that very thing. look, we're in unprecedented times, ok. we're in dangerous times. it's been articulated here, around the world and here at home. we need steady leadership. we need steady hands at the wheel. look, i regard myself as a wartime speaker, in a literal sense, we are. i knew that when we took the gavel and i didn't anticipate it would be a easy path. newt gingrich posted on his social media, it's the hardest challenge that faced a speaker in the history of the country, the moment we're in right now. he said arguably may be comparable to the civil war but may be worse, a single vote margin at a difficult time when our nation is terribly divided. the way we get through that is show unity and explain how we have answers. we have answers but shouldn't get in the way of ourselves. we'll work it out today and have a lot more comment for you later.

i'm going to tell you that i am not concerned about this. i'm going to do my job and what the american people want. reporter: is there anyone calling your bluff, mr. speaker? >> house democratic leaders spoke with reporters about debbie dingell becoming the new chair of the democratic policy and communications committee. they talked about efforts by some conservative house members to oust speaker mike johnson. >> good morning. we're joined by our friend and colleague and newly elected dppc chair, debbie dingle, our

classmate ted lou and debbie and i came together in the class of 2014 and it's an honor to be standing up here with her. congratulations, debbie. i want to begin this week by dimming in the strongest possible terms, iran's unprovoked attack against israel. as missiles and drones rained down on our closest ally in the middle east over the weekend, the strength of the u.s.-israel relationship is in full display and we are grateful for the commander and military commanders at work with israel and regional allies to ensure we were saved and damage was minimized but congress must show the rest of the world our support with the safety and security of the american people will not waiver. we need to act immediately on aid to israel, humanitarian assistance, for people in gaza and aid to ukraine. we must send a strong message not just for our adversary in

iran but to russia and china as well. every day that we delay, the consideration of aid to israel, ukraine, and taiwan, we jeopardize america's role in the free world. but nothing is more important to the pro-putin wing of the house republican conference than re-electing donald trump. not american exceptionalism or the security of our allies and not even democracy. the same group that has undermined our ability to support our allies are pushing russia propaganda on the house floor, and that's what the members say. it's time for speaker johnson to do the right thing and put this critical funding for an up or down vote. i'll yield to vice chair, mr. lou. mr. lou: i agree with what you said with the attack on israel and iran. they sent approximate 120

drones, 30 cruise missiles and 120 bullet missiles at israel. the reason most of those drones and missiles were shot down is because of the skill of the israeli defense force with funding from the united states for their iron dome system, the arrow system, david sling system and why it's so important we continue to give israel the funding it needs to defend itself, including passing the supplemental package that the senate passed on a bipartisan basis, the fastest way to get funding to israel. mr. lieu. another reason is the united states armed forces helping to defend israel as well as jordan, and the united kingdom and all participate in making sure these weapons of missiles and drones are shot down before they lapd on israeli soil and some did land and iran needs to make sure they never, ever attack israel

again and one way to do that is help israel defend itself and we call on speaker johnson to put the senate bill on the floor. if he did that, it would pass with more than a 2/3 vote. now it is my extreme pleasure and honor to introduce the new dppc chair, debbie dingle. as chair aguilar said we came together with debbie in the freshman class. i served with debbie on on the dppcc for four years and did a fantastic job as dppcc co-chair and will do an amazing job as chair. before working with debbie, i want to hear her speak now. ms. dingle: thanks, ted. i want to first of all say how happy i am to be here with pete and ted who have been close friends since the day i walked in here. ted and i -- and i'm very excited to be working with them again. ted and i were co-chairs of the

dppcc. and i think it's really important to say that i am a partner with representative lauren underwood, veronica escobar and lori tray hahn as the co-chairs and we're all going to be united and we're going to be a girl team, actually. and for the last year and a half, they've been working tirelessly and done great work along with our former co-chair joe neguses who was -- joe neguse was chair and now assistant leader. we're trying to help our caucus communicate with americans across the country and to demonstrate our caucus is putting people over politics. we've got -- i'm really looking forward to working with them and these guys, you know, the university of michigan won this year, in case you missed it, in football. and this is a highlight today but the highlight, highlight of

