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♪ ♪ ♪ a dramatic escalation in the middle east. the u.s. and united kingdom hitting iranian-backed houthi militants in yemen. and now that group is vowing retaliation. the white house and allies say they will do what it takes to protect shipping lanes in the red sea. the latest on this conflict. plus, crunch time in iowa. candidates making their case to voters with just three days until the first in the nation caucuses. but their battle isn't just with each other. now fierce and frigid weather threatens turnout. >> and some of that same weather is snarling air travel today. the problem made even worse by the grounding of those boeing jets, as the company faces a new lawsuit for what happened on the flight last.

week we are following these major stories and more all coming into cnn news central. ♪ ♪ ♪ good afternoon and thanks for joining us for news central i am -- in washington, d.c.. this afternoon we start tracking the fallout after a significant escalation by the united states in the middle east. the u.s. and britain launching airstrikes overnight targeting houthi military assets in yemen. this is in retaliation for dozens of recent drone and missile strikes that the iran -backed rebel group has fired at commercial vessels in the red sea. president biden is warning that further measures could follow and the administration is casting these efforts as self-defense strikes. >> many leaders in the middle east have condemned the attacks by the u.s. and uk. the move could put washington and tehran on a potential collision course. the houthis are a key iranian

proxy who have been emboldened since hamas, also backed by iran, launched those terror attacks on israel on october 7th. we have natasha bertrand at the pentagon. we have nick robertson in israel on this. natasha, tell us about the strikes. what do we know? >> reporter: we are learning a little bit more about the assets the u.s. used to carry out the strikes, including 22 fixed wing aircraft, which include f-18s, which took off from the aircraft carrier that is currently stationed in the red sea. as well as the fact that the u.s. deployed 80 tomahawk missiles to strike these targets inside yemen that they say were being used by the houthis as command control centers. weapons depots to store drones. the u.s. says at this point that they do believe that the damage they've caused to the houthi infrastructure was, quote, significant. but they still don't know, at this point, they are still doing a damage assessment about how degraded the houthis capabilities actually are at this point. importantly, we are already seeing what could be the

beginning of a houthi response. we are tracking reports that a missile has been fired towards the gulf of aden, near yemen. defense officials are looking into those reports right now. but look, the houthis have vowed to retaliate against the u.s. and british attacks that occurred overnight. and the houthis actually statema moment ago saying american and british interests are legitimate targets for the houthis. they say their presence in the red sea is part of this multi national coalition, is unacceptable and violate all laws. and they will be dealt with in an appropriate manner. all this raises the major concern that this conflict is going to escalate even further. the national security council spokesperson john kirby spoke to that a bit earlier today. here's what he said. >> sure, that's a concern, becky. we don't want to see this escalate. there was a huge diplomatic effort that preceded these attacks, and i think it is safe to say you can expect to see the united states continue all

those diplomatic consultations and discussions going forward. we know people are anxious there about escalation. we are as well. everything we are doing everything we are trying to do is to prevent any further escalation. >> reporter: now, the u.s. as they conducted the strikes in self-defense and not as an escalatory measure. you have to remember, of course, the houthis are backed by iran. one of the key questions here is whether these strikes that the u.s. and uk launched against these targets are going to prompt a more significant involvement by iran in this conflict. >> natasha, walk us through the multinational aspect of this, specifically why the uk partnered on these strikes. >> reporter: the u.s. didn't want to do this alone. they had been weighing options for quite some time about how to retaliate against the houthis, because the houthis began these attacks on international shipping in the red sea back in november. the u.s. was developing options for a potential response, but they were reluctant to do so without kind of an international coalition and without a partner nation

conducting these strikes in this operation alongside them. the u.s. is particularly the president biden likes to do things in conjunction with allies. so the british, who have also been very active in the red sea protecting shipping lanes and shooting down missiles and drones that the houthis have been firing, they decided to take part in this as well. and the u.s. and the uk, they got support, albeit not operational support, from a number of other countries, including, significantly, and arab nation and that is a majority shia muslim. there was clearly a lot of buy in here from a significant coalition that the u.s. believes was necessary in order to get the support it needed to launch these strikes in yemen, which are very controversial and were hotly debated inside the administration because, of course, the houthis and the saudis had been undergoing a civil war that the u.s. brokered a peace. for that fragile peace, obviously, could be upended now. >> and nic robertson, to you.

