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Speaker 4: As we assemble our panel, didn't think we'd be talking
Speaker 4: about this, but need to hear from Rick Davis and
Speaker 4: Genie Shanzano, Bloomberg Politics contributors on News that Mitch McConnell
Speaker 4: is in fact stepping down as leader. Rick, you spent
Speaker 4: a number of years, I think, as we all know,
Speaker 4: working with John McCain in the United States Senate. You
Speaker 4: have every sense of the importance of this particular tenure.
Speaker 4: What does it mean that it's coming to an end now?
Speaker 5: It's really the end of an error. We saw Nancy
Speaker 5: Pelosi and her eighties be retired, and now we have
Speaker 5: Mitch McConnell eighty two retire from this leadership post. We're
Speaker 5: going to have a whole new generation that comes into
Speaker 5: power power positions in Washington in the very near future,
Speaker 5: and I think that era is going to be ushered
Speaker 5: in as to youthful leadership. It'll be interesting to see
Speaker 5: what happens in the Senate as far as the elections go,
Speaker 5: and whether or not we're picking a minority leader or
Speaker 5: a majority leader in this cycle. But at the end
Speaker 5: of the day, we're going to lose a master strategist
Speaker 5: at legislation and politics. I was actually happy to hear
Speaker 5: that he talked about his grasp of politics. I've never
Speaker 5: met a member of the United States Senate who knew
Speaker 5: more polling and strategy than Mitch McConnell did. He was
Speaker 5: a real study in politics, and for people like me
Speaker 5: that helped have conversations with him about the impacts of
Speaker 5: what happened in the United States Senate. They weren't in
Speaker 5: a vacuum politically. He calculated the politics of every move
Speaker 5: he made.
Speaker 4: The quote that stuck out to me, Janie, the end
Speaker 4: of my contributions are closer than I'd prefer. And you
Speaker 4: wonder how much of this had to do with his
Speaker 4: age or the impact of Donald Trump on his party.
Speaker 4: Maybe you can't separate the two.
Speaker 3: What do you think?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, I think I agree with you. I
Speaker 6: think it's really hard to separate the two and I
Speaker 6: was struck by that as well, because, of course this
Speaker 6: is a party that has changed enormously in the last
Speaker 6: several years, but certainly since Mitch McConnell took the helm
Speaker 6: in the Senate and since he joined the Senate, this
Speaker 6: is not the same Republican Party of Mitch McConnell's time.
Speaker 6: And we have seen challenges to his leadership in the
Speaker 6: Senate very very recently, and so I think that's part
Speaker 6: of it, and I think we have to take him
Speaker 6: at his word that he feels like it is now
Speaker 6: time to hand over the mantle. And this is something
Speaker 6: so many of our leaders are grappling with right now,
Speaker 6: right up to our presidential leading contenders in Joe Biden
Speaker 6: and Donald Trump. As you see new generations saying wait
Speaker 6: a minute, is it time for you to exit stage left?
Speaker 6: So so many you know, of our leaders grappling with
Speaker 6: this challenge, and I think Mitch McConnell makes a really
Speaker 6: important point. Part of being a leader is having a
Speaker 6: succession plan, and we know that he's got the three
Speaker 6: Johns in waiting, and I would hope a couple of
Speaker 6: the women as well in the Senate leadership on the
Speaker 6: Republican side who may be able to fill his shoes.
Speaker 6: But that's a critical part of being a leader, is
Speaker 6: knowing when to exit and hand over the mantle to
Speaker 6: the next generation. He is right about that part of it.
Speaker 3: So what do you think about the succession plan here? Rick?
Speaker 4: It's always been about the three Johns in terms of
Speaker 4: recent history, Barasso, Thoon, and Cornyn. Will it in fact
Speaker 4: be one of them?
Speaker 5: It could be. There's no question that the caucus itself
Speaker 5: is going through some turmoil. We saw attacks against Mitch
Speaker 5: McConnell earlier in the year related to his efforts to
Speaker 5: try and pass Ukraine funding, and so I think you'd
Speaker 5: have to sort of see it as an opportunistic situation. Obviously,
Speaker 5: the three Johns, who have been participating in leadership for
Speaker 5: a very long time, know how the strings are pulled,
Speaker 5: understand how to get legislation passed, understand the dynamic within
Speaker 5: the caucus probably better than anyone else. But there are
Speaker 5: other people who have ambitions in leadership, people like Tom Tillis,
Speaker 5: who I think have you know, studied Mitch McConnell's leadership
Speaker 5: for quite some time and may be ready to emerge.
Speaker 5: And so I think you can see also potentially a
Speaker 5: right flank attack. You know, Ted Cruz and some of
Speaker 5: his buddies have been very vocally opposed to Mitch McConnell
Speaker 5: and may put up a candidate that represents their point
Speaker 5: of view.
Speaker 4: Do you wonder, Genie, with all the talk lately of
Speaker 4: conversations happening that might bring Mitch McConnell to it dom
Speaker 4: Trump endorsement, which we talked about yesterday and some think
Speaker 4: is inevitable, was this this way of saying no, that
Speaker 4: I'm not going to be part of this.
Speaker 6: I was thinking about that. You know, I think it's
Speaker 6: a hard call. I think I veer on the side
Speaker 6: that Mitch McConnell is a real institutionalist, and he is
Speaker 6: somebody who is deeply committed to the Republican Party. Since
Speaker 6: he committed to supporting whoever is the nominee, I believe
Speaker 6: he will probably in the end support Donald Trump. He
Speaker 6: may hold his nose like some other voters and do that,
Speaker 6: but I think he will as Donald Trump goes to
Speaker 6: take that mantle as the nominee this year. Again, you know,
Speaker 6: I would also again just let's add to the list
Speaker 6: of possible successors Ernst and Iowa Shelley Moore Capito in
Speaker 6: West Virginia. There are women in the House Republican leadership
Speaker 6: who could really play a very important role. And so
Speaker 6: you know, in addition to all those folks that Rick
Speaker 6: just mentioned in the Three Johns, I think we also
Speaker 6: have to look to that because they have a very
Speaker 6: sort of interesting perspective and a path to the Senate
Speaker 6: and a lot that they could do in their House
Speaker 6: Republican I mean, sorry, Senate Republican leadership.
