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host: linda feldmann is the monitor for the monitor breakfast for news maker and policymakers and this morning there was this segment talking about what's ahead if you're the lame duck and the 118th congress and there's just a pile of work left to get done in the last five weeks or so, four weeks. what are top priorities. ? the first thing is keeping the government funded so the last eaconnelling resolution through december 16 and have to fund a government, whether that's through another continuing resolution or a big ominous spending bill and talk of kicking it down the road to another week of the 23rd but i think members might be looking at staying here through history. host: this is spending for the current fiscal year we're in. is there any possibility that they'd kick it further down the

road into the 118th congress? guest: i doubt it and 118th is a completely new ball game and divided government and republicans win the house by a narrow majority and democrats win the senate either another tie orr a one vote majority depending on how the runoff goes in georgia on december 6. main thing is republican majority in the house and a whole different calculus on trying to pass anything. host: there's stumbling blocks in the omnibus spending bill including having to raise the debt ceiling and what else are youes looking at? >> in terms of other -- we need to -- the national defense authorization act needs to go through that and oh things in

the lame duck respect for marriage act is an effort to lock in same sex marriage. that is a top priority. guest: additional funding for the war in ukraine which is -- can be akr little tricky but because some republicans and even some democrats are now saying, wait a minute, why are we spending so much money in ukraine when we have so much need in this country. yeah, a lot going on. host: is there -- for that request in the white house, $38 billion request for the white us, is there a chance -- white house, ist, there a chance that might not get done by the lame duck session? >> it's possible but nancy pelosi is speaker. and capping off 20 years as speaker or minority leader and she's a leader with no peer in

terms of sheparding and corralling herin caucus and hasa wide range of views within her caucus including the upstart progressive who wanted to -- had pushed the party to the left and wanted to keep doing that. she's stepping down from party leadership in the house. host: i want to ask you about the upcoming leadership elections for the democrats and then for speaker as well. 118th. the phone lines to hear from our viewers and listeners too. for republicans it's (202)748-8001 and independents and others (202)748-8002 and democrats it's (202)748-8000. the lame duck session first and what's ahead in 118th and not a recent piece not long after the

election and the headline of which after midterms does anybody have a mandate? you talked to a number of people, republicans and democrats and independents and people like jason with the bipartisan policy center and the white house press secretary. what's your sense in that article? what's your take away for the word -- mandate. is there a mandate? guest: so there kind of isn't. there's a sense out of the midterms that the democrats won, which they actually didn't. republicans won control of the house but didn't win a red wave. they didn't take a huge majority as in past midterms for president. the democrats beat expectations and the reality is there's divided government and what can we get done in divided government? oftentimes nothing. and sometimes nothing is a good thing. in the first two years of the president presidency, he got a lot of stuff passed.

often with votes from the republicans. that cost the u.s. government, the american taxpayers a lot of money. w so what we'rere looking at is a lot less spending in the second two years of boyden's terms and -- biden's terms and the market is like that. you saw when republicans locked in control of the house, the markets went up because of inflation. there's a positives ty way and i like when talking to jason and the optimist, there's a lot of stuff can get done with the other party. with a lot of bipartisanship can take place even when control of a house is very narrow. olnext time, next two years maye not so much. host: the moderate members and problems and people not members. what does it look like for the

118th? guest: a lot of sway and we tend to look at loudest voices whether from the senate or joe mansion orng in the house with e young progressives who are wanting to do a lot. but the reality is we're the small majority in both houses and any group, any even small interest group can demand attention because their majority killers. the voices and existing voices that have the leverage to get what they want and blast what they don't want. host: it's almost so decided in thest house and reporting 220 republicans with 21 democrats that left undecided in colorado

and 222 or 213. what does that mean for a potential house for kevin mccarthy? guest: kevin mccarthy has to channel his inner nancy pelosi and columbia arrowhead the volt -- corral the votes he needs. there's already five house republicans on the record saying no to kevin mccarthy as speaker. it doesn't mean they won't flip. it doesn't mean that they're for kevin mccarthy not the next speaker. there's not a clear alternative to him and they're using their leverage to get something to win over their vote from mr. mccarthy. host: go to calls for linda feldmann and mike on the independent line in circleville, ohio. >> hi, [inaudible] with our congress and senate. we've got two house bills that need passed by the 23rd, s2598,

