hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 6:00 p.m. in london. 8:00 p.m. in jerusalem. 9:00 p.m. in moscow. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we start this hour with the opening of the 114th u.s. congress. and for the first time since 2005 republicans control both the house of representatives as well as the u.s. senate. this is a congress that will deal with obamacare, the keystone pipeline, immigration reform, a host of international issues including syria, iraq isis russia north korea, and a whole lot more. here's a breakdown. republicans gained nine seats in

the u.s. senate. they now hold a 54-46 majority in the senate. when you factor in the two independents who caucused with the democrats, that brings the democrats up to 46. senator mitch mcconnell is now the senate majority leader. here's the breakdown in the house of representatives. republicans hold a 246-188 majority after picking up a 13-seat net gain in the midterm elections in november. are the american people hopeful things will be different in this new u.s. congress? not really. in our brand-new cnn/orc poll look at this 37% of people polled say the congress will get more done. but here's the telling number. 47% of the people questioned think this congress will be just as ineffective as the last one. and, remember the last congress had a pretty dismal approval rating among the american people. there's a flurry of activity in both chambers today as new members and old members are sworn in. our chief congressional

correspondent dana bash is watching the house of representatives. our chief political analyst, gloria borger is over on the senate side. gloria, let me start with you. the kentucky senator, mitch mcconnell, is now the majority leader. we know -- i assume we know what his first priority legislatively is going to be, right? >> reporter: we do. we know he wants to pass the keystone pipeline. it's been a very contentious issue between democrats and republicans. he knows he's got the votes to do it. the question is whether the president will veto it. i just spoke with democrat jeanne shaheen not too long ago. she told me that the presumption is as she believes that the president would veto it although he has not announced that directly. the question is could they override a veto or could the democrats sustain a veto? he's also going to try and pick apart parts of the president's health care law. and i have to try and figure out a way to not fund the

president's executive order on immigration without taking away all the funding for the department of homeland security. that's just to start, wolf. there are going to be budget issues. they're going to want to cut spending. they may even want to start reforming the tax code. so while there's going to be a bipartisan meeting with the president, with the understanding that there are some smaller things they could get done on roads and bridges and trade, perhaps, the big picture i think is that the american public is right, that there isn't much hope for bipartisanship in the way that some voters might want. >> that's a good point. let me bring dana into this conversation. dana republicans are obviously even more powerful in the house of representatives. they have an agenda. what is their immediate priority? >> reporter: their immediate priority is to prove that they can govern. you heard gloria talk about what they're going to do on the

senate side with the keystone pipeline and others. they understand particularly the republicans who are now in control of the senate that all eyes are on them because they have been able to say, we can't do much because we only have one chamber of congress. and that has been the house for the past four years. they can't say that anymore. they've got a pretty comfortable majority not a filibuster-proof majority but a comfortable majority in the senate. and listen and talk to any republican leader in the house of the senate they understand that they have to show that they can get things done. if they don't, there will be no one to blame but themselves. and that includes not just things that they know the president is not going to sign. perhaps the keystone pipeline major changes to obamacare, but things that he would sign like trade deals, like infrastructure projects. so that is the balancing act that republicans have to do. what we're seeing on the house

floor right now is perfect example on day one of how that is going to be not so easy. still for republican leaders, we're having a very long formal roll call vote to elect the house speaker. and john boehner has challenges from three republican colleagues. and the question is going to be how many defect. and that is a preview or precursor to the continued trouble that he's going to have. there are a lot of freshmen who owe the speaker because he campaigned with them he raised money for them and he has a more comfortable majority than before. but it's still not going to be smooth sailing and completely united republican party. no question about that. that's evidenced by what's happening on the house floor. >> there will be divisions among the republicans and there will be divisions among the democrats as whelpellwell. gloria the former democratic

