>> "washington journal" continues. host: on mondays, when congress is in session, we like to take a look at thweek ahead. this week, we are joined by scott macfaane with cbs news. st wee we were focused on publican leadehip elections pay this wk, demrats have their turn. what are we expecting? guest: at this moment of unique stabilityn washington, these leadership elections are actually quite stable. democrats may that seachange when nancy pelosi and steny hoyer stepped back after a generation of adership, and the new generation of years to still have the galvanized support of their membership. hakeem jeffries of new york will be the house democratic leader.

they've been in place the last two years. what house democrats have been telling us repeatedly is they did not suffer losses overall in this eleion, unlike the senate, unlike the white house. there is stability coast-to-coast and how house democrats performed. they wanted to get the majority, they came up short, but they did not suffer the wounds suffered by the rest of the party nationwide. they are quite bullish in some spots. house democrats did really well in new york state. they foot to three republican seats blue, despite the headwinds othis election, which speaks well to the democratic leader, who of course was from new york. host: when it comes to a minority leader in the house, what makes a good minority leader? what has hakeem jeffries brought to the job? guest: something quite traditiona something quite untraditional. when you're in the minority in the u.s. house, you do not have any ability to control what is

on the house floor. you have two skills. you ha the ability to message, communicate, tell america why things should be different, and you have the ability to get congressional hearings, some arguments before the public, when the minority asks their publics and when this is can give their statements. pretty limited bandwidth of power. over the last year, hakeem jeffries has wielded power i cannot remember another minoty leader have wielded. republans have been gridlocked. they have been unable to pass basic things like keeping the government ope spending bills raising the debt iling to avoid calamity, doing the basic blocki of gornment hakeem jeffries has had to intervene and come up with a ole bunch of h votes for governnt actually function. we will e if he can do that in all republican-controlled washington. host: but also an incredibly

small margin separating republicans and democrats in the house. once again, we do not know the final numbers. we are waiting for the final couple seats. senate democrats, their leadership team, what do we know? guest: still a bit of stability in the leadership ranks. we are not sure just yet until there are final projections made in pennsylvania, whether it is a 53-40 seven senate, if you include the independents who caucus with the democrats or 52-48. either w, democrats who have been running the senate for a whe now become the minority party. a little more leverage the minority have in the senate. you have the ability to impact what is on the senate floor, t hold up what some of the president or t senate leadership want to do. every indication ithe leadership stays the same, chuck schumer of new york, dick durbin of illinois, both of whom are using ts final bit of runway they have tory to impactful. chucschumer is trying to confirmore of president biden's traditional -judicial

nominations. and there was dick durbin last week, ying to press as the senate judiciary chairman get all those matt gaetz finals to the senate f confirmation hearings. he has the ability, as the democratic mority whip right now, and the democratic chair this committee until janua, to try to push some lovers. host: what is johthune's relationship with schumer? we are so used to mitch mcconnell and john -- chuck schumer. guest: we will find that out. john thune started in the senate in 2005, so this is his 20th ar with schumer. chuck schumer issued a statement for john thune, congratulating him on his election as the republican leader. that may just be trational senate collegiality. johnhune has never come across as somebody who has bn particularly antagonistic towards chuck schumernor vice versa. but e roles sure are changing. that is e of the b portions to answer. host: on roles changing,e

talked about nancy pelosi stepping away from leadership, haem jeffries stepping in cairo nowe have mitch mcconnell stepping away after a very long time as the leader of the senate republicans, jumng stepping in. mitch mcconnell's term runs through 2026. what will his role be now that he will not be one of the first people to speak at the beginning of the day in the senate? where does he fit in now just another senator? guest: this is so and traditional. think of the last sets of speakers of the house who, when they left that position, left the house altogether. dennis astor, john boehner, paul ryan gong. these are the types of things that have been tradition. nancy pesi has been this democratic backbench but has nocarried it that way. shhas been a force on television and she was potentially pivotal in president biden's this vision to stand down as democratic nominee for the white house and reins this powerful operator, working alongside the rest of her caucus and the leadership.

