>> the world has changed, to a fast reliable internet connection is something no one can live without so how is that for customers, speed, reliability, value choice. it all starts with great interest. ♪♪ ♪♪ >> it's monday we like to look at the week ahead in washington. ray joined by mike willis, congressional reporter with the help and let's start with the action on the bill this week. the headline of your story at the health.com democrat asked $1.75 trillion biden package. explain how they intend to do that. intend to do that. guest: they have been fighting

over this bill for months. this is crunch time. the fight has been very public. this is what joe biden campaign this has been the only game in town, it's what joe biden campaigned on and he wants to get it done, d this is his legay defining piece of legislation these, as i have been public have been pretty embarrassing, moderate against liberals, house against the senate, congress against the white house, all democrats on democrats at any time you have that narrative, it can be embarrassing and they say this is a process and yes, that is true but spent a particular messy one because of the length and the laser focus on every detail that's happened. this week the house, peja pelosi wants to bring this to the floor, there's nope schedule dae to bring us to the fourth but the plan is to do that before they leave for the long thanksgiving holiday. holiday. to do so, they had to get commitment from the moderates,

who were holding out last week. moderate democrats said we need to see an official estimate from the budget office, which is typically a routine step on any piece of legislation that comes to the floor. in this case, they were ready to bypass that step. that is important. anyone provision might cost one thing. that is what they are waiting for from the ceo. moderates committed to voting on a bill this week. if they get additional information, they are giving

that information. they seem to be on course to bring it to the floor. at the end of the day, what they want is to move beyond the process. biden's poll numbers are sinking. they want to move on. they want to get it done and start talking about the benefit of the package. they think that this is the week to do it. host: what is harder for the currents? they cannot lose more than three votes for the senate, where they can news exactly zero votes. guest: i think they are kind of identical at this point. they have had similar concerns. your hearing a lot about joe

manchin. in many ways, they have been negotiating on behalf of the moderate in the house. the process has been back and forth. the thinking is that if they can sign on to something, that will be just fine with the moderates in the house. i said that this is the week for the house but that is not exactly true. there are supposed to be changes made in the senate. it is expected, like paid leave or medicare expansion, like maybe some of the immigration language or climate change language. things like that might get altered in the senate. that means it would ping-pong back to the senate at some point. this is a process that will go

well into december. the point is that the margins are slim. it is a heavy lift in both places. if anything can pass through the senate, it will pass the house. host: is this bill still being written, as we? guest: technically, but they are really close. most of the bill -- they have already had a committee last friday. if there are changes, it will be minor. it would just be technical language that will be important for the implementation of this stuff. the benefits that you have heard of will not change, at least in the house bill. host: has the congressional budget office offered any as to whether they think democrats are

close or far off in terms of how much it will cost? guest: good question. the numbers that they have provided already -- nancy pelosi put out a letter on friday and said six committees have been given numbers and they comport very similarly with the numbers that the white house had predicted. the stipulation was if the numbers are similar to the white house, there will be no problem with us. she said three more committees will be getting numbers today. a lot of those numbers are rolling. they will probably not be done by the time they vote on a bill. the moderates have made their concessions. so far, the numbers deemed to be

sticking with the white house. he had said because we want this to be deficit neutral, we are overconfident any and we want the number to be higher in case something goes wrong. in which case it would still be covered. he is claiming it will reduce the deficit. host: if it does come back different, so what? does it only met a political the terms of individual members?

what actually happens if those numbers are off? guest: there is no penalty. congress is good at passing bills. there has been deficit. that could be a political penalty. it did not matter when trump was in office. they piled trillions of dollars on top of the debt. there is no penalty for that among the voters. what would happen if it comes back extremely differently and what expected? what the moderates have said in their short statement a couple weeks ago is, in which case, we

will with nancy pelosi and the committee heads to come up with more language we will make sure that the whole thing is paid for. host: if you want to understand what is going on behind us, there are phone lines for you to call in. now that we have given you a chance, take a sip of water and we will get to the call. caller: thank you. mike seems like a nice guy and a very important guy in terms of congressional matters. he reminds me of howard field from that the network.

a little disheveled, but he knows what he is talking about. i am very interested did -- interested. host: you yourself are going to run? as an independent? caller: not as an independent. that is not really say anything. i made the party. i was always green, but now i am global green anti-empire. we obviously have to change the nature of the government that we are in. it is not really a representative government at

all. it is neither a democratic or republican. host: what is your question? caller: in terms of the capability of running for office , global green anti-empire -- we have an empire, so we should be anti-empire. the little green is that it is the only party in the world that has parties over 100 countries. it is addressing the greatest problem in the world at this point. unless joe biden goes crazier than he is, he will not start a

nuclear war. host: do you want to jump in? guest: i am not a campaign reporter, but i say go for it. what is toulouse? host: charlotte, north carolina. republican. how are you? caller: mike, you look all right. i was in this. i am very disappointed in joe biden. he ran on raising minimum wage, one of the that i really expected him to do. all of this stuff that they put in the bills -- i feel like it

is really sad, how capitalism has done the working class, as far as taking care of his this and making sure things are done time and time again. republican, democrat, none of it seems to trickle down to the working class. that is just my opinion. host: michael, what do you take from that guest: there are a lot of things in this bill to address those disparities and wage stagnation that we have seen. there is no minimum wage in there.

