levy against any military leaders we haven't levy distinctions against and to do it with one voice and try to unify the rest of the world in our position up to and including to do something in the un what the russians and the chinese would be doing. >> do you go into the impeachment trial having an open mind? >> i went to listen to the argument. that's what we ought to do and what i said before it started. that is still my view. the issue upon which we already voted is an interesting constitutional question. we need to listen to the lawyers argue the question. thanks a lot. [inaudible conversations] . .

. . that the $600 billion that they proposed was way too small.

i think it is his belief and the secretary's belief if we did a package that a small we would be mired in the crisis for years and we are not going to make the mistake of 2009 and have too small a package that took too long and years for the economy to recover. president biden said he's willing to make modifications but he's very strong that the full rescue plan get us through this crisis. the secretary said the 600 billion wasn't close to enough and noted that it didn't do enough to help low income families because it excluded. she also said we can't repeat the same mistakes of 2009. the whole country may be except some in the republican caucus need to understand that and it was pointed out at our lunch that there is overwhelming

support for the arp. democrats, republicans, independents support a bold plan and support going through reconciliation if we have two so to sothis is a bipartisan plan. the new majority is ready to get to work. we are unified behind the goal of delivering desperately needed relief to the american people. we will begin the process this afternoon with a vote on the motion to proceed and i'm confident that will pass and then we will roll up our sleeves and get to work taking the large numbers that are in the budget plan and crafting them. we share the desire to advance legislation in a bipartisan way but the work must move forward.

we are not going to dilute, dither or delay because the needs of the american people are just too great. time is of the essence to address this crisis. we are focused on substance that's getting emergency relief to people as we promised we would do as soon as possible. that was a universal campaign of democrats in georgia, the biden presidency and across the country. and i've been saying from the beginning that some of you didn't believe me that the senate must deal with three things simultaneously. nominations, confirming two more today, a fair impeachment trial the house today brought their brief and delivering emergency covid relief. that process starts later today. democrats, senate democrats are executing on all three of these priorities.

now on one somewhat unrelated point. today i along with senator heinrich and others introduced a senate resolution related to domestic terrorism which we saw rear its ugly head on the sixth of january. our resolution does two things, it condemns domestic terrorism and dangerous fringe conspiracies. we call on the fbi to review the threat posed by domestic terrorist groups including examining the growth of such groups and the use of social media and other forms of communication to recruit new members and organize and plan. i want to thank senator schumer for that resolution.

we are planning to do that as quickly as possible. the second thing i want to say i spoke to one of my republican friends in on the meeting yesterday. i didn't probe him for any information or specifics but i asked what it was like and he said the president was very respectful and understood the issues as a person who served in the senate he understood the process very well. he listened and gave two hours to the group showing they value to their importance. i know many of the senators that were in on that meeting and many of them are meeting in good faith. i've worked with them in conversations in the previous months. i know they ask the right questions that need to be asked and answered but i also know

something is basic as a lesson learned by every parent who takes a child to the doctor. if the child is sick enough to go to the doctor's office and dr. says i'mgiving you five dayf antibiotics, your child will start feeling better on the second day and the third day you are sure they are out of the woods but take the medicine for all five days because if you don't take enough, you will be back to see me with as a child sick again. that is what america faces right now. what president biden has proposed with the plan is of course medicine for the economy and for the pandemic to cure the problem. we don't want to get pulled into the feeling we are doing just fine and we can stop too soon. what he is proposed as we do enough to make sure we finally can turn the corner on the pandemic that we keep businesses alive and put people back to work and sustain them until they are ready to get back to work. fundamentally, and this is an element that goes with it, to

bring economic justice to the economy so that more and more people whom we said over and over again are losing when it comes to income inequality have a fighting chance. one of the briefings we completed with the secretary talked about proposals that will change the tax code and eliminate half of the child poverty in the united states in the first year, eliminate half the child poverty in the united states. think about that as a landmark of the earliest days of the biden administration. that's why it's important for us to come together i hope with democrats and republicans to pass this rescue plan in its entirety. all the medicine taken when we needed so we make sure we turn this economy around and get america moving in the right direction again. >> we are in a race against this

