host: with members back on capitol hill and vote still being counted we don't know who will be leading democrats and republicans in the 118th congress. as members try to answer this question we want to hear your thoughts who would you like to see lead your party in the house and senate. 202-748-8001 -- 8000 is the number. republicans 202-748-8000, independents 202-748-8002. you can also text via 202-748-8003. include your name or where you are from. catch up with us on social media. a very good monday morning to you. you can start calling in now. as we talked what do you like to see lead in the house and senate.

phone lines for democrats, republicans and independents and as you do that we will take you to the current balance of power and the situation a lot more clear in the senate. democrats retaining this control of the senate with that 50 seat needed to retain control. there's one race outstanding in georgia. that's the runoff taking place on december 6. the picture in the house a bit less clear. four hundred 16 races have been called by the associated press. 19 races have yet to be called. republicans winning or are leading in 221 seats. democrats have won or are leading in 13 seats. there's one california open seat that the democrat and republican candidates are separated by 84 votes as of this morning. a pure tossup there. if those numbers hold, republicans would have the 218 seats needed to win control of the house in the 118th congress.

were asking as you look ahead to the 118th congress who do you think should lead each party. we will come back to those throughout our program this morning. plenty of headlines about leadership in the house and the united states senate from today's papers here's the front page of the washington times. senators fume at mcconnell and trump is the headline there. republicans vowed to challenge leadership after the midterm loss. the front page of the washington examiner magazine, this is what the cover art is. what happened to the red wave? that's kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell looking for the red wave. to the other side of the aisle, the headline, democrats in the house, pelosi is mum on her plans following the midterms. what she said when asked about whether she will stay in democrat house leadership in the next congress.

she was asked about it. this is what she had to say. [video clip] >> my decision will be rooted in the wishes of my family and the wishes of my caucus. but none of it will be considered until we see what the outcome of all of this is. and there are all kinds of ways to exert influence. the speaker has awesome power but i will always have influence. >> do you intend to make your decision by the time the leadership election is scheduled to take place which is november 30. >> we have a couple more weeks before. >> but she'll make a decision before that. >> of course. i'm not asking anybody for everything. people are campaigning and that's a beautiful thing. and i'm not asking anyone for anything. my members are asking me to consider doing that but let's

just get through the election. >> speaker pelosi there on cnn's state of the union yesterday talking about the scheduled leadership election at the end of this month for democrats, the republican leadership election taking place are expected to take place, a schedule to take place this week. punch bowl news focusing on kevin mccarthy in the house saying that those elections are scheduled to take place tuesday despite questions within his caucus. they write mccarthy is running unopposed for speaker at this point although congress and andy biggs of arizona is reportedly considering a long shot bid to challenge him for republican leadership. that some of the intrigue happening in the house. if speaker pelosi were to step aside the wondered 18th congress. about which democratic house member might step up in her place. this is the new york times this morning taking a look at that question, a picture there of

hakim jeffries of new york. the democrat saying he could possibly see nancy pelosi did the democratic head of house progressives caucus about the only leadership picture where there is not questions seems to be in the senate for democrats. chuck schumer expected to lead democrats there but plenty of questions when it comes to these other positions in the senate chamber and in the house chambers as well. we want to hear from you, who do you think should lead your party and the 118th congress prayed that's our question this morning. benny is up first set of stockton. go ahead. >> good morning. thank you for taking my calls. i will like pramila jayapal and upper mother democratic ticket all the way. and i think warnock is going to be walker in the runoff.

so i think we will keep the senate and congress. host: what do you like about pramila jayapal. why do you think she should lead democrats in the house. are you think regardless it should be her? caller: i think the speaker should stay until she retires. but jayapal has been outspoken throughout the senate hearings and i wish donald trump would just go and sit down somewhere. he is not effective anymore and he wasn't effective as president and he didn't even stay and complete the balance of power when biden won, he left and went

home before the balance of power was complete. he's not the president, he's not effective, so i think he should just go somewhere and crawl in a hole. host: that's benny this morning talking about who you think should lead each party in the house and senate and the 118th congress. focusing on democrats in the house, of this from the wall street journal. we noted hakeem jeffries of new york as one of those who is considered to someone who could step into nancy pelosi shoes when it comes to leadership in the house. also intelligence committee chairman adam schiff has been gauging support as well. holding dinners and meetings with colleagues according to multiple lawmakers, came jeffries interact with members every day at the caucus chairman position, five term lawmaker running the wall street journal

notes as part of a potential informal slate with representative katherine clark, the democrat of massachusetts and pete at gill are the democrat of california saying some of the younger generation the house could step in but again there are leaders currently in the house that would have to step aside for that to happen. asking you what you think, this is tony, a democrat in texas. good morning. caller: good morning sir. i just want to say they would do a better job in the senate, house and the white house. it's simple. though events are democratic republic fair elections. the last two centuries. voting rights, civil rights, medicare, social security, medicaid, all american institutions which the gop wants to destroy her institutions. host: to the question we are

asking, who would you like to see leading the democrats in congress with those issues in mind. who do you think would do a good job leading democrats on those issues. >> biden. >> we are talking in the house and senate. the leadership elections in the house and senate. caller: keep it the same way. pull oc is the best. and schumer. let's keep that. why put people that we don't know. they say the younger the better. no, the older, the wiser. think about that. host: tony in texas. this is doug, an independent in ohio. who would you like to see meeting -- leading the parties in the house and senate. caller: well right now i want to see, i like the way it is with schumer and pelosi. i think they're a great job and

i'm very thrilled with the midterms because the democrats did a lot better than they should. i like the republican party because it's terrible right now. so i just am happy the way it was. i think you're doing a great job with all the infrastructure bill and the other bills that they passed and i'm pretty thrilled, i think the next two years will be great and maybe they'll take over the whole thing again because trump has been a disgrace to the republican party and i want to thank you very much. >> that's doug in ohio. phone lines again, democrats 202-748-8000. republicans 202-748-8001. independents 202-748-8002. also looking for your comments via facebook and text messages as well. from facebook this is stephen

saying if i were republican i would 100% work mcconnell and forget trump ever existed. the gop wants a chance with millennial gen z voters participating, get rid of the crazy get behind the pure tactician. this is robert on facebook people like josh gottheimer should be the democratic leader, the problem solvers caucus. should be members of the house seeking common sense bipartisan solutions for our shared problems, they should become the leaders in congress. steve saying schumer and pelosi are both great but to the bench is deep and i'm in no hurry to replace either one. they've done a great job making this possible with the slimmest of majorities in both chambers. winston on facebook saying this question would require my party, a libertarian having any elected officials in the house or the senate. james independent in myrtle beach. good morning. caller: good morning. host: what are your thoughts.

caller: if pelosi retires, the lady who ran against that senator in florida. host: val demings. caller: she did not give up her seat. that's why would like to see replace pelosi because this lady is just as strong as pelosi is. she will tell you what's on her mind. and as far as in the senate, schumer, he's a small package but he is dynamite. he stands up and says what he needs to say. and that's what it should be. thank you. >> that's james and south carolina paired to align with republicans, good morning. caller: good morning, how are you doing today. host: go ahead.

caller: i want to throw elizabeth warren's name out there to replace pull. nancy is doing a good job at being a republican i have to say i think -- i know her heart and soul is at. and i get it but i think elizabeth warren would probably be a good substitute for nancy pelosi. host: warren over chuck schumer in the senate. one of the most secure of any of this leadership or the current leadership teams in the house or senate. >> that is true. i've seen her on c-span on your program speaking about these issues and that's where this lies with her. and she does support the fed and i like that. i like the way she acknowledges a lot of things she speaks about more so than ms. pelosi. host: you're calling in on the republican line paid any thoughts on the republican side of the aisle. caller: to be honest with you

think trump kind of messed this up. a lot of people got turned off by him. people that i know who are republican or getting turned off by a lot of the election denying stuff as far as that went. i still voted republican, but i'm kind of annoyed at a lot of the people that were saying the election was stolen. i get their thoughts about that, but i don't really subscribe to that. i think biden won and i'd say let's move on. i think donald trump did more harm than good as far as i'm concerned. >> that's charles, republican out of maryland. we are talking about leadership teams in the house and senate. who would you like to see leisure party, little bit more on that space. wall street journal house republicans scheduled to hold their vote on their leadership team on the same day that former president trump is expected to make an announcement about 2024.

there's been a push by some to push that timing back. the wall street journal noting on the senate side some senate republicans are pushing to delay leadership elections beyond this week as well, the questioning whether to hand senator mitch mcconnell another term as leader , republicans and the senate. senator rick scott one of the names mentioned as someone who could possibly challenge him or at least someone who has traded blame when it comes to picking up senate seats for republicans. wall street journal reporting who would you like to see leisure party. vincent in oklahoma, republican go ahead. >> hello, this is vincent. i think senator lankford would do a good job. host: what is it about james lankford that you would like? >> caller: because he came down

to the wall street district when the 1920 -- where the 1921 massacre was and did a little improving. host: and you think he could lead republicans in the senate. caller: i think he would do the best job that we could. host: that's vincent in oklahoma. vectra line for democrats in texas, this is michael. host: go ahead. caller: i'm from hairs county in texas. the governor went away so i didn't worry about all of that. harris county held so i'm proud of that. i'm a veteran and disabled, social security. so all that came into play for me.

on the national level, pelosi, schumer should step down for the squad. i wish they would run for a while. thank you. host: that's mike a lot of crosby, texas. henry in south carolina. -- henry in south carolina. what do you think. caller: i think pelosi is doing a pretty good job. i know people complain about her, but she is a fighter. i would say elizabeth warren, but elizabeth warren would be a good one to take over the push the more progressive agenda. i don't know why people are so upset trying to get mcconnell out for the republicans because

he did so much for the party, i don't understand why people are so against him. i guess the age i could say, but he's done a lot for the party and i don't really get why they would want to change it. and that's my thoughts on it. host: henry and south carolina. back to our line for republicans. elaine up early in washington. caller: i like elise. she's from new york. i love the way she conducts herself in the hearings. she is so direct, she is not mean, she is just a. i like that. i really like that about her and

even when she is just plain talking about a subject, she comes across very well as far as i'm concerned. i think she'll be great. host: house republicans scheduling their leadership election vote for tomorrow. tuesday at the wall street journal points out mr. mccarthy would only need a majority of republicans present to win that vote tomorrow, but in january he would need 218 votes on the house floor to become speaker if all members are present. and you don't necessarily need to be a member of congress to get a vote for that speaker job. it has happened in the past. the person gets 218 votes in that first vote that happens in the new congress, that person become speaker of the united states house. on the senate side, this is a wall street journal article, petition led by ron johnson of wisconsin, mike lee of utah and

senator rick scott of florida. calling for a delay of the leadership contest saying we are all disappointed that a red wave failed to materialize on election day. we need serious discussions in our conference as to why and what we can do to improve our chances in 2024. speaking of the red wave hears that cover again of that washington examiner magazine this week. the question, what happened to the wave and there again, kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell with surfboards on this issue of the senate and republican leadership in the senate, it was yesterday on cbs's face the nation that senator tom cotton the republican of arkansas with his support for the republican leadership team, a tom cotton from yesterday. >> the former president is very popular with voters but we also have important other leaders as well. some of those that i mentioned

