tomorrow. off the floor, house and senate conferees will be meeting to negotiate the differences between the two republican tax reform bills that were passed separately out of each chamber. follow the house live here on c-span when members return at noon eastern. coming up, house and senate conferees will meet to negotiate the differences between the two republican tax reform bills passed separately. live coverage beginning at 2:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. and also watch online at c-span.org, or listen with the free c-span radio app. >> watch c-span3 thursday at 10:30 a.m. eastern for live coverage. f.c.c.'s vote on net neutrality. the vote is to roll back rolls passed during the obama regulation and intended to reduce regulation of the internet. live thursday at 10:30 eastern on c-span3, c-span.org or listen live with the free app. >> joining us now to talk about e

future of the senate under senator elect doug jones is niels lesniewski. good morning. if i am senator mitch mcconnell, what am i facing? guest: the prospect that come january, less than one month from now, you will have a diminished majority. 51-49 senate. anytime you get more narrowly divided you will face trouble corralling votes. you will also face the fact that you are not dealing with having to hold meetings this morning, as we were thinking they would have to have within the senate republican conference about whether or not to welcome roy moore. whether or not to give him committee assignments. but the ethics committee should do. we are having a different

conversation that is a more routine senate conversation about the numbers in each party changing. which, in many ways, is better for the republicans than the alternative which would have been an internal war. for: does that mean votes chuck schumer and things he wants to bring up against the republican platform overall? caller: he will probably be a more predictable vote against the trump agenda. more than you would normally expect out of a democrat who would be elected in the deep south. what we are hearing from jones, i think we heard some of it in the clip, he was talking about the importance of reauthorizing children's health insurance. one of the many issues we have to deal with at the end of the year or beginning of 2018. i don't think jones -- he is not

a traditional, socially conservative democrat. not like the person richard shelby was when he was a in alabama. elected i don't think he is going to be as moderate as we think. our conversation continues about last night's election. when it comes to the timetable for tax reform, the budget, does any of that calculus change, or a push to get it through before doug jones comes to the senate? guest: full speed ahead for the republicans in the house and senate. i think they will have to get as to getthey can and try

it through. i think the christmas deadline is more important, particularly since it looks like jones will be arriving shortly after christmas. they have to get the tax reform bill if they are going to get it done. if they push it off there is another list of complications. host: when it comes to republicans who spoke out against roy moore, any consequences long-term, or at least internally in the party about how they go forward? guest: the most vocal republican in favor of jones, jeff flake, is already retiring from arizona. i don't know what the long-standing consequences will be. what will be a long-standing consequence is the debate about republican primaries. it will be ongoing. if you are mitch mcconnell, or

allies of mitch mcconnell, you will say i told you so. we said luther strange should be the senator from alabama. luther strange would probably have gotten 60% or 70% of the vote last night. if you are steve bannon come you're saying why didn't roy moore?ack he didn't support our candidate. that is why he lost. host: the washington examiner said you could of gone with brooks and had a better chance that way. , there were some indications there were a lot of votes in -- write in northern alabama, brooks' districkt. t. it would not surprise me if a lot of people in huntsville

voted for brooks as a write in. host: talking about the results election.ght's alabama, republican line. caller: i would like to make one comment. when our government is big enough to give us everything we want, it will be big enough to need.way everything we that is what happened to a lot of third world countries. a big government and the people of the country suffer. host: how does that relate the last night? caller: it is part of government control. the government wants to control. the liberals want to give everything away. we will get to the point to nothing.have giving away free health care, free food, free everything, we will have nothing. the people in the united states better start taking care of

themselves. it is not what the country can do for you, it is what you can do for the country. know about doug jones' take on safety net programs? guest: he will be on board with most, if not all, of the safety net programs. that is his track record and what we know about him. i say you will probably see plenty of doug jones talking about the importance of medicare, medicaid. he seems like someone who is going to be supportive of the affordable care act. state. is a very poor there are a lot of people in onbama who i would hear say one hand say they want the federal government out of their are also getting supplemental nutrition

assistance and other government services. one thing about richard shelby, the senior senator from alabama, is he is a longtime member of the appropriations committee. i remember being there ahead of when he election was facing a primary challenger that he vanquished. people saying they were voting for richard shelby because you could see the new highway being built. he is an old-school appropriator in that sense. that might be a model for jones. a state where what the federal government can bring home is important. host: virginia, independent line. caller: thank you, sir. host: go ahead. caller: ok host:. you are on the air. from florence.

