Cspan welcomes to newsmakers this week, congressman kevin brady. Hes a chairman of the key subcommittee and the vice chair of the joint economic committee, and with the new speaker elections this thursday, the day we are taping, he has announced his interest in succeeding paul ryan as the head of the ways and Means Committee. Thank you for being with us. Let me start with the new speaker of the house who that heaul ryan wanted a fresh start to the house of representatives. How long do you think his honeymoon is likely to be . Rep. Brady it may be longer than people believe. Once in ais a generation leader. He will bring new ideas and new energy to the caucus. It is a fresh start. You have someone who has led to committees who understand you can let legislators be legislators and empower people to bring their ideas forward. Some of them may be partisan and some of the maybe bipartisan, but he will put in place a can move our we legislation and that is something that is very exciting. Susan let me bring in the two reporters who will be joining us. For dumain covers Congress Roll Call and Richard Rubin is with the wall street journal. Susan mentioned at the start of the program that you are interested in succeeding paul ryan as chairman of the ways and Means Committee. Could you talk about what you would bring to that committee and how your similar to former chairman ryan and how you would be different. Rep. Brady we need a progrowth conservative who can advance paul ryans agenda. Hes got a bold vision for the committee, hes got ed idea for fixing the tax code, taking the first steps for saving Social Security and medicare, opening new trade and customers for American Workers. We have a lot of work to do their. I have experience leading to of the subcommittees on ways and including solving the way we pay a bicameralicare, solution to help bring republicans, democrats, the house and senate, and physician groups around the country together. Also because i have led a committee which i have worked hard revitalizing into a freemarket think tank, that experience and the reputation working through all the ideologies, that can advance the progrowth agenda. About taxou talk reform and that is something not had aer ryan has lot of luck getting through the committee. There was a full draft and it never came through the committee. Where does that stand in your mind and what can you do if you become chairman to advance that . Rep. Brady fixing the broken tax code, reining in the irs, thats the type of big ideas that come out of the ways and Means Committee. Im convinced republicans in the house and some democrats believe this is the big priority for us. Former chairman dave camp really created the first top to bottom rewrite of the tax code in three decades. He proved you could make it flatter, fairer, and simpler. You could grow the economy and encourage new drop new jobs. Chairman ryan has taken other steps in the interim to make sure we are advancing it. For example, getting the scoring right so that we know the impact of a future tax code, working with democrats and republicans on International Tax reform, and innovation incentives to allow American Companies to do more r d in the united states. Every step has moved is closer to tax reform. I am goingpledge to relentlessly pursue fixing this broken tax code, every day, every week. We are going to take some step toward fixing this broken tax code and thankfully we have a speaker and house paul ryan, who understand how this can grow the economy. That is with the ways and Means Committee and republicans are all about the growth of our families, incomes, the sales of the u. S. Economy. This is our top priority and we are going to push it hard. A realistict is timeframe for that . Should you just go after Something International or is this a 2017 project . Rep. Brady it could be a 2017 project. Historically, comprehensive reform has occurred in the first year of the president s term. Have annterim, we opportunity to make key parts of the tax code permanent, such as the text development. We are the only country in the world who has a major part of it. Ax code temporary that makes no sense at all. I know chairman ryan has been pursuing an agreement with the senate that could make some of these key provisions permanent. I will do the same. We are hopeful we can come together. What we want to and doing are the end of the year temporary extensions that frankly do not do the economy any good. Congressman, you are so far the only official challenger for the position on ways and means. To you talk how your pitch colleagues is different from his and how you imagine you would the a different chairman . Patsy berry is a good man and has done a good job on ways and means. Why my experience to leading to the subcommittee is health care and trade. My proven accomplishments both andhealth and secure helping solve and bring together all the elements for how we solve medicare and pay our local doctors, the doctor fixes, that is the first significant reform of medicare in decades. It is the first important step to saving medicare for the longterm. Taking thatdy begun second important step, so having that experience, having the reputation working across our entire Republican Party to find the principles that unite us, those are our strengths. Having run a committee before, having turned one a wound having turned one around, doing it it away as member driven, that will be my strength. We learned fellow Texan Sam Johnson will be the temporary head of ways and means. When will you know what the outcome is . Rep. Brady a timetable hasnt been set. It could be early next week or it could be several weeks down the road. Whatever it is, we will be ready and the truth is, we will need