Bloomberg, Bush, Portman, Van Hollen on "Face the Nation"

The son-in-law of Osama Bin Laden was captured this week and brought to New York City to appear in federal district court. The good news in this - Sulaiman Abu Ghaith was captured and is in custody. The bad news, at least according to some Republicans in Washington, is that he was brought to the United States.

Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Thursday, "When it comes to people like this we want them to go to Gitmo [Guantanamo Bay] and be held in military custody for interrogation purposes."

Well I remember this storyline from a couple years ago when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was going to be tried in New York City. There was a lot of outrage, and you heard a lot from people who think we ought to keep these people at Guantanamo and keep the tribunals confined to military trials down there.

Obviously we've heard a little of that this time around, but I think we're a long way from then and I'm curious to see how much - or how little - opposition this gets. The important headline though, is that we got the guy.

Of course I'll talk about this with the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. What's his take on the issue?

This debate over Abu Ghaith is just one of the serious disagreements people all over Washington are having.

Another debate going strong is the one over gun control. I'll talk to Bloomberg a lot about that, because he's one of the people leading the charge for what he calls "common sense" gun control laws. His group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, released a poll this week showing widespread support in a lot of Congressional districts and states among voters for universal background checks. Where does the Mayor think that will go in Congress? How soon should we expect to see action?

There's also continued contention over the sequester (which took effect last week), and we're seeing previews of the upcoming battles over the budget.

To talk about some of those issues, presumably, this week the President invited 12 Republican Senators to dinner at the Jefferson Hotel.

And that in itself was news. Which I thought was fascinating. I mean, this wouldn't have been news in the past. This used to just be what Presidents did - talk to both sides, dine them, golf with them. That's all changed over time as our political system has broken down more and more.

So I think the President's dinner this week, and his many phone calls with Republicans, as well as a lunch with Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., are all good things. I think these might just be the light at the end of the tunnel. I really hope so, at least.

I'm looking forward to asking the recipient of one of those phone calls, Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, about his phone call and whether he thinks it signals a bit of a thawing in frozen relations. I'll also talk with Van Hollen, who went to lunch at the White House with Ryan. How was that meeting? And where do we stand on the budget?

I'll also talk with former Governor Jeb Bush, R-Fla., about his new book focusing on immigration. I'll probably ask him a thing or two about his plans for the future and 2016, too.

Plus, the Conclave to elect a new Pope starts on Tuesday. I'm excited to talk about what to expect from that, and what the outcome means for the Catholic Church, with Peggy Noonan, Carl Bernstein, Sally Quinn and Greg Tobin. Bernstein and Noonan both wrote books about Pope John Paul II, Quinn is the founder and editor of Washington Post's On Faith blog, and Tobin is an expert on all things papal, with a number of books about different popes, including his latest, The Good Pope, which is a biography of John XXIII and Vatican II.

I hope you'll join me Sunday morning. Check your local listings so you don't miss a minute of the news.