Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150120

David w. Jolly to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, john a. Boehner speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the house of january 6 2015, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. The chair will alternate recognition between the parties with time equally allocated between the parties and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and minority whip limited to five minutes. But in no event shall debate continue beyond 1 50 p. M. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Berra bera for five minutes. Mr. Bera thank you, mr. Speaker. Today i rise to honor the memory of Sacramento County sheriff deputy danny oliver. Deputy oliver served the citizens of Sacramento County for 15 years when he paid the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty this past october. Later that day the sheriff investigative junior was shot by the same assailant. Deputy oliver grew up in sacramento and graduated from high school there. He loved served the community where he groo up and dedicated his life grew up and dedicated his life to making it better. He was known for being part of the community that he served answering emails from concerned citizens and never declining to attend a neighborhood meeting. Deputy oliver was as dedicated to his family as he was to his job and his family was dedicated to him. His wife worked two jobs while danny went through the Sheriffs Academy where he graduated at the top of his class academically. She will be my guest tonight at the state of the union. Susan and danny have two daughters, the lives of Deputy Oliver and investigator davis are a reminder that our Law Enforcement officers put their lives on the line every day for our safety. They were true heroes and we are forever indebted to them and their loved ones. Lets honor their memory by building understanding and trust between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve. Just like Deputy Oliver did. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from puerto rico mr. Pierluisi, for five minutes. Mr. Pierluisi mr. Speaker, yesterday this nation including puerto rico, celebrated Martin Luther king day, it is important to pause and respect upon dr. Kings legacy and its relevance to the issue of puerto ricos political status. In the 1950s and 1960s dr. King was the most prominent leader of the Civil Rights Movement for racial equality in the United States. He was physically brave, leading peaceful marches and other protests in parts of the country where some government officials and residents were willing to use violence and intimidation to maintain a system of segregation and discrimination. Dr. King was also remarkably eloquent. His speeches and writings inspired many women who already supported the campaign for racial equalityity but they also changed the hearts and minds of individuals who initially opposed the cause. He helped Many Americans who were leaving dr. King was motivated by a sense of urgency. In a letter written from the alabama jail, he stated justice delayed is justice denied. He was also strategic every action he took was carefully designed to advance the cause. He knew the means matter as much as ends. And he had little patience for advocates who lacked a sense of tactics and timing. Dr. King traveled to puerto rico on at least two occasions, but it does not appear that he expressed a considered opinion about the islands political status. Nevertheless, based on dr. Kings philosophy it is fair to presume that he would be very troubled by the situation in puerto rico. Dr. King regarded the right to vote as sacred. In the 1957 speech delivered in front of the lincoln memorial, he said i quote so long as i do not firmly and revocably possess the right to vote, i do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind. It is made up for me. I cannot live as a democratic citizen serving the laws i help to enact, i can only submit to the edict of others. End of quote. Nearly 50 years after dr. Kings death from an assassins bullet, the right to vote in federal and local elections is guaranteed to all american citizens regardless of race but only if they reside in the u. S. State. The 3. 6 million american citizens residing in the u. S. Territory of puerto rico are denied this sacred right. Unable to vote for the federal leaders who make the laws that govern every aspect of their lives. We lack the very right of dr. King lived for and the right he died for. The movement dr. King led was a quest for equal rights and equal opportunities for africanamericans, however, the principle that lay behind the movement and that gave it such moral power has broader application. It is the belief that theres only one category of american citizenship not a first class citizenship for some and second class citizenship for others. Every day that puerto rico remains a territory and undemocratic and undignified status, this principle is violated. Dr. King taught us that achieving equality requires hard, determined, relentless work. It requires leaders who are both passionately strategic just as dr. King was. But above all, it requires thousands upon thousands of ordinary men and women to unite around a principle, the principle of equality. To fight for it until it is obtained. Dr. Kings life is a testament to the fundamental truth that theres no force on earth Strong Enough to stop the righteous cost pursued by righteous means. Our struggle to obtain equal rights and equal opportunities for the u. S. Citizens of puerto rico is a struggle for justice. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentlelady from texas ms. Jackson lee, for five minutes. Ms. Jackson lee i ask unanimous consent to address the house. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Jks l . R, what an interesting coincidence. We are here today to hear from the president of the United States, president barack obama, on his state of the union, just yesterday millions of americans honored together the legacy and message of dr. Martin luther king jr. I rise today to emphasize that dr. Kings message was not a message for one particular ethnic or racial or religious group, but as i reflected over the years he equaled the original values of this nation. Constitution begins by saying we have come to order a more perfect union. Its a small document. The bill of rights gives flesh to the bones of the constitution. Because it gives us the freedom of religion and speech and access and the ability to move around and the right to a jury trial and right to due process and right to dignity. And freed the slaves. But it also is a document that can free us from the biases that sometimes come because of isolation. And that was dr. King. He sought for america her higher angels. He wanted her to be able to be true to her values. For those who fled persecution in far away places, he wanted america to be that place that did not seek color religion, ethnicity did not see differences because one was disabled or gay or straight, but really saw us in an equal manner. He marched for all people. I would hope that as we begin this session of congress, as we listen to the president of the United States, who literally stands on the shoulders of dr. Martin luther king for it was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 where many lost their lives and the Voting Rights act of 1965 where a young woman by the name of viola died right after the selma march as she was bringing back those protesters and marchers she was shot dead. She was a white woman from michigan. And so i pay tribute to dr. King today and i look forward to listening to the president s message that will hopefully be a message of hope and the opportunities for america to Work Together. I remember my own community, i pay tribute to a place called freemans town, founded by former slaves and a place where black soldiers were isolated in world war i but they had the uniform of this country. I pay tributele to reverend f. M. Williams and s. J. Gilbert, j. J. Roverson, and many others that have walked the pathway, the leaders of the naacp, leaders of the urban league, and many of our seniors who came to us to give us knowledge through their sacrifices of world war ii. The Buffalo Soldiers that we see in our community all the time. And to those who have put on the uniform through the ages, all of those persons combined make up the spirit of dr. Martin luther king, who believes us with a the most important statement, justice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere. As we go on our new journy, let us look to respect our Law Enforcement, but also look as we stand alongside of the men and women in blue that we also find a way to be able to bring justice and opportunity and as welfareness to the criminal justice system. It takes all of us to be able to get that system right side up. Our Law Enforcement officers and their training, and then of course the judicial system. Let us look forward in dr. Kings spirit of coming together no matter what our race, color, our creed, whatever our body says to do to be able to do what is right. And i said to young people when i was speaking about dr. King this weekend i use one simple theme, he had a humble courage a quiet courage. He had to make decisions in the quietness of his own presence and his own space to say im willing to do what is right even though there may be danger. He never announced never spoke about words that dealt with his own personal courage. He did say that he had a peace that would allow him to see the Promised Land and acknowledge to us that he might not get there with us, but he knew we as a people i take that we as the American People will get there someday. Let us together fix fergusons, and the many fergusons around the nation, let us bring comfort to parents all around this nation. Let us be reminded of dr. Kings spirit, not just in this weekend of activities and respect and honor, but let us do it always. I close by simply saying thank you at home to reverend dr. Duncan tale. Hes been the visionary in our efforts to honor dr. Martin luther king. And we were able successfully with federal funds and working with him we were able to place a Martin Luther king memorial, the first built outside of washington d. C. In the last 10 years. We are excited about t we know that his spirit is not in bricks and mortar it is living within us. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. Pursuant to class 12a of rule 1, the chair now declares the house in recess until 2 00 voters gave us an opportunity to do great things for hardworking americans. Believe me we are not going to waste that opportunity. Im here today speaks as the chairman of the Senate Finance committee. The finance committee has the largest jurisdiction of any committee in congress. Legislating on issues that impact the lives and livelihoods of each and every american. We have jurisdiction turnover the tax code, much of our Nations Health care policy. We have jurisdiction over our trade policy and entitle programs. And theres much more entitlement programs. And theres much more, we have great senators on this committee, on both sides of the aisle. Im very grateful for the Senate Majority leader and my colleagues for entrusting me with this opportunity and leadership of this Important Group of senators. Pardon my voice. Our country faces a number of significant challenges. For example despite recent upticks, Economic Growth over the last several years have lagged behind historic levels. And even though we have seen a decline in the Unemployment Rate Labor Force Participation is dangerously low. And we know that the reason one of the big reasons for the decline is that people just arent even looking for jobs anymore. More and more americans are forced to work in lowpaying, often parttime jobs or leave the work force altogether. Although we have seen some deficit reduction over the past few years, our National Debt is currently over 18 trillion. Thats trillion. With a t. And its projected only to expand in the coming years. And we have a coming entitlement crisis that threatens to swallow up our government and take our economy down with t if we are going to right this ship, we are going to need a new agenda. An agenda that puts the healthy economy and job creation first. Agenda an agenda that gives Hardworking Taxpayers greater security and independence. An agenda that will put our government on a better and berter and more responsible fiscal footing. Thats what im here to talk about today. As the chairman of the finance committee i want to do all i can to put our country on a better path and ensure all americans have an opportunity to prosper. To get there i have put together what really is a very ambitious agenda for our committee. I would like to lay out some of that for you here today. Im fully aware that for some people particularlyly the particularly the cynics, the word ambitious is another synonym for unrealistic. To them i can only offer my commitment to work tirelessly and relentlessly to make every part of this agenda a reality. Keep in mind this isnt first time i have chaired a committee. I have chaired two large committees before taking over Senate Finance. While there are some unique challenges to every committee, those who know me can attest that i can work to get things done. To see what i intend to do, lets talk specifics about what the Senate Finance committee will be tackling in the 114th congress. Tax reform. My top priority for the new congress will be to reform our nations broken tax code. Tax reform is long overdue. I dont think theres a person in this audience who would disagree with that sentiment. Comprehensive tax reform is essential if we are going to get our economy moving again. Our current tax system is a roadblock that stands between us and sustained prosperity. I dont believe that reform should be considered optional. It is essential if we are serious about building and maintaining a healthy economy. Over the past few years i have laid out seven principles that i believe should guide our tax reform efforts. The first is growth in the economy. Growing our economy should be our highest priority. As we undertake tax reform. Absence sustained and robust growth, our children and grandchildren face a dimmer future. Another essential principle is fairness, the tax code should treat similarly situated taxpayers similarly. It should not pick winners and losers. A Broader Tax Base with lower tax rates should be the basis of a fairer tax code. Simplicity is also a very important principle every year americans spend more and more on gross domestic we spend more than the Gross Domestic Product of total domestic product of new zealand just to comply with the tax code alone. These millions of dollars could be put to better use elsewhere providing greater Financial Security for families and individuals. Perms is another principle. Businesses and Hardworking Taxpayers should be able to plan for the future without wondering whether the tax code is going to change from year to year. Our tax code should also pro moat american competitiveness promote american competitiveness. Under the current system, american employers face numerous competitive disadvantages relative to their foreign counterparts. We need to eliminate these impediments and put our own companies on a level Playing Field in the world marketplace. We also need savings on investment. Right now our tax code in many ways discourages people from saving and investing, which harms growth, hinders Financial Independence, and reduces the quality of life for future generations. That needs to be changed in tax reform. Finally, theres the principle of revenue neutrality. If we are scouring our tax code looking for additional revenues to pay for government spending, we are not engaging in a tax reform, we are just plain and simple raising taxes. Any attempt to use tax reform as an excuse to raise taxes on businesses or Hardworking Taxpayers is a needless distraction, in my opinion. I dont know any reasonable person who would publicly argue that the American People are undertaxed. Or american businesses are undertaxed. We need to remember that as we work to reform. As you know, because of the taxation of american businesses, some of them are inverting because of better tax rates in other countries and we have a very mobile moving economy at this point in this country. It doesnt appear that president obama gets it. We have seen reports that in tonights state of the union address, the president plans to call for tax hikes in the name of simply filing the tax code and helping the middle class. And the tax hikes hes proposing would be particularly damaging. Undoing tax policies that have been successful in helping expand the economy, promote savings and create jobs. His proposals would send a bad signal to american businesses and workers who want us to actually help promote the health of the economy. Clearly while he may be using language typically associated with tax reform, his goals depart in many ways from the principles that i just set forward. Revenue neutrality is essential if we are going to enact real reforms. I hope we can get the president to reverse course on this. Simplicity, too, is important. It would take some Creative Advertising to argue that what the president will lay out tonight will simplify the tax system. This plan that we hear about tonight appears to be more about redistribution with added complexity and class warfare directed at job creation Small Businesses than about tax reform which is unfortunate to me because we are going to need real leadership from the white house not just liberal talking points. If tax reform is ever going to be successful, we have to have that leadership. With my seven principles in mind, the question becomes, how do we get to reform . Im sure all of you are aware of the recent steps we have taken on tax reform in the finance committee. Last week Ranking Member widen and i wyden and i appointed working groups and tasked them with studying various areas of the code that find solutions that offer proposals for reform. This process puts us on a path where bipartisan tax reform will be abelievable. The five working groups are, one, individual income tax. Two, business income tax. Three, savings and investment. Four international tax. And five, Community Development and infrastructure. My hope is that the Committee Members in these five bipartisan working groups will use this opportunity to uncover real tax Reform Solutions and give us real ideas that will aid us in true tax reform. I believe thats just what theyll do. They are all committed to this process and i believe its going to work. Ill speak once again to the cynics who may be out there doubting the intent of this process. This is not an exercise. This is not theater. Nor is it just for show. This is a very real undertaking. I dont want to just release a framework or proposal that doesnt go anywhere. My only goal when it comes to tax reform is to make new law. The purpose of this endeavor with the working groups is to produce bipartisan tax reform legislation that will be introduced and marked up by the finance Committee Later this year. Im sure all of you have your own thoughts on what the final product should look like. I look forward to hearing from you as this process moves forward. In the tax space we also have to work to fund the highway bill. As youall know, the latest iteration of highway funding expires in may. And whether we address that as a stand alone or part of tax reform, we are going to work to find a longterm funding solution to pay for our highways. I agree with chairman ryan that a gas tax increase is unlikely, even though the contractors on highways would readily agree with that. I believe we can find other solutions. Infrastructure properly defined should not be partisan. It should be something that unites us. And im committed to working with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find a solution on this very important issue. Trade, another high priority out of my finance Committee Agenda is the advancement of our nations interest in international trade. This is another area that impacts basically every american. More than 95 of the worlds population and 60 of its purchasing power resides outside of the United States. If we want our businesses large and small to be able to compete on the world stage, they need to have access to these foreign markets. Theres just no way around it. Trade is essential for a vie brat growing