It is phenomenal. We have the latest out of the United Kingdom right now. They are battening down the hatches because a resurgence in cases has them closing pubs earlier urging people to for the better part of valor quit congregating in large groups. Good luck on that. Meantime were looking at a spending bill that could be in disarray. Could be the fault of the whole Supreme Court. It was in the president s favor but, because of differences that some democrats have put up, to make it a more harder fight than that. Chad pergram, hey chad. This is not a fivealarm fire until funding the government, they still have the end of the month to do that but there is concern. I was told the house of representatives was scheduled to vote on the interim spending bill might pull back on that. They are negotiating with some members and treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin is testifying today, indicating he is negotiating with the speakers office. You have moderate democrats, a freshman democrat on iowa concerned about farm provisions which are not in the interim spending bill which would keep the government open through december 11th. Also notably Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell expressing his concerns as well. But they have some time to work this out. As i say this is not a fivealarm fire just yet. If they were to have a Government Shutdown in the middle of a pandemic, trying to confirm a Supreme Court justice, at the same time trying to do a coronavirus bill, they would have hit for the cycle. Back to the Supreme Court fight it looks as though Senate Republicans will have the votes to forge ahead to try to move a nominee this fall. Mitt romney, the republican senator from utah indicated he was okay trying to do this in a president ial election year. Listen. On the other hand nominee after party in the same party as the senate they typically confirm. President trumps nominee is consistent with history. I came down on the side of the constitution and precedent as i have studied it. I make the decision on that basis. Reporter in the past 18 hours romney and republican senators chuck grassley, cory gardner flash ad green light to proceed with Supreme Court nominee in president ial election year. Gop iowa senator joni ernst was more nuanced in her statement. There are only two republicans oppose moving ahead, Lisa Murkowski of alaska and Susan Collins of maine. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer had it with Mitch Mcconnell after the Kentucky Republican reap fused to consider president obamas nominee Merrick Garland in 2016. The mcconnell rule, the American People should have a voice in their selection of the next Supreme Court justice. Turns out the mcconnell rule was nothing more than a mcconnell ruse. Reporter Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer saying he thinks no one has defiled his word, no one has defiled the senate more than Mitch Mcconnell. Neil . Neil chad pergram, thank you very, very much. Another development were watching, testimony out of the Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell and treasury secretary Steve MnuchinSteve Mnuchin talking a lot about how things stand with the pandemic and what stimulus has brought us. Without it we would be in deeper trouble. Seem to be telegraphing that. Seems to telegraphing it woe be better than not having still more stimulus down. Good luck on that part. Edward lawrence following it all in washington. Reporter very interesting hearing, democrats are peppering the Steve Mnuchin, the treasury secretary about the next relief package, that the economy may not be as rosy as he says it is. Pushing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell for for another stimulus package saying it is kneaded to boost the economic recovery. Listen to this. The ppp, there is very strong bipartisan support both committees in the house and senate worked on revisions that are necessary revisions. We look forward to working with both parties. That could be passed today and signed into law today, is that correct . The president would very much support signing into law additional ppp money immediately. Reporter that is obviously the treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin, he is talking about how he would like to see targeted help for hotel industries, for the travel industry. Also a second bite at the apple in the ppp program. They want to reallocate some money for that. Federal reserve chairman Jerome Powell was making the point there needs to be more fiscal stimulus. They put that in. Baked that in to their projections going forward. Listen what he has to say about why . Reversal of economic fortune has upended many lives and created great uncertainty about the future a full recovery is likely to come only when people are confident it is safe to reengage in a broad range of activities. The path forward will depend keeping virus under control and policy actions taken at all levels of government. Reporter those policy actions, he says that the fiscal policies should work in tandem with Monetary Policy and there should be another push there from the fiscal side. This is really the glass half empty, glass halffull, republicans saying they brought back 11 million jobs of the 22 million that have been lost and done much faster than it happened after the great recession. Back to you. Neil all right. Edward lawrence thank you very much. Backdrop is Supreme Court fight who will replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg who passed away at age of 87. Republicans seem to have a confirmation going and vote