but we see now donald trump, that is working with a senate majority of senate majority that has, that has snapped together to fall into line that to carry out his policies as well as the house of representatives which is also controlled by the republican party. so i think that for at least the next 2 years, we're going to see of vastly different american foreign policy created in the mold of donald trump. and i think that the white house is going to try to get as much done as it can, especially in places like ukraine, before the democrats could make it rosary. perhaps perhaps the control of some of the, the oversight committees on capital hill. so buckle your seat belts for the next 2 years, we're going to see a lot of changes. but of course you've got the opposition that we're seeing with the democrats saying that this is a, this is a travesty. they're coming out. it's hard to know as well, for instance, where the likes of, of the moderate republicans are going to full on this the mike johnson's, for instance. so, you know, the, the career is some on people who are their livelihoods

of senator mitch mcconnell. we'll start with what the senator had to say in 2010 about the role of the senate. then senator mitch mcconnell from 2016, about the job of majority leader. the senate works at its best when it's unlimited debate and no rules are germane. i know that's hard for people to understand, but in the united states senate, if a bill is called up, you're going to offer any kind of amendment on any subject to that bill. and it has unlimited debate unless those senators want to end the debate. so we are free flowing and slow moving legislative body. in fact, washington was it was reported to have been i ask as he presided over the constitution convention, what do you think the senate is going to be like? and i'm told that washington replied, it's going to be like the saucer under the teacup. the tea is going to slosh out of the cup, down to the saucer and cool off. in other words, it was sort of going to be the the brakes of the american legislator process. the house they anticipated would be a place of great passion and quick reaction and that's the way it's remained for all these years. the house can do things very quickly. typically does

of what's yours. maria: welcome back. i am back with senate majority whip, senator john barrasso. iffs because we are expecting canada and mexico to retaliate dollar for dollar. are you with worried that this tariff plan of president trump is going to undermine the other policies that are very positive out of this administration? >> no, i don't, maria, because the president has such a pro-growth group of policies in terms of cutting government spending and government waste and the bureaucratic, bloat that we have in our federal government in terms of keeping taxes low, in terms of also getting rid of regulations, unleashing american energy. all of these things are pro-growth, going to help the economy, so i'm not concerned with the tariff component. look, in wyoming, i'm in wyoming now, our number one trading partner is canada, so people are clearly looking at that. we're keeping a close eye on it. maria: exactly. so do you expect that they're going to retaliate tomorrow? >> well, i would expect so, but the president has that every right to hold others accountable who do not treat

senate we are quite familiar with, which is filibuster. i took the chairman's prerogative to ask the senate majority leader if he could fill three minutes with words of wisdom, so i recognize senator thune to say whatever the hell he wants. senator thune: thank you, mr. chairman. i certainly cannot fill three minutes with words of wisdom, but i can certainly fill them with words. let me just say, congratulations, mr. let nick. welcome. we are excited to have you nominated for this important position. your powerful and compelling life story truly is an example of the american success story in someone who has been able to live and pursue and experience the american dream in the midst of a lot of adversity along the way. thank you for being here to share your skill and experience in a job that requires a lot of that. i expect you will touch on this today. one of the issues we work a lot on his spectrum. obviously, we need more spectrum, licensed and unlicensed. you will oversee the national tell -- national telecommunications administration, and i look forward to working with you to ensure that the federal government is using spectrum efficiently in a way that addresses the needs we

of the regulation. the house then follows its usual course and can pass a cra resolution by majority vote and the senate has some special procedures. how many of you are senate staffers? ok and how many are house staffers? thank you for walking over here. the house staffers, this is less relevant but it is helpful to understand these fast-track procedures. i will put a plug-in for understanding the senate procedures during reconciliation. that's another topic coming up soon and the senate has a lot of special procedures. back to the cra. once the cra resolution is sent to a committee, if the committee does not report that resolution, 30 senators can band together to discharge the resolution from a committee. if you happen to see a cra resolution sitting around committee and thinking this isn't moving fast enough and my boss wants to get this discharged, then work to get 29 of your colleagues together to write a letter to get it discharged. then it will go to the floor and the cra resolution is privileged, meaning that the senate cannot proceed to other business, the vote cannot be postponed. they are going to be considering that cra resolution. debate on cra

