just waiting for the house bettering affairs committee to begin their hearing on women veteran getting health care the veterans health administration. this is expected to begin shortly. we are watching live coverage

on c-span three. turning out their tails morning, congressman 80 and smith, republic of nebraska. he's also a member of the ways and means committee that deals with taxes and trade. he is the trade subcommittee ranking member. that means he's the top republican on that committee. let's begin with president biden on wednesday at the white house talking about and touting his economic proposals and what it has done for the economy so far. i will get your reaction. >> the historic american rescue plan. from economic crisis to resurgence. jobs are up. people are back to work. since we came to office, we have traded nearly 10 million jobs, a record for any presidency up to this point. 3.7% unemployment, nearly a 50 year low in this country. more small business created that anytime before in our

history. american manufacturers are coming back. 6000 -- where is it written that said america cannot lead and manufacturing, where is that run? guess what, for all the criticism i got and help you gave me, for gas prices, they, are down more than $1.30 a gallon since the start of the summer. we are making progress. and we are getting other prices down as well. we are more to do, but we are getting their. we have passed one to the infrastructure law it's going to modernize american burrowed and bridges and deadly -- eliminate every lead pipe over the next ten years. and an every home. and in every school. >> congressman, your reaction? >> at that very moment, the report came out, inflation is

high. it is growing. it is causing the cost of living for everyone. some colleagues of mine have said, this is the gas and groceries election. grass is more expensive than it was about 33% more expensive than it was for when the president took office. groceries are more expensive. it is very painful to most of the american people. >> how do you bring inflation down? what is the administration doing that you disagree with? >> the administration push all of this money out into the economy. they are wanting to do it again and summer with student loan forgiveness. i think that's a mistake. the president was actually warned by some respected economists such as larry summers at those poll who's contributed pollution. do you dismiss that. the president did it anyway. it has been very damaging to our economy. >> what will republicans do to curb inflation. >> when you look at covid and what was done about arson paces

actually with the priority of keeping people in a job, 2020, at the beginning of covid when unemployment spiked and the gdp dipped, congress got involved on a temporary basis. by the end of 2020, gdp was back to about events. we should have left that level enough loan, i think they would've left at one of the. on president biden's new in office. he wanted to push all the money out there. that was a mistake. >> i want to invite the viewers to join in the conversation. we are talking about the economy. what is it like where you live? he sits on the tax and trade ways and means committee. he is the top republican on the trade subcommittee. speaking of trade, the white house and labor secretary this morning, marty walsh, we have come to a tentative deal with the unions for the freight rail. this is what he wrote at 5:08 am. moments ago, following more than 20 consecutive hours of negotiations, the rail companies and union negotiators came to a tentative agreement that balances the need that

workers, businesses and our nations economy. if there had been a strike, can you talk about what that would mean for trade? >> it would have been devastating. the fact that there's this tentative agreement i think as welcome news. the fact that not everything has been resolved, it still makes me nervous. we have been talking to agriculture producers who have told me that they already had disruptions in terms of a feed coming out for their operations. perhaps getting other products to market. it is a vital part of our nation's economy. especially during the supply chain crisis that we have, the strike is the last thing we would need. >> these farmers in your district in your state, how much do they rely on freight versus trucking? >> both. we have a lot of rail workers in my district. in fact, the union pacific railroad has the largest rail yard in the world based rate in the middle of my district.

it is very busy. it has diverse traffic. if coal is part of that, that is on the decline. we know that rail is very important. what is great about it, it is so efficient. you can haul a lot of freights a long ways for a very efficient amount. that leads to other things and opportunities. some challenges as well. >> what are your farmers telling you about high food prices? are they seeing more money because of high food prices? it is so volatile. we always talked about farmers not getting to set their own prices for the products that we worked hard to produce. the commodity markets are very volatile. i know we are looking at a farm bill next year to renew a formal. i think that is vital. we will have a lot of discussion on that. there is frustration. oftentimes, when prices are higher at the grocery store, with beef or beef producers on

the ranches across the country, certainly in nebraska, when those are down, when consumers are paying more that, is very frustrating. it speaks to several other issues involved here. the workforce shortage is a huge part of this as well. explain for people who don't know how it works for farmers and prices is it futures? is it something that the prices set long before they put the seat in the ground? how does it work? >> data that is involved there. a lot of contracts are out there where a farmer will agree to deliver a product to a co-op or even a processor months down the road and even longer perhaps. sometimes there's on the spot market being able to sell products, a lot of times it is forward contracted in a way that allows producers to hedge part of the risk and for

processors as well. >> we have got calls lined up for you, congressman. linda's first and clay's, bill pennsylvania. democratic collar. >> hi, how are you doing? >> good morning. morning. >> normally, i would not even be up at this time. usually, i would not be watching your show, even though it is recorded every day. a lot of times, i put it on. i would just happen to catch it today. i am extremely furious at graham. they wanted us to bring -- now they want to throw it back to the feds again. they have no clue what they are doing. it shows all the time. he does not have a good plan. i hope that democrats don't go along with it. the thing is, they don't want to work together, they want to work together. wrong. they are trying to take the rights of women away.