what's the reaction in the region? >> reporter: there is concern in saudi arabia at the uae because they backed illegitimate internationally recognize government of yemen since the houthis forced them from power back in 2014, which led to the uae and saudis supporting yemeni government troops on the ground inside of yemen, and led to the houthis firing iranian-made cruise missiles at the capital of saudi arabia and drones at targets in the uae. these countries are very alive to the threat, the possibility of escalation. they both stress the importance of these vital international waterways, the red sea, of course, saudi arabia has many ports on the red sea. it is a very important and vital economic link for saudi arabia. we've heard from jordan and kuwait as well expressing their concern about what they see as an escalation. egypt also concerned about what

they see as an escalation. iran, for its part, and some of its proxies, hamas, hezbollah, have come out very clearly in support of the houthis, no surprise there because the houthis are a proxy of iran. but their comments very clearly frame this as a u.s. uk attack, and not on the houthis, military capabilities, but on the whole of yemen -- which of course, that is not the intention that they are framing it like that. they are framing it in a way that the united states and the uk are coming out in support of israel. and the rhetoric is really designed to inflame tensions at the moment. it is a moment of great concern. the british, of course, for all the reasons natasha mentioned, their ships, hms diamond, it was targeted earlier this week. it is easy for the prime minister to convince his cabinet, opposition figures, and that this was the right

thing to do to join the coalition. >> all, right natasha bertrand and nick robertson, thank you so much to both of you for those reports. as things are escalating in the red sea, let's take a look at the group that is at the center of this. the houthis are an iran-backed rebel group that has been fighting yemen's government and a saudi led coalition that the u.s. has been helping to arm for years now. they are merged in the 90s out of the yemeni civil war. like iran, unlike hamas, which is sunni, they are shiite, and they control it significant part of yemen. the united nations says the nearly ten year old civil war in yemen it's the world's worst humanitarian crisis. it is estimated that some 377,000 people have died, many of them from a lack of food or water. and the houthis, they see themselves as part of the iranian-led axis of resistance, which includes hamas and gaza and hezbollah in lebanon. and you may be wondering, how have the houthis been able to

carry out these sophisticated attacks that they have been carrying out? well, with iran's health. the houthis have been building up their weapons stockpile over the recent, years and they include everything from cruise missiles to ballistic missiles and long-range drones as well. and as i mention, they control just a huge part in a significant part of the country here, the northwestern territory of yemen. as you can see here, the capital of sanaa. why did the houthis start attacking ships in the red sea when the israel hamas war broke out? the houthis declared their support for hamas, which is also backed by iran, and the houthis said they would target any ship that was traveling to her from israel. keep in mind, many of the ships that the houthis have been targeting have no apparent connection to israel. and since november, the houthis have launched 27 attacks. they've used drones, they've used missiles, and they have launched them on ships in the red sea and in the gulf of

aden. and the white house says that those strikes have affected the shipping interests, at this point, of more than 50 countries. the fallout has been huge here. incredibly extensive. shipping activity in the red sea is down 20% at this point. that has been largely because these big transport companies like msg and merck announced they are avoiding this area altogether what that means is they've have actually moved their ships around. they are traveling instead of their normal route here through the suez canal, 11,000 nautical miles, and they've been forced to go around, africa around the cape of good hope, 14,000 nautical miles, which adds 8 to 10 days to their shipping routes. overnight here, you can see the economic effects of these strikes we've been watching. these have rattled the energy markets, oil prices shot up 4% over -- already. let's break this all down with retired colonel cedric leighton. what can you tell us about the

