administration as it is formed and when it takes office early next year. thank you very much. president obama travels abroad this week 40's expected to be his final overseas trip before leaving office. his first thought is increase on tuesday for meetings with the president and prime minister. thursday march the sixth visit to germany where he will speak with chancellor angela merkel and other leaders from france, the united kingdom and italy. on friday the president attends a summit in peru before returning to the u.s. announcer: c-span, where history unfolds daily. as a79, c-span was created public service by america's cable television companies. it is brought to you today by

your cable or satellite provider. host: we want to welcome david rothkopf, the ceo and editor at "foreign policy," and dr. of -- and the author of "national insecurity: american leadership in the age of fear." good morning. why the title for that book? mr. rothkopf: since 9/11, we have been focused on foreign threats, particularly threats from terrorist groups, which are serious but they are not existential. meanwhile, the world has been changing in profound ways. and we have not been tracking those changes or dealing with the future. so, what i wanted to do was to try to take a step away from the memes of fear. i thought that might happen in this election. as it happens, we came to an election cycle where the winning candidate is very much a fear mongering candidate and

continued to play on those themes and the fear of other people, other racial and ethnic groups and so forth. so it shows that this problem continues in the u.s. and is distracting us from the future. host: let me ask you about news, cnn confirming that for americans, two service members and two american contractors killed in apparent suicide bombs that took place yesterday at the largest u.s. airbase in afghanistan. the explosion also wounded 16 other u.s. service members, as well as one polish soldier. the taliban immediately claimed responsibility in a tweet praising the strong attack on the bagram airfield. a reminder of what we face around the world's especially in iraq and afghanistan. mr. rothkopf: political campaigns are tidy. you get to control you want to talk about and you get to assert that you can control things in the future in a way you will not be able to. as soon as he is in office, president trump will be dealing with afghanistan, iraq, syria, unexpected crises around the world.

and he will have to deal with them, and that will take -- him off of his agenda. it will also introduce them into the real world in a way that he has never been exposed to it before because he has no foreign policy experience. host: every president has been tested by foreign-policy issues, the bay of pigs with john kennedy, the iran hostage crisis with jimmy carter, the attacks on the marine base with ronald reagan. how do the president trump should prepare for the unforeseen circumstances? mr. rothkopf: well, i would have preferred to have a president with foreign-policy experience. we tend not to elect presidents much foreign-policy experience. six of the last seven presidents had virtually none. as far as what he can do now, he could appoint a team of people who had that experience, and you could listen to them very, very carefully.

because he is now going to go through a period of on-the-job training that is higher stakes and more challenging than any individual anywhere on the planet. host: that is the essence of "the washington post's" front story. for trump, the art of the transition. basically it is going to be how he extends beyond his loyalists to get people to go with them on national security issues. charles allen says i think it is time for them to be professional and suck it up. we work for the president and congress and that is what we do. we are capable and have to do our job. mr. rothkopf: of course they will do that. they always do that. they do that with every president of the united states. the assertion that they might not, actually echoes trump's contempt for the intelligence community during the campaign. well you think the trump will have to do is go to the generals who said he was smarter than

them, who he attack and said he was smarter than them, then go to the intelligence community, who he attacked, and said he did not trust them -- the a la branch is i am here to listen and learn. i also think one of the things to watch closely is who he picks to be his tutors in foreign policy. because right now, he is a blank slate on foreign policy. the people who are closest to him, who are giving him advice, are also instructing him, and are shaping him as a future foreign policy leader. and so, those choices in the next couple of weeks will be extremely telling. host: let me get your reaction to european reaction. we will hear from angela merkel, may --st from for me so first from theresa may, the new british prime minister, reacting to the news of donald trump as our 45th president. [video clip] theresa may: congratulate donald trump, britain and the united states will remain close partners on trade security and

defense. we have a long-standing and enduring special relationship, which is built on shared values as freedom of democracy and enterprise. and i look forward to looking with president-elect trump to ensure we can maintain the security and prosperity of our two nations in the future. >> given what he said in the campaign about women, muslims, and some of the plans that raise person fors he a fit the office and will you be able to work with him? theresa may: i look forward to working with president-elect trump. the american people elected him. host: your reaction to what the british prime minister said? guest: fairly predictable. these reactions tend to be anodized and she's a political

cousin of trump's. she is kind of xenophobia, right of center politician who has gotten into office talking about getting out of europe and attacking refugees, and she is part of a wave. i think one of the things we need to see trump in the context of the bigger way toward right-wing, xenophobia, and to -- anti-refugee, leaders and that includes leaders across europe, it includes vladimir putin. there was a report not too long ago, a couple days ago, that stephen bannon, a right-hand aid to trump, reached out to the marine le pen forces in france, and election happening in france, see extreme right group in france, and said, let's work

