EPA administrator: Green New Deal makes a lot of promises I don't think can be achieved

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EPA administrator: Green New Deal makes a lot of promises I don't think can be achieved

EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler weighs in on the promises of the Green New Deal.

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," March 4, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

CHARLES PAYNE, GUEST HOST: You're looking live at the White House, where President Trump is about to speak. He's meeting with state attorneys general.

When we get those remarks, we will bring them to you.

President Trump says American politics has hit a -- quote -- "new low," as Democrats ramp up investigations into his finances. And Wall Street sees big swings, as we kick off a new week.

Welcome, everyone. I'm Charles Payne, in for Neil Cavuto. And this is "Your World."

We have Fox team coverage with Ashley Webster on what has got Wall Street worried and Kevin Corke at the White House on if these investigations have the president worried.

We start with Kevin.

KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Charles, always good to be with you, my friend.

Clearly, the president wanted to make history over in Hanoi, Vietnam, but his historic efforts obviously went unrewarded. And, to be blunt, they were completely overshadowed by the Cohen testimony. Did that bother him?  Manifestly so.

Let me take you to Twitter. The president not only talking about that in particular. He's been talking about Democrats at great length lately, in particular talking again about this idea of collusion. He said this: "There is no collusion. All of these investigations are in search of a crime. Democrats have no evidence to impeach President Trump.  Ridiculous."

He was quoting there Devin Nunes, of course, the congressman from California. Now, the president also took that tack in his speech, Charles, over at CPAC over the weekend, two-hours-long-plus. He touched on his frustration with the Mueller probe, which he said is baseless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: But they fight so hard on this witch-hunt, this phony deal that they put together, this phony thing that now looks like it's dying. So they don't have anything with Russia.  There's no collusion.

So now they go and morph into, let's inspect every deal he's ever done.  We're going to go into his finances.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORKE: That, they are.

Now, on Capitol Hill, the Democrats insist that more investigations are, frankly, a very good way to compel transparency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JERROLD NADLER, D-N.Y.: The White House seems to have used its power for personal enrichment, in violation of the Emoluments Clause to the Constitution.

We have seen abuses of power and obstruction of justice, threats to the Mueller investigation, threats to witnesses. All of these have to be -- and abuse of -- all of these have to be investigated and laid out to the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORKE: Chuck, before we let you go, I want to tell you about AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She also said today that she would back leadership's desire for more information before making an impeachment play, but she also made it clear that she'd support it, assuming there's evidence of impeachable offenses.

You mentioned not long ago that the president has been busy here at the White House today welcoming not only the North Dakota State Bison. He's also welcoming the state's attorney generals here at the White House. And we expect that we will get a pool spray maybe that will play out to share with you later in the hour -- but, for now, back to you.

PAYNE: Kevin, thanks for the breaking news that AOC would back impeachment proceedings. We're writing that down and we're making a note of it. Thank you very much.

So what is, of course, all the fallout from this?

Let's ask political senior Washington correspondent Anna Palmer, GOP strategist Lauren Claffey, and Democratic strategist Christy Setzer.

Christy Setzer, listen, Jerry Nadler laying out a whole bunch of new targets. The Democrats seem to be indicating, though, to President Trump's point, that maybe the Mueller investigation ultimately is a dry hole. And we spent a lot of time and money on that. So is it the right idea to continue along that path?

CHRISTY SETZER, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I don't think that they're indicating that the Mueller report isn't going to turn up anything.

I think what they're indicating is that they have no confidence in Republicans to actually do anything about it, even if it turns up significant crimes. And so I think that what they're doing right now is pursuing a couple different paths.

They're saying, you know what? Let's hold on impeachment, though there are many things that could be considered impeachable offenses up to this point, because we frankly just won't have the votes from Republicans in the Senate in order for this to go anywhere.

Let's instead acknowledge the fact that there have been likely many multiple felonies conducted from the president. If Michael Cohen is going to jail for several years for crimes that he conducted at the behest of Donald Trump, then it stands to reason that Trump...

(CROSSTALK)

PAYNE: Is that why he's going to jail?

SETZER: It is, in fact. It's for covering up Donald Trump's crimes that he said the president told him to conduct.

So, yes, so this is what Democrats are trying to do right now is...

PAYNE: Right.

SETZER: ... is they're trying to say, let's pursue this path of uncovering these crimes.

And, at some point, there should be some political gains from that.

