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Live from Washington. Hey, you made it to Tuesday. All right, we're getting there the Tuesday edition on Bloomberg Radio, on the satellite radio and on YouTube. Where you can find us right now search Bloomberg Business News Live. Because as always we've got a lot to catch up on. It's good to see you. Thank you for joining. Here's the baseline when it comes to politics. Today President Biden wrapping
things up in Africa. He's in Angola where he wraps the trip three day trip done today, the Trends Africa Summit, wrapping things up today before he gets on Air Force one and heads back to Washington. Congress also coming back to Washington. Senators, members of the House flying in last night and today we actually get down to business. Senate's already in session.
The House.
We'll get back to it tonight. We've got a funding deadline, you know. To listen to this program the deal there, No one's talking about a shutdown. So when you see the countdown clocks later on cable news, you can sound smart at the cocktail party. We don't, however, have a deal, and we'll get to that later this hour with Nathan Dean, who, yes,
of course, is running odds on a shutdown. Now, while lawmakers are doing this dance on Capitol Hill, Donald Trump's picks for Defense and Treasury are doing their own dance on the Senate side.
You know how this works.
You get the sharper, they bring it through the meetings and you actually sit down in the office with the senators who are going to be deciding your fate. That's an easier job for some than others. Right now, ask Matt Gates, and there's a big difference between Scott Bessett today and Pete Hegseth. As the walls start to close in a little bit more around Donald Trump's choice to
run the Pentagon. Remembering this is a military combat veteran, also a veteran of Fox News, and he's facing a series of allegations involving sexual assault, which he was asked about again today as he made his way through the corridors in the Senate, reporters have one question on their mind here.
It is how do you feel about the women in combat? Amazing women, it's amazing.
What do you think they should be in combat?
I think they're already in combat.
I think they're already in combat. He's talking about women in combat. It's not just the sexual assaults. It's what role women should play in the Pentagon. As he just said, we have amazing women who serve in the military. I think they're already in combat. When asked if he thinks they should be, this is where we follow the bouncing ball today with Ashley. Davis was delighted to hear that
Ashley was coming on with us. Of course, a Republican strategist, but an insider when it comes to national security and this idea of subverting FBI background checks. I've got a lot of questions for Ashley, principal that West Front Strategy's former special assistant to the Director of Homeland Security.
Ashley, it's great to have you back.
This is quite the dance to witness no matter who the candidate is. But I wonder your thoughts now that Matt Gates is out of the picture. It is all the fire now turned to Pete Hegseth.
Well, that's what it looks like is happening right now. Obviously, if you've seen who he's been meeting with up to this point, they've been more on the friendly side in regard to true Trump believers, I mean Senator Tulberville yesterday, and so there have been the support that he needs from them. However, you've seen a lot of Republican senators say they want to make sure that they see his
full vetted FBI background check. And to kind of answer that question, which I think is really important, is if Trump. If President Trump says we're not going to do a background check onness, these senators have the ability to just say, then fine, I don't get it, then we're not going
to vote for him. And remember he can only lose really three votes, and we all we don't know where Mitch McConnell with Susan Collins Elisa Murkowski will be, So these senators can really vote with what they say if they really want an FBI by background check, and obviously that's that standard procedure.
So I would think that you see that happening.
Well, so okay, let's get into that for a minute, because Ashley, you know a lot more about this than most Americans, having had a security clearance, having worked in national security in the Bush administration and what became the
Homeland Security Department. Is Donald Trump about to set a new normal because there is a standoff here between the transition team that does not trust the FBI and the senators in the case of Senator Wicker, for instance, running a committee that's got a clear The next Secretary of Defense sees this rather differently. These senators want the traditional FBI background check.
Where's this going.
It's going to yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Again, I think the senators have the power here because if they don't get the FBI background check, then they can say very easily, then we're not.
Going to vote for him.
And so you know, they kind of have that threat to be able to do that in order to get the FBI background check. If you even look at Jony Ernst to women in the military is very important topic for her. She's on the Armed Services Committee, which the Doe Secretary will go through as for the first you know, part of the nomination process, and she also has a big been a big vocal supporter of making sure that they assault and women in the military is dealt with
in their proper way. So what she has said publicly several times is she really looks forward to the background.
