Capitol Report Full Broadcast (Dec. 5)

Good evening and welcome to the Capitol Report on Entity Television. I'm Steve Lance. And coming up, Trump's Secretary of Defense pick, Pete Hegseth, appears to be getting the support he needs for Senate confirmation. May not be smooth sailing, however. Assassination updates. The Secret Service acting director testifying for a final time before Congress. This before lawmakers release their report on the attempted assassinations of President-elect Trump. And Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy laying out plans for a federal spending reform on Capitol Hill. We'll hear from the American folks on the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency. This is Capitol Report, live from our global headquarters in our nation's capital. Here's Steve Lance. And before we dive into a very busy day in Washington, D.C., an update on the manhunt for the UnitedHealthcare CEO in New York. More details revealing clues about the lone shooter's intentions, including words that were found on the ammunition. Entity's Chris Beers brings us that story. Authorities searching for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson released photos of a person of interest who's wanted for questioning in connection with the shooting. The man fits the description of the shooter that authorities gave yesterday. The cylindrical couch and black and white checker pattern on the floor behind the man depicted signal he could have been staying at a hostel in Manhattan's Upper West Side. Mateus Toronto, who's currently residing at that hostel, says he saw police there Wednesday evening. About 12 hours after the UnitedHealthcare CEO died, police in the area where he lived were notified about a bomb threat at his home. Authorities in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove said they were investigating a suspected swatting incident, adding it appears to be a hoax. Swatting is when someone falsely alerts authorities to a threat in an unsuspecting person's home. A SWAT team or other law enforcement resources are then dispatched to the home, disrupting the victim and their family. Other details emerging hint at the CEO killer's possible motives. Law enforcement said the words deny, defend and depose were written on the spent shell cases from the ammunition used to kill Thompson. The term depose can mean to testify or to remove someone from office. What's more, these words are similar to the phrase delay, deny, defend, which is the title of a 2010 book about the insurance industry. The subtitle of that book was Why Insurance Companies Don't Pay Claims and What You Can Do About It. Victim Brian Thompson was on his way to UnitedHealth Group's 2024 Investors Summit just before 7 a.m. yesterday morning when he was shot and killed. Surveillance video shows Thompson walking alone on 54th Street next to the Hilton Hotel. The shooter then steps onto the sidewalk, stops, raises a handgun with what appears to be a silencer attached to it and fires towards Thompson's back. The CEO rapidly twists to see the gunman falls into a wall and tumbles to the ground. He's then approached by the killer who continues to fire. Authorities say they found three unfired rounds and three shell cases at the scene. The shooter then walks toward the victim and continues to shoot. It appears that the gun malfunctions as he clears the jam and begins to fire again. The shooter then flees on foot northbound into an alleyway between 54th Street and 55th Street. Once at West 55th Street, the shooter continues to walk westbound on Avenue Americas where he gets onto an electric E-City bike and rides northbound on the Avenue Americas towards Central Park. We're at 6.48 a.m. We have the shooter riding this bike into Central Park at Center Drive. I hear three shots. I was parking down there in the car. I hear three shots. Yeah, and then when I looked, there's a man down. Yeah. Yeah, and then the guy crossed and then he ran. He's a white male, all in black, with a backpack. He crossed this way. I want to be clear. At this time, every indication is that this was a premeditated, preplanned, targeted attack. The CEO of UnitedHealth Group, Andrew Witte, released a statement addressed to employees. He expressed his condolences to Thompson's family in an emotional video. Minnesota Governor and former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz called the shooting a tragedy and said he knew the CEO personally. UnitedHealthcare is based in Minnesota. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called it tragic. Chris Beers, NTD News. A tsunami warning for the West Coast issued today and then later canceled. Authorities advised people to stay away from the coast of Northern California and Oregon after an earthquake. Yep. So, earthquake waves, the shaking, the waves that give us shaking from earthquakes, those travel much faster than tsunami waves. So, tsunami waves in the ocean, you know, in the open ocean, tends to travel about as fast as a jet plane flies. Whereas earthquake waves travel much faster. And that means that it's, you know, it's easier for us to give tsunami warnings because there's a little bit of a time delay there. The warning was first issued after an estimated 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Humboldt County this morning. The shaking from the quake was felt as far as the San Francisco Bay Area. People posted videos of their swimming pools shaking. Around noon Pacific time, the Tsunami Warning Center did cancel that alert. The San Francisco Zoo closing for the day and evacuating customers. Now the Tsunami Center says no tsunami danger presently exists for Northern California and Oregon. And Trump's Secretary of Defense pick, Pete Hegseth, appears to be getting the support he needs for Senate confirmation. NTD's Jack Bradley joins us live now from Palm