earlier like brian kemp in georgia, a ron desantis in florida. last year you had glenn youngkin have a great victory in virginia. i hope to remain a leader in the united states senate as well in addition to some of those i just mentioned. so when you're in opposition, you don't have a single leader. that won't be the case until were through the 24 nominating season and we have a new nominee. >> you said you won't run for president in 2024. the former president says he intends to announce he's running on tuesday. should he be the automatic nominee or should he face a primary? >> well margaret i opted against being a candidate in 2024, i don't plan to be a pungent or strategist. >> you just threw out a whole bunch of names or might be running for president senator. are you endorsing them? >> i know almost all of them personally and i respect their accomplishments. not just their big victories on tuesday or last year, but also

their accomplishments in august. i know everybody already wants to focus on 2024. i just want to remind everyone that we are still in the middle of the 2022 midterm because were in overtime in georgia and the most important thing we can do is elect herschel walker to make sure we can keep the pressure on democrats in the senate not to veer far to the left as they have over the last two years. i thing everyone should remain focused for the next three weeks. >> should leadership elections in the senate be delayed until december? and should mitch mcconnell remain as the republican leader in the senate? >> i don't see why we would delay the election if all five or six of our leadership elections are uncontested. the great wrestling champion ric flair used to say to be the man you have to be to the man and so far no one's had the nerve to step forward and challenge senator mcconnell so i support him, support the other slate of

candidates for leadership election. i think it's better that we move forward with these so we can focus again on the georgia runoff. host: senator tom cotton the republic and of arkansas. there yesterday on face the nation. asking you who should lead your party, the house and senate in the next congress. line for democrats in florida this is charlie, good morning. >> good morning. i would think that we could use a change. as much of the democrats think they've won something pretty big , the republican party is still in the right of where we are. i think someone like katie porter assuming she could win her election, i think it's the air would be best. i also don't think anybody who takes corporate money should be in charge. as more people for independence in my opinion than are democrats

and republicans. they are registered may be that if they had the opportunity which if you don't in this case if you want more independence to be part of the democratic party or feel like they're part of this, they would be inclined to be more in favor of somebody within the house and somebody in the senate to be the leader who does not receive, who is not owned by a corporation, chuck schumer gets money, and nancy pelosi gets money. and like i said, katie porter would be one. i could name some others who are basically not, how do i put this , the general, aoc would be a good person in my opinion but there's no way she would probably be attacked too much. katie porter is somebody who would be very good. it would be better than someone in new york or california as

well. and i really think that the most important thing is also some people need to move out. we need more young people. i'll say this about c-span you are a very good organization, a very good that people can call in left and right. but how many people under the age of 35 call in to your show. not to say that they listen to msnbc or fox or cnn, but there's more people who have to be engaged. the only way to cap people be engaged is to have younger people in office. i'm over 70, i don't think people over the age of 70 should basically run for office. >> host: the leadership team for democrats in the house, the top three, jim clyburn, steny hoyer and nancy pelosi all in their 80's. do you think, how old is too old in your mind to be leading a

party in congress? caller: in my opinion, 70. this a lot of corporations to basically ask their employees that they can be working under thag of 70. if the purpose is to get more people involved, than those people who are at that age should not be running for office anymore in my opinion. i really think, whether it's a law put in it's no different than people wanting to put age limits on people in the supreme court, but it's foolish for the democrats to do that but more important is people, of the regular people in the country would rather know that nobody is taking corporate money who is their representative. they feel more confident in that person that they are a real person who is working for them.

that's the main thing. so you need somebody from the progressives to get young people out and to get independence who will vote with the corporate -- with the democratic party. host: that's charlie in florida. one more point on age. this is a story from politico looking at hakeem jeffries, wondering whether he has the inside track to replace nancy pelosi if she were to step down as a leader in the house. hakeem jeffries the democratic new york, number five when it comes to leadership in the house. 52 years old. this is john in pennsylvania, republican good morning. host: good morning. host: i have a couple -- caller: i have a couple of pix here. marjorie taylor greene from mitch mcconnell seat.

aoc for nancy's seat. bob casey -- kc for schumer's seat. and i don't know who would be left, but that's it. thanks. host: do you want to explain any of those, why they would be good for the job. >> that's who i like. their attitudes when they're on tv and the only reason i picked aoc's because she was rocking back and forth on the stage when people were chanting her out and i thought that was funny and she's got a good sense of humor. she won't take the job personally like nancy. i think it would be a good fit. host: two wisconsin, kathy's and independent. who'd you like to see lead the party on capitol hill. caller: i would like to, i just saw byron donaldson threw his

hat in for the republican and talk about someone that's speaks softly and carries a big stick. he is outstanding. he always brings the receipts. as well as mike lee of louisiana. host: mike lee is a senator from utah. caller: shoot. i'm sorry. his name is lee, i believe is a representative from louisiana. anyways. i'd like to give a shout out to byron donaldson. i've watched him a lot and he is great. as far as the senate goes, i would like to say ron johnson, i'm not so sure. i like marsha blackburn.

if i had to cross the aisle, kyrsten sinema stood up for the american people even though i don't agree with a lot of her votes. she blocked the filibuster i really feel she stood up for the american people. and i would like to thank, i would like to give a shout out to. to the person who said about taking money out. i feel more comfortable with these. they don't have corporate money. it is representative mike somebody from louisiana. thanks for taking my call. host: kimberly also an independent in texas, good morning. caller: good morning. i am a former republican before they went weird. i want hakeem jeffries as

speaker if that's possible. i don't know if there's any chance that they would go against pelosi. and that's all i have to say. i don't know who could possibly replace the republican mitch mcconnell, that's all i have to say. thank you. have a great day. >> talking about democrats in the house and a possible speakership. the path getting harder for democrats retaining their majority in the house. here is where the math stands right now. democrats 204 races have been called by the ap for democrats. 212 races for the associated press for republicans. 19 races have yet to be called. the magic number is 218. if republicans win all of the seats that they are currently favored in, they would get up to 221. if democrats win all of the

seats they are favored in, right now it's 213. they would fall short. but there's a mathematical path this long after a week after the midterm elections. of note there is one california open seat, the 13th is the district i believe. 84 votes separate the candidates in that race as of this morning, accounting continues. some 61% reporting. the latest on that race. christopher is next in maryland. democrat, good morning. caller: i would love to see jamie raskin take the gavel. i deal like he is just an amazing representative. i know there's a slim chance of that happening, but in all truth , i just love the way he's composed himself through so many

hearings and on the january 6 committee. i was born and raised in northern california and i moved to maryland six years ago and just being this much closer to d.c., and i'm not in his district, but i love his composure, as far as the senate goes i think schumer is pretty awesome. he is well spoken and he is not given to for volatile the. i think there's just so much polarization right now with so many people. i think it's in a come down to one or two seats. i think the dems may hold on and that's my hope. but if it is just down to one or two seats, people will have to work together or we won't really be able to go anywhere. host: christopher in maryland.

caller: how are you doing today. i would like to say that on the republican side i think it would be real interesting with tom cotton running the senate and jim jordan ran the house. the last mccarthy, ryan, boehner and mcconnell have been awful. the republicans wonder why they can't make any hay. those are for the biggest reasons. -- those are four of the biggest reasons. democrats talking about replacing pelosi. not much money she raises for the democratic party. i'm no fan of her politics but i will tell you this, trump had the house and the senate, she beat his brains out on every budget for $1.6 trillion. she funded planned parenthood, pbs, all democratic stuff, kept

him from getting his wall. he couldn't even get five billion. and you remember when there was a shutdown, he's the one that blinked, the tough guy, the dealmaker, not her. obamacare wouldn't be around if it wasn't for pelosi. she was the behind-the-scenes push for obamacare when everybody else want to give it up. i'm no fan of her politics, but if the democrats think they'll replace her that easy. another thing about her, she never got in the limelight. she always stayed in the background. so when you put her against what the republicans have had in the house, it's been such a mismatch that it's pathetic. host: why do you think jim jordan would do better? why did you mention his name on the republican side? host: number 1 -- caller: number one he's a real hard worker,

he's dedicated and he has a lot of fortitude and background. and i'm a fiscal conservative, that's what my favor is his festival -- fiscal conservativeness and i think he would work at trying to get the budget down where i think mccarthy and ryan and boehner, they just gave in on everything. you need a little bit of toughness, little bit of grit and he has that. i don't think he's the most brilliant policy wonk, but the republicans need some fighters. and the real superstar is cotton. he's the guy who's got the education, the military background, his private life is superfluous. he's got no weaknesses and i think he's a leader and i think he can work across the lines, but not giveon every time. i know when the democrats work

across the lines it means give in. but cotton, he's very principled and he will do what's right for the people that vote for him and he gave the people what they want and -- host: anthony down in florida this morning bread one viewer via facebook agreeing with you. jim jordan for speaker says -- and darren saying senator john kennedy from louisiana for senate leader to bill lane saying should republicans take the house, mccarthy may be elected but the real speaker will be trump and sue saying i would like chris christie, thought he would be an ethical person though he will be dogged bridge gate. paul in flint michigan. republican, good morning. caller: i think louisiana john

kennedy would be great. he's a wily guy. but he gets it done, he asks the right questions and as far as pelosi goes, they still need to figure out what's going on with her corruption on these stocks, her and her husband i'm sorry to see him get beat in the head, but there's some corruption going on there and as far as the january 6, they need to get the cameras going. telling people on c-span for a while there's got to be more cameras at washington dc than anywhere else in the country and they're not getting to the bottom of it. but john kennedy was very wily. i think he's a great guy. cotton seems to be a good idea as well. host: what do you mean about wily? caller: they think he's a heck but he means to have -- seems to

have the answers when they're trying to get one over on him and they think he's some old hick, but he upholds the constitution and he figures them out and goes a long way around the barn but he knows what they're doing. host: glenn is in illinois. who would you like to see lead democrats in the hundred 18th congress. host: i would like to see it -- caller: i would like to see jamie raskin and i don't think anybody that has anything to do with the overthrow of the government. i'm 82 years old. i had my time in the service. and i don't like this overthrow in the government. ok. thank you. host: this is john in virginia,

republican. caller: i think we just need to get rid of all of them. leadership in washington is a complete joke. we are having to follow the money just to make the interest payment on what we owe. our borders are open, we have thousands of people coming in every day who can afford -- we can afford to do all of this. and then the bag in saudi arabia and a basis to do more. i'd love for someone to tell me how that's good for america or the rest of the world. anyway, thank you. host: that's john in virginia. our question this morning, who should lead your party in the house in the senate in the 118th congress. 202-748-8000 free democrats to call in.

