in december 2018, the last person to lie in state was the late senate majority leader harry reid of nevada. in january 2022. this time last year, we were all at the iowa caucuses, but the first in the nation did not get much attention until 1976. that's when jimmy carter, a pretty unknown governor from georgia, decided to focus on iowa. he placed a surprising second in the democratic caucus, which caught the attention of the national media and catapulted him to the democratic nomination and ultimately, the white house. since then, almost all candidates of both parties have taken iowa quite seriously, and today in washington, it feels like an iowa day. in the 20s, as former president carter is being brought to the united states capitol for the first day of his funeral procession here in washington to take place a truly solemn ceremony on the steps in front of the capitol, where he will be greeted at the top of the steps by his family and accompanied into the capitol rotunda. let's see if we can listen in and pick up some more audio of the ceremony. >> and i keep on thinking, oh, here they c

i want to recognize democratic leaders tom daschle and dear harry reid who were so supportive of me. i want to thank my great friend, senator chuck schumer and his extraordinary team, extraordinary team. chuck loves the united states senate, and he loves our country with every bone in his body. and i'm so appreciative of his leadership and tireless work and friendship. what i announced my retirement nearly two years ago, i thought i was ready to -- i said i was ready to pass the torch to a new generation of leaders and i couldn't be prouder to pass the torch to michigan's new senator-elect elissa slotkin. i snow she will have the -- i know she will have the heart and the talent for this job, and will do great things for our state and our country. i thought long and hard about how to express my gratitude to the smartest, hardworking staff that i could ever have imagined. truly my success comes from their amazing efforts. over 500 bright, talented professional staff have worked for me over the past 50 years. that's unbelievable. many of them for decades and that doesn't include countle

i think it was a seminal moment and a change of the direction of the country in ways that harry reid, perhaps didn't envision. we just some background on this. senator mcconnell had worked on supreme court nominations back in the 1960s when he was a senate staffer and he's seen to of the president's nominees rejected. so he's really intimately familiar with the process. he had been through the robert bork hearings. he had been through the clarence thomas hearings. the supreme court was something that was very familiar territory to him. and i think he knew that's where this would lead eventually. it wasn't just district court judges or even appeals court judges or executive nominations, but it would eventually lead the supreme court. and he had a choice, though. he could have said, well, i'm not going to take that path. instead, he didn't. he took it as an opening and he remade the supreme court sort of in a right leaning conservative image. let's go forward three years to 2016 after this. and the death of supreme court justice antonin scalia. mitch mcconnell had become majority leader

it has been a long time since, i think the last time i saw you, you were working for harry reid. spectrum of being a reid guy, a pelosi guy, and also a bernie guy. tell me, what is your. you've done it all. you've been through the spectrum. but what is? tell me about your platform. explain that. what you would do as dnc chair. >> well, first, the diagnosing the problem and the mission here. it's that in this moment, we've got to go reach working class people. they are moving sadly away from us. they're sitting it out. they're feeling disenchanted about can anyone do anything this government worth it. >> so you got to go and get their attention. >> and in this moment where donald trump's going to come in, as with his billionaire class, the silicon swamp that wants to engage in probably the greatest merger and acquisition in history. >> and you know what it's going to be? it's the federal government, the facebook. >> they're all going to purchase the federal government. it's all going to work for them. >> and elon is going to have a party. we can go to working class people and help

yet, harry reid was the majority leader, and we weren't voting on anything, literally. i mean, finally claire mccaskill called it the heidi insurrection. finally, i just said, i came to vote. i came to do stuff. i didn't come to just sit in the chair and have people, whatever, glorify this job, sitting in this chair down here if we are not legislating, if we are not debating, if we are not talking about the issues of the day, which honestly, everybody criticizes c-span, because they say, it is with the cameras came in, things did not get done. i don't think that is true. when the cameras came in, that is when congress, the institution plummeted in terms of favorability, not because they were doing too much, because all they saw was an empty chamber. all they saw was nothing. corn calls. i went to harry and i said can we just vote? he goes, you know, heidi, there is a lot of issues people don't want to take a vote on. i said, you know what harry, i'm the most vulnerable democrat in this entire chamber, and if i say, i will vote, everybody should be willing to vote. so, o

