Sen. Coons: House CR “doesn't address things that all of us are looking to solve, community health centers, disaster relief funding and DACA”

Sen. Coons: “I hope in the time we still have, the days between now and Friday, that Republican and Democratic leaders will sit down and hammer out the framework of a deal the President will sign off on.”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, last night joined CNN’s Wolf Blitzer to discuss possible government shutdown and DACA.

“Here’s the good news I think in the Senate, there is a bipartisan bill that's been hammered out by Senator Graham, Senator Durbin, six senators, Democrat and Republican, that makes the critical investments in controlling the border and border security, that the Department of Homeland Security, the Trump Administration, asked for this year and that would solve DACA, the dreamer problem. I think if that gets on the floor, it gets 60 votes. The question is whether the President can hear yes when he's the one who invited this group into the White House a week ago Tuesday and asked them to come up with a deal,” said Senator Coons. 

Full audio and video available here. 

Excerpts from the interview: 

Sen. Coons on General Kelly: That's a gracious way for General Kelly, the chief of staff, to say that what Trump was getting people to chant at his campaign rallies was implausible and unrealistic. The idea we would build a concrete wall that stretches 2,000 miles from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean and get Mexico to pay for it was an implausible campaign promise at best. What he’s now saying is not only was that uninformed but also unworkable. That's not a credible solution to securing the border. Here’s the good news I think in the Senate, there is a bipartisan bill that's been hammered out by Senator Graham, Senator Durbin, six senators, Democrat and Republican, that makes the critical investments in controlling the border and border security, that the Department of Homeland Security, the Trump Administration, asked for this year and that would solve DACA, the dreamer problem. I think if that gets on the floor, it gets 60 votes. The question is whether the President can hear yes when he's the one who invited this group into the White House a week ago Tuesday and asked them to come up with a deal.

Sen. Coons on government shutdown: It's never happened that the government has shut down when it's controlled by one party. When one party has the House, the Senate and the White House. And your earlier reporting made it clear House Republicans who have the majority are struggling to get enough votes to pass their preferred version of a temporary funding bill. Even that version doesn't address things that all of us are looking to solve, community health centers, disaster relief funding and DACA. I hope in the time we still have, the days between now and Friday, that Republican and Democratic leaders will sit down and hammer out the framework of a deal the President will sign off on. If he won’t, he’s the author of this mess, he’s the one who blew up this week and, frankly, the shutdown will be on him.

Sen. Coons on North Korea: Absolutely. I think this was a very constructive statement. For President Trump to recognize what many of us have been briefed on, which is that North Korea is managing to evade China’s partnership with the United States and the world community in enforcing sanctions to try to squeeze their economy, that Russia is actually helping them evade those sanctions, that’s an important step forward for President Trump to recognize publicly, that Vladimir Putin’s Russian regime is not just being unhelpful but is undermining our national security.

Sen. Coons on Bannon and the Mueller investigation: Very significant. He played a very important role in the campaign, in the transition, in decisions in the early days of the administration. In fact, I think he still has some real sway in this administration even after his falling out with President Trump. If you just look at the actions of last week. I’ll remind you, he may not be in front of a Grand Jury, but my attorneys advised me that federal statute provides he would still face perjury charge if he were to be untruthful in testifying in front of the Special Counsel’s investigators, and I think he’s got a lot to testify about.

More on the Russia probe: Look, it’s been reported about Steve Bannon’s testimony to the House Intelligence Committee that he was consulting with the White House during his testimony, that he was asserting some sort of executive privilege that would have attached to his service on the campaign and the transition. Even conservative Republican Trey Gaudy recognized that that is twisting executive privilege out of all recognition. Republicans and Democrats promptly subjected him to a subpoena. I think it’s important that we will have clear direction on the Judiciary Committee and the Intelligence Committee about what the contours are of executive privilege. The White House has to assert it. It’s the executive who has the privilege they can assert, not former employees.

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