>> washington journal continues.

host: scott wong is back at our morning, senior congressional reporter with nbc news, here to talk about the we the house is back this week. for how long again what's on the agenda? guest: as you know, so many things are shifting right now to the campaign trail. they are doing a little bit of legislating and oversight. the big issue that i'm watching is michael phelps on capitol hill. he's going to be)l testifying on anti-doping msu games. he believes that there is nenoug

measures. see a tougher ■response from the olympic organizers and some ofals from d anti-doping organization. and he will be making his case on capitol hill. host: that's on tuesday. we will have covere of that. the former olyic champion swimmer, michael phillips -- michael phelps and allison schmidt wiltestify on anti-doping efforts. watchef■qqi at 7:00 c-span now, our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org. that is one of the m notable moments from capitol hill this week. but, they work to do.

they have talked about getting order before september. have they made progress and is their goal? >> the broadereir appropriationl of them wrapped up by their new deadline, which is the end of very, very tall task. number one, they almostw■ never reach that deadline, because of erences overspending between the two parties, different priorities hanging over that is election and so election litics has been dominating and coloring everything that is happeninonthey are pushinguse of representatives is, with trying to pass a numberappropriation be

summer to put themselves in a good n position. i think most people who would bet this summer would say that this is going to get electh probably a continuing resolution that would be a that would push us into after the election, likely in december. host: outside of that legislative goal, are there any debates like we have seen in recent months that will come to the floor this summer before the november election? guest: so much of what we have seen come to the floor our messinlike -- messaging bills ae things le immiation. we have seen a number of messaging bills from senate democrats come up, trying to put in a tight position on the issue of abortion and

protecting women's reproductive rights. expect to see more messaging republicans got some of those major issues year, with the debt ceiling crisisarlr this year, we are not seeing some of those big tick being a problem for congress in these closing months hetion. host: let's talk about some house races that are making national news, because of who they have supported in the past and now who's endorsingthis ti'n splits, the■6 republican party splits and within the democratic party in some of these primary races. starting with the virginia race, congressman bob good, the cumbent, trying to get another term. tell us the back story and where well, the racethis is a primarn

, just outside of charlottesville, that features bob good, the freedom caucus chairman, who is being challenged by john maguire, somebody who was endorsed by president. somebody who has really split the consva movement in the -- and the maga movement in the republican party. they are separated by 300 or so votes. still too close to call. g some provisional ballots. but, you know, right now, mr. good is trailing the challengerd trump. ji big question at this point is will there

there is a process for a recount electifor a recount in that ele. weill next days or even weeks whether that process moves forward, given that it is a super close election. it likely willeahost: a reminder viewers that bob good was one of the eight who voted to oust kevin mccarthy from his speaker role. he joined with people like matt gaetz, who went against forresib good. >> it has split the mega movement. republican party, on behalf of bob good's chngthis is an issue, where we have donald trump and his allies really split on this

issue of who should represent virginia congressional district. and it has been a fascinating race to■: and one of the real marquee matchups of this primary cycle. we will talk about more of these are splitting the parties here in our half an hour with scott wongwe want yous conversation this morning. republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. pendents, (202) 748-8002. you can also include your first name, city and stay another race that has garnered23 natial m attention is new york's democratic representative, jamaal bowman. what's going w race?

what does it represent in the guest: here, you have jamaal wm lawmaker, a former middle school teacher from the bronx. one of the stars of the progressive movement, who unseated eliot engel, a longtime congressman from new york, two cycles ago. he's being challenged by george latimer. that's the westchester county executive. a longtime democrat in the westchester politics. 30 plus years in local politics. somebody somebody who is pro israel, jamaalman has been critical of iaewar that is being carriedr parts of that region. so■@ this is really

highlighted this huge democratic party divide over support for in george latimer's case and bowman's case. this has been an issue that has roiled the democratic party throughout the 2024 cycle, ever since the october 7 terrorist attack on israel. aipac, the pro-jewish group, ha5 a single house primary race. an unheard of of spending, tryio unseat jamaal bowman from the seat. and again, george latimer elected in this primary. s primary tomorrow or tuesday will be the congressman from new york in this particular congressional dirict. host: a race to watch for all of we can talk about the november elections in the house and

senate races that you are keeping an eye on with scott wong. wethe legislative agenda as congress returns this week. scott wong, we talked about the house. what about the senate? guest: i'm not quite sure what's happening with the senate this week. we saw a number■í of messaging bills that chuck schumer has been putting forward on things like roe v. wade. i willay that on this second anniversary o decision, we are seeing a coordinated effort from ■r to get the message out about what dobbs has meant to the country, to women and what it could mean going forward for the cthe first lady was out in pennsylvania over the weekend, dova events, highlighting the need for women and reproductive rights. kamala harris will bathe marylad

