Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 12182017 20171218 :

Semester, Robert Woodson, remind us again about the role of affirmative action in education . Place . It put into guest the whole issue of race and affirmative action those of us like myself, a veteran of the civil rights action, we fought to end discrimination. We were trying to level the playing field. We wanted equal opportunity to achieve. Affirmative action was put into place in certain situations to be a temporary measure. For instance, in a town with 50 people inthere are the Fire Departments and police than i think you have to take remedial action to remedy that. But it should not be a Transportation System and that is what we have done. We have morphed it into a Transportation System. The gainsonsequence, of the Civil Rights Movement has been perverted and hijacked by people who are using this as a crygeon against those who racism at every turn. Host give us an example of those instances where you say it is being used . Yes go in the education system. The Obama Administration in 2014 decided there was a disparity in the number of black children who school. Uspended from as a consequence, they concluded that it had nothing to do with the behavior of the children that it had to do with the racial attitude of the teachers and principals. So they mandated that they change this. , principalssequence were rewarded for reducing the number of behavioral referrals. And suspensions went down but violence went up. Because they felt as though they had no sanctions. It is interesting, disparity is defined as injustice but when you realize that disparity, when it comes to athletics, blacks serving on a varsity football nfl is in the that because of discrimination . Or is it disparity contributed to injustice . No. It ist is positive individual effort but when it is negative it is racism. Host Shelby Steele joining us, Robert Woodson use that term leveling the playing field. Has it been levels . Guest absolutely not. After 50 years, of affirmative universitiesnts at the lowest grade point average and highest dropout rate. Before there was anything like affirmative action and there was a hesitancy to allow blacks to go to college, they were performing slightly lower than whites and graduated four years later slightly higher than white. This was in the age of segregation. So affirmative action has been a profound psychological perversion for black students, especially. Because it simply says, you are here because you are black. You are not here because you achieved excellence or because you develop as an individual. You are here because you are black. Thathat is the exact role segregation followed. We are segregating against you because you are black. Tragically, this mimics racism. Mimicked segregation. Reinstated it and gave it a legitimacy in our American Life so that good people today it should be used to determine rather than individual merit. Host lets give our viewers a definition. What is affirmative action as the National State legislature . They say it is those policies when which an institution actively engages in efforts to improve opportunities for excluded groups in society. Affirmative action often focuses on employment and education. In institutions of higher education, affirmative action relates to admission to those groups that have been excluded or underrepresented. Robert woodson. Guest lets talk about the applications of that. What they did was that there was something called race norming. Where they would say. Blacks getst that if 20 less they could get 20 less. They could take the test that everybody is taking but you get higher points. So that is one of the reasons that we have this kind of disparity. Host what we do about the issues that you are pointing out where is the solution . Ifformative action affirmative action is not working, what is the next step . Shelby steele . Guest this problem has gotten very deep. It involves the black identity itself. When you have a society that is then thatn the past society becomes more preoccupied with its own clearing of its own name from the shame of racism. Action ffirmative designed to help institutions guarantee to the public that they are not racist. They have absolutely nothing to do with black students. And so they simply dont work. Tell because you are a victim. This is what america has done over the last few years. Communicate over and over again thelack americans that essence of who you are is your history of victimization. Not your talents as an individual. Not principles. Not the fact that your people survived for centuries of abuse. That is not you. You are here because you are a victim. And so the motivations for this lic policy are so [indiscernible] host breaking up a little bit Shelby Steele. We will keep you on the line and open up our lines for the cspan listeners. 202 7488001, republicans. 202 7488000, democrats. 