majority leader now minority leader, harry reid the senator from nevada he's missing today. he was hurt in an accident exercising last week. he posted this picture on twitter and he said this working from home on doctor's orders just wrapped up a good meeting with my leadership team. his face looks pretty awful right now. >> reporter: pretty banged up. >> not well enough to show up in the senate. tell our viewers what we know. >> reporter: he was exercising with an exercise band which apparently snapped and he fell. as you can see from that picture, he looks pretty banged up. obviously he wanted to let the american public know while he's not here at the capitol today, he's actually doing his job. but he's going to have a huge adjustment. he's going to figure out how he behaves because now he's not the leader of the majority anymore. he's the leader of the minority. and there are lots of democrats who are unhappy with his

leadership in the senate. and i think they'll probably be more likely to make their unhappiness known this time around. so i think that harry reid now has a very -- dana was talking about the balancing act that republicans have to do. harry reid has a balancing act he's got to do with democrats because there are going to be a lot of democrats who say, we need to work with the republicans on certain things. and there are going to be other democrats, particularly to the left like elizabeth warren who's increasingly popular and now a member of the democratic leadership here in the senate who are going to say, we need to stand up for something and block these republicans. so again, it's going to be a calibration that harry reid has to make and an adjustment for harry reid and all of those democrats who are used to ruling the roost around here because they don't anymore. >> gloria, stand by. quickly, dana before i let you

go the process for the speaker john boehner, to be reelected, they have this roll call on the floor of the house of representatives right now. by all accounts he will get reelected, right? >> reporter: it certainly seems that way. we're not even at the middle of the alphabet as the members stand from their seats to vote. so we can't formally say that. but going into this vote the leadership allies of boehner felt pretty confident that they were going to be able to overcome this rebellion because they have some breathing room. there are so many republicans, that they can afford to lose probably about 27 28 depending on how many are voting and he could still become the speaker. so they do feel confident. but as we have said so many times before we have learned to expect the unexpected from the house republican conference. we're still watching. >> that would be quite dramatic if in fact he doesn't get reelected on that first ballot. that would be a very, very

dramatic moment. we'll see what happens. dana, gloria, stand by. let's talk a little bit more now about the republican controlling the majority in the senate and the house. the prospects of getting anything done in this 114th congress. let's go back to our new poll. 28% say republicans will run the senate better than democrats. 24% say they'll be worse. 46% say it will be more of the same. joining us now, our cnn political commentators ana navarro and hilary rosen. you think anything serious will get done over the next two years? >> i'm optimistic they want to get things done. i think the president in some respects has some freedom now to work with republicans that when harry reid was the leader he didn't have because the democratic progressive left or the conservative democrats were constantly battling with each other. the president now has republicans to deal with. and it's a mano a mano opportunity.

whether or not anything happens, the left and right flanks still control a significant number of votes. >> and jim acosta reporting the president has now invited the congressional leadership the republicans and the democrats, to come over to the white house next tuesday to start maybe seeing if there can be a dialogue. >> and i think that's a constructive step by the president and frankly they should find some common ground because what we are seeing over and over again is that the american people are tired of congress and washington which includes the executive branch not working together and not addressing the big issues that this country has. it's enough already. i'm optimistic that in 2015, something will happen. i think this year is very important. next year will be all about presidential politics, 2016. so this is the year when there's no elections, when they've got to focus. and there's going to be some fighting but they should pick a few issues three, four five issues where they can agree and get it done. >> here's a question a lot of democrats have been asking me

and i'll ask you. why is there no challenge to nancy pelosi becoming once again the leader of the democrats in the house and harry reid being the leader of the democrats in the senate after both of them presided over major shellackings in the midterm elections for the democrats? >> there were a few senators who pushed back on harry reid. jeanne shaheen was one of them. but nancy pelosi people just don't understand how beloved she is. her members trust her. she's constantly thinking about their interests. she raises them a lot of money at times when they feel vulnerable. she essentially protects the majority of her incumbents and they like that. other than that she's just smart and thoughtful about good policy. and they appreciate that. >> i think the congresswoman that was just elected from florida just voted against pelosi, the democrat. it was a campaign issue in that district in florida.

