washington. this week on "face the nation" -- the battle for the . the dust is ohe adsettng. but how will new speaker kevin mccarthy rule with such a biivtt dlyid g oedlaupstro,f a call votes spread over more than four days and 25 hours of congressional togetherness on the house floor, the ultraconservative, never kevin caucus won a number of concessions. the arm-twisting finally paid off. >> i hope one thing is clear after this week, i never give up.

>> for the nine-term bakersfield, california, native, it was a momen ofe proclaimed the long haggling was a plus. >> it was a great idea why it took this long, we learned how to govern. >> let's hope so because the challenges ahead are daunting. mccarthy's speaker conference has only a tiny five-person majority. this conference is not. we'll talk with two house republicans, south carolina's nancy mace and tony gonzales of texas. then president biden is headed to the u.s./mexico border after unveiling tough new immigration rules meant to discourage entry. >> do not just show up at the border. stay where you are and apply legally from there. >> some democrats don't like it. we'll talk with el paso's congresswoman veronica escobar and get her take. maine's angus king is just

back from ukraine, we'll talk with him and ukraine's oksana markarova. we have a new cbs news poll that looks at how americans are feeling in the new year and we'll take a look at an evolution of a congressional tradition. it's all just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ good morning. welcome to "face the nation." it was early yesterday morning when kevin mccarthy finally secured enough republican votes to give him the gavel. >> that was easy, huh? i never thought we'd get up here. >> that latter sentiment was felt by many americans after watching the proceedings drag on for days. >> do you solemnly swear or affirm -- >> congress was finally sworn in and they are officially on the job. >> i do. >> but the challenges ahead are

enormous, especially for mccarthy who was forced to make concessions to a small group of hold-out conservatives in order to win their support. will he live to regret what he agreed to. we begin with one of the republican members of congress who was with speaker mccarthy on all votes, that's nancy mace of south carolina. good morning to you, congresswoman. welcome back. >> good morning. thank you. >> again and again, 14 times the hard-right faction of your party refused to vote for kevin mccarthy, even after he was making repeated concessions to them. how can republicans possibly govern when your party is so unruly? >> well, first of all, i want to say, number one, kevin mccarthy, it was the only member that i know of that could bring all the different groups together within our own party because we do have different factions, just like democrats do. and that's the first thing.an t

looked kind of like an y isssy. unnecessary and pro longed food fight last week, and i agreed with many americans who thought that. i came home this weekend and listened to folks of pl district. i have all sides to serve, a an there was a lot of frustration with the prolonged and unnecessary food fight we had this week. you saw democrat on full s display. it's healthy to have that debate and i'm glad we can move forward. >> some would say it wasn't so much democracy but dysfunction. "the wall street journal" said this was a healthy display of deliberative democracy, it was a power play. a group of backbenchers saw an opportunity to exploit the narrow gop margin of five seats to put themselves in positions of power that they hadn't earned through seniority or influence with colleagues. if this rules package passes with all the concessions speaker

mccarthy made, it will leave you beholden to those backbenchers? >> on the rules package, the rules will govern the way the house operates. there are some very good opportunities in there, like the 72 hours, having three days to read a bill before it comes to the floor for a a path to balance budget over the next ting there are spendin offsets, especially with mandatory spending. if you spend in one area, have you to decrease in another. i will tell you, when i ran for congress two years ago, i rwon y two points. what i saw was a small faction of the 20 who are acting like like the old nancy. trying to cut backroom deals in private, in secret, without anyone knowing what else was going on. when they did the rules package at the end of the day, there was only one point changed, that was on the motion to vacate. that was the only difference on the package we'll be voting on

tomorrow that was different from the original package proposed. my question really is today is what backroom deals were -- did they try to cut? and did they get those? we shouldn't be operating like nancy pelosi, this small faction. they are the ones they say, quote, fighting the swamp, but then went and tried to act like they actually are the swamp by trying to do these backroom deals. we don't know what they got or didn't get. we haven't seen it. we don't have any idea what promises were made or what gentlemen's handshakes were made. we have no idea at this point. it does give me quite a bit of heartburn bought that's not what we ran on. it's quite ironic. >> you are saying, speaker mccarthy is not being transparent about all the deals he brokered in order to win this job? >> i'm saying there's a small handful of individuals in that 20 who were trying to cut deals in secret. >> didn't they succeed in doing that? >> without letting us know about

