>> as we begin the week here on wall street journal -- washington journal, we will take a look at the week ahead for the administration. will start with brad samuels, white house reporter for the hill. good morning. samuels. let's start with the conversation we are having with our viewers this morning. yesterday, the administration made the rounds on the sunday shows. any word on whether the president will address this on thursday or in other ways? guest: i think the homeland

security secretary being on the sunday shows sort of underscores the extent to which this is really an issue that the biden administration is having to address on a daily basis. coming up thursday at the president's first extended press conference, with reporters. in addition to that we will see if other officials traveling to the border from the biden administration or from the podium addressing it, almost every day we will see questions come up about this. certainly it is the challenge of the moment that this administration is having to tackle not just on messaging but also on policy, figuring out the short term and the long term. host: one of their key messages here is that the efforts to get out and talk about the $1.9 trillion covid relief bill, the president has a trip scheduled

tomorrow for columbus, ohio. tell us about that. guest: he will be in columbus tomorrow, following on the anniversary of the signing of the affordable care act. i would expect there to be a lot of emphasis on that commemoration as well as some of the health care provisions in the american rescue plan that are intended to lower health care costs. that will be a big talking point tomorrow in the ohio trip specifically. this is sort of the latest effort from the rut -- the white house to sell the bill. in the public we have seen a really concerted effort to get out, especially to red states and purple states. the president and vice president were in georgia last week, the vice president will be in georgia today and in ohio tomorrow. i would expect that to not be his last stop selling this legislation to the american people. certainly tomorrow will be the focus of health care, but it's also just one thing that they

are doing in a weeks long effort to really drill home why this law is important for the american people. host: the house and energy commerce committee is today taking a look at infrastructure. what's next in terms of what they are focusing on? is it a massive infrastructure plan? tax reform? guest: that's sort of, sort of the big question everyone is waiting to see, how they will proceed once they are done with this publicity tour about the american rescue plan. infrastructure is sort of the conventional wisdom at this point that we expect the administration to pursue. for years we have seen lawmakers on both sides of the aisle talk about the bipartisan interests and you have to get through the hurdles of how to pay for it and it seems to be no different this time around. i think that infrastructure is a

popular one because it's going to be hard to get support for their agenda on items like immigration, gun-control, or voting rights even. infrastructure is a good bet and then it becomes about can democrats get republican votes to make the package work? or are they going to have to look at reconciliation to encrypt -- include tax increases or pass this on a partyline vote? that will be the underlying question that guides where the administration goes next. host: the senate is set to approve marty walsh to be labor secretary. you are writing in the hill.com, the headline of your piece today, biden hampered by lack of confirmations. how has this evidenced itself? guest: the pace of the presidents cabinet confirmations has been slower than his predecessor. not only is he 60 days in without a full cabinet and we

are still waiting for the labor secretary, just last week he finally got his health and human secretary confirmed, overseeing not only the pandemic response, but also certain aspects of this migrant issue at the border. so, not only in that respect, but then there is a sort of trickle-down effect where if the president doesn't have his full cabinet confirmed or it's taking weeks on end to finish, the president also isn't getting other agency heads confirmed. the president hasn't even nominated agency heads to the senate for ice or customs and border patrol. you know, these agencies would really play a key role in what's happening in the border in particular. i think the senate will see them move a little quicker now. they have the impeachment trial,

the legislation out of the way, certainly that is something to watch, how quickly the president puts forward these nominees and how quickly they can confirm them to get them in place. host: it's the two month mark for the administration having their first news conference. you alluded to it earlier, it's thursday. do you know anything about the format, the length, what pushed the administration to come to the decision to have a news conference? guest: there was certainly a lot of pressure to put the president out there and have him engage in one of these lengthy q&a's. he already sat down last week with george stephanopoulos and abc news and the white house will say that president biden engages in these briefer q&a's but unlike his predecessor, you know, if you are asking him a question in an oval office spray, his answers are usually one line or very brief, whereas

former president trump would hold court for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. so, there is pressure to get the sort of extended press conference where the american people can hear his views on issues of the day. we will see how long it ends up being. there is an effort from the white house to have it in a larger setting where more reporters can be accommodated despite the pandemic, where people can space out. we will see how it goes, but it will be interesting to see that first big press conference. host: our viewers and listeners can read you >> alaska republican senator dan sullivan is expected to talk about u.s.-china relations today, scheduled to speak of the atlantic council. we will have live coverage when

it starts, set at 6:30. you can also listen live on the c-span radio app. >> charting someone based on race, gender or religion is always wrong. under consideration, this could interpreted to ban women's colleges and sororities and decimate girls sports. by federal fiat, the equality act creates do mr. graham nation -- creates discrimination against anyone who's a sincerely held view of sexuality and gender conflicts with the government's morphing ideology. this is not only wrong but endangers women safety and locker rooms, dorm rooms and homeless shelters. >> my daughter would not grow up in a nation where, as an example , in 25 states, she could be discriminated against because of

who she was. that was upsetting to me. she could be thrown out of a restaurant, evicted from her apartment, denied access to education and denied health care. just because of who she is. on top of that, the likelihood of facing hateful and violent acts, and she has, simply for existing and being her authentic self was almost a certainty. signing the equality law in -- equality act into law will not change that overnight, but it will ensure that americans like my daughter are afforded the same civil rights already extended to every other nation -- every other american across the nation. >> senate judiciary members heard from lawmakers and outside witnesses on the pros and cons of the lgbtq rights legislation known as the equality acts. watch the entire hearing tonight beginning at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> thursday, president biden

pulled his first official news conference since holding office. watch live at 1:15 p.m. on c-span, online at c-span.org, or visit -- or listen to the free c-span radio app. >> nebraska republican senator deb fischer talks with the heritage foundation about nuclear modernization and the changing threat landscape. she is a member of the armed services committee. >> good morning, everyone and thank you for joining us on this critical topic of nuclear modernization. i am the policy analyst here at the heritage foundation. i am joined by senator deb fischer, who we have on screen. senator fischer represents the state of nebraska, the headquarters of u.s. strategic command and is the ranking member of the senate armed services