robert: a new year, a new washington. a new year begs with a new president, cabinet and congress. >> georgia has the power to set the tone for the next several decades in this country. robert: and a showdown in georgia. >> we're the firewall. this is the battleground for the entire country. robert: is just days away. ca divided washington a -- can divided washington address the allenges of a divided nation? next. announcer: this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided by --

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contributionso your pbs station from viewersyo like thank you. once again, from washington, moderator robert costa. robert: good evening welcome to "washington week." it is a new year and immense challenges are ahead just days fore a divided congress is sworn in in just wks before president-elect joe biden takes office. the pc still rages in millions of americans are out of work. and biden's agenda could hinge on two senate runoffs georgia on tuesday. republicans currently hold 50 seats in the senate.d democrats h 48. and with kamil harris poised to be the next viceresident and the tie-breaker in the senate democrats couldapre the majority if ty 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 out a you have to vote you have to make sure you have every vote counted. they cheated and they rigged our presidential election. but we will still win it.an 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 inv er. 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 have to do it again comeanuary 5. robert: now, that isn't the only big story at the capitol. next wednesday, the day after georgia, congress will certify thectoral count. but there will likely be challenges from republican supporters of president trump. joining us tonight to discuss to the new washi 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 yamiche, let's start with y." georgia. stacy abrams and other democrats down there helped biden win the state in the presidential election. can that clition be re-assembled in early january? yamiche: democrats are really, really hoping they can get that coalition back together. the pitch from democrats is this. that this is really an extensio of the 2020 general election. you heard vice president-elect harris when she went down to georgia, she said this year isn't over, 2020 isn't over until january 5 making th pitch that her agenda and of course the agenda of president-elect biden could not ally go forward in a robust way without the help of democrats i georgia turni out to elect both those democratic senators. bidenen i talked to sources in the traition, they say the senate republican control, the senate beingco rolled by republicans is really the difference between a backing, being able to have a

only hostile senate to him ot and having -- having toroker des and making compromise was senators but also possibly a hostile senate that will be investigating him, possibly investigating his son hunter biden. not only is the senate -- this senate race really a pivotal part of the biden agenda, it's also whether or not biden igoing to be able to bogged down with all sorts of things he doesn't want to deal with in the middle of apa emic or whether or not he's going to have a friendly senate that allows him to do some of the this he wants to do. robert: peter, yamiche just outliped the stas especially for president-man elect biden. ee could face a hostile republican senr he could have a democratic senate. what's president trump doing in the final days? peter: well, president trump of course is sending mixed messages as heften does. he's undercutting his own republican candidates even though he says he's for them winning and plans to go back for one last rally by playing the game he did wit the covid

relief bill and insisng after it already passed with votes from senatorsoeffler and purdue, denouncing it as a disgrace and insisting that they then raise the stimulus from $600 to $2,000 aut both those senators in a very awkward position and came out and said they agree with the president and they -- you know, oppose in effect the bill they had just voted on and were down for the $2,000 payments that he was insisting on. but the mixed messages obviously are a concern. if you talk to georgia republicans, as i havlwhat theyell you off the record not on the record, is that they're concerned that the democrats are unified and they ha a singular obvious message which is, you know, defeat the republicans and give biden the chance in the senate versus the publican sidehich has sort of a mixed situation where you got a president saying hean these two republican senators to hang on, at the same time t's saying you can't trust the system, that system is rigged, that it's corrupt, that in fact the elections are, you

know, were stolen from him last month. and, therefore, that if -- and could be stolen from republicans in january. if that simply is -- depretches the vote by say 2%, that's a dhuge advantage forocrats. now, it's still a republican state. that's trending democratic. and i think republicans have lot of advantages in this state. and yams absolutely right. everything is on the line here. robert: susan, candidates matter, too. your sources' assessment of 's senator purdue running against john ossoff, the young democrat down there, and reveren raphael warnock,he democrat challenging senator loeffler, what's the actual state of the race? susan: well, the state of the race is pretty close and all of us have learned to be skeptical of statewide pollsu ow, the fact is both of the republican incumbent senators are candidates withob ms, with problems that involve controversiesst over theik trades.

