Thank you very much for being with us. Senator roberts, let me just begin with youre also on the Ethics Committee. Well get to ag issues here in a minute, but as a member of the Ethics Committee, are you open to taxpayers, the voters knowing which members of congress have had claims made against them of Sexual Harassment and also revealing how much the taxpayers have paid for any settlements that were paid out . Sen. Roberts thats an interesting question. Im sure i could be able to respond to you, but as a member of the Ethics Committee, the longest serving member on the Ethics Committee, i dont know would have done to be on the Ethics Committee that amount of time but we cant comment. , and so ask me all you want, but basically there will be a no comment. Greta explain to our viewers why you cant comment. Sen. Roberts the Ethics Committee works in a bipartisan way. There are three each, three democrats, three republicans, but what we really talk about is highly confidential. And i just cant comment. Thats the way it is. Greta can you characterize, senator, the work of the committee . Because senator al franken stepped down, despite saying earlier that he wanted the Ethics Committee to do an investigation. Do you believe that a member of congress can get due process through the Ethics Committee . Sen. Roberts oh, yes. Ive been on the committee, weve been through several i dont want to list all the cases weve dealt with. We are very deliberate, but we also expedite as best we can. John isaacson is a super chairman. We are bipartisan. Its three and three. Its probably the least partisan committee in the congress, without question. And each member i think does a very good job, but it is confidential to protect both the member and the process. But when we reach a decision, we make it public. The committee has already made a statement that we are investigating senator franken. Greta without going into areas that i know you cant discuss, you know, your job could get even harder as soon as next week if it turns out that roy moore is elected and you have someone who is accused of molesting teenage girls in your midst. Can you talk about how this compares to earlier moments . What is the mood like . How hard is it to grapple with these issues . Sen. Roberts there is a difference in that the committee has always been involved with people who have transgressed the rules, or theres been a complaint. The committee receives a lot of complaints that are simply dismissed because they are simply without merit. Its usually its always been, with regard to any transgression, during a persons tenure in the body and the senate, and with regard to judge moore, thats a decision thats going to have to be made. Philip senator, just stepping back from the Ethics Committee, how is roy moore, if hes elected, how is he going to be received . How is this within the republican conference, and how is the atmosphere and how is this going to affect the atmosphere with the big issues that youve got on your plate . Sen. Roberts phil, i dont know. The people of alabama will make that decision. And when that decision is reached, either candidate i think will be received than received like perhaps any other. I think probably that senator, once they are sworn in, will have a lot of difficulty walking through the halls. Youll probably be right in there with him. Well answer those questions at that time. Philip youve occasionally been a little frustrated with some of your colleagues. For some of the things theyve done and said in the hallways, and their independence. Do you have another senator . Whats this sen. Roberts well, youre talking about the members on our side of the aisle that jump the fence. That hasnt worked out very well, especially with healthcare. But it did work with regards to the tax bill. We have a unified position. Were in conference now. We think its a very good tax bill, and i think well get it passed. And i think well get the budget done, too. Were not going to shut down the government. Siobhan senator, you brought up the tax bill. Im wondering how you approach it given that you come from kansas, known for cutting taxes and maybe experiencing some consequences that some people were concerned about. Where did that put you on the debate about a trigger to have automatic tax increases in the event that the tax bill does not pay for itself as advertised . Sen. Roberts well, im from dodge city, kansas, and we know what triggers are all about. But a trigger in the tax bill in this particular case i do not think would have been helpful. This is based on dynamic scoring its based on Economic Growth. , its based on providing more tax relief to people. Its called the tax relief and jobs act. I dont think the trigger would be appropriate at this particular time. If, in fact, you are into a recession, i dont think the answer is to increase taxes. So i just didnt see the sense of that. I dont think its needed. But we will get a tax bill done. I cant remember the first part of your question, but fire away. Siobhan well, kansas ended up with a budget problem, im wondering if you think america is going to end up with some new budget problems. Sen. Roberts well, the kansas situation is not the situation with this tax bill. The kansas situation is unique. I could go back in the history of that and how that happened, but there was no idea on the part of the state legislature or the governor for that matter on either side that we would experience a farm recession, that we would experience an energy recession, a general aviation recession. All that happened on top of what was agreed to by the state. So its a different situation entirely. And i wouldnt use that as an example. Philip senator, speaking of dodge city, the polls indicate so far that these bills are just deeply unpopular. How do you how