that's. untraditional they may still be trying to navate that. you ha mitch mcconnellnow a rank-and-file senator with a vote. how does that work in concert with john thune? it will be fascinatingo find out. but who are the dissenting voices in the republican caucus for e more controversial things donald trump wants to do? weaw in president trump's first term susan collins and lisa murkowski were dissenting voices, does mitch mcconnell join that group senate republins can lose only three republican votes andet that majority r things donald trump wants to do. ifitch mcconnellometimes joins the caucus of dissenters, the is very little they can do. host: taking your phone calls about a lot of issues in washington, the week ahead in washgton. (202) 748-8000 for democrats to call in. republicans, (202) 748-8001.

independents, (202) 748-8002. as folks are calling in, besides leadership elections, what else is on the agenda? guest: let's start with what happens late at ap of the house rules committeeaking up this matter of whether to find, as a u.s. house of representatives, the secretary of state, and geneva -- antony blinken, in contempt of congress. the republican that has has -- there has been back and forth beeen the house foreign affairs committee and secretary blinken. it will culminate with some vote this week, likely to find him in contempt. when final days of this administration, th the attorney general try him, but it is something the republican congress will contend with while biting still in power -- biden still in per. and at some point, they have to

refill the disasteloan fund. that was tapped out by hurricanes helene and milton. homeowne who need emergency loans to rebuild, congress has got to get about refilling those coffers. some of those disaster state senators and congressmen verse happened raising alarms about this. the administration did so earlier this morning. congress won't tend to that today or tomorrow but will have to soon. host: whe are we on government funding? guest: december 20 is the deadline. there are very few legislative days left. they will not pass all the preparations bills robustly in the traditional way. they will need another short-term continuing resolution to keep the government functioning for a matter of months and will go back toward it again in 2025. it is a matter of if they kick thean to march or try to kick it all the way until september and give president trump the

ability to weigh in on this early or give time and space to do other things. host: is there an effort by democrats, while they still control two of the levers of wer, t senate and white house, t try to moveome sort of government spending bill or have more of jiden's fingerprint on what happens in this next spending bill? or is it just lame ducks all around? guest: they have the capacity to impact, and they may take this last oppornity to do so. some of the things democrats have told me they are interested in securitynd, how aut federal commitments to pay for baltimore bridge rebuilding. commitment, not the money yet, but make sure the federal government signs on the dotted line that they will help find rebuilding the key bridge. they may have to provide the votes to pass this in the u.s. house. host: question from jimbo out of california. ca mr. macfarlane espeically as

to what the republic cane congress can do in the first 100 days, with the accession of the truck tax cuts? you can throw that in there as well. guest: yeah, those tax cuts are something the house speaker has said would be part of their first 100 day plan. it seems to be innison on doing what they can is a chamber to get those things extended. what else? there has been a lot of talk om the incoming initiation about border issues, deportation , removal of some number of migrants. that takes money, manpower. that takes more money and manpower than may be in place now, so look for the republican congress to pass himort of appropriation funding for border initiatives and efforts. and though this very narrow

majority has splinted on so many things, every little things seems to break off aew folks, they may be lined up on that. host: nancy in connecticut, line for democrats. you are on with scott macfarlane. caller: good morning. over the last two weeks, trump and the gop have not said a word out the economy, not a word about lowering inflation, not about stopping price gouging, nothing about affordable housing for the american people, nothing about lowering rent. just as trump did during his campaign, he never had details about these things. all he told his suppters was "i'll fix it." i am just cares about your opinion on that, all these issues of why i think the american people voted for him. guest: nancy is picking up a point a number of democrats have alerted me to. if this is it -- if this is a priority in mandate, and deal