my life was standing at the championship and i said to the team, jim harbaugh taught you all one thing, to value the teamwork. and that's a lesson that he teaches all of us, teamwork creates victimmors. go blue. ok. that's what we're going to do here, too. teamwork is going to create victimmors and we're going to go blue this year. we have work -- hakeem will be speaker and katherine will be the majority leader but we have to help make sure our message breaking through, you know. and here's the reality, the republican caucus, their message is chaos and we choose united every day, to lower everyday costs for families, to access -- for everybody to have access to and expand access to health

care, lower prescription drug prices, protect care giving both for childcare and senior care. protect our democracy and strengthen our national security total chaos and even trying to sort out what bills you're trying to vote on on the floor. as the world becomes increasingly dangerous and unstable. we must continue to stand with our democratic allies. the ukraineance have bravely pushed back against the russians. you know that we are seeing dangerous spots all over the world. iran's attack last weekend. we have to -- the world needs to know that america is standing with them, protecting democracy. so thank you very much. and we can't abandon those people in their hour of need.

mr. aguilar: thank you. questions? reporter: i want to get your reaction to the package of four bills. i know you're waiting on legislative text but do you think democrats will support them in any way and is a discharge petition at this point your only option? mr. aguilar: leader jeffries has been clear all options should remain on the table. the important point is the substance of the legislation. the substance matters. and so democrats look forward to seeing what the plans are, to deliver the substance of what the senate passed bills are. if it meets that test and that will be a test done by chair -- ranking member rosa delauro, my chair, greg meeks, jim hymes, if they indicate the -- jim himes, and they indicate the substance

meets that request to help our allies and provide humanitarian assistance, the house democrats and leadership team will work to define the process that fits to deliver that. we're more concerned about the substance than the process. i think that's what we're focused on and what we're going to continue to focus on is these next hours of procedure. reporter: the senate bipartisan bill has four components, aid to israel, aid to ukraine, humanitarian assistance and aid to indo-pacific. if speaker johnson's version is missing one of these components, it's highly unlikely democrats would support it so we're waiting to see what it shows. reporter: to follow up on that specifically, would you support the rule if it includes all of these? mr. lieu: let's see what the

substance looks like. that's a conversation among the leadership team. let's see what the substance looks like and figure out what the process is. it's up to speaker johnson, as we said before, to deliver votes in the rules committee and pass the rules. i know they have a tough time working together and passing pieces of legislation or taking down their own rules. we're less concerned about that. we're more concerned about what this looks like. reporter: you're not ruling it out? mr. aguilar: as i said to the last answer, there's no option off the table right now from procedural measures that bring this directly to the floor to any votes that are options. if it delivers, as the vice chair said, if it delivers the four points we're concerned about, it should be something that's on the table. reporter: there's two house republicans who are saying they'll support the motion to vacate to oust johnson. your caucus could hold his fate in your hand. how would you handle a motion to

vacate? mr. aguilar: we don't like the chaos and dysfunction. we've been down this road before, believe me. i provided a lion's share of nomination speeches and i'm not itching to do that anymore. we want this place to work. we want to see aid to israel, ukraine, and we can't control the theatrics of marjorie taylor greene and the house republican conference but stand willing to work with anyone who wants to deliver on that help and support. reporter: on that same question, is there a world -- this might have sounded strange 10 years ago but is there a world if there's a motion to vacate triggered and the votes work out so that hakeem jeffries could become speaker, you don't think it would be good to have a democratic speaker even with a technical republican majority?

mr. aguilar: look, i feel very confident speaking for the democratic caucus that we want hakeem jeffries to be speaker, whether that happens in this calendar year or in january. that's the focus. mathematically, it's possible but right now we're just focused on this week ahead and ensuring we provide the important support to israel, ukraine, humanitarian assistance for that region as well as priorities in the pacific. that's the focus and the goal obviously from a math perspective we can't rule that out. but it's nothing we're spending a lot of time on right now. reporter: speaker johnson yesterday did he speak to leader jeffries about the plan of his? has there been any communication? do you have any idea what he's doing? mr. aguilar: that's a question