economy one that will vibrant growing economy, one that will provide great prosperity and opportunity for businesses and individuals. The u. S. Is currently engaged in two of the most ambitious trade negotiations in our nations history. First, is with likeminded countries in the asia pacific region, the Transpacific Partnership or t. P. P. The other is with our allies in the European Union. The transatlantic trade and partnership or t tip. My goal, chairman of the Senate Finance committee, is help ensure these trade agreements meet High Standards and provide the very best opportunities for american workses and businesses who hire them. To do that, we need to renew t. P. A. Or trade propotion authority. Promotion authority. Every president since f. D. R. Has sought t. P. A. In their efforts to negotiate and conclude High Standard frayed agreements. Youre not going to get them from these countries unless we pass t. P. A. I have been amazed that this president hasnt pushed really hard on that after saying he would but never did. Theres no question its a a lot of questions are raised. In the last century no major trade agreement has been concluded by an administration and enacted by Congress Without trade promotion authority. Put simply, t. P. A. Is essential if these ambitious trade agreements are going to succeed, and they must succeed. Some argue that t. P. A. Cedes too much authority to the president. I would argue that the opposite is true. The t. P. A. Legislation that i introduced last year with the two former chairmen david camp and max bachus, actually enhances Congress Role in trade negotiations by giving specific directions to the administration as to what they need to deliver to get an agreement through congress. Absent the passage of t. P. A. Legislation, there is no other way for congress to effectively assert itself and its priorities into the ongoing trade negotiations. My plan therefore is to move carefully but quickly to mark up a t. P. A. Bill. Im currently working with Ranking Member wyden and chairman ryan to see if there are improvements that might be made to t. P. A. So we can introduce a bipartisan, bicameral bill in this congress that we can move in short order. I want to thank both of them for working as well as they do together and with me. If president obama can be more forward leaning with members of his party, starting with tonights state of the union address, i believe we can get this done quickly. That is what i am committed to do. While t. P. A. Remains our top tried priority there are other important el elements of our trade agenda that also deserve to be mentioned. This congress has to move to remove the generalized system of preferences, reauthorize the customs and border protection, and the immigration and Customs Enforcement agencies, and reauthorize the faffer can growth and opportunity act african growth and opportunity act, all of which are important. My plan is to move sooner rather than later on all of these priorities this year as well. Health care, id like to take a few minutes to talk about health care policy. Theres a lot to discuss when it comes to our Nations Health care system. Of course hanging over every discussion we have is the socalled, quote Affordable Care act, unquote. No one in this room should be surprised to learn that i opposed the Affordable Care act and think it should be repealed. But im also realistic with president obama in the White House Well never get a full repeal enacted into law. While hes president. That doesnt mean we should do nothing. We may not yet be able to repeal obamacare, we are going to continue to strike away at it piece by piece if we have to. Just last week i introduced reintroduced Bipartisan Legislation to refeel obamas jobkilling medical device tax. I also plan to introduce a bill to repeal the employer mandate, one of obamacares other antijob provisions. The house of representatives overwhelmingly passed the hire more heroes act. A bipartisan measure that will help veterans find work by exempting them from the employer mandate on Small Businesses. That passed 100 of those voting on it in the house. Well definitely take that up in the senate. In fact, my plan is that this will be the first bill we mark up in the finance committee. Thats the plan of the leadership too. There are other bills in the pipeline. Many of which expose different parts of the Affordable Care acts negative impact on jobs and the economy. Including legislation to restore the 40hour workweek. I plan on having the finance Committee Work through these bills so that we can send them all to the president s desk and have him try to explain to the American People why hes rige and thert right and they are all wrong. Lets be clear, its enough for the committee or entire congress to simply send messages on obamacare, we need to work toward positive solutions of our own. In the last congress i worked with senators burr and coburn to develop a legitimate alternative to obamacare, the patient care act. Our plan addresses the shortcomings of obamacare headon e. Expanding patient choice, curbing Rising Health care cost, and injecting market force noose our health care system. In this congress, im going to work to bring others onboard with our solution. I have reached out to experts and stakeholders for their thoughts and critiques on our plan. And i hope they will continue to offer their guidance as we move forward. It is important that republicans begin o unite behind an alternative to obamacare, because as we all know the support is going to rule on the legitimacy of the obamacare subsidies by the end of june. Can they give subsidies to federal established exchanges . Of course the language is unambiguous. I personally believe the court will say they cant do that. Ok. The supreme courts going to rule on the legitimacy of obamacare subsidies by the end of june. I of course express an opinion on that how the court should rule but i wont speculate today on how the decision will turn out. I express my own personal opinion. I just say we need to be prepared because should the court invalidate subsidies to foreign exchanges, we need to act to mitigate the additional damage obamacare will inflict on the health care system. And thats something we have to be working on. Finally in terms of health care, there are a few mustpass items on the finance finance committees agenda. One of these is the Childrens Health insurance program, or chip, which is set to expired in september. We have heard from a number of governors in red states and blue states alike they want to see this program extended. Its been a marvelous program, its worked very, very well. Im optimistic we can work in a bipartisan bicameral basis to extend championship chip in a responsible way. In addition theres medicare Sustainable Growth rate or s. G. R. That expires on march 1. Last year i joined five of my colleagues in introducing a bipartisan, bicameral bill to refeel the broken s. G. R. Formula with an improved payment system. That system rewards quality efishency, and innovation. These efforts efficiency and innovation. These efforts will continue in this congress and my goal is to address the s. G. R. Challenge once and for all. Entitlement reform medicare, i want to talk about our enforcement programs overall. As i mentioned we are facing an unprecedented fiscal crisis in the coming years. If we dont act to shore up our unsustainable entitlement programs medicare, medicaid, and Social Security, these are out of whack. The stakes here are enormous. We are talking about tens of trillions of dollars. You heard that right. Tens of trillions of dollars of unfunded liabilities. Our nations permanent Fiscal Health not to mention our economy and future of the safety net stands in the balance. Everyone talks about entitlement reform. But few are willing to do anything about it. Every election our friends on the other side raise that we are trying to destroy Social Security. Nothing could be further from the truth. They just keep kicking the proverbial can down the road on this issue. We need to act and do so sooner rather than later. In the last congress i proposed five separate bipartisan reforms to our health care entitlements, and shared them with anyone who would listen. Even some, including the president , would not listen. Four of those reforms focused on medicare and included raising the eligibility age reforming the supplemental insurance system, simply filing cost sharing, and introduce Competitive Bidding into the system. The fifth reform with medicaid by setting per capita limits on federal medicaid spending. Each of these ideas has at some time in the recent past enjoyed the support of members of both parties. This is not a republican wish list of terrible things wed like to do to medicare and medicaid. These are reasonable ideas that i put forward to begin the discussion on entitlement reform. Of course we also need to talk about Social Security a program with 25 trillion and unfunded obligations. The Disability Insurance trust fund in Social Security is projected to be exhausted, sometime around 2016. So there really is an urgency to act. Thats not anyone creating a false crisis it is attacked. Even Social Securitys trustees who include officials from president Obamas Administration urge action and agree. In fact, in their words, not mine, quote, legislative action is needed as soon as possible, unquote. Now, i will be working with a bicameral and Bipartisan Legislation to motivate dialogue and begin to confront Social Securitys financial changes in this congress. That will require my friends on the other side at the very least take up my offer to engage in dialogue. Something that thus far they have been unwilling to do. If we do not face the fact that our entitlement promises are unsustainable and do nothing to place them on a sustainable path then simple budget arithmetic means that our taxes will have to rise. Not just rise but rise significantly over time. Of course our income tax system is ill suited to having ever greater shares of the economy from private hands so the inevidentible result of failing to confront our unsustainable entitlements would be a future with yet more ways of the government grabbing resources such as valueadded taxes or carbon taxes. I believe that a future