation with democrats today, i think there is still a feeling that it is going to come down to a conversation between schumer and thathat laconic mcconnell doesnt have a bested a vested interest in immigration. One person i spoke to says they dont believe mcconnell wants to lift a finger to help these immigrants, these dreamers. See wheree democrats they have the leverage is with trump because they have something where they can deliver something trump wants, which is the wall. That was his top campaign priority. He has not gotten it yet. ,nd i think that the democrats they see it as a fairly easy confession. It could potentially cost less. What the president really wants is to declare victory on the wall. That seems like an obvious trade. Get protection for dreamers, and maybe there is some dressing on the side. I think that is why they see trump as the key to getting a deal, not so much mcconnell. But trump at the meeting yesterday said, talk about it with mcconnell and ryan, and i think that is what is very frustrating for schumer. He said i dont know who to talk to. I talk to the congressional leaders, they say talk to the president. Firsthe was set to be the u. S. President to attend the World Economic forum in switzerland and nearly 20 years, but the Government Shutdown may scramble those plans. According to Mick Mulvaney, the travel plans remain in limbo. Air force one was set to depart on wednesday. If congress does not strike a deal, we are told he will stay in washington. Whiteg us is the deputy house the White House Deputy press secretary. let me begin by asking you day. The president s what has he been doing behind closed doors . The president has been extremely active this morning. He has spoken with several cabinet members, general mattis, secretary of hhs. All the pieces that have been affected by the schumer shutdown. Thater it be the military is going will fully unfunded that is going woefully unfunded. They still have to protect our people, but they do it without pay. The 8. 9 million children who rely on the chip program for Health Insurance, they too are unfunded. The president has been focused on trying to get a deal to protect the American People, the military families, and those children. Host is there a sense a deal could be struck in the next day or two, or does the white house envision this shutdown continuing into next week . Caller we hope so. Obviously the president has been running the show from the beginning. Key has been very clear about what he wants he has been very clear about what he wants. The problem is that is not on the table right now. So we couldn a cr negotiate on longer terms. But he has been very clear. There is no conversation about daca as it relates to the budget. Senator schumer, nancy pelosi call republicans arsonists. They called us terrorists for threatening to shut down the government by putting in a nonbudget item into the budget back in 2013. The republicans went to the bat for obamacare. There was a huge difference between this shutdown and that one. Republicans were standing up for principles they believed in, they did not like something in the bill. Democrats say they want the chip program. They say they want the provisions that have been laid out in this bill, funding the military, keeping obamacare taxes at bay for a little bit longer. They want everything in the bill, but they are not voting for it. Sois so odd, and it is damaging to the American People and quite frankly to this country. Host we are talking with hogan gidley, the Deputy Press Secretary. Let me get your reaction to pat leahy. He said, if we cannot take the word of the president when we know he is one tweet from changing his mind, why should we trust him . There seems to be a lack of trust. How do you get beyond that . Caller 55 minutes, opendoor meeting, the entire world saw. In that meeting, the president was very clear about what he wanted in the National Security package, and he said he wanted Border Security, the wall, migration, end the visa lottery system, and a lasting solution for daca. He is willing to come to the table in a bipartisan, by cable amel manner and get something done for the American People first and immigrants second. He has had that conversation multiple times. You have all heard it. He has been forthright and truthful, and i listened to senator schumers comments you are playing before i came on, and theyre funnier than the second time. He came to the table and told the president he fully funded the law. The president , understandably so, is excited, lets hear the conversation, lets hear the legislation, whats the proposal . When he shows up, instead of 18 million, it was 1. 6 billion, less than 1 10 of what is needed to protect this nation. Thats based on a study from dhs. That is not something we want, it is something dhs says this country needs. So the only people being untruthful here are democrats, and i will give you one more example, and that is there is one simple fact that democrats cannot shake that clearly puts this shutdown in their corner, math. We had 51 votes in the senate. We have to have nine democrats that are willing to switch party that are willing to put the American People above party, and right now democrats are playing politics with american lives. Hogan gidley, i will turn to alex gidley, who is here with us following the story. He has a quick question. Guest thanks for taking my question. Something Chuck Schumer said in a press conference earlier today is that at the meeting at the white house on friday, he basically told the president that he was willing to deal on the wall and he asked the president what number would be acceptable for securing the southwest border, how much money he wanted to see appropriated. The president gave a number and schumer said he would be willing to entertain it and discuss it with his caucus. I know the president suggested 18 billion a while ago, but what is the minimum you said 1. 6 billion is way too low. What is a more appropriate number . Caller 18 billion. Studies show that is what dhs needs. And lets be honest, senator schumer did not say he would fund it. What he said was he would pass a provision for it, and you and i both know in washington, d. C. Passing a provision is worthless. That means nothing. The bottom line, and this is what is so difficult to grasp for most americans, because i saw some poll numbers out in axes last week in axios last week. The democrats want to focus on hundreds of thousands of people who were here unlawfully. The president has chosen to focus on hundreds of millions of american citizens who deserve safety, who deserve paychecks, and who deserve children to have health care. For whatever reason, the democrats say they agree with all those principles, but they wont vote on it. You guys have been here for a while, it has to be very strange to you will. Guest one other question i had, sticking to negotiators about this immigration deal trying to be worked out, they say that funding for the wall isnt so much the authority as the surrounding border authoritys in other words, giving Border Patrol agents access to roads so they can police the territory. On you give us any insight what sorts of border authorities the president wants in addition to the wall . Caller well, he outlined a plan. Plan,k it was an 18page back in september excuse me, seven pages back in september. He brought it down to three pages. He has outlined pretty clearly what he wants. Dhs and their study shows exactly what we needed in order to secure the border, and absolutely, it includes a wall, but it also includes technology. It also includes border agents, various means and methods that they need and want, more Bo