Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141220

Watch. And how does that make you feel, really, since it was so important to you . I would do it again. I mean, i think it is so important to try to push this issue forward. Somebody had to start. And people said to me, its too complicated. It cant be done. And i showed them it can be done. Thats really the most important thing. The second most important thing that came out of this is we got dynamic scoring of a tax bill for the first time. Dynamic scoring is a much more real world evaluation of what were trying to do. Typically, tax bills had been scored by what they call static scoring, which is just they assumed that the economy would never grow, even no matter the tax policy changed, and they assumed that people wouldnt change their behavior as a result of tax policy. We know that isnt true. I liken it to physics where they tell you assume there is no gravity. And you go outside and there is gravity. This dynamic scoring will be absolutely critical moving forward on any debate involving economic or tax policies, because were actually know, does it create jobs . Can labor and employment and investment grow at the same time . And so not only did the joint committee on taxation evaluate this and said the economy, under my bill, which is now h. R. 1, would grow by 20 , other outside entities were able to score this detailed draft and now h. R. 1 and say, yes, it would grow. So the outside groups and think tanks and we had a university study, they confirmed what the nonpartisan joint committee on taxation did. Some very good things were accomplished by this, even though it didnt get all the way over to the goal line. Id liken this to a car analogy. This is the chassis. You might change the taillights and grill, but the car is going to have a chassis and this chassis is really what i think will be used going ahead. Will you explain a little bit of the symbolism of h. R. 1 and also the fact that you formally introduced it just as congress is about to go away. I always said it was a discussion draft. We wanted to get input and thats what we did. I also thought it was important to use that h. R. 1 designation which the speaker gave me at the beginning of this congress, which really says this is a priority bill. And i thought it was very important moving forward that it wasnt just a discussion draft, that in future congresses and in future years, its actually referred to as h. R. 1. It actually is a bill, not just a draft. Too much work went into it, i think, to get let it just sort of fade as a draft. It needed really to get that introduction. Now that were getting to the end of this congress, i thought the timing was right to do that. You didnt have much time left so gotta make the most of what you have even though you knew it was a symbolic measure, what was it like standing there and introducing it today . It was very exciting. I actually did it yesterday. It really was sort of the culmination of the evident of not just me but the entire committee was involved. Many members on the committee from both sides said they very much really found the process. And thats what we came here to do. We came here to legislate. We came here to do things. And i think, particularly my party needed to be the party of opportunity. We were in the majority in the house. We needed to be the party of ideas. And im not afraid of a debate on ideas. I think those are what we were sent here to do, not just sort of sit there and hope you win. The process that you just described to me, that you worked through with your own members on both sides of the aisle and also with senator baucus, a democrat, runs counter to the popular image in washington today. Right. Were you an anomaly in this effort, or is in more of this bipartisan effort that the public needs to know about . I think it was a bit of an anomaly. Senator baucus, then chairman of the Senate Finance committee, my counterpart in the senate, he and i had the first joint hearing with house and senate ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance members together since just after world war ii. So its been a long time since wed gotten together on issues. And that, i thought, was an important move to make, an important symbolic move as well as an important legislative move. I knew that whatever i did wouldnt pass unless the senate was involved too. So that was why i thought it was very important to do that. So in the larger rank and file or even within your own conference, did you find people that really werent happy that you were working with the other side . Well, some people were afraid that it was too controversial, that youd make some people mad. And clearly there are tradeoffs. I mean, what we did was simplify the tax code. 95 of americans would not have to itemize. They would file the twopage 1040. They would not have to keep records, because theyre getting the standard deduction. On the business side, we modernized International Tax laws, allowed the 2 trillion that was overseas to come back without the double penalty that they pay now, took the dollars raised from the repateation and used that to fund infrastructure. There had to be tradeoffs. There had to be certain provisions that werent there anymore. Some that would be too controversial. I dont think thats really something that should have driven the whole debate. So they were afraid to really get involved. What i found is people were just so grateful that we were trying to make things better. They know the code is complicated. And they know were out of date in terms of our competitors. They know we need to make changes there. And so what was important, and the discussion really actually did sort of evolve there, is not just what the provision is that might not be there anymore, might be changed or altered, but what does it mean in the context of a 25 rate with a growing economy . Thats why it was so important to get that dynamic score. It was about the narrow provision in the context of the entire bill and our economy. That was a very different prospect. For example, to an employer or businessman that came in that said we dont like what youre doing to our stuff, you could say, but more jobs are going to be created. More people are going to have higher incomes. Our bill said about 1500 a year in Median Income would increase. Big turnaround on that. More people could buy cars. More people could buy houses. More people could give to charity. Charitable contributions would go up 2 billion, because if people are working, theyre giving money. It was important to put not just the issue which, they are important issues but to put it in context of a bigger picture. Without dynamic scoring, putting things in that bigger context just doesnt happen. Thats what was different about this debate, and that will be different going forward. Speaking of going forward, if i understand the quotes correctly, your successor, paul ryan, has said that your legislation will not be the blueprint but it will be a marker, so youve chosen to leave. And your chairmanship was up for term limits. But how does that make you feel . Do you plan to be the blueprint for first of all, paul ryan is on the ways and Means Committee. Hes the incoming chairman, so hell be succeeding me. He was part of putting that plan together, so he knows it very well. And look, a new committee, a new congress, theyre going to look at things in a different way. We did learn things through that process that you might adjust. And because revenue to the government went up 700 billion under this bill, you could make some different tradeoffs. You could lower rates more, use it to pay down debt, adjust some of the provisions i make. So what hes saying is were going to take a look at this. Were a new committee. Its a new congress. I am convinced that he is going to draw very heavily on the work that had been done, because he did some of it. How did chairmanship term limits look to you now that youre really succumbing to them . I wouldnt change anything. The wrinkle this time was that the time as Ranking Member counted in the sixyear term limit, so i was actually chairman four years, Ranking Member two. And when term limits for chairman went in, in 95, when speaker gingrich came in, it was six years in the majority. I think it should still be six years in the majority. I think counting time as Ranking Member is a very different prospect. But look, it is what it is. I was very glad i had two years as Ranking Member, because it actually helped me develop the staff, the policy positions, to be ready for the majority. I never knew that i was going to get into the majority. So i consider myself fortunate to have the four years i have and really honored to be able to serve in that position. Chairman mckeon suggested hed like to see that role change also. Do you think its possible . I dont see it changing. And why not . First of all, whenever somebody leaves, somebody else moves up. And more people move up than leave. So i think its very unlikely it would change. You might see a change that it counts for the majority. That you could see, because it was kind of an informal change that the speaker made to have it include Ranking Membership. There really hasnt been a debate in the conference on that. But fewer members are chairman than are rank and file members and everybody who is rank and file wants to be a chairman. Sure. So tax issues in the ways and Means Committee was the focus of your entire tenure in congress. I wonder if you would tell a story for our cameras about your lobbying to get the seat on the committee that even involves president ford. Well, it did. I knew i wanted to get on the ways and Means Committee. And obviously worked hard on welfare reform and adoption issues and trade issues. At that time, the Steering Committee was called committee on committees, so you knew you were in a government process. It really is a campaign. Its about the votes on that committee who determines who gets a seat on a Committee Like ways and Means Committee. So youre talking to every member on that committee. Theres a particular member that i that really wasnt for me. And i just didnt know what to do. And just sort of out of the blue, i dialed president fords office in california. Did you know him . I had met him several times. I wasnt sure if he knew me. But i knew him. He got on the phone and said, dave how are you . Then he said, i used to be leader. Somebody owes me a favor, and ill make a call. He did. And that person came to me on the floor and said anybody who can get a former president of the United States to call me, im for. So he changed his vote and was for me, and i did get on ways and Means Committee and i told susan ford that story also once. Im not sure she cared. But it was really a