Susan our guest of this weeks newsmakers is congressman luke messer of indiana. He is part of the House Leadership Team and chairman of the Republican Policy Committee. We have him with us for the next 25 minutes. Let me introduce you to reporters who ask you questions. Shivone. James arkin covers congress for real clear politics. We start out and i want to ask you a question about senator john mccain who had a serious diagnosis this week. In 2008, you are cochair of his indiana president ial campaign which give you special perspective on senator ccain. What is the impact of his absence on the policy agenda for republicans in congress . Rep. Messer john mccain is an american hero. There are times he says things i agree with another times he says things i do not agree with. No one ever questions his patriotism, his dignity, whether he is somebody who loves his country. He has literally given blood, sweat, and tears to the cause. First we think about john mccain and his health. Beyond that, it creates further challenges in the senate. Im sure we will talk about this quite a bit in the next 25 minutes. Right now, we are not where we want to be. As Republican Leaders. There has been a lot done for the last six months but its difficult to get major items through the senate if you dont have a full team over there. Shiobhan how problematic will it be for republicans if they are unable to pass legislation repealing the Affordable Care act this year . Rep. Messer we promised the American People we would repeal obama care and replace it with Something Better and that is what we need to do. As President Trump said, there is no other acceptable option. The reason is because millions of americans are hurting under the current law. I hear from hoosiers in indiana, who talk about how they pay a premium of up to 1,000 a month with a policy with a 10,000 deductible, middleclass families are 30,000 outofpocket before they get to their Health Insurance and thats just not ok. I mean, weve got to step forward with an answer and come together and figure it out. I still believe that is ultimately what will get one. Siobhan your colleague dennis roth issued a stern statement where he said he was upset with the senate. Are you upset with the senate . Rep. Messer absolutely. Absolutely i am upset with the senate. Listen, there are a majority of senators who have promised the American People they would repeal obamacare and replace it with Something Better. My house colleagues passed a bill and sent a bill to the senate that does that and they have so far they have gotten crickets. Weve gotten nothing. It is unacceptable. Its my understanding that the leader, Mitch Mcconnell, said at a minimum, there would be a vote on a repeal only bill in ill that got 51 votes the senate before and i say no reason that cant pass. I think that is where the making people are. They want to see something done. James congressman, if the senate is unable to pass repeal and replace, majority leader mcconnell has said they would have to work with democrats and find some sort of solution to sure up the individual marketplace this year. Do you think the house to pass something to temporarily shirk the individual marketplace . Rep. Messer failure is not an option. As President Trump has said, we need to stay here until we get it done. The senators promised that they would. We have done it in the house. Beyond that, i do not think bailing out obamacare and funding a program in a death spiral is the right way to help the American People. I would have a hard time supporting legislation like that. What i want us to do is keep our promise to the American People, repeal obamacare, and replace it with something etter. Siobhan President Trump said congress should stay in through august if the bill does not get past sin. Do you agree . Rep. Messer i think we do need to stay until we get major legislation passed. We have a lot to do this year. We have got to get the government funded, we need to repeal obamacare, we need to have major tax relief, which is what we promise to the American People. The president has spoken often and eloquently about the need for a better infrastructure package, building better bridges and roads and pwba and we need to get that done too. We have got 200 bills in the house that are sitting over in the senate that have not been acted on. My colleagues in the house feeling we have done a lot already, but yet, on the bigticket items, we are not yet where we need to be. James congressman, one of the big ticket items you mentioned is tax reform. In order to detect reform through budget reconciliation, which is the plan that has been laid out, you would first have to pass a budget in the house and a lot of conservatives say they cant support the budget. The Committee Last night and there are a lot of questions about whether or not there is enough republican support. Do you think republicans are in a position to pass the budget and what happens to tax reform if you cant . Rep. Messer we better be. It is not acceptable for the House Republicans to not be able to come together and pass a budget. I probably threw some double negatives in there. My High School English teacher might not like it but what im trying to say is we need to pass a budget because it is the right thing to do for the American People, because we are continuing on a spiral of debt that is bad not only for the Economy Today but few are for but for future generations. We need to pass a for the reasons you described. That is the track. That is the avenue we can use o pass major tax reform, and tax relief that will help the American People and get the economy