the democratic candidates have some conoversies of their own about their positions. but in the end, it seems to me this is a race t less to the strength of the individual candidates and more to the broader mesge of th parties. for instance, it is hard to in different directions that o one democrat and one republican is elected that. would require voters to go to e polls andplit their ballot nais is more i think effectively natzed if you want. evidence of that, just look at the money that's been raised. both of the democratic candidates raised more than $100 million in the last quarter of fundraising.s thatn unprecedented and phenomenal amount of money. it shows how democrats in particular are -- acrs the occountry areed on this state. robert: yamiche, peter mentioned how the president signed the congressional stimulus package on sunday. but only after fst threatening not to sign it. and he still refusing to concede the election. suggesting that he could take action when congress considers

the electoral count. so what is this whole president trump of january 6, the stimulus, tell us about washington in 2021? yamiche: what it tells us about washington i 2021 is thatt's going to be a place that is ressibly dominated by the influence ofdent trump but that also has its limits. when you think about what happened with presint trump, he was off in some ways really focused more on his ownti pol future trying to again falsely say that the election was stolen from him while the stimulus bill was being negotiated. he said of course treasury secretary steve mnuchin up to th hill and democrats and republicans assumed that he was representing the will of the white house. t then the president got mad, got mad at the fact that he the one thillg that he was r talking about and had talked about was bigger checks for americans, mainly because he a wantessage that he as the president was doing all he could do for amerins. but republicans didn't back him and that to me is something really remarkable when you lk at the house vote.

they were able to pass this $2,000 check bill, but largely republicans were the ones who were opposed to it. athat tells me thats the president is still having enormous influence over the republican party, that there are policy limits that republicans are wilo go to bat for when it comes to the president. that to me tells me that in leaves office as he will leave office, he will be able to still have influenc over theic republan party. he will have a big fundraisi base and be able to wield some power there. but in termsf actual positions that republicans take, i think it's interesting to see republicans find ways, especial when it comes to the deficit, to break from the president and say this is a step too far. robert:ernd p one person who would like also to ha influence in 2021n theic repu party is vice president mike pence. he's going to be sitting there at the lectern in the senate when the january 6ount is certified. now is pence going to handle that test? peter: yeah. it's a great question, right? the constitutionnd the

statutes that have been set out governing how this day wl proceed, require the president of the senate, that happens to be the vice president of the asited states n. this mike pence, to preside over this joint session of congr they open these votes. very awkward position. now, he's not the first vice prrdident to be in an awk position that way. al gore had to preside over the electoral college count in 2001 that declared george w. bush the victor over al gore. awkward. certainly painful and the situation here is worse in a lot of ways for mike pence. because he's g the president of the united states, donald trump, who has been -- who he has always been deferential to for four years, calling this a crooked election and demanding that republicans do something to stop it inn this event e 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 president trump. on the other hand, he has a constitutional and legal duty to be there. and to o presider a smooth smooth and oerly as it can s

be. so i think this would be not something that mike pence wants to have 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 this election, in georgia,bout biden, is just -- if the democrats win, it's still not necessarily an easy path for joe biden. e democrats are to contr this senate, 50-50, with kamala harris being the tie-breaker, that's a really, really, really narrow majority, obvusly, 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 any kd of legislation. and that means there will be a lot of pressure on president-elec biden from the left to do things that they would like him to do that he might like to do and may not have the voto do it. and there will be disappointment if he can't. robert: susan, can you bui on that? ed how you see bn your reporting the dynamics inside

of thert democratic susan: well, i think peter makes a great point that even if democrats win both of these georgia seats and have control of the senate, tt is better than not having control of the senate. but we may see a washington in which the moderates really rule on both ses.ik moderates mitt romney from utah, for instance, who has been one of the few republicans to defer with -- to breakpith trhile trump was in office. joe manchin who's also been willing to cro l partyes. we're going to have a different kind of situation than we've o seenr the past couple of reallyhere republicans had very tight control of their troops. nancy pelosi in the, houery tight control of her troops. of course, in the house, the spear still has a lot of control even with the very narrow majority the democrats are going to have --he but one of the messages we've heard from joe biden from the starts he sees a path for a more bipartisan washington. a lot of people think that is