then fly directly to arizona later today, doing a number of reproductive rights events. you saw what the president had to say, today and he's out with a campaign message. the campaign arm for house democrats will have mobile towards, targeting vulnerable republicans in places like california and new york. for the dobbs decision. very coordinated effort a democg republican support. donald trump support -- trumps the dobbs decision. you heard what the former president had to say,of the conservative supreme court for making that ruling. a highly unusual thing for a president to do, to personally

individually thank supreme court members. but this has been an unusual former president. host: we mentioned matt gaetz and his support for bob good. heas featured in the national newspaper today. one of the national newspapers today, for traveling around the country supportoñ■ different candidates and, at the same time, making news, here's nbc news investigating matt gaetz over alleged drug use and sexual misconduct. he says this is something kevin mccarthy pushed before he left as revenge against matt gaetz. host:- guest: this has been■ñ a long-standing case against matt gaetz. it was investigated by -- has beenes initiated i the house ethics committee a number of years ago, when democrats were in control of house and ethics committees. republicans are in control. that is significant, given that to continue this

investigation into potential sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, as they have laid out. this has also been an issue that wa at by the department of justice,ar, i believe at the beginning of last ar, announced they would not move forward with any criminal charge m gaetz. that was significant. but again, house ethicsoperatede from doj. they have decided that they have seen enough evidence that warrants that moving. they have interviewed enoug witnesses -- a number of ough there to keep this investigation open as house ethics is concerned. host: what would you like to see

on the legislative agenda? x5republicans, (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. +d8002. texas as well, including your first name and city and state at (202) 748-8003. here is a viewer on, how much of an impact are the rive conventions going to have this year. both parties have platforms that are screaming out for legislation. guest:i think we will see some coordination between the conventions and the run-up to those conventions on the house and senate!x floor. certainly, as i mentioned before that during an election year, things tend to slow down but is late of lee -- legislatively. senate democrats who are in

the u.s. col are in control of the house of representatives have this opportunityt forward messaging bills that they think will resonate with voters thatlt the vote on r side of the aisle. and so, expect to see messagings in the run-up to these conventions. they reall -- in this election, ther a see certainly m donald trump's campaign, an effortve out -- there is not a lot of targeting of the middle. been pretty clear in trying to -- she wants a big showing among conservatives, among and has been throwing red meat to the conservative base.

that with his speech over the weekend to conservative evangelicals, saying look what i did on roe v. wade. i managed to overturn this law with the help of the supreme court justices that iing to pery thank some of those supreme court justices in this speech. host: later in july, republicans will gather their convention and then democrats will be in chicago in august. that -- also duringv the novemr elections, congress will hear from benjamin newhy is he givins to both chambers of congress? guest: this obviously comes at a time whenongrwrestling with thie gaza, carried out by israel in a response to those

terrorist atcktober 7. this has been precipitated by speaker mike johnson, who has extended this invitation to netanyahu. jewish, and the highest ranking jewish member of congress in washington, has been very luctant■% to go along with mike johnson in hearing from prime minister nsuch a volatile time, it has torn aparl visit. there was nothing lined up for president biden to welcome netanyahu to the white house. usually, these types of visits are officially sanctioned by the

white house and that was not the case in this particular case. this was speaker johnson trying to put democrats in a tough position. in the end,s of negotiation, chk schumer decided the senate would participate and signed that letter to formally invite hose facing his own internal struggles in his own f8government with the resignatin of certain members of his cabinet. it comes at a volatile time in country and his government and a difficult in the united states government, as they deal with issues related to israel. host: the prime minister accusing the biden adnition of selling weapons and militaryalso, aso ip

tens in lebanon. host that was strongly -- guest: thatas strongly denied by the state department and the biden administration, that there wa stalling of weapons being sent to il.you recall thae bipartisan spending package, package includedisrael, as well as for e and taiwan earlier thi congress did pass that. but,ou why at this particular time with so much tension that this visit is going to cause a lot of teon capitol e house administration. it will be interesting to see whether any sort of meetings, either at the highest level with

president biden or some lower-level meetings, perhaps with the secretary of state, occur during netanyahu's visit to washington. host: willí7congress boycott hi? guest: a number of democrat memory's have said yes, they will boycott this address. they havee war in -- they have called it war crimes. they have said that netanyahu shouldprisoned. they have call■óedairstrikes thd and so, this has been a tough issue, as i have said, for many members of congress. there will be, definitely, some folks sitting thisne out out of protest, includingé of members from with

cori bush of missouri who said she will not be attending. bernie sanders i believe will not be attending on the senate side. there probably will be many more who will be boycotting the -- house members boycotting the address then u.s. senators but the number will be sick and. ho week. they are and friday. you can watch coverage of the senate on c-span two. scottappreciate the conversation with■v■j"(4/