| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
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| On Mondays, when Congress is in session, we'd like to take a look at the week ahead in Washington to do that this first Monday of the 119th Congress. | ||
| We're joined by Steph Kite, politics reporter with Axios, and Steph Kite from the electoral vote counting to a lying in state. | ||
| It's a busy week on Capitol Hill. | ||
| Just walk us through the schedule of these next couple days first. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, well, today is the big day of certifying the election results certifying President-elect Trump's win. | |
| Of course, that will be overseen by Vice President Kamala Harris. | ||
| That's her role. | ||
| Of course, it's perhaps a little bit awkward that she will be the one to announce that her opponent won the election. | ||
| So we've got that going on today. | ||
| And then we will see, there'll be, former President Jimmy Carter will be lying in state and in the rotunda in the middle of the week. | ||
| And then his funeral will be on Friday where we'll see all of the former presidents gathering together. | ||
| Again, another potentially awkward moment with, you know, a bunch of people who have not always been on good terms and who have been political enemies over the past several years, but coming together as is traditional to honor the former president's life. | ||
| So amid all of that, is there going to be time for legislative business on Capitol Hill this week? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, we might not see a ton of legislative business in particular, but one thing that we'll be watching in the Senate is how they begin to prepare for these confirmation fights, which will really kick off next week. | |
| There's a rule where committee chairs have to give a week's notice before they have a hearing. | ||
| And so with them just really getting started, just really getting going here, they're going to, you know, announce when those hearings are going to start taking place. | ||
| We're expecting to see a focus on some of the national security picks, people like Pete Heckseth for the Defense Department, for example, is someone we're expecting early on, Tilsi Gabbard, as her intelligence leadership role. | ||
| So we're going to start seeing indications that those are going to be moving quickly. | ||
| Then next week is when we'll see those hearings actually kick off. | ||
| And when those hearings take place, do they usually let one go at a time? | ||
| Are there hearings that happen at multiple times? | ||
| Obviously, they're senators that are on different committees, so they may be called in if there's hearings happening at the same time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, they try to avoid conflict, but you can see them stacked up pretty quickly. | |
| We're expecting quite a few on the 14th and 15th. | ||
| And again, as you pointed out, it kind of depends on which committees these nominees end up sitting before, whether there's a lot of overlap in those memberships or whether they can kind of have hearings going on at the same time. | ||
| Because of course, just the members of these committees that oversee the agency that these people are being nominated for are going to be the ones who have this hearing. | ||
| Some nominees, for example, RFK Jr. for Health and Human Services, will have to sit before two different committees in the Senate, both help and judiciary. | ||
| So there will be, you know, there's going to be a lot of hearings coming up. | ||
| Some of them are probably going to be contentious. | ||
| Some of these nominees have some concerns that senators are going to want to have addressed. | ||
| So that's going to be an exciting thing to watch next week. | ||
| That's the Senate. | ||
| What starts happening in the House legislatively? | ||
| What's the primary focus for newly re-elected Speaker Johnson? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, the number one thing that we know that the House and the Senate are both focused on is this huge reconciliation package. | |
| Of course, President-elect Trump weighed in just yesterday officially saying that he no longer wants the two-part reconciliation bill. | ||
| He wants one big bill that will address things like extending his tax cuts. | ||
| It'll address border funding, funding for deportation efforts. | ||
| It'll address energy policy. | ||
| It's going to be a really large bill. | ||
| He has also said he wants to include the no taxes on tips policy that he's been campaigning on in this one bill. | ||
| For a while, we thought there would be two bills, that there would be one that was border focus and another that then addressed extending tax cuts. | ||
| But it's clear that Speaker Mike Johnson thinks he needs it to be all in one bill in order to kind of corral his own conference and make sure Republicans have the votes to actually pass so many of these top priorities. | ||