>> there is some opposition to nancy pelosi because the republicans -- >> not as much. i bet nancy pelosi gets more -- she won't lose as many votes in her caucus as john boehner will lose in his caucus. >> i'm fine with that happening in the republican party. i think it's healthy it's democratic. go ahead. send your messages. but then come together and be adults and get to work. >> and the notion of nancy pelosi on her own saying you know what i presided over a debacle, the republicans have the biggest majority in the house of representatives for 70 or 80 years or whatever, maybe it's time for someone else to take the leadership the notion of her saying that to her fellow democrats or harry reid saying that to hezis fellow democrats in the senate is -- >> nil. it's nil. the notion is nil. power is not seen that way in washington. power is taken rather than given. and i don't think that those two are any different. i don't think it takes anything away from leader pelosi. but it's just -- she has the

support of her caucus and she's going to stay as long as she does. >> and harry reid has the support of his caucus in the senate despite those political setbacks. >> notice that little picture. nobody's commented on this today. elizabeth warren who harry reid made a big deal about inviting into the leadership was not in that picture. that's interesting. >> we'll watch it. thanks very much. we're getting new information in to the cnn newsroom on last night's shooting of two new york city police officers. we'll have much more on that right after the break. also we're closely watching the votes on the floor of the house of representatives for john boehner. some in his own party saying they don't want him to remain as speaker of the house. they claim support for john boehner, the ouster is growing. we'll take a closer look. also new reports coming in about the crash of airasia flight 8501. was the crew warned about the severe weather they were about to encounter? lots of news happening this hour. stay with us.

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we have breaking news coming in to cnn on the shooting of those two police officers in new york city in the bronx last night. let's bring in cnn's ashleigh

banfield. she's in new york watching what's going on. update our viewers. what do we no. >> 15 hours since this shooting and this story has developed so quickly. the police have three people in custody and they say one of them is the man on your screen the alleged shooter of two new york city police officers two officers who spent all morning in the hospital one of them in critical condition after he was treated, surgery for gunshot wounds to his arm and his lower back. and another who is stabilized who also had gunshot wounds to his chest and his arm, both expected to make a full recovery. the two officer named andrew dossy and eliro palerano. they were on their way home from their shift. they got the call, jumped in the

car and went to the scene of the robbery. the surveillance video showed one shooter armed with an older style revolver literally opened fire and after this scene was taken and broadcast all over the air waves, a clear shot of that alleged shooter's face -- and by the way, a $12,000 reward for any information that led to his capture, police say that man on your screen is the one who was armed with that gun and shooting and landing those shots at those two police officers, he has been apprehended. you can only imagine now the flurry of charges that these men will face. unclear why there are three, wolf three people in custody, because the reports have always been that this man is the alleged shooter. he had an accomplice a 28-year-old man who apparently shortly after the shooting checked himself into a hospital for a gunshot wound to the back. didn't take long before the police were able to connect that person at the hospital as an alleged accomplice in this shooting. and then of course it wasn't long before they were actually able to identify the person who

actually held the gun, fired the shots and then were able to actually track him down. unclear who the third person in custody is. but police say they have three men in custody. i can only assume some of the charges they will face are yet again armed robbery and this time potentially it could be an attempted murder of a police officer. those are extraordinarily serious charges. whether the accomplice -- the alleged accomplice will face that as well because this could have been considered a conspiracy felony attempted murder the underlying felony would be the robbery. but that 28-year-old man who went to the hospital last night to get treatment for the gunshot wound in his back was also on parole for robbery. so no matter what that person will more than likely be going back to prison for quite some time. very fast developments. 15 hours after it all happened they have the guys they think were behind this. >> it happens at a time when there's an enormous amount of tension between the mayor hoff

new york city bill de blasio and the nypd so many officers police officers they think he's undermined what they're trying to do. is that getting any better that situation in new york or is it still as tense as it was over these past several days? >> that's exactly the question everybody's asking. it seems moment to moment. the mayor, bill de blasio in the center of your screen took absolutely no time before issuing statements. i'll quote him, this is another indicator of the dangers our officers face in the line of duty. he also talked about the bravery and the courage. his quote, these officers are extraordinarily brave and this was part of their commitment. he reiterated the fact that these officers were at the end of their shift and on their way home not only that but as they jumped back in their patrol car and responded to this very late robbery call other officers also responded to this. and the people who took them to the hospital were their fellow officers other plainclothes

