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Meet the Press
Meet the Press NOW — March 27
00:53:03
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) rejects a Senate deal that would fund most of the Department of Homeland Security and the partial government shutdown continues to cause travel disruptions at major airports. The war with Iran nears the one-month mark, as markets tumble and oil prices continue to rise over concerns about the security of the Strait of Hormuz. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) joins Meet the Press NOW to discuss the DHS funding fight.
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Kristen Welker
21 he was a young Marine.
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Josh Mankiewicz
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Kristen Welker
Welcome to MEET the PRESS now. I'm Kristen Welker in Washington. That was the closing bell as the sell off on Wall street picked up steam today amid rising concerns about the war against Iran and global oil supplies. The dow falling roughly 800 points, entering correction territory down 10% off recent highs. Stocks were slammed across the board and US oil prices spiking again, topping $100 a barrel. We will have much more on the war and the growing economic fallout in just a moment, but we do have to begin with the breaking news on the partial government shutdown, with President Trump now trying to bypass Congress and unilaterally fund TSA as congressional gridlock threatens to extend the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security security and the historic travel chaos at airports all across the country. The president officially delivering that order after Speaker Mike Johnson rejected a deal that Senate Republicans passed overnight with Democratic support that would have funded the TSA and most of dhs, but not ICE or Border Patrol. Speaker Johnson instead is going to have the House vote to fund all of DHS for 60 days, including ice and Border Patrol. The move essentially ensures more gridlock. But Speaker Johnson telling reporters his plan has the president's support.
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Speaker Mike Johnson
This gambit that was done last night is a joke. We're going to put a clean, simple continuing resolution that will go until May 22. It's just a number of weeks to allow for all those who sacrificially serve the country and protect other Americans. All these agencies, 10 agencies, and the Department of Homeland Security will continue at their current funding levels to make sure that they are protected. We're not playing political games on this. We encourage some of our Democrats. Hopefully we'll have some of our Democrats in the House who go along with this and and stop the pain that's being forced upon these people. I spoke to the President a few moments ago. He understands exactly what we're doing and why and he supports it.
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Kristen Welker
Now the speaker's pitch comes after House conservatives expressed outrage over the Senate deal.
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House Conservative Representative
It is absolutely offensive to the people that we represent that the Senate would send over a bill that doesn't fund border patrol and the core components of ice. I mean, could the Senate be any more lazy than to send to us a bill that doesn't do the job and then leave town? So we're going to stand up and say no to that. Bottom line is this is not this deal is bad for America. It's bad for Americans. The president has already said he's going to fund TSA out of funds he has. So we're going to it's not going to affect the airports if we don't do this.
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Kristen Welker
Today, Democratic leadership says they will not support the House's new plan, calling it dead on arrival in the Senate. It comes as frustration and long lines persist at the nation's airports, with the rate of TSA officer callouts reaching its highest point of the shutdown yesterday, surpassing 30% at five major airports. Joining me now is our NBC News team, chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles, White House correspondent Monica Alba, Senator Senior Homeland Security correspondent Julia Ainslie and national correspondent Aaron Gilchrist is on the ground in Atlanta at Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. Thanks to all of you for starting us off on this developing story. Ryan, we just heard a defiant Speaker Johnson saying House Republicans are going to reject the deal the Senate unanimously passed last night. Take us inside. Johnson sticking in the pressure that he's getting from the House Freedom Caucus.
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Ryan Nobles
Well, we've entered new legislative territory here, Kristen, and I'm not sure exactly how we get out of it. I think what we've seen established here between the House and Senate is that there isn't a piece of legislation that could get the 60 votes in the Senate necessary to open the Department of Homeland Security. And we could be in a ping pong battle between the House and the Senate for an indefinite amount of time. This is what we know for sure. John Thune and Mike Johnson spoke last night at 3am when the Senate decided to take this route of passing the majority of the Department of Homeland Security budget, save for Customs and Border Patrol and ice. Something happened this morning when Mike Johnson came into this chamber and had conversations with his conservative rank and file that made him think that it was a no go, that they weren't going to get it done. But every time you talk to either a Republican or Democrat about this, they blame the other side. They say the other side is at fault here. And at some point someone's going to have to stand up and present some leadership to try and find a way out of this. And I asked Speaker Johnson about that today and this is his response. The American people are just sick and tired of every one of you. Both Republicans and Democrats come to this podium and blame the other side. People have been standing in lines three, four, five hours at a time. There's TSA workers that are selling their plasma. At what point is a leader on either side going to stand up and say we have a path forward, that everyone will agree to this vote today will extend, extend the shutdown under any circumstances?
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Raf Sanchez
No, it won't.
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Speaker Mike Johnson
No, it won't. Thank you. Let me answer the question. I'm glad you brought it up. The House Republicans have now voted that today will be the fourth time to fund the homeland Security. This is not party blame game. This is a record. You can hold up the record. Look at the Democrats. They're voting over and over. Last night. Yesterday afternoon, we gave them a chance to fund homeland security. You know how many House Democrats voted yes? Four of them. They want to use people as pawns.
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Ryan Nobles
So the sum total of all of this, Kristen, is that this shutdown is going to continue. I spoke to a gentleman who was in line at an airport in Houston to fly to Dallas. He got to the end of the line. He actually had to take a train to get to the end of the security line. When he got there, the folks in line told him it was at least a four hour wait. It was easier for him just to drive to Dallas as opposed to wait in that line. There are stories like that all over the country. Obviously these TSA officers are being forced to make difficult choices. And the one other point I would make about this, Kristen, is yes, the President's emergency executive order could get money in the paychecks of TSA officers as soon as Monday. But what about fema, Frontline FEMA workers? What about folks that work in cybersecurity? What about the resources that are necessary for the Coast Guard? All of that funding still remains up in the air and here on Capitol Hill. There is no solution to get us to the point where all of that can be rectified.