i had and and years ago in the 60s -- >> we have a limited time. i'm going to have him tell us the position on senator graham's nationwide ban on abortion after 15 weeks. >> i am pro-life. i support pro-life legislation. the fact that supreme court handed down to the states, i think it's very important. i think we should focus on that. that is what really the litigation was about. there will be debates across the house and the senate. this is good. this is something we should not shy away from. we have discussions, we want to be civilized. we want to share ideas. ultimately, we want to come together some policy that, in, this case i think it is the states that should address this. as the supreme court would allow them to do. >> we would not be in favor of a nationwide ban? >> i would support a ban overall. a reasonable ban that is

because i am pro-life. i think optimally handing it to the states to decide is the best way to go. >> is grams proposal a reasonable ban? >> i have not read all the details yet. i have seen the headlines. i have not had all the details. also, i think discussions and debates are what we should pursue. hopefully with a civilized debate, and up at some policies that are workable inappropriate. >> james in tennessee, independent, good morning. >> -- >> you have to mute your television. >> okay. -- [inaudible] why would you want to take a woman's rights away? [inaudible] they will come after your rights next.

voting rights. they do it every chance they get. i don't care what this man says, he is lying like the rest of them. all they do is get on tv, they go on facts news, they claim joe biden all kinds of stuff. what about trump? how are you supposed to have all of this? thank you. >> what about a woman's right? we will move on to the next call. >> again, i am pro-life, lifelong pro-life position. i think though that as we debate the issues, let's have a civilized debate. there will be disagreements, countries are founded on disagreement. yet they still came together to give us various policies that we still enjoy today through the constitution. let's have the discussions. >> the federal reserve chair has said that they will keep raising interest rates until the job is done. the job being bringing down inflation.

do you support that strategy? >> i hesitate to say that raising interest rates is a solution. what the feds can't do is control spending in congress. we need to reduce spending and congress and avoid these huge injections of cash into our economy that the president has been pushing so readily. that is, to me, that is the biggest trigger. it happened more quickly than it is going to, that we are going to be able to undo. i think a better policy, reducing wasteful washington spending is the better way to go. >> clifford and birmingham, alabama, democratic color. >> i'm listening to this guy. -- [inaudible] he acts like inflation is something that all americans are dealing with. this is a global deer here.

when it came back online, people are being chased. had we not put money out there and put money in people's pockets, this thing would have been worse. in my opinion, the republicans wanted -- they don't want the economy to come around. they want to be able to blame joe biden's democrats for everything. >> clifford, we will take your points. this is not just america. it is global. if the democrats did not put money into the economy, it would be worse. >> reasonable autonomy's told the president not to do this because it would trigger inflation. sure enough, it has. we are the leading economy in the world. a lot of economies follow suit. and i just think that -- especially rushing to do this, when we look at the president who want student loan forgiveness to be done at the executive level without even debating it in congress, especially after the speaker

pelosi and leader schumer specifically said this cannot be done without a vote of congress. these are just issues and examples of pushing money out into the economy that i think has been dangerous and has led to higher prices, higher cost of living. i am afraid that we will see college students facing even higher tuition. >> darrell and cameron, north carolina, independent. >> i would like to speak on the inflation and the in source of money on joe biden being and the administration being the primary source. the beginning of money being inflated into the economy, started with a check under the trump administration, as well as the tax breaks. there is a phrase that was used during the trump administration within congress called trickle down economics. we don't really hear that phrase anymore. if we did, we would understand

that policy fails. as an independent, i look at thing from both sides. democrats spend too much money. at this point, is a necessity. because trickle down economics failed. >> let's take that argument, daryl. >> tax reform that we did in 2017 actually offered tax relief. and it resulted in an increase of revenues to the government because of a growing economy. one huge focus, the fact that we wanted to improve and increase productivity through the tax code of encouraging businesses to invest in more production and invest in higher wages. so they could expense all of that. that is key. it worked. the data shows this up and down the line. it worries me that the president wants this worldwide minimum corporate task, and that discourages companies from becoming more productive. i am very concerned about that. >> that is one of the tax

provisions in the so-called inflation reduction act. let me list the others and have you react. drops proposed tax increase on carried interest income as 1% tax on stock buybacks. it enhances tax enforcement efforts at the irs, it doubles the agency size. it extends the expanded health insurance premium tax credits. tax credits for buying electric and hydrogen vehicles and making energy efficient home improvements. as well as tracks credit for companies that build new sources of emissions free electricity. >> many of these provisions were not appropriately vetted. when you look at the focus on electric vehicles, i am glad that the economy and innovation is leading to electric vehicles. there is a time in a place for that. for the government to pick these winners, so to speak, the infrastructure is not prepared for that. we could very well in fact -- california is a great example of not having enough electricity that they had to prohibit their own citizens from plugging in their electric vehicles at their homes.

