Arkansas congressman on Democrats winning House and Senate, Hegseth impeachment

(CBS, KYMA) - Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the Democrats winning both the House and the Senate.

The Democrats won both chambers of Congress during Tuesday's midterm elections, but Rep. Hill won his reelection bid against his opponent, Chris Jones (D-Ark.).

When asked what went wrong for so many other of his Republican colleagues in the election, the congressman said:

"It was a very complicated, tough election cycle this year. Look, we told the American people in 2024 that we'd secure the border, we'd make our communities safer. We would lead in the world, but we also told the American people that we would continue to fight to lower costs. And I think what we saw, no matter how many efforts that we made in the Republican House, that Americans are still concerned about the impact of 20% inflation that they experienced during the Biden Administration, and that while it's down from 9% to 3%, it has not gone lower. And that I think was a principal issue: the costs that the American people are, are having and experiencing in all of our families. So we have more work to do there."

Brennan then brought up President Donald Trump naming Stephen Miller as his new White House Chief of Staff, with one of Hill's colleagues, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), saying Miller isn't a good choice because he's antagonistic.

Rep. Bacon also claimed Miller hurt Republicans during the election, saying he "took the immigration issue for President Trump from a two to one favorable to a two to one unfavorable."

This prompted Brennan to ask Hill if he agreed with his colleague's sentiments, and what does putting Miller in the Chief of Staff role signal, to which the congressman said:

"I think Susie Wiles is leaving. President Trump has the right to promote Stephen Miller to be the chief. That responsibility means that during this 120th Congress, he'll be the point person for the president in discussing policy matters with Congress. I'll tell you though, on the immigration issue, I think we should focus on immigration reform, which I voted for twice back in 2018 to resolve the issues about how to seek asylum in this country, how we handle temporary protective services, and how we deal with children in this country that are here with legal green card holders like our engineering community that's across the country, as well as those who've come in the country legally, but their kids are legal. We do need to resolve it. I think it's a place where President Trump can lead, and this is an area that Stephen Miller is keen on, which is, secure the border, yes, but can we now reform the immigration system and make it better for our country? And that will, I believe, answer the questions about the deportation issue."

During the interview, Brennan and Hill talked about his other colleague, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), spearheading an effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, leading her to ask if Secretary Hegseth should be impeached, and Hill said:

"The question is for the president: Should he continue to serve as the Secretary of War?...I want to hear the debate on it to see if it merits impeachment versus some other disciplinary action or action by the president if he's not getting the job done in leading the Department of War. That's the issue."

Rep. Massie introduced articles of impeachment against Hegseth on the House floor Monday, with the House having two legislative days to act.

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Hill, click here.