so one of my first conversations with harry reid, and his conversations weren't very long, so it was short, he asked me to fund raise for democratic candidates to run against republican senators, which i guess both sides, that's the way -- i didn't know that. where i come from they take you behind the barn and we'll have a conversation. i told him, harry, i'm not going to raise money to attack my friends and colleagues just because they have an r by their name. how do we expect to work together if i'm working against them when they're in cycle? i said i'm not going to do that. of course i didn't win the popularity contest with harry either, but it sure felt like the right thing to do. equally important, it felt necessary that the senate was going to work on behalf of the people we needed to treat each other with respect. and i try to do that with everybody. i feel strongly about that. i signed an ethics pledge to never campaign again a sitting college. i have other colleagues sitting here that feel the same as i do and i'm looking for more signatures. i think it would be wonderful if

since harry reid has been getting chipped away at. you think it will survive? sen. manchin: i have more faith that republicans have more institutionalist people in their body than democrats. i told chuck schumer, you have already told me your game plan if you get majority leader and you have 51 democrat, you will get rid of it. because i am not going to be there and what kyrsten sinema is not going to be there. we voted against it and saved it. now i think you are happy because republicans have total control. so you like it now. but if you get control, you do it again. i am hoping they can basically solidify that or harden it, if you will, and protect it more. host: a couple of themes. in the speech you talked about your book. what is the name of your book? sen. manchin: "almost heaven." host: that is logical for west virginia. the vote, there was almost a character in your life story, you referenced it. sen. manchin: everybody has been there. i tried to get almost every senator. host: but what role has played in your success? sen. manchin: when i said, we are going

absolutely not, no, there will be a filibuster, they lowered the bar some years ago, this was done by harry reid, he lowered it from 60 to 51 votes. there is time that has to burn off there. they will try to do low-hanging fruit first and marco rubio falls into that category and probably john ratcliffe for cia director, he was confirmed before, maybe him on monday or tuesday. >> steve: question for you, you mentioned pete hegseth, before his nomination hearing democrats were complaining that the fbi did not interview enough people, that the investigation was too short. are they giving the fbi more time or looking deeper into people than they did with earlier ones? >> chad: some of this paperwork was not completed. kristi noem's confirmation hearing was scheduled for wednesday, they did not have paperwork finished, it was pushed back until today. a little secret about how fbi background checks work. the client is president-elect trump and the transition team. they ask questions on behalf of them, this is not an independent type of investigation they do here. some republicans and some democrats do

never be concerned that conservative onag the issues, he agrees with the interpretation and also harry reido agreed this is not intended to be for children of illegal immigrants.c you are right, it will get litigated but i think president trump spoke clearly on yothis, and i'm glad he did. >> laura: it is all about how e phrase andscin subject to the jurisdiction thereof.out. so it will be fascinating to see how this plays out, but i think this is going all the way to tha supreme court appeared to the democrat ag in arizona, apparen, doesn't really know the people . watch this. >> i don't think that voters in arizona who have voted for ever thought they would be voting too really, voting to undermine birthright citizenship or to .estroy birthright citizenship >> laura: senator, this is a very lopsided issue that runs against the democrats.s no but that is a democrat state attorney general. tdoes this not confirm in peopls mind the idea democrats put illegal immigrants first and n t american citizens rights question work. >> yeah, they really don't understand how she can tell by that quote r