is this going to be perceived on main street in dodge city, and how do you think it should be . Whats going to change the minds . Sen. Roberts phil, i think what weve done as a party on the republican side is we worked very hard to get there from here. As a member of the finance committee, its been tedious. As you well remember, it took us about a week in the committee, open hearings in the big room, senate room 216, and we went on and on into the night. I think our colleagues across the aisle filed over 200 amendments. We voted on 63. All 63 i think were meant for more press releases than anything else. Ill give them credit in regards to making a good effort, but after a while, it got very contentious, and thats unfortunate, because in the finance committee, were known to be less partisan. On the Agricultural Committee we , are the least partisan committee. But as it affects dodge city, several commodity organizations have come out in favor of the bill. Several farm organizations have come out in favor. Theres one in particular thats opposed. It went pretty much along party lines. Weve done a pretty good job of putting this bill together. I think its a good bill. Is it the best bill possible . No. Its the best possible bill. So we havent done a very good , job of selling it. In other words, i know that our colleagues across the aisle, if you say tax reform, they immediately say taxes are benefits to the rich. You know, tax cuts for the rich. Thats just not the case. So i think the more people understand what is in the bill, and we do a better job of selling it, i think that will change. By the way, i dont know of any poll that was taken in dodge city. Siobhan can you talk specifically about how the tax bill would affect your farmers, and for me and also for the audience, are these farms set up , notssthroughs corporations, but would get other treatment . Sen. Roberts we have the passthrough thing taken care of, and the expensing pretty well taken care of. Those are the two big issues in farm country. I was very pleased to work with senator john thune on that particular matter. My main concern with the tax bill was how it would affect agriculture, since were in a very rough patch, and farmers need predictability and stability. So thats what the tax bill is all about as far as im concerned with agriculture. Senator thune deserves a lot of credit. Senator tim scott also worked very hard on behalf of agriculture. We had a number of people on the committee doing exactly that. Philip are you confident you can nail down a conference agreement in the next two weeks . Youve got big issues with differences between the house and the senate, and youve got your byrd rule issues in terms of the size, the effect on the deficit. Are you confident you can nail that down before christmas . Youre going to have something to take home . Sen. Roberts phil, im going reply with the answer that i usually give you. The farmer puts the seed in the never puts the seed in the ground without the hope hes going to have a crop. Im optimistic this is going to happen because it has to happen. And so i know there are differences between the house and senate bill, and as a member of the house, i know how house members sometimes feel about the senate. But i think its a good bill. I dont think the differences are that great. And we all agree that we have to have a bill. So that will work out. I think its going to be ok. Siobhan do you prefer the senate or the house approach to passthroughs, and define that for people, the sole proprietorships, partnerships l. L. P. s that are different from , corporations. Sen. Roberts i think yeah, i prefer the senate bill. I voted for it. And we can work very hard on it. That doesnt mean that were going to have major differences in the bill. I think were going to be ok. Siobhan where do you find the money to make some of the fixes that the house is demanding . So for example, the corporate alternative minimum tax, dealing with that is going to be very expensive. Its going to be very expensive to satisfy California Republicans and let people take either a property Tax Deduction or an income Tax Deduction. Where can that money come from . Sen. Roberts well, youre talking about offsets. Payfors. I think the answer to that is in the Economic Growth that is bound to happen when this bill passes. Thats to be worked out in conference. Im not a conferee, but im sitting on the sidelines ready to go in at any time. So ill just have to work that out. Philip well, one of the options is taking the corporate rate up from 20 , 21 , 22 . Sen. Roberts i dont think thats a good idea. I dont say its untouchable. It is like the tentpole. You dont want it shaking or the tent comes down. And thats where it is at 20 . Everybody knows that we have the highest corporate rate. Everybody knows that if were going to be successful in getting our Major Companies to come back, i think the estimate that the president keeps talking about is 4 trillion to come back into our economy. I think the 20 ought to stay. And we can work around that as best we can to address the problems, more especially the ones that youre talking about with the folks from california and new york and new jersey, etc. , etc. By the way, if they elected state legislators and governors that would cut the spending to begin with so they wouldnt have to write it off or have the opportunity to write it off on the federal tax return at the expense of states like kansas, i think it might be a good idea. Siobhan i want to talk about trade a little bit, senator, because i know this is one of the areas where you have been at odds with the trump administration. Do you see President Trumps views on trade as evolving at all, or do you see him as still somebody who could at any moment potentially pull the u. S. Out of nafta . Sen. Roberts lets hope the latter is not the case. Ive met with the president four times now, once for an hour. I think were going to come up with some more people involved in agriculture on the committee, and not necessarily on the ag committee, but people who are privileged to represent farm states. Every senator has some agriculture. So i think everybody should be concerned. Were in a bad patch. And by that, weve had low prices for three years, and weve had i dont know what weve done to mother nature, but she sure has not been kind to us with regards to hurricanes, prairie fires, whats happening now in california. Those are bad things that happen that we cant control. But we can control a robust, aggressive trade policy. And that is one issue where im concerned because with the white House Counsel on trade, which tends to be very ideological, they want 34 policy objectives in every trade bill. Thats not going to happen. Every trade bill ive been involved with has been overcriticized and has been oversold. But there is a sweet spot there. And in regards to nafta, mexico, canada, our exports are up over 250 over the last 10 or 15 years. Right now, mexico is buying wheat from brazil. They should be buying wheat from kansas. The kansas wheat market, with the wheat that we produce, and a lot of sitting on the ground, that should be going to mexico. I know the president wants to look at the unfair trade balance, but if you look at what we have done on the other side with regards to what we sell to people all around the world, we have to have a consistent trade policy. I think were getting there. Love lighthouses is our trade representative. He used to work for bob dole, he knows agriculture. I know him very well. When he came to the finance committee, the first thing to this me, now, senator, i know that youre going to ask me or tell me that you cant eat steel. We have to export things we make. We also have to export things we grow. We have a new outfit that just has come to life with a very fine member of the senate, very well respected, and max backus have come together with a new Organization Called farmers for free trade. I dont think you have to educate farmers, ranchers, growers, all their lenders, everyone up and down main street that benefits, you know, from agriculture. I think we know what we have to do. I issued a call to action before the u. S. Chamber of commerce some time ago. Were having meaningful dialogue with the administration. Secretary ross, but more especially the president. I know the president wants the best trade deals he can get. But in the meantime, dont do any damage to our trade policies, especially when we have to sell our product. Greta chairman roberts, where are you concerned with the current nafta negotiations . Where do you see problems . Sen. Roberts well, the problem is the trade deficit. But the trade deficit is very small if you look at the overall success of nafta. And i dont think we its like Humpty Dumpty. You dont push Humpty Dumpty off the wall because you cant put the pieces back together again. To start the termination effort, to start that clock, it would send shivers all throughout agriculture. You have to plan ahead in agriculture. You have to have predictability. You have to have stability. So all this talk about termination is very counterproductive. I just met with the president at the Christmas Party at the white house. I was one of the last ones before i could even say merry christmas, mr. President , he looked at me, put his thumb up and said were going to be all right on nafta. So well see. Weve had some long discussions. Many members have gone up and talked to the appropriate folks up in the white house. And i look forward to going up again. So im still optimistic were going to be ok. Philip you made reference to the white house trade council. There is clearly this tug of war thats been going on in the ande house, gary cohn other parts of the white house, more of a nationalist wing versus more free trade. Whats your sense of whos winning whos prevailing there , in terms of particularly on trade policy . Sen. Roberts well, we met with the white House Counsel on trade on the finance committee twice, once republicans, once bipartisan. And as ive indicated or if i havent indicated, ill say it now, the White House Council on trade is more of an ideological approach to trade, what would be the best possible, you know, trade agreement. I think they have 34 different policy objectives that theyd like to put in every trade bill. Thats just not possible. I mean, it isnt. And of the 34, there are several that i think members of congress on both sides of the aisle would object to. So i dont begrudge them that effort. I mean, if you could get a Perfect World and get a perfect trade bill, i think thats what theyd like to have. But thats just simply not possible. I dont think its a war. I think you said it was a war, but i dont think its a war. I think it is a needed dialogue to sit down and say what should be our best trade policy. And those of us in agriculture say, look, we have to have stability and predictability, while were doing this. Theyve had three meetings now with regards to nafta. They havent gone very well. And as a result, theres a lot of us that are worried that things could go on the down side. But im still optimistic that we will have a robust trade policy, again both with the things that we make and the things that we grow. Greta what does going on the down side mean . Sen. Roberts if you go on the down side, you terminate the agreement in an effort to get a better agreement. I just dont think that is realistic, and i think its very counterproductive with regards to our economy. And again, i would stress that weve been to all regions of the country. We meaning those of us on the ag committee. Senator