Weekend Edition: President Trump Pardons TX Democrat Henry Cuellar, AfghanEvac, and Electricity and Utility Prices on the Rise

First: A conversation with National Farmers Union's Mike Stranz – about the state of the U.S. agriculture industry, including the impact of the Trump tariffs and the recently announced aid package to farmers. Then: Career Education Colleges and Universities President & CEO Jason Altmire discusses a new poll that examines Americans' declining attitudes on the value of a four-year college degree, and educational alternatives to it. And finally: Author, law professor, and ABC News legal contributor Kim Wehle discusses the use of executive power by the Trump Administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kilmar Abrego Garcia checks in at an Immigration & Customs Enforcement field office in Baltimore, under protection from a judge's order not to be rearrested. He says he believes the injustice done to him by the Trump Administration will come to an end; House Republican leadership says a vote to extend Affordable Care Act enhanced premium subsidies may happen next week. The tax credits are set to expire at the end of the month, raising costs for 20 million Americans; State legislators are pushing back against President Donald Trump's Executive Order limiting state regulation of artificial intelligence; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth travels to Huntsville, Alabama, known as Rocket City, to visit defense contractors & U.S. Space Command; Walter Cronkite Awards for Excellence in Political Journalism are handed out at the National Press Club in Washington. We will hear two winners, CBS 60 Minutes' Correspondent Scott Pelley and Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, which won in a new 'comedic commentary' category; Today is the 25th Anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Bush v. Gore to prevent a new presidential election vote recount in Florida, giving Republican George W. Bush the victory over Democrat Al Gore. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Senate fails to advance both Democratic and Republican health care bills the sponsors say would address expected increase in costs for millions of Americans Affordable Care Act insurance at the end of the month when enhanced premium tax credits are set to expire; House passes a bill to reverse President Donald Trump's Executive Order limiting the collective bargaining rights of around one million federal workers in national security departments & agencies; Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) cancels a meeting to unveil major changes to how the agency responds to natural disasters. We will talk about it with The Hill's Energy and Environment Reporter Frazin (19); Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testifies before the House Homeland Security Committee and most of the questions from Members are on the Trump Administration immigration enforcement campaign; Indiana Senate, controlled by Republicans, votes down a Congressional redistricting map drawn by Republicans to get two more U.S. House seats for their party, despite Pres. Trump demands that it pass; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is asked about the Venezuelan oil tanker seized by the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Federal Reserve cuts interest rates a quarter of a percentage point. We will hear from the Chair and President Donald Trump and speak with The Hill's Business Editor Sylvan Lane (4); Speaker Mike Johnson presents a range of health care reform bills to House Republicans that could be voted on soon, but not among them is the Democrat's priority of extending expiring Affordable Care Act insurance premium enhanced subsidies; House passes the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA); Supreme Court hears arguments about how states should determine what makes a criminal defendant intellectually disabled and ineligible for the death penalty. We will talk about it with Ian Millhiser, Vox Media Supreme Court reporter (30); Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks at a Congressional Hanukah Menorah lighting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump travels to Pennsylvania for a rally to talk about rising costs and his economic agenda; Senate Republicans say they will offer an alternative health care plan involving personal Health Savings Accounts when the Senate Democratic bill to extend expiring Obamacare health insurance enhanced premium supports comes up for a vote on Thursday; Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) signs a bill to provide greater legal protections to immigrants, as the federal immigration officials double down on enforcement operations in the city; Supreme Court hears a case challenging a rule that prevents wealthy donors from going around campaign contribution limits by funneling money through political parties; Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Gen. Dan Caine, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff & Secretary of State Marco Rubio brief senior Senators on the deadly strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean; musician Gene Simmons from the rock band KISS testifies before a Senate Judiciary Subcommittee about a bill to require radio station owners pay performers to play their songs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Congress is back to work this week…And on the Senate's agenda—a vote on extending health care tax credits past the end of the month…Democrats want a simple three-year extension of the tax credits…Republicans oppose that but have yet to put out a plan of their own… The tax credits help millions of Americans pay for insurance on state-run exchanges…We'll hear what Sens. Thune and Schumer had to say about it on the floor earlier this