no tax on tips and winning nevada for the first time since 2004 is that nevada has long been the harry reidthe regard of -- the democrat operation. we were concerned in the last election cycle that trampled win on the issues, might be more popular than joe biden, kamala harris, but when it comes to turnout -- i think winning in nevada shows the defeat of the democrat machine. there is a lot of significance to that and celebration of him coming back to nevada, and promises made, promises kept was something he told americans he would do. >> jason, you could say with some of the decisions and the fire is, what's going on in other areas of the country, we are finding so many more violent criminals among most, as well illegal -- and the borders are booting them out of the country. i would say it will change the political parties of the democrats all over the place, not just in swing states, not just pockets like las vegas. it's given people this idea of you have more than one choice. >> not only is donald trump the most dynamic political leader we've ever seen, full, but he brings with him this

the top-down dominance not just in the house which is more extraordinary since harry reid. that is a really dramatic development and it does cause rank and file members to feel it cut out of what matters in the institution. the members themselves have a ratified these dynamics in part because they believe the importance of fighting the next election. like we talked about in the first panel. but yes, things have reached a breaking point where members want to push back. i was involved in efforts to push proposed rule changes in the house that would allow committees more of a guarantee route to the floor. that would beou an important way of pushing back against this dynamic. i think it isi overdue. but the members themselves do not have this long of a historical memory as you had in your question. most didst not serve before the obama administration. let alone before the gingrich area trying to get back to one thing at a i hope to prepare for congress based on the history we have created a r system far too basin with the majority leader and the speaker think. we have created a

also harry reid who is no friend to conservatives also agreed that this is not intended to be for childrenou are right. it's going to get litigated. i think president trump spoke very clearly on this and i'm glad that he did. >> laura: all about how you interpret the phrase and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. >> correct. >> laura: so it will be fascinating to see how this plays out. i think this is going all the way to the supreme court. >> laura: arizona, apparently doesn't really know the people she actually represents, watch this. >> i don't think that voters in arizona, whoever they voted for, ever thought that they would be voting to, really voting to undermine birthright citizenship or to destroy birthright citizenship. >> laura: senator, this is a very lopsided issue that runs against the democrats. that's a democrat state attorney general. does this not confirm in people's mind the idea that democrats put illegal immigrants first and not american citizcitizensrights? >> they don't understand by that quote what november 5th, 2024 was all about. president trump, saw him on the c

in 2013, harry reid threw something called nuclear option, able to lower the threshold for cabinet officials from 60 to 51. filibuster will happen, they will probably burn a couple days off the clock. you could see if they bring that nomination to the floor and i was told earlier today, you could have an informal meeting and john thune could file closure and tee it up later this week. i would not be surprised if they have weekend sessions to run the clock over the weekend or something. >> steve: sure. i was talking to a member of congress last night, it sounded like he was not able to take a plus one to the event, i am sure a number of steamed members of congress. get in the way-back machine. donald trump starts next administration today in earnest, this is much different than in 2017. in 2017, he had a republican congress but they were not all on the same page. he and speaker ryan were not always in unison and he is speaker johnson, running the house now, they are singing out of the same mhiminal. there is st. johns church there. >> chad: that is right, look back at old majority in the hous

opposition politics are -- harry reid told me that, by the way.stands power in the senate or understood power in the senate better than any human being except lbj, perhaps the problem you have right now with democrats is they still will try to resolve this and fight about policy, but they need to show the damage these policies trump is putting forward will do to americans. they need to show the hurt that will because by these things because they are not positive outcomes the tariff idea, mass deportations will wreck the economy. tariffs will wreck the economy. they have to make trump only things and, you know, to go back to where you were at the start of this segment, you cannot argue that with, you know, -- this is a bar fight in the dark with knives. you cannot go out there and pretend that you will have this civil discussion about the marginal percentage rate of the tariffs when it is going to be something. you have to be telling american voters, this is going to wreck your life. this is going to hurt your family. this is going to cost you mone