a chairman who can hit the ground running on day one. The experience i bring to the committee running the committee myself, i can do that. Excited about the opportunity. We have 24 of the most talented people on ways and means that you can imagine. We reflect the priorities of our republican conference and we are really excited about the work land. The work plan. We have been working on these key reforms like Social Security and welfare reform. This has to do with a speaker in place with the same priorities. It is really exciting. Emma i want to follow up on the question of the timetable. Theres a lot of discussion about overhauling the House Republican conference, diversifying and changing the membership of the Steering Committee, which is the leadership appointed body that helps elect who gets to serve on various committees of the house. Theres some discussion about changing that make up. It could happen by thanksgiving or before or after an election. Do you think you have the support you would need in the Current Steering Committee . How do you feel about this current configuration or some other configuration we have all yet to see . Thats a great question. We intend to win support whether its during this committee or another one. These discussions about the rules and how the house operates, how the Steering Committee is composed, these are really healthy discussions. I think every member wants to make sure they have a say and that their ideas are heard. Have representatives at every level, so discussions so far about ideas on new will have been very healthy. I dont know what the timetable is for completing those discussions. Speaker isall, a new a fresh start. One of the reasons now speaker ryan has such strong support is that hes open to those ideas he ran thats the way the ways and Means Committee. Very entrepreneurial. If you did your work, had a good idea, a work through for the cost of it and counted to make sure there was support, those are the bills that moved. To run thism going committee. And that is how speaker ryan is going to run the house. You talk about tax reform is a 2017 project. Obviously you are hoping for a republican president. We have heard different tax plans from the candidates. Senator cruz unveiled his plan for a valueadded tax to replace payroll and Corporate Income taxes. Planu have a favorite tax from among them and what do you think of what you are hearing from the candidates . Rep. Brady this is exciting. We have candidates running for president with specific. Rogrowth tax proposals this hasnt happened in a long time. Breadth of them, but that is appropriate because inHouse Republican conference, we have a lot of ideas as well. Rather than pick one from among the others is we will both way out the ideas we have heard from members, the camp draft that has been developed. Pro growthot of aspects to it and we are going to lay that out and review them in detail, and courage invite our republican members to weigh in on this. Were also going to lay a foundation for tax reform. I cannot tell you how incredibly complex it is. Our members need to have that foundation so they can help us reach the right conclusion. Here are the principles im looking at i want a tax code that is built for growth, for families growth and when that grows our economy. I want to make sure the printable czar it is fairer, simpler. And we want to lower exemptions, eliminate loopholes so he can lower the rates for everybody. Sure smallake businesses dont pay more than large businesses, which is what happens today. Ournt to make sure companies are no longer uncompetitive when we compete around the world for profit and at the end of the day, a final printable as we are not going to bailout washingtons spending problems through the tax code. The is all about growing economy and doing it in a way that encourages investment along main street. I can tell you that even since dave camp laid out his draft proposal, the world has become even more competitive on the tax side, so we are going to have to go even bolder. There are a number of ways we can get there. I think the right approach is to invite everyone into this discussion. Do you think the u. S. Cannot afford a multitrillion dollar tax cut of the size your candidates are talking about . Rep. Brady at the end of the day, we need a tax code that is not a drag on the economy. We need one that creates the types of jobs and investment that grows washington revenues. Im convinced spending cuts can get us halfway to a balanced budget. I think we are going to need a much stronger economy to finish the job and finish up the national debt, which congressman ryan has made a clear goal of. We will need a strong, competitive tax code. This is all about growth and we can do this. We are talking about the gop candidates, a number of them criticized the budget vote and the deal put for. Her, a deal you voted how do you square their criticism with their yes vote . Is. Brady i think it dangerous to keep holding our military hostage for politics, which this president repeatedly does. We are at war and the opportunity to fully fund our military for two years with stability and no more political gains, i will take that any day. Linkresident wanted a check for more deficit spending and he was denied it. Instead, he got serious entitlement reforms. The first significant ones that i have seen in a very long time. Stopped thes rampant fraud in the disability program. It helped those who are truly disabled and rewards those who want to go back to work. Those are key principles and at the end of the day, we insured america pays its debt in full and on time. From my key priorities no fundingeck, strongly our military, and making sure we pay our debt. There were some