Washington Today (1/6/2025): Joint Session of Congress Certifies Donald Trump As Next POTUS

welcome to Washington today for Monday January 6 2024 I'm Gary stov thanks you thank you for joining us Congress has officially certified Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election with vice president Kamala Harris presiding over the counting of the Electoral College votes from each state the New York Times writing that the proceedings quote peacefully performed a basic ritual of democracy that was brutally disrupted for Years Ago by a violent prot Trump mob inflamed by his lie about a stolen election we played today's joint session live here on C-Span radio and as it concluded members in the entire chamber stood and applauded the final electoral count 312 votes for Donald Trump 226 for kamla Harris and as the 2024 US presidential election closed the new leadership appeared on the horizon in Canada as prime minister Justin Trudeau announced his resignation today the three-term leader said he plans to step down from the job once his Liberal Party chooses his successor he told Canadians in a televised speech that although he Prides himself in being a fighter he's stepping aside because of the divisiveness and polarization around his leadership including inside his own caucus and today is the fourth anniversary of the attack on the US capital it's a day that means different things to different people in The Washington Post today President Biden said that January 6 Should Be A Day to Remember when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed and in Politico new reporting on what then vice president Mike Pence was thinking as he chose to remain in the capital during the attack and eventually certify the 2020 election we'll tell you more about both coming up we begin on Capitol Hill and vice president Harris opening today's joint session the house come to order Mr Speaker and members of Congress pursuant to the Constitution and laws of the United States the Senate and House of Representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electors of the several States forid President and Vice President of the United States after ascertainment has been had that the certificates are authentic and correct in the tellers will count and make a list of the votes cast by the electors of the several States the tellers on the part of the two houses will take their places at the clerk's desk section without objection the tellers will dispense with reading formal portions of the certificates after ascertaining that the certificates are regular inform and authentic the tellers will announce the votes cast by the electors for each state beginning with Alabama senator fiser Madame President the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of Alabama seems to be regular inform and authentic and it appears there from that Donald J Trump of the State of Florida received nine votes for president and JD Vance of the state of Ohio received nine votes for vice president [Applause] Madam president the certificate of the electoral vote of the state of Alaska seems to be regular in and authentic and it appears there from that Donald J Trump of the State of Florida received three votes for president and JD Vance of the state of Ohio received three votes for vice [Applause] president and the process continued routinely just like that with Senate rules committee chair Deb fiser and ranking member Amy kobitar and house administration chair Brian style and ranking member Joseph melli reading off each State's results for about 36 minutes that's when vice president Harris made this announcement members of Congress the certificates having been read the tellers will ascertain and deliver the result to the president of the Senate the undersigned Deb Fischer and Amy kichard tellers on the part of the Senate and Brian steel and Joseph Mell tellers on the part of the House of Representatives report the following as the result of the ascertainment and Counting of the electoral vote for president and vice president of the United States for the term beginning on the 20th day of January 2025 the state of the vote for the president of the United States as delivered to the president of the Senate is as follows the whole number of the electors appointed to vote for president of the United States is 538 within that whole number the majority is 270 the votes for president of the United States are as follows Donald J Trump of the State of Florida has received 32 votes kamla de Harris [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] kamla D Harris of the State of California has received 226 votes [Applause] the home number of electors appointed to vote for vice president of the United States is 538 within that whole number a majority is 270 the votes for vice president of the United States are as follows JD Vance of the state of Ohio has received 312 votes [Music] [Applause] [Music] Tim Walls of the state of Minnesota has received 226 [Applause] votes this announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the Senate shall be deemed a sufficient Declaration of the persons elected President and Vice President of the United States each for a term beginning on the 20th day of January 2025 and shall be entered together with the list of the votes on the journals of the house and the Senate thank you very much The Washington Post writing quote for many Americans Monday was the first and probably the most often that they heard the words Madame President in the chamber referring to vice president kamla Harris presiding in her ceremonial role as president of the Senate of course the vice president has been referred to that each time she has presided in the Senate post went on to say quote the peaceful procedure seemed as surreal as it is historic for Harris who certified her election defeat to Donald Trump as well as for former staffers or any of those watching who don't regularly tune in for Congressional proceedings following today's certification the vice president spoke to reporters well today was a obviously a very important day um and it was about what should be the norm and what the American people should be able to take for granted which is that one of the most important pillars of our democracy is that there will be a peaceful transfer of power and today I did what I have done my entire career which is take seriously the oath that I have taken many times to support and defend the Constitution of the United States which included today performing my constitutional duties to ensure that the people of America the voters of America will have their votes counted that those votes matter and that they will determine then the outcome of an election I do believe very strongly that America's democracy is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it every single person their willingness to fight for and respect the importance of our democracy otherwise it is very fragile and it will not be able to withstand moments of Crisis and today America's democracy stood what's for you what's next for you today's certification happened as joint sessions regularly do in the house chamber this morning the Senate held a brief session and new Senate Majority Leader John th said Republicans are ready to get to work Republicans improved our margins in nearly 90% of counties in the United States and grew support with nearly every demographic group The Republican Coalition is Broad and strong and growing now the work begins of delivering on our agenda and Mr President Republicans are ready to go we're committed to ending the Biden Harris border crisis securing our Southern border restoring respect for the rule of law we're committed to restoring American strength to secure our nation and discourage the actors fomenting instability on the world state age we're committed to strengthening our economic and fiscal future which includes extending tax relief for hardworking Americans we're committed to advancing American Energy dominance to promote both affordable energy and our national security Mr President the list goes on and we're getting right to work along with advancing these priorities we will be focused on getting president Trump's cabinet up and running quickly by ensuring that his nominees are speedily confirmed here in the United States State Senate the voter sent president Trump here with a mission and we are committed to ensuring that he has the people around him that he needs to deliver Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer now the minority leader talked about how today's events play out with the background of what happened four years ago Mr President I mentioned January 6 2021 for many reasons I mentioned January 6th to remind everyone that democracy is precious and can at times be a fragile thing I mentioned January 6 to set the record straight for all coming time so that future Generations may know may know the truth of what happened on that day and that they remain Vigilant against future attacks on our democracy I mentioned January 6th to warn this generation and future generations of the immense dangers that arise when election denialism is tolerated and excused in propagated we can never ever again allow the level of unhinged election denialism to happen not from Republicans not from Democrats not from anyone and we are setting an example today even though the elections did not go Democrats way I want to be very clear on this January 6 our side will not engage in election denialism we Democrats accept the will of the people we accept the results even when we don't like them because our loyalties lie with the Constitution and with the rule of law we hope what happens today rather than what happened four years ago stands as a shining example for future generations of how One conducts themselves in a free democracy we hope that the way we Democrats conduct ourselves today helps those Republicans who tried to subvert the election of four years ago understand the grave nature of their mistake far too many on the other side far too many willingly claim the election of 2020 was stolen even though they knew perfectly well it was not Congress remains in session this week and we talk to axio politics reporter Steph kite about what to expect you know we might not see a ton of legislative business in particular but one thing that we'll be watching in the Senate is how they begin to prepare for these confirmation fights which will really kick off next week There's a rule where committee chairs have to give a week's notice before they have a hearing and so with them just really getting started just really getting going here they're going to you know announce when those hearings are going to start taking place we're expecting to see a focus on some of the National Security picks people like Pete hex for the defense department for example someone we're expecting early on tsy gabard um as uh her intelligence leadership role um so we're going to start seeing indications