. >> when you were on the senate floor when harry reid and vote the nuclear option what came to judicial nominees he basically said your party was blocking everything he needed something to move this senate through. was that a mistake? >> of course. it was a mistake and he really wanted to do was pack the d.c. circuit circuit court. there were no supreme court vacancies. that court were that had a lot of vacancies. harry wanted to fill them and fill them with 51 votes instead of 60. on the filibuster generally, i chaired the rules committee a majority of the time i was in the senate, i think. i think about six of the 12 years, maybe eight. i proposed propose some would get to the bill easier, debate the bill with 51 posts but i agree totally with heidi on the importance of 60 votes is you do wind up with legislation that is more in the middle. there have never been 60 popularly elected republicans. i think 56 is highest number ever. there have only been 60 democrats a handful of times and that goes all the way back to the greatoe depression when we d those big numbers of democrats a long

more extraordinary, how dominant the leaders in the senate have been in the 21st century, since harry reid. that is a really dramatic development, and it really does cause rank and file members to feel cut out of what matters in the institution. and we have to understand that the members themselves have ratified these dynamics, in part because they believe in the importance of fighting the next election, like we talked about in the first panel. but yes, i think things have reached kind of a breaking point where members want to push back. i think -- i was involved in efforts to push proposed rules changes in the house that would allow committees more of a guaranteed route to the floor. i think that would be an important way of pushing back against this dynamic. i think it is overdue. but the members themselves don't have as long of a historical memory as you just had in your question. most of them did not surf before the obama administration. let alone before the gingrich era, right? trying to get back to thinking about the possibilities for congress is a challenge right now. certainly, tha

maybe more extraordinary how dominant the leaders in this senate are in the 21st century since harry reid. that's a really dramatic developmentt because rank-and-file members to feel cut out from the institution. we have to understand that members themselves have ratified these dynamics in part because they believed on the importance of fighting the next election. we talked about the first panel. but yes, things have reached a breaking point where members want to push back. i was involved in-- efforts to push proposed rules changes in the house that would allowha committees more of a guaranteed route to the floor. that's an important way of pushing back against this dynamic. i think is overdue. the members themselves you have the long of a historical memory that you just had a near question. most of them did not stir before the obama administration. let alone before the gingrich era. trying to get back to think about the possibility of congress as a challenge right now. certainly that's one thing we hope to provide for congress. based on the history of institutions there's a greater range

i've worked for harry reid, nancy pelosi. >> i asked the people wanted to know. well, people have, you know, let's just talk about. i'm a frustrated. >> one, but i'm a democrat. >> that's the case. >> guess what i'm doing? >> i'm you have a job. where's where's i asked, are you a democrat? because there are folks that when you announce that said, oh, he's not even a democrat. why does he want to lead the democratic party? and i'm like, well, first of all, do you do you know for sure that he's not a democrat, but also just because you've been critical of the party? yes. i, i don't think it should disqualify you from participation. but again, what are the love, right? >> you criticize out of love when you feel anger. and i urge people to think this way. you know, when you get angry out there, sometimes the reason you're getting angry is because you really want them to succeed. you really want them to do well. the thing that we have to be nervous and scared of is people don't care anymore. if you don't care anymore, holy holy cow, you're gone, you know? but if you a

elon musk reposted earlier tree of sam altman supporting linkedin founder reid hoffman for donating money of course to harrise everybody at home can keep up with the back-and-forth it was a little crazy but at the end of the day sam altman and elon musk still support president donald trump. i don't know if donald trump will have to intervene but it's a bit of a back-and-forth and everybody is watching a play on the computers. maria: that is funny and are talking about how much money softbank has on the balance sheet. because they have 25 billion on the balance sheet the talking about the money not being there but is making a commitment. elon musk made a commitment of the $200 billion but to see the back-and-forth between the tech titans is funny. >> it is entertaining. it's almost juvenile but it's funny to watch. as it relates to softbank and whether or not they will be able to secure the funds, i can tell you i've been writing client review meetings the whole month of december i was talking with clients and there is not a single client that i have who is not super excited about investing in artificial inte