mike hannah reports from washington. ♪ >> reporter: there's no u.s.assador in sierra leone to report on the fight against ebola. nor in turkey, which is on the front line of the war the u.s. has declared against isil fighters. and no u.s. representative in baja rain which posts the u.s. fleet. u.s. ambassadorial posts sit vacant around the world. the reason? republicans in the senate are intentionally blocking hearings. along with president obama's suggestions for judges, cabineter is tears -- even the secretary of health. it is likely to be a renewed majority in the house, the republicans could have the power to effectively shut down the president's attempts to exercise crucial areas of foreign and domestic policy during his last two years in office. the current iran policy could be cripples. the concept of dialogue and negotiation swept away, if the new leader allows sanctions to be taken on the floor. >> the president made it clear that he opposes additional sanctions. why don't we let congress speak? let congress have a voice. >> reporter: and a r

mike hannah is at capitol hill for us. mike, can you hear me. oh, there you are. good. start with reaction to how things went there, mike. >> reporter: well, sami the office of mitch mcconnell is a few doors behind me here, and walking past it, arriving staff were exchanging high fives and smiles all around. that is a scene being repeated in republican offices throughout the country. some january mitch mcconnell will go into the senate as the house imagine yourty leader. a comfortable majority in the senate and the house of representatives, and importantly too, sweeping the board almost in terms of the governoral races that hand at the same time. dispaying for the democrats too that in that governor's race, the republicans won a number of states that had been held comfortably by president obama during the presidential election in 2012. while president obama himself he is due to hold a news conference in the coming hours to discuss the situation. he is also invited leaders from both parties to come to the white house on friday to discuss the way ahead. but generally demo

mike hannah reports. >> reporter: there's no u.s.assador in sierra leone to report on the fight against ebola. nor in turkey, which is on the front line of the war the u.s. has declared against isil fighters. and no u.s. representation in bahrain, which hosts one of the most powerful projections of u.s. foreign policy. posts are v-- vacant around the world. the reason? republicans are intentional blocking hearings. many arms withering in the face of republican repunation. the log jam could get even worse in the republicans gain control of the senate together with what is likely to be a renewed majority in the house, the republicans could have the hower to effectively shutdown the president's attempts to exercise crucial areas of foreign and domestic policy during his last two years in office. the current iran policy, for example, could be crippled. if a new republican senate majority leader allows a vote on sanctions to be taken. >> the president made clear he opposes additional sanctions. why don't we let congress speak? let congres

mike hannah reports. >> reporter: there's no u.s.dor in sierra leone to report on the fight against ebola. nor in turkey, which is on the front line of the war the u.s. has declared against isil fighters. and no u.s. representation in bahrain which hosts the u.s. fleet. u.s. ambassadorial posts sit vacant around the world. the reason? republicans in the senate are intentionally blocking hearings for more than 60 foreign service nominees, along with president obama's suggestions for other cabinet secretaries and even the surgeon general. the log jam could get even worse if the republicans gain control of the senate. together with what is likely to be a renewed majority in the house, they could have the power to shut down the president's attempts to exercise foreign and domestic policy in his last two years in office. the concept of dialogue and negotiation swept away with iran if the new republican senate takes the floor. >> the president opposes additional sanctions. why don't we let congress speak? let congress have a voice. >> repo

mike hannah explains. [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: the man who's likely to be the new senateity leader, mitch mcconnell celebrates his win in kentucky, won far easier than predicted and one that set the tone for a night of sweeping republican gains in both houses of congress. >> tomorrow the papers will say i won this race. [ cheers and applause ] >> but the truth is -- the truth is, tonight we begin another one, one that's far more important than mine. and that's the race to turn this country around. [ cheers ] [ applause ] >> reporter: a runoff was predicted in the georgia senate race amidst speculation that neither candidate would an achieve an outright win, but what was supposed to be a close race became yet another comfortable republican victory. there will be a runoff in louisiana and at least one democratic senator who will live to fight another day. >> louisiana's worth fighting for. join me. let's get some rest tonight. and hit the campaign trial in the morning. [ cheers and applause ] >> god bless you all. thank you! >> reporter: the republicans increased their majo