PAYNE: We will see, because, Lauren, I got to tell you, first and foremost, there's an NBC/Wall Street Journal report out, a poll, that shows President Trump gaining traction over the last couple of months as these things have intensified.

And, more importantly, it's interesting. This adds credence to the idea that perhaps it's a witch-hunt, because it began as Russia collusion, Lauren, and now it's like a free-for-all. Let's delve as deeply as possible into President Trump's life, going back as far as we can to see what we can unearth.

LAUREN CLAFFEY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Yes, I think that's the problem, is that the American people look at this, and there's no real strategy or purpose to a lot of it. So they dismiss it.

And, quite frankly, like, the news just keeps coming and coming, and they can't pay attention to it. I think what's really reflective too is not only was there that poll, but recently they did a state-by-state analysis of how President Trump stacks up in each state. And it's fascinating, because California, New York and some other Northeastern states, he doesn't poll that well, but pretty much the rest of the country, he polls wonderfully.

And I think that that's really reflective of how closely Americans in their everyday lives are paying attention to the stuff that's going on in Washington, D.C. It makes big splashes up here, but beyond the bubbles, it doesn't penetrate.

PAYNE: Of course, Anna, Nancy Pelosi has been around long enough to understand that these things can backfire. Just ask Newt Gingrich.

So where's the political calculus with respect to all of this and the idea of just a full-fledged investigation, wherever we can go, how we can get there? And, ultimately, if they continue to pull up things that have nothing to do with Russian collusion, does that hurt the Democrats, ultimately?

ANNA PALMER, POLITICO: I mean, listen, I would say two things.

One, it should be no surprise that Democrats are going to investigate this administration, the different agencies the president, that has nothing to do with collusion. These are separate investigations that are going to go down a lot of different rabbit holes.

I think, secondly, I would just say I do think we have seen Speaker Pelosi try to be pretty calm and pull back her ranks that really want to go forward on the impeachment front, even having AOC come forward today.  That's a real sign of saying, hey, guys, let's be measured. We don't want to get out in front of our skis on this.

But this is going to be -- make no mistake of it -- the next two years of a House Democratic majority. They are going to investigate every single day.  And they're just going to have a barrage of letters and things that they want this administration to give them.

PAYNE: All right, maybe there will be some room to legislate as well.

I want to switch gears, ladies. Democratic -- Democrat Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez is said to be creating a list of moderate Democrats siding with the Republicans on key issues.

Now, Neil, well, he spoke with Michigan Democrat Congressman Dan Kildee about this on "Cavuto Live." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAN KILDEE, D-MICH.: I don't think it's productive for us to interfere in one another's politics. We each come from separate districts.  We have our own constituents. We are responsible to those constituents.  We ought to leave it at.

No one person can say they are the face of our party. We have a diverse party, lots of points of view, and I think that's fine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: You know, Christy, I'm seeing a lot of division in the Democratic Party. I think the Northam situation revealed some of it. The Bernie Sanders getting into the race revealed some of it. Howard Schultz.

There's a lot of problems there. And I think one of the bigger problems is this idea of making a list of shaming fellow Democrats. Where do you come down on this?

SETZER: No, I don't think that's actually going to be very effective.

I think that if Nancy Pelosi has shown one thing since becoming speaker, is that she has a tremendous ability to pull together her party.

And I would say as with respect to the grassroots that they also have the ability to come together as one party, as you saw again in the November elections. There was basically a nine-point popular vote, you know, win for Democrats in November over Republicans.

That's why they took back the House with such a massive 40-point gain.

PAYNE: Yes.

CLAFFEY: It was because the many wings of the party were coming together in support of candidates who ultimately pulled out victories.

PAYNE: Although, Lauren, there were many wings.

And, ironically, some of the more celebrated wings didn't win in their areas. The more moderate candidates seemed to prevail amongst the Democratic Party, which may or may not say much about this whole idea that, hey, let's go further left, because maybe it doesn't really work.

CLAFFEY: No, I don't think it does.

But I think that's where we're headed, right? And I think it's going to approve problematic for states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, especially AOC and her Green New Deal, because it doesn't really align with where those states are who are -- traditionally have working Democrat -- working-class Democrats in those areas.

And they rely heavily on the areas of industry that she attacks.

PAYNE: Yes.

CLAFFEY: So I think that there's going to be a real problem there. And I agree. Like, Speaker Pelosi is pretty good at pulling her people together.  But this is going to be a pretty difficult time for the Democrats to stay on message for 2020, just given how many different people there are.