Speaker 4: Yes, right, yeah, A lot to consider here as we
Speaker 4: move into this election cycle or further into it. Rick,
Speaker 4: I don't know, if you see a McConnell endorsement of
Speaker 4: Trump in the offing, does he want to be remembered
Speaker 4: as a tried and true Republican or in this case,
Speaker 4: the guy who said no.
Speaker 5: I don't think it was an accident that he wistfully
Speaker 5: discussed on his floor speech just now how much he
Speaker 5: was impacted by Ronald Reagan's leadership, basically given credit to
Speaker 5: Rob Reagan for his marriage.
Speaker 3: But the reality is that is.
Speaker 5: The Republican Party that Mitch McConnell has fought so hard
Speaker 5: to be successful in the isolationist policies of Donald Trump.
Speaker 5: May as well be in Democratic Party, right, That's what
Speaker 5: he's thought his entire career, And so it wouldn't surprise
Speaker 5: me that in conjunction with a decision that I suspect
Speaker 5: has a lot more to do with being eighty two
Speaker 5: years old than anything political. Right now, Remember he's had
Speaker 5: some challenges with his health this last year. Yes, that
Speaker 5: he uses the opportunity to not feel compelled to have
Speaker 5: to play in this presidential election and may just skip
Speaker 5: an endorsement. You know, if it's Donald Trump's to.
Speaker 4: Have Genie, I wonder what Joe Biden is going to
Speaker 4: make of this. He's of course a similar age to
Speaker 4: Mitch McConnell, of course a former senator, and they've been
Speaker 4: through a lot together. They've found themselves on the same
Speaker 4: side of history lately on a number of issues. Is
Speaker 4: Joe Biden going to deliver a Mitch McConnell tribute in
Speaker 4: that speech next week?
Speaker 6: You know, I think he probably will say something in
Speaker 6: the State of the Union about Mitch McConnell, his service
Speaker 6: to the country, their relationship, you know, they famously have
Speaker 6: a have had a you know, contentious and close relationship
Speaker 6: at the same time. So I suspect he will. And
Speaker 6: I think to your point, this also does raise questions
Speaker 6: again about Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And this is
Speaker 6: the same thing that Nancy Pelosi was dealing with. This
Speaker 6: is the same thing Dianne Feinstein was dealing with. Now,
Speaker 6: Mitch McConnell, you know, leadership requires a plan to move
Speaker 6: on and leave the role in the institution better than
Speaker 6: you found it, and to do so with grace and
Speaker 6: with young people to come forward and take the mantle.
Speaker 6: And you know, Mitch McConnell, he made several statements in
Speaker 6: his speech before the Senate today and he was indicating
Speaker 6: that this is something that he needs to do. And
Speaker 6: I suspect Joe Biden knows the reality that at some
Speaker 6: point he'll need to do the same. I don't suspect
Speaker 6: we'll see it now. But is this god away heavy
Speaker 6: on him as well?
Speaker 3: Well, that's for sure.
Speaker 4: Wendy Benjamin said said something fascinating earlier this hour when
Speaker 4: we saw the headline cross Rick. She said, the transformation
Speaker 4: is now complete, of course, referring to Donald Trump's influence
Speaker 4: on the Republican Party. I suspected a statement like that
Speaker 4: might hit you the wrong way and I wonder if
Speaker 4: you think it's true.
Speaker 3: You know, it's hard to tell.
Speaker 5: I mean, there's no question that the rank and file
Speaker 5: Republican voter is more like Donald Trump and his views
Speaker 5: than they were of Ronald Reagan and his views in
Speaker 5: nineteen seventy six and nineteen eighty, right. I mean, like
Speaker 5: the party has changed demographically, and so that demographic shift
Speaker 5: has to be represented in this leadership, and that's Donald Trump.
Speaker 5: I mean, these are you know, white, rural, mostly male,
Speaker 5: lacking college education voters who make up the majority of
Speaker 5: the Republican Party right now, and they represent a different
Speaker 5: ideological shift. It's not any more or less conservative, it's
Speaker 5: a different kind. As I mentioned earlier, it represents an
Speaker 5: isolationist wing of the Republican Party that we've always had
Speaker 5: Rand Paul people like that represent it. But this is
Speaker 5: the first time that someone like Donald Trump would be
Speaker 5: able to reach in twenty sixteen, the leadership of that party.
Speaker 5: So there is a different party. That being said, the
Speaker 5: one thing I would watch Mitch McConnell do is he
Speaker 5: will work overtime to ensure that there's a Republican majority
Speaker 5: in the United States Senate after this election. I mean,
Speaker 5: this will be his commitment. It always is during an
Speaker 5: election year. He loves the rough and tumble of politics,
Speaker 5: and my guess is what we'll see is a little
Speaker 5: less legislative activity which you would see anyway during an
Speaker 5: election year like this, but a lot more effort to
Speaker 5: ensure that part of his legacy is he left with
Speaker 5: a Republican majority.
Speaker 4: There you have it from a Republican who made a
Speaker 4: career in the United States Senate, Rick Davis. It's great
Speaker 4: to have you with us, Rick, he and Jeanie Shanzano.
Speaker 4: Of course our signature panel here on Balance of Power.
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Speaker 7: Of course, hearing Washington, there is one thing dominating's thought
Speaker 7: at the moment, Joe, and that is the fact that
Speaker 7: Mitch McConnell has announced today that he will step down
Speaker 7: as the leader of the Republicans in the Senate after
Speaker 7: the election in November.
Speaker 4: He's going to be part of the rank and file,
Speaker 4: which I can't quite imagine on him imagining, and he
Speaker 4: says he's actually looking forward to it, which says a
Speaker 4: lot about the straits that he's been in as leader.