you might remember when the minimum wage test the house, some say he gave the down and it did not go through the senate, even with a democratic majority. that includes an extension of the child tax credit, childcare said and an extension with benefits under obamacare. worker training -- the list goes on and on. it is an enormous package. they are addressing those things, even as they have failed on minimum wage. host: democrats are expected to pass this inviting package this week. when i think they call a better story.

this is sort of the story of what will be happening on capitol hill this week. how often do you speak to the actual legislators? how do you determine the information? guest: that is a great question. my focus is on the house. they are constantly talking to lawmakers. you are trying to get information from the source. it is a good question. no one this week will in cases where y'u

had to attribute it to people. it is a good question. a day like today is a good way to do it. it might be irrelevant in our because of close negotiation. it has all been in flux. host: surely, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. when i would like to say is, i would like to tell democrats

that i am so very proud of them. they just have to realize they have to fight on their own and we are depending on them. they have made us so proud, so far, the democrats have. we just need them to go out and talk about what they are doing for the people will. just tell them what they are doing because i love the democratic party. thank god for them. host: on the pulling and the messaging guest:. -- messaging. guest: it is a very popular provision.

the popularity has not translated into a win on capitol hill. knowing that they have slim margins and knowing that popular provisions have not been able to get across the finish line, they are leaning on a gimmick that allows them to sidestep the filibuster in the senate. they can pass them without a single republican vote and take credit for all of it. a little bit different on the infrastructure part is it. there were a number of votes with 13 republicans voting.

afterwards, you can bet that the campaign operatives are going to message like crazy that this was lopsided with no republican support for all of these popular provisions like childcare and a child tax credit. the flipside of that is that republicans will accuse them of being socialist and expanding all of these federal programs in ways that the country cannot afford. host: step back from this week and talk about the deadlines hanging over, the impact that

they could have and the legislative planning. guest: it is the middle of november, so it sounds strange to say that it is tight. there is no time for the senate to do it when the house. they come back and they are leaning against the government shut down. it is extended short-term or there is something longer-term. on top of that, there is the debt ceiling. mitch mcconnell vowed not to help democrats.

if there are no republican votes or very few republican votes, you are looking at a government default. a lot of economists warned that it would be like an armageddon. if you are pushing build back better, it will be competing with these other huge bills. the house and the senate claim that they will be out of the house, but if you are a betting man, you would not put any money on it.

the other piece of this, this is the funding authorization, which is hugely popular and always bipartisan. the senate majority leader is wanting to bring it to the floor. he does not want to occupy this huge chunk of floor time. he will try. host: anaheim, california.

caller: mike, you answered my question earlier. i do not think mcconnell will allow any of his members to talk about that, but do you think the democrats made a mistake by breaking these bills apart? guest: they were insisting that it come to the floor first before they voted for the infrastructure.

until almost midnight on friday. we will take your word that you will vote for the build back better act. just to get the ball rolling. you have to vote for the larger bill. that is where we are right now. it was funny that the liberals had held out for months and months. we will vote for it with 18 to be a sentence statement. suddenly, the liberals said, we will trust it. that is where we are.

it is the thing that we wanted. he has been very concerned. this is congress and anything can happen. there is a lot at stake. they are in crisis mode and they want to get some victories. so, there is a lot at stake. it sounds like they have all the votes to get it done. it is a good question about separating those bills because there was always this idea that they had to be separated, that

they had to be married for one group. moderates -- they said all along this is all about deficit spending, but by agreeing to vote on build back better without a full accounting, they sort of revealed that the deficit spending was not the only thing. they wanted to separate the two bills and claim a partisan win and claim that it is separate from the larger bill that is more partisan and is going to be used on the campaign trail against them. how much -- host: how much have you been covering the committee? guest: on and off. it is certainly a backdrop of all of these conversations. host: do you think that they will hold mark meadows and contempt, along with others take

-- who ignored subpoenas as steve bannon is preparing to appear in court today? this after failing to supply -- comply with a subpoena? guest: yes. the doj was under a lot of criticism from members of both parties. why is merrick garland not pursuing this? there was a lot of excitement and praise on friday when they announced the steve bannon indictment. bennie thompson put out a statement saying, this is an indication of mark meadows and others who do not want to cooperate with our organization. good -- host: good morning.

caller: the defense authorization bill. it is such a mess. they are scattered across the world right now. they had to divert so many carriers. also with the pacific rate now. the other problem is the use of our national guard. they deployed 500 troops.

