In Washington, today marks a new year, a new Congress, and a new balance of power. But right off the bat, the new Republican House majority is stumbling amid a leadership contest that could – at best – be long and drawn out, and – at worst – cause congressional chaos. At this moment, majority leader Kevin McCarthy does not yet have the votes to secure the speaker’s gavel. A small contingent of hardline right-wingers are standing in his way, but are they enough to endanger his election, given his party’s razor-thin majority? McCarthy has already given in to demands from these holdouts, including a rule that will make it easier to boot him out of office. Former Republican Congressman Will Hurd is author of American Reboot: An Idealist’s Guide to Getting Big Things Done and joins the show from Texas. 

Also on today's show: Noa Landau, deputy editor-in-chief of Haaretz; Aaron David Miller, former Middle East negotiator for the US State Dept.; Johann Hari, author of Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention.

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