Speaker 4: Certainly in this session of Congress, but over the past
Speaker 4: couple of years, dealing with Donald Trump has not come easily.
Speaker 3: Mitch McConnell.
Speaker 4: He's seen his wife disparaged publicly by the former president,
Speaker 4: and he's seen politics move away from him. I think
Speaker 4: we can argue and us what we want to talk
Speaker 4: about with Bloomberg's Michael Shepherd, who of course helps to
Speaker 4: lead our bureau and our coverage of Capitol Hill and
Speaker 4: the White House here in Washington, DC. Michael, it's great
Speaker 4: to see you at the table here. You know, it's
Speaker 4: important when Michael Shepherd is in the room, and so
Speaker 4: I wonder your initial reaction to this. Wendy said earlier,
Speaker 4: the transformation is complete. You might not want to go
Speaker 4: that far, but we have to acknowledge the evolution of
Speaker 4: this party.
Speaker 8: It may not be complete. We're taking another big step
Speaker 8: in that direction, Joe and Cayley. Wendy, my colleague, is
Speaker 8: absolutely right that this is another signpost that we will
Speaker 8: look at in the history books for evidence of Donald
Speaker 8: Trump's growing hold.
Speaker 3: On the party.
Speaker 8: And Mitch McConnell, even in recent months and weeks, has
Speaker 8: been advocating against Trump over Ukraine EID. The former president
Speaker 8: has expressed great reluctance and urged the party to reject
Speaker 8: measures further back in Kiev ahead of anything that would
Speaker 8: be done on the US southern border. And Mitch McConnell
Speaker 8: has really tried to push this through. He's tried to
Speaker 8: make that his legacy. Other parts of his legacy also
Speaker 8: will be seen not only on the international stage but domestically,
Speaker 8: and one in particular is the right word shift of
Speaker 8: the judiciary, and that's really helped shape a lot of
Speaker 8: social issues, especially abortion, as they play out here in
Speaker 8: the US.
Speaker 7: Well, it was noteworthy Mike here McConnell in that speech
Speaker 7: talking about how he's going to continue to defend American exceptionalism.
Speaker 7: He also specifically called out the National Security supplemental that
Speaker 7: you mentioned he worked incredibly hard on. And so he's
Speaker 7: been so passionate about this Ukraine issue and really his
Speaker 7: advocacy for ad Ukraine at a time when a lot
Speaker 7: of Republicans don't necessarily seem with him on that may
Speaker 7: already have been evidenced of his diminished hold over the
Speaker 7: party at large. Now that he has said eight months
Speaker 7: from now, I will no longer be your leader, does
Speaker 7: he lose more leverage and trying to push for his
Speaker 7: policy priorities.
Speaker 8: That's a great question because this gives his opponents and
Speaker 8: his rivals even more purchase an opportunity to try to
Speaker 8: move in and try to head off the things that
Speaker 8: McConnell might have been pushing, including more aid for Ukraine.
Speaker 8: And this is another opportunity for the next generation, and
Speaker 8: he talked about that in his remarks to step in.
Speaker 8: Some of the people we could look at as immediate
Speaker 8: successors would be his number two, John Thune from South Dakota,
Speaker 8: or John Barrasso, the number three from Wyoming. They've both
Speaker 8: endorsed Trump. That's a step that so far Mitch McConnell
Speaker 8: has not yet done. For the twenty twenty four presidential race.
Speaker 8: The two men, McConnell and Trump have really grown a
Speaker 8: strange since Trump left office, and especially since the January
Speaker 8: sixth Capitol insurrection.
Speaker 4: You wonder if this is an early answer to the
Speaker 4: questions of whether he will endorse Donald Trump because he
Speaker 4: might have just given himself an out. He was emotional
Speaker 4: during that floor speech. Michael, we all stopped to watch
Speaker 4: and listen.
Speaker 3: Is he doing this reluctantly?
Speaker 8: I think that he, like he said in that speech,
Speaker 8: And you're right. I noticed it right away too. You
Speaker 8: could see his voice catching, and it was a fraud
Speaker 8: moment and freighted moment for him.
Speaker 3: Think about it.
Speaker 8: He has been serving in that chamber since nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 8: That's a lifetime, and that is more than a career.
Speaker 8: And he has felt so vested, and he said he
Speaker 8: still gets a thrill walking through the chamber. Now the
Speaker 8: challenge for him has been it is much tougher these
Speaker 8: days to do it. His health has been declining visibly.
Speaker 8: Our reporters up on Capitol Hill have noticed how much
Speaker 8: more slowly he is moving, and of course he had
Speaker 8: that high profile fall last year and a few more
Speaker 8: recent episodes where he froze in public appearances.
Speaker 7: All right, Michael Sheppard, who helps lead our coverage here
Speaker 7: in our Washington bureau for Bloomberg, thank you so much
Speaker 7: for joining us on what is a historic day. Joe
Speaker 7: McConnell in that speech, talking about how he came into
Speaker 7: the Senate. As Mike just said, nineteen eighty five, it
Speaker 7: was the Reagan era. It is now twenty twenty four,
Speaker 7: and in many ways this is still Trump's a Republican
Speaker 7: Party at this point. It's just a very different time
Speaker 7: as he steps down from being leader to when he
Speaker 7: entered Now. Of course, as we pay attention to these
Speaker 7: power dynamics changing in the senat or at least they
Speaker 7: will have changed come November, we also want to get
Speaker 7: the view from the House and police to say. Joining
Speaker 7: us now is a Democratic Congressman from California, John Garramendi.
Speaker 7: He is with us live from Capitol Hill on both
Speaker 7: Bloomberg Television and radio. Congressman, thank you so much for
Speaker 7: being with us. I know it is a busy time
Speaker 7: as you return to the House today. First, though, I
Speaker 7: would love to get your reaction on Mitch McConnell's announcement
Speaker 7: in the other Chamber that he will no longer be
Speaker 7: serving as Republican leader. What does this reflect to you
Speaker 7: about the way your colleagues on the other side of
Speaker 7: the aisle have changed on Capitol Hill over the course
Speaker 7: of not just McConnell's tenure but really more immediately the
Speaker 7: last several years, I.