together and marine le pen responded by, absolutely, let's work together. i think we need to see donald trump as been part of something that is bigger globally and is very worrisome if we have any recollection of what happens when right-wing movements like this take power in places like europe. >> german chancellor angela merkel saying "on the basis of these values, i am offering to work closer with the future president of the united states. saying we are bound by democracy, freedom and respecting the rule of law." we also want to hear what vladimir putin said. our radio audience will hear this through a translator. [video clip] vladimir putin: we have heard his electoral slogans when he was still a candidate. [speaking russian] >> he spoke about restoring relations with russia and the united states. vladimir putin:[speaking russian]

translator: we understand that the way to that will be difficult to take on the current state of the relation between the relations of the u.s. and russia. vladimir putin:[speaking russian] translator: as i have repeated -- repeatedly said, it is not our fault that russian-american relations are in the poor state. vladimir putin:[speaking russian] translator: we want to restore the full-fledged relations of the united states. host: the comments of the russian president vladimir putin. and many critics saying he had hands in the election, with wikileaks and his friendship with donald trump, indirect support of donald trump. >> that is not just critics,

that was the u.s. intelligence community. communityntelligence that we were just talking about trump learning to respect and work with. wikileaks is an agent of the russian government. they were present throughout the campaign. think about how close the campaign was. that's now by approaching 2 million bets. she lost the electoral vote intens of thousands of votes michigan, wisconsin and pennsylvania. this is a slight difference. could the drumbeat of wikileaks made a difference? absolutely. we do not know for sure. there are other factors and we should not minimize the fact of how divided the country is, but could the russians have played an important role in tipping the scales? they could have. pointnald trump at any repudiate the support of the russians? no, he embraced it. when asked about whether we should stand up to putin, who has been bald-faced, an

aggressor in ukraine, georgia, throughout his beer-abroad, has been responsible for atrocities in syria, did trump offer criticism? no, he did not. i suspect that while you just heard was a measured statement from the russian president, when trump was unexpectedly elected and the russians did not expect them to win, they were champagne corks popping in the kremlin. this is the outcome they wanted. there is not been since the end of the second world war, the american president who has entered office with a warm tilt towards russia then taken. in regards to the comment that you play from angela merkel, she was offering and activation. she is not offering a full throated embrace.

said to the extent with -- the president embraces those values, we will be able to work together. there were other leaders, nicolas sturgeon in scotland and elsewhere, who said similar remarks, which is essentially, let's wait and see with regard to trump. host: we have comments through a translator, so we will go to luis first from virginia. with your comments or questions. good morning. caller: good morning. i think you are the right wing, the extreme right. you are the neoconservative, you're the person wants to push us into war and we do want to be friends with russia, syria, turkey, the whole world. you and your groups, you are the people who are constantly pushing for war. you are at the extreme right, and you want to call donald trump right? he is dead center. remember what ronald reagan said, there is no left or right, just up and down.

you are the right winged brain that brings us down. you are no better than the left that brings us down. i hope americans look at the foreign policy of all you so-called experts and see what you brought us for the past 40 years. thank you so much. guest: [laughter] what am i supposed to say to that nonsense? first, i am not a neocon. i was in the administration, for that i was in the clinton administration. for those who want to accuse me of the a left winger because i was in the clinton administration, i was also in managing director of the kissinger associates. i think in the tradition of foreign-policy experts for a long time, which is that we try to look at the facts. the facts are that being weak with aggressive people like putin is more likely to produce conflict and sending a strong message. i was enormously critical of what i saw in the face of

dealing with russia with barack obama's hesitancy just as i am , concerned that putin. your question was about does it matter foreign power tries to manipulate our elections and probably have some affect? i think it does. should we be wary of a foreign power that would seek to do such things? i would think we should. names and labels that name-calling and silliness like that call aside. the reality is that stings had taken place here recently, which deserve attention and deserve the attention of the incoming administration because they are signs of problems to come. -- two comments from our viewers, this is from don. ike, or to eisenhower, would love trump. he is the first president in the half century that is not the

beholden to the military-industrial complex. and then this -- they said, better relations with russia are not a bad idea, especially after the coup in ukraine by economic hitmen. guest: [laughter] oh my god. i think ike would not have had patients with trump at all. i have respect for eisenhower and based on his world war ii experience and time in office, he was very skeptical for these inexperienced commentators who came onto the scene, as trump did. in fact, when eisenhower was president, he sought to strike the right balance between strength and aggression within his own party because of the fact that he had the kind of experience that he did. trump says i am holding to no -- says i beholden to no one. amlet's look at how his cabinet stakeout. look at his team. he said he is going to drain the swamp.