202 7488002, independent callers and all others. Pick up on his comments on making individual black students victims portraying them as victims. Guest it is even more insidious than that. Even some black are sayingllectuals that part of black culture is that if a student is disruptive, if a student is resistive, that ist of black culture that destructive. Because there are important lessons from the past. People in my generation and before, between 19201940 in the , the difference between white education was eighth grade with blacks at fifth grade. In less than 40 years, the gap closed within six months and that is the cause of what black america did within itself. The challenge in luck america is how to make freedom a blessing for ourselves. We understood that our destiny is determined by what we did and america did. E and that hard work and discipline is being drummed out of black america and it is being dismissed. Host we have a number of calls. Lets go to the first call from john. You are on the error with Shelby Steele and robert whitson. Caller i belong to a union in detroit. With promotions and transfers and stuff and the city didnt like that. Frasery got douglas because of the United Auto Workers testify against our on and against our seeing against our system. Everyeally shocked me was notews organizations one of them would run that story. The swas the did from this mornings washington journal. Reminder, coming up at 4 30, the house is back to work on suspension bills. We had a chance today to look at the week ahead in congress, lets show you that now. Washington journal continues. Host Sarah Westwood is White House Reporter for the Washington Examiner. Anna edgerton, congressional reporter for bloomberg. They are here to talk about the week ahead. There is a lot to get done. We talked about the tax reform bill in the first hour, but there are a lot of other materials on the table, as well. As your impressions the year began, did either of you expect that the week before christmas, there would be so much to get done . Sarah westwood . Guest certainly not. This years started with a lot of hope about what they would be able to get done. There was hope for an infrastructure package, health care reform, tax, and we see they are just barely going to get one of those things over the finish the end of the year. So i do not think republicans have correctly assessed how challenging it would be. The nd or adjutant in Anna Edgerton, were you expecting to be reporting from the capital in the last week before christmas . Guest i think because they were not able to get some of those other things done, passing tax reform goes all the more important. They have to have something to show for their first year of united government, and the tax bill is top of a lot of conservative priorities, and they would get the talking point to say they were able to accomplish something. It some of it is temporary and will not get the simplicity that they hoped, but it would give if theyolitical win were able to get it onto the president s desk. Rules committee will meet today on tax reform, and the house is supposed to take it on tomorrow, maybe even the senate on tuesday. Are there still potential stumbling blocks for tax reform in either the house or senate . Ever a sureng is thing until it is done. It looks like they are in a good political place, especially in the house. I do not see any pockets of resistance. They are excited to vote on this bill. In the senate, it looks like they have the votes, although senator john mccain will miss the vote because of treatment for his brain cancer in arizona. To sayd get bob corker he would support the bill. So it looks like they are in pretty good shape, but it is not a sure thing. Host the Vice President will be present for votes this week. Senator mccain not and the chamber, back in arizona. The Vice President canceling a trip to the middle east to be of the capital for this. How else will the white house be involved in the final push . Certainly if anyone like jeff flake, any lastminute holders, need any whipping, President Trump be working with them. He has been inviting senators to play golf with him and has been working the phone. He has traveled to capitol hill specifically to pitch senators on the home turf. So he is trying to be a cheerleader for this whole thing, while giving senate to negotiate. Ace for instance, the white house did not want the Corporate Tax rate to go higher than 20 , but they had to accept it to be raised to 21 . The white house let senate and House Republicans negotiate the finer points and did not try to get in the way because they knew it would be difficult to get through. Host a busy schedule for congress. We are joined by Sarah Westwood from the Washington Examiner and bloomberg Congressional Correspondent Anna Edgerton. We welcome your comments on tax reform and the other issues for congress. Epublicans, 2027488001 democrats, 2027488000s. Independent and others, 2027488002. And we are also on twitter, cspanwj. There are many things for this week, but what certainly has to be done is a spending bill. Current government funding ends friday at midnight, correct . What is tentatively the plan for republicans to continue funding . Guest right, and they set themselves up for this crushed right before christmas, because the temporary funding measure only went from december 