Checks that.
Seth will have.
So if she doesn't get those background tech checks, she can just be like, hey, then I'm not voting for him. So I do think they have the ability to play chicken here a little bit with the President elect.
You know what they're talking about here. It's not they, it's Jonathan Martin. You see this piece today Politico. He took to Twitter with the idea that Hegseth goes down surrounded by scandal involving sexual assault allegations. His ideas about women in combat and to the rescue is Senator Joni Ernst. Of course his potential foil here. She's a veteran who has made a great issue of sexual assault in the military.
Would she not be the smartest pick if Pete Hegseth doesn't work out here because she would sail through confirmation right?
Well?
Absolutely.
I mean, I'm obviously I'm a huge fan of her, so I'm very biased about that question, but I think she would be wonderful. You know, there are the dynamics of when at that point a governor would have to appoint a senator, you know, a temporary senator. So how long is that process would that take? And I don't know the answer to that question off the top of
my head. So you know, there is this point of getting tax reform done early on in the administration, so you don't want to have empty Senate seats either, which would be something that could potentially work against her.
That would be open for a while.
Interesting if Donald Trump gets nominees like Pete Haig Seth through committee without an FBI background check, realizing that may not be what happens here to your point, senators have the leverage. But if that took place, would he not be able to simply give them the background check or the security clearance rather once they got into the White House. He did that with Jared Kushner in his first term. He could just as president give everyone security clearance.
Right, Yes, I mean, I guess in theory obviously he can as president. I agree with you, and I think many people that are listening right now would agree that that. I understand the point that he doesn't trust the FBI
for various reasons. However, there is a process in place, and one of the main issues when you go through these security clearances is obviously the general stuff that you would think that you haven't done anything horrible in your past, but one of the most important things is the financial.
Any financial issues that.
You would have that you would be a target to foreign governments to take bribes, and so that to me, with some of the people that you know that are obviously serving presidents no matter who it is, is probably one of the most important things, because you're not going to really normally nominate someone that has criminal pasts. But this whole financial aspect is something that's really important for some of these nominees.
Well, okay, and well stated here when it comes to the various levels of security clearance, I know you could give us a clinic on this, and I don't want to get too far into the weeds, but how many are there? If you're going to run an agency like the Pedagon for instance, or a law enforcement agency like the FBI, that would require obviously the highest But when we start talking about Scott Bessont, for instance, some of the other nominees, how many different shades of clearances are there?
Well's there's a very interesting fact here which I learned when I was going through MIND. So the normal or top secret and then to something called ts SCI which is a higher level, which is kind of what someone like the Secretary of Treasury would get. So it's a high level higher than top secret, which is more the general clearance. But the interesting dynamic here or there's code words that you that you can get and so that means that you can read into certain programs throughout the
federal government. And there's not one person, including the President of the United States, that has the ability to read into every single code program in the country. So like Treasury, for example, has they deal with a lot of terrorism ensurance or terrorism funding through the department. So obviously those programs the Secretary Treasury would be read into, but he's not necessarily going to be read into programs of something that's happening in the.
Ground war in Afghanistan. So there's but someone.
Like DoD he would read he would be read into obviously all the different programs of the Department of Defense would be involved, and however he may not necessarily be read into programs that have to do with critical infrastructure in.
The United States.
Fascinating that's what really interest join us. Yeah, you're not going to hear this anywhere else. Well, it sure is, because we're talking about this every day here, and it kind of helps when you know what you're talking about. Keep this in mind when you hear about these confirmation hearings and the security clearances that come with the FBI background check. Ashley, It's great to have you back. As always, you're.
Listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast kens just live weekdays at noon Eastern on Applecarplay and then Rounoo with the Bloomberg Business App. You can also listen live on Amazon Alexa from our flagship New York station, just say Alexa, Pay Bloomberg eleven thirty.
We turn our attention to the topic of energy, and of course this is the fastest show in politics, so we're going to do this through policy here in Washington by way of Alaska. And I mentioned this just twenty four hours after we saw the price of a gallon of gas fall below three dollars nationally that according to Gas Buddy, it was at two ninety nine when we drove home last night.