now the transition team is full of lobbyists. he has people advising him on defense that are tied to defense contractors. that is not a step away from the military-industrial complex. it is a step towards the military-industrial complex. what we are hearing, the appointments he is likely to make will deliver a message that he is at the core of the establishment like he always was and this myth of the independent is going to give way to the reality of somebody who is trying to further his nest and that of his friends. let's hear from angela merkel. [video clip] angela merkel:[speaking german]

host: the comments of german chancellor in german with english translation below. your comments? guest: she said, i'm happy to work with you if you embrace people of all origin. if you treat women properly, if you share these values. these were references to things he said during the campaign. she was saying, we are not a blank slate, we will not follow blindly. you have got to stick to the values that have underpinned the atlantic alliance since it was established in world war ii. we are to go our own way.

i think in this statement, you saw merkel make a strong pitch, that a lot of what will happen in the near future is going to be driven by her because trump is a neophyte and some people in europe are distrustful. host: is the future of nato in doubt? guest: trump ran with criticisms of nato, comments about them not bearing or sharing the burden -- i think a deep understanding of why an alliance exists. he was critical as if we offered a one-way street of protection for them, when we entered into the alliance because they offered an important buffer and support for us militarily, politically and otherwise. i think that is something we need to watch carefully because the atlantic alliance, particularly with the way russia behaves is absolutely vital to , our future. one would hope that any new

president would focus on revitalizing it, strengthening relationships, and making the institution effective in the context of 21st century challenges. host: you can read the work of our guest at foreign policy.com, the former managing director of kissinger associates and served in the clinton administration under secretary of commerce. he primarily focused on international trade issues. his latest book "national kissinger associates and served insecurity: american leadership in an age of fear." christine from florida, republican line. caller: good morning. how are you today? host: fine, thank you. caller: good. my question pretty much is the foreign policy immigration. do we feel that donald trump will put a change in when women come into the country illegal, legal, and suddenly have a baby that they are automatic citizens?

host: do you understand the question? guest: yeah. i think she is concerned about policies that have made children born in the united states automatically to citizens and she wonders if it will change. donald trump said he would change the policies, rudy giuliani said he would change the policies. he has someone on his transition team whose sole focus is building a wall and changing immigration policies. i would see no reason to assume that he is not going to try to change them. paul ryan, who recently just said he doesn't expect massive deportation, so somewhere between trump's inflammatory rhetoric and the status quo is where we are going to be. and i expect that will mean tougher requirements for new immigrants more enforcement, and , i think that will be quite interesting. deported twice as

many people as george w. bush. it is not in his first term in office. it is not well understood, but the republican party was traditionally very tolerant and embracing of immigration within certain rules and limits. and what trump's rhetoric, and some has been racist and bio, vile. racist and file -- but even the more moderate rhetoric represents a departure, particularly when you consider that united states is a nation of immigrants and one of the reasons we are one of the major countries in the world that has not suffered from rapid aging of the population has to do it why we embrace immigrants. he also ignore the fact with regard to mexican immigration that net flows right now are out of the u.s. and into mexico, as opposed to the other way. they are the ones facing inflows

and challenges they pose. host: susan in oklahoma, republican line. good morning. caller: yes, i just wanted to say that i think most americans are tired of the media and are happy to get information from any direction. most of them work all day. the working people come home at night and hear stories on the 6:00 news about dogs and movie actors. secondly, i would like to say that they would like to be helps, all the people that are already here, to put a temporary hold on immigration and help the people here in our black communities and the working class people right now. and that we can go back to whatever they think is proper, but people are hurting right now and no one seems to recognize it. host: thank you. guest: well, first of all, if you don't trust the media, then i think you need to examine what your definition is of the media because you get information from everywhere and wikileaks is part

of that. you need to find places you trust. the u.s. intelligence community says do not trust wikileaks and they believe they are an agent of the russian government. if the u.s. intelligence community believes that and all the evidence supports that find , someone else to trust. if you don't trust the 6:00 news and you don't trust wikileaks, there are plenty of choices. as far as dealing with immigration and putting it on hold, let's be realistic. we do not accept that many immigrants. it is not a burden to our society to absorb the ones we do accept. i think we have accepted too few immigrants from crisis torn regions during there are 63 million people in the world dislocated. many are helpless, pose no threat to anybody and we had the richest and most powerful country. that goes to the final point of

we are the richest and most powerful country. we have never been richer or more powerful. we don't have to make america great again. america is already great, but there are people in the u.s. suffering. inequality is a serious problem. i think we have to have some confidence that the united states government, the largest organization on the planet earth, the largest entity on planet earth of its kind had the ability to walk and chew gum at the same time. we can deal with problems in the cities, education, infrastructure, security, and we can continue to be humane and recognize the many benefits that immigration has brought us. host: jim says, we need, in my opinion, nato. they need us. they need to help foot the bills. but do we need the united nations? not sure about that. u.n. headquarters should move. thoughts?

