host: scott wong, that is her assessment. talk about that and how widespread is that assessment shared with others, members of the conference? guest: so far, it is not super widespread. i did talk to don bacon, a swing district moderate republican from nebraska late last week heading into that final boat for mccarthy - vote for mccarthy. he said he would likely be joining with the rest of the republicans in supporting the rules package. if enough republicans stood up and said we cannot know for this rules package, it would once again be pandemonium in the house of representatives because then, it would infuriate conservatives who cut this deal with mccarthy. we would have more gop infighting. these are just the opening days of the 118th congress. we have not really gotten into the meat of some of these tough issues. one other aspect of this rules package would be, we have to raise the debt ceiling later this summer. we are going to hit that borrowing limit, congress will need to take proactive action to raise that debt ceilin

host: scott wong, that is her assessment.t that and how widespread is that assessment shared with others, members of the conference? guest: so far, it is not super widespread. i did talk to don bacon, a swing district moderate republican from nebraska late last week heading into that final boat for mccarthy - vote for mccarthy. he said he would likely be joining with the rest of the republicans in supporting the rules package. if enough republicans stood up and said we cannot know for this rules package, it would once again be pandemonium in the house of representatives because then, it would infuriate conservatives who cut this deal with mccarthy. we would have more gop infighting. these are just the opening days of the 118th congress. we have not really gotten into the meat of some of these tough issues. one other aspect of this rules package would be, we have to raise the debt ceiling later this summer. we are going to hit that borrowing limit, congress will need to take proactive action to raise that debt ceiling so we do

then, scott wong gives an overview of the speaker election process and the impact on each party's legislative agenda. after that, mark zandi goes over the economic outlook for 2023 and concerns about a possible recession. take part in the conversation, call or send us a text message, facebook comment or tweet. washington journal starts now. ♪ host: this is washington journal for january 9, the house meets today to vote on a package that will establish the framework for legislative work in the 118th congress on the hosi

scott wong of nbc news reporting mccarthy map unclear how the gop reaches 218 today. matt gaetz is hell-bent on taking out mccarthy. "we have zero trust in -- " let's go to eric in albuquerque, new mexico. independent. caller: good morning. i voted libertarian for 24 years. when i see this going on, i think it is kind of funny. when i talk about government say they're not getting anything done, i say that is a good thing, that means they are not spending our money. there are a lot of people who do not want to see this thing. i do not think the world is laughing at us. i've have seen the house of commons in england where they are about to come to blows, their insulting one another. this is nothing compared to that. i do not understand why mccarthy does not realize he'll never convince at least four of those people to vote for him and he should step back. he is not entitled to be speaker just because he raises money or because he kowtow to trump. they should look at someone else, maybe steve scully's. i am not a supporter of -- maybe steve scalise. i am not a supporter

scott wong of nbc news reporting mccarthy map unclear how the gop reaches 218 today. matt gaetz is hell-bent on taking out mccarthy. "we have zero trust in -- " let's go to eric in albuquerque, new mexico. independent. caller: good morning. i voted libertarian for 24 years. when i see this going on, i think it is kind of funny. when i talk about government say they're not getting anything done, i say that is a good thing, that means they are not spending our money. there are a lot of people who do not want to see this thing. i do not think the world is laughing at us. i've have seen the house of commons in england where they are about to come to blows, their insulting one another. this is nothing compared to that. i do not understand why mccarthy does not realize he'll never convince at least four of those people to vote for him and he should step back. he is not entitled to be speaker just because he raises money or because he kowtow to trump. they should look at someone else, maybe steve scully's. i am not a supporter of -- maybe steve scalise. i am not a supporter