Hits back above three today.
But there's been some progress here and certainly when you look at what's happening in the crude oil market, remembering we had a high WTI West Texas intermediate of about eighty seven dollars a barrel. That was back the beginning of April. Today we're about twenty dollars below that level right now, sixty nine dollars at the moment, actually, but still holding below seventy. And that's the baseline for what
we're going to see in the new administration. Donald Trump has, of course, promised to cut energy prices by half as the centerpiece of his policy to combat inflation across the board. And the refrain that we heard in Milwaukee, much like it was in the Twin Cities in two thousand and eight, was drill, Baby, Drill. Now on the other end of these promises, at least in some cases, is the governor of Alaska, and I'm glad to say that he's in Washington today. He came here to warm up in our
twenty five degree whether Governor Mike Dunleavy. It's great to see you in the nation's capitol.
Welcome back. Great to be here in the sub Indian radio.
On a summer day with I think it was twenty seven. I'll be fair here. I want to know what your state is going to look like the year or four from now. Knowing that Donald Trump has talked a lot about not only unwinding regulations, but unwinding limits on drilling in your state, specifically in anwar, how quickly will you get to this and what changes in the offing.
It's a great question, Joe. So it depends on the executive orders. Some have said that the President's going to drop executive orders immediately, maybe even on the first day. Hopefully some of those executive orders will repeal with some of the Bide administration folks have done to Alaska. Our sener Dan Sullivan has an interesting chart that shows about sixty six sanctions against Alaska is what we call them,
since the Biden administration came into play. So, for example, in twenty seventeen, anwar was opened under the Tax and Jobs Bill, and the Biden administration has really done everything they can to stop those leases from actually going into play. We're supposed to have a sale again, a second sale for leases in an war in December. We're not sure
if that's even going to happen. This is required by law, but We'll see when December comes along, but we were questioning whether this administration is going to go through with that. But I would say what Alaska's going to look like is what it's supposed to look like. What this country's supposed to look like is tremendous opportunity under the Trump administration, just like his first term, great conversations with the President during his first term, he always asked this, what does
Alaska need? What can we do for Alaska? And under President Trump, we got anwar, we were drilling more, we were moving west than the NPR, which is the National Patrolling Reserve. About twenty seven million acres of land in Alaska that was designated oil production and gas production very supportively is of our gas line project that is fully permitted that we're trying to finalize. Timber industry. Timber industry disappeared in the longest National Forest under the Clinton administration.
Hopefully that comes back. But between oil, gas mining, timber, we have tremendous opportunity in Alaska. All we want is the opportunity to be able to develop those resources on federal land, and we're very hopeful with President Trump coming back.
You mentioned the leases under the Biden administration, seven of them that had been acquired by the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority were canceled and two others were abandoned. As a result, You're in an interesting position here as a policymaker, with one hand on Washington the other on industry. There's been a bit of a lucy with the football. According to some oil producers who want assurances before they start investing in these leases.
What would you tell them.
Well, that's another thing that the Trump administration will bring certainty. So part of the problem with the leases in anwar as you as you mentioned is when you're selling leases, but on the other hand, you're telling folks to not invest in the Arctic, to not put money in the Arctic, to not put money into oil. You know, it provides an uncertain future for those investors, and so I think
under the Trump administration that's gonna change. The other thing that's very important, you know, realize, is we're gonna need two to three times as much energy as we're producing right now because of data farms, yes, supercomputers. That's rapidly changing that. You know, a giga a gigawat of electricity powers about eight hundred thousand homes. We only have seven hundred thousand people in the state of Alaska, so some of these data farms are using more than the power
we generate for all of our residents. You're going to have to have as much energy as possible coming from various sources, and we're gonna need it sooner than later.
You're sitting on oil, but a lot of people are talking about nuclear. Now do you support that?
Yeah, We've support all forms of energy, doesn't matter if it's renewables, oil, gas, nukes, any all forms of energy. And we actually passed a new exciting bill two years ago that's going to make it easier for nuclear office to come up and take a look at a lot.
Is that right?
So Alaska could be the home of the new.
Nuclear reactor in the United States? Well, I hope so.