changing moment for me. He was very gracious. The fact that he was in his office and took the call, when i had not scheduled the call. I literally called him out of the blue, as a it was very much a hail mary pass. It probably helps that you were a michigan congressman. That always helps. From the time youve arrived here, youve experienced life in the minority and in the majority. Im wondering if you can contrast and compare the two for people and what the experience is, when youve got the power, lose it, and want to get it back again. Im in the minority, majority. So i grew up in a small town, in a big family. We were always taught the golden rule, which is treat others the way you want to be treated. I always tried to act that way. I know when we took the majority the first time, it had been such a permanent minority. There was a sense wed never get there. Some of the longerserving republicans, it was really payback time and i think that was a huge mistake. Some did that. When we lost it, i dont think there was as much of that, because wed been the majority not nearly as long. But there was still some of that. I was very convinced that when we took the majority this time, that that was not going to be part of my agenda at all. I think you really want to be the same, in the majority as you are in the minority, and treat your colleagues the same way. In the majority, you get a lot more responsibility. You get to help set the agenda. You have a lot more people come see you when youre in the majority than when youre in the minority. So its a different prospect. Im just very grateful to have had the opportunity to serve in a majority, because there were some people, including our leader, bob michael, who never had an opportunity to serve in the majority. I remember. As he was leaving, the symbolic handing of the gavel, which is the first time he held it after all those years. Yeah. Youve also had the opportunity to serve under and work with a number of speakers since you arrived here. What makes a successful speaker . I served for five speakers. Obviously three majority speakers, for republicans. You know, everyone has their own style. And the institution changes. And i think it doesnt stay the same. And i think particularly speaker gingrich was very interested in how everything was operating and running. And i think his i mean, i remember sitting in his Conference Room with big stacks of papers, you know, debating the words in a bill. I mean, that was just very much his style. To some extent, speaker hastert did that as well. Our majority was so narrow in the time with speaker hastert, much more narrow than it is now, that it really affected the way he was able to lead. Speaker hastert was often seeing members all the time. I would say because Speaker Boehner has been a Committee Chairman, he really has let the committees do their work. In drafting tax reform, he was not looking over my shoulder and intervening on this paragraph and that paragraph. He really did let the committee do its work, and that process had integrity. So that really has changed a lot. Obviously, Committee Chairman term limits came in 95. So when i came in, speaker foley, the chairman were much more powerful. You had dan, no term limits. He had been chairman of the ways and Means Committee for a long time. Jack brooks. So it was a different role for the speaker than as it is now. I think Speaker Pelosi was a very powerful speaker as well and is a very powerful leader. So that has sort of changed over time, sort of power from the committee has moved to some extent to leadership. I think Speaker Boehner has certainly let us do our work. You obviously try to work with leadership because you need their help passing bills. Im not the whip. I dont schedule bills. So clearly in todays environment, you want to make sure youre in close touch with your leadership. But i feel very fortunate that they have not really sort of directed me in great detail what to do. If you were ill use the phrase king of the hill, for a short period of time and could change anything about the way this place functions to make it work better than it has, what would it be . Boy, thats a tall order. I think we really do need to make sure that the members are involved in issues, you know. I think thats one thing that i really took out of the experience i had on tax reform, is theres this thirst for members, and its in both bodies, because i met with a number of senators, senator baucus. We did these informal lunches, senators and house members, just sort of talking about issues. Theres just not enough of that. I do think the Committee Process works if its done the right way, where theres actually real debate and you try to move a bill through it. I just think more of that. I think the other thing id change is lets not be afraid of issues. We got sent here to do things. Lets have the public debates and lets try to move them forward. Whats changed that . The money . The polling . Cable television . What has changed the fear of debating issues . I think sort of the way media has changed. One misstatement now can be so dispositive of an election or an issue. There was less of that when i first got started 24 years ago. It didnt mean if you didnt make a mistake it wasnt awful, but now, i think sort of the short video piece that can be all over the world in a few seconds, i think that does inhibit the ability to sort of engage in public debate sometimes. I think town meetings have changed dramatically. Theyre not as sort of open and generally sort of activists that that come to those now. I think thats why a lot of members, like the telephone town hall meetings, those truly are people that happen to get on the phone, its very much more a real crosssection of what people are thinking. So theres been a lot of changes. I think probably, you know, make sure that the other change is really not about the committees, but i think Congress Needs to assert its role more. I think sometimes, particularly in later years, we tend to see ourselves as advocate for the party thats in the administration, much less so of, you know, where are the congressional prerogatives and whats correct . I think that has evolved really in sort of the last couple of president s much more than it was before. You had much more this was sort of the right thing to do, and you had a group of people in the congress that would come together on that. That has changed. If i could change one thing, it would be that. Some of the older, longer tenured members weve talked to lament the schedule which has sent people home most weekends, missing the days of really being here with families and doing things outside. Is that a factor, do you think . Youve not really experienced the other. Ive always lived in michigan. I always went home every weekend. It does. I mean, the schedule i dont know that it was as much togetherness as people sort of reflect back on it. A little sentimentality . Yes. We were in such a deep minority, that we didnt really count in those years. I was on staff in the 80s and i think it seemed like it was much friendier than it was. Because the house has changed, it really is a contentious you know, there is a vying for an agenda. And there are different views of how america should move forward and the parties have very different perspectives on that. And so it is you know, it is a competitive and tense environment. Its not all bad. But i do think that voters do expect you to be around and be home. And many members do what i have done for 24 years, which is fly back and forth. And what will you be doing when you leave . I dont know. Well, my children are in high school, so obviously im not going to move them, so ill be living in michigan. I dont know what ill be doing. I have not pursued that. Im still involved in legislation and im going to wait till i get done voting before i work on that. Over the past couple of years, you went through a pretty Serious Health scare. I did. How are you feeling now . Feel great. Obviously its been two years. One of the things that one of the most touching things was my chief of staff, his mother died from cancer. He has been very involved in the leukemia and lymphoma society. He raises money for that group by triathlons and iron man contests. He raised enough to name a Research Grant in my name. He did a Research Grant in his mothers name last year. When i was diagnosed, he said, we have a miracle drug and youre going to be better. That drug wasnt available five years ago. So this Research Piece of that is so important. So theres a lot of hope that people have. But it clearly is when you get that diagnosis, sort of the floor falls out. But then when you hear, gee, we have something thats going to make you better, that gives a lot of hope to people. I had so much support here. I never expected to have to do a press release on a health issue, but it really allowed so many people to pray for me, send me positive thoughts, encourage me. And i think that does make a big difference on getting well. So i was very grateful for that. And i was very grateful for the speaker. He never said you have to step aside as chairman of the committee. I never missed a vote during all of my treatment. And so im very grateful for him, for not really trying to say, well, you cant do the job. He always just thought i could do the job. So i kind of did. Give you Something Else to focus on, i would imagine. Sure did. Going through such an intensive need of the health care system, did it change your perspectives on this, sort of seeing the end result of policy decisions . It really made me appreciate how dynamic the research is, particularly in this area. And the doctors were telling me that if i had been diagnosed like right now, instead of two years before, that the treatment would even be improved in that short period of time, so theres some really dramatic changes being made in terms of the medical area and research. And i just dont want to see us adopt policies that will inhibit that. And i know its very easy to sort of criticize the Large Companies that are involved in medicine, but that research is absolutely critical. And it really does save lives. The u. S. Is on the forefront of all of that. And i think thats, you know, really important to do. We had an author who was here, david mccullough. There was a dinner. And i was at it, and he was speaking. One of the members said he was speaking about john adams and history. He said, whats our era going to be known for . Without missing a beat, he said advances in medicine. I just it just struck me as somebody as knowledgeable as he is about our history saw also how important that is and how cutting edge weve been as a vote on that. We need to keep that, whether its n. I. H. Or whether its done in the private sector, at