that the congress made to end poverty. congress expressed it too well i believe in 1964 when they said that it is the policy of the united states to eliminate the paradox of poverty in the midst of plenty in this nation. this is the richest nation in the world. the anti-poverty program has had many achievements and also has some failures. but we must not cripple it after three years of trying to solve the human problems that have been with us and building up among us for generations. i believe that the congress this year will want to improve the administration's poverty program by issuinging it to other administrations, and we should continue to do so until we have broken the back of poverty throughout this land. i believe, and i hope that the next administration, i hope that they believe is that the key to success in this evident is jobs. it is work for the people who want to work. and the budget for fiscal 1970, i shall recommend a total of $3,500 million for the job training program. and that is five times as much as we

this is all the congresses, all the sessions of congress that have happened since 1947. those blue lines show the number of bills that each congress was able to pass. the last line with the arrow pointing to it, that is the congress that comes to an end today. you will notice that congress over the last few years has been a little stunted, is probably the polite way to put it, since the republicans took over the house in their big wave election in 2010. look at that, the three congresses since then, the 114th congress just ended today, those three are the least productive congresses of all time. since the republicans took control of the house in 2010, the three congresses since then rank first, second, and third as the least productive congresses we've ever had, since anybody started tracking the productivity of congresses at the end of world war ii. this congress just ending today also had the lowest confirmation rate for civilian nominees in modern american history. for the first time since the modern budget process was created in 1974, this congress for the first time

not quite the percentage but very close. 49 members of congress. more than 10% of the congress. and about 25% of the democratic caucus. this congress, six cbc members will serve as ranking members of key committees. strong, able. grounded voices. since its founding in 1971, the cbc has become, as nancy pointed out, and as we all referenced, the conscience of the congress. and the congress and the country need a conscience. need a strong voice for principled execution of the laws and adoption of the laws. as our friends' ranking member, john conyer remembers, he was among 13 original members at a time when some in congress wa wanted to close the book on the civil rights movement after passage of landmark legislation of the 1960s. but he can also attest that the work of civil rights and economic justice was far from completed and today remains so. if i were in my church today, i would say, do i hear an amen? the creation of the cbc was a powerful reminder to the congress and to the country that the civil rights movement and the efforts to secure justice and equal opportunity for a

time and time again from congress to congress lawmakers come down to this floor to talk about the need for tax reform. as a current small business owner for all of my working life, i understand what is willing small businesses firsthand. since i came to congress i have been outspoken on the need to reform our tax code, and i have a proposal to make it happen. my tax reform plan will simplify our tax code. it will give job creators the tools they need to succeed and empower america's greatest asset, the american worker. my tax reform plan will do what it's name says it will do, jump-start america. today the internal revenue code is often called complicated, uncompetitive, and unfair. rightly -- rightfully so. according to tax laws and regulations have grown to more than 10 million words in length. imagine how much easier tax season would be for all of us if we sha runge our individual income tax thresholds to two brackets. what if our tax code put american taxpayers first. in other words treated us like a customer. the united states has the highest corporate tax rate in the free world.

they might say that the congress is the most unpopular congress. if you do not like what congress vote then out, and they will continue down the same road and it will be gridlock. host: maryland, republican. caller: hello. good morning. the first thing i would like to see happen is that congress actually work. key democrats that remind me of the three stooges. then there are other republicans that do the same. i want to see them settle down, and i want them to -- out the andness of the government work for the people. that is why they are there. there to represent everyone in the united states, not just one person or two, one special interests, one company coming in with her checkbook. i want to see them get down and think about the people of the united states. host: what should they do for the people? caller: go ahead. host: what should they do for the people, debbie? caller: health care is very important. you have elderly people who cannot afford -- they have social security and medicare, but they have to buy a supplemental. so that is half, if no

in the 80th congress. the 80th congress being the first congress in which both houses were controlled by republicans since the semi first, -- 71st. with almost no opportunity for debate. almost no hearings at all. it was introduced, brought onto the floor. there was some debate. some amendments were passed. it was passed by a coalition of solid republicans. i don't think a single republican did not vote for it. of southern democrats who were hostile to president truman's civil rights policies, who could be seen as helping the democrats did not the whiteo hold house. one of the reasons for the haste with which the amendment was rushed through congress was that around the country large number of republican state legislators were still in session. if the amendment emerge from congress in time, it could be rushed to those legislatures and ratified in order to get the bill into the constitution within the next few years before public opinion might shift back to the democrats. that is what happened. it was final