virus. when it comes to the students, reports show compared to a typical year the pandemic set learning back by one to three months for white students and three to five months for students of color. many students have lost access to critical resources like metal health services, school meals, counselors and extracurricular activities. when it comes to working families especially the essential workers, the already fragile childcare sector is steering down closures and layoffs and already, one in six childcare jobs have been lost and we could lose as many as 4.5 million childcare spots making it even harder for working parents to figure out how to support their families and take care of their kids right now, especially if they do not have any paid leave benefits. and new more contained

contagious strains are moving into communities across the country. as we are still seeing high infection rates and losing loved ones, we need to get vaccines in arms much faster. these issues, learning loss, balancing work and family in a pandemic and the lack of a comprehensive vaccination strategy from the prior administration, like just a few of the many issues people face in the country today especially communities of color who've experienced the most severe consequences by far as a result of long-standing systemic inequities. again, democrats are in a race against this virus is families and communities are in a race against this virus. we are in a race to get payments to people who are struggling. safely getting students back to school and in person learning. dramatically scaling up testing and vaccination capacity so we

can save lives and ultimately end this pandemic. that is why we are taking action this week to make sure serious relief gets done. we welcome republicans joining us on this effort. i know i and others will continue the conversations on ways we can work together that truly help our constituents. but we are determined to get covid relief signed into law that matches the depths of this crisis, and we are going to deliver. thank you. >> now we are ready for your questions. >> do you have the votes for reconciliation and is biden on board with the reconciliation and organizing -- >> joe biden is totally on board with using reconciliation. i've been talking with him every day, the staff has been talking multiple times a day and i believe that we will pass the

resolution this afternoon. >> [inaudible] it was set back when leader mcconnell made an extraneous demand trying to tell us how to run things but we are making progress and we are getting close. >> every element of the plan including the minimum wage reconciliation. >> there's going to be a process, as we said. we believe we have very strong support for a bold plan on the level of what the president proposed. all the details are going to be worked out as we go through the process and we hope republicans will join us but we are not going to dilute this so it doesn't help the american people get out of this crisis quickly. >> senator manchin said earlier

today [inaudible] do you think that he will have to bear this down? >> we are going to have amendments, but the entire caucus needs a big strong package. >> there's going to be an impeachment trial with a verdict starting next week. my question, there's a lot of conversation last week with senator kane and others seeing the writing on the wall and that if he isn't convicted [inaudible] are you open to that? >> i think the president should be tried and i hope that he will vote to be convicted. anything past that is something we can discuss. but he deserves conviction. nothing less. >> republicans met with biden yesterday and got the impression he would ask you to push back the reconciliation [inaudible] would you be willing to put a

bipartisan -- >> we are moving forward on the reconciliation. that is what president biden wants us to do, and that is what we are doing. >> [inaudible] on the organizing revolution for the impeachment trial. >> the impeachment resolution on the trial has been set back because the president keeps switching lawyers. so we have to negotiate if we want to get it bipartisan, his lawyers are part of the deal but hopefully we can move forward. we have had good discussions on that. >> [inaudible] i just answered that question. last one. >> how concerned are you that the former president's legal team is once again using conspiracy theories about the past election and has made that a part of his impeachment defense. >> if they tried to do that and answered the defense that

republicans would see that and realize that they have no argument against the charges brought by the house managers. house managers. thank you, everybody. [inaudible conversations]

on incitement of insurrection to the senate with maryland democratic representative raskin reading the article before the senate. >> donald trump warrants impeachment in trial, removal from office and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit under the united states. >> so help you god. >> the following day senators were sworn in as jurors in the trial. republican kentucky senator rand paul requested a point of order

to dismiss the impeachment charge as unconstitutional. >> therefore i make a point of order that this proceeding which would try a private citizen and not a president, vice president or civil officer violates the constitution and is not in order. >> the motion was tabled in a 55-45 senate vote. afterwards the senate approved the rules of the trial and adjourned until tuesday, february 9th marking the start of the senate impeachment trial. watch the senate impeachment trial at 1 p.m. eastern on c-span2. live c-span.org or listen on the c-span radio app.

montana governor gave his first state of the state address at the state capital in helena did recently. he was elected governor last november.