Transcripts For CSPAN Newsmakers 20150927 : vimarsana.com

You. Thanks for inviting me back. Host our two questioners, reporters david and susan. We hear from the congressman about your statement. You just released a statement calling for unity in the party. Rep. Flores yes. Host this party has been fractured. How does it become unified and then well turn to susan. Rep. Flores i think today was a significant emotional event for the republican conference in the house. I think any time you have one of those significant emotional events it gives you a chance to back up and to reassess where you are and what our objectives are. One of the challenges weve had as a republican conference is that even though weve all been fairly unified on the positions we would like to achieve, the outcomes, we havent always agreed on tactics and in some cases, our ability to be successful in achieving the outcomes we wanted wasnt as successful as we would have liked because we had disagreements over how to get there. So my hope is that now that weve gone through this event today, the speakers resignation, that this gives us a chance to look at what the end state is. And the end state is to have an outcome. Wed like to have better Economic Growth for the country, address the fiscal challenges for the country, limit the federal government to its constitutional limited role. Wed like to get the Regulatory Regime back in its statutory box. And wed like to rebuild our National Security in a very unstable world. So i think this gives us a chance to look at what those goals are and to figure out how do we unify so that we can achieve those goals. Susan we heard from the speaker about what he said to the republican conference this morning. You were there. Can you tell us about it, how he announced it and what the reaction was from people in the room and what your reaction was when you first heard the speaker say he was going to resign. Rep. Flores he framed it as, when he was first elected as speaker, he was going to serve for four years. When eric cantor lost the primary and we had to change majority leaders he decided to stay on for another year. He was planning on staying through the end of this calendar year. Then he looked at the state of the conference and the fact that there was disunity and that there could be another tough vote to reaffirm his speakership which i think would have passed fairly easily but he decided, for the good of the conference, why put everybody through that vote . So he felt like it was time to go ahead and let him get out of the way. So hes not the subject. He doesnt become the problem to us achieving those common goals that we have in the conference. Susan what was the reaction in the room, and what did you think when you heard him announce it . Rep. Flores i think all of us were pretty stunned. We were stunned at first but then we thought, you know this man has made the most selfless decision you could expect any leader to make and so i think we, for the next hour and a half or so, we heard person after person come up to the to the microphone and give positive tom about what john boehner has done for this country and what hes done for our conference. So i think that it became a point, gave us a rallying cry so that we can come back together and unify. So i think we he really lead the stage for us to have that unification. David when Speaker Boehner said he delayed his decision to step down because eric cantor had lost, theres no obvious successor, do you interpret that as a signal that Kevin Mccarthy is the next speaker . Or who do you think should be the next speaker . Rep. Flores no, Speaker Boehner kept his cards close to his vest he probably has an opinion but he cant let us know in any way, shape or form what his opinion is as far as what the Leadership Team should look like. David he told us that Kevin Mccarthy would make an excellent speaker. Do you agree with that . Rep. Flores kevin has been around long enough that he knows what the challenges are. Hes got the leadership potential to do that. As far as me personally, i have not taken any positions at this point. I have had several calls today about people running for various positions. But i will keep those to myself at this point. As soon as i determine who i think the best candidates are. But really, this has been a fairly traumatic day. So i think we need to let the dust settle before we start picking things out. Im in a position as chair of the Republican Study Committee, its not appropriate for me to come out publicly endorsing any candidate that said, i think we will probably have, not probably, we are likely to have some sort of forum so that every person running for any leadership position can come to the 170plus r. S. C. Member we was and make their case about why theyre the best leader. Susan when will we have some idea about leadership elections . Its already end of september, weve got about five weeks, when do you think well know about leadership elections and who is running . Rep. Flores we already have some feel for who is running. Given the diligence of the press im sure you guys have a better idea than i do. But that said, Speaker Boehner announced his resignation, he said we would have new leadership elections in october. I think it would probably be better to do them earlier rather than later. And so my hope is, if i were the person putting the calendar together, i would say lets announce next week that