Nights debate with democratic president ial candidates. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for being here. Andre really excited energized, in terms of what we are doing in our retreat. We had a great evening last night with President Trump and i think you really saw the contrast in particular with the fact that the events were going on at the same time, the contrast between the president , the accomplishments we have seen in the last three years, all across the board, from the economy, which is growing at a historic race pace. Unemployment which is down at historic levels. Unemployment for women and africanamericans and hispanics. For women and africanamericans and hispanics. Across the board, you have seen regulatory reform, you have seen the effort which has been crucially important to rebuild the military. A long list of accomplishments, the defense of life by this president. The appointment of judges to the bench, who will defend the constitution. You have seen that. We had the opportunity to talk about that last night. The opportunity to talk about where we are headed in 2020. While that was going on, you had the democrats on the debate stage, in a situation where i think, frankly, one of the most concerning moments that came out of the debate that had a lot of concerning moments was when one of them announced that he was in fact going to advocate confiscating peoples firearms. I think you will continue to see a clear contrast between the Democratic Party, that is absolutely in the throes of , a Democratic Party that wants to expand the role of government in our lives. Are they going to choose the true fraud of socialism or, are they going to be in a position where they choose to continue the kind of successes where we have seen that we have seen during the trump presidency. We know that when people go into the polling booth and make those choices, we will be in a position where we are able to take back the house. We will keep the senate. We know we are going to get the president reelected. We are excited about where we are headed today. We have Vice President pence and secretary pompeo coming to speak with us. I know that our leader is going to talk about some of our Breakout Sessions where we will be focused on the future. We look forward to a good day in baltimore and a great 2020 cycle coming up. With that, i will turn things over to mr. Scullys. Scalise thank you, liz. You have done a good job of putting this retreat together at an exciting time. Our members always get invigorated when we hear President Trump come and talk with us about the things that we have done together and the even bigger things we can do together when we get the majority back. And this conference retreat, especially, is one of the more visionary that we have had. We were in the majority, working with President Trump. We got some big things done. The president talked about the results of those big things last night. Just how great this economy is doing. The president focused a lot of time talking about how america has the hottest economy in the world right now. It did not happen by accident. It happened because of conservative policies. Because we cut taxes for every income level. In fact, what are the results of those tax cuts . And, the regulatory relief that we brought in. We now have the lowest unemployment levels in so many different board demographics. Lowest unemployment level for hispanics in the history of our country. Do you know that today, on average, every single day on average, more than 1800 women start businesses. Ownedabout that, women businesses at historically high levels. 1800 women owned businesses being started every single day in america because of this incredible economy that were we created. For whatever reason, every single democrat chose to oppose these policies when we were passing them through. Future, you look to the the things we will be talking about at this retreat, like putting together a Better Health care plan for america, the biggest problem is that Health Care Costs too much. The democrats answer is to go the other way. They are not satisfied with obamacare. They want what they call, medicare for all, which means the elimination of more than 180 million private Health Insurance plans. 20 million americans who enjoy medicare advantage, they eliminate that as well. What we want to do, we know what is going to happen, you will have longer lines, higher cost for health care. American people dont want that. They want us to focus on lowering costs, giving them more choice and protecting people with preexisting conditions. That is what the president talked about last night. That is what we stand for. That is what we want to implement when we get the majority next year, which we will. When the you what, president introduced our two members of congress will be sworn in, to see those wins in north carolina, and especially how President Trumps influence played a role in increasing turnout. A higher turnout than we had last year. It is much closer to the turnout we will see when President Trump will be on the ballot with us. Districts that we lost, President Trump wanting 2016 and i think he will do better in them in 2020. Enthusiasm for the president s policies. You see a real enthusiasm for moving away from socialism that the democrats are trying to go toward and working with republicans to get bigger things done. The person who is leading us in that charge, our leader, kevin mccarthy. Thank you, steve. I want to acknowledge, 205 yeas , for mckinley in baltimore. The war of 1812. We were outnumbered. We are fighting were fighting for the same