Democrats. Republicans. 1 for and 202 7488002 for independents. A five hour program. We will take you to the opening session on both the house and senate sides, but today on the house side a lot to watch out for and here to walk us through it is john mcardle. Morning, john. Caller from capitoladline hill newspaper says the house prepares for an opening day unlike any other and certainly a lot of changes will happening from the usual procedures cspan viewers are used to watching. You talk about the ceremony and procedures they look fairly normal. There is the call to order, an opening prayer and the pledge of is saidce, that prayer to be led by a methodist pastor. Did they house champlin is retiring at the end of the 116th congress. The quorum call is the next thing to take place and to walk us through that, a few tweets from chad program. Is the first it order of business. Underscore under normal certain under normal circumstances, the members would record their attendance, but under Covid Protocols they will summon members in groups. He goes on to note the seventh and final group stretches from joe wilson through lees eldon. Members have been ordered to report to the chamber, record their presence then depart. It will take until 2 00 p. M. For coram to be called. After that takes place the next order of business is the election of the speaker of the house, also a very different procedure. The nomination will be made by the Republican Caucus. Be kevinions will mccarthy and nancy pelosi. Groups of 72 members each come into record their votes for speaker. The speaker will have to receive the majority of the votes. The process is expected to take somewhere between three to four hours or longer if a speaker elect is not actually elected during that process. We are expecting that to be 5 30. Ted sometime around there will be the swearing in of the new speaker done by the longest to serving member of the house that is don young of alaska. The oath of office will be administered to members by the speaker of the house then that is it today for business in the house. Usually on an opening day the rules package for the new house would be approved. It that will be postponed until tomorrow to try to limit the number of people in the House Chamber at one time. This is what we are expecting 211house to look like , blicans, two vacancies then of course the vacancy in louisianas the district following the death of luke let letlow. Uke as rollcall pointed out, and the opening day unlike any other. Here is only freshman members elect have been given guest tickets today, one each for the house gallery because of the limited number of space there. Times, thepandemic gallery would be filled with children and other family members seeking to see their loved ones get sworn in. That will not happen today. Cspan. Llow along on you can watch on cspan two. You can also stay close at our website. If you want to listen along you can download the free radio app. Here is your chance to give us a call. 202 7488000 for democrats. For republicans. Of facebookas off commenting about Speaker Pelosi, adding thank god nancy pelosi will continue west speaker leading a democratic majority in the house. Sayingow from facebook what a sad day for america, having to deal with fraud. Lines are open for you as well. California, democrats line starts us off on this opening day expected to happen in many hours. Caller thank you for taking my call and i am concerned about a writer that was on the coronaviruss stimulus money week voted on by mr. Mcconnell. Of course he had this writer on their. You may be able to help me with this. Host we are focusing on the start of the 107, what are you expect and on this day and going ahead from here. Caller i would like to see line item vetoes. The 117th. What are you expecting on this day and going ahead from here . Caller i would like to see line item vetoes. Host ok. We go to joe. Of mine, great friend Marjorie Taylor greene has been elected from the 14th the district of georgia. I think she will be a future president. To is leading the revolting save the election for President Trump and i think she will be successful along with a lot of ted cruz has joined the battle but i want to say i think Audrey Greene is going to be one of the greatest elected leaders in history. Host what do you think her presence in congress will do overall as far as the 117th is concerned . Caller i think she will become the most powerful woman in congress. We call her here in georgia a female trump. A combination of trump and margaret thatcher. She will have a huge impact on congress. She is one of the people leading the objection to the Electoral College. She is one of the stars and she will be out there leading the charge on wednesday. Host do you think that effort her sort hinders the Congress Going forward. Caller i think it helps it. I predict Marjorie Taylor greene will become one of the most popular members. Host but as far as the work of the congress overall, do you think that work helps or hinders . Caller helps. Host aside from her personally, overall do you think it will help congress do what it has to do as far as passing legislation and the like . Caller i think it helps. I think she will help move it forward. She will be a superstar for the conservative cause. David ingo to milwaukee, wisconsin, republican line. Caller the reason i called is i have been really worried about people looking, the democrats think republicans are dumb. To change the world will make the country less efficient under donald trump. Host ok. Lets go to elmer, new jersey. Caller i did not have much to comment on the congress itself. I told the lady before that i think most folks are not going to get a whole lot done if they keep perpetuating the Election Fraud idea. Host why do you think that is . Caller i do not understand how people can possibly go along with this idea that there was not much Election Fraud. It is beyond ridiculous at this point. Elmer, new in jersey. That was just a handful of calls we will be taking. You can add yours. Many are posting on our facebook page. You can text us at 202 7488003. The is what to look for on senate side with john mcardle. Guest it will also be an unusual day on the senate side. You can watch all the action gaveltogavel on cspan2. We are showing the house gaveltogavel here on cspan. When it comes to the senate here is what will happen senators first always get sworn in. Usually it is groups of four at a time during usual opening day. It is being done to at a time this year out of an abundance of caution into trying to limit the number of people in the senate chamber. After that the Senate Establishes its own courtroom. There are procedures, leadership remarks and they will elect a new Senate Officers if needed. After that the floor opens for general speeches for several hours. Less of the pump in that circumstance then what happens on the house side on an opening day of congress. When all they said and done, here is what the Senate Makeup will look like. We are expecting a number of republicans 50 i apologize, the number of 46 democrats in the senate, to who caucus with the two who caucus with the democrats. Right now david perdue, his term began in 2014 and that the 116th congress. He is in that runoff in georgia. There is also that special election taking place in georgia. Senator candidly Kelly Leffler appointed to that. Her term runs until that special election takes place in georgia for the remainder of the term for johnny isakson. Leffler running against warnock in that dish Kelly Leffler running against Raphael Warnock Kelly Leffler running against Raphael Warnock in that election. Whatis a key race to watch will eventually happen with therol at the outset of hundred 17th congress. There is plenty going on in the race for georgia. Kamala harris and the Vice President Kamala Harris is holding a rally at 5 00 p. M. In savannah, georgia. We are airing that on cspan2. You can listen to it free on the cspan radio app and also tomorrow we are expecting several rallies. President trump is expected to be in georgia tomorrow and Vice President elect joe biden is expected to be campaigning in georgia tomorrow, so a lot going on in the peach state here at the outset of the 117th congress. Host lets hear from bakers bill. Bill bakersville. Caller i am confused by continual claims of voter fraud. Georgia,did not win that means all the republicans on the same outlet, they are Election Results should also be drawn into question, so i need someone to explain to me some of these republican congressmen who will be contesting the election fifth. This coming i am confused how they can say that joe biden on the top of the ticket did not win but they themselves on the identical wonket as a republican because there was a lot of that going on. The next time someone calls claiming voter fraud, if you can ask them that because i have not heard an individual able to explain how there could be of voter fraud on the top of the ticket your if that is a case on mind, what do you think of that impact on the 117th congress and how it does its business doing forward Going Forward . Caller terrified. You just had a caller say Marjorie Taylor greene, a qanon subscriber qanon believes the government is it secretly controlled by democratic pedophilia cannibals. These lunatics have taken over the Republican Party. Host how do you feel about the 117th congress . Caller you will have Kevin Mccarthy out there espousing russian propaganda points and still being a trump sycophant even after the guy leaves office. Host that is jim, bakersville, california. Those calls on the phone lines alternating those hours up until the Congress Starts its business at noon. We will talk with people about what to expect today and some of the details and nuances Going Forward. Scott joins us. Thanks for joining us on this day. Good host morning. Guest good morning. Host we heard about Speaker Pelosi. What does it take for her to secure another term as House Speaker . Guest she was not expected to be in such a tight situation in terms of the majority margin. Are looking hundred 20 looking at 220 votes. She had looked to grow that majority. 13 democraticlost seats, which was a tremendous blow not only to her cap is, but to her ability to manage tremendous blow to her ability to manage she has tight margins to maneuver, no room for error. Is two years ago she had 15 democrats vote against her for speaker or vote for somebody else. She will not be able to afford 15 infections this time. Already we are hearing from a handful of moderate democrats , whoding Elissa Slotkin say they will not vote for her but will that is not leave much room for her for anyone else to defect. They also hearing from progressive insurgents in new york and cori bush in missouri. They have not committed to voting for Speaker Pelosi either. The other big thing to watch is of course the coronavirus. Lotough pelosi is exuding a of confidence about this vote today, what she has privately told mcgrath on a Conference Call recently is covid is her opponent. She is running for speaker challenged, but she has pointed to covid is a real hindrance for her because of the possibility for absences that covid could cause. She has tested positive in recent days and will miss the vote. What she fears what other democrats fear is the is a covid outbreak strikes the house and sidelines a number of House Democrats who would then miss the vote and that would put likelyccarthy in a very situation, but a spot to win this leadership if that should. Host is there a contingency plan is far as the boat itself . The vote itself . Guest what would practically happen if she was on able to unable to secure the simple majority of all the voting members today, what would happen is if nobody was able to secure the 218, it would go to add additional rounds of voting. Additional rounds additional rounds of voting. That is when they check with members and hold the first vote a the congress, which is quorum call, a simple attendance check. We will have a good idea of which lawmakers are here in washington today and which ones may be missing these votes for personal or health reasons. Host lets assume she wins. What does that mean for leadership style Going Forward considering the trends you are talking about and the close numbers in both parties . Is goingeaker pelosi to be in a very unique situation here and the democrats in general. They will have a democratic president in joe biden. They will see that as a huge plus. He will control the agenda and the pulpit. On the other hand she will be ofstling with a number different factions as she did in 116thst congress in the congress. She has progressives agitating for change like alexandria ocasiocortez who has called for new leadership she has called for pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the senate to step aside and clear the way for a new, Younger Generation of leaders. Likely willaid this be her last term as speaker of the house into likely in the congress itself after two decades of staying in power in the Democratic Party. Nancy pelosi will also be contending with a very fragile majority. If just a handful of seats flip, control in the midterms in a few years the republicans will take back power of the house. Nancy pelosi, one of her top protectes is also to these vulnerable members of congress, just a handful who represent districts who favored donald trump the president ial election. She will be juggling a lot of thiss as she contends with new, very diverse congress. Are we expecting from Kevin Mccarthy once the 117th is seated . For tim mccarthy and the minority, they will be focused on messaging. They feel like they had a winning formula in the 2020 election. It was a surprise to many of us in washington that the republicans fared so well. They did not retain the white house of course but they did well in the house, picking up as 13 seats,ore at least if not more. Mccarthy will be sticking to that same game plan. What worked for them this time around was painting democrats as overregulated and too focused on socialism, too much focus on defunding the police. These are messages they felt resonated with the electorate and you are going to hear a lot ine about the same themes the next two years as they feel they are right on the cusp of retaking the house of representatives. Host scott joining us at the start of this five hour program today. Mr. Wong, thank you for your time. From david. David is on our independent line from middletown, new jersey. David, you are on. Caller good, cspan. The best channel on Television Good morning, pedro. 97 at the end of this month. I am a world war ii veteran, and i have never seen our great country so polarized as it is today. Know,eration, as you pedro, is called the greatest generation. Three words described the greatest generation. The first three words to the preamble of the constitution we, the people. The is what makes us greatest nation in the world. Unfortunately, today, we do not have we the people. It is polarized. Everyone is doing what is best for themselves for the special economy. And for the who is representing we the people . We have to get people elected who have only one priority that will do Everything Possible for the man on the street, we the people. From our republican line, pennsylvania, this is chris. You are up. Hi. Caller i name is chris. I am from pennsylvania and i am frustrated with the idea of the 117th congress because no one subject ofed to the gerrymandering, the subjects of all the lobbies into money in our election. Structures of a republic that we hold dear and i hold dear is a veteran and my Republican Party are zealots for unfortunately looking at that war party, it is dividing more than ever and there is a possibility the Republican Party could split. You cannot get themselves into a right mind. I do not see how those issues they are going to pull them apart. They will take advantage of my parties and aptitude to get a message up to the base of republicans who still are. Host democrats line, athens, texas. This is oscar. I was saying, we dont need anybody else in the white house like trump. We need somebody that is for the themselves. Just for host host today, we are talking about congress as this new Congress Gets in. What do you think about the work of Congress Going forward . Ler nancy pelosi host ok, oscar in texas. Guest there is going to be 59 freshman house members sworn in over the course of what is expected to be a very long day on house floor. Tweets from a few as the dayeshmen, gets underway. From the new congressman from hawaii, saying he could not sleep last night because he was so excited. Saying thank you to everyone who made this day possible. One of the tweets from one of those freshman members. A democrat inom new york, saying melissa and i anden route to washington the official beginning of my new job. When it comes to congresswoman lowenberg Lauren Bogert of colorado. What is on her mind is this idea of Election Integrity by republicans who challenge some of the Electoral College results later this week on the house floor. This is what she wrote this morning. If you dont know where your representative stands on Election Integrity, call their office, tweet them, email them. They are your representatives, they are supposed to represent your interests. Let them know what you want. Ebertessman lauren bo this morning. She is one of 27 freshman women, just nine of those are democrats, 18 of them are republicans. When it comes to women in congress, they will be 26 in the 117 women in the house. 89 of them, democrats. 28 of them, republicans. Serving,f 143 women the most ever at one time. The previous record was set in the last congress at 127 women serving in the 116th congress. One other metric of the 117th congress, military service by members of congress. There were 91 veterans in the 117th congress. That is the lowest number since world war ii. There will be 63 republicans and 28 democrats. 13 served in the 1960s or earlier. That contrasts with the 50 who will have served after 2000. Those numbers, courtesy of military times. Their story on it also noting that the state delegation with the most veterans, texas with nine veterans serving in the 117th congress. One more tweet from another member of congress to show you early this morning, this one not a freshman but a veteran member. Steve womack, the republican saying that later today, the 117th congress will be sworn in. I headed to the capital early to prepare, when the elevator stalled on the way up to my office. Luckily i wasnt stuck for long thanks to the terrific u. S. Capitol police team. They quickly responded and saved the day. Stable steve womack able to get out of that elevator. Host in the days leading up to this day, we taped a number of interviews with those Incoming Freshman to talk about where they came from, their backgrounds, their philosophy. We will show them to you during the course of the morning. You heard john reference the tweet of one. The new york democrat Jamaal Bowman. We talked with him, he talked about his views on education policy, but also talked about what led to his successful primary against eliot engel. [video clip] since no child left behind, we have been administering annual standardized tests, annual highstakes standardized tests through grades in grades three through eight and my critique has been, our goal, our mission in administering these tests was get was to get to a 100 literacy rate. Fact, ther of achievement gap has grown over the last 20 years. Aed to focus a lot more lot less on annual standardized state tests, and more on learning and the teaching that happens in the classroom between teachers and students. We need to focus on curriculum, and we need to focus on the Holistic Development of our kids, so much more investment in counselors and social workers and psychologists and less focus on police in our schools and over testing in our schools. You have children and a wife of your own, can you tell us what your children and education means to them . Sure, i have three kids and a wife. Youngest is 19 and my is six. I am fortunate that i am able to provide a lot of the extracurricular holistics hook extracurricular holistic support to my kids when they are not in school, making sure my son because bates in soccer or karate or making sure my daughter but dissipates in dance. These are the things that are important to the Overall Development of our kids, so our schools need to be a thing programs where children are not just provided with those academic opportunities, but they are also provided with opportunities in music, and the arts, and the sports, opportunities to learn, not just in the books but with their hands in building and designing and creating things, so those are the opportunities we are going to fight for, for all kids in our country. Your familyabout and career in education, when the decision come to make the shift to congress when did the decision come to make the shift to congress . That may have happened about a year prior to me deciding to run. I made the decision to run for continent to run for congress in the spring of 2019. It was the year prior to that that was probably the most difficult year i had in public education. Ing the 2017 2018 20172018 school year, 28 kids died in the bronx and 17 died by suicide and one of those suicides occurred right across the highway from my school where a ninth grader who was bullied in school went to the top of the building and jumped off right after school. Not too far from that incident in new rochelle, two girls got into an argument during lunch, one pulled out a knife and stabbed the other and killed her. It was at this point in my career when i started to feel pretty numb and powerless, in terms of my mission as an educator and the mission of so many other educators, which is to help children under any circumstances, to become their best selves. I just felt powerless during this year, and it was the following year following year that i was issued my doctorate and i wanted to have a bigger impact, and i thought i had something more to offer, which is why i decided to pursue a run for congress. If you had a very successful primary run, when you ran had a veryyou successful primary run when you ran against eliot engel. Can you talk about that . There was a lot of excitement around our race. We were endorsed by the justice democrats, right from the beginning. We were there first endorsement since york state, alexandria ocasiocortez. We had a lot of attention, hundreds of volunteers. Our goal from the beginning was to grow the electorate. It was to knock on the doors and connect with people who have been most ignored by our bringcal system, and their stories into the conversation in a very real way. We didnt just target the all the time voters, we targeted people who maybe didnt vote consistently in our primaries. We were able to grow a Diverse Coalition of supporters, both very young, both much older. Poor, white, rich and jewish, christian, muslim. We had a Diverse Coalition of supporters, which led to us winning the primary by 16 points. Host again, new york freshman democrat, Jamaal Bowman. We will show you more of these interviews as the morning goes on. From sacramento, california, don, republican. Caller can you hear me . Host i can, go ahead. Caller i will try and keep this brief. The Publican Party in the reagan years the Republican Party in the reagan years. How going back to the past, people can be so oblivious to the past of this nation, where liesre not tolerated were not tolerated out of our politicians. We only need to look back at happens. To see what when obama was elected, mcconnell threw a steak dinner with a bunch of highranking republicans, and their goal before anything was said was that they were going to block democrats that the threw in. Im not coddling the democrats. I think their terminology like defunding the police should be reworded. I dont think the police should be defunded. I think that was a mistake in choice of words. Host with all of that history, what does