>> we're going to give them a moment. >> members will return at 4:00 p.m. eastern to consider a handful of bills including leslation banning the u.s. government from rewarding a contract to anyone with siss ties with the current venezuelan government. also a measure to increase

transparency in ml-in bail lots by requiring ballot envelopes to have tracking bar de looking ahead, house democrats will holthr leadership elections tomorrow for the next congress. newly ecd house members are in washington for orientation seio including selecting their capitol hill offices by ttery. off the floor, both the house and senate continue their talks on government funding, fer spending legislation must pass by dember 20 to avert a shutdown. as always, live coverage of the u.s. house is here on c-span. x h handle @cspanwj. some headlines on donald trump's pick for cabinet. this is peter baker of the new york times, the wrecking ball of the status quo, seen as a government stress test. usa today, trump signals combat ahead, the headline.

in the washington times, in trump's cabinet, loyalty tops experience. he writes that the cabinet is a severe detour from the approach in 2017 when picks included the head of exxon mobil, 24 star marine corps generals, a former cabinet secretaries, and several business tycoons. many picks figuring they were more of a hindrance than help. this time he has chosen people he expects to be loyal as he carries out the unprecedented government housecleaning. we are asking you what you think will be the most important cabinet position and a second trump administration. phone lines split as usual, by political party, numbers on your screen. new york times, their tracker on the cabinet level posts, these are the senate confirmation posts come about half of those positions have been named at

this point, still waiting on positions including the labor secretary, treasury secretary, agriculture, commerce, transportation, education, urban affairs, cdc, surgeon general, small business administration, trade representative, office of management and budget, and a few others. about half of the posts have been named at this point, preparation ahead for some of them. lots of talk on the sunday shows about what that will include. we wanted to hear from you, asking you to look ahead at what will be the most important cabinet position. louis in highland park, illinois , democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. i think it is an excellent question. to me, the most important appointee would be health and human services. as we can see what happened to america with the less pandemic,

it almost crippled us. but we're are very thankful to dr. fauci and his staff and all the people involved in health this saved our country. from total devastation. on the others, we have stupid people who are like donald trump, who are walking around in public without a mask spreading the virus, making our country more fallible, more dangerous. host: are you happy with the idea of robert of committee, -- robert f kennedy, jr., as hhs secretary? caller: absolutely not. the man has no scientific background, no way to analyze data, and he will be in charge of literally thousands and thousands of health care professionals who are supposed to take care of this country and keep us safe. absolutely not, no kennedy. host: as we said, plenty of

discussion on the sunday shows on donald trump's cabinet picks. this was deborah burkes, donald trump's covid response coordinator in his first term, reacting on cbs yesterday to president trump's -- president-elect trump's pick of robert f kennedy, jr. [video clip] >> i think when we talk about things in public health, we do not acknowledge the concerns. because when my children went to school, there was maybe one in 1000 kids diagnosed with autism, now it is 300. so every mom sees a classroom of kindergartners were one of the children has autism. that is scary to moms and dads. they want to know why. it is more than saying vaccines cause autism. it is us finding what the cause of autism is. >> it is ridiculous that there

is not a lot of research and established causation for autism. but what he has that in the past is that autism is caused by vaccines, and there is no scientific basis for that, as i understand it. >> correct. so when they talk about transparency, that is why i am actually excited that in a senate hearing he would bring forward his data and the questions come from the senators to bring forth their data -- to bring forth their data. what i know is he is a very smart man that can bring his data and his evidence-based forward and we can have a discussion that many americans believe already is a problem. until we can have that transparency and that open discussion from both sides -- i know the members have incredible staffers who bring great questions from their constituents, and that hearing would be a way for americans to really see the data that you are talking about. host: that was from "face the nation" yesterday, deborah birx on that program.

the conversation about robert f. kennedy, jr., continues in the new york times today. a piece from a medical researcher, the headline, what kennedy gets right about american health care. she said, i believe there is a health care agenda that finds common ground between people like myself with medical researcher, clinician, and mr. kennedy. there are seeds of truth to some of what district kennedy says. noncooperation will not protect the integrity of the american public health or advance its interests. the opportunity to leverage his skepticism and relative political independence with the most valid criticisms of the american health care witticism, put into constructive -- health care system, put into constructive reforms. the lack of effort to build consensus about what the country

did well during the pandemic and what to avoid next time, missed opportunity for a closure to a difficult era while preparing for the next pandemic. more in the new york times today. that is just one cabinet position. we are asking you, what do you think will be the most important cabinet position and a second trump administration? robin in maryland, good morning, republican. caller: good morning. i cannot decide between department of defense and homeland security. i think both of the choices were excellent. pete hegseth is a true patriot. he loves america. he has two bronze stars. i think he did a great job. i think he will do a great job. and the current head of the dod went awol for five days and lied to his boss about where he was. so i certainly think pete hegseth will be great. kristi noem, i think she is great. head of dhs here at the current

head of the dhs light to us, told us the border was secure -- the current head of the dhs lied to us, told us the border was secure. there were millions coming over, and we were told there was no problem. i think kristi noem will be great. i wanted to mention, someone talked about how trump did not wear a mask. well, keep in mind that anything other than the n95 or kn95 mask had no value whatsoever. so we were all told to wear masks, but those masks did absolutely no good whatsoever. thanks for taking my call. host: thanks, robin, in maryland. this is pennsylvania, steve, good morning, republican. what is the most important cabinet pick? caller: it is a hard stretch to say what is the most important.

