That goes overseas to bring their product back here, not trading with a country, im talking about our own people getting their jobs where they can, where its cheap and sends it back here and sells it for as much as they can get. Put a tax on those people and they would bring their jobs back here because it wouldnt be worth going over there to begin with. Lets take that idea. Congressman . I think we have to be careful about this, a lot of the companies in my state and district that have facilities overseas often put facilities in those countries to support that market. Just by the same token we have many foreign headquartered companies that have major presences in the United States. Theyre selling products here in the United States. Theres Foreign Investment in the United States employing a lot of americans and those americans and theyre servicing local markets. By the same token, ill use one company, air products and chemicals in my district, they build Industrial Gas plants and they have to build those gas plants where their customer is. If they have to build a Hydrogen Plant by a refinery in saudi arabia, they have to build it by the refinery. And that work supports a lot of people in pennsylvania. The point im making is a lot of American Companies doing Work Overseas, they must do Work Overseas because theres not north american marketplace is not large enough for them to support the American Work force. They have to export. Sometimes they have to locate facilities over there. Now im all for making america more attractive for manufacturers and what weve done in our state, we are at the center of the natural gas boom and the fact that weve done that weve helped bring down Natural Gas Prices and given our manufacturers an enormous competitive advantage relative to others around the world so im very optimistic about the future of manufacturing. Another call from pennsylvania, john in nazareth, a republican. Good morning. Caller good morning, mr. Dent. My family, we voted for you and i have we have a lot of respect for you but the problem is theres a town called sailorsburg, pennsylvania. Mr. Gulen lives up there. He is considered a terrorist. Theres a situation that you were involved that you took money mr. Mr. Gulens Turkish Alliance and there was an investigation 2003 where 10,000 congressman were involved in that and you know youre aware of the situation because the media dont want to talk about it. But my question to you is how can you say youre for veterans when youre taking money from a terrorist group where they have underground bunkers because of the situation and the people that live there, which i know because i grew there and we moved to nazareth, they have a terrorist group up there, they have underground bunkers where they shoot semiautomatic okay, i have it. The gentleman is refer to a gentleman named fatulah gulen who was a turkish cleric, very well known within turkey. The president of turkey, president erdogan, would like to have him extradited from the United States because i believe mr. Gulan has been critical of the erdogan governments crackdown on journalists and others who want to participate in the democratic society. Thats the individual that about whom he is referring. And he is a cleric. Thats all i can say about him but hes referring also to issues i have that to deal with as chairman of tett i cans committee and ill be happy to get into that but i cant talk about members under investigation. We dealt with that situation, the office of congressional ethics as well as the committee on ethics agreed members of congress who went on that particular trip i was not one of them were complied with house rules and didnt do anything wrong. That was in our report and thats open the the public and feel free to read it. Mike is a democrat in montana. Good morning to you. Caller good morning. I would like to make two comments, one on Social Security, one on the v. A. There was a person that called in earlier about people working 40 hours a week and collecting Social Security. Actually do pay into that and they couldnt collect it unless they were over 65. Well, they did pay into that and they do deserve that. Also, i have a brother that goes to the v. A. And for some of his treatment the v. A. Hospitals over 100 miles away. They run a bus but for some of his more critical treatment like with his heart he goes to a local doctor and its Great Service and as far as construction well, mike do you have a question or comment from the congressman because were running out of time. The house is gaveling in early at 9 00 a. M. Eastern time. No, i just have those comments. Okay, let me move on to ann in indiana, a republican. Hi, ann. Caller good morning. I was calling to ask about the budget. I understand that there was an unlimited amount of spending agreed on this and i wanted to find out if that was the truth in the situation and also i wanted to ask about Social Security benefits if there will not a raise again this year. Ive been on it for six years and theres only three years that ive gotten a raise. Okay, ann. Did i hear the question about the budget . Unlimited spending. She heard there was unlimited spending in this budget deal. Oh, absolutely not. Oh, no. Not at all. In fact, i would like to say this. Since we republicans have taken control of the house of representatives, we have actually lowered discretionary spending. Discretionary spending in this country in 2010 was about 1. 275 trillion. In fiscal year 15 its 1. 1 trillion. And the budget agreement that we just passed yesterday would set et discretionary caps for nonentitlement spending for fiscal year 16 would be 1. 06 trillion. Slightly lower than 1. 