with the mission. they have detailed journals on the plant and animal life, native peoples and potential trade routes. stephanie ambrose tubbs, author of several books on lewis and clark, and hiker of the lewis and clark trail, will join us. be sure to scan the q.r. code to listen to our companion podcast where you can learn more about the authors of the book featured. >> since 1979, in partnership with the cable industry, c-span has provided complete coverage of the halls of congress. from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated

and decided. with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. c-span. your unfiltered view of government. host: in times of fag news on capitol hill, it is always helpful to have scott wong. good morning. guest: good to be with you. host: before we dissect what happened on saturday this continuing resolution funds the government through november 17. what needs to happen between now and then to avoid another one of these shut down showdowns 45 days from now? guest: we could be back in this exact same spot 45 days from now right before the thanksgiving holiday. what mccarthy has done is by himself some more time -- buy

himself some more time to pass these appropriation bills. if you go with the regular order, the house passes there 12 -- their 12, the senate passes their 12. they are now up to 4 out of those 12. the senate has not moved any of their appropriations bills. mccarthy wants to pass a bills so they can negotiate them with the house-senate, come up with a packages bills that can pass congress and fund the government. this should have been done much earlier this year. many lawmakers were complaining, why did it we work through the august recess?

they took an entire month and some change off. there is probable frustration that we waited until this point to start negotiating these appropriations bills. the continuing resolution, the house conservatives bills would reduce spending, something demanded of those conservatives, so that will be where we see inferences with the senate and the house over federal spending levels. host: does this mean in the next 43 days does the senate have a lot more work to do than the house? are all of these 12 appropriation bills going to be passed? why hasn't the senate passed any of their appropriations bills? guest: [laughter] typically these things are

negotiated by the top appropriators, by senate leaders. they have been dragging their feet. there has been disagreement. we have not seen the senate be as productive. that has been a point that kevin mccarthy has said. look, we have passed 4 out of the 12. the senate has passed zero. therefore, we have made more progress. while technically that is true, in any sort of deal defined the government, you need agreement from the 4 corners, the top appropriators plus the congressional leaders, 2 in each party. we will be very much following this closely. the house is going to be taking up another one of those appropriations bills they hope as early as this week. they have already passed some of the lower hanging fruit,

including funding the pentagon, funding homeland security, so they are tackling this one bite, at a time starting from the low hanging fruit and getting to the more challenging bills. we could very much be in the same spot right before thanksgiving. host: this is the one that members of congress do not tell too often because it is the till that funds congress itself -- bi ll that funds congress itself. no ukrainian aid in this package that came together. when and how will a vote on additional funding for ukraine happen? guest: if you listen to the president of the united states just yesterday in talking to this cr deal funding the government, he said there was

another deal made with kevin mccarthy on ukraine. he seemed to suggest that there was an agreement that there would be votes on some sort of ukraine package. that was interesting kevin mccarthy's spokesperson responded that the priorities will be border security and ukraine, getting those things through the congress. mccarthy's folks want to tie together those two very challenging issues, border security and ukraine. the one positive ray of light for ukraine is that it does have the support of all the leadership, especially mitch mcconnell, the republican leader in the senate who very much tried to ensure that ukraine funding was attached to this cr that passed through the congress. the house bill that eventually

did pass did not include the ukraine. mcconnell in a closed-door meeting with his republican congress was overruled after insisting that ukraine remain in the package. he was overruled by senate republicans according to our reporting. at the end of the day ukraine funding does have broad support among all of the key negotiators who will be involved in the future funding of the government. that is a very good sign for ukraine funding. the president says he is going to get it done, so a lot of political influence behind getting maury economic and military -- more economic and military aid to ukraine as they wage their war against russia. host: start calling in with your

questions or comments. republicans, it is (202) 748-8001. democrats, (202) 748-8000. independents, (202) 748-8002. scott wong was up there tracking as that deal was coming together on capitol hill going right to the 11th hour. in the wake of that, we are expecting a motion to vacate the chair this week. scott wong wh how do yo see this playing out and what have you been hearing about this, and if mccarthy is ousted who could unite the conference? guest: we are several steps away from that scenario, but clearly we have to look to the number

two republican leader, steve scalise, notably from louisiana. he is battling and receiving treatment for blood cancer, which he announced the state short -- just a short few weeks ago. he does have some conservative allies, although there are some conservative groups who do question how conservative his record is but he does have people like andy big, the former freedom caucus leader pushing him is a possibility. there is of course wildcards, people like patrick henry the financial services chairman who has served in leadership before who is an institutionalist, widely respected as a legislator, and someone who knows the conference very well,

