You are easily one of the best three cofounders of axios. I just want to say. You are a fan . He is a wisconsin guy, so thanks for having me. You were just backstage chatting with bob woodward. You have been interviewed by bob woodward many times over the years t. Whats that like . It really entertaining. He gets more of you than you get out of him im sure, but i learn a lot from bob woodward. Ive enjoyed in and his will for a long, long time. There are not many people who can sort of see around corners and in and out of scenes in venues like bob. Hes been doing it a long time. So the top book, the price of politics, this is president obama and the House Republican leadership. Right. We talked about those days. So question that bob woodward had for you. You became the 54th speaker of the the house and october of 2015. What is your greatest accomplishment . Well first of all, we were in disarray and we unified. I think i was important. Since coming to office i think we had to figure how to make the body of government work with obama. We had to make sure we didnt have Government Shutdown spirit way to make sure we got things done. I think that was important. I like the way we ended the year with obama on cures in opioid. That was a big issue everyone believed in. It had been used in the making. I wasnt ready to done so its always the easy to get i onto te next admin session. I like the way we ended on that. Now weve got to go from becoming an Opposition Party to being a governing party for i was a good a our parties been in Opposition Party mode. House the coming thing going . Thats what im getting at. [laughing] warming it up here. So twothirds of our members team since 2010 answer what i would call at the obama ways in conservative districts to fight. In four months would go from being an Opposition Party to a governing party. The healthcare, i would want to repeat the healthcare experience, but im glad we went through it. I thought it was very cathartic. Im glad we went through it because what it did is because our members to acknowledge that they had to come to consensus, that a person with an r22 district in deep texas had to accommodate, consider, think about and work with a person with a moderate lean democrat suburban district in the northeast, and giving our members to do that is something they had not had to do until this year. And getting them to do that and healthcare was really very, very important i think for us. Im glad you enjoyed so much because it looks like youll get to do it again. [laughing] exactly here know, its in a three stage process. The house is that its thing. The senate are going to the same process, but statewide senators have this sort of coalition complex in their states. Then we had to go to conference but were working on tax reform, appropriations. We are very excited about our Regulatory Reform agenda. We are pretty far along the road in that we have 14 congressional signed into law. Thats only been used once ever before, so if you like our Regulatory Reform agenda has gone very well. That was the first part of a plan because thats a time sensitive thing. Then we wanted to move through healthcare, no have to move on with the rest of our agenda. Tax will be a larger effort because it hasnt been done since 1986, but ember got got to get appropriations. We got the appropriations done, got a pretty good down payment on a military analytical back the rest of it this summer. Mikes top ten, an official person close to the republican congressional leadership told Jonathan Swann that this is going to be the audit of discontent for republicans and you will come back from the summer break and you will not yet have, based on the calendar it is articulated, youre not have a major accomplishment. I wouldnt say that at all. I disagree with that completely. I actually, i heard you say that this point so i brought an email. Email. Look at what weve done already. Number of bills passed on the house and first 100 days of of a new presidency, 22 in bush 41. 28 for clinton, 42 george w. Bush, 103 rows above its in in the first 100 days. Laws signed into law and first 100 days, 18 h. W. Bush, 24 clinton, seven george w. Bush, 15 obama, 30 in this congress. 30 laws in the first 100 days. Congressional you ask, how may before this presidency . One. How many in law . 14. I think we have been pretty darn productive. I feel really good about that. When we get to december 23, you go away for christmas, the president will dosimetry third . Thats a date i will take her with got to get saxophone done by then. We feel confident we can do that. Youre confident you will taxi from finnish on the president s desk by by the end of the . Yap. Had to rewire the economy in just a couple of months. Was its not a couple of months. Its a you. This next december you sit. Said. Get i get that right or . December 2017. Our goal is not a taxi from slipping to calendar your 18. We want to make sure that by the time they you closes, people are going to come into a new tax system, any tax cut. Thats a very ambitious agenda but one where very focused on achieving. We got to get saxophon tax refo. Want to get appropriations rosses up and running which for us means beginning to rebuild our military. Weve got ambitious plans for reversing the hollowing out of our military. Weve done a lot of work to do on that. Immigration. Border security. The biggest increase in order security in ten years in this last appropriations bill. We want to improve upon that work. Not to mention the healthcare law, the healthcare act. Theres a lot we have on the plate. I would say come january, if we have taken 14 regulations off the books that were costing jobs, producing and certainly, we have begun a process of rebuilding our military, we cut people syntaxes and cleaned cleaned up the tax system, and we fixed healthcare from the collapse, thats a pretty good year. Thats a pretty darn good year. Thats the year we are on track for achieving the thats the you were focusing on. You had the White Knuckle passage of the healthcare bill the first time, it will come back from the senate. Theres no sign