The world to shore up alliances. Fall kicks off with a week of inperson, international diplomacy, as President Biden gathers with top foreign leaders in india. Secretary of state blinken visits with president zelenskyy in ukraine and Vice President harris travels to Southeast Asia to confer with allies. Looming large in all those discussions, three who werent there. We met up with the Vice President in jakarta, indonesia, and talked about her efforts in the region, plus the issue shes taking on as vp, abortion rights, root causes of migration and why she thinks republicans are honing in on her. How do you respond to those attacks . Thats not policy. Thats about you. They feel the need to attack a because theyre scared. Plus do americans think there should be maximum age limits for politicians. Our new poll â– has interesting findings. Then 22 years after 9 11 and two years following chaotic withdraw of u. S. Forces from afghanistan, well talk with the former head of central command, general frank mckenzie. Arkansas republican french hill joins us to talk about National Security and whats on the congressional agenda as house members head back to washington for the fall session. Its all just ahead on face the nation. Good morning. Welcome to face the nation. The reports and the pictures coming in from morocco where an earthquake hit friday are stunning. More than 2,000 are dead and that number is expected to climb as rescuers desperately try to find survivors in the rubble. The quake is the strongest to hit a north african country in 120 years and they put it at a 6. 8 magnitude. In other foreign news, President Biden met with leaders of the g20. Those are the 20 largest economies in the world. Notably missing, Russias Vladimir Putin and chinas xi jinping. Well have more on the president s trip later in the broadcast. Vice president Kamala Harris has also been conferring with allies. We met up with her in indonesia last week for the asean summit a network in northeast asia. Our polling unit surveyed americans about the job the Vice President is doing back home. Her Approval Rating tracks similarly to President Bidens at 41 . Republicans have been focusing a lot of their attacks on harris, highlighting that she would be in line for the job of president should anything happen to President Biden. And it is republicans who say they have heard a lot about her work, more so than democrats. Our conversation in jakarta allowed us the opportunity to ask about her work and a lot more. So youre 58 now. If you win a second term, as you and the president are running to do, he would be 86 at the end of it. We are seeing republican candidates hone in on you in particular as being next up for that job. Nikki haley says a vote for joe biden is a vote for president Kamala Harris. Chris christie. I pray every night for joe bidens good health, not only because hes our president , but because of who our Vice President is. Ron desantis. Harris is his impeachment insurance. People know if she were president katie bar the door. As bad as biden did, it would get worse. How do you respond to all of that . Were delivering for the American People, and the reality of it is that, unfortunately, very few of those who challenge our administration actually have a plan for america. You look at what weve accomplished, margaret. We have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs in america. 13 million new jobs. Unemployment at record lows. We have kept the cost of insulin for seniors at 35 a month. Capped the cost of prescription drugs on an an a null basis at 2,000. Theyre talking about for seniors. What you would do as president . Theyre honing in on you. Why do you think that is . How do you respond to those attacks . Thats not about policy. Thats about you. Listen, this is not new. Theres nothing new about that. I mean, listen, i am in my career i was a career prosecutor. I was the first woman elected District Attorney of san francisco, a major city in this country, and reelected. I was the first woman attorney general of the second Largest Department of justice in the United States and reelected. I was the United States senator. I represented one in eight americans. Im now Vice President of the United States. They feel the need to attack because theyre scared that we will win based on the merit of the work that joe biden and i and our administration has done. But even democrats are worried about the president s age. The wall stre the wall street journal had a poll showing twothirds of democrats saying joe biden is too old to run again. Are you prepared to be commander in chief . Yes, i am. If necessary. But joe biden is going to be fine. Let me tell you something. I work with joe biden every day. Under joe bidens leadership, we have transformed and are in the process of transforming americas infrastructure with a historic investment in not only roads and bridges, but high speed internet, what we are doing around issues like lead pipes, and i could go on and on. Are you taking the threat of a second Trump Presidency seriously enough . I dont understand the question. You were dismissive of some of the republican criticism of you and the president. When you look at current polling, the frontrunner for the republican nomination is the former president , the 45th president. We will win reelection. We will win reelection. There is too much at stake and the American People know it. In terms of delivering on promises, you in your port have tackled the root cause of migration. U. S. Customs and Border Patrol saw a Record Number of migrant families cross the border in the month of august, despite the record level of heat. Why is that happening . Now . Youve ruled out new policies. Around the globe, we are