final thought. as always, thank you for watching "the beat." i'll be back here at 6:00 p.m. don't go anywhere as congress continues working, as the government remains closed. hardball is up next. madam speaker, let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm steve kornacki in for chris matthews. house speaker nancy pelosi in the newly elected democratic leadership are currently speaking to reporters holding a press conference. we begin keeping an eye on that. we begin with the latest developments in what has already been a momentous day on capitol hill. tonight that newly democratic-led house of representatives is going to begin voting on a pair of short-term bills to end the partial government shutdown. a clear signal if he needed one to president trump that divided

government has arrived in washington. it is the first major order of business for nancy pelosi who today reclaimed the speaker's gavel 12 years after she became the first woman ever to wield it. >> the honorable nancy pelosi of the state of california having received a majority of the votes cast is duly elected speaker of the house of representatives for the 116th congress. >> pelosi also becomes the first former speaker to return as speaker in 64 years. sam rayburn's comeback back in 1955 was the last time we saw this. pelosi welcomed the new 36 seat democratic majority saying the american people had spoken. >> we have no illusions that our work will be easy and that all of us in this chamber will always agree, but let each of us pledge that when we disagree, we respect each other and we

respect it. we will debate in advance good ideas no matter where they come from and in that spirit democrats will be offering the senate republican appropriations legislation to reopen government later today. >> in a clear move to regain the spotlight hours after that president trump made an impromptu appearance in the white house briefing room. his first time at the podium there flanked by a variety of border patrol and immigration authorities. >> i just want to start off by congratulating nancy pelosi on being elected speaker of the house. it's a very, very great achievement and hopefully we're going to work together and we're going to get lots of things done like infrastructure and so much more. >> trump left just ten minutes later without taking any questions from the reporters who were there. as the partial government shutdown grinds into its 13th day president trump is holding firm on his demand that congress

fund a wall on the southern border with mexico, but in an interview with nbc news, new speaker pelosi made it clear the house will not provide any funding to build a wall. >> are you willing to come up and give him some of this money for the wall? >> no. >> because apparently that's the sticking point. >> no. no. nothing. we're talking about border security. >> in fact, as we mentioned, the house will take up a bipartisan package of senate bills, six measures funding government agencies through september and one funding the department of homeland security until february 8th. democrats move to try to reopen the government again tonight a republican senator, colorado's cory gardner, has said just in the last few hours that congress should reopen the government even without a border deal. first crack on the republican ranks on the senate side. meanwhile, nbc news reports that president trump told congressional leaders yesterday he would, quote, look foolish if he supported the six measures not related to homeland security or the wall. today he again accused democrats

of playing politics over the standoff writing on twitter the shutdown is only because of the 2020 presidential election. the democrats know they can't win based on all of the achievements of trump. the ongoing standoff is only one issue facing trump. democrats have promised to use the new majority and the committee subpoena power that comes with it to investigate the president. for more i'm joined by kasie hunt, capitol hill correspondent for nbc news. tim ryan, eugene robinson columnist for the washington post and michael steele, house spokesperson for john boehner. congressman ryan, let me start with you. we said one of the first orders of business, i think they're voting on the rules as we speak or they may have finished that up. you, the new democratic majority, are going to pass a bill to reopen the government. exactly what would that bill provide when it comes to what the president has been talking about when it comes to border

security. with the president saying it's dead on arrival, what happens if he doesn't budge to pass it? >> it's going to open up six departments of the government and yet no wall funding and that funding for those six parts will be until september and then give us a month to have a discussion about border security until about february 8th and i think that's the important part. let's figure something out. if we have four weeks or so, let's think a little bit bigger. you know, we're talking about security. some of us don't want a wall, but there's plenty of technology out there. we know that most of the problem from people that are undocumented in our country come from visa overstays. we know that 90% of the drugs come in from the country come in through ports of entry. those are the two key areas we need to focus on if we're going to secure the border from drugs and know who's in our country. let's have that conversation and let's talk about daca or comprehensive immigration reform.