PAYNE: Some of these new -- new folks in the Democratic Party are certainly hard to round up so far for Nancy Pelosi.

Ladies, we got to leave it there. Thank you very much.

I want to shift gears, folks, and go to Wall Street, where stocks actually started the day off pretty good, but, well, they didn't finish that way.

FBN's Ashley Webster on, well, why Wall Street was so antsy today -- Ashley.

ASHLEY WEBSTER, FOX NEWS BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's a good question, Charles.

And, as you say, it all started so brightly at the opening bell, the Dow jumping higher by 130 points on optimism over a U.S.-China trade deal being completed soon. That was the hope.

But optimism seemed to turn to skepticism, as investors questioned the substance of that deal and also whether it will actually eliminate all tariffs. In the end, the Dow putting in, well, one of its worst performance in a month. Same story for the S&P, seeing its worst day in a month.

But it could have been a lot worse, the Dow off more than 400 points at one stage. Financial and health care stocks saw the biggest losses, but the sell-off pretty broad-based in the end. We also, by the way, saw a disappointing report on construction spending in December. It fell 0.6 percent, when a slight gain was expected.

But, as the markets reversed course, the U.S. dollar gained strength. We also saw treasury yields slip a little bit, as investors looked for a safer haven.

You know what, though, Charles? Investors will get a snapshot of consumer spending this week, as we will hear from a host of retailers reporting their latest earnings, including Costco, Kohl's, and early tomorrow morning Target.

But perhaps the biggest piece of economic data comes at the end of the week, when the government releases its monthly jobs report for February.  That will be on Friday. It's expected 180,000 jobs were created. We shall find out -- Charles, back to you.

PAYNE: We're always excited with those job numbers, especially lately.

WEBSTER: Yes. Yes.

PAYNE: Thanks a lot, Ashley.

WEBSTER: Sure.

PAYNE: Well, we are waiting for remarks from President Trump at the White House. He's meeting with several state attorneys general. When the president speaks, we will bring it to you live.

And the last time Trump was talking, he was all fired up over the Democrats' green new bill. What does new EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler think? He's here, and he's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Perhaps nothing is more extreme than the Democrats' plan to completely take over American energy and completely destroy America's economy through their new $100 trillion Green New Deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAYNE: We're going to put President Trump down as a no.

Obviously, he is no fan of the Democrats' Green New Deal. And we will see if he brings it up. He has remarks coming out of the White House. And we're going to bring them to you as soon as we get them.

But first to the man who is in charge of environmental policy for the administration and what he thinks about this green new push.

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler joins us with his first interview since being confirmed for the post.

First of all, congratulations.

ANDREW WHEELER, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY ADMINISTRATOR: Thank you very much. It's great to be here.

PAYNE: A lot of noise being made about this. All the presidential candidates -- or at least the majority of them that I have seen -- back a Green New Deal push. And it's resonating in this country.

What do people have wrong about this?

WHEELER: Well, I took a hard look at it when it came out.

And I just don't think it's ready for prime time. It makes a lot of wild promises I just don't think can be implemented or achieved.

PAYNE: But would you say, OK, we need a better climate, and we should do something to address climate?

Do you see it as the existential threat, that, within 12 years, if we don't do anything, that's it, we have crossed the Rubicon, kiss Earth goodbye?

WHEELER: No.

As far as the largest environmental issue facing the planet today, I would have to say is water. The fact that a million people still die a year from lack of potable drinking water is a crisis.

Is climate change the existential threat? I don't see it as the existential threat, no. We have a lot of environmental threats. We have a lot of environmental problems. But we're working to address all of them.

PAYNE: Well, what exactly in America, because, globally -- and I want to get the water too in America.

But where would you rank these issues, though? As you take over this position, where's your -- where's your initial main focus going to be?

WHEELER: Well, when President Trump asked me take over this position, he said, continue to clean up the air, continue to clean up the water, and continue to deregulate to create more jobs for the American public.

He knows we can do all three.

PAYNE: Can they coexist?

WHEELER: Absolutely.

PAYNE: Can you deregulate and not pollute the air at the same time?

WHEELER: Absolutely.

From the 1970s to today, our six criteria air pollutants have been reduced by 73 percent. At the same time, our GDP has increased over 200 percent.  We can do both.

PAYNE: Speaking of which, Andrew, since the Paris accord, CO2 emissions have gone up, particularly in places like China and India.

