The first one, its tough. Obama lost 63 seats in 2010. Clinton lost 54 house seats in 1994. Even reagan in 1982 lost 28 seats answered started from a minority position. Theyre challenging. A good economy which were starting to see alleviates the dangers but its still a challenging environment, no oubt about it. You have 40 republicans stepping down or seeking other office . We saw one from new jersey just this week. So it is a challenging environment. In some ways having folks not tied to washington in the antid. C. Sentiment out there could be a good thing in some of these districts because theyre not tied to whats happening in washington. They could run as their first person. What race worries the most in terms of the house and senate, which one are you keeping a close eye on which could be the barometer for the mid term elections . If you look at some of the democrats 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. They clearly chose a more partisan bent over legislation that was going to be popular in their state. Let me turn to Maggie Simmons of politico. You figured out 80 seats you think all could be in play in november and its bigger than republicans and that would include some seats people think of as being pretty safe republican seats just thinking numberwise if there could be 80 of them. Can you tell me how you got to that 80 number and do you think its possible some other republican groups, republican lawmakers are maybe underestimating the threat to the house . I dont think theyre underestimating. When you talk to speaker ryan and others they know both the history and unique circumstances right now with the public skeptical of washington. I think thats healthy to have kept schism whichever party is in power. The 80 number we think right now there are 40 to 45 seats that are absolutely in play. History, if you think go about a to 2010, i think most people in january, 2010, there is probably 35, 40 democrat held seats in play. That number kept rising. It end up being almost to 100 by the time you got to the all. 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 race, 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 speaking of the special elections, do youof the recent democratic think some 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 ure 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. Ost 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 o 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 nd 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 upport 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. E 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. Host and numbers wise, how many 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 ill. That is an example of them latantly 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. Maggie 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 kochscaling back its reach. Network you talked about the spending target, but will you have the ame 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 have spent in 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 andit is more broader than politics, but 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 there are 14 states you are not covering. Are there concerns like, for example, california is one where you do not have members where there are some tough house races, some incumbents who are setting down. Stepping 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 olution 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 . Not just tv ads, but make a 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 o 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. We 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 and debt at all. 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. So both 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. We have urged them. Ok. 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. At least address medicaid, and 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 pending. Both parties have failed, i agree with you. Maggie lets stick with that 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 obvious the 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 back in 2011, 2012, when they had the house. They did the ryan budget. You remember those two budgets. To their credit, they addressed medicare and medicaid, reformed both, and they were good plans. They werent perfect. No budget is. It was gutsy. 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. The medicare stuff. The same old same old. It did not work. The share of the vote romney got 65 and older went up. The American Public is willing to listen 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. Do not see evidence of them doing it yet, but we urge them to do that. Nd again, the ryan budget in 2011 and 2012, generally reformed medicaid and medicare, and went up with 65 plus voters. Maggie and you are waiting into immigration, as that conversation gets started. This is the first time the koch network has look at federal immigration policy. You 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 provides a path for dreamers to have some certainty in their lives, which they deserve and need. We dont think there should be arbitrary cuts to the number of individuals allowed to come here. You can have a reasonable discussion, which our nation hould. 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. On the other side, between 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 left, it was a nuanced, 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. Democrats are horrified of their 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. Host 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 nsurgency. Are there candidates like a Chris Mcdaniel in mississippi or other challengers to incumbent republicans that are backing over a sitting senator in the Republican Party . Mr. Phillips over the years, e 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 focusing on 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 heller early last year on the health care legislation. Especially on the health care. But his effort on tax reform on the committee he was actually on finance, as you know, he played a crucial role in both helping craft the legislation and then standing tall on it. We actually held a town hall 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. We have not ruled any in or out. As far as incumbents go, were not looking. But we have definitely ruled in approaches in wisconsin with regard to senator baldwin and senator heitkamp, 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. Is there a when youre evaluating candidates, is there one mr. Phillips we said tax reform was our top priority. That will be the most pornt but we do look at other issues like spending in general. Criminal justice reform. That is an issue that folks may be surprised to hear we worked on. But we worked on it during the obama years. Members of our network reached out and dealt with holder and those in the Obama Administration on criminal justice reform. We 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 theyto beat their chest and say we want 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 reform. And these new judicial nominations on the senate side. This is the most federal judges confirmed for an Administration Since the 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. Thats something we really respect and were going to remember. Host tim phil lips, you dont phillips, you dont control the president s schedule, but barack obama had a limited schedule in the Midterm Elections. Is it helpful or hurtful 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. I