i wish there were more of us here. [applause] [applause] ♪♪ >> democracy, is not just an idea, the process shaped by leaders elected to the highest office trusted to a select few. it's with debate unfold, decisions are made. democracy real-time, your government at work.

this is c-span giving you you democracy unfiltered. >> the federal government is closed today because of the snowstorm the house and senate are in session. electoral college balance certified the election and walk over to the house for joint session about 12:40 p.m. eastern. live coverage of the senate here on c-span2. ...

we like to take a look at the weekend in washington. this first day of the 119th congress. report with axios. from the electoral vote counting to align states a busy week in capital. walk us through the schedule these next couple days. >> today's the big day of certifying the election results come certifying president-elect trump swim of course all be overseen by vice president harris. that's her role, although awkward she will be the one to announce her opponent won the election. we've got that going on today and then we will see if it will be former president jimmy carter will be lying in state and in the rotunda in the middle of the week and then his funeral will be friday where we will see all of the former presidents

gathering together, i get another awkward moment with a bunch of people not always been on good terms and who have been political enemies the past several years but coming together as is traditional to honor the former presidents like. >> host: and that all of that be time for legislative business on capitol hill? >> guest: we might not sit tight of legislative business in particular but one thing will be watching in this is how they begin to prepare for these confirmation fights which will kick off next week. there's a roller committee chairs have to give a weeks notice before the have a hearing with him getting started, just getting going they are going to announce when the saints are going to start taking place. were expecting to see a focus of national prefix, people like the defense department, tulsi gabbard as her intelligence leadership role that we are going to start seeing indications those are going to moving quickly. next week is and will see the syrinx kickoff.

>> host: do they usually let one go at a time? are the higgs happened multiple times? senators are on different committees so they may be called in if they're hearing savvy at the same time try to do they try to avoid conflict but you can see them stacked up quickly. were expecting quite a few on the 14th and 15th and again as you point out it depends on which committees these nominees in that setting before, whether there's a lot of overlap in those memberships of whether they can have hearings went on at the same time. just members of these committees oversee the agency that these people are being nominated for a going to be the ones who have this hearing. some nominees for health and human services want to sit before a few different committees in the senate both health and judiciary. there's going to be a lot of parents come up. some of them will be contentious. some nominees have some concerns

that senators want to have addressed so that be an exciting to watch. >> host: that's the senate. what happens in the house legislatively with a primary focus for speaker johnson? >> guest: the number one thing we know house and a suitable focus on is this huge reconciliation package. president-elect trump weighed a quorum call? the president pro tempore: there is no quorum call. mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. in a few minutes the senators will head over to the house of representatives to count the electoral votes and certify the election of druchl and jd vance as president of the united states. i offer my congratulations to president trump and vice president vance. republicans improved our margins nearly 90% of counties in the united states and grew support of nearly every democratic

group. the republican coalition is broad and strong and growing. now the work begins of delivering on our agenda. mr. president, republicans are ready to go. we're committed to ending the biden biden-harris bothered crisis and -- border crisis. we are committed to discourage the actors fomenting instability join the world stage. we're committed to strengthening our economic and fiscal future, which includes extending tax relief for hardworking americans. we're committed to advancing american energy dominance to promote affordable energy and our national security. mr. president, the list goes on and we're getting right to work. along with advancing these priorities, we focus on getting president trump's cabinet up and running quickly by enslurg his -- ensuring that his nominees are confirmed here in the united states senate. the voters sent president trump

here with a mission and we're committed to ensuring that he has the people around him he needs to deliver. mr. president, it's been a tough four years for the american people. the biden administration was characterized by historic inflation crisis that left millions of americans struggling, border crisis that jeopardizing our national security and increasing instability on the world stage. but i believe that a brighter future is ahead. i look forward to working with president trump, with vice president-elect vance and with republicans in both houses to secure that brighter future for the american people. i received news that my high school basketball track coach jerry appleby died. he was a deeply formative figure for me in my teenaged years setting an example for us players of hard work,

determination and sportsmanship. together, with my dad, also a coach, he founded the jones county invitational basketball tournament, the longest running tournament of its kind in south dakota. it starred in the 1906's. an -- 1960's. an event i played in and still enjoy attending to this day. among the memories i have of coach appleby are around that auditorium, and it is named after him. as i recall my days playing basketball there, there was one thing you could never miss in any time which he was involved and that was his loud voice bouncing off the ceiling in that auditorium. that auditorium was built in 1954, at the time it was the taj mahal of auditoriums and continues to serve our school

and the surrounding schools really well. some opposing teams refer to it as the barn. but the one thing you were always sure of is what murdle in jones county was playing a basketball game, you could hear coach applebee. i remember that in the babble gym -- gymnasium and on the track. we were playing in the district championship game with a chance to go on in the playoffs and to make it to the state tournament, which was every kids' aspiration, every kid dreamed of playing in the basketball state tournament. but we got the last chance my senior year, we are playing our arch rival in their gymnasium