the department of homeland security could certainly be cut completely, as far as i am concerned. combating terrorism with another gigantic bureaucratic nightmare of a department is wasting time, effort, and money. the first caller talked about robert f. kennedy, jr. when you look at the current head of dhs, i think javier becerra, he is nothing but a career politician. if you want to talk about unqualified persons, if the departments are nothing but career politicians, then we will get exactly what we deserve. donald trump and company are going to shake it up, and we will see where it falls out. if it falls out good -- well, trump, he is done after this term, end of his presidency, but

perhaps the american people will start looking at things differently than business issues. host: what do you think about the senate confirmation process and how much pushback donald trump's nominees would get in a republican-controlled senate? caller: if they just rubberstamp everything, then that is not the solution either. there are some legitimate questions that have to be asked and answered. host: you would not be in favor of recess appointments, this idea of appointments that would go until the end of the 119th congress, avoiding the senate confirmation process? caller: if it starts to draw, then i would support recessing appointments. if it draws out for that amount of time, then i wouldn't. host: that is steve out of pennsylvania.

more from the sunday shows, cnn's "state of the union" had one senator who would vote on the confirmation process, senator fetterman of pennsylvania. he said democrats should stop freaking out about some of the appointees. [video clip] >> there are some i would absolutely be excited to vote for, like my colleague from florida or the representative from new york, of course. then others are absolute trolls, just like gaetz and those things. that's why democrats -- trump gets the kind of thing he wanted, like the freak out and all of those things. and he has not even been -- it is still not even thanksgiving yet. if we are having meltdowns every appointment, it is going to be four years. the last time i was on your

network, i was warning about the jackpot. i used that metaphor of the slot machine, the 777, and if trump wins, likely that will happen. he will get the house, going to have the senate, and the presidency, and the real jackpot is the supreme court. that has been very clear that that is the strong, conservative plan. so they have been running the table, and for the next two years, if you want to be concerned about that, they have the absolute ability to run the table, at least for the next two years, and that is what we should all be concerned on, not small tweets or random appointments. host: senator john fetterman, democrat from pennsylvania, on cnn yesterday. back to your phone calls. ann, maryland democrat, good morning. caller: yes, i was calling about

vaccines. i taught school for many years, and there are some great concerns, not just for children but for everyone, but these children in elementary school, preschool, they need their vaccines. they need more than just the vitamin c, which is not strong enough to help their immune system. as a result, when feeling about one of these candidates, this person who comes from a well-known family name is using his family name just to be in a position that will be detrimental to children who will attend school for the full-time, children who need to have these kind of things in their immune system to strengthen them so they can go on with their life's journey, not only to school but to whatever work they desire later. i am 74 peer thank god i was given that opportunity. right now it is as if everybody is being cut off of being given

an opportunity to live well, healthy, and provide a better way in life with their jobs and schooling. i understand this is what they want to do, but i cannot believe i live in a time like this within this country to have these people come here is because they are angry with certain other people. those other persons, democrats, not liberals. republicans, not too conservative. i like both sides. unfortunately, these people do not like any side and want to destroy people. i cannot do anything. this country comes to this, but i will still help to make this country better. thank you. host: charles in charleston, arkansas, republican. are you with us? caller: yes. host: go ahead, sir. caller: yes, the question is, what are the most important cabinet positions? i would say the most important position is matt gaetz as attorney general, simply because

we have three branches of government, executive, legislative, and judicial, and we must fill the traditional, which is very important. that is all i had to say. host: that is charles. this is another charles, texas, democrat. good morning. caller: hello. host: go ahead. caller: treasury department, because if you do not know who controls that money in the treasury department, that is all that will be thought about. money will be diverted to different places, and you will never know it. if i'm not mistaken, it was the last election he was in, someone diverted some money, money, missing in the treasury department, never did find out where it went. so if trump is in trouble, with the treasury department, look for him. if he ain't a billionaire, he will be. host: wall street journal

focusing on the jockeying to leave the treasury department. we have yet to hear who donald trump will name for that post. this is what they write, it is played out privately at mar-a-lago in recent days. two of donald trump's most powerful allies, elon musk and robert f. kennedy, jr., used social media to give support for billionaire businessman howard that nick -- howard lutnick for treasury post. there is also investor scott bessent. late friday, it appeared lutnick was falling out. trump and musk making their cases over the weekend. pressure on donald trump from cantor missed -- cantor

fitzgerald to choose lutnick. peter in reading, pennsylvania, independent, good morning. caller: good morning. i name is peter, and i'm calling from reading, pennsylvania. as i sit here and listen to this nightmare >> the u.s. house is gaveling in to consider a handful of bills including legislation tbheang u.s. government from awarding a contract to anyone with business ties with the current venezuelan government. also a measure to increase transparency of mail-in ballots by requiring ballot envelopes to have tracking bar codes. live coverage of the house here on c-span.

the speaker pro tempore: the