202-748-8001 for republicans. independents 202-748-8002. keeping you updated on what's happening on president biden schedule. earlier today the highly anticipated meeting with xi jinping, the chinese president, that's taking place of the g20 summit in indonesia. and there's a handshake there of the two leaders coming together. we'll focus a lot on that topic later in the program today. 9:30 eastern. scott kennedy will join us and focus on the president's trip overseas and specifically that meeting with xi jinping, happy to get your questions on that. back here on capitol hill the house is in today and the senate is in as well. the two chambers meeting for the first time since the midterm elections. and the leadership issues

certainly on the table this week. republican scheduled leadership elections for this week. democratic leadership elections later this month. the big focus of members and on the press corps when members are back on capitol hill is this question about who is expected to lead the party in the next congress. we want to hear from you. this is abby and randall's town. democrats go ahead. host: as far as the democratic party is concerned i would say yes nancy pelosi has done a fantastic job. maybe she let's the new guard take control. maybe jamie raskin as was said earlier might be a perfect fit. however the republican side, i hear a lot of suggestions and it's always people tied to trump. people we know are so much more

extreme that they think is the solution to replacing mcconnell. i'm not a fan of mcconnell. i think he's probably even a little extreme. how much more, someone mentioned jim jordan for the house and the senate they wanted kennedy from louisiana. based on what we know, kennedy campaigned with trump. anybody with trump will not do any good for the republicans. but definitely you're guaranteed to have this. they cater to the worst of society. some focusing that's the direction is supposed to go. it's just weird. they love the crazies. thank you. host: this is the front page of the washington times. senators fume at mcconnell and trump. republicans challenging their leadership for the midterm

losses. this is sandra in louisiana. a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. that caller little while ago that couldn't think of the person in louisiana that she thought would be good for leader in congress. i'm sure who she was talking about eez mike johnson. that's his name. mike johnson. a very calm, extremely well spoken, knowledgeable, it would be wonderful. and then for the senate, my choice would be tom cotton. that's all i have to say. and tom cotton, i could say the same thing about him, he's very

calm, extremely well spoken and knowledgeable. >> you think those of the three key qualities for a leader in congress. >> yes, i think so. >> this is nick in irvington, new jersey. independent, good morning. caller: good morning. for the senate i think romney is a -- he has honesty on his side i think. and schumer should still be for the democrats because he's been there for a long time and i think he understands how the senate works. for congress, pelosi definitely understands the republicans more than anybody else and she's tough and i think shall be a good leader still.

mccarthy is a flip-flop her. i don't think he's a good leader at all. a leader should be the one leading from one opinion to the next. so mccarthy definitely not. that's my opinion. >> which urges that clip of nancy pelosi on the state of the union yesterday a little bit more from the wrap up from her appearance there with control of the house still undecided usa today writes she's left her leadership position in the democratic party unclear saying she won't make any comments until last tuesdays elections are settled. if a public and state the house, pelosi told cnn's dana bash she doesn't think kevin mccarthy has what it takes to become speaker. no i don't think he has it she said. i guess the decision of the house of how they want to be led or otherwise. nancy pelosi on cnn state of you this morning on the leadership

teams in the house and senate, also offering their thoughts on yesterday's morning shows. it was face the nation, congers and jamie raskin. the democrat from maryland talking about the republican side of the aisle kevin mccarthy. >> kevin mccarthy and other leaders in the republican party are now required to make a decision about whether they're going to try and rid themselves of donald trump and his toxic influence on the party. >> but if the -- these are his constituency. kevin mccarthy will need to consider. >> it's a real problem for kevin mccarthy now because there are certain pro-trump tests within his house caucus who refused to accept he's really with trump and they want to get rid of mccarthy. and some of them they have named very early in the alphabet and they might just vote for trump when they take the roll call for speaker. so we know the hard right

freedom caucus people are in search of another candidate. and one potential candidate whose name has been floated his donald trump himself because the speaker of the house does not have to be a member of the house and they were talking about putting trump right there. >> that's not a real option. >> they talk about it repeatedly and if trump decided he wanted to do it it would pose a profound problem for their party because they refused to do the right thing early on. today it seems like the spell has been broken. it's begun to dissolve. we don't have republicans around the country claiming what they really want when it's been certified -- that they've won when it certified they lost their elections. this big lie dogma has been embraced by 150 members within their caucus so that's can it create profound cognitive and political dissidents within the gop. is it really trump's party or does it stand for something else.

liz cheney and adam kinzinger will force that question. there can force them to choose. >> democrat jamie raskin of maryland yesterday on face the nation about 10 minutes left in this first segment of the washington journal asking you who delight to see lead your party in the house and senate the next congress. to arizona this is joan in phoenix, a democrat. caller: hello. for someone to replace nancy pelosi i think the fairest one would be amy klobuchar. she's been a very great thinker, problem solver even in her own state she's done so much and further republicans, john kasich. from indiana. thank you. host: you would like to see amy klobuchar move over to the house or would you like her to replace chuck schumer as the leader of

democrats in the senate. caller: the house. the house would be great. host: that's joan in arizona. this is chris, florida independent. your thought on these leadership decisions. caller: i'm an independent soy don't belong to either party. i think parties are bad, i think we really should be more focused on who's good to be speaker of the house and would like to make a suggestion on my pic. i haven't voted since ross perot so it's not my choice but i'm just suggesting that speaker of the house may be could be donald trump himself. how about we get rid of parties? how about we quit worrying. aren't these people in congress and the senate supposed to be leaders of their state and leaders of the community? why do they need a leader in their party? whether it be someone to tell them up to -- what to do. i think it's wrong. >> why do you think donald trump

would do a good job as speaker of the house? host: i said it was not my choice. what i said is they could. you don't have to be a member of the party or a member of congress to be speaker of the house. you want a battle between joe biden and donald trump again? you can do it right now. all of trying to say is parties are bad. remember when we founded this country? they didn't want to parties. it's too much trouble. it's too much trouble. host: that's chris in florida. this is jim in missouri. caller: good morning, thanks for having me on. the question is who should lead my party, i'm a democrat of course in the house, i'll go there first. raskin, if these going to be the minority leader would be a good pick. but i've a couple of dark horses

, the fellow from colorado. hello? host: who are your other dark horses. caller: katie porter and charisse davis from a neighboring state of kansas seems to be kind of an independent thinker in that regard. now -- host: is that we you're looking for? caller: pretty much within our party, those persons that i just named are all -- all represent a younger portion of the party so i think that's important first. and i think democrats are better represented when we get kind of in each other's faces. i think we come up with better ideas. and so the dark horses, young miss porter from california of course and ms. davis from kansas.

they might deserve some consideration at least for committee assignments perhaps. raskin, a constitutional expert would be my first choice for minority leader, he could slide easily into the majority position when we regain the house. host: do you want to talk about the senate real quick? host: i think we need -- caller: i think we need to leave -- leave well enough alone. it's not pick fights in the middle of what's obviously on the verge of being a seat change throughout our national political theater. so schumer can stay, i would start grooming a younger person, somebody brought up ms. klobuchar from minnesota. that might be a very good pick. a lot of women in my picks. you have a good day. host: jim in missouri.

new castle, pennsylvania, good morning. thanks for waiting. caller: good morning. ok, i believe cotton would be good for senate, i believe jordan would be good for the house and one other remark, i believe mcconnell needs to go. the last two elections have been very bad and i think we need new leadership from the republican party. thank you very much. host: darrell in columbus, georgia, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning how are you doing? host: doing well, go ahead. caller: i'm a democrat, so pelosi and schumer are doing great, but i would start to groom someone now because pelosi is up in age and retirement is looming around the corner. so i would say someone like aoc

of course, and i'll throw another dark horse, stacey abrams. bring her up and let her start getting her feet wet and all that kind of thing so she can get going. further republicans, i love my republican friends but some of them are just stunning to me. they have to stop doing this trump thing. trump is killing them. i'm hearing all these names that are associated with trump and trump is not to get them anywhere. i mean jim jordan, tom cotton, all these other guys. they're tied to trump. we went down there and kiss to the ring. and when you do that the republicans on every chance again. i like to see this get competitive again and stop all the fighting. that's all this can happen when you have trump involved. pick someone that's going to

come in and do the work, and tie themselves to trump. just like these governors down here. i don't like camp -- kemp, but he got away from trump and that's why he won. desantis got away from trump and that's why he won. those getting away from trump are winning. that's what republicans have to do. i'm happy this morning. thank you so much. host: dare a lot of columbus, georgia. this is bob, a line for republicans. caller: i just wanted to say something about some of the people, all on pelosi side of the family. in 1960 myself and for others we were asked to go and work for them because they didn't want to the outsiders working for them. and what it turned out there was a problem with the crops.

and these farmers all needed help. and they were going to get the job they wanted from them. they wanted to get rid of -- host: we are short on time, what about the question we asked? caller: i -- the people that have been talking against, raskin -- and he's in congress. what kind of people are these? he's the father of a child molester. host: that's bob. this is donald in centerville, virginia. donald, good morning. ♪ in this country there is a majority rule on anything. so we've got a president in charge. ok. host: our last caller in this

first segment of the washington journal. two more hours to go. in this next hour will be joined by two congressional reporters to talk about the balance of power in both chambers and preview the agenda for the lame-duck session having that conversation. and later, president biden at the states -- met with president xi jinping for the first time since taking all caps office. we'll talk about what was on that agenda with the center for strategic and international studies. stick around. ♪ >> on this episode of," "the

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you can also stay current with the latest episodes of "washington journal" and find scheduling information for c-span's tv network and c-span radio, plus a variety of compelling podcasts. c-span now is available on the apple store, who will play. downloaded for free today. c-span now, your front row seat to washington any time, anywhere. ♪ (202) 748-8000 "washington journal" continues. host: on this monday morning, two of the best in the business. erik wasson with bloomberg is with us. scott wong with nbc news. scott, let's start with you. we know democrats will control the senate in the congressional -- will we know an answer today with the house? scott wong i don't think we will know today. we have not been in a situation like this before, were nearly a

week after the election, control over the house is still unknown. there are about 1920 seats that are still upper grabs, by nbc standards. a majority of those, democrats will need to carry in order to retain control of the house. it is a very tough feet for democrats. republicans only need a handful of those seats to flip the majority, but there is still a very narrow path for democrats to retain the majority. this is not a situation that i think any of us anticipated just a week ago, that democrats would be in a position to retain control because of what history has shown us. usually the party in power controlling the white house, president joe biden's party, would typically lose dozens of seeds in their first midterm election. democrats really have defied history here.

because of the slow coming california, where a lot of these uncalled races are, we may not know for days, perhaps even weeks. host: erik wasson, on that same question. are you getting a sense that the momentum is for republicans right now, with the way things are falling out? >> it is still possible. it is unlikely, but still possible. it is striking that scott and i are both at the mccarthy victory party on election night when he came out and said that by tomorrow morning, we would know we are in the majority. and we still don't know. host: tomorrow morning is going to don and we expect house leadership elections. take us through the latest on that. is mccarthy going to see a challenge here? >> he may see a challenge from someone like andy biggs, from

the house pritam -- house freedom caucus. but he only needs a plus one. the real problem will be january 3, when they come back. he needs to 18 on the floor. -- 218 on the floor. it only takes three people to bring him down. that is where we could see some negotiating ahead of that, where he gives some succession -- some exception to the freedom caucus group. there were some that one, like in new jersey, a moderate who squeaked in, who will not go along with a debt ceiling showdown. it is a very delicate balance getting the votes. host: on republican leadership elections this week, any chance that the house and senate get bumped? >> in the wake of this very

disappointing outcome on tuesday's election, where calling for delays in these leadership elections both in the house and the senate. so far, kevin mccarthy, mitch mcconnell, who really timed the leadership elections, they have not bowed down to those demands. they are going full steam ahead. we are expecting leadership candidates today for house republicans, were kevin mccarthy and others running for these leadership spots will stand before their fellow members and explain why they should be at in leadership. as you mentioned, tomorrow, house republicans kevin mccarthy and others running for election to leadership will have those votes. on the senate side, mitch mcconnell is expecting leadership elections wednesday morning. if you things are happening very fast. it is a mcconnell and mccarthy's interest that these things move ahead very quickly. the longer there are delays,

there could perhaps be funny business played by conservatives who may not want some of those leaders in those positions. so far, nobody has stepped forward to formally challenged mccarthy or mcconnell, but there is a lot of murmuring behind the scene. we are watching them very closely. >> having that election only helps get the agenda going. if mcconnell knows he will be later, he cannot start planning for december. getting himself locked in as a leader, he can start to cut deals, from a negotiating position. host: is there more pressure on democrats for leadership elections later in the month? >> nancy pelosi has been very coy about her future. she did sort of make a deal that this may have been her last term as party leader. we saw her on the sunday show yesterday giving an indication that she might try to stay on. i think she's not going to make that decision until she knows whether the house remains in democratic hands.