weapons that the u.s. and uk used in this? what does it suggest about the goals here? >> one of the key elements we have is really quite important to look at. what we are doing here is we are going through a whole series of different targets. and what they were doing is targeting the u.s. and uk, let's use a different color here, going after places like airports, areas where there would be radars, areas where they have drone launch sites, military bases and of course the military airbase. those are the kinds of areas that they would be targeting because the more that these people can see, the more the houthis can, see the easier it is for them to counteract american and uk efforts. the first thing you do when you make -- conduct an attack like this is you get rid of the radar sites and you get rid of any capability that they have to attack you. so it does two things. it prevents them from attacking the incoming forces, but more importantly, it also prevents them from attacking the

commercial shipping right here in the area of the red sea. >> we should also mention the houthis have vowed to retaliate. what kind of reach do they have? is this attack really enough to degrade what they've been doing? >> it remains to be seen exactly how they are going to do, this but let's take a look, for example, at one of these areas here where we have the different areas where they've been able to work in places like saudi arabia. they've been able to attack the capital of riyadh in the past. and they've also made attacks in the uae. they have a reach that extends throughout the arabian peninsula. when you have that kind of reach, it becomes really important to get rid of those launch sites with those ballistic missiles and also cruise missiles that they have. these are the kinds of things that the houthis are still capable of and if they are not -- those capabilities are not degraded, that's going to present a problem not only for saudi arabia but potentially also for bahrain, which helped

in this effort. >> of course. i think there is this perception in the u.s. that iran would like to draw the u.s. into a broader war in the region. iran has said it doesn't want a broader war in the region. the u.s. has been clear it doesn't want a broader war in the region. where is the truth? where are the risks here? >> it depends on which faction is going to gain the upper hand in iran. but generally speaking, if things go the way they are supposed to go, what will happen is you are going to see more efforts in iraq, where proxy forces that are guided by the iranians are probably going to mount attacks on american forward operating basis. these are potentially also in syria. that is a possibility that has happened in the past. it is probably going to happen again. of course, the iranians have their own problem. they had explosions as well when i.s.i.s. aligned elements went after them during the celebrations. >> huge casualties.

>> over 100 casualties in theron there in iran, they were celebrating the houthi anniversary of general soleimani's death. the iranians have a lot of risk here. they know that they are not going to be able to control all of their proxies directly. the other thing they are not going to be able to do is control the responses to all of these efforts that are going on here in the red sea, as well as they will have difficulty controlling what hamas does in gaza in response to the israelis, let alone what hezbollah does in lebanon against the israelis as well. >> and some of these attacks of the houthis might just be a little damage to a ship. they can't guarantee that. there could also be casualties. there is this feeling, i think, that we've not seen the potential worst of this. cedric, thank you so much, as always, for taking us through that. we do appreciate it. >> you. but >> still ahead, extreme winter weather in iowa forcing republican candidates to cancel events with just three days left to -- first in the nation caucuses. little bitter cold temperatures

influence turnout on monday? plus that fierce winter weather already wreaking havoc for travelers. we are talking about the highest number of flight cancellations and some six months. we are on top of. that and despite a revolt from his right, speaker mike johnson says he is moving forward with that spending deal he brokered with senate leader chuck schumer. coming up, we will speak with one of the hard-line republicans prepped pressuring johnson to back out of the deal.

just moments ago, the oregon supreme court declined to remove president donald trump's from that states ballot at least for now. >> the court didn't rule on the merits of the challenge, which is based on the 14th amendment's insurrectionist ban, instead it said that it's going

to wait for the u.s. supreme court to rule on the issue. the oregon decision following trump's removal from the primary ballot in colorado, and also in maine, because of his role in the january 6th insurrection. cnn's marshall cohen is with us now on this. marshall, remind us where the ballot issue stands right now with the supreme court. >> with the supreme court, you will want to mark your calendar for february 8th. that's when oral arguments are scheduled here in the nation's capital on this historic question of trump's eligibility. the supreme court is looking into this because we've had different outcomes in different states. he mentioned colorado and maine, where he is off the ballot. but in new hampshire, arizona, michigan, minnesota, and now oregon, he is on the ballot. in that news today out of oregon from the oregon supreme court, they said in a one page decision that, basically, they are doing the same thing as we. are they will watch the u.s. supreme court and see what they have to say on this matter, and then if there is possibly an avenue for the challengers in