things we are fighting for today. Liberty. On thettle took place second day, september 14, they lowered the small american flag. The big american flag. Why . It was a sign of patriotism. Francis scott key witnessed that and wrote what became the starspangled banner. That was 205 years ago, today. Be aattles we have may little different. The theme is the same. How do we bring more freedom and liberty to this country . How do we fight tyranny . I watched last nights democratic debate. I was able to do that after the president spoke because it was still going. Two things of interest to me. I never heard impeachment,. And i never heard them talk about the economy. The strongest economy of the last 50 years. And no discussion. I think part of that reason why the economy is so strong, the democrats did not have that much to do with it. They were able to compete around the world. Some things they wanted to get done, like immigration reform, not one democrat would vote for a. The president had a lot to talk about his successes, coming up in his third year. He also talked about the accomplishments and what we need to accomplish coming going forward. That is what this retreat will be about. The Vice President will be here at lunch. We will have mike pompeo at dinner. We will have Breakout Sessions in between. Going through from russia, china , the new technology from the environment. We have Household Workforce and others. We are looking forward to filling on a very exciting first night at the retreat and growing into a majority as well. Any questions and comments, i know i missed you yesterday. Go right ahead. The number of seats the republicans lost in the midterm were not lost on policy but on tactics such as ballot harvesting and other things. How have House Republicans tuned up to take advantage of these new tactics going into 2020. . There were election law changes. A couple of places you want to look to, in maine, they changed how you vote for federal office. You not only pick one person, there are two congressional seats in maine. The republicans have one of them. If they did, they dropped the last person to vote for the first vote. Craziest thing i have ever heard. In california, they changed the election law, a lot of people voted by absentee. Te by absentee, you signed the ballot and someone returns a, either you or the immediate family. They pulled up your envelope, they looked at your signature, they have certain people in there that have gone to scroll the handwriting, they pull up your Voter Registration and check to make sure that it was you when they open your ballot. They took that away. No longer do you have to sign it. People can come to your door and pick your ballot up. We found that even in a case like david, where the day after the election, he was ahead by six percentage points, a few weeks later, he lost by less than 900 vote. Or, young kim, we found a few weeks later, it changed. Went about doing it because they are trying to control california and change course there. To go out. E i dont believe it is healthy for elections where other people are picking up your balance. Is inhat is what the law california. We had a supervisor in orange county, a large district, republicans picked up that seat. It was strong. We walked through this yesterday on some of the races we have going forward, you have 41 districts that democrats currently sit in, that donald trump carried. 13 of them, he carried by more than six points. We are swearing in two new members next week. 19 seats to to win be the majority. Fewer than the democrats one before. Less than 107,000 votes determine whether we are in the minority or the majority. It is much closer than anybody looks at. When you sit and look at where the economy is today, and you stats, andome of the to steve about women working today and every nationality improving. I dont really think President Trump is going to carry those 31 but much more. Yes, sir . Do you have any more details on what discussions are, what it might look like, when you may come up with a plan . The president talked about this. This is something that kevin brady has been working about on. How do we continue to keep america competitive . How do we continue to raise the middleclass and make them stronger with the challenges of college and others . One of the sessions we will talk about the cost of college. This is something the president has near and dear to his heart, the economy. He promised he would make america stronger and that is exactly what he has done. He wants to continue to grow with that. Yes, sir. Candidates mentioned impeachment. And you talked about the 31 district. Did the candidates talk about impeachment . Know, why would you want to impeach the president . I mentioned that because of the contrast of the house. There was a poll that came out, it pulled them a credit voters. Democratic voters know more about investigations then they can name one thing the democrat majority in congress has accomplished. I think that is a sign that democrats in congress have a problem. What are those 31 going to mention for why they should be reelected . Are they going to say they should be reelected because they voted jerry nadler the chairman because he promised he would be the best person for impeachment . Can that committee not run properly, the leadership doesnt know what the committee is doing. They cant even determine whether they are working on impeachment or not. It is an embarrassment. When i read the headlines come again, no one could contrast what is happening in the committee. There is so much a challenge along the border, he is not going to have a