>> that's between hakeem jeffries and barbara lee of california. we will bring you results as warranted. comments from members as warranted and any comments before the microphone, obviously, swrl, will be up there throughout the day. in the meantime, we will take you back to just after the election, a week after the election when congress returned for starting the lame duck, the democratic leader nancy pelosi spoke to reporters about her plan for the 116th congress. we'll show you as much of this as we can. the house is coming in for noon eastern what we expect to be a short session of speeches. they have four bills to take up later today. let's hear from nancy pelosi and be back with any news as it develops.

ms. pelosi: good morning. it's snowing here, we have great sadness in my state of california. just unprecedented number of people dead in the high 50's and many missing. it's just -- we had these fires again and again but these seem to be particularly deadly. o our thoughts and prayers and resources need to be with california at this very sad time. much discussion about fires and causes and the rest but right now our thoughts and prayers are with those who have suffered, lost their lives, lost their loved ones, lost their homes, impossible to be made whole. so, again, it's a very sad time

for us in that regard. we are her hand, here celebrating a great victory for the democratic party but more importantly for the american people. every place i go people say -- and not even go, just coming in in every means of communication, thank you for saving america and i convey that to my colleagues, to the grassroots people who are so effective getting out that vote and particularly to our candidates. they had the courage to run, stamina to win and they are here now in what is the most transformative new members -- bodies of congress in our history. the biggest victory for the democrats since 1974 when the watergate babies came in. i don't know if these -- this

congress will name itself but we're almost close to 60 new democrats. 60 new democrats. around 40 in the red to blue. we're just waiting for some final results from california, georgia, maine, texas. places where we have a still question mark, even new york -- we ut we will win will win 40 seats. it may be a net of lower because of two seats we did not win but we will see what the number is. i should have said from the start winning 23 seats in a voter suppressed, gerrymander map was a wave. was a wave. now we're getting up to 40. that's really a very big -- lmost a tsunami.

the thrill of it all is half the members, new members in our democratic class are women. one on the republican side. happy for that one person, but sad to say just one. we are on track -- again, it's transformative. they will decide what their priority is. they have given us one already. and i'll talk about that in a moment. they will decide how they want to proceed, what they want to proceed with, in the manner which they do that. they are entrepreneurial. they are enthusiastic and they want to make progress for our country and we want them to do so in the most open congress. the american people talked about a better deal and then talked about for the people agenda. or the people, we will lower

health care costs, we will grow the paychecks and we will bring integrity to government. and to that end, this group has decided -- 100 candidates wrote and said they want h.r. 1 to be our priority and our agenda as we go forward. fortunately, we're ready. under the leadership of john sarbanes who has been working with an array of co-chairs on his task force, we are ready with that legislation and how lovely it will be so early in this congress to pass h.r. 1. all that it does, including passing finally the restoration of the voting rights act. largely what has been proposed by congresswoman terri sewell of alabama. again, we will be opening this congress in a very open and transparent way.

what we said we were going to do. we were going to defend our protections for people with pre-existing conditions, lower drug costs, protect social security, medicare and medicaid by taking them off the chopping block. we will increase workers' benefits -- wages by building the infrastructure of america and all that implies with the most worker training so that everyone participates and that -- in that success for our country. in that clean up corruption again as we'll h.r. 1 will make washington for the people and reduce and role of money in politics and advance the election by strengthening, again, the voting rights act. again, transparency, that openness, so essential to engaging the american people in what is happening here and how it affects them. ne of the reasons we were so successful in this past congress on health care issues was because of the outside groups, their mobilization made

all the difference. many of them participated in the campaign around one issue, health care. the affordable care act. issues that relate to medicare and medicaid and that was a successful issue. but again, openness, bipartisanship where we can. you have heard me say it over and over. bipartisanship where we have a responsibility to find our common ground where we can. where we cannot, we must stand our ground. thomas jefferson said like a ock. but we must try. i have urged the freshmen to reach across the aisle and we respect every member and we respect the people who sent them here. then, again, all of us are committed to beater future for america's working families. that's our common denominator in the democratic party. that's what unifies us and

that's where it connects us to the aspirations of the american people. while that's happening, on the other side of pennsylvania, the president continues to wage an all-out campaign to obstruct the mueller investigation. this morning, the president took to twitter to try to discredit the investigation tweeting, a total witch-hunt like no other in american history. this is the president of the united states. president trump installed matthew whitaker for acting a.g. for one purpose, to end the investigation. here is bipartisan consensus this appointments violates the appointments clause of the constitution which trumps any statute that the administration lawyers have cited. as george conway and a former solicitor general wrote in "the new york times," mr. whitaker's installation makes a mockery of our constitution and our ounders' vision.

ipartisan. house democrats once again that in our negotiations on the omnibus bill that the g.o.p. leadership include -- join us in including language that ould say the special counsel -- to protect any special counsel, the special couple cannot be fired without cause. he or she would be granted a three-judge appeal panel if fired. could only be removed by a -- replaced by a senate-confirmed attorney general or top senate justice department official. this is very important. whitaker would not qualify because such an appointment must be made by someone confirmed by the congress -- by the senate. hat's a fact and has to be re-emphasized. and very importantly, the preservation of all the documentation so that the people can know the truth.

