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week. lots to do before they leave for the summer. here to join us and set up what to expect is stephen neukam. thanks for coming in. guest: thank you for having me. host: the messenger, what is it about? guest: we are eight weeks in. we cover everything from politics to general news, sports and entertainment and business. our mission is timely, accurate, objective news. you can find us on the messenger.com. we have a great team. if you are interested in politics, it is the messenger.com. host: before we get to the nuts and bolts of what to expect, can you describe how much time is left in the current session for the scheduled break is expected to happen? -- scheduled to happen? guest: there is not much. there is a lot to do in the next

2-3 weeks. we are up against a deadline of the very end of july, july 28th is the last day until august recess. host: and then the key thing that is planned or at least reported on this week is spending bills. and you describe progress that is going on and what people should be watching for as the process plays out? guest: it's interesting what is going on. the house of representatives is where this is playing out. they have to past 12 spending bills, agreed on the debt limit deal. or face a mandatory 1% cut across the board. they need to pass 12 spending bills. the issue right now is that house republicans agreed with the white house to spending levels, the freedom caucus, conservatives and the house of representatives want the budget numbers to be written even

lower. and house republican leadership has, so far, agreed to that. they will take up a couple of these spending bills. they have to get them done, some of them done this week. they will mark them up. they need to go through this process. that is what you need to see play out. the difference between conservatives and the house of representatives write those bills to, versus what senate democrats right those bills to. host: what gives them the gumption to vote for that number? guest: the freedom caucus -- the house republicans have a small enough majority that, a smaller number of conservatives, when you see this process play out, they can muck up a lot of the process for the house of representatives. this is one thing kevin mccarthy has given to let the house

function easier. to let them have the spending bills written at fiscal 22 levels. this is the friction between the two. they have a lot of pull with the speaker, because they are such a small majority within the house of representatives, that they can derail progress in the chamber. that's what gives them the ability to get him to agree to do that. host: if there is 12 spending bills, have any of them been passed yet? guest: no. host: what is the deadline for passage before conservative shutdown becomes a real issue? guest: september 30. we have until july 28, then we have the august recess and then they will come back in september. cancel your september plans. everybody on the hill will probably not have anything on their schedule other than dealing with spending bills. september 30 is the cut off.

they need to pass all of these bills and get them through to the house on the senate. that is the timeline. host: is there some type of plan b in place, should those bills not happen? guest: they haven't talked about a plan b yet. because mccarthy is adamant. this is one thing mccarthy wanted to do is pass these 12 spending bills. he wanted a more robust -- a more transparent funding process through the house. they could always, i guess, bring an optimists package together and push them all in at the same time. mccarthy said he is not doing that. i think that sin democrats would be willing to do that. but that is plan b. plan c is the mandatory 1% cut across the board for spending. host: one aspect of things going on. if you want to ask stephen

neukam about that, you can call (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. and (202) 748-8002 for independents. if you want to texas, you can do that at (202) 748-8003 -- text us, you can do that at (202) 748-8003. -- pick it up and see what other scenarios there? guest: they will have to come together. mccarthy talked about this after the debt limit insight happened. he said there was going to be a need -- these chambers are going to have to talk. they will have to sit down and hash out where they can come to compromises and where they can get these spending bills across the finish line. that is the track that we are heading to hear. democrats and the senate are going to have to sit down with republicans in the house and figure this out. host: to what degree are senate

democrats willing to accept a lower number to begin with? guest: we are not sure. they are marking up at the levels that they have been given. that maximum level, which is what has happened in the past and sort of his custom he hurt -- customary. we are unsure. we have not gotten through that much of the process yet. we need to see how that plays out and i'm sure we will get to that. host: one of the things that is also scheduled to be discussed later on this week is something called the national authorization act. can you explain what that is when it comes to defense spending? guest: congress needs to pass a defense authorization act each year. it's one of the only things that is passed -- one of the few things that is passed annually. so, yeah. it funds the defense apartment, the pentagon. a lot of defense activities. what is interesting is this is usually a vehicle for other

political fights. other things are usually attached to this. for example, the funding for ukraine, we will get an idea of how much republicans in the house are actually willing to support ukraine. how much more money are they willing to fork out to the war effort they are to support ukraine? the other thing is the pentagon has an abortion policy, a no abortion policy that they will offer paid leave and paid travel for employees that want to get abortion access. republicans in the house, they want to kill that plan. that is another thing that will be tacked on. aside from spending an authorization, there are other fights that will be tacked on. that makes the process that much more complicated. host: how many get tacked on? guest: i'm not sure.