seeing an increase in irregular migration. And there are a number of factors at play. An increase in authoritarian regime, what were seeing in terms of extreme weather occurrences, in many places around the globe, increase food insecurity, there are many reasons for why this is happening, and america is not immune to that. The point has to be then to understand what we must do to deal with, one, ensuring that we have the secure, humane and orderly policy about the border, but also what we must do in the long term to address the root causes of migration. The work that ive been doing in that regard has been to build publicprivate partnerships to the extent that we have now raised over 4 billion to invest in the countries in that region. That migration data, according to cbp, is showing migrants from guatemala are up, honduras, ecuador, peru. When the border crossings went down earlier in the summer the administration said it was due to your policies working. Now theyre going back up as they did in the month of august. Does that show the strategy is no longer working . Absolutely not. What it means is that we have to stay focused on a number of issues related to the irregular migration that, again, were seeing around the world and america is not immune. So you think the strategy is working, despite the numbers being up . Overall, we are seeing progress, but there is were not going to have a constant. There are going to be fluctuations. That is normal, just like the weather fluctuates and circumstances fluctuate such as elections in those regions and what that might mean. It doesnt mean that we keep our foot off the gas. We have to stay focused and understand there has to be a longterm strategy as well as a shortterm strategy. And heres the bottom too early to say the strategy was working when the numbers went down . My point is focusing on root causes and doing the work we have been doing to bring u. S. Investment into those countries in a way that is supportive of their economies and supportive of fighting corruption, actually works. You have been very active on the issue of abortion and rallying behind the idea of this federal law to restore what was upheld in roe versus wade. But to do that, democrats need 60 votes in the senate, they need a majority in the house they dont have, they need the presidency. The math doesnt add up, so dont you need to level with the American People and say this is not a realistic promise to make for 2024 . Congress has the ability to put back in place the rights that the Supreme Court took from the women of america. In theory. It doesnt have the votes to do that. Thats why we have elections. And thats why we are seeing around this country that when this issue is on the ballot from kansas to california, people vote in favor of upholding basic freedoms. The vast majority of americans agree that the government should not be making this decision for the women of america. What is it you believe . What week of pregnancy should Abortion Access be cut off . We need to restore the protections of roe versus wade. Which was were not trying to do something new. Well that was nebulous because it was about viability, which could be anywhere from 20 to 24 weeks. No, no, no. Let me be very clear that was in the Womens Health protection act that white house also endorsed let me be very clear, from day one, the president has been clear, i have been clear, we need to put back the protections that our are in roe v. Wade into law since the Supreme Court took it, congress has the ability to pass legislation to put those protections back in law and joe biden will sign that bill. So that is what we want. But does it need to be specific in terms of defining where that guarantee goes up to and where it does not . At which week of pregnancy . We need to put back in place the protections of roe versus wade. You know why im asking you this question though. Were not trying to do anything that did not exist before june of last year. We are saying it wasnt crafted into law. Thats why im asking you for the specifics here, because republicans say the lack of a precise date in cutting it off, you know this, they say that allows democrats to perform abortions up until, you know, birth. Which is ridiculous. Which is statistically not accurate. Its ridiculous and a mischaracterization of the point. No the point is the point is we have to be more precise. I am being precise. We need to put into law the protections of roe versus wade and that is about going back to where we were before the dobbs decision. But if there is the possibility through legislation to provide any kind of guarantee at the federal level, any kind of protection, like the republican proposal of 15 weeks protection the republicans are also is it worth doing something . Members of the Republian Party are proposing a national badge. Im talking about the Lindsey Graham bill as you know and those proposals of giving some access, though thats 15 weeks. Why do you think it shouldnt be specific . You know, out in new mexico, for example, the governor says it shouldnt be nailed down to a week because it should be a private matter between a woman and her doctor. There shouldnt be a precise number put on that. Is that what you believe as well . I believe that we should put the protections of roe v. Wade into law and the way that will happen is if we have a United States congress, who, regardless of their personal view for themselves or their family, would agree that the women of america should be trusted to make decisions about their life and their body based on what they know to be in their best interest. Its that simple. Well have more of our interview with the Vice President in our next half houo. Well be b back in one