And we're also looking at a nuclear reactor on one of our military bases at Aileson, So yes, we hope. So you need as much energy as possible, again, from any source we can get it from.
Or will we see an auction in the early stages of the Trump administration when it comes to these leases, or do you not have a sense of exactly so that procedure will be.
I hope so.
And I hope that also pertains the offshore oral leases which were also negaibily impacted by the Biden administration. So on shore offshore again, we hope that there's a couple of these sales like go up pretty quick.
The prize for you, unless you tell me otherwise, is a pipeline, a natural gas pipeline that the Trump administration has promised. You actually retweeted a statement by Donald Trump on this. What's your expectation? What has he told you?
Well, we have all the.
Permit for this pipeline. It's a massive pipeline project where I think we're battling our last court case. So this pipeline project is really coming together with buyers and sellers of gas. The President has been very consistent. President Trump's are very consistent, and he supports this gas line concept. What people don't realize is Alaska pioneer energy export for North America in late nineteen sixty sixty eight sixty nine, we've sent gas to Japan energy out of the Kiski, Alaska,
which is south of Anchorage. That occurred for fifty years until our gas got depleted in the Cook Inlet. But we're talking about North Slope gas, which is one hundred trillion qb feet to two hundred trillion qubic feet of gas. Tremendous amounts of gas. But we're very close to consummating this gas pipeline and I'm pretty excited about it.
Well, Chris Wright and Doug Bergham, hope you.
Make that happen.
Well, I know Doug, Doug's a former governor, comes from an energy state. I think I don't know mister right well, but from what I understand, he's going to do a great job as well. But Doug is going to be terrific because it's that interface between tenechnology, supercomputing, and energy, and his role as the energies are I think is going to pay amazing dividends for those.
Country energies are.
But also the Interior Secretary might have something to say about the lands we're talking about.
Yeah, we have more of more blm lands, more parklands than any other state in the country in terms of acreage. Our population has more Native Americans than any of any other state as a percentage, twenty percent of our population as Native American, and so a lot to do with the Apartment of Interior Alaska has and so we look forward to working with Doug on solving some problems for the state and the country.
The biggest tribe in Alaska supports your move on.
Energy, most most Native Alaskans, most Alaskans support our moves on energy.
This is something that's been mischaracterized absolutely media.
How come because it doesn't play to the narrative On the left, My wife is ani pak Eskimo. My kids are Eskimo. They're tribal members and their members of our native corporations up there. My three girls work at the largest legending mine in the world. It's the resource you know, extraction industry. Most Native Americans, they're Americans. They want to be able to turn their lights on. They want to
be able to warm their homes. They want to be able to drive their machines, their cars, their snow machines, whatever it is. And so yeah, energy is important to all of us.
They also want to drink clean water and breathe clean air. Do you worry about the impact on climate change that, for instance, the LNG exports because lifting that moratorium looks like a day one endeavor for Donald Trump.
Welly, I hope so and I don't because Alaska takes care of this environment probably better than any other place in the country, excuse me, any other place in the world, and probably any other place in the country. When you shift your resource development overseas, the places like China, places in Africa, the Middle East, they don't have the environmental regulations that we do. And so by doing it here in America, you get the benefits of taking care of
the environment, jobs, wealth creation, and really opportunity. And this energy is really going to be the underpinnings for the supercomputing age, the AI age that we need to be leaders of.
You've got your eyes on data centered Absolutely, that's a big deal for Alaska. Does the distance make it difficult to put the data centers themselves in Alaska or is it about procuring energy in Alaska that will feed the data centers here.
Well, what we have going for is in Alaska's energy. Yeah, we have continuous acres of land. You need large tracks of lander.
Have that.
We have three times the fresh water of any other state.
So set up the farms in Alaska and we have cool temperatures there you go. Absolutely, cooling is a big part of this. That's fascinating.
I want to talk about you, Governor in your personal trajectory because a lot of people are watching us right now. Joe's talking to the governor of Alaska. Is this big timberman looking guy logging. You're from Scranton, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, and after you graduated from college, after spending a life hunting and fishing and being outdoors, you decided to just move
your life to Alaska. Through a connection you got a job as a logger, as a kid from Scranton, which more people associate with Joe Biden than with Mike Dunlavy. What was the scratch or the itch you were trying to scratch by making that move?
