Republican committee as many of you know has been an influential center of conservative thinking and policies for years. Scholars often work with the committee on major issues. I intensified for the committee and size them on issues concerning Food Security and policy and weve had our china scholars. The emerging young leadership of the conservative movement in the United States and we are very pleased to have the outgoing chairman mike johnson of louisiana and incoming chairman of indiana. Mike johnson from louisiana and jim banks from indiana. Im going to do a quick introduction of them and ask questions but we will take questions from the audience. We will put them up on the chat box although i do have a bunch of my own questions as well the chairman elect and representative is in his second term representing the Third District of indiana covering the Northeast Corner of the state including fort wayne. Representative banks serves on the Armed Services committee, the Labor Committee and veteran affairs and the father of young children. We always like to know about peoples families. Representative johnson is the outgoing chairman of the, second term representing the district in louisiana covering the northwest part of the state including shreveport. He serves on the Judiciary Committee and Natural Resources committee so id like to start with you, representative johnson. What are you most proud of in the last year . Thanks for having us and greetings where we are recovering from covid. It is a real thing and we had a tough thanksgiving week that we are going to be back in dc soon. This was a very weak production year for the committee. The rnc was founded in 1973, and it was labeled at that time referred to as the intellectual arsenal of conservatism in the house. And its kind of operated over the years as a policy shop where we put that on paper and develop an agenda that moves forward in the congress. It doesnt do that when its in the minority because we know thats where we found ourselves in the last two years but we decided within the members in congress, the largest caucus of the republicans in congress and we got the group together and said we are going into the minority. We understand that, and there is a sort of idea some people have that when you are in the minority and wander in the wilderness and i said we are going to do exactly the opposite. I would like to propose that we spend the next two years really with our hands at the wheel, acts at the grind, metaphor, but we will work very hard. My vision is to trim the fat and get rid of the taskforces we have. We had a Second Amendment task force on which every Single Member was assigned so that was one example. We trimmed the fat and narrowed the focus down to just a handful, seven and separated the membership in the taskforces populating each one between 12 to 15 members and the charge was we are going to develop actual policies from each of these groups. The National Security task force, the government efficiency Accountability Task force, Budget Spending Task force, American Worker task force, Health Care Task force. So we did exactly that. Then a little visual aid we call this the conservative playbook. Its a compilation where each of the taskforces came out with publications 50, 60, 70 pages each where we have orthodox conservative solutions to the greatest challenges facing america. This is the playbook to run when we get the governing moment we think we will have in 2022 and the team is ready to go. A. Representative, what is your goal for the coming year . Likewise thank you to aei for hosting this. Aei hasnt just been important to me as a member, my staff educating us on a number of policy issues, but as you said, its been a great partner with Republicans Committee for a long time and we look forward to building upon that partnership in relation to the next couple of years. Im proud to become the chair man and following the footsteps of my great friend, mike johnson from louisiana. But there is a strong legacy within the Republican Committee as you mentioned, Vice President mike pence was the chairman of the group a decade ago. Others like my friend David Mcintosh were chairs of this Influential Group as well and i hope to do this job half as well as what mike johnson and many of those have done in the past to be the chair of this strong influential conservative body in the house. Mike said hes laid the groundwork. He didnt say we are the minority theres nothing we can do. Mike johnson over the last two years mapped out a roadmap of where we are going to go and now we have another two years but we can pace the majority. We are just a few seats shy of winning back. I really believe republicans will win in the house back. One thing the rnc is going to play a role in winning back the majority is i want to lead us into the fight on a number of areas, but a few areas that are important exposing the radical left has taken over the Democratic Party and juxtaposed that with where the republicans are and where i think most of america is. If you with those issues would be right out of the gate the fight to preserve and protect the amendment and that would be one of those major initiatives in the Republican Committee it would lead in educating the American People about how important the Hyde Amendment has been for a generation in saving unborn babies and preventing the taxpayer dollars from going to fund abortion. Rnc will be on the front lines of exposing our radical democrats have become what was once bipartisan. Residents from jimmy carter to bill clinton to joe biden have defended and supported in the amendment is no longer supported by the Democratic Party today. So that is a fight we are going to engage in right out of the gate. The second would be preserving the trump era defense budgets. What President Trump did over the past years to rebuild the military is significant and democrats now are telling us they want to cut military spending substantially out of the gate at the beginning of the new Administration Next year. We cannot allow that