| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
|
Will testify on Capitol Hill on the Trump administration's deportation policies and other priorities for her department while appearing before a House Appropriations Subcommittee. | |
| Also at 10, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson will testify on President Trump's tariffs and economic agenda before a House Appropriations Subcommittee, the Secretary's first congressional hearing since his confirmation in January, live on the free C-SPAN Now video app. | ||
| All of these events are also online at c-span.org. | ||
| Democracy. | ||
| It isn't just an idea. | ||
| It's a process. | ||
| A process shaped by leaders elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. | ||
| It's where debates unfold, decisions are made, and the nation's course is charted. | ||
| Democracy in real time. | ||
| This is your government at work. | ||
| This is C-SPAN, giving you your democracy unfiltered. | ||
| We're joined by Mika Solner, Congressional Reporter at Punch Bowl News. | ||
| And Mika Solner, lots of budget talk on Capitol Hill right now, some in the form of budget reconciliation, some in the form of fiscal 2026 budgeting. | ||
| So for folks who don't follow this every day, sort of orient us to what's happening right now. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, so House Republicans are in a very pressured spot, I guess if you want to put it that way, to pass President Trump's agenda quickly. | |
| I know that Speaker Johnson has laid out a really ambitious timeline of wanting to get this one big beautiful bill, as the president has referred to it, done by Memorial Day. | ||
| So right now, there's a lot of roadblocks in the conference, including pushback from moderate, more vulnerable Republicans when it comes to cuts to Medicaid and other issues related to what could potentially be in this bill. | ||
| So there is basically a stallment right now within the committee level of where things are at. | ||
| This is how it's put in today's Punch Bowl News for subscribers. | ||
| During this past week, several dynamics have emerged that make us wonder not only if a reconciliation deal is close, but whether Republicans can even pull it off at all. | ||
| Explain. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| So in the last several weeks, there's been a lot of developments. | ||
| You know, we saw a lot of vocal pushback from a group of about a dozen moderate Republicans who are very, very concerned about Medicaid cuts. | ||
| They basically view a vote that substantially cuts that program as political suicide for them. | ||
| And we saw Speaker Johnson push back markups for key committees that are tasked with key portions of the reconciliation bill. | ||
| That's the ways and means in charge of Trump's tax cuts, as well as campaign promises like no tax on tips. | ||
| There's the AG committee, which is going to be tasked with SNAP and food stamps, as well as the Energy and Commerce, which is going to be in charge of Medicaid. | ||
| How unusual is that to have a hearing scheduled and then get it pushed back for a week? | ||
| And what does that do to the timeline that the speaker is working on here and what the president is expecting? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't think it's particularly unusual when there are issues, when there are issues in terms of what it actually, if it goes to a markup, we'll be able to pass on the floor. | |
| Essentially, the markup is the first step, right, to get that passed. | ||
| And those changes are going to come when these get taken up in committee. | ||
| So whether it gets amended or what provisions are going to be. | ||
| And I think that this is potentially going to be chaotic for the timeline with such a short timeframe, about two weeks away. | ||
| And then one factor that you note in Punch Bowl this morning, the White House is also now finally getting engaged in this process, which has both upsides and risks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes. | |
| So we saw White House engagement has upped drastically. | ||
| I know that there's been key members of Congress, including Majority Leader Scalise, Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith, that have met with President Trump last week. | ||
| And it looks like Trump's really getting involved. | ||
| We saw the White House put out its own budget proposal last week that has had some issues with the Hill. | ||
| So we're going to probably see a lot more engagement and a lot more involvement from the president and his allies, as well as his liaisons and staff that he's deploying to get this built through. | ||
| We're talking about the week ahead in Washington. | ||
| We do it most Mondays when Congress is in session. | ||
| Mika Solner is with us of Punchball News, taking your questions on this topic, any of the topics that they're going to be addressing on Capitol Hill this week. | ||
| Here's how you can call in. | ||
| It's 202-748-8000 for Democrats to call. | ||
| Republicans 202-748-8001. | ||
| Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| Another topic, not budget reconciliation, that will be talked about this week is renaming, officially renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. | ||
| It's Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green's legislation. | ||
| Explain the timeline here and whether it has the votes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be interesting to see what Democrats might actually vote for that bill. | |
| But I will point out one thing that's really interesting about this whole Gulf of America push is that you see people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose bill is going to be taken up, but we also see members like Dusty Johnson, who's considered more moderate from South Dakota. | ||
| He chairs the Main Street caucus, which is seen as more of a pragmatic group of Republicans, the governing wing, if you want to call it that, also introduced similar bills that advocate for that. | ||
| So I think it just shows that more Republicans within the House conference want to get aligned with Trump and really want to build a relationship with the president. | ||
| So what else are you going to be watching for this week outside of the budget fights that you're tracking every day? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, outside of the budget fights, I think it's worth watching House Democrats. | |
| I know that in the last few weeks they've had a couple, I guess, you know, shake-ups when it comes to the Oversight Committee. | ||
| I know that that fight is still ongoing in terms of who's going to come after interim ranking member Lynch, after Jerry Connolly stepped aside, as well as some of the internal banners that they're having there. | ||
| I know that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said at town hall that there's more trips planned to El Salvador. | ||
| So that's one thing that I'll be watching as well. | ||
| Stay on the Oversight Committee for a second. | ||
| This is one of the more high-profile committees, mostly because they can investigate most anything they want to investigate. | ||
| Jerry Connolly stepping aside for health reasons, announcing that. | ||
| Why is this turned into an internal battle to watch for Democrats? | ||
| What are the specific dynamics here? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, so I think this is just kind of the classic generational struggle that the Democratic Party is facing. | |
| So Connolly essentially tapped Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, a more senior member of the committee who is really citing his experience as why he is fit to serve in that role. | ||
| But a lot of these, the committee, which is known for being bombastic at times, they're more of a combative committee that often they have viral moments and things like that, is made up of a lot of younger progressives and some of these new members of Congress. | ||
| And their argument is that they want someone that's more of a fresh face. | ||
| And they're also arguing that putting Lynch in that position, he was the third senior member of the committee, actually bypasses two black women ahead of him, which was Eleanor Holmes Norton of DC and then Jasmine Crockett, who was fighting up. | ||
| Who put him in that position? | ||
| Was this Leader Jeffries call? | ||
|
unidentified
|
So Lynch disclosed that Connolly had talked to leadership, so leadership had basically agreed to Connolly's wishes. | |
| So I think that there's a little bit of a leadership struggle there that progressives feel. | ||
| Has minority leader Jeffries gotten involved here? | ||
| Is he going to get involved in this? | ||
| And what does it say about kind of the future leadership of House Democrats? | ||
| Or are we reading too much into one committee fight? | ||
|
unidentified
|
He has not publicly gotten involved. | |
| I know that there's likely some strings behind the scenes, but I think that it kind of speaks to the relationship here between leadership and progressives. | ||
| Not publicly. | ||
| I know that Jeffries is really trying to work on his image and his visibility now that there's been some pushback in previous months. | ||
| The Punch Bowl News known for its coverage of these sort of relationships on Capitol Hill and how it affects the power dynamic. | ||
| So you just did Jeffries, do Speaker Johnson right now, what's the most interesting relationship to watch as he tries to navigate the Republican conference, as he tries to wrangle all these various members and get them on board for one big, beautiful bill as it's been described. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I mean, I think that the Johnson-Trump relationship is extremely interesting. | |
| And right now, it's on really, I guess, good grounds. | ||
| He's built a strong relationship with the president. | ||
| I know that the president has backed him a lot and supported him on social media. | ||
| And I think that's pushed some of his members to support bills that they were cautious about in the past. | ||
