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The Lead with Jake Tapper

House Expected To Vote This Hour To Prevent U.S. Government Shutdown; At Least Two Dead, 68 Injured After Driver Plows Into Crowd At Christmas Market In Germany; German Official: Suspect Is 50 Years Old, Has Permanent Residency; Now: House Voting To Avoid A Government Shutdown. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired December 20, 2024 - 17:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Authorities say the suspected driver seen here on the ground being detained by police is a physician from Saudi Arabia who works in the area where the attack took place. Authorities say he's been living in Germany since at least 2006. We're going to bring you more on that story in a second.

But let's go back to Capitol Hill and let's talk to CNN's Manu Raju and Lauren Fox.

Manu, do Republicans have the votes to avoid a government shutdown?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Republican leadership is confident, Jake, that they will have the votes to avert a government shutdown after a frantic several days of negotiating behind closed doors prompted by Donald Trump's intervention in the 11th hour, making demands and scuttling a separate bipartisan deal to try to avoid a government shutdown. Trump demanding late that there should be additions to this proposal, namely the very complicated issue of raising the national debt limit, something that doesn't have to be dealt with next year, but one that he wants done now so he doesn't have to worry about it when he's president. However, because he does not have the votes in the House that failed yesterday, his efforts to try to do just that, raise the national debt limit. Now Republican leaders have agreed to push that aside into next year. Now they're trying to move on a separate course, extend government funding past midnight tonight till mid-March.

Included as part of that, disaster relief, providing money for communities hit hard by natural disasters and aid to farmers, billions in aid to farmers, all wrapped up in one proposal that will come to the House floor this hour. The question, Jake, is can they get 290 votes if all members are voting present? That is 2/3 of the House. That is a threshold. They need to meet tonight to get there.

One thing to watch, there are a lot of Republicans and Democrats who frankly are gone. Their absences could be an issue here. But nevertheless, there's a belief that finally, after this late drama over the last couple of days, that they can get past this drama past this side of the House tonight and then over to the Senate to give it final approval averting a government shutdown with just hours to go, Jake.

TAPPER: And Lauren, you're right outside where Democrats are meeting right now. What are House Democrats going to do? Are they going to bail Republicans out and pass this legislation and keep the government open? Or are they going to try to force Republicans to own a shutdown of sorts?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jake. I mean, this is essentially the third caucus meeting in about 24 hours the Democrats have had. But the sense that we are getting is that they are all eyes on Hakeem Jeffries, their Democratic leader right now. A lot of them are open to supporting this proposal because it no longer involves the debt limit. That was a hard red line for a lot of Democrats who believe that they could really have leverage next year on this issue and who believe that including the debt limit would make it easier for Republicans to pass their massive tax package next year.

Again, one of the questions is what does Hakeem Jeffries say to his members in a couple of minutes? Obviously, the fact that this bill is slightly different than what was unveiled on Tuesday night, that hard negotiated package that Republicans and Democrats had come together to unveil, that package is no longer alive. They're going to have to vote on something different. But the sense that you're getting from Democrats heading into this meeting is they are open minded. They believe that they want to keep the government open and a lot of people want to get home for the holidays.

Jake.

TAPPER: Lauren Fox, Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thanks to both of you.

Here now is a panel of political voices. David Axelrod, let me start with you. A lot of blame going around Washington as the clock runs down. Today the White House press secretary repeatedly blamed Republicans for walking away from a bipartisan funding deal. She also laid out the impacts a shutdown might have. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: We're not just when we talk about keeping the government opening open, we're talking about providing funds for disasters, disaster recovery efforts, lowering -- to lower cost of prescription drugs. That's what we're talking about. And the impact of this would hurt our veterans and would hurt vulnerable Americans across the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: If vulnerable Americans and veterans are going to take a hit right before the holidays, do you think President Biden should get off the side lines and show his face and get engaged?

DAVID AXELROD, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISER: Yes. I don't know, Jake. I mean, look, the reality is I'm more than willing to criticize the president or anybody else. The reality is the White House was involved in the negotiations in the first place. They had a deal with the speaker of the House.

That deal was on the verge of moving forward. And then Elon Musk and Donald Trump interfered in that.