and as was typically the case, it was a back and forth game. they were ahead by a point at the end of the first quarter, we were ahead at half time. and it got down to the end of the game and we were down one point with five being -- five seconds left on the clock. the coach calls time-out, we call a huddle. my teammates inbound the ball, my teammate set a screen for me on the baseline, be and i came out to what would be the three-point line although we didn't have one back then, and i fired the shot that i would hope that would take us off to the playoffs. it came off the [of the rim -- back of the rim. and so obviously after the game, my last opportunity at pursuing a chance to play in a state

basketball tournament, i was sitting in the locker room by myself. most of the team got on the bus and waiting for some of the rest of us and the coaches. coach applebee came over to me and tapped me on the shoulder and said it's time to get on the bus, and by the way, track starts next week. that won't my favorite sport. he was sending an important message, that is that you gave it your best shot, there is always another sport, another day, and you're going to get another opportunity down the road to do what you want to do. so that was a really important message and very affirming to me at a time when, as a young athlete, who felt not only i let myself down by my teammates as well, i'll never forget that comment he made to me at that critical time in what was early in my sports career. well, i just remember too, later

at that year -- later that year, him pulling me out of class, i think it was english class to tell me that i had made the allstate basketball team the first team. and as he came out, he kind of pointed at me, signalled this way, i thought oh, no, what have i done now? we got in the hallway, he couldn't have been more excited to share that news. it was an example how invested he was in the success of the players he coached and people, the young kids around him, he was also the principal of the high school, and wanted to see them succeed and do well in well, track season was the next season. my hometown there are of oftentimes, if we had a lot of snow in the winter, and sometimes it didn't get dried up in the spring, or if we had a wet spring for that matter, the track where we ran was a dirt track. it was north of town. it was a fairly low spot. so oftentimes, the track was wet.

to do our conditioning, particularly early in the season, we would run city blocks, a block would be like equivalent of about a 400 repeat. we would run a series of those. do our long warm-up runs, then run city blocks. the other thing we would do is go down to the airport south of town, and the airport south of town, a little lange strip, about a -- landing strip, about half a mile long, my colleague here, senator rounds, has flown into it. he's a pilot. we'd run down there, about 2.2 miles, our warm-up run. then do our workouts on the airport runway. we would all line up at one end coach applebee at the other end of the runway. if you've seen a half mile on a straightaway, he looked like this little figure town there. we would all line up, sometimes you could inch forward a little bit, because he couldn't sigh you -- see you, but he knew what you were up to. even then you could hear him. i remember later that year

running at the state tracks me in sioux falls, which is a lot la larger outdoor place we ran, and howard wood field in sioux falls, seats about 12,000 people. even in a crowded, outdoor arena, you could hear his voice up in the crowd. it was unmistakable. he was always barking something out. in many cases, admonishing you to do better, to run harder, to be more successful. mr. president, i'm just grateful for the impact that he had on my life, and as i think about the admonition to him, track starts next week, there is always another day, and we have to get up and do our work and make sure we're doing the best to accomplish our work here on behalf of the american people. so those are lessons i've taken with me -- accept your losses, get to work on the next thing. it's one of the many lessons that have stuck with me from

coach applebee. i'm going to miss seeing coach applebee on my sprees it's to murdo -- on my visits to murdo. i remain greatly deep -- deeply grateful for all he taught me. to his family, my thoughts and prayers are with them. with his loved ones. and i would just say, rest in peace, coach applebee. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. president. the presiding officer: the senate majority leader -- the president pro tempore: the senate majority leader. mr. thune: i understand there's bill at the desk. i ask for its first reading. the president pro tempore: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. 5, the bill to require the secretary of homeland security to take into custody aliens charged in the united states with theft and for

other purposes. mr. thune: mr. president, i now ask for a second reading, and in order to place the bill on the calendar under provisions of rule 14 i object to my own request. the president pro tempore: objection is heard. the bill will be read for a second time on the next legislative day. mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that upon dissolution of the joint session today, the senate stand adjourned until 11:00 a.m., tuesday, january 7, that following the prayer and pledge the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day, and the senate be in a period of morning business, with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the president pro tempore: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president. the president pro tempore: the senate democratic leader. mr. schumer: mr. president, four years ago today, i stood on this very spot, alongside my

colleagues, as we prepared to certify the 2020 election. as we were going about our business, all of a sudden i felt a hand pull my collar. my security detail gripped me by the arm and told me we had to get out. a mob of rioters had broken into the capitol, and that we were not safe. i looked to the podium and saw vice president pence quickly rushed out of the chamber by his detail. as we evacuated, accompanied by two of the capitol police officers, we took a turn down the hallway, opened the door, and came within several yards of angry rioters, before my security detail pulled us away to safety. we were maybe within 20 feet of them. had one of them loblgd the door or had a -- locked the door or had a gun, lord knows what would have happened. thus began one of the darkest,