they are delaying it until early december. for me, it is really mcconnell's call on these bills. democrats are going to want to push through a big spending bill, they're going to want to find ukraine, they are probably going to try to lift the debt ceiling. it will be a mcconnell call and whether he has support, especially among conservatives, to do any of that. host: for this hour, a monday morning round table with two political reporters, erik wasson and scott wong. (202) 748-8000, democrats. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8001. --(202) 748-8002. what are the must do's that the leaders are saying on the possible doozy? >> for the must do's, they absolutely need to find the

government. we have a short-term stopgap funding measure that keeps the government open through summer 16. once we hit december 16, what democrats and republicans want to do is pass a big spending bill known as an omnibus bill that will cover fiscal 22 any three year. that is something that they absolutely have to do. they have to do a big defense policy bill, known as an ndaa. some of the other items, there is this idea, to steal a phrase from speaker john boehner, he wanted to clean the barn before he left office. there's a real push by both democrats and republicans to kind of clean the barn, take care of these items in the lame-duck session all at once so they don't have these headaches hanging over them in 2023. one of them is the debt ceiling. there's a number of conservative

republicans that are threatening to hold hostage the raising of the debt limit in order to extract spending cuts, to try to make big changes to entitlements like social security, medicare, etc. that is certainly one thing i think a number of democrats, including elizabeth warren and maybe some republicans, maybe want to get done in the lame-duck session, so they don't have to deal with these threats from conservatives in 20 play three. >> there does seem to be momentum building for that. i think chuck schumer may have joe manchin on board with that idea. he has to get his caucus in line. nancy pelosi was talking about doing the debt ceiling soon. the first time we heard her say that was cnn yesterday. we've seen elizabeth warren talking about doing that. this is the same budget process they used to pad the inflation reduction act. they just need 50 votes in the senate to do that. it takes about two weeks of floor time. now, they don't have to spend

all their time in the senate on judges. that would have been the total focus, to get as many judges done as possible with the timeline taking, and now they have a senate next year to do it at a more leisurely pace. i think on the agenda, chuck schumer is just on msnbc talking about the same-sex clarification , even though there is not a hard deadline. the electoral count act, reforming some of the loopholes that president trump and his supporters try to exploit on january 6. there is also the january 6 committee. it will have its term rev up at the end of the year. we are looking for a report and more action on subpoenaing from. host: repeating that the lame-duck is part of the 117th congress. that is helping with the vote totals of 117. a 50-50 split in the senate and house. democrats currently have 220 seats to republican to 12.

joe manchin, how much influence does he have over the laying -- over the lame-duck agenda? >> as we have seen, he has enormous influence. he was critical in the infrastructure bill from last year and very critical role -- critical and an integral part of the inflation reduction act. when you have basically a 50-50 split in the senate, people like joe manchin and kyrsten sinema have always had large influence. they likely will heading into the 118th congress as well. >> there's also the energy permitting reform. it helps renewables. he tried getting this on the continuing resolution and it failed. there is a lot they are putting on the defense bill that scott mentioned. think he could do more straightening for that. host: a lot of calls free gentlemen glad we have you for an hour.

democrats line, you are up first this morning. caller: how are you doing this morning? host: good. go ahead. caller: republican said when they take over the house, they are going to do the investigations into hunter biden and joe biden. i just wondered if they learned their lesson from not winning as many seats, if maybe their attention is not focused on what the people want. i just want to know what your opinion was, if the republicans when the house, if they would do all these investigations. thank you. >> i actually do think they would go forward with that. even having a one seat majority, they get the gavel and the subpoena power. all those committees can start to bring widen officials in. without the majority, they will have trouble legislating. the focus will be more on investigation. host: what are those promised

investigations? >> in addition to hunter biden, there's the border security issue. there's the origins of covid-19, whether that was in fact a lab leak, as some have hypothesized good there is a push to potentially impeach mayorkas or even joe biden himself. mccarthy has kind of put the damper on that a little bit, saying we are not going to put the cart before the horse, see where the investigations lead. but there are certainly people in the conference, like marjorie taylor greene, who are already out there calling four. -- for it. host: anything you want to add? >> if republicans do in fact take over, jim jordi -- jim jordan, a very staunch conservative, former founder of the freedom caucus of conservative group that is

aligned with president trump, james comer at the oversight committee from kentucky, another staunch conservative. a lot of these folks have been gearing up for the past two years, already doing some of this investigative legwork. they have already published a number of reports from their committees. they have a pretty good head start in launching some of these investigations. host: you mentioned the oversight committee, the committee on oversight and reform. what does the judiciary committee do and what is the universe it works in you? what can james comer investigate if he becomes chairman? >> the oversight committee has an enormous purview. they have purview over the entire federal government, if they want. there are very few restrictions on what the oversight committee can investigate. we know they can look at a number of federal agencies,

other specific ones, that your memo them looking at? >> they will be looking at the sec, but it is really, who has talked about the hunter biden investigation to see if there is a corrupt foreign influence government-wise, because of hunter biden's dealings that joe biden has been involved in. there will be a report about the doj, or their conserved about biden against conservatives. they're focusing on the issue -- conservatives are alleging that the doj has cut funding to domestic extremism, but mainly school boards. host: is that the most powerful committee on capitol hill? with all these members coming to congress, what is traditionally seen as the most desirable committees for a new member to get on? >> i think it will be very

desirable, but there's a new member from iowa. he could be on the agriculture committee. it's very important to his state. in a divided government, especially a narrow majority, you will not see a lot of legislation. we were predicting they were going to try to do a reconciliation, a big tax bill, try to extend the tax cut -- that trump tax cut. they're having trouble getting that out of the house. host: these investigations may be the most high-profile thing they do? >> i think so. >> that's why you see marjorie taylor greene from georgia pleading with mccarthy to get on that oversight committee. that's one of her demands, as we understand it, that she has laid before mccarthy, in order to try to get her support. for speaker of the house.

for a number of the conservatives, they know these will be televised, high-profile hearings investigating the biden administration, in many cases investigating members of the biden family, including hunter biden. they want to be on a high-profile committee like oversight or judiciary. host: carolina, matthew, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning, everyone. thank you for accepting my call. as a younger republican-leaning voter, i am disappointed. every two years, the democratic party brings out barack obama and, these good names. in 2000 and eight, when bush left office, you had mccain, mitt romney, and trump. trump was a superstar of the party, but he is not going to win any major elections.

george is turning blue, arizona is turning blue. to me, republicans don't have a path forward without big names. i think nobody in the party has accepted that. i just wanted to get euros opinion on that. where do you see the future of the republican party going? >> i think it's not very clear right now. they are saying for trump, three strikes you're out. trump is preparing to announce as soon as tomorrow that he is going to be a candidate for president, it appears. that is going to start the 2024 election cycle. i think we will see challenges from within his party, most prominently by ron desantis, for that nomination. that will determine trump's future and the future of the gop. >> there has been a civil war

brewing in the publican party since trump lost office, and ever since january 6. we have seen this play out over a number of years. liz cheney obviously leading one of the anti-trump factions. she has been beating that drum that is try to move on from president trump for a number of years. but so far, the rank-and-file republicans on capitol hill have not en masse followed her down that path. for the most part, they are sticking with president trump, in part because that is where the conservative base is. they are still with him, he is still enormously popular among that base. until we start to see his popularity wane, among that base, a number of elected republicans will be sticking with him. host: to kentucky, this is paul, independent. good morning.

caller: first of all, it will be nice if you had at least one conservative show person on there, instead of these two democratic left dogs. host: these are two of the best reporters on capitol hill. their jobs just to tell you what is going on. we appreciate them being here. we will go to nick in pennsylvania, democrat. good morning. caller: good morning, gentlemen. it looks like right now, the house cap might be three members for the republicans leaving. i was wondering if you have heard anyone talking about the democrats propping up a more moderate republican to be speaker of the house? right now, two of the members they're talking about having a lot of power is taylor green and i forget his name, but from arizona. i feel like they want to say,

let's go for this moderate member and put this weight behind him to be speaker. i don't know. does that seem likely at all? >> i get that among pendants or lyrical prognosticators, but i haven't heard any members say that. traditionally, they are going to vote for the democratic leader. nancy pelosi was asked on cnn yesterday and she said, i don't play games or comment on the republican, but -- on the republicans. but liz cheney, talking to her, i don't really see that happening, quite frankly. but it is worth asking about and something we will ask. host: we actually earned a response from marjorie taylor greene via twitter. there will not be a liz cheney speakership. she is looking for a job, but she will get that one. any republican who would vote for liz cheney would be voting

for biden's agenda. shooting down that idea. >> i spoke with daniel webster, the congressman from florida who was the former speaker of the floor to house. back in 2015, he had challenged kevin mccarthy for the speakership. eventually, as we know from history, mccarthy had a drop out from that election. he did not have 218 votes to move forward. but what webster said was that at this time, nobody should challenge mccarthy. he should be elected speaker. he has done the work, he has done the fundraising for the party, despite the disappointments from election night. republicans should move forward with mccarthy. he said that if there's any sort of chaos that unfold on the house floor on that day, if some house conservatives decide to block mccarthy, that could result in absolute chaos, round upon round of voting.

we have seen this in not recent history, but many, many decades ago, or we saw more than 100 rounds of voting for speaker taking place. in that scenario, you could see some kind of deal struck between democrats and republicans. i think right now, we are a long way off from that. >> i think with where negotiations are, things are a bit wonky. rules sound a bit like a snore, but a lot of them would really empower rank-and-file members to offer more amendments on the floor, the ability of committee chairs to have secret ballots. another is a motion to vacate, ease by mark meadows famously to oust john boehner. they could put it to test at any given moment whether or not

someone has 218 votes. i don't think mccarthy will necessarily agree to that one, but there are others he could agree to. i think that is probably where the deal lies. this congress and the next congress are meeting in the next few days. host: does that deal come together by tomorrow when this internal conference happens or before the floor vote on the first of the new congress, where he would need 218? >> i think the real deadline is the latter. we saw others coming out strongly for mccarthy. i think he has clearly locked up half of his conference. the big question is this remaining margin. host: walter in indiana, republican, good morning. caller: good morning, sir. thank you for taking my call and thank you to the gentleman to be there to give their input to people's questions. i think this is basically

politics. poly in latin means many. and takes our bloodsucking creatures. if i took a republican and my house and left them for 75 years, the house is destroyed and they next on my credit cards. this will be the decline of the united states. there are members on the left and right asking what's wrong. it is not one party's fault, it is both of their faults. if i was rip van winkle and i woke up from the 1700s or 1800s and so what's going on today, where one party cannot determine what a man or a woman is, and the other party thinks that giving rich people more money is going to help, it's all dumb. we owe $35 trillion in unsecured debt and $100 trillion more. the whole thing is done. i am glad i am old. i served my country, i did the best i could with voting, and all of this is over.