| So we're already seeing those negotiations being hashed out publicly and also hearing about it behind closed doors. | ||
| And that's really going to be the fight over the next few weeks and next few months. | ||
| What is a reconciliation package? | ||
| Why is this different from a regular bill that may include different pieces? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, the reason they're using reconciliation is it's a way to get around the 60-vote filibuster in the Senate. | |
| It allows for budget-related items to be passed with a simple majority in the Senate. | ||
| And there are rules around this. | ||
| It's not just an easy way to get around the filibuster. | ||
| It can only be used with policies that are related to the budget. | ||
| And there is a process that Congress will have to go through to make sure that the policies they want to get through meet that criteria. | ||
| It'll go before the Senate parliamentarian, who will ultimately decide whether the things that Republicans want to get done can get done through this process. | ||
| Otherwise, if it's too policy-oriented, if it's not directly budget-related, then there's a chance that it could be rejected. | ||
| And those are the kinds of things that would have to get done in a bipartisan way in the Senate. | ||
| Steph Kite of Axios with us for this week ahead in Washington. | ||
| Now would be the time to call in with your questions about what's going to be going on in that building over my shoulder this week and in the weeks to come. | ||
| It's 202748-8,000 for Democrats, 202748-8001 for Republicans. | ||
| Independents, 202748, 8002. | ||
| I want to get into the margins in the House and Senate. | ||
| For the first time in modern history, the House majority margin for votes is smaller than the Senate majority margin, six votes. | ||
| So what does that mean for John Thune, for Mike Johnson, for Donald Trump? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think the number one thing that this means is something that we've seen over this weekend, that there is going to be a lot more catering to the House in order to get things done. | |
| Usually it's the Senate that's the chamber that's harder to get things through because of the filibuster, right? | ||
| Usually it's the Senate where things end up. | ||
| Bills get past the House, political messaging bills get past the House, they go to the Senate, and then they don't go anywhere. | ||
| Now we're looking at a situation, especially when you're talking about reconciliation, where they're really going to have to cater to the House even more. | ||
| For example, Senate Majority Leader John Thune wanted this two-part bill for reconciliation. | ||
| He publicly, he told his members that's what they were doing. | ||
| The Senate was all on board. | ||
| But because House Speaker Mike Johnson doesn't think he can get two bills across, they're going to cater to what the House needs to get it done. | ||
| And we've seen over the past few years that House Republicans, there is a faction of them who are very willing to make things difficult. | ||
| And there are a handful of them who are even willing to buck Trump on some issues. | ||
| Thomas Massey, for example, was willing to still vote against Mike Johnson despite the fact that President-elect Trump said that he was the one he wanted for Speaker. | ||
| And so you're going to see these conservative voices continue to have power. | ||
| And one of their biggest things is spending cuts. | ||
| And so whether they really do continue to push for that, even if Trump has very expensive priorities right now, is going to be a key thing to watch. | ||
| However, there is a chance that some of these Republicans are going to feel more comfortable falling in line with Trump at the head, right? | ||
| When Biden is in office and Biden is in the White House, Republicans are going to be even more willing to push back, to not let things go through. | ||
| So there is a little bit of a chance that we see a little bit of more cohesive working together when Trump is the one calling the shots. | ||
| So we saw this play out on the House floor in the speaker vote, three Republicans voting against Mike Johnson initially, two members get a private meeting behind closed doors with Mike Johnson and then come back and change their vote, that every vote is going to count for Mike Johnson. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh yeah, every single vote will count. | |
| And also, you know, making sure everyone is in attendance will count. | ||
| You know, if something happens, if you're missing one person for, you know, other reasons, that's going to completely blow up the chances of getting legislation passed. | ||
| And he's going to have to follow the rules he laid out. | ||
| One of the reasons why he's managed to get the conservative support he has is because Mike Johnson has continued to promise to give them more insight into the bills before they come to the floor, more time to look at legislation, to make sure it goes through rules whenever possible, and not avoiding the rules committee and getting help from Democrats to pass things. | ||