1 trillion and for the next year it will be 1. 07 trillion. So we have lowered discretionary spending. The bill that was passed yesterday does readjust the caps but were still lower than we were in 2010 so i want to be clear about that and as a member of the Appropriations Committee ill do with discretionary spending. That 1. 1 trillion roughly, a third of all federal spending. Twothirds of federal spending that has grown at an unsustainable rate dealing with the entitlements of the mandatory program, medicare, medicaid, Social Security. Interest on the debt is considered mandatory payment. But my point is those are the programs growing at the rate thats more unsustainable. Particularly health care programs. But on discretionary side we have reduced spending. Not slowed the rate of growth, lowered it. The second question was about cola for Social Security. Not seeing an increase in the cost of living adjustment. Well, we did something yesterday, too, when we passed the legislation. We dealt with the medicare premium issue that many people would be experiencing a very dramatic increase. We blunted that and made this a much more moderate situation. But not Social Security . Social security adjustment is not something passed by congress. That is dealt with by the Social Security administration. They have a formula and they have deal it with. Obviously they made that decision, not the congress. Youre right, many seniors are going to feel that. Could congress override them . Pass legislation . I guess we could. We probably but we do give the Social Security administration the authority to determine the cost of living and we can revisit that issue. White hall, montana. Joy, an independent. Caller good morning. Good morning. Caller does the proposed budget include any ccc or Works Program for the Infrastructure Improvement that would put jobs back on . And if not, why not . Thank you. Thank you. The legislation passed yesterday was a budget agreement. It does not get so much into the specifics of any problem. Who what will happen is congress will have to pass the appropriations bills. Well make decisions about which particular programs are funded and at what levels. You also mentioned infrastructure, i believe. We are we congress will also have to deal with a transportation bill very soon and hopefully before the end of the year, maybe before november 30 we will have a longterm transportation bill that will provide for the infrastructure needs of our country. Our roads and bridges are deteriorating. We have so many that are structurally deficient on the bridge side that we must make those investments. Im prepared to support a longterm transportation bill, a sixyear bill. Our challenge is how do we fund it. Thats what paul ryan and bill schuster, the chairman of that Transportation Committee from pennsylvania are going to be working on between now and then so youre right. We need to do something on the structure that will be done in a separate bill. We have a minute left here. Tell us what we are going to see when the house gavels in at 9 00 a. M. This morning and a roll call vote is taken for the next speaker. About 9 00 theyll have a quorum call. This is one time where everybody pushes the yellow button, not the green or red, just to make sure youre present. Then the house will vote on the speaker and this will be done by voice vote so every member will call out a name. You can call out any name you like but i suspect most republicans will overwhelmingly vote for paul ryan and most democrats will overwhelmingly vote for nancy pelosi but whoever becomes the speaker must receive 218 votes on the floor. I believe paul ryan will receive those votes. I dont believe he will get 247 republican votes. Thats how many republicans there are, but hell get if excess of 218, im confident. You believe that even though he had 200 behind closed doors yesterday from republicans. Well, yeah. Its to wantly appropriate for any member of the house to run for speaker and thats the process. Only two candidates ran yesterday, paul ryan and Daniel Webster. Paul ryan won. Traditionally those who supported Daniel Webster will throw their support to paul ryan. I suspect most of them will. I cant say every one will but i suspect most will. And what happens then after he gets the 218 votes he needs . Does he take the gavel right away . He takes the gavel right away and im sure hell make some brief remarks. Is but ive always said the hard part for paul is not to be elected speaker. The heart part will be the day after, how do we make sure we can function better as a house of representatives and as a congress . Thats going to be the challenge moving forward and im hopeful that things will get better than theyve been in recent months. I know paul ryan shaurz my view we need to expand the governing wing of the Republican Party, demonstrate that we have the capacity to get things done. But hes got his work cut out for him. Today ends 25 years for john boehner, the outgoing speaker. What is going to be the vision for the Republican Party under paul ryan . Well, i believe paul is going to talk about big bold ideas, thats what hes always done. I believe that well hear more about that the in the next few weeks come the new year i believe youll see a pretty bold agenda coming out with paul ryan and he will have a lot of important strategy and i think a Broader Vision maybe than john boehner has had. That will be the big difference. Charlie dent, we thank you for your time, appreciate it. Reporters are beginning to quickly make their way into the White House Briefing room now. Were expecting spokesman john earnest to speak to reporters. The election of the in