them. we're not sure. we don't know at this point. that gives me pause and gives me significant heartburn on what direction we're going to take. i represent a purple district. i have to ep represent republicans, democrats and independents. i want to know that the positions that i have are going to have a voice, that it will have weight in the comnference. a lot of members like me have issues with some of the policies we're going to be working on. look at what happened after overturning of roe v. wade. we didn't have a plan. and i want as a woman and as a victim of rape want to know that we're going to be serious, that we're going to be balanced in protecting the rights of women and protecting the rights of the unborn. there's a way to do it both and not be guided by one extreme or the other. >> just to clarify. i asked you initially about the rules package, which is published and would be voted on tomorrow. >> right. >> are you saying that you're going to withhold your vote on those published agreements until you know what these backroom

deals were? >> i am considering that as an option right now. i like the rules package. it is the most open, fair and fiscally conservative package we've had in 30 years. i support it. what i don't support is a small number of people trying to get a deal done or deals done for themselves in private, in secret, to get a vote or a vote present. i don't support that. that is just what nancy pelosi does and that's not what they should be doing. and so i am on the fence right now about the rules package vote tomorrow for that reason. >> got it. it reportedly includes a pledge that would likely require a $75 billion cut to national security funding. do you support that part of it? >> i want to see -- i want to see it in writing. i want to see what promises were made and what we are being told is that these handshakes, what's going on, these promises will go through regular order and go through the regular appropriations process. i don't want to see defense cuts. again, we don't -- we don't know

what deals were made, and that's something that we should be transparent about. sunshine is the best medicine. that's what we've always said. so, what are we guaranteeing or what promises were made? we should know. >> the speaker has reportedly given the freedom caucus, that ultra-conservative faction a third of the seats on the powerful rules committee, which controls which bills make it to the floor. you called matt gaetz, one of the members, a d-lister and a fraud. you sparred with marjorie taylor greene, i'll show our viewers and let them interpret your meaning. how are you going to work with these folks to get anything done for the american people? >> it's going to be very difficult. matt gaetz is a fraud. every time he voted against kevin mccarthy last week, he sent out a fund-raising email. what you saw last week was a constitutional process diminished by those kinds of political actions. i don't support that kind of behavior. i am very concerned as someone who represents a lot of

centrists, a lot of independents, i have as many centrists and independents in my district as republicans. i have to represent everyone. i'm concerned common sense legislation will not get through to get a vote on the floor. for example, we have 12 bills that were supposedly going to be voting on in our first week of office. three were abortion bills and pro-life bills. i'm pro-life but i have many exceptions. they are not pieces of legislation that can pass the senate and get on the desk for the president to sign into law. if we're serious about protecting life, for example, maybe we should look at more sisterist views like ensuring every woman has access to birth control. if you can reduce pregnancies, you can reduce the need or want for women to havense,abortions. pragmatic point of view.'s not his week. i amth coatncerned. i want to see pragmatics that work, common sense, fiscal conservative issues that work that represent all views. >> before i let you go, i have to ask you, you have are a new

colleague from the state of new york representative george santos. he said he embellished his resume. you could say he flat out lied about work history, education, family background. howveromce? >> it's very difficult to work trusted.one who cane it's very clear his entire resume and life was manufactured until a couple days ago when he finally changed his website. it is a problem. if we say we can't trust the left when they aren't telling the truth, how can we trust -- americans want transparency. the one thing i learned in d.c., if you want a friend you can trust, get a dog. >> i understand you are a dog fan. >> thank you. >> a huge dog fan. thank you. >> nancy mace, thank you for your time this morning. we want to go to northern republican, tony gonzales in san antonio this morning. congressman, let's get right to it.

