In the administration. It is symbolic of the meaningful relationship that the two nations have. These are important meetings regarding the president s agenda to improve the quality of lives for both people of mexico and the United States by combatting drug traffickers and finding ways to bolster our economies through a broader relationship that promotes commerce and Legal Immigration. This is a very encouraging start to a working relationship with an incredible neighbor to the south. At this moment, the president has just wrapped up his discussions on the federal budget with some of the officials and staff who will be instrumental in the work to put this country back on a responsibly fiscal path. Joining the meeting were reince priebus, chief of staff, steve bannon, jared kushner, jared koen, secretary Steve Mnuchin of the department of treasury, director mick mulvaney, russ vote of the office of management and budget and emma doyle of the office of management and budget. As the president mentioned last week, we look forward to presenting our tax reform plan and providing much needed tax reform and relief to the hard working men and women of our nation. The president s going to restore and respect the american taxpayer by enabling them to keep more of their hard earned money and by making sure the federal government spends money more responsibly. After the lunch, the president will continue this important discussion with other members of the senior staff. Additionally the Vice President today is in st. Louis, to participate in listening sessions with American Workers and employees of the faba cat, a family owned and operated business. The president will discuss the economic comeback in store for our nation under the president s economic agenda, and with Small Business owners and employees. The president has already made strides towards slashing redundant regulations through his executive actions and we will work with congress to enact further progrowth legislation. Back to the president s schedule, later this afternoon, the president will participate in a standing legislative Affairs Strategy session. Our legislative affairs team is in Constant Contact with our counterparts on the hill, keeping an open dialogue on all aspects of the president s agenda. Last week alone more than 40 different senator and Congress Members of congress visited the white house. On the Supreme Court front, so far judge gorsuch has now met with 58 senators, 36 republicans and 22 democrats and he has more meetings already on the books for next week when the Senate Returns to session. We have been especially encouraged by the reception hes received from several senior democrats including senators feinstein, tester, durbin and gillibrand. Also on the confirmation front, multiple unions came out today for alex acosta, the president s nominee for labor secretary. The International Union of operating engineers praised his distinguished career and pledged their support for his nomination. The legislative affairs team is using the congressional work period to work with key coalitions in congress, meeting with different groups in the house and senate including the staff of the congressional black caucus, how to and Senate Leadership and staff throughout various committees. We used this work period as an opportunity to invite staffers from both sides of the aisle to come to the white house and discuss shared priorities a find Common Ground on the way forward. And were not just reaching out to capitol hill. We have engaged with key leaders in policymakers around the country. It is kricritical we gather information from states and people around the country rather than just leaders in washington. Looking ahead to tomorrow, the president will meet with a group of world class Business Leaders to discuss specific action he can take to remove barriers to job creation. These leaders represent some of the countrys largest manufacturers and will begin the day in working groups with the Vice President , cabinet members and key aides of the president s staff. The working groups will engage in a deep dive conversation on the attendees specific area of expertise, deregulation, tax and cried, training and the workforce of the future, and infrastructure. Vice president pence will be engaged with each of the groups and after the groups conclude their discussion, the president s staff will compile the feedback and the president will sit down with the entire group for a listening session on some of the recommendations. As you can tell by the structure of the meeting, the president is expecting these interactions to lead to real action being taken bit administration. Creating a dynamic and booming economy that works for all americans continues to be at the top of his domestic policy agenda. As a successful businessman himself, the president knows if we get the country back to work, we need to hear directly from job creators what is holding them back and where appropriate take steps to remove the barriers. In his first month in office, the president already has taken numerous actions to boost job creation and a key Economic Indicators are showing it is working. Ceo and confidence are up. The stock market continues to reach record highs, and the january numbers were strong. The meetings on thursday will continue to build on that momentum. And with that, im glad to take some questions. Steve holland. Steve holland is not here. Jeff mason. Thank you. Can you give us an updade on the administrations plans with regard to can you confirm that there is has been some disagreement between victsecret devos on this issue . The president is a Firm Believer in states rights. When you look at the guidance, lets remember to the best of my knowledge, that was stalled, never fully implemented. I think there were various reasons for that. Several legal reason and several procedural reasons. The department of education, the department of justice both who jointly issued that