officers were the ones who transported these injured officers to the hospital where add you heard one is in critical condition having undergone that surgery for those bullet wounds. >> ashleigh banfield reporting for us from new york, thanks very much. we'll stay on top of the breaking news for our viewers. there's other news we're following including indonesia. it's now being called a supermarket of disaster that quote from one of the forensics commanders working the recovery of airasia flight 8501. now investigators are looking into what the flight crew knew about the dangerous weather they were actually flying into. hello... i'm an idaho potato farmer and our big idaho potato truck is still missing. so my buddy here is going to help me find it. here we go. woo who, woah, woah, woah. it's out there somewhere spreading the word about americas favorite potatoes: heart healthy idaho potatoes and the american heart association's go red for women campaign. if you see it i hope you'll let us know. always look for the grown in idaho

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off the coast of indonesia, the challenges are mounting in the search for flight 8501. searchers are facing more rough weather today, now murky conditions have completely halted the work of all the divers. despite that, two more bodies have been recovered. that brings the number found to 39 out of 162 people that were aboard the aircraft. this is a new look by the way, at the american efforts aboard the "uss sampson." the destroyer is one of two u.s. ships the navy has deployed in the java sea. joining us now, our aviation analyst, miles o'brien, who's

taking a closer look at all of this. it's shocking to me the crew did not receive the weather report before they took off, that there was pretty extreme weather going on? apparently they didn't give them a briefing on that -- that's the latest information coming in? >> they didn't receive it in the way the indonesians wanted them to receive it. which is to say the pilot had to walk doyne a hall go to an office knock on a door and receive a face-to-face briefing which at 2:30 3:00 in the morning, who knows if that was possible at that airport? and if you think about it in the 21st century with all the means we have blackberry iphones ipads to receive information, seems a little bit anakchronism to do that. >> but if there was extreme weather they were talking about and that was in the forecast why did they take off? >> there was nothing in that forecast that would tell you not to take off as an airline pilot.

there were thunderstorms and they were very clearly stated and laid out on the forecast. but they were 300 miles away from where they were taking off. there was nothing that said, don't go. what we should be focusing on is the decision to deal with the weather as it happened in-flight. 40 minutes in when there were these towering thunderstorms on the horizon for the crew how they reacted, what they did, that's the key stuff to think about here. >> what's taking so long in releasing the actual communications between the cockpit and ground control? we haven't heard those audiotapes or even gotten a transcript of it. >> i'd love a transcript of that. i'd love to hear that. i'd like to see some primary radar information from the military radar to indicate if this aircraft broke up before it went in. again, we're in this situation where it's kind of a dearth of information. it's not typical, the kind of investigative pace that we would expect in the u.s. >> and this other notion we discussed this but it's still pretty shocking.

apparently that flight that airasia flight was not authorized licensed to fly on that particular sunday. they could fly four days a week but never fly on sundays but they took off on sunday. >> never on a sunday. we have to be careful about this. the separation was still maintained by air traffic control. it might have marginally increased the air traffic control workload. but this is really a contributing issue. was the airline cutting corners? if in cutting corners there, were they cutting corners or more important things like maintenance or for example, how the pilots received their briefings, for example? and were the regulators doing their jobs? how was that plane allowed to take off if the is were not dotted and the ts were crossed? in aviation you have to get a lot of little things right. you want to get all those things right. >> they've still not heard any

pings from the two black boxes, right? >> no. i can't believe we're still listening for pings in this day and age. >> thanks so much, miles o'brien. 162 people were aboard that aircraft. republicans take over now both houses of the u.s. congress. will john boehner remain the speaker of the house? the votes are coming in right now. some members of his own party, small numbers but some, are saying they want him out. we'll have an update. our live coverage continues right after the break. so ally bank really has no hidden fees on savings accounts? that's right. it's just that i'm worried about you know "hidden things..." ok, why's that? no hidden fees from the bank where no branches equals great rates. i've always loved exploring and looking for something better. that's the way i look at life. especially now that i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib a type of irregular heartbeat, not caused by a heart valve problem. i was taking warfarin, but wondered if i kept digging could i come up with something better.

