CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Interview with Senator Mark Warner

Interview

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[17:30:00]

BLITZER: There is breaking news up on Capitol Hill right now. Leaders of the House and Senate met late this afternoon to try to find a way forward on a coronavirus economic relief deal as well as preventing a government shutdown. The Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin joined the meeting by phone.

We're joined now by Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. He's one of the senators working on a bipartisan compromise for the economic stimulus package. Senator, thank you so much for joining us. What's the latest on these negotiations? When can desperately needed Americans expect Congress finally to reach an agreement and provide some relief?

[17:35:04]

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): Well, Wolf, I'm hopeful that we'll have a package together by this weekend. I'm very proud of the bipartisan senators and House members that basically got tired of waiting and came together with a $748 billion package. That'll be the third largest bill in American history. That includes unemployment, rental assistance, small business assistance, assistance for food banks, broadband, a host of categories that are critically important.

We also have riding along that and I'm still hopeful that we can conclude the last two pieces, which is needed assistance to state and local governments, along with appropriate liability protections for those businesses that have, you know, done the right thing in terms of protecting their customers.

So we think this is all in the mix at this point. We've got the leaders off the time, they're talking. I don't have the results of their 4 o'clock meeting. But I think we all know, and this is perhaps the most positive thing for concerned Americans. Everyone now agrees Congress cannot leave for Christmas without getting a COVID package done.

BLITZER: The stakes are so, so enormous. People are suffering big time there. You told CNN yesterday, Senator, that you were optimistic there would be an agreement that one of the major sticking points, we're talking about this liability protection for employers, but the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he wants the two most controversial provisions in any deal liability protection and state and local aid. He says he's ready to have those removed from discussions, at least from now. Will Democrats agree to remove aid to states and local government authorities, in addition to the liability protection, that's the compromise he's putting forward?

WARNER: Well, I think we ought to not throw in the towel on, for example, state and local government protections. We've had a million and a half state workers, cops, firefighters, teachers, local government officials that have been laid off in the last few months. I think it's crazy to lay these folks off in the middle of a pandemic, when we've got so many, so much need of local and state services.

I think there's also some way to reach some agreement, were responsible businesses, schools, hospitals, that have followed appropriate safety guidelines, get some protection. Now, I don't want to give away something where somebody has been irresponsible people on have their day in court. I think that the difference has been narrowed dramatically. Those are the two most outstanding items, the particulars of the state and local government assistance has been decided upon.

So if we can find some compromise, and I think there's a members in the House, both parties trying to work through that. I think we can get it all done. There still remains one other outstanding issue. And that is the President's desire to give direct checks. I know that's very popular. But I don't think any of us were saying we're going to give someone a direct check, who may have suffered no economic consequence, and take that out of support for a food bank or support for somebody that's unemployed.

So if the President wants to add that to the package, and he can get our Republican friends to go along, so be it. But that is another factor that still has to be worked through.

BLITZER: Yes, because a lot of people as we keep saying are suffering. Put your hat on as the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee for a moment that we don't have a lot of time but as you know, U.S. officials suspect Russian link hackers are behind this recent data breach of several federal agencies. Just how serious is this breach? What does it indicate to you, Senator, about the federal government's cybersecurity preparedness?

WARNER: Well, I think in certain areas, we've done very well Chris Krebs that assist organization did a great job at protecting our elections.

BLITZER: He was fired.

WARNER: I do think there's -- and he was fired unfortunately, by Mr. Trump. There are areas where we are still vulnerable. And while I'm not going to go ahead and attribute this to Russia, it's been clear that it appears it's a nation state. We are still vulnerable. And this requires basic data breach standards. It requires some uniformity between both the public sector and the private sector. And Wolf, it's more than a little concerning to me that the current President of the United States has still not called out Russia at all for these actions.

BLITZER: Senator Warner, thanks so much for joining us.

WARNER: Thank you, Wolf.

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