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Kristen Welker
And Ryan, I think your question to Speaker Johnson was so poignant and right on target. Americans are outraged by the finger pointing. They want this crisis to come to an end. Let's talk about Democrats, they had a number of demands on ICE reforms that they wanted in that Senate bill. They didn't get any of that. They did get Republicans in the Senate to agree to pass a bill that did not include ICE funding. Do they feel like they're winning this issue or losing because they didn't get the changes that they wanted to see?
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Ryan Nobles
I think that the outcome that we saw last night in the Senate was the outcome that Democrats were looking for very early on in this process. They had offered a bill very similar to this which removed all of the funding for ICE and CBP and funded the rest of the Department of Homeland Security to give the opportunity to negotiate these issues going down the road. But Democrats also need a bit of a reality check here. The Republicans are not going to bend on some of these things that they're begging for masks in particular. That is a red line that Republicans have said that they're not going to cross. And there have been changes that Democrats have gained through this process. Kristi Noem is no longer the Secretary of Homeland Security. They've ended, for the most part, these roving patrols. In places like Minneapolis. There is a commitment to TSA or ICE officers wearing body cams in the near future. They're rolling that policy out soon. So it's not as if nothing came out of this back and forth. So that's why again, I get back to this idea of leaders on both sides need to recognize the reality of where we are in how angry and upset the American people are and find a path to a solution which just still seems to be impossible to find.
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Kristen Welker
Well, great job on holding their feet to the fire on Capitol Hill. Ryan Noble's thank you so much for joining us as we enter yet another weekend with this shutdown ongoing. Monica Alba, I turned to you at the White House. So the President for his part has now issued basically a presidential memorandum that would unilaterally fund tsa. This comes after he spoke to House Speaker Mike Johnson. Johnson says he would in fact support the short term cr what are you hearing there, man?
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Monica Alba
Yeah, Kristen, the president kind of previewed this yesterday in that Cabinet meeting saying that if Congress couldn't come up was some kind of deal that the White House would take some, quote, drastic measures. They discussed a number of ideas and this was one of them, which is basically to take the unspent funds that still exist within the so called one big beautiful bill which passed last year and use them to pay TSA workers, it looks like starting on Monday, for all of their back pay during this latest shutdown and benefits that they are owed. There were some questions about logistically exactly how that works. But the administration has dipped into these kinds of discretionary funds before. Remember when they wanted to pay the military and active duty troops back in the last very lengthy shutdown as well. That's kind of the mechanism that they use. So the president announced this for the first time last night. And then now today we have confirmed he actually did sign that presidential memo that you just referenced, but it doesn't deal with this larger issue. And the president just spoke to a reporter from Fox News and said and criticized the Senate version, saying that he didn't believe it was appropriate what was passed overnight. So it you did have Speaker Johnson indicating that the president, quote, understands the path that he is now taking. But the president and the White House and sources that I've been talking to all afternoon say, look, the president can't deal with this until it kind of gets to him and he is letting lawmakers on Capitol Hill figure it out before he weighs in. But we have always talked about this, Kristen, this idea of how involved the president is going to be in trying to get to an ending. And the other question here that the White House hasn't really addressed is if they had this in their power to pay the TSA workers again unilaterally, as he is doing, why didn't they do that sooner? Why didn't they do that weeks ago when we really started to hear some of these really awful stories from the TSA workers that are affected?
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Kristen Welker
Absolutely, Monica. And I have to ask you, I mean, could there potentially be legal challenges to this unilateral move by President Trump?
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Monica Alba
Well, look, I think that it is possible, but it wouldn't be maybe very popular for somebody to want to essentially say that these TSA workers shouldn't be paid, those who are selling their plasma, who are having their cars repossessed, who are really facing these really difficult challenges, and the agency itself, as we know, is facing this massive shortage overall in their workforce. And there are real alarm bells about how they're going to be able to get some of those people back. More than 510have quit and they really need to be trained for months before recruiting any new possible workers and officers. And that already is going to be a very, very complicated challenge. So I think potentially ARGU arguing that these TSA workers shouldn't be paid is something that maybe even if it does have legal standing is not something that a group would want to take up. Kristen.
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Kristen Welker
All right, Monica Alba at the White House, thank you for bringing us all of your reporting, all of your source conversations. We really appreciate it. Julia, let me turn to you. Extraordinary how this is all playing out, the fact that the shutdown is ongoing. There's this last minute glitch we're seeing in the House. So Monica just laid out the fact that President Trump is going to unilaterally try to pay TSA workers. They could get those first paychecks, some of them, as soon as Monday. How does this work, Julia? Is everyone going to get paid on Monday?
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Julia Ainsley
Well, they're going to begin processing them and we understand some will be paid as early as Monday. It could be that it just takes longer to process everyone's but they will start on Monday. They won't have to wait until the next pay cycle to get paid. But I really like the point that Ryan brought up that DHS is far more than tsa. We're talking about the ability to respond to natural disasters like fema, to be able to get grants out to local organizations that are dealing with those disasters, the Coast Guard, people who process visas for legal immigration. A lot of that is fee based, but a lot of that are people who depend on Congress to pass a budget and to fund them. So it's not just tsa, even though that's kind of the tip of the spear and what a lot of Americans are dealing with, people who every day don't have a lot of interactions with dhs. But funding TSA does not end this problem. And of course the House version of this would have carved out and made an exception not to pay the Senate version not to pay CBP and ice.