it will be in a form that is more appealing to your members. How do you possibly rework that rubiks cube this fall . Its definitely a rubiks cube but i think people realize what happens is, the reason comes as to reason why want to do healthcare first. The first one was insurers were telling us we need to submit our rates are plans for 2018 between april 30 and june 30 for the states. So were in the middle of that window and what are we learning in that window . The thing is collapsing. Aetna is gone. For people that. Humanas pulled out. Up. United has pulled up. Iowa, nobody is left. You cant get an Obama Exchange plan in 94 of the 99 counties. What were seeing is another round of even higher doubledigit premium increases pullout and the coops are collapsing. So i think whats happening is people are beginning to realize and as a semifalse people will will begin to realize this long really is in a tailspin. This is a rescue mission. We have been anything and step in front of this crisis so that people are out there in individual market can get Affordable Health insurance, can get a plan to choose from and the others in that very quickly. I believe this dynamic is such that yes, the rubiks cube is hard and i assume the senate will change. Thats how legislation works. I think our members have traveled a long journey the last few months to realize you cant get everything you want. This is clearly better than the status quo, it fulfills her promise, one of the most prominent promises we made, and the system is collapsing. Weve got to do something. In axios a. M. Today that smart republican talked about that rally that the president had in the rose garden after house passage, Health Reform they called the bon jovi rally because you are halfway put bon jovi in my mind right now. Im thinking of one of those cheesy songs. Do you worry now the republicans will get the blame for anything that people dont like about healthcare including higher primus . Look, i think theres a silly attempt by the left to say the current problems in obamacare are republican problems. Thats not credible. I dont think thats going to work. It will take time to phasein, just take the house bill and passed it will take like three years to bring in a new system. But it will bring stability to the marketplace. Our Risk Insurance program that starts in 2018 help stabilize the marketplace helps bring premiums down. But sure, if we pass something thats partisan because were using reconciliation. The democrats of midcontinent interested in working with us on this. I will accept we will get hit for this but we are in leadership. We dont have a choice. We got the majority. The country gave us this responsibility and what are we supposed to do, sit back like politicians of it the think letson said it was obamas fault . I dont think from a moral standpoint thats something we can do. We have to intervene to fix this problem because real people are actually getting hurt in all of our states and districts. So thi this is a serious proble. Requires a serious and translation. I really fundamentally that are built makes healthcare much, much better for people. And it makes it more stable. I talked to the blues, the insurers, doctors, hospitals, all the time. They see a serious problem right now and if we intervene and replace with patients and healthcare reform, that will help lower costs and yes give people a preexisting condition peace of mind and a fertile healthcare, then i think we get a job. If we get blamed for this and that, thats the responsibly, that comes with responsibility. What is a likelihood you get something to the president s desk . I feel like we can do. You do. Edwin says the si city is so ner but i think they realize how important it is and the responsibly that we have and the promise we made, and dont forget, ill say it again, its juxtaposed against the fact the status quo is not working, it is unsustainable. So infrastructure then flies to 2018 . I dont know what the timing of that will be as much because what you come up with fiscal space for that, but that is clearly a priority so as well for Forum Welfare reform and poverty. We know it will take a full two years to work on it. Axios Jonathan Swann reported treasury secretary mnuchin yesterday met with the Freedom Caucus in the basement of the capital along with other house e conservatives, made it clear, whats been clear for some time that the white house supposes the board adjustment tax which is important part of your text but opposes the chairman of the Freedom Caucus tells Jonathan Swann that its a major impediment to getting tax reform. When are you going to fold on that . So, i spoke with steve last night. What Steven Mnuchin says is what he always says, which i agree with, they dont support in its current form. I have long been saying we dont want to precipitate a 25 currency appreciation overnight. We know that this cant be, the intention of the blueprint was not to say we are going to require 25 of currency appreciation tomorrow. We know that our import sensitive industries, retailers that could be severely disrupted if this is done the wrong way. What were trying to do is go through ways and means finance, the white house, how do we plan to these approaches, how do we tastings in, what do the often does look like . So i dont see this as anything like folding. I see this as how do you collaborate to get the best possible tax that you can pass. We agree on 80 of tax reform right now already. Lower rates as far as possible on businesses, go to a territorial system, get semper fi the code from seven brackets to three come get rid of the death tax. Simplifying with raising the standard exception so 96 of americans dont have to itemize. They can do the taxes on a postcard. Everything i just said anybody agrees to. So its the final 20 which is what is the base broadening needed to get there and thats the debate and conversation were having. I agree with Steven Mnuchin, which is full and immediate board adjustment be too disruptive and so no one is advocating for. We look at the board adjustment tax which would make exports more, make