Fox News "Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace" - Transcript: Steve Scalise on negotiations to end partial government shutdown

Interview

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SMITH: And to you as well.

Let's turn now to House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

Congressman, welcome back to "Fox News Sunday."

Covered a lot there with Kellyanne Conway. It is day nine of this shutdown, Congressman. Haven't been in D.C. for a few weeks. It is quiet in this town.

When does this shutdown end, Congressman?

REP. STEVE SCALISE, R-LA., HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: Well, good morning, Sandra. And, frankly, it can end today if Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi agreed with the president on the bill that we passed out of the House just a few days ago. That bill is still over in the Senate. It's ready to be taken up. And, look, if the Senate has got a different way and a better way to approach border security, they ought to put that their plan on the table.

Chuck Schumer was for this in 2006. I'd be curious to know what changed. Is it just that Donald Trump is the one requesting it?

But if he's got a better way to keep this country safe, I think it's incumbent upon him to show the American people what that plan is. But we've got a crisis at the border. This president is trying to keep this country safe. That's what this fight is about.

So, this can be solved today if they just came to the table and said, .here's our plan to get the country safe. But you can't --

SMITH: Congressman, I'm sorry for interrupting, but you just heard Kellyanne Conway and she laid out where the president stands today on this. How far apart do you think the two sides are?

SCALISE: I don't think it's as much that the two sides are far apart. It's that you've got one side that refuses to negotiate because they are so afraid of the radical left base that wants open borders. And, look, a lot of them campaigned on abolishing ICE.

And just think about this, Sandra -- last year alone, ICE agents, these border agents that are protecting the interior of our country saved more than 900 children from sexual assault and human trafficking. That stuff is actually happening at the border. We are stopping a lot of it but we are surely not stopping all of it.

And so, you just see this cop killer in California. He was here illegally. There are bad people that are trying to cross this border. There are good people that come here illegally every day like Officer Singh who came here from Fiji legally to seek the American dream. But there are also really bad people that came over like the cop killer.

How many of them are getting through that we don't stop everyday?

SMITH: It's really interesting because, Congressman, with Kellyanne, we just talked about this John Kelly interview with the "L.A. Times" where he talks about the president -- he still says wall. Oftentimes, frankly, John Kelly said he was a barrier or fencing. Now he has tended towards steel slats.

So, a lot of folks are trying to understand the language that is being used here, because the president said himself that he wanted a wall, a fence, whatever they would like to call it, referencing Democrats. I will call it whatever they want.

And when asked about that $5 billion figure this week, this past week he said it's complicated with whether he was willing to come off of that number. So I'm just asking the question, do you think there's more room for negotiation with this president than most people are giving him credit for?

SCALISE: There's a lot of different items that relate to border security that we can negotiate about, but let's first recognize this is about securing our border. And the president has been very clear about what he wants to do to keep America safe and he campaigned on it. He was elected on this.

And so, again, if there's a better way that Chuck Schumer can put a plan on the table to keep this country safe, I want to see it. If he's OK, by the way, with the thousands of criminals that we stop every year, how many thousands do we not stop because we don't have a secure border? That's what this fight is about and is he OK with those people coming across illegally who are criminals? In this caravan, there's over 600 criminals.

SMITH: But I'm just trying to understand from you, Congressman, how much you would support the president caving on some of those initial demands such as the $5 billion mark?

Louis Gohmert of the House Freedom Caucus urging the president to stick to his initial demands, saying he needs to hold the lines until hell freezes over. If we did see the president cave on any of his demands, I just wonder how you think that this base and his biggest supporters would respond?

SCALISE: Well, Sandra, I don't think it's about caving and frankly I don't think it should be about personalities. Let's remove the personality. Again, Chuck Schumer was for a wall before it was Donald Trump asking for the wall. So, if he remove the personality from it, let's get to what it's going to take to secure the border.

And I'll give you one example, Sandra. In law today, there are prohibitions that stop the president from building the wall in certain areas where, frankly, we have them most porous parts of our border. We need to remove those legal limitations.

There's also limitations, let's stop him from building a wall in certain ways. There are cheaper and more cost effective ways of building a wall and the president can't do that today because the law blocks in. How stupid is that?

The law actually says if there's a lower cost and more effective way of securing the border the president is legally prevented from doing that. In the bill we passed just a few days ago, we removed those legal limitations to the president can keep this country safe in the best and most cost effective way possible.

SMITH: All right. Finally on this issue, I just want to ask you, you know, we just asked Kellyanne about whether or not the president has directly reached out to Democrats, she said the offers are on the table, we are waiting for Democrats to respond. Would you like to see the president pick up the phone and try to call Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer at this moment?

SCALISE: Well, he had that sit-down meeting at the White House where they were adamant that they didn't want to do anything that he wanted to secure the border. So, the bottom line is there is an offer on the table in the form of an actual bill that can get to his desk.

We passed it out of the House. It's still in the Senate. Up until January 2nd, that bill was still alive and active. Let the Senate go in and start negotiating and actually passed something out of the Senate that secures this border and gives the president the tools he needs to keep America safe.

SMITH: All right, Congressman. We are looking at a big week ahead, four more days until Democrats take control of the House. What are your priorities for the new Congress and can you find common ground?

SCALISE: Well, Sandra, I'd like to see us continue to build on the economic success with that. Look, hardworking families all across this country are seeing the best economy they've seen in generations. Anybody who's looking for a job right now has multiple opportunities to go and find a job. That's really positive.

I want to see us build on that and allow families to have even more security. Let's focus on also getting our fiscal house in order. If we help rebuild our military working with this president last year and as Kellyanne just talked about, our troops are about to get an important, well-earned pay raise. Now, let's focus on actually getting our budget balanced again. And let's talk about infrastructure.

A lot of other issues we can work on in the New Year, but Democrats have to be willing to work with this president. You've seen a lot of focus on what they're going to do in terms of what the president calls presidential harassment. That's not what this country wants. They didn't campaign to get the majority, by the way, on talking about those issues. Let's focus on getting this economy growing even better and it's doing great right now. Let's keep building on the success.

SMITH: All right. Congressman Scalise, thank you. It's always good to talk to you and thanks for sharing part of your holiday weekend with us.

SCALISE: Happy New Year, Sandra.

SMITH: Happy New Year to you.

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