Thank you for being here. We are really excited and 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 pace. Unemployment which is down at historic levels. Unemployment 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 the socialists, 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 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. 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. Think about that, women owned 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. So when you look to the future, 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. Ill tell you what, when the 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. So many districts that we lost, President Trump wanting 2016 and i think he will do better in them in 2020. You see 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 years ago today, for mckinley in baltimore. The war of 1812. We were outnumbered. We were fighting for the same things we are fighting for today. Liberty. That battle took place on the second day, september 14, they lowered the small american flag. And we raised 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. The battles we have may be a 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. We passed the tax reforms that made american businesses able to to compete around the world. Some things they wanted to get done, like immigration reform, not one democrat would vote for it. 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 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. From, 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. You dont vote for one person, them. Nk 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. When you vote by absentee, you signed the ballot and someone returns, either you or the immediate family. When it went into the election ballot didnt count yet. They pulled up your envelope, they looked at your signature, they have certain people in there that have gone to school in 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 6 percentage points, a few weeks later, he lost by less than 900 vote. Or young kim, we found a few weeks later, it changed. The democrats went about doing it because they are trying to control california and change course there. To play as will have the law says. I dont believe it is healthy for elections where other people are picking up your ballots. But that is what the law is in 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. We only have to win 19 seats to be the majority. Fewer than the democrats won 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 listen to some of the stats, and 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 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. None of the candidates mentioned impeachment. And you talked about the 31 district. Envision suggesting the candidates in those districts, republican candidates that they talk about impeachment . No, why would you want to impeach the president . People i mention that because of the contrast of house. An interesting poll of democratic voters, who know more investigations than they can name one thing this congressc majority in has accomplished. I think thats a sign that democrats in congress have a real 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 . Not only 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 . 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 will heard. That was a tough see. Will heard 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 susan davis as well. 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. I watched john shimpka stand up and talk about how he has been on the ballot since 1988. And to a time to serve go do something else. He said you know what . I dont have 100 percent to put into winning the majority again. Susan winter, more than 42 years, not one seat outside of will heard am i worried about losing. Now, i look at seats we lost last time, lets look at houston, this is george bush 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 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 korea, 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. The president did not say a 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. A differentt in manner than you, but yes. Yes. Just your reaction to that and what are the ramifications of democrats embracing that concept . I dont know that orourke said buyback, i think he said different language. The contrastows there. A president looks at a problem and will try to find a solution. When you look at the nick fix, removing the bump stock 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 twitter feud you have had with rand paul. I 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 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 supported. It was an enlightening exchange of views. I enjoyed it. There are important issues at the heart of it. More questions . Yes. I just wanted to know what you want to run on for 2020. I know you talked about the democratic stuff. I want to know what you want to talk to voters about to accomplish 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 contrast. When you run, there are a power of ideas. One wants a borderless border when you go down. Lets talk about health care. First thing we want to do is protect preexisting conditions butt we want to lower the cost 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 contrast with what we want to do. California wants to remove plastic straws. Want to remove plastic from the ocean. 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 can still do something about it. The ocean is the entire world. Watch the introduction of a doing. re recently you look at the extraction of co2, everyone is concerned about co2. A u. K. Company can use it in the production of energy. We are building this on a small on a larger basis down in texas. Bill gates, chevron, oxy, are all involved. Dan crenshaw has a bill that enhances the ability to extract co2. It is stuck in committee because 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. What i find that would only make 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 kept the tuition low but increased the number of graduates. They have actually 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 somebody is gathering about you . I believe it is a private property. I believe your privacy 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 we should be able to 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. I also believe in peer leadership. When anyone in the world stands for freedom, we stand with them. That includes hong kong. We 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. They get a surprise bill. Why is that not solved . I watched Prescription Drug prices continue to rise for the first time in this administration. We were able to lower that last year. The other thing that i found, that we were able to pass three year. On the floor this bipartisan, 100 coming out of the committee. What did the speaker of the 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 can work with anyone that is willing to work with us to make sure america is stronger. I will be less concerned with the idea of where the leader of the speaker is 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 done . Thank you so much. I just wanted to followup, the priority if the republicans retake the majority will be addressing the debt. Why should americans should believe that after youve controlled congress and the white house and there hasnt really much effort on that . The first thing i would look at, what did we do when we were the house . Rity in when we took the majority of the house, nancy pelosi gave the gavel to john boehner. We have 12 appropriation bills discretionaryver funding. Mandatory funding, which is the rise in spending, goes on even when government shuts down. When i had to hold and give that gavel back to nancy pelosi, eight years later, what we spent on discretionary funding was less than what she handed us today. Ago. Than eight years so yes what we had power over, we controlled. What we passed was a budget that balanced in 10 years. The democrats took the majority and wont even 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 have cosponsored that bill. Not only am i fearful that the debt is out of control because every society has collapsed and when theyve 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 senate from re spoke to house rs gathered in baltimore for their annual retreat. This is about 40 minutes. Mr. Pence how are you all doing . Thank you for coming out to hear me speak today. Notow most of us here did get the opportunity to watch the president ial debate last night because we were watching the current and future president of the united states, donald trump, talk to us about the great things we have done working with him to get this country and this economy back on track, and the great things we are going to do not only with donald trump in the next term, but with republicans in the majority in the house in the next trump administration