postsecondary education across the tate from our community colleges to to our university. it's worked to identify the strengths that each institution and encouraged them to meet industry needs through a motivated and prepared work force. whip also established a framework to evaluate the state's return on investment for educational dollars. we found that based on the first two years of investment, whip has an estimated value-added roi for a 5-year horizon of 690%. moreover, the contribution to wyoming's gross state product over this period was more than seven times its budget. key to judging the success of any if educational endeavor is the ability to understand what

the return on educational dollar is. postsecondary education, i am happy to tell you, is more coordinated -- >> we're going to leave this program here, but you can watch it anytime at c-span.org. we that take you live to miami where house republican leaders are speaking to reporters at the end of their three-day annual retreatment you're watching live coverage on c-span2. >> -- taking time out of your day to be here in doral. i know it's the tough when it's sunny and 80 degrees, but i hope you found these last couple days informative, helpful, and i can do appreciate for you being here and doing what you do. so let's start off with the news of the day. i think it's interesting that we should compare and contrast democrats and republicans and look at what they're focused on this afternoon. republicans, we're focused on the america first agenda, securing the border, making america more fiscally responsible. democrats, on the other hand, having an emergency call today

on how to fear monger president trump and republicans' efforts to save our country and restore fiscal responsibility. i don't know if you all know this, but america has a spending problem. almost $37 if trillion in debt, and they're going to the fear monger the american people. why? because that's all they know allowed to do. this afternoon, compare and contrast, president trump will sign into law the laken riley act. rep mike if collins, his bill is the first step toward fixing our illegal immigration system. emphasis on that word illegal. republicans are making communities safer by getting the

illegal criminals off the seats -- streets. they just haven't learned their lesson. or maybe that's just who the democrats are. democrats continue to put criminals, illegals and radical special interest groups above and ahead of the american, of the americans. in my if home state, michigan, the mayor or of grand rapids said this, and i quote -- i'm going to read this. quote, police aren't in the business of enforcing immigration law. i'm just going to say that one more time because it's so crazy to me. the mayor of grand a rapids says the local police are not in the business of enforcing immigration law. okay. he should tell that to the family of laken riley.

i would challenge him to say that. and just out of curiosity, i'm wondering what he thinks the police are in the business of doing. that's their job. it's absolutely disgusting to me. and i'm going to to continue to point out the differences between the republicans expect democrats, and i assure you i'm going to have the democrats own their policy. they put illegal and violent criminals over american citizens. i don't get that, and i think 77% of american people don't get that either. but house republicans will continue to pass more common sense legislation that the american people demanded. and i can assure you this, we are just getting started. so at this point i'm going to to turn it over to kevin hern who's our policy director, doing an

amazing job, who will continue to put common sense, america first policy forward. thank you. [inaudible] >> that's all right. very briefly, i just want to thank the chairwoman for her great work in getting us assembled after such a short period of time in her new role. we're here talking about issues, and i mow you've been reporting on many of the issues that are here about how we're going through the reconciliation process, how we're looking at the normal cuts in spending that the president talked about two days ago a expect vice president talked about yesterday. and if that's what this is about, to get off the hill, to be able to get everybody in a room by 75% of the conference to talk about these issues as they're still being debated, getting some clarity, and you'll be hearing more as we go forward. this was a really important opportunity to look at this, to to move quickly on the first hundred days of the president and the vice president's agenda and the policies that are important, securing our border

and restoring the economic security of this country. you're seeing a lot of that with the laken aislely act being signed today -- riley act being signed today at 2 p.m. it's great to be with you it's great to have this opportunity to be together the last three days and more to come. appreciate you being here. >> thanks. i'll echo my colleague, mr. hearn, thank you all for being here. i've been able to enjoy on a daily basis interact with you all. share some context what we're talking about out here, i want to reiterate something that's really on my mind right now, and it kind of echoes an op-ed that i who in october to 2032, and it was published -- 2022, and it was published in the washington examiner. the premise of the entire article was to youngs tata pose what we did in 2017 -- youngs tata pose versus what democrats did in 2021.

you understand reconciliation better than all americans, basically. you get the nuance between a 2017 option and the 2022 option when you had the white house, house and senate switch parties. we're now at that point again to be able to hoe the american people the difference between what we're doing and what democrats did when they had the white house, house and senate. the american rescue plan was all focused on spending, spending, spending. relief spending flooded the market with monetary supply. and it's only one equation that happens, and that is massive inflation which we with saw the worse many 40 years. did we see that type of inflation from 2017? no, we did not. you saw economic growth, you saw across the board tax cuts to be able to energize the economy, right? revenues continued to be strong. does it cover all our deficits? no. our deficits have been created for 25 years and even more from -- even beyond that. so what we're doing here in this conference is trying to

replicate the positive work that was done in 2017 and do it in the most fiscally responsible way possible. that's why it's tough. that's why we don't have a top-line number at every second that we with may try to get to, the right? we all come together and we hash this out, and everybody is sharing their perspective. we have districts that biden won by 10 points and districts that the trump won by 40. right? that's the makeup of republican conference, and we're trying to find that sweet spot. it's very, very difficult. democrats don't have a tough time fining it because they come to an agreement really quick. hay put out the american rescue plan haphazard ally. we all line up, and i bet there's men testify of democrats that thought, you know what? i agree with larry summers that this is what causes inflation. and we're trying to do this in the most responsible way possible and not just, you know, wave our magic wand from leadership and say, hey, members, this is where you have to vote, and this is what you're going to get with us. you've got a very thoughtful process, and i am excited about