maybe over a few weeks we can come to some agreement. >> i ask this question, we have democrats, the line, we heard the new speaker, nancy pelosi, say again to nbc, the wall is a non-starter. no money for the wall. not have a wall. you're saying have a discussion. is there a discussion where you are okay with fencing? is fencing okay but a wall not okay to democrats? is that correct here? >> i think what we should do is let the experts tell us. there are republican senators on border states who don't want a wall. i mean, that's like us sitting here saying we want a model t car or glider plane or rotary phones back. we're talking about let the experts tell us. we've had so many advancements, what is that technology? i think if we make the argument over the next two, three, four weeks, that's the sole argument we're having, let's talk about this issue to the american people. i think the american people are going to continue to side with us and you see cory gardner broke today.

i think there will be other senators that break but let's have that conversation over the next three or four weeks. >> yeah, kasie, let me pick up on that. cory gardner, republican senator from colorado, swing state, cory gardner has to run for re-election next year in 2020. the first republican in the senate to come out and say basically let's just pass a continuing resolution. let's get this reopened here. no bigger deal on the border. is that going to spread beyond cory gardner quickly or is he going to be on an island? >> susan collins, the senator from maine has made some noises to that effect as well. i don't necessarily think it's going to be a sweeping movement though because the reality is the senate map isn't necessarily all that terrible for republicans in 2020. cory gardner arguably one of the most vulnerable republicans who is up for re-election. don't forget, the growing latino population in his state in the

suburbs of denver. i think the dynamics he's facing are somewhat unique to cory gardner, but that said, i think the more this piles up, the question in my mind is are the impacts that people are feeling from this shutdown, are they going to drive the political realities? that's why i can't quite get my head around how we solve this impasse. i mean, the fact that previous shutdowns were going to end at some point felt inevitable here on capitol hill, i've now covered a number of them. they felt the political pressure on one side or the other. usually the antagonist. in 2013 it was ted cruz, in the summer it was democrats pushing for the very same issue. now it's the president who seemed to do it on i don't want to necessarily call it a whim but it was a day of negative

coverage from conservative media. i'm not sure how they were incentivized to fix it. somebody has to give in and this president doesn't seem like he's one to just throw up his hands and take the embarrassment. i mean, have we ever seen him do anything like that? it leaves the people directly affected by this shutdown stuck. >> the puzzle pieces now, can't pass. they can pass what they want but republicans still hold the senate. even if they pass the funding measures tonight, mitch mcdonnell is saying he will not bring them to the senate floor for a vote. >> i made it clear to the speaker we're not interested in having show votes here in the senate. we're interested in bringing up something the house has passed, 60 senators will support and the president will sign.

in other words, i want to make a law. >> two weeks ago the senate was on board by unanimous consent. republicans will continue to govern. that's why we'll continue government funding into february so we can continue this vital debate after the new congress has convened because make no mistake, mr. president, there will be important unfinished business left in front of us and we'll owe it to the american people to finally tackle it. >> michael steel, just on the republican side, what is your sense of that question kasie hunt just questioned. to get mitch mcconnell to change his view, multiple senators have to say that. is that political pressure developing at all? >> the way i would look at this the house is playing checkers, the senate is playing chess and

the president is playi ining tiddly-winks. vulnerable senators are coming out as cory gardner did. susan connors is in a strong place. we're in the going to have show votes or test votes. they will act when you have something that's passed and he's worried about shoring up his support. appearing tough on border security and the wall which is a completely different universe from the reality on capitol hill. >> again, three different very, very different. >> he have' sort i've sort of b with that in my head. how can you get in the beginning what you instincttivelily thought was a brief one, a limited one, i can't quite see

what that looks like on paper? what is your sense of the timing for how long it will go on for? >> i think it might last a while because i don't think we're near to having a solution that bridges those great, lively separated points where the house is, where the senate is, and where the president seems to be. it's hard to tell from minute to minute. mitch mcconnell was interested to say we're not interested in show boats. if it's required -- the effects of these shutdowns do melt so, you know, most of the nalgs parks are out. there's a ton of garbage andyos. people are not going to get their checks. not just government workers but i believe some of the farm