positive things in that agreement. Emma you were one of only 79 republicans who voted for this budget deal on wednesday night. Among those numbers, it was former Speaker Boehner who barely makes the vote. There were so few republicans who supported this. Why do think more of them didnt feel as you did, that there was a compelling reason to support this . Rep. Brady i think we all see a Better Future for our country. In the past, we have always debt ceiling fight was an opportunity to really change the way this government spends. We have had good success, more than 2 trillion in spending cuts negotiated. We all hoped we would have a president willing to sit down and actually make those reforms. Many cards without to play, Speaker Boehner put perhaps the highest priorities for us, which is strongly funding the military, no blank checks, and serious entitlement reforms. Would have members loved for that to have gone much further than it has, but at the end of the day, the job got done and we can move forward. Reforms,deas in tax trade and welfare reforms, those are the things we want to focus on. Trade, youitching to got the ctp deal that will come up for a vote. You will be in a position to move it or block it. What is your thinking on the deal the administration negotiated, the transpacific what is thend timetable transportation Transpacific Partnership, and what is the timetable . Not had thewe have actual language sent to us. That should start the clock on this and under the new trade rules, the American Public will have a full 60 days to review every word in a trade agreement. Congress and lawmakers will have time to view it as well. Once we start digging through that, you will see opinions form about whether this agreement is good for america. Heres the point i would make. This is all about economic freedom. Buying fromabout around the world. When we try to sell abroad, we find these america need not apply signs. Tearing down those signs and insisting that if you are selling to america, we get to sell into your country. , we win. O that our sales go up, our exports go up, we create jobs. Im viewing the Transpacific Partnership as a huge potential Customer Base for American Workers and companies. I want to make sure not just every commodity ended up in the right place, but that we did the right architecture and made sure there was the right place to makeour disputes when we investments in other countries and be competitive. Did we get the labor and environmental provisions right . Did we deal with Stateowned Enterprises the right way . If we get the architecture right , and oddly works for this agreement, it works for the next one, which we are negotiating with europe as well. There are currently Six Committee chairmans from the state of texas in the house of representatives. You would be the seventh of you were elected chairman of ways and means. Theres some concern that even though texas is the largest republican delegation house that maybe seven texas congressman running committees might be too much. What do you say to those critics . Rep. Brady we are they state right about where california was with six and five germans in the recent past and a much larger delegation. Term limits, we term limit our chairman, so these things tend to add and flow. All of our Committee Chairman are extremely talented. We are chosen by the Steering Committee and they were elected by the entire public and conference. At the end of the day, the ways and means is so critical, its not just about one state. Its about the fate and the direction of our country is going. If you have a program of conservative with a proven record of working throughout our conference on health care, trade, a number of these issues that is going to listen and unite us behind common principles, find that Common Ground and get the country turned back around, those skills and experience will carry the day. For viewers who dont know you, tell us about your district outside of houston and how the particular industries or people affect the way you approach issues. Rep. Brady i think all of us are shaped by our lives. I grew up in the black hills of south dakota and there, it was an economy shaped by agriculture, a military base, and tourism. I chose as a Profession Chamber of commerce work. I loved it because you could help start Small Businesses and build the economy. Texas, where i served, it was a heavy rust belt type industry. There were problems and refinery type issues where i lived. Where i live today is a combination of suburban and Rural Communities were energy is important, health is important and trade is important. I have always had a blend of a lot of rural counties. Experience in almost nine different types of economies and having that main street perspective, that is what drives my role in the ways and Means Committee and thats why look at every issue from the standpoint of will this grow main street jobs . Whether it is rural iowa, wisconsin, or new york city, what we are trying to do is grow the entire economy. That shaves my views and i think is a strength as we lead this committee. This past week, the Federal Reserve decided not to raise Interest Rates and hold that decision for later in the year. What is your view on what the fed should be doing and whether the economy is Strong Enough at this point to sustain an Interest Rate hike . Rep. Brady the fed needs to be normalizing it Monetary Policy sooner rather than later. They have in out of bullets for a long time. Longmpact of stimulus has faded. Everyone knows the fed needs to , clearly communicating its step, taking those steps to build confidence because i worry there is confidence in the fed to begin normalizing. I worry they might not only delay it but do a one and don