hr9110. this brings bankruptcy protection back to student loans and right now you can't get them paid off or file bankruptcy on them. right now i'm a truck driver and come out of ohio, and i was home with medical stuff through the pandemic and the hospitals didn't have covid and stuff. they need to get off their butt and do something for us for once and quit worrying about getting paid by the colleges and by these lending companies for the student loans and get this stuff passed that needs passed by the 21st. there's a lot of people out there hurting and these items were taken care of, then we would have a time because right now the loans are written and nothing taken out by the tax

pairs. the politics need to get off their but and vote. vote. guest: i'm not sure the status of the' issues and joe biden announced forgiveness on student loans awhile ago and familiarly down the road. sort of having a moratorium on student loan payments and he's done that through june 22nd i believe. he basically -- conveniently till the end of the next -- current supreme court session term so i think that is where this issue will be decided. joe biden wants to wipe out 10,000 -- up to 20,000 on student loans. it's a hugely divisive issue and a lot of people feel this is completely unfair to people that didn't go to college because they couldn't afford it or toau people who paid for their

children. they paid that money and the young people who've paid their student loans off. this is on the basis of weather president biden has a constitutional right to wipe off billions, literally billions of dollars of student loan debt and make the rest of us pay for it. host: hear from dave in auburn, new york. republican line. >> yeah, good morning. i'm a previous callier on the earlier part of your show. the sequence of biden and -- it just -- i just want to make a comment here about that and all the things he had done so something came to my mind about john kennedy and words of wisdom he said. ask not what your country can do

for you, ask what you can do for your country. ask not what your government can do for you but what you can do for your country. i go all over back to reagan and that was the best time in the country for me but looking back at achievements and the attitude and when he said government. government has come to micromanage our lives. all these issues that are coming up on your show are all dealing with that.ng i'm all for the government and hope any stop the insanity coming out here and taken on everything and they're doing everything and they've be able to see the result or not. guest: can you give me areas where you feel specifically that the government is micromanaging?

>> go to the border, give us a stable currency. those are the type of things. we're worried about micro-aggressions and transgenders and everything. everything is in the political realm and doesn'tin need to be there. education. they learn that. it's certainly monopoly and they've done that. go back to the private schools, charter schools and the academy, choice with milton friedmann and things that could get done outside of government. everything they've already louised up. guest: we have the republicans now gaining power in the house, they've promised more inflation, lower crime, and border security. border security is a government function and i think the real

question is not what do you want the government to do. and certainly this border security that's clearly there in terms of that being in the state.a down in florida in recent years the government there around desantis is very strong on this issue and really helped him to a landslide victory in the midterms to reelection for governor and made him a strong contender for the 2024 presidential race. so it's all about what you want the government to do and not do versus government agents. host: the potential down falls of focusing on that and perhaps

not getting legislation through that can pass by the house and senate. guest: republicans had clear including the incoming community chair and kentucky and james jordan of ohio and they want to investigate the bidens, hunter biden and the president himself, joe biden. they think he might have derived stuff from his son's international business dealing ands investigate covid origins. they want covid origins, anthony fauci and messy withdraw from afghanistan and expect investigations and the question is whether the republicans will overdo it. there's the amusement and heading to the 2024 elections or are they it's been notable and

the january 6 hearing that we had benghazi impeachment marry hearing andve these congressionl hearings in the power and they can be quite dramatic and if that's all they're doing then the public gets really upset, enough of the public. guest: sometime this year and i don't know for sure but that committee sufficed to say that committee will exist when the republicans take over the house and the clock is ticking.

ethost: springfield, massachusetts. david, independent line. >> yeah, my whole thing with congress is they talk about the constitution and what we are guaranteed, which is life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. my problem with this year has been the abortion issue. why weye still would allow equal to kill unborn people and especially with women, why would they think it's already to kill unborn women if they are women themselves? i know that younger women go what is your opinion on this? we've gone so low to not respect the least among us. host: tieing into legislation. when we see abortion proposals, federal abortion proposal come out of republicans in the housea guest: no, that's not going anywhere but might be an effort for nation-wide abortion ban and

republicans that want that and believe what the, caller believs is that lifeha begins at conception and any abortion, even very early is the chyling of a e human being. i don't know anybody thinking this issue going anywhere in the house. it's sort of interesting to see congress taking the dobbs decision and taking it state by state with the patch work and their answer is to pass protections for same sex marriage and that's because of rulings and rights is for the religious questions and i think it all comes down to who sides. is it up to the women, her daughter, her family or is it