research universities, thats going to be a very important part. We have only about five minutes left. You spent a lot of this year on the i. R. S. Yes. Its an institution that affects everybodys lives. Whats the state of it today, based on what youve learned . If you told me that we wouldnt be able to resolve the questions on this in a few months, i would have said thats not true. This will be very quick. But its been very difficult to get the right information. Whats clear is this did not originate in cincinnati. Whats also clear is the i. R. S. Delayed both conservative and progressive groups, about 80 conservative, 20 progressive. But only audited conservative groups. So only conservative groups were targeted. Just a completely improper role for the i. R. S. Many of the emails that we need to see were from lois lerner, a highranking official there. Her hard drives were destroyed. But in the last few weeks, theyve actually found 30,000 additional emails. Now, we dont know if those are part of the emails weve already gotten or those are all new. We received about 24,000 of her emails to date. So were in the process the treasury Inspector General is in the process of decoding those. They will get those to us. I think once we get through that, we can hopefully move beyond this. But its so important that this be exposed. And this be fixed, because if this is allowed to continue, any administration will further politicize the i. R. S. And we absolutely need them to be nonpartisan, nonpolitical, nonagenda beyond the good government. Its an agency that hasnt been managed very well. Id say thats an understatement. Its very poorly managed. They need to improve. The other you know, in terms of the substance, this is an agency that has more than 80 billion in improper payments. That means checks go to people who dont deserve them. They need to really get at some of these technological issues and reform them. So its really unfortunate that the i. R. S. Sort of saw its role going this way. Whats more unfortunate is management at the i. R. S. Seemed to be unaware. Now, she was in pretty highlevel management but we dont have an indication that the commissioner of the i. R. S. Was directly involved in this. But, again, we dont have all the information. I wouldnt have thought it would have taken us a year and a half to get it, but we will eventually get as much as we can. Then well make a determination from there. I did make a referral to the Justice Department, that the committee voted to refer the information that we had, to have them investigate this, because look, were not prosecutors. We can highlight issues, bring them to the public attention. But i cant really command information like a Justice Department attorney can. Weve asked them to really get involved. So far, theyve not done anything. As we close here, michigan is losing a lot of firepower in congress with senator levin and yourself all leaving. What does that mean for the state, particularly for the city of detroit, which has been struggling for such a long time . It has. Clearly detroit exiting bankruptcy is going to be a big improvement. They really now are getting a second chance. It does take time here to learn the job and to sort of make the contacts, and build the relationships to move things forward. So its going to take time. But we have really good people coming to take our places. Our founders really envisioned that in the congress. That you wouldnt come here and stay forever but youd come and make your contribution and then others would come, and theyll bring different perspectives and look at things in new ways. So i think ultimately it will all be good. Shortterm, they will lose some of the seniority and the ability to call a bill up, but theyll be contributing in ways that i think will still benefit the state. 26 years is a long time. Yeah. What will you miss the most . Well, i think just the dynamicness of all these issues rushing at you. You can never watch a clock in this job. You wake up and its 7 p. M. At night. But more important, ive worked with really quality people, really smart people in terms of the staff and the ways and Means Committee and my personal staff. Really decent people that ive gotten to know that are interested in agricultural issues or Small Business issues. I think really the people that have just stepped forward and tried to help me understand things or help me move something forward, that part is going to be the part im going to miss, because theres nothing like it. And its been very gratifying. Im incredibly grateful for 12 elections without ever missing a beat, 13 if you count my legislative experience. You dont do that alone. So ill miss all the help ive had. Chairman camp, thank you for spending time with cspan. Thanks, susan. California congressman buck california congressman buck mckeon is also retiring. Hes currently the chair of the Armed Services committee. First elected in 1993, he served 11 terms. In a recent conversation with cspan, he talked about partisanship, sequestration and the medical advances that have helped troops who served in iraq and afghanistan. Hes known for showing emotion at times, and he talked about why certain things bring him to tears. This is 35 minutes. At times you have been emotional about your impending departure. Tell me about how youre feeling now. I dont feel emotional now. I have a couple of problems where ive been talking and a word or a thought, and that quick, things, you know ive always had that problem. Ive done better here. But i have had callings in church where ive had to speak a lot, you know. And id get emotional. I have a son that we really kid him about being emotional. And we used to make fun of him. This is not a nice thing to even talk about. But we liked to kid him. And one time, around the dinner table, we said, you know, youre adopted. Ha ha hes our number two. And just a wonderful young man. He has four children. Theyre doing a fantastic job with their family. But but so its kind of a family joke, if we can get howard to cry. Of course now ive got you know, they come back at me with the same thing. But its not a i dont feel people said, did you make the right decision . Do you feel bad . Do you think you shouldnt have left . And i say, no, no. I am totally comfortable with the decision. And it isnt the thought of leaving so much that ive had problems with. In fact, both times, i was talking about my wife. And, you know, when you think of weve been married now 52 years. We have six children. We have 30 grandchildren and a reatgrandchild now. And i think of all the times over our lives where ive had to leave to go to meetings or something, or you go to an event, and she says, you know, im just there. I just have to hang around. And all the times that shes done that. Never, never complained. It just and so that, when ou think about that, i think about how selfless really shes een. And i think about my mom, and i had asthma from a very young age. Im the first of five boys. I heard my mom say once, from the time i was born she was 19 she never had a full nights sleep for the rest of er life. And she was up working. We had built homes. We were all in business together. And we built homes. Ur kids all grew up with their cousins like brothers and sisters. It was a great deal. So moms home was just three doors down from mine. And she had a heart attack in the middle of the night when she was in her sewing room working like at 1 00 in the morning, probably making christmas gifts. That was her life. She worked like crazy. And i had a great mom and dad, great family. I had a great life before i ever came here. This was a real departure. But its been great too. Iive had great experiences. You meet a lot of really good people and some jerks, you now. I mean, they probably think im one of the jerks that they met. But we call it the peoples house. And we have representatives that represent every segment of the nation. Its been a real, real interesting time. Educational. Great experiences. You know, i had only met two ongressmen before i became one. I had no clue what they did, how they lived. It was just all new to me. And every day ive learned. Interesting. So what are the things that you think youll miss most about this institution . Oh, the people. I think while you dont have friends i dont do a lot of socializing or go hunting or fishing with people. I play golf with friends. Ill continue to do that. But you get to really see people at their best and at their worst, you know, at different times. This job as chairman of the Armed Services committee, you get to work with really good, really good people. Our staff, tremendous people. And then ive worked with three secretaries of efense that ive had a lot of respect for. Really enjoyed working with them. And all of the chairmen, the commanders. I just had a call from the eneral from germany, thanking me for what ive done. Theyre just, you know, people that give their life to service. Im sure its the same with policemen, firemen. But ive gotten to work closely with the military. And the dedication, its just a marvel to be with them. While were on this big themes, let me ask the opposite question. What is it about this institution you will miss the least . The flights. You know, back and forth to california almost on a weekly basis now for 22 years. I will not miss that. I figured out one year kind of what it was, because its about a 9hour trip, portal to portal, and going and coming. And i figured out how much of my time i spent doing that, and it was like two weeks, 24 hours a day, out of my life, each year. And thats i wont miss that. Now, youve talked to a few reporters about your departure. It seems two major themes played into your decision. One is the fact that you would have to turn over the gavel of this committee, because of term limits. Do you think now in retrospect that the chairman term limits were a good idea . Yes. Why . We cant one ranking year as chairman, and its not i go on the elevator, and people say, hi, chairman. Ive never had someone say, hi, Ranking Member. Ive been both. I think thats something that should be corrected. I dont expect it ever will be. But, for instance, we could have when we lost the majority in 2006, there were four years there that somebody could have been Ranking Member. Then we win the majority and they become chairman, and they only have one term. On this committee, we work so closely, majority, minority, that its really we try to make it a partnership, but its still not the same. Being the Ranking Member is not the same as being the chairman. So i think in six years, you should be able to achieve some things and make a mark, and i think thats probably enough. When i came here, that wasnt the case. And in fact, democrats had controlled things for 38 