going. Depends on who the president chooses. Nancy pelosi has gone on record, that democrats are prepared to put out all the stops to get what they want. Take a look at this. We have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that im not about to discuss right now but the fact is we have a big challenge in our country. Neil all right. Its a big challenge where neither side is even remotely approaching or even talking to the other side. That is possible, given my next guest here. John boehner former speaker of the house. Jackrollly, former Democratic Caucus chair. They joined on number of fronts. Proving you can get things done, move the ball forward if you get past a lot of political agita all of that. John boehner, good to have you. Joe crowley the same. Thank you, neil. Good to be with you, neil. Neil thank you, guys, john boehner i want to go to you first because i know i have to wait until you get your spring on the house, a washington memoir, but may i say, sir, based on the cover alone, this is going to be any political tome or otherwise. The cover is a mix of austin powers, and dare i say, barry white. Brilliant, touche. Whats inside it . I guess that is important too . Well, neil, it has been a fun project putting it together. It is not some Agency Political memoir. It tells my whole story buts does it in a very interesting way. I would say a very entertaining way. Neil what i would like about it, when you were speaker before that a rising republican star, you had a brusque manner, i guess some would look at it this way. You never took yourself too seriously, you would always throw a zinger here and there including members of your own party. Is it safe to say, speaker, this and that cover will be illustrative of the approach youre taking . I think, neil, you know me pretty well, but what is and the is me. I wrote every word in the book. And trust me, you will get the whole story and i wont be any different than i have ever been. Neil all right. Because it has a mad men feel to it. Rarely does a book generate this kind of excitement, sight unseen. Joe crowley, that will put enormous pressure on you when your book comes out. It is not too long. You will have to do Something Like this. I dont know if you get a similar chair or backdrop but that is a tough act to follow. Joe, let me all seriousness begin on this notion, some of your fellow democratic friends have been honing in on this nomination, the president is on the verge of making of the Supreme Court on saturday, saying stop at all costs. We have other arrows in our quiver to quote nancy pelosi, alexandria ocasiocortez says we must do anything and everything we can to stop this. What do you make of all that . Before i do that let me just pay tribute to my friend, former colleague john boehner t was a pleasure working with him in the house and a special gift of getting to work with him in my posthouse career [inaudible]. He is a great american. When it comes to this particular issue it is at the heartstrings of all americans and i dont know what those arrows are in the quiver. What i do believe is that there should be no confirmmation before inauguration and i just think out of, general sense of american fairness that, that be the case. Neil you know, john boehner, maybe Mitch Mcconnell planted the seeds for this by not taking up the Merrick Garland nomination four years ago when barack obama still had 10 months left of his presidency, so this is a titfortat on part of democrats, you did that, we will subscribe to the same rules you did then. Democrats have said in the past it is not a good idea to do it in the middle of an election year. Of course here we are. Where do you think this goes . Well, neil, the constitution is pretty clear that the president will nominate someone and, it is up to the United States senate to confirm them or not. But republicans have the majority in the United States senate. The president is a republican and i know what was said a couple of years ago but the constitution lays out the case where the senate can proceed and frankly i hope they do. Having this hang out there through the election day i dont think does anybody any good. Now some would say it is a rush okay. That is risk you still have to take with the voters but it looks to me like, joe, theyre going to proceed. I would venture to say whoever the nominee is probably already sits on the federal bench. Has probably already been vetted and confirmed by the senate at one time or the other for the position they currently hold. And so this is not like reinventing the wheel here. This ought to be able to move rather smoothly over the next five or six weeks. Neil you might be right about that. The two most frequently mentioned names, judge Amy Coney Barrett and judge Barbara Lagoa who already sit on courts that needed senate confirmation, have been fully, fully vetted. So well see where this goes. But joe, on this notion that democrats have promised if this were to go through that i believe it was ed markey of massachusetts, that we will proceed with trying to pack the courts, address the filibuster thing and on and on we go. Where does all of this go . Well i dont think, neil, this happens without consequence regardless, whether it is senator markey has been suggesting or, whenever it would happen if the president not reelects which my hope that Vice President biden is elected. Neil wait a minute. Youre not for donald trump. I didnt get that in my notes. So i do think that is, doing this before the election stirs great emotions, certainly on both sides the passions. But i think also the level of unfairness