Speaker 9: Think there's extraordinary changes taking place from the Reagan period,
Speaker 9: which was optimistic. Reagan was an optimist. Now, whether you
Speaker 9: liked his policies or not, he thought America's future was
Speaker 9: well taken care of into the future. That's not where
Speaker 9: we are today. The Republican Party is led by Trump,
Speaker 9: who is a downer. He sees nothing but problems and
Speaker 9: hate and disarray, and he has said it very very
Speaker 9: clearly that America's future is trashed. So we really see
Speaker 9: an enormous difference in where the Republican Party is in
Speaker 9: the leadership of it. And McConnell has been very, very
Speaker 9: much a part of denying Americans they're basic rights. You
Speaker 9: take a look at what McConnell did with Trump and
Speaker 9: others to form the Supreme Court, the most conservative in many, raged,
Speaker 9: outrageous Supreme Court that we've had, perhaps in the history
Speaker 9: of this nation. If you're a woman, you can count
Speaker 9: on Mitch McConnell having played a critical role in denying
Speaker 9: you the rights to your own health care, the abortion issue,
Speaker 9: and beyond also voting rights. Mitch McConnell had everything to
Speaker 9: do with setting up a Supreme Court as well as
Speaker 9: other lower courts, in putting in place justices that have
Speaker 9: no use for the notion that every citizen has a
Speaker 9: right to vote, so taking away fundamental civil liberties as
Speaker 9: well as the right of a woman. McConnell did that.
Speaker 9: He did that by using his power to establish a
Speaker 9: Supreme Court and lower courts that are extraordinarily conservative.
Speaker 4: So no love lost, certainly over Merrick Garland, Congressman, I
Speaker 4: think I hear what you're saying. Will the Senate be better
Speaker 4: served in the hands of a MAGA friendly leader.
Speaker 9: Absolutely not. You take a look the two gentlemen. I
Speaker 9: know him well. I think of them as people that
Speaker 9: I have worked with, But they're coming from extremely conservative states.
Speaker 9: I represent more people in my district than they do
Speaker 9: in their entire state. The nation has shifted, and yet
Speaker 9: it looks as though the future leadership of the Senate
Speaker 9: is going to be dominated by two people who represent
Speaker 9: very very few people and an extraordinary conservative states. So
Speaker 9: what we're seeing is the Republican Party giving way to
Speaker 9: the mega extremist and that's going to have long term
Speaker 9: implications for this nation, and it will clearly have implications
Speaker 9: in the upcoming Senate races where we should be arguing,
Speaker 9: Wait a minute, in America, is this really what you
Speaker 9: want in the future. The answer, I think is very clear. No,
Speaker 9: we don't want the Senate controlled by the extreme mega Republicans,
Speaker 9: which is what is now going to happen.
Speaker 7: Well, Congressman, of course, this announcement from Mitch McConnell comes
Speaker 7: at a especially precarious time on Capitol Hill, as we
Speaker 7: are just days away, potentially from the start of a
Speaker 7: partial government shutdown if there is not some deal reached
Speaker 7: to avert one. It's really unclear what exactly the standing
Speaker 7: plan is of House Speaker Mike Johnson. But we were
Speaker 7: told by the House Majority Whip Tom Emmer just a
Speaker 7: few weeks ago before the recess that it would not
Speaker 7: be another continuing resolution. I'd like you to just listen
Speaker 7: to what Congressman Emmer told us earlier this month.
Speaker 10: Here he is, You're not going to get another continuing
Speaker 10: resolution out of our conference in Congress. The last one
Speaker 10: was difficult, and that was done because our speaker recognized
Speaker 10: that there just wasn't enough physical time to process all
Speaker 10: the bills. Once the House and the Senate had agreed
Speaker 10: on the top line number. When we come back, the
Speaker 10: key is going to be what are the packages that
Speaker 10: are put on the floor. We should be there before
Speaker 10: the first deadline of March first.
Speaker 7: So Congressman, you are now back, what is your understanding
Speaker 7: of what exactly is going to happen to avert a
Speaker 7: partial shutdown come midnight Friday? Will it be a CR?
Speaker 9: Well, currently the House of Representatives is run by the
Speaker 9: Chaos Caucus. It's total, absolute chaos. I'm a good guy,
Speaker 9: but he's going to prove to be proven wrong. There
Speaker 9: will be a CR for how long we don't know.
Speaker 9: Let's keep in mind that the Republicans are incapable of governing,
Speaker 9: totally incapable of governing. The major pieces of legislation that
Speaker 9: kept this government functioning have been by the minority party,
Speaker 9: by the Democrats. We're the ones that have governed over
Speaker 9: the last year. You take a look at the dead
Speaker 9: limit that was sixty percent Democrats, forty percent Republicans. Democrats
Speaker 9: were governing, then we're the sane, rational group that have
Speaker 9: been able to keep this government functioning. The crs of
Speaker 9: the past Republicans couldn't put their own cr out there.
Speaker 9: Each one of the crs that have brought us to
Speaker 9: this this week have been done by the Democrats. We're
Speaker 9: the ones that have kept the government functioning. You take
Speaker 9: a look at the National Defense Authorization Act. The Republicans
Speaker 9: didn't put up the majority of votes. It was the
Speaker 9: Democrats once again that put up the legislation that allows
Speaker 9: for our national security. Not the Republicans. They are the
Speaker 9: chaos Caucus. And now we're looking at where are we today.
Speaker 9: It'll be a continuation of that. They're continuing to try
Speaker 9: to put onto the appropriation bill. Absolutely crazy writers, dealing
Speaker 9: with women's rights, dealing with voting rights, dealing with the border,
Speaker 9: on and on and on. None of us solve any
Speaker 9: problem but make the situation worse for Americans. It's the
Speaker 9: Democrats put up their votes.