that mean for this congress coming in . Caller if they are anything like their leader, or as , it isni was called people migrate out of fear. Host lets go to linda in tampa, florida. Democrats line. Caller good morning. A quick truth and word of encouragement to the American People. The republicans will be destroyed. The democrats will take back the senate. President elect biden will become president , and ex President Trump will go to jail along with those who embodied him. Host james is next, in kansas city, missouri. Independent line. Caller good morning. Specifically,on, this morning, the highlight, what i am looking forward to is the opening prayer. He is a longtime resident of kansas city and he is a good guy. That may be the only wisdom we get out of this next congress. I would advise people to listen closely. Host this is from our texting service. Mike in orlando, florida says it will be absolutely on american and unpatriotic. Thought republicans believed in states rights and the constitution. Another viewer on twitter is what im expecting and demanding is that they live on the same planet i do. Our federal debt is now 27 trillion after promises to reduce that. That 158want to deny Million People voted for them in 2020. Mainly responsible for the attack on Small Businesses and putting people out of work. Optimistic, remain im thinking there will be more action from exec at of orders executive orders than from congress. John is joining us with more information about what to expect today. Guest you monitoring the viewer tweets. I am taking a look at congressional media. This is from jake sherman, former politico, now punch bowl news. He had some news just now on democratic attendance in the house. That is important when it comes to the speakers vote. He says alcee hastings, the ailing for the democrat suffering from pancreatic cancer is not going to make it to the speaker vote. Maryland democrat jamie raskin recently lost his son, is going to make it. Democrats believe they will have 221 democratic members present today. He notes that pelosi needs a majority of those present and voting to gain speakership. News about which members will and will not be on the house floor today, very important when it comes to the speakers vote. Isant to note that today sunday and it is very unusual for a congress to be convening on a sunday. Ofe notes on that, courtesy the roll call story about the 2021 117th calendar. January 3 at noon is the date and time set by the constitution for the convening of a new congress. That date can be changed by law and often does, if the day falls on a weekend, especially a sunday. In recent years, it has been the exception rather than the rule for congress to begin on january 3. Ise of the past 13 congress began congresses began on a day other than january the third. Is john with his tweet from late last month, democrats agreed to change the day due to concerns over potential President Trump recess appointments. He went on to tweet House Democrats couldnt get a commitment from the white house that trump wouldnt make recess appointments if they changed the opening day of the 117th to january to january 4 or fifth, so it stayed january 3 and that is an issue that has been on the minds of senator chuck grassley, the republican from iowa, tweeting this last month. The senate has never convened congress on sunday out of respect, not once in 231 years. Senator grassley went to the floor late last month to continue to express his concern about convening a new congress on a sunday. This is senator grassley from december 20. [video clip] remember what senator byrd said when the senate was in session, and he didnt say this because he didnt want to work on sunday, but he wanted everyone to remember the significance of sunday for some people, particularly christians. He always said remember the sabbath, and keep it holy. To refer to another particular sunday. Never in Senate History has the senate convened congress, a new congress on a sunday. The constitution mandates that congress convened at noon on january 3 unless the preceding congress by law designates a different day. 3 has fallenuary on a sunday over the last 238 years and each time, by denna consent, the congress set a new convening day other than that sunday. So now it appears for the first time in history that Senate Democrats dont want to agree to such unanimous consent and instead are insisting that the senate start the 117th congress on sunday. Im not looking to get out of work. I have proven that i have respect for attendance in the senate. But out of respect, the senate usually does not have business on religious holidays observed by members of various faiths. Just like senator byrd, i also think the lords day, particularly when it is paired with the weight of starting the new congress, deserves reverence. Congress session starts at noon today, both in the house and senate side. We will be with you for all five hours up until the point the new Congress Gets seated. Bill in virginia, republican line, hello. Caller i have a simple statement, i wont take a lot of your time. The statement is i want the republicans in the new congress to treat the democrats with exactly the same degree of respect that the democrats have treated us, the republicans, the last four years. Host meaning what . What does that mean . Caller it is a sarcastic statement. Host i understand that. Caller good day. Host what is the thought behind it . Caller i think you get the message. Host lets go to paul in new york, democrats line. Caller i kind of got the jest of what the last call wanted to have happen, and it is a bit of tit for tat that has been going on, but that is for another time. Speaking about today, seeing the last info graphic you guys just presented, kind of confirmed what i already knew, nancy pelosi is in a precarious position and she needs to have thate inside the room, and rule that allows for proxy voting probably does not apply to the speaker vote. Going forward, between both democrats and others, im going to ask im going to say trump followers, not necessarily republicans, because on social media, people have been hyping up the upcoming Electoral College confirmation vote and im just saying before you guys start that, you should public Pay Attention to what is going on. Many people are trying to quote the 12th amendment in regards to if the intention is raised, we go to the state block vote and that does not happen immediately. It says a it is just a whole bunch of misinformation going around. Calm down. The vote on wednesday, it cannot be stopped, it wont be stopped and unfortunately for most Trump Supporters, joe biden will be the 46th president of the United States. Host lets go to reston, virginia, democrats line. Caller good morning, happy new year. I think the congress has no power. We saw that during the impeachment trial. They tried to subpoena people and could not get them. They passed a stimulus bill in may and could not pass it because mcconnell sat on it. What power do they have . Plus gerrymandering. Campaign financing. They spend the entire time raising money. When is it going to change . As for the guy who said the thing about the house prayer, i think we should abolish the prayer and keep the church and state separate. Host we showed you a bit from a freshman democrat coming to congress who will be seated as of today. We will show you a portion of another interview we did with republican Lauren Boebert. She talked about why she carries a gun and why she plans to bring her guns with her to washington. When we first opened our grill in colorado, we were just a western themed restaurant. We named it shooters grill because we were the only but shortly after we open, there was an altercation where a man was brutally beaten near my restaurant. That man lost his life and when i came to work and heard the news of what had happened the immediately, it prop the question in me, how will i defend my people, protect the people that are around me . I was not raised around guns. It was not part of my everyday life. I had gone out target shooting as an adult. I owned a shotgun and ar15 but did not think too much of it and it stayed locked up in the safe until we went out target shooting a handful of times each year. That it day, i knew needed an equalizer. I am a pretty i am pretty small in stature, there were a lot of days i was in the restaurant alone. I had a lot of young females working for me, and with me. I needed a way to make sure they were safe. I know that as reliable and efficient as our Law Enforcement officers are, they cant always be there, right when we need them. Coloradosing into carry laws and i started to open carry that day. As a mother of four and a new restaurant owner, i did not have the time or resources to go and get my concealed carry permit at that time, so i chose to take advantage of the open carry laws. Me anything extra or take any extra time. I knew the basics of firearms, from our target practices. I felt comfortable open carrying. Shortly after that, i had waitresses who had already received the concealed carry permits approached me and asked me if they could open carry. They had their firearms either locked up in their car or in their handbag in the back of the restaurant. Immediately i agreed that those were not responsible places to store firearms and i would much rather have their firearms on their person. So they began to open carry. It would be several months later before the rest of america knew what we were doing. Our locals didnt care that we had firearms. They had guns too. That is not why they were coming into the restaurant. They wanted good service and hot food with a smile, and that is what we were giving them. But soon america did learn what we were doing and we went national. Calleds grill was being the safest restaurant in america. Shortly after that, we had more waitresses interested in carrying firearms, so we implement a training. Now we have monthly training courses and my waitresses are all trained and they have the ability to go and obtain their concealed carry permit through that course. We also go out and have teambuilding activities where there is target shooting and there is tactical training, that we engage in, which includes weapon retention training. If a waitress were to lose possession of a firearm, she has the skills and knowledge to do that, regain possession of a firearm. I take Firearm Safety very seriously. I believe things go wrong when either you are careless or ignorant. What youu dont know are doing with a firearm or you think you knows much that you dont have to follow the basic Firearm Safety rules. Do you plan to carry your firearm once you come to capital hill . I will carry my firearm in washington, d. C. I have already gone through the washington, d. C. Concealed carry course, and i have my paperwork process to receive my permit. Ill be walking to and from work every day that i am there. I will be alone and i wont have Capitol Hill Police escorting me. I am my security, so i need a way to protect myself against a potential stronger aggressor. Like most democrat run cities, washington, d. C. Has a Violent Crime problem. There crime rate is 158 higher than the national average. In 2020, there have been at least 180 homicides. That is in the midst of a pandemic, in the midst of a shut down. I want to protect myself in my office and i will be able to carry my firearm however i wish. It does not have to be concealed. I can open carry, and i intend to. There are also different transportation roles throughout the Capital Building that i will be participating in. Host that is freshman elected representative Lauren Boebert, who will serve as a republican for the state. Carla in maryland, democrats line. Caller hello. Host go ahead. Caller i think it is going to be more of the same, because we are a polarized country. Polarization with a capital p. Togoal is to reach out fellow citizens, not congress but their constituents. It is time to bring term limits to the floor of the house and the senate. We the people have the power to request and demand term limits of congress, possibly two term so the house and one term for the senate. Thank you, pedro. Host lets me correct my previous statement about the republican from colorado. The district she will serve. Lets go to gordon in kansas city, kansas, republican line. Go ahead. Caller could i talk about the stimulus a little bit . Host can you fit into what you are expecting as far as this congress . Ander it just hurts me pains me to see people calling in, begging for money, begging for more money, and the government is not supposed to be doing that to us. We are supposed to pull our pants up and do what we need to for our family. If they keep passing these bills that just pours the money into the economy, there is going to be so much hyperinflation, that the 2000 everybody is clawing and scratching for is going to mean nothing. Republicans ine this next 117th Congress Voting on another package, what would you say to them . I would say caller i would say dont. Host have you talked to your congressperson or senator about this . Caller yes i have. She is a progressive democrat that will listen to anything a republican has to say. Host from pennsylvania, lets go to dwight, republican line. Caller hi, i was just going to make a comment about the last caller. I think that Mitch Mcconnell should pass the 2000, and that is all i have to say. Host marcia is in new jersey, democrats line. Caller , good morning pedro caller good morning, pedro. Thank you so much for cspan. I watch the program very often. Country, there is too much of a reach for money and power, and not caring for one another. I dont know what is happening, and i am hoping that when the ,17th Congress Gets together that the democrats and republicans, that they make education of our children a priority. Children are our future. Education will help the economy, health care, and importance of education for all is my priority and a necessity, and thank you so much for hearing me, pedro. That was marcia in new jersey, talking about education being a priority for the 117th congress. We are with you all morning long up until when they get seated and we are back with john with more. Guest you played that clip of Lauren Boebert talking about why she plans to carry a weapon in washington and where she can on capitol hill. To follow up on that, a couple days ago that fellow colorado congressman jason crow wrote this on twitter, Lauren Boebert is disrespecting Capitol Police, her desire to carry a gun is a political stunt. The u. S. Capitol police are professionals and i have rarely felt safer. I should know, i have carried a gun for work and if she wants to talk safety, i have legislation to discuss that. Few minutes ago, lauren with this tweet responding to that tweet from her fellow colorado congressman, saying a cute mansplaining. You failed to mention how disrespected Capitol Police are when your party shouts defund the police while demanding those same officers provide security, such a shame. We will see how that continues to play out on capitol hill. To followup on a couple of the callers who brought up the opening prayer that will be given today, that will be offered by emanuel cleaver, methodist pastor. He was part of the Search Committee for a new house chaplain. The house needing a new house chaplain since father pat conroy retired officially at the end of the 116th congress, which will happen later this morning. That pelosi, through search process came up with the in election for the next house chaplain. The story from npr noting that pelosi marked another milestone for women in congress by appointing margaret cuban as chaplain of the u. S. House of representatives. She is the first female congressional chaplain since the congress was founded in 1789. The story going on to note about her military service with the marine corps and multiple chaplains positions, including chaplain of the marine corps from 2010 to 2014 with five to limits under her belt, including at least one to afghanistan as Senior Chaplain and most recently she served as a consultant with the department of Navy Sexual Assault and prevention. Nancy pelosi releasing a statement on new years eve last week announcing both the appointment but also thinking father pat conroy, the catholic minister, the longtime house chaplain, for his service. This is what she said, in part. The service of father pat conroy has been a blessing to members on both sides of the aisle. Throughout his service, father alling. Filled the c his spirit has been a moral anchor and reminding are members of our responsibilities to our great nation and constituents. All members wish father pat well and he deserves his wellearned retirement from the house of representatives. Host today marks the opening of the 117th Congress Thatll open that will happen at noon today. We will have an extended program up until that time, and you can join us for these conversations about what your expectations are, for this congress coming in, particularly in light of news that john has been telling you about throughout the morning. If you want to give a call, 202 7488000 for democrats, 202 7488001 for republicans. For independents, 202 7488002. You can text us at 202 7488003. One viewer in virginia says the 117th congress will not get much done as we allow politicians to point their fingers in nothing will get done because of the other people tribe. Therediots think politician is a quote, the good guy or good gal. Another viewer says another challenge is to keep democracy relevant in the United States but the latest sustained attack by the sitting president led to a historic turnout of voters. We are teetering towards autocracy. By 55izens are outraged pages of the covid relief bill. This is sickening. Here we florida saying go again, the power grab, not a representative republic but an victimization is the source of all pain. Here we go again. Joining uslabama, for our second hour of calls. Go ahead caller go ahead. Caller thank you and good morning. Alabama and the crime rate is extremely high. It is run by republicans. As for the 117th congress, it is going to be more of the same. It is that all saying, if you keep doing the same thing over and over, the results are going to be the same. I feel we should just get rid of all of them. None of them have earned a paycheck, because they dont do anything. I think that is the best thing for us as a country, to just clean house. Host kimberly in georgia, democrats line. Good morning. Caller hello. Thank you for taking my call. I want to say the overwhelming support we got in the election, over 150 Million People who voted in this election, and the constituents made their decision. The congresspeople we have elected, they better listen to their constituents and hear from people, then we will be fine. I am very optimistic about the future. I think that despite the rhetoric that has that is taking place right now, and the allegations Going Forward, they are just allegations and i dont citizenship will fall into that trap of listening to the rhetoric going on. Host are you referencing the special Runoff Elections, this week in georgia . Caller with that, as well as vote that the Electoral College that will take place. The people have spoken. We have selected our president and we have selected those congresspeople, men and women that will represent our nonspecific counties, and if we truly listen to our constituents, and each person listens to their own constituency, we will make the right decision that is best for our country. Host what do you think the end result of the special election this week will be . Caller i know what im hoping it will be. It is very tight in the state of georgia. Electping that we will butmembers into the seat, we will have the people make doir choice, and if people what they are supposed to do and vote their conscience, then the majority rules, and that is the way our democracy works. Host that is kimberly in georgia. The Vice President elect, Kamala Harris will head to georgia for a rally for those senate candidates. You can see that, starting at 5 00 this evening. Cspan2 is where you can see that. Also cspan. Org. Follow along an hour cspan radio app as well follow along on our cspan radio app as well. The president traveling to georgia to take part in rallies for their candidates. In louisiana, terry on our publican line. Caller hi, good morning. Im calling mainly because i was so excited to hear representative bowman with his views on education, and what his ideas to change education. He is on point, and i hope everyone rallies behind him. Host you say that as a republican . Caller yes. Host why do you agree with him on these things . Caller because he is exactly right. We have been teaching to the tests. They started it when i was in school. I dont feel that that is the way to do it. It is unfair to the kids. I think they are bored. They need more, and if you give them more, they will shine. They will excel. Host lets go to ron, independent line. Caller yes, pedro you are a professional. Kudos to you and the callers for their intellectual viewpoints. Though not a democratic congress, our governor cuomo, his rhetoric is laced with democratic speak and even aspirations of future advancement, possibly to the white house. Oxymoronic that he permitted the new years eve andbration at times square the contamination spreading when he berates the average family for having tiny thanksgiving and christmas gatherings. What a fool. Host how does that relate to the opening day of congress that we are talking about . Cuomo ist is just that so inclusive of what democratic speak is. I think that he represents the platform of the democrats, and it is like everything in government. They expect you to do one thing when they do another. It has always been that way, and it always will be. Host ron in buffalo, giving us a call on the independent line. We will go back to john. Guest we have been playing clips of interviews with the Incoming Freshman class of the 117th congress. 44y will be 59 freshmen, of them republicans, 15 of them democrats. House minority leader Kevin Mccarthy with this tweet this morning, directed at nancy pelosi, saying that our freshman class is bigger than your freshman class, along with this video that he sent out. [video clip] guest Kevin Mccarthy with that video tweet this morning. As a reminder in the house, the end of the day, with the house membership for the 117th congress, we are expecting 222 democrats, 211 republicans, two vacancies. ,he new york 22nd district where Anthony Brindisi is still fighting in a Court Supervised and then louisianas Fifth District following the death last week of congressman elect luke letlow. That is what it is going to look like at the end of the day, and in the senate. Here is how we will start off the 117th congress. 