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c-span as a public service along with these other television providers. giving a front row seat to congress. >> the house and senate coming back into session this week for a full week of legislative action to talk about it we are joined by reporter for usa today candy, good morning candy. >> good morning, thank you for having me. >> looks like a full schedule ahead. let's start with the house. what in terms of legislative, but will they focus on as they come into session onil tuesday? >> again, they are continuing to push to limit the biden administration to govern. first they want to tap into petroleum reserve. let's remove they would they would raise in gas prices and limit our ability, our oil

supply. that is not expected to advance in the senate. something house republicans are going to try to move this week also want a task force. this would look at the numerous problems we have seen in the airline industry most recently, you know last week what happened. with christmas a lot off americans remember that numerous problems the industry is faced in the last two years especially the last six months task force established that would include people really on all sides. the labor industry, swells experts what needs to be happen have to wait really long periods

of time in airports something they want to look at this week there watching for more news house republican leaders want to examine the week of february 6 they're moving forward with hearings that will examine the southern border the biden family business dealings and they are looking to have more patrol agentsts as witnesses related to eethose hearings are keeping a close eye on those as well. >> it took a couple of days has the majority, have republicans

assigned all of their committee positions? particularly the chair for the house committees? were waiting for news out of committee assignments. something we are watching who for the house freedom carcass will beat name to the influential house rules committee? also waiting to see if speaker mccarthy would be a move to print three democrats from bidding on committees. something seen as retaliatory who were taken off of committees after the generate six insurrection. house a democratic leader hakeem jeffries is sort of forcing mccarthy's hand in this. swallow, shift, and omar on

committees. and so he is basically forcing mccarthy to either follow through it he said he would do in removing those three from committees, or to let it go. >> in terms of committees and his future in the republican conference, what is the status of the freshman georgia santos? >> infected democrats are raising that already this morning actually saying why would you remove some of our members who are in good standing when there is an embattled freshman representative chasing legal and criminal scrutiny? why is he being seated on committees? last week whether republican leaders james t comer was leadig a very powerful oversight

committee had said santos will continue to be a member. will continue to serve on these committeesss unless there is criminal proof of campaign finance violations. that something a lot of people are watching very closely. >> she covers congress rio usa today they are back this week for legislative work would like to hear from you your thoughts, your comments and questions? (202)748-8001 for republicans. and for independence and others (202)748-8002. we talked a bit about the house, what is ahead for the u.s. senate this week? >> today actually vice president harris will be swearing in a nee member from nebraska. he is replacing ben sasse. then shortly after that they will be voting on nominations to

go through without incident on tuesday there is a hearing in the judiciary committee that people may find interesting. especially if they try to order taylor swift tickets and could not get them. there is a hearing on their consumer prices and competitive ticketing essentially. that is something that is happening. they will also be having hearings on upcoming's and nominations and there are several close house i'm sorry close senate intelligence meetings. i am hearing some of that is due possibly to discuss what they might be able to find out about these probes into classified documents that were found at .president biden's residence. >> of course the house was out the u.s. reach its statutory debt limits and the treasury department taking what they are calling extraordinary measures.

tell us a little bit about the landscape of the debt ceiling debate to come in the coming months? >> this is going to be a pretty big fight between republicans and democrats. there are some republicans who have already said that they would be willing to default on our debt. which would create many democrats and economists through the global economy into a tailspin. as you probably know these sorts of standoffs have happened in the past. but these two parties are going to have to g come together in order to get this done. they are going to have to negotiate in order to get this done. it really does not benefit either party. kevin mccarthy has said as much, he acknowledges this is something they need to work on. that it is not their goal to defaults on the government debt.

and of course last week as you saw treasury secretary yellen sent a letter this is the gun take measures now to keep us afloat until june. but you don't see these negotiations are already underway. already happening. speaker mccarthy said first press conference were trying to win that contentious a bit first speaker he and biden had spoken. the first conversation once he was speaker is called to president biden called to congratulater, him, the parties are talking. the valve is coming out of that. this to be a fight between the parties may. >> your comments and questions

usa today 20,278,000. democrats 202-748-8001. republican line for all others independence and all others 2,027,488,002. go to kevin first off in connecticut, republican color. >> good morning, good morning. what a great day to be an american, thinking to the call. quick question about the debt ceiling here. how dangerous is this when you add in some of these the predictions going into the next two years. we see the results going into 2024 how dangerous is it going to be just for pharmacist student loans all these other things that are facing this country and the challenges. a word you think the republicans position if they can win in 2024 how can they do it with all these issues? exit thank you.

that is a really good question. republicans in the 2022 midterms ran on a lot of fiscal issues. many of the independence and some democrats i talked to around the country said they were voting for republican or leaning republican because of the issues. because they're going to the store and seeing higher prices on food so far republicans have gotten into office the first week priorities that many concerns is a big question as to if there is an brinksmanship over the said debt ceiling, who does that help? leaders in both already felt

that specialty either. chuck met a continuing resolution, government spending we need that ceiling. how those things play out we will see. there are many people who were elected republican in the midterm because of fiscal issues. so you could say we're expecting americans to have solutions. also would benefit democrats. but this year, as many experts would say, still a long way off from november, 2024. so they have some time to figure

this out. not a lot of time. the whole budgeting system in the fiscal 2024 in early february. appropriations after that. what you're going to see is all of these concurrent things happening. for president biden's budget. beginning of february is going to be a big time and congress. we have a representative comber who has announced at least two hearings that will begin the week of february 6. one will look at the border.

