House speaker ryan held a briefing with reporters earlier today. He was joined by other Republican Leaders as they expressed their support for President Trumps executive order on refugees and immigrants and then discussed g. O. P. Efforts to repeal and replace the health care law. Its 15 minutes. Mr. Ryan good morning, everybody. This week in the house, were making important progress on two fronts. First, our committees are set to begin holding legislative hearings on bills to deliver relief for americans struggling under obamacare. This is the next step in a step by step approach to repealing and replacing obamacare with affordable, patientcentered system. We know that this law is collapsing. We hear it from every we hear it every day from our constituents. We hear it from the families who tell us deductibles are so high it doesnt feel like they have insurance. We hear it from people who have been denied choices. We need to step in and restore real choices and real competition so we can actually lower costs for patients and families. Second, under the Congressional Review Act, the house will expedite five resolutions to block costly, harmful regulations. This includes turning page on what has been for the last eight years a war on coal jobs in america. These measures will deliver relief from regulations that threaten to wipe out thousands, if not thousands, of jobs in the energy industry. In addition, were setting in motion reforms for a more sensible Regulatory Reform system. Earlier this month we passed the iranians act reins act. And yesterday the president took action to cap the costs that regulators can impose each year. This regulatory budget is something that we actually propose in our agenda that we ran on last year and were very excited to see it off and running. So this is not just about blocking bad regulations. This is about smart regulations. This is about jobs and Economic Opportunity and entrepreneurs and Small Businesses and manufacturers. We want to pave the way for real growth, higher wages and more success of the workers in the Small Businesses who are at the eart of our economy. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Regulatory reform has been a primary focus of this house since week one. Mr. Mccarthy weve been engaged in a twostep process. The first step was changing the structure of washington, putting the power back to the people. Thats where you saw the passage of the reins act and the regulatory accountability act. Now were starting on part two. The Congressional Review Act. Were going to im not going to go through the full list were going to have this week, but let me highlight just two of them. We will start with the stream buffer rule. Stream buffer rule will actually affect more than 64 of the countys coal reserves. Put them on off limit. Were talking roughly somewhere between 40,000 to 78,000 jobs are threatened. Talk about bringing Americas Energy back, all of the above jobs, and the whole part of america that has lost work. This Regulatory Reform bill will see a fundamental change. Secondly, were going to bring up on friday the bureau of land managements methane rule. Im going to have mr. Tipton talk a little bit more about that. What youre fining with the Congressional Review Act finding with the Congressional Review Act, youll see for the next two weeks, looking at those rules, finding the common sense for the last legislative days, ways that we can keep the environment safe and still bring jobs back to america. Thats the focus of this house. The focus of this congress. And we will get the work done. The house is going to pass bills this week to bring jobs back to america by rolling back some of the radical regulations that were put in place by unelected bureaucrats in washington. I think its exciting to see that were continuing to focus on creating jobs and getting our economy moving again and rebuilding the middle class that a lot of Barack Obamas policies helped erode. I think if you look in the last week, its been very significant for those of us who stand up and defend in defense of innocent life. Last week before we left for philadelphia, we passed historic legislation making permanent the hyde amendment. A bill that was very bipartisan, a bill that most americans support. The idea that taxpayer money should not go towards financing and funding abortion. Mr. Scalise and then we saw hundreds of thousands of people come to washington for the march for life and i applaud the thousands of people from louisiana and the hundreds of thousands of young people who came to washington to stand up for innocent life. And then of course later today, President Trump is going to announce his Supreme Court pick to replace antonin scalia. Looking forward to a spirited debate about the foundation of our democracy. The way that the constitution is supposed to be carried out by the judicial branch. I think its important to note right now that youve already got Senate Democrats saying that theyre going to oppose President Trumps pick for the Supreme Court before they even know who it is. Thats an incredible level of irresponsibility by Senate Democrats who should be looking to carry out their role of advise and consent, instead of prejudging somebody before they even know who its going to be. I would hope that the senate does their job and Senate Democrats that are trying to block President Trumps agenda would actually allow him