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here in washington, d.c. the focus is on the new u.s. congress. both republican-led chambers are being sworn in today. the kentucky senator, mitch mcconnell, is the new senate majority leader replacing democrat harry reid. on the house side there have been some questions surrounding the speaker, john boehner, in a move by some republicans, a small number, to elect a new speaker. our chief congressional correspondent, dana bash, is standing by on the house side. our chief political analyst, gloria borger, is on the senate side. dana what happened today? i take it the voting for the speaker is now over with but we don't have the official results yet, is that right? >> reporter: it's not quite over. they've gone through the whole alphabet. they're doing this in a formal way which the house very, very

rarely does. now they're going back to try to get the people who didn't vote for whatever reason, give them another chance to vote. but a top aide to john boehner just walked off the house floor and i spoke to him and i said how are you feeling? and he said they feel that they at least have 200 votes right now and probably will get even higher than that and they feel better. having said that just in listening to the way the votes have gone down it looks like it's more than 20 republicans who did not vote for john boehner. some voted for one of the three official house members who are the challengers, house republicans. and some did genuine protest votes. one voted for rand paul who's a senator. another voted for jeff sessions who's a senator. you don't have to be a member of the house to be speaker, though that obviously is traditionally what's done. so that is the kind of atmosphere that you're seeing on the floor, all of the democrats -- almost all the democrats voted for nancy pelosi as is if the tradition.

there were some protest votes there as well from some of the democrats from more conservative districts where it is an issue if you vote for nancy pelosi back home. so again, that's the dynamic we're seeing. it does look like once this is finished john boehner will be elected house speaker. but it's not over yet. >> we'll say very close touch with you, dana. gloria what does this mean the start of this new 114th congress that borne did face some opposition small numbers, but opposition from within his own party? >> reporter: look i think it's not unexpected, as dana points out. there's nothing to lose for a lot of these members of congress because they come from conservative districts and they wanted to have a vote against john boehner whom they think is going to work with democrats too much. but if he wins convincingly and it looks like he will i don't think it does much to his agenda for one reason wolf. that is because he has more of a cushion this time around.

he's got a larger majority in the house than he had before. so he can perhaps work with some democrats, get some additional republicans to do what he wants them to do in order to get some things passed and let the "hell, no" caucus as he calls them say, hell no and still get done what he wants to get done. this is mildly embarrassing for him, i would have to say. it happened last time around when he ran for speaker. this time there are more people against him. but knowing john boehner as i do as dana does he'll shrug and say, i'm still speaker of the house and let's move on. >> dana you follow the democrats closely in the house and the senate. what i've sensed in recent days -- correct me if i'm wrong -- is a greater willingness among some democrats, especially in the senate to go ahead and criticize the president whether on north korea, whether on iran whether on other sensitive

international -- >> reporter: wolf, stand by for one second. why didn't you smile before? are you going to smile now? are you going to be reelected? so the speaker, as you just saw is making his way to the house floor, interesting bit of color here is while this vote has been going on he has been down the hall behind me in his office. he has not been on the house floor. he has the right to vote for himself. he did not do that yet. perhaps he's going to do that now. he still has the chance. the fact that he's making his way to the floor after as i said, his top aide just walked by me clearly to report what has been happening, that gives you the sense that he is confident that he is and will make the speech that the new house speaker makes on the opening day of congress. >> good try, once again, dana. was he smiling at all this time? >> reporter: he did smile. he smiled with his lips and his eyes this time. so maybe we'll actually get a comment on the way back.

