is next. join us tonight -- trump administration, and what is next. join us tonight. congress returns tuesday for the start of a lame-duck session . the house is backed work on legislation funding the federal government passed the december 7 deadline. the senate returns for votes on coast guard programs and denomination for the federal reserve board. watch the house lights on c-span and the senate live on c-span2. here is more from a capitol hill reporter. the 115 congress returns tuesday for the lame-duck session and the home stretch of legislative work and leadership elections. joining us is scott long, senior staff writer with the hill. let's start with the elections and nancy pelosi's strength in hand to reclaim the speaker's gavel.

what happened to the potential challenges mentioned to her before the election? noto far they have materialized. we have heard a lot of criticism of nancy pelosi over the past from rebellious democrats who have wanted change in the caucus and have wanted a new generation to step forward. of course, tim ryan two years ago did but so far, he has said he is not prepared to jump in at this moment, he is in wait and see mode. right now we don't have any other names that have been floated area there is a lot of discussion happening behind the scenes. but so far, nobody has stepped forward to take on the nancy the headline on the magazine describes it like this. pelosi might lose her battle over ascension. what about the challenges to the other positions, the soon to be majority leader positions. who

might we see challenging for leadership roles there. so far, stan hoyer, for the number two spot every on the majority no challenges. there is a very interesting challenge to a jim clyburn in the number three spot, the chief above connor. he is getting a challenge from a representative from colorado, the chief deputy vote counter for democrats, she has been in that position for seven years now. that is a erase i think a lot of people are watching. somewhat of a surprise. so far with no challenges in at the top two positions, all eyes are on the #3's lot. things could get interesting on the republican side, with no majority position, thinks turn to the minority leader position at the top in the republican

conference. tell us about the conference. tell us about the landscape there with the elections coming up next week. we had a surprise this week with kathy mcmorris, rogers, the conference woman who has been -- congresswoman who has been in that position, highest ranking republican in leadership at the capitol. she decided to bow out of leadership and is facing a challenge from liz cheney, the daughter of former vice president dick cheney, she is a defense hawk much like her father, someone with a big name in republican politics and someone who can be a good fundraiser for the party there we had she will run for the number three position, which in the minority is conference chair. right now, the only other challenge we are seeing is to kevin mccarthy for the minority leader's lot, he is getting a challenge as we have known for several months, from jim jordan, the conservative freedom caucus

leader. both men are close to the president so it will be hard for the president to weigh in. the president was campaigning with jim jordan in the waning days of the election and speaks to mccarthy almost on a daily basis. but i think because of the way the votes are structured, where all you need is a simple majority of votes internally and a secret ballot election, i think mccarthy will win the race what is the timetable like in the house for leadership elections for house republicans and house democrats, and when will we see the speaker election republicans will vote next week on wednesday here in the capitol. all the new members will come to the capital, they will go through a freshman orientation and that is one of the returning members will be voting for their leadership teams for their 116th congress. democrats come in after

thanksgiving, after the thanksgiving break, and they will decide both internally and on speaker of the house -- both internally on the speaker of the house and the other top democratic leadership positions internally in a closed vote. jen on january 3, we expect that there will be a formal roll call vote on the house floor for speaker of the house where each lawmakers name will be called on the house floor as we have seen every two years, and lawmakers will need to stand up and say exactly who they will be voting for, democrats will likely be casting ballots for nancy pelosi. although there is always some wildcard. republicans likely will be casting their votes for kevin mccarthy on the house floor. show less text let's look at the legislative agenda facing the house when they return. the biggest item of course, the budget. you were writing about that, and the piece about the border wall with

the headline "battle looms over the funding of trump's border wall." why is that the linchpin in getting the budget resolved? because it has been a problem for past funding deadlines. we have seen a -- sort of holy shutdowns on and off, most of them happened over immigration. trump is demanding as he has the entire year, $5 billion for his order wall with mexico. he wants that attached to a government funding measure. a lot of the bigger agencies like the department of defense and hhs have already been funded through 2019 fiscal year, through september, but the rest of the government remains unfunded. so congress will need to come back in the lame-duck session and pass a funding bill for the rest of the government by the december 7 deadline, or we will face yet another shutdown. we will see whether trump is

serious this time in terms of demanding the $5 billion for his fund of all. show less text covering all those issues, scott w senior staff writer atong "the, hill." thanks for the update. good afternoon, welcome. i'm chairman of conservativehq.com. every two years i host a press conference for the press to meet important conservative...