51 republicans, 46 democrats, two independent. One open seat. Let open seat, and one of those republican seats could change hands later this week. On tuesday, the republican open seat in georgia that senator kelly was appointed to, that in a special election runoff to be decided tuesday, and then of course david perdue, his term from 2014 until today ends at the end of the 116th congress. His seat also up for grabs in that special election, paddling to hold on. Attention will turn to georgia, when it comes to Vice President elect Kamala Harris heading down to georgia, to rally for the democrats in those races. President trump and president elect joe biden, both expected to be in georgia tomorrow. Control of the senate is up for grabs. If the democrats win both of those seats, they would then have 50 seats in the 117th congress and then Vice President elect Kamala Harris would be the tiebreaking vote. A lot going on this week and we are staying on top of it for you on cspan. Host john gives you those total figures about the members of congress. We are giving you a chance to meet them virtually and to learn a little bit about their background. On the senate side we had a chance to talk with bill haggerty. He served as an ambassador to and herom 2017 to 2019, talked about what he learned from that experience overseas. [video clip] i mentioned i served four years as the Economic Development chief in my state. I went back to the private sector, doing what i do, serving on the board of New York Stock Exchange companies and nasdaq companies. To step up andd volunteer fulltime, to help then candidate trump in his election. Candidate trump was talking about dealing with china in a way that i had not heard any politician talk about. Weve got to stand up with china, and that resonated with me. I went in fulltime as a volunteer and served as the tennessee victory chair, and then after President Trump became elected, i served as a Senior Member of the transition team. In january attorney 17, i was elected to serve as United States ambassador to japan. A wonderful learning experience, because japan is one of the closest pretty to catalyze the United States has in the world. They are an incredibly important base for us. It is the largest component of the u. S. Military stationed overseas, anywhere in the world. The reason for that is because it is a tough neighborhood. Youve got north korea, russia and china at your doorstep. Host what was the difference being a businessman in japan versus a politician, and what did you learn from the experience . Guest i had no experience as a politician, it was my first time. As a businessman, it was a perfect fit. I had lived in japan before when i was in a boston consulting group. That is when i learned the language in the culture. A number of people i was friends with from those early days are at very senior levels of japanese corporations right now. It really enhanced my ability to be effective from the moment i hit the ground. The challenges we were facing were also very severe. North Korea Tensions were at their height when i got there. Twoh korea launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles over japan and then they detonated a Hydrogen Bomb. I did a great deal of work back and forth with south korea. We did not have an ambassador in south korea at that point. I took my family to south korea after the Hydrogen Bomb was detonated, and with a u. S. Military escort we crossed into north korea. I did that because i thought it was important to mistreat my confidence in the u. S. Militarys ability to protect me and my family. If you think about the tensions in japan, they could not have been higher. Japan is the only nation in the world that has mont that has been on the receiving end of a nuclear weapon. I think we have fundamentally moved in a better direction with north korea, but there is more work to do. China is the biggest and most looming threat. They are predatory at every level. I have seen it up close and personal. They have dramatically expanded their military budget over the past decade, in terms of building out a very impressive military force. Their navy is now larger than ours. In the east china sea, they are pushing everywhere. Diplomatically, they are very very aggressive as well. Economically, every business person knows what a predator china has been and can be. They steal intellectual property, subsidize industries and compete unfairly. If you want to do business in china, you have to transfer your technology to them. Those are not the types of roles we need to have any marketbased economy. China has got to change their behavior. Host lets hear from randall in fort worth, texas. Democrat line. Caller good morning. The caller about mccarthy this morning. That when mccain and his wife ran, they had eight houses. Mitt romney had five houses. I dont know what trump has got now. What i wanted to address was night i saw one of your rerun programs about a freshman newcomer from new mexico, a ms. Fernandez. I read an article the other day on the computer about a neighbor a native american lady that has lived closer to the head of the department. Of interior Mitch Mcconnell is not quite as old as my brother, but he is older than two oak trees and we have had this thing for a long time, and all around the globe. Host all of that, to say what about the congress . Polluted,r rivers are our earth is polluted and our air is polluted. The oldtimers need to get out of the way and let the younger people try to salvage this climate. Host lets go to indiana, our independent line. Caller good morning. Thank you for hosting me. I would like to make one comment as a middleclass american in the midwest. Have istration that i that this health care, we need to get something worked out. We cannot continue on this path. Im 58. Health care it has continually gone up in my career. Now in the tail end of my career, we worry about a medical bankruptcy. We need to address it for the citizens of this country and with the pandemic, i think a lot of americans have really seen how our health care is driven by foreign interests, and we need to take control of our pharmaceuticals. Host do you expect efforts on health care to be a major issue in this congress . Caller if it is politics, it wont be, it needs to be, because people are tired of it. The next thing we need to do is to get people term lets term limits and make people and get people who are serious about making our lives better in here. Host saying Democrats Holding the line and returning nancy pelosi to the speakership. I was andrea cozzi of cortez saying it is the right vote at this time alexandria ocasiocortez saying it is the right vote at this time. Think the system is rigged, they should refuse to take their seat and demand elections in their district. Electoral college challengers not only going to help congress but america as a whole. David pickens off of facebook adding we are in for a wild ride. You can text us at. 202 7488003 we ask that you put your name, city and state if you want to have the possibility of it being read on air. Jill in massachusetts on our independent line. Caller good morning. I wanted to call because i am so excited about the 117th congress. I am getting ready to go to church. The new house chaplain being rear admiral kibbin, a female for the first time. And then with the 140 one women coming into congress and 51 are women of color, it could not be more exciting. I think it is going to change the conversation. I agree with the previous caller from texas, and others who kind of took mccarthy on, for having that conversation, ours is bigger than yours. Because i think the conversation is going to turn, to issues that i think women, working together will cross a lot more of the lines than we have seen before. I cant wait to see Kamala Harris and nancy pelosi behind president biden, when he gives the state of the union in february. I am excited, and i hope everyone else is. Host that is jill in massachusetts. To the point she was making, one of those interviews we did with freshman representatives, representative williams, she was elected ahead of the 117 congress and she talked about her interview about filling the seat of the late civil rights icon, john lewis. [video clip] did you know john lewis . I did, i was very fortunate to know him on a personal level. Congressman lewis was not just a mentor and hero, but he was a friend to me. My husband worked for him for eight years, in both the d. C. Office and his Atlanta Office and in multiple cycles of the campaign. I got a chance to know him more than most. He became my shopping buddy and there was never a good Clearance Sale at dillards that we didnt like. Your shopping buddy . Explain that. Congressman lewis loved to shop and he was a jokester and he was the person that everybody saw this bigger than life icon, but for me he was the uncle down the street, who knew the one thing that could make you smile. For me, that has always been shopping, and clearly for him as well. The Dillards Department store has an annual sale after christmas every year, and all of the clearance things are in additional 50 off, and that was our time. Didould always call and say you see anything good . Did they have any good sales . That was our time together. With was ill and diagnosed stage four pancreatic cancer. Hisou know if he expressed viewpoint of who should replace him on the ballot . That i dont know. Congressman lewis was a fighter to the end. The last time i saw him was when he came down to the capital in march, to qualify for reelection. At that time, none of us knew the he would not see november election and serve out the remainder of his term. That is not something that we talked about. We talked about the future, because we all thought we had more time. When you won the general election on election day, what was your reaction . It was very affirming to win in a landslide, 85 of the voters wanted me to be there member of congress, and so i was overwhelmed with emotion because i was concerned that maybe the vote that had been turning out were because of john lewis and i needed to make sure i was earning the support of the voters and i did exactly that. It was very affirming to know that 85 of the voters in this district wanted me to be their voice. I am looking forward to getting to work. How any times have you been told you have big shoes to fill . More than i can count at this point. I fully understand that. I know that i cannot be john lewis, and no one will ever replace him in the United States congress or in this world. Im going to congress to live up to his legacy and chart my own path. Congressman lewis taught us that every generation has an obligation to move us one step forward to full equality for all of us, and that is what i want to do. Where does your conviction come from . I was raised by my grandparents, and my grandfather was always involved in elections. He never missed a vote. I remember being a little girl on the back of my grandfathers pickup truck and we went out to our neighbors to make sure they knew who to vote for. But that all democrat, was the thing i did, and i did not realize it was political. I did not realize what impact it would have on my life, encouraging me to be more civic lye involved more civic involved. Out child, it did not stand to me until i was in ninth grade and i read in my history book, i remember coming home that was a powerful moment for me as well. Based most inis those who are marginalized. I come from very humble beginnings. I grew up in a home with no indoor plumbing or walk or running water. I know what it is like to need extra support, from our government, to have the services to make sure that i can move forward in this country. A little girl from my background being able to move to one of the highest offices in the land is not lost upon me. That is why i will always center those who are most marginalized in my decisionmaking. Host representative elect williams, one of those you will see seated today in the 117 congress, along many others as john mcardle has been telling us. We are having a chance to show you these interviews, portions of them, to get their experiences and background. You can find a lot more about what goes on today, also by going to our website at cspan. Org. Watch along on cspan and cspan2, respectively for the house and senate. In oklahoma, we will hear from sharon, democrats line. Caller yes, a blessed 2021 to you all. , calling about the congress holding the congress to truth. It is like we the American People have forgotten how to discern truth from lies. I think that is what we should be holding our congresspeople too, truth more because it seems like we the people, we have forgotten what truth is. Thank you. In northt is up next, carolina, independent line. Caller good morning. I will be brief. I think the House Minority leader, mccarthy, i think he made a tweet that he has more freshmaen than nancy pelosi. How is so indicative of much of a cesspool we have in washington. He is saying they have more marbles but that is so juvenile. In terms of the upcoming congress, i think you will see more polarization, obstruction, namecalling and a lack of respect for the constitution and the rights of the American People. Unfortunately, i feel like we need all of this is really do to these congresspeople in our government being more loyal to a person to rather rather than their party. I feel like it is so important that we need to institute term limits, in order for the people to have a voice. Thank you. Carolina, in north calling amongst many about the coming of the 117 congress, which we have been talking about all morning, giving you information. With that task, john mcardle. Guest one of the first acts of the 117th congress this week will take place on january 6, accounting and certifying the Electoral College vote results. Plenty of callers already, talking about the number of republicans who are planning to oppose certifying Election Results that day. Axios with their story about it yesterday, when it comes to Senate Republicans who oppose it, that number now up to 12. Xes focusing on senator ted cruz and josh hawley as leading that effort, but they know republicans involved also include ron johnson, james lankford, steve daines, john kennedy, marsha blackburn, mike braun, cynthia loomis, roger marshall, bill haggerty, and tummy tuck reveal as well tommy tubb oerville as well. We will see that play out on the joint meeting that is set to be overseen by mike pence in his role as president of the senate, overseeing accounting and certification of as the presidef the senate, overseeing the counting of the electoral votes. Some tweets from the last 12 hours or so, starting with mark meadows, chief of staff to the president , saying over 100 house members and a dozen senators ready to object to certification. Its time to fight back is what mark meadows wrote. The congresswoman elect fight for trump, fight for america. Here is the tweet from beingn congressman , the constitution has never been more important. The first order of business . Fight for Fair Elections by objecting to fraud on january 6. That is the tweet from congresswoman jody hice. This from senator mitt romney who has opposed this effort your he says the egregious ploy to reject electors may enhance the political ambition of some, but dangerously threatens our democratic republic. Well that is mitt romney again for you. This is senator bennie thompson, how can any congressman challenge the legitimacy of biden is victory when they were elected as well . Tammy baldwin saying if this group of senator is genuinely considered concerned about people believing trump a bus for election, tellhe people the truth about a legitimate and legal election joe biden one. These are tweets from just this morning on this topic. Host dan is up next. Republican line. New year to you and to all of our american friends. Thank you for taking my call. Just briefly, i heard people say that truth is so important. The old chief of the indian said truth can be spoken in a few words. I have read a book here recently by a lady on your show called the politics industry. Politics industry. 175 page. It will tell you everything you need to know. These are people who are great entrepreneurs. Taught atd and harvard, etc. And it explains exactly what is wrong with the political system that is just two parties. Lets go to frank, caldwell, idaho, republican line. Yes, they should disrupt the congress anyway they can. Hollywood, is from florida on the democrats line. Hello. Caller in tired of this fighting back and forth with these two parties and in tired of this fighting back and forth with these two parties out. We need term member term limits to get these people out and in with the new. Host you heard john mcardle speak about cynthia loomis. She did an interview with us. She talked about what it was what it meant to her to be the first woman to represent wyoming, her home state. [video clip] i have a strong sense of place. I know a lot of people have a strong sense of family or a strong sense of being around other people. For me, that feeling of being at and and comforted and safe enthusiastic and passionate is in wyoming. This state in this place have shaped me. Wyomingno doubt that has been the biggest influencer and what i have chosen to do with my life. Isbe its first woman senator an indescribable honor. Yoming is very special of all the states in the lower we have people who may have to work two and three jobs to make a living, but they choose to do that because they love it so much. This lifestyle is very free. Its very independent. I think that there is so much people who have that self drive, the independence people are selfdirected are just right in this state. In a lot of states you do not get thrown into the deep end of the pool right away. Here you get thrown into the deep end of the pool. If youre interested in serving, whether its the Health Care Field or the legal field or agriculture or tourism or technology, your passion will make you a leader in this state because we need every Single Person who has an interest in leadership. We need them. And a unique, special place an indescribable honor. Your topt are priorities in the senate . Guest i served in the house. One of the things that motivated me to run in the house was what motivated me to run for the senate. Taken. D more than we i think we are hurting the value of our currency. I think we are putting our nation at risk. For people my age to dump on young people the obligations that we have failed to pay for or are unwilling to pay for. When i was out of the u. S. House between then and now, i served on something called the committee for a responsible federal budget. Its a Bipartisan Group that has a fabulous staff, a fabulous Research Staff and they continue. O send me materials when i was out of congress i became increasingly alarmed about how much we are spending without a willingness to pay for it. When our senior senator michael enzi decided to retire, that is when i decided to jump into this race. Alan, little rock, arkansas, independent line. Caller thank you. For the peoplee of congress. Just a quick reference to the , they have the best journalist, people that listen in. They are so superior to the journalists we have in the states. I am sure part of their sarcasm and contempt for our country is listening. Host what does all that mean for the opening of the 117th congress . On thisthey are working to retro seed, return these few little neighborhoods around d. C. Back to maryland. They returned those ones back to virginia and they need to return this back to maryland and stop this incredible corruption going on in our Nations Capital with the democrats that are there. And secondly to recognize we, our country, absolutely must this incredible corruption and both parties. Half of the Republican Party most of the Democrat Party is being washed in china money. That is the problem we are dealing with. Ok, and your third point please . Caller this has been stolen away, this top percent has profited from it. Most of them are politicians like the bidens and the carries and rys and host ok. Good morning. Noter a lot of people do realize its Mitch Mcconnell who holds everything they go to Mitch Mcconnell has it where they cant afford to live nowhere. Host because of that your message to the 117th congress would be what . Caller its Mitch Mcconnell. Hes Holding Everything up. The quicker we can get the economy back up to spend money, the quicker we get back to normal. Ohio,david, and akron, hello. Independent line. Caller thank you for taking my call. Back when obama was running for president and trump started the Birther Movement, i could not believe it. It was surreal. Running for president not being an american citizen . That would have been exposed long ago. And people actually believe that crap. It is discouraging. And these members of congress, its the Birther Movement on steroids, to say that biden won this election over with over 7 million votes with republican secretaries of state. And also the idea that all of these Trump Supporters think he was going to drain the swamp. He didnt drain the swamp. He appointed moores special interest billionaires to his cabinet than anybody previously. I agree with the other caller. There is corruption in both parties. Democrats dont try to take Voting Rights away in these republican states. Theyve tried to make it so they are wiping people off the voting rolls. They are trying to suppress the vote. Host ok, michigan, democrats line. Caller yes, thats correct. Host you are on. Go ahead. The republicans to obstruct and sabotage everything biden tries to do, just like they did with obama and i laugh every time i hear like the congresswoman from wyoming talking about their worries about the deficits. They only worry about deficits when theres a democratic president. Republicans figured out long ago that they could lower taxes they dont need to tax people because they have a printing press. The republicans have checked off every box for fascism, and thats not hyperbole. Violence. Boys,e embraced the proud the michigan militia. Host so, for the 117th congress , what would be the charge to have Speaker Pelosi should she win another term as speaker . Caller well, that just means because the republicans gained some seats, and obviously they are going to try to stop agenda. Idens ok, trey, florida, independent line. Toler i just wanted congratulate the members of congress. Lso want to take a moment votes. Elosi only has 222 she needs to take about five people. Host what would you support that move . Because i think medicare for all is supported by a majority of democrats and its the strange without being think the newly elected progressives would back that kind of effort . Caller i dont know. I would hope they at least have some type of consideration for that movement. From pennsylvania, republican line. This is jean. Caller good morning, pedro. I would just like to see our elected officials return to regular order when it comes to passing bills. I cant hear you, honey. Host i didnt say anything, so go ahead, please. Caller i would like to see our congress returned to regular order when it comes to bill passing. Theuld like to see economics return. Host talk about your interest in regular order. It is a term that we hear a lot now. I dont know how much people know that term. Because i think that people who take the time and see these economic bills i think it might be a good thing if even the process were put on washington journal. Im 74 years old. Ive been doing this since i was 18. Specifics in the each department, like i said, i would like to see the ethics return. You say that both parties violate this idea of regular order or one over the other . I am a registered republican. Cannot vote ins primaries. We are lucky here. We have a congressman who is a god,ero, who is a man of we dont have to question learn, rather than having somebody else tell us what they think. Lets pennsylvania talking about returning to regular order. Is that something you bring up when it comes to the congress. It could be other matters, too. One of the interviews we had a chance to participate and was cori bush. G freshman she talked about her experience of being homeless, how it shaped her views and why she decided to run for office. Clue the yearno before. With so many people around the country in the world, i was a lowwage worker. I could not afford to keep up. My life changed in an instant. Where ig in a position didnt know when i would have housing come out where i could , there wereanywhere all of those barriers and not having a home, i could not put an address on applications. I was mixing formula for my children in bathrooms, in restaurants. Looking at how i got out of that situation, i would be able to take that policy differently. If you can do it with this population, you can do it this way. I said, what happens when you things that these youre talking about. Would i be able to just go back home . Be able to just walk into a hotel . Debit cards. Ave do you have a look . Is going to help our foreign policy. Your political career was informed in part, as i understand it, by the death of michael brown. Caller i would say i would never run. My dad was in politics. I would