with all of the above strategy of taxes americans is something we must avoid if we truly value the strength and dynamism of the american economy. Pensions another priority for me this year will be pension reform. The purpose of pension reform is to help hardworking americans achieve Financial Independence in retirement. And legislation that i introduced in the last congress, the secure annuities for employee requirement act, called the safe requirement act, is designed to do just that. The safe retirement act, which the finance committee will take up in this congress, will increase opportunities for americans to save for their retirement and help make sure that their money lasts a lifetime. No small feat in a world where people are living long longer and longer lives. For example, it would create a starter 401k plan designed for small or startup businesses that are not in a position to contribute to a plan but still want to help their employees save. It also allows unrelated small employers who pull their assets in a simple 401k plan to achieve better investment outcomes, lower costs, and have easier administration. In addition, the safe retirement act encourages the purchase of fixed annuity contracts for retirement. My legislation also tackles one of the most pressing retirement problems facing the country. The problem of poorly funded state and local defined benefit fence plans. Which are bankrupting state and local governments. Look at illinois. Its the biggest problem they have right now. California you can name almost all blue states. They are in trouble. Some of you way know the urban institute has established a comprehensive system for evaluating Municipal Pension plans across the contry. The system grades various plans using seven separate criteria. Im glad to say that the safe Retirement Plan is the only plan in the country to receive a grades under all seven criteria. In other words, they gave my plan the highest grade given in the country. I remain convinced my plan represents the best solution to the growing pension crisis in america. The save retirement act enshureps hardworking americans will continue to have Affordable Access to Financial Advice by restoring jurisdiction over the i. R. A. If i dishary rule to the Treasury Department and requiring treasury to consult with the securities and Exchange Commission when practicing rules relating to the professional standard of care owed by brokers and Investment Advisors to i. R. A. Owners. It only makes sense to give treasury the lead. After all the fiduciary duty rule for i. R. A. s is in the tax code. I look forward to seeing the save retirement act enacted into law. Debt limit id like to talk briefly about the debt ceiling which is going to come our way likely sometime about midyear. The dead limit is yet another major item that falls under the finance committees jurisdiction. Makes you wonder why i went on this committee to begin with. It is at this point uncertain how the near extension of the debt limit will be processed and what that will entail. But rest assured, the finance committee will play a role in whatever outcome is reached. Human resources. Another area that falls under the finance committees jurisdiction is that of Human Resources and welfare. I have a full agenda there as well. The federal government needs to be a better steward of taxpayer dollars and ensure that funded social interventions actually produce positive outcomes for Vulnerable Children and families. We should fund what we know works relative to the Child Welfare system and stop spending scarce taxpayer dollars on what actually hurts children. There are a number of funding streams in the jurisdiction for the Senate Finance committee that have languished for years without appropriate oversight and evaluation. As chairman i will review programs like the temporary assistance for Needy Families Program and the social Services Block grant to determine if they are producing positive results. And if not what we can do about it. During the last congress, i worked with senator ben it of bennett of colorado to introduce legislation to promote private and Public Partnerships to promote social interventions. Sometimes re this is referred to as social impact bonds. This approach to social Service Delivery could offer states and the federal government a viable pathway to innovate promising strategies to achieve positive results and save taxpayer dollars at the same time. I plan to continue our work in this area during the 114th congress. Last but certainly not least youre probably glad im getting to the end of this thing today, but you can see it has tremendous jurisdiction and we have tremendous problems and they are all earth shaking problems. Last certainly not least, i want to talk about oversight. The finance committee has a long tradition of vigorous and effective oversight whether its dealing with our administrative agencies under our jurisdiction or in someplaces entities in the private sector. I plan to make sure that tradition continues. My goal as chairman will be to be very aggressive but fair in our oversight efforts. For too long, agencies under the committees jurisdiction has evaded oversight by simply ignoring congressional requests for information. As the saying goes that is a dog that just wont hunt. The stonewalling will come to an end one way or another. For example, we need to look very closely at the implementation of obamacare. From h. H. S. To the i. R. S. And c. M. S. , we need to see exactly how they are spending taxpayer money and what burdens their actions are placing on taxpayers. Most people dont know this, but the Administration Spent nearly 1 billion on state exchanges that were never implemented. And now the states with failed exchanges want the federal government to spend hundreds of millions more to help them get their federal exchange working in order. We need to know what happened and whether that money will ever be paid back. Well also hold the Administration Accountable for their management of our entitlement programs and expose any choices that have led to the loss of billions of taxpayer funds. Well also need to ensure accountability from the administration on the often opaque programs and actions undertaken at the treasury, the Social Security administration, and other agencies. These agencies are responsible for spending tens of billions of dollars on administrative costs alone. For literally trillions of dollars payments to and tax receipts from, hardworking American Workers and businesses. Those responsibilities have for too long been executed in the shadowy bureaucracy that exist at treasury and Social Security. We have a responsibility to all americans to ensure that they know how their resources are being utilized and to take decisionmaking out of the shadows and into the light of the day. Oversight of the administration is one of the most important jobs of any committee, and aim going to make sure that our oversight efforts yield results that will improve the way our government functions. Hanging over many of these agenda items is the question whether congress will use budget reconciliation as to get many of the highprofile items passed through the chambers. Thats a question that has been raised, particularly with regard to health care and tax reform, and i know that many of you have questions about this. So let me just say that when it comes to items that fall under the jurisdiction of the finance committee, my reference is to work towards bipartisan solutions. However we should not and in my opinion cannot take any tool off the table. The stakes are just too high to limit ourselves like that. So we decide to go that route ill work with my colleagues on the Budget Committee to make sure whatever we do under the finance committees jurisdiction is effective. As you can see, we have a lot on our plate in the finance committee. Given the challenges we face as a country antisize of our jicks diction jurisdiction, thats the way it has to be. Thats a good thifpblgt the Senate Finance committee has a long tradition of effectiveness and bipartisanship. I have always been proud to serve on this committee for just that reason. So i look forward to working with my colleagues on the committee both republicans and democrats to make this agenda a reality. I look forward to working with all of you and taking your suggestions and i know that youre not loathe to give them. I want to go back to what i said about ambition. While some call the ambitious until hardy or foolhardy or unrealistic, i believe we have to ambitious if we do something worthwhile. We must be ambitious if we are to solve all the problems we discussed here today and help our country prosper. We must be ambitious if we are going to do good things for the American People. I just want to say how much i appreciate the work of the u. S. Chamber of commerce. I appreciated their sprors in my reelections and appreciated their support up on capitol hill on so many issues that have helped to make this country a better place. To live, work, and raise families. I want to thank you all this more for what you do. God bless you. And god bless our wonderful country. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] that event from earlier today. The u. S. House of representatives is thes us house is out for now. Theyll return at 2 00 p. M. Eastern. Among the work today consideration of the resolution on the paris terrorist attackses. Theyll recess at 5 30 so the House Chamber can be prepared for tonights state of the union address. Live coverage of the house when members gavel back in at 2 00 p. M. Here on cspan. And the u. S. Senate gaveled out a short time ago to attend their weekly bipartisan lunches. Senate lawmakers have been working on amendments to the keystone x. L. Oil pipeline. Votes are expected about 2 15 eastern when theyll be returning from their party lunches. Sometimes after that theyll join the house tonight for president obamas state of the union address. You can see live coverage of the senate when they return on our companion network, cspan2. Also coming up this afternoon, the brook igs institution hosts a discussion on Foreign Policy priorities of the European Union and u. S. Relations with the continent. Well also hear remarks from the e. U. s high representy for Foreign Policy on the recent terror attacks in paris and political unrest in other parts of europe. It gets under way live at 2 45 eastern. Youll be able to see it on cspan3. Tonight president obama delivers his state of the union address. Live coverage begins at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, including the president s speech. The g. O. P. Response delivered by newly elected iowa senator jonierns. And your reaction to open phones. Live on cspan and cspan radio. On cspan2 watch congressional steve and congressional reracks from statuary hall and the u. S. Capitol. Cspan, croo. Span 2, cspan radio, and cspan. Org. Last week indiana governor mike pence delivered the state of the state address in indianapolis. Courtesy of Indiana Public Broadcasting stations and wipd. This is 25 minutes. Speaker boswell. Senator pro tem long. Lieutenant governor senator lanham representative, members of the General Assembly, distinguished guests, my fellow hoosiers. Tonight on the eve of our bicentennial year, i stand before you as your governor to proudly report that the state of our state has never been stronger. If we keep faith with the character of our people, theres nothing that we cannot accomplish in our next century. Indianas on a roll. And im not just talking about the colts. How about those colts . P serious, indianas blessed. We have the best state legislature in america. And together we have made indiana the fiscal envy of the country. We balanced budgets. Funded priorities. We have maintained strong reserves, and still we were able to pass the largest state tax cut in indiana history. A win for indiana taxpayers. And here in the state that works, hoosiers are going back to work. Unemployment has fallen fatser here than almost anywhere in the country. When i was elected governor, unemployment was over 8 . Today its 5. 7 and falling. We have added more than 100,000 private sector jobs in the last two years. And we are on track to have more hoosiers going to work in this state ever before. While we maintain a strong balance sheet, we have also made necessary investments in education and building the roads of the future. We have increased support for schools. We approved the first ever state funding for quality prek, and we invested more than 800 million in new funding for roads in this last budget alone. The result . Graduation rates are up. Test scores are up. The doors are already opened to our prek program. Creating opportunities for disadvantaged kids here in the hoosier state. And indianas now home to the largest educational Voucher Program in the United States of america. I like to say theres 49 other governors in this country who wish they could be me. But lets be clear, our state has never been stronger. Not because of our governor, but because of our people. They just dont come any better than hoosiers. Hardworking, patriotic, modest and generous to those in need. Everyone knows the story of Indianapolis Police officer perry rand. Courageous Police Officer who squared his shoulders in the face of deadly force to protect our capital city and he paid with his life. What you may not know is the story of two little heroes, that followed after that story. Jason and ben trocksle. Ages 8 and 5 respectively. They are the sons of officer rands partner and they were inspired in the midst of that tragedy to raise money to outfit the Indianapolis Police department with better body armor. And those two little boys 8 and 5 years old, have now raised more than 20,000 to make our police safer. Would you join me in thanking lynn and our two young heroes who showed the courage and kindness that makes indiana great. Thats enthusiasm. Nowhere is the character of our people more evident than those who serve in uniform. The evil that came to the streets of paris last week may seem far removed, but the brutal murder of our own peter cassic a courageous young man, and aid worker killed by isis terrorism, was a stark reminder that we are all part of a global war of civilization against barberism. Tonight hoosiers should be proud to know that on the frontlines of that war are some 300 airmen from the 122nd fighter wing out of fort wayne in the largest deployment of the Air National Guard in the last 10 years. Rescue states like ours, in his words, would offer the most Creative Solutions and promising hopes for our nation. Well, reagan was right. At a time when Public Confidence in had our federal government is at an alltime low, states have emerged as a source of inspiration on fiscal policy, Economic Growth, education and health care reform, and indiana is leading the way. [applause] here in indiana weve been proving every day that we can balance our budgets, run our schools, choose our health care and serve our people far better than that proverbial intellectual elite in a fardistant capital ever could. But however much has been given much is required and ladies and gentlemen, we have a lot of work to do. Last week i submitted my budget to the General Assembly. Its an honest budget that holds on to spending maintains strong reserves, funds our priorities with no new debt. Now, fiscal discipline has been the hallmark of the past decade in indiana governance. It has led to Economic Growth, lower tax rates and job creation and remarkably, indianas one of the few states in the country that does not have a balanced budget requirement in our constitution. It really is a tribute to the Public Servants in this room that indiana has adhered to that practice in recent years, even though its not required. A balanced budget requirement in the constitution in the state of indiana will ensure that hoosiers today and tomorrow indiana will spend wisely, protect our state from an economic downturn and unlike washington, d. C. , we wont bury our children and grandchildren under mountains of debt. Let me commend senator david long for his leadership on a federal balanced Budget Amendment and let me call all of us in this chamber here tonight, lets begin the process in this session of adding a balanced Budget Amendment to the indiana constitution and send this historic reform to the people of indiana for ratification. [applause] over the past two years weve made lots of progress. Weve made great progress cutting taxes, but now in this session lets simplify the tax code and take steps in this session to prevent a rapid increase of property taxes on indianas family farmers. [applause] and leants remember that low cost energy is vital to our economy, that we need an alloftheabove Energy Strategy including Energy Efficiency and know this, indiana is a procoal state and we will continue to oppose the overreaching schemes of the e. P. A. Until we bring this war on coal to an end. [applause] and to remain the crossroads of america, lets end this coming budget and invest another 300 million in new funding for roads and lets give our cities and towns new resources to plan strategies for growth. Now, balanced budgets and the right priorities are a starting point to improving our economy. But the key to unlocking the full potential of our state is not so much going to be found in our factories and in our fields but in our classrooms. Lets agree here and now, republican and democrat alike, that this will be an education session of the indiana General Assembly and we will improve our schools for all of our kids. [applause] now, my floss flee of executive leadership is simple. You set a big goal, you offer solutions, but you stay open to other ideas about how to achieve them. With that approach in mind, and with more than 100,000 kids in underperforming and failing schools in our state, lets make it our goal in this session of the General Assembly to have 100,000 more students enrolled in highquality schools by the year 2020. [applause] thats 100,000 more kids that will be in better schools by the end of this decade. To achieve this goal, we must fund excellence, expand choices and we must ensure that education in indiana must work at the highest levels. Thats why i propose more state dollars for k12 education than ever before. Increasing tuition support by 200 million over the next two years alone. And building on our historic first step last session lets in this session invest 10 million a year to Fund Scholarships in our new prek program because every hoosier child deserves to Start School Ready to learn. [applause] now, there are those who think that improving education is just about increasing funding, but money alone isnt the answer. Everyone knows that its good teachers that make the difference. I should know. Ive been married to a School Teacher for 30 years this year. In fact, shes with me tonight. Would you join me in welcoming the best first lady in the United States of america to this chamber, my wife, and a School Teacher, karen pence. How do you get more good teachers like my wife in her career . Or my fatherinlaw up in the gallery today who was indianas state teacher of the year back in the 1980s . Well, i think you get more good teachers in the classroom by paying them more. Thats what weve been trying to do over the last several years. This year we were able to award 30 million in bonuses in teachers in 1,300 schools across indiana. And building on that success, i believe we should provide another 63 million for performance bonuses and refocus resources on the classroom. More freedom for our schools and more dollars in the classroom is a prescription for success and will pay dividends for generations. [applause] and because all honest work is honorable work lets continue to make sure that our schools work for all of our kids. Regardless where they want to start in life, and lets come together across the aisle and continue to work in a bipartisan way until we make career and Vocational Education a priority in every high school in the state of indiana again. [applause] the General Assembly embraced that vision in bipartisan fashion just two years ago. And together weve begun to improve the career and technical opportunities for our students. We distributed millions of dollars in grants and seen innovation in schools across our states. Like up in La Porte County where the high schools in a local utility are actually working together preparing students for careers in electronics and energy. They set up an