| And all of that is just going to make it very difficult for the House to get anything done. | ||
| Plenty more questions for you. | ||
| And I want to get to immigration as well, which I know we've talked about with you in the past. | ||
| But let me bring in a few callers. | ||
| Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Dan Independent. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| You're on with Steph Kite. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, hello. | |
| I would like to ask, can democracy and Fox News exist at the same time? | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| I'll take the answer off air. | ||
| A media question today. | ||
| We've been talking a lot about the media this January 6th and how it's been covered in the media. | ||
| Any thoughts on that and how Axios has been covering this issue? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I mean, first to the caller's question, I mean, one of the key elements of democracy is a free press. | |
| It's pressed with different viewpoints that have different listeners and different viewers, and that is all an important part of what makes our democracy a democracy. | ||
| And so freedom of speech is incredibly important. | ||
| And so, yes, it's important. | ||
| But, you know, we read into the question a little bit. | ||
| And there is real concern still and real distrust in the media right now. | ||
| We've seen this for a very long time, for several years, and we see it, you know, with Elon Musk posting on X, you know, very explicitly criticizing the media's coverage of Trump. | ||
| And I mean, what I try to do, what Axios is trying to do, and all the reporters that I talk to is trying to be as unbiased as possible, trying to both hold people accountable and be critical of our coverage, but not in any political biased way. | ||
| But it is important for all reporters to do what we can to regain trust from the American people in what we cover. | ||
| Steph Kite runs the Hill Leaders newsletter at Axios. | ||
| Explain what that is and your coverage focus and how you cover Hill Leaders. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, so this is Axios' newest newsletter. | |
| We launched just a few weeks ago. | ||
| Time, I'm not sure. | ||
| Time is meaningless. | ||
| It's been a long few weeks. | ||
| But we've launched this to really, really focus on our coverage of the Capitol and through the lens of leadership. | ||
| Because at the end of the day, it comes down to Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader John Thune to determine what gets put on the floor, how to rally their own members. | ||
| So our focus is really on leadership, both at the very top, also committee leaders, people who are determinative on what gets done in Congress. | ||
| And we know that we're going into this new Washington with President Trump's second administration, and they are ambitious. | ||
| They have a lot of things that need to get done, but a lot of the things that they need to get done are going to have to go through Congress. | ||
| And so that's something we'll be covering very closely. | ||
| And it's been a fun ride so far. | ||
| Who will be the key committee leaders that you're going to be focusing on? | ||
| There are a lot of committees in the House and Senate. | ||
| So how do you figure out where to focus? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, to start with the reconciliation fight, we'll be looking at Senator Lindsey Graham, who's chairing the budget committee. | |
| A lot of that will go through him. | ||
| He will be a key person there. | ||
| The other kind of leadership we're watching are the senators on the Hill, senators and members who are closest with Trump. | ||
| We know that Trump is very engaged. | ||
| He's the kind of person who makes phone calls, who makes things happen. | ||
| Trump becomes, you know, he becomes a whip and he starts trying to move people in the direction he wants them to go. | ||
| And so people who are comfortable with the president-elect, the senators and members who are frequently getting phone calls and texts from him are going to be sources of power in this next Washington. | ||
| And so that's another space to watch, whether that's, you know, Tom Cotton was one who was considered for the administration. | ||
| Now will be the number three in leadership and also will be chair of the Intelligence Committee, another very powerful committee. | ||
| And lastly, the committee I will be watching closely is the Appropriations Committee, especially in the Senate. | ||
| With Susan Collins as chair, so much of Congress's power comes down to where money is appropriated. | ||
| And so that committee is always one that is very influential. | ||
| And when you have Susan Collins and Mitch McConnell as well on that committee, those are two voices who have not been hesitant about pushing back on Trump in the past. | ||