what kind of role the government someplace the government play add role. the roe in case the decision mapped out a system forguest: the legacy is holding together an extraordinarily small remajority and they on any vote nancy pelosi and her deputies

could afford to lose a handful of votes. they got a lot done, spent a lot of money, starting with the american rescue plan, the big $1.9 trillion covid relief package. they did infrastructure, the chips1 and science act, which subsidizes federal subsidies for chip production in this country. ict think when the history books are written, this will be sort of seen as nancy pelosi's swan song but her act to lead with a majority. host: james clyburn said he wanted to stay in leadership because of southern t reputation in the democratic conference. here's what he said. >> if it is time for a new generation and speaker pelosi said, why is it necessary for you to stay in power?

do you think the next generation needs you to guide them? saidll, i've already there's a healthy respect, it's biblical in me. we need to have a healthy blend of strength and knowledge. look at leadership with the south is left out of it and make sure the media does not tilt too far to the east or too far to the west but maintain what we have here. there's no other sentiment of this and we need historical black colleges and universities represented. where would incentive be today and overtake the south for that and their lineup. host: james clyburn yesterday and potential of new leadership

and the democratic caucus could include hakeem jeffries and katherine clark from massachusetts. guest: he make as good point. there's only three positions, there's only three people in the upper tier of leadership. it's not to say they're not going to listen to people from the south. the south is extremely important and nobody knows better than jim clyburn from south carolina had to wield that power and had to make herself matter and he was essential to joe biden's democratic nomination and we have going forward is hakeem jeffries is black and katherine clark is a white woman and pete aguilar is a hispanic male. there's diversity there and they're smart enough to know they have to consider the needs

and more of the south during their caucus. host: back to calls to new jersey and this is merle on the independent line.li >> yes, i wanted to make a comment about the same sex marriage. i wanted toma ask the lady, according to the bible, jesus confirmed those yolked together in marriage should be male and female and god intended marriage to be a permanent intimate marriage between a male and female. i'd like to have your thoughts on that, ma'am. host: when hawkeyes did the senate do -- what did the senate do if accommodations for religious views? guest: they had to take into account the sin veerly held beliefs ---- sincerely held

beliefs of marriage being only between a man and woman. there's a freedom restoration act, which guarantees -- takes into account the views of people who have that belief. and that has been applied to the law that's going to be dealt with this week and, you know, we've had some very important supreme court cases dealing with that issue. can a customer force a baker to bake a cake that has a pro gay marriage sentiment expressed on the cake? the answer is no. there's what the law says and then there's how people are feeling and they can behave. this will be an issue going forward. host: 10 republican senators voted in favor of moving that legislation. i'll take your corrections. that number, were you surprised by it? guest: i was. it's huge.

that's absolutely huge. my sense is that gay marriage is the main is so accepted in this country and it's so remarkable to see how thought has changed on that issue. it hasn't been that long since bill clinton signed the defensive marriage act, which was antigay marriage, and we've now done a 180, and i think for a number of reasons, most americans feel even if they are personally uncomfortable with the idea of gay marriage, they see that most people don't be allowed to hurt anyone else and they can have children and raise them and be loving parents. on the one hand you see thought on abortion has remained pretty frozen on the one hand but thought on gay marriage shifted dramatically. host: youha pointed that presidt clinton signed defensive marriage act and go for the election of 1994 and the

republicans take control of the house and majority of 50 maybe republican member -- a big majority of house republicans in that case. guest: right. host: it was after that that billon clinton attacked toward e center and reform of welfare for example and is that defensive marriage act is one of the indications where a president does tack towards the republican view and -- to get something passed like that. guest: absolutely. that congress with president clinton, democrat, and newt gingrich, republican speaker, realizing that they could either stand apart and get nothing done or each come to the middle and get a lot done, which is what they did. host: are there issues that -- in a similar situation, with president joe biden and a likely speaker of the house, kevin mccarthy? guest: there's a really good question. i don't't know. i think a lot depends on what kind of deal --->> the

washington journal fulfilling the committee to live gavel to gavel commitment of congress and watch this online any time on cspan.org and take you live to the u.s. senate where lawmakers are returning from thanksgiving holiday break. senators will continue work today on marriage equality legislation with a vote set for 5:30 p.m. eastern time to limit debate on the bill. live coverage of the senate here on cspan2. ...