Of the house in 2011 that you would not be able to pass a budget. Is that likely given where we are in the process . Guest we have passed a budget every year in the 12 years we had it. I think we will get there. A budget is always the perils of pauline exercise. You get to the last minute and like pauline will be run over by the train, but it never quite happens. We are continuing to negotiate in good faith. I dont think the budget itself is likely to change very much. Its a matter of law and i think it has passed out of the Budget Committee. But there are some things that some of the folks that have concerns are interested in in terms of addressing entitlements and rules changes that will force us to deal with unauthorized appropriations. I actually think those are good things. Those are things that need to be dealt with. You have to count on the Leadership Team to get it done. Hopefully, they will. The Freedom Caucus has been making requests that seem fairly difficult to grand, saying they want ironclad assurances that ableof these cuts will be to be enacted into law. Guest we are asking things that are beyond the ability of the speaker and the leadership to promise. Sometimes people forget that we operate in the house of representatives. We do not have executive and legislative authority. There is no way that speaker ryan can commit to what the United States senate will do under its rules, let alone what the president will accept. I think sometimes people demand things that are unrealistic. There is a missa much we can do from one chamber. Much we canonly so do from one chamber. Congress is a pretty truncated calendar this year in part because of the president ial nominating convention. Lawmakers will be leaving earlier for the summer recess. Do you anticipate that will Mean Congress will need to pass a shortterm spending bill in september in order to take the threat of a Government Shutdown off the table before the 2016 election . Guest that is more likely than not. On appropriations, we are actually preceding a pace. We are not waiting on the budget, though it will be a lot easier if we get a budget done. The hearing schedule is complete and the first bill has been marked up in subcommittee. We will be ready to move bills, but that becomes a larger leadership decision. Did we think our congress is ready to pass them . Some of these bills will be bipartisan. We had a very serious debate. Milcon has been marked up for military construction and conventions and others are more controversial. Do you think of Hillary Clinton wins in november i know you would not like to see that but if Hillary Clinton wins in november, will that give democrats a stronger hand heading into the lame duck session when it comes to spending negotiations . Guest it probably does. Whoever wins in november, it strengthens your hand a little bit. We have a senate very much in the balance as to whether or not that would be republican. The morning after the election, each side will wake up and ask if it is smarter to relay or expedite the process. You would hope that whoever is going to be the next president that we do them a favor and actually have a functioning government running when they get there. They will have to deal with the debt ceiling in march as it is. Obviously, they will have to get their new team nominated and confirmed. They dont need to be worrying about writing a whole budget because we did not get our job done. I hope both sides will work together. We were able to do that last year and get the omnibus done for the first time in many years. The bills went through both the senate and the house committees of jurisdiction. We did not have the floor time we would have liked, but we at least have a product you could sit down and negotiate over. Congressman, you mentioned the senate hanging in the balance in november. Donald trump is the republican nominee, do you have concerns that could make it harder for republicans to control the senate and maybe even retain your House Majority . Guest i think he is very unpredictable. Frankly, i have seen him change numbers within the republican electorate in a way i would not have thought possible six months ago. If anybody tells you we nominate trump or cruz or whoever we will definitely win or lose, they have a lot better predictor than anybody has shown so far this year or they have just already formed their opinion. Its more likely to me that this campaign is in a very volatile political year. We have seen things i dont think anybody in january was predicting. I think we will wait and see. There is an argument to be made that trump will actually bring some voters out who have not been voting and move some elements of the historic Democratic Coalition to our side. Obviously, it will hurt in other areas, which is true of any candidate. I still think it will be a pretty close president ial election. I look back to 2008. I dont think politics works anymore where you can have a wipeout like we had a 1964 for we had in 1964, or like the democrats had in 1972. I go back to 2008 which was a volatile year, a terrible year for republicans with two unpopular wars, george bush at 30 Approval Rating and you throw in financial disaster 40 days before the election. It should have been a democratic wipeout. It was not a great year, but john mccain still got what today votes,e 180 electoral and carried over 20 states with 46 of the popular vote. The Republican Party was left Strong Enough to have a historic victory two years later. On eachthere is a base side. I dont think anybody we will nominate will put new york or california in play in the general election. Both sides seemed to have bases that are fairly secure. That was suggest to me that probably, that helps the house ifority, frankly, right now republicans retain that. Again, i think it will be very close. Know speakeryou ryan very well and have served