hearing on it. The Inspector General investigation of this Judicial Department and he wont even bring them into ask them a question of what he found . [indiscernible] the democrats are making it an issue and i think is the wrong issue for them to talk about. A handful of members are announcing retirement and will not seek election. What do you say to a member who is considering retirement, what is your pitch to get them to stay . Each retirement is different. I am not concerned about retirement. The only retirement i was concerned about was wilbert. That was a tough see. He is an exceptional person. Every two years, we will have people retire on both sides. Susan davis announced retirement on the democratic side, i served with her. I will miss her. Ted poe is retiring. I love ted poe. I never knew this man named dan crenshaw but i got to know him. He is doing an exceptional job. Talkched josh stand up and about how he has been on the ballot since 1988. It is time to go do something else. He said you know what . Putnt have 100 percent to into when the majority again. Susan winter, more than 42 years, not one seat outside of hers and my worried about losing. I look at seats we lost last time, lets look at houston, this is george bush furry ones 41s seat. I met this guy named wesley hunt. He is a graduate of west point. He is not the only person in his family to graduate west point. His sister reggie waited 10 years before him. His brother his sister graduated 10 years before him. His brother graduated one year after him. He is married with his daughter and says you know, i thought for freedom in other parts of the world. Now, i think i have to make sure i defend them here at home. He entered the race. We did a poll. He is in the lead. Look at young kim, born in south , one last time but they changed the rules. She outraised her opponent. You look at polls and she is in the lead. Numerous points after the other. One thing that happens, if you want to continue to be able to be the very best, new individuals with new ideas and new energy is what really we need. I thank those who have served our country. They will continue to be our friends. They will continue to serve their country as well, just in another capacity. Yes, sir. A the president did not say whole lot about guns and the Second Amendment night. A two part question. When do you expect him to make his feelings on this, what should be done, no . Second question, you watched the debate last night, you saw beto orourke say heck yes, we are going to take your ar15s and ak47s. He used other words than you, but yes. Just your reaction to that and what are the remicade ramifications of democrats embracing that concept . I dont know what he said about buyback, i think he said they will take it from you. He used different language than most people would use. The president looks at a problem and will try to find a solution. Stopyou look at the bump that the Obama Administration put in, trying to solve those problems. The president is getting information from law enforcement, from legal communities, from barr and others. He is meeting with members on both sides of the aisle. He will come forward with a package soon, i expect. He wants to gather all the information first and make sure whatever we do moving forward solves the problem and that none of this happens again. Yes. I was wondering if you might be able to weigh in on the tort twitter feud you have had with rand paul. Enjoyed it. I thought it was an enlightening exchange. Here, i have been thinking the senate is dull. No, i think there are key issues at the heart of that disagreement. Those are important issues for us to be debating, for us to be discussing. They are issues that surround whether or not you put america first, as President Trump does as rand paul does and has for years. I think if you go back and look at senator pauls record, he has blamed america, among other things, for world war ii. You have a situation where he ran on his own in 2016. He only managed to get 4. 5 of the vote in the Iowa Caucuses and had to drop out. American people, republicans in particular are not isolationists. We know clearly that america is not to blame read we have to make sure that we are clear eyed about air in amines and what it takes to our enemies and what it takes to defend the nation. He has devoted the resources we need to build the military. An effort that senator paul has not returned supported. It was an enlightening exchange of views. I enjoyed it. There are important issues at the heart of it. More questions . Yes. Know whatwanted to you want to run on 42020. I know you talked about the democratic stuff. Accomplish want to when you win the House Majority . We hope to build on what we had started before. Continue to build a stronger america and stronger economy. We want to fix immigration. We have a problem along our border. There is a great contest. When you run, there are a power of ideas. Borderless a borderless border when you go down. Lets talk about health care. We want to protect preexisting conditions. We want to lower the cost of health care and raise the quality at the same time. A look at what the democrats are offering, medicare for all, they will end health care for more than 180 million americans who insure themselves. You want to make sure we protect the environment. I look at the contrast between the green new deal, that lowers the Economic Life of all americans and what we want to do. California wants to remove plastic straws. 