I'm not exactly sure what the president -- I mean, obviously he needs to sign off on any deal. But this really now is very much an internal Republican issue of what they can do. And obviously Democrats have to be comfortable with the deal. My suspicion is now that they've dropped Trump's demand for a kind of hall pass on the debt ceiling for the length of his -- the duration of his presidency, that Democrats will be more apt to support it. And they all want to go home, so that'll probably happen.

[17:05:07]

But I'm not going to lay this one on the president because the White House did what it should do. They signed off on a deal and that deal then collapsed because of interference from Trump and Musk.

TAPPER: Newt Gingrich, who was House speaker during two government shutdowns during the Clinton administration, says he thinks that a shutdown would actually benefit Trump. Here's what he said earlier today on Fox.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH, (R) FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: I think that President Trump would be much better off to let the government close, to let Biden sit there as a totally incompetent president presiding over a mess, and to go to the country and say to the country, I am not going to be a president who sells you out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Shermichael, do you agree?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, I can see that argument, but my biggest concern here, Jake, is it's our pattern of fiscal irresponsibility that's driven, quite frankly, the worst inflation in 50 years. And government spending, I would argue, is a key culprit to inflation. You cannot just continue passing CRs after CRs after CRs while the nation's fiscal health is in complete disarray. We're 30 plus trillion dollars in debt and there appears to be no one who's interested in figuring out a way to pay this stuff off. And so at some point, even if you do have to pay for what you've already expensed, at some point, I think the obligation for both Republicans and Democrats, just like every single regular American across this country, is to pass a balanced budget, pay down the debt.

There's not a single person in this country who could say, well, you know what, I'm just going to pull out all the money in the world and just keep buying things with no recourse. But that's essentially what our Congress is doing. And at some point we got to say enough is enough. And so for the Republicans who are standing tall and saying we have to not continue this type of behavior, it's not beneficial for generations to come. I salute them for doing so. No one benefits when the country is continuously in debt. It is a risk and threat to our national security interests.

TAPPER: And former Congressman Charlie Dent, take a listen to what former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said on his podcast about this implosion of the bipartisan compromise funding deal and what it signifies about what is to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: If you think the last 48 hours has been unique, every day coming in when President Trump takes over is going to be like this, particularly as they -- as Elon tries to make these type of cuts and President Trump tries to reorganize the government and get back on the right track and save the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Charlie Dent, your reaction?

CHARLIE DENT, (R) FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, I guess Steve Bannon is promising never ending chaos. I mean, that's what he's suggesting because that's what we've had. And I have to kind of inform the whole world here that the House Republicans do not have 218 votes on their own to pass a continuing resolution or a debt ceiling now or during the next Congress. We all know this. That's why there has to be conversations with the Democrats because they need the Democrats to vote for these things. And therefore, you know, they're going to expect things in these bills.

So I'm not sure what Steve Bannon is talking about. And by the way, the hardliners in the House Republican Conference and Donald Trump were the ones who insisted on not completing the Appropriations bills, all 12 of them, before Christmas. They said, kick it into the New Year. Well, they got their wish.

Then there was a bipartisan deal. Then they blew it up. They changed their minds. Then they said, well, let's do the debt ceiling now, or at least Donald Trump did. And of course, they could have had this conversation, but they would have needed to start it right after the election.

So, I think what Steve Bannon is simply promising is never ending chaos and dysfunction. And I'm not so sure the American people are going to be up for that.

TAPPER: Jonathan Last, who's an editor at the Bulwark, writes, quote, "Right now, America has three presidents, which means we have zero presidents. The federal government is about to shut down because Biden has declined to intervene. Trump has intervened one side and Musk has intervened on the other. The question is, how long can this situation go on," unquote.

Charlie, a month from now, Biden will be officially out of the equation. How do you see this dynamic between Trump and Musk playing out as Trump returns to the White House? Trump, just for people who weren't paying close attention yesterday, supported, stood with Musk when it came to getting rid of the compromise bill. And then Trump was supporting the Republican bill that then went before the House and failed. And, you know, Musk had been drumming up opposition to the original bill.

And it seemed at some points that maybe the excitement and the opposition that Musk had built up, you know, fed into the opposition to the bill that Trump supported.