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Kristen Welker
Well, let me ask you, and follow up with you on that point, do CBP and ICE actually have funding right now because of the big beautiful bill?
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Julia Ainsley
So in short, yes, most of them do. What the big beautiful bill did though, is it made a special provision of how the money would be used. And so it put $45 billion just into ICE detention, $35 billion into ICE recruitment and to pay people who came to work for ICE. It's how they were offering $50,000 signing bonuses while TSA workers aren't getting paid. It seems crazy, but they had very specific purposes. Then there are some people who fall through the cracks who are not law enfor of personnel who do work for CBP and ice, who don't carry badges and guns and do a lot of the processing that makes the immigration process work, including people working in customs. And so those are the people who could potentially fall through the cracks And I've been going to DHS today to say, what will you do about those people if the Senate bill is the one that sticks? And so far, they aren't even playing in the world of that being a reality, that the Senate bill will be what they need to respond to. They're just focused on the TSA emergency and the really blaming Democrats for an ongoing shutdown. But they did say Mark Wayne Mullen, of course, applauds the president and this move for the TSA workers getting paid.
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Kristen Welker
All right. Well, we will continue to track it. I know you will continue to track these payments. Julia Ainsley, thank you so much. Great to see you as always. Aaron Grill Coast Aaron Gilchrist, let me head out to you. What are you hearing from TSA and airport officials amid this back and forth in Washington?
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Aaron Gilchrist
You know, I spoke to one TSA union leader here at the Atlanta airport and he said that he came into today with he heard what the president said yesterday, posted yesterday about paying TSA workers. He saw the Senate vote early this morning and was hopeful, he said, about what was going to be coming. But the reality, as you noted, as your other correspondents have been noting, things seem to have fallen apart at this point in terms of what it's going to take to make permanent funding for the Department of Homeland Security and salaries for TSA officers and others that are a part of that department. We asked him about the idea of what happens going forward as well. And he says that because we've got more than 500 TSA officers who have resigned from their positions, he's fearful about the future because he says the damage may have already been done.
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TSA Union Leader
Listen, you know, I usually have 18 people working for me. So during these shutdown days, some days I have two, sometimes I have three. So think about so what happened to the other 15 or 14 people? I don't know. I haven't seen them. So I don't know if other people, they may have taken positions, gone somewhere else. So we truly won't know the true impact, how many people coming back until, you know, a couple days until when this settles in.
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Aaron Gilchrist
Now, I also spoke to a union leader who covers the Louisiana, Mississippi area, airports down there. And she said that the uncertainty of dealing with the federal government at this point is something that is pushing people out of jobs for the tsa. They don't know when the next government shutdown is going to come and how long that may last and how long they may have to go without pay. And even though we're talking now about TSA officers being paid as early as next week, getting that back pay as early as next week. They'll be due another paycheck in two weeks and there's no guarantee that DHS will be funded in that time period so that they get the next paycheck which puts them right back where they are today.
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Kristen Welker
Kristen well, you can just feel the anger mounting as this drags on. Erin Gilchrist, thank you so much. We will have much more on the turmoil and uncertainty facing DHS later in the show. Coming up, the latest on the war in Iran will go inside the so called Tehran toll booth as markets drop and oil rises. New NBC News reporting on how Iran is attempting to take control of the Strait of Hormuz and the Trump administration's response. Plus what rising fuel costs and turmoil on Wall street could mean for the economy, affordability, housing and mortgage rates. Stay with us. You're watching MEET THE Press. Now,
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Kristen Welker
Welcome back. As we mentioned, markets closed down today with the Dow entering correction territory amid uncertainty over the war after the NASDAQ also reached correction territory yesterday, falling 10% from recent highs. Meanwhile, oil prices continue to climb with US crude oil settling around $100 a barrel. Tomorrow marks one month since the start of the war with Iran as the Trump administration looks to wind down that military conflict amid growing economic and political. Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the war will end in weeks, not months, claiming the US can achieve its goals without ground troops and saying the US Is still waiting for a response from Iran to its 15 point plan to end the war.
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Senator Marco Rubio
We can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops, but we are always going to be prepared to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust to contingencies should they emerge. Look, we've got messages. We've had an exchange of messages and indications from the Iranian system, whatever's left of it, about a willingness to talk about certain things. We're waiting for further clarification about who will we allow, who is it that we would be talking to, what will we be talking about and when will we be talking?
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Kristen Welker
To be clear, earlier this week a senior Iranian political security official told Iranian State TV Tehran was rejecting the proposal countering with its own five conditions to end the war. It comes as President Trump is extending his deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of hormones by 10 days, citing optimism about the negotiations. Despite that, there is growing concern that Iran is leveraging its control over the Strait for economic profit. Here's what Secretary Rubio said about that today.
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Senator Marco Rubio
One of the immediate challenges we're going to face is an Iran that may decide that they want to set up a tolling system in the Straits of Hormuz. Not only is this illegal, it's unacceptable,
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Ryan Nobles
it's dangerous to the world.
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Senator Marco Rubio
And it's important that the world have a plan to confront it. The United States is prepared to be a part of that plan. We don't have to leave that plan, but we're happy to be a part of it.
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Kristen Welker
NBC News international correspondent Raf Sanchez has more on the status of that critical waterway.
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Raf Sanchez
It's being called the world's most dangerous toll booth. The only tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz are being forced into a new route controlled by Iran with some charged millions of dollars to transit.