Is it folly to even say -- even if this was considered -- if you thought this was the ultimate problem, isn't it folly to think that the American taxpayer should spend $100 trillion over 10 years to try to clean up an issue that doesn't even emanate from this country?

WHEELER: You have got a really good point there.

You know, CO2 emissions in this country peaked in 2005. They have been declining ever since. And the problems are in other countries, like China, which hasn't even yet peaked on their CO2 emissions.

PAYNE: I want to ask you about water, since you brought it up.

CDC reports contaminated water in this country. It's a bigger issue than people know, isn't it?

WHEELER: It is a big issue, but I don't want to scare people either.

We have the cleanest, safest drinking water in the world. And we're constantly working to improve it and protect it and to make further progress on drinking water.

PAYNE: But the issue -- is that PFCs? Is that what the issue gets back to?

WHEELER: On the PFAS, PFOA chemicals?

PAYNE: Yes.

WHEELER: And we are addressing that. And we have taken eight enforcement actions just over the last couple years to clean up that chemical where we find it.

We have assisted states in dozens of other cleanups around the country.  So, we are addressing it. And we're addressing it a multimedia function -- fashion.

PAYNE: Another issue that you're going to be involved are these CAFE standards, these fuel-efficiency standards for fleets of cars as they're produced by automobile makers.

I believe that they were -- that they went to draconian levels under the prior administration. That being said, California doesn't want to change theirs. Where are we going with this, because if these -- if these automobile companies have to make money-losing cars to meet these standards, it does no one any good, and certainly will hurt employment.

WHEELER: Absolutely.

And under our proposal, the price of a car should go down by about $2,300.  Americans will be able to buy newer cars. Getting older cars off the road and then people into newer cars is better for the environment and it's better for safety.

PAYNE: And what do you say to environmentalists, then? They say, OK, to reach those goals, that means you're going to allow a lot of things that have harmed this -- our environment in the past.

WHEELER: Well, we're just talking about energy efficiency on the CAFE standard. We're still capturing the pollution that comes out of cars.  We're still -- we're still going forward on pollution controls for automobiles.

But that's separate from the efficiency or CO2 release.

PAYNE: OK. But the -- I think the idea is that the further they go on a gallon of gasoline, the less gasoline or fossil fuels that we use.

WHEELER: Sure.

And to bring this back to the Green New Deal, though, under the Green New Deal, I would -- you would have to do away with the internal combustion engine within 10 years. And that is where we burn our ethanol.

And so I'm really going to be interested to see the presidential -- the Democratic presidential candidates when they go to Iowa, before the Iowa caucuses, and they try to explain to the people who live there why they don't want to have ethanol going into the future.

It's just there's a lot of ramifications from the Green New Deal that people don't realize.

PAYNE: You're in this position, but there is a lot of criticism. You're a coal guy.

WHEELER: Well, I represented over 20 different companies when I was in private practice. A coal company was one company.

PAYNE: OK. But what do you say to your critics that say, hey, you have got someone from the coal industry in charge of the environment; that makes no sense at all?

WHEELER: Well, I -- I started my career at EPA as a career employee after law school. I worked there for four years. I worked in the United States Senate for 14 years, before I went into private practice.

When I was in private practice, I represented over 20 different companies.  I represented an environmental -- air quality management district in California, the nuclear industry, a solar company.

I have represented the gambit of energy and environment companies. But for some reason, my critics only focus on one client. And for that coal company, my number one issue for them was trying to shore up the miners' health care and pension benefits for the last -- for the last four years that I worked for them, trying to improve the United Mine Workers' retirees.

So I'm very proud of what I did on behalf of that company. But it was only one of 20-some companies.

PAYNE: Right.

Before I let you go, again, environment probably a major issue for 2020, no doubt about it. What -- how will you be able to reassure the public that maybe either they're getting misinformation or that information is being -- someone's fanning the flames just a little bit too much?

WHEELER: This morning, we released our Superfund assessment from last year. We cleaned up 22 -- we -- 22 sites last year, the most since 2005.

PAYNE: Andrew, congratulations. Really appreciate it.

WHEELER: Thank you, sir.

PAYNE: All right, folks, more right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: Rescue workers are sifting through the wreckage and searching for survivors in Alabama after deadly tornadoes ripped through the region this weekend.

FOX News correspondent Jonathan Serrie is on the ground in Lee County with the latest -- Jonathan.

JONATHAN SERRIE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Charles.

