intentionally done with the policy changes the biden administration put in. so we re focused as republicans on getting that fixed. and if democrats think it s more important to have an open border than to fund the government, that s their problem. maria: so you re willing to take this to the mat and allow the government show tut down to shut down unless he has some new border legislation? i think we have to, because think that s what the american demand. 8 out of 10 americans know this is a crisis on or our southern border, so we ve got to deal with that. that s, again, why speaker johnson took the largest delegation ever to the border past week. we saw firsthand how serious it was, and we ve heard from everyone, sheriffs, border patrol agents about how bad this problem is, and they want us go to the mat to solve this now. instead of continuing on this pace that ll get us to, as i said, 12 million illegal migrants coming into the if country, being released into the country under th
maria: and a very warm, happy new year the all. we begin this first sunday morning of the new year kicking off a critical month of january in washington and the start of primary season in this election year. congress returns to work tomorrow morning facing two government funding deadlines to pass a budget for the fiscal year or face a government shutdown within two weeks time. republicans are pushing for a stand-alone bill to secure the southern border while democrats want to attach aid to ukraine as one of the conditions for any new border legislation are as the u.s. national debt surpasses $34 trillion with interest on that debt alone at nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars. or meanwhile, a world way taiwan will hold its presidential election next weekend, on january 13th, amidst the start of the u.s. election season as well. now eight days away from the iowa caucuses happening on january 15 isth. will the chinese communist party interfere in these elections? former presiden
meanwhile, house speaker mike johnson and more than 60 lawmakers travel to eagle pass texas wednesday. they watched as a group of m migrants crossed over the river. december was the highest surge in crossings since 2000. johnson wants support for his version of border legislation and continued to criticize president biden on cnn s jake tapper. we can seal the border overnight. the president has the existing authority under existing federal law to do this. he refuses to do it. what we have seen here is mayhem. back with us is our panel. can you just give us an idea of this data on border crossings, like how high is it? i think it s important to remember and i always remind people border numbers are going to fluctuate. december tends to be really low because of the weather, because of the holidays.
johnson and i m expecting at least 60 of my republican colleagues in a two-day border trip which starts today in san antonio where we will hear from border patrol s number two in charge and give us kind of an update on what s happening in the del rio sector and also along the border. tomorrow we go to eagle pass, meet with sheriffs, meet with judges, meet with ranchers, commissioners, kind of on the ground folks seeing it every day. mayors as well will visit a couple of border patrol facilities, meet with dps. the goal is for house republicans to be focused on solutions for the border as we get into the 24 year and we start to get tackle some of these legislative priorities. house republicans have and have passed their border legislation. you need 60 votes in the united states senate where democrats control the majority.
facility in florida housing unaccompanied minors. a person familiar with the matter tells nbc news the 17-year-old, angel eduardo maradiaga from honduras received a clean bill of health but was hospitalized two days ago this, as cities, across the country are running out of space to house migrants. meanwhile, with just two weeks to go before a possible default, politico is reporting that some house republicans are now signaling they want to include border legislation in their list of demands for a debt ceiling deal. and with time running out, today s big scheduled meeting between president biden and the big four congressional leaders which pushed back to next week. what did lawmakers do? well, they went home for the weekend without a deal. with that, let s get smart with the help of our lead off panel, and it s a great one tonight. my friend jonathan allen, senior national politics reporter for nbc news, and he s