guidance back during the Obama Administration are working together again under a Trump Administration, they have been reviewing the guidance signed, the basis by which it was put through, and i think there have been several areas of concern both legal and procedural that they have been discussing. And i think where you might be hearing something is more on the timing and the wording of stuff, the conclusions, everybody in the administration is agreed upon. There is no daylight between anybody between the president and between any of the secretaries. I think there has been some discussion between the timing of the issuance and recommendations or between the exact wording, but as far as the conclusions go, i have made this clear and the president made it clear throughout the campaign that hes a Firm Believer in states rights and certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level. Report out today, what they see that the white house is micromanaging staffing at the subcabinet level. To what degree does the white house think it should impose its hiring approvals, members of the subcabinet and is some of this at least partially driven by cabinet secretaries wanting to appoint people who might not necessarily be aligned with the president s thinking . Well, i mean, i think when you come to theyre called political appointees for a reason. The idea is that people who come into this government should want to support and enact the president s agenda that he campaigned with the American People. I think one of the reasons that you see in recent polls, the president people, even if they dont agree with the president , they give him high marks for following through on the promises he made to the American People and getting things done that he actually said, which is not always the case here in washington. And i think that we want to make sure that the people who staff a Trump Administration are committed to a trump agenda. And thats the so cabinet secretaries and other administrators and directors have broad discretion. At the end of the day, no matter what position you have, whether it is the lowest or the highest in this in the white house, or any department or agency, we should be making sure that people who are coming in as appointees of the president support the president s agenda, and i think thats one thing, this isnt about getting a job, as a federal employee, where youre subject to certain, you know, restrictions as to what you can and cant do as a benefit of being a federal employee, these are political appointees. And so i think that there is obviously going to we are going to ensure that the people who are political appointees share the vision and agenda that the president campaigned on, and is implementing. Does the white house believe that it needs to have the final approval i dont think or can you trust your cabinet secretary . It is not a question of trust, it is a question of making sure that we all on the same page and committed to the same agenda that the president set forth. This process is probably no different than we have seen in previous administrations. Cabinet secretaries come to the president with recommendations on who they want. And it depends on the position, obviously. But in certain cases, if theyre going to fulfill a job that is a key area that the president had, very specific goals to enact, that he promise the American People, you want to make sure the person who is fulfilling that job is committed to the agenda and vision the president set forth and promising the American People. And so there is thats something that were always going to be making sure is in alignment. Is the approval process some way slowing down the appointment of crucial staffers . Not at all. I think when you look across where with are and track the numbers of people in the pipeline, were doing well with getting all of the positions filled and i think once in a while you might hear of one or two people, but overall, generally speaking, i mentioned during the transition period how many people of the beachhead teams we had and those members appointed through that process this is 20 dha had 120 days. They made sure that people on a permanent basis could populate those positions. Thats whats happening. Make no mistake, we were ahead of the curve on beachhead teams, very clear with the landing teams during the transition. This has been a very methodical process that seemed from top to bottom through and i think were doing a phenomenal job of staffing the government. The president in the roosevelt room just said to us that among other things that the tax plan is nearly finalized, but cant be submitted until the Health Care Plan statutorily or otherwise so were doing the health care. What i wanted to clarify was, is the white house doing the Health Care Proposal or was he talking about congress and not the white house or is it right. So obviously there is two vehicles, reconciliation vehicles, fy 17, bloombergian answer. The fy 17 reconciliation that was never completed because the budget wasnt finalized, i think we want to look at the opportunities to work with congress and obamacare, utilizing the 2017 and then you could utilize the 2018 reconciliation and budget process to do tax reform. Thats not thats not prescriptive. Im not but as far as why the president is saying it that way is because we have got that option available to us right now and i think the president is committed to making sure that the promise he made to the American People to repeal and replace obamacare continues to be first and foremost and then his tax plan, but it is not we can walk and chew gum kind of thing. We can send you to work with congress and the leadership and both houses president obama used to say that. Well there is a few things that is going to happen then. There is going to be a budget plan that you guys are going to present on march 13thish. Ish. There is going to be the health care this is where i get