energy academy. The driving force behind that effort and one of the keys to success in career in Technical Education in indiana is with us tonight, the indiana career and Technical Education director of the year, arthur peterson, thank you for your great leadership. [applause] by providing 20 million more a year the support career vocational opportunities and improving the way that we fund those courses, i believe we can dramatically increase the number of students who graduate career ready, an increase by a factor of five, the number of students who graduate with an industry recognized credential by the year 2020. And as we open new opportunities within our public schools, lets resolve to give more parents the chance to choose where their kids go to school by expanding our choice in Public Charter School programs here in indiana. It will be right for our kids and right for indiana. Kids like nathan. You know, karen and i are friends with nathans mom. Shes a single mom and hes a wonderful young man. They live right here in indianapolis. But frankly at age 15, not long ago, nathan was one of those kids who was falling through the cracks. We heard you couldnt quite find a school that worked for him. And his mom and us, we all saw the trajectory he was on. So we came alongside, we talked to his mom about other choices that were available in our state. And my wife managed to point them in the direction of one of our innovative Public Charter Schools. Ill never forget the day karen came home and told me that nathan had visited that school with his mom after he had gone in and seen in that case the individualized learning model where all the kids learn at their own pace. He walked out of the school where his mom, im told, was anxiously waiting. She looked at him and said, well, nathan, what did you think . And he looked back at her in words shell never forget. Mom, if i go here, ill flourish. If i go here, ill be a leader. He just started a few days back and his mom told me just this morning, nathans doing great. You know, that really is what its all about. Kids like nathan. And Opening Doors of opportunities to more hoosier kids to have more options for the kind of education that will work for them. Today, some 30,000 low and middleincome kids are actually able to have that choice. To attend the school that works best for them because of our choice scholarship program. Lets open more doors of opportunities for more hoosier families like nathan by lifting the cap of dollar amounts that students need and because Public Charter Schools receive significantly less per pupil, lets adjustment more funding to offer more choices for families just like nathans. Thats a win for them and thats a win for indiana. [applause] nothings more important than the health and wellbeing of our people. Hoosiers have long believed that we must care for the needs of our most vulnerable, the aging, the inferm and our children born and unborn. Thats why we advanced the tax credit for adoptive parents and were fully funding our adoption subsidy Going Forward. Thats why we reduced infant mortality a top priority in our administration. Let me thank the speaker for putting reducing infant mortality at the very center of this coming session of the General Assembly. Thank you, mr. Speaker. [applause] tomorrow well launch a campaign called the labor of love, to educate new and expecting moms across our state over the next year. We all need to Work Together on this. And let me say this. If youre an expecting mom or if you have a little one on your lap, help is on the way. Together we can and together we will reduce the heartbreak of infant mortality in indiana. [applause] there is an old saying that when everyone in your family is healthy, you got lots of problems. But when one member of your family is sick, you only got one problem. Now, from the beginning of my tenure as governor weve been committed to bringing Hoosier Solutions to bear on the challenges in health care. Weve been saying no to obamacare in indiana, no to establishing a state exchange and no to expanding a broken medicaid system. Medicaid is not a system that we should expand. Its a program we need to change. And thats just what weve been doing with the healthy indiana plan. The original program, crafted more than six years ago in this chamber on a bipartisan basis, is the basis of our new proposal, a proposal that would offer more lowincome hoosiers the chance to get Quality Insurance and control their own health care. And let me tell you something. Weve been working hard to get it done, to get washington to say, yes ive gone to our nations capital, engaged in hours of discussions with federal officials. I even took our case directly to the president on the tarmac outside air force one in evansville one day. As our discussions go forward, let me assure all of you this. I will continue to stand firm, for the right to expand access to coverage the indiana way based on personal responsibility and empowering hoosiers to take control of their health care choices. But we will not accept terms that relegate lowincome hoosiers to substandard health care or jeopardize the Fiscal Health of the state of indiana. [applause] now, the road ahead wont be easy. But im confident. Im confident because of the people we serve. Hoosiers have always been willing to do hard things, to embrace change, to build schools of promise and policies that will advance the prosperity and safety and wellbeing of our people. I believe if we act with resolve in this year, if were bold we will fulfill indianas promise for this generation and the next. We will have more hoosiers going to work than ever before and continue to be a model of fiscal responsibility for the nation. We will have more kids attending highquality schools than ever before and more kids graduating, ready for college or careers. And we will improve the health and wellbeing of our people by empowering individuals to take responsibility for themselves and their families. And well do it all the indiana way. Based on fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility, selfreliance and the values and common sense that are synonymous with the hoosier state. And when we do this, we will fulfill the promise not just of our time, but we will fulfill the promise first forged beneath that constitution back in 1816, the promise of a state that would be built on freedom and that would become a beacon of hope and an example to the nation. So with boundless faith in the people of indiana and faith in gods grace to see us through, i say the best days for indiana are yet to come. Lets get to work. Thank you. And god bless you and god bless the great state of indiana. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] while the u. S. House is out for now, but members will return for legislative work in about 40 minutes at 2 00 p. M. Eastern, and on the agenda today, consideration of a resolution on the paris terrorist attacks. Members will recess by 5 30 so the House Chamber can be prepared for tonights state of the union address. Live coverage of the house when members gavel back in at 2 00 p. M. Eastern here on cspan. And right now a look at the agenda for the coming week in the house. Our guest now is from rollcall. He is a staff writer talking about the state of the Union Tonight. How do you think the congress will respond . Guest i think we have already seen some of the response. What we have seen this year is unusual. The white house and the president have been aggressive about putting out details of the speech before hand. We have seen republicans responding to the president tax proposals. The 320 billion in new revenues primarily from wealthy heirs and parts of the population. There will be some middle class tax cuts and Free Community college. I think we see those are not serious or postals. Its different for the speech this year. There is a lot of this we already know. We are not waiting to see what the response is going to be when the experts are released for the evening news. Host is this something the president wants to see . Is this a means to a larger discussion about tax issues . Guest one of the things being put on the table as part of the proposal is getting rid of the provision of the tax code that says if you have significant Capital Gains that are unrealized, you own property or investments and you never sell them in your lifetime, the people who inherit them get a step up in the cost basis of those investments. They dont actually pay taxes on the Capital Gains. Its a huge pot of money if there were a way to get it for the government. Maybe this is something the white house is putting on the table for tax reform. Who knows if that will go anywhere. That is the best read on what this might be about. Host this is possibly something they could Work Together on. Guest it is in theory something they could Work Together on. There is going to be something at the chamber of commerce by orrin hatch. He will outline his agenda. One of the things thats going to be them marker on their end. We will see with the backandforth is going to be between his speech and the state of union. Host they call him the seventh point man. Guest senator hatch is been around for a long time. You are the longest serving member of the majority party. He has a history of working across the aisle and being able to get deals done on both sides of the aisle. There are bills with ted kennedy in orrin hatch or henry waxman and orrin hatch. These are people who are very liberal and against of the things senator hatch would agree with. He has been able to cut deals in the past. Maybe he will be able to do it again. Host our guest is a staff writer from rollcall. You heard him talk about senator hatch and that event that will take place, you can watch that live on cspan2 and a couple of minutes. We have a lot of callers talking about the Community College issue. Guest that is one of the things that is being paid for with the taxes. His concept of providing two years of Community College free of cost for eligible students. It would cost 60 billion over a decade. There is a dispute as to whether or not that is the best way to be dealing with funding of college. One of the disagreements that we have seen that i think is a realistic disagreement is one of the