Beach, Florida, right near Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. Jack, good evening. So tell us, how is Pete Hegseth doing in terms of drumming up support from the must-needed 51 senators? And it does look like Jack is trying to come through. Jack, are you able to hear us? If you are, give us an update on the situation with Pete Hegseth hitting the Hill. Hegseth, he's met with a lot of senators who have come out publicly or throwing their support for him. It's been a rocky road. You know, Joni, it's complicated whether she will or will not vote for him, even after meeting with Hegseth. We're going to have to get back to Jack in just a moment. We'll try to reestablish connection there. In the meantime, the House will soon release its report on the two attempted assassinations against President-elect Donald Trump. Our Washington correspondent, Luis Martinez, joins us now live from the Capitol, excuse me, from the studio with some of those details. Luis, what can you tell us about today's hearing and what can we expect to come out of Congress? Of course, so today's hearing is the last hearing of this bipartisan task force that was initially going to investigate only the first attempted assassination against President-elect Donald Trump on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania, but then had the added responsibility to also investigate the October 5th attempted assassination in West Palm Beach, Florida. Now, Acting Director Ronald Rose says and told the bipartisan task force today that he's already implementing reforms within the Secret Service in four critical areas. Let's listen to what he had to say. Four areas of deficiencies were identified. Communications, protective advance processes, command and control processes, and coordination with external entities. So it's very interesting because he also announced to the bipartisan task force that he's creating an aviation unit within the Secret Service, and that's to conduct all drone operations within the Secret Service, and also a field operations unit that one would think already exists, but it's to have better communications with field offices. And now the chairman of that bipartisan task force, who is the Republican congressman from Butler, Pennsylvania, Meg Kelly, and the Democratic ranking member, Jason Croft from Colorado, both showed themselves to be very pleased with the bipartisan nature of the investigation thus far, and actually made comparisons to the lack of bipartisanship in the January 6th committee. Let's listen to what both ranking members had to say. The three goals to start off with, number one, to understand what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination, we're talking about July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania. To ensure accountability and to prevent such an agency failure from ever happening again. That is a tough task. Although we received more cooperation from some federal agencies than others, we have been able to firmly establish the facts. We have also critically worked in an overwhelmingly bipartisan manner to ensure that the American people have the answers they deserve. So Steve, today was the last hearing, and now we're waiting until December 13th when the House's bipartisan task force is supposed to release their recommendations for the Secret Service. And so Louise, ultimately, who will be in charge of implementing some of these recommendations that lawmakers give to the Secret Service? Well, as of now, it would be acting director Ronald Roe, but there's that caveat, acting director. He's the one who took over after Kimberly Cheadle, who was appointed by the president, resigned after the first hearing. He was the deputy director of the Secret Service. So he's expected to implement these recommendations, but it remains to be seen if President-elect Donald Trump will pick a new Secret Service director. Let's listen to a heated exchange in between Congressman Pat Fallon from Texas and acting director Ronald Roe today during the hearing. They didn't charge that. No, I wasn't. I was there representing the United States Secret Service, sir. Mr. Fallon, your time's expired. It did not affect protective officers. Mr. Fallon, your time's expired. Because you wanted to be visible, because you weren't listening for this guy. I was there to be visible. You are out of line, Congressman. You are out of line. So that got very heated. It was a very interesting exchange. Congressman Pat Fallon from Texas was actually questioning acting director Ronald Roe on his presence during the September 11th commemoration ceremonies in New York City, where he was actually the closest Secret Service agent to the president, but wasn't the special agent in charge. So Congressman Pat Fallon was questioning whether or not that was because he wanted to be in the public eye and being seen close to the president, maybe auditioning for the actual position of director of the Secret Service. Certainly an emotional exchange we just saw there, an emotional time. And one might imagine out of all the picks for President-elect Trump, that'll be a very emotional pick, as his life was on the line and will continue to be for the remainder of his term and beyond. And let's not forget that a person did lose his life during that rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Yes, indeed. The firefighter there. And appreciate it, Luis. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-heads of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, meeting with lawmakers on Capitol Hill today. House Speaker Mike Johnson inviting the duo to a private meeting with lawmakers to discuss how they plan to slim down the federal government. There won't be a lot of detail for the press today, and that's by design, because this is a brainstorming session. It is the first, again, as I said, of a long series of meetings that will be held as we're laying the groundwork for the new year and the new Congress. And you're going to see a lot of change around here and in Washington and the way things are run. We need to make government more efficient. And that is what this whole objective is. It's what the DOGE effort will be about. And you're going to see a bicameral cooperation. And it will be, by the way, bipartisan. Over the last 24 or 48 hours, you've seen a number of our Democrat colleagues, both in the Senate and the House, who have said, you know what? Sign me up. I want to be a part of this as well. So we welcome that. It should be a bipartisan effort. A bipartisan effort. DOGE is tasked with firing federal workers, cutting government programs, and slashing federal regulation. Musk shared a Senate report today which found that only 6 percent of federal employees work in person at the office on a full-time basis. Johnson responded to the report by saying, this is exactly why we need the Department of Government Efficiency. Over 50 Republicans and two Democrats are already launching what they call the DOGE Caucus in the House. Despite its name, the DOGE is not a government agency and instead is more of an advisory panel. So how do Americans feel about a government efficiency program with Elon Musk at the helm? And what would they like to see accomplished under it? NTV's Sam Wong was out in the National Mall to hear from the folks. What do you think about the idea of having a Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk at the helm? I think it's a good idea to have someone in the private sector who's been a businessman maybe cut out some of the excessive waste in the federal government. We absolutely should have it because we need to cut down on expenditures that do not benefit the country or the taxpayers. I mean it's a little unexpected and surprising but you know the Department of Defense has failed audits numerous times so if they're going to clean stuff up like that then I guess it's not so bad for the country. Government spending is out of control and the programs that it supports are out of control and there should be some kind of policing of that. It's very nice to say we're going to cut fat until they're cutting your fat. It all sounds good on bullet points on a PowerPoint but when you actually have to make policy out of it that's when it becomes a problem. Elon Musk is just following Trump because he wants to make more money in the next administration. Well I think it's a great idea to cut back whatever waste that we can in the discretionary part of the budget. You can't cut $2 trillion when you only have $1.7 trillion in total to cut. What specifically would you like to see done under the new department? Well I'd like to see assistance taken care of. I would not want to see money going to I saw one example of studies of butterflies in Europe. Are tax paying dollars being used for ineffective projects I think like for the FDA or something? Well for example the uniform allowance for the federal officers that's $500 a year whether they need uniforms or not that goes straight to the company that's providing it rather than whether or not they need it. What a lot of people don't know is there's $36 trillion of debt that's on balance sheet but there's over $100 trillion that a private company would have to show that are future unfunded obligations. And so we also need to be telling the American people that. When Elon Musk took over Twitter he kind of heard 70% of the workforce and it still seems to work the same. And I don't think it should be looked at as a left right thing it should be looked at for the whole entire country to come together and save some money in areas that we can save money in. Trump's pick for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth appears to be getting the support he needs for Senate confirmation. NTD's Jack Bradley joins us once again we're going to try this connection out from Palm Beach. Jack happy to have you back here hopefully the connection will work a little bit more stable for us. How is Pete Hegseth doing right now drumming up support from the Senate? Good to see you too again Steve. Well as far as getting Senate support on the Hill he's getting a lot of Republican Senate support. People have come out most of them are throwing their full support behind Hegseth with the exception of Senator Joni Ernst who did meet with Hegseth but has not indicated whether or not she will vote for him during the Senate confirmation vote. And this is all coming about amid a hard and rocky path for Hegseth amid allegations of sexual assault and allegations of excessive drinking. All of which he has denied. Now Tommy Tuberville said that Republican senators should not be questioning Trump's decision here. Then that should be left up to Democrats. Take a look. Donald Trump did all the vetting they needed to do on Pete Hegseth and I just can't believe we even have people on our side that are saying well I've got to look at this got to look at that. What they're doing is they're throwing rocks at Donald Trump. They're not throwing them at Pete Hegseth. They're throwing them at Donald Trump because they're saying well we don't believe you did the right vetting and we don't believe he can do the job. Wait a minute. That's not our job to do that. That's the Democrats. Senator Tuberville is part of the Senate Armed Services Committee which will oversee the vote of Hegseth in January when the new Congress comes in. Also on there and throwing a support behind Hegseth is Senator Mike Rounds who said that Hegseth meets all of the basic and more so requirements that he needs to cast his vote for him. Take a look. I really think the president's got the right approach in this particular nominee in terms of his vision for making the Department of Defense more lethal. I think that's what the