we have a fantastic reporter who is much better at this than i am. you can go to the messenger.com and see the lead story on our new site. hundreds have been filed in the rules committee this week for the mbaa. they will have to sift through those amendments and figure out what they will bring to the forefront. host: with that in mind, those of the major things to watch. what should people also be watching for? guest: you should be looking for republican oversight of the white house. when republicans took the house, they promised vigorous oversight of the white house, of the biden administration and the biden family. they have been doing that. the fbi director, christopher wray, is testifying in front of congress. in front of the judiciary committee this week. he has been getting it from all sides, from republicans. so, and then the drugs that were

found in the white house last week or a few weekends ago, the oversight committee representative, james comer, represented -- requested a briefing from the secret service about that saga. they will continue this path of oversight at the white house. host: 10:00 this wednesday is the scheduled hearing with christopher wray, the fbi director. you can see that on c-span three. follow along on our app at c-span now. you can also follow along on our website at c-span.org. stephen neukam, when you talk about the cocaine that was found in the white house, jim calmer, sending a letter. here is part of what it had to say. the presence of illegal drugs at the white house is unacceptable and a shameful moment in the white house's history. the secret service has a responsibility to maintain effectivty protocols. thident and the eventual

uation of staff clearly raises concerns about the level of security maintained at the white house. the committee has oversight jurisdiction over uss operations. i look forward to information from director cheadle. guest: i talk with some committee sources. it is unclear what they want to understand from the secret service about this situation. what i got was the press release and the letter was sent to the secret service. anything that has to do -- it's politics, right? there are legitimate security concerns. there is a reason cocaine was found in the white house and it is a big story. at the same time, republicans are going to use this opportunity to sort of drag the biden white house a little bit,

right? and so, i think this is sort of what this is. and they will probably get a behind closed doors briefing, a staff level briefing from secret service about this. and then we will see how james comer, republicans and democrats come out of that meeting. host: there were attempts to have this tied to hunter biden. guest: you saw that. some were more direct and some were more explicit. -- indirect and some were more explicit. hunter biden is one of the main targets of house and senate republicans, of presidential candidates. and has a stated public history of drug abuse issues and struggles. and so, when drugs pop up in the white house, it is an easy

connection to make, i think. i don't think this is something that will sort of surface officially but this is something that was said on social media, to put it out there. host: let's hear from sal, new jersey on the independent line. sal, go ahead. caller: yes, hello, sir. i would like to ask, this judgment, this decision that they recently made concerning affirmative action, is it going to be permanent or is it still incomplete? and if not, will it become -- what are they going to do? what are the conservatives going to do to make it complete? caller: i'm not sure. i think the supreme court ruling is -- has struck at the heart

of affirmative action. it was a decision i think based around harvard and unc. two schools admissions departments. but it is the supreme court. it is pretty overarching. what is interesting about the affirmative action fight is the reaction you are going to see on the hill from republicans and democrats. republicans will go after -- democrat will go after legacy admissions and affirmative action has been a target for republicans for quite some time. democrats definitely jump on things like legacy admissions and student loan debt. host: stephen neukam on the senate side, it was senator schumer sending out a letter, talking about supreme court ethics coming into the scope of the senate before they leave.

guest: this is something they want to do, especially after the reporting about justice clarence thomas's relationship with republican donors. i think it is well documented now. this is something that democrats have really pushed. it is more of a messaging thing than anything else. it is not something that will get through the house that is controlled by republicans. but, to the extent that republicans can do messaging in the house, democrats want to be able to do that. and the supreme court is something you can hold hearings about. that is something i think majority lead schumer has in his sites. host: in texas, your next up. caller: it's baseball season, everybody going along. as far as the supreme court is

concerned, i wonder if jack smith is going to interview ginni thomas on her role on january 6. as far as secret service, those guys should be fired. i don't know how they got coked through their. -- through there. you guys have a good one. host: let's hear from another texan, also from houston, this is robert on our independent line. caller: good morning. i am curious about the estate banking and if that process will begin this week -- the state banking act and if that process will begin this week. guest: that's not something that popped up in our reporting. this is a week, in a few weeks, they will be donated by the appropriations process.

