Im dave cook from the Christian Science monitor. Thanks for coming. Our guest today is marc short. Assistant to the president and director of the office of legislative affairs. This is his first visit with our low cal Breakfast Club come home to what steve bannon called the pearl clutching mainstream media. Thanks for making time for us in your busy schedule. Marc short, a virginia native graduated from washington and lee university. He got his start in politics serving as finance director for Oliver North Senate campaign and went on to become executive director of the Young Americas Foundation where his role included stewardship of Ronald Reagans ranch. After running the ranch he earned an mba from university of virginia. He worked in the Homeland Security department during the bush administration, served as senator hatch and since chief of staff and later was chief of staff with the House Republican conference under then conference chair mike pence. He was later hired by freedom partners, becoming the organizations president. Now onto breakfast mechanics. As always we on the record. Please note my blogging or tweeting. In short no filing of any kind while the breakfast is underway to give us time to actually listen to our guest says. There is no embargo when the session is over. It will and probably at 9 00 a. M. To help you curve that relentless selfie urge will email several pictures of the session to all the reporters here as soon as the breakfast ends. As regular attendees know if youd like to ask a question please do the traditional thing and send me a nonthreatening signal and i will happily call on one and all in the time we have available. Given the number of reporters today, please try to confine yourself to one question and to others have had a chance. We will start off by offering our guest the opportunity to make some opening comments and then moved to question from around the table. With that, thank you for doing this and the floor is yours. Ill be very brief because im anxious to get your questions. Thank you for hosting me, a special thanks to david and linda for your hospitality this morning for me and my team. I know Christian Science monitor has been a leader in helping to not just cover the news but help draw out the news and we appreciate it. Im honored that you included me. Thank you. The Trump Administration has been and remains very focused on jumpstarting the american economy. And allowing the private sector to create jobs. What weve seen already is the president take unprecedented steps in cutting unnecessary regulations. Basically getting government out of the way of our economy. The Trump Administration is withdrawn 860 regulartory actions to date and we work with congress to pass 14 pieces of legislation under the congressional review act. The executive actions of legislation combined to save our economy an estimated 18 billion annually. These actions are having a real impact in the lives of American People. To date since inauguration weve created 1. 2 million jobs, 125,000 of those in the manufacturing sector. Wages are up, Small Business optimism is up. The dow jones as you know is up 20 since election day and the s p just reached another record high. But theres a lot more that we can do to return jobs to american shores. Thats why the president is focused on providing tax relief this year. We have been working with congress to get unified tax relief to the president s desk. In fact, since april the white house has met with over 250 members of both parties of congress to discuss tax reform. Soon we will relieve an outline release a unified outline with congress and the committees will get to work on a bill. And the spending deal we reach with Congress Just last week providesprovide the legislative space we need to get this done this calendar year. But as weve all learned, the legislative process is slow. And in this new season of bipartisanship we hope Senate Democrats will end their Unprecedented Campaign of obstruction against some of our nominees. In total we sent 385 nominees to the senate. Only 35 of those of those nominees to date have been confirmed. By contrast, 70 of the Obama Administration nominees had been consumed by the same date in obamas presidency. At this point, obama had 385 nominees confirmed compared to 133 for this administration. With the emergencies were facing in texas and in florida, the importance of getting these nominees into their jobs is hard to understate. Blocking these nominees during a National Emergency is dangerous and it is irresponsible. So we call on democrats to stop playing politics with our nominees and help us to fill our department. I will say that i am encouraged that last night i spoke with leader schumers chief of staff about a a path forward, and in particular as you know today it will be a confirmation vote on the council of economic advisers. We also believe that in much of the recovery at this point it turns to a housing issue in particularly texas likely in florida as well. And to date our deputy secretary at hud which is yet to be confirmed despite being voted out of committee three months ago. We do hope that they will allow for a vote this week and i am encouraged by my conversations last night that that will happen. On top of tax reform nominations on Hurricane Relief we have other important priorities for the American People. We Hope Congress will provide a legislative fix to daca. The president is committed to rebuilding infrastructure in this congress. We think americans deserve relief on the spiraling cost of health care insurance. These are just some of our verities and there is a lot more to be done. But we have seen so far is the residence policies particularly , at the executive branch level is making a difference. We will continue to work with congress to fulfill the promises the president 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 john bennett and caitlin mcneil. John gizzi, dimitri, George Condon and tara mckelvey. That should get us going. There are people who look to the deal that was done the fiscal deal that was done last week that is a sign that President Trump is the First Independent president to hold that office. Neither not focused in terms