straight years. And we had two years and then another 30. So there were rooms that republicans had never been in, not a single republican had ever held a gavel in the house of representatives at the time. And thats probably unhealthy. And chairmen had gotten very powerful, to the point where probably you just get a little it arrogant. It just kind of at least thats the way i saw it when i came in as a freshman. So i think term limits is here and is good. We have term limits in the house of representatives. Every two years, we have to stand for election. So i have no qualms with that one exception. I think that the Ranking Member would be a good change that i dont expect to see. The other reason that youve talked about is, in a broad sense, gridlock, the budget battles. And i took that to mean the fights with the tea party particularly over a compromise on the budget area. Will you talk a little bit about that, how that stands right now, and what good has come out of it, and where it hurts the process . Well, that hasnt been so much a problem for me. Thats more a problem for leadership. But its a problem for the nation, i think. If you take the whole congress, where we have 380 bills or so that we pass that sit in the senate, and they dont take action on them. I think thats not the way our forefathers expected us to act. And i think that has been bad. So the idea of getting something done, it gets frustrating. Then within our own conference, we have had times when i really think that ill give you an example. My nextdoor neighbor, up until i left my office, frank lucas, is in my class. He was elected in a special election and he was in our class 21 years ago. I thought he and Colin Peterson did a fantastic job on getting a farm bill done, a bipartisan farm bill. And he brought it to our kfns, and it to our conference and it wasnt good enough. It saved 40 billion in food stamps. We had never done anything like that in my 22 years. I thought that was phenomenal. But we couldnt pass it out of the house the way it was. So we had to go back and change it and go through a lot of process and everything. And it turned out, i think, the final finished product that came through after everything, we saved 20 billion. And that was just because there are some members of our conference that probably nothing seems to be good enough. And that, to me, if i were in leadership, that would be a very frustrating thing. I think it was not good for our nation, you know. Sometimes i dont ever question peoples motives. In fact, the older i get, the more forgiving i get of people. But i think that when you come to a body like this, and i never had i didnt serve in the state legislature, so i didnt have that kind of experience. Ut i think when you come here and you join a team, which the republican conference is a team. The Democratic Caucus is a team. Youre trying to accomplish something more than just yourself. And when you come to the realization that you know more than the other 220 or 225 or ten of you know more than the other 230, i think, why . What do you know that the rest of us dont know . And thats caused some problems. Some people, after theyre here for a while, say maybe its better to just try to get something done. Maybe i cant get all of what i want. There isnt a bill that ive had anything to do with that had everything in it i wanted, or theres not a bill that i didnt find something in it i didnt like. But you have to the way this process works, each of the members of the house are elected to represent their district. And i think each of them should have a say. And the way i always tried to work with my Ranking Members, the members of the other party on the committees i was in, id tell the Ranking Member, look, were in the majority. We will set the agenda. And when we bring bills up, i want to know, what do you think about them . I want to know what the members of the committee all think, because i think if everybody works together on it, you get a better product. If they had done that with obamacare instead of just doing it with one party, basically they disenfranchised almost half the country. And its caused a lot of upheaval, a lot of problems. And youre much better off, i think, at the end of the day, if you dont like the some of the ideas, you can vote them down. But generally, you know, youre going to come up with some good ideas. And theyre going to make it better. Then you Work Together to get it across the finish line. So i think thats the way to go. And i think people that think that they know more than anybody else or people that think that Just One Party should do things, ts not the way that the constitution was set up. Its not the way that democracy is supposed to be. And ive always tried i was the subcommittee chair from my second term on, and i always tried to lead that way, to be inclusive, because i think you come up with a much better product. One other thing that came out of all of the budget battles, of course sequestration, something that you have been fighting to rescind, lessen the effects of before you leave. Im wondering your philosophy overall about defense spending. There are people who worry about the size of our budget and also the likelihood of waste, fraud and abuse within it because of the sizes of the programs. How do you find the sweet spot, in your mind, between the appropriate level of spending and those concerns that people voice . You know, the last several years, weve really dug a big hole. I mean, you know, with president obama, when he came in, i think we had a debt of about 10 trillion. And now its up over 18 trillion. And just going up, which is what caused sequestration. People were frustrated. They said, weve got to do something to get a handle on this. I think sequestration was the wrong way to do it. To bring in a principal that was so bad that it was supposed to be a motivator to never need it, to force people to really give and take and come up with a better solution. But it was put in place. It just cuts everything the same so that mowing the lawn at a fort here has the same weight as buying ammunition for somebody on the front line. It just doesnt make sense. So im hopeful that theyll get that taken care of. We do have to get our financial house in order. There is no, no question, because if you get yourself so far in debt, you are not able to have the money to do what you need to do to carry out all of the responsibilities that you have, starting with defense. And what i have seen in the last several years and my time here as chairman, the budgets have come from the administration, the requests that they have are you know, they talk about strategy, but it seems to me that they say, okay, weve ot this much money. This is how much defense we can afford. I think it should be, what are the threats . How much will it take to meet that . And then come up with the money some way. You know, make it happen. We cannot cut our way out of this totally. We have to grow the top line. We have to get more people to work, more people to broaden the tax base, and thats how were going to work our way out of this. And this recession or slowdown in the economy that seems like its almost interminable now. Its gone on and on. Even says, well, the economy is picking up, doing better. Then i go home and see so many people out of work. Im not sure weve rounded that corner yet. Im hopeful that we can i know the deficit has come down, but its still way, way too high. If we totally eliminated all of the budget spending that we get to vote on each year, totally eliminated it so we have no discretionary budget and are just down to the mandatory items, wed still be running a deficit of about a half trillion a year. And thats totally unacceptable. And yet all of the cutting has come out of the discretionary side. We have not faced up to the fact that we need to fix the mandatory spending. Thats where the real problem is. So i can think of a lot of things that we need to do, but im not in a position last year i wasnt in a position. Im obviously not going to be in a position in a week or two from now. But say i could just be king for a week or so. Id be very benevolent and nice. Id be a nice king. If we could get people back to work, if we could free them from a lot of the bureaucracy and the red tape in getting things done, it would be the way to get this thing back in order. You know, during world war ii, we built a pentagon in one year. If we tried to do that now, first of all, we probably couldnt do it because its in a swamp and there are probably endangered species. But if we got through all of the Different Court cases and everything and finally turned the shovel and started building, world war ii would be over. Probably korea and vietnam would be over before we could do it. In world war ii, we built 86,000 planes in one year. This year, we might build a few hundred. I mean, you know, weve made everything so complicated. And its not just defense im talking about. Its everything. Look at our education ystem. Do you have children . Huhuh. Like i said, we have six. When our oldest got into school, we learned very quickly, you know, you go to kindergarten and you go to first grade. Then you go to second grade. Usually in elementary school, theyll have two or three first grade teachers, two or three second grade teachers. You learn quickly that one is usually better than the others. So my wife became pta president so she could be involved at the school and help get our kids into the classes with the better teachers. But, you know, in every other business ive ever seen, you dont have a situation. Say youve got three third grade teachers. And say one is better. That one might be paid the least. Might be the newest, might be the oldest. It doesnt really matter. But it could be that they are paid the least. And yet we put up with that kind of thing, you know. We cant do vouchers until youre 18. And then you can get a pell grant. All of a sudden its different. You can go wherever you want. Well just give you the money. Charter schools are a help. I was on a school board for nine years. I saw these kind of problems up close. And then with our own children, and now grandchildren. I see what my children are doing to help their children get a proper education. Its hard. Weve got certain things that just this is the way we do it and the unions are pretty strong. And its tough. I talked to a deputy when i was running the very first time, we had a deputy killed in our area, in a drug raid. And i was going to the funeral with three 20year veterans, sergeants. And they were explaining to me what it was like now, 20 years ago, compared to when they started 20 years before that. And how much more difficult it had gotten for them to do their job. All the different regulations, things that