senate republicans rfk. as you mentioned there. senate majority leaderjohn now, it might get voted down on the floor. get through. in charge of his financial ties. elizabeth warren. what happens when he leaves the post. not convinced by him. i should mention there are a few wild cards. potentially, if it does go well, it will go to the floor. yes to him, i doubt it. as i said before, because its advanced now to the floor, across the line. local media is reporting several fatalities, but this in the city of 0rebro. they are urging people to stay away from the area. officers say the suspected perpetrator is a man, police have also not confirmed if anyone was killed, let's start with the latest are hearing about casualty are hearing about'casualty f are hearing about'r -l ~ numbers. i am monitoring swedish — numbers. i am monitoring swedish - and - numbers. i am monitoring swedish - and at - numbers. i am monitoringl swedish - and at least swedish media and at least big trustworthy swedish three big trustworthy swedish including the broadcaster and 7 �* say there are several and 7 7 7 7 and they and they are fatalities and they

senator from wyoming and the majority whip in the senate john barrasso about the impact of the tariffs yesterday, use what they said. >> president trump has done this once and it worked and will do it again president trump has thought this through we saw with the usmca for president trump's first term which was a huge success replacing nafta and there is a moment where it feels like friction and uncertainty but president trump leadership in the strength the power of the american economy. he is not going into the spying he wanted once and of do it again this time to are you worried this will undermine the other policies that are positive out of this demonstration. as a pro-growth group of policies and cutting government spending and government waste in the blood that we have at our federal government right now all of these are programmed to get a healthy economy. >> are you going to expected to retaliate tomorrow they do not tweet us fairly, properly. >> the senator from wyoming has a huge impact because of the energy coming from canada which is a lower tariff than the 25% that is ten, the carveouts of the wall street journal as reported on on friday that is a piece of that, maybe there's more but something else that the journal points out i'm going to steal their line how will the north american trade war last how long does this last depends on how trump constituents feel the pain, that is one side of this but the other side particularly with candida, justin trudeau is on his way out in the incoming conservative party leader is likely going to be the new prime minister canada in march he is releasing these unjust and unjustified i went dollar for dollar retaliation is candida going to back down it depends what the offer is from the trump administration, my other question about tiktok with a 10% share of sitting china what does this mean for the tiktok negotiation. maria: were just getting started we have a lot coming up a quick break chinese a.i

senate finance committee any minute. kennedy will need a majority of votes to advance out of committee for consideration before the full senate. >> dana: the afternoon tulsi gabbard is up for her vote. president trump sounding positive about her chances. >> have you called senators who have concerns about tulsi gabbard. >> president trump: i've gotten a great response. they want to do what's right and we've had a good response. i think we'll do well. >> dana: senior congressional correspondent chad pergram has more for us on capitol hill. >> good morning. tulsi gabbard and rfk, jr. are the most controversial nominees of all. everyone is looking to see what bill cassidy of louisiana will be on kennedyment former senate mine -- >> vaccines are critically important to health. to living normal lives. i expect to support most of what this administration is trying to accomplish so what happened in the past is irrelevant to me. >> mcconnell is not a member of the finance committee but cassidy is. committee breakdown is 14-13 favoring the g.o.p. a tie could block the nomination. but there are ways to send a nomination to the floor without a favorable recommendation. on the intelligence committee susan collins will now support gabbard. she worried about her support for s

of worms. joining me now, democratic virginia senator tim kaine, who serves on the budget and foreign relations committees, a senator. bipartisan majorities have supported foreign aid. it's half of 1% of the federal budget. usually, no matter whether it's a democratic president or a republican president. in my experience, congress adds to it. and on top of which, i'm told that 95% of the usaid budget is earmarked. we've gotten rid of earmarks on a lot of domestic programs, but not on foreign aid. so this is these are items, whether it's health or food or energy, that are specifically put in by members of congress from both parties. >> andrea, you're right, usaid and more broadly, our foreign assistance budget, it's a small. >> part of the foreign. >> assistance budget. >> let me quote somebody. >> who actually knows something about the u.s. government, unlike elon. >> musk, general. >> jim mattis, when he was. >> before us to. >> be confirmed as. >> donald trump's. >> first secretary. >> of defense, and. >> he was asked. >> about the foreign assistance budget. >> he said, if you cut that. >> you're going to have to give me more money for.