Speaker 3: Yes, but that said a Congressman.
Speaker 4: The speaker says, if there's no agreement on these four
Speaker 4: spending bills that are set to expire Friday, that he
Speaker 4: will not entertain a cr We're just trying to figure
Speaker 4: out not even who's the blame right now, but whether
Speaker 4: this thing's going to start shutting down or not.
Speaker 3: What's your gut check.
Speaker 9: Well, we're going to find out, aren't we do The
Speaker 9: Republicans want to be responsible for shutting down about it.
Speaker 9: You don't know, We don't know, but we do know.
Speaker 9: This total chaos and the Republican cough Conference. They cannot govern,
Speaker 9: they cannot get their act together. Speaker Johnson has no
Speaker 9: power whatsoever. One member of the Republican Party can terminate
Speaker 9: his office. And he has no power if he ever
Speaker 9: knew how to use it in the first place. The
Speaker 9: answer to that is probably he doesn't know how to
Speaker 9: use it. And keep in mind that he is an
Speaker 9: extraordinary conservative person. His record on voting, his record on
Speaker 9: conservatism is way beyond, way beyond the MAGA conservatism. So
Speaker 9: he's coming at this from a radical conservative point of
Speaker 9: view personally trying to govern a caucus that is total chaos.
Speaker 9: It will I'll tell you what will ultimately happen. There
Speaker 9: will be a CR and that CR will be put
Speaker 9: forth with Democratic votes. It will be the Democrats that
Speaker 9: once again put up the majority, probably as much as
Speaker 9: sixty sixty or two thirds of the votes. The Republicans,
Speaker 9: a few of them, will sign on and then will
Speaker 9: continue to operate the government. Is that the way to
Speaker 9: do it? Absolutely not. But the Republican leadership if they
Speaker 9: would today allow the vote to go forward on funding Ukraine.
Speaker 9: And by the way, the Republicans like to fancy themselves
Speaker 9: as being the national security program that they're out there
Speaker 9: beating their chests saying, oh, it's all about a strong
Speaker 9: military really, but they won't fund it. They won't fund Ukraine.
Speaker 9: Most of that money for Ukraine is to rebuild our
Speaker 9: supplies in our depots in America and around the world,
Speaker 9: the United States depots, and also will provide ambunition for Ukraine.
Speaker 9: It is absolutely unconscionable what the Republicans, who fancy themselves
Speaker 9: as being national security advocates are standing down. They're not
Speaker 9: lining up to support America's national security or the border funding.
Speaker 9: They want border they won't vote for it. They want
Speaker 9: funding for the voter, for the burder, but they won't
Speaker 9: fund it. I mean, it is absolute, total chaos.
Speaker 4: The congressman from California, Democrat, serves on the Armed Services Committee,
Speaker 4: John Garamendi, It's great to see you again, Congressman.
Speaker 3: Don't be a stranger.
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Speaker 3: Mitch McConnell announcing his plans. He's going to keep his seat.
Speaker 4: If you're just joining us, it's an important breaking story today.
Speaker 4: He's going to leave his leadership post in November, and
Speaker 4: we'll continue to serve the state of Kentucky. This is
Speaker 4: not only a generational leader in the Republican Party in
Speaker 4: the Senate here.
Speaker 3: But a member.
Speaker 4: He's been a Senator since nineteen eighty five, kle and
Speaker 4: he spoke lovingly about Ronald Reagan being his inspiration to
Speaker 4: enter politics. He did not mention Donald Trump as an inspiration.
Speaker 7: He did not mention Donald Trump by name. But he
Speaker 7: did speak on the Senate floor earlier today about how
Speaker 7: he's aware of the politics politics of the Republican Party
Speaker 7: right now, kind of alluding to the fact that the
Speaker 7: politics are no longer the politics of the Reagan era
Speaker 7: of nineteen eighty five. This is twenty twenty four. Donald
Speaker 7: Trump is at this point far and away expected to
Speaker 7: be the Republican nominee. And he hasn't always agreed with
Speaker 7: Donald Trump in the past. As we know, he said
Speaker 7: he was practically and morally responsible for January sixth, twenty
Speaker 7: twenty one, when we saw the attack on the Capitol.
Speaker 7: And of course Donald Trump has also had some really
Speaker 7: harsh words about Elaine Chow, Mitch McConnell's wife, who he
Speaker 7: spoke fondly of on the Senate floor earlier.
Speaker 4: Today, he sure did talked about the fact that he
Speaker 4: was reaching the end of his tenure here in words
Speaker 4: that you could only hear really from Mitch McConnell. The
Speaker 4: end of my contributions are closer than i'd prefer. And
Speaker 4: that's why we wanted to spend some time again today
Speaker 4: talking with Rojick Kumar.
Speaker 3: We had him here yesterday to talk.
Speaker 4: About negotiations involving Mitch McConnell Kaylene, not knowing that this
Speaker 4: development would take place today.
Speaker 3: He's at PwC now, but spent many.
Speaker 4: Years working with Mitch McConnell, including his time as Deputy
Speaker 4: Chief of Staff. Rohan, it's great to have you welcome
Speaker 4: back twenty four hours later.
Speaker 3: What did you make of this news when it broke.
Speaker 11: Look, I am a proud alum of the McConnell operation,
Speaker 11: and so I was a little bit sad I won't lie.
Speaker 11: I have a lot of affection for the leader. He
Speaker 11: was great to work for. He was an incredibly gracious boss.
Speaker 11: You don't see it, you saw hints of it in
Speaker 11: his remarks today, but he has an incredibly sharp and
Speaker 11: dry sense of humor, and it made him a really
Speaker 11: great boss to work for. Even I think even those
Speaker 11: who don't always agree with his policy positions or the
Speaker 11: choices that he made sort of over time came to
Speaker 11: respect the way in which he handled himself. I certainly
Speaker 11: saw that up close and personal. And while this was
Speaker 11: the announcement today was certainly a surprise, it was not
Speaker 11: something that I knew yesterday when we last spoke. At
Speaker 11: some level, one of his superpowers has been a deep
Speaker 11: sentence of self awareness, a trait that is perhaps not
Speaker 11: always so commonplace amongst elected officials, not just in this
Speaker 11: country but everywhere.