imports more important including people in janesville by, walmart. What are you willing to discuss that could move your position closer to that of the admission should. I dont aggression with the media side dont want to do that. But you get let me set this way. People in janesville go to farm and fleet to buy their stuff, and a lot of that stuff is imported. If we have a poor adjustment, the currency adjusts so that the purchasing power for the person going to buy a carhart jacket at farm and fleet in janesville doesnt pay more, does the same purchasing power. Thats very hard to explain. It is. But heres the other point. We are shooting ourselves in the foot as a country. We are telling american businesses that its so much smarter and better and more worthwhile, make your product overseas. So source your supply chain overseas. Then he did one thing ended up think you might if i say this publicly. I met with the ceo of intel a couple months ago. Thats a big company from intel, hightech company. 3040,000 people in thousand people in america i think of budget factories. They ran the numbers. They would on a per factory basis save about 2 billion in taxes over ten years if they just moved their factories to asia. Not because of wages, because of taxes. Theres this one company that says staying in this country makes no tax since. So what were doing to american businesses is we are saying make your staff overseas and import it without any tax consequence here. 160 countries today border adjust their taxes. America, along with kenya, afghanistan, iraq, surinam, north korea and handful of other countries dont border adjust our taxes. So by border adjust the our taxes were simply going with the mainstream of the rest of the world because what they do, they come at other 160 countries in the world, they take the tax all other exports because its typically you can go to a border adjusted country and it is taxed as it goes in. They tax imports on the way into the country. Heres the point. This isnt designed to make export or import better than one another. Its like you treat them the same. What i mean what i say that, youve got to give me a second, so this bottle of water, lets just say its french and this is made in america. These will be taxed at the same rate in america or in france here right now they are not. Kind of interesting. Thats the point were trying to make. Lets equalize the tax treatment of American Made good and service said to not put any competitors avenged. I think thats pretty good debate to map. A pretty good policy to have. Last went on this. Is there any way you can envision a scenario where tax reform passes out and does not include some form of a board adjustment. Was of course. Thats the conversation were having, which is i told you 80 of the stuff we agree on, thats what we are already putting in the bank of we agree. Its that final 20 , which is what is the tax base have to look like to get the other 80 . What kind of base broadening to have to do to get those rates down and businesses . If you dont do a cash flow tax is a basic a consumption tax, you have to go with base abroad within the domestic tax base. In yet to look at stuff inside thu. S. Domestic Business Economy to take those things away to lower those rates. Thats the tradeoff and thats the kind of conversation were having. If you had to give up the board adjustment tax was an example. Those of the cancer conversation were having. I dont negotiate to the media. But only to say you have to do more base broadening within the domestic economy than not. If you dont do a board adjustment. A poor adjustment basically taxes the trade deficit, get you revenue to longer tax rates. Pictures with resident trump about your adventures with president from, what it would be called . I start speaking widely. [laughter] you told me one time that President Trump referred to you as a, what you think he meant by that . I took it as a compliment, i dont think it was meant that way. We are different people. Im just, i midwest sky. Trump is smalltown, i live in a block i grew up on. I have background were just very different people but ive learned in congress, you get to learn and know and work with a lot of people who are very different and thats the rich experience you get. His best quality is his energy and his engagement. I want that in healthcare, it was impressive. I never seen a president yet so deeply engaged on a persontoperson basis to help achieve a goal. When he sees a goal he wants to achieve, ill use a perfect example. You really focuses on it. And he has no pretension about him, hes not a pretentious person at all and president s can be like that but he doesnt care. Go pick up the phone, and work toward an end so thats what i think it is his determination, lack of pretension and his willingness and ability to engage members on a oneonone basis. Im not going to get into all that stuff. Look, theres no point of making media on that kind of stuff. When i see somebody who we agree on what we need to do to get this country in the right direction, we laid out an agenda for the country and we got to keep that agenda. I see our role in congress as bringing stability to the political system, as helping deliver, making sure people in this country know were working on their problems. Every third day theres some kind of new news that gets everybody talking. But i think its important that we impress upon people, i say this all the time, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We are working on their problems. This week we are working on fixing this ridiculous waiting list list for veterans to get their healthcare. Were working on Human Trafficking. Plugging local loopholes in Human Trafficking laws that we can really start cracking down on Human Trafficking. Tax reform is so important for economic growth, for better jobs, higher wages. It hasnt been done in 31 years and were spending time on that. Healthcare is collapsing, were trying to replace it with something better. These are problems people experience in their daily lives. Regulatory relief is boring unless youre a business struggl