Always love the outdoors and the ultimate outdoor?
Was it culture shock when you got there? Not really?
Great people in Alaska just like great people in Scranton. So not really. But it was the outdoors, the willderness that drew me there back in nineteen eighty three, So right out of college went to Alaska.
I never looked back, never looked back. How much time did you spend logging?
Well that was what learn doing this several months in southeast Alaska. Then I moved up north close to the Arctic Circle, and I was a teacher for over a twenty two years.
You were a teacher for a long time before you got into politics. What did you learn as a logger from Scranton, Pennsylvania.
That jobs are incredibly important, especially for low income folks, Opportunities very important, and resource development is what Alaska is all about. That's why the US acquired Alaska from Russia was resource development. And again, we do it better than anywhere else I think in the world.
You then became a teacher.
Yes, Do you think that Donald Trump is on the right track to eliminate the Department of Education?
As an educator yourself, I do.
I do because education was one of those rights that the States never gave up in the Constitution where we formed the federal govern because the states believe that their control over education was critically important, not the federal government's control. And so the Department of Education as a new department came in under Jimmy Carter and a number of us that were teachers, administrators, school board members, which I was
as well. We think you can do things better at the local level than you can thousands of miles away from Alaska, thousands of miles away from other states, and so certainly support the elimination, if possible, of the Department of Education.
What do you do for funding for disabled students some of the other expenses that might be hard for us.
To run that money through health social services. There's many ways to get money to certain groups in the educational umbrella, doesn't have to be through this department that currently exists.
A lot of people suggested you for a number of jobs here in Washington. I heard that, Yeah, you might have as well.
You're here right now. I don't know if who you're talking to. Would you consider working for this administration? Maybe you should run the Department of Education.
Well, I think he's already got a great pick and McMahon for education. But the President I never talked about a job. He knows I have two years left in my term. I barely enjoyed this job, and as mentioned earlier, we're on the verge of some big projects that we want to make sure you get across the finish line. So I've got my hands filled over the next two years with Alaska.
Sure, A lot of governors, though, say that. The stock answer is, oh my god, Washington, nothing gets done there. I'm better off here. I'm an executive running my own state right where I want to.
Be truth to that too?
Is there truth to that? Does anything get done in Washington with Donald Trump?
At the other end of time, I think with President Trump, he really wants to change things. He really wants to disrupt things. And I say that in the positive. If he really wants to give power back to the states, give power back to the people. So I'm excited about the possibilities. I saw what he did this first term, and he said four years to plan for this term. I think it's going to be a great four years for this country.
Can he really drop energy prices by fifty percent if we produce more? Yeah, if you produce more, that's what we're talking about. Yes.
And for Alaska, what we want to have is more production. Not necessarily higher prices because higher prices hurt Americans heart Alaska's but more production. That's where we'll get revenue from as well. More production.
Nice to see you in town. Come see us again.
The governor of Alaska, Mike Dunleavy. Now you know where he's from.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Balance of Power podcast. Catch us live weekdays at noon Eastern on AMMO CarPlay and then roun Otto with the Bloomberg Business app. Listen on demand wherever you get your podcasts, or watch us live on YouTube.
Thank you for being with us on the Tuesday edition of Ballots of Power. We're live from Washington on Bloomberg TV and Radio. With the big question, how far will they kick the can? Of course, I'm referring to Congress lawmakers, or back last night into today. Senate's getting back into session. The House will a little bit later on with seventeen days until we run out of money. Now noteworthy, nobody's running countdown clocks, at least not yet. No one's really
talking about a shutdown. But the fact is we might have to kick the can. So we can kick the can. We'll explain with our political panel Rick Davi. This joins us now partner at Stone Court Capitol, Bloomberg Politics contributor and Republican strategist, alongside Kristin Han, Democratic strategists partner at Rock Solutions.
Great to see you both here.