| And so I think that that dynamic is interesting. | ||
| But if he can't, for some reason, get this bill through, I wonder if that dynamic is going to shift as well. | ||
| Mika Solner with us for about another 10 minutes or so this morning on the Washington Journal, taking your phone calls if you have questions about the week ahead in Washington or these various budget issues that they track every day on Punchbowl News. | ||
| If you haven't signed up for their newsletter, a great way to start your morning and stay on track with everything that's happening on Capitol Hill to call in to chat. | ||
| It's 202-748-8000 for Democrats to call. | ||
| 202-748-8001 for Republicans. | ||
| And Independents, 202-748-8002. | ||
| Let me switch to a different topic, the debt limit. | ||
| Where are we on that? | ||
| How much time is there to fend off going over the edge, as it's been called, the X date as it's known? | ||
| Where are we on raising the debt limit right now? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I think that timeline is still a little bit wonky just because it's being very overshadowed by everything else that's going on. | |
| So, you know, I think that's a question that I can ask lawmakers on the Hill this week. | ||
| What else are you on that? | ||
| What else are you going to be asking this week? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I think that we'll be looking at these meetings that Johnson is supposed to have with these vulnerable Republicans. | |
| I know that there's been nothing reported yet or nothing that's come to light. | ||
| So we'll be tracking a lot of these. | ||
| It's a lot of incremental reporting right now in terms of who's meeting with who, what progress is being made. | ||
| So it's slow but steady. | ||
| These things slow until they become very quick, it seems like, on Capitol Hill. | ||
| A couple questions from social media from viewers who've been watching. | ||
| One viewer, clown, is the handle. | ||
| Talk about tax cuts for corporations. | ||
| That's all I want to hear about. | ||
| Where are we on tax cuts for corporations? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, I haven't followed the tax cuts for corporations as closely, but I do know that that's probably something that Ways and Means is swaying right now. | |
| I know that they're very focused on passing the Trump tax cuts as well. | ||
| So we're going to see where they are on that. | ||
| But right now, it's pretty stolen. | ||
| What is the timeline for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and passing those and getting those renewed for years to come? | ||
| What's the timeline here? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, well, they really want to get this put into the bill. | |
| That was one of the main issues between House and Senate Republicans is whether or not to include this in one bill or do two. | ||
| And I know that the Weez and Means chair has been pushing for this and he's been having conversations with the president. | ||
| So we're going to see. | ||
| I know right now I think they're making progress, but things are still kind of in flux. | ||
| John in New Hampshire, the Granite State, Republican, good morning. | ||
| You're on the air with me, Kasolner. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, thank you. | |
| A couple things. | ||
| The word oligarchy is a big word these days. | ||
| We seem to hear it all the time. | ||
| And to me, the oligarchy of the judges. | ||
| So I was hoping to maybe see an article or something like that on the oligarchy of what the judges are doing, because several times now they haven't even pointed to law in their decisions. | ||
| And the other thing I wanted to mention, the Supreme Court, they're about to hear a case from Harvard, most likely. | ||
| Four of those judges graduated from Harvard. | ||
| So I'm wondering why we haven't seen one article yet on if those judges should recuse themselves. | ||
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| That's John in New Hampshire. | ||
| Happy to have you talk about the Supreme Court, but I know Congress is more your beat, but there's plenty of efforts on Capitol Hill to rein in the federal judiciary. | ||
| Where are we on those efforts, if you can start there? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I think that's another thing that's been overshadowed. | |
| But in recent weeks, I know that there's been a lot of discussion, especially in the House Judiciary Committee. | ||
| I know that Chairman Jim Jordan has been really pushing on this. | ||
| There's been a lot of broad efforts, whether that's curbing it through the appropriations funding for judges. | ||
| And then there was a failed impeachment effort, of course, for Judge Boesberg, who Trump called for his impeachment. | ||
| But that's not going to fly with moderates. | ||
| So I think that House Republicans are still kind of weighing options as to how to rein in the judiciary. | ||
| I know every fiscal year, all the various agency heads come to Capitol Hill and testify. | ||