say, i will never run for office. Theres so much corruption and greed around him. Nurse and ig as a was pastoring at the time and i thought, ok, i can take to the streets, i went to the street as a medic. I went to the streets as clergy. I saw a regular people giving of themselves on the streets, with their livelihoods on the line, putting their lives on the line. What i did not see enough of was elected officials standing up out there with us. Realized when they asked me to run for office, i said, no, but i realized this is the only way we get the change. The people who are risking themselves. Things, you these have to run. I thought about my son. I thought about my daughter. I dont want my daughter to be the next. I could not bear that. I had to run. Host we will show you these interviews throughout our extended program today. Our Program Going until about noon as we get ready to help you watch the 117th congress coming in. Those activities are taking place all across the morning. We are kicking off what is expected to be the story of the day, whether nancy pelosi will get the votes to be the speaker again. Here is the latest from punch bowl news. House democrats are expecting near perfect attendance. Hastings, by lincoln credit cancer, the one democrat not expected to be on the house floor. House republicans will have several absences, including a republican from congress who and thee coronavirus congresswoman elect from florida. They will not be attending. There is the open seat in louisiana. That will help losey inherit numbers pelosi and her numbers needed to become speaker. Bes predicted that she will that she will win, though it will be slow. They will come in groups of 72 at a time and it will take a long time to count votes. You may be asking where the name came from. Punch bowl is the secret service nickname for the u. S. Capitol. One of the members who will be voted today, expected to for a Kevin Mccarthy in that speaker vote is auroras woman elect miller meeks, the seventhan from the iowa district, who won her election by a six vote margin. There is some question as to whether congresswoman elect mary Annette Miller meeks would be seated if the review were allowed to go on. Nancy pelosi put an end to those questions. This is what she said when she was asked whether the republican would be seated today. [video clip] are you confident you will have a Democratic Majority Senate . Pelosi yes and yes. Nancy pelosi, following up on that contested iowa seventh district race, saying that millermeeks will take the oath of office, but the review of Election Results will continue. Every vote counts and thats why they are conducting a thorough and fair review, to make sure they are counted. They are noting under the constitution the house is the final judge. Administration say that 120 two ballots were not originally cast. In her petition, she says she would have one by 18 votes. The Rita Hart Campaign with this statement in their filing with the house of representatives. They say that although it is tempting to close the book, they say that they would disenfranchise voters in a the candidate who received fewer lawful votes. Congresswoman elect miller meeks is continuing as she believes she will be in that job for the next two years. This was her tweet, announcing her resignation from the iowa state senate, saying it has been one of the honors of her life. And she looks forward to continuing her service in the u. S. Congress. Linda. You are on. , its not pelosi. Im a Senior Citizen and i would love to sleep all night without having trump nightmares. The silent majority voted, popular vote against trump last time. Certainly voted against him this time and we are a quiet majority. The republicans are playing russian roulette with our constitution. They are bordering treason. The we are talking about 117th congress. Should nancy pelosi get another term as House Speaker . Caller absolutely. Shes the only thing keeping the country together right now. Host what do you mean by that . Theer she is like conscience. She is the only person who knows the constitution of the United States inside out, upside down. One. The only that is linda. Lets go to calton spokane, washington. Republican line. Seeer what i would like to out of congress is a little less tribalism. Politics is not a team sport. I would like to see politicians vote for what is good for the constitution and the people. Host meaning what for the 117th congress specifically. Caller when i see these line ones, there has to be democrat person or vice versa. Both sides are equally at blame. They have both gotten very mean and nasty for the sake of their parties and i dont think some of the things they say, they would not stand facetoface with us people and say it to their face. They are hiding behind the. Icrophone its not a healthy situation. What you think about Nancy Pelosis leadership . Worse. It will only get aisleill go across the and vote their hearts and their minds, if not their party. Our we are going into third hour of a fivehour program. Will have the seating of the 117th congress and we will have watch. Tion about what to and here you can let us know your thoughts about the 117th congress, what should be done. 2027488000 for democrats. 2027488001 four republicans. For independents. You can post on twitter, if you spanwj. At c georgia,ext from democrats line. Go ahead. Excellent georgia, hello . In georgia, hello . Oh i had. You are on. Caller sorry. Iin the constituency of think it is a sad day in the history of our nation when we are opening in such an order. They are putting the success of their party about the success of our nation. They are thinking about the Republican Party and not the republic of america. , butshocked a little bit mostly saddened to see this. We know that this discord is how we will start it. E need to see more compromise in 1960, Richard Nixon had to certify his own defeat and that is what mike pence needs to do. Theseds to stop welcoming unwarranted challenges, these challenges to an election that was how do you say, legitimate. Tom on the go to republican line. Caller good morning. What that congresswoman from missouri said turned my stomach. Her childrent want to be shot by policeman, tell rob not to rob a police a convenience store. Its his job. Dont attack him again. That will keep her kids from being shot. As far as this congress is concerned, it has not been proven that this was a legitimate election. Affidavits have been fraudted testifying that was committed in a massive scale and i am telling you right now, if congress does not convince the American People of these approving these allegations wrong theres going to be big trouble in this nation and one thing they need to consider, too is if they disregard all of these affidavits and they dont investigate it, they need to consider who will step forward in the future to report things that they say are wrong. Take their reputation and safety on the line and testified to these things and nothing happens. Who is going to do it in the future . They owe it to the American People and these brave americans who put their reputations on the line to investigate this. They better do it. They had better do it. Host alabama, independent line. Good morning, and happy new year. I have a question. The 117thng about congress. Exactly hownt know its going to be. Theres still so much in controversy. Host such as what . Caller i think that we are shooting the gun to early. What we are looking at today might not be what we will have an even two weeks. Caller meaning what host meaning what, the special elections on the senate side . Caller yes, thats important. But we dont even know who the president is going to be yet. You expect a different result from the president elect currently this week . Caller why, i would question why we call him the president elect because the voting is we have still not determined. We have court cases. You know. I am saying right now who is being seated today in the 117th. Allers ok, the election is still to be determined there, which holds which determines which party holds congress. You can go along. You can follow along in the house and follow along in the senate on our website, cspan. Org if you want to follow along whats going on. One of the members we got a chance to talk to was the Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor greene. She didnt interview with us as cspan, talked about her promotion of conspiracies. [video clip] for qanon andport i am wondering how you first became how you first of the group andew of the why their message is resonating with you, at first . Trump. Pport president he was the first politician i was really inspired by, that he among 17a stage republicans running for president and after we elected him, everyone was just thrilled, but then we watched the media attack him every single day. The democrats attack him and the whole plan basically, watch this action to try to remove him from office based on the Conspiracy Theory of russian collusion. That was being broadcast 24 7 day in and day out from the media. This was something they wouldnt believe, didnt believe, and later was proven to be false. , not being a politician or ever having any plans to be one, i did the same thing as millions of americans and i looked to the internet, what is really going on. I am just the kind of person i went on facebook and talked about them. A lot of times i was just talking about the things i read, not necessarily preaching them like some of the stories have tried to say, but i did that. Im a normal, regular person and i found things i did not think were true. So i made a decision. I made a decision to change paths. If i really want to protect our to see first values, that we are all equal, to maintain our freedoms, i need to put that in action. That is what i decided to do and that is how i ended up here. Host what is the path you were on that is different from before . I8 ran for congress. And i won. So i will be seated in january. Host how do you describe your style . Im a proud american woman. I think that is the best way to sum me up. America is the best place on earth. God created us all equal and our constitution affirms that. America is the only place where we have the guarantee of the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion. Reedom to own a gun the freedom to teach our children our faith, whatever our faith may be. Its the only country where people all over the country would give anything to be here and i believe what we are fighting for it is an amazing place and we want to keep it that way. I guess that would summit up how i feel. Host how do you feel about our government . I believe that our government has overgrown what it was intention to be. Im against regulations. I think that our government has grown too big. We have too much debt. I think we are like a sinking ship. As a successful business owner, i can tell you thats why. If we ran our company the way , the budgets forward our federal government runs, i would be out of business and as a member of congress i am looking forward to being there. We have to do a better job with people. People really hard and pay a lot of taxes and its congresss job and responsibility and we are employees of the American People and we need to do a good job and not sink the American Ship in the american government. Many again, thats one of interviews you will hear during the course of the morning on this opening day of the 117th congress. This opening day will be a long day. Cspan viewers who want to watch all of it should settle in until dinner time or later when it comes to the house floor and one of the reasons why it will be such a long day is because theres no proxy voting allowed right now who are at the start of the 117th congress. Its allowed right now because we are in the 116th congress and proxy votinghange during the pandemic but all of the rules at the end of the 116th congress are a blank slate. So the proxy voting rule has to be voted on before proxy voting is allowed. That is part of the rules package and the house is planning to vote on the rules package tomorrow. We will see what happens with that vote. Its also expected to take a very long time. Members will go through in and social spacing distancing. A few other stories about the new rules package. This is from roll call, noting calls was that they defang the motion to recommit. It has been used in the past as a procedural vote by sending it back to committee, but in recent years it has become a substantive vote. The new rules would prevent the motion to recommit from being used in the minority would only vote to gouse the back to committee. The 117th congress. Its a completely partisan piece of legislation. They will go to any lengths to shut them down. Theres another potential change in the rules. There are gender specific plans. They are named in the rules project. There are tweets about this this coming from the leader of the house republicans, tweeting stupid,ry, calling it the father, son, and the brother. The new rules package is the chairman of the house rules committee. These are tweets that he put out, saying i am proud to Draft Rules Committee to make this house of representatives the most inclusive in the nations history. He went on to tweet im rulesally proud of the that are codifying diversity and inclusion. One more tweet from congressman mcgovern. Whistleblowers and members convicted of corruption from the house floor. We will hear from the committee in a few minutes. They say, we hope we can get something to focus on this year. They may want an omnibus that can be done on time. And then, many mentioned term limits this moment. It is not as pure as you are being legibly. The mega money lobbyists will be in our election process. Go on. Caller i am really happy that the democrats are doing their best. Yout comprehend question how trump cannot be brought on treason charges. We have a society being torn apart. The president is getting people riled up its something he has no business doing. He should be charged with treason. Host how does that apply to Todays Congress opening up, the 117th congress . Democratsm glad the have sewn up congress and i know that losey will do a good job the speaker. Increaseyou think the of republicans being put into this congress will change the speakers style or how she approaches legislative efforts . Caller sure, she has the ongoing program. I am sure they will do everything they can anytime they are out of power. But trump should be charged with treason for what hes done to this country. Host hackensack, new jersey, republican line. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I just want to talk a little bit about the opening of the 117th congress. Despite the partisan division i think this congress is a wonderful opportunity for unity, especially considering the house seats that the democrats control i think this congress is a wonderful opportunity for bipartisan leadership on both sides of the aisle. Controlling group one entire apparatus of government. I think nancy pelosi has a part to play. But i also think plenty of members from the Problem Solvers Caucus will be able to make legitimate change and contributions in the coming congress. Host how do you think they will do that . Caller i think this will finally be a time when we stop that were put up were Kevin Mccarthy, californias 23rd, in his term on capitol hill, reelected in november with 62 of the vote. From 2014 leader through 2019, and he has been minority leader sense. He served as majority leader under speakers paul ryan and john boehner. That is who republicans will put out. Kevin mccarthy tweeting at nancy pelosi earlier today, about the size of the freshman class coming in after republicans did so well in the 2020 election. We showed you this tweet earlier saying hey, nancy pelosi, our freshman class is bigger than yours. That tweet getting some response from a few minutes ago from one of Nancy Pelosis fellow congressman eric swalwell, saying Speaker Pelosis gavel is bigger than yours. Talking about how much new folks are making in these jobs on capitol hill. Speaker of the house makes 223,500 a year with the top salary member of congress, and the majority minority leader in each of the house and senate 193,000 400 a year along with the Senate President pro tem also making that amount, 193,400 a year. When it comes to the rank and file senators and representatives, they make 174,000 a year. If you want to see how that changes over time, dating back members of congress originally made six dollars a day, bringing you up to 100 years in the future, back in 1990, it was 98,000 a year that a member of congress made. To 141,000 was up dollars a year. By 2009, it was up to 174,000 a year, and that is where he has been since 2009. Guest rick in texas host rick in texas, republican line. Good morning. Caller good morning. I think a lot of us are letting folks get above our heads here with the max 117th congress. If you think about it, the majority of the 117th congress is the exact same people who were in the 116th congress. You are not going to have much change done, especially when you have Mitch Mcconnell playing judge and jury to the rest of the citizens of the United States. It does not allow anything on the floor. The only thing i have seen him do is have nominations for judge seats, and yet he is saying that the democrats are trying to pack courts. That is all what Mitch Mcconnell is doing, nominate for judge day after day after day. Host lets go to ellis in fort walton beach, florida, democrats line. Caller good morning. Happy new year to you. Host thank you. Caller i have been wondering why nobody in the media has been asking incoming members of the congress that were elected, why should they be seated as if the election was fraud. Why dont you ask some of them . Senate they be asked a question . Caller because it was fraud, right . Host all right, amerigo is up next, on the democrats line. Caller good morning. I do think nancy pelosi will be the speaker of the house. They subscribe to the constitution, the rule of law. They understand what they are doing today. It is just ridiculous. We cannot allow them to destroy democracy. Host they are asking about this. Lets go back to john mcardle. John the republican members planning to object to the Electoral College results, and the longtime democrat from new jersey has some of the same dealings. This is from yesterday. They will be seated on december 11. They will try to make donald trump an unelected dictator. The 14th amendment was written to bar any traders who would destroy the union. They are violating the tostitution and going on tweet more about that as well. And we will see if he keeps talking about it. Go ahead. On our independent line. It doesnt matter what is. Party affiliation speaking as a native american, we need to get rid of this republican and Democratic Party anyway. It has not been broken. We have nancy pelosi and Chuck Schumer. They all need to get out. Schumer,osi, chuck Mitch Mcconnell. I do not understand how someone like Mitch Mcconnell can be andd in in kentucky have everybody else in this state, in this country host ok, that is rustle in massachusetts as part of your calls on this opening day of the 117 congress set to take place later on today. I will continue taking your calls, and we will show you some member interviews and other things as we go along on this extended program through about noon today. Also, as part of our programming, we have been talking to members of congress about issues related to the day, and joining us, representative jim mcgovern, democrat from massachusetts. He also serves as the chair of the rules committee. Thanks for being with us, sir. Guest happy to be with you. Host can you talk about the rules part of what goes on, at least today and into this week . Guest well, today we will vote on speaker, and then they will get sworn in. And then tomorrow, we will load on the rules package, which essentially will be the roadmap conduct will follow to our business for the next couple of years. Host what is your exultation that Speaker Pelosi will get another term . Guest i expect she will win, i am confident she will win. She has been a great speaker. Host and you are confident . Guest i am. Host what do you base that on . Guest i have been talking to members of congress, and most of them are here. I expect she will have a victory today. Host can you speak about the republican gains made this last election, and does that change the speakers style as far as legislative efforts . Guest look, i am hoping with donald trump off the scene that we will be focused more on trying to find common ground. Republicansats and have differences of opinion, and we have different political philosophies, but that does not mean we dont have some common ground. You dont have to agree on everything to agree on something , so my hope is we will find that something and we will move forward. And we will have our fights, but of course we want to focus on getting things done for the American People. Host what is the something, then, in your mind . Guest i would like to think we could come together on an infrastructure bill. I would like to find some republicans that agree with us that we have a climate crisis. I think we can find some republicans who will agree with us that we need to expand health wee benefits, so, you know, will see but i. Think it will be helpful to have and haveump often seen someone who gives a damn about their future. Host what do think about the backandforth with the verifying of votes and how does this complicate the ideas of coming together on issues . Guest look, they are going to have their antics, and they can do that, under the rules, but at the end of the day, joe biden and Kamala Harris will be the next president and Vice President of the United States of america, and im grateful for that, because we need to competent leadership. We have over 350,000 people who have died from the coronavirus. This president has mismanaged that. His administration has taken his here. F the ball we need to refocus on the economy. Host to that end, when it comes to issues like coronavirus or climate, budget limits are going to be modified. Can you explain that . Guest well, look, we have emergencies. Coronavirus is an emergency. We need to make sure we move heaven and ours to make sure all resources are available to help states combat this virus and to get the vaccine. And on the climate crisis, i mean, this is a huge challenge, not only for the United States before the world. We need to think bold, we need to think big, and we need to move forward and doing something real. Host to that end, no budget limits for those specific efforts. Guest we had to remove any be araints that would difference for doing something big. Host are you hearing from a publicans or even moderate crowds of concerns of spending in light of those issues you brought up, no budget limits . Guest it is not know budget limits on everything, and the bottom line is we have adhered to this thing called paygo for the last 15 years, and we were more fiscally responsible than the republicans were when they were in control. In our view, we cannot see the economy recover until we correct this virus, and it is our view that if we do not deal with the time crisis, you know, that is also going to cost us enormously in the future. Host representative, there have been several stories about the upcoming rules, particularly this idea of eliminating the terms Going Forward. Can you talk about how that came about . Guest basically, we want our rules package to reflect current reality. A few years back, all references in the rules were related to men, so i dont understand what the big deal is here. It is basically reflecting the reality that we are living in right now, and it is just making sure that we are accurate, synced, and to the point the synced, and to the point. I heard someone say that means you cannot refer to someone as a mother or daughter, sister or brother on the floor. That is ridiculous. This is the legacy of