with those food prices, housing prices, you want to note the order he has will that his potential nominees for cabinet. he talked about his attorney general candidate, his u.n. ambassador, secretary of state. but there have been no moves publicly to name somebody for the secretary of treasury or the consumer watchdog groups or the housing and urban development department. it would seem, if you are tryi to triage most important issues, and if inflation and prices is the most important issue, you would want to start there with your treasury,ourax-based agencies and housing based agencies. that h not happened. that may ba political reality nancy is flagging for the rest of the natio if he does not do that soon, it is a statement of values and priorities. host: james in fairfax asking about the january 6 pardons. he has been asking for this consistently. what is the latest on that? guest: it is a question we are all watchin it is in connecticut motion as we speak. there is a growing number of

january 6 defendants going to court and asking the rest of their proceedings, sentencings, conferences, plea hearings to be delayed until after january 20, citing specifically that trump has pledged pardons. so far, the overwhelmingly number of those requests, judges have said no, that is speculative, we areot suspending your cases on the potential promise of a politician for pardon. but those dendants are making an unequivocal argument that there are pardons to be expected, pardons have been promised, and there is an expectation of those defendants some pardons are coming. but there is an issue transcendent of january 6 that trump has not specified if everybody from january 6 get a pardon or if only certain parts of the population of january 6 defendants will get pardons. violent or nonviolent, those who pleaded guilty, those convicted at tal, those whose cases are

still pending. he has not put layers to say this group gets in, this group won't. that is the big question between now a january 20. is it everybody, is it some, is itnybody host: what has matt gaetz said on this topic? guest: matt gaetz is one of the few members of congress who have tually been outside at the nightly vigil protest on behalf of the january 6 defendants. host: that is still going on? gues it goes on every night, multiple years now. matt gaetz has paid a pilgrimage there before. he has beenarticularly on a big u.s. th his argumentshat he believes the deparent of justice has overreached in the jaary 6 cases. in all of them, a the january 6 cases is a big umbrella, he has not specified whether there are se worthy or meritorious or allf them are on wheer or unmeritorious. that is a big issue.

the who criticize the persecutions, the who defend the defendants, have not really delineatedf there is anybody who was justifiably prosecuted or if there is a subset of people who stand out fm the others. if there's any contrast among this bigublishing, we are about to find out what the trump administration says about this. come january 20, there i an awful lot of people in prin or family members convicted who are expecting pardons. host: who runs that nightly vigil? gues the nightly vigil is run by the wife of the first january 6 defendant convicted in trial, a texas man, the first to trial and be convicted by jury, and the mother of ashli babbitt who was in that crowd and was shot breaching the window to the house speaker's lobby. the two of them come along with volunteers, have been tiless and running this visual -- host: where do they set up? is it at the courthouse grounds? guest: it is at the jail. there is a protest space

literally on theurb of the driveway of the jail they have cordoned off. it's streamed to a pretty large audience. host: where's the d.c. jail? guest: not far from capitol hill, ironically. it is near the old football stadium. host: more calls. mike wting in north carolina, republican caller: good morng. i'd like to comment on the hit piece your network has done on "60 minutes" on all of trump's cabinet pick you never did contradict any of biden'sicks, like what does pete buttigieg have in his experience. he was a mayor, he did nothing about transportation. you talk about the cost of illegal immigration, you talk i wi cost a lot to deport them and everything. there's already 1.2 million removal orders at this administration has not carri out, none of them. and you go see how much

annually, a year, how much illegal immigration, immigrants, from housing, food, schooling, health -- it's almost half $1 trillion. moving them ouof this country ll cost taxpays less when it cos to it. host:ike in north carolina. guest: a lot to unpack there. he mentions the cost of illegal immigration,eportation. it does cost money to get more border agents and more customs enforcement agents to run whatever programs will be run. there may be a cost savings to help offset that. it may be such a ct savings it ends up paying for that. it still needs congress and the appropriations process to get that through. the argument i am making here is congre mightave an easy time getting the apopriations and the mechanization in place to ke removals happened. this is one of the things for congress, the republican