of president trump? >> what you have seen from senate republicans and senate majority thune in the past two weeks is thatsident trump's nominees. i do not believe that that we're going to face any issue there. i do believe that they're going to get confirmed, so i'm not worried about that. griff: brad, we're tight on time because there was so much breaking news today, but if you had to pick one or more than one, do you see trouble for any of these the -- >> yeah. i think tulsi gabbard's the one many trouble, the difference being she doesn't have a social media following or personality the way the other two do. rfk jr. has an incredible from file, so does kash patel. he doesn't -- griff: but he was a democrat congresswoman. >> exactly. she doesn't have the kind of base support that the other two have. so i think she's in the weaker position, and i think her answers on ed snowden were terrible and disqualifying for a lot of republicans. are. griff: great insight, as always. thanks for joining us today. all right. meanwhile, multiple top officials at the fbi have been orders to retire, resign -- orders to r

i'd like to take a moment to welcome the newest members of the committee on the majority, senator curtis and justice and senator houston. congratulations. on the minority, senator schiff from california. i look forward to working with all of you. senator schiff, i extend my sympathies to you and the people of california. it is devastating to see the horrific damage caused by recent fires in your state. we stand with you in these challenging times. unfortunately, climate disasters like those in california and that damage that was caused by just hurricane milton and hurricane helene in a three-week period in october of last year, those three storms caused $500 billion worth of damage, much of it to small businesses. a i mean, that's more than half the defense budget of the united states, damage caused by three storms in a very small periods of time. not counting all the other damage it caused. it will only get worse and more expensive unless we invest in long-term solutions to keep communities safe. we need to provide resources for small businesses in places such as california, and the southeastern states to reco

of president trump's most embattled cabinet nominees cleared major procedural hurdles today on their paths to confirmation. geoff: the senate finance committee voted along party lines to send to the full senatef. kennedy jr.'s nomination to lead the department of health and human services. and the senate intelligence committee advanced former congresswoman tulsi gabbard's nomination to serve as director of national intelligence. our congressional correspondent lisa desjardins is following the cabinet confirmation process and joins us now. lisa, let's start with hhs first, since it is one of the largest federal agencies. what is the committee's vote mean? lisa: unless something changes, rfk junior will become the next hhs secretary. there are enough votes on the floor for him. he is a 71-year-old, of course, who does not have a history or expertise in health care. he spent years researching and writing about health care. he does deserve credit for changing the conversation about processed foods, and that is what we heard during his senate confirmation hearing, but at the same time, there are open doubts about his views and passed statements about vaccines, studies have shown there is no link

request for a committee to meet during taied's session of the senate -- during today's session of the senate. it has the approval of both the majorityand the minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. hoeven: thank you, madam the done, a tragedy and a shame it wasn't on during the last administration. the administrator and the long-term economic development we know people lost a lot and happened a couple of years ago the only on the environmental side but hopefully build back better and stronger and more prosperous before this happened in the first place. it won't happen overnight but i want the people to know president trump the entire administration are committed to ensuring the people east palestinian community and government does right by them and will on working on the months and years to come so before i take a few questions, i want to invite our new epa administrator,. >> middle of last week and as soon as i was sworn in, i instantly heard from the vice president saying your first order of business, we are going to. as someone watching this disaster strike years ago, somebody watching from out of state, i saw th

major hurdle in the senate. what we're now hearing from the republican senator and physician. >> who. >> ultimately voted yes after a lot of skepticism, and a conservative author fired. >> years. >> ago by the trump administration for attending a conference with white nationalists. was just hired back, this time for a top job at the state department. his past comments and. history of spouting january 6th conspiracy theories. a lot to get to today. but we start with senate democrats sounding the alarm on the world's richest man, elon musk. and calling on republicans to help stop what they see as a one man power grab that's reshaping government by the day. musk is now using his position as a special government employee to aggressively overhaul multiple federal agencies, challenging. >> congress and. >> the limits of his own authority in the process. the new york times describes musk as a singular force waging, quote, a largely unchecked war against the federal bureaucracy, one that has already had far reaching consequences. in just the past few days, musk and his team have gained access to the u.s. treasury's federal payment