trumpism, when you do not want to deal with the economy, you make things up, and this is basically making sure that our roles and how they are written reflect the reality of how we are. Host how does that work Going Forward if this is passed . Guest basically, in our rules package committed will refer to, instead of ombudsmen, it will say ombuds. Instead of mother or father, we will talk about parents. It is basically that. But in terms of how we conduct ourselves on the floor and what people put on social media, they could do whatever they want to do. This is much ado about nothing and the right wing looking for something to gin people up about, so they do not have to talk about the mismanagement of this white house or, quite frankly, the attempt to try to undermine the role of the American People with regard to the last. Election. Host . We will see a creation of economics prosperity, fairness, and growth. Guest the speaker thought it was important for us to focus on the issue of economic equality. Inequality and asperity. One thing the coronavirus has shown us is there is a great disparity in this country that existed way before the coronavirus, so we need to figure out how to address that. By the way, also in this rules package are instructions for the they are going to address issues of inequality and asperity. Also, a cause on them to make sure that the witnesses that they call represent the diversity in this country as well, so we are going to focus on this issue of disparity and economic inequalities, because it is a major issue in this country. Host for the witnesses portion, how does that work . Guest they are going to develop a plan to tell us how they will make sure that they will have diversity, so it will be corporate heads. We need to have people from every aspect of our society, of every background we need to listen to all voices, not just those who are welloff and wellconnected, but everybody matters. One of the great things about Speaker Pelosi and the democratic agenda is that, in our view, nobody in this country is invisible. Everybody matters, everybody is important, and we need to focus on issues of economic disparity and inequality. Host do you expect republicans to push back if they are given rules about who they can call to testify . Guest we are not saying republicans cannot propose witnesses, we just want to make sure the panels represent diversity in this country. We need to hear all voices. As i have said before, this virus has shown us the incredible inequality and asperity that exists in our country, and those disparities existed well before this virus, so we need to try to fix what is wrong in this country. And, again, i regret that my republican friends not all of them, but many of them, you know, want to focus on things that, again, do not matter to the American People, but we are going to insist that the focus be on addressing those issues of disparity and inequality. Far so one more thing as as barring members who committed crimes on the house floor, what was the genesis of that . Guest well, we believe that we should hold ourselves to the highest of standards, and if you are a member of congress, and you have committed a crime related to your service here in congress or your election campaign, you should not have floor privileges, period. We do not allow former members of congress who are lobbyists to have privileges, so we are continuing to raise the bar in terms of our ethical standards here in the house, and that is a good thing. By the way, it is a sharp contrast to the way this administration has conducted itself, probably the most corrupt administration not only in my lifetime but in the history of our country. Host our guest serves as the rules Committee Chair for congress, democratic representative jim mcgovern. Thank you for your time, sir. Guest all the best and be safe. Thank you. Host lets go to kevin. Kevin is in florida. Before we do that, we will go to john mcardle with more. You up to catch with what is happening on the house floor, we mentioned the passing of late congressman who died afterow complications after fighting coronavirus. There will be a moment silence that will happen on the house floor. Chad pogrom tweeting that out that the moment of silence will happen at some point later this afternoon. Has beenan letlow remembered already though on the house floor by the outgoing house chaplain pat conroy in one of his last prayers to start the day in the house. This was father conroy from last week. [video clip] father conroy today, the last day of 2020 come a most difficult here in so many ways, thisk for your blessing on house and upon our nation, this thel pro forma session of 116th congress. As we gather, virtually, like the rest of our world in this time, we mourn the death of the first member of congress, luke letlow, newly elected and not yet sworn in, of covid. Only 41, his death brings the brutal nature of this coronavirus plague to the doorstep of congress. With yourre find grace, o lord, the renewed energy and resolved to put our nations assets to the suppression of this disease. Lord, have mercy. Who havewell those labored in these halls and offices during this extraordinary year. Without their steady and faithful service, the work of congress would not have been possible. Done being for your greater honor and glory. Amen. Host 2 father pat conroy, the outgoing chaplain of the house. His term as house chaplain ends when the 116th congress got his out for the first time the last time gavels out for the last time. Manyessman letlow had messages to him, including one from senator bill cassidy, the alabama. Rom this was his tweet from yesterday afternoon. [video clip] letlowsidy luke funeral is today come of courses wife, children, everybody else connected. Every death from covid is a tragedy, because you feel like it should not have happened, particularly a 41yearold whose children who never knew him and a wife who will miss him forever and the congress will not have the people of his service to the people of louisiana and the people of the United States. Do what you can to keep others from getting infected and from becoming infected yourself. Host just so you know, at 10 00 today, the house will hold a pro forma session, their nexttolast, before the 117th comes and. We will take you to that. We will take calls until they start the mechanics of gaveling congress. Th again, follow all day on cspans 1 and 2. Oregon,om florence, republican line. Sorry for keep you waiting. Go ahead. You are on. Caller yes, i would like to say llat my grandmother was a po worker, and these people are pit bulls. If there is friction going on, everybody will know about it. ,nd to the 117th congress respect the constitution. Respect yourself, and respect for people. Host what do you mean by that . All thei mean fighting and bickering and voting along party lines is, in this world we live in now, is just childish. ,ost from michigan, arthur utica, michigan, correct me if i am wrong, arthur. Go ahead. All thises, you know, bickering, my mother and dad, i grew up in a democrat family, and, uh host go ahead, arthur. You are still on. Go ahead with your thoughts. Caller yeah, and my dad passed away in 1989. He was a world war ii vet. And he told me, on, i love my country, but i do not trust the government. And when we see all this bickering, it is we the people, the people have the power. You work for us, the politicians, and all i have got to say is this congressman, you know, whenever the democrats it is sad. They never miss a chance, ok, he has got this virus that is going, a vaccine for it, you dont give no credit. I have not heard no credit for it. Host ok, lets hear from brian in hamilton, virginia, and in a line. Caller independent line. Caller good morning. One of the things that bothers me to no end is all the objections that have been made to the election, that there is fraud, all these irregularities. None of them have been proven. The bulk of the congressman, both senators and representatives, our lawyers. Intoknow full well to walk the courtroom, before a judge, hearsay,vidence but here she conjecture, rumormongering, they are going to get thrown out. I think they should be disbarred for bringing these suits. They know they do not have a chance, and all it does is cause discord, more discord, more separation. It is so sad. They are damaging our democracy. Host ok. Caller they put it at risk. Host bernie from louisville, kentucky, democrats line. Caller good morning, pedro. Good morning, john. This is really exciting. It is opening day, not major league baseball, but still an exciting time. And if i may, this show should be on for five hours every day. At some point, i have to get out of this chair. Can you tell me is anybody running against nancy for the leadership . Host not actively, as i know it. Caller i have not heard of anybody, either. Will you be broadcasting the vote on wednesday for the electoral certification . Host all of that part of our coverage of congress, when the house gavels and on cspan 1 and does its business, we will show you that. They also gaveling on the senate side. We will show you on cspan2 as well. Caller fantastic. Keep up the good work. Host the next call is guido, elmhurst, illinois, democrats line. Caller hey, pedro, how are you doing . Good morning. Host good morning. Caller i think for the new congress, it is time that the democrats lean left. Has centre nonsense galvanized nobody. Right has positioning as a pillar of thought that corporations are people. The left does not have anything half as absurd as that. They constantly throw out there extremists. The right embraces them. Leftsremists, the extremists would be save the spotted aloe, eat the rich. There left does not say any of that. They constantly kowtow to a middle, and they have abandoned an energy that they could get if they embraced the left like the rest of the world. Host that is guido, elmhurst, illinois, on our line for democrats. Speaking of that, democratic representative elect, marie , also from illinois, speaks about congress. In this portion, she talks about start a National Nonprofit program to address bullying. [video clip] ms. Newman i am a collision builder but most of all, i am a management consultant, so process and communication are incredibly important, and doing it efficiently are incredibly important. I believe i bring those values to complement many others. You will be the first woman it elected to illinois third congressional district. What do yo perspective do you think you bring to the table, as a woman . Uniqueman i bring a combination of compassion and empathy, along with some of my business skills. I think people really value that, when i bring people together, because i can understand all sides of it but have the clarity to see a solution. Greta one of those experiences that you have had is starting and you touched on this an Antibullying Campaign that you brought national. Ms. Newman yeah. Ta is that even part of your background . Ms. Newman when my son, oh, gosh, he was probably nine or 10, began to learn that he was being bullied severely, and it lead to therapy and many things and realized that this is one of the issues nobody likes to talk about. Call thises to the sticky ball in the middle of the room nobody likes to touch. With that, i decided i would touch the sticky ball to bring it out in the open. I started talking about it very openly, and it shocked people, because everybody thinks the town is mayberry, right . It was not lagrange, by the way. It was a different town at the time. Everybody thinks the towns isor barry their town mayberry, and there is not. There is some competitiveness, bullying activity that people do not believe his bullying. I put together a group of 100 parents, staff, administrators, teachers, experts in psychology and human development, and we put together a strong task force to address this headon in the district and went on to work on illinois and have bullying laws on a task force. I wrote a book, and ultimately it manifested in this National Program that i developed. Greta do you remember the moment that you decided to take this on, and what were you thinking . Ms. Newman take on the office or take on the Antibullying Campaign . Greta the Antibullying Campaign. Ms. Newman yeah, i do. My son came home from being bullied severely, and we had been talking openly with him about solutions, and we had been working with school, parents, and nothing was really turning the tide, and he said, mom, i have got the solution, in his little 10yearold brain. Get into aow about i horrible car accident, and i come back as a different person, and i knew right there that not only was that incredibly frightening to hear as a parent, but i knew there were other kids in the community and the nation that were thinking the same way if only i could be someone else and we should never want to be someone else, because we are all special, and we all should have the life that we deserve. So right there, i thought ok, game on. We are going to take this on in a very real way, and we started organizing and building a coalition to address this in the community. Host one of the new members of congress when you will see being inducted into the class of the 117th congress. The nexttolast gaveling in of the 116th congress, before it turns to the 117th congress. But before that, we will take more of your calls, but first, we will hear from john mcardle. Host 2 i have been monitoring the sunday shows this morning and this unusual day of Congress Starting on a sunday. We have the sunday shows continuing and news happening on sunday shows, including republican senator Kelly Leffler from georgia who is running for reelection in that runoff contest that is happening in georgia. She was on Fox News Sunday this morning. She was asked about an issue we have been talking about this morning, challenging the president ial votes on january 6, if you would object to the Electoral College vote. This is what she had to say on Fox News Sunday. [video clip] today, can you say whether you will certify the Electoral College votes or not, maybe specifically from georgia . Sen. Loeffler i have been looking closely at it, and everything is on the table. I am fighting for this president because he fought for us, he is our president , and we are going to keep making sure that this is a fair election, but again, none of it matters if i cannot win on january 5. Right. Some of your republican colleagues have called these overturn efforts bad for the country. Senator romney, senator toombs, awley failed and h to acknowledge that these have been adjudicated around the country to guide knowledge that this election, like all elections, have had irregularities, but the evidence is overwhelming that joe biden won this election. Is he right . Look, wefler well, have every right to take these votes in a way that we think reflect our constituency and our state, and that is what i will do. I am going to speak to the people of our country. But the worst thing for our country as if david perdue and i did not win on tuesday. , because we have to be able to vote our conscience and what is right on january 6, and then we have to be able to pursue Holding People accountable for how these elections were handled. Host 2 Kelly Loeffler earlier this morning on Fox News Sunday. All attention later this week heading to georgia, the election for both that special election, Kelly Loefflers election, and the regular contest, david purdues election, both in runoff, both will be decided on tuesday in georgia. I should note that Vice President elect Kamala Harris is headed down to savannah, georgia today to rally for the Democratic Candidates in those two contests. E will be airing that live at 5 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. You can also watch it on cspan. Org and listen on the free cspan radio app. We are also expecting President Trump to be at an rnc victory rally for purdue and loeffler tomorrow in georgia, and President Joe Biden expected to head down to georgia tomorrow, so a lot to watch for the next 48 hours down in the peach state. And we are watching the minutes before the house gavels in for a short pro forma session. When they go to it, we will go to it as well, and when they are done, we will continue on for a couple more hours of calls and information regarding the seating of the 117th congress. Reese in illinois coming up in a line, thanks for waiting. Good morning. Caller good morning. I am hoping that with this new congress that is being gaveled in today that progressive members of congress will force a vote on medicare for all by withholding a vote from nancy pelosi, because i think that this pandemic, more than anything, has shown that our current house system is not uptodate and is actually a great big failure with the hundred thousand people and counting dad and millions more will be facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. So i hope that members of Congress Like alexandria fazio , and even newomar ones like marie newman, will hold withhold their vote on medicare for all. Host what you think is the likelihood of that . Caller i am not entirely sure, but i hope that they will. Host good morning. You are up. Caller happy new year. I would like to see the new Congress Take up voter id. Every other major uptodate country has voter id. Canada has voter id. I would also like to see paper ballots so that the machines cannot be rigged. You cannot rig paper ballots. They can recount the pristine shape ballots over and over again, and the same people counting the ballots must be the same people counting the covid cases, because in reality, the covid desk are about 60,000, not 350,000. When you have people getting bullet holes in them and they are counted as a covid death, that is wrong. Host ok, roses is on the republican line. Go ahead with your comment, rose. Caller thank you so much for being the last person to die have been watching cspan for 12 years. Part of the reason is because of you. You are excellent as a commentator at a narrator. As far as the opening day of congress is concerned, i wish god because today is gods day to protect all of us and help the democrats and republicans. Just a quick note, the lady who talked about bullying and she wants to do nonprofit, sorry, it is a waste of time. What we have got to do is a Nonprofit Organization to get god back into this world. Theres no respect for self, family, and neighbors, people around us, and without god in the picture, we are doomed. I respectfully submit this to you, and god bless you. Host from jackson, tennessee, democratic line, this is bea. The house is about to gavel income as a goahead ahead, quickly, please. Caller i would like to thank you for taking my call, and i would like to ask every american to pray for this congress that they will come together. I do have one point that i will like to make that i cannot understand. Thirds of the house vote, and Mitch Mcconnell sit up there and have the right to deny the voice of the people . It is ironic. He is the majority leader, but he had not led no majority. Host ok, that is bea in jackson , tennessee, calling on the third our. Normally we would leave you, but in this case, and extended program up until now with the opening of the 117th congress to take place today. A lot of activity will take place starting at noon and throughout the day, and the best place to follow along is to follow along, if you want to follow along with the house side, especially, with the leadership elections that you are john mcardle talk about, with a speaker, cspan 1 if you want to follow that, and if you want to online at cspan. Org and our radio app. For now, we take you to the house of representatives when they galilean. Gavel in. [no audio] the speaker pro tempore the chair will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. Chaplain conroy let us pray. God of the universe, we give you thanks for giving us another day. In these final hours of the 116th congress, we give you thanks for your faithfulness to our nation. There have been many struggles, many sorrow, and challenges still as the coronavirus threatens so many in our nation , in our world. And yet we are still here and able to give you thanks that there are rays of hope with emerblinging emerging vaccines. We are grateful, too, for the heroism of so many of our fellow citizens in health care and Human Services during the pandemic. May the work of this 116th issue forth to the benefit of our nation and its citizens. And where the efforts of this congress have fallen short, we ask your forgiveness and the forgiveness of all. Of all americans. May all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to section 4a of House Resolution 967, the journal of the last days proceedings is approved. The chair will lead the house in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, madam. Pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on december 31, 2020, at 3 56 p. M. That the Senate Passed without amendment h. R. 1472 and h. R. 4044. Signed, sincerely, gloria j. Lett, deputy clerk. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 4 of rule 1, the following enrolled bills were signed by the speaker pro tempore connolly on thursday, december 31, 2020. The clerk h. R. 221, h. R. 1472, r. 1923, h. R. 1925, h. R. 744, h. R. 3153, h. R. 4044, herr h. R. 4704, senate 371, enate 1310, senate 5076. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, madam. Pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the 2021 at january 2, 12 41 p. M. That the Senate Passed senate 5086, the Senate Passed without amendment h. R. 2444, h. R. 4508. That the senate upon reconsideration the objections of the president to the contrary notwithstanding, the 2 3 of assed h. R. 6395, the senate present having voted in favor thereof h. R. 6395, signed, sincerely, cheryl l. Johnson, clerk. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 4 of rule 1, the following enrolled bills were signed by the speaker pro tempore beyer on saturday, january 2, 2021. The clerk h. R. 2444 and h. R. 4508. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of the chair. Republicans. , 202 7488002. You can text us or post on twitter, facebook too. Today, johne ride mcardle. Letter out from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to her colleagues commit117th congress this is what she wrote in that letter we begin the new congress and a type of extort near difficult a. Each of our communities has been faced with a crisis. During to 50,000 tragic thats, 20 million infections, millions without jobs. Thank you for your generosity, spirit and patriotism to take on this challenge. As we go into session, i do so for of pride to be nominated by our Democratic Caucus as speaker of the house. Im grateful for the trust that members have placed in me. I am confident the speakers election today will show a united Democratic Caucus ready to meet the challenges ahead and that we are prepared to set our country on a new course starting with the Electoral College meeting wednesday. Letterom Nancy Pelosis to her caucus today. Of those members set to join the Democratic Caucus is lorraine newman. You saw her interview with cspan a little while ago. This is her tweet from just about half an hour ago. Standing outside of her office door with her name on her Congressional Office plate. According to goes nancy pelosi plan, she will be sworn in as speaker later today. This is what the 117th congress will look like. , two hundred 11 republicans, two vacant seats. York supervise recount happening there, and louisianas fifth, the district of the late luke letlow. Numbers from the Pew Research Service on what will be a slim democratic majority in congress. Pew Research Going back some 60 years, looking at the size of House Democrats at republicans and Senate Democrats and republicans majorities. Toy write that according their analysis of historical a going back to the 18th 88th congress, the size of party majorities have become slimmer. The largest majorities during this stretch occurred in the 1960s and both were democratic majorities. Democrats held 66 in the 88th congress. The size and majorities of both chambers has trended downward. I the 1990s, the partisan split in both chambers hovered around 5050. Nancy pelosi overseeing a very slim majority in the house. We will see what happens in the senate as well with those two georgia runoffs set to take place tuesday. The control of that chamber is still love for grabs. If democrats win both, they would bid would they would win that chamber. All of that happening this week. We will watch it play out on the house and senate floors. Host starting us off is louise in ohio. Caller i just want to say that i am extremely encouraged by all of the women you had on that are duly elected. It goes republican and democrat. One nurse, one lady from colorado, an restaurant owner, on and on. Will beouraged and i praying for all of them. Host how do you think it influences the congress . Very strong seem minded. I cant believe the one from illinois started the bullying campaign, the national campaign. It seems like they are very strongminded and independent. I believe they will represent their area now. No matter what. I think they will be very strong. I am impressed. Formerly incitizen management, im impressed to hear. Thank you cspan for having them all talk. Republicans and democrats. Host we have showed you this during the course of the morning, when it comes to the 117th congress and the women that will be represented in that. 27 freshman. According touse the center for american women. Mike in rockford, illinois. You are next. Caller good morning. The 117th can do do, aing the 116th didnt grand jury investigation on china and the coronavirus. If they are guilty, they lose all investments and all assets in this country. That is the first thing. The second thing, hold up their agenda. Third agenda is not an american agenda. There should be one agenda. Should be a grand jury about this russian hack. Everybody is sitting on their thumbs. Wake up. Host lets go to matt in ohio. Caller thanks for having me on. Happy new year. I think with the congress has to focus on you know, i am impressed with all of the work at at for me, i hotel. We have been devastated. You have waiters and workingclass people and it is just we are making probably about 40 to 50 of what we were making before the pandemic. I think we need to get covid19 relief and stimulus done as soon as possible. That from it has been all sides, i think it i think the 2000, they should have that per month. At least until we get the vaccines going. At least, id say, do it for three months. Host we just saw another round of funds for businesses in this last relief package. You are saying that is not enough . Be ithere needs to should continue. From all parties here, it should be targeted relief. I think it should go for, like, i would do it i would go under 50,000. We dont need to be giving checks for people at 80,000. It needs to be targeted, but i think more can be done. We can target it better. Ppp has helped a lot, especially in ohio. They are still struggling. It is still going to go on. 202 7488000 host ok host ok. Lets hear from judy in concrete, washington. Caller i have three issues. And pray second, the covid pandemic. Not heard of anyone having a case of flu. If you have the flu, it is all covid19. Which is a bunch of bs. Second, everyone in the nation and hehat biden cheated is not our president elect. All i can say i prayed to god every day that on the sixth, the congress and the senate unite and agree it is trump for another four years. Host judy giving us her thoughts. Previous caller talk about the number of women elected. We will give you the chance to meet another one. Stephanie bice talked about how she went from working in the private sector to running for elected office. [video clip] aboutas approached running for state senate in 2013. I had left a Family Business and started a Digital Marketing firm. I hadnt thought about running for public office. I was one of those oklahomans that voted in every election but never thought about putting myself out there in the public world. The individuals that approached me said that he had seen be done great things across the Oklahoma City area and have been very involved in many organizations. We needed more people like that in the state legislature. The other reason was we didnt have enough women serving. There time that iran, were three republican women out of 48. 19 out of 101 on the house side. The country for female legislators. Opportunity was an for me to do something important for oklahomans, to make a difference for my state. Won inrstaid set in and 2014 and was serving in that capacity. When republicans lost our congressional seat here. I was approached that night about running for this congressional seat. Work within the state senate, you helped overhaul the liquor laws. Tell us about that. I did. Oklahoma is very unique in that we were one of five states left selling what was called low point beer. The laws that were passed were actually constitutional changes that were enacted in 1959 and they had never been changed. I understood that we were losing out on Economic Opportunities across the state. I took on the task of rewriting an entire title of law as well as putting forth a state question which passed in 2016. It revolutionized our industry. Were asking for things like wind in Grocery Stores. We were not able to sell wine and convenience stores. We also did not allow for beer higher than 3. 2 to be sold at a Grocery Store. Now you see oklahoma breweries that have popped up across the state, more than 50. We have distilleries and wineries that are expanding. It was never about alcohol, it was about jobs. That has come to fruition. What led you to run for congress . I think there were a lot of reasons. I was very successful at the state level. I championed big issues. I knew i could make a difference for oklahoma. We were surprised we lost a congressional seat in 2018. I wanted to make sure that my conservative values were represented. Thats why i decided to run. You will be the first iranian american in congress. What does that mean to you . My father and i talked about this. I am an american and oklahoman. Iranian. Is i know a lot about the history. I have never visited and i dont speak the language, but i think it is a representation for me to be able to connect with the iranian american community. Let them know that there is someone like them that is serving in congress and build relationships. I think that is the most important thing. Where do your conservative values come from . Living in oklahoma. We are a conservative state. Liberty and freedom. I have been raised in that environment my entire life and i want to continue to support those initiatives. Of the tope initiatives you hope to bring to congress what are some of the top initiatives you hope to bring to congress . The most important thing for oklahoma right now is jobs. Seeing the downturn because of covid19. In oklahoma we are being hit on a few fronts. Not only the pandemic, but the downturn on the oil and gas industry. Several Companies Across the Oklahoma City metro area file bankruptcy or have mergers because of the challenges we see in the industry. I want to make sure we are doing everything we can to promote Economic Development, keep our economy moving with additional , and maketed packages sure we are allowing for Small Businesses to do with they do best, create jobs. Without that, Everything Else is secondary. I am hopeful we will see the rollout of the vaccine help reduce numbers and return this country to some sense of normalcy in the spring or summer of next year. Our line for republicans from new castle, delaware. Theer i am calling about 116th congress. They didnt do a very good job with President Trump. Biden that before joe gets in the white house, they investigate him and let him know that you do not it was a conflict of interest what he did , he went over to china with john kerry and barack obama, his two sons and granddaughters. John kerrys stepson. And then went to ukraine and got a lot of money. That is not what you do when you are the Vice President. From loma linda, california. Democrats line. Caller good morning. We have been in california for 120 years. Am a vietnam that i was in the war and the south china sea. I am so upset that these senators have decided to go against the u. S. Constitution. I think they ought to resign. Committee an oath to uphold the constitution, and now they are trying to make this a third world country. Host how are they going against the constitution . Caller when they took an oath to the constitution. Oath to go take an against it. They took an oath to uphold the constitution. Host how are they going against it . This last election. The election had gone to the supreme court, 17 different types of courts. They do not understand that the election is over. Joe biden won. Get over it. Lets help these people that need work. They are starving out there. If you go to los angeles, you see so many Homeless People you would think you are in a third world country. It is unbelievable. Host ok. Joseph giving us a call. Tweet fromowed you a one of the freshman members of congress stopping whether office doors. It is happening a bit right now. Freshman members finding their new offices and taking pictures. This is peter meyer, republican for michigan. On behalfget the work of west michigan. I am honored for the opportunity to serve once more. This is Ritchie Torres from new york. I stopped by my new office and saw my name on house plaque. Surreal. This from young kim from california, thanking her district voters for letting her serve them. I am grateful for this opportunity and ready to get to work. Work. Some veteran members responding to these freshman, as you can see their excitement. One of those veteran members, rick crawford, responding back to young kims tweet saying it is great to have you on our team. Theres a lot of hard work ahead but that is why we are all here. Rick crawford, republican from arkansas responding to the roof to the freshman. Keeping an eye on the sunday shows. Sunday,pening on this including the house Democratic Caucus chair Hakeem Jeffries on fox news earlier this morning. A specificd that rule change that democrats are proposing and the rules package that is going to be voted on tomorrow. That specific rule change from rural hall, adding explicit language clarifying that house currentes can subpoena or former president s and Vice President s and their personal or official capacities. Noting that as a sign that President Trump and Vice President pence may be targeted in the House Oversight efforts during the 117th congress. This is what Hakeem Jeffries said when he was asked on Fox News Sunday. [video clip] why expand the subpoena powers . The house as a separate and coequal branch of government. President ,rk for any democrat or republican, donald trump or joe biden. We have a constitutional responsibility to serve as a check and balance on any executive branch for i would not interpret any change in roles as an effort to look backward with respect donald trump. When we felt it was the right thing to do, consistent with our Constitutional Responsibilities to hold this president accountable, we took that step. As we move forward, our concern is going to be focused on Kitchen Table pocketbook issues, dealing with Health Care Challenges of the American People and making sure we can bring good payer prosperity. This should be our guiding principle. With joe biden and Kamala Harris to build back better for the people. Host janice in kansas, democrat line. Theer i am ecstatic for 117th congress. I will be so happy for nancy pelosi. I will breathe easy with joe biden. These ifthrough the democrats can win the two seats, we can get some work done. In this new administration. Host works such as what . Caller the coronavirus. My heart goes out to the people who have lost loved ones. Number two, people that are suffering. People losing their homes. Waiting in these long lines for food. The children, the kids in schools. I could go on. Do youou state think Speaker Pelosi has a challenge with the number of republicans elected . Caller say again . You think Speaker Pelosi faces a challenge in leadership with the number of republicans that were put in . Caller she should win. Who else is going to do with . Paul ints go to charles town, west virginia. Caller good morning. Comment on your nice outfit youve got on, is that viking purple . Host it is a tie. [laughter] caller i am calling i am a nurse, most of my spirit has been in the are in the er nursing since 1975. ,bout three or four years ago at work it was mandatory to have flu virus. Changed everybody around with the card. I used evasion. It is a needle. The number twoy, in command, not the supervisor, tracked me down with the card and said it is time for your shot. I used evasion. She said paul, if you dont take the shot, you aint coming back. My question for the general oflosophy going on in all the citizens, all of the parties , the rights of man. I had the right not to take the shot, and the corporation has the right to then to deny me income . I get confused. Laura ins hear from spokane, washington. Caller [indiscernible] host go ahead. Caller i am calling because i want to say i am thrilled we have new faces in here. Have republicans and democrats new faces. Vibrant and full of enthusiasm. Keep america free. I dont care if they are republican or democrat, i am glad to see them. I am tired of seeing the same people spouting the same crepe they have been spouting for years. These young people, democrat or republican, welcome. Host laura in spokane, washington. Many of you calling about the court this morning, the seating of the congress. We will continue with this effort until noon when we will take you to coverage of both the house and the senate. We had the opportunity to speak with several numbers of congress. Joining us now is tom emmerich, republic and a been a soda. Republican from minnesota. Good morning. Guest good morning. The National Republican Congressional Committee as the campaign arm for house republicans. 423 of 435idates in seats in the last two years. Likest all odds, it looks we have picked up 14 seats. We stand to pick up a 15th depending on what happens in upstate new york. Goingwhat does that mean forward, particularly for the Republican Caucus . Guest it gives us strength. It is important for the American People. Thes be clear, for Republican Caucus, we elected the most Diverse Group of republicans that have ever joined house Republican Caucus in our history. We are going to have a Record Number of women, over 30 women. This is just the beginning. Every seat we have flipped so far has been by a minority, female or veteran candidate. It is about the diversity it brings to our group. In, it gives us strength numbers because this will be the one most narrow margin for a majority in the house of representatives since the 1800s. Host what does it mean working forward with democrats will hold a house, Speaker Pelosi, should she win another echo another round . , the this narrow margin most narrow margin since the 1800s, means we need to Work Together. Republicans and democrats need to Work Together to get things done. Republicans want to advance things on behalf of the American People. , i am also tell you little concerned. If nancy pelosi is successful today, we may be stuck in the same thing we have seen. Speaker pelosi has shown consistently that she would prefer to put politics ahead of people. Rankandfile members are ready to get something done but it is going to be an interesting speaker election. Host in terms of politics, what are your thoughts on the expectation of republicans in the house and senate contesting the results of the election . Guest when it comes to our expectations, you can tell the fact that we picked up seats in a year when we were supposed to we were supposed to lose 15 to 24 seats in the house and we picked up 14. Agenda, basedour on the freedom of the individual versus this new socialist left agenda the socialist left is not going to sell on main street america. I think that was the message the American Public gave. It looks like they are doubling down Going Forward, the new socialist democrat majority. Senate Going Forward, several senators have indicated their intent to contest some of the electors in the coming days. I look forward to at the debate is and the evidence. Host is that enough for your support . Guest several senators have indicated. The only way for this to go forward as if you have a senator and a member of the house. We are told there are members of the house that are going to pursue that. I am looking forward to hearing the debates. It will start in the senate. Lets see the evidence. Host do you think it is a worthwhile effort . Guest people are following their constitutional requirements. That makes sense. I think the American People wants to make sure they have a fair and free election that they can trust. Host will you be one of those people that contest the results . Guest i am looking forward to hearing the debate and seeing the evidence presented. We will see how the process plays out. Debate goingas a into the passage of the latest stimulus relief about the spending side. The 2000 checks. Where do you stand on that . What faces this new congress as they tackle or consider others to be this relief . Guest i was disappointed with the fact that we had the stimulus relief for Small Businesses. We had covid relief that the president had agreed to sign and offered to Speaker Pelosi before the election totaling 1. 8 trillion. Because she thought she was going to be stronger after the election, she refused to accept. At the end of the day, we had 900 billion we were able to direct toward Small Businesses with additional money for the paycheck protection program. This is going to be an issue and we have got to get this country open again. On theany are focusing 600 checks, so to speak. What do you think of the perception of that particularly amongst republicans . Guest delivering 900 billion firstgeted relay for responders, hospitals and Small Businesses that are the backbone of our economy, i think we did a good job of trying to do that. I was disappointed that the speaker held it up for months, putting Many American lives and futures at risk. Hopefully we are going to Work Together. Host as far as the passing of luke letlow of louisiana, what happens now . There will be a special election, a process in louisiana where they will select the candidates that represent. They will go through the same process they did when luke letlow, great guy with a wonderful family, had an amazing career, big loss. I expect the governor of that state will set a special election. The Congressional Campaign committee and serves the state of minnesota. Thanks for your time. Guest happy new year. Host here is david in wrightsville, georgia. Good morning. How are you . Host i am fine. Caller [indiscernible] i think the 117th congress should try to stop this virus. I dont know how theyre going to do it. I hope they vote nancy pelosi back in as speaker because shes got [indiscernible] host josh in pompano beach, florida. Caller good morning. I am excited for the hundred 17th congress. But itify as independent am definitely progressive. I am excited to see if all of the squad members are going to vote for pelosi or not. About been an idea forcing a vote for medicare for all in exchange for voting for pelosi, which i am in favor of. Is the most all popular policy in america. Host is this an organized effort . Youre the third caller to express the sentiment. Caller it has been pretty organized. A protest inere is washington, d. C. To force the vote. Hopefully they do it. I doubt it. Why do you think this is the right time to bring this up, and the right way to bring it up . Caller we are in an awful pandemic. It has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. I dont see a better time to fight for health care than right now. If representatives are going to vote no on health care, we should fire them. Josh in pompano beach, florida. We will hear next from charles in kentucky. Republican line. Caller happy new years. Is why dont they investigate nancy pelosi for feeling so compelled and concerned to try to help and support other countries with all this u. S. Money . Tot are they going to do antifa that needs to be held responsible for their actions . Marian in grovetown, georgia. Caller happy new year everyone. It doesoncern is that not matter what party, it seems like when they both get up there , they have 400 lobbyists that are represented by their big donors and that is why the big donor class has made over 1 trillion during the pandemic. We have to get money out of there and somehow they have to start representing the rest of us, not just the 1 . Biggest one. Bly my of course, covid. Also, democrats need very much when i saw them when Bernie Sanders was up there saying no were not can i do defense authorization, or whatever, until we get 2000, they could have stood firm and we would have gotten the 2000. Instead, they backed down. Republicans are good at standing firm, we need to do it as well. Marion in georgia, giving us a call as we count the minutes. One hour 20 minutes until the new congress is seated. We will hear now from john mcardle. More ofnt to show you the scenes on capitol hill, new members showing their excitement on the opening day of the 117th congress. More members showing off their nameplates on Congressional Offices. This is jahmal bowman from new york. Swearingen today at noon. Cspan. Org. It warms my heart to have my boys dressed up and spending the days with me as i get sworn into office. Thank you to everyone it for all of your support. Tweetuld you young kims showing her Congressional Office building. Followerso giving her a tour of the rest of her morning including the moment where she picked up her new member badge and pin. Piners using that badge and to get on the house floor into record both their presence in the house today and also their first about. Their first vote. [video clip] i just picked up my member badge and member pin. It is official. I cant believe i am here now and i look forward to representing the people of the 39th congressional district. Lets get to work. Congresswomen young kim, representative elect from california. Republican. Also, the story of the day is going to be this speakers vote in the house. Defect fromocrats voting for nancy pelosi. Does she have the numbers to become speaker again . She had expressed confidence she does. Here is the latest reporting from politico. House, 220 twohe democrats, 211 republicans. Pelosi needs a majority of those present and voting to secure the gavel. Democrats are expecting one absence in alcee hastings. Could be twoere republican absences due to covid. And salazar from florida. Of the 10 democrats who did not support pelosi and 2019, they say pelosi has flipped at least five of them. Five, Elissa Slotkin, jared golden and Abigail Spanberger will either vote present or say someone elses name of the four. Keep an eye on the progressive squad. Cori bush, Jamaal Bowman had declined to say whether they would back pelosi for speaker. That would be the story to watch today on the house floor. It is going to be one you can watch for a while because that vote is expected to take place over the course of several hours as proto Covid Protocols require members to come in groups of 72. The speaker vote, we are expecting to start around to 30 p. M. Eastern. In florida on the republic line republican line, this is steve. Caller i am very excited about this new congress coming in because we have more republicans, more people who support the constitution of the United States. Aboutspecially excited the freedom caucus. These wonderful people are going to counter the radical extremist , unconstitutional squad. I am so excited about this. It is going to be wonderful. The American People saw the last two years with this congress has done, the democrats have done nothing. They saw these radicals and said we are rejecting them. That is why we have more republicans today being sworn and then we had two years ago. Host ok. Stephen florida. About the seating of the 117th congress. We will continue on with those calls until about noon. You can see the actions of the seating of that Congress Play out. Throughout the morning, we have been joined by legislators and have the ability to talk with them on several different fronts. Turning us now, Majority Whip Jim Clyburn from South Carolina. Good morning. Guest good morning. Host i am well. I dont know if you just heard the call, but he mentioned the fact you are going to have a growth republican numbers. What does that mean for leadership Going Forward . We always try to reach out across the aisle whenever we can. To get things done for the American People. The majority we have in the house is going to be smaller. We be in atate that little more focused on trying to make sure we keep all of our members informed of what we are doing and also to stay in close touch with them, taking into account the fact that they are going to see us. I think you are going to see this caucus operate efficiently, effectively, and as well. You discuss those things the caucus would like to do in the First One Hundred days, particularly where you can work with republicans . Guest i think republicans are in agreement with us that covid19 is no respecter of political party. Elsespecter of anything that may separate us demographically. The first order of business is to work closely together in order to get beyond the pandemic. That is critical to everything. We are not going to do what we need to do to deliver health care to the American People unless we get this under control. I think that joe biden has made it very clear that he plans to spend his first 100 days focusing on getting 100 Million People vaccinated. I think that can get done. Authoritye to use his as commanderinchief to use the would advocate nationalizing the coast guard as soon as he gets in office. Though it looks like a big job, it is a big job, the fact is it is more cumbersome than hard. The defenseizing act, or whatever, with the coast guard, we can get this done. Host when it comes to nationalizing the coast guard, how would that assist the goal of vaccination . The aboutk getting the vaccinations done is to get it deployed out to the states. Is nobody more effective at getting that done. We have called upon the coast guard time and time again. When we have a crises. Representative in the house. And all of our efforts for katrina and rita, i worked very closely with all of the entities in order to get that done. I think we did a pretty good job back then. I think it is going to take that kind of organized effort today. Believe willrd, i be the way to go. Host representative clyburn. You, as much as many are watching what is going to happen this week with the verifying of votes from the states concerning this past election. You gauge exactly what will happen then to the effect that is going to have on the houses ability to work with republicans Going Forward . Guest we have demonstrated time and time again that we wish to work in a bipartisan way on behalf of the American People. You will never see house members going to the extent that we hear many republicans talking about. This democracy is too important for the world. Important to our continued existence as one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Allowed to get sidetracked. We are in pursuit of a more perfect union. We believe that the way to do is to adhere to the constitutional principles that cap this country together thus far. I am very familiar with the fact that we have not been perfect. We should remain in pursuit of perfection. Host we heard senator hawley make the case as far as the objections he will raise that a similar effort took place in 2005 with Stephanie Tubbs jones. To think those comparisons held up as far as their concerns about voting irregularities . Guest absolutely not. All of us out here during that time, all of us remembered that there were issues taking place. That issue was specific to the closing or the changing of polling places. That assaulted the sensibilities of a lot of people. It had some real issues involved. Was onen, the process not to tear the place down, but to bring attention to what took place there, and hopefully it had a lot of luck. I think dewine did a great job in this past election. I believe he was instructed by some of the things people felt that took place that should not and theen place in ohio election before. Host representative clyburn. With everybody paying attention to georgia this week, you wrote a recent oped about water Runoff Elections, black representation what is the argument . Guest if you look at the history of the country, which i have studied a lot, we used to have cumulative voting, preference voting, all of these things were thrown away in the 1890s when we went to the stash elections. These elections. When you look at georgia, georgia lead on this. By having these Runoff Elections. Said in his debate that he was doing this in order to set up racialized oneonone boats between blacks and whites, and to run a racist campaign, the white person would prevail. That is exactly what he said. That is what the selections were intended to do. Of it. Victim when i ran for secretary of state in South Carolina, i led the ticket with 43 . I would have been nominated in new york and many other places. It forced abecause Runoff Election between me and a white candidate. The first thing that candidates said, i am not running against him because he is a new grow. That set up racialized election and i lost. That is what it does. Thats why wrote about it. Host you can find that in the washington post. Our discussion with jim clyburn from South Carolina. He also serves as majority whip. Thank you for your time. Guest thank you. Calling, those who are sean in lancaster, pennsylvania. Independent. Caller good morning. Compliments for trying to get representative amber for asking that question that he three times chose not to answer about whether or not he would challenge the results. Im calling with regards to the swearing in, particularly within the house. I am not entirely sure about the rules in the senate. With regards to the swearing in of the members of the house, according to a congressional Research Service about contested election challenges, it is important to know that according to research, any member of the house, or any member elect can challenge the election of another member in the house. It is usually under a statute where the losing candidate can challenge the politically of the winning candidates election. But, it is also other member elects can challenge the swearing in of another member elect. That is important because i do not think anyone is going to actually challenge anyone in the house. But, that raises an issue. If one believes that there were voting irregularities, if you are a member of congress and believe there were voting irregularities in some states at all federal candidates are placed on the same ballot, it is difficult to understand why you wouldnt challenge the members of congress who are also elected under the same ballot for the same state where you have the power to challenge that person. I think it will be interesting. I do not foresee any member of the house challenging the election of anyone. On january 6 when they challenge the president ial electors, get they did not challenge the they did not challenge each other, i think that is telling evidence of where the actual views are. There wereeves irregularities, it would presumably apply to all federal candidates. Host ok. That is strong. That is sean. We go back to john mcardle. Followup on that idea of challenging another sitting member of congress, Bill Pascrell from new jersey taking this tacked on that. Pass grell saying yesterday, at the start of the 117th congress i called on house leaders to refuse to seat any members trained to overturn the election and make donald trump an unelected dictator. The text of the 14th amendment expressly forbids members of congress from engaging in rebellion against the United States. Trying to overturn a democratic election and install a dictator seems like a clearcut example of that. Frompascrells tweets yesterday on the issue of challenging Election Results when the house sits in a joint theion january 6, and increasing number of republicans who plan to join that effort. Senator ron johnson was on court meet the press here is a portion of what he had to say. [video clip] i want to quote senator ben sasse. What you are alleging, you and your colleagues have created this controversy. We are locked into a destructive, vicious circle. You made an allegation there was widespread fraud, you have failed to offer evidence, but your demanding an investigation on the grounds that there are allegations of widespread fraud. Essentially, you are the arsonist. President trump is the arsonist. You have started this fire and now you are saying, look at this, oh my god, all of these people believe what we told them because you didnt have the guts to tell the truth that this election was fair. Inthis fire was started january 2017. People like mark zaid, the cuba started the coup was started. This started when the Mainstream Media dropped any pretense of being unbiased and actually chose sides. This fire was started when you completely ignored our investigation of hunter biden. No evidence of wrongdoing there, now we find out there is a fair amount of evidence to the point we have a real ive had enough of this. Ive had enough of this too. No, you a situation where republicans do not trust the Mainstream Media. That is what has destroyed the credibility of the media and our institutions. The destruction of the institutions i didnt start this. Host senator ron johnson on meet the press this morning. Some democratic members of congressman Congress Taking up this issue that is going to come to head in the joint session of congress generate six. Bennie thompson saying, how can any member of congress challenge the validity of trumps defeat when they were elected from the same ballot . Chris murphy from it is a mistake to assume these republicans are doing it for political reasons. He writes, many, maybe most, are withlly find to dispense democracy. We have been bringing you some of what is happening inside the capital when it comes to new members of congress finding their offices, taking pictures in front of the offices. I also want to show you the scene from outside the capital. Congresswoman,re the democrat from pennsylvania, showing both what the weather is like on capitol hill this to her with her message twitter followers from just a few minutes ago. More to come it is january 3, the first day of the 117th , the swearingen and the election of the speaker will start around noon. It is a very different swearingen them last time, obviously. We cant have family and friends here. But one thing is constant, it is such an honor to be here to serve our country. Thank you to everyone who to help protect, preserve, and defend the constitution. Again, some of what you will see throughout the day as the 117th Congress Gets into session. Again, watch that play out on cspan and cspan2. In this final hour before we take you to those events, you can call and let us know your thoughts on the work of congress on this opening day. And you can text us at 202 7488003. He joined us again from capitol hill. He is the congressional reporter, and for joining us. Guest good to be back with you. Host we started with our last conversation about the speakers election. Can you update us about where we are as far as votes and the likelihood that she will win another term as speaker . Guest the likelihood is pretty high, there is no real indication that she is in serious jeopardy. She has sent out a letter to her colleagues this morning expressing confidence that she will be elected speaker for the next two years. Rank and file democrats say that she will be the speaker. Larson, a to rick democrat from Washington State this morning who has tested positive for covid right before christmas and as we have discussed earlier this morning, nancy pelosi sees covid19 as the biggest opponent to her speakership because if you have absences,number of then that changes the dynamic, that changes the numbers on capitol hill and could prevent her from the simple majority she needs. Rick larsen told me today that he has been quarantining for the last several days and has now been cleared to travel. He is here in washington, d. C. Now and says he will be voting for Speaker Pelosi. We are also getting other reports, sort of rumors floating around capitol hill that glenmore, who tested positive just a few days ago from wisconsin, may be coming to the capital to vote. Theyot sure how exactly will clear the floor for her and allow her to vote, or if perhaps a doctor has cleared her, but there are some congestions this. Orning theseust shows how tight margins are and how close this vote will be. Host what is the likelihood that a democrat within the caucus could vote against the speaker as a form of protest . Ofwell, there are a number moderate, vulnerable democrats who will be facing tough elections who have already said that they will vote against pelosi or perhaps not vote for anyone, really. Lamb of pennsylvania. He mentioned some others this morning. Lose a fewosi can defections in this vote, but again, because of how tight the margins are, because the arerity of the democrats saying it cannot be 15 like it was two years ago, she will have to keep those very low in order to retain that speaker status. Host so we talked a little bit before about what happens after today, this being a day of mechanics and protocol. As far as agenda, what is expected from the House Democrats when it comes to what they will work on . The top priority as has been stated from the president elect and Speaker Pelosi is going to be defeating covid19. They struggled, the congress did pass meaningful coronavirus legislation. They did get adl deal in the waning hours and days of this congress, but pelosi and joe biden have said it is simply not enough, that 900 billion is simply not enough. Somewhere in the range of trillions of dollars that she said was needed to defeat the coronavirus. Clearly, we are still in the thick of the pandemic with deaths continuing to rise and the unemployment numbers still going in a bad direction. In thethe priority opening weeks of the new congress will be to boost covid aid for workers, for schools, for hospitals and health care workers. Off will really kick things in 2021. In terms of the rest of the year , democrats have a number of other priorities including climate change, including infrastructure, as well as criminal justice reform. Host what is the impact of those efforts by the number of republicans who are likely to this last election . Guest well, just as the speaker any vote on major substance of legislation, it will be extremely tight for nancy pelosi and her Leadership Team in terms of how they will be able to maneuver. When you think about big pieces of legislation moving through the congress in the past, like obamacare, or even on the republican side, like the gop tax credits for the repeal of obamacare, several years ago, we saw what it means to have those tight margins. Pelosi will be operating in that same space in this congress, and needing to muster every ounce of her experience in order to corral her caucus and hurt rankandfile democrats to keep them all sort of marching in the same direction in order to get something done. Joe biden clearly has the experience and the relationships on capitol hill to push that agenda forward. Again, a lot of this will be determined by what happens in the january 5 Senate Runoff ,aces down in georgia, really where the entire senate will be up for grabs in terms of who will control the senate majority. That will be one of the big things obviously to watch this week. Host before we let you go, anything new on what is expected on this joint session of congress when it comes to the Electoral College . I think the democrats are united in opposition, clearly, against this effort to overturn or to block the certification of joe biden from becoming president of the United States. What we are really seeing is an allout civil war happening in the Republican Party where you have a number of trump allies including Louie Gohmert and ted cruz pushing effort on january 6 later this week to try to block the certification of the election. Really what has been a formality in recent years, and of course, on the other side effect, you have folks like mitt romney and thisoomey who are saying is unamerican, this is undemocratic. This is a disenfranchisement of the millions of voters who cast , andts in those states that republicans have no real business going down this path ahead of the january 28 inauguration. Host giving us this time twice this morning, scott wong. He serves as a congressional reporter. Thanks again for your time today. Guest really appreciate it. Host we also thank all of you waiting online and on the phones to give us a call as silicon alabama, republican line, cheryl, go ahead. Caller i would just like to say that i have no confidence in , or the majority of the democrats. Pelosi invested 1 million on an american cyberattack company, the originator of russian hacking claims. Host where did you hear that . Caller pardon . Host where did you hear that . Caller i read it. Host where did you read it . Like towell, i would talk to you about it. Wolf blitzer, a chicago republican apologist, he said why wont you sign the relief bill . People are hungry, even your own caucus once to accept this bill. Host i will stop you there and ask again, where did you read that . Caller nancy said that is not what we are going to do. Int ok, we will go to karen chesterfield, michigan. Democrat line, hello. Caller happy new year. Host happy new year. Caller im actually in macomb, the 10th congressional district. And it has gone republican for a while. I havent voted, for my record. Paul mitchell was my years,ntative for a few and he has since left the republican and lisa mclean, also a republican, won the seat. Macomb,was very much in for lack of a better term, on the trump train, and she has been silent since she won the election. And i have been very curious to see how she might react, seeing as Paul Mitchell has since left the gop, is my understanding. Chad,alabama, this is republican line, go ahead. Caller good morning and happy new year. I just wanted to talk about some of the unity that we are seeing in this freshman republican class. It wasw, i believe december 15, representative elect wrote a letter to Speaker Pelosi, calling for an investigation into voter fraud, and i believe every civil freshman republican member signed on to it. I think we are going to see a real unified republican freshman i dont buy into the divide in the Republican Party. I dont remember a freshman class ever being this active and effective before they are even sworn in. Host anthony is from detroit, michigan. Independent line. Caller two things we are thinking of, i will be sad to see represented of gavin leaving. We have ever senate of tal we ive representative talib, dont think they are so serious about their agenda. They should not even be voting for nancy pelosi is speaker. I mean, clearly there is that, and we have a Democratic Caucus in the house. Host why not give Speaker Pelosi a second term specifically . Caller a second term . Another go at speaker, why not give her another chance to serve as speaker . She is a little too advanced. She is complicit in the bush war crimes. She is complicit in it, it is absurd. Caller im democrat line but i have not voted or volunteered for them in decades because they have sold out the people who are middle class and lower class and since we are out of work and many people are facing being forced out on the streets, in fact, the sheriffs have been getting together and arguing about how they are going to handle throwing people out when they are allowed to do so in july, so the democrats ought to get that 2000 out. People are literally going to be out on the streets and they are doing nothing about it. And they shut everything down. Eth calling, we have been showing you portions of interviews that we have conducted with freshman members of congress q. Week you heard john mcardle mention a couple times about the florida representative elect testing positive for covid. It was well before todays activities that she had a chance to sit down with us. She is one of the few members of congress for joining us who comes from a background of broadcast journalism and she told us about that. When with the moment you realized he wanted to move on and enter politics . When i started realizing that there were forces in this country saying that democratic socialism is the way to go. That is the right ideology. Coming from a cuban background, i just told you my parents were political refugees, and we saw that dogma, it promises something in theory but then it comes to practice and is miserable. That i when i decided wanted to join politics, to try prevent thates and ideology from taking place in this country. When did you decide that you wanted to be republican . Always a republican because, as i said, we are cubanamerican, we remember the Democratic Party has not been as forceful against the cuban revolution as republican has. And for us, the cuban revolution is something that we carry in our heart, and is a very important topic. It is a pending topic that has not been closed or has not been taking care of in favor of the cuban people. You spoke that your family and their influence, essentially within politics. Tell me about your early life, and where you grew up. I was born in miami, florida. Born, wers after i was moved to puerto rico, the island of puerto rico. And i went to Grammar School there, where i learned spanish, something that helped me tremendously to be able to speak it and write it when i was working for Spanish Television and telemundo. Then we came back to miami when i was 14. I did high school in miami and i went to the university of miami and after that i went to harvard, the john f. Kennedy school of government to get a masters in political economy. Didnt mean to interrupt. That was it. And then we came back to miami and started working when i was what was thein local affiliate for univision at the time. The mostuld you say is influential person in your life . I would say that my grandmother, i carry her name. Influencevery strong in my life. Me, she shaped my character, shaped my ideology, and i am sure that she would be very proud to see me and what i am doing right now as a member of congress, fighting those forces that destroyed her life. Oftell me that your district floridas 27th district. Tell me about it. Is the ultimate melting pot. Hispanics, the cubans, the africanamericans, withinte americans, and the hispanic group, the central americans, hondurans, nicaraguans, the guatemalans, puerto ricans, dominicans, the peruvians, argentinians. And we all live in peace, we love each other. Along with the africanamericans and with the angloamericans and is is really the face of america. But sharing the view that the United States is a fantastic country, and that we all have to fight for its betterment and its prosperity. Can you lay out some of the issues that you are facing in your district . Guest basically, jobs. We need to bring back jobs. We need to give an opportunity to all those immigrants, communities to be part of the american dream. And that is why i am very much focused as a congresswoman on getting that opportunity where there is to become a vendor of the federal government or finding a better job or learning how to do something, and apprenticeship paid by the government. Something they can give you the instrument to be independent and not have to depend on government assistance. Was done