going again. So, failure is not an option here oort and this one is on us. The House Republican team has to come together and figure out a way to get a budget passed. I appreciate chairwoman diane blacks leadership on the issue. She did a yeomans job here. E were excited to see a bill mentim optimistic we will get a bill passed in the coming weeks. Siobhan does the budget need to come to the house floor next week . Rep. Messer there is hope it will. We all know to get tax reform done we are likely going to have to pass a budget. The budget should come to the floor only have the votes to pass it. My hope is that will be as soon as next week. James you mentioned funding government appropriations. We know a package of four appropriation bills are likely to come and the rest of the appropriations will be by the wayside and possibly not come to the floor until september. Where do things stand to keep the government open in september . How concerned are you about a potential shutdown showdown . Mr. Messer well, the American People expect us to keep the government open. When we are in charge of the house and senate and presidency, it would not be acceptable for the government to shut down. We cannot allow that to happen. I did have some conversation right before i came here today with leadership and the House Appropriations committee and i believe you will see the house work hard to have a comprehensive appropriations package passed over and give policy and riders the on the securityrelated measures that you talked about before. We were elected to govern. We need to get things done. It has been a tough week here. Obviously some disappointing news on health care in the senate for now, but getting funding bills passed is an important part of governing. Susan this has been a threat through all of your answers. What do you see at the political consequences for putting your members with a lack of accomplishments on the legislative front . Rep. Messer again, there have been some legislative chievements. Major Veterans Affairs reforms just last week. We in the house have passed the obamacare reforms that we promised. Yeah, youve hit it. We were sent here to govern. That means we need to pass a tax package. We need to pass Major Health Care reform. We need to have an infrastructure package. We need to secure our border. That is what we promised we would do and it is long past time we start to get it one. There is a possibility here if everything falls apart in the senate, for example, that we would include most of the elimination of the obamacare packages. We will have to be treated about how we get to our solution, but its not acceptable to continue on the current path. That is what the president has said. The public is well aware of the eetings he had with the senate where he has called them to task and said the American People sent us here to get these big items done. I agree with the president that is what we have got to do. We need to do it because it is the right thing to do for the American People. The political consequences will take care of themselves. Siobhan to put a finer point on susans question, are House Republicans at risk of losing control of the house of they feel they have major legislative achievements this year . Rep. Messer that is the farthest thing from my mind and we need to deliver for the American People. We promised the American People we would get big ticket items done. We are only as a quarter of the way into the twoyear term. We have got time to get it done but we need to do will be said because that is the right thing to do. James congressman, talk about your own personal situation for a second. You have been raising a lot of oney and there has been a lot of speculation about a run for senate. A lot of people think you will be running for the Upper Chamber come 2018. Do you plan to announce anything anytime soon on that . Rep. Messer we will make a final decision in the coming days and weeks. Look, ive been encouraged by all the folks across indiana, hoosiers from all across the state who have said i consider my family, we ought to consider running for the United States senate. Its clearly important that we be able to move a legislative agenda there. Frankly part of the challenges we have faith of these big items i talked about, taxes, on infrastructure, on health care is how partisan the climate has been. The fact that democrats are not really interested in working with us on these topics, but those decisions will come soon enough. Siobhan have you had conversations with Vice President mike pence about your Senate Prospects . I know you are fairly close to him. Mr. Messer mike and i are good friends. He was my predecessor in congress. His brother is a finance chairman of our statewide finance committee. Certainly i have had brief conversations. I appreciate his private counsel, and ill leave it at that. Siobhan you cannot tell us what mike pence has counseled you to do . R. Messer no, i cannot. James another member of the conference, congressman rokita, is going to run for that as well. There has been a lot of back and forth, a lot of criticism between the two of you even though neither has announced. I wonder if you are concerned that a primary between republicans, a messy primary could hurt republicans chances to win a seat next year. Rep. Messer to be fair and clear, it is not criticism back and forth. Todd rokita opened his campaign by attacking my wife and her career and attacking my family. All i have done is respond and say hey, that is beyond the pale. We will not campaign in a way where we will do anything and say anything to get elected. I ultimately