were going to have leadership elections the second week of october. That to me would be sort of the sweet spot so you have some time for the new Leadership Team to make the transition into their new roles. David one of the great things about covering the capitol, at least for us reporters, is interacting with the people we cover. I want to ask about something you said in the speakers lobby as you were voting. You said you thought Speaker Boehner announced this decision to resign to save the house. Whats he saving the house from . Whats been the challenge . Rep. Flores i think a lot of people have known for quite a while that we, even though were in the majority, have not all been on the same page. So i think he felt like he had become the focal point of the angst about the house. That he thought he would step aside so that the house could reunify and move forward and do the will of the American People. You know, when i went to town Hall Meetings this summer, people expressed frustration with washington. They expressed frustration with congress. They expressed frustration with various members of Leadership Teams. I tried to back them up and say, lets walk through this. The house has passed over 340 bills that reduce the deficit that spend our money more wisely that reduce the regulatory onslaught that we have, that rebuild our military and those have all gone and died at the senate. So if you want to be frustrated be frustrated with where the problem lies and thats with the senates inability to do things we have done. We have been very productive. If you look at the metrics in terms of whats been coming through the committee, whats coming to the floor, whats passed and going to the senate, the house has done a heck of a job, much better than my first two terms in congress. So the American People are frustrated because it feels like the kuok is not standing up to the president and stopping the problems the American People are feeling with what hes doing to them. Susan that begs the question, whats not going to change is the senate. What will the next speaker do differently to appease frustrations . Rep. Flores if we as the g. O. P. Conference can come together and put up stronger votes without a lot of the back chatter over, you know, fighting act tactics and be unified, it may give our senate brothers and sisters a chance to fight more vigorously than i think they have so far. And candidly, id like, there are several of us that have gotten frustrated that weve got a rule in the senate, the filibuster, that has no constitutional basis. Thats holding up the ability of congress to completely fulfill its article 1 responsibilities under the constitution. So id say any time that you have an institutional rule that is getting in the way of the constitution and getting in the way of congress ability to do its job, that will need to be segregated to the constitution. David even beyond the senate, you have a democratic president. The constitution provides him with veto power and you dont have the votes in the house to override a veto. You described some of the colleagues as trying to burn the house down these last few months. What or who would satisfy them . When theyre willing to shut the government down to prove a political point, knowing that it cant succeed, cant get past the veto or the senate, what do you think would satisfy them . Rep. Flores my hope is they feel like theyve accomplished something today. I dont know that they did. I think the speaker decided, has made a selfless decision to stop the disunity in the house. So my hope is we can rejoin and Work Together. We do have a president who doesnt see rules the same way we do but the American People dont get a chance to see that because what they see is the president does this, or one of the president s agencies do this, or takes some action, and you see congress appear to not do anything when really if you unpack this picture over here, the house has done a lot to stop him, either through defunding or authorizing activity to stop it or to change the law or to rein him in but they dont see congress doing that. If the filibuster rules change, things were doing in the house, pass the senate and go to the president and then suddenly, instead of looking like the congress isnt doing anything, you see a president that has to explain his abs to the American People. Why is he putting his cronies ahead of the American People . Why is he putting the Regulatory Institution ahead of the interests of the American People . Why is he putting environmental radicals ahead of the economic interests of people who would just like to see their paychecks grow . So let him explain it. Thats what happens if we put the constitution ahead of this institutional rule thats called a filibuster. Then he has to explain it and hell have a lot tougher time. Right now, harry reid has been his firewall. Has prevented him having to explain to the American People why hes taking a certain stand. David do you think people realize harry reid is a democrat. Rep. Flores i dont. I go back home and help my fellow Republican Caucus members and those folks are saying the same thing. They look at congress as not doing anything. From the outside looking in, yes, it looks like were not doing anything. But half of it is and half of its not. I think if we started having things flow out of that down to the 16 blocks to the white house, that the American People say, aha, now we see