American people want. They want the Department of Defense focused on lethality, getting those warfighters in condition, and giving them every single tool they can to make sure that the defense of our country is primary in that department. Now Republicans hold in the next Senate a 53 to 47 majority there and meaning that Hegseth can only afford to lose three Republican votes assuming that all Democrats vote no in that instance. Now as far as the Senate rejecting a nominee by the president, this is something that's very uncommon. The last time that this happened was back in 1989 under George H.W. Bush and speaking of which it was also for the Secretary of Defense position. Steve. And to Jack Bradley, really appreciate the update. Coming up, will Congress work with DOJ as they tackle government spending? We'll speak with political strategists from both sides of the aisle in our next segment, Civil Discourse. Coming up. Hi, I'm Susan Lucci. You may know me from my many years on television. I never thought about heart disease until I had my own heart event. I felt this slight pressure on my chest, just slight. I thought, oh, it's nothing, it'll go away. I didn't get it. I did not get it. 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Well, I mean, I think it depends on where you're looking at cutting waste from. You know, as Congress sets budgets, they often have pet projects that are important to their individual districts. Are they important in the global sense of what the government is spending? Maybe, maybe not. So you're going to get pushback and you're going to get a lot of disagreement on smaller issues. They're going to gum up the kind of larger places where we can we can make cuts. And then I think when you're talking about global, larger administrative cuts, like what we have heard about abolishing the Department of Education, you've got a lot of potential issues there that I think have to be addressed on the front end. For instance, it is the governing body that issues student aid and approves student aid and student loans and Pell grants for students all around this country, which is an incredibly important program. So if just starting with those, you have a monumental challenge of being able to unwind things. Katie, do you think that it's the subjective nature of what to cut and what not to cut and more of a priorities based issue? Or how do you see that? Well, obviously, we know that the government spending is way out of control. We've rarely had a balanced budget in my entire lifetime. It wasn't since the contract with America and Newt Gingrich in 1994 that we've been balancing our budget. So we obviously need to get back to that. We do need to cut a lot. But it's going to be a matter of what do we cut? What are our priorities? Everyone agrees that we do need to cut spending. This is not sustainable. The question is going to be where we make those cuts. But I'll give you a great example of somewhere we need to start. We need to make it easier to fire people who aren't doing their jobs. I was having a conversation with a congressman here in Georgia. And he said it is mind-blowing how long the process is to remove someone who has maybe lost their security clearance or just isn't performing satisfactorily on the job. They would rather pay that person to stay at home than go through the process of firing them. We need to streamline that. We need to stop paying people to stay at home and not work because it's too difficult to remove them from the payroll. Now, just today, Colin, we have the Department of Government Efficiency, the new commission that has been established under the future Trump administration, posting on X earlier. They're in the Capitol on the Hill today. They posted on X earlier this week that just in 2023, American taxpayers reportedly paid $150 billion for illegal immigration, which is similar to what the U.S. spends on programs for military vets. How can cities start to manage this cost? Well, I mean, those are two different things. Because if they're talking about the fact that the United States spent $150 billion or they're talking about the federal government spent $150 billion, because those are two completely different things, and conflating the issue could cause some confusion for viewers here. Look, I think the immigration system, period, has been broken and not serving well the country for more than 40 years, right? We're working off something that was essentially established in the early 90s. It's not functional for the current status of the United States. We need to have an immigration system, first and foremost, that functions in the way that is best for the United States. And we can debate what that means, and we should in Congress, but we have to have an orderly, lawful system that functions for today's times. There's been a lot of resistance to that over the years because people use it as a political issue moving in one direction or the other. What we actually need to see now are some real solutions that go forward. And when you look at that budget, some of it you have to unpack. A lot of that is technology and increase in border security staff and personnel. So just looking at a top-line number without actually looking at what's under the hood is always a dangerous kind of way to address any problem, especially when you're talking about $150 billion. Katie, I'll give you a chance to react, but I also want to get your thoughts on some of the skepticism that's been out there with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy heading this Doge commission. What do you feel, how do you feel about their credentials to be able to manage this well and actually affect real change in government ways? Well, you know, I'm excited to see them in this position because these are businessmen who are going to take a different approach. You