House Speaker paul ryan, the budget deal passed in the house yesterday, last nights Republican Debate all topics that could come up this afternoon during the briefing. We did just get twominute warning about two minutes ago so it should start here in just a moment. Live coverage here oncrh] csp. Again we are live in the White House Briefing room waiting for spokesman josh earnest to speak to reporters. We expect questions about the election of new House Speaker paul ryan, members of the house yesterday passed a budget deal and passed it on to the senate. Senators are debating that, considering that, also last nights Republican Debate could be one of the topics that josh earnest talks about today. We are expecting him to arrive here in just a moment. This is live on cspan 3. Muncy. Good afternoon, everybody. Nice to see you all. Apologize for the delay in getting started. Two more to go. Reporter [ inaudible question ] ill never pass up an opportunity do that. Just enjoy a little sip here. Laugh will have [ laughter ] reporter rub it in, rub it in. Now that we have that out of the way, we can go straight to your questions. Reporter i wanted to ask about new speaker ryan, has the president talked to him yet . Called him . Congratulated him . And can you give us a sense of when they might have the first meeting . The president yesterday had an opportunity to telephone speaker ryan and wish him well as he astoends this leadership role in the house of representatives. Obviously this is a position with substantial responsibilities and the president has spoken publicly in the past about the respect he has for congressman ryan despite their significant policy differences. And the president is hopeful that hell be able to work with congressman ryan to make progress on behalf of the American People. As weve said all along, the American People have elected republicans to be in charge of the congress and a democrat to run the white house and that means for anything to make its way through the legislative process its going to have to be bipartisan. And the president is hopeful that speaker ryan will lead the house of representatives in that spirit and with that fact in mind. In this conversation, this phone call, did they identified an agenda item now that the barn is cleared . Whats next . Well, the they didnt establish a time frame for a meeting or anything but i think the things that are at the top of the president s legislative agenda are the kinds of things÷ we have been talking about for a little while now. Obviously criminal Justice Reform is a prominent item on that agenda. The president s negotiators recently completed negotiations on the tpp. Then chairman ryan played an Important Role in building a bipartisan majority in the house for trade Promotion Authority legislation over the summer so obviously when its time for congress to weigh in on the tpp agenda we hoped wed be able to work effectively with the speakspeak speak Speakers Office to build that bipartisan majority and build support for that bill. There are some other undone items that could have been part of the barn cleaning b ining bu werent. The most prominent is the transportation budget. Obviously theres some additional funds that need to be dedicated to upgrading and modernizing our infrastructure. The administration has put forward for proposals for whfore believe is the best way to do that. I anticipate that will be a discussion moving forward. The house voted yesterday i believe it was yesterday on reauthorizing the Export Import Bank. This is something that has long been supported by democrats and republicans in capitol hill but both democratic and republicans supported t the xm bank. We were gratified to see more than 300 members of the house voted to reauthorize that Export Import Bank and that would be good for our economy and something wed like to see congress do so theres still work to be done. Cyber security, i know the senate took an important step in that regard. So theres a lot of important work facing members of congress but ill end where i began which is that none of it will get done if there is a renewed commitment on the part of republicans to try to pass those priority items along party lines. Were in an era of divided government and democrats and republicans will have to Work Together to make progress on those priorities of the American People and if republicans in congress are interested in doing that, if the new speaker of the house is interested in doing that they will certainly find a willing partner in the oval office. And if i cou reporter if change topic to the news that china is changing its onechild policy to a twochild policy, do you does the white house see this as progress . Well, while this recent policy change does represent a positive step, we also look forward to the day when birth limits are abandoned all together and the United States and our work around the world continues to oppose coercive birth limitation policies, including things like forced abortion and sterilization. So this is this would fall in the category of policies that are directly related to universal human rights and the kind of human rights that the president of the United States and this government advocates for around the world, including in our deals with china. Can you give us an update on the president s deliberations about sending special forces to syria . Jeff, i know theres been some reporting about this but a couple of things that i would say about this. The first is that i dont have any new announcements to make today. The second is that there are maybe even as we speak u. S. Military pilots flying there the skies over syria engaged in military