robert: a new year, a new washington. a new year begins with a newen pres cabinet and congress. >> georgia has the power to set the tone for the next several decades in this country. robert: and a owdown in georgia. >> we're the firewall. this is the battleground for the entire country. robert: is just daysy awa. ca divided washington c --an a divided washington address the challenges of a divided nation? next. announcer: this is "washington week."at corpor funding is provided by -- >> for 25 years, consumer

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contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, from whington, moderator robert costa. robert: gooevening and welcome to "washington week." it is a newan yea immense challenges are ahead just days before a divided congress is sworn in in just weeks before president-elec joe biden takes office. the pandemic still rages in of work. of americans are out biden's agenda could hinge on two senate runoffs in georgia on tuesday. republicans currently ho 50 seats in the senate. democrats hold 48. d with kamil hris poised to be the next vice president and the tie-breer in the senate democrats could capture the majority if they win both seats. biden and president trump recently traveled to georgia. let's hear their pitches. president trump: this is

something that's very important, and you have to get e out and you ho vote and you have to make sure you have every vote counted. they cheated andhe rigged our presidential election. but we will still wiit. and they're going to try and rig this election, too. president-elect president-elect you all did something - president-elect biden: you all did something extraordinary in november. you voted in record numbers. you voted to improve the lives of every georgian and you voted as if your life depended on it. well, guess what? now you're going to haveo do it again comeanuary 5. robert: now, that isn'the only big story at the capitol. next wednesday, the day after georgia, congress will certify the electoral count. but there will likely be challenges from republican supporters of president trumjop. ing us tonight to discuss the new washington are three of my favorite regulars on this program. yamiche alcindor, white house correspondent for "the pbs newshour." peter baker, chief white house

correspondent for "the new york times." and susan page, washington f bureau chi "usa today." yamiche, let's start with stacy abrams and other democrats down there helped biden in the statethe presidential election. can that coalition be re-assembled in early january? yamiche: democrats are really, really hoping they can get that alition back together. the pitch from democrats is this. that this is really extension of the 2020 general election. you heard vice presidist-elect hahen she went down to georgia, she said this year isn't ove 2020 isn't over until january 5 making the pitch that her agenda and of course the agenda of president-electiden could not really go forward in a robust way without the help of democrats in geo turning out to elect both those democratic senators. and when i talkedo biden sources in the traition, they say the senateli repn control, the senate being controlled by republicans is real the difference betwe a biden agenda having a big

backing, being able to have a robust agenda and possible not only a hostile senate to him and having -- having to broker des and making compromise was senators but also possibly a stile senate th will then be investigating him, possiy investigating his son huntebir n. so not only is the senate -- this senate race really a pivotal part of the biden agenda, it's also whether or not biden is going to be able to bogged down with all sorts h of thin doesn't want to deal with in the middle of a pandemic or whether or not he's going to have a friendly senate that allows him to do some of the things he wants to do. robert: peter, yamiche just iaoutliped the stakes espy for president-man elect biden. he could face a hostile publican senate or he could have a democratic senate. what's president trump doing in e final days? peter: well, president trump of course is sending mixed messages as he often does. he's undercutting his ownic repu candidates even though he says he's for them winning and plans to go back for on last rally by playing the game he did wit the covid

relief bill and insistingfter it already passed with votes from senators loeffler and purdue, denouncing it as a disgrace and insist g that they then raise the stimulus from $600 to $2,000 and put both those senators in a verd awkwosition and came out and said they agree with the president and they -- you know, oppose in effect the bill they ha just voted on and were down for the $2,000 payments that he was insisting on. t the mixed messages obviously are a concern. if you talk t georgia icans, as i have what they'll tell you off the record not on the record, is that democrats are unified and they have a singular obvious msage which is, you know, defeat the republicans and give biden the chanthe senate versus the republican side which has sort of a mixed situation where you got a preside saying he wants these two republican senators to hang on, at the same time he's saying you can't trustsyhe em, that the system is rigged, that it's corrupt, that in fact theleions are, you

know, were stolen from him last month. and, therefore, that if -- and could be stolenre from blicans in january. if that simply is -- depretches the vote by s 2%, that's a huge advantage for democrats. now, it's still a republican state. that's trending democratic. and i think republicans have a lot of advantages in this state. but you'red right. yamiche is absolutely right. everything is on the line here. robert: susan, candidatema er, too. what's your assessment, what's your sources' assessment of senator purdue running against john ossf, the you democrat down there, and reverend raphael warnock,he democrat challenging senator loeffler, what's the actua state of the race? susan: well, the state of the i ra pretty close and all of us have learned to be skeptical of statewi polls. you know, the fact is both of the republican incumbret senators candidates with involve controversies over their stock trades.