happened over the years that make it tougher and tougher for them. You know, in some ways, we need to go back and make things a little simpler. When my dad first went into business, he had been working for a Company Selling off of a truck, meat. And finally he saved enough money and he bought a used fish truck. And he and my mom worked all weekend to try to get the smell out of that truck. And early monday morning the war had already started. Meat was being rationed. He went down. He had some friends. He was able to buy enough meat to fill up his truck. Then he started going around to try to sell it. One weekend, and he was in business. One day he could have been out of business. But the end of the day, he found somebody that bought everything he had. And that got him started. Now to go into business, youve got to go get different licenses and permits and, you know, hit this organization, that organization. Everything is tougher. The taxes that come with all these things. So while this is the greatest country in the world, weve got lots of challenges. I want to get back to your role here. The week that were talking is also the week that the u. S. And nato have ended combat missions in afghanistan. Im wondering what you think that this country and its allies got from that almost decade and a half investment in blood and treasure. Somebody asked me the other day what weve gotten out of ten, twelve years of war. And the money that was spent. And a lot. And the lives. And one thing, weve made remendous advancement in medical care. We have saved lives that in other wars would have been lost. Weve come up with these rosthetics and Different Things that help make their lives better, not as good as they would have been but better than in the past. I think thats been a great advancement and a great thing. Unfortunately, weve had to do any of that, but at least people have made some real improvement. And i think the way people treat the military, we learned a tough lesson in vietnam, the way they were treated. They really treat the military well now. You hear about all these perhaps, Wounded Warriors, nd housing for Wounded Warriors and people that have been in the service. A lot of really good things. Advancement in the ability to fight wars and these kind of wars, Unmanned Aircraft and unmanned systems, drones on the ground that find i. E. D. s and dismantle them, those kind of things. Weve made real advancement there. When we started out, people were being killed because we didnt have armor on the vehicles. Weve learned a lot about that and our ability to fight this kind of a war versus, you know, big tank battles. It has changed a lot. And weve been able to, with the special forces and their ability to do Different Things, weve made a lot of advancement there. Is it good to be a fighting war . No, but we didnt ask for t. We didnt fly those planes into the tower. They did. And i think the further we get away from that, people forget that. You know, sunday was pearl harbor day. And i was born in 1938. I remember what world war ii was like. I remember just as a little boy, my dad going off to fight. His best friend getting killed. I remember after the war, my dad talking to his friends, you know, that had been in the war, when theyd talk a little bit about some of their experiences to each other. They didnt talk to us, but i was a little kid, so i could listen. And we were all in, you know. I remember the meat rationing. I remember my mom couldnt have hose. We didnt have rubber. We didnt have rubber. We didnt have rubber. We didnt have rubber. We didnt have rubber. I believe to turn it in for the bar effort. All of those thing that is we dont do now, its like yeah weve been at bar for 12 years ut its the like one percent and the rest of us are in the mall. Its life has changed a lot. I dont think anybody anybody likes war. You see know, when these people beheading our people or killing innocent people just because they have a different belief in religion or something, its pretty tough. So im told that our time with you is running out. So although i regret it because we havent even goten to education let me ask you as we close here what are you most proud of in your accomplishment in your time as chairman of this committee . Gee, proud. I was able to get a bill passed early on my second term that saved they were going to build a big land fill at home. I was the first mayor of our city and this land fill would have been the largest in the world like four statues of liberty on top of each other and i was able to get a bill passed to make that go away not happen. That was a good thing for our area. I was able to work on some wilderness legislation to make some wilderness area and to free up wilderness study areas back for people to use. Those were really good things. D honestly. Thats been a great experience. You know, i think of henry hyde when i came here, he was kind of like a lion. I used to just love go hear him speak on the floor. And he said, you know, when i came here, i had these great ambitions of wanting to change the world, and now, i hope i can just limp out of town with a little dignity. He had to go through and leave the impeachment process. He was chairman of the committee and they made his life miserable. I think its been i have had the opportunity to go around and see a lot of other places around the world and just see how wonderful our country is. And you see how these people look to us. Rig right now, a lot of them will scared to death because they are worrying about the fact that we are not going to be there when we need them or we may not keep some of the treaties we have made over the years and things like that, but its its a great nation. But we still do have some problems we need to deal with. And i think a system set up to do that. I told speaker a few years ago, there is a lot of great young people coming in to congress. When i say some young in years. Some just young in here, in experience here in the future they will do some great things. I look forward to what they can do next year with the senate and the house. I think at least bills will get debated, will get addressed and will get worked on. Host thank you for spending some of your time with cspan. Thank you. Next, president obama talking about cuba and the recent sony cyber attack. Your calls and comments on washington journal here are some of the programs you will find this weekend on the cspan networks. At 9 30, actor seth rogen with liz windstead at the Harvard Institute of politics. Sunday evening at 8 00 on cspans q and a, katie pavolich on what she sees with the war with liberals on. On brook t. V. Afterwards, the top universities are missing the mark on education and that students should learn less options in how to think critically, be creative and have a goal in life beyond the material. Sunday morning, just before 11 00, book t. V. Visits lafayette, West Lafayette indiana. To tour the literary sites. On American History t. V. On cspan 3 at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on the civil war, damien shields talks about the life of Irish American soldier Patrick Clayburn during the battle of franklin, tennessee. Sunday afternoon at 4 00 on real america, a 1974 investigative piece by san franciscos krn t. V. On the history of Police Brutality in oakland. Find the schedule at cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Call us at 2026263400. Email us at comments at cspan. Org or send us a tweet cspan hash tag comments. Follow us on twitter, like us on back to. Here is a look at some of the programs you will find Christmas Day on the cspan networks. Holiday festivities start at 10 00 a. M. Eastern with the lighting of the National Christmas tree followed by the White House Christmas decorations with first lady, Michelle Obama and the lighting of the capitol Christmas Tree and just after 12 30 p. M. , activists talking about causes. At 8 00 . , samuel alito and former florida jeb bush on the bill of rights and founding fathers. On cspan 2, venture into the art of good writing with steve pinker. At 12 30, see the feminist side side of a super hero, searching the secret history of bonder wam. Pamela paul and others talk about reading hannits. On cspan 3, at 8 am eastern, the fall of the berlin wall with cspan footage of george bush and bob dole with speeches from john kennedy and ronald reagan. At noon, fashion experts on first ladies fashion choices and how they represented the stieldz of the time in which they lived. At 10 00 action former nbc anchor tom brochaw, this Christmas Day on the cspan networks. For are our complete schedule go to cspan. Org. President obama discussed his cuba policy, the cyber attack on Sony Pictures working with income can congress and using president ial executive orders. This is just under an hour. Hello, everybody. Weve got a full house today. Hum . All i want for christmas is to take your questions. But first, let me say a little bit about this year. In last years final press conference, i said that 2014 would be a year of action and would be a breakthrough year for america. It has been. Yes, there were crisis that we had to tackle around the world. Many that were unanticipated. We have more work to do to make sure our economy, our justice system, and our government work not just for the few but for the many but there is no doubt we can enter into the new year that america is making significant strides where it counts. The steps that we took early on to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation helped make 2014 the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s. All told, over a 57 month streak, our businesses c concentrated nearly 11 million new jobs. Almost all of the job growth that we have seen have been in full time positions. Much of the recent pickup in job growth has been in higher paying industries and in a hopeful sign for middle class families, wages are on the rise again. Our investments in American Manufacturing have helped fuel the best stretch of job growth also since the 1990s. America is now the number 1 producer of oil, the number one producer of natural gas. We are saving drivers about 0. 