| And they could use their weight there to do that as well. | ||
| What is Mitch McConnell's role going to be now that he's not majority leader or minority leader in the Senate? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's a good question and one that we're all watching very closely. | |
| He's made it very clear that he plans to continue to push for American strength on the world stage. | ||
| He plans to push for boosting defense spending. | ||
| That's really his number one priority and he has said it on the floor over and over again. | ||
| And again, he will do that from the Appropriations Committee where he'll be chairing the defense subcommittee. | ||
| So he will have a lot of sway, a lot of power in deciding how much money and where money is spent when it comes to U.S. defense. | ||
| So that's going to be a key focus for him. | ||
| And also he's made it clear he plans to stand by John Thune and fight to keep the filibuster in place. | ||
| You know, last time around, Trump did demand that the filibuster be ended so that he could get things done easier. | ||
| Mitch McConnell said no, really stood his ground there in the first administration. | ||
| John Thune has already indicated that he plans to protect the filibuster and we know McConnell will back him up on that. | ||
| To the Sunflower State, this is Sylvia Republican. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| You're on with Steph Kait. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How are you? | |
| Doing well. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I have a question because you have brought up like the January 6th and all that. | |
| So I could go into that, but I'm not going to. | ||
| My question for you guys is, because the way the last four years have gone, even starting with the January 6th of the year before, is there a way that they could stop that certification of President Trump? | ||
| You're talking about today, Sylvia? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| There actually have been changes to the way the proceedings will go today since January 6th, 2021, to kind of respond to some of the issues at the time. | ||
| So it would actually be even more difficult for there to be any kind of overturning of these election results or even objections made. | ||
| In the past before December of 2022, when the Electoral Count Reform Act was passed, all it took was one representative and one senator to object to a state's electors. | ||
| And that would require Congress to go back to their chambers to deliberate and vote on whether to honor that objection. | ||
| Now it takes far more than just one senator and one representative. | ||
| It takes a fifth of each chamber in order to even have a vote to object to these states electors. | ||
| So, you know, procedurally, it's much more difficult now than it was even, you know, Jan 6 in 2021 to even object to state's electors. | ||
| We also have no indication that there's even going to be an effort to object to some of these. | ||
| Even Vice President Kamala Harris will be overseeing this process, and she has been very clear that Donald Trump won the election. | ||
| And that was a great wrap-up. | ||
| I would just tell Sylvia that we're going to dive even deeper into what specifically happens today in the history and the Electoral Vote Count Act at 9.15 a.m. on this program. | ||
| Kevin Kosar of the American Enterprise Institute, a longtime scholar of Congress, writes about it and he'll be joining us. | ||
| But a great preview. | ||
| Thank you for that. | ||
| This is Tom in Philadelphia. | ||
| Democrat, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I was calling, and this sounds like a trivial thing, but it really does have meaning. | ||
| On January 6th, 21, when Trump was in his office at watching January 6th, I think it'd be nice to know what he was ordering from the kitchen. | ||
| And it sounds trivial, but I'm pretty sure that guy was... | ||
| Why do you want to know that, Tom? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Okay. | |
| I'm pretty sure he was eating food while everybody like myself was stunned. | ||
| Remember those 86 minutes when he didn't call? | ||
| Was he satiating his food, his appetite with things? | ||
| That's what a real fanatical dictator does. | ||
| That's Tom in Philadelphia. | ||
| We've had the select committee on January the 6th. | ||
| We had a Republican committee that looked into January 6th. | ||
| Is there going to be another January 6th committee in the 119th Congress? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, that's a good question. | |
| I'm not sure that there will be, although we do know that Trump has made it clear he plans to even on day one to pardon some of the people who participated in the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol who have been met with the law and who are in prison, some of them. | ||