majority in the house, the incoming republican majority in the senate, and the incoming hoe synronized and in lockstep. this may be one of the easier things they do. about cabinet appointments, am not sure about the piece he is referring to, but there will be some share of criticism about cabinet performance by any president by the opposing party in t u.s. senate. host: this question from x about the democratic policy and communicationsommitt, chris wanted to know will happen between the race betwn debby dingell and jasmine crockett. why is this something to watch? guest: there's a deep dive on the house minority leader. hakeem jeffries was asked about this friday. this is a relatively junior member of the u.s. house, jasmine crockett, running against a more senior member of the u.s. house, debby dingell in michigan -- host: the wife of the late john dingell. guest: the legend john dingell, the dean of the u.s. house for

quite a while. this type of generional battle is not uncommon in congress. congressman crockett has been a particular effective committee catered. congresswoman dingell has been a mainstay in the coming occasions circuit. it will be an interesting race but also one that may reveal some fault lines inside the democratic caucus. host: 15 minuteleft with scott mike rawlings this morning. tang your calls on phone lines r republicans, democrats, and independents. i wantsk about this story y put out last week how the birthplace of grover cleveland nors his unusual legacy and wh the impact has been of the election of donald trump. i know it is not the week ahead on capitol hill, but i want you to explain it. guest: grover cleveland is the only other president elected twice in nonconsecutive terms. the 22nd and 24th president lost the battle to the 23rd is at.

benjamin hrison came back, won the presidency. shares that connective tissue with all trump now. grover cleveland from a suburb of new york city. they have this historic site, his birthplace home, which is operated as a museum and educational center. it is across the streetrom an exxon station and a dunkin' nuts --which is true caldwell, new jersey, by the way. grover cleveland also has other things in common with donald trump. he was somebody who came to politics from the outside. he has some differences from donald trump. grer cleveland was a reltant candide for president, didn't want to do it, especially the second time, but managed to vanquish his previous defeat. we'll see if the are any more similarities that reveal themselves. host: nj.gov is where you can go

to learn about the grover cleveland birthplace historical site, the division of parks and forestry in the state of new jersey. scott mcfall and with us this morning. terris next, indepennt. caller: good mornin i just want ask scott i he considers himself a fair and impartial journalist. guest: we do our best. host: you can aske that queson. he has been on this program several times and happy to answer questions from you, our viewers. guest: we ar imperct vessels. we do our best. it is diffult work that it may not look difficult, but obviously, there a competing factions on every issue we cover. covering politics, you get competing factions on pretty much everything yououch. imperfect vessels about we try our best. host: t me dig down on that a bit. what changes for the congressional press corps, inside a time of change on capito hill, senate leadership changing, obviously the white

house has changednd that impacts what is happening on capitol hill. what does it mean for you folks who, day today, try to cover these folks, everything from where you go to who you talk to? guest: congress is one of those unique things to cover as a journalist where you are guaranteed, every two years, to lose dozens of sours and dozens of relationships, through retirements or defeats at the ballot box. we watch although seor mummers of congress retire and call it a day. we recognize the relationships we formed and the information we gleaned from them are about to walk out the door. we see new members coming in, like last week, with orientation, dozens of folks elected from across the country, big towns, small towns, old, young, rich political backgrounds and newcomers. these are people we have to learn, their tendencies, their interests, and build a relationship so we areetter journalists. is a constant cycle of new people coming in and o. that's a chaenge, but there is stabilit the congreional leadership is poised stathe same.

so we have a sense of how they funcon, hothey operate, what their tendencies are, what committe they prioritize. some o that is simple fight. for those of us covering politics, -- you will have to continue to churno find new threads. host: who of those new members coming in most intrigue or interest you? guest: we like the distant if back stories. some othose coming in have years, if not decades, of experience in state legislators -- legislatures, very seasoned just leaders and no, through musc memory, how to function. but there are those who come from different backgrounds who are fascinating. there is an electrical construction contractor family business owner from scranton who now represents northeastern pennsylvania. this is his first job in politics. by the way, he is joining the major leaks, coming into congress. let's see how he carries that.