hayden: did congress. -- the congress. it is a 10 year term. the librarian is the only appointee that is a presidential appointment. the other 3200 people that work at the library are government employees, federal employees. there is not an appointment process. when nine inch in congress, there are appropriations committees that have oversight, and quite a bit of interaction with congress. susan: is there still a joint committee? mr. ferriero: yes, in both houses. susan: are they active? ms. hayden: they are active. what has been hard in working in congress is the interest of most of the legislators in history. it was striking during my confirmation process, seen how much the legislators knew about cement and wanted to their place in history. susan: what is your operating budget? how much of that is federally subsidized? ms. hayden: just about all of it. $632 million. the smithsonian has done a wonderful job of working with patriotic philanthropy. the library has been relatively new to that. the fact that we are in this coolidgea gift of mrs. w

this year, i'm proposing that the congress provide the full $300 million that the congress last year authorized to do just that. [ applause ] and i hope the congress will put the money where the authorization is. [ applause ] i believe this is an essential contribution to justice and the public order in the united states. and i hope these grants can be made to the states, and they can be used effectively to reduce the crime rate in this country. but all of this is only a small part of the total effort that must be made, i think chiefly by the local governments throughout the nation. if we expect to reduce the total crime that we all detest. frankly, as i leave the office of the presidency, one of my greatest disappointments is our failure to secure passage of the licensing and registration act for firearms. [ applause ] i think if we had passed that act it would have reduced the incidence of crime. and i believe that the congress should adopt such a law. and i hope that it will at a not too distant date. 2340 in order to meet our long-standing commitment to make government as efficie

if the congress within 21 days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or if congress is not in session within 21 days after congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both houses that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the president -- the vice president shall discontinue to discharge the same as acting president. otherwise, the president shall resume the powers and duties of his office. >> the gentleman from california, mr. mcinerney. >> amendment 26, section 1, the right of citizens of the united states who are 18 years of age or older to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the united states or any state on account of age. section 2, that congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. >> the gentleman from georgia, mr. woodall. >> amendment 27, no law bearing the compensation for the services of the senators or representatives shall take effect until election of representatives shall have intervened. >>> on friday afternoon, members of the house and senate will meet for a

they've warned their congress. while they might agree with some of the reforms they were targeting with this ethics entity that did not agree with the timing, and that ends up why they line up directly with the president-elect. the interesting is that the rank-and-file decided to go against them anyway. despite the warnings, despite what they saw over the campaign season, despite what they expected to come from the president-elect. now, one of the interesting elements when i talked to republican aides, house aides, they said, look, we think you are making this way too overblown and people aren't going to be paying to this unless -- and the unless was -- the president-elect decided to tweet about it. he decided to tweet about it, and i can tell you over the course of the last hour or so pretty plainly, our phones are ringing. when phones are ringing, members start to react. now you have an emergency meeting. >> it is a reminder of how unpredictable the new terrain in washington. 17 days away from the trump administr

the first successful effort to expand congress' power and-n counting did not come until 1865, when congress adopted a joint house-senate rule on the subject. under the rule, no electoral vote that incurred an objection could be counted unless both houses agreed. the joint rule was tempered by the electoral count act of 1887 which still governs the counting process to this day. the law allows an objection signed by house and a senate member. however, under the count act, unless there is a case of double returns, no electoral vote regularly given and lawfully certified shall be rejected. in 1969, dr. lloyd bailey, a republican elector from north carolina, was faithless. and the governor of north carolina certified the state's electoral certificate with knowledge of the vote. the house and senate thoroughly debated whether his vote should be counted but ultimately voted to reject the challenge. opponents of the challenge in my view properly argued that congress lacked the power to exclude dr. bailey's vote under the count act, an more importantly congress had no power to exclude his vote under

we talked about a few key areas in the last congress. big data in smart cities were areas we focused in on to help folks understand real use cases that were happening. and some early progress that was being made, things like smart cities, where different cities using things, different censors on transportation. we also have incredible opportunity in all areas. this is infrastructure when you talk about sensors figure out how much water a plant needs to farmers don't have use too much water that they don't need. we have to remind people the breadth of opportunities. there are expected to be 20 billion connected devices by the year 2020 of all sorts. to remind folks of issues of inneroperability, consumer protections, privacy, security, important issues as well we want to make sure people are i wear of and are thoughtful looking at policies. >> do you feel you're still in kind of the education phase rather than starting to really think about what kind of legislation might be useful? >> guest: i think we're continuing in the education phase