watched that speech. It was effective. That is the message americans need to hear. I think the president made an effective case, and Vice 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 . Mr. Phillips i think its 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 year election. Theres always a snapback, a pushback from the electorate, regardless of who the president is. Maggie so it was a lot of news in 2016 when it became clear that the koch network was not going to support trump as he ran for election. Im wondering, looking after the big win on tax reform and after gorsuch which you were all very pleased with, is there any possibility heading into 2020 will be spending money to help the president of the reelection . Mr. Phillips that is a long way 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. Ets get through 2018. There is a lot of ball left to be played 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 all they accomplished on the economic front. Especially the appointments, the e. P. A. Appointments, interyoor appointments, the reform we have seen 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 . What american for pros parets 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. E do urge them to bring on 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 entitlement 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 omething 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. Nafta is crucial to our farmers and manufacturers there. Its a robust trade. I have been in texas. Ive been to the top exporting states. You have swing states, red states, blue states, but americans benefit from free trade. We hope the rhetoric on nafta tones down. We make sure that law stays in place because free trade is a good thing for our country. Host let me ask you about speaker ryan, because the question continues as to whether he will be speaker in 2019. Will he seek reelection . If he is reelected will he stay on as speaker . He has talked about entitlement reform is his priority this year. Mr. Phillips he checked off something he wanted to do for his whole time in public office, a genuine tax reform. He has wanted to do that from one of the first times i met him over a decade ago. The other thing he wanted to do was genuine entitlement reform. We have said that hey, that ryan budget from 2011, 2012, the medicaid and medicare reforms you had there, lets take a stab at mg similar to that. Updated it. I hope he stays around and serves because in many ways es 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 tim phillips, president for americans for prosperity. Thank you for being with us on newsmakers. We continue the conversation with maggie and bill. Bill, let me begin with you on daca and the immigration debate. Were reaching a deadline this week on funding the government and, of course, where this goes will determine what happens with the spending plan. What did you learn today and where is this heading on capitol hill . Bill well, i thought it was very interesting that tim phillips said they want daca split off from the rest of the of immigration proposal which is almost a nonstarter with the administration. Hey see this as a package. If you give up on daca, if you put out the 1. 8 million pathway to citizenship for people that were brought to this country when they were children, you do ot have any leverage to talk about chain migration or family reunification or visa lotries. I thought that was a very interesting point of conflict between the position of the koch network. And certainly there are other groups, the u. S. Chamber of commerce and others that want to see Immigration Solution that support republicans. Where this is going i think 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 the one hand you have the progressives who are really looking for this as an issue for 2020. You have moderates who are looking for a solution because theyre running in red states in 2018. I really do not have a crystal ball so i am not sure where this will be heading, but i have a feeling we will see we probably wont see the kind of shutdown we saw the last time. Although how this gets resolved its not certain. I mean, one of the big things was the Court Decision which delays the march 5 ending of he daca program which may give them some more breathing space which 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 . Bill so obviously i talked to one donor who said this is exactly not what the Republican Party needs right now. The fact your finance chair has been accused of sexual misconduct. They move very quickly for him to step down, report came out on friday he was gone on saturday. In terms how it will affect the Republican National committee, one of the things a lot of donors told me is that it was not just steve wynn thats proble responsible for the amazing fundraising the Republican Party had. They outraised the democrats 21 during 2017. They broke all records for an off year for the Republican National committee. If you look at chairwoman mcdaniels, she was involved in this, she made a lot of calls donors and bringing on todd rickets, the son who is active to big donors and super pacs. Addleson is a big supporter of some of the efforts they put together. He has the rolodex you need for this kind of a job. The thinking is it will not hurt fundraising that much with the team that chairwoman mcdaniels has at the r. N. C. Host you asked about the Uneasy Alliance between the Koch Brothers and president trump. Where is that and where do you see that going . Maggie yeah. Thats an interesting relationship that you can only we arent in the white house with tim and the koch folks and the president but they didnt like we talked about in the interview, they did not support trump in 2016 but since then have really 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 the koch network has wanted for 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 a 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 with a half minute left. 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. You know, there needs 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 for reelection in 10 states trump won, and so, you know, i think that the unease around the senate is if they cant pick up many seats this year and if they lose nevada where dean heller is defending his seat, that leaves them in a tough position going into 2020 when they are going to be more vulnerable republicans. So the senate this year, its really about trying to hold the line and 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 also, you know, republicans are in a pretty good position right now. They have majorities in both chambers of congress. We will have to see. Host Maggie Severns of olitico, bill alison of Bloomberg News. Thank you for being with us on cspans newsmakers. U. S. House about to start legislative work momentarily. Nine bills on the agenda for today, including one that would provide military assistance, expediting military sales to jordan. Also a bill taking up preventing russian cyberattacks, assisting ukraine in doing that. Votes later on this evening at 6 30 p. M. Eastern. Also a republican meeting at 7 00 eastern to talk about the upcoming deadline. The current shortterm spending measure expires this thursday at midnight. So the house and senate will have to pass another one. The senate in this afternoon as well. You can follow coverage over on cspan2. And the house, next, here on cspan. Purget to clause 8, rule 20, the chair will postponefurther proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded for the the yeas and nays are ordered are ordered. All votes object jeggetted to clause 6, rule 20, the house will postponequestions at a later time