Right now, authorities are keeping us away from the heaviest damage down the street. But even on the periphery of the tornado, you can see some heavy damage to these homes here. A tree crashed through the middle of the roof on this house here. And then looking up and down the neighborhood, we're seeing severe roof damage.

And, again, this was on the periphery of this monster tornado. Based on the damage that they're seeing on the ground, meteorologist with the National Weather Service have upgraded the power of this tornado that came through here yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS DARDEN, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE: EF-4. This is new information that I want to provide to you right now, hot off the presses. Estimated wind speed of 170 miles per hour.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERRIE: Chris Darden with the National Weather Service says this is the deadliest tornado in the U.S. since the twister in Moore, Oklahoma. That was back in 2013.

In the hardest-hit areas of Alabama, the tornadoes' path was a mile-wide.  Mobile homes were blown off their foundations and roofs were ripped off of single-family homes. I spoke with one man who rode out the storm with his family in one of those homes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RON WASHINGTON, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I was in my room. And I tried to go out the -- the whole top just starting peeling off the house. So I just started praying, but, God, he delivered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERRIE: Yes, a lot of people were praying yesterday.

Intense winds knocked down a cell tower, blocking portions of a highway in Smith Station, Alabama. The governor, Kay Ivey, says President Trump called her cell phone this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KAY IVEY, R-ALA.: He responded to me saying, "Of course, you have got my support to the state I love," he said. "You folks in Alabama are wonderful people. And surely, in your time of need, I will support you.

He has since told FEMA to give state of Alabama their A-Plus treatment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERRIE: Yes, pledges of support from both sides of the aisle.

Also today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged Congress' full support in helping this part of Alabama and the surrounding states devastated by this tornado pick up the pieces -- Charles.

PAYNE: Jonathan, thank you very much.

Well, investigations are heating up. So is that why stocks are cooling down? We connect, you decide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: Remember that Marriott data breach impacting around 500 million customers? Well, Congress remembers. Marriott's CEO now set to testify in front of a Senate panel.

And we, well, we will be back in 60 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: Well, stocks all over the map today.

The Dow with its biggest intraday swing since early January. So, with new uncertainty over trade, uncertainty over possible congressional investigations in the White House, are we ready to start more of these wild swings?

Let's ask market watchers Melania and Jonas Max Ferris.

Melissa, we knew this day had to come. The market has been on an amazing - - straight up for a long time. But are you now concerned that, now that it has happened, we can start to see more of this sort of crazy volatility?

MELISSA ARMO, THE STOCK SWOOSH: I expected this.

In my market outlook for 2019 in January, I anticipated that there would be a volatility, based on one of the unresolved issues for this year, which is the Democratic resistance.

One of the reasons we sold off in December was after they took control of the House. And now they're going after Trump. I mean, you could have looked at it at a one-minute chart today when that news came out, and the market fell and broke the lows and sank and just sold off. You're going to see more of this, this year.

Now, we have had a great run-up here ever since December 26. And even the first two months of the year were solid like a brick. But now you're going to see more volatility because the Democrats are going after Trump. And like it or not, whatever your political affiliation, the market likes Trump. And we don't want to see any of this craziness going after him.

And I will say one more thing. The Democrats are doing this. They did the Mueller investigation and didn't come up with anything. Now they're going after him with these political things here. How stupid do they think the American people are?

The American people are not stupid. They're going to see right through this.

PAYNE: But you're saying they're not stupid. By the same token, you are also saying that the market is concerned about this.

ARMO: Of course.

PAYNE: So, Jonas, and all this on a day where it's -- almost everyone is convinced that this U.S.-China trade deal is done.

JONAS MAX FERRIS, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. And that's one of the reasons the market came back this year, anticipation of that getting done.

And if it doesn't get done, that wouldn't be good for the markets. If it comes out a lot better than we expected, we get even more out of this, then it can go higher. You can say it's a little volatile also like it was last year.

The market is kind of high right now. It needs there not to be a global economic slowdown. It needs interest rates to not go higher. It needs a lot of things to happen to continue to go on to records. That's going to add a little volatility.

PAYNE: So, then to that point, was President Trump right to talk about interest rates again at CPAC over the weekend?

Or -- you know, some people at Wall Street get uncomfortable when he calls out -- he didn't call out Jay Powell by name. He did call him the gentleman. But...

FERRIS: Because he stopped raising rates.

PAYNE: Does President Trump foresee the need to sort of get in front of the Fed to make sure that they don't mess up this economy, Melissa?

ARMO: Well, Trump's going to do what Trump's going to do.