naive and the conventionas wisdom tha naive and either naive or it's brilliant. because if he can do tha that might be a way to not only get things done in washington, but also to bring our divided country more together.et robert: dig into that point, susan just made about washington or not? rule because president-elect biden faces a daunting slate of issues this year, starting with fallout.emic and its economic and as december closed, let's not forget more than 330,000 americans had died, more than 20 million americans remaine out of work. businesses shuttering nationwide. confidentstruck a tone. president-elect biden: we look forward to the start of a new ye fresh with hope and possibilities for better daysto come. but clear eyed, clear eyed about the challenges that will not disappear overnight. we've overcome incredible challenges as a nation. and we've done it before and we will do it again. t

this is wort lies ahead of us. and i know we're up to the task. robert: and biden has been assembling a cinet t tackle the obstacles awaiting him. many of ben's picks will be historic firsts but it hasn't been all soth sailing for him or his team with some progressives frustrated by his nominees. yamiche, how do you see the cabinet roll out in the senate proceeding in february and march? yamiche: well, the way that i see it rollingut and proceeding is that joe biden and president-elect biden is goinak to continue to the case that he's assembling some of the most experienced people in their a field also a lot of them alums of the biden -- the obama-bidenat adminisn. but what you're going to hear from progressives and what he's going to be up against and wm that sajority in the senate is something to really keep -- keep our eye on as susan mentions is the fact that he's going to be facing progressives who want more say in the party. a lot of the people that he's picking are seen as people who are not very progressive, who are seen as moderate democemts

orrats who are in the mold of the formeriden -- biden-obama administration. people i think tha going e to be very, very concerned. now, biden i should say as he's talking about the fact te t is going to have bipartisanship, he's also making the case that he's going to be able to bring together the democratic party and you have progressives pushing still for more --pl many p saying that president-elect biden still was not their first choice and a ot of people still very upset about bernie sanders and his loss to president-elect biden. so he's going to bea navigating unch of different things including how to tackle vast issues when it comes to not of course -- not only the coronavisandemic, but race and climate. there are some real big differences betwee the way the progressives see that and the way that more moderate in terms ofee that how they will deal with those issues. you're also going to be seeing i think a real fig in the house when it comes to nancy pelosi. yes, she's of course very, very powerfully still the speaker of the house as of now. but there are still some

incoming freshmen, progressive democrats ho are saying they don't want to backer. so we will be watching that space to see how joe bidenins to have to deal with a democratic caucus that may break with him on some key issues. robert: this is biden's moment, peter. but also mcconnell's moment to see -- does d extend a h to bidenn most of these nominees? or is itotal political war from the start? peter: yeah, thas a great question. i really think that's one of the first tests for this new republican majority or mernt whichever they are.i ink -- they're definitely going to try to take their obviously the repns have already signaled that they plan to oppose or at least te shots at the president-elect's nominee for the office of management b andget. she's a hillary clinton team veteran who has been the esident of the center for american progress over the last few years.n, outspoken per her twitter account has offended some republicans and some bernie sanders supporters on the ltht. may take some shots at a few others. javier becerrart at the dent of health and human

services. it's not clear, though, that they will go across the board and try to deny him, you know, the rest of his eam. i think a lot these are people he's putting forward who have respect on theid republican of the aisle even if they're not necessarily close friends. the question for mcconnell going forward is going to be how much is he going to want to deal with joe biden and h much is the noise from outside his chamber going to influence tthings? jue a -- think about this for a second about what we just saw with this covid relief package. u saw president trump while stilln the white house managed to blow up a dea that mcconnell had negotiated with his own administration. what's going to happ whe mcconnell negotiates a deal with the biden administration and trump is from the outside weighing in if he deces to, perhaps even at the last minute throwing a gnade at a deal that both scoes hav together on and then creating a real rukus for republicans who might have to worry about offenderring the base that he has such command over? or going alo with the deal that mcconnell has just negotiated? it's going to be a tricky fo