just love your family until the decline of america is complete. thank you, gentlemen. if you want to articulate on my babbling, i would appreciate it. host: before you go, calling from indiana, did you watch the show "last week tonight?" did you ever see that? caller: i did. i am a dinosaur. i don't have a cell phone, i don't have the internet. i don't tweet, tiktok, chit chat. i decided to move where i could afford to live, and that is usually a republican state. it's amazing because no one on either side has the courage to address this issue, because they want to get inside and sit in luxurious homes. they can have the fancy restaurants that none of us are invited to because they own the restaurant. i bless you folks. host: we will talk to again in about 30 days or so. anything you want to pick up on from walter scully? -- walters

call? >> no. he is from indiana. there is a heated leadership race for gop whip. that is the vote counter for republicans. that features tom hammer, the house campaigns chief. he obviously had a disappointing night on tuesday. jim banks, a republican from indiana, he is the chairman of the republican study committee, the largest group of conservatives on capitol hill. and drew ferguson, the chief deputy, the right-hand man to steve scalise. that is shaping up to be one of the marquee races in the leadership fight on the republican side. host: talking about all of this in the monday morning roundtable. our guests are scott wong, nbc news, and erik wasson from bloomberg. focusing on policies. erik wasson, coming back to your

policy piece from bloomberg. still gripped by midterm hangover. you talk a little bit about the ndaa, the national defense authorization act. i want to come back to that. this is usually something or congress takes care of its business until putting it off to the end. our military policy bills usually a place where they can get some agreement? why is this one hanging out there until the end of the lame-duck? >> it's hanging out there because it goes above what the pentagon has asked for we typically see that pending of accounts, especially to benefit defense companies. it is going to be some agreement. i think it's an easier one then we have seen in the pesky at we don't have the issue of base renaming, or we had the issue of don't ask don't tell. i think it is going to be easier . it is probably a victim of the credit schedule. there was talk late last week from my colleague that broke,

that schumer may pull it this week. we are still looking for that. it is looking less likely, now that he has the senate in his pocket for next year. all of this has wrapped up in the ukraine issue, which we cannot neglect. there is a movement among conservatives to scale down or even end military aid to ukraine next year, sort of an america first push. there is a real unity among republican defense hawks and democrats to try to get ukraine at supplemental aid past. we will see how many billions of dollars the next request is. that also interacts with the defense policy bill, which will govern oversight to that. i think republicans, talking about no more blank checks. there have been blank checks to ukraine, but we may see more oversight into the purchase of equipment and so forth for ukraine. host: this is the story from

bloomberg. u.s. announced millions of tanks and missiles for ukraine. ukraine in the lame-duck session. >> as erik was saying, there is this push by conservatives to turn off that spigot of money going to ukraine for military and economic aid. people like chip roy, a conservative from texas, is saying let's sure of the southern border first before we send millions and millions of dollars overseas for somebody else's border. that is a common refrain you're hearing on capitol hill from conservatives, people in the freedom caucus, and that is creating some heartburn for some of these defense hawks on both sides of the aisle, who want to ensure that ukraine and that war effort is funded through 2023. host: tim in atlanta, independent. tim, good morning to you, sir. caller: good morning. that last call bang -- coloring

-- caller that just got off, he is right. none of it matters. this country is basically over with, it is just a matter of time. i feel sorry for my grandkids and for my son's. look at georgia. we have got a preacher that is running that abilities -- that believes in abortion and gay marriage, then you have the other guy who is running, who runs around with a play badge, saying he is a sheriff. he doesn't have a clue what anything is about. he pulled guns on his wife, brightens her life, and we have to choose between these two individuals to being -- to be our senator and representative. basically every election, we are choosing the lesser of two evils. host: out of curiosity, who do you think is the lesser of two evils, in your mind, coming up on december 60? -- december 6?

caller: i will tell you, the play badge is the one that got me. i would have to go with warnock. the problem with the republican party is, this is the kind of people they put up to run. and we are supposed to let them run the country with this kind of nonsense? like the other guy said, on the other, they can't determine what is a man and what is a woman. it's sad, it's really sad. host: that is an independent out of georgia. one headline from today's paper, the "wall street journal." the message turned off independents. >> the caller remind me of the words for mitch mcconnell, where he said candidate quality matters.

that is certainly the case in a place like georgia, in a place where we saw a number of republicans go down to defeat pennsylvania, arizona, with blake masters. these were repeating that trump lied that the 2020 election was stolen. we see from election polls, this whole idea that democrats had touted during the campaign trail that this was a fight, the 2022 election was a fight for democracy, pointing to the january 6 attack in the broader effort to overturn the election, that was the message that in the end did resonate with quite a few voters, including independents. host: the vote cast survey found, i believe, independents favor democrats by four points last week. >> this is part of the last

callers issue with abortion. it seems to be fading as an issue, but i think it came roaring back and accounts for a lot of how democrats were able to stem the tide of losses in this midterm. it played both ways. obviously, there are fiscally moderate people who are against abortion. we had some overturns. the national election ban was viewed as a pommel -- as a foam republicans. and you had some republicans coming out talking about sunsetting social security and medicare. it was a softball pitch to biden and democrats. host: democrats, (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002.

in washington, d.c., good morning. caller: good morning. my call is about the balance of power in congress. personally, in my opinion, whenever i vote, it depends on who it is and what their message is. that's who i vote for. republican or democrat. i don't have a specific -- even though i am a democrat, i don't have a specific party i want to go with. but this is what i wanted to say to you all. every body needs to take a step back and find out about who is running. trump, that boy he lied so bad, it doesn't make sense. now, i am black, and a lot of black people think that when you have these polls, nobody asks

the black people what they want. nobody asked me nothing. i've been alive for a few years. i am 73 years old, getting ready to turn 74 years old. in the meantime, people don't recognize the fact that trump is a liar. look at what he has done to new york, look what he has done to people that went to his program about wealth and whatnot, and they lost all that money. trump is just mental. host: she brings up new york. new york, along with florida, a great spot for republicans when it came to congressional races, including where they knocked off the chairman of the house congressional campaign. what happened in new york? >> it's a long story, but very quickly, they did knock off patrick maloney, the head of the

democrats campaign, and a hudson valley seat. that's just north of new york city. it was a surprise. we saw a lot of spending pouring into his district in the last two weeks of the election. maloney was somebody out there traveling the country, trying to raise money for his fellow colleagues. his top job is to defend some of these vulnerable colleagues. so, he had to rush back to the hudson valley to defend his seat , as well as three other democratic seats that flipped to republican control. in a very blue state like new york, you saw four seats flipped to republican control. the irony, of course, is that those four seats could have been the difference between emma kratz controlling the majority and republicans controlling the majority. if they had shored up support among their base, we could be in a very different situation today, talking about how

democrats are on the march toward retaining their majority. there's a lot of head scratching going on in new york state right now among the democrats. >> they were trying to gerrymander new york state, rejected heavily by judges and thrown out. in other states, republican gerrymandering was accepted. i think that played a big role and how his tricks were redrawn. a lot of new york cops really bought into this crime message that republicans ran on. i think it's a very contentious race, coming within striking distance of the governorship. that brought a lot of republicans out to the polls. host: what has been seen a lot in the pesek stays on the republican side, specifically with high-profile senate candidates is, what if a different candidate had made it

through the primary? on that specific point. >> is going to be a lot of thinking about that. we just saw some calls in washington and oregon, where butler, who voted for impeachment, was primary doubt. it went to democrat. and the long time oregon representative was primary doubt. that went to a republican. heading into the next round of republic -- of primaries, are you really putting up candidates that are winnable? host: good morning. erik wasson you are on witherik wasson and scott wong. caller: they are correct about the house not passing bills. correct me if i'm wrong on this. a republicans going down this

rabbit hole of hunter biden and all of these which trial things? i think independents are pretty sick of this stuff. seeing biden and donald trump go at each other, it will be like the wwf here. if it moves that much, biden's was 43%, so i'm looking at the midterms. maybe i'm wrong. there is a little more referendum on bad politics on the republican side of the aisle. i'm thinking if bidens plans are on the infrastructure act and that, some of that stuff, if that starts kicking in -- the anti-inflation bill, i mean. that starts kicking in by the next election and the

republicans are just going after hunter biden, killing each other, i think right now the democrats just couldn't be happier. host: that's charles. >> i think the counterargument to that is the fed is tightening interest rates and we could see a recession. limburg continues to project a recession by the end of next year. it will deep -- it will be deep and it will be falling on the president. that will probably help republican candidates, depending on candidate quality. i think there is something there. if you look into the war situation, you find actual malfeasance, if there is a convincing case made, there will be investigations by republicans. if it turns out to be a witchhunt, if there is nothing there and it becomes transparent, your case is probably right that it would backfire. >> bidens agenda or plan, if

this goes the way it is looking, with republicans holding 220 or 221 seats in the house, what is president bidens agenda over the next two years? what can he pass in a split congress or try to pass? >> it's probably a lot of messaging. we have been in this situation before. we are heading into a presidential election with a divided government. we had a divided government under barack obama. his last six years were just a lot of gridlock. i am into spitting a lot of gridlock for the next two years, if republicans do take over the house. there are some ideas being floated. erik mentioned earlier today joe manchin's permitting reform. i think there's members on both sides of the aisle that want to get this done. that's perhaps something that could get achieved. host: but there's no infrastructure talk, right? >> they got in this last

congress. immigration reform is another big issue that has been hanging over the congress for years and years, decades in fact. that has not been achieved at all. there's going to be a push to get something done, even if it is much smaller, on immigration reform, on maybe extending visas to workers and farms and producers, things like that, or there's real demand for workers. >> that romney is very thoughtful. the "wall street journal" talks about a bipartisanship coming through. he talks about fixing entitlement. there's an issue with social security 2035, with medicare sooner than that. these are the kinds of things in a divided government where you potentially find some compromise. you find a way to raise the revenue, maybe even raise eligibility age for some people.

he calls for that. don't think that's going to happen. i think that is politically too difficult and it doesn't make a lot of sense from a political point of view. lot of economists say this is what we really need. this was caused by work force shortage. if you can find a legal immigration way to get people here, where the undocumented who have been here working diligently for years, combined with much tougher border security, there's the elements of a 20 immigration deal. it is politically very difficult. host: 15 minutes left in the segment. indiana, a republican, rob, good morning. caller: good morning. i have one problem with biden. he went over to russia right off the bat that third week he was first elected.

he closed all our pipelines down, closed all of our energy. let peyton go ahead with this pipeline -- let putin go ahead with his pipeline, made a deal over there. it just seems like all these mail-in ballots, it's nothing but corruption, that's all it is. there's all these mail-in ballots across the united states. a lot of people are getting two and three mail-in ballots. it's all corrupt. our whole system is corrupt right now. host: did you vote last week? did you end up voting last week, rob? caller: yes, i did. host: with your lack of trust in the system, what would it take for you to trust this electoral system in the country again? caller: to stop all the mail-in ballots and get back to

individually, each county and state handling their own election system, and get all the corruption out of our system right now. host: let's focus on mail-in ballots, a lot of attention being paid to that, especially now, six days, almost seven days after the election. >> in places like california, where you can deposit your mail-in ballots the day of the election, it's going to create delays for days or even weeks as they try to count thousands and thousands of mail-in ballots, as well as provisionals, especially when you have these close races. there are people who see that, see the delays, and say there must be some fraud going on. i think the idea behind mail-in ballots and other types of early voting is to expanding options

that people have to be able to participate in the electoral process and to cast their vote for congress or governor or any other offers -- office. >> he mentioned the energy pipeline. i think that something up for debate. i think that could be a reason why we are seeing inflation. but as far as corruption and our system being completely and validated by mail-in ballot and, there's no evidence of that. host: in jersey, democrat, good morning. caller: hi, guys. good morning, america. boy, what a great weekend we had! i have been so excited! i love the way the election went. i am a stone cold liberal, but i have to do this shout out to ron desantis this morning. oh my god!

what a rockstar! you know, my best friend is italian, and all her family lives in fort myers in florida. they love ron desantis. with everything that's going on this country, and i hope ron desantis hears this from a democrat, and don't cut me off, please. [laughter] i want him instead of imitating the former guy trump, start reading something on ronald reagan and bring this country back together. one thing we always had in this country, whether a democratic president one or a republican president won, we always had a president that cared about everybody in the country. and that's what the republicans aren't giving us. this is why they lost.