the work we've done on it this week and where we're going to continue to go. i foresaw this opportunity a few years ago thinking, okay, this might be where we're at in 2025, of the white house, house and senate under republican control. and it's being on budget and ways and means are the most exciting things in the world to have to be a part of this. and i'm looking forward with more tenured folks on the committee like mr. hern, we're tying to do the best we can for the american people. that's what i hope we can focus on. haphazardly doing this as well as compared to what we're doing and being extremely thoughtful, and that's actually the hard work. but we're going to keep driving forward, and i help you'll be able to go on that journey with us and watch may out. thank you very much. >> well, thank you, guys. thanks for being here. and covering this. i'm the conference secretary. people in washington talk a lot about change, but for the last week we have seen a president who delivers. from if day one president trump

has led with strength and urgency. he signed over 300 executive actions to secure the border, unleash american energy, restore law and and order. and house republicans are i moving just as fast to advance his america first agenda. last week we passed the laken riley act to ensure violent criminals are deported before they could harm another innocent american. 159 democrats voted against it. but president trump will sign it into law today. and because of his leadership, illegal crossings are already down by 93% in january. we are in the beginning weeks of a new golden age in america restoring common sense. no more weak policies, no more excuses. we're securing the border, cutting biden's radical dei policies and restoring transparency in government. the american people are finally free of the radical left agenda.

house republicans are fighting every single day alongside president trump to get this country back on track. and as chairwoman mcclain said, we are just getting started. we are leaving this retreat energized and united and ready to to continue delivering for the american people. and with that, i will turn it back over to our chairwoman, lisa a mcclain. >> well, thank you, everyone. i think we'll open it up for a few questions right now. [inaudible conversations] >> you want to take that, kevin, since you're our policy chair who? so the short answer is, no, that'll be released by the committee chairs. but you have to to understand the reconciliation policies. it's the gives you a range, and you have to be certain of what those ranges are because you have to vet those with the parliamentarian on the nat side which controls all of this. so they're working through that process, still having

conversations and asking questions in the room next door. but as soon as those available by the committee chairs, they'll get them bard so you all can see them -- forward so you all can' them. >> thank you. >> [inaudible] >> absolutely, we have members from california that are in left-leaning districts all the way to some of our very red crickets in texas. so -- districts in texas. so we have to be unanimous, you know? we have to get the that point where we're unanimous.

and this is a process that gets there. it doesn't have to be in a budge with committee because we can pass it and work to the point where it gets on the floor, but we have a larger majority in the budget committee than we do on the house floor if we're going to do a partisan, a simple majority bill. and we know democrats aren't going to support. if you look exactly what's in tcja, doubling the standard deduction, doubling the child tax credit, opportunity the zones. opportunity zones are no the difference -- i mean, with nuance, but they're no different than low income housing tax credit. there is an enormous amount of bipartisan nature to all of the tax work that we actually do. but democrats are not going to line up, and they're not going to hoe up the to help avoid the largest tax increase in american history if we go this reconciliation route. but we have two or three votes that we might be able to pair. we've got to get to that point. i think you'll see the budget committee take all of the input we did for this week, get the

information over to the chairman. the chairman will then work with us on the committee to talk about next steps and over the next couple weeks we've got to get -- kind of drive forward. beautiful diversity of thought that we have in the republican conference is such that we're going to have the make a may call and move forward. if we're going to meet the timeline we're going to have to meet, we're going to have to get this resolution done by the middle of february. so we're going to make a call, move forward and see if we can galvanize the conference to get behind something. thank you. >> [inaudible] >> anybody want to take that or do you want me to take it? >> go ahead. >> go ahead: >> everything is on the table. we listened to chairman rogers today in our last session.

we are at an 85-year low in defense spending. it was the number he used. we need to increase our defense spending are if his perspective. i know there's a lot of people in the conference that agree with him, is that is absolutely -- we need to beef up our military. we need to to modernize our military. and i think what you'll see is everything's on the table right now. oh, yes, sir. >> [inaudible] >> do you want me to take that? go ahead. >> i would just say that this has been a very bottom-up approach from the very beginning on purpose. as blake mentioned in his comments, sometimes things get

sort of railroaded through on the 'em do accurate side without a lot of -- democrat side without a lot of input. and house republicans are such a broad a array that to get to a place where we can get3218 votes, it -- 218 votes it has to be bomb-up. to the extent we have members that haven't engaged, there will come a point where her the engageed, and we are talking to people in districts that biden won by 10 points and districts that donald trump won by 30-40 points, and we're trying to figure out a way to get to the path to 218 in this reconciliation package, and we are all hands on deck trying to do that. to the extent that people haven't engaged, i'm sure they will, and we will begin to tackle those issues as they come. >> again, i just want to say thank you all so much for your participation. you have a story to tell, we have a story to tell. so so, again, i look forward to working with you all in the future. have a great day. enjoy system sunshine.

some sunshine. >> today, federal reserve chair jerome powell will hold a news conference to discuss interest rates and monetary policy following his meeting with the federal open market committee. you can catch that -- watch that live at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span or online at c a span.org. c-span.org. ♪ >> democracy, it isn't just an idea, it's a process. a process shaped by leaders, elected to the highest offices and entrusted to a select few with guarding its basic principles. it's where dedo baits unfold -- debates unfold, decisions are made and the nation's course is charted. democracy in realtime. s this is your government at work. this is c-span. giving you your democracy unfiltered. ♪