WEBVTT 00:01.966 --> 00:05.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: Good evening, I'm John Yang. On Capitol Hill lawmakers are taking 11th hour 00:07.300 --> 00:10.066 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% efforts to avoid a government shutdown at midnight tonight, right down to the wire. This afternoon, 00:12.666 --> 00:15.133 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% the House overwhelmingly passed a 45-day temporary spending bill after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, 00:17.000 --> 00:21.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% unable to overcome disagreements in his own party turned to House Democrats for help. 00:21.266 --> 00:25.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% In the more Democrats voted for the bill than Republicans. The measure includes the 00:25.466 --> 00:30.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% $16 billion of disaster relief money that President Biden wants, but not the aid for 00:32.600 --> 00:35.766 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Ukraine that many House Republicans don't want. But that's only half of what's needed to avoid a 00:35.766 --> 00:40.733 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% shutdown. The Senate has to approve the bill too. And that could come as soon as tonight. 00:42.700 --> 00:45.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% After the House vote, McCarthy acknowledged that hardline Republicans could try to remove 00:45.966 --> 00:50.133 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% him from the speakership because he reached out to Democrats for help. 00:50.133 --> 00:52.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, Speaker of the House: When are you guys going to get 00:52.266 --> 00:56.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% over that it's all right that you put America first. That's all right if Republicans and 00:58.933 --> 01:01.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Democrats joined together to do what is right? If somebody wants to make a motion against me, 01:03.100 --> 01:07.600 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% bring it. There has to be an adult in the room. 01:09.566 --> 01:13.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: It has been a hectic and chaotic day on Capitol Hill. And as always, 01:13.500 --> 01:18.066 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Congressional Correspondent Lisa Desjardins has been following all of it for us. Lisa, 01:18.066 --> 01:21.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% just 24 hours ago, it looked like a shutdown was inevitable. 01:21.100 --> 01:23.133 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% LISA DESJARDINS: Right. 01:23.133 --> 01:26.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: And now here we are one step away, a Senate vote away from putting it off. 01:26.133 --> 01:28.166 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Right. JOHN YANG: What happened? 01:28.166 --> 01:30.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Yeah. He said it would take a legislative miracle and our way we got one, 01:30.800 --> 01:35.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% it also needed a complete collapse of the House Republican Party, 01:35.066 --> 01:39.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% them realizing that they really did not have a plan at all, and that the only way out was 01:39.500 --> 01:44.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% either to go deeper in and cause a lengthy shutdown, or to have a simple continuing 01:46.433 --> 01:49.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% resolution to fund government that they thought would pass with many Democrats. 01:49.900 --> 01:52.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: You just heard the Speaker say, bring it on, about a motion, 01:52.666 --> 01:57.633 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% what's called a motion to vacate, vacate the speakership. Do you think is that going to happen? 01:59.733 --> 02:02.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: I think it will. I don't know when. He is calling what he thinks is 02:02.166 --> 02:06.833 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% the bluff of those hardliners who oppose him. But it doesn't matter to them if they win or not. They 02:09.300 --> 02:12.866 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% have a point to make. They really do object to the Speaker. They have the ability, just single member 02:14.866 --> 02:18.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to try and motion to vacate him. And if they do that, even if the vast majority of Republicans 02:18.033 --> 02:23.033 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% support Speaker McCarthy, the question is up to Democrats, because you need a majority of the 02:25.600 --> 02:28.266 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% House to elect a speaker. So Democrats can then sort of maneuver, maybe try and get something out 02:30.300 --> 02:34.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% for Speaker McCarthy to help him keep his job. It leads to a lot of other different plotlines. 02:35.766 --> 02:37.766 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: Now, what's the outlook of the Senate right now? 02:37.766 --> 02:41.466 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: It looks good. Senators want to pass this deal. It's a question of when, 02:41.466 --> 02:46.