and they lost the suburban woman with roe v. wade. if they don't get their act together, they are going to lose again. women are not going to give up their autonomy of their bodies. they are not going to do it. their wives are voting against them. that's why we had all these split tickets. host: i want to come back to you saying you are a stone cold liberal, as you describe yourself. would you vote for ron desantis if he ran in 2024? caller: listen, this guy is a harvard graduate. he is brilliant! they love the way he runs florida. it's totally different there. i can't get my friends out of there. i don't care how may hurricanes they have, they love this guy. host: i think we got your point, rhonda. ron desantis with cross party appeals. >> interesting to die haven't

heard that before from liberals, but clearly this color is very excited for ron desantis. there's a lot of people in the republican party who are very excited for ron desantis. they see him as the future of the republican party and they see donald trump as the past. according to the results of this election, it sort of illustrates that point. ron desantis beat his challenger, val demings, -- i'm sorry, charlie crist, by roughly 20 points. if you look at the races were donald trump weighed in, in places like arizona and pennsylvania and other places, very disappointing night for those republicans. republicans see something in ron desantis. they see him as somebody who can appeal to a wide swath of the republican party, apparently. i would say some liberals as well. >> i think ron desantis has the chance to become president in

2025, in the coming weeks and months and years. we will see if he can capitalize on that and infect fact become u.s. president. host: just enough left. richard, independent line. good morning. caller: i think this country is a disgrace. i am 79 years old. everything is crooked. everything. the election, mail-in ballots. if you can't get to the polls, you can't vote. that's how i look at it. i never voted for them in my life and i never will. they are all crooks. they've got all kinds of advertising on tv with gay people kissing each other. it's disgraceful. host: this is frank in new york,

republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to make a comment on the election. first of all, i don't believe in fraud or anything like that. but i do think they have got to come up with a better solution for the mail-in ballots, some kind of cut off. why hold it until the last minute? the whole idea is to get up there. i was just looking at the results from california. a week later, there's 30% -- 36% of the vote counted. that's totally ridiculous. it's a joke. i'm not saying anything bad about mail-in ballots, but have some kind of cut off system, where things can be counted faster. host: we take your point. do you think there are going to be efforts to refine this process, in the wake of how long this year? >> i've been hearing from both

sides that maybe there should be more investment in election ballot counters. it is, for most of the political road, they're flabbergasted with how long it takes to count. i don't think there's a lot of support, especially on the democratic side, either curtailing mail-in ballots or stopping them, or setting the deadline much ahead of the election in states like california. but i think we could see a push to do that, especially on the local level. host: with marco rubio the day after or two days after the election, tweeting out, why did florida get their ballots counted so quickly, but much smaller states takes so much longer? >> i don't know the answer to that, to be honest. to address one of the caller' points, why do you allow mail-in

ballots on the day the election, those who use mail and belts maybe want to see how the rest of the campaign shapes up. there are some things that happen very late in the game in the campaign that could sway their vote. perhaps they want to hang onto that ballot in order to figure out who they want to sport heading into election itself. >> and some absentee ballots are not allowed to be counted before election day. that's republicans blocking that. you are waiting and opening the box on election day. you don't even have the extra time to start the process. host: let's try to get in these two calls waiting. this is ellen in florida, democrat. good morning. caller: wow, that is quick. i am a phd aren't. one topic that has dropped off the radar is the fact that many people -- i live in both florida and the york. florida is my main residence.

a completely dropped the entire thing that went on with covid and the mandating. i know 10 people personally who are health-care workers who moved to florida because they were going to lose their jobs in new york. in fact, in new york, going on right now with the teachers union and the nurses, those who were fired because they refused to take the vaccine are getting their jobs reinstated and getting back pay. that is a big issue that was never even spoken about, yet i think has a lot to do with ron desantis's come foliage. i am a ford a resident and i voted for him. that is the reason they are not mandating in basic therapeutics. they allow them if you want them, but they are not mandating them. host: covid mandates in florida

and election 2022. >> i hadn't thought of that still being salient, but apparently for this motor, it was. -- for this voter, it was. >> like the color brought up, there are people moving from blue states like new york, jersey, down to florida because they are attracted to low taxes, perhaps not as many covid mandates. that is appealing to many of these voters. excuse me. host: let's get to our last color. lives in south carolina, independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i just wanted to say with mr. biden, we've had 26 million young people, college students, who applied for the loan relief program.

isn't him going forward with that illegal and unconstitutional? i hope whoever has the balance of power in the coming years, they will stop this lie you to the people and get down to the business of the people. and also with ms. is like up in arizona, they are doing her horrible. i wish with the voting process, they would go back to if you are handicapped or elderly, you can have a special way of voting. anybody else, go stand in line and vote. all of this stuff would stop. host: liz in south carolina. two minutes left. kari lake and loan forgiveness. >> loan forgiveness is interesting. it may be ruled unconstitutional. there are certainly fiscal conservatives who believe this was an election ploy and a big deficit buster.

certainly, republicans did argue in the election that it is unfair to those who did not go to college to pay taxes to forgive college loans for mostly middle class group of people host:. host:do you want the last word here? >> kari lake, obviously an election denier. she is facing td hobbs. td hobbs has a very, very slight lead over her. that could be consequential for 2024, as they head into that presidential race, in terms of young able to have support for democracy, to have a governor, a democratic is in a position to t down some of those efforts to overturn an election. host: always consequential when you two gentlemen join us.

we will see both down the road. coming up later this morning will be joined by scott kennedy of the center for strategic and international studies, a focus on president biden's meeting earlier today with chinese president xi jinping. first, turning the phone lines over to you. any public policy or political issue you want to talk about. phone lines are on your screen. we will get your calls right after the break. ♪ >> if you are enjoying book tv then sign up for our newsletter using the ur code on the screen to receive a schedule of upcoming programs, author discussions, and more. book tv sunday on c-span2 or

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continues. host: beers where things stand. the house and senate are back today for the first time since the midterm election. the houses in at 2:00 eastern, the senate at 3:00 eastern. you can watch all of the action on the house and senate here and on c-span2. president biden is in indonesia and today met with xi jinping. there was the handshake from earlier this morning. we'll be talking more about that meeting and the agenda at the group of 20 summit in about 25 minutes on washington journal. until then it is our open forum, any political issue you want to talk about. the phone lines are yours. democrats (202) 748-8000, republicans (202) 748-8001, and independents (202) 748-8002.

james in north carolina. democrat. good morning. caller: i wanted to say we have such a terrible problem in this country where so many people just do not have any money at all. i think there should be some kind of a guarantee for people where they have enough to support themselves because a lot of people are being born and forced into a life of crime. it is like opportunity said in 1968. we have enough money to solve the poverty problem. it is just the breed of people is preventing us from doing it. that it -- it is just the greed of people preventing us from doing it. host: reno, nevada. this is chuck. caller: good morning.

calling concerning the balance of power issue. in 2008 i was an election observer in reno, nevada. everything went smoothly. our precinct had one provincial ballot. when 2020 came around the governor changed -- 90 days before the election, reno nevada went to paper ballots. the place was awash in paper ballots. in 2022, once again we had the paper ballots. we are now monday, almost one week from the election day and we still do not know who is doing what. it always comes down to clark county. i have to say, everybody's going to call me an election denier, but we put little robots on mars, why can't we count votes?

everybody should go in person unless you are handicapped or in some kind of restriction you cannot make it to the polls. maybe everybody should have a blue thumb and we would know who really did vote. host: shot in reno, nevada this morning. -- chuck in reno, nevada this morning. sad news out of charlottesville, virginia in a shooting late sunday night out of the university of virginia. the latest updates coming in this morning on some of those in that shooting. the suspect is a former member of the football team. ralph is in charlottesville, virginia. line for republicans. what is the scene like? caller: have you been out today. host: are you watching this news? caller: i am waiting to call in

on this program. host: go ahead with whatever you want to talk about. just thoughts with charlottesville after that sad news. caller: i think the absentee ballots ought to be changed because counting the ballots is going on too long and i think that could be corrected with one of my suggestions. host: what is that suggestion. caller: i think they ought to use social security numbers to scan the ballots in that way they are not hand counting everything, they can bring it up on the computer and determine much much faster. host: ralph in charlottesville. this is ag in little rock. democrat. caller: i was just calling into say i was very pleased with the way elections were held in all the states.

i was not pleased with the results in arkansas, i wish it had gone another way, but other than that that is all i have to say. host: ray in fredericksburg, indiana. independent. good morning. caller: a few points. i wonder how many election deniers are in office who denied the election in 2016. they are worried about the ones coming in this year but how many are still in that denied that election and you are allowing people to still say russian collusion. cut them off and tell them it is not true. i wish you would do a portion on real-time vote count. i was listening to a podcast in new york, all those precincts, the same amount of republicans voted in every precinct.

that is a cut-and-paste job there. the other thing is i encourage you as a moderator -- pedro let a lady call trump a pig and another caller talked about biden slobbering a little bit and she cut them off right away. encouragement to treat everyone the same. host: this is nancy in california. good morning. caller: i wanted to respond to mr. wong that made a comment, he referred to daniel webster in florida who had made a comment when the house -- when eric was trying to get leadership of the house and he thought he would not have the number of votes so he bowed out. he said this time around he is probably going to get speaker of the house if the republicans take it.

he said he has worked hard, he had been out on the campaign trail and raised a lot of money and he deserved it. that might have been what mr. wong said, that he was paraphrasing mr. webster. really? eric deserve speaker of the house because he has been out working hard to get contributions for the republicans? host: are you talking about kevin mccarthy? caller: kevin mccarthy. i am sorry. that is who i'm referring to. he said this time he should get speaker of the house because he has been raising money for republicans. i said that is why he should become speaker of the house? because he has been raising a lot of money? host: who would you prefer to see a speaker of the house? caller: you caught me off guard.

some of the more moderate republicans that that do not run down to florida like he did and suck up to trump. there are plenty of middle-of-the-road people that could get in there and work with all factions, not just these maga republicans but we need more people that are middle-of-the-road that can sit down and discuss and put forth ideas and solutions that everybody can live with. host: to alexandria, virginia just across the potomac river from d.c.. aaron is a democrat. good morning. caller: i need to clarify.

was there a caller from charlottesville that called in and you informed him about shooting and it blew right past him. my condolences to everyone who is suffering loss and trauma in charlottesville. the second thing i want to bring up is that we are still so focused on trump, now that he became president he is a politician. we see everything that he touches turns. we need to get away for meeting discussing him because he is not the problem. the problem is the last couple of callers worried about what names trump is being called or who is doing things behind the scenes in the biden laptop, i'm not worried about them. i am worried about the apathy and the basic decency we show each other as americans, and like the caller has with the

shooting blowing right past him. everyone is so siloed into their own issues they cannot see what is going on. have a good day. you are doing amazing. keep up the good work. host: this is dennis in california. independent. good morning. caller: i want to know why these people are coming out of the woodwork with trump, especially evangelistic. you have to wake up. nothing close to a christian i have ever thought of. he needs to go back somewhere. we need to go forward with this country. he has done nothing good for the country. thank you very much. host: jim kenney in d.c.. good morning -- to kenny in

d.c.. caller: if you give me a chance to talk, talk about controversial stuff, politics. i want to say that i was going to say this on veterans day, i did not get the chance to call in, but digitalized and computerized stuff was first made in world war ii. i've relatives that were veterans as well. my grandfather is gone. in d.c. everything has always been old-school. people still look away from anything that gets people's attention like tech that is digital or computerized or online videos. the minority, that is their issue. i can be smart and simple, all of that is great. host: about 15 minutes left in

our open forum. it is that time of the program where we turn this program over to you and let you call in about the political and policy issue you want to talk about, any state issue. a reminder that we sit here not knowing who will control the house and 118th congress. we are six days after election day. democrats currently with 204 seats in the house, republicans with 212. that has been what has been called by the associated press. that means there are 19 races left a call in the midterm elections. currently if you put it all the races republicans are leading or favored in, they would get up to about 221 seats and if you put it all the races that democrats are favored in they would get up to about 213. 218 is the magic number needed to win control of the house.