that those are be moving quickly um then next next week is when we'll see those hearings actually kick off and when those hearings take place do they usually let one go at a time are there hearings that happen at multiple times obviously there's Senators that are on different committees so they may be called in if there's hearings happening at the same time yeah they tried to avoid conflict but you know you can see them stacked up pretty quickly we're expecting quite a few on the 14th and 15th and again as you pointed out it kind of depends on which committees these these um nominees end up sitting before whether that whether there's a lot of overlap in those memberships or whether they can kind of have hearings going on um at the same time because of course just the members of these committees that oversee the agency that these people are being nominated for are going to be the ones who have this hearing some some nominees for example RFK Jr for for Health and Human Services will have to sit before two different committees in the Senate both both um help and Judiciary so there will be um you know there's going to be a lot of hearings coming up some of them are probably going to be contentious some of these nominees have um some some concerns that that senators are going to want to have addressed so that's going to be an exciting thing to watch next week that's the Senate uh what starts happening in the house legislatively what's the the primary focus for newly reelected uh speaker Johnson well the number one thing that we know that the house and the Senate are both focused on is this huge reconciliation package of course President elect Trump weighed in just yesterday officially saying that um he no longer wants the twart rec ciliation Bill he wants one big Bill that will address things like extending his tax cuts it'll address um you know border funding funding for deportation efforts it'll address energy policy it's going to be a really large Bill he has also said he wants to include the no taxes on tips policy that he's been campaigning on in this one bill um for a while we thought there would be two bills that there would be one that was border focus and another that then addressed extending tax cuts but it's clear that um speaker Mike Johnson thinks he needs it to be all in one bill in order to kind of Corral his own conference to make sure Republicans have the votes to actually pass so many of these top priorities so we're already seeing those negotiations um being hashed out publicly and also hearing about it um behind closed doors and that's really going to be the fight over the next few weeks and next few months what is a a Reconciliation package why is this different from a regular bill that may include different pieces well the reason they're using reconciliation is is it's a way to get around the 60 vote filibuster in the Senate it allows for Budget budget related items um to be passed with a simple majority in the Senate and there are rules around this it's not just an easy way to get around the filibuster it can only be used with policies that are related to the budget and there is a process that um Congress will have to go through to make sure that the policies they want to get through um meet that criteria um it'll go between before the Senate parliamentarian who will ultimately decide whether the things that Republicans want to get done can get done through this process otherwise you know if it's too policy oriented if it's not directly budget related then there's a chance that it could be rejected and those are the kinds of things that would have to get done in a bipartisan way in the Senate uh I want to get into the margins in that house and Senate for the first time in modern history the uh the House Majority margin uh for votes is smaller than the Senate majority margin six votes so what does that mean for John th for Mike Johnson for Donald Trump I think the number one thing that this means is something that we've seen over this weekend that there is going to be a lot more catering to the house in order to get things done usually it's the Senate that's the chamber to hard that's harder to get things through because of the filibuster right usually it's the Senate where things end up bills get past the house political messaging bills get past the house they go to the Senate and then they don't go anywhere now we're looking at a situation especially when you're talking about reconciliation where they're really going to have to cater to the house even more for example uh you know Senate Majority Leader John Thun wanted this two-part bill for reconciliation he publicly he told his members that's what they were doing the Senate was all on board but because house Speaker Mike Johnson doesn't think he can get two bills across they're going to cater to what the house needs to get it done um and and we've seen over the past few years that you know House Republicans there is a a fra a faction of them who are very very willing to make things difficult and there are a handful of them who are even willing to Buck Trump on some issues Thomas Massie for example was willing to still vote against Mike Johnson despite the fact that President Trump said that he was the one he wanted for speaker and so you're going to see these conservative voices continue to have power um and you know one of their biggest things is is spending cuts and so whether they really do continue to push for that even As Trump has very expensive