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% how fast they can move? Senate not known for its exceeding speed. But tonight, 02:46.133 --> 02:50.100 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% they want to avoid this deadline. They don't want to shut down, even a Sunday one. As we 02:50.100 --> 02:55.066 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% speak right now they are asking every senator if they will object to speeding this up. And 02:57.066 --> 02:59.366 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% if in fact all senators give the green light we could have a vote within minutes or hours. 02:59.366 --> 03:02.633 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: So if the Senate goes along, it's a 45-day reprieve, 03:02.633 --> 03:06.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% what has to happen or what -- what they -- what do they want to happen in that 45 days? 03:06.800 --> 03:09.666 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: So this is part of what this entire debate has been about, 03:09.666 --> 03:14.666 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% spending in general. In the house, they would like to pass all 12 appropriations bills. So far, 03:16.733 --> 03:20.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% they've passed five of them. So they still have a lot of work ahead of them. It takes 03:20.300 --> 03:24.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a long time to get 400 members to debate all these appropriations bills, especially 03:24.933 --> 03:29.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% some of the more controversial ones that are ahead. They want to use that time to do that. 03:29.000 --> 03:33.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And also, by the way, negotiate those bills with the Senate. We're not just 03:33.133 --> 03:37.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% talking dollars and the size of government, which in of itself is a very difficult debate, 03:37.300 --> 03:41.866 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% but also policy. These bills contain things about abortion, should abortion pills be 03:41.866 --> 03:46.866 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% allowed to be sold in the mail, for example. Those are intractable longtime debates that may 03:48.866 --> 03:52.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% take more than 45 days as well. But now they've got another 45 days to try and figure it out. 03:54.300 --> 03:57.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: What does this -- this past 24 hours tell us about the House Republicans, 03:57.100 --> 03:59.700 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% about the state of the House Republican Party? 03:59.700 --> 04:04.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: I think that it is what we expected. I think that we knew that this was 04:04.266 --> 04:09.266 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a body that operates on instinct and not on plan. There is not really strategy. They have 04:12.266 --> 04:17.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% no problems with sort of internal debates that could even put the entire nation and government 04:17.100 --> 04:22.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% funding at risk. But it also tells us a lot about Kevin McCarthy. He is a Speaker who lives day by 04:24.566 --> 04:27.300 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% day. He is confident in his ability to make it through even the toughest test. But he doesn't 04:29.866 --> 04:32.300 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% have a plan for the next one. He takes them on one at a time, which means, John, you and I will be 04:32.300 --> 04:37.033 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% sitting here again, talking about similar dynamics ahead maybe even this week with the Speaker. 04:38.433 --> 04:40.033 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: Let's remind people what the alternative was, 04:40.033 --> 04:42.066 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% if they -- if the House, if the Senate, if they hadn't done this, 04:42.066 --> 04:45.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% what the alternative would have been and also what we'll be facing in 45 days? 04:45.400 --> 04:47.866 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: Right. Well, the alternative they hadn't done this, we would have had a government 04:47.866 --> 04:51.800 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% shutdown starting tonight. That's 2 million federal workers, another 4 million federal 04:51.800 --> 04:56.800 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% contractors, many of whom would have been sent home, it could have gone long. And that would have 04:59.333 --> 05:01.866 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% meant maybe no paychecks from any of those people. Some services would have stopped like WIC, the 05:01.866 --> 05:06.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Program for Women, Infants, and Children. And -- and also Moody's Analytics and others could have 05:08.766 --> 05:11.500 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% downgraded our credit. So a lot was at stake and now we have to kind of see the next steps. Because 05:13.500 --> 05:18.000 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% all that is still hanging in the balance again, and this time getting closer to Thanksgiving. 05:19.200 --> 05:20.000 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% JOHN YANG: Never a dull moment, Lisa Desjardins. 05:20.000 --> 05:20.933 align:left position:20% line:89% size:70% LISA DESJARDINS: I know. 05:20.933 --> 05:21.866 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% JOHN YANG: Thank you very much. 05:21.866 --> 05:22.033 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.