8 until december 22, so they wanted to give themselves time to get the tax bill out of those chambers. Their main priority is voting on the tax bill and getting it out of congress. Then they will turn to the spending negotiations. They have been working on it, but it is clear that taxes are the priority. The two chambers have taken different approaches on the spending bill, so they will have to figure out how to reconcile this and get something through both chambers before friday. Is this an opportunity, particularly in the house, for the Freedom Caucus on the republican side and the Democratic Caucus in terms of their opposition to the fact that there is currently no stipulation for the dreamers, for the daca provisions . Is that an area that could grind this procedure to a halt . Guest i think it is unlikely that daca will make it into the bill this week. Those negotiations have not advanced much, even though from both parties say it is a priority and needs to be taken care of. I think youll see tougher fortiation over the level defense spending and nondefense Discretionary Spending and trying to reach an agreement to deal with the budget caps. They need to negotiate that to get it through both chambers. Host is the white house happy with the budget caps, raising the level of spending . Guest the white house has wanted to lift defense spending caps. That was their priority going in. There are talking about appropriating money through september just for defense and doing a temporary spending measure for all other areas of the budget just until february 19. A white house has said from the start they have no interest in including immigration in discussions right now. They think that should be left for when lawmakers come back from the holiday. That is why you are not seeing it as part of the end of the Year Spending next. But if they can keep the focus on appropriations and not other policy areas, then we are not likely to see a shutdown. Host is the wife is going to get funding for a border wall . Seem like the not white house has been interested in going to the mat this round. The white house has the daca protections as a vehicle for that. They know they will have the most leverage when protection for dreamers is hanging in the balance. Host we have calls waiting for Sarah Westwood and Anna Edgerton on the last week in congress. A lot of issues. First, san antonio, texas, christopher on our republican line. Caller yes, sir, i would like to applaud congress, first of all, for getting this tax bill through. One, raising the standard deduction from 12,000 to 24,000, that puts 1000 in my pocket just looking at the tax table from last year. For middle income taxpayer, 1000 is a lot of money. So please work out all the fine print on this bill, get it through, and give the great people of this nation a break for christmas that President Trump has promised us, because we deserve it. We just need it to that is all i have got to say. Host Anna Edgerton, what do you think the breakthrough was for the tax bill . Detection isandard important for middleclass families and will allow people to get that break without itemizing different kinds of deductions. However, that 1000 he mentioned is not going to be every year. It is hard to calculate exactly what the tax benefit or burden will be for different families in different situations. Cpithey are using a chain to adjust income brackets for inflation, which means that families will be pushed into higher income brackets faster. So that means that the brakes, the tax breaks you see initially, are not necessarily going to be there in the following years. Also, the individual tax rate cut was made temporary and this bill because of budget concerns and the Deficit Impact. Host republicans were able to rubioer senator marco after he had objections over the child tax credit, raising it from 1100 to 1400. Why was he holding up . Is a lot about messaging and trying to convince people that this is a middleclass benefit, when the bulk of the tax cut will be for corporations. Of 1. 5of 1. 52 out trillion, about one trillion of that goes to the Corporate Tax cut. So part of senator rubios concern was being able to say we are working hard to make sure that middleclass families, workingclass families, really get the benefits they need. Next inlph charlottesville, virginia, also on our republican line. Yes, thanks for cspan. I have a question on the exemption. I understand the final bill eliminates the exemption for if it is the case, a married couple would ase 8,300 and exemptions in 12,000 game, and a standard deduction would not help that individual that much. Also, mr. Rosensteins statement on these contributions by employees, high level, the hatch act should be considered as far as repercussions against those employees, the emails, and so forth. So thanks for your answer, and that is what i had to say. Host we will leave it there, the rosenstein comment, but do you want to respond to the tax question . Of the reasons it has been so difficult for republicans to sell the tax bill to their own party is there are a number of losers in the tax bill, people who live in states