to carry out his job and just look at his picks for cabinet secretaries. At this point in Barack Obamas tenure as president in his first term, just in his first week, barack obama had 11 of his 15 cabinet secretaries already confirmed and working for the American People. Today trump only has two of his 15 cabinet secretaries approved by the senate. So the time for Senate Democrats to stop blocking the work that the American People elected President Trump to do and lets get our economy going again like were taking action in the house to do. Our unified republican government is an opportunity for positive disruption from the status quo that weve seen the last few years under president obama. Mrs. Mcmorris rodgers the status quo that puts bureaucrats before people. With their pages and pages of rules and regulations. So this week were taking action on the explosion of regulations that weve seen hurting families and costing us jobs. All across the country. Its why we wanted representative tipton to join us. Hes been a leader hard at work on the Congressional Review Act, to help roll back some of the most damaging regulations of the last he eight years. Every day we hear stories of people that are stuck in the red tape. Colleges and universities bound by mandates. Tech companies and startups trying to deal with the overtime rules. Families and Small Business owns that are are just trying to get by. Owns that are are just trying to get by. Even owners that are trying to get by. Even with all of this happening were focusing our efforts on repealing obamacare and replace it with peoplefirst health care thats going to work for everybody. This week at energy and commerce, were Holding Hearings on the next steps for replacing obamacare. Republicans are working to make sure preexisting conditions are covered. The Insurance Market is stabilized. And medicaid is strengthened and prioritized for those who need it most. President trump has made clear that he is a man of action and e are ready. Mr. Tipton good morning, everyone. Im scott tipton from colorados third congressional district. The house will take important action this week to undo some of the most harmful attacks previous administrations perpetrated on hardworking americans as croling the country during its final months. Im a Firm Believer that when done right, regulations play an Important Role in keeping our communities safe and secure. But what we saw out of the Obama Administration during its final months went far beyond safety and security. Our concerns about the stream buffer rule and the b. L. M. s 2. 0 rule and many others fell on deaf ears during the Obama Administrations final days. What we saw was an Outgoing Administration more concerned about Approval Ratings than about the livelihoods of american families. We lost 68,000 coal mining jobs during the Obama Administration. Standing here in washington, it may be hard to imagine the impact of losing those jobs. But for families, families that i visit with every time that im home, it means falling behind on your mortgage, struggling to be able to put food on the table for your children, and picking which bill will have to go unpaid this month. In the twilight hours of the Obama Administration, the department of interior finalized a rule that applied to every coal mine in every state in the country. When it was originally only supposed to apply to the surface mines in six appalachian states. The rule amends over 400 existing regulations, including some that are normally in the jurisdiction of other agencies. The complex and duplicative requirements in the rule could lead to a 60 reduction in Coal Production of a state like colorado. Theres no clearer example of a federal agency implementing a redundant, onesizefitsall mandate, than this lastditch effort to regulate the coal industry out of business. Another great example of duplicative regulation issued by the Obama Administration is the b. L. M. Rule. The authority to regulate air quality in the Clean Air Act resides solely with the Environmental Protection agency and cooperating state agencies, which is why in may of this last year, the e. P. A. Finalized its own rule on methane emissions. In point of fact, the b. L. M. Rule was largely based on a law passed by the state of colorado to limit methane emissions. The e. P. A. s own data shows that om 1990 to 2014, methane emissions fell, fell by over 5. 5 . Not only did the b. L. M. Overstep its jurisdictional authority, it did so in states and private industry have already taken steps to improve efficiency in the energy sector. While the stream buffer rule and the methane vetting rules are two that are harmful examples of many district like my own, all of the Congressional Review Actresslusions we are considering this week will provide relief for americans in Diverse Communities across the country. The house is responding to the signals that americans sent on november 8. Were saying no to overly burdensome one size fit all d federal regulationses. There is a better way to regulate and the house has already taken the first steps to help us get there. Earlier this month we passed the midnight rules relief act and the reins act, both of which set the stage for implementing the Regulatory Reform plan that is included in our better way agenda. Using the Congressional Review Act this week a, to roll back the Obama Administrations lastminute regulatory overreach, puts