oregon to continue their pursuit against trump to get him off the ballot, for instance, if it's a narrow decision from the u.s. supreme court that only applies to colorado, then they can refile their case. the oregon court was very clear about that today. they said, we are not taking this up for now. we are going to wait and watch. and one more thing i should point out, here you hear donald trump very often on the campaign trail, we heard it yesterday where he makes the case that this is all one massive partisan witch hunt by liberal judges, democrat judges who are just trying to get him off the ballot. the decision today from oregon was a win for trump. he is still on the ballot there. that court, all of the appointees on that court came from democratic governors, and the democratic secretary of state of oregon agreed with the decision. so it is not the massive conspiracy trump has been alleging. >> it's a plot argument even in colorado and, made the main case was brought by a republican that is anti trump. in colorado, it was a bipartisan, group including republicans. marshall cohen, thank you so

much for the update. so this is the final stretch until the iowa caucuses. just three days to go. there are concerns that dangerous winter weather could threaten turnout. monday's caucuses are expected to be the coldest ever. wind chills, temperatures could drop, with wind chills temperatures could drop to as low as minus 40 in parts of the hawkeye state. today, ron desantis, vivek ramaswamy, and asa hutchison are the only campaign events. nikki haley canceled all in-person events because of blizzard warnings. the front runner, donald, trump returns to the campaign trail this weekend with rallies planned there. as the candidates make their final pitches to caucus goers, one voting bloc remains top of mind. i was evangelical voters. the latest des moines, iowa polls shows trump leading a on evangelical voters. they are a key group in iowa's republican base, and often they've been consequential in the caucuses. let's get perspective now from ralph reid, the founder of the faith and freedom coalition. ralph, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon

with us. compared to 2016, trump has gained significant support among evangelical voters, despite some of his personal behavior that likely would not make him a role model at church. what would you say has changed? is it trump and his team or is it evangelical voters? >> i think it is really night and day compared to when he first ran, in 2015 and 2016. are our organization, faith and freedom, has a very strong organization in iowa -- >> looks like we are having some issues. ralph, can you hear me? we are having issues with your signal, ralph. >> yeah, i can hear you. >> ralph, can you hear me? >> yeah. >> i think the blizzard might be messing the signal. i'm sorry, you cut off near the beginning of what you are saying, that it was night and

day for trump from 2016 to now. >> yeah. i, mean when he ran the first time, there was a lot of skepticism. frankly, there was a lack of trust. if you look at the outcome of the evangelical vote in 2016, ted cruz got about a third. donald trump got about a fifth of that vote. so a little over 20%. fast forward to where we are today, and trump is getting 51% of the evangelical vote to run the synthesis 26 and nikki haley's 14. he's gone from a fifth of that vote to a majority of the vote in a crowded field. i say the reason is really primarily because he is running almost as a quasi-incumbent. he's got a record and on the life issue, the sanctity of life, support for the state of israel, his supreme court appointments and religious freedom, he convinced them, he

persuaded them. this has made it a challenge for some of the other candidates to make their case. but, look, there is a lot of twists and turns. not a single vote has been cast. i certainly don't want to get ahead of the caucus a tenders in iowa and make a prediction. >> for sure. you mentioned the issue of abortion being of major importance to evangelicals. it's fascinating to me that ron desantis has been harping on that aspect to his record. he's trying to part -- much stronger on restrictions to abortion that donald trump, but it doesn't appear to have moved the needle much in polls. how critical is that issue for desantis? how do you see him potentially ferrying in iowa broadly? does he have a path to the white house if he comes in third? >> well, i don't think he wants to come in third. again, i'm not a pundit or a prognosticator, and i'm not in the prediction business, but i

am thinking he would have to come in a healthy second. it's very interesting because, again, as i said, boris, we've had a number of candidate forums and events and town halls and house parties, where all these candidates have gotten a chance to meet these voters of faith. i interviewed ron desantis as one of these biggest events with over four 1400 pastors and pro family activists in iowa, one of the biggest events before the caucuses. he was outstanding. he made his case. he talked about signing the heartbeat bill in florida. he talked about creating a culture of life. i think he's done extremely well. i think the challenge is that when it comes to the primary electorate, donald trump is not a big fish in a small pond, he's a whale in a bathtub. he's got a lot of support. if you look at the polling, it's very enthusiastic. it is intense. intensity counts for something. it's not necessarily that any