and others like tom cole who is the rules committee chairman. very well-respected knows the ins and outs of every note and cranny of the united states congress who would be seen as a placeholder while the republican conference resolves its internal issues and divisions. those are some of the names i would throw out there to keep your eye on. host: if there are democratic votes to, save a mccarthy speakership who should we be watching? who is most likely to make that trip across the aisle? guest: i think it would be the moderates. the moderates looking at the bipartisan problem solvers, the people who meet weekly democrats and republicans, this group of now more than 60 individuals who

do not like the chaos that has transpired on capitol hill in recent weeks, who want a return to working across the aisle, getting things done. this is the group led by brian fitzpatrick of pennsylvania. what i am hearing from moderates and really from democrats across the spectrum, including progressives is that they are looking to hakeem jeffries right now. you laid out earlier how it would work, and the numbers, and the fact that kevin mccarthy would need some democratic votes in order to survive, or he would need some democrats to vote present to lower the threshold in order to survive. what democrats have told me is they are looking towards their leader hakeem jeffries to give them direction, give them marching orders about how to proceed.

certainly, there would be in that event conversations between mccarthy and hakeem jeffries. i think a power-sharing agreement is something a little too far out of a west wing episode, a little too cute, but democrats would want to extract something from mccarthy. what that is remains to be seen. if it is it an up or down vote on ukraine aid, that may not be enough for democrats to get on board. kevin mccarthy is someone who democrats do not trust at all, going back to his reiterated support of donald trump after the january 6 attack on the capitol. president biden says he reneged on the deal that raised the debt limit. that is why we are in this situation in the first place.

finally, kevin mccarthy has launched in recent weeks this impeachment inquiry into president biden that democrats feel is purely political and meant to damage president biden ahead of 2024. for a lot of those reasons there is not much trust or will from democrats 212 bailout kevin mccarthy as he heads into this difficult motion to vacate vote. host: scott wong, senior congressional reporter and no stranger to c-span viewers. mary is up first, las vegas, line for democrats. caller: good morning. a third of the house are election denying, anti-democratic, authoritarian minded people. matt gaetz and his ilk -- if i

recall right was biggs the one who is at the podium on january 6 with the bullet-proof vest? matt gaetz opens his big mouth so he can make money and go on fox news. we need to vote out these conspiracy theorists in our house now so we can get back to having a democracy before we lose it. this third of the house that i am talking about are nothing more than the disciples of a cult leader, and trump on the podium more than just spewing rage is no starting to sound likew a rapper with the swearwords. host: scott wong, is that what he is doing, a wip count on the motion to vacate? it only takes more than four

republicans to vote on that motion to vacate. do we know how many we are watching here who might vote to vacate the chair? guest: we do not have a specific number yet. i saw a tweet yesterday from eli crane that responded to matt gaetz' threat to vacate. he said "let's roll," "let's do this," essentially. the math is going to be so tricky just not knowing what the democrats are going to do. i mentioned earlier one possibility is that some of the moderate democrats who do not like the chaos that has rained on capitol hill could vote present, thereby lowering the threshold that kevin mccarthy needs in order to survive. yes, matt gaetz is an ally of

president trump, one of the top allies of president trump as the caller mentioned. kevin mccarthy and his allies have been portraying matt gaetz in recent interviews as somebody who has a purse over vendetta against -- a personal vendetta against the speaker of the house. he led the effort to block kevin mccarthy from becoming speaker of the house back in january. he is someone that mccarthy allies say just wants to get on tv, perhaps one day to run for governor. my colleague matt dixon had a piece about how matt gaetz is buying the governor's office in 2026. this could be an effort to

to raise his fundraising base before that potential run. he organ the -- he orchestrated the successful bid for ron desantis. matt gaetz knows the internal workings of how you run for governor and how you win. i think we will see matt gaetz perhaps run as well as another florida congressman who has recently clashed with matt gaetz named byron donalds. a wad of internal political dynamics a here when we talk about this --dynamics at play here when we talk about this motion to vacate. caller: i feel like kevin mccarthy is a wonderful speaker of the house.

he handles everything in a very professional manner, including dealing with the news media, all of the questions they continually ask, and how he goes about answering them very directly. the democratic party are not even transparent, from biden all the way down. we don't know what is going on most of the time. as far as matt gaetz, matt gaetz -- i like matt gaetz a lot, but he is totally out of control, and i think he is trying to do something for other means. that is all i have to say today. it is very frustrating, seeing what is going on and how even the speaker is being treated. thank you for having me. host: that was teresa with her comments in pennsylvania. let me go to rock in new york.

caller: my comment really is for you more than the guest you have, but let me just say on the question i did not get in on time. my real problem is that somebody called in and said to you "the democrats are the nazi party." while you are doing your job, you would cut those things. this discourse is toxic. you as a journalist need to -- host: got your point. i asking the -- i ask callers to refrain from nazi comparisons. i appreciate the thought. do you have a question for scott wong?

