Country. Well be bringing the business tax from 35 all the way down to 20. At 35 its the highest in the industrialized world. At 20 were on the very low side. So well be very competitive. You look at china, its 15 . Other countries are 18 , some are 23, 24 . The average is actually, of the primary competitors, is actually 23 . So well be pretty much below the average, and well be able to compete. And despite all of that and despite before we even get this massive injection, we have a stock market that has hit record highs 81 times since our election victory, 81 times. Its at a new high right now. Unemployment is at a 17year low. Very shortly its going to be at a 19year low. We think the numbers are going to continue to go down, and were also getting into the pool of the 100 Million People that are not working. That pool is now coming back. As you know, thats not considered in the low employment numbers, which means we have a lot of people that want to get to work and that will be working. Consumer confidence is at a 17year high. Weve created nearly 2 million jobs. Think of that. 2 million jobs since election day. Thats based on consumer confidence. Thats based on enthusiasm. Every enthusiasm poll, especially for business enthusiasm and job enthusiasm, is at an alltime high. Thats why companies are coming back into our country. Theyre opening up new plants. Most of you have written about toyota came back in. We have many Car Companies coming back in. Theyre going to michigan, theyre going to ohio, theyre going to the states where they want to be. They can go anywhere they want. South carolina, north carolina, but theyre going all over our country. Theyre coming back in. We had many years where we had no new plants, we only had closures. Now we have openings and that means a lot of jobs. But to get it going the way i really want where we have gdp getting up to 4, 5 and even 6 , because i think thats possible, if you look back in your notes youll see when i said 4 , people said that will be years. Well, it turns out im right, because without the hurricanes this last quarter we would have had 4 . At 3. 3 , which was adjusted previously, this is far beyond what anybody thought we would be at. So were at 3. 3 gdp. I see no reason why we dont go to 4, 5 and even 6 . I dont want to go beyond that because then ill be criticized if we dont hit it. But every time we go up one point, just so you understand, one point means 2. 5 trillion, means 10 million jobs. So one point in gdp is an incredible statement. 2. 5 trillion for each point, 10 million jobs for each point. And i think were going to be going up a lot of points. So in order to really keep it going the way i want and the way we all want around this table, we have to get past our taxes. I call it the mixer. Its in conference right now, but i call it the mixer. I think when it comes out, its going to be a beautiful mix. There are things that i like better in the senate bill, there are things i like better in the house bill. I think when they come out, well have some new additions and well have the best of each. I think were going to have a fantastic tax bill. There are very, very few people that arent benefiting by it, but theres that tiny little sliver, and were going to try to take care of even that very small group of people that just through circumstances maybe dont get the full benefit of what were doing. But the middle class gets a tremendous benefit and business, which is jobs, gets a tremendous benefit. Well be giving the cabinet today an update on National Security and strategy. Well also receive briefings on the latest developments in the tax cut negotiations, and administrator mcmann, who has done a fantastic job at Small Business administration where is linda . Has done a really fantastic job, is helping Small Businesses in record numbers. Theyve needed help really because of the hurricane. Hurricanes were devastating. As i said, gdp, if we didnt have the hurricanes, we would have hit just about four this last time. But as you probably know and probably everybody remembers, we had five really bad ones. And we have a lot of businesses that have been severely hurt, and linda mcmann has done an incredible job in helping those businesses out through the Small Business. Thank you very much, linda. So were in a great period in this country, because jobs are coming back, unemployment is low, business has never been stronger, but we have a military that we have to build. I want to thank general mattis for doing such a great job with respect to isis. Hes knocked the hell out of them. Of course, ive made it possible with what ive let you do, i think. Yes, sir. Wouldnt you say . Absolutely. But hes done a fantastic job. He and the military have done a fantastic job with isis. Theyre essentially knocked out of syria, knocked out of iraq. Thats the good news. The bad news, they go all over the place. And ill tell you where we dont want em, we dont want em here. We dont want em in our country. Tell them to stay wherever the hell they are. We dont want them in our country. They do go to some countries. We dont want them coming to our country, so well watch that closely. Id like to wish everyone a great season. Id like to wish everyone a merry christmas, happy new year. I will tell you that we have a big announcement coming up at 1 00. Perhaps a couple of you will be there, maybe not. Its a big announcement. Its an announcement concerning israel and the palestinians in the middle east, and i think its long overdue. Many president s have said they want to do something and they didnt do it, whether its through courage or they changed their mind, i cant tell you. But a lot of people have said we have to do something and they didnt do it, so well be talking about that something at 1 00, and i look forward to seeing you then. Thank y thank you all so much. Thank you. Well talk about it in a little while. Thank you very much. Are we going to have a shutdown . It could happen. The democrats are really looking at something that is very dangerous to our