in the 80th congress, the 80th congress being the first congress in which both houses were controlled by ,epublicans since the 71st during the first two years of president hoover's term. it was enacted with almost no opportunity for debate, almost no hearings at all. amply introduced, brought onto the floor, there was some debate, some amendments were passed, and it was passed by a coalition of solid republicans -- i don't think a single republican didn't vote for it -- and a core of southern democrats who were hostile to president truman's civil rights movement. they could be seen as hoping that the democrats did not continue to hold the white house. one of the reasons for the hate why view and it was rushed through congress, was because a larger among that number of republican legislators were still in recession. a could be rushed to those legislators and ratified in order to get the bill -- the amendment into the constitution in the next few years before opinion might shift back to the democrats. that in fact is what happened. was finally entered into into the constitution in 1951,

that's arthur's prior to for the 115th new congress. what's likely to be on the legislative agenda first? >> the caller mentioned social security. that issue came up somewhat during the campaign. president obama came out and supported higher dbenefits for beneficiaries. and there are groups in washington fiscal hawks saying wait a minute the social security as it is now is already under-funded if you go out 20-25 years it will be facing some veer fisc severe fiscal pressures. i have not heard any plans to address the social security finances or to redo the system. i did talk to some republican candidates like vacan from nebraska today workers, 30 years old, a reduction in future benefits in order to keep the system solvent. not anyone near retirement, but today's younger workers, but that's not something that the republican leadership has talked about to my knowledge. instead the focus has been largely on discretionary spending and anybody who look as to the big budget picture would say at some point congress is going to have to address

>> congress will consider very infrastructureof package. we have heard the numbers floating around, $1 trillion of infrastructure poses. bet do you think needs to written into that proposal to ensure that resilience is ?onsidered or is there a way craig: if we are to make these investments, let's build not only to capacity issues but to the risk profiles we see coming. in some cases, this has nothing to do with it and more to do with the understanding of seismic risk and as better how dotion comes out, they perform, and yet we do not want an earth quake to occur and then find out we should have the better and then come back and say there was actually data. lookisk profile should be at your known personal risk, look to the future and what kind of objections that may look like and incorporate that into engineering. future and resiliency against oreats, whether it is cyber, just changes to the way we operate in use things, that will change risk profiles. is a rolethink there for congress to ensure some of these considerations are taken into ac

>> yeah. >> they're at the library of congress. so the documents that are kept, the amendments that are kept, a part of the declaration of -- i'm sorry, the constitution, library of congress keeps those. i think they eventually did transfer them to the national archives because they are part of the records of the united states. >> you mentioned the guttenberg bible and constitution and declaration of independence and gettysburg address. what else of importance do you consider, i mean, if you start next rank, would you mention? >> yeah, so, the journals of the continental congress, madison's notes on the constitutional convention, the president's papers, washington's diaries, all of these get transferred out of the library of congress at this time. samuel morris' first telegraph, what hath god wrought gets moved out at that time. the queen's condolence message for the death of abraham lincoln. and the layout of washington, d.c. is one of the documents that gets moved out. >> as we look back on it, who would you say, in order of impo

the republican congress and the republican congress already is voting. they are already acting to start to get rid of the affordable care act. whether or not you like the affordable care act, it's inarguably true that tens of millions of americans have health insurance or are otherwise benefiting personally from that legislation from what president obama and the democrats did when they put that into place. there are tens and millions of american who is have health insurance who didn't have it before. there are many american who is know that they only have health insurance because of that legislation. and there are many americans who will tell you that they are only alive because they have health insurance and because they have the protections afforded by that legislation. it's a life and death fit. and when you take something like that, that is a life and death thing for a lot of people, you take that away, do not be surprised when people are moved to act. so that is one thing that is going on. the other thing that's going on, though, is about this presi

if congress doesn't fix it who will? congress as an entity has control to fix things the house of representatives does, our think tanks and conferences are great to raise awareness, but it comes to fixing themselves they have the tools to make themselves great again to address these problems to find a way to allow this comfortable information to flow to the right people but not to get to the outside. they have the opportunity to actually embrace the challenge they have which is the article one responsibility to hold themselves account able. the best example is within the past couple weeks, the debate about russia's involvement the senate has been briefed, rank and file house of representatives are now back home doing town halls, they don't know what's going on, they're being asked these questions and are getting the news from the media not from the guardians of the information, they're getting it from press reports, reading the "washington post" and that's what they are getting. if we are going to hold the intelligence c