I think they're on a good level playing field, though. They had the meeting. Things are going good. That's another one of the unresolved issues for the market as well this year for 2019, if rates get raised too soon, too quick, too fast.

But I think the Fed backed off, and the market liked that. That's one of the reasons we have had this beautiful rally. I mean, if you look at it, we're only 5 percent off the highs. That's fantastic when you look at where we were in the middle of December or even the end of the year, before we started rallying.

I think the Stock Swoosh tip of the day for today is focus on strong stocks right now, while the market is volatile.

PAYNE: Right.

ARMO: That's Ulta, Boeing, Netflix, Starbucks even, stocks that just had made recent brand-new all time highs that are moving ahead of the market -- so you don't get caught up in this -- all this craziness that is going on right now.

PAYNE: Well, a lot of those strong stocks just get stronger. Someone put a $500 target on Boeing going today.

But investors have been on a wild ride. We peaked in October, October 3.  We swooned in December. A lot of people were talking recession. It didn't materialize, Jonas.

And now we have gone straight up. This is not a market that typically go sideways. So we're buckling up because people are concerned that the next leg could be down.

FERRIS: Right.

Well, the -- what happened last year, to your original question about Trump, is the Federal Reserve almost caused a recession. That's almost what happened. He got off -- the Federal Reserve got off the raising rates train, and the market recovered. That was the primary reason for the slide.

The president was early and right about rates were too high. At this point, rates are about where they should be, unless the economy slows again. If the Federal Reserve...

(CROSSTALK)

PAYNE: You want to see them stop quantitative tightening, taking money out of the economy, $50 billion a month? Do you want to see them pause on that too?

FERRIS: I think that should have happened a long time ago.

And at this stage, with the global economy weak, I think just to reassure investors, they need to chill out with that, basically. I'm not like an...

(CROSSTALK)

FERRIS: But I think you need to allow...

PAYNE: I love when you use those Wall Street terms. Fed, you need to chill out.

(LAUGHTER)

PAYNE: Thank you both very much. Appreciate it.

Dissent on Capitol Hill. Republican Senator Rand Paul saying he will vote against President Trump's national emergency. The question is, will more Republicans follow suit?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PAYNE: California just responding the President Trump's plan to take back $3.5 billion for its high-speed rail project, calling it legally indefensible and disastrous.

California also telling the Trump administration that 2,600 workers could lose their jobs if the administration pulls funding.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Rand Paul breaking with President Trump, saying he will vote to block the national emergency declaration for the border wall.

How is all this playing out on Capitol Hill?

FOX News' Mike Emanuel is on the Hill with the latest -- Mike.

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Charles, good afternoon.

Senator Rand Paul explained his thinking, writing on FOXNews.com: "I must vote how my principles dictate. My oath is to the Constitution, not to any man or political party. I stand with the president often, and I do so with a loud voice. Today, I think he's wrong, not on policy, but in seeking to expand the powers of the presidency beyond their constitutional limits."

The other Republicans on the record against the national emergency are Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

One concern from GOP members is the kind of emergencies a future Democrat in the White House could declare.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS, R-N.C.: What precedent do we set that the next president who believes that we should have bridges, not borders, that they actually use military construction dollars to tear down walls and build bridges, and create a bigger border crisis?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: With 53 Senate Republicans and now four officially against, that led to the Senate majority leader drawing this conclusion:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, R-KY., MAJORITY LEADER: I think what is clear in the Senate is there will be enough votes to pass the resolution of disapproval, which will then be vetoed by the president, and then in all likelihood the veto will be upheld in the House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EMANUEL: It will likely be a little awkward between President Trump and some of these Senate Republicans, but he has veto power.

And then, perhaps, ultimately, the courts will sort this issue out -- Charles.

PAYNE: Mike, thank you very much.

So the question is, is the Green New Deal ready for prime time? EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler doesn't think so. He was with me earlier. We will discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHEELER: I took a hard look at it when it came out.

And I just don't think it's ready for prime time. It makes a lot of wild promises I just don't think can be implemented or achieved.

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PAYNE: EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler joining me earlier in the show, saying that the Green New Deal is not ready for prime time.

How will all of this continue to play out politically?

RealClearPolitics' Susan Crabtree joins me now.

Without a doubt, Susan, this will be a political topic. You have got all the major declared presidential candidates on the Democratic side saying, yes, we're all for it. Forget about the price tag. It's such an urgent issue, it must be at the forefront.