of 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 looks to what you can do best for the American People. To fulfill the promises he made on the campaign trail. I think the deal he struck last week enabled us to focus on tax reform. I think 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 growing again. I do find some of the coverage interesting. I mentioned in my opening remarks we have been meeting on tax reform. The president has fought for cooperation from democrats. I confess i think some of the coverage in our initial months was that i know i am painting with a broad brush. Forgive me. Some of the commentary is the president is just relying on his base and he cannot accomplish a lot if he continues to rely on his base. The last few days is coverage of how in the world is he going to accomplish anything if he is going to discard their leadership in his own party . You are not working with republican colleagues. Hehink the focus is on what can do for the American People and less worried about what his relationships are, the coverage and the goingson with mcconnell, ryan, pelosi, or schumer. Do agree with the comments 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. I think the American People are tired of impasse in washington. The people are tired of washington, d. C. That is why President Trump was elected. I think there is a lot of frustration about the way washington, d. C. Work. We came into september with a lot of commentary about how the world we would ever get through september. There is a roadblock on continuing resolution. There is too much congress has to do. I think the president cleared the decks effectively and the American People are relieved 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. John bennett. You mentioned speaker ryan and taxes. Speaker ryan has talked about a corporate rate somewhere maybe around 20 . The president firmly said 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. I think we should aim for what we think is best and i think we all understand that ultimately there is probably compromise to get to the best deal. We think what is best is a 15 corporate rate. We think it is 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 back scenario where people 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. You met with mark meadows last week, im wondering how that conversation went. I am wondering how that conversation went and if you guys were able to reach areas of agreement on tax reform and if you anticipate them helping your Freedom Caucus. To just kind of follow on the earlier question, you want to get the corporate rate down as low as possible. Is that on to me limited expensing . 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. The question was about expensing lower rates. The administration believes it is more important to get rates down and while we will value the conversation on expensing, we want to prioritize getting rates down. The conversation with mark meadows and the Freedom Caucus, that has been an ongoing conversation. I can be partnered well with him, i can be partnered well with his conference. They were very supportive of our efforts on the repeal and replace. I talked to mark frequently before coming over here. We value that partnership, and i think they played out a fair case which says in order to get tax reform done, you have to pass the budget first. We wantsition is that to know whats in the tax reform package before we vote on the budget. I think their viewpoints are understood, and i think they will get the details well before the budget comes. According to the tax foundation, texas or more than tax deduction, more than half are taking it making it to hundred thousand dollars a year. Nobody making 200,000 a year when deputy state tax pays the top tax rate. 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 those particularly in those six states suffer from a high tax burden and that is a state deduction that is probably best dealt with at the state level. 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 the president might have on the nature midterms next year . Marc i do not think the president is fomenting a schism in the party. I think in many cases, you look at the special election, he has won all four of those. In many cases, hes helping to build the party, and he has helping to get the party grounded. I think he has been an asset in helping us to strengthen the party. The president looks at what is best for the American People, hes not looking at what benefits which Political Party more. Dr. From the huffington post. Thank you. I guess, is the administration committed . If so, are they prepared to explain how the president pushed personally is going to benefit from that change . Marc i think we are committed. Two extending it to Small Businesses. I think the details of that will be coming forward. Im going to ask the second question about the president thefit, i think that is conversation that has been discussed throughout the campaign. I think you will be happy to see it completed. David usa today. Laying out the powered laying out the parties on 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 daca equation or whether it is a 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 interested in solving the issue, he believes 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. One 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 reform 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 and not having medicare and Social Security cup. As you know, john, the repeal and replace legislation was i think our best opportunity for real entitlement reform in medicaid. Now, it 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 additional entitlements, the think i think concerns are about balancing the budget. 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 looks to continue his promise to the American People. David were going to go next to financial times. 250 million members of congress. Can you sketch out for us on tax reform, where do you think they might be willing to work with democrats. Marc sure. Let me be clear. 250 members, 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. I think there is opportunity to partner there