guest: do we need a community of nations trying to resolve problems through discussion, dialogue, mutual understanding and cooperation? i think almost three quarters of a century after the founding of the, the answer is a resounding yes. could the united nations be doing a better job and is a need for reform? i think the answer is yes. do we want to to move? that is a personal decision. i think having the united nations in new york has benefited the united states and new york, so i would not advocate it. host: helen, republican line from louisiana. good morning. caller: god bless c-span. it came to pass with the men of god began to multiply on the face of the earth, that the sons

of gods or daughters who are the whitesnd wise and when the god choose whites, and that is on page 257, white, peer and innocent, beautiful, perfect features, free from the black, wicked evil. guest: i will jump in. host: we will move on to another call. let's go to randy from wisconsin. i apologize for that. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i was wondering what his opinions were of trump supporters, white supremacist, kkk and other groups that are quite disturbing. host: both calls connected. guest: that really illustrated it and the point. donald trump has the candidate -- as a candidate fostered the

tensions that now are broiling u.s. policy, politics. he attacked mexicans as racist. he said he was going to ban people based on their religion contrary to the spirit of the constitution of the united states. and he allowed himself to benefit from the support of the kkk, from white supremacist groups and nationalist groups. he never once repudiated them. just like you never once repudiated vladimir putin. i think that is troubling. particularly as he said in his remarks that he wants to be president for all the people. you cannot be president for all the people when a key group supporting you prefers whites, anglo-saxons, attacks jews. when he ran in the final days leak in anti-definition

a unprecedented way as being anti-semitic as it was anti-semitic. his anti-muslim -- he is anti-muslim, anti-semitic, supporters that openly racist, he has never repudiated this and it has created an atmosphere in the united states which was reflected in your prior caller, which is a lot of the groups feel empowered and the tensions we see in our schools today and in the streets are driven by this. personally, i am unsettled by the current tenor of american politics and i blame that to a large degree on a trump campaign that seemed to be willing to do anything and embrace anyone to become elected. host: let's go to al from ohio, good morning. caller: hello? host: go ahead. caller: i did not know i was going to get on so soon. i just called. i am 57 years old and i have been watching my whole life

foreign policy. as you know we had the vietnam , war, body counts every day. i watched this. and i watched as we actually in my view became aggressively worse. -- progressively worse. we started from bombing farmers in vietnam, setting villages on fire, people that live in huts and we go to iraq now and we do the things we are doing. is there any time we will start negotiating with people? i liked the prior caller, your man who worked for kissinger, who has a long list of crimes he committed, i would like to know if we are going to, i would like peace with people and negotiations. we are going the opposite way and i believe this man is part of the reason we are doing that. guest: well, first, i think kissinger did a lot of things

wrong, too. i was a democrat in his office and he tried to have balance and i think it was admirable. host: you worked in his private office and not service sector. guest: that is right. i served in the clinton administration and the think the policies of the clinton administration are closer to my own. in every case, negotiation is preferable. certainly, what we did in iraq was appalling and indefensible and i would only encourage this guy to read what i have written because i have attacked as vehemently as possible. i attacked the use of drones and -- as vehemently as possible. i worry about automated militaries that have rich countries invading poor countries without shedding rich country's blood and i worry about consequences. i worry about morality of what

we have done. by all means, let's find peaceful avenues for resolving problems if that is possible. having said that, let's do that from a position of strength. that is what enables the united states to maintain the path since the second world war. they are enemies out there and i think they need to know that they will not be able to continue unchecked and that we and use international law when there is a direct threat to us and our allies, we will act in defense of ourselves and our allies. that has been the core of american foreign-policy since the end of the second world war and has worked efficiently -- extremely well for us. have we made mistakes? yes. all countries make mistakes, but the best thing about the united states is we have a system to air out differences and we can move toward undoing the mistakes and be better in the future and that is what i hope we can continue to do. host: the general question in a

