president mike pence will be speaking at a rally in canton, georgia, with georgia republican senators david perdue and kelly loeffler who have runoff election this is coming january. watch live coverage at 12:30 eastern on c-span2, online at c-span.org or listen live on the free c-span radio app. >> with coronavirus cases increasing across the country, use our website, c-span.org/coronavirus, to follow the trends. track the spread with interactive maps. and watch updates on demand any ime at c-span.org/coronavirus. >> house minority leader kevin mccarthy held his weekly briefing with reporters today at the capitol. he spoke about the presidential election results and republican gains for theup coming 117th congress set to begin in january. this is 20 minutes.

mr. mccarthy: you've heard me talk about the upcoming freshman class. half of the incoming freshman class will be women. yvette harold is the first republican native american woman elected to congress. steve nee bice is the first iranian american woman elected to congress. this makes me very proud as a republican. and as an american. it shows the party of lincoln is also continuing the legacy of the first black american to serve in congress, joseph rainey of south carolina. rainey was born into slavery and even after gaining his freedom

he received little education as a child. he was drafted by the confederacy but escaped and went to bermuda and started a business. after the war he moved back to georgetown, south carolina. with his family in 1867 he became chairman of the county's republican party. just a few years later he was elected in 1870 and became the first black american in congress. where he worked tirelessly, fought for civil rights, education, and economic opportunity for all. next month we'll celebrate 150 years for joseph rainey's election. i'm going to have a party and anniversary celebration, i hope ou'll all attend the ceremony.

now, back in may, nbc news said that president trump would need a miracle to deliver a vaccine by the end of the year. not only did democrats echo this same pessimistic view, they even cast doubt on whether the americans should trust the safe and effective vaccine. yesterday, pfizer announced a 95% effective rate in the late stage trial. and showed it was effective in older adults as well. earlier this week, moderna, also announced their vaccine had a 94.5% effective rate. this is the most important news in probably a generation. and it's because of american innovation and this administration's plan to effectively distribute the vaccine to the american people. one doctor says 20 million americans could receive the vaccine next month. we know that a vaccine is how we ultimately defeat this virus. so we need to help reinforce the work of operation warp speed. that is why house republicans introduced our included $47 billion in h.r. 14, the

commitment to defeat the virus and keep america healthy which we introduced just last month. now, when it comes to small business, as we promise a vaccine would lift our spirits, small businesses across this country might not be able to wait that long. they have been asked to do the impossible and now are facing further lockdowns with no help from washington. "the wall street journal" recently reported that hundreds of companies that received p.p.p. loans have filed for bankruptcy, citing a lack of additional stimulus payments as the pandemic wears on. but that number of businesses in america going under is without question much higher after you see that the "journal" only reviewed large firms that received loan forgiveness, which amounts to only 13.5% of the total participants in the program. "the washington post" reported nearly 100,000 businesses nationwide have already shut their doors permanently. there's no more time to delay. we must act now. we are in session. i call on every member in this chamber, especially the democrat moderates who complained about

nancy pelosi's failure in delivering a covid deal to sign jamie herrera beutler paycheck protection program discharge petition. there is $130 billion in relief sitting there. it's already appropriated. all we have to do is vote to free it up. now, back in september, 23 so-called moderate democrats wrote to their house leadership urging for a bipartisan negotiation with republican colleagues. every one of them signed this letter. they admitted if pelosi failed that a discharge petition would e the only resort. well, this was back in september. these are 23 democrats. i take them at their word and at their signature. they're in session today. they can sign the discharge petition and this could be done today. elp could be on the way.

speaker pelosi's approach that nothing is better than something is wrong and everybody knows it. the american people have paid he price for it. and now democrats are clamoring to go home for the rest of the year. that's a disgrace. you signed a letter. you put your name to it. and you stated that if something did not happen, a discharge petition, you would go to. well, you know what, nothing happened. your leadership in speaker pelosi said nothing is better than something, and we watched hundreds of thousands of businesses shut down, to lose their dream. we have $138 billion already appropriated, already sitting there. all it takes is your signature and follow-through on what you said you would do. now is the day, now is the time, and let's stop playing games and let's work for the american public.