Speaker 7: Well you speak to the surprise of the timing of
Speaker 7: this announcement, and maybe it is a product of his
Speaker 7: self awareness. As he said essentially that his time has come.
Speaker 7: But if he's saying he's no longer going to be
Speaker 7: the leader post the election in November, this is more
Speaker 7: than eight months away. Rohit why do this now.
Speaker 11: Oh, that to me makes I mean, at some level,
Speaker 11: I think the timing was, as he said, and his
Speaker 11: remarks driven by the personal tragedy in the family with
Speaker 11: the death of his sister Laana car accident. But I
Speaker 11: think it's also if you know this is coming level,
Speaker 11: you owe it to the conference not to surprise them
Speaker 11: in November and saying, you know, everyone thought I was
Speaker 11: going to be leader, and he almost surely would have
Speaker 11: had the votes to be re elected leader again had
Speaker 11: he run. To give everyone notice right that I'm not
Speaker 11: going to be doing this again. You all will have
Speaker 11: to pick a different leader, and to give those that
Speaker 11: are running, and there have been at least three names
Speaker 11: that have been widely discussed in the press as potential successors,
Speaker 11: you know, a chance to make their case to the conference,
Speaker 11: so that it's not an artificially truncated race that the
Speaker 11: conference will have. Senate Republicans will have time to engage
Speaker 11: in a thoughtful conversation about who they want their next
Speaker 11: leader to be. And as he said in his form marks,
Speaker 11: if he has his brothers to be the next Senate
Speaker 11: Majority leader, not just Senate Republican leader, a.
Speaker 4: Big question that everyone's asking, and I bet you've been
Speaker 4: asked it already, is why now? And some folks look
Speaker 4: to Donald Trump for an answer, Some folks look to
Speaker 4: Mitch McConnell's age for an answer.
Speaker 3: Where do you look?
Speaker 2: I look.
Speaker 11: I take the man at his word, which is that
Speaker 11: you know there was a family tragedy causes a moment
Speaker 11: of introspection. He realizes, you know that, as he said,
Speaker 11: you know, the end of his contributions are closer than
Speaker 11: the beginning of his contributions, and it's time to pass
Speaker 11: the mantle. And as I said, and I really I
Speaker 11: can't emphasize how much I saw this just in working
Speaker 11: with him for the seven years I worked for him directly,
Speaker 11: and then four years prior to that, when I worked
Speaker 11: for Senator First he was the Senate Republican Whips. We
Speaker 11: worked very closely together for an eleven year stretch, being
Speaker 11: self aware, right and understanding that the time has come
Speaker 11: to pass the baton. Now. I can't tell you why
Speaker 11: today versus yesterday or tomorrow or next week. Only he
Speaker 11: can answer that question. But I think at some level,
Speaker 11: once you've made the decision, or putting myself in his shoes,
Speaker 11: once he'd made the decision he wasn't going to run again.
Speaker 11: There was no reason to keep that a secret from
Speaker 11: the conference, And at some level it was a final
Speaker 11: act of service to the conference to give notice with
Speaker 11: sufficient time for the potential candidates to make their case
Speaker 11: in a fulsome way.
Speaker 7: Well, as we consider the fact that really he's just
Speaker 7: stepping down as leader here in November he said he
Speaker 7: is still sticking around to serve as the Senator from Kentucky,
Speaker 7: why not just leave the chamber entirely. If he's talking
Speaker 7: about how he mentioned, you know, time and the fact
Speaker 7: that he is eighty two years old, that a new
Speaker 7: generation is needed, why not let that actual generational change
Speaker 7: happened sooner and just call time on a Senate career
Speaker 7: that's lasted four decades.
Speaker 11: Well, I mean, I think he has a tremendous sense
Speaker 11: of duty. And the voters of Kentucky elected him to
Speaker 11: a six year term. They knew how old he was
Speaker 11: when he was elected. They knew how old he would
Speaker 11: be at the end of his term. And you know
Speaker 11: he is in this. You just can't state this. I
Speaker 11: will surely understate this, even though I will attempt not to.
Speaker 11: He is not a quittor you know, he rather famously
Speaker 11: overcame polio as a child, and that has just been
Speaker 11: ingrained in his personality from an early age. It's a
Speaker 11: lesson you're taught early as an early McConnell staffer. There
Speaker 11: is just no quit in him. This is a passing
Speaker 11: of a baton. It's not really a quit. And I
Speaker 11: think for him, serving out the term is sort of
Speaker 11: an important sort of feature of keeping the commitment he
Speaker 11: made to the voters of Kentucky and honoring the term
Speaker 11: that they elected him to. And there will be, of
Speaker 11: course a natural time for that to change. He sort
Speaker 11: of effective announced he's not going to run again. He'll
Speaker 11: serve out until January of twenty twenty seven, and then
Speaker 11: the voters in Kentucky will have a chance to have
Speaker 11: their say in presumably November of twenty six.
Speaker 4: We got news here on an endorsement already. It just
Speaker 4: gives us a sense of what we might be in
Speaker 4: for between now. In November, row Hit, the chair of
Speaker 4: the Freedom Caucus, has endorsed Rick Scott to run the
Speaker 4: Republican Party in the Senate. And we know that that's
Speaker 4: something Rick Scott, at least at one time was interested
Speaker 4: in doing. Is there going to be a bigger field
Speaker 4: than we're allowing for right now?
Speaker 11: I mean, I think it's too early to say, you
Speaker 11: know what the field will look like. Senator Scott ran
Speaker 11: last time, no idea if he's planning on running again.
Speaker 11: In my several years, almost two decades of service to
Speaker 11: the Senate, I have found that senators were rather uninterested
Speaker 11: in the House's thoughts about how this organized their affairs.