there's latifah simon, elected to succeed in a democratic leadership in the bay area. she was born legally blind she now has to move to washington, d.c. for this new work. she is a one-time otégé of vice president harris. so she comes in here with a unique back story. let's see how she advocates for her district considering that. then of rural alabama, a one-time obama administration appointee who us to function in the justice department during the biden administration. he's coming into represent rural alabama, somebody who has equity in democratic administrations of the past. let's see what type of dissenting voice or collaborative voice he is wh republican leadership and this incoming administration. host lots to d into. you can watch all as a place out on the floor on c-span. this is soia, line for democrats. good morning.

caller: good morning. host: what's your question? you are on with scott mcfarland. -- scott macfarlane. caller: good morning. today is my birthday. am 74 tay. host: happy birthday. caller: i've beetalking to you sinc8, 9 yrs. i always call every month. scott, i'm worried. n stewart, he lef chris waace of cnn, he had one more week to go. i voted for mr. trump. i never thought it would go this far. all e people who make us lah and joke, they leaving. i hope stephen colbert don't leave neither. i have nothing much to say. i try to stay positive, try to

stay from negative people, everything negative. everything negative, i wanted to stay out of it. i guess i got too excited. now when see mr. trump, i flip the channels. the face, i don't nkow what it is -- host: i do not want you to get too upset on your birthday. happy birthday. guest: this brings me back to terry's island. what he asks does resonate. are you a fair and impartial journalist, are u sure about that? i get that question a lot. phia hasheir mirror imagef this, concerned that people are departing the stage when dona trump takes office january0. people do not want to be part of they're fair questions.

symptomatic of people consuming news out of a silo where they don't become accustomed to hearing contrarian voices or objective fact on all matters. certainly some of us are guilty of that ourselves going to news silos. i am a philadelphia eagles fan. i don't want to hear how good the lions and cowboys a 49ers are this year. i just want to hear about my team. if you are only consuming news out of a silo, you leave yourself vulnerable of not getting deeper or universal facts and opinions and thoughts and analysis. so we encouge people when administrations change, wn majorities change to ensure that their media diet is healthy and robust and full. so when you hear a dissenting opinion or a dissenting report that goes counter to your world view, you don't think it to be

biased and unfair. you tnk it's jrnalism and facts. it's one of the reasons why this program is so valuable because it does bring people tether where dissenting voices are heard and hard questions are asd. host: what is your advice to a reporter who will be starting on capitol hill in january, 2025? guest: this is going to be tireless. the enterprise of covering the trump administration the first time required people to be tireless. covering the second one appears like it's going to require the same amghtf tireless -- amount of tirelessness. the 24/7 nature of it where news can break on saturday morning when you are hoping to go to your kid's soccer game or sunday afternoon, where you are hoping to sit down with a cocktail and watch a football game. this is a much different type of rhythm to it. on capitol hill, though, it still brings that unique aspect that no other governmental beat or journalistic beat has, where

everybody is approachable. everybody can be held to account. everybody walks through public hallways and can be asked a question. the congressional beat is so inviting to so many people for that reason. there are 535 members of congress. you can appach any one of them. you can approach speaker johnson. you caapproach the senate majority leader. you can approach the newcomer from florida, from texas and ask a questi and get an answer or a nonanswer but either way get something to help with your journalism. never been more important to be on the stage, to stay out there and ask hard questions. if sophia's birthday can be val vajed by this, there are a lot of good people o ask hard questions and do good journalism who are very much staying with it. hostthis is barbara, good morning. you are next. you are on with scott macfarlane. caller: good morning. scott, you are a jewel in the crown of cbs is all i can say. your clarityf communication and your -- what do they call

