World, make us one. Bring unity to our congress, nation, and world. Lord, help us to see that awesome things can be accomplished when we stop worrying about who will get the credit. With this unity, infuse us also with hope, pragmatism, and courage. Lord, give us realistic expectations about our future, reminding us that many problems that took decades to create will not be quickly solved. Motivate us to make the necessary sacrifices so that the rough places will be made smooth, the crooked places will be made straight, and the stars of hope will shine again in our hearts. We pray in your magnificent name. Amen. The presiding officer please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to the flag. 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 clerk will read a communication to the senate. The clerk washington d. C. , october 19, 2023. To the senate under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable raphael g. Warnock, a senator from the state of georgia, to perform the duties of the chair. Signed patty murray, president pro tempore. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time reserved. Under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for permitted to speak therein for here to talk about the speaker election as well as effort by floor in the city and to the president s desk appropriations for supplemental appropriation for israel in ukraine. Aidan quigley lets begin with the viewer post to us on expert buys a house having one a day for speaker . Jordan lost some votes yesterday. Does he think hes ever going to get enough . It almost seems like theyre playing a game and taking turns not voting for jordan. Guest i think thats a good question. A lot of us yesterday were wondering what we see another vote today. As the viewer pointed out is clear jim jordan does not have the votes to become elected speaker and the font is on an expelled he will lose even more from the more establishment republican types who are opposing him who are dug in and i think the tide is turning against him today. Host there was reporting on capitol hill as this viewer was alluding to this is by design that theyre taking turns voting against it. It was reporting that indeed is the strategy. Can you explain . Guest the idea there is opponents want to show momentum against jordan. If that is a strategy which it would make sense if it was, they want to show that momentum is turning against him and they are building opposition. There are some lawmakers who want this to be over and did support jordan but not as we had to another bella are frustrated by the process and the fact jordan is pushing on when its pretty close to holdouts are not going to budge. We go back to january in the Kevin Mccarthy experience, there were active negotiations going on between mccarthy and his holdouts. While new bit of that with some pockets of divisiveness with the jordan there are some members the senior appropriators are really against him who are not negotiating. They are dug in. Yesterday afternoon the recalling of the day before calling for the immediate vote because they think they have the numbers. Host your headline on rollcall. Com speaker battlelines may be hardening picnic steps are unclear. Talk about the Pressure Campaign on those opponents. Guest theres a lot of talk this week from the opponents about the call to getting from constituents who are putting pressure on jordan. One member from iowa who said she was receiving Death Threats for changing her vote because she was for jordan on a first bella and then it became clear to her he had no path to 217, and she said she was getting Death Threats. Talking about how their staffs are getting threats. Its really a highpressure environment on capitol hill where jim jordan supporters really wanted to become speaker, putting pressure on these lawmakers and to the extent in some cases it seems potentially criminal and the office is in touch with police on that one. Host is the pressure valve, is a pressure valve electing or giving not electing but giving Patrick Mckinney more power . Guest i think so. One more thought and jim jordan pickiest disavowed the Pressure Campaign, the Death Threats. But to mechanic right now were seeing a movement from moderate republicans to give him more power on a basis, and interesting constitutional question where you have a debate about whether he already has that power. Theres one train of thought that he does have the power. Its never been tested before. Theres never been a speaker has never been vacated until mccarthy was. We are trying to see what power mchenry has, at a resolution to so what kind of formalize it. Some say he can do it on his own and will have to see what happens. Host who was waiting in the wings if there is not another vote for jim jordan antibows out of this race . Guest thats a good question. There are a lot of moving pieces and a lot of republicans who are still interested in being speaker, despite what youve seen with the two candidates who have been already nominated by the conference. Its really hard to see about the 20 to 17 for anyone at this point especially now when you have the jim jordan backers are going to be really, really upset about him become speaker. Weve seen them pulled there be two more establishment types but to add answer your questionk republican studies, Committee Chairman was publicly flirting with the bid two weeks ago and now he would kind of be a clear option who could run. The are a handful of others, mckinley himself even though he seems to not really want the job, as we saw with his gavel slam when mccarthy was ousted. He is an out and theres always, he might get more power and you might try to go for it permanently. Well have to wait and see. Host republicans a fad of reluctant speak before, paul ryan. Guest they have. One of the criteria republicans like his if you dont want it, that makes you more appealing than those who really do try trt lets get to kathleen in chicago, democratic caller. Caller and please come get this out because i need to know