us on the path to advance the policies we need to create jobs. To keep people earning more of their hardearned money in their own pockets, and to restore confidence in america that unfortunately has been missing in many of our communities these past eight years. Ryan a ryan anybody have any questions . Mr. Ryan anybody have any questions . Questioner can you let us know what your thoughts are on the president s executive actions on immigrants and refugees and also can you tell us, is there any immediate role for congress to play in addressing some of the concerns that have been raise rased about this . Mr. Ryan first off, i had a long talk with secretary kelly yesterday and im very pleased and confident that hes, on a Going Forward basis, make sure things are done correctly. The president has a responsibility to the security of this country. Go back, remember when we had the paris shooting, remember when we heard about credible intelligence that isis was trying to infiltrate refugee populations . We passed, i think it was called the safe act, with 289 votes. To take a pause in the refugee program, to improve our vetting standards. That bill went through the house and didnt go anywhere in the senate. So what is happening is something that we support, which is we need to pause and we need to make sure that the vetting standards are up to snuff so we can guarantee the safety and security of our country. That is what this does. We want that goal to be achieved. I support the Refugee Resettlement program. Were a generous country. Its important. But we can be generous and watch our National Security at the same time. Thats why im confident that secretary kelly, along with other cabinet members, are going to make sure that we have the proper review and vetting so we can get this program up and running with the proper National Security safeguards. I think its regrettable that there was some confusion on the rollout of this. No one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas like translators get caught up in all of this. And so i think there was regrettably the rollout was confusing, but on a goforward basis, im confident that secretary kelly is going to make sure this is done correctly, that they get a good review and that we are going to make sure that we get this program up and running with the kind of vetting standards that we all want to see. Theres always a roll for Congress Role for congress. Congress oversees these things all of the time. This is clearly in keeping with the president s authorities. We all know. That take a look at immigration law. Look at the way the refugee laws work. This is very similar to what we passed a year ago after the paris shooting. We just want to make sure that the very clear, that people understand what this is and is not. And that on a Going Forward basis, that its executed and implemented so we can have both. We have have a good a refugee and Resettlement Program while making sure we dont have people infiltrating our program and take advantage us. Reporter when you do a costbenefit analysis, people from these countries havent carried out deadly terrorist attacks here in the United States since 9 11. But you have a lot of military experts, Intelligence Experts warning that this is going to serve as a recruiting tool for isis. Are you sure that this is going to make mr. Ryan i think the rhetoric surrounding this could be used as a recruiting tool. Thats dangerous. But remember, these countries were named by the Obama Administration. These countries were named in legislation that we talked about last year. These countries were named by the Obama Administration and there is an issue with respect to terrorists trying to infiltrate a refugee population. So were not here to debasement were here to answer your questions debate. Were here to answer your questions. Theres nothing wrong with taking pause and making sure we have the proper vetting standards in place so we do not have a problem like france had with paris. Reporter is there a proper role for congressional staffers to have helped writ than . Mr. Ryan they help the administration all the time. Ill refer you to the Judiciary Committee on the specific aspects of this. We werent involved in this. Chairman goodlatte walked our members through how this worked. Would refer you to him. Reporter mr. Speaker, when you talk about the role of congress, these are temporary measures. Do you plan to pass any measures . There are reports out of the l. A. Times that the Trump Administration is looking at further immigration limits. What do you have planned . And what were you told specifically about this order . Some members said they were caught unaware. Mr. Ryan pretty much at the time it was being issued. We were briefed on it, the contents of it as it was being rolled out. And then i had a very good conversation with secretary kelly to make sure that we separate fact from myth. That we make sure that the confusion gets cleared up very quickly. Clearly none of us want to see people with green cards get implicated in this. Thats not the goal here. Were going to make sure thats very much cleared unigo forward basis. Look, what the president has asked us to focus on, something we completely agree on, something we ran on, is we have to secure our border. We have a Border Security problem, thats what the physical barrier on the boarder is all about. We have security concerns, given