with high state and local taxes will not necessarily see a break. To high level income families who will not necessarily see breaks. So there are families that we would consider as middle class who will not feel any relief from this package. That is why i think there has been some discomfort among republicans, because they know certain constituencies are going to lose out. Host on the democrat line, dale in bethlehem, pennsylvania. Caller merry christmas. Republicans have a bad memory. We have a tremendous debt, and a lot of it is primarily from the bailouts. Suddenly, they are going to increase the debt to trillions of dollars, and it is unfair. This is a time when taxes should be increased, when we have this benefit of the market booming. It was going up under obama, as well. His eight years. This man is not going to do that. Were going to go in the gutter. Everyone will get their Social Security cut, medicaid, medicare, and we are going to be hurting. They should take a really good look at it, because it will probably be the end and their political careers, the people voting for it. Host talk about Social Security and medicare. The next phase would be seeking spending reductions. What have you heard about plans to address the spending, particularly on this social programs . Guest speaker ryan mentioned in a press Conference Last Week that next years agenda will include reforms and spending reductions for Government Programs like medicare and medicaid. Speaker ryan even said he was able to convince President Trump that addressing the cost of medicare is going to be an important thing to do in the coming year. The president said during the campaign that is one of the things he would not touch. That is one of the selling points republicans have, saying this will not have a Deficit Impact like studies show it will , because they are going to reform entitlement programs if they recall them in the coming year. However, reforming Robert Woodson<\/a>, remind us again about the role of affirmative action in education . Place . It put into guest the whole issue of race and affirmative action those of us like myself, a veteran of the civil rights action, we fought to end discrimination. We were trying to level the playing field. We wanted equal opportunity to achieve. Affirmative action was put into place in certain situations to be a temporary measure. For instance, in a town with 50 people inthere are the Fire Departments<\/a> and police than i think you have to take remedial action to remedy that. But it should not be a Transportation System<\/a> and that is what we have done. We have morphed it into a Transportation System<\/a>. The gainsonsequence, of the Civil Rights Movement<\/a> has been perverted and hijacked by people who are using this as a crygeon against those who racism at every turn. Host give us an example of those instances where you say it is being used . Yes go in the education system. The Obama Administration<\/a> in 2014 decided there was a disparity in the number of black children who school. Uspended from as a consequence, they concluded that it had nothing to do with the behavior of the children that it had to do with the racial attitude of the teachers and principals. So they mandated that they change this. , principalssequence were rewarded for reducing the number of behavioral referrals. And suspensions went down but violence went up. Because they felt as though they had no sanctions. It is interesting, disparity is defined as injustice but when you realize that disparity, when it comes to athletics, blacks serving on a varsity football nfl is in the that because of discrimination . Or is it disparity contributed to injustice . No. It ist is positive individual effort but when it is negative it is racism. Host Shelby Steele<\/a> joining us, Robert Woodson<\/a> use that term leveling the playing field. Has it been levels . Guest absolutely not. After 50 years, of affirmative universitiesnts at the lowest grade point average and highest dropout rate. Before there was anything like affirmative action and there was a hesitancy to allow blacks to go to college, they were performing slightly lower than whites and graduated four years later slightly higher than white. This was in the age of segregation. So affirmative action has been a profound psychological perversion for black students, especially. Because it simply says, you are here because you are black. You are not here because you achieved excellence or because you develop as an individual. You are here because you are black. Thathat is the exact role segregation followed. We are segregating against you because you are black. Tragically, this mimics racism. Mimicked segregation. Reinstated it and gave it a legitimacy in our American Life<\/a> so that good people today it should be used to determine rather than individual merit. Host lets give our viewers a definition. What is affirmative action as the National State<\/a> legislature . They say it is those policies when which an institution actively engages in efforts to improve opportunities for excluded groups in society. Affirmative action often focuses on employment and