the answer as well as some of your republican callers calling in blaming the democrats about them helping to get mccarthy out. I was under the impression that if you got the majority like republicans, its 220 if im not mistaken, and eight went against him. And the democrats is in the minority. Why are you blaming democrats for eating bit of mccarthy when you have 220 republicans . Its that the democrats fault because these eight republicans went against mccarthy one of their own. I keep hearing people talking about why the democrats vote to keep the republican speaker in . Why couldnt four or five of those republicans and didnt want mccarthy come over and vote with the democrats . It dont make sense. Host are right. We will take your questions. Guest i think you make a really good point and thats the argument the democrats on the hill are making. Democrats never vote for a republican speaker and two weeks ago when they voted with the eight republicans who opposed mccarthy to vacate the speakership, that was the argument the democrats were making basically. We do not support republican speakers. Mccarthy, they had a long list of things mccarthy have done that they didnt like. Most recently going on tv on sunday after keeping the government open on saturday and basically blaming democrats for the shutdown showdown with the democrats provided a majority of the votes to keep the government open when that was a move mccarthy made january 6, the trump experience, a lot of complex about mccarthy so that is a good point you made on kind of the angle here. As we look to move forward and kind back to talking about the effort to empower the speaker pro tem mchenry, democrats are looking for concessions, looking for a deal it seems yesterday Hakeem Jeffries was saying they need to see what proposal republicans come up with before they go back to conference and discuss it in regards to mchenry. We are waiting and seeing on the front. Host the republicans with the democratic votes to give mchenry these powers that theyre talking about. What concessions would democrats want . Guest thats a really good question and the absolutely need democratic votes because there are a lot of conservatives who say this is essentially forming a Coalition Government with the democrats. There is no difference in their eyes between given mchenry more power and picking some compromise candidate working with democrats. As far as concessions go, the impeachment inquiry is one of democrats want that to end. That might be too big of an ask but who knows . Thats on the table. When you come to the appropriations process democrats want to keep the government open past november 17 17th which s less than a month from now. They want to negotiate at the level set and the debt limit deal which is what the city is helped negotiate so we might steer the ship although in that direction which House Republicans would be upset about. I think those would be to areas appropriations and impeachment with a would be some room for negotiation. Host going with the numbers and House Republican source of democrats, how many are there and we have two vacancies right now and what is the magic number against . Guest the magic number you can lose 270 as a magic number for the speaker race. There are 221 republicans so theres really not a lot of room, not a lot of breathing room. Host ten in alabama lets hear from you. Caller hello . About the speaker of the house, with all of the chaos with all of the chaos, the maga republicans and everything, i dont think anybody, whether its mitt romney or anybody else could go in and get the votes to be speaker of the house because of the chaos that is there. The other thing is i would not be surprised if jim jordan has been a conversation with donald trump. Hes going to keep running maybe until, and its just wasting time, you know, when somebody else or some of the way of getting the house in order and is just wasting time. Host lets pick up on that because how does that help the Republican Party in the 2024 election . Are the republicans concerned about the . Guest there are definitely republicans concerned about the possible of the speaker jim jordan in swing districts especially with trump on top of the bella. House republicans are nervous heading into next year. There is fear a speaker jim jordan would cost them headaches for them when it comes to the campaign trail. Host erin, huntsville, alabama, independent. Caller hey there. I was head of putting together recently this week how International Bankers helped establish israel , were going to move on. George, troy missouri democratic caller. Caller yes. This is a big joke. [inaudible] everyone knows is trumpier trump is when he moves, jordan loses every day he calls down to florida dislike mccarthy did. Its a big joke. Its all a joke. Host lets hear from john who is in wrong button. John, there you go. Caller okay. I know how republicans can win this the first vote if they do with the democrats did. You either vote for me or we will run somebody against you next election and you wont get no dnc money or rnc money, i think you are trying that your john, they have tried that tactic on people from what weve heard. Aidan quigley go ahead try to i think so. There is a lot of kind of looming threat of a primary challenger is kind of the scariest thing you can say to a, many house members, but i think a lot of them are really dug in here and feel really strongly, especially supporters of Steve Scalise who are voting against jim jordan on the floor now, some of them are just feel he won the election, official speaker election against jordan fair and square and he should be speaker not jim jordan. I think theyre pretty dug in and not moving. Host if and when this gets settled whats the first piece of legislation the house brings to the four . Guest i think the top property for the house will be a to israel, expect a request from the white house tomorrow which could be around 100 billion for israel for israel, ukraine, taiwan, a really big appropriations package is