one look at biden family business dealings but this goes back what they believe our efforts with big tech keep information off twitter about the laptop censor news stories and the next day on february 7 president biden will deliver the state of the union address. this will all converge. we are also awaiting an announcement from president biden about whether he will run again for reelection. that is not been officially announced yet. it is believed he will. he saw the recent exit of the former chief of staff. a lot of things are going on, a lot of things will be happening in earlyua february. we are watching to see how all of those things converge.

the state of the union probed while via text my question is if any asian americans on house committee is a chair the attacks on atapi committees that's a really good points. this is an issue really in the last congress using american hate. that is not really been seen as a priority in this new congress. there are some members who are very concerned about it. i expected given what we saw over the weekend that this will

be a greater topic of discussion this week. and we will be looking for any resolutions or bills that might come out ofme committees to try and address this. or possibly a task force. there's an anti- semitism bipartisan task force looking. we will be watching but will grow out of this. it's a problem obviously is not ramp up during the pandemic. and given what happened this weekend it brings it to the forefront again. people are re- traumatized by this. we have a story in usa today addressing some of that, unhealed wounds of the past just reopened. we will definitely text covers concert usa today.

usa today.com way from sandy in new bedford, massachusetts per. >> yes good morning. i was just wondering when they go back in if maybe turning on the >> he's leery of doing that. that could bring relief to everybody in the country. so maybe congress could get that going again you think that's a possibility? not seeing much on the keystone pipeline restarting. trying to limit biden's ability

so they'll be discussing this week. that according to democrats will further limit our ability will also just drive gas prices higher. the talks about the keystone pipeline print they don't seem to be onta the same page about that. >> there's something on the fly here you may be seeing this as well. to tweet this morning from congressman ruben he tweets as of 8:00 a.m. this morning it growing up or all i had was the american dream. a chemical owing as a kid sleeping on the floor, students scrubbing toilets, brother losing in iraq today too many seeing that dream slipping away. running for the u.s. senate to win it back for you. congressman ruben announcing his candidacy to run against kristen sinema. tell us a little bit about what

you know about this congressman and his back on in the u.s. house? his candidacy has been brewing for aca while. from her party affiliation from democrat to independent us to head off the primary counsel come from congress. he has a persuasive he relates to a lot of people. angered many in her party for being a more moderate vote. she was seen as a blockade for president biden agenda in the lastad congress. it fueled some of the campaign that help senators like john fetterman get elected. there were members of the house

running in support of john fetterman saying if we can get someone like that in the senate we won't hinge every vote on senator sandra and senator manchin. ana know your question was more about, it does so much matter, so much a part of this. his hand out immediate early criticizing her after votes, after party switch. you could feel in the tone of those messages he was wanting a challenge. and planned to run against her. she was seen. especially getting rid of the filibuster which many democrats stood in the way of the tiled checks child tax credit. the crowd the congressman is speaking to in his announcement.

if you are upset about the child tax credit not contending if you are upset we can't get rid of the filibuster and enshrine a roe v wade he's going to take blue-collar argument to arizonans going to definitely be interesting to watch. his announcement that's been anticipated for weeks. it follows actually a lot of movement we have seen with announcements lately coming out of the senate side about who is running and who is not. >> first legislative week of the house the floor of the creation of a new selected committee, the committee look at the weaponization of the federal government.

how have democrats reacted to that? do they plan to appoint members to thats committee? hakeem jeffries said he plans on sitting members on all those committees. members can't raise their hand, they will also be chosen. he said they really do see a benefit to having democratic voices on those committees. and by contrast the generate sixth committee that we saw in the last congress had only lives at cheney. she became a voice. there were only two republicans on that committee. and so it democrat saw that as a mistake. they want to make sure they have a voice on this committee. they said otherwise this or otherwise you're going to have

spears the theories being given more credence. if they can get their voices and arguments they see that is beneficial. >> and some of these hearings that are coming up a question from lynn and massachusetts for you, do you think it is okay for congress to investigate private citizens customer sometimes someone who is never worked for the government? >> that is a good question. i think so far the scope of the hearings they are focusing on are mainly as she mentioned federalai agencies, the presidet and they have said although a lot of it feels like it's about hunter biden james comer specifically had said we are not investigatinge hunter biden we are investigating president biden. congressman jim jordan has made comments as well. they seem to be focus of them

understand the question there focused mostly on the biden administration and president biden and trying to look at any ties he may have had. when they are looking at the weaponization of d.o.j. as they call it, that grew out of what they see as a politically motivated arm going after former president trump who is very much a public figure. it seems like the main focus of these inquiries are about politicians. >> bills pass the republican house and may not get consideration or may not pass will likely not pass in the u.s. senate. what is the role between the relationship of the two leaders are republican leaders kevin

mccarthy and mitch mcconnell? has that changed withh mccarthy's, representative mccarthy's elevation to speaker? >> you sought leader mcconnell saying that he supported speaker mccarthy. he supported his bid for speaker. but they are leading to very different carcasses. senate republicans narrowly lost house republicans and nearly one. they suffered those losses and gains in a way for different reasons. but former president trump played a huge role in those midterms. his presence was seen as hurting senate republicans. because of some of the candidates he was backing that could maybe win a primary but could not win the moderate voters you need to win a senate

bid. they're not going to agree on everything. but leader mcconnell's probably expressed support. some of those questions were posed to speaker mccarthy at his first press conference which was in statuary hall. he was a little more sharp tongue for the sentence and what had they done? what have they been doing? they had this long speaker bid of course, but then after that they were in session. he was kind of pointing out they had come in they were sworn in and gone back to the district for work for a few weeks with typically that has happened. he was again saying what are you doing