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House Conservative Representative
It's sort of been dubbed the Tehran Toll Booth.
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Raf Sanchez
That's according to data from Lloyd's List Intelligence, a maritime firm shared with NBC News. Before the war, around 110 ships passed the strait each day. Now it's 10 ships or fewer. Peacetime routes looked like this with vessels sailing down the middle of the strait. Now they're taking this new route through Iran's territorial Waters squeezed between these islands and close to Iran's main naval base.
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House Conservative Representative
Whatever we can detect going out of the strait right now is going through this narrow channel in Iranian territorial waters, where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps essentially verifies the ship's information and acts as almost like a, like a tobooth.
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Raf Sanchez
This footage, verified by NBC News was taken by a sailor on a Chinese tanker as it passed between the islands. In a few days, American soldiers might come here. He says this might be the main fighting spot. Iranian lawmakers have discussed charging ships $2 million to pass the strait, saying the money would pay to repair wartime damage. That doesn't seem to be official policy yet, but Lloyd's List says at least two ships have been charged so far. Is the implied threat that if ships
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NBC News Interviewer
don't use the so called toll booth, they'll be attacked by Iran?
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House Conservative Representative
I think so. I think that is very much the implication.
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Raf Sanchez
It's not an empty threat. At least 18 ships have already been in and around the strait. According to the un Iran is on
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NBC News Interviewer
the other side of the Persian Gulf. But on this side there's real concern among Arab countries. Iran may try to continue controlling the strait even after the war.
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Raf Sanchez
In a letter to the un, Iran says the strait is open to non hostile vessels, but only in coordination with Iranian authorities. That's a major shift from the pre war norm when tankers passed freely and suggests the toll booth may be here for some time to come.
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Kristen Welker
And Raf Sanchez joins me now. Raf, thank you for that remarkable reporting. I want to ask you about this statement this morning. The IRGC said three vessels tried to transit the strait but were denied and reiterated the strait is closed. Can you just clarify, is the Strait of Hormuz closed completely or just to vessels that Iran hasn't authorized?
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NBC News Interviewer
Yeah, Kristen, it's a really, really good question. Iran's official position is that the strait is open to everybody as long as they are not linked to the United States, Israel or its allies. In reality, we are seeing fewer than 10 ships every day going through. Most of those ships are either carrying Iranian oil out of the strait or carrying goods into Iran. And so it is really not clear at all that the Iranians are letting anybody out except for their own goods. Those three ships that tried to make it out today and were turned around, two of them belonged to China's biggest shipping company. China, of course, has been a partner of Iran in the past. The fact that they have been turned back by the Revolutionary Guard shows you how few opportunities there are to pass. The ships that are going through are all being sent through that narrow passageway in Iranian territorial waters. And there is already some indication that that is becoming chaotic. Iranian state media is saying that a Thai cargo ship which was damaged in an Iranian attack about 10 days ago has run aground on one of those islands. It is perilous sailing there with very, very shallow waters and very various points. And of course, Kristen, on top of that, there are concerns that the Iranians have planted naval mines in the main part of the strip. Just making this all the more complicated, all the more dangerous.
- [25:42]
Kristen Welker
It could not be more complicated. Raf Sanchez, thank you. Please stay safe. We appreciate your great reporting. I'm joined now by NBC News senior national security correspondent Courtney Kuby, along with NBC News business and data correspondent Brian Chung. Thanks to both of you for being here. So, Court, let me, let me start with you. So the G7 foreign ministers put out a statement today saying that they support a potential coalition to protect the Strait of Hormuz. I want to play a little bit of what Canada's foreign minister had to say today. Get your reaction on the other side. Canada has been clear that it will require a ceasefire.
- [26:25]
Canada's Foreign Minister
And once a ceasefire has occurred, we
- [26:29]
Kristen Welker
will be contemplating the assistance that could be put forward. So she's saying a ceasefire has to occur first. Is that realistic? What do you make of that?
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Canada's Foreign Minister
Yeah, the hard part about a ceasefire is not just some sort of agreement, but actually that it's carried out and that it's followed. Because the reason that the strait remains so dangerous is because the Iranian threat remains. The US has taken out much of their anti ship cruise missiles. It's not really clear where their mining capability is anymore. The US has struck some of their essentially warehouses where they store them. And most of their mine laying ships have been destroyed, but they still have the limpet mines. So remember, those are the ones that you sort of stick onto a vessel and it can blow up with tragic consequences. But it's not just that they still have thousands of drones. The Iranians do. And they have their small, fast boats. So all of those present a direct threat. It's not even that. We have to see the kind of attacks that Raf was just showing in his spot there. It's just the fact that they have those threats and they are willing to employ them is why the strait remains, for all intents and purposes closed to most commercial shipping.
- [27:36]
Kristen Welker
You know, let me ask you, Court, because this is an extraordinary moment where you have President Trump talking about negotiations and yet also planning to send more troops. The Wall Street Journal says as many as maybe 10,000 troops. What are you hearing?
- [27:50]
Canada's Foreign Minister
Yeah, I mean, you. This is another situation where we sort of have to see what they're doing, not what they're saying, because we know very little about these alleged negotiations. We know that some of the 15 point plan was legitimate according to the White House. We don't know exactly what points. We still don't really know. We don't even know who the US Is talking to through the Pakistanis on the Iranian side. And so it's because that is just such an opaque process right now. What we do know is the US Continues to flood, not just troops into the region, the ones that we're aware of, but they're still sending additional, additional aircraft, additional supplies. They have the 31st MEU, the Marine Expeditionary Unit and the three ships associated with it. They are moving closer and closer into the region. The reality is they are still sending more troops in as if this is not ending anytime soon.