know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. When we say, all right, Washington, cut your own budget, do we really think they're actually going to get anything done? But when you bring someone from the outside, someone who has actually run a business, look what Elon Musk came in at X. He looked at it, he went, this is ridiculous. We're spending too much money. We have too many staff. They're not doing their job. We need to streamline this. He streamlined it, and the company is still doing very well. There's a lot of that that can be done here in the federal government. There's a lot of ways that needs to be addressed. And I think bringing people in from the outside, like Elon Musk, and like Vivek Ramaswamy, is a fantastic idea. I also appreciate that there's an expiration date on this project because how many times do we hear promises made from politicians? They tell us what they're going to do, but they never really tell us how they're going to do it or when they're going to do it. But having this very clearly defined goal and expiration date is a great idea, and I think we need to see more of this when we're looking at addressing projects in the government. I'm going by some columns saying earlier, though, about spending and what we're spending because of illegal immigration. Yes, some of that is going to the border, but clearly not enough of it is. Otherwise, we would have had our borders secure by now. What we're in today is every single time an illegal immigrant comes into this country, there is a cost to our nation, and there's a cost to processing them and deportation. We have over a million people in this country who've already received deportation orders. They have not left. Those are things that are going to cost us great expense, but in the end, we have to go through with it in order to get our country back on track. Division in this country has reached peak boiling point, obviously. How can Democrats and the Trump administration work together on nonpartisan issues like, say, labor rights or healthier school lunches even? I think there's always opportunity for both parties to work together, right, whether that's the administration in Congress or Senate or with all branches of government, and they should. Over the last 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, we've seen less and less of that. Steve, frankly, I think that's because there's an industry built around fostering that division regularly. Lots of people make lots of money driving sides apart and pushing ideas and theories that are, quite frankly, not accurate, except for their own bottom line. That is part of the challenge. So we have to address the communication side of things, and when we do that, and when compromise becomes less of a dirty word and more of something that people are actually delivering for, for the American people, we'll see the system be able to work better than it does presently. That's the reason why Congress's approval rating always hovers around 25 or 26 percent because the rest of the country looks at them and says, nothing's actually changing here. Is there a chance? I think there's a chance. Look, I am a Democrat. I work for Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations. I am an American before that. So even though I fought like hell to not have Donald Trump elected, I want him to do a good job, and I want Democrats to be able to find some common ground on the most pressing issues that we have in our country today to be able to do that. I just want to note your point is well taken. The media and the communication side certainly has a responsibility. We strive to do that, to hear everybody's perspectives and not fuel that type of division that can just really target people's emotions. With that said, Katie, what do you make of what Colin just said? Where do you think there will be some areas of common ground? I do think that there's going to be areas for us to work together, for Republicans and Democrats, because the American people are struggling right now. They need help, and they need us to be the adults in the room. They need us to come together, and they need us to figure out ways we can make their lives better. This is not about one party controlling something. This is not about increasing the bottom lines of the different organizations. This needs to be about increasing the bottom line of the American people. This needs to be about improving their everyday lives. You've seen Bernie Sanders come out and say he's interested in Doge. What are they going to do? He's willing to help him on that. Or RFK Jr., he's talking about improving our food supply, which isn't that dissimilar from what First Lady Michelle Obama was talking about with the Let's Move initiative and making sure kids have access to healthy food. So there are definitely going to be areas where we can work together, because when we actually figure out that, at the end of the day, the American people, they have the same concerns, regardless of who they voted for, overwhelmingly. They want their kids to inherit a better country. They want their country to be safe. And they want to keep more of their paycheck at the end of the day. And if we can figure out how to work together to make that a reality, our entire country is going to benefit. And also I think it will help bring the political temperature down a little bit here in our country. Katie Frost, Colin Rehero, really appreciate both of your perspectives. Thank you. Pleasure to be with you. Thank you. And coming up, Congressman Tim Walberg weighing in on Linda McMahon's nomination to head the Department of Education and how U.S. education compares to other countries. That and more when we return. Say goodbye to arch bitter coffee and hello to a delicious smooth brew. 