| But also, we usually get a couple members of the Supreme Court to come and talk about the judiciary's budget. | ||
| Has that happened yet? | ||
| Or do you know when that's going to happen? | ||
| It's always interesting to see which, it's usually two justices that come over and testify. | ||
| I don't remember having seen that already this year. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, I don't believe that's happened yet, but I think when it does, it'll be interesting given how some of the more conservative justices have voted on some of Trump's agenda. | |
| When they do that, is it usually a liberal and a conservative justice that they send over? | ||
| Or do you know anything about how they pick who gets the job of having to go before a congressional committee and testify about the judiciary's budget? | ||
|
unidentified
|
That I don't know too much about. | |
| Maybe a Supreme Court reporter might be one of those to chat about that. | ||
| Let me get to John Dawing in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. | ||
| Republican, good morning. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello, good morning. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I won't take long. | ||
| I just have something to say quickly. | ||
| I've been a Republican for 50 plus years. | ||
| Good morning. | ||
| John Da, we can hear you. | ||
| Just listen through your phone. | ||
| You've been a Republican for 50 plus years. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I've been a Republican for 50 plus years. | |
| I've mingled with Donald Trump back in the early days of my life. | ||
| I knew Rudy Giuliani. | ||
| And so what do you want to say about Agenda? | ||
| Although I'd be interested to hear how you've mingled with these folks and how you know them. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I knew them through working on various campaigns. | |
| I worked on Rudy Giuliani in particular, his campaign. | ||
| I've been to his home a few times. | ||
| I knew his first wife. | ||
| And I just want to say, I said it already. | ||
| You just want to say what, Jonda? | ||
| Tell you what, you've got to listen through your phone, Jonda, not your television. | ||
| I'll let you work on that as we go to Robert in Arkansas. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, I'm Robert in Arkansas. | |
| I'm calling on the Democrat line, but I voted for Ross Perot. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I heard the sucking sound when we were losing all of our jobs. | |
| And now many of these people that are talking about the tariffs and everything, they were what was called free market, free enterprise capitalists. | ||
| They're the ones that made China most favored nation trading status. | ||
| And now we're dealing with these tariffs. | ||
| And as we look at the tariffs, I believe every product that comes in that is involved with the tariffs should have a stamp on it, just like the way we do sales taxes. | ||
| And what we're being deceived by, when they cut income taxes, that money then has to be made up some way, and it goes to state sales taxes. | ||
| And a sales tax, every person pays the same amount. | ||
| If you're a billionaire or if you're barely getting by, you go to the store, you pay the same tax. | ||
| And the other thing, when Donald Trump is going after these student loans, we should remind him he's had six bankruptcies. | ||
| I am been a Democrat for years because of my grandfather. | ||
| He said it's not for bankruptcy. | ||
| It's your word. | ||
| It's not an accounting, I mean, it's an accounting principle. | ||
| Bankruptcy is your word, and anytime you can pay, you should pay. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Robert, before you go, you might be interested in about less than an hour, about 45 minutes, our final segment of the day. | ||
| We're going to be talking with Rachel Slade. | ||
| She wrote the book, Making It in America, the Almost Impossible Quest to Manufacture in the USA and How It Got that Way. | ||
| She talks a lot about NAFTA in that book. | ||
| Stick around for that conversation, Robert. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I'm going to try, but I understand that point. | |
| But we are so older. | ||
| I'm in Arkansas, and Sarah Huckby has put some of the most horrible regulations on us. | ||
| Electrical labor OSHA is stacked a mile high. | ||
| And many times it's not enforced until something happens, and then it becomes a real liability. | ||
| So thank you. | ||
| That's Robert in Arkansas. | ||
| Mika Solner, he brings up tariffs, regulations, and student loans. | ||
| Anything you want to talk about on any of those topics? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The tariff debate is always interesting. | |
| You know, no matter what direction it's going, I think that it's changed quite a few times now. | ||
| And I just think it's, you know, the reaction from Capitol Hill was astounding when Trump first announced that tariffs. | ||
| And obviously, we saw the markets, you know, swing drastically. | ||