- [28:37]
Kristen Welker
And President Trump continues to keep Carg island in his sights. What are we watching for there? Obviously, weeks after the US Bombed it.
- [28:47]
Canada's Foreign Minister
Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised. We don't have a good sense of how much of the military equipment that was on Carg island before those strikes remained. I wouldn't be surprised if we were to see more action to ensure that they got all the air defense systems, all the bunkers, everything taken out on Carg island. Because if in fact, there were to be some sort of a US Military troop presence there, you would want all of that eliminated before you even went in. The really hard part about Carg island is yes, if the US Were to take it and occupy it, which by the way, taking it very difficult, occupying it probably more difficult and being able to hold it is. Is to what end? It would cut off the revenue stream. Of course, it would potentially be a point of leverage. But is that what's really necessary right now? The Strait of Hormuz remains the big problem. And then of course, there's the issue of the nukes and the highly enriched uranium, which it's getting almost no attention. But remember, every time, just about every time President Trump talks about this war, he says Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. So we can't let that just that that doesn't happen and vacuum those comments.
- [29:51]
Kristen Welker
It's such an important comment and perspective to continue to keep in the spotl. Courtney Kuby, thank you as always. Great to see you on this Friday. Brian, let me turn to you. Let's talk about this wild week on Wall Street. The Nasdaq fell into correction territory yesterday. The Dow entered correction territory today. What exactly does that mean and what's the big takeaway?
- [30:12]
Brian Chung
Yeah, well, I mean, for anyone that has a 401k or has a stock portfolio, this is not the only week they've been seeing these sharp losses. It is certainly a pronounced one. But this is the fifth straight week, week that we have seen losses on the stock market and I should point out that is the worst losing streak that we've seen on a weekly basis since 2022. So it's been years since we've seen action like this and it's all hinged on the developments coming out of Iran. I think a lot of people are also surprised that this is coming. Rather, today's action is specifically coming after the president said that he was going to extend that cease fire or rather extend the deadline for wanting to strike at some of those energy facilities in Iran. So again, that would have been otherwise a positive development. But I think it's the extension of the uncertainty around this war that has financial markets spooked. Financial analysts that I've been in touch with throughout all of this have more recently started to make references to the 1970s energy crisis, which a lot of people who remember that time remember was a very, very bad period of time and very tumultuous obviously for financial markets and oil markets as well. We saw crude oil tilt up to, as you mentioned, $100 a barrel. That is also not good for consumer prices at the pump as we do get closer and closer to $4 a
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Kristen Welker
gallon, which is just extraordinary to hear you say that. Let's talk about this present, this so called president that President Trump was talking about earlier this week. He says he received that from Iran, 10 Pakistani flagged oil tankers. But Brian, put that into context. Is that anywhere near enough to bring down oil prices in this moment?
- [31:45]
President Donald Trump
Yeah.
- [31:45]
Brian Chung
And again, the details on those 10 tankers are very up in the air. But regardless, it's going to take more than just 10 tankers coming out of the Strait of Hormuz in order to alleviate what is going to be a massive supply chain question here. Not just because this is obviously a big area where 20% of the world's oil travels, travels through, but the simple fact that this is now almost a month of choking off of that major strait. And so when we talk about oil markets, you have to remember that, you know, by some estimates, estimates, you know, there was going to be a maybe 2, 3, 4 week implication that was the result of, you know, those ships being stuck there as of the beginning of this conflict. But when you start to waterfall all the consecutive weeks of further choking off of that area, now you're wondering if this is going to be a medium, longer term issue where crude oil prices could stay elevated for months, maybe even years after this. That is the concern now, that this is certainly a prolonged issue. As you can see, again, again, over 100 per day. As Raf pointed out, ships traveling through that area, it's been sub 10 for most of this conflict.
- [32:45]
Kristen Welker
Wow. And that graph says it all. Brian, thank you so much for joining us. We really appreciate it. Up next, from the war against Iran to the battle over homeland security, you're looking at live pictures of Atlanta's main airport where passengers are being told to arrive at least four hours early for all flights. That's right. Right. Four hours early as a plan to fully restore TSA funding hangs in the balance. Democratic Congressman Adam Smith, who's the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, joins us after a quick break. This is MEET THE press. Now,
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- [34:43]
Kristen Welker
Welcome back. As we've mentioned, lawmakers on Capitol Hill this hour are once again grappling with how to reopen the Department of Homeland Security after House Republicans rejected the Senate's deal to effectively end the shutdown. And as President Trump is trying to fund TSA unilaterally. This comes as hours long security lines continue to disrupt passengers at many of the country's airports and the war in Iran nears the one month mark. Joining me now to discuss all of this is Democratic Congressman Adam Smith of Washington. He serves as the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it.
- [35:20]
Congressman Adam Smith
Well, thanks for the chance.
- [35:22]
Kristen Welker
I want to start, of course, with this DHS funding fight. Speaker Mike Johnson told House Republicans he plans to put a 60 day continuing resolution on the floor which would effectively fund all of DHS instead of the Senate pass deal. That leaves out ICE and cbp. Are you planning to vote yes for that measure?