DENT: Well, I suspect at some point there's going to -- they're going to be on a collision course, these two men, Donald Trump and Elon Musk. You know, as Elon Musk is the one -- he's the one who really tank the bipartisan compromise. And then Donald Trump belatedly jumped in with an assist.

And I can't imagine that Donald Trump was too.

[17:10:08]

And I can't imagine that Donald Trump was too happy that Musk is out there kind of directing Congress to do something, take an action without his knowledge, apparently. But it was all after the fact. And I can't imagine in the new year that Donald Trump will be too pleased with Steve Bannon calling the shots using his platform at X, formerly Twitter, to drive messages that might not necessarily be compatible with Donald Trump is talking about. And frankly, Elon Musk has raised expectations now among many that he'll find nearly $2 trillion in cuts from the federal budget, which nobody thinks is really possible.

And so they're -- so I think he's doing all sorts of things right now, he and Ramaswamy, that are going to really put Republicans in a difficult spot, not least of which will be Donald Trump.

TAPPER: All right, thanks one and all. Appreciate it.

We'll be monitoring this House vote going down any moment now. We're also monitoring the breaking news in Germany, a Christmas market attack, a driver, a Saudi plowing a car through a crowd, killing at least two people, nearly 70 others injured. New details are just coming in. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:10]

TAPPER: To our other breaking story now, the driver plowing through a Christmas market in Germany with his car, killing two, including a toddler, injuring at least 68, authorities say the suspected driver is a doctor from Saudi Arabia who works in the area where the attack took place and has been living in Germany since at least 2006. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is on his way to the scene from Berlin.

And Fred, what are you hearing from your sources and from local media? FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Jake. Well, one of the things that we've learned about this driver is that he's apparently 50 years old. As you said, he's from Saudi Arabia, a doctor. We're also hearing that apparently the car that was used, that black BMW, was rented. So this apparently was a car that was rented.

What we know from the scene, Jake, is that right now everything has been widely cordoned off. There's a lot of ambulances that are standing there. What the sources of the scene are telling us, the police really making an extra wide cordon because they're not only putting ambulances in that area, they are also actually setting up tents because there's so many people who have been injured, who need treatment, who are being tended to right there at the scene. Obviously, we know that the death toll has now risen to two, that one of the killed is a toddler, the other one is an adult. But the local governor of the state where Magdeburg is situated, and he says that he believes that the death toll could rise, as he put it, significantly because there are so many people with some very severe injuries. Of course, we have seen that surveillance camera video of that car plowing through that Christmas market with a very dense crowd and obviously nowhere for those people to hide or to try and go anywhere.

And that's one of the reasons why there are so many casualties. This, of course, being treated as a mass casualty event by the Magdeburg authorities.

One of the things that we have to know is that Magdeburg is a very big city. It's also got a large urban area around it. So right now all the hospitals are scrambling, any sort of personnel, any sort of ambulances, helicopters that they have to the scene there. And that's why we know that the cordon has been going as well.

As far as German politics is concerned, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said that he is going to visit Magdeburg tomorrow. The interior minister is going to visit there today -- tomorrow as well as obviously for Germany, this is a huge and tragic event. And the Germans, of course had been on alert for possible attacks against Christmas markets. And Christmas market security had been a big issue here in this country today.

TAPPER: All right, Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much.

Let's bring in our panel right now. With us still former deputy FBI director Andrew McCabe, former Assistant DHS Secretary Juliette Kayyem, and Josh Campbell, CNN Security Correspondent and a former FBI counterterrorism agent.

So, Juliette, according to officials in Germany, the suspected driver is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia. He's been in Germany since 2006. He has a permanent residency permit. So what happens next in this investigation now that they --

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes.

TAPPER: -- appear to have identified the suspect, I assume they go to his house and check out his electronics and try to figure out a motive.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. They're going to look at a couple of things. There's of course him, he is alive. And as he's speaking, what is he saying about his motivation that would give them greater clarity. You have the car and we're hearing that it's rented and sort of, you know, who had owned it, who might have rented it if he didn't.

And that will give them evidence. And then of course you have at home computer, social media, e-mails.

This is a -- we'll be super careful. It's interesting in the sense that this is not fitting sort of demographics or what has happened in the past. This is not -- he's obviously not part of the Syrian immigration wave. He's not been in the Middle East for long periods of time. He could have been radicalized.