our national guard is overstretched right now, really bad. response to wildfires and everything. host: mike willis. isn't that one of the bigger bills in congress? guest: it is always popular. the question is not if it will pass, but when. as i mentioned, he is shooting to do that this week. there are a couple controversial elements to this one. the house democrats and their put a stipulation that women will be required to register for selective service. we do not have a draft, but men come when they turn 18 still have to register with selective service. there are a lot of conservatives who do not like that provision. there are many who think that it

will offer amendments to strip that service. schumer will have a lot of control. there are a couple sticking points like that. schumer has expressed a lot of interest. it has been around for almost 20 years. a lot of people on both sides of the aisle think that it is no longer relevant and should be repealed. there are some controversial elements to it, but for the most part, a lot of it is not controversial. the money goes to districts in every part of the country. it is more than the pentagon even requested. this is free money for districts and lawmakers love to bring home the bacon. the defense bill is an easy way

to do it, and it will happen. host: this is claudia from white mills, and sylvania. caller: good morning -- white mills, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i am a republican in a democratic state. i want so much of the politics going on in the news. they never focus enough on fixed income. they are always talking about people with children. how do they expect seniors to survive in this country? when are they going to start helping to take care of the seniors?

host: mike willis, will they focus on those issues or not? guest: they do not go as far as some would have liked. the biggest fight they had was an expansion of medicare. you had a number of liberal democrat who wanted to expand medicare to include vision, hearing and until coverage. joe manchin was opposed to that. it was paired back. joe biden's framework only included hearing in the house bill that is expected to pass this week only includes hearing. we do not know if it is a red line for joe manchin or if he could be appeased.

there is also home care for the elderly. what else? i'm trying to think. there is public housing vouchers. things like that can affect the elderly, but there is hundreds of billions of dollars in there for eldercare, as well as the education benefits that are affecting younger generations. host: houston, texas. go ahead, sir. caller: i cannot work. trying to live off of what they give us a month, we cannot afford to eat or anything. they talk about how, you make too much.

it is stupid. i work two or three jobs and i am trying to pay my taxes. i'm going to sit here and starve. they send our tax dollars to other countries and are not helping the senior citizens in our own country. host: what would be the quickest way to help you? guest: if they could send us a stimulus check or something to help us pay bills. i have been waiting on stimulus, but they never sent it. it's just to the point that i do not know what is going on. host: he was talking about another stimulus check is

something that could help him. is that something that is even being debated or offered? guest: it is not part of this most recent package. there have been two rounds of stimulus in the last year and a half. but that is the last we have heard about the direct stimulus. rodney is voicing concerns that we hear quite often. there are a ton of bills up on capitol hill that expand social security, to expand medicare, to lower the age of medicare and make the benefits more generous. that is homecare provisions. for the most part, expanding is very controversial because many of get cries of it is socialized medicine or socialized -- that

it is too expensive -- you often hear that they are about to go bankrupt, which is not quite the case, but it is a good talking point for fiscal hawks out there. it is a powerful argument on the campaign trail. that is the fight that we have been having since they were created. is it the government's role to take care of the elderly? if so, to what extent do we do it? it is largely a partisan issue. at times, it has been a bipartisan effort. just not right now. right now you're hearing that the expansion of medicare is government overreach. we have back to the

partisanship. host: before we let you get your actual work week expanded, what haven't we talked about that you will be watching for this week in congress? guest: you touched on it briefly. they have already subpoenaed about 85 people, and you ask -- you can expect more, every day. they want to get rolling on that investigation and they do not want it to be political football come november of year. bennie thompson said he is wanting to wrap it up by early spring. to do so, they have to get cracking. all eyes are on january 6, even as they wait for the build back better vote. there is nothing really on the calendar right now.

there are some suspension votes on the calendar. they kind of put those in as lease keepers to get guys into town and vote on noncontroversial things while they wait for something bigger, the build back better act. they will start in the senate kind of the same thing they will start moving on ndaa. there are a couple nominations for deputies at the treasury and the ag department, but mostly everyone is just in wait and see mode what comes out of this debate over biden's agenda. in the meantime, everyone is talking about biden's polling numbers. it's been a really, really tough couple of months for the administration and for democrats, and so there's a lot at stake here and again they want to switch the conversation from process which is dry and messy and get on to talking about benefits which they hope

to get out the door very quickly thank you, madam chair house in at two p.m. today. the senate in a 3 p.m. today and mike lillis workweek starts right now. thank you for beginning it with us, mike lillis, always appreciate your time. >> thank you, john. anytime. >> congress is back this week brickhouse returns today at two p.m. eastern for business. during the week we expect work on president biden's social spending agenda known as the build back better plan. also on the calendar a number of bills from the veterans affairs committee on veterans issues like health care, education and employment. the senate returns today as well at 3:00 eastern. lawmakers are scheduled to continue debate on the nomination of graham steel to be assistant secretary of the treasury for financial institutions with a vote later in the day to advance the nominee. watch the house live on c-span, the senate on c-span2 or online at c-span.org and our

congressional coverage is available on your phone with c-span now, our new video app. >> what impact will the texas abortion law have on communities and families? the house judiciary committee asks both pro-choice and pro-life advocates that question recently. watch tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span2, online at c-span.org or watch full coverage on c-span now, our new video app. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

>> health officials testified on the biden administration's coronavirus response before the senate h.e.l.p. committee answering questions about natural immunity, pfizer's covid-19's vaccine for children, , vaccine mandates and preparing for future pandemics. this is three hours. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]