i saw you said on fox news friday, you're very worried and the american public should be terrified at what the 118th congress is going to look like with all this division. exactly what do we need to be prepared for? >> yeah, margaret, good morning. thank you for having me. you know, the speaker vote is the easiest vote we'll take in congress. it was pretty chaotic. the rules package is the next easy vote. look, the house of representatives is a tough and rowdy place. anybody that watched c-span this week saw it firsthand. this is only the beginning. with such a small minority, republicans are much different than democrats. we're not just going to line up and jump off the cliff. all of us represent our districts and we're going to fight for that. i spent 20 years in my military. we have a nation to save. part of this division doesn't help. at the end of the day, you can't let the insurgency qucaucus tak hold and dictate. kevin mccarthy, great leadership. he put this together.

many of us got elected this cycle because of this commitment to america. these are the type of policies we have to initiate. >> you dropped a bit of a bomb when you said that even though you have supported mccarthy and voted for him, you would vote against this rules package tomorrow. that includes some of the deals he brokered. why? and how many republicans are with you? and then what happens? >> yeah, mccarthy's a great leader. once again, he put together this commitment to america agenda we have all circled behind. the reason why i'm voting against the rules package is really two specific reasons. one, you know, we were supposed to vote on this rules package in the dead of the night right after swearing-in, which i think is very not transparent of what happens. i'm pleased to see that's now been pushed to monday. that gives a lot of people an opportunity to vote on it and during the daylight hours. >> did that change your mind? >> more importantly, this has a proposed billions of dollar cut to defense, which i think is a

horrible idea. when you have aggressive russia in ukraine, you have a growing threat of china in the pacific. you know, i'm going to visit taiwan here in a couple of weeks. how am i going to look at our ail allies in the eye and say, i need you to increase your defense budget but yet america is going to decrease ours. >> you are going to vote against it tomorrow. how many republicans are with you? does this cause further chaos? >> i am going to vote against it. but there is a difference between voting against it and whipping other members to vote against it. i would say in ts case, i'm not whipping other members to vote against it. but what i will give you an example, if these -- this insurgency qucaucus decides to that's not going to fly. i will do everything in my power to make sure that type of legislation fails on the floor. this is one of many votes, i think, in the 118th congress

that have to be well thought out. >> i want to get to the border in a quick moment, but let me quickly ask you, how can republicans possibly govern and do things that are essential, like dealing with the debt ceiling, without causing more chaos and potentially economic catastrophe? how can you get your party in line for important basic work? >> yeah, it's going to be ugly. i mean, you look at the white house. the white house is a dumpster fire. you look at the senate. the senate is chaotic. you look at the house -- if you're an american sitting down watching tv, you're going, where is this country gone? what has -- what i see is there's nothing but politicians getting up here and grandstanding. it's time for leadership. i think what you're going to see is leadership has to be from the ground up. it has to be from the rank and file saying, enough is enough. i'm a conservative republican that wants to see the border secure, that wants to see inflation get put down, so these type of things is what we need to focus on.

>> last time you were here you said you wanted to go with pron to the border. he's going today. are you participating at all? have you had any contact with the white house about migration? >> i'm very disappointed in the administration. seven months ago i hosted the president in uvalde and i asked him to visit on the border. he looked me in the eye and said, tony, yes, seven months later when i tried to be part of this el paso visit, which i represent el paso, i represent nearly 50% of the southern border, the white house told me i wasn't able to be part of it. >> why? >> what does is that mean? that means democrats are using -- they think this is a political challenge, not a policy challenge. clearly, you know, you see these images a couple weeks ago of hundreds of people in a cell. that's not a political challenge. that is a policy challenge. >> why? why did they tell you you can't come? what did they say? >> i don't know. that's the frustrating part. on one end you're hearing them say they want to work with republicans. i'm not this crazy extremist

republican. i'm jumping up and down, pushing against my party when i think it's right, looking for ways to solve problems. what i don't want to see is a terrorist action happen and say, i told you so. i have no interest in that. i'm trying to keep america safe. the administration has turned a blind eye. it goes to show, they think their policy is correct. it's dangerous. if you're -- it should scare the hell out of every american out there to say this administration is going to double down. it's going to taint the biden administration, it's going to taint biden's legacy. >> well, actual legislation on the border would require your party to also help out, but very quickly, george santos, new new york congressman, we just talked to congresswoman mace. she has a problem with the fact he is consistently lying. he is also under investigation. do you think he should be removed from office? >> i think -- look, there's a lot of frauds in congress. i think a lot of people got to see that firsthand over the last week.

