Meet the Press NOW — March 27

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Welcome to Meet the Press. Now I'm Kristen Welker in Washington. That was the closing

bell. As the cell 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 in 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 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.

This gambit that was done last night is a joke. We're going to put a clean,

simple, continuing resolution that will go into a May 22nd. 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 under 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,

we'll go along with this 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. Now the Speaker's pitch comes after House Conservatives expressed outrage

over the Senate deal. 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 poor and the poor components of ICE

make the Senate be any more lazy than to send to us, that bill that doesn't do the job in

that lead town. So we're going to stand up and say no to that. Bottom line is this is not

this deal is bad for Americans, 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 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

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, senior Homeland Security

correspondent Julia Ainsley, a national correspondent Aaron Gilchrist is on the ground in Atlanta.

It heartsfield 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's

thinking in the pressure that he's getting from the House Freedom Caucus. 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 3 a.m. 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 believe me, the other side. People have been standing in lines three,

four or five months at the 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 the shutdown under any circumstances.

No, it won't. No, it won't. If it, 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.

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 them 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 cyber security? 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.

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?

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. Christine Ohm 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. Well, great job on holding their feet

to the fire on Capitol Hill, Ryan Noble. Thank you so much for joining us as we enter yet another

weekend with the shutdown ongoing. Monica Alba, I turn 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, Mon? Yeah, Christine, the president kind of previewed

this yesterday in that cabinet meeting saying that if Congress couldn't come up with 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 used 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 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've 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? Absolutely, Monica. And I have to ask you, I mean, could there potentially be legal

challenges to this unilateral move by President Trump? 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 510 have 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 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.

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 pay checks.

Some of them, as soon as Monday, how does this work, Julia? Is everyone going to get paid on Monday?

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 or 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 CPP and ICE.

Let me ask you and follow up with you on that point.

Do CPP and ICE actually have funding right now because of the big beautiful bill?

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. Well, 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 enforcement personnel

who do work for CPP 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

in 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,

applaud the president on this move for the TSA workers getting paid.

All right. Well, we will continue to track it. I know you will continue to track these payments.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. Great to see you. As always, Erin Gilchrist, let me head out to you.

What are you hearing from TSA and airport officials amid this back and forth in Washington?

You know, I spoke to one TSA union leader here at the Atlanta airport. And he said that he came

into today with cautious optimism. 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 corresponders 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. 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 it. So what happened to the other

15 or 14 people? I don't know. I haven't seen them. So I don't know of 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. 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 doing 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, Kristen. Well, you can just feel the anger mounting as this drags on Aaron

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 state of her moves and the Trump administration's response. Plus what

rising fuel costs in 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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To realize the future America needs, we understand what's needed from us.

To face each threat and all. We've earned our place in the fight for our nation's future.

We are Marines. We were made for this.

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 U.S.

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 pressure. Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying the war will end in weeks

not months, claiming the U.S. can achieve its goals without ground troops, and saying the U.S.

is still waiting for a response from Iran to its 15-point plan to end the war.

We can achieve all of our objectives with our 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 out 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 we'll be talking about, and when will we be talking.

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 Hormuz 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 of Rubio said about that today.

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,

it's dangerous for the world, 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.

NBC News International correspondent Raf Sanchez has more on the status of that critical waterway.

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. That's according to data from Lloyd's List Intelligence,

a maritime firm shared with NBC News. Before the war, around 110 ships pass the

Strait each day. Now it's ten ships or fewer.

Peace time routes look 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. Whatever we can take 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 tofu. 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

two million dollars 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 don't use this so-called toll booths,

they'll be attacked by Iran? I think so. I think that is very much the implication.

It's not an empty threat. At least 18 ships have already been attacked

in and around the Strait, according to the UN. Iran is on 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. 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 suggest the toll booths may be here for some time to come.

And Rafseh has joined 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

closed completely or just vessels that Iran has an authorized?

Yeah, Chris, and 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

it's 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 returned around two of them belongs 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 passage

way in Iranian territorial waters. And there was 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 various points. And of course, Chris, 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. It could not be more complicated,

rough cinches. Thank you, please stay safe. We appreciate your great reporting. I'm Joy

now by NBC News, Senior National Security Correspondent Courtney QB, along with NBC News Business

and Data Correspondent Brian Chung. Thanks to both of you for being here. So, court, 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 state of Ramuz. 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 cease-fire and once a cease-fire has occurred,

we will be contemplating the assistance that could be put forward.

So she's saying a cease-fire has to occur first. Is that realistic? What do you make of that?

The hard part about is cease-fire is not just some sort of agreement, but actually that it's

carried out and that it's followed because the reason that the straight remains so dangerous is

because the Iranian threat remains. The U.S. has taken out much of their anti-ship cruise missiles.

It's not really clear where their mining capability is anymore. The U.S. 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 mine. So remember, those are the ones that they 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 vote. 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're willing to employ them

is why the straight remains for all intents and privileges closed to most commercial shipping.

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? Yeah, I mean, 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 U.S. 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 U.S.

continues to flood not just troops into the region, the ones that we're aware of, but they're

still sending additional aircraft additional supplies. They have the 31st Mu, the Marine Expeditionary

Unit and the three ships associated with it. They're moving closer and closer into the region.

The reality is they are still sending more troops and as this is not ending anytime soon.