of the other candidates have done anything wrong, for sure. >> on the question of enthusiasm, ralph, i've got to ask you about how the weather might impact turnout. are you predicting that iowans will brave those potentially sub-zero, negative 30-degree temperatures come monday? >> well, it depends on exactly what the weather is like from a precipitation standpoint. if it is just cold, you know, if you've lived in iowa for more than six months, cold weather is nothing you. even cold snaps that give you a day or two or three of sub-zero temperatures is not that big of a surprise. but if the wind is blowing 40 miles an hour and the snow is falling sideways, that could be a problem. but without -- with that as the caveat, there were 190,000 votes cast in the caucuses in 2016. the last time it was contested

and competitive. we predicted, again, weather aside, that it would be north of that this time. the people of iowa take this very seriously, boris. they are very deliberative. they play a cherished role in the selection of the leader of the free world and the next president. and barring a catastrophic weather event i think they are coming and they are coming in record numbers. >> ralph reid, appreciate the insight. thanks for spending time with us. >> you bet. >> there is more turbulence ahead for boeing. passengers on board that terrifying alaska airlines flight that had a door busted out in mid air, they are now filing a class action lawsuit against a company. we are following the latest fallout after this.

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we've been talking about this hard-hitting weather across the country. airline travel is a mess today thanks to massive winter storms blanketing the midwest, and the emergency grounding of those boeing 737 max 9 jets. this was the scene earlier today at chicago o'hare. data tracking site flightaware is reporting more than 1900 flight cancellations so far today. the highest number since last year. >> that's right. the faa has not said how long these max 9 jets will be grounded while it investigates last week's terrifying -- i don't think there's any other

way to describe it -- made air blow aboard and alaska airlines jet, but it did announce it would on a audit -- production line and its suppliers. cnn aviation correspondent pete muntean is here with us. pete, tell us about this audit. >> two rare announcements from the faa. put together, they are really significant. they mean, excuse me, that the friday in flight blowout, the probe into it is now expanding. it now goes way beyond the incident itself. asking what a lot of people want to know here. is there a bigger problem at boeing? the faa just announced it will audit the boeing 737 max 9 production line, that was the one involved in last friday's incident. all of those remain grounded in the u.s.. the audit will focus on boeing and it suppliers, that is key because of contractors. spirit air assistance builds the fuselage. this is an investigation into boeing's quality control that the faa announced yesterday. here's what the faa said in that investigation. this incident should've never

happened and it cannot happen again. boeing's manufacturing practices need to comply with high safety standards. they are legally accountable to make. this investigation is focusing on the boeing 737 max 9 door plug that is the part that blew out of alaska 12 82 a week ago, and since then alaska airlines and united airlines found issues with their door plugs. united said it found loose bolts related to possible installation issues. the bulls are really key. for bolts keep the door plug snug against 12 fittings. without those bullets, the door can shoot out at incredible force, essentially exactly what it did last week. still a very controlled message from boeing here. ceo dave calhoun has done one interview since the incident. he told cnbc that the cause was a horrible escape when it came to boeing quality control. he insists boeing will take a hard look at its own processes and those of its contractors. >> pete, following what happened last week, now, some of the passengers aboard the

plane have filed a class action lawsuit against boeing over this. >> they allege a lot of different things. they alleged motional, trauma physical injuries, including bruising, and a big quote here is this. they say they were thrust into a waking nightmare. this is filed in state court, in washington. of course, where boeing's headquarters. as interesting this is filed against boeing and not against alaska airlines that was operating the flight. >> total nightmare. like a scary movie. >> that's right. >> pete, thank you so much for that. we will keep following this. we know you will. still to come, defending the deal. house speaker mike johnson standing by the top line spending agreement that he negotiated with senate majority leader chuck schumer. we are going to get reaction from a gop lawmaker who's been pushing the speaker to walk away from the agreement.