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The artist is showing us the value of maintaining our culture and respecting our culture. Eyes forward. Don't drive distracted. And welcome back to The Capital Report. I'm Steve Lance. How to deter a possible future war with the Chinese Communist Party. The House Committee on the CCP says it's crucial to immediately start strengthening America's defense industrial base. NTD correspondent Jason Blair reports. The bipartisan House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party says the U.S. needs to make immediate changes in order to prevent a future hot war with China. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi says that recent polling shows a majority of voters think there's a 50-50 chance of a war with China within the next 10 years. From the same study, we see that almost 80 percent of voters believe we should do everything we can in our power to prevent war with China. The committee says it's imperative that America strengthen its defense industrial base and workforce. That our defense industrial base lacks the capacity to deter and win a fight with the PRC. Congressman Krishnamoorthi says that the U.S. relies on China for many essential components and materials for military use. He says, for example, three minerals, gallium, antimony, and germanium, which are used in many weapons systems. Just two days ago, the CCP, maybe noticing this very chart, announced it was banning exports to the U.S. of, you guessed it, gallium, antimony, and germanium. G-A-G, it makes me gag. The committee also brought in experts to make suggestions. What is now required is no less than a complete restructuring of the processes, incentives, and culture behind our defense requirements, acquisition, contracting, budgeting, and technology control systems. If such a conflict were to occur, we may be ready for day one, but we are utterly unprepared for day 30, let alone day 300. America and our allies need to rebuild the arsenal of democracy, and that is achievable, but only if we adopt a fundamentally new approach to how we define, design, and produce military power. The committee says in the past, hostile leaders made aggressive moves when America was close to similar situations related to defense production. Reporting on Capitol Hill, Jason Blair, NTD News. Congressman Tim Walberg weighs in on the global standing of U.S. education and why understanding the stark contrast between capitalism and communism is more important than ever. Congressman Walberg, thank you so much for joining me. Good to be with you. It's great to have you. Congressman, what is your opinion on Trump's pick for education secretary, and how do you expect Congress to work with the Trump administration when it comes to education? Well, I think we'll work well with him. Number one, I think there are many people across my district and across this country that are frustrated that there's a federal Department of Education that doesn't know what's going on in Onstead, Michigan, or Jackson, Michigan in my district, or in Ann Arbor, or even in New York City. But they're making 90% of the policy regulations come from the federal government. Not 9% of the funding, but 90% of the regulatory pain that's put on their schools. So I think when you have a president like Trump who says, this is what I'm going to do, I'm going to basically abolish the Department of Education, and I don't care whether he abolishes it, or he depowers it, or he block grants all the funds that would have come from here back to the states, he will significantly change it. And I think Linda McMahon, as I've talked with the DeVos family, Betsy was the former Secretary of Education, we're laudatory of Linda saying that she has knowledge of what education is needed in America, but also is tough enough and a business person enough to say things have to change. I'm looking forward to seeing education put back in the limelight as necessary to compete with China, to compete with India, to compete with Japan, to compete with the rest of the world who have now seen America is not the place it once was. This is, I think, a very important point. Sometimes we just look at the thing, like, you know, are the Republicans attacking the Department of Education? But it sounds like you're looking at this sort of from a higher level in terms of where are we at? You mentioned India and China. How far behind are we from some of these other countries? Reality speaking, we're still ahead. But education-wise, which builds for the future, we're falling behind. I mean, when you see the numbers that are out there of our kids who can read or compute in math, they're failing. Michigan, I mean, the home of the auto industry where so much began, the arsenal of democracy, we took our manufacturing and turned it into a war machine when needed. Why? Because we had people who could do it. They were educated in the basics. They understood how to read, to write, to compute. We've gotten away from that. China's there. They're not wasting time. They're building up their armaments. They're building up their military might. Fortunately, their economy isn't going very strongly. And I think with the influx of a new administration, if we take away some of the inhibitors, the arsenal of bureaucracy, if you want to call it, we can handle that because the American people are still capable. Speaking about our education system, the crucial Communism Teaching Act is set to be voted on tomorrow, highly likely that it will pass. What do you think needs to be done to enhance its impact? Well, I think we have to encourage people to use it. One-third of our Gen Z-ers have a favorable view toward Communism. Why? One-fifth of our Millennials have a favorable viewpoint toward Communism. Why? We live and train that way in Confucius Institutes from grade school on through high school through college. We've had that influx. We've had indoctrination that's going on on our college campuses, not