trust hoosiers to figure this out. I am not worried about a primary in the sense that hoosiers are smart. They get it. When people distort the truth and twist facts, hoosiers will figure that out. I think what were trying to figure out as a family, whats our calling, how can we best serve the country and the state . Is that the seat we are currently in, where im proud to be representing indianas sixth Congressional District and proud to be part of the Leadership Team trying to get things done for america . Or is it the United States senate . In a race that will be one of the top targets all across the country . And part of why i am not announcing to you today what were going to do is our family hadnt figured it out yet either. Were working our way through that. Were honored by all the people that has stepped forward to support us and well make that decision based on that calling, not on any bickering or distortions in a primary. Susan we have about 12 minutes left in the conversation. Siobhan to move back to the policy agenda, what needs to happen on raising the debt ceiling . Rep. Messer it is a difficult challenge. The American People are tired of the nation continuing to pile up debt. What i have said in the past is to support increases to any debt ceiling, i need to see spending reforms. Need to see steps taken to stop the trend of spending money we do not have. I think that is where most of the House Republican conference is. Hey would have a hard time supporting any whats come e be known as a carte blanch open debt ceiling increase without policy reforms. My guess is that is where we have to be as a conference, you have to have spending reforms as well. James can you detail any specific conversations of the specific spending reforms that House Republicans would like to see go along with the debt raise . Mr. Messer well, youve seen the debt package which includes a couple hundred billion dollars in mandatory spending reforms. Weve been i think as a conference very clear over the period of the last several years in passing budgets year after year after year that would balance within at least 10 years. Frankly, i voted for budgets that would balance far quicker than that. It could be done. I was part of the state legislative effort in indiana to balance the budget in our state in one year. It can be done if we make hard choices. Ultimately thats something were going to have to continue to work on and deliver on in the coming months. Siobhan will there be any consequences for House Speaker paul ryan if you brings a clean ill to the floor and passes with mostly democrats . Rep. Messer i would be surprised if that happens with the speaker, but paul ryan is in strong position in our conference. What we are focused on as a team is how do we get these bigticket items done for the American People. Paul ryan is our leader and im certainly proud to work with them to try to deliver. James there have been a lot of republican members that have expressed frustration with the lack of progress with the legislative agenda. Do you think the white house has been actively engaged in the legislative agenda . We know President Trump has not yet held a Campaign Rally to drum up support for the health care effort. He called the Republican Health care bill mean in a private meeting after you passed it. Is the white house doing their job to sell this legislative genda . Rep. Messer one of the chief leaders on legislative affairs for the white house is my good friend mike pence. I am proud of the effort he is made, regularly meeting with embers and senators to get the agenda done. The early stages of any Team Sometimes creates challenges. The president has been clear that we need to move past talk and start to deliver. I believe that is what you will see in the coming months and that is what the american i can tell you with all the intrigue and palace conversations, when i get back home to indiana, people want to know, when are we going to get these big things done . When we will cut taxes and when we will get rid of obama care . When will we start having infrastructure and secure our borders . That is what we want to see and what we have been called to do and what we were elected for. I know my colleagues know that. We have got to set aside differences and come together and deliver for the American People. Siobhan you mentioned mike pence but not President Trump. Does mr. Trump need to get out there and himself publicly campaign for a health bill . Rep. Messer look, just that was not just highlighting mike pence as my friend. President trump has been very clear in where he stands on the need for us to repeal obamacare, to have an infrastructure package, to pass tax reform. I think the president has been very clear and very strong in his leadership. I do not think there is any ambiguity about where he stands. He has spoken out publicly and certainly had many private meetings. I know when we were trying to move the bill through the house, the president was key to getting it passed, including coming on a day when it passed and spoke to the entire conference. I think the president has led nd will continue to lead here. Susan bringing it back to house politics, the House Freedom caucus at a conference this week about major agenda items. Leadership has been having this constant negotiation with the reedom caucus members. Where do you think their influence will be at this point in time and what do you want to get done legislatively . Rep. Messer we represent a diverse conference. Our republican members in the swing seat district seats in he northeast or california have a slightly different philosophy the