priorities right now is going to be a key thing to watch um however there isn't there is a chance that some of these Republicans are going to feel more comfortable falling in line with Trump at the head right when when Biden is in office when Biden was in is in the White House Republicans are going to be even more willing to to push back to not let things go through so there is a little bit of a chance that we see a little bit of more cohesive working together when Trump is the one calling the shot axio politics reporter Steph kite on Washington Journal morning you can see the whole segment at c-span.org and we did hear from the president-elect today he called in to the Hugh hwit show Mr President Mike Johnson told the Republicans on Saturday that you favor one big beautiful bill I do too tell us about your thinking on that well I favor one bill I also want to get everything passed and you know there are some people that don't necessarily agree with it so I'm open to that also my preference is one big as I say one big beautiful bill now to do that takes longer you know to submit it takes longer actually but but uh so it's a longer process I would say that I'd live with that uh I believe we'd get I don't know to me it just is a cleaner it's cleaner it's nicer now with that being said uh we' get some border work done a little bit earlier etc etc but the Border work you know we have a lot of money that we're going to be clowing back from the green news scam and all of the the trillions of dollars billions and trillions you usually have to use the word trillions nowadays unfortunately but from the trillions of dollars that we're going to be clowing back and and uh we have we have money we don't need it desperately immediately you know two months is going to make a difference so uh I can just say this the border is going to be secure we're going to start it immediately Tom homman is Central Casting he's going to do a great job and that whole group is going to be fantastic and I did it before and we're going to do it again we had the best water we've ever had and now we'll have the best B we've ever had times two uh I would prefer one but I will do whatever needs to be done to get it passed and uh you know uh we have a lot of respect for Senator th as you know he may have a little bit of a different view of it uh I heard other Senators yesterday including Lindsay talking about it they prefer it the other way so I'm open I'm open to either way as long as we get something past this quickly as possible the reason I want one bill is because tax certainty matters to small business people like me and like everyone listening to the show they got to know what the rules are going to be in 2026 you've got a great Trump tax cuts but they're they're expiring at the end of the year the sooner we know you're a businessman you know the better off we are well it would it would be awfully hard to imagine you know in the old days uh politicians would get up and talk about tax cuts right we will cut your taxes we will cut your taxes that was like a sure way to get elected because the Democrat Party is so loused up it's so terrible and so they've lost their confidence they've lost a lot of confidence but they get up and they're the only party I've ever heard that say we're going to raise your taxes with that being said I can't imagine the that they would not approve this would be the largest tax increase in the history of the world okay I mean let alone in this country and I can't imagine the Democrats would do that to this country and do that to the people just because they happen to dislike Republicans or or me president-elect Donald Trump on the Hugh hwit show you can see again all of today's joint session certifying the uh president-elect as the winner of the election at c-span.org and the free C-SPAN now mobile app you're listening to Washington today President Jimmy Carter the 39th president of the United States and the nation's long lived leader passed away last month at the age of 100 joined cpan for live coverage of the state funeral on Tuesday his journey continues to Washington DC where he'll Li in state at the US capital rotunda with a service attended by members of Congress the public will again have the chance to honor him on Wednesday as his body remains in state at the US capital on Thursday the national funeral service will take place at Washington National Cathedral followed by his final resting ceremony at the Carter family home in Plains Georgia watch c-span's live coverage of the funeral services for former President Jimmy Carter on the cpan networks cpan now our free mobile video app or online at c-span.org [Music] welcome back to Washington today with just 14 days until Republicans take control of government here in the US there's leadership uncertainty in Canada and this announcement today from prime minister Justin Trudeau my friends as you all know I'm a fighter every bone in my body has always told me to fight because I care deeply about Canadians I care deeply about this country and I will always be motivated by what is in the best interest of Canadians and the fact is despite best efforts to work through it Parliament has been paralyzed for months months after what has been the longest session of a minority parliament in Canadian history that's why this morning I advise the governor general that we need a new session of parliament she has granted this request and the house will now be prorogued until March 24th over the holidays