On this Washington Roundtable episode of the Defense & Aerospace Report Podcast, sponsored by Bell, our guests are Michael Herson of American Defense International, Dr. Kathleen McInnis, the director of the Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and Michael Auslin, the Payson J. Treat Distinguished Research Fellow in Contemporary Asia at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. 

Topics:

— Update on congressional races as Republicans retake House and Democrats hold Senate

— Republican and Democratic Leadership elections and prospects for Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as minority leader and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as next House speaker

— Implications of decisions by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer to stand aside, clearing the way for a new generation of leaders including Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-NY

— Pelosi’s legacy as 52nd House Speaker

— Latest on National Defense Authorization Act and appropriations

— Agenda items for lame duck session, including debt ceiling increase

— NATO response to missiles that killed two in Poland

— Support for Ukraine as governments step up military aid

— Why a new model for transatlantic security is needed to bolster capabilities

— G20 meeting takeaways including statement denouncing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

— President Biden’s meeting with China’s Xi Jinping and whether it changes the dynamic between the world’s leading powers

— The case for expanding AUKUS to include Japan and France

— A look ahead to the Halifax International Security Forum