| And now that he's walking back, and I think yesterday the president put out something on true social wanting to tariff foreign films. | ||
| But, you know, I think that there's a little bit of frustration in terms of what Trump actually wants to do. | ||
| But I do think that this is also an administration that tends to walk back things, to put forth ideas. | ||
| But it has real impact, as you can see, on Wall Street and Capitol Hill. | ||
| One more question. | ||
| This from Hollywood legend is the handle on X. | ||
| I know you're not in the White House briefing room, but most reporters probably have thoughts on this. | ||
| What does she think of Donald Trump opening the press room in the White House to social media and to podcasters and to catching up with the real world is how the poster describes it? | ||
|
unidentified
|
You know, I think it's interesting because the way that a lot of people consume media is changing. | |
| And I know that people are getting it from different platforms. | ||
| So, you know, I'm personally more, I'm always open to having more voices. | ||
| But also depends. | ||
| You know, I've noticed at times the Trump White House tends to call on people with more favorable questions first, but I think that every administration has their way of doing things. | ||
| Have you ever had a chance to be in the briefing room? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Under Biden, once. | |
| This week, coming back to the week ahead in Washington, anything else you're watching for or a particular member you're interested in talking to this week on your beat right now? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Ooh, that's a great question. | |
| You know, I have a few people that I think I will keep an eye out for. | ||
| I'm interested in looking for moderates like David Valadeo who are really pushing the Medicaid push. | ||
| And on the Democratic side, I'll be watching all the oversight members. | ||
| I think Alexandria Casa-Cortez still hasn't said whether or not she wants to actually maybe try and go back to that committee to run for ranking members. | ||
| So she'll be a big one to keep an eye on. | ||
| You can read all about it this week in Punchbowl News. | ||
| PunchBowl.news is where you can go. | ||
| Mika Solner, congressional reporter there, and appreciate you starting your week with us in the Washington Journal. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Live Tuesday on the C-SPAN networks at 10 a.m. Eastern, the House meets for morning speeches and noon for legislative business. | ||
| Members will begin work on a bill to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. | ||
| Lawmakers will also consider a bill that prohibits the Department of Homeland Security from funding higher education institutions that host nonprofit cultural and educational centers funded by the Chinese government. | ||
| At 8.30 on C-SPAN 2, Republican Representatives Rick Crawford, Jim Jordan, and Ronnie Jackson hold a press conference on the FBI's investigation into the 2017 shooting at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia that left several injured, including current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. | ||
| Also on C-SPAN 2 at 10, the Senate returns to vote on House pass legislation to repeal a Biden administration EPA rule on reducing hazardous emissions from rubber tire manufacturing. | ||
| And on C-SPAN 3 at 10, Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noam will testify on Capitol Hill on the Trump administration's deportation policies and other priorities for her department while appearing before a House Appropriations Subcommittee. | ||
| Also at 10, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson will testify on President Trump's tariffs and economic agenda before a House Appropriations Subcommittee, the Secretary's first congressional hearing since his confirmation in January, live on the free C-SPAN Now video app. | ||
| All of these events are also online at c-span.org. | ||
| Mike said before I happened to listen to him, he was on C-SPAN 1. | ||
| That's a big upgrade, right? | ||
| But I've read about it in the history books. | ||
| I've seen the C-SPAN footage. | ||
| If it's a really good idea, present it in public view on C-SPAN. | ||
| Every single time I tuned in on TikTok or C-SPAN or YouTube or anything, there were tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people watching. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I went home after the speech and I turned on C-SPAN. | |
| I was on C-SPAN just this week. | ||
| To the American people, now is the time to tune in to C-SPAN. | ||
| They had something $2.50 a gallon I saw on television a little while ago in between my watching my great friends on C-SPAN. | ||
|
unidentified
|
C-SPAN is televising this right now live. | |
| So we are not just speaking to Los Angeles, we are speaking to the country. | ||
| C-SPAN, democracy unfiltered. | ||
| We're funded by these television companies and more, including Sparklight. |