what the real problem is. Its a president that views the world differently than i do. My family has been hurt because my paycheck hasnt gone up for seven or eight years and my Health Care Costs are higher. And all the problems that theyre facing. Susan speaking of a filibuster, can you talk about how the house may move forward on spending legislation that passed both chambers and made it through both chambers. Sounds like a temporary funding bill that will make it past the september 30 deadline. Beyond that, you need a grand bargain with democrats. Can you talk about what that might look like and how we might get through fiscal 2016 with a compromise bill . Rep. Flores i dont know what that looks like. We hear about a grand bargain but i have yet to hear about anybody taking part in bargaining for the grand bargain. What we have done for the Republican Study Committee, going back a couple of weeks ago, when we assess whats happening as of october 1, there is no spending bill out there. Until the senate filed theirs yesterday or the day before. The day before, excuse me. So we decided, lets do something bold. So we put together, the Republican Study Committee, responsible spending and accountability act. And it is as close to regular order as any spending bill done in my 4 1 2 years in congress. It takes the six Appropriations Bills that passed the floor of the house that had great policy riders to rein in the white houses overreach, and also had six other Appropriations Bills that were reported out of the appropriations committee, and it has policy riders to deal with iran and other hot button issues. So, in my conversations with leadership, which are going to have to start over now, in my conversations with leadership, they were impressed that we put something together because of a big, bold plan that passed the would it pass the senate in its current form . Probably not. If you lift the filibuster . Absolutely it would. Then the president would decide if the president were to veto hed have to explain to the American People why he wants to shut the government down. Susan it feels like that brinksmanship that the public has frowned upon year after year. Doesnt that pose a risk to the republican party, especially as we enter this pivotal election year, that they may be viewed negatively as they often are in these situations where theres a showdown over spending. Do you think about that . Is that something republicans talk about . Rep. Flores we do think about it, yes. Thats reason if a shutdown occurs because the house and senate cant agree on anything, i believe we as republican would be hurt because of that. However, if were unified, both house and senate, and then have the rule structure in the senate that allows us to put something on the president s desk, it makes perfect sense, that adheres to the budget caps, rebuilds National Security and funds our Defense Department the way it should be funded, stops the regulatory assault by various agencies around town and puts American Families first, i think we can win that argument and let the president go on defense to try to defend his position to support all the things that hes been doing. The president is highly unpopular. And about 70 of the country thinks were on the wrong track. If we put bills on his desk, then he can explain to the American People why his position is the right one and the American People are likely not to buy that. David lets refocus the question on the next need. Wednesday night the fiscal year ends. The senate leadership, senator mcconnell, the majority leader, republican from kentucky, said hes prepared to send over to the house a clean temporary spending bill. At this point, in light of Speaker Boehners resignation, do you expect you and your fellow republicans will support that temporary spending bill to get through the next few months to december . Or do you expect it will continue to be a fight because it doesnt include in the lang language now Defunding Planned Parenthood that republicans want. Rep. Flores thats like the iran deal as well. Youve got 70 of americans worried about a bad iranian deal the president has made and we need language to deal with that. The plan that our leadership lead out this morning includes a c. R. That goes back with some riders on it. My guess is that the senate probably strips those out and tries to send a clean one to the senate. Excuse me, to the white house. That would not garner a lot of republican support. It would probably gather a combination of some republicans and a lot of democrats that would pass. I dont like that. I would rather do something bigger and bolder like the responsible spending accountability act that were proposing but again youve got to put the constitution ahead of this filibuster rule. So you think democrats in the house will come forward in light of the speakers rep. Flores thats whats happened in the past. I dont like that. If were in the majority, we ought to behave like were in the majority and set the agenda. Weve tried to do that but then the tactics of what have caused the disunity. David your colleagues would prefer to shut the government down . Rep. Flores there are a handful that would like to shut the government down. I think we learned from october to have 2013 that thats not necessarily a good idea. In my view we shouldnt take it off the table but we shouldnt say it is off the table. I would never say, hey, weve got to shut the