We don't know his motivation. He's older than most terrorists. He's professional. He has strong ties to Germany, been there almost 20 years. This is not fitting what we had seen in the past, doesn't mean it's not the same thing.

But they're going to be very much looking at both personal motives as well as political and religious given what's going on in Germany politics right now. So right now we -- this is what we know. But what we can't pinpoint it simply because we know where he was born.

TAPPER: Andy, the regional prime minister for this part of Germany says that the Christmas market attack was carried out by one person and that there is no longer a threat. Is it still too early to know for sure whether this individual had any outside help in the planning aspect of it though?

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: Well, I can tell you that intelligence professionals around the globe and definitely here in the United States are continuing to push on that exact issue as we speak. So now that they have an identity and other identifiers to associate with this person, they are going through all of the records they have access to see if this person ever showed up, for instance, in the United States, on our radar in any way whatsoever. They're going to figure out every time he ever traveled into the United States, if he ever has. They're going to identify any contacts that he has with people in the United States, and they are going to wait on this edge of their seats for every piece of information they get from the German authorities.

[17:20:25]

So as those search warrants take place, as the electronics devices are identified, as accounts like social media accounts, e-mail accounts, telephone numbers, things of that nature are uncovered, all of those pieces of intelligence are going to be shared, not just here with folks in the United States, the FBI, CIA, but also with intelligence and law enforcement colleagues around Europe and other places. So 24, 48 hours from now, Jake, those folks who need to know will have a much better picture as to whether or not this person was a part of some greater movement or if he was truly just somebody acting alone and inspired by who knows what motive.

TAPPER: And, Josh, how do investigators even begin to handle a crime scene this big?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it starts with the suspect himself. Obviously, they're going to want to try to glean whatever they can from him. He's likely been taken away elsewhere for questioning. But, you know, you have that vehicle that's there, that's obviously key to try to track back the origin. There were some earlier reports that there may have been some type of incendiary device in that vehicle that was being investigated.

We haven't confirmed that, but that is something that authorities will certainly want to render safe and to see if there are any other items that are inside that vehicle that might actually point to motive.

Now, as our colleagues have, you know, discussed here, you can't draw a motive simply from someone's nation of origin, you know, at this juncture. For example, we've seen instances where someone was in mental distress or they had some type of, you know, other type of grievance. And so, you know, authorities aren't yet locked in on terrorism just based on someone's nation of origin, but they're looking for other factors. And we know in past terrorist attacks, the whole idea of inflicting terror means that those who are trying to cause terror need to communicate it. And so, you know, we often see claims of responsibility or, you know, either from a group that believes that this was a member inspired by one of their adherents or, you know, writings, communication from the individual themselves.

So that's all going to be key in trying to discern what the actual motivation was this person driving into that crowd. And then lastly, you know, Andy talked about this international collaboration between these various different countries, going back to see is there anyone that's in their holdings that is a known or suspected terrorist? Interestingly, there's also, you know, one other process that I think is going to be important here because as we've been reporting on, there is this increase threat environment that Western governments have been reporting on, which means that all of these nations, their signals intelligence services, as we've reported, have also been obviously beefing up their abilities to try to intercept communications of known or suspected terrorist group leaders.

These various agencies, like the NSA and its partners around the country, again, as has been reported, collect vast amounts of information that may not make sense at the time, but that will be a key repository that authorities will then be going back and looking into as well. Were there any types of clues in that? Everything from the location of where this happened, the date, the time, you know, the particular festival, and any indicators that they get of this individual.

So, that is often a key source of information for authorities as well to try to see was this -- was there some type of communication between this individual and people that they were actually collecting on? So a lot of work going on behind the scenes right now. Certainly an international investigation at this point. TAPPER: All right, thanks to all of you for your expertise. Keep it here for the very latest from Germany and for the very latest here in the United States because a House of Representatives vote is expected in this hour on the legislation to try to prevent the federal government from shutting down. That shutdown is currently set to go into effect in just a few hours at midnight this evening, east coast time. I want to talk about the Trump side of this week's entire ordeal. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:28:23]

TAPPER: And we are following the breaking news. That's Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut speaking right now, a Democrat. We are just hours away from a federal government shutdown. House Democrats have been meeting ahead to discuss what they should do when Republicans put legislation on the floor that would avert the shutdown. CNN's Lauren Fox is right outside of that meeting.