th democratic candidates have some controversies of their own about their positions. but in the end, it seems to me this is a cace thates down less to the strength of the individual candidates and more to the broader message of the parties. for instance, it is hard to imagine that these two rac go different directions that one democrat and one republicae is ele that. would require voters to go to the polls and split their ballot this is more i think effectively nationalized if you want. evidencef that, just look at the money that's been raised. both of the democratic candidates raised more than m $1lion in the last sing.er of fundr that is an unprecedented and phenomenal amount of money. it shows how democrats in particular are -- across the country are focused on this state. robert: yamiche, peter mentioned how the president signed the congressional stimulus package on sunday. but only after first threatening not to sign it. and he still refusing to concn.e the elect suggesting that he could take action when congress considerst

electoral count. so what is this whole situation, the handling of president trump of january 6, the stimulus, tell us about washington in 20t? yamiche: wt tells us about washington in 2021 is that it's going to be alace that is possibly dominated by the influence of president trump but that also has its limits. when you think about what haened with president trump, he was off in some ways really focused more on his own political future trying to again falsely say that the election was stolen fro him while the stimulus bill was being negotiated. he said of course treasury cretary steve mnuchin up to the hill and democrats and republicans assumsed that he representing the will of the white house. got mad at the fact that he the one thing that he was really talking about and had talked about was bigger checks for hericans, mainly because wanted a message that he as the president was doing all he could do for americans. but republicans didn't back him and that to me is something that was in some wa reall really remarkable when you lk at the house vote.

they were able to ss this $2,000 check bill, but largely republicans wer the ones who were opposed to it. that tells me that as the president is still having enormous influence over the republican party, that there are policy limits thatbl reans are willing to go to bat for when it comes to the president. that to me tellme thatn 2021 and when the president leaves office as he will leave office, he will be able to still have influenc over the republican party. he will have a big fundraising base and be able to wield some power there. but in terms of actual positions that republicans take, i think it's interestingt ee republicans find ways, especially when it comes to the president and say this is a step too far. robert: and peter, one person who would like t alsohave influence in 2021n the republican party is vice president mike pence. he's going to be sitting there at the lectern in the senate when the j ianuary 6 counts certified. now is pence going to handle that test? peter: yea it's a great question, right? the constitution and the

statutes that have been set out governing how this day will troceed, require the president of the senate, t happens to be the vice president of the united states n. this case mike pence, to preside over this joint session osf congress a they open these votes. very awkward position. now, he's not the first vico president in an awkward position that way. al gore had to preside over the electoral colle count in 2001 that declared george w. bush the victor overl re. that was certainly painful and awkward. but the situation here is worse a lot of ways for mike pence. because he's got the president of the united states, donald trump, who has been -- who he has always been deferential to for foural years,ng this a crooked election and demanding that republicans do something to stop i in this event even though that's not going to happen. and mike pence would be the one presiding over. it's very awkward for him and doesn't want to anger preside trump. on the other hand, he has a constitutional and legal duty to bere t and to preside over a smooth and orderly event at least as

smooth and orderly as it can be. so i think this would be not something that mike pence wants ave on his shoulders but he will -- i'm sure he'll take it on and he'll do what he can. but coming back to thi election, in georgia, about f the, is just -- democrats win, it's still not necessarily an easy joe biden. the democrats are to control this senate, 50-50, with kamala harris being the tie-breaker, at's a reall really, really narrow majority, obviously, to have. any single democratic senator at that point including joe manchin of west virginia, mark kelly, kristin cinema from arizona and more moderate and conservative even democrats could hold up y kind of legislation. and that means there will be a lot of pressure on president-elect bide the left to do things that they would like him to do that he might like to do and may not have the votes to do it. and there will be disappointment if he can't. s robertan, can you build on that? how you see based on your reportinghe dynamics inside

of the democratic party? susan: t well,nk peter makes a great point that even if democrats win both of these georgia seats and have control ofhe senate, that is better than not having control of the senate. but we may see a washington in which the moderates really rule moderates like mitt romney from utah, for instance, who has been one onsthe few republi to defer with -- to break with trump while trump was in office. joe manchin who's also been willing to cross party lines. we're going to have a different kind of situation than we've seen over the past couple of years where republicansll r had very tight control of their troops. nancy pelosi in the house, very tight control of her troops. of course, in the house, the speakertill has a lot of control even with the very narrow majority theoc dts are going to have -- then. but one of the messas we've heard from joe biden from the start is he sees a path for a more bipartisan washington.