heading the way of congress. But i think it is deathly going to go, the senate is going to move first. The house usually was first but with the speaker the sin is gearing up to consider that first. The senate seems to be way more willing than the house to support ukraine which is going to be a huge part of this package. Host 100 billion, we read earlier 60 billion for ukraine, 40 duggan for taiwan, Israel Security on the southern border. The 100 million in eight the president announced yesterday for palestinians, is that part of this environment, this appropriations package headed to congress . Guest it is not, dont believe it is. This is more focused on kind of defense and security. Host okay. June in charleston, south carolina, democratic caller. Caller okay. I would like to know why they picked jordan when he has been charged for the stuff in georgia. Also he was involved in the january 6th. Hes trumps buddy. Im sorry, to me thats dangerous. Thats all i have to say. Host his role on january 6, phone calls in a to the president took that is, by some his opponents. Guest yes, democrats have highlighted that. Guest absolutely. Nancy pelosi was talking about how jim jordan is an insurrectionist, is the term that she used. Hakeem jeffries has talked about how stopping jim jordan from becoming speaker with the democrats number one priority, which it looks like with the help of republicans that there successfully achieving. Jordan has not face any charges over january 6th, but its deathly something that there are some folks on the hill this week. Host ohio, jim jordan some state. John in cincinnati, independent. Caller good morning. Thanks are taking my call. The question i have is republicans have 221 members. If they would elect of lets say lee zeldin who is not currently a member, would he be able to vote and make it 222 . Guest so it is possible that a member, someone whos not a member of the house could become the speaker which is why we see some votes for lee zeldin. But he would not be a Voting Member of the house. He would just be the speaker so that would not be a way for republicans to further their majority. Host kelly in new York Democratic caller. Caller good morning. I was just wondering, im a democrat but i love democracy and to know we need a healthy congress. I dont understand why the moderate republicans dont call the bluff on extreme and just a few of them vote present, put up a different, a decent republican, a few vote present and then the rest are going to have to join or else my guy is going to become speaker of the house. Thank you. Host Hakeem Jeffries is her guy i think it. Guest thats an interesting idea. I think as you pointed out some of them to vote present that would lower the threshold that you need to become speaker and possibly elevate jeffreys. The moderate republicans, one, they are really upset about what happened to mccarthy and the fact that democrats didnt kind of help them or vote to table the motion. Ryan fitzpatrick a moderate from pennsylvania we talked yesterday said theres a lot of broken trust between the moderate republicans and democrats that they would work with on Something Like colleagues for an allsenators classified briefing on the israelgaza conflict. At the briefing, i asked secretary austin when he needs emergency funding for our ongoing efforts, and he said it was clear, he said, we need it, and in very strong terms, he said the words yesterday. The israeli leaders we met over the weekend used the same exact words, yesterday. That means the senate cannot wait, and we will not wait. We also talked about the situation on the ground in israel and gaza at our briefing. As was made clear yesterday, the Intelligence Community assesses that, according to the current analysis and available intelligence, israel is not to blame for the explosion of the hospital in gaza. As was made clear yesterday, and i checked in, and i was allowed to say it from our Intelligence Community, the Intelligence Community assesses that, ard doing according to the current analysis and available intelligence, israel isnt to blame for the explosion of the hospital in gaza. Intelligence, our intelligence, believes it was an errant rocket from terrorists allied with hamas in gaza. Spreading inaccuracies, as hamas so often does at painful times like this, is supremely risky and only endangers more human life. Theres a lot of misinformation circulating in the chaos of this war, and its incumbent on all of us not to ensure to ensure we dont fan the flames and increase tensions, particularly when were relying on a very, very difficult issue from a source that is known to lie all the time. We all know, of course, the loss of any innocent life is terrible, the loss of innocent israeli life, palestinian life, any innocent life, and i saw the pictures of the children in the hospital, i feel very badly about it. We have to condemn that at every turn. But when seeking the truth, its imperative, utterly imperative, people dont merely take the first thing they hear and run with it, particularly when it comes from a group like hamas, known to spread lie after lie after lie. We should not sprint to believe the word of organizations like hamas, a terrorist group, while ignoring the facts and findings of our own intelligence. Thats why i was pleased President Biden made clear that our intelligence indicates terrorists in dpeaz were responsible for this in gaza were responsible nor this tragedy. I was also glad to see that the president in tel aviv yesterday was on point america will stand with israel. America will help them defeat hamas. He also said everyone must opinion deliberate at this moment. We must unequivocally work to protect civilian life during conflict. That is a really tough job, particularly when hamas puts hostages in the middle of civilian populations. Rockets, military equipment in the middle of civilian populations, and use them as shields. Even having sensed how difficult this is, israel, being a democracy, has to live to a higher standard, and we made that point, all