of a trade war as a pathway to fighting fentanyl. >> that's right. it was striking to hear senate former senate majorityeone who's had a long, long history leading republicans. but let's remember, this is no longer really the republican party of mitch mcconnell anymore. this is a republican party where mitch mcconnell has wanted to be the only republican, or one of three republican senators who went out on a limb just to vote against pete hegseth, but that that nomination still went through. so it tells you a little bit about, yes, mitch mcconnell still has a voice. he's still someone who, of course, has a legacy within the republican party, arguably would say the supreme court couldn't have been the six three majority without mitch mcconnell. but there is a sense that mitch mcconnell, the trump white house, and trump himself is listening really to what mitch mcconnell says. but i think chuck grassley, one of the senators asking for an exemption for his state. it to me, it was an insight into the fact that republicans were really, really worried that their constituents were going to wake up and have a l

of trunk nominees senate republicans are trudging through the process to confirm president trump's picks for his cabot and top administration delays by democrats were pushing back on the speedy approval. a senate majorityhn thune filed cloture on john ratcliffe or john ratcliffe was just confirmed not controversy of the cia director. the democrats have said we support a peaceful transition of power we just oppose the transition altogether. so, what are they doing? they're using guerrilla tactics. this is systemic to block almost every one of trumps nominees. except some of the more liberal ones are some they are friendly with like rubio to put them through and say see, we are bipartisan but the majority of them, that's not what is happening. they're not disallowing it up and down votes for the committee have your hearings, you make your decisions because the they are using the powers, the rules of the senate to try in the scuttle from day one the trump presidency. to try to sabotage it. to try to kneecap his ability to manage the government right out-of-the-box. it's crucial first 100 days he be able to do so. soon found cloture on john ratcliffe's nominee nomination for cia director. for homeland secu

of a major institution. >> but lesley, their job is not to seek public approval. it's to follow the law. >> so this is your beloved senate. how do you feel about the senate?ity. >> reporter: at 82 he has slowed down, looks frail. there have been questions about his health ever since he froze capitol over a year ago. he told us the freeze was caused by a concussion that he suffered from a fall. seven months later -- >> this will be my last term as republican leader of the senate. >> reporter: when he was leader, his trademark was inscrutability. >> any comments, leader mcconnell? how do you feel today went? >> i'm not going to answer questions about when. >> reporter: he earned the nickname darth vader. >> i'm suggesting that i'm not going to answer your question. >> i want to control the message if i can. >> are you doing that right now? >> yeah. >> reporter: mcconnell's has been a long and improbable journey. born in 1942 in rural alabama, he was stricken with polio at age 2. his mother drove him to warm springs, georgia to the polio facility established by franklin roosevelt. the treatment -- he wasn't allowed to walk for two years. >> i was lucky to ha

senate we are quite familiar with witches filibuster. and i took the chairman's prerogative to ask the senate majority leader if he could fill three minutes with words of wisdom so i recognize senator thune to say whatever he wants. sen. thune: i certainly can fill three minutes with words of wisdom but i can fill it with words. let me just say congratulations mr. love nick -- mr. lutnick, we are excited to have you nominated in this position. as the chairman shared your very powerful and compelling life story and it is an example of the american success story and someone who's been able to experience the american dream in the midst of a lot of adversity along the way. your skill and experience in the job -- in a job that requires a lot of that. one of the issues that we work a lot on is spectrum. we need more spectrum license. you will receive a national tell of commune patient information taking part of our commerce that manage the governments and i look forward to working with you to ensure the federal government is using spectrum efficiently in a way that addresses the needs we have for more commercial use in both licensing and license technologies, i expect you to address the

we'll be watching, of course, his comments on the senate floor later this hour to see if he shed any light on that. but phil, the senate majority leader, john thune, wants to move on this nomination by early next week, which means he'll get the job unless four republicans break ranks and stop this nomination on the senate floor. phil. >> yeah, a huge step forward. we'll wait about 36 minutes to hear if cassidy outlines the serious commitments he posted on x that he received. manu raju great reporting as always, my friend. thanks so much. now to an in-depth look at the federal government under president trump, rapidly changing almost every day right before our eyes or oftentimes behind the scenes, we hear about it later. it's only been two weeks at the center of it all. the billionaire special government employee elon musk. now cnn is learning more about his extensive expansive reach and those who are helping him complete his mission. a group of inexperienced college age engineers. now, here's a look at what musk and his allies have done over the past several days. they have gained full access to the treasury's payment systems,

