Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: Congressman Brad Sherman of California, the Democrat is with us now. Congressman,
Speaker 2: we do want to talk to you as you sit
Speaker 2: on the Foreign Affairs Committee about NATO and some other
Speaker 2: matters as well. But of course there was a caucus
Speaker 2: meeting with you and your colleagues this morning. Did any
Speaker 2: consensus about the future of Biden as the nominee emerge
Speaker 2: from that meeting or did it just create more confusion?
Speaker 3: We at a consensus that Biden has been an outstanding president.
Speaker 3: Biden had a bad night. Trump has led a bad life.
Speaker 3: As to what we should do now, I won't say that.
Speaker 3: You know, we're a Democratic party.
Speaker 1: We've got a lot of different views.
Speaker 3: Some thought that no matter what, Biden should be our
Speaker 3: nominee and it shouldn't be discussed. Others thought we are
Speaker 3: at to urge Biden to drop out. I took kind
Speaker 3: of a midpoint. I think that the delegate will make
Speaker 3: the best possible decision. If Biden provides more tests and
Speaker 3: more information, we'll see that in the press conference he's
Speaker 3: going to do in a couple of days. I would
Speaker 3: like to see him for ninety minutes live at nine
Speaker 3: PM in the next couple of weeks, because on September tenth,
Speaker 3: he's got his second debate with Trump, which will be
Speaker 3: ninety minutes live at nine PM, and it's important that
Speaker 3: the delegates have a chance to see him perform under
Speaker 3: a similar circumstance.
Speaker 4: This is an endless conversation, obviously, Congressman, and I can
Speaker 4: hear your support for Joe Biden here, while I realize
Speaker 4: you want to see more. How much time is there
Speaker 4: for Democrats? Is it between now and the convention in Chicago?
Speaker 4: Or are we looking at a couple of weeks here
Speaker 4: knowing that we've got issues potentially getting on ballots and
Speaker 4: so forth.
Speaker 1: If it's not going to be Joe Biden at the
Speaker 1: top of the ticket, I.
Speaker 3: Think it's clear that we can get on all the
Speaker 3: ballots if we act. At the time of our convent,
Speaker 3: Ohio was an outlier. They've changed their rules, So although
Speaker 3: we were planning to meet Ohio's requirements by having a
Speaker 3: virtual vote in early August, we can now do this
Speaker 3: on August twentieth, and that is that will work for
Speaker 3: all fifty states as.
Speaker 1: A political convention. Is the deadline?
Speaker 3: Yes, and yet I think we'll be making a decision,
Speaker 3: a collective decision, long before then, and I think important
Speaker 3: that we see before the convention that Biden can meet
Speaker 3: that test of September tenth when he debates Trump a
Speaker 3: second time.
Speaker 2: What we have heard from the President congressman is a
Speaker 2: suggestion or a pushback against polling that suggests he is
Speaker 2: lagging behind Donald Trump in a meaningful way, or perhaps
Speaker 2: that has widened since his debate performance at the end
Speaker 2: of last month. Do you believe what you're seeing in
Speaker 2: the polls.
Speaker 3: Well, it takes a while for a major event to
Speaker 3: really register with the public and really be reflected in
Speaker 3: the polls, and so I think it's polls for a
Speaker 3: few days from now. It will reflect what happened on
Speaker 3: June twenty seventh. But I don't think anybody would say
Speaker 3: that the debate performance helped the Biden campaign, and I
Speaker 3: think a similar performance on September tenth would be a
Speaker 3: big problem. And that's why I think we need our
Speaker 3: presidential candidate, the leader of our party, to demonstrate, then
Speaker 3: the words of Nancy Pelosi, that was an episode, not
Speaker 3: a condition. I think he can meet that test. I'd
Speaker 3: prefer the test to be as close as possible to
Speaker 3: the one he'll face on September September tenth, But there'll
Speaker 3: be a number of ways in which he demonstrates to
Speaker 3: the delegates, who are the ultimate decision makers here, that
Speaker 3: he is fully up to the job not only of
Speaker 3: beating Donald Trump, not only of beating him in the debate,
Speaker 3: but also governing this country until the end of the
Speaker 3: second term.
Speaker 4: Well as a Democrat who has not yet made up
Speaker 4: his mind on this or found common ground with colleagues
Speaker 4: in the House. And from your perch on the Foreign
Speaker 4: Affairs Committee, Congressman, what are you looking for when Joe
Speaker 4: Biden speaks at the NATO summit today at five o'clock?
Speaker 4: What do you want to hear? What spirit do you
Speaker 4: expect him to bring to the podium.
Speaker 3: I want him to deal with tough questions that he
Speaker 3: may not have anticipated, and to acquit himself well. I
Speaker 3: am very sure that his policies toward NATO will be
Speaker 3: reasonable and ones that I would generally support. So I'm
Speaker 3: not looking at that press conference in terms of is
Speaker 3: does he have the right views about.
Speaker 1: Our foreign policy?
Speaker 3: I'm looking at that press conference to see whether he
Speaker 3: can convince the country that one debate was just an episode.
Speaker 2: Okay, So if you're not looking for policy, Congressman, others
Speaker 2: might be is there a tangible outcome you would like
Speaker 2: to see from the NATO summit this week as it
Speaker 2: pertains to Ukraine or anything else.
Speaker 3: Well, I think we need European countries and Canada to
Speaker 3: step forward and meet that two percent commitment. The majority
Speaker 3: of NATO countries have done that, but most of that
Speaker 3: majority are the smaller countries with the smaller gross national products.
Speaker 3: We need to see Germany and France step forward, when
Speaker 3: need to see Canada step forward and spend more on
Speaker 3: their own defense. They used to think that they're on
Speaker 3: a totally safe continent.
Speaker 1: That is clearly not.
Speaker 3: The case.
Speaker 4: You make of all this talk of trunk proofing NATO, Congressman,
Speaker 4: and the idea of European nations looking to stand up
Speaker 4: their own armies, possibly an EU army, and a world
Speaker 4: in which the United States is no longer leading as
Speaker 4: the tip of the spear in this alliance.
Speaker 1: Is that a conversation that you're allowing.
Speaker 3: I think that if they spend the money, and particularly
Speaker 3: on equipment and develop their own military forces, that the
Speaker 3: NATO command structure will work well. I think that if
Speaker 3: there are so many reasons for Europe to be able
Speaker 3: to do more, maybe one of those reasons is that
Speaker 3: under a Trump administration, America would do less.
Speaker 2: It's great to have you, Congressman, weigh in on that,
Speaker 2: given your seat on the Foreign Affairs Committee. Just in
Speaker 2: our final moment with you knowing you also sit on
Speaker 2: House Financial Services. What's your top question for FED shaired
Speaker 2: Jerome Powell when he testifies before you tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Well, the big issue here was his testimony today that
Speaker 3: they're going to completely revise and republish the Aposal three
Speaker 3: banking regulations. Too many of our regulations push the banks
Speaker 3: to put their money on Wall Street and not to
Speaker 3: make those small loans to businesses on Main Street. And
Speaker 3: we need bank regulations that don't unfairly discriminate in favor
Speaker 3: of a buying billion dollars bond portfolios and instead push
Speaker 3: the banks to their traditional role of making loans in
Speaker 3: local cities.
Speaker 1: Brad Sherman of California