Speaker 7: Fair enough, but it does raise the question, real hint
Speaker 7: of what kind of Republican could succeed McConnell, because as
Speaker 7: we kind of began this conversation talking about how McConnell
Speaker 7: was a Reagan era Republican, perhaps representing an internationalist wing
Speaker 7: of the Republican Party, whereas Donald Trump represents another wing
Speaker 7: and has growing influences we see evidenced on Capitol Hill
Speaker 7: almost each and every day among Republicans. Who could be
Speaker 7: realistically the next Senate leader who could get support from
Speaker 7: both sides.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a.
Speaker 11: Little bit hard to tell, because the electorate hasn't even
Speaker 11: been deciding, right, it will be the Senate Republican conference
Speaker 11: of the upcoming Congress, not the one that we have today.
Speaker 11: Shot weld Side and Centater McConnell alluded to he is
Speaker 11: certainly hoping and doing everything within his power to elect
Speaker 11: more Senate Republicans. Cent are there now that would you know,
Speaker 11: in an effort to put Senate Republicans in the majority.
Speaker 11: So without knowing who the electorate is, it's very difficult
Speaker 11: to predict who's going to win an election.
Speaker 3: Ro Hit, thanks for coming in.
Speaker 4: It's good to see you, especially in an emergency situation
Speaker 4: like this at PwC. Former deputy chief of staff for
Speaker 4: Mitch McConnell, who's going to be stepping down as Republican
Speaker 4: leader in November. Kayley, It's just another layer to the
Speaker 4: drama that we're going to be covering for the next year.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast Ken
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Speaker 4: We have an opportunity to have a special conversation right
Speaker 4: now with the chief executive from one of America's great cities,
Speaker 4: the mayor of Atlanta is with us from World Headquarters
Speaker 4: in New York. Andre Dickens as part of the conversation
Speaker 4: today on Bloomberg. Mister mayor, I appreciate your joining us.
Speaker 4: You should know that we're fans of mayors around here
Speaker 4: because as we cover Washington in and out every day
Speaker 4: and the madness that you just heard us talking about,
Speaker 4: we are well aware that you do not have the
Speaker 4: luxury that lawmakers in Washington have when it comes to
Speaker 4: making decisions. And so I'll start by asking you would
Speaker 4: a government shut down mean anything for the city of Atlanta.
Speaker 12: Yeah, you know, mayors are just different. I'm a part
Speaker 12: of the US Conference of Mayors, and we say, you know,
Speaker 12: no Democrats, Republicans. Mayors got to get the job done
Speaker 12: on the streets of our cities, and so we could
Speaker 12: not tolerate a government shut down from a city perspective.
Speaker 12: You know, the federal government is dealing with that every
Speaker 12: other quarter or so. It gives us a little heartburn.
Speaker 12: We're hopeful that get through this one as well. But
Speaker 12: there are federal agencies that are within the city of Atlanta,
Speaker 12: from TSA to the FAA at the world's busiest airport,
Speaker 12: to of course there's some national parks, like the King
Speaker 12: Center is a national park in the city of Atlanta,
Speaker 12: which is one of the most visited places in the
Speaker 12: United States, and so many other things that the federal government.
Speaker 12: Of course, there's federal employees from the IRS to the
Speaker 12: various institutions, So a government shut down by the fees
Speaker 12: affect our cities across America in a major way. We'll
Speaker 12: get through it, We'll still be able to do what
Speaker 12: we need to do. But think about all the funding
Speaker 12: that goes to various households through the federal government. It's
Speaker 12: just intolerable to see all this wrangling each end every.
Speaker 4: Time for those watching on YouTube and elsewhere. Right now,
Speaker 4: clearly the mayor is at home in Atlanta with that
Speaker 4: beautiful skyline behind you. Mister Mary, didn't mean to confuse
Speaker 4: that I know exactly where you're sitting. As a matter
Speaker 4: of facts, we've been talking about dysfunction here in Congress
Speaker 4: for I guess months and months. You're talking about, though,
Speaker 4: one of the biggest bipartisan victories that we've seen in
Speaker 4: the capital in some time, and that's infrastructure. And you've
Speaker 4: got your own seven hundred and fifty million dollar infrastructure
Speaker 4: project that you're talking about in Atlanta. I'd like to
Speaker 4: hear more about it, beginning with how you're paying for it.
Speaker 4: Will that be helped by the federal law.
Speaker 12: Yeah, So we are very thankful for the Biden and
Speaker 12: Harris bipartisan Infrastructure law that really brought a lot of
Speaker 12: dollars to the city of Atlanta and all the cities
Speaker 12: across this country. That's been very helpful, as well as
Speaker 12: the infrastructure, the Inflation Reduction Act, the Chips Act. We're
Speaker 12: taking it all to be able to help the residents
Speaker 12: of Atlanta. We also did our own bond last year,
Speaker 12: which is the Moving Atlanta Forward Bond, because we have
Speaker 12: this great credit rating, the highest in the city's history.
Speaker 12: So we're capitalizing on that because of being good stewards
Speaker 12: of our public trust. The public has said, let's go
Speaker 12: forward and do all of this new road infrastructure, new
Speaker 12: parks and recreation centers, new fire stations, as well as
Speaker 12: a new police station. So we're taking all of this
Speaker 12: great bond infrastructure that we have and putting it to
Speaker 12: use for the public. So we're now deploying those resources
Speaker 12: with contractors to get these things built so that the
Speaker 12: public can enjoy these new amenities.
Speaker 4: So you're at the contracting stage already. Do you have
Speaker 4: the workers to do all those jobs?
Speaker 12: Well, some of this we're at the procurement stage where
Speaker 12: we are out there looking for bidders, and you know,
Speaker 12: some are in the design stage so that we can
Speaker 12: you know, properly build it to make sure that it
Speaker 12: is sustainable. But you know, once we are at the
Speaker 12: contracting stage, and some of these we are open for
Speaker 12: business in Atlanta, and we want to make sure that
Speaker 12: the contractors have enough staff. So we're utilizing as many
Speaker 12: incentives as possible to be able to get them to
Speaker 12: do that. We would love to do more workforce development
Speaker 12: so that individuals can learn these trades to do more
Speaker 12: construction jobs so they can have middle income wages. That's
Speaker 12: part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was to not
Speaker 12: only do the construction, but to have workforce development for
Speaker 12: people to have a skill. And we're, you know, we're
Speaker 12: working on all ends to be able to do that.
