Yeah. A good economy, which we are starting to see, it alleviates the dangers. But it is still a challenging environment for republicans. There is no doubt about that. And you now have more than 40 House Republicans who are either seeking another office or stepping down this year . Mr. Phillips right. Those are high numbers. You saw another one in from new jersey just this past week. It is a challenging environment. In some ways, having folks not tied to washington and the antid. C. Sentiment that is out there right now could be a good thing in some of these districts, actually, because they are not tied to what is happening in washington and they can run as their own person. Host what race worries you the most in terms of the house or the senate . Which one are you keeping a close eye on . It could be the barometer for the Midterm Elections. Mr. Phillips when you look at some of the democrats who are up in the senate, we will find out if heitkamp and donnelly and mccaskill can be so partisan, vote against the tax cuts, and still make it. Im really interested to see what happens there, because they clearly chose a more partisan bent over legislation that was going to be more popular in their states, so im interested in those seats. Host lets turn to Maggie Severns of politico. Maggie tim, over the weekend you laid out this figure that there are 80 seats that you all think could be in play by november, and that is a big number, bigger than a lot of republicans have guessed. And that would include some seats that people would think of as probably being pretty safe republican seats. Numberswise, can you talk about how you got to the 80 number and do you think it is possible that some of the republican groups and republican lawmakers are maybe underestimating the threat to the house . Mr. Phillips i do not think they are underestimating. We talked to speaker ryan and others. They know both the history and the unique circumstances right now with the public being skeptical of washington. And by the way, i think it is a good thing to have some healthy skepticism about whatever party is in power, but i dont think they are underestimating it. The 80 number, we think right now there are 4045 seats that are absolutely in play. But we do think that number will rise. History, i do not need keep going back to that if we think about 2010, i think most people in january of 2010 at have said there were 35, 40 democrat held seats in play. That number kept rising and it ended up being almost to 100 by the time we got to the fall. So i think it is a prudent thing to assume that when you look at some of the special elections, the Wisconsin State Senate race that concluded a week or so ago, it was a troubling thing. There is no way around that. But republicans would be wrong to do anything but look at that raise, look at the virginia margin on the governors race. It was not surprising to see gillaspie lose. Virginia is trending a bit blue. We all know that. But the margin, nine points, that was significant. The left is energized right now. I think it is important to it knowledge it, and and understand ways you can work on it. Maggie and do you think some of the recent democratic victories are there missteps you have seen republicans take . We have seen democrats win several times, where do you think or do you think there needs to be any kind of course correction or different strategy Going Forward to make sure republicans keep the house . Mr. Phillips i think it is important to extol the benefits of what happens or what the tax cuts and tax reform bill are doing for the country. And also, the positive impact of getting rid of so many of the obamaera and some bushera regulations and red tape that stifled opportunity and growth. And frankly, they led to a decade in which we never had a year with plus 3 growth, which was devastating. Host bill allison . Bill so at the donors summit, it was announced that charles and david koch, and the network they have put together will be spending 400 million in this cycle at all levels, and they have spent some money and your group has been out promoting things like the republican tax plan and some of the issues in washington. How much of that total has already been spent and how much are you going to be targeting house races in the midterms in terms of the dollar figure . Mr. Phillips you make a great point. That number includes both 2017 and 2018. You are exactly right. And it also includes policy efforts. So we announced roughly up to a 20 million, maybe more effort to explain the benefit of the tax bill that passed to the american people. So it is not just the politics, it is also involving a lot of policy. That is an important point. And we probably spent 35 , 40 of that in 2017. So it is important that is a twoyear number, and it also includes statelevel efforts as well, with the state level and gubernatorial, both electoral and policy fronts. Bill are there other agenda items you will be pushing a policy realm Going Forward . Obviously we have immigration coming up, the infrastructure bill. Are there other issues you will be promoting in addition to spending on the elections and state and local, as well as federal . Mr. Phillips we are encouraged by the president s right to Try Initiative he talked about on the healthcare front. We have supported efforts like that at the state level, and that could be one of the bipartisan approaches. Because i think that arizona , we supported efforts there that were successful to allow right to try for terminally ill americans, and there is some bipartisance. But i really hope americans and i hope democrats will look at that. It is important. It is genuinely not a partisan thing. The infrastructure you mentioned is important. We want to make sure it doesnt end up looking like the obama stimulus of 2009, which did nothing. It was not shovel ready, it it was just a bunch of giveaways. Frankly, to corporations more than anything else and other groups. We want to make sure it is not devolve into that. Host can