Lauren, how are Democrats reacting? How are they going to vote?

FOX: Yes, we just caught up with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries as he entered this Democratic caucus meeting with his colleagues. And he did not tilt his hat exactly as to what Democrats are going to do in just a couple of minutes. But he did say that it was a mistake for Donald Trump and Elon Musk and Republicans to try to inject the debt ceiling into this negotiation at the 11th hour. Here's more of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): By trying to jam a debt ceiling suspension into the legislation at the 11th hour was not sustainable. That effort has come out because that was all about Republicans trying to cut Social Security and Medicare while cutting taxes for the wealthy, the well off and the well connected. And that is why Donald Trump and Elon Musk demanded that the debt ceiling provision be placed into the bill at the 11th hour. That has now come out so we can evaluate the legislation on the four corners of the bill. And that's what we're going to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And a lot of Democrats going into this meeting, Jake, they were non-committal, but they were open to potentially voting for this legislation in just a couple of minutes. I will underscore though that over the course of the last 48 hours, Democrats have tried to be strategic because they know this is the first negotiation of the next Trump administration. They know that if they just agree to whatever Republicans try to inject into these negotiations now at the last minute, that potentially that could set the tone for how these negotiations go in the future.

[17:30:26] So after Republicans were unable to pass their own bill last night, Democrats and Republicans have been talking. Hakeem Jeffries and the speaker have been having conversations throughout the day. But this is a really important moment for Democrats to set the tone for the next couple of months ahead.

TAPPER: All right, Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

Here now are CNN's Kristen Holmes and Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, let me start with you. What do you make of what we just heard from the Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries? He's not saying Democrats will vote for the series of bills, but he's not saying they're not going to either.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It's important that they are not whipping the Democrats to vote against this. That is a very key sign that Democrats can vote their conscience. And I think a lot of them, particularly the frontline members and others will be eager to vote for this.

I think what is, you know, the big takeaway in the last 24 hours or so, it's clear that Speaker Johnson needs Democrats to pass this. Otherwise, it is not going to get going the government will shut down. So, you know, I think it was yesterday that we said this. Maybe a couple days ago I said I don't think a shutdown is happening. Then it looked like it was. I still think it back now is looking like it won't. But that is because Democrats will step in. But look, we shall see.

I mean, I was just talking with the Democratic staffer just a few minutes ago. They are still looking to see what is thrown out of this C.R. It's not exactly the same as before. So I think the time is the best thing on the speaker's hands right now. I mean, the clock literally is -- is ticking here. So he needs Democrats and it looks like Hakeem Jeffries is going to allow some to vote for it.

TAPPER: And Kristen, this morning President-elect Trump posted, quote, if there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now under the Biden administration, not after January 20th under Trump. This is a Biden problem to solve. But if Republicans can help solve it, they will. Obviously, Democrats would disagree with that assessment. But what are you hearing out of Trump's transition team as the House is set to vote just hours before this deadline?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, first of all, I would say it's not just Democrats that are saying that it is Trump's fault. I think we've heard from some House Republicans who also believe that this is the President-elect's fault. So no matter how many times Donald Trump tries to say this is the fault of the Biden administration, it was him who stepped in the 11th hour and completely tanked the bill when pretty much everyone thought that it was smooth sailing to get this passed.

Now, when it comes to Trump transition team, look, they watched this unfold the same way that everybody else did. They know -- knew that Donald Trump was unhappy with it. They said that he was asking questions about it as recently as Tuesday, asking what everyone who came into his office thought that they think it was better to do a short term bill, that they think the broader bill was better.

That -- then somehow in the next 24 hours, from there 48 hours, it starts started to spiral that Donald Trump was clearly angry about the bill. Elon Musk came out and the two of them then tanked the bill. I mean, one of the things that an advisor told me is it's certainly gotten more interesting in the last 48 hours, but interesting is obviously not the best way to govern. So we'll see how this goes. But I don't think there's anyone, even people who are close to Donald Trump, who thinks that this is actually going to go down as Biden's fault in some way when you actually look at the events of the last week.