baby steps here. >> very quickly, do you sense a little bit of a greater willingness on the part of democrats in the senate and the house, at least some of them to try to distance themselves from president obama starting these final two years of his administration? >> reporter: you know i'm not sure if it's so much distancing themselves from president obama. but it is definitely the case that they feel that they need to be more aggressive about their progressive or liberal ideals and that you have a lot of democrats who think that one of the reasons they got trounced in the senate and in the house is because they didn't speak up enough for their ideals and their base was kind of deflated. so that's why you have a lot more focus on the elizabeth warrens of the world and not just that. you have nancy pelosi in the last month of the last congress leading her caucus in a more liberal way than she had before. so i think that's the reason --

it's not so much about bucking the president if he's unpopular. it's about letting the democratic base out there know that they are fighting for their ideals going into the next election where they are going to need the democratic base not just potentially to win back the senate and the house but also to get excited for whatever presidential candidate they have out there. >> i was sort of surprised over the weekend to hear bob menendez the democratic senator from new jersey on some of the sunday talk shows, if you will. he was very tough, angry at the president on his policies towards north korea as well as cuba. he's the former chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. you heard that as well. >> reporter: that's right. i was interviewing him on sunday. and he was incredibly critical of the president on foreign policy. and that is his wheelhouse if you will. on cuba it's personal. he is of cuban american descent. but on north korea, he is actually more with the

republicans. he feels that the president needs to do more. so i think in that sense, you probably will see democrats who tend to be more hawkish, be more aggressive and feel unshackled politically that they can be more critical of the president now that they're not in the official leadership roles that they were like bob menendez is a perfect for example. >> and, gloria -- go ahead. >> reporter: i was going to say, if they're not afraid of kind of distancing themselves from the president, watch for them to start attaching themselves to hillary clinton, who is likely as we all know is to run for the presidency and also as dana pointed out, to elizabeth warren, who's the leader of the progressive wing of the democratic party. the president, as he has shown, can still be powerful these last two years, particularly given the executive orders that he's issued. but people have to start forming some new alliances in the democratic party. and we're going to watch that unfold among democrats in the

senate as they decide who to support. and also by the way, that, no on the republican side as well because you have about four republicans who could be running for the presidency in the senate and some other governors, like chris christie former florida governor, jeb bush who might also throw their hats in the ring. there's going to be a lot of shifting alliances going on here. and that will affect the congressional agenda going forward. >> and we're waiting to see if john boehner has been reelected speaker of the house of representatives. they're continuing the tally, the roll call right now. they're almost done dana right, but still a few more names have to be called out? is that right? >> reporter: that's exactly right. they're waiting for the stragglers to come in. there were some people who did not vote some perhaps abstaining on purpose, some perhaps not here for whatever reason. so it's not formally been called. it's not formally over. but it should happen in the next

few moments because as we saw live here, the speaker himself has just gone back to the floor which gives you a sense that he's feeling good that he will be reelected the speaker. >> and if he's reelected in the next few minutes, what happens? does he go to the floor and start speaking? is that what happens? >> reporter: the tradition, exactly, is that soon after the vote is finished he will make formal remarks. he's done that over the past two -- first of all, i should say he actually has to formally get the gavel. there's a ceremonial moment for that. and then he makes remarks addressing the house. >> while we're waiting, gloria very quickly, i see jeb bush the former florida governor now for all practical purposes a republican presidential candidate, even though he hasn't made a formal announcement. he did create a new political action committee today to make it clear he wants to raise as much money as he can. he's going after those big republican bucks, as they say. for all practical purposes, he's in this race right now, isn't he? >> reporter: right. you'd have to say the odds are

overwhelming. he didn't take that final step to form a presidential exploratory committee. but this allows him to raise money and to say to people who have been holding back people who might have been thinking gee, maybe i'm going to give some money to chris christie maybe i want to push mitt romney to get into this race. this allows jeb bush to call up these funders and say, you know what donate to my pac, i'm kind of sticking a foot in the water here. so the money scramble begins right now, wolf. so you have all of these people competing for the same pot of dough. it grows larger and larger and larger every cycle. and it starts earlier and earlier every cycle. but jeb bush clearly figured that if he's going to be a serious presidential contender, he has to start dialing for dollars, too. >> i want you to stand by, gloria.

dana momentarily, we should know whether or not john boehner has officially been reelected speaker of the house of representatives. we'll stand by for that. i'll also speak live with one of the republican leaders in the senate john thune, his party is now the majority in the u.s. senate. lots to discuss with him. our special coverage continues right after this.