country. They are looking at shutting down. They want to have Illegal Immigrants in many cases, people that we dont want in our country, they want to have Illegal Immigrants pouring into our country, bringing with them crime, tremendous amounts of crime. We dont want to have that. We want to have a great, beautiful, crimefree country. We want people coming into our country, but we want them to come on our basis, and thats why were being so waufld with o them. That was a tremendous victory for this country. Not a victory for me, it was a victory for our country. So the democrats maybe will want to shut down the country because they want people flowing into our country, and i want people coming into our country, but i want to vet those people, and i want to vet them very carefully. Because we dont want to have radical islamic terrorism in this country, and we dont want to have crime in this country. You look at what just happened in san francisco. That was a disgrace. As you know, the federal government just got involved and did a great thing, because theyre going to take that at least to the next step. They did a great thing by getting involved. So thank you very much. Ill see you all at 1 00. Thank you. Good day. Im Andrea Mitchell in washington, listening to the president talking about the bill in washington. Asked about the shutdown, saying if there is, it will be because of the democrats. Talking about an announcement at the top of the next hour, he will be announcing hes breaking with decades of american policy, recognizing jerusalem as the capital of israel despite warnings in the last hours from the pope, palestinians, nato and the european union. The pentagon has taken steps to facilitate steps in the union, forbidding people to travel there. Also with us, ambassador martin, a former u. S. Ambassador to israel, and ambassador dennis ross, top diplomat with over two decades of experience, working in the add administration with president obamas white house. Welcome all. Peter, let me go first to you, because the president s announcement is first going to recognize jerusalem, saying it is an historic reality. The fact, though, hes disrupting american negotiations, Israeli Palestinian negotiations and the u. S. As an honest broker. Why take this on now . Is it just to satisfy a Campaign Promise . Reporter thats the question weve been raising to officials here at the white house. I spoke to a Senior Administration official in the last couple hours about that very topic, and they insisted to me that nothing will change because of the president s announcement today. As you noted, this is an announcement of reality right now. After the president speaks, the u. S. Embassy will remain today in tel aviv because the president is signing that the parliament will remain in jerusalem. This is not making any decisions about East Jerusalem, making the decision whether it could be a future power of the palestinians. More broadly right now, all of those remain up for negotiation as part of the final status negotiations Going Forward. So the question i raised to this official was, then why now . Why is the president doing this right now . They insist this is not exclusively about a Campaign Promise. In the words of this official, quote, its time to move past, as they described it, the political fiction of the u. S. Pretending it doesnt know where israels capital is right now, andrea. The bottom line is they believe this could open up a new avenue where in effect the president takes this issue of jerusalem, at least being israels capital, off the table and somehow enable new talks Going Forward with that as the predicate to them. But the bottom line obviously is this is such a volatile issue here, has been one of the key bargaining chips in negotiations in the past. Its believed by many analysts that this is bound to only cause more strife there. Well, the criticism, of course, is that this is rewarding israel for something which is supposed to be the prize at the end of the game, dividing jerusalem in some fashion. And, in fact, israel has taken more palestinian areas of East Jerusalem and the west bank rather than showing flexibility on these issues. Amon aldine, i want to get your reaction, but i want to play some of this. We recognize the importance of jerusalem and our position on that has not changed. Ignoring the christian rights in jerusalem will only fuel extremism and undermine the war against terrorism. Amon, the reaction today from your standpoint in jerusalem which is a city of both western jerusalem with the israeli capital so far, and East Jerusalem which is mostly palestinian. Reporter yeah, i mean, this is being looked at from a few different perspectives, even among palestinians. One, theyre very anxious. The mood is very tense among palestinians, extremely disappointing. Were hearing from all palestinians condemning this reaction, condemning the status. Theyre concerned it would change the status quo here in the old city, particularly in the city, so there is that frustration. There are those that are pointing to this and saying palestinian has lost all authority. Particularly this president , who at least has tried to abide by international agreements, reject violence, he has been criticized by several saying theyre not able to produce a Peace Process. A lot of frustration among palestinians. Its not clear that theyre going to turn around in the end. Tomorrow those security measures could restrict access to palestinians coming into the city, and that once again could create more tension, more dynamics on the ground, but no doubt the big concern right now is going to be how President Trump fin essefinesses this sta. He said he could be more open saying jerusalem could be in power over the state. So the situation does remain, this evening, tense, andrea. Thanks to ayman, thanks to peter. I want to bring in our negotiator. Your talks have been made with the palestinians. Is there a fear that those talks will be said by the palestinians . Iran, isis, will see this as an opportunity to champion