i take a step back and ask about the connection between americans for prosperity and charles and david koch . Mr. Phillips sure. Host what is the connection . Mr. Phillips david is the chairman of the foundation, the americans for prosperity foundation, and charles is key leader in the Broader Network that americans for prosperity, both the c4 and c3, are part of. Absolutely. We are proud to have their support and help and everything else. Host where do you see yourselves in terms of the rnc and other outside groups trying to help in this Midterm Election . Mr. Phillips the partys job is to get the candidates elected and reelected, and our job is to advance policies. So we look at candidates if they are not with us on most of our issues, then we do not help them with republican, democrat, we focus on the policies. So for example, in the last cycle we decided not to help out with senator kelly ayotte in new hampshire, because on our issues, she was not a champion. We stayed out of that race. She ended up losing by a couple thousand or so votes. Their job is to elect every party, regardless of policy or philosophy. Our job is to advance policy, and so if candidates do not align, we do not help them. Many and numbers wise, how are you helping this year, roughly . Mr. Phillips we have not made any final decisions, but we are looking at the 10 democrats on the senate side who represent states that trump carried. They are not voting with the folks in their states. I mentioned earlier heitkamp, donnelly, and mccaskill on the tax cut bill. That is an example of them blatantly choosing partisanship over what is best for the states, and i think it will be held accountable in an effective way on that front. Host have you ever supported a democrat . Mr. Phillips we have on the state level. There have been some good freemarket champions over the last decade or so. And at the federal level, we would love to. We were genuinely hoping senator manchin or senator donnelly or heitkamp, who talked a good game at the beginning of this year we were hoping, and reached out and said guys, support this tax reform, support some of the cra work, rolling back or getting rid of regulations using the congressional review act, and they have not done that and it has been disappointing. You had asked about the structure of the network, and i know you have that big 400 million plan for the midterms. Last cycle, there was some talk about and some reports of the h networkork koc scaling back its reach. You talked about the spending target, but will you have the same staff and scope with the various groups that are part of the network that are similar to 2014 or other past elections . Mr. Phillips we announced we are spending 60 more than we any 16 election cycles, and we will be spending more on any midterm in our networks history. Networks history. This involves expanding our efforts into politics and the policy arena, and i know you were at one of our seminars. We are it copperheads of network. There are elements that work to alleviate poverty, joblessness at the higher level. That is one of the misconceptions about our network. We do policy and policies, but it is more broader than that. Maggie and in terms of boots on the ground in this cycle, you are proud of having grassroots chapters across the country. Will you have a similar or greater number of people doing that on the groundwork, or will the money go towards television and that kind of funding . Mr. Phillips we have spent years building field staff, field offices, and volunteers. In florida, we have 13 field offices from the panhandle today county in south florida. That makes us unique on our side. We do television and radio, and have already done some of that this cycle, but what makes us the most effective operation on our side is that infrastructure. It is hundreds of staff, thousands of volunteers. Host bill allison of Bloomberg News . Bill you said you are active in 36 states . Mr. Phillips yes sir. Bill are there concerns california is one where you do not have members where there are some tough house races, some incumbents who are setting down. Is it a problem not having the network and some of these areas and is it something you would like to expand in the future . Mr. Phillips we have thought about that, and we only get involved in a political solution when situation when two criteria are met. As a candidate align closely with us on key issues . And do we have an infrastructure to make a difference . Make at tv ads, but difference. We are not in california, we are not in new york state, we are also not in alabama, which is more of a red state. We talked about it. We want to make sure when we go to a state, we can move the needle. Those are states we do not feel like we are ready to move into yet. Bill one of the issues that did not come up in the state of union the Union Addresses the rising deficit. The president is calling for 1. 5 trillion in infrastructure spending. Is that an issue your organization has or will address . Mr. Phillips absolutely. ,e are concerned about spending and we were deeply disappointed during the years the republicans have the congress, even though it was president obama, who did not care about deficit. They blew through the spending caps. We held republicans accountable and called them on it. It was disappointing. The years we had sequestration held the spending in place. It was not perfect, but it did that. Republicans have failed on spending, and they are still failing on spending. They need to get to a regulated budget. They absolutely should. There is no excuse to have the house and the senate, for several years, and not have a regular order budget. We criticize harry reid, and rightly so, when he and nancy pelosi failed to have the budget when they were in power, but republicans did the same thing. It is a failure of both parties. When we look at history, we believe that tax cuts and lowering rates stimulates Economic Activity and increases revenues to cycle lower rates. We saw that with the