minute. Stay with us. T has been with me every step of my journey. Theyve helped me realize its possible to rise to the top again. Its possible to get the help i need for me and my family. Its possible to hate pushups again. To feel understood. To beginin healing both inside and out. To feel like myself again. And now i know anything is possible. gentle music lactaid is 100 real milk, just without the lactose. Delicious too. Just ask my old friend, kevin. Nothing like enjoying a cold one while watching the game. Whos winning . No idea. Real milk. Real delicious. And dont forget to try some delicious, creamy lactaid ice cream. Whats that mabel . mooo wow, smart cow we go now to arkansas republican french hill who joins us from little rock. Good morning to you, congressman. Good morning, margaret. Lawmakers are coming back here to washington this week and they have just 11 working days left to fund the government before september 30th. Speaker mccarthy says it looks like were headed towards a shortterm patch versus acpassi all these appropriation bills. Are you confident we can avoid a shutdown . Im hopeful we can avoid a shau shutdown and ive urged all my colleagues on the point is get the other 11 bills we have not passed during the summer across the house floor. Weve only passed one. The senate has passed 12. That gives them a distinct advantage over the house and the negotiation for 024 spending details and if we want to marry that and have the right negotiation house conservatives want we need to pass those 11 bills as soon as possible including using a brief continuing resolution if necessary to get that work done. So the right flank of your Party Opposes that shortterm, that continuing resolution you just mentioned there. Are we going to be looking here at another scenario where, despite having a maj majority, republicans will need democrats to get this over the finish line . This is what i think it is frustrating. We dont control the senate, we dont control the white house, but what we do control is our own appropriations process and chairman kate ranger has more conservative bills and more conservative funding levels than the senate, more conservative than the debt ceiling deal that biden and Speaker Mccarthy agreed to. Thats good. To have that negotiating clout we need all those bills passed across the house floor. A Government Shutdown is not going to improve that situation. And a longterm continuing resolution only institutionalizes last years nancy pelosi and joe biden priorities. I dont think house conservatives want that to happen. Are you talking about short term taking us to december or so . No. Short term to me, short term is shorter than that. I think i would certainly support something in the october timeframe to give the house the time it needs to complete these other 11 bills theyve come through committee, people had their amendments prpds we need floor time to debate them and pass them. Thats a lot of work to get done in a short window and not clear that Republican Leadership has control of all parts of your party, as i mentioned. Marjorie Taylor Greene will not vote to fund the government unless we have passed an impeachment inquiry on joe biden. Is that a tactic leadership is considering . I dont have insight on that. I would doubt that because i dont think jamie comer, the charmg of the Oversight Committee or jim jordan the chairman of the judiciary committee, think thats a good idea. I dont believe they have remotely completed their work on the kind of detailed investigations and quality work that Speaker Mccarthy is expecting both those committees to produce before someone goes to, you know, an impeachment activity. We dont want to repeat the mistakes we think that nancy pelosi made by prematurely moving to impeachment during the trump administration. So okay. Well the other part of the right wing of your caucus thats raising concerns is specific to the portion of aid that President Biden is requesting to help ukraine, a supplemental request. 44 billion, 24 for ukraine, 16 billion nor natural disasters, 4 billion to fight the flow of fentanyl. Are you going to swallow those numbers . How significantly are you going to trim them . Well, look, i think a majority of House Republicans would prefer that those core spending items, not so much the fema emergency numbers, but the other numbers, be handled through the existing budget and appropriations process, and thats going to cause concern for a lot of House Republicans, not just conservatives in the house conference. We would like to see that incorporated in the budgets that were already negotiating now. I support ejecting putin from ukraine. I support funding for ukraine. I just introduced this week the ukraine reconstruction act which converts russian assets to pay for the war and reconstruction of ukraine. This is something a battle that we need to win, and were going to work out how best to do that in the next few weeks. Another battle with russia has been active in syria. You paid a visit there. First time a lawmaker visited since 2017 when john mccain went. Im wondering why you did, and what it is youre asking u. S. Allies to do . Well, i wanted to see for myself the death and destruction caused by 12 years of assads brutality against his own people. He said keep me in office ill destroy the country, and hes certainly done that. Russian aircraft flew 41 sordes killing some 40 people in syria including 15 children, so i went across the border with my colleagues ben klein from virginia and Scott Fitzgerald and we met with orphans that had been orphaned at the wisdom house orphanage, supported by generous donors here in little rock, arkansas, to see pictures of their parents killed by assad. What we need i