. >> mike hannah live for us from capitol hill. thanks for that. >>> now let's bring you breaking news. the police sources in yemen tell al jazeera the airport has been hit by many mortars targeting the military airport, and next to the civilian airport. we'll bring you more on that. as soon as we get it. let's bring in our correspondent who joins us now live from the capitol. what can you tell us about this development? >> well, the rockets fired in the last hour or so, one source tells us there are three mortars to hit the runway of the airport. now the police and other people--the police source that we spoke to the military airport was the target. now the military and the civilian now it appears the military airport was the target. we have conflicts reports there, but this all comes within the increased crisis engulfing this country. and all the developments with incidents like that could freely become common theme here in yemen. >> we see today there has been fighting between houthi elements and sunni tribes. do we understand t

hannah graham disappearance case. today jesse matthew enters a plea in another case. a 2005 sexual assault. >>> good afternoon, i'm deck doc. we begin with the yes, sir -- mike hydeck, we fin with the matthew case. the suspect in the graham's murder appeared in person in a fairfax county courtroom this morning to make a plea in another case, a sexual assault from nine years ago. peggy fox has covered both cases and was? court for the morning's hearing. >> reporter: in court this morning, jesse matthew pleaded not guilty to the three charges against him in the 2005 fairfax attack on a young woman. today we learned that young woman lives in india has a 6- month-old child and is prepared to come back and testify against jesse matthew. for the first time, the suspect in uva student hannah graham's abduction and murder appeared in person in a fairfax county court. he is accused of a brutal attack on a young woman 14 years ago in the city of fairfax. the charges? attempted murder, abduction, and sexual assault. >> mr. matthew prepare today enter a plea to the charged at this time? >> not guilty. >> i'm sorry i couldn't hear that. >> not guilty. >> reporter: common

in the disappearance of uva student hannah graham and has been linked to another missing student morgan harrington. >>> all right, trivia time, montana. democrat mikeecord breaking 16 years, until 1977. congratulations to today's winner david roberts. mitch mcconnell says he wants to run the senate like mike mansfield. we'll see. we'll be right back on "tdr." yor money? uhhh. no, that can't happen. that's the thing, you don't know how long it has to last. everyone has retirement questions. so ameriprise created the exclusive.. confident retirement approach. now you and your ameripise advisor can get the real answers you need. well, knowing gives you confidence. start building your confident retirement today. [ male announcer ] the rhythm of life. [ whistle blowing ] where do you hear that beat? campbell's healthy request soup lets you hear it in your heart. [ basketball bouncing ] heart healthy. [ m'm... ] great taste. [ tapping ] sounds good. campbell's healthy request. m'm! m'm! good.® campbell's healthy request. i lost my sight in afghanistan, but it doesn't hold me back. i go through periods where it's hard to sleep at night, and stay awake dur

mike rogers. exploding air bags. a massive recall includes 8 million cars. now federal authorities want to expand it nationwide. >> and death by homicide. that's the ruling in the case of virginia student hannah t

mike rogers. exploding air bags. a massive recall includes 8 million cars. now federal authorities want to expand it nationwide. >> and death by homicide. that's the ruling in the case of virginia student hannah graham. will the suspect in her abduction now face murder charges? i'm wolf blitzer. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >>> this is cnn breaking news. >> let's get right to the breaking news. as winter weather hammers much of the country the death toll is now six in the buffalo new york area and many people are stranded under terrible conditions as the storm of historic scale buries parts of the region under six feet of snow, and guess what? much more now on the way. residents are urged to stay at home and many couldn't get out even if they wanted to. look at this. as the cnn ireporter sends out an aerial drone over his buried neighborhood and it's not just the buffalo area. half of the country. yes, half of the country now has snow on the ground and there's record breaking cold all over. temperatures in the southeast have fallen into the teens. the buffalo mayor, byron brown is standing by live along with our meteorologist chad mye