things in one of the white house proposals is to change the tax status of College Savings plans. I havent seen all the details yet. Host these are plans managed i state largely. Guest you may be reallocating the way benefits are given to colleges. It may not be as simple as what is being seen so far. Host our first call is from and in kentucky. Go ahead, please. Caller i would like to comment on the fact that during the election obama said to make no mistake, his policies were on the ballot. The voters have disagreed with his policies. It doesnt seem to matter to him. He is full team ahead on his agenda. His agenda is about income redistribution. That is going to destroy our country. Guest to the extent that a colleges caller is from kentucky, that is the home state of mitch mcconnell. Guest i think what is going on a lot of what i think is going to be rolled out in the state of the Union Tonight is about creating the narrative Going Forward if we push toward 2016. As someone who covers the capital, this is not necessarily the kind of thing i always want to be hearing about, but that is where we are already. This is an attempt to show a contrast between the two parties heading into the next election. Host cal is from utah. Republican line. Caller there is something i want all the people on your program to change in their rhetoric. On this Community College thing the president is proposing, when you use the words that his country cost free, there is no such thing as free lunch. That money comes out of taxpayer pockets. The federal government does not pay for one stinking thing. That all comes from people upon spock its. People pockets. This going to be taxpayerfunded. If you guys would change that rhetoric, call it what it is, it is called redistribution of wealth. Guest the caller makes a significant point. 60 billion over a 10 year cost. It comes from this program that the president is proposing on Community College. I think what is being said is it is cost free to the recipients or the beneficiaries because they are deriving the money from other places. Certainly, it is a government Government Program that looks like an entire an entitlement program. Host a new 500 second earner tax credit. Two years Community College and child care tax credit. Expanded access to individual retirement accounts. Guest one of the other big pieces are these tax credits. The 500 for the family families with second earners. The earned income tax credit more available to more people who do not necessarily have kids or have noncustodial children. Those are a couple of the other big pieces. The other things have been that have been rolled out, most of this, other than the Community College peace were rolled out on saturday. Some of the other things that it been rolled out previously that are of interest and all fit into the same category are the additional paid leave proposal for families and for workers as well as allowing federal workers to get advanced access sick leave in case of childbirth. All kinds of pieces that are flowing around. Another one of them is the president s proposing to cut mortgage insurance rates for people who are borrowing money for a house. There is an array of these pieces and how they come together would be the question of which one of these is going to get by in the republicancontrolled congress. Host february 2 is the budget day. It is unusually supposed to be delivered on time this year. That is when we get the details of how all the accounting for all of this works. How much it costs and how to move forward with that. The other thing is the treasury also puts out a separate set of documents that go into the details on tax policy as well. Host craig from kentucky. Go ahead. Caller a whole bunch of stuff. You are talking about texas. Taxes. I was trying to see why is it that when you pay your debt to society in america, why does an american have to wait a whole seven years to get a job . Why is that . Host lets go to ken kim in washington. Caller my question is, why has the vote between the republicans and democrats it turned into a river. Now it is a gulf, kind of like the grand canyon. The sides are so entrenched. Guest there are all sorts of reasons as to why the parties have become more polarized. One of the things were going to be looking at with the republicans in control of the senate, to see whether or not there is any room to use the caller passed analogy, that the grand canyon can become narrower so that we are social get back to the Mississippi River i guess. How effective the republicans are going to be in getting 60 votes which are needed to overcome philip brust filibusters to get legislation passed. The ability they will have or not have to find more democrats that are going to be needed to get over these procedural hurdles will be one of the interesting questions. That will determine how many people and will give us a sense of how many people on the democratic side are in that middle ground. Host cody from roswell georgia. Caller thank you for taking my call. Host go ahead. Caller i want to make a comment about what some of the other people are saying about the redistribution of wealth. This country has already been seeing distribute redistricting of wealth. Taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Guest that is pretty much exactly the case we are going to be hearing from the president this evening. The way that the tax package is structured, particularly with the top Capital Gains rate in close being raised up to 20 is not something lower income folks are going to be facing a higher burden out of. The callers case is that the present is the case the president will be making tonight. Host there is a story this morning that harry reid is going to be back to work tonight after that accident of his. He will not be at the state of the Union Tonight. Guest the biggest question for senator reid as he returns to work, i think were all happy that he is recovered enough to get back to work. Is how much do you want the senate to serve as a blockade against republican proposals reaching the president s desk . Because of the filibuster and the 60 vote threshold, if read can cobble his caucus together you have a situation where he can largely block things and keep obama from having to beat of them. You cannot do that all the time. How often you want to be pressing your more conservative members more conservative democrats into holding the line and opposing things that the republicans might be favorable to. Host like keystone . Guest keystone will get past the filibuster hurdle. It does not look like it will get the super majority to override a veto. It does not look like it will get that 67 votes. Sunday, senator hoven was on newsmakers and we asked him about that. He was about four votes short then. He is hoping amendments can be added that might pick up more votes. Right now, i do not see that. Host that program, still on her website. Don, from texas, go ahead. Caller going with the theme of being underserved, i believe we live in a society where being unprivileged is compressed. Whenever loans are trying to be ascertained, we are looking at higher Interest Rates. A rate of high credit. They are not being asked for a higher down payment. We are charging lower income families higher prices to live in a society and charging higher income families lower prices. Can you explain . Guest part of what you are talking about in the market is a question of credit worthiness. Where a bank is going to be more likely to lend money to people who they think are going to be more likely to pay it back because Interest Rates are based on risk. This goes back to the mortgage instruments premiums peace mortgage insurance premiums peace. He announced an event in phoenix earlier in the month that the federal Housing Administration would be strict would be slashing mortgage insurance premiums down to about. 85 which should save people who are borrowing from their for their homes for mortgages that have fha loans, which are primarily going to be loans that are more applicable to people at the lower end of the income scale then people who are dealing with things directly. Host roger, independent line. Caller great show. The one thing i have problems with first of all, this is a great country. All the opportunities. When people Start Talking about this person makes more than i do and it is not fair, it is on the individual. When you take that away from someone, it becomes difficult to succeed. If you put so much regulation as a businessman, when we borrow money, take care of our income in our businesses, if there are so many regulations it limits us from succeeding. My business succeeds if my business succeeds, i can hire more people. When people start saying, wire the rich getting richer . They have to see themselves in the barrier. Guest i will say one of the things that will be interesting to see whether or not we see this evening, is what the president says in regards to regulation. It will be interesting to see what the president is proposing in terms of new regulation as they pertain to environmental or energy issues, as well as what we see if there is more talk about Regulatory Reform or easing burdens on businesses and how that balancing act is done. Republicans will tell you that balancing the current administration, particularly the Environmental Protection agency has made on these fronts is not something republicans like at all. It will do everything in their power to stop it. I think what we hear the president say on various environmental regulations might be one of the more interesting things that might be a surprise tonight. Host our guest is niels lesniewski. Quoted in the Des Moines Register this morning, talking about joni ernst. Guest the question was these responses as i was telling the Des Moines Register, what always is the interesting thing is it is so seldom that those responses get any attentions unless something goes wrong or there is some sort of odd moment. Think back to senator rubio with the water a couple years ago. The biggest thing is to deliver the messages is singly as possible as is singly as possible and not cause anything to go wrong. Seldom are those things that are memorable except when something odd comes out of them. It is a tough assignment. It is a