jerusalem and try to weaken those moderate leaders like the Palestinian Leader hassan and King Abdullah of johnson have twitter twittered. I do think it would give thems saudi leadership, all of them, will have to take a very strong stand against all he trusts regardless of the nuances that age will try to inject into his position. After years of negotiating, it seems as though they have not set the table for this. In talking to diplomats throughout the city last night, alarm in all quarters, jordanian, european as well. They have not brought people along so that they are putting their backs up against a wall. I think as martin pointed out, this is an issue that all of the enemies at peace can seize upon, because they see it as an issue that mobilizes great passion. There might have been a way to do this, but you had to prepare the ground. Six months ago when the first waiver was issued, had the administration gone first to each of our partners, including the palestinians, saudis, et cetera, and said to them, look, we want to do this in a way that doesnt put you on the spot, that doesnt make you defensive, that doesnt expose you. Lets talk about the kind of language we can use. Lets talk about the kinds of things you may say before we do it so we prepare the ground and youre not put in an impossible situation. At this stage negotiations have not resumed, parties are not talking to each other. What does the u. S. Gain by recognizing jerusalem and saying that down the road three or four years, according to the briefing we had last night, they will move the embassy. You dont gain much by doing this, unless this is part of a plan where, in a sense, you can demonstrate to the american public, look how this Administration Takes into account moods and words and symbols. They would be able to call on the israelis to make some very complex decisions. Dennis ross, well have to leave it there until the later news coming up end of this hour. Breaking news now, the wildfire threat in sonoma county, calling for a critical shutdown on a stretch of highway 405. Hoyt is used to navigate a commute each day. Were in bel air, california. Reporter the 405 is just beyond these houses. This house here is up in flames at the moment. We have engines out from san jose fire department. Engine 71 is here responding to this home in particular. Lets walk up here and get a look from their vantage point. Andrea, you know better than anyone, bel air was once the home of nancy and ronald reagan. This is an area of expensive, very large homes. On the other side of the highway is the gettys center, an important place to los angeles. Out across los angeles west side, looking south and west, you can see there is a haze over the entire western part of the city of los angeles today. This is one, andrea, of many wildfires that are burning in this region at the moment. The thompson fire up in Ventura County as of this morning scorched 55,000 acres. This was a very, very fastmoving wildfire in los angeles. Its unusual to see a fire this big come so close to so many homes. As i said, the bel air community, the Brentwood Community on the other side of the 405 freeway has many large homes with many, many people in this community, tens of thousands of people here directly in the city of los angeles. Just one thing to note, its been extraordinarily dry out here. I know its december, youre thic thinking, shouldnt it be cooler in los angeles, shouldnt you see some rain. Weve gone three months without a single drop of rain. Themes these are providing the fuel for the wildif i were seeing right now. Jacob soberoff, thank you so much. Breaking news from capitol hill today. Growing calls led by women Democratic Senators about their colleague al franken, calling on him to resign. Lets listen to senator kirsten gill gillenbrand in new york. I do not feel that he should continue to serve. Everyone will make their own judgment. I hope they do make their own judgment. You might want to stay there, kirsten. Dont you you have your questions . Most of the questions are going to be for you, im guessing. [ inaudible question ] senator franken is entitled to a senator ethics investigation. I dont think theyre equipped, i dont think they have the tools to do the investigation the American People are searching for. Were having difficulty with our shot from the hill. Lets talk about this change where you have Democratic Senators led by senator gillenbrand but joined by so many of her colleagues calling on senator al franken to resign. I suspect youll be hearing more voices over the course of the day. Look, Public Officials should be held to the highest standard when it comes, you know, to many issues, but particularly this issue. They hold positions of public trust. And when you violate that trust, when you violate the law, there should be swift and certain consequences. And i think on the front lines of standing up for that principle, your own colleagues need to be accountable for coming forward and raising their voices. I see that its all women who have come forward to speak on this issue so far, at least in terms of the last reporting that i saw, so i do wonder where are the men in terms of this issue. I think this is a real credibility issue for the entire congress. Its not a partisan issue. I think that this is an issue because its a body that has not had a lot of credibility to date when you look at the kind of procedures that have been if congress that are arcane, unfairly tilted in many ways to protect those who are in office as opposed to those who are making the accusations. And that becomes a credibility issue among constituents as well. When you have people who are making the laws who are actually breaking the laws, or people who should be leading who are lagging in policing their own conduct. So i think this is a really important moment with senator gillenbrand and other senators who are coming out to speak out on this issue in light of, im sure, the numerous allegations that have been made against senator franken, the seventh woman who has come forwa