situatio mitch mcconnell whether they win these georgia seats or not. robert: susan, we allan't it for your upcoming week on speaker pelosi. which issue you do believe she would like to see the new president focus on in 2021, infrastructure a. stimulus, what else? susan: i think that she like the president-elect thinks tt the first job has got to be getting the coronavirus under control. nothing else can happen. nothing else good can happen until that happens. oneig of her priorities is protecting and rebuilding the tfordable care act. you know, she wa one who muscled that through the house during the obama administration at a time that many people and she is very interested in taking care ofhe 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 aftermathth o pandemic to rebuild it and to give some opportuniti o. ju quick comment on the point that pet was making. the safe bet with mcconnell he e doesolitical thing but

which president is mitch 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 bidenb and mhat gives a glimmer of hope that he'll be less partisan wn it comes to these early confirmation hearings and on legislation that will follow. robert: i'll be keeping an eye on that. so willhe everybody in reporting ranks and to close the show that theme and your outlook on n this yr as reporters. let's begin with you, yamiche.ut in a m which story will you be watching and why?mi e: i'll be watching the coronavirus pandemic and specifically of course thery biggest sf 2020 will be the one of 2021 i imagine. but specifically i'm looking at how is president-elect biden going to deal with republicans and how is he going to navigate trying toet another cov relief bill passed? the plast one took months and months of negotiation. biden is claiming th he's going to be able to work with republicans.

thises going to be the first o big tethat promise i 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 goinnvg to ce more and more americans to take the vaccine to trust it? a lot of that will include ying to get african-americans who are more vulnerable to theow pandemic, h are they -- how is he going to convince them to get more vaccinated? that's g ong to be a testf his promise to really bring this country together when it comes to racially, race relations and other things dealg with those -- with those real scares that people have,rnhose real con that people have of the vaccine history withacism and health care. so those are the two big things both related to the pandemic. robert: peter, in about a minute or so what are you peter: well, yamiche said two stories so quickly i was saying first of all watchg what kind of a force president trump is from the outside. how much republicans are still going to defer to him because he does have a greafollowing among the base. or 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 last fewek what will joe biden do in terms of confronting them in the year to 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 meak to that guess. robert: susan, what are you watching? susan: i'm watching whether democracy has been damaged by the last eig or nine weeks and the weeks since the election. you know, we've hadse elections before. we've had disputed elections before. in modern times in which the losing candidate refused to accept the resuln, w the incumbent president declined to commit himself to the peaceful transfer of power when he launched dozens awsuits in battleground states and encouraged governs, statale offiand state legislatures to overturn the certified results in their state. does this become an accepted political practice?

and does tha cost the trust o voters in democracy and their faith in democracy and their belief in the system that we have? th k 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 in 2000, susan? susan: you know, we did a "usa today" end of the year poll and we found that more than a third of americans s joe biden was not legitimately elected president. that creates a huge hurdle for a president who is taken ove at a time of unprecedented national crisis. robert: and i'm going to be watching joe biden. it's the story that's so obous, the president-elect of the united states. but this is a man who was elected to the sene in 1972, not even 30 years old, endured tragedy, has endured run after finally preent.ue and now he's what can he do, what will he do? thiss his moment as we've discussed on so many programs.

and we will be keeping a close eye here on "washington week" and as reporters on that important story. we're going to have to leave it there. many thanks to our reporters for coming by tonight. and on so many fridaennights, in r years, yamiche alcindor, pete ar bake susan page, thank you so much. we wl keep chatting in the exa on our social media and on our website. but before we go, a personal message. this is my final broadcast. i'm heading off to co-author a book with bob woodward. it was a very diciicult on as you might imagine to leave this wonderful show. but iant express my gratitude to weta which produces "washington week" and its c.e.o., sharon rockefeller. she always urged me to have the best possible conversation and h together wit whole team at "washington week," we have brought new and diverse voices to this table and have work to bring you our viewers as close to the news as possible. t

andnks to the generous support we receive from you, our viewers, pbs, weta, and the corporation for public broadcasting and sponsors nationwide, the future is very bright for "washington week." i've so enjoyed being welcomed to 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] r: for "washineek" is ding provided by -- 2 >> for5 years, consumer cellular has been offering no contract wireless plans h

designed toelp people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fitsou:to learn more, visit consumercellular.tv. anuncer: boeing. kaiser permanente. additional funding is provided by the este of arnold adams and koo and patricia yuen thugh the yuen foundation, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station fr viewers like you. thank you. announcer: you

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