the senate is already determined with 50 seats. democrats will retain control of the senate because they control the white house and the vice president will be the tie-breaking vote. the senate race remaining is the georgia senate race. december 6 is when that will happen. that is latest on the balance of power from the midterm elections. paulin st. louis missouri. democrat. caller: i would like to note if joe biden has converted his cars to electric and the planes to electric. does medicare take money out of social security every time we get a raise in social security? host: that is pall. this is -- that is paul. this is thomas in tampa, florida. caller: i am calling about being fair about this election. the only reason republicans one

is because trump promised all of these kids -- they sure did stick it to the republicans. host: liverpool, new york. john. the democrat. caller: i've been working for the postal service for almost 50 years, still working there. i want to tell the american people that the postal service takes mail-in ballots very seriously. we treat them like gold. the american people would expect nothing last. i just wanted to assure the people, i have been there 50 years. 50 years ago we hardly got any mail-in ballots. i want the american people to know they can trust the postal service. we treat these ballots like gold. i vote by mail, i will continue to vote by mail. the american people can depend

and rely on the postal service to treat this as seriously as possible. going into the future we will continue to treat mail-in ballots like gold because that is what the postal service does, we do our job for the american people and you can trust the postal service. host: that is john in liverpool, new york. we mentioned president biden at the g20 summit in indonesia and he is taking questions from reporters now after meeting with xi jinping earlier today. let's tip into that for a little while. >> i don't think they can expect much of anything other than we will maintain our position. i'm not going to get into other questions. i should not have answered your question. i do not think there is enough

votes to codify unless something happens unusual in the house. i think we will get very close in the house. i think it will be very close. >> thank you. that's it. host: president biden wrapping up that brief talk with reporters at the g20 summit. we'll be talking more about his meeting with xi jinping coming up in about 10 minutes this morning. having that conversation about president biden and about the chinese leader with scott kennedy of the center for strategic and international studies, a senior adviser will be joining us on set this morning. joel is next out of massachusetts, independent, good morning. caller: mitch mcconnell cost republicans the elections. he did not support trump's nominations because he was afraid if they got in they would not support him to be the majority leader.

republican should get rid of mitch mcconnell in the senate. host: carol in tennessee. republican. good morning. caller: i wanted to say that if someone who votes faithfully in every election that the mail-in ballot a, something has to be done with that because it does raise questions in people's minds about what is really happening when something drags on and on. in florida they wrapped up everything quickly. when i was growing up it was that way. it has only been the last few years that that seems to be the case so it does raise questions in people's minds. the biggest thing i wanted to say was the biden administration is destroying this economy by destroying the energy sector in our country. we cannot survive as a nation on green energy. look at europe.

the germans -- i've german friends. their relatives are cutting down trees to have enough firewood to warm their homes. they sent pictures of the stove they have. it is a real thing this green energy thing -- president xi is building a coal-fired plant almost daily. they will not be held to any account for any green energy restrictions until 2035. they will have overtaken us by then. everyone needs to start paying attention. unfortunately biden is not going to do anything differently. this is a very scary situation and i urge people to begin paying attention to it and understand what is really happening. thank you. host: aubrey in richmond, virginia. democrat. caller: i'm going to start

making a regular habit of calling it because it has been years i've been call again. the previous caller mentioned in about germany. many people do not understand energy dynamics. earlier someone was talking about nord stream to. biden has to work with the germans in order to get them to cooperate with opposition to vladimir putin. once the germans realized the problem, they were willing to cut nord stream 2. joe biden has not done anything to destroy the american fossil fuel sector. the problem is, especially during the trump administration,

we became more dependent on fossil fuels and because of what vladimir putin has done, he was relying on his ability to blackmail europe so he could take ukraine. i do not want to go too deep into that. i want to mention a couple of things. all the people calling and complaining about elections and the time it takes. we have a federal system, which means every state has its own procedures for conducting elections. coronavirus made a lot of these states make some changes in their system. florida was ahead because of the debacle that happened during that time. joe biden, everybody wants to complain about joe biden, not everybody, but the trump gop

members want to complain about joe biden and claim he is frail and inept. joe biden is probably one of the more competent politicians we have had in the presidency in a long time. we did not hire joe biden to be linebacker, we did not hire joe biden to be a power lifter. his thinking, his planning, his strategy is what got the democrats over the hump in terms of election that the republicans historically have taken control of the whole government. host: that is aubrey in richmond, virginia. this is michael in pennsylvania with about five minutes left in our open forum. what is on your mind? caller: i am calling to congratulate the democrats for doing a fantastic job of dumbing down the voters. if they do not get rid of mail-in ballots the republicans will never win again. jimmy carter said it.

the elite mail-in ballots should be for the stable -- the only mail-in ballots should be for the disabled and people in service. if you cannot go to the polls and one day and know the outcome that night you should not be voting. you have to get rid of mail-in ballots. host: michael in ithaca, new york. good morning. caller: i like you a lot. you are a good moderator. i am praying for the democrats to win the congress as well, otherwise it will be a vendetta by the republicans. x president trump should be in jail by now. mitch mcconnell has done a great disservice, as many of the republicans that did not impeach trump when he should have been impeached.

they have allowed this tragedy to continue and the divisiveness to continue and i find them all accountable. if mitch mcconnell is listening to this, you're a traitor just like trump is, just like a lot of the republicans are to our country. the last thing is thanksgiving is coming up, and if you could have someone come on the show to talk about native american issues and also -- who has been in jail for so long needs to be released. i've written to joe biden about this and obama about this. it is sad this innocent man has been in jail for so long. please bring someone on the show for that. happy thanksgiving. host: this is kevin in ohio. independent. good morning. caller: thanks for taking my call. i want to bring to the attention

of the american people, back in october of 2017 donald trump said this is the calm before the storm. 888 days later the coronavirus was declared a pandemic and moderna coronavirus equals 888? host: we go to carl in houston, texas. good morning. caller: i would like to say i think schumer and pelosi should continue to run the house and stop all of the inviting. i believe they should handed off when they are ready to go. just pass it to the person they know will want to carry the torch. host: who you think has carry the torch? caller: is hard for me to say.

i believe they do a lot of things that we really do not get. host: last caller is bill in lafayette, louisiana. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to call in about the voting. so many people are decrying the fact that we have mail-in ballots. somebody correctly said that is because of covid. when people: talking about we need to vote like we have always voted, standing in line. i live in lafayette louisiana and went to vote and it took me about 20 minutes. i lived in philadelphia for 20 years and it took me three to four hours to vote. when we talk about people having to stand in line, that

disenfranchises people who live in cities, it disenfranchises poor people who may not be able to take three or four hours off from work. if we really want, we should be looking at ways to allow more people to vote, not less people to vote. republicans calling in are looking at ways to restrict voting. i did not hear these people crying about the results in arizona in 2020 when the republicans had recount after recount. host: on the issue of mail-in ballots, the national conference of state legislatures with a rundown of mail-in ballot a in this country. eight states allow all elections

to be conducted by mail. colorado implemented that system in 2014. oregon in the year 2000. washington in the year 2012, just for viewers finding out the history of mail-in ballot. running out of time. you want to finish your comment? caller: my point is we have the technology and know-how in this nation to expand voting so it can be accurate. this idea that on election day, we have to get past that. we need to have a week to vote. we need to do things that enfranchise people and expand voting, not restrict voting. thank you. host: that is bill in louisiana, our last caller in this segment. 30 minutes to go. we'll be joined by scott kennedy

for the center of strategic and international studies, focusing on president biden's meeting earlier today with chinese president xi jinping. we will be right back. ♪ >> on this episode of the weekly , veterans day will mark the 40th in a bursary of the vietnam veterans memorial known as the wall, contending the inscription of 60,000 americans who gave their lives in service to their country. we look back at the history of memorial, the presidents who visited, and what they said. >> we come to this sacred place to remember. we can step towards this granite wall, reach out, touch a name.

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c-span is america's network. unfiltered, unbiased, word for word. if it happens here or here or here or anywhere that matters, america is watching on c-span. powered by cable. >> "washington journal" continues. host: scott kennedy joins us, a senior advisor at the center for strategic and international studies. president biden met with xi jinping at the g summit in indonesia. why were they meeting and what we know about how it went? guest: they were meeting because they both were in indonesia and they cannot avoid each other. this is not a meeting they planned in advance and said we need to get together. the g20 is meeting there and they decided. it is the first meeting they had face-to-face with each other in five years.

i think the world wanted them to meet because the u.s. china relations are in a nosedive and folks wanted to pull out of that nosedive and stabilize. i think both of the countries want that as well and it is hard to do that if you do not meet face-to-face. online meetings have not been enough and this is a chance to talk face-to-face for the first time in many years. host: what was each side's goal hit it into this? guest: they both wanted to send a few messages. the first as they do not want this to devolve into open conflict, particular with regard to taiwan. that is the number one thing they wanted to say. the second as they wanted to set firm lines about what their core interests were and we probably saw that with president biden and xi jinping. lastly they wanted to establish

some routine mechanism for communication. they announced there would be cabinet level communications across a range of topics, and then secretary blinken is going back to beijing right after. host: taiwan is such a flashpoint issue. what did the taiwanese government inc. about this meeting? -- what did the taiwanese government think about this meeting? guest: we will have to wait and see. even though the taiwanese are looking for u.s. support to avoid a military conflict, i think they also do not want to overly antagonize the chinese and push xi jinping to do something they would not want. the taiwanese do not want conflict, either. i think they also might breathe a sigh of relief. the president said american policy on taiwan has not changed

in the u.s. will continue to support taiwan if required. i think they should also come away relatively satisfied with what happened in bali this morning. host: the handshake happening, conversation ensuing. president biden telling reporters in the last half-hour what he and xi jinping talked about. here is a minute and a half of that. >> i just met in person with xi jinping. we had an open and candid conversation about our intentions and our priorities. he was clear and i was clear that we will defend american interests, promote universal human rights, and stand up for the international order working in lockstep with our allies and partners. we will compete vigorously. i am not looking for conflict

but i'm looking to manage the competition responsibly. i want to make sure every country abides by the international rules of the road. we discussed the one china policy has not changed. we oppose unilateral changes to the status quo by either side and we are committed to maintaining the peace and stability of the taiwan straits. it was also clear china and the united states should be able to work together where we can to solve global challenges that require every nation to do its part. we discussed russia's aggression against ukraine, redefined our shared belief in the threat and use of nuclear weapons is totally unacceptable and i ask that secretary blinken travel to china to continue keeping lines of mitigation open between our countries. host: a lot there. what stuck out to you. guest: it is clear both sides realize the rest of the world is quite anxious.