for the speaker and the leader. i know they had a conversation that he indicated that in the leadership meeting. we're still waiting on the substance, i said. that part matters. we've seen some of the readouts that speaker johnson has conveyed to his conference and like the vice chair said, there's some important pieces that need to be included. so once we have more clarity on that, we're willing to work to device a process that brings these bills to the floor and gets them, more importantly, to the president's desk. that's what the focus is right now. reporter: i hate to beat a dead horse. the reality is we're hearing the motion to vacate could come within the next 24-48 hours which means there could be a force a motion to table or we have to potentially deal with this before we talk about foreign aid? are you saying there's no conversations happening behind

closed doors with democrats right now about a motion to table it in order to get to the foreign aid at this juncture? mr. lieu: we had a two hour caucus meeting and this didn't come up. mr. aguilar: our caucus is focused on the results coveraging and ensuring we provide this important assistance as ukraine fights for their freedom. that's what is important and timely. there shouldn't be anything that distracts us from that. we just want to ensure that there's a process to bring those bills to the floor and to get them to the president's desk as quickly as possible. that's been the focus and goal of the house democratic caucus over the past few weeks and why we've been calling time and time again from this podium and every hallway you catch me in for the speaker to bring the senate passed bipartisan bill with 70 supporters on it directly to the floor. that's the fastest and most efficient way to deliver aid to ukraine. that should have been done weeks

ago. we're here. and so we stand ready to help to make that happen before congress adjourns for the week. reporter: i want to stay focused on what's going on on this side of the capitol but let's say these bills somehow make it to the senate. are you concerned senate progressives may reject conditional aid to israel and we end up back at square one? how are you feeling about what's going on over in the senate? have you had conversation with senate democrats how they're feeling about this broken up package that got 70 votes as one complete package earlier this year? mr. aguilar: all the discussions at this point should include senate democrats. there isn't anything speaker johnson proposes that does not meet the test of what house republicans have indicated but

also that senate democrats can deliver in a bipartisan way. so my understanding is that legislative leaders have been having those discussions and that senator schumer and the white house have also been part of these discussions. this isn't anything we're looking to do in a vacuum. we need to ensure that all five corners have agreement in order to proceed because ultimately the focus is delivering aid and getting this to the president's desk and signing it into law as quickly as possible. that's the focus and mission, so working with our colleagues on the other side of the dome is absolutely part of the process. reporter: given the urgency you are emphasizing here, in the best case scenario, if these four bills pass and the package goes to the senate, you're gone next week, senate is gone next week and they come back in two weeks and they move slower than

you do, is it possible they could change it and send it back? this is not going to happen quickly. with that in mind, wouldn't the best case for you guys be to sink his plan johnson has got and you have republicans over there saying they'll sign on to a discharge petition and bring a senate bill to the floor and get it done before these recesses? mr. aguilar: we don't can't to sink my plan that delivers aid to our allies. the focus is on deliverance. we're less concerned what process is used. if there's a reasonable process that legislative leaders on both sides of the capitol agree on with the white house, then we look forward to making this happen by the end of the week but needs to happen by the end of the week. there's urgency here and look forward to working with our colleagues to help deliver that no matter the process. thank you so much. >> c-span is your unfiltered

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about the fallout from iran's attacks on israel over the weekend, the response from washington and the potential risk for u.s. troops in the middle east. washington journal. join the conversation live at 7:00 eastern wednesday morning on c-span, c-span now, were c-span.org. >> friday nights, watch c-span's 2024 campaign trail, our weekly round up of campaign coverage, providing a one-stop shop to discover what candidates are saying to voters, along with first-hand accounts from political reporters, updated whole numbers, and campaign ads. watch 2024 campaign trail friday night at 7:30 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span.org, or c-span now, our free mobile app

wherever you get your podcasts. c-span. your unfiltered view of politics. the associated press is reporting on the second day of donald trump's hush money trial, in which seven jurors were selected, including an information technology worker, and english teacher, oncology nurse, sales professional, a software engineer and two lawyers. this comes after dozens of potential jurors were excused over the last few days because they could not be impartial. 11 more must still be sworn in as jurors before opening statements can begin as early as next week. trump's spoke with reporters about the trial and answered questions as he visited a local convenience store in upper manhattan.