government down. I dont think thats a good tactic. On the other hand, we cant say hey, were not going to shut the government down. You leave all your tools in the toolbox so you can have a negotiation with not only the senate but also with the president. We have about 10 minutes left. On this friday among the many things happening, many of the republican president ial candidates are speaking to a conservative conference. When senator rubio announced the speakers decision to stand up, step down, that room stood up in a standing ovation and senator rubios comment, its time to turn the page on a new generation of leadership. Will this have an impact on the president ial election . Rep. Flores it could. If we could reunify as a conference, and i think we will under a different Leadership Team, i think well be more effective because well agree on tactics and get things done more quickly than we have. That could pave the way for a smoother, for a president ial election that is more in our favor. What does it mean for the candidates, like jeb bush, who are seen more as the consensus candidates as opposed to the senator rubios and senator cruz . Rep. Flores thats above my pay grade. But youve been following this. Rep. Flores i have been following this. To the extent that congress doesnt become the focus of the problem a lot of president ial candidates have been throwing rocks at congress. I think its been unfair. The house has done its job. The breakdowns have been in the senate. Weve had a lot of senators come to the house and try to tell us how to do our job. But nonetheless, weve been doing that. Not always as smoothly as wed like to. But weve been doing it. And i think to the extent that congress doesnt become the issue anymore, then those candidates have to look at the American People in the eye and say why theyre the best candidate instead of throwing bricks at us. I think it does, i think, allow the spotlight to be fully on those candidates which is where it needs to be. Now turning to Energy Legislation if we could. Rep. Flores my favorite subject. Susan theres been talk on capitol hill about exporting crude oil. The senate and house both agree that we should be exporting crude oil. Senator mcconnell has talked about talking to the president about that as part of the grand bargain at the end of the year that would include spending legislation. Could there be some agreement with the white house work democrats on a bill to export crude oil . How do you see that shaping up at this point . Is that something that can be accomplished in congress at all, or this year if possible . Rep. Flores i think so. Weve got bipartisan support to lift the ban on the export of american crude. And i think the American People are somewhat frustrated that the iranians suddenly will not have an export ban but the United States still has one. Thats an easy argument to explain to americans and i think well get this passed. The house will vote on this sometime early in october. On the bill that just passed through the energy and Commerce Committee last week. And i feel pretty confident well get a good number of democratic votes. If for some reason the president doesnt like our bill, it could wind up being a part of the grand bargain or some other mustpass piece of legislation, spending bill or a debt ceiling bill. Susan what about those who argue, it could hurt Energy Prices here or hurts the cause of green energy, what about critics who say that the exporting of crude oil is something that shouldnt happen . How do you respond to that . Rep. Flores should we stop exporting chevys next, should we stop exporting wheat, flour, corn . Why is oil any different than any other product thats produced by the American People . How can they justify picking one product out and say, oh, you cant export that . We want to export everything else. This is the president whom republicans helped get fast track authority. Because he wants to be known as the free trade president. Why does he want to block one particular commodity . It doesnt make sense. Notwithstanding the different world views you described between the president and republicans earlier, are there any other issues you see a possibility for cooperation on in the months ahead, in the last year in change of his presidency . For instance, we heard pope francis yesterday talk about immigrants. Is there any chance on immigration democrats and republicans might find Common Ground or other issues in your mind . Rep. Flores there could be. But i think there are some Building Blocks we have to get out of the way first. The American People are frustrated with the lack of security along our borders. Theyre frustrated that we dont have a visa entry, exit and enforcement system in place. Theyre frustrated because they feel like their jobs have been displaced by people who have come over the border, so i think if in order to have the deeper dialogue about how do you fix an immigration system, weve got to have a Border Security bill, were going to have that in the house in the next few weeks. Weve got to have an interior enforcement bill, which is a visa entry and exit tracking, possibly with more robust everify. Once you get those done, and americans feel like, ok, congress has got our back and we feel like weve stabilized the situation, then we can have a discussion. What do you do with a visa system thats totally broken . I have hightech companies in the austin part of my district