a lot of people think that is wisdom that's naive and either naive or it's brilliant. because if he can dot that, t might be a way to not only get things done in washington, but al to bring our divided country more together. robert: let's dig into that s poinan just made about will the centrists rule washington or not? becausent presilect biden faces a daunting slate of issues this year, starting with the pandemic and its econoc fallout. and as december closed, let's not forget more than 330,000 americans had died, more than 20 million americans remained out of work. businesses shuttering nationwide. den has struck a confident tone. president-elect biden: wed look forw to the start of a new year fresh withe hd possibilities for better days to come. but clear eyed, clear eyed not disappear overnight.will we've overcome incredible challenges as a nation. and we've done it before and we will do itin.

this is work that lies ahead of us. and i know we're up to the robert: and biden has been assembling a cabinet to tackle the obstacles awaiting him. many of biden's picks will be been all smooth s for him n or his team with some progressives frustrad by his nominees. yamiche, how do you see the cabinet roll out in the senate proceeding in february and march?ch ya well, the way that i see it rolling out and proceeding is at joe biden and president-elect biden is going to continue to make the case that he's assembling some of the most experienced people in their fields and also a lot of them alums of the biden -- the oma-biden administration. but what you're going to hear from progressives and what he's that slim majority in the senate is something to really keep -- keep ourye ons susan mentions is the fact that he's going to be facing in the party. ho wantore say a lot of the people that he's picking are seen as people who are not ver progressive, who are seen as moderate democrats

or democrats who are in t mold of the former biden -- biden-obama administration. and as a result,op there are i think that are going to be very, very concerned. now, biden i should say as he's talking abt the fact that he is going to have bipartisanship, he's also making the case that he's going to b to bring together the democratic party and you have progressives pushing still for more -- many people saying that presidentlect biden still was not their first choice and a lot of people still very upset about bernie sanders and his loss toes prident-elect biden. so he's going to bein navig a bunch of different things including how to tackle vast issues when it comes to not of course -- not only the coronavirus pandemic, but race and climate there are some real big differences between the way the progressives see that and they at more moderate democrats see that in terms of how they will deal with those issues. you're also going to be seeing i thk a real fight i the house when it comes to nancy pelosi. yes, she's of courseer very, powerfully still the speaker of the house as of now. but there are still some

incoming freshmen, progressive democrats who are saying they don't want to back her. so we will watching that space to see how joe biden is democratic caucus may ith a break with him on some key issues. robert: this is biden's moment, peter. but also mcconnell's moment to see -- does heend a hand to bidenn most of these pminees? or is it totalitical war from the start? peter: yeah that's great question. i really think that's one of the first tests for thispu new ican majority or mernt whichever they are. i think -- they're definitely going to try to take the shots at a few of them. obviously the republicans have already signaled that they plan to oppose or at least take shots at the president-elect's managementnd budget.ce of she's a hillary clinton team veteran who has been the president of the center for few years.rogress over the last tspoken person, her twitter account has offended some republicans and som bernie sanders supporters on the left. they may take somets s at a few others. javier becerra at the department of health and human

seices. 's not clear, though, that they will go across the board and try to deny him, you know, the rest of his team. i think a lot these are people he's putting forward who have respect onli the repn side of the aisle even if they're not necessarily close friends. the question for mcconnell how much is he goi to want to deal with joe biden and how much is the noise from outside his chamber going to influence things? just take a -- think about this for a second about what we just saw with this covid reliefpa age. you saw president trump while stilln the white house managed to btlow up a deal t mcconnell had negotiated with his own administration. wh's going to happen when mcconnell negotiates a deal with the biden administration and trumps from the outside weighing in if he decides to, perhaps even at the last minute throwing a gnade at a deal that both sides have come together on and then creang a real rukus for republicans who might have to worry about offenderring the base that he has such command over? or goih along w the deal that mcconnell has just negotiated? it's going to be a tricky

situation for mitch mcconnell whether they win these georgia seats or not. robert: susan, we all can't wait for your upcoming week on speaker pelosi. which issue you do believe she would like to see the new president focus onn 2021, infrastructure a. stimulus, what else? susan: i thinkhat sheike the president-ect thinks that the first job has got to be getting the coronavirus under entrol. nothine can happen. nothing else good can happen until that happens. one of her big priorities is protecting and rebuilding the affordable care act.yo know, she was the one who musclethat through the house during the obama adminisimation at a that many people thought it was dead. and she is veryntested in taking care of the affordable care act and taken a lot of hits in the last four years from president trump and the republican congress. she thinks it's important and especially in the a oermath this pandemic to rebuild it and to give some opportunities. just one quick comment on the point that pet was making. the safe bet with mcconnell he