But what about potential voters? How -- do they care about this?

SUSAN CRABTREE, REALCLEARPOLITICS: Well, any time you have a fistfight going on, on the left over the Green New Deal, and it's sucking up headlines, it's a good day for President Trump and Republicans.

President Trump, that's why he was so gleeful at CPAC talking to them on this subject. He is -- wants this fight, this 2020 reelection fight to be about capitalism vs. socialism. And that's what he sees in this Green New Deal highlighting, is this -- you see the polls out there.

You have a Hill-Harris poll saying 67 percent of American public thinks that the Green New Deal is about socialism. And then you have another poll just out today, the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, saying that only 25 percent of the American public really thinks that socialism is a good trait for a presidential candidate.

PAYNE: Right.

In that same poll, it does rate this -- it rates higher amongst millennials. And I think this is the problem that the Democrats have. You have got establishment Democrats there who've been around the block a few times, understand how elections play out, and you have got some new -- new folks in the Democratic Party who are -- who have come in like gangbusters.

I mean, they are making a lot of noise. They are not following any rules.  They can't be sort of -- it really is amazing, because now they actually seem to have forced their will upon the party itself.

CRABTREE: That's right, though, as you know, millennial voters, they don't tend to vote in large numbers.

We did see some large numbers in California last time around, so that could be changing, as you -- as they see people like AOC and others that are relatively in their same age group, and they're inspired by them.

But, as you know, older voters do tend to vote. And they're not viewing this Green New Deal in a great, positive light. And we see that playing out on Capitol Hill, when even the sponsors of the Green New Deal, the original authors, Ed Markey from -- a Democrat from Massachusetts, along with AOC, he doesn't even really want to have a vote on this bill, as McConnell is pushing for a vote any day now.

And so it's really interesting that you see that even Ed Markey and Dianne Feinstein, with their controversial video last week with the kids really pushing her to vote, she's saying, this isn't really realistic. And now they're all going to vote present, which is kind of an interesting strategy. That's the latest we heard. And now they're saying that they might have an alternative new deal.

So this debate is shifting as we speak.

PAYNE: Of course, under this Green New Deal, there's a lot of things that -- it's a massive umbrella of -- really, I think it's more of a social justice document than anything fiscal or environmental, to be quite frank with you.

It covers a lot of things, including the original version of it that would that would have paid people who didn't want to work. Obviously, they have backpedaled on that.

But, Susan, it does seem like this unstoppable juggernaut within the party.  And you do have to wonder, to your point, President Trump is gleeful about it, and so are a lot of other -- a lot of other Republicans. But what if this actually was the centerpiece of their platform in 2020?

CRABTREE: Well, I think they're going to have a big uphill battle.

What I'm hearing, though, is they're trying to shift the rhetoric. They're saying that climate change doesn't really get a lot of votes out in Middle America, certainly not in the Rust Belt, and what we saw, the area that Trump captured last time around, because they care about jobs, Trump's everything.

And the president was very good at really grabbing those votes, and unexpectedly, when you got into Michigan and Wisconsin. So it doesn't seem like the Democrats really learned from that experience. But you do have this push even among the millennials. And it's going to be -- it's going to be really interesting to see if they can really get millennials out to the polls.

I think that's the key here. But you do see the rhetoric changing on this.  People are saying, well -- I think Celinda Lake, the pollster, Democratic poster, says, when you use words like transitioning to green alternatives, that plays better among the public. But when you say climate change and the Green New Deal, it doesn't.

PAYNE: Yes, although it doesn't roll off the tongue, though, does it?

CRABTREE: They have some work to do on that, for sure.

PAYNE: You can't put it on a bumper sticker, unless you got an R.V. or something.

CRABTREE: No hashtag.

PAYNE: But you mentioned Michigan, Wisconsin.

Listen, Fiat just announced they're going to open up a new plant in Detroit. I mean, this is what President Trump was talking about, bringing factories, jobs back to America. I mean, they're -- and they're talking about getting rid of cars altogether.

How can you win these Midwestern states like that?

CRABTREE: I really think it's really hard.

I think that we saw that last time around. And it's going to be -- the strength of the president is the jobs numbers. The economic numbers are his strength.

And it's really going to be hard to be pushing a socialist agenda when we see so much prosperity in the country right now. And I think that that's a message that the president thinks he can win on.

PAYNE: Susan, we're going to hear from the president in less than a minute.