stabenow and myself, first thing we do is sit down with farmers, and im talking about all of agriculture, whether its a farmer, rancher, grower, or people involved, the lending institutions, banks, cooperatives, so on and so forth. And its the entire food chain that is now concerned about this. That represents a lot of our economy. We have a tax bill thats going to stimulate the economy, and thats a good thing. You dont to want get into a situation to cause an even deeper recession. So i think those are the stakes, and we just have to make our voices heard. I have talked with secretary ross. Ive talked with the president. Well continue talking. Philip senator, really broader, beyond nafta, the administration has withdrawn the United States from the transpacific partnership, which a lot of segments in agriculture are very excited about. And theres been a threat to pull out of the korean agreement as well, though that hasnt been though thatot has not materialized. But do you see any signs of progress in terms of our trade policy . Sen. Roberts yeah, individually, we have a very reasonable discussion that we hear a lot of press reports from excellent writers like phil saying, whoa, wait a minute, somebody said this, or somebody said that, or theres evidence that this could happen. I just i dont see that. I think that once people become aware of the consequences of what would happen about what youre talking about, i think theyll pull back, and i think well have, again, a very strong and robust trade policy. The thing about south korea, i think that cage was rattled, and i dont think there was anything in the cage. So i dont think thats going to happen. I am concerned about that. When you have trade agreements that involve that many countries, and you plant the American Flag with regards to reliability, with regards to our trade, thats also a National Security asset. You start trading with people, show me a country that cant feed itself, and ill show you a country thats in utter chaos. American trade can do a lot of different things. We can feed a troubled and had hungry world. We can make our presense known in terms of a very reliable business partner. That helps with our whole National Security. I think the t. P. P. Those efforts were on the right track. I am very sorry that the president chose just to cancel that. Now, what he wants to do is go around to the same countries and agree and get a better trade agreement. Im all for efforts to get a better trade agreement, but i dont think you have to, you know, break it up first and then go in and try to get something better. Greta we have time for a couple more. Siobhan you had talked earlier about agriculture being in a tough spot. You talked about hurricanes. It occurred to me, i wonder if you see Global Warming as playing a role in any of these problems. And if so, if theres Something Congress should do. Sen. Roberts well, Climate Change has always happened. Farmers know that. Thats for sure. Go back in the 1950s, i can remember that, where we had a very dry period of years and we suffered through that. Everybody knows about the dirty 1930s. But we made so many conservation improvements that, you know, those kind of things, some could be very devastating, but we are much better able to control that. And we are in a period, i think, of Global Warming. I think the best source that i have ever been able to have the privilege of seeing is going to antarctica. They have an ice quarter, if you will, thats 9,000 feet of ice. And then you finally hit land. In that part of the world. And you can see, its like, you know, tree rings. And you can see during periods of time there has been Global Warming, and theres been global cooling. You know, were in that period. Siobhan im sorry, to be clear, because my question could have been more precise. Do you think that the production of gases like Carbon Dioxide and methane, heattrapping gases, are what is causing what you have labeled this period of Global Warming . Sen. Roberts well, i think theyre part of it, but i dont think thats the total answer. I know i asked the scientists, the top scientist down in antarctica some years back what would to happen if we were to pass the kyoto agreement with regards to carbon emissions, and also Global Warming, and he said its about zero point something. So i think we all have to work with regards to Climate Change, but in the doing of that, you dont want to put in a regulatory system from a cost benefit standpoint that doesnt make any sense. The United States has had a very good record with regards to emissions of carbon, and we are moving ahead with other sources of energy, probably faster than any other country. And so we are making progress along those fields, but lets do it in a rational way. Greta final question. Philip yeah, senator, looking ahead to the year coming year, democrats are saying with this increase in the deficit thats projected from the tax cut that republicans are going to be coming after social security, medicare, after the social safety net, food stamps, which is obviously under your jurisdiction in the agriculture committee. And speaker ryan over at the house said welfare reform is going to be a priority for them. Whats going to happen in the senate . Do you expect to consider cuts to any of those programs . Sen. Roberts well, number one, im happy you underscored the democrats are suddenly interested in the deficit. Thats something new. I think thats a good thing. We should all be concerned about that. I think you can offset that with Economic Growth with this tax bill. Now, i know what the speaker has said. Your entitlement programs are the major source of spending, even cutting out in terms of the top expenditure, and i think that we can achieve efficiencies. Talk about cuts or going after. I think you said going