with that let's go to questions. yes, sir. welcome back. reporter: thank you. appreciate it. why is it appropriate for the president, as he did yesterday, to call local officials who certify the elections and what is the end game for the president when states certify their results? do you accept this election will be over? mr. mccarthy: i don't know who the president called. he is an american citizen. he can find out any facts that are going on. i know a number of members who call their election officials and ask how many votes are left, when's the count going to take place, are there provisional ballots, how many are in my district? we're still counting a number of congressional districts still out there that have not been called yet. yes, at the end of the day, when every legal vote is counted, when every recount is finished and every legal challenge is heard, yeah, people will accept what the results are. yes, sir. reporter: any effort to delay certifications by the states so

that republican legislatures could name their own electors to the electoral college? mr. mccarthy: i think i'm clear on that. i think every legal vote should be counted. every recount should be finished and the states should finish their work. eporter: [indiscernible] reporter: have you had any conversation about covid relief in substantive manner? mr. mccarthy: with who? reporter: anybody that's empowered to make a deal. mr. mccarthy: i'm in the house. it would be the speaker of the house, no. i talked to the white house. reporter: can you give us a sense of where things are going? mr. mccarthy: things are still at the same place. there's one roadblock, there's one big wall that stopped this entire time and it's speaker pelosi. i would think after the politics

that she played and the election being over that she'd now put the american people first. she still seems to be in the same position. the good news is you have 23 democrats who put their name on a letter back in september who said, if you did not do your job, speaker pelosi, we would sign the discharge petition. so now if they keep their word, if their word is true and the letter is right, we can at least get p.p.p. relief going. eah. reporter: cases are spiking across the country and in congress. there's still a number of your conference members that are not wearing masks around the capitol. are you concerned about that? and are you concerned that this virus might spread to your colleagues, keeping you all from getting things like the ndaa, government funding and a covid relief bill done before the end of the year? mr. mccarthy: well, i continue to get concerned about the rise in the spike. i tell you i just went through two days of a conference where every single person wore their mask except when they were speaking. i think the people have been

very clear and understand the seriousness to this. i think that is why when we introduced our bill, h.r. 14, we added $47 billion more to help in any need we can to make sure the vaccine moves further. it is a miracle we would have a vaccine this year, just as everybody said it would be impossible. but operation warp speed worked. not just one vaccine, but now we're on the cusp of maybe having three vaccines. with a 95% effectiveness, no one dreamt or thought that would be possible. now, how do we get the safe and secure vaccine out to the country? the president's done a lot of work ahead of time, especially with that, and that's why we provided more money, utilizing the military that does this so well. there could be 20 million americans that could have the vaccine next month. i think that is really the future of how we turn the corner on all of this. we need to continue to work towards that. it would be very helpful, though, if we could have speaker pelosi to stop the political games.

i mean, how could she send people home? i mean, i don't know what to trust on her because she said back before summer we would not leave until we had a covid relief bill. she sent us home. you now have 23 democrats. either they'll be like the speaker, give a word and not keep it or they keep the word what they signed their letter-- name to letter on. reporter: so you're advising your members to wear a mask? mr. mccarthy: yes. reporter: you talked about the record number of g.o.p. women who have been added. of course, the democrats still have the majority and they say they want to overturn the hyde amendment. our catholic viewers want to know, what can your party do to prevent that from happening? mr. mccarthy: i think that's the law of the land. despite where you stand on the issues, should you spend taxpayer money for this? i mean, that's been clear for a number of years. that's something that even joe biden voted for in the past but now wants to change his mind to

appease a different wing within his own party. i think now that we have a stronger number inside the house, it would be hard to shift. but i know what the democrats have done. even defeating a democrat in their own party in a primary based upon this belief because they will not tolerate different views. you know, the one thing you look at the republican party, our greatest strength is our diversity. of how many places we come. that's why we're successful winning two seats in miami. winning in new york. defeating a committee chair in minnesota. think about california. prior to the special election last year, the last time a republican switched a democrat seat in california was 22 years. we're on the cusp of doing it four times in this election. that's the home state of the speaker. it's also my home state, too. yes. reporter: so joe biden and other democrats have stated that some portion of student debt should be canceled. do you think student debt or some portion thereof should be