i can't emphasize enough that they need to get a bulk of this done. some section of it done these next 23 -- 2-3 weeks before they leave the entirety of august. host: is there a plan for them to do that? is there a scheduled plan for them to work on these appropriations? guest: it depends on how many speaker things he can get through in the next couple of weeks. i don't know if they have publicly said we need to get six of these through the house floor before we leave for august recess. but, you know, it is starting this week. we will see. they have to go through the appropriations, the committee process and the markup process. they have to deal with the mdaa. i'm sure they have a number they would like to read. i think they will try and knock out as many of it -- as much of it as they can. host: one of the things we saw

earlier, at least a month or so ago was contention between certain factors and speaker mccarthy. guest: i think that, you know, it is professional. they have policy disagreements, in terms of how the house is being run. house freedom caucus members want as much influence as they possibly can have. speaker kevin mccarthy has a very small majority in the house of representatives. that means they have a lot of power and a lot of the ability to have influence over the speakership. i think that this is something that you will see pop up again in the appropriations process. i don't think it bears personal animosity. it is nothing like what i can

point to as the marjorie taylor greene back and forth. there seems to be a deceased -- distaste. i think they like speaker kevin mccarthy, they just have policy differences. house freedom caucus memos, at least some section of them have said we will vote against these appropriations bills if they are not written up to the level where they have too much spending. and this is something that is going to happen. and they can do that. and there is enough of them, a small amount of them, where if they vote against the appropriations bill, it can derail the entire process. host: thanks for bringing that up. they are not afraid to do that. that is what you're saying. guest: they said in the immediate aftermath of that, the

gas stove bill, there was a conservative rebellion on the floor. they would not allow a vote to go forward to allow that to proceed. they worked all of that out. they were finally able to pass the bills they wanted to. they made very clear in the aftermath of that happening that they were willing to do it again. and, you know, that the house was going to be day-to-day in terms of the process they were going to be able to make. maybe the appropriations bill gets written to the level that they are heavy -- happy with and they sing kumbaya. but it is something to keep an eye on. host: i want to elaborate on this. represented marjorie taylor greene, according to reports, finds herself outside the house freem caucus. can you say what you think is going on or what has been reported as going on? guest: yeah. they -- the house freedom caucus

does not comment officially on membership or internal matters. i think that there is an uneasiness about her relationship with the speaker. marjorie taylor greene is close with the speaker publicly. i can't say -- we will get a better idea when everybody is back on the hill this week. we can walk up to her and ask her if she is on the freedom caucus still. and others if she is in the free to cut -- freedom caucus. i can't confirm that right now. my official sources are saying we can't comment on membership in the caucus. so, we will have to see. it remains to be seen. host: there is a viewer off of twitter. this goes to the larger aspect of what the biden administration has tried to do as far as its reelection campaign, but how many republicans are going to take credit for -- particularly

when they voted no? guest: this is something you have seen the white house be aggressive on on social media. they have been aggressive about when a republican lawmaker would take credit for groundbreaking or take a victory lap for securing funding for something in their district that the white house or the president's twitter account said they would see them at the groundbreaking and other democrats would gang up. this is a reelection thing. it is something you will see on social media with democrats pointing out the fact that there are a lot of these funding mechanisms that republicans now champion and are celebrating on twitter. and they are coming from bills that they voted against. host: before we let you go, because of reelection issues, we have seen a number of house

republicans put support out there for former president trump. how much support out there for other candidates is there? particularly for ron desantis? guest: it's a good question. people in the house are remaining, if they are not supporting trump, a lot of them are willing to come forward and say they support former president trump. a lot of them are close allies of the former president. they were in congress when he was in the white house. a lot of people are not taking a position. and that includes speaker kevin mccarthy. at the top level of the republican party in congress. almost no matter what position you take on this, if you are pro-trump or anti-trump, specifically if you are the speaker, you are only going to alienate a certain subset of your caucus. and when the house is already volatile and there is already enough division on policy

matters, i think that lawmakers are holding their tongue on the presidential stuff until they can get through what they need to get through on the hill and not adding that fuel to the fire of everything else that is going on. there is a significant amount of support for former president trump. he still has a lot of allies in congress. host: our guest rights for the messenger. you can find his work at th >> wednesday, the fbi director testifies at an oversight hearing. watch live at 10:00 a.m. on c-span3, c-span now or c-span.org. >> the c-span bookshelf podcast makes it easy for you to listen to all of c-span's podcasts about nonfiction books in one place. each week we make it convenient

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