40th House News Today

this is it. the final big push to the first name right, because the casting of ballots is almost over. the counting of ballots, thats getting ready to start in most places. in some places, theyre doing it, but youve got control of congress, the direction of the country on the line. the five things we have to be watching for over the next hours and days, plural, with our campaign reporters live across the country. were also live in washington with the mood inside the white house. public...

Judge the democratic wave, we didnt know they ended up having their 40th house seat they ended up winning until after thanksgiving, so it was weeks. so when we were going to be judging how many seats was it and how big is a wave, were probably not going to know for a couple of weeks, maybe even a month. >> good to see you. appreciate it. were tracking the early legal battles emerging. in just a minute, well take you live to our vote watch team. but first, a live look at phillys ballot processing...

Pennsylvania. if this becomes the real alarm bell for republicans in the house to say, its over, were cooked, run for it, this will be a signal moment. >> dana: let me ask you about syria. we understand that general mattis, secretary mattis is on his way to the white house. there are indications, reports, that there probably will not be any military action today. but i do want to read to you what noah rothman just wrote. i think we have it here. imagine a post world war ii germany but without a ...

Speaker of the house. i think were going to have a strong record to run on. well have the resources to communicate our story. the reason you see retirements among us in the house is because we have term limits. we have term limits on committee chairman. most of the chairmanships are now open. so people naturally retire when their chairmanships end. thats why i think you have a lot of that. plus, weve gotten a lot done. weve done tax reform for the first time in generation. we helped the military...

Of things. thats the next agenda we will be pursuing. >> dana: i know you will not weigh in on who will succeed you or be the next speaker of the house. i know congressman scalise has his name in the hat. do you think its possible that the leadership struggle that is going to take place in the next few months will actually take away from the ability of the republicans to hold the house in november? >> no, i really dont. i think thats just internal d.c. gossip. thats pretty much leaves the edge o...

We had another one, dennis roth of florida deciding not to run. do the democrats feel like theyve got a shot here? >> oh, for sure. paul ryan was the 40th house member of the republican caucus to retire. clearly, he made a crucial mistake. he took a job he didnt love. you heard him talk about the time on the ways and means committee chairman. he came to be a deficit hawk and just passed $3 trillion in spending and tax cuts. its not what the man came to washington to do. i can see why he would be...

Financial oversight and resources in terms of the execution of that. the presidents job is to be commander in chief and make those policy decisions. you have some here whether its trying to make news, whether they really believe it, that want congress, 535 of us between the house and senate to basically be apprised of every operational detail of the u.s. military. the question is where does that line end? i think the president is well within his authority to strike syria, to strike them right no...

Territory. >> dana: michael, do i want to ask you from the message from the democrats going forward. clearly we know that midterms are usually a referendum on who ever is in the oval office. this happens to be president trump this year. democrats have a very solid anti-trump message. thats what theyre banking on. but at some point, does that lead too much ground on the table policy wise for democrats to actually go to the polls and vote for something? do they need to change tactic and have somet...

The senate. his approval rating was also down. part of being a member of leadership. what do you think about the future of the republican party and what will it say about who actually runs and wins the speakership going forward? >> well, look, this is the price you pay for leadership in congress. the modern day model is that if you want to be liked and youre concerned about your approval rating you shouldnt be a leader in the house or senate. it just comes with the territory. you have to make ex...

Cbo just announced the deficit figures and looking at them now, $804 billion in 2018 but if we do nothing looking at $1.5 trillion in 2018. in addition to that, you also saw the affordable care act, or obama care, repeal and replace did not happen. is that something those two things, do you think youll continue to work on those in whatever you decide to do next? >> those two things are one in the same. repealing and replacing obama care is entitlement reform. thats one big thing that we still ha...