TAPPER: Right. As David Axelrod pointed out, the White House had been negotiating with Speaker Johnson on this compromise legislation which Trump and Elon Musk ended up opposing. They are about to have Republican control of the House, the Senate and the White House. We saw it before in the first Trump term, and they did nothing to address the structural issues that cause all of this massive debt. We'll see if they do it this time.

Congressman Dan Crenshaw has given a very colorful quote to our Manu Raju. You know, we don't curse on the show unless we're quoting people, but Crenshaw said, quote, I will eat shit sandwiches, which is budget bills and debt ceiling increases, so that Trump has a great runway. But you've got to plan ahead to do that. Can you translate that for people, Jeff?

ZELENY: Look, that's basically they will vote for more spending, they will vote to raise the debt. But, like, don't do it at the 11th hour. I mean, there could have been a lot more planning going into this. But look, this is not solving the issue by any means. I mean, this is just temporarily dealing with it. So next year, when there is a debt ceiling conversation, I'm very skeptical that Republicans in the House are going to be able to deal with spending bills and other fiscal matters.

They've not been able to do so, and now the majority is even smaller. So we shall see. But I mean, it will be slightly easier, I guess, with the -- the White House and the House and the Senate all on the same page, presumably. But it's not going to --

[17:35:11]

TAPPER: They're not on the same page.

ZELENY: Well --

TAPPER: Can I just -- can I --

HOLMES: Well, they -- they're weren't here.

TAPPER: -- can I just say, so.

ZELENY: Yeah. They definitely aren't here but.

TAPPER: Let me say, Chip Roy and the other Republicans in the House that say that the federal government spends way too much on debt, way too much on the interest on -- of the debt. They are correct. That is a huge waste of money that the U.S. pays every year. That money should be spent on U.S. citizens, not on the interest on our debt. And there is a serious debt problem in this country.

However, to do something serious about the debt would take serious spending cuts that would be painful and, or tax increases. And Trump has zero interest--

ZELENY: Entitlement reform, defense spending adjustments.

TAPPER: Zero interest in doing that. He said that to Paul Ryan in his first term. Why would you do that? That's so unpopular, going after Medicare, going after Social Security reform.

HOLMES: I mean, yeah, the -- I mean, the bare minimum, it requires an enormous amount of conversations and negotiations, which you clearly can't do.

TAPPER: Which Democrats, by the way, too.

HOLMES: Yes. You can't do the day before. And I think that's where the frustration comes in. If you look at the Dan Crenshaw quote, the idea and why people are so frustrated with Speaker Johnson and obviously President-elect Donald Trump, but also particularly Speaker Johnson is that they don't understand.

TAPPER: Can I just interrupt for one second just to point out that, that the vote is underway. This is the motion to suspend the rules and pass all three bills. Those three bills are funding for three months for the government spending bill, disaster relief, and then farm assistance. They do not include other worthwhile projects. Like there was this important bill when it comes to funding for research to combat pediatric cancer that was stripped from the bill along with other things of importance, along with a lot of other Christmas tree nonsense. I'm sorry, I interrupted, Kristen.

HOLMES: No, I'm just -- it's just about why there's so much frustration around this. And it goes to what Crenshaw was saying, which is, look, there are a lot of House Republicans who want to do whatever it is that Trump wants to do, who want to give him a runway. But there's a lot of frustration with the Speaker under the idea that you talk to him all the time. Not all of us talk -- not all of us members talk to him all the time.

You were presenting information to him. How did we get to this point where he's coming up with this insane request in the 11th hour, which, as you said, is really impossible to do in this timeline anyway and probably is something he's not interested in doing long term anyway.

TAPPER: I have seen not only no evidence that Donald Trump is serious about tackling the debt. I have seen contrary evidence. And Paul Ryan, the former House speaker in 2017, 2018 when Donald Trump was president, would -- was very open about it. He was a deficit hawk. He wanted to do something about it. Donald Trump did not because it was unpopular. Therefore he said it was bad politics. Jeff and Kristen, stick around. We're going to be keeping a watch as this vote goes right down now on the House floor. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:41:53]

TAPPER: And we've turned to our breaking news right now. The House of Representatives is currently voting on three measures at once to try to avoid a government shutdown. CNN's Manu Raju is there with the latest. So Manu, on the screen there it says on motion to suspend the rules and pass. Can you explain what it is exactly that they're voting on and whether or not Republicans or Democrats have the votes to pass it?