kennedy cuts, the reagan cuts, and in the bush cuts in 2001 and 2003, in a time of war. Parties have failed miserably on spending. You are exactly right. Host we sought with george w. Bush and the republicans controlling the house, senate, and the white house, and the gop is not addressing it. Mr. Phillips and they need to. But you are saying Social Security and medicare is off the table. At least address medicaid, which is a third key entitlement, though generally it is not. 7 million americans are on medicaid, which we believe is a failure of obamacare. Medicaid, andss we have urge them even now, this year, lets take some reforms and try to find a Better Service to americans on medicaid, and get a handle on spending. Both parties have felt it. Failed. Thate lets stick with idea, because i have heard some rumblings about different areas where you think there could be an opportunity for entitlement reform this year, which is obviously a hot button issue and one republicans are nervous to address heading into an election. Can we talk about the different areas of entitlement reform you be urging lawmakers to take up . Mr. Phillips medicaid. With paul ryan was budget chair , 2012, when they had the house. They did the ryan budget. Addressedredit, they medicare and medicaid, reformed both, and they were good plans. They did it, they passed it through the house, everyone knew it would die in the senate with harry reid. It was important that they did that document. When paul ryan gets picked as vp, the left jumped all over that. It did not work. The vote on 65 and older went up. The American Public is willing at this point on entitlement and spending reform. At a minimum, medicaid. Block granting it to the states, letting them experiment will provide Better Services and save dollars. Maggie and you think it is a feasible policy for republicans to tackle this year . Mr. Phillips i wish they would. I do not see evidence of them doing it yet, but we urge them to do that. And again, the ryan budget in 2011 and 2012, generally reformed medicaid and medicare, and went up with 65 plus voters. Intoe and you are waiting immigration, as that conversation gets started. This is the first time the koch network has look at federal immigration policy. Are to forget from different from republicans who are hoping to severely curtail future immigration. Can you talk about how you are wrote approaching that, specifically when it comes to the trumpet minister nation and the markers they are laying down. Do you see space to work with them . How will you approach this question of whether they will curtail immigration in the future . Mr. Phillips we applauded the president s proposal and immigration after it came out. It was thoughtful and it tovides a path for dreamers have some certainty in their lives, which they deserve and need. There should be arbitrary cuts to the number of individuals allowed to come here. You can have a reasonable discussion, which our nation should. We would hope it with that meant out the dreamers, which is a different area. There is a timeframe, march, that is there. Get that done. , betweenher side allowing reasonable approaches to familybased immigration versus the very Real Security and job fields, those are only reasonable debates to have, but hold them separately. There is a time, and deadline, timeframe for the dreamers. We have said that. Those in an ad hominem fashion attacking the president on immigration, certainly from the a nuanced,s thoughtful program and deserves better than nancy pelosi and the others have called it. Bill in meetings with reporters, the president said by putting that one in 8 million number out there, they essentially boxed in the democrats. They were surprised that the number was so high. Did you sense the same thing . Mr. Phillips i think the president put them in a box by providing a pathway for dreamers. It is like the democrats do not want to accept yes for an answer. They are so afraid of their own hard left base, the indivisible folks, the resistance folks. Of their are horrified base and are scared of their own shadow when it comes to the hard left the hit the president. They will not take they do not want to take yes for an answer, even on Something Like the president s approach to dreamers. Switching back to electoral politics. You talked about getting the right kind of candidates and, and we know that early we had the situation in alabama, with luther strange, and an insurgency. In there candidates like mississippi or other challengers to incumbent republicans that are backing over a sitting senator in the Republican Party . The years, weover have stayed out of the primaries almost completely. There were a couple of exceptions in the North Carolina house race. We had an egregious house member there in the last cycle. Other groups do that, and that is not really the advancement we bring to the table. Bill and you mentioned some of the senate races, that you were are there incumbent republicans, like in nevada, where you are also thinking of supporting candidates . Mr. Phillips we have not yet ruled out or ruled in individual republicans. We were deeply disappointed with senator a senator last year on the health care legislation. His effort on tax reform on the committee it was on the finance he played a crucial role in both helping craft the legislation and then standing tall on it. We held accountable we held a meeting with him this saturday afternoon after the final big vote on the senate side. So that was important for us with regards to senator heller. As far as incumbents go, were not looking. But we have definitely ruled and approaches in wisconsin with regard to senator baldwin and senator heit kamp, donnelly, and mccaskill who are so bipartisan at this so partisan at this point. Bill you mentioned the tax plan and the health care vote. When you are evaluating candidates, what mr. Phillips we said tax reform was our top priority. We do look at other issues, like spending in general. Criminal justice reform. That is