vice president joe biden, take a look at this about an hour or so ago, he's the president of the u.s. senate. he was swearing in the new members -- these are actually live pictures right now. he's taking photographs with some of the newly elected and reelected senators, their family members, joe biden, part of the job. he's the vice president of the united states but he's the president of the senate. so he swore in a whole bunch of newly elected senators and reelected senators. you see senator orrin hatch joining the festivities there. that's going on right now. as gas prices drop at the pump the u.s. federal gas tax could be rising. the last time that happened that was back in 1993. back then bass prices for as low as $1.09 a gallon. i was cnn's senior white house correspondent at the time. i remember president bill clinton signed that into law that brought the total tax to 18.4 cents per gallon at the --

at first the money was used to reduce the deficit and later used to help the highway trust fund create highways infrastructure across the country. for more on this and a lot more i'm joined by senator john thune, republican from south dakota. he's a republican leader. he's the chairman of the senate republican conference. chairman of the senate commerce science and transportation committee as well. senator, thanks very much for joining us. >> good afternoon, wolf. nice to be with you. >> congratulations, republicans are now the majority in the u.s. senate 54 republicans, 46 democrats, among them, two of those independents. so is this a good idea to raise the gas tax right now with the price per gallon pretty low? >> it certainly wouldn't be my preference, wolf. we have a whole bunch of people who have made suggestions out there. we have some senators who have proposed a gas tax increase. we have some senators who have proposed using energy development. we have some senators who proposed tax reform and using repatriated funds from off

multinational corporations offshore earnings coming back in and helping that fund infrastructure. so a whole bunch of proposals out there. one thing i do know is we have a deadline, may 31st. we have to come up with a resolution to this issue. obviously what we've done in the past is not sufficient. we've now -- to the tune of $62 billion, belowed money out of the general fund transferred it and used it to replenish the shortfall on the highway trust fund. all that does is add it to the debt and hand the bill to our children and grandchildren. we have to come up with a way of financing the instructure. already a number of proposals out there, all of which will probably be discussed in the days ahead. >> if you could go revenue-neutral -- in other words, raise the gas tax but at the same time lower taxes elsewhere, is that something you'd be open to? >> well i think that that would have to be -- i don't think there's any way anything would pass a republican congress that had any net tax increase. so it would have to be a

reduction elsewhere in the tax code. but i think one thing that's been talked about that's gaining some traction gaining some favor in both the house and the senate -- we've had conversations with both and the administration is looking for a solution to this as well. if we could do something on tax reform that would lower rates overall, go to a new tax system when it comes to business taxation and get a lot of those offshore earnings brought back into the united states that you might be able to find a way to not only reform the tax code and lower rates but also fund infrastructure in this country. that's something being talked about. i would say right now that's probably the idea that has the most currency and is getting the most support. but like i said there are a number of proposals that are out there, all of which i think will probably be discussed as we get into trying to come up with a solution to this issue. >> you've just posted an op-ed on cnn.com, you said republicans want to get right to work on job-creating legislation starting with the legislation to approve the keystone excel

pipeline. the white house press secretary, josh earnest, moments ago spoke about the keystone pipeline. i want you to listen because he made news. >> would you consider putting keystone in some sort of overall legislative package where you give some things, you get some things in return? >> well i haven't heard any republicans float that as a possible measure. so i think i'd withhold judgment on that. but the president has been pretty clear that he does not think circumventing a well-established process for these projects is the best thing for congress to do. >> he also went on to say the president will not sign into law the keystone pipeline legislation, assuming it passes the house and the new republican majority in the senate, your reaction? >> well that's a disappointment to us wolf. and i think the president fails his first big test when it comes to whether or not he wants to work with congress.