subsidies. some of those checks are not going to go out. there are salaries of really, really important government workers that are not going to be paid. there is going to be increasing pressure to do something. i think the senators are going to start feeling it. >> congressman, i have to ask you because nancy pelosi is coming back, you signed a letter saying there would be a challenge or two or you wouldn't vote for it. you did end up voting for her today? what do you make of the list. >> i think she's doing a good job of representing our views. look, we're on her turf at this point. she's very good with the

internal game. the congressional leverage that you need, counting votes. the legislative process. negotiating with the president. this is her sweet spot and so we're in good hands as we move through these negotiations with her. hopefully we can come to some resolutio resolutions. every day we're talking about this issue. every day the president is talking about the wall. he's not talking about the economy. he's not talking about jobs, wages, pensions, health care, prescription drug prices. he is going to get fun 234ishd by the elector rate for that. we are saying we want border security, too, we want the kind that's not in the 11th century. we want border security. even the republican senators say it doesn't make sense.

he will carry the baggage as the economy blows up. >> eugene report bert son. i'm just looking at the sorts of factors that congressman ryan is outlining there. i'm having flashbacks to the 2016 campaign, first two years of the trump presidency. how many times you would hear he will respond to this. >> i have no idea what he will respond to. i think i have some idea what republicans and democrats in the senate will eventually respond to and how they will eventually feel squeezed by their position in all of this. president trump, you know, he painted himself into this corner and he doesn't have an easy way out. so i can imagine him coming up with some formulation in where

he says whatever money there is in an eventual bill is a win and, anyhow, the wall is already built and then he sort of moves on. but once he has demonstrated to his base that he's willing to fight, go to the mat, shut down the government, now what? i don't think he saw that through. i don't think he knows now what. that's why i have no idea when this will end. >> steve, my point was i don't know if it's going to change his behavior at all, but it will accumulate politically in the negative column for him over time. >> understood. congressman tim ryan from ohio. we appreciate you all being with us. we have much more to get to on the still unfolding drama in washington. up next, is president trump in for a rude awakening? i'm going to speak to two congressmen about what the see

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we've said it would be sad and divisive for the country to pursue impeachment. are you willing to rule it out? >> we have to wait and see what the mueller report says. we shouldn't be impeaching for a political reason. >> welcome back to "hardball." that was the new speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, keeping the door open to impeaching president trump. it is among the many perils the president faces with the house under democratic control. the new democratic chair men who lead the key house committees are eager to exert their over sight powers over the executive branch. they can hold hearings and crucially to issue subpoenas for

president trump who has never experienced the checks and balances of a divided government, that could be a rude awakening. consider that in the house oversight committee alone the kep rans us republicans used the power of the majority to block subpoena requests 64 times. these new congressional investigations will take place against the backdrop of the mueller probe. the results could loom large. to that point pelosi suggested that the president could be indicted even while he's in office. >> everything indicates that a president can be indicted after he's no longer president of the united states. >> what about a sitting president? >> well, sitting president when he's no longer president of the united states. >> a president who's in office? could robert mueller say i'm seeking an indictment? >> i think that is an open discussion. i think that is an open discussion in terms of the law. >> joined by democratic

congressman denney heck. to try to get a taste of this, we put the powers in perspective running these committees, the oversight oversight, the potential. >> the phone call before the trump tower meeting in the summer of 2016, we'd like to know to whom that call was made or from whom it was received by donald trump jr. that was something we sought a subpoena when we undertook our investigation over the last couple of years but were denied the opportunity to do. it's just one example, steve. there are literally dozens of them that any prudent investigator would have followed up on. >> how does your investigation -- i guess the question is is your investigation or any investigation that you launch, is that going to work in tandem at all with the mueller investigation? are these going to be existing