RAJU: Yes, Jake, it appears that they are on track to pass this bill which would avert a government shutdown at midnight tonight. But what it means by a motion to suspend the rules is a process by which they can quickly move this bill to the floor. But that requires two-thirds majority of the House is a narrowly divided House. Of course, there are 219 Republican seats.

Typically, when all members are present and voting, that's 290 need to vote in the affirmative to pass this bill. And right now they appear to be on the way to that. There's still a lot of members who have not voted yet. People are going to make their way to the floor over the next 15 minutes or so.

But right now, from just judging about the trajectory of this vote, it is going in a positive direction to get this bill across the finish line. There are 90 -- 76 Republicans who voted yes. Thirteen Republicans have voted no. Eighteen Democrats have voted yes. There are still many Democrats who haven't voted because they've been huddling behind closed doors with Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader, who has indicated that they -- he believes they won a key concession from Republicans as part of this about their decision by the Republicans to drop language that would have suspended the national debt limit for two years. That had been a late demand, of course, by Donald Trump.

He injected this late in the process, essentially scuttling a separate bipartisan deal to avert a government shutdown because he wanted that issue about the debt limit, a complicated issue, off the table when he came into office in January. But now that Democrats resisted that, they want to use that as leverage next year. Conservative Republicans don't want to vote to suspend the debt limit either, given the bipartisan opposition. They were forced -- the Speaker of the House was forced to essentially drop that demand from -- from Donald Trump, set it aside, deal with it next year.

And now moving on a separate package that includes extending government funding from tonight midnight until mid-March, when they're going to have to deal with this all over again in the first hundred days of Donald Trump's new term. A part of this deal, too. It would extend an expiring farm bill, programs that need to be done by the end of this year, also direct aid to farmers to the tune of about $10 billion, another $100 billion for communities hard hit by a range of natural disasters like hurricanes in the Southeast. All that had been pushed very hard by a number of members. So this is a hugely significant measure. And right now, Jake, very much on track to pass the United States house. There are 131 votes in the affirmative. Now, it's going up very quickly, 133 according to Mike Hout here. And again, two-thirds majority they need they appear on track to get that tonight, then over to the Senate, Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thanks so much.

As we wait for the results of the vote. We want to take a moment to highlight an issue, important legislation that got dropped. You know that we have covered this more on the show for years, the fight to help pediatric cancer patients and fund pediatric cancer research. Our next guest, Nancy Goodman, has been on the show before. She has the heartbreaking experience of turning her grief into action. Her son Jacob died at 10 of a cancerous brain tumor. And you've been at the forefront of advocating for an increase in pediatric cancer research. So there was movement on this year, right? What -- what exactly had happened that made its way to the legislation that got killed yesterday?

[17:45:22]

NANCY GOODMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, KIDSVCANCER.ORG: Yes, thank you for asking that question, Jake. So we had in the original C.R. five really fabulous pediatric cancer bills. And when I say we, like the pediatric cancer community is huge. We're disorganized. We're not professional. We're a bunch of moms and dads just trying to figure out Capitol Hill.

So what did we lose? We lost there's -- there's a program now that incentivizes companies to develop drugs for kids with cancer. As of midnight, they have no incentive. There's another program that funds a really special research arm at National Institute. As of midnight tonight, it's defunded. And then, you know, right now, if you have a child with cancer and your family is covered by Medicaid or your child is covered by Medicaid, let's say the best care is out of state or there's care you need out of state, you can't get it, like you cannot get access to current care right now. And that would have changed.

TAPPER: And one of the reasons why there's a focus, why you have focused and why we talk about on the show is because there is incentives for the pharmaceutical industry to develop these drugs for adults --

GOODMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: -- and seniors.

GOODMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: There's a lot of money in the commercial market for it. But because kids are kids, there isn't for them, it's kind of warped. So that's why the government, the Democrats and Republicans came together to work on this. Now, had these bills already passed the House or they --

GOODMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: They had already passed?

GOODMAN: They've all passed the House --

TAPPER: But just not the Senate yet?

GOODMAN: Not the Senate. Some of them have passed the House twice in two different Congresses.

TAPPER: And so the idea was they were just going to be added to this continuing resolution. They'd already passed the House.