that is congress's judgment. i agree, can you give me a hypothetical that says in some case the procedures won't work and there is a bad result. no system is perfect. not even a judicial system as the correction rules of this court recognize. i think the question for the court is should you kind of rejigger the statute and propose a new standard -- >> that's not exact -- >> you have to excuse me. i'm not sure i understood your answer to the chief justice. he a he add hypothetical and you say that doesn't follow. >> i thought it was a five minutes of services thing. if it is not followed within everyone agrees there is judicial, the iep is a contract and the brief site precision where it says can you force the iep. i understood the hypothetical to be about some really low level of benefits and our point is rowley says there isn't some benefit standard. that's been interpreted in court after court. there are three cases just in the last year alone about that. the question is, in spending clause context do you want

not new wants changes in the law, constantly done by congress. grandparents were born, we put into place any trust laws that are still operative today when a judge tries to make a decision about monopolistic behavior. of thosete ability concepts should cause us all to say, why shouldn't we use a 12 -- use a totalve that isn't effective. that may be where the fcc has a major role is making sure that communication companies disclose their priorities and what they are doing that i wilds the cusp -- allows the customer to know they are getting a fair deal. feel about do you the pending at&t merger? which president-elect trump has said he is opposed to the merger . how will that play out? darrell: i think we have gone to a pretty lax definition to an overly critical one. i am beginning to worry that one of the challenges is, when you have incumbent utility like ,erizon that is doing very well and it has such market share to keep them ahead of their competition in the current situation. bandwidth is much available, they find themselves unable to be com

i think i'm going to be the member of congress, the freshman living close to congress. i've lived my whole life either in maryland or washington d.c. i know this area well. i've offered to give tours to my new colleagues or help advise them on wolves or where to go and so on. but my parents have been a profound influence in my life. my dad worked for president kennedy. he's a political philosopher. he read a book called liberalism, the genius of american ideals and he's been a great progressive influence there. my dad said when i was a kid of a kid of one's guide to impulses. one is to fly like a bird in the other is to stand like a tree. i always thought of myself as a true person. i never moved away from home. i've traveled abroad, lived in france for different parts of africa and europe, but this is the place that i love and am very moved that the voters made the congressional district which is not just montgomery county has sent me here is the representative. it's a great title ii represent people's needs and their interests and values. and my mom was a great writer

for congress to be focused on right now. >> it isn't. that's the whole thing, it's not. >> tonight, the emergency meeting republicans held to reverse their plan to curb ethics oversight. >>> then, 17 days from inauguration, why the president-elect is attacking one american car maker and applauding another. >>> plus, washington's top democrat draws a line in the sand. >> with all due respect, america cannot afford a twitter presidency. >> and the trump biographer kicked off donald trump's golf course by the president-elect joins me live tonight. "all in" starts now. >> good evening, i'm ari melber in for chris hayes. tonight we have good news in washington o

focusing on work to remove the health care law. >> i want to welcome you on the start of the 115 congress. i first would like to start rethinking the american people. we take it to heart and the responsibility. we have a guest with us today, someone who has been here many times before. i want to congratulate the trunk and steam. they have the wisdom to listen in the courage to lead america. when you watch on the floor today, we are going to start with that. we watched what has happened with jobs across this country. the regulation impounded for the last eight years. you will see this week that will bring up the reins back. many of you know about that legislation. it simply says give the people a voice when it comes to regulation in america. it only deals with those bills of regulation that get opposed upon that cost more than $100 million. you think there would've been a few of those, but if you look in just the last six years, there is 82 of those put in place every single year of this administration. we have to get the burden off and start working. no new major rulings will be imposed w

congress has spoken. when it comes to enhanced interrogation techniques, my understanding is, i have not seen the new executive action but they are going to look at and examine those issues. with respect to torture, that is banned. the army field manual makes that clear. the law is tied to the army field manual. we view that to be a matter of settled law. i am not familiar with what is coming out today but it with regard to how most members of congress perceived or view that, we have spoken on that. >> i think that it would take a change in the law. congress is on record opposing that. [inaudible question] >> you will have a lot of members of congress who will weigh in on that. they probably already are. we believe it is settled law. the army field manual speaks to this issue. i don't anticipate that will change. if the administration has something they want to propose we will be willing to take a look at what it might be that they are suggesting but in terms of how that issue is dealt with in terms of co