70 a gallon at the pump over last christmas. And effectively, today, our rescue of the automatic 0 industry is officially over. We have now repaid taxpayers every dime and more of what my administration committed and we are in the strongest year since 2005 and we have created about half a million jobs. About 10 million americans have gained Health Insurance just this past year. Enrollment is beginning to pick up again during the open enrollment period. The uninsured rate is at a near record law since the law practiced. The price of healthcare has risen at the slowest rate in about 50 years. We cut our deficits by about twothirds since i took office meanwhile around the world, america is leading. To destroy isil, the coalition that includes arab partners. We are leading the International Community to check russian aggression in ukraine. We are leading the global fight to combat ebola in west africa. We are preventing an outbreak from taking place here at home. We are leading efforts to address Climate Change including last months joined announcement with china jump starting new progress in other prices. We are writing a new chapter in our leadership here in the americas by turning a new page on our relationship with the cuban people. Our combat mission in afghanistan will be over. Today, more of our troops are home for the holidays in more than a decade. Still many of our men and women in university will spends christmas in harms way greatly not only to you but to your families. The six years since the crisis have demanded hard work and sacrifice on everybodys part. But as a country, we have every right to be proud more people insured, shrinking deficits, bustling industry, booming energy. Take any metric that you want americas resurgence is real. We are better off. I have always said recovering from the crisis of 2008 was our first order of business. America out performs all of our competitors. Over the past four years, we have come to a point where we have a chance to reverse a deeper problem, the deck aids long erosion of middle class income and jobs and to make sure it is the engine to power our prosperity for decades to come. We have to inis vest in higher paying jobs for more americans. I am being sincere when i say i want to work with this new congress to get things done, to make those investments, make sure the government is working better and smarter. We are going to disagree on some things that will involve compromise. We saw during the lame duck period, that spirit of compromise may be coming to the fore. I am excited about the prospects for the next couple of years, i am not going to be stopping for a minute in the effort to make life better for ordinary americans. Thanks to their efforts, we have a new foundation thats been laid. We are better positioned than we have been in a very long time. A new future is ready to be written. We have set the stage for this american moment. I am going to spend every minute of my last two years making sure that we sees it. My presence is entering the fourth quarter. Interesting stuff happens in the fourth quarter. I am looking forward. In the fourth quarter, you usually get a timeout. I am looking forward to a quiet time out. Christmas with my family, so i want to wish everybody a merry christmas, a happy hannakua, new year. I hope you get time to spend with your families as well because one thing that we share is we are away too much for them. Josh has given me the who has been naught y and who has been nice list. I am going to go use it to take questions. We are going to start with terri budda brown of politico. There you go. Thank you, mr. President. In north korea, what does the proportional response look like today . Does it set a dangerous precedent based on this type of situation . Let me address the second question first. Sony is a corporation. It, you know, suffered significant damage. There were threats against its employees. I am sympathetic to the concerns that they face having said all of that, yes, i think they made a mistake. In this interconnected digital world, there are going to be opportunities for hackers to engage in cyber assaults, both in the private sector and in the Public Sector. Now, our first order of business is making sure that we do everything to present those kind of attacks from taking place. When i came into office, i set up a Cyber Security Inter Agency Team to look at everything we could do at the government level to presents these attacks. We have been coordinating with the private sector a lot more needs to be done. We are not close to where we need to be. One of the things in the new year i Hope Congress is to work with us on. Across private sector platforms as well as the Public Sector so that we are incorporating the best practices and preventing these attacks from happening in the first place. Even as we get better, hackers will get better. Some will be actor. Some will be nonstate actors many can do some damage. We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace can start imposing sensor ship here in the United States if somebody intimidates folks out of releasing a satirical movie, imagine what they will do when they see a documentary that they dont like or news reports that they dont like . Or, even worse, imagine if producers and distributors and others start engaging in selfcensorship because they dont want to offhand the offensibilities of somebody whos sensibilities who probably need to be offended. Thats not who we are. Thats not what america is about. Again, i am sympathetic that sony, as a private company, was worried about liabilities and this, that, and the other. I wish they had spoken to me first. I would have told them do not get into a pattern in which you are intimidated by these t criminal attacks. Imagine if someone had broken into you are their offices and destroyed a bunch of computers and stolen disks. Is that the what it takes for suddenly you to pull the plug on something . So, you know, we will engage with not just the Film Industry but the news industry and the private sector around these issue. We have. We will continue to do so. But i think all of us have to anticipate occasionally there are going to be breaches like this they are going to be costly, serious. We take them with the utmost seriousness but we cant start changing our patternses of behavior any more than we stop going to a Football Game because there might be the possibility of a terrorist attack anyone boston didnt run its marathon this year because of the possibility that somebody might try to cause harm. Wore consider taking a symbolic step . I have a long list of movies i am going to be watching. I never release my full movie list the f. B. I. Announced and we can confirm that north korea engaged in this attack. They launched an allout movie starring seth rogen. I love seth. And i love james. We will respond proportionally and we will respond in a place and time and manner that we choose. Its not something that i will announce here today at a press conference. This sets up rules for the road for the internet and cyber. Its now the wild west. You have weak states that can engage in these kind of attacks. You have nonstate actors that can do enormous damage. Thats part of what makes to provide for the information sharing we need. If we dont, if we dont, this is not just going to affect movies but our entire economy in ways that are extraordinarily significant. I hear you are moving to europe. Where are you going to be brussels. I have been with the Company Since the beginning, so i think there is no doubt that what belgium needs is a version of politico. Cheryl, you have been naughty. Go ahead. Looking ahead to your work with Congress Last year tax reform. Do you see a Republican Congress presenting a better opportunity for actually getting tax reform next year . Will you be putting out a new proposal and are you concerned about corporate inversion . I think an all Democratic Congress would have provided an even better opportunities for tax reform, but that they are serious about wanting to get some things done. The tax area is one area where we can get things done leading up to the state of the union, there will be some conversations at the staff levels about what principles each side are looking at. I can tell you broadly what i would like to see more simplicity in the 12e78, more fairness in the system. With respect to the Corporate Tax reform issue, we know that there are companies that are paying the full freight, 35 , higher than just about any other company and other Companies Paying zero because they have better accountants or lawyers. Thats not fair. There are companies that are parking money outside that everybody pay something if, in fact, they are effectively headquartered in the United States. In terms of corporate inversion, those are situations where companies are headquartered here but on paper switch their headquarters to see if they can avoid paying their fair share of taxes. I think that needs to be fixed. Fairness, everybody paying their fair share, everybody taking responsibility, i think its going to be very important. Some of those principles, i have heard republicans say they share. How we do that, the devil is in the details. I will be interested to see what they want to move forward. I am going to make sure we put forward some pretty specific proposals building on what we have already put forward. I have been on this hobby horse for six years. We have a lot of infrastructure. Roads, bridges, ports, airports. He electrical grids, we are way blind. Early on, we indicated lowering tax reform, lowering rates, eliminating loopholes so everybody is paying their fair share and to providing a mechanism where we can get infrastructure built. I would like to see us work on that issue as well. Historically, it has not best of my knowledge a democratic or a republican issue. I would like to see if we can return to that tradition. Julie pace. Thanks. Cuba. What would you think that this or democracy advocates fear could get the regime economic bests without having to address human rights or their political system and your administration was looking at sanctions on myanmar. Why not the same with cuba . On north korea, do you have any indication that north korea was acting in conjunction with another country . Perhaps china . We have no education that north korea was acting in conjunction with another country. With respect to cuba, we are glad the cuban government has released slightly over 50 disidents, that they are going to allow the red cross and the United Nations human rights agencies to operate for prooefl inside of cuba and monitor what is taking place i share the concerns of human rights activists that, you know, this is still a regime that represses its people. And i dont anticipate overnight changes, but what i know deep in my bones is that if you have done the same thing for 50 years and nothing changed, you should try Something Different if you want a different outcome. This gives us an opportunity for a different outcome. Because cuba is open to the world in ways that it has not been before. Its open to americans traveling in ways that it hasnt been before. It is open to Church Groups visiting, you know, their fellow believers inside of cuba in ways they havent been before it offers the prospect of telecommunications and the internet being more widely available in cuba in ways that it hasnt