hello. caller: i was very disappointed. 28% of blacks here voted for doug jones. i was disappointed because of the fact that in the state of alabama, we are in the deep south. kin do believe in marrying people to keep the money going on and on. i'm glad that we won, but it was a scary time because we didn't know how this was going to turn out because of the belief of the and onlyof kin people 28% of the blacks got out to vote. people act like we don't have anything to lose. we are retired. they're talking about taking away the cuts for retirees that don't have work income or children to file. they will take away what we have as far as medicare.

when they give us a raise the take away our social security to pay for that. every year our social security checks get smaller. they're not saying anything. host: thank you. guest: to the earlier point, that is one of the things that i think will be interesting to see coming out of this going into 2018. the african-american turnout and what was able to be done, at least partially because of how terrible a candidate roy moore turned out to be. mobilizety to toican-american voters -- say it has been a topic of conversation since post barack obama -- as to whether or not the voting turnout can go up. i think maybe some people are emboldened by the results in alabama on that front.

jones, what does he face coming to the senate to be reelected in 2 years? years.he will have 3 the term he is taking over is the one jeff sessions vacated to become the attorney general. he will be facing a strong headwind in 2020. one would think the republicans in alabama would choose someone who is more of an establishment figure the next time around. jones has an interesting decision as to whether he wants to be someone who can be a moderate who is plausibly able in a more normal circumstance in alabama, or if he thinks i am probably going to have a fairly short time in the senate and tries to make the most of it. i was thinking last night, and

you may remember, the congressman from the louisiana thewas a republican who won seat of bill jefferson. there was a very democratic district. i minority district that was very democratic. because the won circumstances were so strange. he had no chance of winning under a normal circumstance. host: republican line, maryland. doing? how're you my only comment is i think the men in this country are in big trouble. they need to look at that when women can come out 40 years after they claim something accuse you of sexually assaulting or sexually harassing, even people that tried to blow up the

transportation system get a fair trial in this country. i saw the woman at the last representedgloria in alabama that accused moore said she lied and altered the yearbook. the men in this country, if women can come out -- i think there is a difference in being a forim and a participant women. some of the stories women are coming out with are so preposterous, 30-year-old claims. there needs to be a cap on the allegations. i don't live in alabama, so it doesn't matter to me who won it. it does not affect me. my political views are more in line with the president. i think he is doing a great job. host: the issue of sexual harassment in campaigning?

guest: i would say if you have not -- the election in alabama is over, but i will say if you have not seen the discussions with the people who worked in -- there is alabama cool operation beyond the claims -- cooperation beyond the claims made by the parties in alabama for sure. , what larger point happens with other allegations on capitol hill is going to be a topic of discussion for a fairly long time. with the pending resignation of al franken in the senate, and i think the governor is announcing the replacement later this morning, there is going to be a lot of ethics queries, and how

money was paid out to various individuals, taxpayer dollars through some fund that people don't entirely understand. there will be more of this. it is incumbent that there are actually fair investigations. the ethics committee will be very busy sorting through what is real and what is not. host: let's talk about senator kiersten gillibrand. the tweeting back and forth. andnature of the tweets, where does the story go from here? guest: now we have democrats, jell-o brand and others calling otherstor gillibrand and calling for the president's resignation. i don't think that will happen, but it moves the ball forward. it is the logical next step to

some extent where this would be going after al franken announced he would be resigning his seat. that there would be calls for , atpresident to do likewise least from democrats. the bigger question is what the congress will do about what happened in its own house, and how much is the resignation method, the way that things is aop, and how much conversation that falls short of resignation? if there is really, as there has been some suggestion, a report from "the washington post" with 20-30 names of members of are in anro on it, we entirely different situation than we are this morning. is this the senate, or are