after. Nobody wants to go after anything. We want to make improvements. In particular, this program is the snap program is absolutely vital to the farm bill, absolutely vital to passing a farm bill. But weve seen just recently reports that weve been able to discuss in committee about states gaming the system. Thats got to stop. We want to protect the people who really need the food stamps, and by the way, that number of food stamps has decreased and expenditures have come down, so were making some progress. We can do more. But thats not were not going to block food grants in the senate. We dont have the votes to do it. But we can achieve efficiencies and some reform if you want to call it reform. But i dont anticipate something dire happening. In terms of social security, in terms of social security, medicaid and medicare and all the rest of these programs, i think you can achieve efficiencies, but were not going to go after those personally in terms of time, to pass the tax bill is number one. Number two, right after that, theres the c. S. R. Question with regards to people who may lose their insurance. Patty murray and Lamar Alexander on the Health Committee are also on that committee as well. They have a proposal that i think makes a lot of sense. Kansas would be probably 52,000, 58,000 people that may lose their insurance. That will not happen in terms of kansas because the Insurance Companies have already said what theyre going to do in terms of premiums. But i think we can make a step forward with that. Then we got to get a farm bill. And i know that the house is working hard on that, along with colin peterson, his democratic counterpoint. Senator stabenow and i, we get along. Last farm bill we did, i think we marked it up in one morning and several hours. Phil, i think you were there. On the floor, we got it done in two days. Thats when harry reid shut everything down. We got it done in two days and handled 63 amendments. We can do this. We are going to try to Work Together in early spring. January, february. We hope to have a blueprint together that both democrats and republicans can agree with. And then work with house members to see if we cant get something done. We have to get something done on behalf of the farmer and rancher and their lenders who say look, we have to have dependability, we have to have predictability so we are going to move. Philip are you confident you will have that farm bill passed by this Time Next Year . Sen. Roberts oh my gosh, yes there we passed it in good faith and we hit a brick wall in the house. There was concern about food stamps, dairy policy work , requirements and things like that and it sort of fell apart. It went on for three years. We extended the farm bill for three years. That was not we just cant do that, especially during this period where we are in the third year of a price depression and we have this trade policy that we have to get settled. We have to get a farm bill. This is no time to pass a revolutionary farm bill. You might call it evolutionary. If we can extend but we have and make some improvements and make some efficiencies, i think we can do that. Greta senator pat roberts, we have to leave it there. Republican of kansas and chair of the Agricultural Committee, thank you for being here. Sen. Roberts my pleasure. Thank you. Greta let me turn to my two reporters. You just heard the senator out quite the ambitious agenda for the remainder of this year and going into next year. What could hold that up . Look at overshadow that . What are the challenges there . Siobhan the big challenge that i see has to do with getting an omnibus spending bill passed in that could go along with that. For example, a lot of democrats are unwilling to pass a spending bill unless there is assistance for children who are brought to the country illegally. If democrats do not support that built in the house and you have some Freedom Caucus members balk, as well, the spending process could get stalled out. That is the big risk. The calendar is also a problem. It is an election year. If you do not get it done by july, it does not happen. There is a pretty compressed schedule and fin bank in even numbered year. There is a very important farm. Ill there are provisions in the senate bill that, because of the work, when the rules there is money that provides about 1 billion they do not have to come up with. Is actually they need to get that done before they move on. That is all of these things working together and they all have to fall into place. , when do we know the outcome of these nafta we do not know where we are going. Donald robert is right trump decide to pull america out of nafta. There probably would be a legal battle circuit is not clear whether he could do that automatically are not but that would have very confident that would be consequential. Canada and mexico are huge of markets. They cannot canada and mexico know that the farm lobby is extremely theuential in congress and white house can only go so far because anything canada and mexico have a lot of met leverage because there are a bunch of big markets for coin corn and soybeans and livestock products. There is a huge market in canada, as well. And mexico has an election next year. I will be a dynamic on their part, as well. We want to thank you both. Thank you for being part of newsmakers. Cspan, where history unfold daily. In 1979, cspan was created as a Public Service by americas cabletelevision companies and is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. At a recent rally in pensacola, florida, President Trump urged voters to support roy moore. Ahead of tuesdays special election the president also talked about tax Reform Efforts in congress and other work being done by his administration. This is one hour and a half. God bless the usa [cheers]