complex world, but what will president trump inherit in terms of what the obama administration will be leaving behind? guest: i think you have to sort of take each region in succession. the middle east is a mess. syria and iraq will be unresolved. afghanistan will be in turmoil. some of our key allies, egypt , very unsettled, turkey, very unsettled. russia is making inroads into the region, not just in syria but with turkey through making initiatives with regard to egypt, even talking about basis. -- bases in cyprus. the balance of power is changing. trump is concerned about the iran deal. he has to be careful on how to handle that because of the balance of power in the region is at play. many of our allies are nervous and don't know where he will go. china is rising, being assertive

in the south and east china sea and he needs to deal with that. north korea will test him. kim jong un on is a wildcard and extremely dangerous, another problem. i think the key to counterbalance is stressful and we have not mentioned global warming, a mass effect two -- a massive threat he discounts altogether. i think the key is rebuilding alliances and reimagining them for the 21st century. i think we have to see whether they ascribe to the unilateral policies of the dick cheney wing of the republican party voiced their more and the george h.w. bush wing of the republican party, and might seek to build alliances as james baker did. and i think strength in america, i hope for the latter. host: let's go to willie in michigan, independent line.

good morning. go ahead. guest: yes, my concern is about the media. the media talks from both sides of their mouth. a lot of people do not understand when they bring people on their show, and these people say things that are not true or not real and the commentator who is talking to this person never says anything is wrong, right, or having a different opinion. i think this is wrong. i think the media has done -- i think they have to a lot of harm to the united states. thank you for the call.

your thoughts of the media coverage on both sides? people have hundreds of thousands of choices out there. there are right-wing choices and left-wing choices, there are some that have tried to be more centrist, there are massive amounts of stuff out there on the web. listers, viewers, need to think very carefully. i think we is not had a appreciation for the fax. if misunderstood what objectivity means. if you're coming candidates like trump, it is not objective to say he is like any other candidate and i will treat him like any other candidate if he is not. objectivity requires to focus on facts, and without prejudice and report them as you see them. if the candidate is unqualified or if a candidate is using hateful approaches or if the candidate is plain footsie with some foreign power that is

dangerous to the united states, you have to report that. if that makes the candidate different from any other candidate that existed, you have to say, this is different from history. i think a lot of media failed to do that. when you look at the close margin of the election, we will have a huge amount of dialogue about what content the election the way did? hillary clinton as a candidate? chuck's genius? people discuss with washington? wikileaks? russians? that african-americans did not vote for hillary the way they voted for obama? that the rust belt is changing? all of those are potentially right. another one is right, also, the media gave hundreds and millions of dollars for coverage to donald trump, treating him like a legitimate candidate and like what he did was not reprehensible and not challenging him and allowing him to have this stage where they do not allow others to have the stage and then had to make a

difference. host: margaret thatcher and ronald reagan had a close relationship and tony blair and obama had a close relationship. who do you envision filling that role in the trump white house? guest: we don't have any track record for trump. he might come close to theresa may. there has been an emerging group overseas. he seems to have fondness for vladimir putin. bill clinton also had a fondness for boris yeltsin, that is not entirely unprecedented in u.s. history. we will have to wait and see, as on everything with donald trump and foreign policy because he really is a fibula rossa. -- tabula rasa.

one thing we might end up with is trump might be the blustering unilateralism of the cheney wing of the republican party and the lack of a desire to get involved overseas of obama. he might combine the least good qualities of the last administration or he may surprise us all. we can only hope. host: the book "national insecurity:, page of leadership in fear" david rothkopf thank you for stopping by. steve spans washington journal, live every day with the news and policy that impacts you. monday morning, as congress they talk about the proposed legislative agenda of the republican party and what is ahead during the lame duck session. and kenneth bruins on how president-elect trump must deal

with the management of his various businesses and the potential conflict of interest they make calls and his term in office. what c-span journal beginning at 7 a.m. eastern monday morning. the republican national committee held a news conference of the day after the election to talk about the results and the party moving forward. in making sure the gop maintained majority in congress. this is 15 minutes. >> thank you, thank you very much. let me begin by congratulating president-elect donald trump. i can say that the majority in the united states senate looks forward to working with him on a positive program on confirming supreme court justices and on a program that he has outlined.