it? bedside manner. headside manner, we will call it. fantastic, don't change anything. listen t me, young man. i am 77. i am the perfectollow on caller tour previous 74-year-old. i invente an epitaph for this election. here it is. poll is a four letter word. but so is data. so i think you get my point, and all i want to say is that i am watching this thing called the diplomat on in the flicks that is spectacular, but i am ginning to think that trump 2.0 might start to give it some competition for drama here because if the senators just say no to the insane ones and put them all through rigorous public questioning,t will add to my

last point which is this. the way i have helped myself get rough is is to visualize this show from oer countries that are struggling against autocracy ourselves and we are providing a masterlass in defeating aocracy through the use of media and in spite of and with using correct use of the social media. i recently went over to blue sky, so welcome to factand, people. it's called blue sky platform. d we just -- it's -- to keep repeating that sequence of i see the presidency like a ping-pong match where it goes back and forth over the net, and just to see what we have done in america in terms of who we have elected president and what we have accomplished in spite of the ping-pongness of this game is just unbelievable, unbelievable

accomplishments capped off by mr. modey himself, joe biden. when peopl get what all these extraordinary things that have happened kick in with infrastructure and everything else, we will look back at this time and we will put our feet and watch a football me. ok, i am done. host: barbara, you mentioned joe biden. hes at the g20 conference this morning. i think he arrived in the past couple of minutes. he will be there today and tomorrow. a lot there from barbara. guest: first of all, thank you, barbara. two dynamics that are most interesting to watch the next few months is the ping-pong match you described. how different is this second trump term now that he is lame duck without the impetus of re-election or the need to be politically activeo secure re-election? does that change how any of this manifests itself? that wl be fascinating but also it does feel like they're priming the pump for dramatic

confirmation hearings and i am not sure that donald trump has shied away from the dramatic theater of politicsheneveit comes up, if that's something he may in fact want ors averse to. we will figure that out. see how he reacts if there are dramaticonfirmion hearing for some of his picks. if he embraces that or tries to tamp it down. host: what is the most interesting pick left in your mind, halfway through his picks? est: as was alluded to earlier by nancy from connecticut, at some point a treasury secretary oice has to be announced for a campaign and administration that ra on the idea that inflation and costs, ruway costs and economic issues are primal with voters. that's got to come soon and it's going to be a choicat that will be inspected quite a bit. host: couple more phone calls. john, texas, independent. go ahead. thanks for waiting. caller: thank you for taking my call. so the mainstream media

complainabout trump's plans. all presidents, they remove millions, obama, clinton, bush. it seems only biden didn't. so why is trump's plan to rove people any different? there are milons of people who are trying 0 do it the right way, stay on the le. that's affecti their pfit, to suffer. so why -- what is any different that trump is doing that the other administrations aside from biden have done? why is th a major issue that he isrying to -- most of the g20 countries, they removed people. host: john, got your point. guest: i am in t surehere's going to be a formidable or successful political resistance to this at all. i saw democratic candidates for

the u. hou, from ng island to theidwesto the west cot, campaign on border security issues, trying to win on tt issue as well. i think what we are trying to make clear here and we were earlier in the program is that it will require some money or some action from congress to do the things trump has pledged to do. i don't know that there's going to be hurdles thathey can't surmount in the pross. the funding will likely be there. the language needed if necessary will likely be there. i am not sure the political resistance is strong at all based on john's question. i want to make sure that's clear. i think the is a consensus, congress will be behind this. host: what didn't we geto that we will be watching for this week? guest: this week keep an eye on the prosecutions for the capitol riot. does a judge say let's pause these things until january 20? because yeah, there is an increasing talk of pardons. so far judges ve deflected

those requests. let's see if one of them changes because if so others may come as well. but also any more statements the president-elect gis about what he is going to do on these issues of matt gaetz for attorney general, pete hegseth for department of defense secretary, tulsi gabbard for intelligence chair. he isetting some pushback, including inside his own party some of this. see how he counterpunches. host: scott macfarlane, cbs news congressional correspondent. always appreciate your time.