- [35:43]
Congressman Adam Smith
No, I'm well vote for the Senate measure. I won't vote for the House measure. We've had this up a couple of times. The Senate has rejected it over and over and over again because, look, we have a disagreement over how to do immigration enforcement in this country. That's the debate that we're having. That's why we don't want to simply blindly fund ICE and the Border Patrol without any kind of changes to that. Now, we Democrats have decided we don't want this to do harm to tsa, to the Coast Guard, to fema. And from the very beginning, we've said let's fund those parts of it separately. And that is what the Senate finally agreed to do last night, or I guess earlier this morning, and they did it unanimously in a bipartisan way. So sitting on Mike Johnson's desk right now is an opportunity to fund TSA and get back to work. He's choosing not to do that because he wants to hold TSA hostage to blocking any reforms to the way we do immigration enforcement in this country. It's an astounding decision that's going to do great, great harm to the country. But that is what Mike Johnson has chosen to do.
- [36:44]
Kristen Welker
Congressman, the bottom line is he didn't have enough votes in his Republican conference to pass this bill through the House. If this is a way to reopen the government right now, given the stakes right now, these long lines, the fact that TSA officers have missed weeks of paychecks, why not vote yes and then hash out the details in 60 days?
- [37:09]
Congressman Adam Smith
Well, first of all, you're wrong about the key part of that. There are absolutely the votes in the House of Representatives to pass the Senate proposal 100% Democrats will vote for it. I imagine most Republicans would vote for it as well. Johnson is choosing not to put it up for a vote. And by the way, also, even if we vote for his 60 day thing, the Senate has had that over there for all 47 days and they haven't passed it. So you're, you're just wrong in the framing here. We have before us a bill that Mike Johnson could bring up that would 100% support TF. Sorry, fund TSA right now. It's done. The Senate's already passed it. It's good to go. The bill that the Republicans are putting up, that you're asking me. Well, you're not asking me to vote for, you're asking me why I'm not voting for.
- [37:55]
Ryan Nobles
It wouldn't do anything.
- [37:57]
Congressman Adam Smith
It would go, but it would go back over to the Senate and just sit there. Okay, if we want TSA funded, vote for the bill that's already passed the Senate and is ready to go.
- [38:07]
Kristen Welker
Well, so I put this question to you. My colleague Ryan Nobles put this to the speaker of the House, which is that there is mounting frustration and that people are sick of the finger pointing and you are talking about process and people want to see results. And I understand you have, have a perspective and I'm not talking about process,
- [38:27]
Congressman Adam Smith
but, but I'm talking about results. I'm talking about results. I'm not talking about.
- [38:31]
Kristen Welker
Question is, Congressman, my question is understood everything that you are saying. Why not, though, vote for this and hash out those details. Take those 60 days.
- [38:41]
Congressman Adam Smith
I can give you the same answer because I just. So I just answered that question. Okay. Because we wouldn't have those 60 days. We, as I'm sure you're aware, have a bicameral legislature which means nothing becomes law if the House and the Senate
- [38:57]
Kristen Welker
don't vote for it.
- [38:58]
Congressman Adam Smith
The Senate again has had the opportunity to do this. They do not have the votes in the Senate to pass what Mike Johnson is proposing that we pass again in the House. So we wouldn't have 60 days, we wouldn't have anything. We would still have an unfunded tsa. On the other hand, again, this isn't processing. This is results. The result of what you're talking about would be a continued stalemate. The result of voting on what the Senate has already passed would be for TSA to be funded. I mean, I don't know how much clearer I can explain that.
- [39:30]
Kristen Welker
Do you support President Trump unilaterally paying tsa, circumventing Congress?
- [39:36]
Congressman Adam Smith
Well, it's illegal for him to do that now, now, a, it's illegal because the President is not supposed to be able to just spend money wherever he wants to spend it. It's supposed to go through the appropriations process. Now, President Trump has done that over and over and over again in the last 14 months. He's been sued over and over and over again and usually blocked. So it's illegal, which troubles me. But second, even if he did it, what sort of guarantee does that have for the TSA employees? Would that be sufficient to guarantee get them to come back to work? I don't know. So, no, I don't think that's a particularly viable option. And again, we have a viable option just sitting here. We could literally get TSA funded in a half hour. If Mike Johnson just put this on the floor, it would have the votes. It has the votes easily off it goes to the President. He'd sign it because he sees two thirds in both the House and the Senate. That is the path to actually getting TSA filed.
- [40:33]
Kristen Welker
All right, Congressman, I'm so sorry to interrupt you. We have breaking news, though. President Trump taking questions from reporters on the tarmac in Miami right now, where he just arrived moments ago. Let's listen in.
- [40:43]
President Donald Trump
Hundreds of thousands, even millions of people out of this country that shouldn't be. I'm not talking about people that came in illegal and they're working and everything. I'm talking about murderers. 11,888 murderers. And we can't let it happen. Happen. We can't. And that's what the Democrats want. They want people to come into this country. They don't care who they are. If they murder people, they're fine with that. They don't care who they are. They want borders to be open. We have borders that are stone cold closed 10 months now in a row. Nobody came into the country. They want to do just the opposite. And this would have ruined the country if I wasn't elected. We wouldn't have a country right now. So you can't do it. So I understand John Thune and I understand Mike Johnson. They want to be sure that people aren't coming into our country like they have for the last four years. I don't want to say they've ruined it. They made my job a lot harder. And now we have it good. We have crime down. We have everything down. But these are people, some of the worst people. Look at Chicago. Two days ago, they shot this thug, this horrible human being came in through the Biden open border. They killed this beautiful young girl who's a friend of whose father was a good friend of Dan Scavino. And it's just happening every single day. These are the worst gang members, the worst killers, the worst they allowed the worst people. And you know why? Because the countries sent them out when they saw open borders. Every country throughout the world, they sent them into our country. And we don't want that. And that's what it's all about. Thank you. On Iran, they are being decimated. They are talking. We are talking now. They want to make a deal. Very simply, our military is degraded, greatest in the world by far. Iran is being decimated. Thank you.