education. In institutions of higher education, affirmative action relates to admission to those groups that have been excluded or underrepresented. Robert woodson. Guest lets talk about the applications of that. What they did was that there was something called race norming. Where they would say. Blacks getst that if 20 less they could get 20 less. They could take the test that everybody is taking but you get higher points. So that is one of the reasons that we have this kind of disparity. Host what we do about the issues that you are pointing out where is the solution . Ifformative action affirmative action is not working, what is the next step . Shelby steele . Guest this problem has gotten very deep. It involves the black identity itself. When you have a society that is then thatn the past society becomes more preoccupied with its own clearing of its own name from the shame of racism. Action ffirmative designed to help institutions guarantee to the public that they are not racist. They have absolutely nothing to do with black students. And so they simply dont work. Tell because you are a victim. This is what america has done over the last few years. Communicate over and over again thelack americans that essence of who you are is your history of victimization. Not your talents as an individual. Not principles. Not the fact that your people survived for centuries of abuse. That is not you. You are here because you are a victim. And so the motivations for this lic policy are so [indiscernible] host breaking up a little bit Shelby Steele<\/a>. We will keep you on the line and open up our lines for the cspan listeners. 202 7488001, republicans. 202 7488000, democrats. 202 7488002, independent callers and all others. Pick up on his comments on making individual black students victims portraying them as victims. Guest it is even more insidious than that. Even some black are sayingllectuals that part of black culture is that if a student is disruptive, if a student is resistive, that ist of black culture that destructive. Because there are important lessons from the past. People in my generation and before, between 19201940 in the , the difference between white education was eighth grade with blacks at fifth grade. In less than 40 years, the gap closed within six months and that is the cause of what black america did within itself. The challenge in luck america is how to make freedom a blessing for ourselves. We understood that our destiny is determined by what we did and america did. E and that hard work and discipline is being drummed out of black america and it is being dismissed. Host we have a number of calls. Lets go to the first call from john. You are on the error with Shelby Steele<\/a> and robert whitson. Caller i belong to a union in detroit. With promotions and transfers and stuff and the city didnt like that. Frasery got douglas because of the United Auto Workers<\/a> testify against our on and against our seeing against our system. Everyeally shocked me was notews organizations one of them would run that story. The swas the did from this mornings washington journal. Reminder, coming up at 4 30, the house is back to work on suspension bills. We had a chance today to look at the week ahead in congress, lets show you that now. Washington journal continues. Host Sarah Westwood<\/a> is White House Reporter<\/a> for the Washington Examiner<\/a>. Anna edgerton, congressional reporter for bloomberg. They are here to talk about the week ahead. There is a lot to get done. We talked about the tax reform bill in the first hour, but there are a lot of other materials on the table, as well. As your impressions the year began, did either of you expect that the week before christmas, there would be so much to get done . Sarah westwood . Guest certainly not. This years started with a lot of hope about what they would be able to get done. There was hope for an infrastructure package, health care reform, tax, and we see they are just barely going to get one of those things over the finish the end of the year. So i do not think republicans have correctly assessed how challenging it would be. The nd or adjutant in Anna Edgerton<\/a>, were you expecting to be reporting from the capital in the last week before christmas . Guest i think because they were not able to get some of those other things done, passing tax reform goes all the more important. They have to have something to show for their first year of united government, and the tax bill is top of a lot of conservative priorities, and they would get the talking point to say they were able to accomplish something. It some of it is temporary and will not get the simplicity that they hoped, but it would give if theyolitical win were able to get it onto the president s desk. Rules committee will meet today on tax reform, and the house is supposed to take it on tomorrow, maybe even the senate on tuesday. Are there still potential stumbling blocks for tax reform in either the house or senate . Ever a sureng is thing until it is done. It looks like they are in a good political place, especially in the house. I do not see any pockets of resistance. They are