both the opening statements including what president biden just said is the world expects the u.s. and china not to have a relationship with open war, and there are areas they need to work together to solve transnational issues, public health, food insecurity, macro economic trends. the secretary of the treasury was sitting right next to him, janet yellin. also both sides said they oppose the use of nuclear weapons under any circumstances and that is directed at russia. they can find some common ground on that very specific element of the russia-ukraine conflict, even though another aspects there are significant differences. host: scott kennedy is our guest until the end of our program. we are talking about president biden's meeting with xi jinping earlier today. if you have questions, now would

be a great time to call. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, independents (202) 748-8002. senior advisor for international and strategic studies. how long have you been studying china, how often you make it to china? host: i've been working on china for 34 years and first went there in 1988. i used to go there every year. in 20 i went eight times. once the pandemic broke out i cannot. i went to china last month in september for a seven-week trip to beijing and shanghai and met folks throughout the chinese government, business communities, scholars, journalists. host: what are you doing there? guest: trying to break the ice to establish communications with other scholars and people in the

government. you lose a lot when you are talking online with people so talking face-to-face. we are trying to promote increased communication and dialogue around common challenges, including public health, so we are looking to establish those types of relationships. that is something president biden mentioned in his remarks. host: what is the one china policy? guest: america's one china policy, which is different from china's one china principle, says that the u.s. recognizes china's position that there is one china and taiwan is a part of it. they take no position in that ended expects both sides to resolve this problem, this dispute they have, peacefully without coercion. that is the u.s. position. also the u.s. wants to do what is necessary to make sure there is no conflict. host: why is that our position?

guest: the civil war between the communists and the knt left taiwan and mainland china separated from the late 1940's and the u.s. which diplomatic recognition in the 1970's. overcoming that estrangement required the u.s. and china to make a compromise on the question of taiwan. they did that through ambiguity, where they said they recognize the other side's position but they did not necessarily accept it. in the context of that, the u.s. also passed a law that committed the u.s. to continuing to provide for defensive support for taiwan and maintain other unofficial relations, and that is where we have spent the last 40 plus years. host: what is strategic

ambiguity? guest: that approach suggests in general the u.s. wants to support taiwan if it faces some type of unprovoked attack. precisely how it will do so and by what means is left ambiguous. the president has said several times over the past couple of years that the u.s. definitely would be there if china attacked but he has never said precisely what the u.s. would do. even though he has been more clear he has still left some ambiguity and that is what he is trying to say in his remarks today. host: how important do you think the war in ukraine has been when it comes to that conflict between china and taiwan? guest: it has been more significant than people realize. the chinese like to say these are different things, you have two sovereign countries.

russia and ukraine. the chinese do not think taiwan is a sovereign country. much of the world does not see it in the same light. given what the u.s. and europe have done in ukraine, it has given the chinese a lot more pause on taiwan that they need to be much more careful because the u.s. and others have come to a non-nato ally support in russia and they have suggested they would do even more in the event of a taiwan scenario. that probably calms things down rather than compels them towards a crisis. host: several collars on the phone already. cory in colorado. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. we need to put our cards on the table regarding china. all of the global problems,

notwithstanding the war in ukraine, but the world right recession was caused by the chinese, by president xi, when the coronavirus was released upon the world. joe biden should have been putting his finger into xi's chest, telling him this is unacceptable. you are the reason things are going so badly in the world and if you do something like this there will be dire consequences. host: on the origin of the covid pandemic, the concerns the caller raises and what the chinese government has said in response to some of the accusations. guest: i think the u.s. has never dropped that issue with the chinese. certainly in discussions between scientific experts on both sides, they brought it up, the president has probably brought it up. there is also an issue about

looking ahead. how do we deal with the future pandemic. the future pandemic, if there are new pathogens heading off the pandemic, preventing future ones or resolving them will require the u.s. and china to cooperate. there is a question about how you deal with that very real problem, chinese responsibility as well as a look towards the future. that is the question in many aspects of the relationship, whether we are talking about security issues, economic competition. the chinese bear a lot of the blame for many of the problems in the relationship, and the need to own up to that. at the same time, what we do about solving problems here and now and going forward. host: rockville, maryland. this is john. republican. good morning. caller: i need to make a comment

and i do not know if anyone is thought about this angle or not. i whole joe biden directly responsible for the war in ukraine and if i can explain. when he shut down the keystone pipeline we could have provided natural gas to all of our european allies. all of this nonsense from russia would never have happened. putin would have never set foot in ukraine if we had remade energy sufficient in this country. all of our european allies will now freeze. all of the protests all over europe right now are all screaming about the lack of energy. it was directly because of one of bidens initiatives. host: the energy issue. let's take that to the asia-pacific region and energy

politics and diplomacy between united states and china? guest: china is also a large importer of energy and fossil fuels, also a large developer of green tech, solar wind as well. for everybody, energy security is a top issue. i do not know that was something that came up today in their conversation, but the u.s. is certainly trying to, even if you accept the caller's criticism, now that we are into this conflict, the u.s. has been trying to work with europeans and others in asia and japan to find some way to make it so we do not get to that bad outcome the caller mentioned, that there is sufficient fuel. i would imagine going forward you'll see a lot of creativity on capitol hill by the president

and others trying to find ways so we do not remain as vulnerable as we are. if there is some conflict. that is why development of nonfossil fuels is also important and and all of the above energy strategy will be critical, whether we are dealing with the conflict today between russia and ukraine, or some other issue down the road. caller: one issue -- host: one issue that did come up today was human rights. what biggest -- what are our biggest human rights concerns in china? guest: probably most people have been heard about what is going on as well as in hong kong and the national security law and the elimination of the one country, two systems model. the government originally gave hong kong a lot of time eight for the first 20 years under

chinese rule. that seems to have been ripped away from hong kong. more broadly speaking here of the expansion of a surveillance state in china through technology like cameras and ai, but also through average folks that work for the local state on the ground. you can see that. those are big human rights issues and china has moved in a much more authoritarian direction under xi jinping. we have seen president biden and secretary of state blinken highlight our differences of ideology and political systems and the u.s. has tried to emphasize that it is a strong advocate for democracy around the world and human rights. they have pushed the chinese bilaterally as well as in the u.n. and elsewhere. even china's own neighbors have raised chinese humans rights are regular basis. host: come back to the

surveillance state i can see on the ground when i am there. guest: when i was in china in september and october, you drive around and you see cameras everywhere. they are ubiquitous. when you have to take tests for covid and then have your phone stand to enter any building, your information is immediately shared with authorities. there is no disappearing in china. most people think even when china gets to a post-pandemic era, your phone and that information will still be used by the state. it is a lot different from the way it used to be, even though you still have the same party holding a monopoly on power. the technology tools they are using are different than they were in the past. host: alexandria, virginia. stephen. good morning. caller: i wonder if the guest could give us some insight into xi jinping's mind and calculus.

i cannot imagine being a leader on the world stage severely condemning mr. pruden, which -- severely condemning vladimir putin, which xi jinping has not done. is it just because he has access to a trade partner or is there something else, possibly a balance of power, i would like your perspective on what is his calculus relative to ukrainian conflict? guest: that is a great question and i tried to ask a lot of folks when i was in china about that. i think this goes back to basic power politics, triangular diplomacy which was popular during the cold war. the chinese disagree with the

russians on a range of different issues, their economic structures, the way they have integrated the rest of the world are quite different. they both agreed the u.s. is an adversary and so they have formed a common bond around that common criticism of the united states. you see that on the february 4 joint declaration they issued and in china's relatively weak criticism of russia and political support for what russia has done. i think that is even more important than the energy issue, that political alignment with the russians. i think the chinese wonder if they made a big mistake given what has happened in ukraine. if you think about xi jinping, he feels his responsibility is to save the communist party and hold its monopoly on power.

when he came into power a decade ago there was corruption inside the party. the army was weak. he saw the party crumbling. instead of using the rule of law , strengthening political institutions, he went in a much more leninist direction and he sees his job as preserving the party's hold on power. he is much less of a compromise or than his predecessors. he wants to reform institutions in a way that makes the world safer state capitalism authoritarian systems. it is a challenge, that is why the u.s. and china are at loggerheads the way they are. host: remind viewers what happened at the national party congress at the end of october and to zhintou is.

guest: in late october the communist party held its 20th party congress. they hold these meetings every five years. what was different about this one is xi jinping got a third term in power. previous leaders before him, his predecessor, they served host: terms and then retired. he did not. the rest of the politburo standing committee for all of his allies. he ran the table, and then he overturned the tables by upsetting these norms about how long you should stay in power and how leaders are selected. in the process of that, the predecessor who was sitting almost right next to him on the stage towards the end of this one-week conclave was upset

about something, and others came over and escorted him away in a way that looked like he was not voluntarily leaving. that was read at xi jinping may be slapping him in the face and showing him things have fundamentally changed. it was probably not planned that way but it was certainly read that way by the rest of the world. host: have we seen him since? guest: i do not know that we have seen him, but we have seen flowers he donated to a funeral of someone else who passed away. i do not think he has been disappeared. he is already retired, elderly. no threat to xi jinping. my sense is what happened is he was confused on that stage and they ended up very uncomfortably escorting him away. the way we read it, given xi jinping's total grip on power as it looks much more like a power

play. host: just a couple minutes left in our program. scott kennedy of the center for strategic and international studies. marianne is in albuquerque, new mexico. good morning. caller: i may have missed the earliest part of the discussion, but what i have not heard is the calculus in connection with all of these relationships about climate change. host: let's pick it up. guest: sure. the u.s. and china are the world's largest carbon emitters. the u.s. has done a pretty good job in the last decade bending the curve and reducing carbon emissions overall and per capita. the chinese have not. they have used the space to commit that by 2030 there will start sending that curve down. they are still increasing their

carbon emissions. at the same time they have also started to develop green tech, renewable energy, electric vehicles come everyone is probably familiar with that. the results of the tensions over taiwan, how speaker pelosi said the chinese canceled or suspended the dialogue ever climate that john kerry had been leading for the u.s.. it is not precisely clear with they said on this exact issue, but president biden did suggest that the two sides should be able to engage on transnational issues, climate being the first one he mentioned. and the creation of working groups around a variety of issues, sending secretary blinken back to beijing. i think it might be possible in the next two days will hear the two sides say they are resuming conversations on climate.

obviously a lot more to do than just having a few meetings of and china. it does feel like they may have broken that logjam. host: about 45 seconds left. anything else you'll be watching for from the g20? guest: i want to seat not only what the u.s. and china commit to, but what does the rest of the g20 say on all of these issues we face in terms of climate health, macro economic issues like inflation and supply-chain resilience. i will also be reading what is the rest of the worlds take away from the bilateral meeting. everyone does not want to see the u.s. and china end up in a war they want to figure out how to be able to maintain relations with both sides. not just bilaterally between the u.s. and china, but what the rest of g20 will be. then, we will see down in the next few months whether the u.s.

and china will really resume the communication they should be having. host: you can follow him on twitter. thank you for breaking it down for us. that is going to do it for our program this morning. we well of course be back here tomorrow morning. it is 7 a.m. eastern, 4 a.m. pacific. in the meantime, have a great monday. ♪ >> congress returned later today for legislate rms for the first time since elections. houses bk at 2 p.m. eastern. republican ry youngkin, who was eltelast week to serve out the rest of the indiana

congresswoman's term will be sworn into the house. members also be on capil ll this week for dorian tatian aing sessions. the senate returns at 3 p.m. eastern. they wl ntinue the debate on e district court judge for puerto rico. you can also watch on our free video app, see san now -- c-span now. go online at c-span.org. ♪ >> c-span now is your free mobile app. all at your fingertips. you can also stay current with the latest episodes of "washington journal" and find scheduling information for c-span's tv network and c-span

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