saying that somehow this is circumventing a process -- this process has been in place for six, seven, eight years. there have been multiple environmental impact statements it's time to make a decision. the president doesn't want to make a decision, and i think he is listening to his left wing base. a lot of folks in the extreme environmental community are i think, have his ear on this issue. and it's unfortunate, it's going to stand in the way of getting something a majority of americans want and something there's bipartisan support for in congress. we'll have a lot of democrats in the house and senate as well that will vote for this. will we have a -- and the question we don't know the answer to at this point. p. >> you think you have at least 60 votes to overcome a filibuster attempt. but you might not have 67 votes or whatever you need to override a veto. is that what you need to override a veto? >> that's correct. and if people vote the way they have in the past and those who

have expressed support on the democratic side we would have the filibuster proof majority. 60 or north of there. but 67 of course is a higher threshold. that becomes a more difficult hill. but it's disappointing to hear. i think this to me is a signal certainly. first signal about how he wants to work with the new majority in the nkcongress. >> did you get the invitation next tuesday? apparently the white house is inviting the democratic and republican leadership to the white house next tuesday. i assume you'll be invited. >> correct. we have been. and we'll look forward to that meeting, and i hope that we can have a conversation that leads to some solutions for the country and that the president will decide to meet us half way. there's certain republicans in congress who want to get things done. but it's going to require a president who wants a step forward and provide the necessary leadership to make that happen. >> john thune. thanks for joining us. >> thanks wolf. >> we'll take a quick break. when we come back we'll find out if john boehner has been reelected speaker of the house.

we should know momentarily what the roll call was. standby for that. meanwhile, there have been some other important news that we're following as we await the decision of the house of representatives. syria's biggest city may have

slipped from the headlines lately, but fierce fighting is underway. as neighborhoods are slammed by regime bombs, it's almost impossible to live let alone learn. nick peyton walsh leads us on a tour of life there from the shifting front lines to the un unwavering resiliency all through the lens of the photojournalist gabriel. >> reporter: where there's little space for life there is somehow still space for learning. they can't fit all the children into here who want to come. even though the regime has bombed the teachers' previous schools five times. this is held in secret in a house. when class breaks it's not for the bell but often to the sound of a regime jet. if they're in the square of the school he says they run to

inside and close the windows of the classes, some have pale faces, some become sick every time the war plane comes the children and even the adults become scared. english won't be spoken in syria any time soon. so these are lessons of the future dreamt of elsewhere. carce. the regime has ravaged their homes, huge makeshift devices dropped from helicopters on to their charters. see what happens. it was a surface to surface missile that hit.

killing four hospitalizing her for three months. >> translator: this accident happened to me three months ago. and my hope and trust in god was big. i won't be afraid anymore. >> this is his definition of war. >> he's happiest playing barbie saddest when remembering her brother killed by a mortar. >> after he died, they brought him to us. >> what would she like to say to him? cnn.

john boehner has been reelected speaker of the house. sounds like a lot of applause going on dana. >> a lot of aplaza. and if you look now, you can see john boehner's wife. looking down. 216 votes, which was a majority because only 108 members voted. a big round of applause after that was announced. and we expect after a little bit more -- >> the gentleman from california. >> the gentlewoman from california, ms. pelosi. the gentleman from louisiana. the gentleman from maryland the gentlewoman from south carolina mr. clyburn. the gentleman from oregon from

california. >> and wolf i paused to listen to what the will clerk was saying for a moment. they're going to go through some of the formalities to get the leadership into place and then relatively in relatively short order, we should see the speaker formally get the gavel retake the gavel, i should say. and give a speech. >> have you done the math, how many republicans voted against boehner? >> i don't know exactly how many voted against because -- i could say it's north of 20. 21 22, we're going to get you the math as soon as we can because what happened was there weren't just votes for his votes. somebody voted for colin powell, for example. once we get all that nailed down, we'll let you know. it was more than 20 last year or two years ago 12 republicans voted against him. >> all right. john boehner reelected speaker

of the house of representatives. dana thanks very much. that's it for me i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern in the "situation room." for our international viewers, amanpour is coming up next. for our viewers in north america, "newsroom with brooke baldwin" starts right now. >> all right, wolf. thank you so much. i'll take it. great to be with you on this tuesday. lot going on in washington. despite some drama, about to get that gavel back. on the verge here republicans taking control of capitol hill. in fact we know right now he is getting ready to address the now 114th congress. so just because we love numbers, here's the new balance of power in the senate. 54 republicans, 44 democrats, and 2 independents