to happen. As we fell behind before and now weve caught back up with our chief adversaries in china and russia and others by rebuilding the military and getting back to where we are with significant defense budgets. The legacy issue has been balancing the budget and fiscal responsibility we will be out there like we always have. But the big area i think we have to move marrying the populist ideals with the conservative issues, those are new areas we want them to engage in. One would be free speech censorship and reforms that are heavily engaged and i know we will talk more about this in this as well being on the front lines out there and challenging. I want to follow up on that comment and the question of the debt and deficit and entitlement. When you talk about the debt and deficit you are talking about medicare and Social Security which he always said was untouchable. It is an entitlement reform and these big commitments, is that no longer a part of the Committee Agenda or where are we on that . Its definitely part of our agenda. And this last term, the chair man johnson gave me the honor of chairing the budget and Spending Task force for the rsc and we are the only budget that came anywhere in the house came from the rnc and it was a balanced budget that balanced in six years and we tackled the Social Security, medicare and medicaid and made reforms as a part of an effort to show our colleagues that you can balance the budget. The president s proposal balanced in about ten years and hours balanced and half that amount of time. I think we can all agree it will never be more difficult to put forth a balanced budget them now after what weve gone through in the pandemic and stimulus spending we passed over the past six to eight months once again it will be out there showing the rest of our colleagues that it can be done and as we always have in the first half of 2021. Congressman johnson, you said at the start the pandemic is a real thing and you know it because youve suffered from it. Putting out emergency stimulus package where will they be on that getting that done quickly during this lameduck session . There are members in the house and senathouse and senatee American People need some relief. What weve been wanting to focus on his doubl is double down on e programs we knew were efficient and worked. We know that it had the desired effect. It was an extreme measure taken by the government but we can justify that with our conservative philosophy because remember it was the government that shook the economy down with an unprecedented event so it needed a proper response. We will invest in that again because we see that truly is a wise investment it kept employees attached to the employers and kept people working. Those have long since been exhausted and they are running out and theres a number of businesses that are the lifeblood of the economy in my district and so many others that frankly will not survive through the holiday if they do not have a little bit extra that they could qualify for. The Senate Proposal early on several months back said if a business could show more than a 50 drop in revenue over the Previous Year they might qualify for another round. There are some reasonable measures and objective standards that could be used and so i think that there is a broad bipartisan consensus to do Something Like that. Theyve wanted to load it up like a Christmas Tree with other things, totally unrelated to the crisis. The problem is, and you know we keep weaving back to this central theme of this enormous debt that the country has incurred and of course prior to that over 27 trillion now. This is something that should keep everyone of us up at night because you cannot kick the can down the road forever and there will be a reckoning. We are having a balanced as far as the details of the plan there will be more negotiations i think. But perhaps it is moving in the right direction. I like to make it clear that you actually do things and make things happen. You make the tough decisions, but the ai stars can help and Michael Strahan and Glenn Hubbard helped to design which did have a positive effect of keeping people employed. Are you in agreement something has to be done but its to be tackled in the future and while i am on that let m we ask a followup we have a scholar who has done work on broadening the base for the revenue purposes maybe even including a consumption tax or ways of raising revenues. Is there any way of supporting the evident increasing the revenue in the federal government in the future given how much we owe and are committed to . Yes, we should do more in extending the paycheck Addiction Program is a common sense move forward that had bipartisan support before but its been held hostage by Speaker Pelosi ever since. Theres still billions of dollars left unspent that we have appropriated but because those dollars are just sitting in washington when they could be used to support the businesses in indiana, louisiana and elsewhere. Well known to all of you it would force the taxpayers in indiana to offset the deficit and fiscal irresponsibility that they had decades before the pandemic in some states they put the onus on the backs of the taxpayers like mine that have cut and put forth balanced budgets every two years in the statehouses. Thats just what i can to support moving forward. As far as the latter question about additional revenues and other places we can go to offset without having to increase taxes we show how it can be done im the first to admit that republicans have fallen flat on their face when it comes to the mantle of being the party of the fiscal responsibility. Yesterday republicans chose the new leader of the budget committee, jason smith from missouri who is a strong conservative and it will be his job as the Ranking Member in the upcoming term to advocate for the fiscally responsible republican budget and majority in two years and then it will be his job after pelosi famously said she challenged republicans when we were in the majority and when we failed to do that, pelosi attacked us for it. Democrats in the last term did not put forth any budget at all out of their budget committee. When we get the majority back, it will be our main responsibility to put forth the budget and i know that jason smith will do that when hes the chair of the committee in two years. Im glad you mentioned the different choices between illinois and indiana. My older brother came from illinois and his children both moved to join him from illinois to indiana because of the business Friendly Schools governing. So youve got a point there that has become clear i want to stick with you a minute more. Heres an area President Trumps approach seems to have missed the country as a whole. We need to be tougher on china and a variety of ways whether it is tariffs, protecting taiwan and hong kong. Where would you like to see the country go in continuing that application of pressure in the coming years . I would say the country is already there. Its washington that is catching up when the rest of the country. Thats what President Trump taught us. For those of us that are long Time Movement ideological conservatives, it was hard for us to wrap our minds around this freetrade idea Holding China accountable for unfair trade practices and that is at the top of the list one of the areas i appreciate most about President Trumps leadership over the last four years is teaching us that its catching up with the rest of the country and in a very strong bipartisan way they Want Congress and the administration to hold them accountable. I really worry about the sharp turn of the Biden Administration and i contrast that with where the Trump Administration has been. It hasnt been perfect, but what we are hearing from president elect biden is an opposite message of what weve heard in a policy of appeasement versus the accountability and pressure that the trum Trump Administration is trying to put forth so they need to fill the vacuum and we need to be out there. I served on the china task force. If we identify and recognize that its the greatest existential threat that it faces economically and militarily that Congress Needs to react in a bigger way than we have and they put forth a number of proposals in this area, and i expect over the next couple of years we will continue to make this a primary focus. Once again though, there is the policy of it, the importance of it. But when it comes to the conservative movement, Holding China accountable needs to be a piece of who we are as conservatives to build the Winning CoalitionPresident Trump taught us that we need to build to win the majority and the white house in 2024. China needs to be a big part of the platform. We are talking a little bit about politics and carrying the country in future elections. This was interesting in that the republicans did very well in the house including gaining i think 11 or 12 seats depending on the outcome of a couple not yet called. And i also gathered there was a big influx of new young women into the Republican Caucus and i would say looking at these new members, do you think that you will get many of them to join, are they going to be conservative women joining, and another question we have from the audience if you might address this, how has the committee differed from the Freedom Caucus that we hear so much about focus on the details, but tell us the difference. Great question. We are super excited about this incoming class. The most diverse we have had as the Republican Party and now by design there was an effort to go out and recruit. Weve already spent time with this incoming class and i think most of them have an interest in but we will have a vast majority and we are excited about that and they bring a lot to the table. With regards to the difference between the Freedom Caucus the philosophy is aligned almost exactly. We have a huge crossover. Probably 75 or 80 or more of the Freedom Caucus members are also members and the tactics differ sometimes and thats great, but i dont think that there was any daylight between the two groups at all. The current chair man of the Freedom Caucus, a classmate of jim and mine and one of my closest friends and we work on the strategy together almost daily. Its a further strength to have one of those voices in the room and what we try to do this is the proposition when i ran i feel like in some ways we came in as freshmen when President Trump came into office and that was an interesting time. The last four years have been an interesting time as we all know. The understatement of the century. In some ways the landmarks have been moved so theres this idea what does the conservative movement look like Going Forward and how do we define what it is and how do we make a pitch to explain to them why our philosophy is superior to socialism were all of these other ideas and what i am proposing two years ago when i had the gavel is to say we have to break this up in the foundations and remember the Core Principles of conservatism and remember that we are here to advance. I love what Ronald Reagan said in his farewell address. He said its a great communicator but i wasnt that. I was communicating the same great things since the founding. They dont change. Thats the beauty they dont change and this is the proposition, seven Core Principles as it is individual freedom, limited government, the rule of law, fiscal responsibility, free markets and human dignity. Under each of those there are subcategories for example the sanctity of every human life as we talked about earlier. So, the idea is when we bring in new members and calibrate what we are doing, when we move forward all of that is grounded in these principles and when we have a new Member Development meeting i just got elected and im talking with the leadership about how to help them think through what this looks like and some have never been legislators before. They never had to put their philosophy into practice. So we want to help them through that and i think that by doing that we are going to train a new generation in congress and its going to be very effective in the years ahead. A. Representative banks, representative johnson mentioned the tenets and im going to ask about two of them. One is an area some conservatives might say that President Trump challenged that National Industrial policy and the Trump Administration has been more inclined to be supportive of Something Like family leave and another thing happening now i want to ask specifically about because president elect bidens team said they support it as well is a increase to the child allowance in the tax code. Senator lee and senator romney said they support something along those lines and would insist that includes all the way down to people that pay no taxes and already get significant payments to help them shore up their income with other benefits. Is the Committee Going to point out that additional cost that comes with the allowance, where are you on this allowance and making it refundable even to people who already get significant benefits . When we look at the National Debt and what that means for the future of the country, today my daughters are 11, nine and 7yearsold. The debt their generation is inheriting it is only going to continue to grow if we dont do something about it we have to recognize that we cannot pass more irresponsible spending moving forward. This is a great example of what it does to get the mechanics of what we do on a daily basis. We have a staff of about ten individuals that work hard every day and this is one of the differences and other conservative caucuses on the hill. Its a talented team of staff that we have that put out a policy analysis of every single piece of legislation that comes through on the floor and part of that analysis is a fiscal impact. Every bill to increase the size and scope of government or to decrease it and if there are concerns that are laid out in the legislative analysis. When the members of congress become the members of the rfc that is what they are paying for. The most important investment that they are making is this analysis of the sharp talented team second to none. This is a good example of where they would provide an analysis growing the tax credits like this and tell us what it would do to increase spending and the deficit and debt even further. And i promise you that it will be on the front line frontliness debate and exposing the results of what the programs like this would do to the future of the country when it comes to deficits and debt and spending even further. For both of you, maybe congressman johnson if you want to start on the rule of law. Conservatives generally have a sort of commitment to tradition and order and respect for institution. All of that is coming into question a little bit in the wake of this election and theres tension in the party now. Arizona governor and georgia governor and wall street journalists very intense conflicts with the president s behavior concerning the proper turning over of power. Where do you think conservatives should be on that issue especially as the president appears not to be able to win any court case anywhere where does that stand with respect to the rule of law . The people have to have this idea that their institutions are reliable and trustworthy and fair. If you are going to have a government of, by and for the people, the people are the sovereigns themselves, the consent of the governed and if they dont believe the power structures in place are fair and equitable, then the whole house of cards falls. It is a fragile thing and it relies upon these institutions. When they see and hear incidences of fraud on a broad basis that are credible, it makes them doubt and wondered if they should take the time to vote again in this future at all and it is a grave concern to all of us. I am a constitutional law attorney. Weve been encouraging him to exhaust the legal remedies because it is so critically important. I think every american citizen and every voter is owed to that because we have to root out the fraud and irregularity and make sure we have to make sure this does not happen again in the future. He has exhausted his legal remedy. He said he will not concede even then. Isnt that the confidence people should have in their constitutional system . Previous president s lost but they conceded for the sake of order and recognizing the importance of opposition. There is no question about that. But what is the appropriate time, is it right now or do you wait until the final case is resolved and i am in that camp. He said in his own words a few days ago at the white house that he would obviously participate in the peaceful transfer of power but the distinction between this election and all previous is that we didnt have a level in so many places at one time. The incidences and the big increase in the absentee ballots used in this cycle is unprecedented and that is where the problem lies, so we have to make sure that all these questions are not lingering or hanging over the election system Going Forward because exactly as you said, the people will lose faith. Im literally getting Text Messages right now while we are talking, people that are not watching the program right now, constituents that are texting on the subject. A lot of republicans are concerned about this and weve got to root out the fraud. During the past several years, one of the heroes of the conservative movement has been the attorney genera attorney gee United States, bill barr taking some tough stands yesterday he said theres no evidence of fraud and now the president and his people are attacking him. How do you react to the attorney generals comments from yesterday . I appreciate that he made the comments. And if he is saying that he and at the departmenthe department t identify fraud, i think we should take those comments very seriously. Let me say this. At the very outset of this congress, when the democrats, when nancy pelosi took the gavel and the democrats took the majority, they symbolically introduced their first bill which means this is their top priority piece of legislation when they named it hr one. This was january of 2019, long before the pandemic. It was a piece of legislation that would nationalize and push all states words mailin ballots. This was the strategy two years ago long before the pandemic. They passed it out of the house and the senate obviously didnt move it forward. They used the guide of the pandemic in many states theyve lost faith in the election process. There are things we should do and we should recognize at the outset we should look at ways to create standards for the mailin ballots if not altogether, eliminate the use of mailin ballots to preserve the integrity and security. Ive been working with my secretary of state in indiana on legislation ive introduced that would require the states before receiving matching federal grants related to elections that would match their voter role with Social Security databases. There are sensible pieces of legislation we could advocate for that would return and preserve the American Trust in the process. And i want to be in the middle of that debate and i want to find ways over the next couple of years we can advocate in advanced legislation that might do exactly that. I want to ask one more question from louisiana there is a long history of federal intervention and with the shelby case in the Supreme Court when it ended section five of the Voting Rights act because it was too aggressive at this time intrusion of the federal power given whats happened are you open to reconsidering a larger role of the federal government in elections in the state . Ive been resistant to it because im an oldschool conservative. There is a reason our federalism is important and weve trusted the states to handle the election process but theres also a presupposition that it will be done fairly and justifiably and if that is a problem then these are things we have to look at. Im not in favor of the federal intervention but the responsibility primarily falls with the state legislatures and i think that theres going to be a new resolved certainly by the Republicanled Legislature to clean this up and make sure that it doesnt happen again. To be a builder fiscal policy in the United States are you inclined to give and the circumstance is there an area of the tax code that has that the committee would entertain . As a general notion and with the coronavirus hits. There is a reason for the senate is not by accident we reduce taxes and innovation and unleashing the American Economy and we believe that general idea that philosophy and principle that the vast majority of members your on the opportunity. To have president elect biden and his team to raise taxes. We cannot do that. And with those defense policies and ideas. But that was working people we should and that from the getgo the Corporate Tax cuts. And with the tax reform that they need to go back to so as we were saying the next years would be fighting against the Progressive Left altogether. So thats a fight. So the workingclass americans were positive about the state of the economy before covid and the poverty rate that one is the all time best achievement and the median income. Given with the Vice President biden bringing in the team from obama is a family 2018 or the view of those policies . And those that did the most damage and modern times would be willing to take a page from the trump playbook from with the camp and in the last campaign cycle. And then to fight back the House Majority were to remain the American People the Republican Party and the policies are on the other side of the working class and the Democratic Party is not. And the nature of your district so you are voters coming from people as the party of the rich . Yes. Absolutely. I do believe the bright spot to have the opportunity to draw a stark contrast with those we proceed from the Trump Administration what they would oppose and try to do with the rise of socialism in the house. With the rise of socialism in the house. Contrast to draw going into 2022. We can show you have done that means are in Industries Like mine. There are dishes in the louisiana and on the economic scale. Louisiana is one of the least. And the greatest people in the world and arguably of any state. And to be number one on the list of every economy but when the decades and we have been the conditions to allow our states to compete well. Then it is up to us and my people desire that. And they saw that. And many that scratch their head and then to see with the Republican Party so the truth is on her side anxious to make those arguments. Anything you like to tell them about the coming years . Venture that is automotive my dad is an example not a traditional republican that he was President Trump and was more firm than ever. And later people at the time i got elected to congress four years ago the same to a local office when i was more excited about donald trump winning in the white house and need of his sons wedding. For going to win the majority in the white house, has to workingclass voters and President Trump taught us how to do that. The china subject is a key part nafta was a four letter word as but when i was a kid in the usmca is just extending reforming to draft trade deals of American Workers first. And then for conservatives to replicate a their head around will be a politically viable party and when he movement and that is the conversation want us to focus on the next couple of years what can we help the movement and sharp yourselves to Grow Movement moving forward. And this is been a great conversation want to distinguish members of the house of representatives im honored to have you with us this morning and we appreciate your service to our country thank you all very much for listening and we will see you next time. The honable chief justice and the associate justices of the Supreme Court of the unitedtates. All having business before the honorable Supreme Court of the United States give your attention the court is now sitting. United states and this honorable court. We will hear an argument in case 195807. Mr. Chief justice mia please the court this is no verdict