So I do want to ask you about -- he's speaking with attorneys generals, and, of course, this Nadler list, which I count 81 potential folks that the Democrats want to talk to.

Are they overplaying their hand here?

CRABTREE: Well, certainly, they're going to -- it's going to be a backstop, because if they feel like that Mueller is not -- is not giving them anything that they can use to impeach the president, they want to be able to question his every move and to call the witnesses themselves and get the information themselves.

And, certainly, if Mueller isn't going to be giving them what they want for impeachment, I'm not sure the American people are going to see their investigation as more legitimate than something -- somebody like a special prosecutor, who is supposed to be independent.

PAYNE: Yes, and a special counsel, by the way, whose bona fides were picked up big time.

Let's go to the White House. This is William Barr, the attorney general, speaking now.

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WILLIAM BARR, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: And in the three decades leading up to the early '90s, the crime rate had tripled.

But, since 1992, thanks to critical legal reforms and improved policing tactics and better technology, we have made a great deal of progress.

The national murder rate and violent crime grade have both been cut in half over the past three decades. The U.S. attorney from the Eastern District of New York was in my office the other day, and he threw out a figure that caught my attention.

He said, you know, when you were attorney general last time, we had 2200 murders in New York City, and today we have 289 a year. It's 86 percent reduction.

In 2015 and '16, there was a bit of an uptick -- uptick in violent crime, but I'm happy to say that crime is falling once again. And, according to the FBI's UCR report, both murder and violent crime went down in 2016.

Just last week, the FBI released its preliminary crime statistics for the first six months of 2018. They are only preliminary numbers, but they show a 6.7 percent decline in murders, a 12.5 percent decline in robbery, and a 12.7 percent decline in burglary, compared to the first six months of 2017.

While we can't rest on our laurels, we should acknowledge the massive progress that has been made. And that's why I'm committed to implementing the FIRST STEP Act. As you know, that act is going to help us use our prison space more efficiently, imprison only those who need to be there, and help those who have completed their sentences transition back to being productive members of society.

As we go forward, we will be vigilant to ensure that the public safety is not adversely affected. Sadly, there's one area in which far more progress needs to be made, and that is with regard to drug abuse. We're facing a grave situation today.

In 2017, as you know, 70,000 Americans lost their lives to drugs, more than ever before. And this was largely because that the drugs on the street are far more potent than they have ever been. As you know, fentanyl is so potent, that it only takes the equivalent of a pinch of salt to be fatal.  And carfentanil is even more deadly, with one grain sufficient to put someone into an overdose.

Over the last two years, we have gained ground in reducing opioid prescriptions. Prescriptions for the seven most frequently abused prescription opioids are now down 21 percent, to the lowest level in at least a decade.

The DEA has lowered the legal limits on the production of the active ingredients in these prescription opioids by 47 percent since 2016. And I'm sure, as you have discussed in the panel preceding this, we have been moving aggressively with our state partners to go after legal opioids and traffickers.

The number of defendants charged with opioid-related crimes increased by 28 percent from fiscal year 2017 to 2018. Most importantly, thanks to these and other efforts, drug deaths have finally stopped arising, it appears.

According to preliminary -- preliminary data from the CDC, overdose deaths decreased 3.1 percent nationwide from September 2017 to July 2018, which is the most recent month for which we have data.

Even while our efforts are starting to take hold, the scourge of synthetic opioids confronts us with a daunting challenge. These drugs alone in 2017 cost 28,000 American lives. And we know that China's a leading source of these powerful drugs, but, increasingly, we see traffickers in Mexico working to develop the ability to produce them.

For the four years in a row, the DEA has stated publicly that the Mexican transnational criminal organizations are the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States. No other group is currently positioned to challenge them.

The DEA tells us that the majority of the heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl in this country got here across our southern border. Having a porous southern border makes every state in the union more vulnerable to these drugs.

And the problem of a porous border is not limited to drugs. It also creates opportunities for human trafficking, one of the most heinous criminal acts there is.

The department is stepping up our action against human trafficking. I was just briefed yesterday about it, and helped set out a plan for stepping up our efforts in terms of the cross-border trafficking. And just last month, we secured a total of 108 years of prison for five members of the notorious Rendon-Reyes trafficking organization, which exploited underage Mexican girls for more than a decade.

But while the porous border compounds the problem...

PAYNE: U.S. Attorney William Barr discussing the FIRST STEP Act, the border.

Of course, we are waiting on President Trump. We will bring him to you live.

"The Five" is next.
 
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