which president i mitch but mcconnell personally closer to? donald trump or joe bidewith whom he served so long in the senate? and i would say he is probably personally closer to joe and maybe that gives a glimmer of hope that he'll be less partisan when it comes to these early confirmation hearings and on legislation thatl w follow. robert: i'll be keeping an eye on that. so will everybody in the reporting ranks and to closeat the show theme and your outlook on this new yr asrt res. let's begin with you, yamiche. in a minute, which story will you be watching and why? yamiche: i'll be watching the coronavirus pandemic and biggest story of 2020 will be the one of 2021 i imagine. bu lspecifically iking at how is president-elect biden going to deal with repubd cans w is he going to navigate trying to get another covid relief bill passed? the p mst one tookths and months of negotiation. biden is claiming that he's going to be able to work with

republicans. thises going to be the first b think. the other thing i'm looking at and you said one but the other thing is related to the pandemic. how is joe biden going to convince more and more americans to take the vaccine to trust it? a lot of thatcl will e trying to get african-americans who are more vulnerable to the pandemic, how are they -- how he going to convince them to at more vaccinated? that's going to test of his promise to really bring this country together when it comes to rially, race relations and other things dealing with those -- with those realcares that people have, those real concerns that people have of the vaccine because of the country's history with racism and health care. so those are the two big things both related to theandemic. robert: peter, in about a minute or so what arewa you hing? peter: well, yamiche said two stories so quickly i was saying first of all watching what kind of a force president trump is from the outside. how much republicans are still ing to defer to him because he does have a great following among the base. are the republican elected officials ready to move on? the second story is russia. we've had so many provocations

and so many instances like this cyber attack the lt few weeks, what will joe biden do in terms of confronting them in the ar t come? robert: and when you talk about the republicans, peter, who do you think is the frontrunner for 2024? peter: i would not hazard a guess. you could not pay me to make robert: susan, what are you watching? susan: i'm watching whether democracy has been damaged by the last eight or nine weeks and the weeks since the election. you know, we've had close elections before. we've had disputed elections before. we have never hadle antion in modern times in which the losing candidate refused to accept the results, when the incumbent president declined to commit himself to the peacefulf transferwer when he launched dozens of lawsuits in battleground states and encouraged governs, state officials and state legislatures to overturn the certified results in their state. does this become an accepted political practice?

and does that cost the trust of voters in democracy and their faith in democracy and their belief in the system that we have? i think we've got no bigger question to watch this year, this next year than that robert: you think the scars are even deeper now than they were us 2000,? susan: you know, we did a "usa today" end of the year poll and we found that mor than a third of americans say joe biden was not legitimately elected president. that creates a hugeurdle for at a time of unprecedented national crisis. bert: and i'm going to be watching joe biden it's the story that's so obvious, the president-elect of the united states. but this is a man who was elected to the senate in 1972, not even 30 years old, endured tragedy, has endured run after run, health issue and now he'sn y president. what can he do, what will he do? this is hisoment as we've discussed on so many programs.

and we will be keeping c ase eye here on "washington week" and as rorters on that we're going to have to leave it there. many thanks to our reporters for coming byht ton and on so many friday nights, in recent years, yamiche alcindor, peter baker, and susan page, thank u so much. we wl keep chatting in theur extra on social media and on our website. but before w go, a personal message. this is my final broadcast. i'm heading off to co-author a book witob woodward. it was a very difficult decision as you might imagine to leave this wonderful show. but i want to expre my gratitude to weta which produces "washington week" and its c.e.o., sharon rockefeller. she always urged me to have the best possible cversation and gether with the whole team at "washington week," we have brought new and diverseoices to this table and have worked to bring you our viewers as close to the news as possible.

support we receim you, us our viewers, pbs, weta, and the corporation for publicti broadc and sponsors nationwide, the future is very bright for "washington week." i've so enjoyed being welcod into your homes. it has been an honor. i'm robert costa. good night from washington. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: corporate funding for "washington week" is ovided b-- >> for 25 years, consumer h cellulas been offering no

contra wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer servi team can help find a plan that fits you:to learn more, visit consumercellar.tv. announcer: boeing. kaiser permanente. additional funding is provided by the estate of arnold adams and koo and patricia yuen through th yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for publicti broadc and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: you

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