excited to vote on this bill. In the senate, it looks like they have the votes, although senator john mccain will miss the vote because of treatment for his brain cancer in arizona. To sayd get bob corker he would support the bill. So it looks like they are in pretty good shape, but it is not a sure thing. Host the Vice President<\/a> will be present for votes this week. Senator mccain not and the chamber, back in arizona. The Vice President<\/a> canceling a trip to the middle east to be of the capital for this. How else will the white house be involved in the final push . Certainly if anyone like jeff flake, any lastminute holders, need any whipping, President Trump<\/a> be working with them. He has been inviting senators to play golf with him and has been working the phone. He has traveled to capitol hill specifically to pitch senators on the home turf. So he is trying to be a cheerleader for this whole thing, while giving senate to negotiate. Ace for instance, the white house did not want the Corporate Tax<\/a> rate to go higher than 20 , but they had to accept it to be raised to 21 . The white house let senate and House Republicans<\/a> negotiate the finer points and did not try to get in the way because they knew it would be difficult to get through. Host a busy schedule for congress. We are joined by Sarah Westwood<\/a> from the Washington Examiner<\/a> and bloomberg Congressional Correspondent<\/a> Anna Edgerton<\/a>. We welcome your comments on tax reform and the other issues for congress. Epublicans, 2027488001 democrats, 2027488000s. Independent and others, 2027488002. And we are also on twitter, cspanwj. There are many things for this week, but what certainly has to be done is a spending bill. Current government funding ends friday at midnight, correct . What is tentatively the plan for republicans to continue funding . Guest right, and they set themselves up for this crushed right before christmas, because the temporary funding measure only went from december 8 until december 22, so they wanted to give themselves time to get the tax bill out of those chambers. Their main priority is voting on the tax bill and getting it out of congress. Then they will turn to the spending negotiations. They have been working on it, but it is clear that taxes are the priority. The two chambers have taken different approaches on the spending bill, so they will have to figure out how to reconcile this and get something through both chambers before friday. Is this an opportunity, particularly in the house, for the Freedom Caucus<\/a> on the republican side and the Democratic Caucus<\/a> in terms of their opposition to the fact that there is currently no stipulation for the dreamers, for the daca provisions . Is that an area that could grind this procedure to a halt . Guest i think it is unlikely that daca will make it into the bill this week. Those negotiations have not advanced much, even though from both parties say it is a priority and needs to be taken care of. I think youll see tougher fortiation over the level defense spending and nondefense Discretionary Spending<\/a> and trying to reach an agreement to deal with the budget caps. They need to negotiate that to get it through both chambers. Host is the white house happy with the budget caps, raising the level of spending . Guest the white house has wanted to lift defense spending caps. That was their priority going in. There are talking about appropriating money through september just for defense and doing a temporary spending measure for all other areas of the budget just until february 19. A white house has said from the start they have no interest in including immigration in discussions right now. They think that should be left for when lawmakers come back from the holiday. That is why you are not seeing it as part of the end of the Year Spending<\/a> next. But if they can keep the focus on appropriations and not other policy areas, then we are not likely to see a shutdown. Host is the wife is going to get funding for a border wall . Seem like the not white house has been interested in going to the mat this round. The white house has the daca protections as a vehicle for that. They know they will have the most leverage when protection for dreamers is hanging in the balance. Host we have calls waiting for Sarah Westwood<\/a> and Anna Edgerton<\/a> on the last week in congress. A lot of issues. First, san antonio, texas, christopher on our republican line. Caller yes, sir, i would like to applaud congress, first of all, for getting this tax bill through. One, raising the standard deduction from 12,000 to 24,000, that puts 1000 in my pocket just looking at the tax table from last year. For middle income taxpayer, 1000 is a lot of money. So please work out all the fine print on this bill, get it through, and give the great people of this nation a break for christmas that President Trump<\/a> has promised us, because we deserve it. We just need it to that is all i have got to say. Host Anna Edgerton<\/a>, what do you think the breakthrough was for the tax bill . Detection isandard important for middleclass families and will allow people to get that