who are begging to hire every ph. D. We can, but were sending them back to other countries. Its hard to have that discussion until you get the Building Blocks out of the way. Once do you that then i think we can have a calmer discussion. And then have the discussion about, what do you with the 11 million or 12 million that are here that came here illegally . We have about five minutes left. Susan there are those who would argue, especially your Freedom Caucus friends on the further right than you, would say, well, were bringing all these h1 visa folks to work, why not train our own unemployed to do these jobs . Were also hear being Companies Like disney who are bringing in foreigners to take over the jobs of workers who are already trained to do this hightech work here. So thats part of the divide over Immigration Reform and it really also illustrates how the divide within the republican conference on this. How do you guys have a dialogue about this . Or do you . Do you talk to the Freedom Caucus folks on your right about these issues . Is that the center of where all this can be worked out . Because youre all conservatives, but this clearly is a divide between the Republican Study Committee that you had and the Freedom Caucus who make up a lot of the members who pushed out the speaker. Rep. Flores its really interesting you said that. I dont think theres anybody in the Freedom Caucus thats to the right of me. Actually, if you look, most of the members of the Freedom Caucus are members of the Republican Study Committee. We do differ on tactics. I mean, ive tried to be a statesman for positive conservative change, to get legislation across the line. And thats where i think we are. If you go through and pick individual members out of the Freedom Caucus, and i can name names if we have more time, and they feel about the same way on Immigration Reform as i do. Do i agree, yes, we need to be training our own work force as well. But in the interim, if youve got a company in my district, a hightech company in my district, that needs workers, and there are no qualified american today, then we ought to build a visa system that takes care of that. But also understand that weve got to do something to fill the pipeline to the educational system here. So i can see you weld both of those together and come up with the ultimate solution that makes america better off. David with these sorts of tactics, aggressive tactics, that youve called trying to burn the house down, arent your colleagues raging against the system thats made america great, let this country stand apart . How do you convince them to sort of get over that age anger and accept that the system works the way it works . Try to work within it . Rep. Flores my hope is that the speakers resignation, whether it was right or wrong, but my hope is that now that there is not a target for the angst in the house, that we can Work Together, that we can sort of say, hey, lets calm down, lets take a deep breath, lets take a step forward, and make sure, hey, do we still believe in these same goals . Do we still believe in advancing the cause of opportunity for hardworking American Families . And protecting our freedoms and our constitutional liberties . Do we believe in National Security . Do we believe in fixing the fiscal train wreck thats washington . Do we feel like we ought to rein in the regulatory machine and protect American Values . I think theyd say yes. And so once you get them to say yes, and say, how do we Work Together to get to that . David a lot of people tell us the next speak already face the same dynamic. Within just a matter of days, the next speaker will end up facing the same exact kind of animosity that john boehner was facing, who is also, as im sure youd admit, a fairly conservative member of congress, with a long record of conservative votes. Rep. Flores its really interesting. I think thats one of the things that rank and File Americans dont realize, is how conservative john boehner really was in terms of a voting record. I dont think people appreciated that. Nonetheless, yes, i mean, the new speaker that comes in is going to have to reach out and unify a caucus, a conference that has had some serious disagreements over tactics. Not over the outcome, but over the tactics, so and im going to do my best as the leader of the largest caucus in congress, i mean, there are over three times as many members in our organization than there are in republican senators in the senate. But at the same time, i think one of the things that would really make the trains run better around a here in terms of confronting these issues headon is to have the senate drop the filibuster rule. Harry reid already set the precedent. Were not trying to reinvent the wheel here. That is it for our time. Congressman bill flores, who is the chairman of the 170member strong Republican Study Committee, with us live on this friday afternoon on whats become a day for the history books when a sitting speaker of the house announces his resignation and thanks to david of the New York Times and susan of the Washington Examiner for your questions. Rep. Flores that all of yall. Thank you for inviting me. \[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] \[captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] truman andt harry his wife this. She had little to say to the media after some public moments. 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