they felt the library of congress staffers felt the library of congress should never again reach that level of prestige because those documents were going to be taken from and displayed at the national archives. the library of congress is holding great esteem but that is why it took so long and finally truman says it is time to get these on display and that happens in december 1952. on bill of rights day, december 15, 1952, in an enshrining ceremony, presides over one of truman's last public events. he is the lame-duck, i was elected and 52 and truman resides over the documents. >> this is something i would like to ask you to think about a little bit before you answer. i'm not advising you to but you might want to in which case if you do i will ask while you think about it but if we could save one historical american document that has been lost along the way, which one would it be and what happened to it? do you have one in mind? >> i don't need to think right now. the declaration. the declaration, the constitution is the codification of the principles in the declaration and as i said

. >> host: so congress passes a law and congress finds it, what happens?e face. >> they don't legislate, theyon delegate. these people nobody voted for and are in no way accountable and congress tells them you write the rules and make the law. they give them a very vague aspiration. then it allowed those people that are supposed to be the experts to make the rules and make the wall. congress what they do is sit back and intervene in the individual cases where the constituents get in trouble with these agencies which is much more helpful to them getting elected and it's a lot easier than the job of making policy choices and legislating so they are not doing the fundamental constitutional job. >> has the increase in exports of, an implicit, has it been sl? >> it is coming in waves. the first was the progressive era woodrow wilson who was a political scientist had a theory about giving america a new style in the administrative state. the biggest came with the new deal after the great depression and periodically there's a reaction in the increase inriodl gover

we are getting congress working on that now. that is to secure the border and enforce our laws with respect to criminals who are illegal aliens. we 100% agree with that. we're a nation of laws that need to support the laws. we are now working on legislation to make sure that the resources are deployed to the border so they can get what they need to secure the border. i voted for this about years ago to secure the border and it never got done because of the past administration. we have a president who is serious about securing the border. what i amming you is we support and agree with that and not only that, we are working on how to execute that in the new congress. >> thank you. i want to say do you know how many lives have been lost by repeat criminals. if we don't have a wall and deport the criminals, they will keep coming back killing more of us. >> that is one of the two things he asked us to focus on. deporting violent criminals who are repeat evenoffenders. >> i want to bring in angelica villa lobos who lives in oklahoma c

i find congress and donald trump have no ethics whatsoever. if they did, they wouldn't slander people, he wouldn't run them down. he would not find everything bad about people. he ran it so badly and yet he won and people are stupid because they have not seen through the back o thick of him. he is an emperor with no clothing. let us see what he doesn't do. if congress doesn't do what they are supposed to do, the whole deal is gone. that is why people are smart enough to know. let them all fall on their faces and they will all go, because that is what is going to happen with this thing. host: sandra, thanks. guest: i think there's a lot of skepticism from voters about congress right now. that was part of why the move yesterday was so surprising. given the election we just had, given donald trump's claim to drain the swamp, to have the first move house republicans make to try to curb the independence of this independent ethics board seemed like a poorly managed response. host: there was some pushback from the house speaker himself about this mov

and if we take this change in our laws so lightly as we are about to do today, that when future congress look at this and want to make the same exception or even the same congress two or three years from now, it will be much easier to do. so i'll continue to oppose this waiver for any nominee who is not a civilian or is not -- has not met the waiting period that is required by law and i urge all of my colleagues to do the same. i urge them to vote a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president -- mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to discuss s. 184, a bill that would provide an exception that a military member be retired from the military for at least seven years before being appointed as secretary of defense. we are considering this today because the president-elect trump's nominee for secretary of defense has only been retired from the united states marine corps for three years. in considering the unique situation presented by this nomination, this week the armed services committee held two hearings. the

this congress is going to be the busiest congress we've had in decades. maybe ever. maybe ever, think of that. and think of everything we can achieve and remember who we must achieve it for. we are here now because tens of millions of americans have placed their hopes in us to transfer power from washington, d.c., and give it back to the people. so important. now we have to deliver. enough all-talk, no-action, we have to deliver. this is our chance to achieve great and lasting change for our beloved nation. since taking office, i have taken major contractual steps to restore the rule of law and to return power to every day americans. and even though it's only a few days we've done it in record numbers. we've issued executive orders to build the keystone and dakota pipelines. and issued a new requirement for american pipelines to be made with american steel, and fabricated in the united states. and i was sitting at my desk and i'm getting ready to sign keystone and dakota and i say, where's the pipe coming from? and i won't tell you where, but you wouldn't be happy. i