i mean, george santos is the least of this country's worries. >> so, he should stay? >> step one is getting this rules package done. >> okay. i got to go. congressman, thank you very much. when we come back in one minute, new insights into how americans are feeling about democracy and politics in the new year. stay with us.

our first cbs news poll of 2023 is out. overall, americans are feeling better about some things in the new year. but there is still a lot of angst out there. mark strassmann reports from lapt. >> reporter: american confidence, historically fickle, gaped at this scene. the country's elected grownups grappling. another flashpoint in a four-day, 15-ballot debacle. wdr ght wnd 55% disapprove of t

the way the republicans picked their new speaker of the house. about the economy, especially with inflation's long shadow and recession fears. friday's jobs report suggested the economy is cooling with wage gains slowing. unemployment is at 3.5%, a 50-year low. but expect interest rates to rise again in 2023. our cbs news poll shows americans feel better about the condition of the economy than they did six months ago. but when it comes to specific economic measures, 59% feel pessimistic about the stock market. 70% pessimistic about the cost of goods and services. >> but we are starting from a position of strength, so that is something that people can take comfort in. >> reporter: what about american strength overall? in this post-pandemic phase of recovery and renewal? our poll shows only 34% of

americans, one-third, believe life in this country is going well. the good news, that's up from one in four last year. nearly half say they're scared. while nearly another half feel hopeful about 2023. two years after the january 6th riots, our poll also showed roughly three in four americans agree the results of last year's midterms were legitimate. but most americans also believe our democracy remains threatened. another area that showed improvement but still has a long way to go. margaret? >> mark strassmann, thank you. when we come back, we'll take a closer look at some of the very new faces we met in the first days of the 118th congress.

a lot of us were glued to last week's coverage for the battle of the house speaker on the house floor and particularly taken by the pictures of all the children and grandchildren in the chamber for those marathon

sessions. also awaits the official swearing-in of house members. this year we saw a lot more dads in charge, both on the house floor during votes and behind the scenes. especially when some moms had to head home to work. california democratic congressman jimmy gomez was one of those dads. his 4-month-old son became a social media and national tv star as he and his father bonded on and off the house floor. the baby had a firsthand view of all the chaos from his forward-facing baby wrap. the last time children were in the spotlight during the first days of congress was back in 2007. that's when nancy pelosi became the first woman speaker. she appeared on "face the nation" right after that with our bob schieffer. >> let me ask you about being the first woman speaker. that was quite a scene when you were sworn in, you called all the kids, your grandkids, the members' kids to come up with you.

did you mean that to be a signal of a different kind of house? >> well,inly wom r repr change aid it over and over in the campaign that i will receive the gavel, the speaker's gavel, from the hands of the special interest and into the hands of america's children. i was so thrilled the children weren't shy. they all came running up. i want our members to know that every action that we take in the congress, we must do with an eye to our children and their future. we owe that to them. >> do you believe that as a woman, the first woman, that you will be held to a higher standard? i've heard so people go so far as to say, if she's not successful, it will have an impact on candidates in the 2008 presidential election. >> i have absolutely no intention of not being successful. i have -- i'm ready for this job. the democrats in general are ready to lead, prepared to govern and determined to make the american people proud.

>> nancy pelosi has served in the house for more than 35 years, eight of those as speaker. and she's backcowomanpelosi. as for little gomez, he's eligible to serve in another 24.5 years. we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." stay with us.

if you miss an episode of "face the nation," you can listen to our podcast. find us on amazon music or wherever you get your podcast. we'll be back with a lot more "face the nation." stay with us.

welcome back to "face the nation." president biden travels to el paso today after announcing new border enforcement actions last week. democratic congresswoman veronica escobar will travel with the president to texas later today. i'm so glad you could join us. >> thank you for having me. >> so, the president is going to visit one of the busiest parts of entry in el paso and will meet with officials and other aid organizations. what can he do to make sure this three-hour visit is more than just a photo op? >> well, we've worked with the white house to make sure that all the folks who are actually doing the work on the ground day-to-day are the ones that the president will meet with. he needs to hear about how over