Speaker 4: I'd love to get your view on crime in your city,
Speaker 4: Mayor Dickens, part of the national conversation. We're hearing a
Speaker 4: lot about it on the campaign trail now is about
Speaker 4: crime in America's cities. Republicans tend to criticize Democrat run cities.
Speaker 4: Your office those says you've managed to lower homicides by
Speaker 4: twenty one percent in the last year.
Speaker 3: How'd you do it?
Speaker 12: Yeah, we are so thankful that last year we reduced
Speaker 12: homicides by twenty one percent, the third highest drop across
Speaker 12: the nation for cities. We're very proud of that. We
Speaker 12: did it through policing and non policing activities. The policing
Speaker 12: activities were we went after gangs, guns and drug dealers.
Speaker 12: We really cracked down on violent crime in that way.
Speaker 12: Fifty percent reduction in rapes also as well as reduction
Speaker 12: in robberies and burglary. So we were everywhere with our
Speaker 12: police force, our great police chief, and our partners at
Speaker 12: the GBI, the FBI, our District Attorney's office, etc. We
Speaker 12: worked together on the policing side. But make no mistake
Speaker 12: about it, we reduced crime before crime even started by
Speaker 12: working with our youth. I declared last year the Year
Speaker 12: of the Youth. We had kids insted. We made investments
Speaker 12: in midnight basketball where you were able to play basketball
Speaker 12: from seven pm to midnight, and I got out there
Speaker 12: a few times. We had the highest summer youth employment ever,
Speaker 12: five thousand young people between the ages of fourteen and
Speaker 12: twenty four, making an average of seventeen dollars an hour.
Speaker 12: They were so busy making money they couldn't be out
Speaker 12: doing crime or doing any other thing that we wouldn't
Speaker 12: want them to do. So throughout that year we invested
Speaker 12: in nonprofits that had a really good hand on our
Speaker 12: young people to help them with stem, with robotics, with sports,
Speaker 12: with dance, and arts. So we did every thing we
Speaker 12: could to keep youth busy. We brought down youth crime
Speaker 12: by forty six percent. So when you bring down youth
Speaker 12: violent crime, you bring down overall crime. And we had
Speaker 12: an overall message through our violence interrupters. We were going
Speaker 12: out there talking to grown folks telling them, hey, no retaliation,
Speaker 12: Let's learn how to de escalate issues because so much
Speaker 12: of the crime that we saw was intrapersonal people that
Speaker 12: knew each other. So overall, we're thankful. Now when you
Speaker 12: get twenty one percent homicide, people are thankful about it,
Speaker 12: but they're like, let's do it again this year and
Speaker 12: again and again. So we While you say that Republican's point,
Speaker 12: the Democrat led cities as crime ridden. We don't see
Speaker 12: it that way. I work very closely with a Republican
Speaker 12: governor and I'm a Democratic mayor, and we work together
Speaker 12: to bring down violent crime. And that's true policing and
Speaker 12: non policing.
Speaker 3: Efforts as we consider law enforcement.
Speaker 4: Mister Mayor, I have to ask you about District Attorney
Speaker 4: Fannie Willis now a household name because of her case
Speaker 4: against former President Donald Trump.
Speaker 3: You made a personal appearance in court to support her.
Speaker 4: Considering the sensitivity in this case, I wonder if you
Speaker 4: can talk in a remaining couple of minutes about this,
Speaker 4: why not turn to someone else who is not shrouded
Speaker 4: in controversy to lead this case.
Speaker 12: Well, first of all, if we talk about somebody who's
Speaker 12: shrouded in controversy, that would be the former President Donald J. Trump.
Speaker 12: So when someone says Fannie's in some controversy, we've literally
Speaker 12: watched the president that's been in controversy for most of
Speaker 12: my entire life and definitely my political life. So I
Speaker 12: wanted to go to court the other day to say
Speaker 12: that Fannie Willis is actually not on trial. Who is
Speaker 12: on trial is the former president of the United States,
Speaker 12: who has been accused of trying to steal an election,
Speaker 12: where four people in his orbit, four people that work
Speaker 12: with him or for him, have been have played guilty
Speaker 12: to that in that very same court. And so what
Speaker 12: we're what I came there to say was Fannie Willis
Speaker 12: is not on trial. She's standing up here looking, you know,
Speaker 12: like she's on trial, but she's not. And I didn't
Speaker 12: want her to feel like she was alone. She needs
Speaker 12: to continue to do the job that she's doing, which
Speaker 12: is to bring prosecution forth on this case as well
Speaker 12: as all the other cases. As I mentioned, this is
Speaker 12: a group project in Atlanta of how we bring down
Speaker 12: violent crime. Fannie Willis and the DA's office has been
Speaker 12: very instrumental in our gain charges and our drug dealing,
Speaker 12: you know, prosecution of drug dealers as well as those
Speaker 12: gun runners and the various people that do harm in
Speaker 12: our community. We want her to continue to do that work.
Speaker 12: Take the spotlight off of her for you know, the
Speaker 12: things that she's being accused of and the things that
Speaker 12: are personal her personal life. You know, she can manage
Speaker 12: that and others can help her manage that. For me,
Speaker 12: I need a DA that's going to help bring down
Speaker 12: violent crime and make sure we have trusted elections in America.
Speaker 4: The Mayor of Atlanta, Andre dickens with us from our
Speaker 4: bureau in Atlanta. Mister Mayor, I appreciate your joining us
Speaker 4: to talk. I hope we'll do it in person sometime
Speaker 4: in your city. Thanks for listening to the balance of power.
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