senate intelligence committee will hold its closed door vote on tulsi gabbard's nomination for director of national intelligence. just this morning, she got a major boost when republican senator todd young, who initially appeared skeptical, said he will support her. i want to bring in nbc's capitol hill correspondent sahil kapur, as well as former congresswoman donna edwards and msnbc political analyst sahil. we've been watching senators the closed door hearing. do we have a good idea of gabbard chances, and will we ever know who voted for and who voted against? >> first. >> chris. >> yes, we do. expect the senate intelligence. committee is meeting right around now behind closed. >> doors to. >> vote on the nomination of tulsi gabbard for dni. we do expect her to be reported out. >> of committee favorably. >> the reason. >> is. >> there are. nine republicans. >> on this committee. >> eight democrats. we don't know if. >> any republican. >> who is voting no on tulsi gabbard. and a few of. >> the republicans that we. >> were watching closely as. >> potential swing votes have. >> officially come out. >> as a yes for her. >> that includes senator. >> susan collins of maine, announced. >> yesterday she's voting yes on tulsi. gabbard just today, senator. >> todd young of indiana. >> another vote we were watching came out for tulsi gabbard. let's show. >> his statement on the screen. he says, quote, i've done what the framer

of being confirmed by this critical vote to advance this to the senate floor. so what happens next? we expect a vote, dana, early next week, the senate majority leader, john thune, plans to bring this up early next week. that means he needs to keep republicans in line. we expect all democrats to vote against rfk jr., meaning he can only lose three republican votes at most on the senate floor. what will lisa murkowski do? what will susan collins do to perennial swing votes? what will mitch mcconnell do? a childhood survivor of polio? someone who supports vaccines as well? but are there four republicans who could vote against him right now? it doesn't seem that way. but still, several republicans keeping their cards close to their vest. as we head into this critical vote next week. dana. >> and we cannot overstate how much what we just heard from senator cassidy will give those those three republicans, if they are looking for it, political cover to vote for, for rfk jr., because they can say, i mean, you can see the statements being written now. i had my doubts. but doctor cassidy says that he's going to be kind of in charge of this and make su

introduce the majority of witnesses, and then i want to announce that approximately seven or eight minutes until 11:00 i'm going to leave the committee meeting to open the senate and senator cornyn will act as chairman while i'm gone. our first witness is a u.s. marine corps veteran, president of an organization victims of illicit drugs and that goes by the acronym void for short, an organization he founded after he lost his six-year-old son to fentanyl. they are a nonprofit dedicated to educating parents and children about the dangers of drug use on social media platforms. i think i speak for everyone on this committee when i say we are deeply sorry for the loss of your son. next, mr. tom -- is a driving force behind today's class scheduling policy and has fought against the drug epidemic for 30 years. he's a full-time emergency room physician and a part-time medical regulator in wisconsin. he also provides medical direction for a statewide peer to peer drug recovery program. he was formerly a member of wisconsin's own substance board. finally, sheriff, sheriff corner of orange county california. he leads around 44,000 employees, operates one of the nation's largest coun

kennedy, he cannot afford to lose any of the republicans but eeee anyef thefieeeetieane et-et if he did, the senate even if he did, the senate leader could put it to majorityor vote. it would be some 77— 7 to get over. procedures to get over. in terms of republicans to ; out for because watch out for because ultimately that is mr the republicans. phil qeeee republicans. phil is to keep an cassidy is the one to keep an eye on. he is a farmer, a doctor, and he has expressed fi'ktm ene' he ree’eeefeeeee ”’ ""”"” mr concerns about mr kennedy's 7 on concerns about mr kennedy's , on vaccines. a lot of the —= theories mr kennedy pushed. mr kennedy during hearing e hearing said e hearing said he e hearing said he was; 6 hearing said he wasznot e the hearing eaie he wae net "as”, www, 'ust the hearing saie he was net ~ , ~ . just had lots of = th; democrats are concerned about the however are'eoncerned'ebout the he has made. they are comments he has made. they are also worried his also worried about his financial ties to vaccine companies. mr kennedy has made of money through suing lots of money through suing remember mr if does net the does get thejob in does get t