canceled? mr. mccarthy: if you watch president trump, he did do part of that already. in the process. i think what really needs to happen is people need to get in a room and work on a covid relief package. i think getting the economy back working again is the best way of moving forward. on how to deal with anyone's debt. reporter: the ndaa sent to conference yesterday. when that comes back, the president has threatened to veto over the confederate provision in there. would you support congressional override to get the ndaa passed? mr. mccarthy: i'm not sure what the president said there. i think when the ndaa comes out it will pass and the president will sign it. yes, sir. reporter: the biden team wants to be briefed on the vaccine distribution. biden himself says that if they don't get-- coordinate with the top administration, people in the top when it comes time to distribute-- mr. mccarthy: why would you say that if he doesn't know about it? reporter: should there be

coordination with the trump administration and the biden transition team about istributing the vaccine? mr. mccarthy: well, the first thing i think the biden team should do is take back the words that they said earlier, especially kamala harris, to scare the american public about a vaccine that's 95% effective. i think governor cuomo should do the exact same thing. when i listen to my own overnor. i think they should allow this administration that did operation warp speed and stop playing politics with it. we have a safe and secure-- not one vaccine but on the cusp of having three in the short time period. dr. slaoui has done 14 vaccines before this. he's put the american public first. the president, you have one president at a time. we have the military putting through and planning this ahead of time. so i want to follow through and if we can get the people the vaccine next month, let's do it

that's what will save lives. playing politics with this is wrong. if joe biden wants to make a claim-- first, in your question was, he doesn't know about it but claims people will die. well, how can he make the claim if he doesn't know anything bout it? i think we have our doctors, our scientists, our researchers. they are the experts. let's let them work and push this through and let's stop playing politics with it. that would be the number one thing i would do. the one thing he should do is stop saying the things he's doing for political reasons. that's what's hurting the american people. that is what will have people die when they have a vaccine that's 95% effective. to delay it at a time when it's spiking, i think he knows better than that. reporter: what's your reaction to gavin newsom to being at this restaurant without a mask?

mr. mccarthy: i hope the democrats that signed this letter is not like governor ewsom. say one thing and do another. if the 23 of them said action wouldn't take they would sign a discharge petition, i wish they would do it. what's concerning to me who was around the table, too. from the medical association. and then to say at the very beginning that they were outside, weren't even wearing a mask. i know what gavin newsom said if we are out to eat within the last month, wear a mask, take a bite and put the mask on. i think he lost a lot of credibility with californians. reporter: are you having a small thanksgiving or big thanksgiving? mr. mccarthy: well, my wife and my daughter. i call that small. y dogs, too. they'll get all the extra food. i wish you all a very happy thanksgiving and i hope we do not leave until the we get this discharge petition and get it done and we could actually get

it done today. thank you very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> use your mobile devices and go to c-span.org for the latest video, live and on demand, to follow the transition of power. president trump, president-elect biden, news conferences and vent coverage at c-span.org. >> booktv on c-span2 has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. coming up this weekend, saturday at 1:00 p.m. eastern, from the recent virtual brooklyn book festival, authors veronica chambers, amy, and sandra

garcia. then, the history of civil right -new york. d at 7:25 p.m. eastern, adam "cher."ottom, author of more from the book festival as authors discuss the past and future of technology. effects of ential the coronavirus of society. and at 9:00 p.m. eastern, political scientist and author debra stone talks about her book "counting: how we use numbers to decide what matters," she's interviewed by data scientist and author kathy o'neill. watch booktv on c-span2 this weekend. >> joe biden is president-elect. stay with c-span for live

coverage of the election process and transition of power. c span, your unfiltered view of politics. >> dennis mcdonough served as chief of staff and deputy national security advisor under president obama. next, he outlines president-elect joe biden's policy priorities which include coronavirus response, the economy, climate change and racial justice. he also talks about the current presidential transition period and associated national security challenges. the center for strategic and international studies posted -- hosted the event. it's 50 minutes.