| And so there's a chance that there is some kind of investigation on that side of things in Congress. | ||
| We know that Republicans may want to dig into how the Jan 6 fallout went and how people, how those investigations were played out. | ||
| But we also know that many Republicans are trying to move past Jan 6 entirely. | ||
| That's kind of their line when you ask them about it, is that they're looking forward. | ||
| They're not looking to the past. | ||
| And with Republicans in control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, at least for now, I expect Jan 6 to not be a top priority. | ||
| Less than 10 minutes left with Steph Kite this morning of Axios. | ||
| First time on since you wrote this story back in December about the Senate starting secret talks about a bipartisan border deal. | ||
| I promise to get to immigration. | ||
| What's been the developments there and what is this deal about? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, we know for sure that there are many Democrats who are much more willing now than even a few years ago to talk about border security, to talk about doing immigration reform. | |
| Many of the people I talk to who express interest in moving forward with this are people who are in these battleground states, people who are either in border states or battleground states, whether that's Arizona, Pennsylvania, other places as well. | ||
| So Democrats have certainly shifted what they're willing to talk about when it comes to border and immigration in a way that is very unique and where if there was to be a separate border bill outside of reconciliation, it would be interesting to see how many Democrats would be willing to actually get on board with that. | ||
| These conversations are obviously very early, and many people I've spoken to say that first they want to try to get as much done as they can through reconciliation, get significant funding for the border for deportation efforts and infrastructure there, and do what they can, Republicans only first. | ||
| But I do think this is a space to be watching, especially since the president-elect indicated that he might be willing to do something to protect DREAMers, people who were brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children, now they are all adults, but who don't have any legal status. | ||
| Who are the potential deal makers here on both sides? | ||
| Who would be the go-to for a Republican looking to make a deal to start to try to bring in Democrats? | ||
| What Republican would be leading that effort in the 119th Congress? | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's a good question. | |
| On the Democratic side, Mark Kelly in Arizona has been someone who has always been relatively moderate when it comes to his immigration proposals. | ||
| He has been an advocate for border security, so he would be one Democrat who you could look to. | ||
| Senator Fetterman from Pennsylvania was one who I talked to and who said he's maybe not been involved in conversations so far, but he would be very eager to talk to Republicans and try to work something out on this issue. | ||
| On the Republican side, Lindsey Graham will be a key voice in budget. | ||
| He has done immigration legislation in the past, so he could be a voice there. | ||
| John Cornyn in Texas could be another one. | ||
| He's been known for working bipartisan deals. | ||
| James Lankford was the Republican who led the last round of these bipartisan talks, which ultimately ended in failure. | ||
| So he could be another one who gets roped back in. | ||
| But it'll be an interesting crew to watch. | ||
| Back to the Sunflower State. | ||
| This is Stephen in Lawrence, Kansas, Republican. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Stephen. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| Happy certification in January 6th. | ||
| Do you think, what is the thirst for prosecuting Liz Cheney? | ||
| I think there's a lot of Republicans that really would not rather move on and would like to have some accountability from her. | ||
| I know there's a lot of deep state Googles that would like to take, would like to not prosecute Ms. Cheney and Thompson. | ||
| What do you think is going to happen there? | ||
| I mean, it's clear that Trump has said that he would want to prosecute some of his enemies. | ||
| He's also deferred recently to his picks to lead the Justice Department. | ||
| Pam Bondi is looking likely to get confirmed there. | ||
| Cash Battelle, who he's chosen for FBI, will be another key voice to watch there. | ||
| And that is something that we're all watching very closely. | ||
| Whether we see some of these leaders at DOJ kind of respond to these years of Republicans criticizing the politicization of that agency and whether they then use the agency to go after some of the president's own critics in their own way, it will be a space we'll be watching very closely. | ||
| But it's unclear right now what the real appetite is. | ||