education. We've had plenty of opportunity to see in recent history now with the anti-Semitism going on, we saw not only that but anti-Americanism going on our campuses. What I saw in Bucharest, Romania, the museum of Communism that is totally falling down in disrepair after Ceausescu was run out, the last Communist dictator. Romania doesn't want Communism. They want their people to see that it crumbles under its own weight because it doesn't speak for the good of the country. It speaks for the good of just a few of the elite. Our people need to understand that. They need to understand the comparison and contrast or the contrast especially, no comparison, between capitalism, free market, free enterprise, capitalism that is also compassionate, that gives, that helps other people versus Communism that takes. Why do you think it is so important for America's youth and not just our youth but our population at large to understand the history and the horrors of Communism? So we don't repeat it here and give away what we have established as the, so far the longest running experiment in constitutional democracy that gives liberty and opportunity and choice to people. And now we're taking that away. We've seen that with the impact of big government that all of a sudden starts to tell people what they're going to do. I mean, who would have ever thought that we would be told what stove we could cook on or what car we could drive? What has Communism produced except misery? They take China. What do they do? They imitate and they build upon what we built. When they become innovators like us, we've got our worries. That's why we need to turn our country around. We need our young people to understand history, the good and the bad of the United States. But even the bad is better than what Communism produces. Congressman Wahlberg, thank you so much. It's good to be with you. French President Emmanuel Macron plans to appoint a new prime minister in the coming days and promises to stay in office until the end of his term. The prime minister resigned earlier today after a no-confidence vote. NTD's international correspondent David Vives has the story. President Emmanuel Macron stated during a televised address today that he plans to form a streamlined government before January. This announcement follows a no-confidence vote in Parliament yesterday which resulted today in the resignation of the prime minister and the French government. The mandate you have entrusted to me is for five years and I will exercise it to the full. I will be appointing a prime minister in the next few days. I will entrust him with forming a government of general interest, representing all the political forces of an arc of government that can participate in it or at the very least undertake not to censure it. Macron criticized the alliance of nationalist and leftist coalitions that supported the no-confidence motion. They only think about one thing, the presidential election, to prepare for it, to provoke it, to precipitate it and to do so with cynicism if necessary and a certain sense of chaos. The president added that France's new government will vote on the 2025 budget law in January. France's constitution states that no snap elections can be held before September 2025. David Vives, NTD News, Paris. Coming up, Americans are spending more this holiday season. How have their spending priorities shifted? We'll speak to a professor from Boston University's Questrom School of Business to get his insights. And President Biden and Vice President Harris uniting for their final White House Christmas tree lighting before leaving office. This comes as Harris makes a surprise appearance at a gathering of local lawmakers. That and more when we return. Are you over the age of 50 and considering buying an annuity in the next 60 days? I have some important news for you. Don't buy an annuity until you understand the pros and cons of annuities. Call now for this free book on maximizing your income in retirement. Annuity Do's and Don'ts for Baby Boomers from one of the nation's leading financial firms. That's right, free. This book reveals little-known truths about annuities in simple-to-understand terms. Grab a pen right now. Because we're about to offer you this free book that unlocks the five little-known truths we believe baby boomers and seniors should know before buying an annuity. 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If I have an issue with an appliance or something around the house, I just call up Choice Home Warranty and I don't have to worry about that. So, do what this old DIYer did and call Choice Home Warranty now before something breaks down. Tell them I sent you and get your first month free. Call Choice Home Warranty before it's too late and get protection for your heating, A.C., plumbing, kitchen and laundry appliances and more. Call for your free quote today. Call in the next five minutes and get your first month free. 800-360-6782. And welcome back to the Capitol Report on NTV television. Americans expected to be spending more this holiday season setting new records. Joining me now to discuss his insights is Jay Zagorski, professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business and author of the book, The Power of Cash. Professor Jay Zagorski, thank you so much for joining. Great to be on your show. It's great to have you with us, Jay. Retailers expecting a modest increase in sales this Christmas shopping season over the last year. That's according to the National Retail Federation. How does that reflect consumer confidence in the state of the economy compared to the past three years? I think consumers are willing to open up their wallets and pocketbooks for the Christmas selling season. The National Retail Federation is expecting the average person to spend about $900 who's going to be celebrating the holidays this winter, while