in completely separate worlds? do you have to rely on mauler about what's publicly known about his work? >> we don't have eyes on the mueller investigation. he is very, very secretive about his deliberations as is the professional thing to do. i couldn't tell you the status. we know there's 36 criminal indictments and we don't know what the status is. just like you, we hear from a lot of different people that it's nearing its completion. we will be undertaking where we think it's appropriate a separate and may or not be a follow through in the last couple of years. >> how do you anticipate -- do you anticipate working at all productively with the republicans on your committee? obviously there was a lot of tension the last two years between the majority republicans, the minority. how is that relationship going

to work in reverse the last two years? >> the dirty little secret in washington, d.c., when we weren't working on the russia investigation, there were a lot of areas we worked on very well. yes, the relationship was strained. it was not all defining in terms of our work with respect to the reauthorization or a variety of other measures that we undertook. we completely modernized sifius and the intelligence committee had a strong hand in that. we did that in a bipartisan way. it was along the lines of the russia investigation where the investigation got at a minimum pretty rowingy, steve. >> we mentioned, too, we showed that clip, nancy pelosi leaving open the possibility of impeachment. brad sherman introduced an impeachment resolution already. let me ask you the question. i know when he was able to stores a vote a while back you were a no. let me ask you this question.

if this conversation moves toward impeachment over the next few months, is there roughly speaking a cutoff date where democrats would need to initiate that by just given the fact that the 2020 campaign's going to begin with the country will be in full presidential campaign mode? does this have to be launched, if it's going to happen, by this summer say? >> i think whether or not we ever take up impeachment is going to be largely suggestive on the mueller investigation. i think we ought to be frankly guided by the substance of what it is that he finds and we are not in a position to be able to indicate what that is at this time because we simply don't know what it is, steve. it depends what he recommends as to whether or not we should take it up. if it's serious enough, i don't know that there would be a cutoff for it but, again, there's no point in having this largely academic conversation until and unless we have additional information from director mueller.

>> congressman denny heck, thank you for taking a few minutes. >> you're welcome, sir. meanwhile, there remains the outstanding question of donald trump's tax returns will actually be made public. politico reports the new democratic chairman of the ways and means committee, congressman richard neal plans to take a cautious approach before he demands the returns. trump is the first president in 40 years to refuse to release his tax returns. he's claiming he's withholding them because they're under a routine audit. >> i will absolutely give my returns because i'm being audited for two or three years. >> it's under audit. i'll release them when my audit is completed. >> they're under a minor audit. every year i get audited. >> at the appropriate time i'll release them. >> the only one that cares about my tax returns are the reporters. >> you don't think the american

public is concerned about that? >> no, i don't think so. i won. i mean, i became president. no, i don't think they care at all. >> if the audit is still on you will not turn on the -- >> nobody would. nobody turns over a return when it's under audit. >> i'm joined by tom reed from new york. he sits on the house ways and means committee. thank you for joining us. let me just ask you, we show the president there. candidate trump, now two, three years ago, 2016, 2019 saying i'm under audit. i'm under audit. critics say he was stalling to provide an answer. there's a law apparently, a 1924 law that gives your committee, the tax writing ways and means committee the power from the irs to get tax returns and then if decided by a majority vote to release those tax returns to the public. do you think there's a public interest in the ways and means committee doing that now? >> i don't agree with the committee going down that approach. to go after an individual, even the president of the united

states, and force the disclosure of that personal/private information. he didn't want to release it, didn't release it. that was part of the public debate in the election. now is a time to unite america and not divide it. this is a divisive issue that's not going to solve people's issues back home. >> is the matter of trump's tax returns then to you ultimately a voluntary one? he can be criticized for not doing it, suffer whatever public consequences that come with that. he should not believe there's no mechanism to force him to do it? >> i believe that decision has been made by him. it was part of the public election process. when you go after tax returns you use that power that the ways and means committee has, that's a very slippery slope. if you go after this president, who are you going to stop at? >> we mentioned the house just before you came over was voting on the official rules. you voted yes on these rules.