Kristin, you spent enough time in the House of Representatives to have seen this movie more than once. They don't even have an agreement on top lines right now, and the government runs out of money on December twenty so you can probably tell us how this is going to work. Right, We'll have a short term resolution, kicks the can into the start of the new year. Everybody come back in January when they have a lot of other things to do to try to figure out how to get us
into the new year. So Donald Trump can affect the budget. What's it going to look like?
I mean, I think you pretty much laid it out pretty well. I mean, they're looking at, like you said, we run out of money. Thement runs out of money on December twentieth. Congress has a history of running up against deadlines. I don't think that would be much different here. You're looking at potentially funding the government through maybe March of twenty twenty five, although they'll have to come to
an agreement there. And of course you have the Republicans who are looking forward to taking over control of the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they have a lot of pinions that they're looking at. But there's a lot on the docket between now and then. It's just depends on whether they can get it all done with so few legislative days.
Left on the calendar.
Rick Davis is about to scream regular Order. Rick, we have to remind everybody, we've been punting for a while here. They punted in September, which got us to this point. They're going to punt again so they can do it again in the new year.
Right, Yeah, I think regular Order is punting now, so you won't hear me scream that anymore, at least not between now in March. Look, the reality is the biggest issue is that top line number. You know, they can fill in whatever budget they want as long as they have an agreement on how much total spending will occur. And you know, I have to remind you, in addition to the spending, we have to tuck into that, you know,
a supplemental for disaster relief. And after the winter weather has already pounded the Great Lakes, I suspect there'll be more money needed for that. So that's becoming a more and more urgent spending issue. And then, of course, what everyone says, the National Defense Authorization Act will be fine, we always pass it. Well, it hasn't passed yet, and it's just another thing that's going to come up the works in this process. So yeah, I'm glad they're back
in town. I'm glad they're working. It's not great for traffic, but it's good for the country. So hopefully they don't get too grinded down to a stop here soon.
Got two weeks to get this done here, I guess two and a half. Really, when you look at it, Kristin, this won't be decided until the last minute, right, or we're going to be in a world where lawmakers are held over. Might have to work a little closer to Christmas than planned.
How do we end the year?
I mean, there's always the chance that that can happen, But in my experience, particularly the Christmas holiday has been a motivator for members of both the House and the Senate. I would project they would come to an agreement. But you know, as I said, like we've got you've got naa to deal with, potentially a farm bill, all these things that you know that still have to happen or
should happen. I would love, like Rick, you know, if the government can get back to regular order, that's not you know, this seems to be the case times soon, and I would not expect it to be the case with such a slim majority in the House. Even next year when the Republicans take over.
Yeah, could be a majority of one if Donald Trump gets all of his nominees through their couple coming out of the House, which makes life a little more difficult for Speaker Mike Johnson. Of course, those nominees are making
the rounds right now, not necessarily from the House. But in the case of today, we've got Scott Bessent, Donald Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary, walking the halls of the Senate, meeting with the senators who will help to determine his fate when he gets into the confirmation process and the
actual hearings. The other making the round still is Pete Hegsath, Donald Trump's pick for Defense Secretary, who has been enshrouded by controversy here not only some sexual assault allegations, but also his comments on women serving in the military serving in combat role, something he was asked about yesterday as he made his way through the halls of power in the Senate. Let's listen, how do you feel about the women in combat?
Amazing? When it's amazing, What do you think they.
Should be in combat?
I think they're already in combat.
If you couldn't hear that if you're with us on the radio, so you agree that women should be in combat? He said, I think they already are in combat. Rick, does that sound like somebody who might be backing off some of the harder lines he's taken in interviews and commentaries before he actually found himself in the United States Senate.
I'd say, not just backing off, but full retreat. Yes, declaring the obvious women are in combat. He said he didn't want to have so Look, I mean, I think that he's starting to figure out that the comments he made before being nominated don't stand the test that he needs to stand, so he's starting to clean some of that up. I would think he would find something more inventive and positive to say about women in combat. But the fact that he recognizes that they are serving in
combat now is a huge step forward. And remember, the people he's meeting with right now are the members of the Armed Services Committee, the same people who are anxious to see the National Defense Authorization Act pass And and you know he's got to get through that committee before he gets to the full floor. And so they're the real tests, and margins will be slim just probably one more Republican than the Democrats have, and so you want to have that vote coming out of committee positive, at
least with all the Republicans on board. And of course the biggest one on that committee that seems to have real interest in working him through the paces is going to be Tony ernst Centered from Iowa and another woman who has served in combat.