this election is a choice between results

or just rhetoric. californians deserve a senator who is going to deliver for them every day and not just talk a good game. adam schiff. he held a dangerous president accountable. he also helped lower drug cost, bring good jobs back home, and build affordable housing. now he's running for the senat. our economy, our democracy, our planet. this is why we fight. i'm adam schiff, and i approve this message.

and keeping with my comment to bring members into the legislative process, i have spoken and receive feedback from many members all across the republican congress. it's a very important part of. this i became speaker, i committed to decentralizing the speaker's office, and making this a member driven process. that has been part of this. our top line agreement remains -- >> house speaker mike johnson showing that for now he is resisting the pressure from republican hard-liners in his party to walk away from that 1.66 trillion dollars spending deal he negotiated with senate majority leader chuck schumer. johnson cut that deal with senate democrats earlier this week, and time is running out to avoid a government shutdown, at least a partial. one because in one week, the first funding deadline hits with critical parts of the government are going to shut

down. now there is a sign speaker johnson may try to get more time. this just, in sources telling cnn that speaker is weighing a short time -- short term funding extension that would set a february 9th deadline. joining me now is republican congressman matt rosendale of montana. he is a member of the house freedom caucus. he was also one of 12 republicans who took part in a vote that brought the house floor to a standstill in protest of the bipartisan deal. congressman, thank you so much for joining us. speaker johnson saying the spending agreement is still in place and that he wants to move forward with a vcr, a short term stopgap funding measure. what is your reaction? >> i had a press conference just this week with senators rick scott and mike lee, and about another half dozen house members. what we made perfectly clear was that we were not interested in any conversations about spending, about additional spending for the federal government until we could see some success towards securing

our southern border. the southern border is wide open. we are seeing as many as 2500 individuals a day coming into our country illegally we've seen about 2 million come into our country as got away. so we don't even know who they are or what their intentions are to cause harm in our country. and the speaker himself took a delegation of 50 members to the southern border, eagle pass, texas, ground zero, just last week. everyone returned home and had these discussions about how horrible the conditions are, how terrible it is. we've spoken to law enforcement. we've spoken to cbp. my questions continues to be, is that -- it is an imminent national security threat. so what are we willing to do about it? right now, because of the spending issues coming forward again, because they've been mishandled, quite frankly, for the last several years, this is our opportunity to serve our

country in the way we all promised to. that is to secure it first and we must tie security to our southern border, to any type of there is a crisis on the border, there are people who get through. that is an estimate, certainly there are people who get the. how do you do that in a week? 20% of the government shuts down in a week, the whole thing shutting down in three weeks. that seems unrealistic. especially if you don't support a stopgap measure, i assume. >> we have proposed many ways in order to address this. we are doing so, quite frankly, for the last year. to introduce -- first of all, we passed the appropriations bill for the department of defense. we pass the defense for -- so the house of representatives has passed a lot of the appropriation bills at the summit has failed to take up.

we also passed h.r. two, which is the most comprehensive and conservative immigration and southern security bill that i have -- >> it is a nonstarter with the senate, when you push a lot of responsibilities to the point of entry without providing resources, or organizing things. it seems a little unrealistic and how you organize things. it increases the time that children would spend in the facilities from three days to 30 days, it is a nonstarter incentive. you are aware of that. >> i find it interesting that people can accept something that is a nonstarter in the senate. chuck schumer says so, but when the house of representatives, that has a republican majority says here's what we want, and quite frankly, we have 70% of the american people supporting us, all of a sudden it becomes unattainable. it becomes an excitable. >> republicans know it's a nonstarter in the senate. they have accepted that reality.