with him for a long time in the house. He gave a big speech earlier talking about crying, actually about the state of Politics Today and talking about how Politics Today is full of angry rhetoric and we have seen some violence on the campaign trail at donald trump events. Do you think the speakers s peech will have any impact on the campaign as it is unfolding or will that speech fall on deaf ears . Guest frankly, it never hurts to appeal to the better angels of our nature, frankly. It is a reminder to members not to be caught up in the president ial rhetoric. You should not participate in that and try to elevate things a little bit. All the speaker can do is use a platform that he has got. I think he has done that awfully effectively. When he is saying that speech he thought was an appropriate, or ideas inconsistent with republican ideals like a ban on muslims are the careless rhetoric around david duke and the kkk he has been willing to step forward and say things. And i appreciate that and that has contributed to the softening we can see right now. Host we are talking about a potential trump candidacy. I am wondering if you share the opinion of some conservatives. Do you see a Trump Nominee as the death of the conservative movement in the United States . I have lived through the death of the conservative movement multiple times in my life. [laughter] i certainly have a great deal of respect for george will. He is a remarkable commentator, but there will always be a center right party. We may go through difficult times, but i have been around politically for a long time. As recently as 2009, we were told that the Republican Party is gone for a generation and two years later, it was back with the largest House Majority that it has had in the modern era. The parties show a remarkable ability to self correct and reform over time. I would suggest that that same thing will happen now. There is no question its a turbulent era. Do you think we are likely to get a contested convention in cleveland . Is there a possibility that House Speaker paul ryan might end up eating the nominee . He is saying no, but we have heard him say no to the speakership for instance, and then changed his mind. Guest let me break it into two parts. It is certainly more likely to have a contested nomination than in any other time in my lifetime. I have never say anything like now. Wellto remember as that the primaries are one thing and the delegate Selection Process is another. They are not necessarily connected. How people will vote in the first round or longer can be determined, but i have seen situations before and i would expect this to happen in my own home state. We were very closely contested. Ted cruz carried the state, but the delegate selection was 15 for senator cruz and 13 for senator rubio and 13 four donald trump. The Party Regulars are the ones running the process and we will choose district delegates in april. People, most of those are more likely to be for ted cruz, assuming he is still in the race, then they are for any other. They will pick up the rubio delegates, in my view and they are likely that the Trump Delegates will be trump voters on the first round, but if they are not trump people, they will move in another direction. That is happening in states across the country. I do think if you cant win it out right before you get there, i dont think anybody has it in the bag once you arrive. I think it will be very tumultuous. There will be multiple ballots. As for speaker ryan, i dont think he has a desire to be the president ial nominee. If he did, he would have run for it. Sometimes you can be a figure of destiny and he was very much that in the speakers race. He did not want to do it, but frankly, it became evident that he was really the only person, i inked, that could have united the conference and gotten us through the end of last year and gotten us up to a decent start this year. Andas already been vetted been on a national ticket. Millions of people have already voted for him in that regard. We know how he reforms. Person in there is a politics who does not like and respect paul ryan. Frankly, he does represent the kind of a vision and values as a republican, you would want to put forward. If we develop a chaotic situation at a convention, there is a chance that he or somebody else could emerge. Frankly, as a big paul ryan fan, i certainly would be happy to see Something Like that happened. Again, for it to happen, it literally has to happen on its own. We did see that in the speakers race. This is a much different, more complex process. If you think the house conference can be chaotic at times, just look at thousands of delegates from every state in the union. A lot of them never having been to a convention before showing up with various religions. If somebody emerges out of that, i dont know. I can envision the worst results than paul ryan, for sure. Might there not be some kind of popular result if he were voters acrossrump the country were frustrated . Guest again, the way to settle nominationwin the and that is the responsibility of the candidates actually seeking it. I will not speculate on whether there would be a revolt but you have to have a majority of the delegates. It is far more likely that donald trump or ted cruz, or maybe even john kasich, who have been through the process and have a base of delegates to start with and will enter the convention with operations already set up and they are already thinking about it. It is far more likely that one of the three of them will emerge. It is not as if it will be manipulated. Nobody is capable of manipulating this process. But if they deadlocked because the animosity between the candidates has become so great, it is pretty logical to look beyond them to try and find somebody thats more of a consensus figure. Paul ryan is somebody that i think has been fair in this