been before. Ov over time, that chips away at this hermetically sealed society. I believe that will leads to greater freedom, greater Self Determination on the part of the cuban people. I think it will happen in fits and starts. Through engagement, we have a better chance of bringing about change than otherwise. Al way to reveal the end of your presidency . I think it would be hard to map out where cuba is going to be. They have an economy that doesnt work. Then rely ant for years first on subsidies from the soviet union and then from venzuela. Those cant be sustained. The more the cuban people see whats possible, the more interested they are going to be in change. How society is changed is countryspecific, culturally specific. It will happen slower than i would like. Mented lisa clerk. I had a number of questions on cuba as well. Do i have to write all of these down . Did you get any indication from the cuba government it would not sabotage the deal as it has in the past when other president s have made over temperatures to the government . What do you mean . When the Clinton Administration made overtures, shot down planes, had a pattern of doing provocative okay. Just general provocative . Provocative activity. Okay. I wanted to see what is what has been happening in the talks . Any of the changes that you are doing, are you going to personally get involved in terms of talking to them about a new embassy . A lot of stuff. Okay. All right. The the plane being shot down the its not clear that that was the cuban government trying to undermine the Clinton Administration overtures. It was a tragic circumstance that ended up collapsing talks that had begun to take place. I havent seen a historical record that shows they were trying to understand mine the clinton government. It is not precedented for the president of the United States there hasnt been anything like this in the past. Doesnt mean over the next two years, we cant anticipate them taking actions that we may end up finding deeply troubling. Inside of cuba or with respect to their foreign policy. Could put strains on the relationship. But thats true of a lot of countries out there and why we have an embassy. And the whole point of normalizing relations is that it gives us a greater opportunities to have influence with that government than not. So i would be surprised if the cuban government purposefully tries to undermine what is effectively its own policy. I wouldnt be surprised if they take at any given time actions that we think are a problem. We will be in a position to respond to whatever actions they take the same way we do with a whole range of countries around the world when they do things we think are wrong. But the points is, is that we will be in a better position, i think, to actually have some influence, and there may be carrots as well as sticks that we can then apply. The only the only way that fidels name may have come up. I think i may have mentioned them in the david muir article, interview that i did. Was i delivered a fairly lengths y statement lengthy statement about how we are looking at a new future but we are going to continue to press on human rights issues which we think are important. In my opening remarks i took about 15 minutes, which on the phone is a pretty long time, and at the end of that, he said, mr. President , you are still a young man. Perhaps you have the at the ends of my remarks, i apologized for taking, you know, such a long time, but i wanted to make sure that before we engaged in the conversation that we he was very clear about where i stood. He said, oh, dont worry about it, mr. President. You are still a young man, and you have still a chance to break fidels record. He once spoke seven hours straight. Railroad then president castro proceeded to deliver his own preliminary remarks that lasted at least twice as long as mine. And then i was able to say, obviously, it runs in the family. But that was the only discussion with fidel castro that we had. I sort of forgot all of the other questions. I have a few more. How personally involved are you going to get . With respect to congress, we cant not unilaterally bring down the embargo. Thats codified in the todd act. What i think is going to happen is there is going to be a process where congress digests it. There are bipartisan supporters of our new approach. There are bipartisan detractors of this new approach. People will see how the actions we take unfold. And i think there is going to be a healthy debate inside of congress. I will certainly weigh in. I think that ultimately, we need to go ahead and pull down the embargo, which i think is kind of selfdefeating in advancing the aims that we are interested in. But i dont anticipate that that happens right away. I think people are going to want to see how this moves forward before there is any serious debate about whether or not we would make major shifts in the embargo. All right. Ranton . I want to follow on that on what conditions would you meet with president castro . Would you want to have preconditions before doing that . And on the hack, i know you said you are not going to announce your response but would you say whether you are considering additional economic or financial sanctions on north korea . Can you rule out the use of military force or some kind of cyber hit . I think i wiam going to leav it where i left it, which is we just confirmed it was north korea. We had been working up a range of options. They will be presented to me. I will make a decision on those based upon what i believe is proportional and appropriate to the nature of this crime. Sc with respect to cuba, we are not at a stage here where my visiting cuba or president castro coming to the United States is in the cards. I dont know how this relationship will develop over the next several years. I am a fairly young man, so i imagine at some point in my life, i will have the opportunity to visit cuba and enjoy interacting with the cuban people, but there is Nothing Specific where we are trying to target some sort of visit on my part. Colleen nelson. Thank you. There you are. You spoke earlier about 2014 being a breakthrough year and you ended the year with immigration and Climate Change. You didnt make much progress with your legislative agenda and republican Lawmakers Said they are less inclined to work with you if you pursue executive action so aggressively. Are you going to continue to pursue executive action if that creates more road blocks to your agenda or have you concluded its not possible to break the fever in washington and the partisan gridlock here . I think there are real opportunities to get things done in congress. As i said before, i take Speaker Boehner and Mitch Mcconnell at their words that they want to get things done. I think the American People would like to see us get some things done. The question is going to be are we able to separate out those areas where we disagree and those areas where we agree . I think there are going to be some tough bites on areas where we disagree. If republicans seek to take healthcare away from people who just got it, they will meet stiff resistance from me. If they try to water down Consumer Protection that we put in place in the aftermath of the financial crisis. I will say, no. And i am confident that i will be uphold vetos of those types of provisions. But on increasing american exports, on simplifying our tax system, rebuilding our infrastructure, my hope is that we can get some things done. I have never been persuaded by this argument that if it werents for the executive, they would have been more productive. There is no evidence of that. So, i intend to continue to do what i have been doing, which is where i see a big problem and the opportunity to help the American People and it is within my Lawful Authority to provide that help, i am going to do it. I will then sidebyside reach out to members of congress, reach out to republicans and say, lets Work Together. I would rather do it with you. Immigration is the classic example. I was really happy when the Senate Passed a bipartisan comprehensive immigration bill. And i did everything i could for a year and a half to provide republicans this space to act. And showed not only great patience but flexibility, saying to them if there are specific changes you would like to see, we are willing to compromise. We are willing to be patient. We are willing to work with you. Ultimately, it wasnt forthcoming. And so, you know, the question is going to be, i think, if executive actions on areas like minimum wage or equally pay or having a more sensible immigration system are important to republicans, if they care about those issues and the executive actions are bothering them, there is a very simple solution. And that is pass bills and work with me to make sure i am willing to sign those bills because both sides are going to have to compromise on most issues in order for their initiatives to become law, i am going to have to sign off. Means they have to take into account the issues that i care about just as i am going to take into account the issues that they care about. All right. I think this is going to be our last question. July ette allsbury. There you go. Thank you very much. One of the first bills that mitch mccome said he would send to you is one that would authorize the construction of the keystone xl pipeline. When you talked about this in the past, you minimized the benefits and highlighted the risks associated with that proje project. Can you tell us what you can do when faced with that bill with a republican majority and what do you see as the benefits and given the precipitous drop we have seen in oil prices, does that change the calculus in terms of how it contributes to Climate Change and whether you think it will come into effect . I dont think i have minimized the benefits. I think i have described the bits. At issue in keystone is not american oil. It is canadian oil that is drawn out of tar sands in canada that oil currently is being shipped out through rail or trucks, and it would save Canadian Oil Companies and the Canadian Oil Industry anna enormous a lot of money if they could simply pipe it all the way through the United States down to the gulf. Once that oil gets to the gulf, it is then entering into the world market. And it would be sold all around the world. So there is no i wont say no. There is very little impact, nominal impact, on u. S. Gas prices, what the average American Consumer cares about by having this pipeline come through. Sometimes, the way this gets sold is, you know, lets get this oil and its going to come here and the implication is, is that thats going to lower gas prices here in the United States. Its not. There is a global oil market. Its very good for Canadian Oil