And President Trump continues to keep Carg Island in his sights. What are we watching for there,

obviously, weeks after the U.S. bombed it? 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

remains. 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 U.S. military troop presence there, you would want all of that eliminated

before you even went in. But the really hard part about Carg Island is yes, if the U.S. 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 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 doesn't happen in vacuum those comments.

It's such an important comment and perspective to continue to keep in the spotlight.

Courtney Cuby, 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

take away? Yeah. Why me 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 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 ceasefire or

rather extend the deadline for wanting to strike it. 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 gallon. Which is just extraordinary to hear

you say that. Let's talk about this present, this so-called present. The president Trump was talking

about earlier this week. He says he received that from Iran, 10 Pakistani flagged oil tankers.

Brian, put that into context. Is that anywhere near enough to bring down oil prices in this moment?

Yeah, 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 straight of hormones 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 through. But the simple fact that this

is now almost a month of choking off of that major straight. When we talk about oil markets,

you have to remember that by some estimates, there was going to be a maybe two, three, four week

implication that was the result of 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, over 100 per day, as Raf pointed out,

ships traveling through that area, it's been sub 10 for most of this conflict.

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, 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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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 many of the country's airports and the war in Iran

nearest 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.

Well, thanks for the chance. 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 past deal that leaves out ice

and CBP. Are you planning to vote yes for that measure?

No, I'll 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 harm to the country, but that is what Mike Johnson has chosen to do. 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. 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 this

Senate proposal. 100 percent. 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 just wrong in the framing here. We have before us a bill that Mike Johnson could bring

up that would 100 percent support 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. You're asking me why I'm not voting for it.

Wouldn't do anything. It would go back over to the Senate and just sit there. If we want TSA

funded vote for the bill that's already passed the Senate and is ready to go.

Well, and so I put this question to you, my colleague Ryan Noble's 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 a perspective. I'm talking about process. I'm talking about results. I'm talking about

results. I'm not talking about process. My question is Congressman, my question is I understood

everything that you are saying. Why not vote for this and hash out those details, take those

60 days. I can give you the same answer because I just answered that question, okay? Because we

wouldn't have those 60 days. We, as I'm sure you're aware, have a by-candle legislature,

which means nothing becomes law if the House and the Senate don't vote for it. 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 process. 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, how much clearer I can explain that. Do you support President

Trump unilaterally paying TSA, circumventing Congress? Well, it's illegal for him to do that.

Now, hey, 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 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 funded.

All right, Congressman, I am 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. 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

I'm talking about murderers, 11,888 murderers. And we can't let it 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. Ten 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 it. 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 climbed down. We have everything down.

But these are people, some of the worst people. Look at Chicago. Two days ago, they shot this

bug. This horrible human being came in through the Biden open border. They killed this beautiful

young girl who was 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 country sent them out.

When they saw open borders, every country throughout the world, they sent them into a 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 the greatest in the world by far. Iran is being decimated. Thank you.

And that was President Trump taking questions in Miami talking about the need to strengthen the

border, talking and defending his decision to unilaterally pay ice officials, which he 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. The press now continues to stay with us.

Welcome back. I'm joined by today's panel, Tia Mitchell, Washington Bureau Chief for the

Atlanta Journal Constitution, Andrew Banks, 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 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

this package. So this shutdown continues. President Trump unilaterally paying TSA workers,

but there are legal questions about that method. Yeah. And 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, has 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, our government workers beyond TSA, who will continue to not be paid.

And there's still, I think, angst that if Trump is kind of moving money around to fund TSA,

that may not pass legal mustard, 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. That's

what Congressman Adam Smith was arguing to any pletka 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 in off-ram. 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 no votes to pass it.

It'll end the way all of these shutdowns end, which is embarrassment for both parties,

embarrassment for that branch of government that is the Congress and no progress, no real

serious progress towards solving any of the underlying issues that either 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 being able to travel. It's just ridiculous.

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. We are in 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.

Did he 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, pass version of the bill?

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 is the dysfunction

of government. And yes, they do know what's going on in Washington. We had a president who was

a wall 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.

Andrew, you want to respond to that? Well, Joe Biden's numbers are now better than Donald Trump

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. 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 and 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 and earnest? 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 in the region.

And that would seem to 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 it 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 are 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. Danny Black, the 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.

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. 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.

That's my question. You're confident that that's a striking statement. You think he can wind this

down in three to four weeks? 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. 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? 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 Cain, 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, the fact that the president wanted NATO allies to come and help with a straight-of-form

move 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? So, Mark Ruta, who's the Secretary General

of NATO, has talks to the President regularly. They have a great relationship. Mark 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 straight-of-form moves, 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 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.

Okay, and to your final point, polls show that MAGA is still united around this, but there are

some loud voices inside MAGA saying, this is not with the President's promise.

Yeah, I think there's a MAGA split, and I've been covering it, you know, for months as I covered

Marjorie Taylor-Green, 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.

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 Hota Kotby how her

faith is helping her cope with this unimaginable horror. Take a listen. 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. She taught me. I saw her crave. I saw her world shatter.

I saw it, and I saw her get up, and I saw her believe, 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. But this family needs peace.

You can see more of HOTA's extraordinary interview with our beloved Savannah on a date

line special tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern on NBC. And please, please, if you have any 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 Langford and Cory Booker.

There is more news ahead on NBC News now.

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