an issue that folks here be surprised two we have worked on. But we worked on it during the obama years. Many of our members reached out to the Obama Administration on criminal justice reform. ,e think that is a pathway there is a pathway for passage on the federal side. There is some bipartisan support and we are urging that. Sometimes her public and want to beat their chest and say we want to be tough on crime. You are not being tough on crime. Instead, you are being tough on taxpayers and not helping to alleviate the crime problem when you take an antireform approach to criminal justice. Judicial new nominations on the presence of side. This is the most federal judges confirmed Foreign Administration since the next in years nixon years. I believe that is accurate. We think Mitch Mcconnell and cornyn and those guys deserve a lot of credit for the gorsuch confirmation. They moved quickly and got it through in the face of very nasty opposition from the left. Host in the you dont control the president s schedule, but barack obama had a limited schedule in the Midterm Elections. His is it helpful larval to have donald trump on the campaign trail in october and november . Mr. Phillips he was an effective advocate in the state of the union. It was effective. That is the message americans need to hear. I think the president made an , and vicecase president pence in West Virginia. Bill, you mentioned West Virginia . He was an effective advocate there. He was in pittsburgh friday night. On this issue, they have shown they are effective. Host but he did not campaign in virginia for the governors race or in alabama . I think it is most effective when an administration campaigns on the policy, because the history of any president being able to stem the tide in an off year is not as good, especially the first off your election. Off year election. There is always a pushback from the electorate, regardless of who the president is. So it was a lot of news in 2015 when it became clear the koch network was not going to support trump as he ran for election. Looking after the big win on tax reform and which gorsuch, which you were all very please with, is there any possibility heading into 20 20 will be spending money to help the president of the reelection . Long wayips that is a down the road. We have 2018 on the policy front and 2019 on the policy front. Maggie but you are not ruling it out on this point . Mr. Phillips we have not even discussed 2020. Lets get through 2018. There is a lot of ball to be everywhere, and a 2019, i will say this president had one of the most productive years for president on actually broadening opportunity and genuine freedom of any president in a generation, going back to reagan. That is how good a year this president has when you look at how much it cost on the economic front. Especially with the epa appointment, interior appointment, and the reforms we are seeing there that have given Energy Independence they had a really good first year. That was impressive. Bill talking to a donor who told me he did not support donald trump in 2016 last summer, a member of the network said if i had known he was going to govern like this, i would have supported his candidacy in 2016. Where are the big areas you think he has fallen short of where the networks priorities are . Mr. Phillips they have done so much good in the first year. I want to be careful to criticize, because they have done a really great job. To bring onhem entitlement reform and to start rolling back spending, because that is so important for the country. Tax cuts are crucial. They did that, and it is the best tax cut in a generation. More so, i think, even in some ways better than the 1986 tax reform that led to so much economic growth. But we would urge them to generally rethink the timeline for reform. Even though we are having economic growth, thankfully, we are on a path to bankruptcy if we do not make some dramatic changes. That is an important thing they could do. Some of the rhetoric on trade is worrisome. We think free and open trade is something that is crucial for prosperity, and the longterm health for our nation. Also the world. It has been good for our nation. Nafta has been so good. I was in wisconsin a couple of weeks ago. Farmers crucial to our and manufacturers there. Pve been to the to exporting states. You have swing states, red states, blue states, but americans benefit from free trade. We want to make sure that stays in place, because freetrade is a good thing for our country. Me ask you about speaker ryan, because the question continues as to whether he will be speaker in 2019. If reelected, will he stay on as speaker . He has talked about entitlement reform is his priority this year. Offphillips he checked something you has wanted to do for his whole time in public office, a genuine tax reform. Froms wanted to do that one of the first times i met him over a decade ago. Beyondng he wanted to do that is genuine entitlement reform. We have said that hey, that ryan budget, medicare and medicaid reforms that you had lets take a stab at something similar. We have updated it. I hope he stays around and serves, because in many ways, he has done a good job in difficult circumstances. I wonder if he knows what he is going to do. I think he is maybe still thinking it through. Host ted phillips, president for americans were prosperity. Thank you for being with us on newsmakers. We continue the conversation billl Allen Allison and maggie severance. We are reaching the deadline on funding the government, and where this goes will depend on what determine what happens with a spending plan. Where is this having . Bill i thought it was interesting that tim phillips said that they would like to see daca split off from the rest of the immigration proposal, which is almost a nonstarter with the administration. They see this as a package. Daca, if youp on put out the 1. 