break without itemizing different kinds of deductions. However, that 1000 he mentioned is not going to be every year. It is hard to calculate exactly what the tax benefit or burden will be for different families in different situations. Cpithey are using a chain to adjust income brackets for inflation, which means that families will be pushed into higher income brackets faster. So that means that the brakes, the tax breaks you see initially, are not necessarily going to be there in the following years. Also, the individual tax rate cut was made temporary and this bill because of budget concerns and the Deficit Impact<\/a>. Host republicans were able to rubioer senator marco after he had objections over the child tax credit, raising it from 1100 to 1400. Why was he holding up . Is a lot about messaging and trying to convince people that this is a middleclass benefit, when the bulk of the tax cut will be for corporations. Of 1. 5of 1. 52 out trillion, about one trillion of that goes to the Corporate Tax<\/a> cut. So part of senator rubios concern was being able to say we are working hard to make sure that middleclass families, workingclass families, really get the benefits they need. Next inlph charlottesville, virginia, also on our republican line. Yes, thanks for cspan. I have a question on the exemption. I understand the final bill eliminates the exemption for if it is the case, a married couple would ase 8,300 and exemptions in 12,000 game, and a standard deduction would not help that individual that much. Also, mr. Rosensteins statement on these contributions by employees, high level, the hatch act should be considered as far as repercussions against those employees, the emails, and so forth. So thanks for your answer, and that is what i had to say. Host we will leave it there, the rosenstein comment, but do you want to respond to the tax question . Of the reasons it has been so difficult for republicans to sell the tax bill to their own party is there are a number of losers in the tax bill, people who live in states with high state and local taxes will not necessarily see a break. To high level income families who will not necessarily see breaks. So there are families that we would consider as middle class who will not feel any relief from this package. That is why i think there has been some discomfort among republicans, because they know certain constituencies are going to lose out. Host on the democrat line, dale in bethlehem, pennsylvania. Caller merry christmas. Republicans have a bad memory. We have a tremendous debt, and a lot of it is primarily from the bailouts. Suddenly, they are going to increase the debt to trillions of dollars, and it is unfair. This is a time when taxes should be increased, when we have this benefit of the market booming. It was going up under obama, as well. His eight years. This man is not going to do that. Were going to go in the gutter. Everyone will get their Social Security<\/a> cut, medicaid, medicare, and we are going to be hurting. They should take a really good look at it, because it will probably be the end and their political careers, the people voting for it. Host talk about Social Security<\/a> and medicare. The next phase would be seeking spending reductions. What have you heard about plans to address the spending, particularly on this social programs . Guest speaker ryan mentioned in a press Conference Last Week<\/a> that next years agenda will include reforms and spending reductions for Government Programs<\/a> like medicare and medicaid. Speaker ryan even said he was able to convince President Trump<\/a> that addressing the cost of medicare is going to be an important thing to do in the coming year. The president said during the campaign that is one of the things he would not touch. That is one of the selling points republicans have, saying this will not have a Deficit Impact<\/a> like studies show it will , because they are going to reform entitlement programs if they recall them in the coming year. However, reforming Government Programs<\/a>, after having cut taxes and adding 1. 5 trillion to the deficit, is also a hard sell, he does it looks like corporations are getting that benefit. Westwood, any idea how the white house would approach the debate in terms of potentially reducing spending in areas of social programs . As Anna Edgerton<\/a> pointed out, the president s had that as a campaign promise. Tost right, he promised not go after entitlement programs like Social Security<\/a>. Those are the types of things that paul ryan has long dreamed about reforming. We normally talk about tax or form andore the house will be in order. The chair will receive a message. The mes were going to break away and go live to the floor of the house. The secretary mr. Speaker, i am directed by the president of the United States<\/a> to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia800401.us.archive.org\/19\/items\/CSPAN_20171218_210400_Washington_Journal_12182017\/CSPAN_20171218_210400_Washington_Journal_12182017.thumbs\/CSPAN_20171218_210400_Washington_Journal_12182017_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240630T12:35:10+00:00"}