marker for senator ernst that she was asked by the leadership to take that on, but it is a difficult job to actually do. Host what is the message being sent by choosing her . Guest by choosing one of the nine new Senate Republicans who picked up seats that were previously held by democrats that is the message of the republican conference this year. Their newly expanded ranks. The story of this year is all of these additional republican senators and the extent to which they came in. In many cases, running against the president. It is an interesting marker in that regard. Heres one of these people who was running against the president s policies in iowa, who is now one tasked with this responsibility. Host do have a sense of how shes preparing . Guest we have seen a little bit of how this preparation is going. This is a speech that will be crafted by people she is familiar with. You want this message to be the message of the party. It is not like this is a case where you have one person while there is one person delivering the message, this is the response of the republicans on capitol hill, both sides of the rotunda, particularly Senate Republicans. A lot of people will be on board with what she is saying. Host some information saying she will stand before a hearing room table. There will betray gets of iowa on the table. There will betray get be trinkets of iowa on the table. Guest one of the things about the way the speeches are done the state of the union goes on for however long it goes on for. Then, the response from the Minority Party only lasts eight or 10 minutes. There is a lot to put in. One thing that is different this year, we mentioned earlier, the amount of detail that is been put out by the white house about what is in the president s speech. We all have stacks of proposals that we got. One of the things that is different this year is there is a lot to respond to. Youre not making educated guesses about what you need to respond to. Response this year may be more of a response in some of what weve seen in past years. Host weve also seen tea Party Responses in other groups. Guest there is a Tea Party Response coming this year. I believe it is congress and clawson from florida. Congressman clawson from florida. Maybe for those who are not familiar with the internal dynamics of how it works of capitol hill, there are a number of Television Cameras in statuary hall following the speech where lawmakers go and address their local Media National media and that is the way maybe more of the response this year will be focused on local news. Host john, from georgia. Go ahead. Caller can you hear me . Host go ahead. Caller some of the comments about the speech. The president is going to propose reducing taxes on the middle class. Those who cani want to make a comment about change for tax codes. If you take less money from the economy, what happens . More Economic Growth. There are examples of the Capital Gains tax codes from 1996 helped produce more growth in revenues, regardless of what nancy pelosi says. You look at the actual numbers from 2003, i read an article two years ago from 2003 2 2007, the revenue increased. 5 gdp growth coming out of a recession. In the midst of two wars. Host what would you like our guest to address . Caller the fact that there are numerous examples historically. Guest i think one of the things there is going to be a story of this year on capitol hill. I may lose some people in the audience right now. The dynamic scoring debate, which is basically republicans want to change the way, and are changing the way, legislation is scored. It accounts for effects on the economy along the lines of what our caller was talking about. Not nexus early a meeting to be paid for because they do not need to be offset because they will drive Economic Growth. Those scoring changes and budgetary debates going to see different numbers. We may have competing numbers as the year goes on on how much things cost where people disagree about what the math is. Host brady is up next, dallas, texas. Good morning. We will try greg from alabama. Caller good morning. I have a question. Do you deal in commercial property . Host go ahead with your question or comment. Caller my question is do you deal with commercial property . It seems with seems at how people with no understanding of how Capital Gains affect growth want to increase Capital Gains. It is not always the mouth the wealth that is affected. I recently bought a building about three years ago, we did it, had my wifes business in it. A company came in and wanted to buy, i sold it. It is k if Capital Gains increase had been in place put people to work. I would not have sold the building if i have to add more to the federal government anyway. Guest that is exactly the debate that is going to be happening. I do not expect i do not think this is a surprise, i do not expect Capital Gains increase that is in the proposal has any chance of seeing daylight with the republican congress. I think the broader point is correct that any time you change the tax code, there are all sorts of extra now at the current play. That come into play. If we get into a broader debate about tax reform, this is exactly the kind of case why it is so difficult. Host chase on or democrats line. Caller i want to know why every time you all are on tv, it is about taxes. Should it not be about what is really going on in america . It should be about, if i am in america you keep talking about taxes, but there are bigger issues that goes on besides taxes. Host such as what . Caller youve got people going to jail every day, paying their debt to the society and to get out have to wait seven years to get a job. You have people on Child Support and the only option they forgot for not paying Child Support is going to jail the only option they have got for not paying Child Support is going to jail. You try to throw taxes at us. Host guest i think one of the things that is not been as clear about what is in the state of the union speechs evening is if there is going to be anything on issues or to the extent of issues like prison reform. There is bipartisan, in some cases, concern about the way the prison system operates. Sentencing needs to have changes made. The caller from kentucky mentioned that senator paul is one of the republicans who is interested. A lot of what weve gotten so far is the really detailed level of what the president is talking about our policy proposals. Things with numbers in taxes. That is a lot of the reason why the conversation has been so far. Host fill in bristol virginia. Caller thanks for taking my call. Ive been hearing a lot about redistributing the wealth in this country. I would like to know what kind of country we live in when you have less than 1000 people in this country that have more personal wealth than 300 Million People in this country together . This is just crazy. We have people going overseas hiding their money from the country, hurting the country by not paying taxes. That is a little bit like treason. Host the impact of what is behind the proposal could cause contention for congress. Guest the pieces of these proposals, in their more narrow sense. If you have a situation where people are talking about rewriting the tax code and democrats say ok, we can get on board with rewriting the tax code but we want more money to go back into the pockets of couples that have two earners in their household, or you have a situation where you say, we can get on board with that, but maybe we need to do something more at how we treat Capital Gains are people died. These things could come up for discussion in other contexts. That is probably were more of this goes than in any specific sense. Host the next speech will be the last. Is this the year that these things have to get done as far as the president s the agenda is concerned . Guest i think that is more likely than not the case. By the time we reached the next state of the union, we will be dealing with iowa and New Hampshire. I assume the various lawmakers on the capital where running for president will come back for the state of the union speech, but we have already seen a situation for example, senator paul decided that instead of going to the republican retreat in hershey, he went to New Hampshire and arizona and nevada for a few days. To a lot of people, it was laying the groundwork for a president ial campaign. The question will be, how much can get done realistically . This is the window if anything will happen. Host vicki is from bradens, florida. Caller thank you for taking my call. Im hoping the president addresses a couple issues because it is upsetting to me to know they are always picking on the rich. It is sad because a couple of people that i know who are fairly wealthy, they are the most generous people to donate to nonprofit organizations. I wonder how that is going to affect nonprofits if they cut into our most wealthiest generous people. I think the president should concentrate on the polls that are happening with corporations and fraud, medical fraud across the country. Theres a group on linked in called stop fraud. The report millions of dollars of medical fraud. Guest whether or not the president focuses on this at all, i have not the faintest idea. When it comes to things that medical fraud medicare billing fraud, we are to hear a lot more about that with the republicans in charge of the Senate Finance committee, you may even see some of it out of the Senate Judiciary committee. Where Chuck Grassley is going to be the chairman, who has always been interested in those issues. One way or the other, we will hear about that sort of issue in the coming year. Host what do you think the headline will be after tonight . Guest we have gotten so much detail about things like the domestic agenda that the headline well leave washington journal as the u. S. House is set to come in for the beginning of the legislative day. Members are expected to work on a resolution on the paris terrorist attacks. Conroy let us pray. Loving god, thank you for giving us another day. The house prepares this day to welcome the president of the United States and other governmental judicial and military leadership of our nation. The world watches as americas great experiment and civilian selfgovernment is in high