most shameful days in american history of our democracy. that was four years ago today. less than an hour from now, the house and senate shall convene for a joint session of congress to complete the process of certifying the 2024 presidential election. today we will not see the violence we saw four years ago. today the process will return to normal and remain solemn but peaceful. we're here today to continue the transfer of power, to acknowledge what the people have already decided, and nothing more. unfortunately, today stands in sharp contrast to what happened four years ago. on that day, lawlessness and mob violence sought to bring democracy to its knees. staff and members of congress hid beneath desks, barricaded

the doors of their offices. rioters smashed windows and ransacked offices and broke into the senate and house chambers. insurrectionists waved con fed roast flags and donned nazi symbols. pipe bombs were mrarnted near the dnc and rnc. this was in no way a peaceful protest. was not even a protest that got out of hand. this was a deliberate, and in some cases premeditated, attempt to subvert the democratic process through intimidation and violence. it was one of the most shameful, reprehensible episodes in the histories of this great nation, and it happened because the loser of the 2020 election refused to accept defeat. we cannot let anyone whitewash what happened here four years

ago. far too many individuals have tried to rewrite the history of january 6, have tried to sweep the truth under the rug and pretend like the day was perfectly fine or even a moment of great patriotism. that is a lie, plain and simple a lie. future generations must never forget the truth. january 6, 2021, was a day that a violent mob tried to halt the results of a presidential election. it was a direct assault on american democracy. on that day, our capitol police faced their hour of maximum danger, but they responded with maximum valor. outnumbered and overwhelmed, the capitol police and all our first responders became the defenders of our democracy. today, we honor all the members of the capitol police, the d.c. police, our servicemembers, and

all first responders who kept us safe four years ago, as well as everyone who's kept us safe since. we acknowledge and thank all the capitol staff who stayed late into the night to restore order and clean the wreckage left behind by the rioters. they did their job without fanfare, without complaint, and away from the spotlight. they join our first responders as the unsung heroes of our demo democracy, every one of them. we mourn, of course, all of those whose lives were lost in connection with the attack. we mourn the brave officers who died in the days and weeks and months after the attack. we pray for their families, that they find comfort and grace. and mr. president, it is sha shamefully, utterly outrageous that the president is considering pardons for these rioters who broke the law, attacked our police officers on

january 6. pardoning the criminals who assaulted police officers and tried to halt the democratic process would be a dangerous endorsement of political violence. it would send a message to the country and to the world that those who use force to get their way will not be punished. it is wrong, it is reckless, and it would be an insult to the memory of those who died in connection with that day. on that day, the rioters tried to halt the peaceful transfer of power, but as we know they fa failed. the insurrection failed because our democracy is stronger than the gale force wind of mob violence. it failed that day because democrats and republicans were united amidst a storm of utter lawlessness and committed to certifying the rakes. as hard -- the election. as hard as january 6 was, it will be one of the proudest --

it will be -- as hard as january 6 was, it will be one of my proudest moments in office, because on that day the majority of us united to uphold our oaths to the constitution. i still remember that around 5:00 p.m. that day, leader mcconnell, speaker pelosi, leader mccarthy and i gathered and said we're going back into session now, and we are going to count the votes. we decided this despite the worries of some that the capitol was not yet safe, and we did. we were not going to let the rioters interfere with our democracy. it was a historic moment of bipartisanship, where both sides united in the protection of our demo democracy. mr. president, i mention january 6, 2021, for many reasons. i mention january 6 to remind everyone that democracy is precious and can at times be a

fragile thing. i mention january 6 to set the record straight for all coming time, so that future generations may know the truth of what happened on that day, and that they remain vigilant against future attacks on our democracy. i mention january 6 to warn this generation and future generations of the immense dangers that arise when election denialism is tolerated and excused and propagated. we can never, ever again allow the level of unhinged election denialism to happen, not from republicans, not from democrats, not from anyone. and we are setting an example today. even though the elections did not go democrats' way, i want to be very clear, on this january 6 our side will not engage in election denialism. we democrats accept the will of the people. we accept the results, even when

we don't like them, because our loyalties lie with the constitution and with the rule of law. we hope what happens today, rather than what happened four years ago, stands as a shining example for future generations of how one conducts themselves in a free democracy. we hope that the way we democrats conduct ourselves today helps those republicans who tried to subvert the election of four years ago understand the grave nature of their mistake. far too many on the other side, far too many, willingly claim the election of 2020 was stolen, even though they knew perfectly well it was not. of course, i know plenty of my republican colleagues, including my friend the former republican leader, did not participate in the attempts to undermine the election four years ago, but too many did. if we want to prevent another

attack like january 6, neither side can ever again tolerate the kind of conspiratorial madness we saw four years ago, and it starts by setting an example and doing the right thing today, no matter which side got their way in the electoral process. on this, the four-year anniversary of the capitol attack, the only obstruction we will see is the obstruction coming from the storm. even then mother nature will not be able to stop us from doing our jobs today. today we will convene, we will do our jobs, and then we move on to the business of governing for the american people because that is what our oaths demand of us. i yield the floor.