I've also had a chance to reflect and have had long talks with my family about our future throughout the course of my career any success I have personally achieved has been because of their support and with their encouragement so last night over dinner I told my kids about the decision that I'm sharing with you today I intend to resign as party leader as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust Nationwide competitive process last night I asked the president of the Liberal Party to begin that process this country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I'm having to fight internal battles I cannot be the best option in that election Justin Trudeau served three terms as prime minister totaling nine years in office you heard his resignation will suspend the Canadian Parliament until March 24th and the CBC reporting today that quote Trudeau has been under mounting pressure to resign amid sinking public opinion polling including from his own caucus at least two dozen individual MPS and several Regional caucuses including Atlanta Canada Quebec and Ontario have called for him to step down since before the holiday break here's more from Ottawa what kind of chances do you think you are leaving to your successor given that there will only be mere weeks for them to introduce themselves to Canadians before heading into an election potentially uh I have a tremendous amount of confidence uh in both Canadians and in parliamentarians uh interest in serving Canadians in the right way there are um we're in a minority government right now uh and there hasn't been an active leadership in a minority government in more than 50 years in this country uh and there is always going to be the challenge of having a uh leadership race while a parliament would face confidence votes uh in in uh in the course of of delivering supply to the government so this is something that we're going to navigate through but I truly feel that removing the uh content ion around uh my own continued leadership is an opportunity to bring the temperature down uh have a government that will focus on the complex issues that are coming forward in the coming months while the party gets to have a full National process that brings in people from right across the country uh and makes a determination about the best person to carry the progressive Li liberal standard into the next election CBC also reporting that the new Liberal Party leader will likely have to take on conservative party leader Pierre pev in the next election here's more from prime minister Trudeau on that I'm wondering if you feel that another leader will have more success than you will at beating Pier POV in the next campaign Pierre pov's vision for this country is not the right one for Canadians stopping the fight against climate change doesn't make sense backing off on the values and strength and diversity that Canada has always always work to pull itself together on is not the right path for the country attacking journalists the CBC institutions that's not what Canadians need in this moment we need an ambitious optimistic view of the future and Pierre PV is not offering that and I look forward uh to the fight as progressives across this country stand up for the kind of vision for a better country that Canadians have always carried despite the tremendous pressures around the world to think smaller to Veer towards the hard right and to be less ambitious for what we can be and do as a country when the world really needs Canada that's not an answer though yes or no is there another leader that could beat absolutely you can see all of today's event from Ottawa c-span.org and on the free cpan now mobile app today is the 4th anniversary of the January 6th attack on the capital you can see all of our coverage from that day in the cpan video library and in today's Washington Post President Biden says this is what Americans should remember about January 6th quote for much of our history this proceeding was treated as proforma a routine act but after what we all witnessed on January 6 2021 we know we can never again take it for granted violent insurrectionists attack the capital threaten the lives of elected officials and assaulted Brave Law Enforcement Officers but we should not forget we must remember the wisdom of the adage that any nation that forgets its past is doomed to repeat it we cannot accept a repeat of what occurred four years ago and we should commit to remembering January 6 2021 every year to remember it as a day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed to remember that democracy even in America is never guaranteed that from President Biden's oped in the Washington Post you can see the entire article at Washington post.com and today a board Air Force One White House Press Secretary Ken Jean Pierre was asked about the president's message um I guess I wanted to ask he doesn't mention um Trump by name at all in in the oped and I wondered if that was intentional you know and if we're talking about remembering um should we also be thinking about the the incoming president's you know whatever role he may have played in January 6th I mean look I think you know I read through obiously I saw the the oped before it was uh published and I got to I read it a couple more times today and it's incredibly powerful um what the president was able to share remember he was speaking directly to the American people and wanted to make sure that we don't forget this moment we don't forget what