republican colleagues in the senate. have will you vote, will you vote to oust kevin mccarthy as speaker? will you rule out a sitting speaker johnson over this? >> i really haven't put that on my radar yet, to be perfectly honest with you. my focus has been, we were supposed to fund government. transparently, responsibly, with our appropriation bills. leadership has not put us in a position to do that. we must address the imminent national security threat at our southern border. i continue to try to work together to try to ensure we can resolve those issues. >> are you okay with a government shutdown? >> that gets very exaggerated. we are probably going to have at most -- >> that it will happen, or the negative impact? >> the negative impacts. you are talking about 15% of government. all of the social security checks, medicare, medicaid, and point frankly, there are still

covered. a very good friend of mine representing the picks from arizona introduced legislation just today to ensure that we would also be able to cover any of these national security issues that we're not going to be covered by the existing funding. >> he can introduce all the funding he wants, it does not mean it won't be passed and senate. it's 20% of the government. it does include federal assistance. what would your message be to veterans who would go without that assistance? >> veterans benefits would still be, covered >> there is still assistance in that 20%. >> they will still go out. >> there is a veteran assistant in that 20%. >> veteran benefits will still go out. what you are calling veterans assistance, i am not aware of. veterans benefits will still be paid. >> what leverage does that give? you is that lafourche over speaker johnson? is it leverage over democrats? >> really, the leverage is

about the entire group of people that are negotiating. this is who i think the crux of the problem. when we hear conversations about discussions, debates, negotiations, that are taking place, it is from the four corners. we have hakeem jeffries, the leader in the house, speaker johnson, chuck schumer, and mitch mcconnell. all getting together to work some kind of deal that quite frankly, they are satisfied with. i very hard back in january. not only to make sure we had new leadership, but to have an open process and the house of representatives. we have had ample time to have these discussions on the house floor. they are just not taking place. we have to have more of an open debate. i understand that speaker johnson has opened his office up to invites some people and to have conversations about how we can move forward. i want to move forward.

i want to move forward. at this point -- >> you shut down the house floor yesterday. you are talking about open debate on the house floor. you shut it down. >> we did not shut debate down. that was the rules committee. what you saw was the by-product of the consolidation of power over the last 18 years. the rules committee, they are the group that makes the decision about how a affairs are conducted. >> republicans shutting down republican bills. it is something to behold, i will say. it is not what you are used to watch, and we are used to getting -- >> a trillion dollars a year to the national debt, it as at 44 trillion dollars. in five short years, we will consume 50% of the total revenue that the federal government collects just servicing debt. >> i'm not dismissing your concerns about, spending i think there are a lot of people who have concerns about spending, but they're

questioning the way some republicans are proceeding with us. we are out of time. i thank you for coming in. we will continue the conversation. a major announcement in the of estimation into the buffalo grocery store shooting. the families who are meeting with a department of justice officials today, what they are saying, we'll haveve that t nex.

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a racist massacre at a buffalo supermarket in 2022. >> this is significant because it marks the first time the administration has pursued the death penalty. some relatives of the victims did not like the decision by the doj. michelle marcus has been following the story from new york. what is the latest? >> yes, this is, it is such a vial case. it is so hideous. some family members were upset that the government has decided to seek the death penalty. this individual, i will not say his name. he has been convicted and state court, new york state does not have the death penalty. family members were mix. some of them spoke out. mark kelly, his mother, geraldine died on 5:14 and buffalo. they refer to that date as 5:14. his mother died, he talked about her and his feelings about the death penalty. >> he knows --

>> thought about my man a lot, those for six months. i still have a lot of, a lot of dreams in which i'm crying in the dream, most of maya motions are what i dream. i see, her think about her. you know, smell, i still got, i took two close of hers. i can still smell her scent. that is what i really think about the most. as far as i'm concerned, he is getting off the hook getting the death penalty. he won't get that suffering that i want. as long as i'm alive, whether god gives me 20, 30, 60 years. i want to be able to see him suffer. >> that is the sentiment of some family members who came out to speak. others did not speak clearly. some of those family members are perfectly fine with the federal government seeking the death penalty. this was a difficult decision for the federal government. it clearly is making the case

that in specific cases that are as vile as this, and what this individual did to these people, and the reasons that this person did this. this, if any case, deserves death. we expect there will be a hearing that will start just about now, there won't be oral arguments as. well by days and we will know more about the government's plan on this. back to you guys. >> we'll be looking for that. miguel, thank you so much. we will be speaking with marc tally and the three pm right here on cnn news central. we'll be back.