i think it is also important as the hour to acknowledge fine concession statement secretary clinton just made. it is there to say that mr. trump and secretary clinton both rose to the occasion and spoke for unity and struck the right chord at this profound and moment in our nations history. my hat is off to both the winner and the loser in that race. and i think it is a step towards healing. just a word or two about our races. i want to congratulate reince priebus. if it were not already the case, after this year and after last

night, reince priebus goes it down as one of the great rnc chairman in the history of the united states and the history of the republican party. thank you to the rnc and thank you to all the staff. i know chairman priebus intended to be here but he is in other locations speaking to the press and continues the job. a few points. there's nothing like having good candidates. you can't take away from the fact that republicans maintained the majority in the united states senate because of our superior candidates. they ran on their records, the way they were able to respond to their constituents and so we won our victory in part because we had very good candidates. my hat's off to war and baker baker.nk you -- war and

we put together a program two years ago to raise the necessary funds. $115 million over a two-year. . perioid.a two-year the campaigntrain managers, avoid costly primaries, and we wound up with the nominees we needed and that is a credit to our staff. my hat also goes off to our majority leader, mitch mcconnell. it is not quite totally understood the fact that after we got the majority two years ago, we went to work. we had 10 times as many recorded votes as our predecessors in the

leadership. we sent bipartisan legislation to the house and we accomplished bipartisan achievements for the american people. i think, in essence, sick i candidate by candidate, the voters rewarded republicans in the majority for the accomplishments that we had not had the previous eight years. and we looko work for to working with the president-elect and we look for to working with our strong majority in the house of representatives. when i was here is a member of the house of representatives to work with people like greg. my hat is off to him and speaker ryan and their team.

heartiestgive my level of congratulations to greg and the new house majority. senator,you very much, it is an honor and privilege to be here. i think back to when i got involved in this eight years ago and pete sessions said we would fire nancy pelosi and come all the way back. that was a time with the new president barack obama has 72% approval. in 2012. seat we learned a lot out of that cycle about what our deficiencies were and what our strength were. with our deficiencies was lack of data and digital mechanics and the ability to do what the democrats have done to us. it was the biggest team and republican policy history. i think it was seven people. we've come so far. -- katie andts

reince priebus and everyone involved. we kicked their tails last night -- we didn't with knowingly, thoughtfully, and with a lot of planning. our polling was spot on and our data was right on target. and we gotng worked the job done. recruitmentbout the . they failed, we succeeded in the results show. they speak for themselves. i want to congratulate president-elect trump and vice president elect mike pence, my friend. i look forward to working with them together in america in a much better place. i also want to thank our speaker of the house, paul ryan, who shattered his own senate records for a speaker in support of republican campaign efforts. doing what no one had done before to raise money for the campaign. he and i were around the country the last three weeks together.

i don't know how many states and cities he was involved with, but it was a lot. states,ce october 4, 22 50 these, 38 candidate, we were all over the country and that was just in the last month before the campaign. we stand here with back-to-back record majority and it made this 285 nights on the road worth it. we are ready to govern and we have the tools and people who will govern with us. i want to congratulate senator mcconnell, and give a shout out to my south -- my staff. counted -- a counted group of hard-working men and women who know their stuff and know how to get it done.

donald trump was the voice for americans who had been left behind. i want to thank you for giving those people a voice. i look for to working with him and getting things done for america. i also want to conclude by thanking my fellow colleagues. our conference stepped up in record numbers to support our efforts and half the efforts -- the resources to achieve what we have achieved. thank you very much. an honor to be with you and i will turn it back ever. are you going to be working with donald trump or for him or do you think is your role to be a check on what he might want to do? do what is a mandate to he campaigned on to repeal and a place obamacare, to put constitutional scholars on the

supreme court. i liked what he said last night about rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, so i think it will be a partnership and i think we all understand our role. i would weigh in that a lot of time went into creating this document of ideas to tackle the problems we face. it is a house produced document but it is one house speaker brian spent a lot of time working with president-elect donald trump. we look for to working with him. >> constitutional you don't see your role as being a check on his power? >> he has been elected just now. we will do our constitutional responsibility and he will do his. we share common principles and goals. the president elect has never been in government.

do think there is a learning curve that the president-elect has when it comes to congressional relations and he envision any shakeup in house leadership? >> to your second point, i do not expect any shakeup in the leadership. i think senator mcconnell and the leadership team will be reelected with glaring exception that will have a new in rfc sc chair.nr we all understand our role. frankly, he has been surrounded during this campaign by a team thatople who are part of vast center-right majority that i think this country reflects

and i think we will be just fine. an inside the is beltway question that does not match up with the reality. ran theut issues, we issues, and they expect us to work together. that is not mean we are on the same page. of course we have our separate constitutional abilities. >> was the room like this for four years ago? what is your message to the alternative right that feel emboldened by donald trump? >> the better spoke pretty clearly. electoralmp is at 270 votes and he is going to win the popular vote. this is an inside the beltway question. out in statescome

that we haven't been competitive in in years and they said they wanted change. they went to the ballot box and voted for donald trump. the story coming out is unbelievable turnout with hispanics. 30% of hispanics voted for trucks in florida, texas, north carolina. we spent the last couple of months talking about hispanics and they voted for donald trump because they believe donald trump is a voice for the american people. we had stored went down ballot that have historically for the future of our party. and thet to thank you rnc and chairman priebus for all the great work you are done. congressman, you nailed it. there are too many inside the beltway conversations and you are missing what is happening out there. this is not something that just happened this cycle.