90 of all the plastic that goes into the ocean comes from 10 rivers in the world and not one of them comes from america. We are doing it with the introduction of a new bill. You look at co2, everyone is concerned about co2. The production of energy. We are building this on a small larger basis in texas. Boxee, are chevron, all involved. Dan crenshaw has a bill that enhances the ability to extract co2. Becauseuck in Committee Dan crenshaw happens to be a republican. I hope we are not running on the idea that we have to pass usmca 1. 5 years from now. This is something we should do this month. Only maked that would america stronger, 180,000 americans would have a job today. We watched mexico ratify it. Canada is sitting and waiting. When i look at the cost of college, why does college have to cost so much, what is the return on the investment . I look at colleges like purdue, where they had cap the tuition low kept the tuition low but increased the number of graduates. They looked at it outside the box, where the college itself has skin in the game. To make sure that you are going to get an education that will take a small percentage of what you are able to make to pay for your college in a short timeframe, so college actually wants to make sure you have a job when you walk out. We look at workforce, the challenges of the 21st century to find the employees who are training to be here. That is another one of our breakouts. We look at everybodys way of life, privacy itself. What is happening when it comes to the internet and what is somebody is what somebody is gathering about you. Is a private property. These internet companies, we should know what they are extracting from us. If they want to monetize it, we should get a piece of it. We should be able to move our own data and delete our own data. I want to make sure there is competition in this world. That not a few companies are controlling us. There is a long basis of ideas. One of the main items that we are doing is making sure that this country is able to defend itself. We have watched in the Obama Administration, the destruction of our military. You have watched, since we have been in to rebuild our military. To make sure our planes can fly. Make sure our men and women are welltrained and safe. We will continue to do that as well. When america leads, the world is safer. Peero believe in p leadership. When anyone in the world stands for freedom, we stand with them. That includes hong kong. Stood with the Shipyard Workers in poland. Those are a few contrasts. I dont see legislation being passed. I dont see problems being solved. We have a surprise billing problem where individuals go to a hospital that is in their network, have a procedure and find out the doctor is not in the network themselves. Why is that not solved . I watched Prescription Drug prices continue to rise for the first time in this administration. We were able to load lower than last year. Bipartisan, 100 coming out of the committee. The did the speaker of house do . She put a poison pill in so that it would never become law. I am frustrated with the idea of the way congress is being run. That no problem can be solved. That is what is wrong. We confide, we can work with anyone that is willing to work with us to make sure america stronger. I will be less concerned with the idea of where the leader is of the speakers today. She is more concerned about tearing down this president then building up america. If you want to know what we will run on, we will put america first. We will make it stronger, prosperous and make it for everyone. Not just those who philosophically agree with us. Yes, maam . We are don we are done . I just wanted to followup, you said republicans would take the majority. Yes. Whyhy should that be should americans believe that is a party you have . There has not been much effort. What did we do when we were in the majority of the house . When we took the majority of the house, nancy pelosi gave the gavel to john. John boehner. We have 12 appropriation bills a power. Mandatory funding, which is the rise in spending, goes on even when government shuts down. Give that to hold and gavel back to nancy pelosi, eight years later, what we spent on discretionary funding was less than what she handed us today. What we had power over, we controlled. What we passed was a budget that balanced in 10 years. The democrats have the majority and wont produce a budget. How are you ever going to take control of your spending if you wont produce a budget. It takes 60 votes for the senate. When it came to entitlement reform to make sure we would protect these entitlements for future generations, we passed a budget that did that. To make sure future generations of Social Security would be there for them. Medicare for them. I watched democrats with medicare for all, bankrupt medicare. More than half of all the democrats in Congress Today not only am i fearful that the debt is out of control because every society has collapsed and overextended themselves, i have watched the democrats expand it further. I watched republicans, when they were in the majority, what they had control over, actually spend less in eight years than what the democrats spent eight years before. If we are given the majority and the Opportunity One more time, i promise we will not allow the democrats to stop us again. We came one vote short in the sediment from senate from retirement reform. We will change it once for all and make america stronger. Announcer President Trump attended the House Republicans caucus retreat last night in baltimore. He talked about priorities for the administration and the state of the republican party. Adding into the 2020 elections. The president was introduced by kevin mccarthy. [applause]