| There are, of course, a few voices among Republicans who want to see this kind of aggressive action, but then there are others, especially on the Hill, who would much rather focus on getting legislative priorities done first to focus on being proactive, getting border policies in place. | ||
| And that has really been the focus from Republicans I'm talking to. | ||
| Just to remind the caller and viewers, Donald Trump was asked about this in that Meet the Press interview last month. | ||
| This is 90 seconds on that question of prosecuting potentially Liz Cheney. | ||
| Do you think Liz Cheney should go to jail? | ||
| For what? | ||
| Everyone on the committee used to be a family. | ||
| I think everybody on the voted in favor of the job. | ||
| Are you going to direct your FBI director and your attorney general to send them to jail? | ||
| Not at all. | ||
| I think that they'll have to look at that, but I'm not going to. | ||
| I'm going to focus on drill, baby, drilling. | ||
| When you say that, it carries weight, though. | ||
| You've tapped these people to lead the Justice Department and FBI. | ||
| They can do whatever they want. | ||
| Biden can give them a pardon if he wants to. | ||
| And maybe he should. | ||
| Just remember, unselect committee, a year and a half of sworn testimony, and after getting all of the testimony, they deleted it. | ||
| Wait, and they destroyed almost everything. | ||
| There's nothing left. | ||
| It's unprecedented. | ||
| And they deny that. | ||
| If you do that in a civil case, you go to jail. | ||
| You know, they deny doing that. | ||
| And officials say that the order never came in for the National Guard. | ||
| But on January 6th, let me ask you this about January 6th about the city. | ||
| Benny Thompson wrote in a statement that he has destroyed all evidence. | ||
| ask you this about January 6th? | ||
| I wish you could be a, if you, you know, you have such potential. | ||
| If you could be just non-biased, you hurt yourself so badly. | ||
| I'm telling you, they deleted and destroyed all the evidence. | ||
| Everyone knows it. | ||
| And you slough it off like it doesn't mean anything. | ||
| No, I'm not sure. | ||
| You didn't deny it. | ||
| That's all I'm saying. | ||
| Listen, if I did it, you would be standing up in that chair shouting at me. | ||
| And you know what I'd do? | ||
| I'd say, you got me. | ||
| I was Donald Trump on Meet the Press last month. | ||
| He mentioned Benny Thompson. | ||
| What do you think Benny Thompson's role is going to be in the 109th Congress, 119th Congress, I should say? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I mean, you know, it's really going to be not, you know, in the minority again. | |
| It's going to be pushing back again on Mark Green's efforts in the Homeland Committee in the House. | ||
| You know, he will still be a key player there. | ||
| You know, I think we're going to see the focus of that committee really shift again and focus on border and immigration as opposed to some of the security Jan 6 elements there. | ||
| Time for just one or two more calls. | ||
| This is Skip Waiting in Connecticut, line for Democrats in Waterbury. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Hi, Chief Span. | ||
| I think you're fantastic. | ||
| I'm changing the subject rule, but this is in the headlines today. | ||
| It's about public employees getting a boost in our Social Security. | ||
| I worked in schools, like I said, and I had to pass FBI checks to work in these schools, which Trump couldn't do that because he's a convicted felon. | ||
| But here's the thing what I'm talking about. | ||
| When I went to apply for Social Security, because I get a little pension, they knocked $400 a month off my Social Security. | ||
| That was money I worked for. | ||
| And then they tell me after they tell me this, but you can apply for food stamps. | ||
| And I'm thinking, I don't want food stamps. | ||
| I want my Social Security payment. | ||
| Well, probably someone's done justice to us on this. | ||
| That's Skip in Connecticut, a Social Security question. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I mean, well, see, this seems to not be a strong priority for Republicans, although Trump has continued to say he does not plan to make any significant cuts to Social Security, despite the fact that there is going to be a lot of pressure to make spending cuts to compensate for some of the money he plans to spend, whether it's the tax cuts or border security, all these other elements that are going to cost significant money. | |
| We're talking hundreds of billions, trillions potentially for this package overall. | ||
| And there is going to be a push from conservatives to make significant cuts. | ||
| But Trump has continued to say that there will not be any cuts to Social Security. | ||
| Final 60 seconds. | ||
| Anything we haven't gotten to that you're tracking this week at Axios? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Oh, man. | |
| I mean, it's going to be a busy week. |