'This Week' Transcript: Roundtable 01-02-11

Jan. 2, 2011— -- TAPPER: Joining me now is George Will, ABC News political director Amy Walter, from the National Journal, Major Garrett, and Democratic consultant Donna Brazile. Thanks, one and all, for being here.

We'll start with the new Congress that are come to town this week. George, what will they face? What problem will they face that they are not expecting?

WILL: I don't know whether they're expecting it or not, but they're not ready for state bankruptcies, because there is no legal provision in American law for a state to go bankrupt.

We've already seen the administration say Chrysler is too big to fail, General Motors is too big to fail, various banks are too big to fail. Wait until California comes knocking, when, what, the third-, eighth-largest economy in the world? They're going to be unable to pay their debts. Illinois, California, New York, and other states are going to find that the bond market steps in, lenders refuse. Then what happens?

TAPPER: Amy, this will be a challenge for the Republican Congress, as well as the debt ceiling. You heard Austan Goolsbee's very -- very tough talk about the debt ceiling. What are the challenges for incoming House Speaker John Boehner when it comes to controlling his caucus? There are going to be a lot of people who don't want to vote to bail out the states or don't want to vote to raise the debt ceiling.

WALTER: No, that's exactly right. I mean, it's a real balancing act that he has right now, which is keeping that Tea Party caucus. There's a lot of new members coming in who ran exactly on that message. And actually showing that the Republicans are a party that can govern and can get things done.

I mean, that was really the message of these last three elections, has been about competency, getting to Washington, doing something rather than this infighting.

Now, I think Boehner has done a very good job, at least initially, in making sure that the folks aren't outside the tent, they're inside the tent. He put freshmen on leadership positions so that the Tea Party folks can sort of have a voice in the leadership.

He's going to have the -- the folks read the Constitution on the very first day of Congress. And on any bill that you put in has to have a constitutional sort of root to it.

But, you know, will that be enough? And how quickly can they pivot from the sort of symbolic things to showing that we're going to be able to -- to work with a party and work with a president in getting people what you talked about all morning, which is jobs?

TAPPER: Now, Major, you have a piece in National Journal talking about what this new Republican House will mean specifically for President Obama, for the White House. What will it mean?

GARRETT: Confrontation across the board. Confrontation on health care. I predict before the president delivers a State of the Union address, House Republicans will move through the floor and onto the Senate a direct repeal bill of the universal health care bill passed under President Obama's watch.

They will also challenge him on whatever the EPA intends to do starting this week to limit greenhouse gas emissions. They will try to repeal major provisions of the financial regulatory reform act. They will try to cut spending much beneath the levels the president is comfortable with. Even on the FCC's most recent announcement on net neutrality, they will try to block those regulations.

Whether it's legislation or regulatory action by this administration, there will be pitch battle between the House Republicans and the Obama White House.

TAPPER: George?

WILL: Well, Darrell Issa, someone you've never heard of, but people are going to hear a lot of this year, has the chief investigating subcommittee. He has seven subcommittees. He has told them he wants his seven subcommittees to have two hearings a week for 40 weeks. Seven times two times 40 is 560 hearings.

This is because the Republicans believe that such is the contempt for the electorate and now contempt (ph) for the elections that just passed, as demonstrated in the -- in the lame-duck session, that the Obama administration will try and do everything it can by regulation rather than legislation.

You mentioned the net neutrality, the taking more public lands under new classification by the Interior Department, the EPA proceeding with carbon emissions limits. All of these are challenging Congress on the question of, who rules?

TAPPER: Donna, the -- the president will have an opportunity in a very high-profile way to define how he sees the next two years, even while this is going on by House Republicans, when he gives his State of the Union address. What are you looking for the president to say later this month when he gives that address?

BRAZILE: Well, first of all, Jake, I'm surprised that George Clooney is not here, but you're a good substitute, and I just wanted to tell you that.

TAPPER: I'm woefully inadequate, and I'm aware of that.

BRAZILE: Well, you're not bad on the eye this early in the new year.

TAPPER: Thank you. I...

BRAZILE: Look, the Republicans won a chance, not a mandate. The Tea Party regulars will hold all of the cards, and the Democrats understand that. They understand that the Tea Party will make demands on the Republican leadership in the House that they will not be able to fulfill. The Republican leadership will be unable to -- to make a deal with the Democrats, who still control the Senate, and President Obama, who controls the White House.

They will look uncompromising. And I think the president will be able to redefine the framework of what he's trying to achieve, which is economic growth, so that the jobs will come back. That will help him in 2012, but more importantly it will help the American people in 2011.

TAPPER: Is that possible? Do you think that might happen?

GARRETT: I don't think it's very likely, for a couple of reasons. It's not going to be just Darrell Issa. Every committee in charge of major policy will conduct oversight, so you'll see health care attacked in the Ways and Means Committee, Energy and Commerce. All these committees will pick apart parts of legislation they disagree with to establish what Republicans believe they failed to do in 1995 when they confronted then-President Clinton, a predicate for action.