the 10,015th congress 15th congress will have the largest cbc in history with 49 members. [applause] and this means that the people making decisions for all americans will better reflect the diversity of our nation from its inception to its present dayday, the cbc has used its considerable political power to elevate and expand the public policy debate on several issues impacting the black community. today's ceremony also embodies the cbc core mission, values and institutional initiative to advance the global black community by develing leaders and rming policy and educating the public. while the cbc grows in numbers, the remains of a lack of diversity and inclusion when it comes to senior staff placement in sin and congressional offices. and cbc is committed to doing its part to change the landscape of the capitol hill and we are doing so with one of our newest initiatives, emerge 535. launched -- [applause] thank you. launched in 2013 and continuing over the next several years, the cbc f will expand opportunities for emerging african-american leaders by providing 535 inte

yesterday it was trying to make congress even more corrupt than congress already is. tomorrow it's going to be something bad, too. so you have the power to just say this is unacceptable and we've seen that happening all over the country now. you're talking about a bubbling up movement. we're seeing it. yesterday was the first proof of concept and we'll semore of that. >> have you seen in terms of the direct response to this, enough posted online so you know how many people have downloaded it and ad it but in terms of groups forming or other people using this work? >> it's phenomenal. we've been blown away. we put up a google doc two and a half weeks ago, google immediately crashed. we threw up a web site so people had a way to download it and get the information. in the last two weeks we've had this a up there have been over 600,000 page views, 130,000 people have downloaded the guide but like you said the really exciting thing is that there are all these groups spreading out across the country and popping up. we've had in the last 24 hours since we've been collecting

we're going to be working with the congress. over the course of the first several months to construct the kind of tax reform for businesses and individuals that unleash the boundup energy in the american economy. we're going to keep our promises to end illegal immigration. build a wall, have an infrastructure bill and invest in rebuilding our military, as our commander in chief marshal strategy with our military commanders to hunt down and destroy isis. but the first order of business is to repeal and replace obamacare. and that was our message today and it will be our message on capitol hill. and it needs to be done. not just as a promise kept, but because in the course of this election, the american people had had -- a choice, and what appeared to many as gns all odds oftentimes overwhelming opposition. our president-elect took his case to the american people to repeal and replace obamacare and american people voted desice ofly for a better future for health care in this country. and we are determined to give them that. the re

of the 115th congress. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. mccarthy: i offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate argues. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 2, resolved, that the senate be informed that a quorum of the house of representatives has assembled. that paul d. ryan, a representative from the sta of wisconsin, has been elected speaker, and that karen l. haas, a citizen of the state of maryland, has been elected clerk of the house of representatives. of the 115th congress. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the resolution is agreed to, and the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition 1234 >> mr. speaker, i offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 3, resolved, that a com

in today, the 115th congress. house republicans though just scrapping a plan to gut the independent ethics office, a tchdog group that was created eight years ago after one of the biggest congressional corruption scandals in modern times. joining me now is msnbc senior political editor mark murray. thanks for being here. happy new year to you. great to see you. well, they put it up there in the dead of night, they thought they'd gotten away with it and the uproar was starting. when i first saw this break on rachel's show at 9:00 eastern and just throughout the night and this morning it was more than they could bear. i guess when donald trump finally tweeted about it that was the final blow. >> the biggest sin here that republicans were making, making their first thing before congress started. had this taken place six or seven months, even a year from now after so many other different battles you ended up having i don't think we'd end up seeing the criticism they ended up getting. because it was the first thing and

congress to pass a law. they don't legislate, they delegate, they allow administrators, people nobody has voted for or any way accountable and congress tells them you write the rules, you make the laws. give them a very vague aspiration. we want clean air or no discrimination or fair railroad rates and allow those people who are supposed to be the experts to make the laws. congress what they do for the most part is sit back and intervene in individual cases, their constituents get in trouble with constituent service which is more helpful to them in getting elected and easier than the hard job of making policy choices and legislating. the problem is congress doesn't legislate, not doing its fundamental constitutional job. >> as the increase in the bureaucratic state in explicit, implicit, slow? >> in waves, in quantico the scientists call it. the first was in the progressive era 100 years ago woodrow wilson who was a political scientist before he was president, a theory about giving america a new style admini