lost, something from him and something from them and something afterwards . Is that the way it works . Look, when were ready to announce stuff, but i think again, i think youve got obamacare, the budget, tax reform, it is going to be a very busy march and april for us. And we have been continuing to work with congress to make sure that thats implemented. Yeah, the president , you were talking about fulfilling his promises, as you know, he promised during the campaign a total and complete shutdown of muslims entering the country. There were a lot of people in his party who thought that was a very good proposal. Can you explain his evolution in backing down from that, and can you also say whether he regrets using that rhetoric since it ended up hurting the court case . Well, again, i go back to the merits of the case. And the order that gives him the authority to make that. U. S. Code 1182 is very clear. The president was very clear in his executive order that these were countries that we didnt have the proper vetting for when it came to ensuring the safety of americans. Thats what the executive order said. The authority is very clear they havent done it and youll continue to see the president take the steps necessary to protect this country. Thats why hes talked about, you know, fighting this on both fronts, making sure we keep evolving through the court system on the existing side and looking towards the next draft of the executive order that will continue to achieve the goal of protecting the American People. That is where we are. Thats what the order says. So i think we continue to feel confident that that thats but it was crafted in a way, very clear about the countries and was not focused on anything else but the vetting requirements that we have to make sure that we know who is coming into this country and that theyre here not to do us any harm. But when talking about fulfilling his promises, can you explain why he decided to back down from that one . I think he made it very clear from the beginning this was a country focused issue, a safety focused issue and thats why he issued it. I dont see anything other than that with reference to that. Deborah saunders. The oscars are sunday night. Will the president be watching . And if there is a meryl streep kind of moment, how do you think hell react . And why this happened at other awards ceremonies, why do you think this happens . Why do i think what happens . Actresses and actors like meryl streep . I have no idea. It is a free country. I think hollywood is known for being rather far to the left. In its opinions and i got to be honest with you, i think the president will be hosting the governors ball that night, mrs. Trump looks forward to putting on a phenomenal event and the first lady has put a lot of time into this event that is going to occur in welcoming our nations governors to the capital. I have a feeling thats where the president and the first lady will be focused on sunday night and well go from there. Big audience next tuesday in the joint address to congress. Does he have a set of goals in mind for the speech and do you think were going to see some specific policy rollouts as part of that speech . I think that this speech is going to focus i mentioned this yesterday, i think it is going to talk remind the American People what hes done already. And make sure that he explains not just because of his sense of accomplishment that in moving this country forward, but because i think it is important for the American People to know that he was an agent of change, he came here to get things done, and he didnt waste any time. Hes committed to keeping his word and then i think hes going to lay out his vision and talk about things like education and health care and infrastructure. The problems that we face as a country, the violence in some of our inner cities, but also some of the solutions that we can act on and some of the partnerships we can create, it is obviously still a work in progress. I think it is going to it is going to look forward to where he wants to take this country. And talk about working with congress and other leaders throughout the country to get things done. But i i think in the drafts that ive seen so far, it is going to be a very strong blueprint of where he wants to take this country. In the past, i think a lot of president s or some president s rather have gotten into very detailed specifics. I think youre going to see him try to talk about policies in a broad sense of where he wants to take this country and where what defining success is, what that goal means. But it is still a work in progress and hopefully towards the end of the week. Is the tone optimistic . I think he is this is an opportunity for him to lay out a very positive vision for the nation. And to really let america know what where we can go and how we can get there and the potential we have as a nation. Piggybacking on that and then another question. I know the past president s including president obama immediately hit the road after i know this isnt a state of the union, but Something Like a state of the union address, to sell policies. You say it is more of a vision. Does he anticipate doing that . I think there will be some travel. I dont want to thats evolving now. There is a lot of things that were trying to look at and i think as we look at the speech, and some of the objectives and goals and vision that he is sharing, talk to him about potential places to go to highlight that, but i think youre going to see, you know, a fair amount of visits in the next few weeks to highlight some of the places he wants to take it. The other thing was, i have seen some members of Congress Last week, there is the legislative meeting today, it feels as if we havent seen as many executive actions executive orders. We have the one vetting one coming up this week. Are we in a different phase now that hes sort of done the executive orders that he wants to do and were going to we