>> american enterprise institute and host of the understanding conkers podcast. joining us to understand today's political count and certification process, kevin kosar. before we get to the why,

explain what is going to happen in this joint session at 1 p.m. eastern. >> guest: good morning, john. see you. today's an important day, the second to last step in the process we use in america to select a president. process begin back in november with the german election. after that we had the electoral college. now we move on to the process by which congress receives from the states their reports of who voted for which candidate, then congress proceeds to count them out loud and to officially declare who one. this is a rare joint session of congress so we will see the house intercession to date around 1:00 and then we will see the senators file into the chamber, and join their legislative colleagues. and then one by one they will open the envelopes and see who each state voted for and officially announced the result.

>> host: is there any surprise in this process? >> guest: hopefully there will not be any surprises. but as with all four years ago, anything is possible. we have our recent history where their frequent our members of congress want to object the particular states electoral votes. they want to claim there is something wrong with them, therefore, congress should consider not counting them. but in helping monotonous in effect today. >> host: the state reports, the sample a few talk about being open, explain the path to capitol hill today. >> guest: sure, sure. we have a decentralized system. it's not the federal government who runs our elections and man's polling places or anything like that. rather, this is a state driven process. so states conduct elections. it is a basis select individuals

called electors who represent the public and to compete in the electoral college. at the end of that process that's when you get generation of this thing called a certificate of ascertainment. for those of you who are on twitter or ask, i tweeted out and tag "washington journal" a couple examples with the certificates look like where the governor and other official site and say here of individuals who receive our states electoral votes. >> host: how to get to capitol hill and what happens to them after they are counted today? >> guest: multiple copies have to be produced by the demand of the constitution. some have to go directly to the u.s. senate. that's because the vice president was also the president of the senate is a person who presides over the counting. another set of copies also go to

he will be kept along with all of her other precious historical records. >> host: you mention the vice president presiding over today's joint session. who are the other key players? >> guest: you need a speaker the house to get this session up and running. fortunately late last week we were able to do that. we also need just everybody in congress to show up and to participate in this process. because on one hand yes, this is sort of formality. we already know that mr. trump and mr. vance won the presidential and vice presidential race that it's a ceremony in which we officially deem the race done and decided and we accept the victors. >> host: certificate of ascertainment, there's a couple of examples you mentioned on your page. we can show the interviews including is there an elaborate one from the state of ohio

signed by who in the state of ohio? >> guest: you usually see a governors signature on there. that's one of the things the electoral count act was adopted to do. we have a constitution lays out the basic processing congress has to come to this joint session and have to take states electors and to count them up and declare who one. but the question is, where do the certificates come from a how do you know the our official? more than a century ago the electoral count act was adopted after the contested 1876 election precisely because there were dueling certificates and him. back in 2020 we also saw that. we had some unofficial certificates sent in claiming that ms. trump had one when he had not. >> host: could happen today? >> guest: it could but i'm not hurting reports of alternate

certificates being submitted. >> host: what happened with the electoral count act in the wake of the events of january sixth, 2021? >> guest: congress finally woke up and realized this very old law which was written in very antique and stilted language needed to be updated. there have been scholars for 30 years saying, hey congress, this law is poorly written. the words can be difficult for modern audience to understand and they can easily be exploded by crafty lawyers. unfortunately congress did not take action and it took the events of january sixth, 2021, to spark action. congress did get work. it was bipartisan work. you have multiple groups working on new drafts to amend the statute and the changes were significant. they basically took these rules around the process of clarifying who won the presidency and a

tighten them up. so it's a lot harder for crafty attorneys and partisan politicians to manipulate the process and to try to throw it off the rails. one thing we will see today in the chamber is that they attempt to pause the proceedings by objecting to the states electoral votes, is going to have to be the lot higher threshold. they used to be you only needed one representative and one senator to pause in the county and to force the joint session to split into the house and the senate to debate separately. now you need to get one-fifth of all senators to agree to object and one-fifth of all members of the house. the law also for the limited the grounds on which you can object. you could have to limit your objection to two two technil things which i will elaborate on and board listeners, but you can no longer get away with 2, the

as a body to the hall of the house of representatives.

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