Companies, and its good for the Canadian Oil Industry, but its not going to be a huge benefit to u. S. Consumers. Its not even ig going to be a nominal benefit to u. S. Consumers. Now, the construction in the pipeline, itself, will create probably a couple of thousand jobs. Those are temporary jobs until the construction actually happens. There is probably some additional jobs that can be created in the refining process down in the gulf. Those arent, you know, completely insignificant. You know, its just like any other project. But when you consider what we could be doing, if we are rebuilding roads and bridges around the country, something that congress could authorize, we could probably create hundreds of thousands of jobs or a million jobs. So, if thats the argument, there are a lot more direct ways to create wellpaying American Construction jobs. And then, with respect to the costs, all i have said is that i want to make sure that if, in fact, this project goes forward that its not adding to the problem of Climate Change which i think is very serious and does impose serious costs on the American People. Some of them longterm, but going to cost nonetheless. If we have more flooding, more wildfires, more drought, their direct schwinning impacts on that and as we are rebuilding after sandy, for example, we are having to consider how do we increa increased necessary in how we structure infrastructure and housing and so forth along the jersey shore. Thats an example of the kind of costs that are imposed and you can put a dollar figure on it. So, in terms of process, youve got a nebraska judge still determining whether or not the new path for this pipeline is appropriate. Once that is resolved, then the state department will have all of the information it needs to make its decision, but i just try to give this perspective because i think there has been this tendency to really hype this thing as some magic formula and to what ails the u. S. Economy. Its hard to see on paper where exactly they are getting that information from. In terms of oil prices and how it impacts the decision, i think that it wont have a Significant Impact except perhaps in the minds of folks when gas prices are lower maybe, less susceptible to the argument that this is the answer to lowering gas prices. But it was never going to be the answer to lowering gas prices because the oil that would be piped through the Keystone Pipeline would go into the world market. Thats what dertermines oil prices ultimately. Congress working your hands on this, is this something where you say you are not going to let Congress Force your hand on this in an effort to approve improve the system . I will see what they do. We will take that up in the new year. Any new years resolutions . Go ahead, heather. Thank you, mr. President. Last question, i guess six years ago this month, i asked you, what was the state of black america and you said it was the best of times and the worst of times. You said it was the best of times in the sense that there was never been more opportunity for African Americans to receive good education and the worst of times for unemployment and the lack of opportunity. Ending 2014, what you do say to black america as we talk about those issues as well as Race Relations . Like the rest of america, black america in the aggregate is better off now than it was when i came in to. Jobs that have been created, the people who have gotten Health Insurance, the 401 pension that has been recovered, a lot of those folks are sfran american. They are better off than they were. The gap between income and wealth of white and black america persists. And we got more work to do on that front. I have been consistent in saying that this is a legacy of a troubled racial past, jim crow and slavery. Thats not an excuse. For and i think the overall majority of black people understand. They are out there working hard, hustling, trying to sends their kids to college. They are starting behind oftentime in the race. Whats true for all americans is we should be willing to provide people a hand up not a hand up but help folks get that the good Early Childhood education, help them graduate from high school, help them afford college. If they do, they are going to be able to succeed. Thats going to be good for all of us. And we have seen some progress. The education reforms that we have initiated are showing measurable results. We have the highest High School Graduation that we have seen in a very long time. We are seeing record numbers of young people attending college. Many states that have initiated reforms, you are seeing progress in math scores and reading scores for american and latino students as well as the broader population but we have still got more work to go. Thats obviously how we are thing being Race Relations right now has been colored by ferg soverign, the garner case in new york, a growing awareness in the broader population of what many communities of color have understood for some time. And that is that there are specific instances, at least, where where Law Enforcement doesnt feel as if its being applied in a colorblind fashion. Task force i formed is supposed to report back to me in 90 days, not with a bunch of abstract musings about Race Relations but some concrete, practical things that Police Departments and Law Enforcement agencies can begin implementing to rebuild trust between communities of color and the Police Department. And my intention is to, as soon as i get those recommendations, to start implementing. Some of them, we will be able to do through executive action. Some will require congressional action. Some will require action on the part of states and local jurisdictions. But i actually think its been a healthy conversation that we have had. These are not new phenomenon. The fact that they are not surfacing, in fact, because people are able to film what has just been in the past stories past on around the kitchen table, allows people to, you know, make their own a sesments and evaluations. You are not going to solve the problem if its not being talked about. In the meantime, we have been moving forward on criminal justice reamer issues more broadly. One of the things i didnt talk about in my Opening Statement is the fact that last year was the first time in 40 years where we had the federal prison population go down and the crime rate go down at the same time which indicates the degree to which it is possible for us to think smarter about who we are incarcerating, how long we are t incarcerating, dealing with drug offensive, diversion programs, drug courts. We can do a better job and save money in the process by initiating some of these reforms. I have been really pleased to see that we have had republicans and democrats in congress who are interested in these issues as well. The one thing i will say and this is going to be the last thing i say, is that i one of the great things about this job is you get to know the American People. I mean you meet folks from every walk of life and every region of the kwuvent tree and every race and every faith. And what i dont think is always captured in our political debates is the vast majority of people are just trying to do the right thing. And people are basically good and have good intentions. Sometimes, our institutions and our systems dont work as well as they should. Sometimes, you know, youve got a Police Department that has gotten into bad habits over a period of time and hasnt maybe, not surfaced some hidden biases that we all carry around. But if you offer practical solutions, ig people want to fix these problems. Its not this isnt a situation where people feel good sighing somebody choked and dying. I think that troubles everybody. So there is an opportunity of all of us to come together and t you know, to take a practical approach to these problems. And i guess thats my general theme for the end of the year, which is, weve gone through difficult times. It is your job, press corps to report on all of the mistakes that are made and all of the bad things that happen and the crises that look like they are popping and i understand that. But through persistent effort and faith in the American People, things get better. The economy has gotten better. Our ability to generate clean energy has gotten better. We know more about how to educate our kids. We solve problems. Ebola is a real crisis. You get a mistake in the first case because its not something thats been seen before. We fix it. You have some unaccompanied children who spike at a boarder, and it may not get fixed in the time frame of the news cycle but it gets fixed. And, you know, part of what i hope, as we reflect on the new year, it should generate some confidence. America knows how to solve problems, and when we Work Together, we cant be stopped. And now, i am going to go on vacation. Malakiliki maka, everybody. Thank you, everybody. Next, we will be taking your calls and comments live on washington journal Prime Minister David Cameron testifying before the British Liaison Committee on extremism and Climate Change. After that, the year end News Conference of u. S. U. N. Secretary ban ki moon. Here are some of the programs you will find this weekend on the cspan networks. Tonight at 9 30 on cspan, seth rogen with daily show creator liz winstead at the Harvard Institute of politics. Sunday at 8 00 on q a, katie pavolich on what she perceives as the hypocracy of liberals with their war on women rhetoric. On book t. V. s afterwards, william derezowitcz says students should learn lessons in how to think critically, be creative and have a goal in life beyond the material. Sunday morning, just before 11 00 . Book t. V. Visits lafayette, West Lafayette indiana. To interview several of the citys authors and tour its literary sites and on American History t. V. On cspan three today at 6 00 p. M. Eastern on the civil war, historian damion shields talks about the life of Irish American soldier Patrick Clayburn during the bralths of franklin, tin see. Sunday afternoon at 4 00 on real america, a 1974 investigative piece by san franciscos kron t. V. On the history of Police Brutality in neighboring oakland. Find our complete Television Schedule at cspan. Org and let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. Call us at 2026263400. Email us at comments cspan. Org or a tweet at cspan hash tag comments. Join the cspan conversation. Like us on back to. Follow us on twitter. Coming up on washington journal, Gregory Korte and then michael coun houn will talk about payday lenders and regulations Mark Diamondstein president of the American Postal Workers Union outlines schedules taking place in january. We will take your calls and you can join the conversation at facebook and twitter. Washingt washington journal is next