That's right, Kristin.
When you read the tip sheets, the commentaries and op eds, there is this feeling that hag Seth could be the other one who doesn't make it much like Matt Gates. Then again, we're hearing from a lot of Republican senators who say they want to give him the benefit of the doubt. That answer he just gave on women in combat as a Democrat. Does that make you feel better about this selection?
I don't think I feel good about a lot of things. You know, from his mom's email to what he said about women in combat. He was very clear before he said women have no place in combat, and there's only
so much. I mean's clearly he's had to back off and retreat from that position, as Zerk said, But you know, he was very adamant about that, and it wasn't very respectful to women, are women in uniform who served this country well, And in addition to that, seemed like he was more making a problem where a problem didn't it already exists. So I'm glad that he's changed his tune on that. It's clear that that was important for him to do leading into these discussions with his with the
Republican senators in particular. But does it make me feel better?
Not?
Not necessarily.
Interesting Kristen to see Democrats conduct their leadership elections in the Senate today, no big surprise is a guy named Chuck Schumer will be the Democratic leader in the Senate. Also Dick Durbin whip Amy Klobashar stepping into the number three spot, which also forced the creation of a job for Corey Booker, a newly created position of Strategic Communications chair. Does this team represent the new blood the Democrats need?
I mean, I think that they've done a fairly good job. Chrey Booker has been a leader and one of the younger members of the Democratic Caucus in the Senate. I think, you know, if you look towards the House as well, you've got some interesting potential changes in committee chairmanship or ranking members, which is the top Democratic spot on each committee. The Republicans, I've long said, have a standing rule that you can only be a committee chairman or hold that
top spot. For so long the Democrats have not had that in place, which has led to kind of stagnation on the committees, with younger members not being able to move up as easy in the ranks. And I think that you're seeing some potential movement on some critical committees like Judiciary, potentially Agriculture.
Rick, you were a creature of the Senate for many years here and you saw Mitch McConnell hang on through good times and bad. Are you surprised to see all of these same names, essentially the old guard continuing on the Democratic side of the aisle.
Yeah. Different from the House of Representative, Seniority still matters. People who want to serve in leadership are kind of self selected. It's not for everybody in the Senate, and so I'm not surprised to see the sort of typical group.
Ammy Klobuchar, very very well thought of Democrat, ran for president and I'm glad to see Corey Booker taking a new role because he's i think been an underutilized democratic asset and Republican has already gone through their leadership selections and fights, and we've got our team in place, and I would say, you know, really strong leaders on both
sides should be able to get something done in the Senate. Remember, last two years, the Senate has been surprisingly bipartisan by anybody's estimation, and we'd hope that some of that can continue into this first two years of the Trump administration.
That is that is very true, Krista.
We started talking this conversation about government funding and a potential shutdown. No one sees that happening the this year or the beginning of next. A lot of people do see it happening in March, though, when that next Continuing Resolution concludes, right around the time we're talking about renewing the Trump tax cuts and some of the other issues dealing with the fiscal cliff. Do you see a shutdown in the new year?
I mean, I think that I won't speak for the Republicans, but I think they would be loathed for that to happen, as the you know, one of the first things you know, they do, as as you know, having control of both the House, Senate and the White House, to shut down the government. I think that there will be people in their ranks who will want to use that, you know, as a kind of a political football in order to get some of the government cuts and other priorities through.
So I think that the Republicans was such a narrow majority, particularly in the House, will eventually probably have to once again come to democratic leadership and look for some of the votes on the Democratic side to get any government fund.
She is Kristen Hahn, Rock Solutions partner, democratic Strategisty, of course, is Rick Davis, Bloomberg Politics contributor, Republican strategist and partner at Stone Court Capital.
Thank you both for a great conversation.
Thanks for listening to the Balance of Power podcast. Make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, at Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and you can find us live every weekday from Washington, DC at noontime Eastern at Bloomberg dot com.