wellhat before the diagnosis that the Freshman Congress men elect received of contracting covid. She will stay home as part of that, but look for her as the 170 Congress Goes forward. Again, look for all of that playing out today. The house and the Senate Follow along on cspan and cspan2. We are in the final 40 minutes of the 116th congress before the 117th gavels in at noon, and is in with the new but it is also out with the old on capitol hill. Some tweets on both those friends. The, on the new front, republican from iowa, this morning showing himself unlocking his office door for the first time in the house office building, inviting his constituents in to stop by. We had a call or a little while ago, now former congressperson Paul Mitchell, the former republican from michigan. Paul mitchell saying four years ago, he joined me on the speakers balcony. He joined me many times. My hope is that he remember that entire experience. Today is my final day as a congressman and it has been quite an experience and an incredible honor, saying thanks to all. Primaryinsky lost his in his illinois c. He says i want to thank the people of illinois third forgetting the honor and privilege to serve you and my nation for 16 years. Our team was able to get a tremendous amount done to make america better. This tweet from the outgoing congressman from South Carolina, the democrat joe cunningham, to the republican who is taking over his South Carolina seat, saying congratulations to ce onesswoman nancy ma being sorted today, for success is the low countries and success. Good luck, and best wishes. Mace responding saying thank you, and to your team to your continued dedication to a seamless transition. You, this fromr senator lamar alexander. Three terms as a senator from tennessee, the chairman of the contentions committee. He took the time today to play himself off as he departs congress. Here is this from just a few minutes ago. It has been a real privilege to be the United States senator from tennessee. Ive gotten up every day thinking i might have a chance to do something good to help our country and im gone to bed most nights making that i have. Thinking that i have. Host again, the 117 congress, just about to take place and be gaveled into session. Here is what we expect. The senate will come into a pro forma session around 11 45 this morning. When that takes place, we will take you to it. And then again, like we did before, when they gamble out, we will come back to this program, but not before the house will go back into pro forma session. That is expected around 11 55 this morning. The last of the 116th congress. Coming back to visit of the 117 congress. Again, we will take your calls up until that time from michigan, democrat line. This is kyle, good morning, youre next. Go ahead. Caller thanks for having me. I was really excited leading up to this new congress, especially in the house, because both with the dnc, it might be a loss to have such a slim democrat majority, with a progressive caucus that should be extremely empowering. They could banded together and they could finally act on the words that theyve said to get nancy pelosi out, cause a ruckus, get a floor vote for medicare for rock it fails. I think this is the perfect opportunity to finally take action, to no longer have the excuse that you dont have power or leverage, and i think this would be a huge failure if they dont do this after a deal for nancy pelosi doesnt work. She will stab you in the back every time. Aoc just lost a Committee Seat because she did not use the leverage. I think it is time to shift over and make it politically toxic to oppose giving People Health care in the middle of a deadly pandemic, and i think this is the perfect opportunity. Host this is frank in west virginia, independent line. Caller yes, my name is frank. Good morning, everybody. Onould like to touch down the voting. Go ahead, frank. Caller i would like to touch down on the voting. I think the democrats and republicans on voting, i think they ought to have a poll for the democrats and the republicans and they can count and on them votes sending out money to Foreign Countries, i think that is wrong. Worry about the American People before they send out money to other Foreign Countries and stuff. In this pandemic, like it is. Host james is in arkansas, republican line. James . James hung up. Lets go to lewis in north carolina, democrat line. Caller hello, good morning. I would like to talk about this nancy pelosi losing her house leadership. I think that the republicans just need to hush about that. She has done an excellent job against trump, she is what we need right now. Who else is going to stand up to trump . You see how she made him look like a little child with his tantrum . It is time for the progressives to move up in the democratic but they are still a little young, they need a couple more, three or four years. Once we get trump at his crew these out of their through the leadership of nancy pelosi, then let aoc and all the progressive democrats make their move, but we have to get past this division right now, and we need nancy and schumer and the elders of the party to do that. You dont know what tricks the republicans are going to try to pull. Old heads up in there until things tend to flip over and we get our unity back. Host if the Senate Remains in republican hands, what would you say to the speaker about then . Caller that is why we need her there right now, because everything is riding on georgia. Yearldnt want a separate of a representative taking leadership of the Democratic Party at a delicate time like that, especially with what is going on in georgia. We need leadership. Host we will hear from bob in hometown, illinois, republican line. Caller happy new year, pedro. Talk about pulling tricks, the democrats have never seen so many lies in politics and so many years. Never seen a president ial election stop in the middle of night and come back in the morning to camp both. Oann,r johnson, i saw on therd it, they showed when press left and republican poll watchers left, four acting Democratic People pulled out ballots and suitcases underneath tables and they showed , one gal took the same ballads and counted them four times over. Is when they took 17,000 votes from trump and gave hunter biden. Talk about tricks. Houston, texas. Independent line. I would like the folks , we know george gibb, the legendary notre dame in 1920 player died from strep throat and pneumonia. And there is no treatment for that. With this pandemic raging across the world and in the United States, we have over 350,000 deaths, 3000 per day. Congress, lets win one, or just one for the American People. Host thanks. Houston, texas, independent line. Weve got about a halfhour left for our program today before activities take place, the heading of the 117 congress. We will give you a chance to meet one more reppo tentative elect. He was recently selected as the cochair of the congressional field caucus and a cspan freshman interview, he talked about his indiana district and the importance. It differentiates us because we have a number one tops steel producing area in the nation. Our steel mills are vital not only to our National Security but to northwest indiana. How is the Steel Industry faring in your district . Well, covid19 has had its impact on the markets locally and also has had the impact on production. So currently, it is running at about 67 of production rates and ultimately, we want to get into the high 80s and 90s and give all of our men and women who work in steel and our steelworkers back to work and ultimately do what we can to protect the Steel Industry tradeery solid and agreements. To make sure we are not getting steel from Foreign Countries dumped into the United States because they have a surplus. As a member of congress, i intend to work extremely hard to make sure that the case that we protect the Steel Industry as a matter of National Security. A key phrase that weve learned over 2020 was supply chain. The last thing we want to do is be dependent as americans on steel. When it comes to defending our nation, building ships, building airplanes, building tanks. So we have to make sure that we protect our Steel Industry. , makerastructure bill sure we are investing in our industries. In our workers, to be able to produce the most efficient steel on the planet earth. Workforcee among the before entering congress, what industry did you work within . As an elected official. And for the last 15 years, i was a north township trustee, i represented the communities in northwest indiana. Socioeconomic set of communities. 180,000 people. And what my responsibility was is emergency relief. So, families who have lost their jobs, who had worked through stoppages or who are underemployed over the last 15 years needed service to thousands of people every year to make sure they stabilize their homes and to make sure we work with social services. And to make sure those individuals who were vulnerable or living in the margins or needed a job, not giving them a handout, but giving them a hand up in order to get employed. So here we are. We are in a national crisis, people are losing their jobs. People are facing health care crises, and that is what ive done for 15 years. I bring a set of expertise or skill set looking for people in the eyes who have uncertainty, who dont know where to turn. We also worked on workforce developing with many colleges, making sure people are prepared for the next generation of jobs. I intend to make sure we get through this health crisis, stabilize the economy, stabilize peoples homes, get people back to work, look to see what the next generation of jobs are and train those workers to be prepared for that. Withately what i have done the training necessary for the conditions or the time that we face currently internation in indiana and in my district in northwest indiana. Republican line, washington, this is samantha. Caller happy new year to all of your callers. I am very much concerned about the Republican Party, which has seeming to become a cult entity for the current occupant of the white house. I am an africanamerican Senior Citizen who grew up in the Republican Party. I have seenof what happen over time, and the manner in which the party has completely been taken over by the very people who fought there being a Republican Party and its founding is appalling and to see these people who call themselves republicans who are trumppu blicans decide that they are going to undermine our constitutional guarantees and , theyarantees of voters want to serve a false god. It is appalling, and America Needs to wake up. The Republican Party needs to come back to where it was when and not allow on, what hitler did to take over in this country. Host that is samantha and washington, d. C. Host a few minutes before the 116 congress dabbled out for the final time, 117 congress gambles in, some more images from what is happening up on capitol hill including an image of the 117 pins. Mber pins and spouse and policesecurity officers can recognize who they are. A democrat from california sending out a tweet with a photo of what they look like in the 117th congress. Members are very protective of their pins, as you can imagine. Showing the moment that he switched out as 116th for his 117, we will let you watch. On capitol hill. The 116let you know, congress will gavel out just before noon. The 117 congress will gavel and at noon on the house floor. Here is what you will be seeing after that. ,here will be a call to order there will be an opening prayer by a methodist minister. And then the pledge of allegiance and then the core call will take place, that being , expected to come in. Six groups of 72. Should take about an hour for that, and then what is likely to be the most anticipated aspect of the day, the election of the speaker. That election also will take place in groups as members come into allow for more social distancing to take place. After that, remarks from the speakerelect swearingin by the dean of the house, the republican from alaska. The speaker will administer the oath of office to members. A couple tweet on the speaker vote and what is going to be happening this afternoon, we are expecting the speaker vote to begin around 2 30 p. M. Eastern. A longtime congressional reporter, if you dont follow he writes covert precautions will slow down that process starting around 2 30. Groups of 72 are going to be going into the chamber. Remember, republicans dominate the early stages of the alphabetized order called voting, so early leads can be deceptive here. He says the phone, last until 5 00 p. M. And then the winner will be announced the speaker vote. If not, people do it all over again. The rollcall is repeated until someone gets a majority. On each ballot, members can vote for anyone including candidates not previously nominated. He said that has happened before, even if it is not likely today. Last multiple ballot speaker election was 1923. Both Major Party Nominees initially failed to gain a majority because of votes cast by other candidates from a Progressive Party or from the gop progressive lane. He says many of these members agreed to vote for the republican candidate only on the ninth ballot after the gop leadership agreed to accept a number of procedural reforms. It is not expected to go that long today, but it will be mostly an allday affair because of the covert precautions taking place and again, you can watch it all with us here on cspan. Host just a few minutes before the senate comes in for its pro forma session. When it does, we will take you to it and when we are done, we will cut back to this program. Up until then, your calls. Lauren in springfield, illinois, democrat line. Caller hello and happy new year. Im just hoping that when the new congress is in, that they tend to work more for the American People instead of themselves, and take care of what needs to be taken care of. Quit arguing over the silly stuff. All of us, like it should be. Host what constitutes silly stuff in your mind . Just arguing over i dont know how to say it. Medial things. Host 10 what should they be focused on specifically . Caller right now i believe they should be focused on the covert relief, helping the american covid19, and how to hopefully one day get rid of it. Host ok. Lets hear from clyde in minnesota. Independent line. Caller good morning, pedro. Thank you very much for allowing me to make my comments. Abraham lincoln said give a manpower and he will show you his character. If you study the congress, the history of congress, you will find both democrat and republicans have done many i dont likeave to use the words sold the country out, but put us any withy awkward Situation Companies moving to china. People like Mitch Mcconnell who were elected with about 400,000 more votes than the opponent, controlling so much of what happens to so many millions of people in this country. People ins for the congress. We just need to clean house. Host in the interest of time, what does that mean for the 117 congress specifically . Caller specifically, if i may, and i dont want to be a killjoy, but i think that both republicans and democrats over the past 40, 50 years have sold us out, so to speak, and i think you can expect pretty much more of the same until we clean house. Host new york, republican line. The senate just about to come in, so go ahead with your comments. Comments on this, medicare for all, these people are coming in on, there is a little rhyme i made up. Medicare fraud scheme hospitals will fall. Theres 60 Million People on medicare and Medicare Advantage now. You would be putting 200 77 million more people on medicare. It has only got five years. Host and then we will go to sam in connecticut, independent line. Caller thank you for taking my call. I think due to Nancy Pelosis poor leadership in the last term, any other progressives in the house should withhold their vote for her in order to bring a vote for all. Host this is the sixth call we have received, is this an organized phone campaign on this issue . Caller um, no. Host it is the sixth call and premuch the same language. Just asking. Caller no, this is just me and my personal opinion. Host again, here is what we are effecting to play out in the 15 minutes or so. 116th congress. We will take you to the senate when in gavels and for its pro forma session, basically like the house pro forma session. And then they usually gavel out. Last action ofe bears before the 117 Congress Starts. Again, that is set to start just a few minutes from now. Later on and just a few minutes after that, the house pro forma session will come in. They will again go through the actions and the mechanics, gambling income settling business, gaveling out finally as the 116th congress and then coming in. Up until then, we will take you to the senate. The senate will come to order. The court read to the senate. D. C. , january 3, 2021. To the senate under the provisions of rule one, paragraph three of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable lindsey graham, the senator from the state of South Carolina, to perform the duties of the chair. Adjournedate stans under the previous order. Host and with that, that of the last action of the 116th congress as we saw on the senate side. Congress is what you will be seeing. Follow along on cspan2. We want to welcome all of you watching on cspan and cspan2 as we are covering the hundred 17 congress, is opening day. Then you will see later on today both in the house and senate, new members being supported, and a lot of activity. The vote for speaker of the house will be something to watch, but we welcome both cspan and cspan2 viewers to our program. Just a few minutes of this program ends, so we are taking your calls. Tony in new york, independent line. Caller my call today is about the pensions. We are sending money all over the world, pakistan, india. But american citizens like myself who have been suffering, waiting for the congress and the senate to come together to fix pension problems in this country, may have not done that yet. We kept getting pushed behind. But the one thing the American People dont understand is the bill that mr. Obama signed, the pension reform act, is going to affect every american in this country. Host let me stop you there, what does that mean for this congress coming in . Caller this congress is probably not going to do nothing like the congress before it. They have done nothing. They gave us plenty of lip service, made us feel good, but nothing was done. Host virginia, republican line, youre next. Disappointedvery in everybody took the opportunity to call in. You know, i dont know if people but they can call their senators and their people. They can recall them. They can impeach them. And i think that is what needs to be done. Host why is that . Caller why . They do nothing. What do they do for us . Look at the state of america right now. What have they done . They did not pass the 2000. Why . Because it was too expensive . A republican since age 18. Mitch mcconnell is a mess. They did pass 600 and you are saying that is not enough. Caller i dont think it is, for people that really need the money. That help. I saw a little girl in the Grocery Store yesterday and it broke my heart. She was so sad in the eyes. She was despond and of everything. It has got to stop. From rick inear pennsylvania, republican line, go ahead. Just excitedm about january 6. When the president is going to lay his cards on the table and the republicans are all going to speak and hopefully, hes going to win the election for another four years and biden will have got his face. Host how do you think the president can end up winning . To put well, hes going down about all the stuff that has been going on, the corruption and everything and all the states and everything. The republicans are going to get up and talk about all this from the different states and hopefully that will be going toat theyre well,o open this up and, he does see all this corruption its going on. Host ok, lets go to pat in kentucky. Caller thank you for taking my call. Thecalling really about condition of the congress and how i dont think congresspeople thattaken into account they are there to serve the people of each individual state to the best of their ability, and i really think theres just too much influence from lobbyists. I am from kentucky. My glorious representatives are Mitch Mcconnell and. Of them are really nasty in the tooth. As far ase to say universal medicare, i dont think that is a practical solution. In giving some kind of assistance so everybody has some kind of coverage, but not medicare for all. Paul, a fewl go to minutes now until the house gavels in. Paul, louisiana, republican line. Caller yes, thank you for having me. I just think, i was saying i dont think nancy pelosi is going to get House Speaker today. I think it is going to want happen january 6, that is the day that we are going to take our country back. Host but lets start with nancy pelosi, why do you think she is not going to get another term . Aoc did notknow, get her job on the committee, and you have a lot of people just dont like her. They lost a lot of seats in the house, that they really should have one, but they lost them. I dont think shes going to get it. Its going to be close. If she does get it, it is probably going to be by two votes. Host and what makes you think after january 6, things are going to change as far as the status of president elect biden . Caller well, i dont think hes going to get it. He did so much Election Fraud. I dont know why theyre calling him president elect. My center is john kennedy. Finally ishn kennedy going to help object because there is evidence out there. Joe biden is not going to be president , thats all im going to say. Host mississippi, you are next. Good morning. Caller good morning, how are you doing . Host i am well, thanks. Caller i am calling to see about the stimulus. Last time i did not get much. Dont pay my bills and he dont stay with me. Host ok, have you contacted a representative about this . Caller well, it didnt make no difference. They said that if somebody is and i the taxes, wondered, was i going to get the 600 this time . Host that is mississippi. By the way, i reporter eric lawson reporting breaking news when it comes to senator lindsey graham, who you saw presiding over the senate, the senators have a high bar to overturn the election on january 6. The commission started by republican senator ted cruz, calls it a political dodge. We will go to deborah in a yorktown heights, new york. Democrats line, hello. Caller yes, thank you for taking my call and thank you for all the coverage in the past year, it has been so valuable to hear all the different opinions. Congresst for the new is that im quite concerned that isis reported hack quite extensive and probably because we dont have enough it is very, secretive, we are not getting more information, but my concern is that President Trump is not denouncing it, and that makes me wonder why. If this is such a national risk, why is he not speaking out against it . Watcheen trying to variety shows, liberal, conservative, to stay openminded. Enter look for evidence to support what is really happening unilateralt take one stance, even though i am a registered democrat. But my concern is that there are a lot of republican senators who are in the house supporting him on investigating the election, thats fine. But my concern is that, is he possibly trying to stay in by redrawing International Lines . My concern is that i think its fine to investigate votes, count the votes, thats fine. Campen, count them again, thats fine. But the issue is really the leverage that russia has over us currently. And the lack of President Trumps denouncing this attack makes me wonder, that he supported . Or does he supported . Florida, republican line. We are Just Moments Away for the house coming in, so go ahead. Bud calling. Is ust think every mexican every senator should be behind donald trump. On january 6. It is their job to do