to sign and the leader and i went over with him this morning what we know will get a presidential signature. i'm sending that proposal to all that have been done now. it's helping members feel about it and determined the way forward. >> we can reconsider it in the future. thanks a lot, everybody.

>> good afternoon. sorry we are a little late. we had voting going on. we are talking about nominations, and i want to thank senator klobuchar and menendez for being here. today i had a productive

discussion with the secretary of state and the director of national intelligence. we had a wide ranging discussion that covered the priorities in the u.s. foreign policy national security. and in particular i urge the incoming administration to be tough on china but in a more multilateral way than the trump administration. both immediately clear in our discussions the president elect biden's foreign policy team are exceptionally qualified. accomplished individuals with expertise to protect the nation and advance american interests abroad. in addition, she corrected my pronunciation, president elect t joe biden continues to rollout the nominees to his cabinet and other key administrative positions. now after what we went through the past four years i would

expect almost all of the president biden's nominees would be acceptable. after all the republican senator looked the other way and confirmed several the republicans argue the broad deference when it comes to the official appointment. scandal after scandal in the trump administration and they are astounding. they just found the passwords to their twitter account.

they should hold feelings on president elect biden's after the georgia elections. to tackle these multiple challenges that means ensuring that january 201st, 2020, president joe biden and vice president harris have much of their team in place. i hope they will look at joe biden's nominees based on the credential and not lead to the political animus get in the way.

>> thank you. i want to echo in particular in the national security front the leader's comments about the nation's security and prosperity. there is no question the nominees particularly in the state department and un ambassador and elsewhere put forth by the president elect our capable and qualified. did the senate have to do their due diligence, of course. do we have to understand their thinking of course, that's part of the advice and consent but there is a difference between that and some who are already suggesting they seem to weaponize the process and turn it into a political wrecking ball. for their own purposes as they may aspire to the presidency of

the united states and it undermines the very essence of what we need. the american people deserve to have a government that not only looks like america that is up and running from day one to deal with the pandemic and the economic wreckage that's come from the pandemic and to pursue the interest and expand values around the globe today. i was on a panel with the european parliamentarians and the cry from all people in the european union that elected different countries and whatnot, but the one thing they want to see is america back and engaged in the world. that takes a secretary of state and he's an incredibly qualified individual to help us once again to be back on the global stage engaged and creating more allies

and prosperity endless and less challenges and that also takes the un ambassador. an extraordinary, i know her and hope to become the assistant secretary of state for africa when i was the trigger of the committee. she's an exceptional example. that's who we need leading the national security in the united states and what we need to get on day number one which means we need early hearings in january and a vote in order to guarantee it. >> thank you for your leadership, senator at this critical time and thank you, senator menendez. president elect bidepresident ee tone when he said this shouldn't be partisan, it should be an american moment. we don't have time to mess around. as it was pointed out we have a security threat across the country and we have across the

world incredibly qualified nominee is in keeping with the tone the president said from the minute he wouldn't concede this election. he took the stage and said to give me a chance and i will give you a chance. he set the tone and people who won't come before us for confirmation but i must mention because he used to work for me you see people that are well respected including the treasury secretary so he has lived his words and it's our job to get it done. ..

>> we need joe biden to put the leadership team.

>> and to have a soul to leader mcconnell and what about this 2 million-dollar demand and also to the attorney general bill ba bar? >> in response i guess he is the next to be fired because he says there is no fraud in that regard speaker will see and i sent a proposal to leader mcconnell in the effort to get things moving. i will not get into the details of the private proposal to move forward but make no mistake i just turned leader mcconnell say he will put enough partisan proposal on the floor.

the obvious fact is the biggest impediment to getting the agreement and in a bipartisan way and the house is a democratic majority. and you need that to get anything done but yet he continues to negotiate in a partisan way speaker pelosi and i sent a proposal to get him to negotiate in a bipartisan way i will come and encourage my democratic members to talk to republican members call and efforts to get leader mcconnell to stop being so partisan because the needs are desperate during this christmas season and later.

>> do you have to accept whatever they come up with? >> i hope mcconnell will do things in a bipartisan way. >> and with the chairman committee ship spent the bottom line is every two years we have a robust discussion in the caucus and what should be changed and what should not be changed and we will have a discussion in the next few week weeks. >> it is your letter more than that? to get mcconnell or the white house to move the bottom line

is it is the effort to get things moving forward is for the proposal to the bipartisan group of senators i encourage the democratic senators to sit down and negotiate it is a good effort. i haven't seen all the details yet but when they can get together that's a good thing i hope leader mcconnell will heed the call. >> we hope they will give us a response so we can get something done. >> let's hope we will negotiate every time he does and a partisan way it has not worked in the news democratic house.

>> and encourage members to me with republicans but this is $1 trillion less is that funding experience with a bipartisan proposal. >> and with a your question of mcconnell to jam up things i do remember there were republicans in that group and while it is not nearly what we asked for there were republicans who said they wanted this amount of money which is to assume it will go down that path when so many have had businesses closed those that have a hundred small businesses are closing today we have a vaccine around

the corner at the end of the tunnel but to get that distribution going we cannot recover like we want to we have the head of the federal reserve to say it's a tragedy if we didn't get something done. and just assume everybody will go down this time in this bipartisan negotiation is just a start and is significant to show that some people are willing to cross over to get something done which senator schumer has called for from the beginning. >> and to give transgender students report on - - support for gender identity do you think he has the ability to do this quick. >> will check this out legally thank you everybody.

[inaudible conversations]

>> localo the manhattan institute senior fellow on the manhattan for research and legal policy today's event cast is sponsored in cooperation with the manhattan institute public safety initiative.