i don't know if you saw an op-ed the other day by former leader daschle, jointly, emocrat and republican, saying that the starr documents was released -- the starr report was released, did vote in the congress to do so. so, too, mueller documents. any questions? reporter: i wanted to ask you, [inaudible] next congress, there's been some pushback on that idea. are you going forward with that idea and what do you think of the criticism that there should be new climate legislation? ms. pelosi: as you may not recall but i will remind, when i was speaker of the house, the climate issue was my flagship issue with president bush in the white house. by the time president obama came, we moved the health care force. it was my flagship issue. we established a select

committee that you referenced, headed by ed markey of massachusetts. he did a spectacular job of shining the spotlight on the crisis that our planet is facing and to do so in a way that has full documentation from the generals. hey said it was a national security issue from health care care providers, that this is a public health issue, clean air, clean water. on our economy that we must remain preeminent as number one in the world on green technologies and that it is a moral issue. if you believe this is a right and this is god's creation and evangelicals certainly do and we must be good stewards. then we must act upon it. even if you don't share that religious belief, if you understand that we are -- have

a moral responsibility to the next generation to pass the planet on in a responsible way. but it is urgent. it was urgent when we established it in 2007 and even more urgent now. it has always been a challenge with these standing committees and we will have conversations about some of the objections they may have. but there is tremendous interest on the outside for us to return to that place where the climate issue is preeminent. hat we did then is under president bush, we passed the biggest energy bill in the history of our country -- do you have some water? the biggest -- sorry. please. the biggest energy bill in the history of our country by -- hank you -- taking tens of millions of cars off the roads.

much of the authority used by president obama in this regard stems from that legislation. so it's very important it was bipartisan. he wanted nuclear. i wanted renewables. we came to agreement. again, we have to sit down with our ranking members. but i believe an array of ranking members has broadened since then because not only is it energy and commerce, for example, that you referenced, but also homeland security, because this has become such an issue hitting home by way of hurricanes, forest fires, so many different ways. natural disasters affecting people. very directly in their lives. so we do believe that it's about stewardship of our planet, and we have to find the best way to engage the public to make the change that is necessary to put us on a different course of action. live with the deniers in that egard.

reporter: what do you tell members who say they want leadership change? what can you offer them? and might you back primary challenges from the -- [indiscernible] ms. pelosi: i'm largely responsible for most of the resources that went into those campaigns. that didn't matter to me. i you said just win, baby. does anyone have a question in this regard? reporter: there are 17 members that signed letters saying they will not support you on the floor. ms. pelosi: have you seen the letter? reporter: i haven't seen the letter. ms. pelosi: you haven't seen it. ok. reporter: there are more, apparently, who are willing to

vote no. you expressed total confidence in the vote. ms. pelosi: i do. ok. next question. reporter: how can you feel comfortable? reporter: conference capable of taking on the -- reporter: bottom line, madam leader -- ms. pelosi: ok. reporter: if the election were held today on the house floor, do you have the votes elected to be speaker? ms. pelosi: yes. let me just get back to your question. [inaudible] this is what we have. we have a farm bill that we have to deal with. we have #metoo legislation we are trying to get passed here. we are trying to pass an omnibus bill so we don't have any question about shutting down government. there are issues that relate to the veterans affairs and lawsuits that are happening there. we have the mueller language that we want. we have -- we're still -- i have a day job here that's different from what's happening on the political side. we are just very excited about the size of our victory. i will say to you, always, supported it.

it doesn't matter if they support me. what matters is they support a emocratic agenda to make progress for america's working amilies and they all spoke out beautifully for the people, health care, health care, health care. like a jackhammer, that's what's important. what was yours? ome back to the omnibus. i do -- no. i intend to win the speakership with democratic votes. that was your question. that was your question. the -- i have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the house. and certainly we have many, many people in our caucus who could serve in this capacity. i happen to think at this point i am the best person for that. i've answered one, two, three, four, five, six questions. you want to ask about the omnibus? thank you. reporter: you mentioned the language about robert mueller. what are the other policy asks

and red lines for you as we go into this negotiation, particularly as it pertains to the border wall? ms. pelosi: you know, i am an appropriator. that's one of the places where i was forged there, and intelligence committee. and left to their own devices i said to you before, democrats and republicans can come to their own conclusion -- to their agreements because they -- nancy pelosi 10 days after the mid-determine elections. all of that at c-span.org. we are breaking away briefly. this initial part of the day will be fairly short, we expect, with speeches and such and back later this afternoon for four measures. but the activity on capitol hill mainly concerns the democratic side, house democrats are meeting for their leadership elections for the 116th congress. news from scott wong, senior staff writer for "the hill," his tweet, hakeem jeffries defeats barbara lee for the house democratic caucus chair. the number five leadership