that's a significant vote for folks at home who don't necessarily follow this all the time. usually these are strict party line votes. you a republican voted yes. i can't remember the last time you had crossover votes on the rules. i want you to explain why you did that. there were some threats. you shugd you were threatened with, quote, consequences from your own party. is your seat on ways and means in jeopardy in any way because of this vote? >> kudos to my colleagues for joining me. when we negotiated the rule reforms that not all of them has gotten into the final rules package got in there. we wanted to show good faith. i applaud them for putting partisanship aside. as to consequences, i'm not going to comment on that.

i go into this eyes wide open. it's time to get the solutions out of d.c. it deserves. >> was your seat on the committee or your status at all threatened? to say publicly you were threatened raises questions you can imagine. >> i appreciate that. obviously there is concern by folks who want to make sure the herd mentality, us versus them is the situation. at the end of the day we're very comfortable and stand with whatever responsibility comes with that. >> congressman tom reed, thank you for taking a few minutes. >> great to be with you. >> i'm heading over to big board. we'll see what today's events say about the trump administration. this is "hardball" where the action is. the action is.

welcome back to "hardball." with a new congress, it convened today. democrats back in control for the first time in eight years. we thought we would zoom out. we were at this board trying to figure out who's going to win this district in this state. this is all of the folks in the chamber voting. this is the breakdown when you look at them at the blue districts and this is what was elected in november. what took its seat collectively in washington. you notice there is that one outstanding race, the ninth

district in north carolina, the election fraud allegations. naas a total mess. that could be weeks, months before that's settled. numerically, 235 democrats in the new house of representatives. that number there, you remember a 40 seat net gain that they posted. republicans down 41 sitting at 199 right now. here's the interesting thing though if you start to dig deeper, we talk about how the democrats had such luck in november in suburban districts. hillary clinton had already won in 2016 or maybe donald trump had won but only narrowly. check this out at sort of the new breakdown. in this new congress, these are democrats in the new congress who now represent districts that voted for trump in 2016. so there are 31 democrats now. that's a big jump from before of what you call trump country.

we're generally not talking about places trump won by 10, 20, 30 -- that's not the kind of trump country. a lot of these are places trump won very narrowly. places where trump won by 5%. 13 seats are coming from districts trump won by more than five points. how about the flip side of it. the suburban wave. how many republicans in this new congress. how many republicans now represent districts that vote for hillary clinton back in 2016? check this one out. three. there are three republicans now. 434 people are seated in congress. three of them are republicans who come from districts that voted for hillary clinton. that number was 25 going into election day. we watched those all fall off the map a couple of months ago. new congress back in session.

we thought we'd take a look at that. not a lot of democrats in deep trump country. not a lot of republicans in deep clinton country. up next is trump on the out with the establishment. should we look at mitt romney's criticism as an outlier or a sign of things to come. you're watching "hardball." all. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. what's in your wallet? i needthat's whenvice foi remembered that my ex-ex- ex-boyfriend actually went to law school, so i called him. he didn't call me back! if your ex-ex- ex-boyfriend isn't a lawyer, call legalzoom and we'll connect you with an attorney. legalzoom. where life meets legal.

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welcome back to "hardball." just hours into a newly divided government president trump is still fighting to suppress criticism from members of his own party. robert post robert costa is reporting a day after mitt romney's public rebuke that the notion of trump's presidency being in deep descent has been a talk. romney's article set off

challenges. robert costa joins me with susan delpercia. robert costa, that term deep dissent. a presidency in deep dissent, what in january 2019 is leading republicans to say this in a presidency that began in january 2017. >> divided government changed everything. spent the day at the capitol talking to republican senators and house members, they know the dynamic has changed. the government continues to be shut down. privately and somewhat publicly with senator romney and others, people are starting to talk more in the gop about are there going to have to be options for 2020? is someone going to have to step forward beyond ohio governor john kasich. >> are there other names? romney said he's not running in the present tense. take that for what it's worth. are there other names besides romney and kasich? >> at this moment they say