Gallup is expecting people to spend about $1,000 on gifts. Those are pretty large numbers. Now, professor, you've written a book touching on a wide range of topics. One of them I want to get your thoughts on. As more consumers are now reportedly turning to Chinese applications like Timu and Sheen, you sort of raised concerns over using cash versus credit cards. You think that cash is the better way to go. Tell us why. I really do. I wrote a book that's coming out this spring called The Power of Cash. Why using paper money is good for you as individuals and for society. One of the important parts of using cash is it provides privacy. When you use electronic payments, credit cards, debit cards, or mobile payments, you're basically creating a permanent paper trail of who you're donating to, who you're buying from, where you're going in the world. Not everybody wants a permanent paper trail to be available for both businesses and governments to follow and track their movements. That's amazing. It sounds like when you use your credit card, there's a lot of data associated with it, and that kind of gets put out into this open market for sale. There is indeed. I encourage anybody with a credit card to log in to their credit card company, bring up their most recent statement, and then click on any particular purchase. Almost every credit card company allows you to look at details, and it will show things like the day, the location, the name of the merchant, and all of that is available for purchase. It doesn't even have to be hacked on the Internet. Available for purchase without your name and address. But even though your name and address isn't there, it's called anonymized data, it's relatively easy with large amounts of computing power to figure out who you are from millions of credit card purchases. Wow. That is eye-opening, I'm sure, for many folks, including myself. Aside from the security issues and the privacy issues that you speak of, talk to us about some other positive effects of using cash. For individuals, and this is what I talked about for the Christmas spending season, using cash ensures you stay on a budget. If you say, oh, I want to spend only, say, $500 on gifts this holiday season, and you set aside $500 cash, when you're done, you're done. When you're using mobile payments, credit cards, buy now, pay later, you don't have that hard budget. You're like, oh, let me just keep spending. When you're spending with cash, you see how much is directly going out. When you're spending with mobile payments or credit cards or debit cards, you don't actually see how much is going out, because, well, the bill comes due in 30 or 60 days. Or for some people, maybe six months later when they actually pay it off. Now, speaking of the holiday season, the forecast from Deloitte Insights highlights higher spending on experiences, decor, and holiday clothing. What might that suggest about consumers shifting priorities? And are we still seeing sort of the final effects of the pandemic and lockdowns wearing off? I think we are seeing the final effects wearing off. And I think that a lot of our goods right now are coming from Asia, in particular China. And this spells bad news whether Trump raises tariffs or not, because American consumers are shifting away from physical items, and they're shifting more towards experiences, more towards services. So I expect whether Trump puts in his 60% tariffs on China or he doesn't put in his 60% tariffs on China, to expect to see this Christmas season and the next Christmas season fewer imports from Asia. Professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business, Jay Zagorski, really appreciate you joining. Thanks for having me on the show. President Biden and Vice President Harris tonight hosting the final national Christmas tree lighting in their four-year term. NTD's White House correspondent Iris Tao has more. Five, four, three, two, one. Whoa! With less than two months left in their administration, President Biden and Vice President Harris attending their final White House Christmas tree lighting at the Ellipse. Many of us will sing, O Holy Night, phrasing our song as, His law is love, his gospel is peace. May I wish for you and for the nation, now and always, that we continue to seek the light of liberty and love, kindness and compassion, dignity and decency. Merry Christmas, America. Merry Christmas to all of you. May God bless you all. Thursday also marks a rare appearance of Harris, after Harris conceded the election to Trump on November 6th. While Harris has not spoken in public much beyond her concession speech, she made a surprise appearance on Thursday at a gathering of local black lawmakers in Washington, telling them to stay committed to fighting for constituents. All of these extraordinary leaders. I want to come by and say happy holidays, Merry Christmas. Meanwhile, in the final weeks of the Biden administration, President Biden could still get to a few priorities. The White House says that Biden is expected to issue more pardons and clemencies before leaving office. And Biden has been doubling down on sending more aid to Ukraine. Most recently, sending Ukraine more than 700 million dollars in landmines and counter-drone systems. And Biden continues to get briefings about domestic and international developments. He says he got briefed on the martial law situation in South Korea while in Angola. And the White House on Thursday said the president had been briefed on a 7.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Northern California. The White House asked the administration stands by ready to provide further support as needed. Though at this time, there are no requests for federal help. Reporting by Iris Tao, NTD News. That is all we have for you tonight on the Capitol Report. I'm Steve Lance. Have a nice evening. See you back here tomorrow.