[Brown:] Lawmakers are racing to prevent a partial government shutdown at midnight on Friday. A short time ago, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate would take up a simple measure today to keep the government running until February when the new Congress convenes. This comes after the White House said there are other ways to get the $5 billion the president wants for the border wall. CNN's Abby Phillip is at White House. Abby, any word from the president, the White House on whether he is on board with this?
[Abby Phillip, Cnn White House Reporter:] That's the million-dollar question or maybe the $5 billion question that we are facing this week. The White House is being close lipped about where the president is in favor or opposed to this short-term bill. We did ask counsellor to the president, Kellyanne Conway, this morning about whether he might sign it. Her answer was he would certainly look at it. That is not a no or ruling that out. In effect, what that means stat this White House is backing down from what had been a claim that they wanted $5 billion for the wall and would refuse to fund the government otherwise. Now it sounds very much like the president is signaling that he might be willing to get the money elsewhere and that he might have the military pay for the wall I'm sorry, build the wall rather than the Department of Homeland Security. But I asked Kellyanne Conway this morning about whether or not that really meant that the American public was actually paying for the wall and not Mexico as President Trump has claimed. Here is what she had to say in response to that.
[Kellyanne Conway, Senior Advisor To President Trump:] He believes that through the USMCA agreement that Mexico in the savings from that that Mexico would be paying for the wall. But what I think is more important, Abby, is I have been in some of the meetings the president has been asking the relative agencies and principles, is there money for not the wall, for border security. And he has said one way or another he will get the money. He is asking the question government wide.
[Phillip:] If you are listening carefully, what that amounts to is President Trump is asking federal agencies to find the money for border security. That is, in fact, taxpayer money. If you ask economists, the USMCA, the new NAFTA trade deal, is not going to result in more money that is miraculously going to be used for the wall. It's not clear where the claim is coming from. But clearly, this is a White House trying to find a way out of this problem. And by Friday, we will either have a government shutdown or President Trump will sign some sort of short-term bill to fund the government until February Pam?
[Brown:] All right, Abby Phillip, thank you so much from the White House. Joining me now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, of New Jersey, chair of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Thank you for coming on. I want to get right to it. Mitch McConnell just announced he is going to bring a continuing resolution for a vote later today that would fund the government through February 8. Chuck Schumer has said he is open to that right now. Do you think a shutdown will be averted?
[Rep. Josh Gottheimer, , New Jersey:] I think this is good news. I think it is signaling that we are seeing we are not going to have a shutdown. What I am hearing from folks at home, this is not how they want the country to run. They don't want to see shutting things down. They want to see solving problems. This is very promising.
[Brown:] You are saying people at home don't want the government to shut down. They want you to solve problems. What do you say to the critics who say you are kicking the can down the road? We are going to go through this again in February.
[Gottheimer:] It is much better we have had two years where we are trying to deal with health care and immigration reform and we can't get a debate on the House floor. I'm eager, come January, to start addressing issues like infrastructure and health care and start dealing with issues. But jamming it in the next couple of days makes no sense. I would also say the good news as you see in criminal justice reform where both sides come together and something that the Problem Solvers Caucus worked a lot on to actually get done. And I think that's an example. And if we actually talk to each other and work together we can get things done.
[Brown:] We are going to talk about criminal justice reform shortly. That is a very important development. But staying on this, what do you say to those who claim border wall funding is dead now because the Dems are taking over the House in the new year? The president is not going to get his $5 billion from Congress.
[Gottheimer:] I think these are issues you saw the bipartisan agreement a few months ago for tough borders and making sure the DREAMers can stay here and live up to our values. I think we need to keep working on this. We had the votes. If we could have gotten a debate on the House floor we could have passed this. I'm hopeful new year we can address the issues and do it the right way and talk to each other and work together. I think there's strong agreement that we need tough borders but also to make sure we live up to our values and address issues like the DREAMers.
[Brown:] I want to go back to criminal justice reform, because this really was a rare moment of bipartisanship. It's unfortunate that it is so rare, but it was truly a bipartisan effort. It passed the Senate by a vote of 87 to 12. The Problem Solvers Caucus has been supportive of this bill. As someone who spends a lot of time talking about bipartisanship, why was it that this issue brought Democrats and so many Republicans together?
[Gottheimer:] I think, first of all, you saw a lot of time where people are talking to each other from both sides. They found there were several issues where they did see eye to eye, whether that is making sure we had people leave prison and not come back by getting more training or saving taxpayers money, which appeals to both sides. I think you found that or sentencing guideline disparities. You found issue after issue where people engaged, saying we can agree on this. The problem is that people aren't willing to sit in the room together and work on these issues. The Problem Solvers Caucus, which I co-chair, is half Democrat and half Republican. We brought in all different folks. Saying we should look at this issue and this might be a good bipartisan one. And we had other folks come in and we started working on this and we talked to one another and said we can get behind this. There are so many issues like infrastructure and health care, we can make sure we can get premiums down. There are plenty of issues where we can work together. I'm hoping that in the next Congress we will continue to do that. I think people are sick and tired of us screaming at each other and actually want us to solve problems for them and work together.
[Brown:] Perhaps this is a good template how so men different sides came together on criminal justice reform. President Trump made clear he will support it. His adviser, Jared Kushner, was deeply involved in putting this together. How much credit does the president deserve here?
[Gottheimer:] Yes. Van Jones and Jared Kushner came to talk to our group. Van Jones, on your network. Normally, you wouldn't get these folks together. I think there are plenty of topics, and infrastructure is a great one, where we can immediately come together and say I talk to a lot of members on both sides. We both agree we have to deal with crumbling roads and bridges. We have a problem with the gateway, a tunnel in New York and New Jersey, in my district. They know these are things we have to fix and we can't just ignore. I think it is a matter of us and I think when people go home, they will see a lot of positive feedback for getting something done. I'm hoping that this becomes a habit and not a rare thing.
[Brown:] Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thank you for coming on.
[Gottheimer:] Thanks. Happy holidays.
[Brown:] Happy holidays to you, too. Coming up on this Wednesday, CNN obtains the letter of intent that then-Candidate Trump signed for a Trump Tower Moscow Project, even those the president's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, claimed that Trump never signed it. That's up next. Stay with us.