this has been building for a very long time. this is a combination of something we have seen happening. we went into the selection on a state level as a counterbalance to obama's failed policies. voters recognize that and that is why republicans have been at a near or all-time high in offices across the country. in states red and purple and blue. and that is going to continue right now. we defeated the speaker of the house in kentucky and have picked up that chair as the first time in 100 years. seated the senate president in iowa and have all republican control of government there. it is important that people listen to what the voters said yesterday and recognize that those wins have been coming for a long time. it has a just now manifested with a new messenger in donald trump and the incredible leadership of the senate for the

great work they have done and the house and the things they have done. the american people have listened and they have been listening for a long time. this is something that has been coming and we will continue to be forever new america's greatness. >> thank you all for joining us. >> [indiscernible] announcer: now the elections are over, congress returns for its lame-duck session. we're joined by scott long. senior staff writer with "the hill.". you covered donald trump on capitol hill and the headline of your current piece says trump and ryan signal new chapter in their relationship.

how does this play into next week's elections for speaker? how does this bolster paul ryan's chances in the house? mr. wong: i think it does. before tuesday night election, the conventional wisdom was that hillary clinton is going to win hasrace and donald trump been vowing to make things miserable for paul ryan. because he supported donald trump in the campaign joe, he would come out for speaker ryan, now that donald trump is the president-elect, the dynamic has shifted. he hosted a lunch and then took him out on the speaker's balcony and showed him the view of the entire d.c. skyline, the platform where he would be inaugurated and sworn in on

january 20. and so, the dynamic and the relationship, which has been a pretty testy one throughout the campaign, has completely shifted. >> ahead of that inauguration, congress has plenty to do. walk us through this lame-duck session next week in addition to the leadership elections. mr. wong: the presidential race has completely changed everything as one leadership source told me today. the thinking before the election was that congress would try to tackle an omnibus bill, perhaps break it up into smaller pieces with a minibus type of approach that would extend funding for the 2017 fiscal year. now the thinking, with republicans controlling both the white house and both chambers of congress, is that republicans specifically try to push for a

cr that will take funding into early 2017, perhaps february or march. that would allow then-president trump and a republican-controlled congress to hash out a much better deal on spending levels than republicans would have gotten in the lame-duck session with president obama. again, donald trump's victory on tuesday night has changed almost everything in washington. >> on that cr, on the spending measure, let's take a look at some reference on where things stand. we'll go back to september 28, and appropriations committee chair hal rogers on the house floor. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to present the senate amendment. for hr-5325. the legislation includes the fiscal year 2017 continuing resolution and full-year

appropriations for military construction and veterans affairs. it also includes funding to fight and prevent the spread of the zika virus and assistance to communities affected by recent devastating floods. this is a reasonable and necessary compromise that will keep the government open and operating, address urgent needs across the country, and provide the necessary support for our service members, their families, and our veterans. first and foremost, mr. speaker, this bill helps us avoid the unwarranted damage of a government shutdown by providing the funds required to keep the government open and operational past our september 30 deadline. the funding is provided at the current rate of $1 trillion and last through december 9. the short timeframe will allow congress to complete our annual appropriations work without

jeopardizing important government functions. the package contains the full year military construction, the v.a. bill for fiscal 17, which was conferenced by the house and senate and passed by the house already in june. in total, $82.5 billion is provided for our military infrastructure and veterans health and benefits programs, $2.7 billion above current levels with targeted increases to address mismanagement and improve operations at the v.a. it is important to note that once the president signs this bill into law, it will be the first time since 2009 that an individual appropriations bill has been conferenced with the senate and enacted before the september 30 fiscal year deadline.