caller: no, i see him sometimes on msnbc. i appreciate the job that he is doing. the media at this point in our history is very important. host: we think scott wong does a good job as well. a story that got a decent amount of attention that was not on the floor of the house that in one of the house office buildings, jamaal bowman under investigation for pulling the fire alarm as mccarthy compares it to january 6. can you explain what happened? guest: mccarthy called this last-minute vote to pass the cr to fund the government. it caught democrats by surprise. the democrats called an emergency caucus meeting, which means they simply wanted to meet to discuss what their plan of action was. this was happening as some

democrats were saying "i think i am going to vote for this." there were a number of procedural delay tactics the democrats employed in order to buy more time so they could read the bill, make sure there were no poison pills secretly inserted into this. at that time a fire alarm started going off around the capitol complex. we later learned that it was a fire alarm that was pulled by congressman jamaal bowman, a progressive democrat from new york. there is video surveillance of it. there are photos circulating of bowman pulling the fire alarm at an emergency exit. it is very clear. democrats immediately said that he was doing so to try to interrupt the vote as one of these procedural tactics. bowman put out a statement saying it was purely accidental.

he was trying to exit the door and he thought by pulling the alarm it would open. there is very clear signage that it is an emergency exit. house republicans have opened an investigation into bowman. they -- some are drafting resolutions to try and expel him or censure him, and others have compared him to interfering in an official proceeding of the united states congress, likening this event to january 6 rioters. clearly the two do not compare on the one hand with january 6 rioters there were individuals recorded on video committing violent acts against police and

storming the capitol. in this case whether accidental or not, nobody was physically harmed and it did not sufficiently delay the vote at all. host: marjorie taylor greene of georgia tweeting yesterday morning "bowman must be treated exactly the same as the january 6 defendants. he was a principal before coming to congress. he knows exactly what pulling the fire alarm means." 2 minutes left with scott wong. this is joe in atlanta, georgia, went for democrats. -- line for democrats. caller: unbiased. i'm clearly it -- i'm biased.

i'm clearly a democrat. i'm 82 years old. tyranny survives because of power, a monarchy survives because of tradition, but a republic democracy survives because of virtue. , both republicans and democrats, we need to put some people in power. this democratic stuff that is going on with menendez needs to be attended to. representative gaetz and trump have had things that are so clearly derogatory to their character, we as americans need to stand up and get some people in their. virtue is their most outstanding quality. host: joe in atlanta, georgia. we talked about gaetz.

let's go to bob menendez. what is the latest on the charges against him? guest: we know that these are corruption, bribery, fraud charges, three counts against the senior senator from new jersey a democrat,, clearly before the government shutdown this story was all the rage on capitol hill. i caught up with john fetterman, the pennsylvania democrat freshman who has been the most critical democrat of senator menendez. h was thee first to call for senator menendez to resign from the democratic caucus. he told me, federman did, that menendez is open to bringing a resolution to expel -- that federman is open to bringing a

resolution to expel menendez. that is as far as anyone on capitol hill has gone. dean phillips echoed that call and praised federman, surprisingly just yesterday dean phillips, the leader on the house side has announced he was stepping down from house leadership over some of his differences with the democratic caucus i n calling for hn -- caucus in calling for a challenge to joe biden in 2024. there are -- john, when it rains it pours on capitol hill. there are so many storylines happening all at once. the top story has to be matt

gaetz' motion to vacate, but there are a number of stories that would be the top story on any given week if we did not have this effort to oust to the speaker of the house. host: we are glad you are here during a busy week. just a couple more minutes. i have a couple more phone calls. guest: let's do it. host: rodney, miami, republican, go ahead. caller: scott, never in the history of america has the united states president been accused of taking bribes from some of the biggest enemies of america like joe biden has. we had an impeachment inquiry, and this crew was frozen out by all major media. they did not cover the impeachment hearing. they will cover if donald trump drop some napkin, -- drops a

napkin, but they forced it out. the fact that joe biden headhunter on air force one flying him around the country -- the white house entertained hunter biden's clients at the white house. 9 biden children got money. you have all of these llc's and we are talking about matt gaetz. 71 million people voted for donald trump, and a lot of republicans in the country are wondering, the white house media seems if they -- seems as if they have no interest in looking into this. you have johnson in the senate trying to do the media's job while the media is calling it all hogwash. host: if you want to watch it in its entirety, you can do so at

c-span.org on our website. we there that hearing on c-span2 that day. scott wong and their story on the impeachment hearing, the impeachment investigations, where do they go from here? guest: there seems to be some question about whether these investigations could go on in the event of a government shutdown, in the event where there is no speaker of the house. i think you alluded to it earlier, john. if motion to vacate is called and kevin mccarthy is successfully removed, the house of representatives cannot come to agreement on the next >> we are breaking away for live coverage of the u.s. house. today, law makes consider several bills including legislation limiting the use of educational standards when