afternoon… Also today, the White House announced a 12 billion dollars aid package to American farmers...who have been hurt by the US-China trade war…It includes 11 billion dollars in one-time payments to farmers who grow corn, cotton, soybeans and other crops…The President talked about it at a roundtable event…We'll hear from him coming up… And at the Supreme Court—oral arguments in the case of Trump v Slaughter…a case that centers on whether presidents can fire officials of independent agencies without cause…It all started back in March when President Trump fired Federal Trade Commission member Rebecca Slaughter…Saying that her service was “inconsistent” with his goals…. Rebecca Slaughter then sued, arguing that she can be removed only for specific reasons…Today the court heard this case…We'll play you part of what happened inside the court room… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this weekend's episode, three segments from this past week's Washington Journal. First: President Trump stuns House Republicans with a surprise pardon this week for Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar – whose Laredo seat Republicans were hoping to pick up in the midterms. We'll get the scoop from Gabby Birenbaum Washington Correspondent for the Texas Tribune. Then: A conversation with Shawn VanDiver -- founder and president of #AfghanEvac --a nonprofit run by American veterans helping to resettle Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the two-decade war. Plus: Electricity and utility prices are rising across the country as winter weather starts to kick in. We speak with Robinson Meyer – Founder of the website Heatmap News – about what's driving the increases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Donald Trump attends the 2026 World Cup Draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC with the leaders of co-hosts Mexico & Canada. The three talking about what it means to co-host the world's largest sports tournament; President Trump receives the inaugural peace prize from world soccer's governing body, FIFA; Trump Administration releases a National Security Strategy that calls for a  “readjustment” of the US military presence in the Western Hemisphere to fight migration, drug trafficking and foreign power influence in the region. We will talk about it with Breaking Defense senior reporter Ashley Roque (13); former President Joe Biden receives an award from a prominent LGBTQ+ advocacy group; Centers for Disease Control vaccine advisory committee recommends eliminating the recommendation that all newborns receive the Hepatitis B vaccine; Indiana's House of Representatives passes a new Congressional district map designed to gain Republicans two more U.S. House seats, part of nationwide gerrymandering push now by both parties. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) says she was pepper sprayed when she sought more information at ICE raid in Tucson; First Lady Melania Trump reads a Christmas book to patients at National Children's hospital in Washington, carrying on a long-standing First Ladies holiday tradition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A 30 year-old man from Woodbridge, Virginia is arrested and charged in the FBI's investigation of pipe bombs placed outside the Republican and Democratic party headquarters on the eve of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol; A Navy admiral tells lawmakers Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not issue a "kill them all" order against a suspected drug-carrying boat in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela in September, but Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), Intelligence Committee ranking member, says the video he saw of a second strike against survivors is "deeply, deeply troubling"; President Donald Trump hosts a peace signing ceremony in Washington with the presidents of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he also promotes mineral exploration in those countries; Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) says Democrats will put up for a vote next week a clean 3 year extension of expiring Obamacare health insurance enhanced premium subsidies; bipartisan group of House Members release their own health care reform plan; Senate votes to overturn the Biden Administration's limits on oil & gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; Muhammad Ali's widow, Lonnie Ali, testifies at a Congressional hearing on reforming the sport of boxing; President Trump & First Lady Melania Trump attend the National Christmas Tree Lighting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Republican candidate wins the Tennessee 7th Congressional District special election by a comfortable margin, but not as big as President Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 presidential election. We get reaction from party leaders in Congress about what this may mean for the 2026 midterm elections; President Trump grants a full pardon to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife Imelda, who were facing bribery charges; President Trump announces of a roll back of Biden-era vehicle fuel economy standards, arguing it will lower car prices; Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) introduces a bill to cut down on ICE automatic detention of certain groups of immigrants and end for-profit, private immigrant detention centers; NASA Administrator nominee Jared Isaacman gets a second Senate confirmation hearing. He was nominated earlier this year, then the president withdrew the nomination, and then renominated him; NATO Secretary General & British Prime Minister talk about Russian President Vladimir Putin saying Russia is ready to go to war with NATO, comments made while talks were ongoing trying to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices