Low cal breakfast club. Graduated from washington and lee university. Politics serving as finance director for oliver wents Senate Campaign and on to become executive director of the Young Americas Foundation where his role included steward ranch. F Ronald Reagans he earned an mba from the of virginia. Now on to breakfast mechanics. Were on the record here. Lease no live blogging or tweeting or filing of any time to give us time to actually says. N to what our guest theres no embargo when the session is over. At 9 00 nd promptly a. M. To help curve that urge well several sessions of this here as e reporters ends. As the breakfast please try to confine yourself others uestion until have had a chance. Well give our guest the opening ty to make comments. Thank you for doing this. The floor is yours. Thank you for having me. Im anxious to get to your questions. But thank you for hosting me. A special thanks to david and linda for your hospitality this morning. I know the considering science monitor has been a leader in helping to not just cover the drive the news and we appreciate you. We appreciate that. Honored that you included me. Thank you. The Trump Administration has and remains very focused on jump starting the american economy. Private sector to create jobs. What weve seen already is the unprecedented steps in cutting unnecessary regulations. Basically getting government out way of our economy. The Trump Administration has regulatory actions to date and we work with ongress to pass 14 pieces of legislation under the congressional review act. The executive actions and save our n combine to economy an estimated 18 billion annually. These actions are having a real in the lives of the American People. Since april, the white house is met with over 250 people to discuss tax reform. Soon we will release a unifying outline what congress and we will work on a bill. Reached theek, we legislative space we need to get the work done this year. But we know the process is slow. In this new season, we hope Senate Democrats will end their unprecedented obstruction against our nominees. Theave sent 385 nominees to senate. Only 35 have been confirmed. 75 have been confirmed by the same date in the obama residency. 385 nominees confirmed compared to 133 for this administration. With the emergencies were facing in texas and florida, the importance of getting these nominees into their jobs is hard to understate. Blocking these nominees during a National Emergency is dangerous and irresponsible. We call on democrats to stop playing politics and help fill our department. I am encouraged that last night we spoke to chief of staff about it and today there will be eight confirmation vote on the council of economic advisers. Believe it turns to a housing issue. Particularly in texas but likely in florida as well. Today the Deputy Press Secretary has yet to be confirmed. We hope they will allow her a vote this week. I am encouraged by my conversations last week that that will happen. We obviously have other important priorities. We are long overdue to secure our borders. We Hope Congress will create a legislative fix for daca. We are still dedicated to americas infrastructure. Deserve americans break from the spiral created by obamacare. There is a lot to be done. What weve seen so far particularly at the executive is making a difference. We will continue to work with congress to fulfill the promises made to the American People. With that, i look forward to your questions. My job is to throw out the ceremonial softball and then we will go to caitlin mcneil. John gizzi, dimitri, George Condon and tara mckelvey. That should give us going. The fiscal deal that was done last week, that is a sign that President Trump is the First Independent president to hold that office. Not loyalty on either party. Is that an assessment you agree with . How does it affect your job is legislative director . Marc i think the president first and foremost rather than Party Affiliation goes to what you can do best for the American People. The fill the promises he made on the campaign trail. I think the deal he struck last week enabled us to focus on tax reform. The president has made getting jobs back to our economy the number one priority and tax reform is what we think is necessary to get the economy going again. I do find some of the coverage interesting. I mentioned in my opening remarks we have been eating on tax reform. The president has fought for cooperation from democrats. I think some of the coverage in the initial few months was im painting with a rod brush. Some of the commentary is the president is just relying on his faith and he cannot accomplish a lot if he continues to rely on his base. How in the world is he going to accomplish anything if he is going to discard their leadership of his own already. Workingon the base or with schumer and bluesy and not working with your own. I think the president s focus is what he can do on the American People and he is less worried about his relationship sort coverage and goingson with mcconnell, ryan, pelosi, or schumer. Commentsee with the that the Senate Majority leader made to the New York Times that the deal last week was not as good as it looks for democrats because of the extraordinary measures being employed so that the debt ceiling does not happen until 2018 . Marc i look at it as a good deal for the American People. The people are tired of washington. Trump wasy president elected. There was a lot of frustration about the way washington, d. C. , work. As we came into september with a lot of commentary about how the world we would ever get through september, there was a roadblock. Too much the congress had to do. I think the president cleared the decks effectively and the American People are happy they are not having a crisis conversation about a government resolution or debt ceiling. I think he was looking out for the best interest of the nation. You mentioned speaker ryan and taxes. Speaker ryan has talked about a corporate rate somewhere maybe around 20. The president rompuy said 15 . Saide president firmly 15 . Is there any wiggle room on the 15 to bring this deal together or is 15 nonnegotiable . Marc the president wants 15. It does not help us to negotiate against ourselves. We should aim for what we think is best and i think we all understand that ultimately there is compromise to get to the best deal. We think what is best is a 15 corporate rate. More competitive on the international stage. This is not just about corporate rates it is about jobs. What we have seen is because of the unfair tax code that Many Companies have decided to leave america and taking jobs with them. We believe it is important to reduce those rates to be more competitive. Thank you for being here. Im wondering if you can outline what the administration will be looking for in a bill in congress. Something that restores funding to the wall. Other Border Security measures. Are you willing to go for more of the dream act is an area rather than get legal status as opposed to Something Like that. Marc i think the white house will be laying out legislative priorities and we like to see any part of a daca package within the next couple of weeks. I will say that there are several things we think are important. We think it is important to secure the border. We do think interior enforcement is critical and moving to a meritbased immigration system. To what extent that can be, we dont know. I would ask you that this week on the house floor there will be a vote on ms 13 legislation. We work with house leadership to get that on the calendar. The house has been moving forward on several pieces of legislation that we think are critical to our country and we are hopeful the senate will be picking up those bills at some point. Justin from bloomberg. Texas. Lets go back to you met with mark meadows last week. I am wondering how that conversation went and if you guys were able to reach areas of agreement on tax reform and if yournticipate them helping porsche. To just kind of follow on the earlier question, you want to get the corporate rate down as low as possible. [indiscernible] marc i will take the second one first of that is ok. We do not think that expensing should be your ties to at the expense of rates. We are more interested in prioritizing lower rates. We think that is what is important to get the economy growing. Expensingon was about lower rates. The administration believes it is more important to get rates the and while we will value conversation on expensing, we want to try your ties getting rates down. Regarding the conversation with mark meadows and the freedom caucus, that has been an ongoing conversation. I think we partnered well with him. I think we partnered wealth is conference. They were very supportive with our efforts on repeal and replace. So that is not as unusual occurrence. I talked to work this morning before coming over here. We value the partnership and i think a particular cases in order to get tax reform done you have to pass the budget first. Their position is that we want to know what is in the tax reform package before we vote on the budget. I think their viewpoints are understood, and they will get details well before the budget comes. David a john from new jersey starledger. According to the tax foundation, texas or more than [indiscernible] how can you describe nobody making 200,000 a year when deputy state tax pays the top tax rate for rate. Animate the estate tax, lower the cap rate, and illuminate the tax reduction. Marc many of the most wealthy in the country take advantage more deductions than anybody else and i think making the tax code simpler and fairer you will see that we are looking to get rid of the deductions and make it easier to comply with fairly difficult tax policy america has. Additionally, we would be lowering individual rates on middle incomes. So, we do want to prioritize middleincome tax relief. Despite the analysis that you cite, think weve seen and what analysis we have done is that particularly in those six states suffer from a high tax burden and that is a state deduction that is probably best dealt with that we will be the team of donald trump, the First Independent resident. That has been a lot of speculation on whether he is remaking the Republican Party or perhaps fomenting a schism within the party. What kind of impact might be president have on the midterms next year . Merck i do not think i do not think the president is fomenting a schism in the party. Look at what theyve done so far. I think in many cases, he is helping to build the party and get the party grounded. I think he has been an asset in helping us to strengthen the party. Again, i think the president looks at what is best for the American People. He is not looking at what benefits which local party more. David huffington post, down at the end of the table. Thank you. I guess, is the Administrative Administration committed . If so, are they prepared to explain how the president pushed when it comes to that change . Marc iink we are think we are committed. I am going to ask a question about the president benefit. I think that is the conversation that has been discussed throughout the campaign. I think you will be happy to see it completed. David usa today. On daca, does a continuous wall along the southern border have to do with whatever decision is reached by the end of the year . Marc i think were most interested in getting Border Security. The president has made a commitment to the American People that he wants, he believes a physical barrier is important. Whether or not that is part of a it is aation or whether different legislative vehicle, i do not want to bind ourselves into a construct that makes reaching a conclusion impossible. I think the president is also believing this is an issue that congress has failed on. I think what you saw from the department of justice was an explanation that the order given by obama was unlawful and would not be supported. I think we look forward to providing some guidelines in seeing how they work. David newsmax. Of the things that has come up recently, the president in the Campaign Said that he was fully committed to maintaining entitlements and said this over and over. The Republican Study Committee as well as a congressman participated in a recent tax conference. He said the only way to achieve true tax reform is to put medicare and medicaid on the table for reform. The president s campaign statements notwithstanding, are entitlements on the table . I think the president remains committed to keeping the promise he made to the American People andnot having medicare Social Security cup. As you know, john, the repeal and replace legislation was i think our best opportunity for real entitlement reform in medicaid. Is something the president supported and unfortunately despite campaigning on it since 2010, republicans would given the opportunity were not willing to follow through. I think the president has been willing to make necessary cuts into that program to make sure it is sustainable for the future. On the broader issue of entitlements, the president put forward a very fiscally responsible and should without making those cuts. As you know, that will be voted on soon and congress. He is keeping his promise to the American People. Toid were going to go next national times. 250 million members of congress. Some tax reform, where do you think they might be willing to work with democrats. Marc sure. Let me be clear. Not50 members, there were 250 meetings. Sometimes individual, sometimes group settings. I think the feedback weve received from Many Democrats is they recognize the corporate rates are too high. They recognize the Corporate Tax system is unfair and it is causing companies to leave our shores. Think there is opportunity to partner there. I think typically they have expressed a willingness to lower individual rates on the lower income, middle income. Well that they have also expressed a desire in some cases to marry tax reform with infrastructure. I think that is conversation for them to continue to happen within their conference and i dont need to add much to that. That is just commentary weve received back from them. David a little time check here. Brian,o to cheryl bolin, tara, todd, and also i am caught just of the fact weve not gone to any of the tables in the back and im feeling guilty. So bloomberg bna. Since you opened with regulations, does the administration have any new initiatives planned to cut or nexton this winter year . Also, do you support senator portmans regulatory accountability act . Not forgive me, but i am the milieu as i should be with portmans bill. Theill continue to review legislation. In many cases, there are reviews underway. I would anticipate we will continue to look for waves to roll back what we thought was a Regulatory Burden when the administration came into office. Are there any new executive orders . Marc not any to announce this morning. David will go next to alexis. The president not only tweeted, but spoke over the tax reform and he would like to speed things up. I wanted to ask your question related to his impression. As you said, that congress is slow in the would like to move it faster. Can you describe what he means by speeding up . He mentioned the hurricane in his remarks so im not sure what he meant by speeding it up. You were describing a sequence of what the caucus wants. They want to see tax reform. You said there will be an outline. Can you help us understand what the timing is and are you saying the president is going to tell the committee here is what i want before they actually begin to draft anything in the committees themselves . It sounds like he is going to stick his addition of telling him to draft something and drop that. Marc i think the president has laid out on the campaign what he was going to do to get elected. He is still pushing for those realizes itles he is a process. He will alter that. We have been working with leader mcconnell, brady and others to try to reach consensus. I think the president is our window to get this done. So yes, i think you will be seeing a matter of days, the administration pushing out more detail on what we believe should be needed and tax reform. You could have done that once it up. The summer has been about it . Marc well, i think it was , there were awe few key issues between the senate and the white house that needed resolution. We are close to finalizing that at this point. Just the mechanics of getting through september, i think the white house is anxious to do it now. So i think you will see the white house get that laid out sooner. David george kotten, international journal. Everybodyd understands how slow the legislative processes. I not sure that is true of some of you and your colleagues on the white house staff. You have to go back to jimmy carter to see. That frustration that clearly the president feels is made part of your job getting across to your colleagues and the president how the process works. That it is slow. I sayi guess when everyone my view is everyone here in this audience. The president s frustration is born out of what he has articulated several times, which is that republicans that have kept promises since 2010, given that opportunity to replace and repeal obamacare, that is something that was promised an expeditious fashion. Not just that we would get at them but we would get it done very quickly and so i think theres been some commentary about the president s false expectations. But leadership laid out for us the repeal and replacement of obamacare before the eas