- [42:51]
Kristen Welker
And that was President Trump taking questions in Miami, talking about the need to strengthen the border, talking, defending his decision to unilaterally pay ICE officials, which you just heard Congressman Adam Smith say earlier that in fact he believed was illegal. And then he was asked about Iran. As he started to walk away, he said they are being decimated. They want to make a deal. It's worth noting the Iranian foreign minister has in fact said that there are no official talks underway. So we continue to track that. We'll bring you anything more that President Trump has to say on any of those topics coming up. But we are going to take a quick break. We'll be back. Beat THE PRESS now continue State with us. Welcome back. I'm joined by today's panel, Tia Mitchell, Washington bureau chief for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Andrew Bates, deputy White House press secretary during the Biden administration, and Danielle Pletka, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. Thanks to all of you for being here. Tia, let me start with you. Pretty remarkable where things stand with the shutdown. You have have the Senate passing a bill that would fund DHS but not ICE and cbp. The Senate basically saying let's do that through a different process. Let's get it to the House. Let's start paying TSA workers. The House saying this is just not going to fly. Republicans in the House and saying we need to fund ICE as well. And so here we have yet another stalemate. You heard Congressman Adam Smith tell me he's not going to vote for. So this shutdown continues. President Trump unilaterally paying TSA workers, but there are legal questions about that method.
- [44:37]
Tia Mitchell
Yeah. And it's I think we should note that the Senate is led by Republicans. So this is some Republican on Republican fighting that we're seeing right now. President Trump I think is complicated a little bit because initially Senate Republicans indicated they had his blessing when they passed their version. Now House Republicans are saying they have the president's blessing as they push back with a rival proposal. And as you mentioned, in the middle of this are government workers beyond TSA who will continue to not be paid. And they're still, I think, angst that if Trump is kind of moving money around to fund tsa, that may not pass legal muster. That may run into problems in the long run. The Senate's plan was more long term than what the House is trying to do now. But regardless, what the House is doing now will not pass in the Senate and this partial shutdown will continue.
- [45:32]
Kristen Welker
That's why Congressman Adam Smith was arguing Danny Plaetka just moments ago. How do you see this playing out? How do you see this coming to an end? It seemed like the Senate had potentially found an offram. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he didn't have the votes, although Congressman Adam Smith pushed back against that. He says he thinks there were enough votes to pass it.
- [45:53]
Danielle Pletka
It'll end the way all of these shutdowns end, which is embarrassment for both parties, embarrassment for that branch of government that is Congress, and no progress, no real serious progress towards solving any of the underlying issues that either of the Republicans or the Democrats were upset about. We have become a performative town. The president comes out and he performs for us, and then members of Congress come out and they perform for us. And this is people aren't getting paid. This is wrong. People aren't able to travel. It's just ridiculous.
- [46:24]
Kristen Welker
And Andrew, to that point, I mean, there is outrage for both parties, for everyone involved in this. If you look at the polls after the last shutdown, which was the longest government shutdown in US History, I think Republicans did bear more of the brunt. But here we are in a midterm election cycle, and this is one of those moments where people are saying pox on both their houses. They're just outraged.
- [46:47]
Andrew Bates
We are in a midterm election cycle, and every special election that's been held around the country in the last year or so has come down in favor of Democrats. And that's because the Republicans who are in charge of Washington keep breaking the core promises they made to people. This chaos is raising prices. The American people know who is in charge of Washington. And something that's very telling about this situation is Republicans who are in tough races have already been going on the record saying that Speaker Johnson is making a mistake by keeping them on the wrong side of the public on immigration and keeping this whole situation going.
- [47:22]
Kristen Welker
Danny, respond to that. I mean, what do you make of how Speaker Johnson is handling this moment, should he have fought harder to pass the Senate passed version of the bill?
- [47:32]
Danielle Pletka
Look, he's got a razor thin majority. And so the idea that he's going to fight harder and therefore is going to get something passed is not necessarily logical. This is the way it's going to be when the Democrats take over. This is the way it was when Nancy Pelosi was speaker. It's just it is the dysfunction of government. And yes, they do know what's going on in Washington. We had a president who was AWOL in the last term and now we've got a president who's performing in this term. And everybody seems to have forgotten what their job is, which is to serve the American people.
- [48:02]
Kristen Welker
Andrew, you want to respond to that?
- [48:04]
Andrew Bates
Well, Joe Biden's numbers are now better than Donald Trump's because of what we were just talking about, that the costs that Republicans ran on lowering are higher. They are starting wars which they promised they weren't going to do. That's driving costs higher, more. And Democrats are winning special elections because they're staying focused on the American people's priorities, lowering the cost of living.
- [48:25]
Kristen Welker
TIA Let me shift a little bit to what we just heard from President Trump. He basically said we've decimated Iran and he said they want a deal. So repeating what we've heard from him, I mean, this kind of picks up on the question about prices because President Trump told me a couple of weeks ago in a phone interview prices are going to start to come down as soon as the war ends. He's signaling that he's moving toward an attempt to negotiate an end to this. The Iranian foreign minister has been very clear that he says there are no official talks underway. Do you have a sense based on your conversations that these negotiations are in fact moving forward in earnest?
- [49:05]
Tia Mitchell
So I think not only is there not clear evidence that there are negotiations going on because Trump is saying one thing, the Iranian leadership is saying another. Israel is still actively bombing Iran, Iran and you know, in the region. And that that would seem to, you know, complicate drawing this conflict or this war to an end. I think the other big issue is that the American public, and not just the American public, members of Congress say they don't understand the end game. They are getting frustrated at the lack of information. And if members of Congress in classified briefings are coming away saying this is not adding up to me, I'm starting to get concerned what about the regular people, which our biggest evidence of the war is the gas prices, you know, and I think again the war wasn't sold to the American people. That's the bigger issue.
- [50:02]
Kristen Welker
Danny Plattka, gas prices are up a dollar since this war began one month ago. Take me inside some of your conversations. How much concern is there about that? Because again, the President says, look, these gas prices are going to come down when the war comes to an end. Economists say, yes, they may start to, but they don't come down as quickly as they go up.
- [50:23]
Danielle Pletka
That's always true. First of all, it's not just the Israelis who are bombing Iran. We are bombing Iran. Second of all, we've never had direct negotiations with the Iranians except right at the end toward the signing of the jcpoa. All of these negotiations are via interlocutors. The Pakistani government is doing that. The United States has presented them with a 15 point plan. It is a plan for their capitulation, inflation and they don't like it. So, you know, is it going to, is it going to calm down for sure. In two to four weeks, three to five weeks it will be over.
- [50:53]
Kristen Welker
That's my question. You're confident? That's a striking statement. You think he can wind this down in three to four weeks?
- [50:59]
Danielle Pletka
I think that the, I think that the relevant operations to get to the end game that the President has in mind will be wound down in three to four weeks. Yes.
- [51:07]
Kristen Welker
Okay. Andrew, how are Democrats viewing this? And again, Iran has been something going back to the Obama administration that has been a concern is a clear threat. Is there an argument to be made that if this didn't happen now, a future administration would have needed to intervene?
- [51:28]
Andrew Bates
Well, like TIA said, this was never sold to the American people. And it's because there was no evidence that there was an imminent threat that would justify putting our fighting men and women in danger. In fact, General Dan Kaine, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was against going into war with Iran at all. And Democrats are going to stay focused on how this is the opposite of what we were promised. And to your point, it takes quite a long time to get gas prices to come down whenever this ends, Danny,
- [51:58]
Kristen Welker
the fact that the President wanted NATO allies to come and help with the Strait of Hormuz and that has not yet happened. How complicating do you think that is in terms of trying to get the energy sector back on track when this is over?
- [52:16]
Danielle Pletka
So Mark Ruta, who's the Secretary General of NATO, has talks to the President regularly. They have a great relationship. Marc Ruta is confident that the Brits, the French and others are going to be Coming in and helping us. Look, we can do this. We can escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but we've got other stuff going on, and that's not a good division of labor. So I am let's say, reasonably confident that our European allies are going to start behaving. Behaving like, you know, European allies and part of NATO, and that they're going to come in and help us on this, just as we have helped them on Ukraine.
- [52:45]
Savannah Guthrie
Okay.
- [52:45]
Kristen Welker
And, Tia, final point. Polls show that maga's still united around this, but there are some loud voices inside MAGA saying this is not what the president promised.
- [52:55]
Tia Mitchell
Yeah, I think there's a MAGA split. And I've been covering it, you know, for. For months, as I covered Marjorie Taylor Greene. We know how that ended. But she. There, I think, are many Republican voters, MAGA voters, Trump voters, because really, MAGA is about Trump. Right? Loyalty to Trump above all else. And they do feel misled. They feel like Trump sold them on ending foreign conflicts, and instead of ending them, he is starting new ones.
- [53:22]
Kristen Welker
All right, guys, thank you so much. Great Friday conversation. Really appreciate it, Tia, Andrew, and Danny, and thank you all. As the desperate search for her mother drags on, our beloved colleague Savannah Guthrie will be making her return to the Today show next month. Savannah will be back on air on April 6, more than two months after her mother, Nancy, was first reported missing. In her first interview since her mother's disappearance, Savannah told Hoda Kotb how her faith is helping her cope with this unimaginable horror. Take a listen.
- [53:56]
Savannah Guthrie
But faith is how I will stay connected to my mom. God is how I'm holding hands with my mom. And I won't let sadness win for her. She taught me. I saw her grief. I saw her world shatter. I saw her it. And I saw her get up. And I saw her belief. And I saw her love. And I saw her hope. And I saw her smile and I saw her laugh. I saw her joy. I saw her love of the world and adventure. I saw her belief. I saw her faith. She taught me. She taught all of us. And I may not do it as well as her, but I will do it. I will do it for my kids. I will. I will not fall apart. I will not let whoever did this take my children's mother from them. I will not let them take my joy. They will not take my sister's joy. They will not take my brother's joy. They will not take our love. They will not take our faith. But our anguish is real. We need help. We need someone to tell the truth. Yes, I have no anger in my heart. I have hope in my heart. I have love that this family needs peace.
- [55:59]
Kristen Welker
You can see more of Hoda's extraordinary interview with our beloved Savannah on a Dateline Special tonight at 9:00pm Eastern on NBC. And please, please, if you have any interview information about Savannah's mom's Nancy's disappearance, please call the FBI tip line you see on your screen right now 1-800-call FBI. Again, that's 1-800-call FBI. We cannot wait to welcome Savannah back and give her a big hug and all of our love. And if it's Sunday, it is Meet the Press on your local NBC News stations. I'll have exclusive interviews with James Lankford and Cory Book. There is more news ahead on NBC News now.
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Josh Mankiewicz
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