i want to ask you about new congress, as we move on to the new congress starting tomorrow. republican majorities in both house. everybo tripping over themselves to tell you how fast they can get rid of affordable care act. what on earth could the democrats do about this? >> nothing, absolutely nothing. it's remarkably simple. the republicans can use exactly the same tool called reconciliation to get rid of it, which the democrats used to bring it in. so, this -- consequences -- elections have consequences. when president of the united states is going to be donald trump. republicans will control both houses of congress. they can easily pass a resolution that has reconciliation instructions in it and dismantle obamacare instantaneously. if they do, have you 20 million something people without health insurance. that will be a rude awakening for people. hey, you know, you want to be majority and take aware health care for 22 million people, go for it. i think it would be fantastic. >> hogan, to all those people on obamacare, the people with pre-existing conditions, donald trump

brand new 115th congress. and here in the house of representatives, we have new members of congress who are bringing their families, people coming to washington with a sense of exuberance. but mostly of what i believe is respect for the american people who sent them here, respect for the people who elected each of us with the thoughts and ideas from our districts back home, all the way to the election of the president-elect of the united states of america, donald trump. so, we do this every two years. we reorganize the house of representatives. we start anew. we start fresh. we start with the best ideas that are brought forth and we try and bring the teams together. that's what republicans have done, that is what democrats are doing. we gather together and add up literally the amount of teams and who's on each side and that's how we determine who's elected the speaker of the house. it's from the majority party. in this case, today, we elected mr. ryan, the gentleman from wisconsin, a great young leader for not

and, reforming how congress does business. former members have hopes for bipartisanship. next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. judy and josh weston. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the john and helen glessner family trust-- supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, alison stewart. >> stewart: good evening, and thanks for joining us. on donald trump's first full day in office, the nation's capital saw a massive protest of mr. trump's policies and presidency, and a call for the protection of rights. organizers say hundreds of ousands of people from all ov

i co-sponsored a bill, similar bill in congress, in legislature, hopefully here in congress we can tackle the same issue, raising the minimum wage, you know, nevada is at 8:25. but if you're working full time. and in nevada and working 40 hours a week, working below the poverty level, we live in the greatest country on planet earth, you should be able to work here full time and be able to make a livable wage, and some of the other issues are protecting social security and medicare, you know, things we can only tackle here in congress, immigration reform, you know, i'm an immigrant myself. i was born in mexico. i came here to this country when i was 8 years old, i couldn't speak a word of english and now i'm a member of congress. my story is the embodiment of the american dream. you work hard, you can accomplish anything. and like my family, there is many immigrant families out there who are looking for that opportunity. >> what about coming here as an 8-year-old, not being able to speak english, resonates with you today? >> look, i have -- i bring a different perspective, right. i still r

this is the 115th congress. and it will be the 115th congress. and it will be the most diverse ever. we spotted this graphic from he pew research centre, it shows that from 2001, there has been an upward trend in diversity. progress only being made up diversity. progress only being made up to diversity. progress only being made uptoa diversity. progress only being made up to a point, as you will see in this report. voiceover: distinguished members of america's 115th congress have two notable features, they are overwhelmingly white and male, they don't look much like this diverse country, even with a few notable firsts. 0rlando's former police chief, valder means. she is now the first woman and first african—american to represent her district in florida. this means there will be a record number of black lawmakers on capitol hill,. —— capitol hill. —— val demings. asian—americans have 15 capitol hill. —— val demings. asian—america ns have 15 seats capitol hill. —— val demings. asian—americans have 15 seats in congress, it to

that's congress at its best. with the enactment of the whistleblowers protection act of 1989, o.s.c. became an independent agency within the zev tiff branch. its -- executive branch. its mission is to protect federal employees from prohibitive personnel practices and especially reprisal from whiss -- whistleblowing. it provides employees a mechanism to help whistleblowers. o.s.c. enforces employment rights under the uniform services employment and re-employment rights act of 1994 for federal who have served or serve in the uniform services. congress re-authorized the 2003 to 2007. o.s.c. has experienced significant growth in its caseload, since the last re-authorization. the caseload has increased, mr. speaker, by 58%. this bill re-authorizes the agency from 2016 through 2020 and makes several important changes to assist o.s.c. in carrying out its vital mission. the bill codifies o.s.c.'s performance metrics in the annual reports to the congress and requires additional metrics to support congressional oversight o