Congress battles over priorities, but finds some agreement

GEOFF BENNETT: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are pressing federal banking regulators after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

Our congressional correspondent, Lisa Desjardins, has been following it all, and joins us now with a check-in.

It's good to see you.

So, the president this morning, he called for stronger banking regulations in that speech.

What's been the response from Congress?

LISA DESJARDINS: No surprise, in this divided Congress, we have divided response.

I'm going to take you through.

There are a few, like Senator Bernie Sanders, who say there was a mistake by the Trump administration to blame here, that they sort of got rid of too much regulation.

He wants more regulation back.

But more people like Senator Alex Padilla are saying, how about accountability?

Let's figure out who's to blame.

And some like Senator Tim Scott, who happens to be the top Republican on the Banking Committee, are saying simply, we need to find out what happened.

Basically, Congress is a moment with the finger in the air.

There will be a debate, I can sense from my sources, over, is it the regulators that are to blame here or the regulations?

One bipartisan thing we should watch out for though, Geoff, I have heard from both sides interest in Twitter, that actually Twitter and the idea that a bank might be going under might have accelerated things this year in a way that it has never happened before, not since 2008.

I think Congress will look at that.

GEOFF BENNETT: So we are more than two months into this new Congress.

How are you holding up?

(LAUGHTER) LISA DESJARDINS: So far, so good.

GEOFF BENNETT: But what are Republicans doing with their -- with their new House majority?

LISA DESJARDINS: So fascinating.

I have been tracking all the significant bills that this Congress has passed so far.

The vast majority, all but one, actually have come out of the House, 39 bills.

So let's talk about what exactly the House Republicans have been doing with their time in power.

First, they passed a number of bills on China and one bill that was anti-socialism, decried socialism.

Those were bipartisan issues.

But more of what they have passed have been partisan.

Abortion, for example, they have passed a couple of items there.

A bill on censorship defined in Republican terms that was a dividing line.

Censorship shouldn't be, but it is because of how that bill is worded.

Then there's also been the largest number of bills that House Republicans have passed so far, Geoff, on COVID.

And they have taken some interesting approaches.

I want to run through some of the bills that have come out of the House.

Some of these, we do not expect to move forward because of the president or Senate Democrats.

But, first, they would like to end all of the national emergencies immediately.

President Biden is moving to end those in a little while, in May.

Also an interesting bill that would send federal workers back to the office.

Republicans say, you shouldn't be working from home anymore, but go back to the office instead.

Now, here's one that I think could end up becoming law.

Or, I'm sorry, they also would like to end the noncitizen vaccination requirement for people flying into this country.

Now, one that could actually become law is a bill that would declassify everything that our intelligence agencies know about the Wuhan lab and whether COVID started there.

That passed unanimously in both chambers.

And it's -- we're waiting to see if President Biden would actually make that information public or veto that bill.

GEOFF BENNETT: Let's talk about the Senate.

There are some health-related absences on the Democratic side.

What does that mean for the majority and what they're able to accomplish?

LISA DESJARDINS: First of all, it's almost impossible to get anything through, including regulation, deregulation of banks, because the Senate is so narrow.

But, right now, you're right.

There's not even a technical majority for the Democrats.

And why?

Because we have two senators who are out, Senators Dianne Feinstein of California.

She is out after shingles.

She is recovering from that.

Also, we have Senator John Fetterman - - we have talked about that on this program -- who is out recovering with depression and from his stroke last year.

Two senators out usually isn't a big deal.

But when your majority is one single senator, that means that Democrats have to really be careful.

So far, this has not affected business.

One of the reasons is, Republicans also have had absences.

They have had senators who've had COVID.

And they also, of course, have their very own leader, Senator Mitch McConnell himself, who was out last week because he had a fall.

GEOFF BENNETT: What's the latest with his condition?

It's been five days since he suffered that fall.

LISA DESJARDINS: Senator McConnell is 81 years old, so a lot of people paying attention to that, of course.

And he was released from the hospital, we just found out a short time ago, today.

He was not released to go home, though.

He was released to an inpatient rehab, very common.

And he suffered a concussion is, what we know about his injuries.

They say they also discovered a fracture in his rib.

But he's going to inpatient rehab.

We don't know exactly what kind of rehab.

But he's going to inpatient rehab.

We don't know exactly what kind of rehab, but he is not yet going to return to the Senate.

We're going to be watching carefully.

He is not just the leader in name.

He really determines how House -- how Senate Republicans operate.

GEOFF BENNETT: Yes.

Lisa, in the roughly minute we have left, can I ask you about China?

LISA DESJARDINS: Yes.

GEOFF BENNETT: Because we have had been talking about how that might be the one area of bipartisan cooperation.

There's that Special Committee on China.

What are they -- what are they focused on?

Is there any legislation that we should be expecting?

LISA DESJARDINS: They are focused on the Chinese Communist Party.

And, in fact, I think they're going to take a couple of approaches.

One will be on economics.

One will be on security.

And it's a very serious committee.

They are hoping to legislate.

This is not just for show.

This is not just investigating.

This is not just trying to have a conversation about China.

And I have to say it is probably the area of the most bipartisan agreement, certainly in the House, so far.

GEOFF BENNETT: More to come.

Lisa Desjardins, thanks so much for sharing that reporting with us.

LISA DESJARDINS: You're welcome.

My pleasure.