and decided with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> do you think this is just a community center? no. it's way more than that. comcast is partnering with a thousand community centers to create wi-fi enabled areas so students from low-income families can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. >> comcast supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers giving you a front-row seat to democracy. a is watching on c-sp. >> washington journal continues. host: we welcome farnoush amiri to the washington journal. she is a journalist with the --

reporter with the associated press here to talk about a short week for the house and senate. what are the highlights, the things you are looking at going into the week? guest: it is a shorter week because of the retreats for houston -- house dems. how santa senate are catching up -- house and senate are catching up on the news of the week, the ohio trained a rail meant. both parties have -- train derailment. both parties have promised to look into it. host: one of your pieces last week, the headline of that piece said " biden casts a wide net in probes as far as oversight." what will we see this week in

terms of oversight? guest: the main offering for house republicans this week will be the china select committee. obviously this is something that started bipartisan. democrats voted to create this select committee but we will see it tested bipartisanship this week. we will see former trump officials testify, some chinese dissidents testify. this will be the first time congress will address the chinese spy balloon. host: where do you start to begin with china in the two weeks they have been off? you had the chinese spy balloon at the beginning of february than the recent efforts by the chinese to call for a cease-fire in russia. certainly the agenda for that select committee just got wider. guest: that will be a challenge for them. how do you focus?

china is a large country. it has wide political influence. they will focus on domestically, one of the issues -- you are showing clips of mike gallagher and one of the focuses will be how china cracks down on people on u.s. soil, these outposts they have like in new york city. we will see more of a unified message in the beginning. host: you touched on the headline -- " committee launches probe into train derailment ." as they have been off on the break, what are you picking up from social media that members are concerned about? guest: it depends on who you are talking to. if you are talking about james

comer, he is really focused as his letter stated on friday, he wants to understand when the department was notified. what was the communication mike? many -- communication like? many believe that buttigieg did not respond adequately. host: our guest is farnoush amiri. she covers congress for the associated press. we welcome your calls and questions about the week ahead. the lines (202) 748-8000 for -- (202) 748-8001 for republicans. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8002 for independents. (202) 748-8002 -- (202)

748-8003 for all others. guest: this is the first time since 2021 that merrick garland has been before congress. a has happened since then. the democrats have been edging for -- itching for a hearing. you are going to see some of that play out. host: why didn't he testify before congress in 2022? guest: the attorney general comes before congress. in this period there have been several investigations that involve the fbi. host: there is a security

committee hearing this week. is there still consideration of impeachment of the homeland security secretary mayor guess -- mayorkas? host: it is -- guest: it is a small but growing faction that want to impeach mayorkas. if you talk to leadership, that is something they are treading carefully on. host: that meeting with the homeland security committee is this week. as you mentioned out the start, this is a short week because democrats have their policy conference this week. who are they expected to hear from? guest: biden announced he would address house democrats wednesday night. this is different than when he came to philadelphia last year

to talk to house democrats. they had full control of congress. now they are looking at a divided congress. they are looking at republican control in the house. the message will not be the same one of optimism. it will be "how do we get back the house in 2024?" host: in past years republicans failed similar policy conferences. are they planning to do the same thing this year? guest: they will be in orlando at the end of. march they have regained control of the house. they are looking at 2024. it will be interesting who the speakers are. last year kevin mccarthy avoided inviting trump. we will see what happens. host: what can you tell us about the agenda this week for the

house in particular. but legislation should we be on the lookout for? guest: this week because of the house democratic retreat is a lighter legislative week. we will see some resolutions in support of aid and helping out the communities in turkey and syria that have suffered from that devastating earthquake. the select committee on china will be their biggest offering this week. host: farnoush amiri is our guest. we welcome your calls. (202) 748-8001 the republican line. (202) 748-8000 for democrats. we welcome your text as well. (202) 748-8003. we have one here from georgia. dalton writes, " what will the effect this week be of the

release of more tapes to fox news?" guest: kevin mccarthy released documents to fox news hosted tucker carlsen. i expect there will be a lot of questions about these security questions that come up. how much access -- carlsen has said it is unfettered. what does that look like? he and his teams have spent the last week on the hill going through those tapes because they have to do it in a secure room through a terminal. he has previewed that he will start to show some of that. host: are these tapes the january 6 committee has already gone through? guest: the committee has gone over 14,000. carlsen said he had access to over 40,000. members on the committee have gone through it. host: the sergeant at arms of

the house said when the speaker asked for those tapes, he basically has to give them the tape. will other media outlets get access to the tapes? guest: that is the question. there has been a lot of pushback. why this one specific anger is getting access. the speaker has constitutional power to question or pushback on so it remains to be seen. host: let's get to calls. we have frank in staten island, new york on the independent line. caller: are they having any hearings on the supplementary snap insurance cancellation? the other question was about those objects they shot down. no one is claiming responsibility, like if they were for research or weather balloons. it is where they can't have any

information on that. guest: on snap insurance, i'm not aware of any hearings this week. obviously, on the spy balloon's we will see some of that in the china select committee. i expect they would touch on that topic. we should expect a bipartisan condemnation of china using that spy balloon. i think we will see some of that play out, whether the select committee is able to garner bipartisan support to pass meaningful legislation that is able to rein in some of china's power. host: we have the democratic conference policy -- democratic party policy conference this week. a lot of republican members will be speaking. what is the next big wave of legislation expected to come to the next floor? what is the next house

republican priority in terms of legislation on the house floor? guest: we are holding our breath for the debt limit conversation. janet yellen has spoken about june being the timeline for when the government would fail to be able to pay its bills. we will see some of that play out. we will see budget negotiations happen. biden will submit his budget. we will see republicans take aim at some programs. host: when are we expected to get the president's budget? guest: by the end of this month's. host: another question on social media. jose says, " when will they be addressing the george santos expulsion? how can we move on with anything until the liars are gone? seems open and shut." where does that stand with george santos? guest: that is the difficult things about ethics

investigations. they're done behind closed doors. there is little information that spells out until the house ethics committee finishes their investigation and releases their report. we are waiting to see what that looks like, but obviously he is facing a federal investigations, state and local investigations. it is unclear what his future is in the house. host: does it make it difficult -- one, has he been given any committee assignments yet? has it made it difficult for him to defunct just with his constituents? guest: from the steering committee, he was given small business administrative committee and he was given science. he stepped back. he had a meeting with kevin mccarthy and asked if it would be ok if he took a step act from

those committees and that took off some of the pressure. right after that house republicans voted to remove bill hanno mark from -- ilhan omar. he is followed around by a group of reporters on the hill. he does not seem to be part of any legislating. is not on any committees. -- he not on any committees. host: seems like he is in a holding pattern, not really one place or the other. guest: just waiting to see the shoe drop. host: we are waiting on the house. the senate come into session today. they traditionally start after president's day with the reading of george washington's farewell address. what else is ahead for the u.s. senate? guest: the senate is expected to

hear that democrats expect to have aydin attend a caucus lunch this week so they will be hearing -- biden attend a caucus lunch this week. he will say whether he plans to run for reelection again. i believe there is an expectation that they will get a briefing on the spy balloon. there is no date that has been on that. also classified documents is something that similar to the house, senate republicans and democrats are looking to get answers. host: what is the status of john fetterman who entered walter reed for a mental health evaluation and treatment? guest: the most recent statement said that he will take some time off after that and he is going to focus on his mental health journey. i think it will be really

interesting. we saw republicans and democrats talking about the importance of mental health and how the stigma around it causes people in high-power positions like john fetterman to stay quiet, not to open up, not to take time off. so it will be interesting to see what his role will continue to be in the senate. obviously, senate democrats just got an albeit smaller but larger majority with the wind of raphael warnock. any nominations, any legislative priorities will be on hold. host: i was going to ask of the political consequences of that. senator schumer has to -- he is down one vote with the absence of john fetterman. guest: senator kristen cinema from arizona recently came out independent.

obviously she said she would caucus with the democrats, but we have not seen what the practicality of that would look like and whether she will be staying on the democrat agenda. host: is the -- (202) 748-8001 is the republican line. (202) 748-8000 is the democrat'' line. (202) 748-8002 independents and everyone else. "i identify as an american,'mr. manchin said. 'i am an american through and through." he is up for reelection, is he not? guest: he took himself out of the running for president. we will see the- one the

democrats were holding their breath for was montana. that is a see republicans are looking to gain back in 2024. ohio with sherrod brown is another competitive seed for republicans. west virginia is the same. it will be interesting to see whether joe manchin runs for reelection in 2024 and whether he runs as a democrat. host: joe manchin, during the 118th and before, he was the focus of democrats. now the majority leader has an extra vote with the full senate there, so he is not really the spotlight that he was in the 118th. guest: as we talked about with kristin cinema, he might have come back into that. any democrat can become the joe manchin of the 118th congress. host: brian calling from

michigan. brian, go ahead. caller: i'm wondering about all these cases since 9/11, these fisa courts, are we ever going to review the fisa courts, the legality of them regarding the constitution? how about tony belinsky? he seems to be the west credible -- most credible witness ever. i have the same security clearance as tony. i was enamored dealing with annapolis graduates, the best of the best. that is most credible witness i have ever seen in washington dc, and he is willing to step forward. i believe the fisa court is unconstitutional, and tony belinsky, have you heard

anything on that? thank you. guest: fisa courts are under the jurisdiction of the judiciary. it has come up as a topic, specifically in the weaponization committee and the house. republicans are looking to investigate what they see as the weaponization of the american government against u.s. citizens. the funds the court has been a controversial topic of focus for republicans. host: what -- i'm not sure you cover that specifically. what did that tell you about the future workings of that committee? guest: we have never seen -- select committees are always different than a regular standing committee. it was interesting. they brought in ron johnson and chuck grassley who were on their own in the senate, investigating

what they see as weaponization. they have accused of the doj fbi of going after parents during the early days of the pandemic. it is a really interesting committee. obviously, democrats are pushing back on this narrative. they think the opposite. it started out in a partisan manner. host: let's hear from ted calling from new jersey, democrats line. welcome. caller: my question is to you -- can you bring someone to talk about the -- they make millions of dollars and who pays for it? we pay for it. you are host: --

host: you are talking about trial lawyers? another topic, but thanks for the suggestion. we touched on this earlier, but we have a text from gladstone, michigan -- "are republicans going to raise the debt limit?" guest: the last update we got from both biden and mccarthy was that the conversations were continuing between the two men. after the state of the union address, republicans -- there has been a consensus among most republicans that medicare and social security is off the table, but what that means for the other programs, especially ones that biden wants to enrich-- republicans have said that they would not do a clean debt limit.

host: this is expected to come to a head by? guest: june. the x day is still a question mark. host: we are just seeing this announcement via twitter -- " today i am announcing my run to be michigan's next u.s. is senator. we need a new generation that works hard and never forgets that we are a public servant." what does michigan look like? guest: we saw in the midterm elections and specifically in 2022, it was always considered a battleground state. democrats did exponentially well in michigan. obviously, biden started that trend in 2020.

there is this appetite from democrats to see what that looks like. obviously if she won she would be taking over a democratic seat, but it would be a continuation of their reign over the state. host: you said joe biden speaking to the senate caucus this week. he will speak to the policy conference of democrats this week. what is the message of the democrats to that congress? guest: we will see a different tone than we saw last year. last year it was coming in the wake of legislative achievements, including the bipartisan infrastructure deal. they were in negotiations for build back better, which would be the inflation reduction act in the summer. they do not have that now because they only have the senate. they are facing republican control in the house.

the message is how do we gain back the house and how do we hold the white house? host: has there been a meeting between the white house and republican leadership, kevin mccarthy specifically? guest: they met early on to talk about the debt limit in january. we have not heard of a meeting between them since then. host: your sense of the relationship between republican leadership and the white house? guest: we saw a different tone from mccarthy after that debt limit conversation with biden. there is a different persona you can have when you are a minority leader and the president of the opposite party. when you are the house, it is interesting to see kevin mccarthy transition to this role. the partisan rhetoric is different than it was. host: let's hear from ed in

connecticut calling on the republican line. caller: how are you doing? i was looking at the jim jordan committee. kristin perez and garland and those people, they are definitely weaponizing against us. you see all the bones that were stolen from mike lindell, everyone getting arrested -- phones that were stolen from mike lindell, everyone getting arrested. they should be more transparent. i think china is kind of running our country. i would like to hear your opinion and what you think about it. thank you for your time. host: what you are -- guest: what you are talking about is the focus for the weaponization committee. they are looking through every

aspect of the federal government from the department of education, from the fbi, to see what they think is weaponization against american citizens, whether it is against their first amendment rights to speak at their school board's meetings -- host: the hearings on hunter biden, the oversight committee hearings have not gotten their way get have they?? guest: no. he does not want to bring this to a hearing until they are able to conclude large parts of their investigation. he is still sending out subpoenas and letters to the various agencies and individuals he believes are involved in this. host: that is an investigation that representative comber again when he was ranking member on oversight. guest: he spent the last 2 eu

years in the minority preparing for this gavel -- 2 years in the minority preparing for this gavel to send subpoenas. he has been collecting documents. he has kept track of these individuals. host: one more call for you. we will get james in charlotte, north carolina, democrat line. caller: good morning. my bone to pick with you today is the press. the pit bulls that would put their teeth into an investigation and stay with it until it is complete -- now we have a lot of new people all running for the hot story of the day to the next hot story. we are arguing the truth versus a lie, not real policy anymore.

your reporters are afraid to say when something is totally ridiculous. we are debating the ridiculous. it is almost amusing sometimes the press cannot just say, "that is a lie." host:host: we will let our guest respond. guest: needless to say, i think this is a conversation that newsrooms have. this is a conversation the public has had about the role of media and journalists in society. i can only speak for myself and the ap. we have taken steps to call out lies and you've nuanced -- give nuanced details to the statements politicians make. host: farnoush amiri, you can

>> the house returns for general speeches later today at 2:00 p.m. eastern. legislative business begins at 5:00 p.m. members will debate a resolution expressing condolences for turkish and syrian earthquake victims and commending u.s. and international relief efforts. later in the week, the u.s. will take up a resolution to address the inflationary impact on any future executive orders. also a bill to repeal a labor department rule allowing retirement plan managers to consider environmental, social, and corporate governance factors in their investments. watch live coverage of the house here on c-span. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we're funded by these television companies and more, including comcast. >> do you think this is just a community center? no. it's way more than that. comcast is partnering with a thousand community centers to create wi-fi enabled areas so

low-income students can have the tools available for anything. >> comcast. >> c-span, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> this week on the c-span networks, the house and senate are back in session following a break for the presidential holiday. on tuesday morning, the house foreign affairs committee holds a hearing on holding the chinese communist party and a hearing about management of u.s. military support to ukraine. then on wednesday, u.s. attorney general merrick garland testifies before the senate judiciary committee on oversight of the justice department. watch this week live on the c-span networks or on c-span now, our free mobile video app. also, go to c-span.org for scheduling information or to stream video live or on demand anytime. c-span, your unfiltered view of government.