process and has not tried to scheme. Why wouldnt you end up with somebody like that if the blogs were such that they could not find another person acceptable . That is exactly what happened in the republican conference. We had a number of talented potential people that could have been there, but there was only one person that everybody could really agree on. This is the person. That could happen again. If donald trump keeps marching along, but comes up 1237, isfrom the there a point where it is time for the party to rally behind him and call on john kasich as the spoiler to drop out of the race . Guest i dont think there is a party in that sense that can make that kind of decision. The moment to unite is the moment when somebody gets a majority of the delegates. You accept the process and you competed in the process. But you do have to get the majority. [laughter] it is not like horseshoes. Count in this business. You either win or lose. Its either that way on any election i have been part of. We know what is required to win, a majority of the delegates. If you can get that, i would hope anybody who lost except the outcome and support the winner. But if you dont get there, it is not as if you can say i dont have to go through the convention. You really do and you do need to get the majority. I dont think shortcircuiting the process would be wise either. I think you let it lay out. You let it play out. Host getting oil from president ial politics. Guest thank you. [laughter] tweeted before that Merrick Garland nominated for the Supreme Court that the senate does not have to act. From the Republican Party standpoint, is it advantageous to stall and not to have hearings or should they go forward with hearings and let the senate work it out . Are you concerned about having that vacancy longterm . Guest i am more concerned about who controls the court over the longer term. And look, when you or a house member, you are sort of getting in the senates business. I think Mitch Mcconnell has taken the right course. The senate has done the right thing, but this is pretty unprecedented in the final year and it is nobodys fault. It is not the president s fault fault. R the senates the court hangs in the balance. I think the American People have a right to express an opinion on this through a president ial election and its emerging as a president ial year. If the senate wants to hold hearings and want to meet individually, those are individual decisions they get to make, but i think they are wise to win until after the president ial election to make a decision. At that point, the new president i think probably the person who wakes of the day after that is the winner will be very happy that Mitch Mcconnell did what he did. Have seven minutes left. If that happens and a democrat wins the white house am a do you think republicans next january would be comparable confirming a potentially younger and more liberal Court Nominee . They would not be comfortable doing it. Democrats would say, just because you are nominated, does not mean you are accepted. The next president will have to be careful who they choose. There will be a political calculus there as well. If the Senate Changes control, republicans will have to rely on a filibuster. Democrats have shown they are willing to do that. Again, i think you wait to see what it is like. Once you have a president that is going to be there for four years and has the legitimacy of having won a national election, they deserve a lot of respect in terms of nominating. Again, the Supreme Court is different. Cabinet members are there only as long as the president is there. Supreme Court Nominees will be there for a long time. Obviously, that will push the ballots. I think the next president , i hope, will want somebody who heals the congress a little bit. These judicial battles have been very divisive and there will be a minority that the next president has to agree with whoever wins. I think the lesson in the last few years is, you better build these relationships early. This president did not do that over his first two years. He thought he had a coalition and an enduring democratic majority, but he had very few friends on the other side. That is at the root of the problems hes had legislatively. Earlier, you mentioned donald muslimsproposal to ban from the knighted states. Last year you called the proposal unamerican. After the recent brussels attack, ted cruz, the senator from texas, had his own proposal. Stepping up a by Law Enforcement officials of muslim communities in the United States. What you think of that idea . Guest it depends on what he meant. If we are talking about making sure weve got good intelligence and relationships and communications, thats appropriate. If youre talking about putting cops on the street and turning this into heavily policed areas, thats not the right thing to do. I choose to believe that he probably misspoke or what have you. We are very fortunate in this country. We have a Muslim Community that is well integrated and has contributed far beyond there is an iranian family who are devout muslims who are wonderful people in a very big contributor to our community. I dont think those kind of folks need scrutiny. They need to be lifted up and celebrated and praise. And praised. I would hope we avoid rhetoric like that. All of these guys just need to read the constitution. It is pretty clear. No religious test in the United States. It is our founding document and one of our great principles. It is why we can be as diverse as we are and have the lively public life that we have and still all celebrate these same values as americans. It is unfortunate anytime a president ial campaign puts that out there. It is one of the things i have been proudest about speaker ryan about. Thathe sees Something Like , he is willing to speak out and rely on americans and who we are in the va