happened four years ago and that history should not be Rewritten I think the American people know exactly what happened on that day uh I think he wanted to as the day is today he wanted to make sure that we he his voice was out there um he's also very proud of what the vice president was able to do and certifying uh the election which is obviously as she said herself in a very powerful um uh video today that you all saw uh talking about her Duty and how she this is uh this is the norm and this is what we're supposed to be doing and I think you know I think the president wanted to stick to uh the message of what today means uh we can't can't forget and the President says this in this oped this certifying an election was the norm was the norm and we can't forget as a country as a people uh that uh that moments like today should be incredibly respected and how powerful and how important it is especially as we speak to our democracy and a peaceful transition of power which is what the president has been trying to do uh and has said that he was going to do and has been doing that uh since the day of uh since the since the day of the election or the results of the election and so I think that's what you're seeing this peaceful it's not just about this being a norm but also this continuing peaceful Cher of power and another perspective on the day from Washington Times columnist Robert Knight the headline quote how Democrats mainstream media used and abused January 6th Insurrection he writes quote attorney general Merrick Garland rounded up more than 1300 people who had been at the capital many were imprisoned for years before facing trial and some are facing facing harsh senten sentences using facial imagery technology the FBI has been rounding up still more defendants and he goes on in his column to say quote citing the alleged Insurrection Democrats in the house impeached Mr Trump a second time and held the January 6 committee hearings and he finishes his column by saying quote January 6 2021 was Democrats was the gift that kept on giving for the Democrats at least they thought so until voters shocked them on November 5th you can read the entire piece at Washington times.com and in Politico magazine this story with the headline 20 years before January 6th Al Gore stood up to his own party Mike Pence was watching the article by Michael Cruz uh uh writing quote last summer in a private moment at the memorial service for ex Senator Joe liberman at the Washington Hebrew Congregation two former vice presidents had a conversation Al Gore thanked Mike Pence according to people close to both men in an interaction that's never been reported for his actions at the capital the day it was attacked by a mob Pence on the other on the opposite side of the political aisle but in the same set of pews said something surprising in response he suggested to gore he had done what he' done on January 6th 2021 in part because of what he had seen as a newly sworn in member of Congress on January 6th 2001 he had witnessed a vice president like him stand up to pressure from his own party to defy the Constitution even though doing so by definition meant personal defeat I never forgot it Pence said to Gore in the recollection of a pence Ally you don't know how much that means Gore said coming from you you can see more at politico.com Al Gort and kamla Harris aren't the first sitting vice presidents to supervise their own electoral loss you can hear what George HW Bush and Richard Nixon did in the same situation on the current episode of our podcast the weekly you can find the weekly wherever you get your podcasts and tomorrow another major event will begin at the capital former President Jimmy Carter will lie in state in the Rotunda with a service attended by members of Congress the public will again have the chance to honor him on Wednesday as his body remains in state at the capital and then on Thursday the national funeral service will take place at Washington National Cathedral that's followed by his final resting ceremony at the Carter family home in Georgia you can get our live coverage of the services for President Carter on the C-SPAN networks including right here on C-Span radio it'll also be on the cpan now mobile app or online at c-span.org that's also where you can get this program as a podcast it's also on YouTube just search Washington today and for more on the stories they shaping Washington every day get our daily email word for word just go to c-span.org connect to subscribe I'm Gary stov thanks a lot for listening today to Washington today [Music] cpan Washington Journal our live Forum involving you to discuss the latest issues in government politics and public policy from Washington DC to across the country coming up Tuesday Morning Christopher Sans director of the Canada Institute at the Wilson Center discusses Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's resignation and the future of Us Canada relations this As president-elect Trump prepares to take office and then the mercus centers Christine McDaniel on President Biden's decision to block the $14 billion acquisition of us Steel by Japan's nipon steel and Trump trade and tariff policies also author and journalist Jonathan alter who wrote a biography of Jimmy Carter talks about the former president's life and influence in American politics c-span's Washington Journal join the conversation live at 7 Eastern Tuesday Morning on C-Span cpan now our free mobile app or online at c-span.org