democrats are facing a big challenge on how to get president biden s build back better plan passed after senator joe manchin delivered a blow in opposing it. congresswoman pramila jayapal, the leer of the progressive caucus, wants bide on the take executive action to deliver help to americans. suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill with more. hi, there, suzanne. what is the congresswoman proposing and how is it being received? reporter: good morning. certainly they feel like this is not a zero-sum game. they want to make sure at least something gets done and that that would be really advantageous next year for the midterm elections to prove that the democrats can get something done. so she is asking the president, calling on him to use his very unique powers here, those executive actions, perhaps, easy
this morning, two of the great congressional tacticians of all-time are facing off. house speaker nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell, maneuvering over the senate impeachment trial. right now, it s frozen. the status of the trial in limbo until lawmakers leave washington until the new year. suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill with the latest. they ve been circling each other for days now. it s not clear where this is headed, suzanne. reporter: yesterday, you had democratic as well as republican leaders holding their year-end press conferences. they wished us happy holidays before they left town. as congress is on its winter rece recess, you have the senate impeachment trial in limbo, as this standoff between nancy pelosi and mitch mcconnell intensifies. a clash on capitol hill, between its two most powerful lawmakers. frankly, i don t care what
motions. the debate putting a handful of vulnerable senate republicans in the spotlight. sources tell cnn the white house and gop leaders are worried about the uncertainty of how those senators would vote on trial-related issues. i think that for all senators and certainly senate republicans, they have to make sure that this process doesn t seem like a sham, like it s a slam dunk as senator mcconnell has said. reporter: house judiciary chairman jerry nadler who would normally attend the rules committee pamarkup has a family emergency. he s not going to be doing that and said congressman jamie raskin will be filling in for him. our thoughts are with his family. suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill. we have a brand new cnn poll with revealing numbers on impeachment including where do voters stand in the key battleground states. maybe not exactly where you think. that s next.
office of management and budget official michael duffey. these are folks at the center of what democrats allege was a presidential direction to delay the aid in return for a politicplitt political favor. let s bring in suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill. what s what chuck schumer is asking for. will he get it? this really is kind of setting the marker, if you will, the starting point of the negotiations. it s not clear at all that he s going to get any of those witnesses, highly unlikely, but at least putting pen to paper and letting senate majority leader mitch mcconnell know what the wish list is, also should let you know that he added an event, a press conference today at 2:00 so clearly trying to get his message out in a very public way, trying to undercut the republicans argument that we didn t get any primary witnesses so trying to call those primary witnesses, at the same time expanding the scope, the scale
next tuesday, the full house will vote to impeach the president. they re fully expected to have the votes, though we re getting new reporting this morning that a new handful, maybe a growing handful of democrats could be getting cold feet. meanwhile, republicans are warming up to the idea of a short trial in the senate. that is, majority leader mitch mcconnell s strategy. a short trial would not include witnesses. you ve no doubt heard the witness list some in the gop have in mind. also president trump is pushing for an aggressive defense. the prospect of imminent impeachment is weighing on him while he is down playing it publicly. cnn has learned that the president is privately, quote, somber. so let s begin our coverage with suzanne malveaux live on capitol hill. reporter: good morning, alisyn. i spoke to a number of republicans from the senate judiciary committee yesterday. they want a thorough but speedy trial.