8 million citizenship for people that were brought to this country when they were children, you do not have any leverage talk about things like chain migration or family reunification or visa lotterys. I thought that was a very interesting point of conflict between the position of the koch network. And there are other solutions that generally report republic support republicans. This is awfully hard to say. We have a president who has been unpredictable on the issue. We have democrats who are in some ways on one hand, we have the progressives, who are really looking at this is an issue for 2020. You have moderates, who are looking for a solution because they are running in red states and 2018 in 2018. I do not have a crystal ball. I am not sure where this will be heading, but i have a feeling we will see you probably will not see the kind of shutdown that we did the last time, or how this gets resolved is not certain. One of the big things is that there is a local Court Decision endinglays the march 5 of the daca program, which gives them more breathing space, and it seems like they will need that to figure it it out. Host your beat includes campaignfinance. How significance was this replacement, and death the replacement of steve wynn and the allegations he is now facing . Not what the Republican Party needs right now. The fact that your finance chair has been accused of sexual misconduct. They moved very quickly for him to step down. The report came out on friday, he was gone on saturday. In terms of how it will affect the Republican National committee, one thing a lot of donors told me is that it was not just steve when that was responsible for the amazing fundraising with the Republican Party. One during two to 2017. They broke all records for an off year for the Republican National committee. Chairwoman at mcdaniels, she was involved in us, made a lot of calls to donors. And bringing on top rickets, who is thed rickets, son of some big donors to super pacs. Charles and addled it is a big supporter of some of the efforts they put together. He has the rolodex you need for this kind of a job. It will not is hurt fundraising that much with the team at the rnc. About the Uneasy Alliance between the Koch Brothers and President Trump. Where do you see that going . Maggie that is an interesting relationship that you can only we are not in the white house, but we talked about in the interview they did not support trump in 2016, but they have found several areas where they align pretty well with the white house. Tax reform was huge for them. They moved pretty much in lockstep with folks in the white house and were in their meeting all the time with them, and it got a huge policy change that forkoch network has wanted a long time. At the same time, we talked about immigration. They are clearly trying to nudge republicans and the white house on their approach to dealing with the daca deadline that is coming up. There are still areas where i think you see that they are not quite sure trump is not someone you want to anger. He is someone who takes to twitter and will publicly attack you on the internet within minutes of conversation. You can kind of see them trying to stay friendly with the white house, trying to build this relationship that they have. But there are areas where there are real differences between the policy they would like and what we see coming out of the white house. Host and very quickly it is early february. A lot will happen between now and november, but how worried are republicans about the house and the senate . Maggie on the house, i would say they are pretty worried. 30 to be a lot of seats that change hands in order for democrats to take the house. And i think a lot of people still feel like it is in good hands because of the sheer advantage republicans have right now. In the senate, republicans are on offense in a lot of states. Democrats are up in reelection in 10 states trump won, and i think the neds is if they cannot pick up many seats this year and if they lose nevada, where dean heller is defending his seats, that leaves them in a tough position going into 2020, when they will be more vulnerable to republicans. The senate is about trying to hold the line and to hopefully increase it a little bit so that in three years or two years, the senate is not about to flip back into democratic hands. There are concerns there, but republicans are in a pretty good position right now. They have majorities in both chambers of congress. We will have to see. Maggie severns of politico, bill allison of bloomberg. Thank you for being with us on cspans newsmakers. Years, in depth on book tv has featured the nations bestknown nonfiction writers for life conversations about their books. A special project, we are featuring bestselling fiction authors for our month the program indepth fiction edition. Join us live today at noon eastern with colson whitehead, author of the 2016 the bestselling novel bestselling novel the underground railroad. Ownther books include one, sag harbor, and the traditionalist the institutionalist. Join us were book tv on cspan two. Tonight on q a, author bill james talks about his book the man from the train, in which she investigate one of the deadliest serial killers in american history. Many times, it happened within 100 yards of the Railroad Tracks. In one of the things that helps us identify his crimes as opposed to somebody elses is it usually happened at the intersection of two Railroad Tracks. At the intersection of two Railroad Tracks presumably because he knew he had to get out. After he committed his crime, he had to get out of town before dawn. And he did not want to be stranded there waiting for a train to come through that he could hop on. So being at the intersection of multiple Railroad Tracks gave him more opportunity to get out of town before the crime was discovered. Host tonight at 8 00 eastern on cspans q a. On tuesday, President Trump delivered his first state of the Union Address to a joint session of congress in the House Chamber of the u. S. Capital. This is 90 minutes. [applause] the president of the United States of america