they're keeping a close eye on the senators who just retired, senator corker of tennessee and senator flake. they don't have the political capitol inside the republican party but if they start heading to iowa and new hampshire, some senators maybe not publicly yet are going to at least listen. >> susan, what do you make of that? on the one hand you have the reporting -- the excellent reporting robert just detailed there. on the other hand, you look at the gallup poll. he is still sitting at 88% of approval rating among republicans. it looks like george w. bush after 2002. within his own party. not outside his own party. >> of course. what they're operating off of and what you hear in washington is fear. they are afraid of what they don't know because donald trump we just have no idea what can happen in the mueller investigation or the southern district of new york, their investigations. i personally don't think he will

be running in 2020 so i think they want to start keeping that open. it's not the worst thing to think you're not 99.5% but just to get the feelers out. he can explode at any given time. this could be a problem -- the party has enough problems, this will be another one. >> how are democrats looking at this? are they confident -- that's the wrong word. >> to the point, fear is a huge motivating factor because on one hand we'd love to run against donald trump in 2020. on the other hand, do we want to run against mitt romney. what i think is also unknown here is what happens if trump capitulates on the wall? what are his core supporters going to do? what do other republicans do, handle that if you have the die

hard supporters -- excuse the french. regardless of what happens, if democrats do not put forth real good positive policy for the electorate, none of it is going to matter. >> robert, that's an interesting question. we're trying to figure out the posture. you have cory gardner in the senate, republican saying let's do this continuing resolution, get the government open again. is the dynamic, is that factoring into trump's calculation at all? is he aware of it? do you think it's shaping his posture in terms of trying to shore up that base? >> what's fascinating talking to senators today on the republican side, they don't have a lot of engagement with the white house. to them, this shutdown is about the president sending a signal to his core voters, political

base, that he's with them on the wall, that he's going to go to the brink to try to secure funding for that. this is not about him bringing the party along. the president and the white house believe he has enough of a grip on congress with the republicans there to cultivate his own voters. whatever comes over the horizon, whether developments in the mueller probe, economic noun turn. >> we've been saying the democrats with the majority in the house. we're planning to take action on the government shutdown. moments ago the government did begin debate. speaker nancy pelosi held a press briefing and was asked if there was any situation where she would allow the president's wall. let's watch. >> is there any situation where you would accept even a dollar of wall funding for this president in order to reopen the government? >> a dollar? a dollar, yeah, $1.

you said a dollar. that's not your question. you said a dollar. i'll answer your question. the fact is a wall is an immorality. it's not who we are as a nation. we're not doing a wall. does anybody have any doubt that we're not doing a wall? >> basil, okay. maybe a dollar from democrats for the wall, but we had tim ryan, congressman from ohio on earlier. i do wonder. so much of this is what is the appetite for compromise but fencing, did democrats have that same attitude towards fencing? pelosi will say the wall is morally unacceptable? is fencing morally unacceptable? >> it's giving into the president whether it's the wall or slats. whether it's camouflaged, whatever it is that's being presented, it's going to seem like the leadership has given in. i think for there are 15 people,

15 democrats that didn't vote for pelosi today. i would see that number of folks would grow if the leadership were to go that route, but i have to say this. even if it's at that 5 billion amount, it's a lot of money but it's relatively small when you consider the entire federal budget f. we have the opportunity to get daca done, if we can support the dreamers and change their life -- >> that would be a deal. >> that's a hard calculus. >> that's the deal with $25 billion. >> now we're going back in time. it seems we're moving away from all of the proposed compromise that is have been out there. robert, susan, basil are staying with us. up next, take a look at the most diverse congress in history. you're watching "hardball." stress can also affect our bodies. so, i'm partnering with cigna to remind you that your emotional and physical health are more connected than you think.

