Geoff: Let's shift our focus
back to capitol hill because
congress is racing toward
another shutdown deadline with
leaders putting the finishing
touches on a final funding
package and lots of questions
about the timeline for actually
passing legislation.
That is all unfolding on a busy
day at the U.S. Capitol where
Republicans again focused on
their investigation of the Biden
family.
Let's bring in congressional
correspondent Lisa Desjardins.
It's good to see you, friend.
Here we go again.
Congress is now facing this
Friday deadline to fund 70% of
government agencies.
Where do things stand?
Lisa: We have been through this
so much, there is a danger of
everyone becoming numb to this.
Where we are is there is hope
that they will meet this
deadline but there's also the
chance that they do not.
Let me take you through the
calendar on where we are.
Today is Wednesday.
Some of us had to remind
ourselves.
Today is Wednesday.
The potential shutdown would
begin Saturday if the spending
bills are not passed by that.
It would be about 70% of the
agencies involved.
Here is the situation.
House Republicans have an
internal pledge where any bill,
they should get three days to
read the bills.
Counter that.
Clearly, there's not enough time
to read a giant bill and pass it
by Saturday so we have a
situation where house
Republicans are repairing to
waive their own internal rule to
pass this by suspending the rule
and the hope is this will be
voted on in the house on Friday
quickly, run across the other
side of the capital, and then
the senate would then pass it.
I don't to tell you or our
viewers that the senate does not
move quickly so it is a big
question mark as to whether the
senate can actually pass this on
time.
Here's what some of the leaders
involved said about all of this
today.
>> I am a rule follower.
We are also up against a crunch
of the weekend and some members
on both sides of the aisle have
to be traveling and that kind of
thing so we are talking about
kind of expedite it as quickly
as possible but also allow all
the members -- >> >> The
legislation.
It is basic timekeeping.
Amending this bill will take up
time that we don't have, all but
guaranteeing a shutdown so no
one wins a shutdown and everyone
knows what we need to do.
We are almost there.
We can do this.
Amna: Speaking at the
leadership's conference.
Can they do it? That's a
question.
This bill is going to be well
over 1000 pages, may be 2000
pages long.
As we sit here tonight, we still
do not have the text.
We are all waiting so this is
going to be incredibly close.
>> The bill is not written but
there is this handshake
agreement on a spending deal.
We heard Mike Johnson say he is
a rule follower.
Tell us about that.
Amna: It is important because in
this era of gridlock at the U.S.
Capitol, one of the main things
that congress does is pass
spending bills.
This is how they affect our
lives and one of the most
consequential ways so breaking
down what I have learned from my
sources in both parties, this
includes money for the Pentagon,
dhs, homeland security, HHS,
labor, treasury, the white
house, very big parts of our
government.
What they have agreed to is to
raise the number of detention
beds for ice to 42000 and that
would be the largest number of
detention beds funded in this
country in our history.
There will be no funding in this
bill for the next calendar year
until next March for unra,
the U.N. Agency that came under
close scrutiny.
There will be 12,000 Afghan
special Visas granted for those
Afghan interpreters and others
who were allies of the U.S. In
Afghanistan.
Let's talk big picture.
What is the point of all of
this?
This bill alone will be $1.2
trillion in spending.
Add to that togetr with the
other portion that passed
recently.
Total spending for this current
fiscal year then will be about
$1.6 trillion.
What does that mean? Basically,
defense is going to get a small
increase.
All the non-defense agencies are
staying about the same and that
is important because Democrats
had big cuts there.
Once all this gets through,
speaker Johnson has told house
Republicans that he plans to try
and tackle Ukraine.
We asked him about this today
and he does not have a plan for
how so we are going to watch the
and of course also waiting in
the wings, the impeachment of
homeland security secretary
mayorkas that the house passed
and we will be dealing with that
after this and after the house
and senate return from spring
break.
Geoff: If lawmakers miss the
deadline, what would a weekend
shutdown actually mean?
Lisa: Not that much and I think
that is why we could see one
because I think the pressure on
the senate is not that great
when it talks about a Saturday
and Sunday shutdown.
For one, there is a law in place
where all furloughed government
workers would have to be repaid
in the end.
We also know that some folks
usually affected by these kind
of shutdowns would not be
affected at all.
They were already funded in a
previous bill.
The district of Columbia would
not be affected.
I really tried to figure out the
effects.
Every agency will have problems
and competitions because of this
like TSA workers.
They will have to work without
getting technically paid that
day but paychecks lag.
One group that will be affected,
the air force academy.
Because of how they are funded,
their athletic program will
continue but they may not be
allowed to have fans watch.
They have wrestling and
basketball this weekend.
It is that kind of stuff.
Geoff: Republicans in congress
are trying to advance
impeachment probe of president
Biden.
They held a hearing today.
They had hoped to hear from
hunter Biden publicly.
That did not happen.
Bring us up to speed.
Lisa: Hunter Biden said he could
not attend because he was not
asked about his calendar and he
had a court date of his own in
California over tax charges but
who did attend were two
Republican witnesses, one of
whom is in federal prison now,
inform associate -- former
associate.
The other is a man named Tony
and he said that he was privy to
the idea that Joe Biden was at
least adjacent to all of the
bite in business schemes and in
particular, it seemed
Republicans were drilling down
on one 2017 meeting that Joe
Biden was said to have appeared
at after he left office here in
Washington at the four seasons.
There were Chinese officials
including the chairman of the
top Chinese energy company,
obviously related to the Chinese
communist party.
The person who testified just
said it was not a business
conversation, but Republicans
have honed in on this and here
is what Tony said about that.
Tony: 10 Chinese individuals had
to go back to mainland China and
say that they were in a room
with Joe Biden is the value of
what they were giving.
Lisa: This is the same
accusation we have had, that
they were selling access to Joe
Biden, and he also noted that it
has been shown that those
Chinese officials sent millions
of dollars to hunter Biden's
company shortly after that, but
the problem is Democrats say
hunter Biden was doing
business.
Maybe he was not right to be
selling the idea of the Biden
name but that does not say Joe
Biden did anything wrong.
Here's what some Democrats were
pushing back.
>> I just want to for the record
be very clear that in his
testimony, he has provided zero
evidence, zero evidence of any
sort of link between hunter
Biden and the president as far
as it relates to the business
dealings.
Once again, we are back to a
hearing where no evidence is
being provided of any sort of
wrongdoing by the president.
Lisa: It is circumstantial
evidence right now and other
Republicans are openly saying
that there is no case here.
This case is unraveling so what
we learned today is Republicans
still don't have the momentum to
get to impeachment that they
claimed they would have a year
ago.
Geoff: Lisa Desjardins, thank
you as always for that great
reporting.
♪♪