GOODMAN: Correct.

TAPPER: This House, these Republicans --

GOODMAN: Yes, yes.

TAPPER: -- these Democrats had already passed. The -- and it was just going to be added so the Senate could finally vote on it for whatever reason they hadn't. And because of whatever's going on, this circus like atmosphere at the last minute, this stuff that would help kids with cancer, stuff that Republicans have already voted for is being stripped and you'll have to start all over again next year. Is that right?

GOODMAN: Yes. That's right.

TAPPER: All right. Nancy Goodman, it's awful. And you know, if Elon Musk and Donald Trump are watching, you know, maybe you could do something about this. This is something that the House Republicans already voted on and agreed to. House Republicans and Democrats, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. And I'm so sorry.

We're going to have much more from Capitol Hill, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:29]

TAPPER: And we're back with the breaking news. The House of Representatives is voting right now on a government funding bill that would temporarily for a few months avert a government shutdown. We're back with former Republican congressman, Charlie Dent. Former Congressman Dent. So several Republicans have been non-committal about whether or not they're going to vote to have Speaker Mike Johnson be the House speaker in the next Congress. He's gotten a lot of blowback. Steve Bannon was out there saying that he doesn't have the right stuff to be a House speaker in the age of Trump. Do you think Speaker Johnson can keep his job?

DENT: Well, given what happened over the past few days where Elon Musk and Donald Trump essentially kneecapped Speaker Johnson, they made him look very effective by tanking the deal that he just negotiated. Then again, Johnson puts a bill out yesterday, gets defeated. This is all bad for Johnson. And when you go into the speaker vote, the majority will be 219 to 215. And so Johnson really can only afford to lose two votes. That's it.

And I believe, one, has already said he -- he will not be voting for Johnson. So I think Speaker Johnson is in a very tenuous, perilous situation. And, you know, he can thank Donald Trump and Elon Musk for help putting him there. Had they not had that big blow up a couple days ago, I think Johnson, he was already going to have difficulty, but now I think he's in even more trouble than he was.

TAPPER: Jeff Zeleny, still here with me as long as -- as well as Kristen Holmes, what do you think? I mean, can Speaker Johnson keep his position as House Speaker? He -- he can only afford, I mean, just to remind people at home, you need a majority. He's not going to get Democratic votes. They're all going to vote for Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker, even though Hakeem Jeffries certainly doesn't have the votes either, and he can only afford to lose a handful.

ZELENY: I think it depends entirely on what the president-elect says. But I think Elon Musk just sending out a note, as Kristen and I were just talking about a couple seconds ago, supporting Speaker Johnson. That's probably sign of relief for Speaker Johnson and his staff that he's not being railed against by Elon Musk. We'll see what Donald Trump has to say. My guess is he'll be supportive of this.

But look, last night's vote was clear. There were 38 Republicans who were fined voting against Donald Trump's wishes here. So this is very perilous moment for Speaker Johnson. They obviously want the holidays to sort of ease the tensions and the tempers. But Thomas Massie has said he's not voting for it. We'll see about some others. Who knows if there --

[17:55:12]

TAPPER: Yes, 31 Democrats -- 31 Republicans have already voted nay. Zero Democrats have voted nay. This thing is going to pass because Democrats are coming to bail them out because they don't want the government shutdown, even though it's not the legislation they want. Like every spending bill, they need Democrats to do it. But that does not necessarily mean Speaker Johnson is in -- that he is in trouble, but it doesn't mean he's going to lose his.

TAPPER: Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. More of our breaking news coverage in moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: And we're back sticking with our two major stories. One on Capitol Hill, the House of Representatives right now voting on a bill legislation to avoid a federal government shutdown. This does look as though it is about to pass because Democrats are joining 170 Republicans to support it.

[18:00:04]

We're also following the horrific news out of Germany where at least two people were killed and an adult and a toddler. German officials say they were killed by a 50-year-old Saudi man who drove his car through a crowded Christmas market. He's a Saudi physician and he'd been living in the country since 2006. German authorities say at least 68 people were wounded.

Coming up Sunday on State of the Union, Republican Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, Sunday morning at 9:00 Eastern, again at noon here on CNN. The news continues on CNN with Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. Merry Christmas and happy Hanukkah and happy New Year.