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welcome back to "hardball." this afternoon the most female and racially diverse congress in history was sworn in by nancy pelosi. the first and only woman to have held that role. it is a day of many firsts on capitol hill with the first native american women and first muslim women to serve in congress taking their seats. many have also made note of the contrast, visual and statistical, between the incoming classes from both parties. we are back with our "hardball" round table. susan, the statistics are all out there. i don't have them right in front of me, but the number of women on the democratic side in the

new democratic class compared to the republican side, the number of non-white members. there are big differences between these two party coalitions right now. >> yeah, there sure are. in the big picture level, it's great more people are being represented in washington. that's a great thing to see that diversity. on the political side, it's horrible for republicans. it is -- shows that the republican party has nowhere to go. >> is there a way for them to fix it in the short-term? is there anything to do? >> no. not in the short-term. i wouldn't just blame donald trump. saying the wave election was all about donald trump. it was, but the candidate selection, the grooming for candidates, that is years in the making. and republicans have been looking to seek to go into republican primaries on the conservative side and they're not willing to expand and open up the party. and that is a disaster for it. and it can't grow. of course we're going to see things like swing districts disappear because republicans in

the suburbs, those women are not voting in the -- for the republican candidate. they just can't. so it is basically a slow death for the republican party unless they do something with a bigger plan. >> yeah. it's also -- this is just -- there's a lot of new faces. new faces powered by a lot of grassroots energy. from that standpoint, this is a democratic caucus that may want to assert more than you're used to seeing from an incoming class. >> right. and there's also ideological diversity as well. that's not going to be difficult for just the congress but for a presidential candidate to the point where he or she gets to the primary. but to the point about growing parties, i think there's a way for both parties to grow and going back to the older point, if we tackle immigration. there's a report that says that the natural growth population growth of this country is the lowest it has been in 80 years. so immigration is going to play a much bigger role in the future

prosperity of this nation. from a narrow perspective, it could be good for both parties. >> the republican party used to support that. now -- >> that was george w. bush's second term and we're reliving the mccain/kennedy situation. thank you all for being with us. when we return, let me finish tonight with the transfer of power. you're watching "hardball." h thr of power you're watching "hardball. charmin ultra soft!

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with the banging of that gavel, control of the house went from republican hands back to democrats after eight years today. there were moments in those eight years where democrats wondered if they'd ever see this moment again. four years ago in barack obama's mid-term election, reached their water high mark in the house. their biggest majority since before the great depression. but that majority is gone now. thinned a little in 2016 and ravaged by the suburban fueled backlash of 2018. it's pretty much how our politics seem to go these days. a breathtaking high for one party, predictions of an enduring majority, then soon enough a shattering defeat over and over again. it wasn't always this way, believe it or not. go back a generation to the early '90s. back then there was no suspense over which party was going to control the house. it was always the democrats. for 40 straight years and the majorities were massive. the speakership was handed down from one aging democrat to the next like an inheritance.

there was a nickname back then. the permanent democratic congress they called it. then came bill clinton. he was the first democratic president in years. he came to power with that house majority. but he faced something new. a far more aggressive republican opposition led by newt gingrich. the republicans stirred a backlash that stirred all of washington. a 54-seat republican gain. but it helped clinton get re-elected in 1996 and newt himself was forced out two years later. then george w. bush got his shot with the republican congress. complete republican rule of washington. but after iraq and katrina and scandals, there was another monster backlash. and by 2006, the republican congress was history. two years later, bush was gone replaced by barack obama. but that led to yet another backlash fueled by the tea party and democrats lost the house again in 2010. then of course came donald trump. another president coming to office with his party running congress. and now another president who

has seen his party's majority crumble. it's been this way for a generation now. we have seen each party build up enough power to push its agenda through. what we don't see is the public then reward either party for what it's done. backlashes in waves have become the norm. so have transfers of power like we watched today. that's "hardball" for now. all in with chris hayes starts right now. tonight on "all in," live from washington, d.c. on a big day for democrats. >> to the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, i extend to you this gavel. >> nancy pelosi and the democrats have taken power in the house. >> house democrats are down with ndp. nancy delasandro pelosi. >> we shouldn't avoid impeachment for a political reason. >> plus my interviews with two new committee chairs about to start