there larger aspirations? gillibrand, i do not think it is a surprise. is one of therand people that might run for president in 2020. i do not think it is a done deal, but she is a plausible candidate on the democratic side . what i was pointing out yesterday is that in response to the president's tweet that senator gillibrand would do anything for money, and we probably read into that with the morethought, is trump did for her funding yesterday than anyone probably could have done. there were some democrats that were quick to cut checks or go online to gillibrand's campaign website and send money to

whatever it is she is running for next. host: new york is next. democrats line. caller: hi. thank you for your great program. , lostk mr. trump everything inside and outside. tomake a big mistake recognize jerusalem as the capital of israel. every european country opposes the decision. we lost everything outside of our country. couldk saudi arabia also pay a big price towards this decision among the arabian countries. could a big price. host: thanks. oug in delaware.

republican line. caller: i don't think this is a referendum on trump. trump initially had wanted to get strange in there. bannon backing moore, it caused a lot of problems. think mr.ard, i don't jones is going to last. he will last for one term. alabama is going to come back and eventually elect another republican. candidate onrrible the republican side. of all, as far as senator gillibrand is concerned, she finally got religion. money froml of this the clinton foundation and the clintons for years. up.ed them

sexual-harassment comes into the thisre, and she decided whole big thing about sexual harassment. as far as the democrats are concerned, pelosi did not back one of the senators saying that he was a great civil rights guy. host: a lot to comment on. go ahead. guest: i will take the comments about steve bannon and trump, having backed different candidates. the president's endorsement of luther strange in the primary. this has been a recurring problem. maybe trump will come to understand what mitch mcconnell often talks about. there have been candidates who have appeared in republican primaries from time to time who

cost them very winnable seats. i can think over the past few years of a handful of candidates, probably. i do not think it is a stretch to think there could be republican senators from ,elaware, missouri, and indiana and alabama. that i don'tts think it is a stretch of the imagination to say that part,ats won, at least in because of terrible candidate selection on the part of the republicans. there wouldrankly, be no worse candidate the republicans could find then todd akin against claire mccaskill, and they found one in alabama. host: what does it say for a republican looking to recruit president trump for campaign

purposes? i don't get what the white house or the republican national committee will say about what happened. i know the president tweeted, but there will be an interesting conversation if they claim, he only went to pensacola and did alabama,lly go into although it was the mobile media market. shouldstion is trump campaign and raise money for people is one question, but it is another if the white house will claim they were actually campaigning for roy moore or if they try to distance themselves. host: north carolina, independent line. caller: good morning. i was calling to say about how jones getting elected would affect the senate.

i believe it is going to be good for the senate. roy moore and donald trump represent an old way of thinking. hatred, being biased towards other people. whatu don't agree with they agree with, you are wrong and they operate solely on the bible. the bible was not written -- i will be honest -- black people in mind. and the constitution. the constitution was not written for slaves, for homosexuals, for anyone who was not a white christian male, do you understand? host: we will let our guest respond. backgroundn jones' as a prosecutor and experience with civil rights cases, it will be interesting to see how much jones makes that part of his

portfolio and what he focuses on as a senator. one thing we will have come up shortly is a discussion of committee assignments. democrats will have to find places for jones to go. maybe a logical spot, the caller didn't say this, but i drew this out of what the caller was thatg, i had this thought, maybe the judiciary committee spot that al franken is vacating could be a good place for doug jones. that may be a venue for him to work on issues he is very familiar with and has long been involved in. host: are you convinced al franken is actually leaving? guest: i think i am convinced al franken is leaving. i think i'm convinced that day in making the announcement preemptively ensures that

franken leaves. i don't know what would have happened over the holidays if and an had not left replacement had not been named. thisuestion becomes, and is internal senate dynamics, does franken leave more quickly so doug jones is behind the new in seniority?tor committee assignments and ranks matter down the road. you could, if the minnesota seat comes open three days from now instead of three months from now, you have a difference in your d situation. host: maryland is next, democrat line. caller: thank you for c-span. my connection is not great. . will try to be quick voting rights, shelby