third, this legislation includes $1.1 billion in funding to respond to and stop the spread of the zika virus. this funding is directed to programs that control mosquitoes, develop vaccines, and treat those affected. this funding is spent responsibly, balanced by $400 million in offsets, in unused funding from other projects. lastly, this legislation includes important provisions that address current national needs, including an additional $37 million to fight the opioid epidemic, which has struck my district especially hard, and an additional $500 million in disaster designated funding to help states recover and rebuild from recent destructive flooding. i believe this legislation is a good compromise that this house

can and should support. it is not perfect. but it ensures we meet our nation's current critical needs. i have said many times before, standing in this exact spot, that a continuing resolution is a last resort. but at this point, it is what we must do to fulfill our congressional responsibility to keep the lights on in our government. so i urge my colleagues to vote aye on this necessary legislation so we can send it to the president's desk without delay. >> hal rogers from september 28. scott wong of "the hill," that short-term cr runs to december 9, a couple of outstanding issues. the president requesting additional military spending just this past week. also the house republican study committee wants a short-term cr into the beginning of the trump administration.

who will win out in the end on this? mr. wong: it probably depends on what donald trump wants. he has a lot of political capital right now. of course, president obama still has a few months left in his term and will be the one signing any sort of funding bill at the end of this year. but president-elect trump will be dictating a lot of what happens during the lame-duck session. he had the support of the voters. certainly, members of congress on the republican side are falling in line behind president-elect trump. we have not seen any signals about what he wants, but i expect that there probably will be a short-term cr into either february or march. >> on that to-do list, is aid to flint, michigan. the u.s. house passed that in

late september. dan kildee of flint, the congressman talked about that , package before they resist. -- they recessed. >> this amendment is something i've been working on for some time and it would bring urgently needed aid to my hometown of flint, michigan. for over a year, the flint water crisis has been public. we have not yet been able to act here in congress. it has been even longer since the residence of flint that have been using water that is poison. poinsed with lead, for two full years. to be clear, what happened in flint was a failure of government at every level of government. through this amendment, congress can take its rightful place in fulfilling its obligation in its responsibility to help my hometown recover. the amendment would authorize $170 million to restore the safety of water infrastructure in communities like my hometown

of flint that have lead in their have led in their water. more portly, it would create a concrete commitment from both bodies of congress to get aid te my hometown, for my hometown, to the president's desk. the senate passed similar legislation by a vote of 95-3. this amendment would ensure the house also supports communities like flint that are suffering with this terrible problem. we have waited an awful long time for this. we worked very hard to get this amendment in a bipartisan fashion to the floor. i want to thank all of our friends. i will say more about that later. particularly the cosponsor of this amendment. >> michigan congressman. dan kildee. scott wong, he mentioned that the senate passed their own measure.

the house passes as part of the water project bill what is left , to do? mr. wong: the two sides, the senate, house, the negotiators need to come together and settle on a final product and present that back to their respective chambers. that is another item that needs to happen during the lame-duck .ession in terms of the flint funding the house bill that was , negotiated is about $170 million. the senate bill contains a little bit more, $300 million. they will probably have to meet somewhere in the middle. the good news for the people of flint is that donald trump has been very supportive of those efforts. he visited flint back in september, he spoke to a number of the residents and has been talking a lot about infrastructure spending on the campaign trail.

so, i would expect -- everything is up in the air, but i would expect the two sides will be able to come together on flint. >> majority leader mitch mcconnell prioritized getting down the defense authorization bill and this 21st century cures bill. tells about that, briefly. mr. wong: i do not have too much information on what is happening on the senate side. i do know when mcconnell spoke to reporters the other day, one of his top priorities obviously was the repeal of obamacare. i think a lot of the discussion that will be happening is going to be about what republicans do in the first 100 days of the new trump administration. that was part of the discussion that happened yesterday between trump and mcconnell and trump and ryan. reince priebus was there as well, who is one of the folks

who is being talked about for chief of staff of the white house. i think a lot of the focus, what i'm hearing from members today, a lot of the focus is going to be on the top priorities of those first 100 days of the trump administration. probably at the top of that list is repealing obamacare. >> we started talking about the house leadership elections next week. let's talk about senate elections. the senate democrats will elect a new minority leader with harry reid retiring. it is likely to be chuck schumer. what is the relationship between chuck schumer and mitch mcconnell? mr. wong: i think schumer is seen as more of a deal maker compared to harry reid. harry reid was somebody who often would throw up roadblocks in the process and accuse republicans of doing the same. he was a fiery leader. obviously, a former boxer.

chuck schumer is from new york, he is much more of a deal maker. it will be interesting to see how chuck schumer not only works across the aisle with mitch mcconnell and with his fellow new yorker donald trump, who he has known for decades. that is one relationship all of washington will be watching. >> a preview of what is ahead for the lame-duck session. our guest is scott wong. you can follow his reporting at thehill.com.

♪ announcer: this week on "q&a," author stephen puleo discussing his book "american treasures." mr. lamb: author of "american treasures." you begin your prologue by saying, secret service agent harry e. neal stood alone on the