as we see reference to four years ago, and what Mitch Mcconnell said then, what, what the senator graham said, senator grassley said, all these senators are now switching their positions on exact same issue. They can nuance here and there. They said, this would not be taken up in a president ial election year. That is exactly what theyre doing. In fact they want to ram it through before the election itself which is incredibly, i think unfare. But besides unfairness i dont think it makes good judges. Neil yeah, hard to say. Democrats too have done a 180 on this because of experience four years ago. Speaker boehner, speaker i guess the one question for you, this idea that Everything Else is stopped, i mean because of this, there is concern that a measure to keep the government lights on to avoid a shutdown is in jeopardy. Stimulus measure linked to the virus might also be delayed or denied. That it is proving, you know in washington these guys cant walk and chew gum at the same time. What do you think of that . Because that is, that is the cynical view of what is happening right now . Well, i understand but, these are all operate on separate tracks and you know, they can deal with the funding of the government, whether they will do another stimulus bill or not while the Judiciary Committee and the senate focuses in on whoever the nominee will be. They can do all of this. But it is the United States congress and you put too many ingredients in a boiling pot youre not sure what youre going to get. Neil yeah, i guess youre right about that. Joe crowley, im just wondering depending on how the election goes of course there will be a lot of big issues, ongoing concerns about the virus. We have over 200,000 deaths in this country. We have spikes in cases going on all across europe right now, particularly United Kingdom where theyre looking at the potential of a second lockdown. France is in a similar sort of conundrum. We already see israel in a second lockdown. Are you worried if joe biden were to get in we could have a whole new virus crisis on our hands . I think that is out of joe bidens hands. I think it is out of Donald Trumps hands. The virus has a mind of its own. There are things we could be doing, should have been doing to help reduce the effect much virus in the states. We mentioned 200,000 mark. As i said before, 5 of the population of the world but have 20 of the deaths related to covid19. Were the most modern country in the world. Yet we have more deaths than anyone else. There has to be something gone amiss, something gone wrong here, that led to this catastrophe here in the United States. So, i do think that joe biden will have a great deal on his hands amongst other issues. Economic issues in terms of dealing with the covid19 fallout. That will have to be addressed as well, but i think joe biden is up to that. I look forward to seeing him as president , working with him. Neil you know, real quickly on this, john boehner, the criticism of joe biden has been because of his limited appearances in public and some, sometimes stammering responses to reporters that he might not have his fastball for the debates and that, you know, could be in some trouble there. How do you think the debates go . How important do you think they will be in deciding this once and for all . The debates will become very important. There are questions about whether joe biden is really up to this. I dont know but were going to find out during the debates. September 29th which isnt very far away, i think Chris Wallace is hosting the first debate. Im looking forward to it. But neil, remember this. Polls dont decide elections. Voters do. And while pollsters try to figure out who will show up and vote, it is basically their best educated guess. When you go back to 2016 this race is almost in exactly the same place as it was between donald trump and Hillary Clinton four years ago. And go back four years ago what happened . Trump people showed up and hillary did not. So it is going to be interesting to see who shows up and votes in this election, but, im going to tell you today i think this election is, probably 50 50. It is a very close election regardless what the polls say and and voters will decide. Neil final question for both of you, do you miss it . Do you miss, you know, being in the arena and making the kind of decisions you were making, now youre observing very well in private life. I take nothing away from that. Joe crowley to you on that, do you miss it . I miss the people. I miss my friends and colleagues. I look back, was disappointed not enough is getting accomplished. For instance, john and i have been working on pension reform, the need to address issues of Central States pension issue. That cannot seem to get the light of day in terms of the house and Senate Getting together and agreeing on that. I dont miss any of the lack of, better term the bs. You know that we had to deal with but i can tell you that i do miss the people, both sides of the aisle. I miss the interaction. But you know, i also am enjoying the life im in right now working with john boehner. It has been really fruitful and healthy for me. Neil well as you should. John boehner, you had inimitable response when we raised last time to you, something to the effect, if i get the quote right, zippity dodah. Are you over all of that, are you still over all of that . Im very much over that. I would rather set myself on fire than get in the middle of this. Neil i think i know where youre coming from. Gentleman good to see you. Always remind me when i do, you can discuss it without turning into a food