that is just one example of the problem that all of these policies were thrown together and thrown in there and voted on quickly. there are many issues with these that i'm sure we'll have more debate about. there should have been more deliberation before that bill is passed. >> we will go to tim and wisconsin, a democratic collar, you are talking with congressman adrienne smith. i would like to ask you into 17 and 18, -- [inaudible] now they are double that. that was all due to trump's trade embargo. the trade tariffs with china. the farmers are in wisconsin and very happy with the prices, we commodity prices. these are prices are sky-high.

that is price gouging. it does not seem like anybody on the republican side wants to take it on. because ten years ago diesel was cheaper than gas. it's refined much more efficiently. it's the first thing out of the refineries. as far as the economy goes, i look at all these red states, they have the lowest standing of living and the lowest wages. i don't really see where they have to put the stand on as far as helping the average person out. when they retire, they get very low social security because the wages were so suppressed because of anti union and big business policies. i would like to explain some of that to me, please. >> one of the biggest issues these days is the cost of energy. certainly the president, he started day one boasting about the fact that he wanted to shut down domestic production of also fuels. that was his priority.

we are paying for the results of those policies. that hits everyone. when we talk about wages, we saw an increase in wages following tax reform of 2017. and a lower inflation rate. workers were getting ahead. now with all the inflation we have now, the cost of living, even though wages have gone up, it is overshot and undermined by the higher prices. whether it is at the grocery store, at the gas, pump looking for a new house, if they can find a, and the supply chain prices in a situation where at any price some things aren't even available. >> we will go to louisiana, georgia is there watching a democratic color. >> good morning. >> my question is, my question for mr. adrian, i would like to know why we are not saying there is a food shortage period?

quit using the word inflation. when we are looking at bird philo, butter chicken, industry, the fields are being slaughtered with rain or drought. why are we not talking about that situation? >> on top of that -- >> it's not just the united states. the russia ukraine conflict is added to the feud started. >> russia invading ukraine, very inappropriately i would add, has complicated everything. ukraine is considered the bread basket of europe. commodities are a worldwide issue. i have to say, even amidst our challenges, the fact that food is deliverable, yes it's more expensive, we are helping feed the world. we are feeding america, and helping feed the world. i think we're in a strong position for that. we color raises a very valid point. there are some shelves that are

empty. folks are not able to see the variety at the grocery stores that they would like. without friday, there's less competition. these are dynamics that are not consumer friendly. i hope that we can get this supply chain back on track. we need to get folks back feeling job agencies that exist all across the economy. the public and private sector. these job vacancies exist. you mentioned earlier the doubling of the irs workers and their budget. i think that is a mistake. we will see a lot more audits of small businesses and a lot of the american people who have already paid their taxes. yet they, will have to prove it once again. that is a mistake. it is costly as well. >> him is that north carolina? independent. >> good morning, mr. -- were you a basket player? >> that is not me.

>> that is not? you >> i played a pickup game before, it has been a while. i believe this inflation thing is created by greed. i know you guys want a trade or a switch in the presidency. that's why all of these prices and all of these crisis are happening. what do you think about that? greed is the problem here. >> we want consumers to have options in the marketplace. we want them to be able to select from products that whatever they feel is a portable, the various details that they are interested in. that is empowering consumers. as things become short on the shelves, they do not have those choices. that also leads to higher prices.

this is painful for literally everyone across the economy. this has been very painful. and that's why i hope that we can address the supply chain shortage by giving folks back into the workforce. we have the workforce today, has a percentage, it is smaller than what it was in the fall of 2008. part president biden he is boasting about the unemployment rate. that is only part of the picture. the bigger picture, more accurate, is to follow that workforce participation right. we are not in a good spot right now. >> terry in illinois, idling credit collar. >> good morning, greta. how are you guys? listen, greta, i think you are doing america disservice when you try to push the republicans agenda all the time. we wake up, you quote the washington post, wall street journal, you go back and you

show us the comments that the republican senators are making. and now we have this guy at the desk who wants to -- fight if the republicans, he wants to be the chairman of the house committee. the only thing i hear -- this is not moving america forward. i know that's not your agenda. if you want to put that guy out there, what you put a split screen out there and show a democrat. thank you, have a great day. >> terry, stay with the program. we're going to talk with democratic congressman at 8:30 am eastern. we certainly do our best to balance this program every day. you have to take the network as a whole. we certainly take balance very seriously. it's part of our mission. we try to do it every day when we make decisions for what we're covering on the gas we have on. congressman, if you want to address what he had to say.

>> i was thinking that the washington post's left-wing. an editorial and content. if you talk with the washington post in the wall street journal, at the same, time that is balanced. >> we do that, we do that. >> mike, humble texas, republican. >> i am here. i was just saying that before we got this president and administration, we had a pretty good economy. i think once they are voted out, we will be fine again. >> you have a reaction? >> the house has to-year terms so the american people can drastically change the drastic of the house. not as much the senate. i think our founders are on to something when they set up our system. with the opportunity for voters

to participate on such a regular basis. i think that measured approach is working well. it is not perfect. i think it has worked well. we want to encourage people to participate. >> the previous caller mentioned that you want to be the top republican on the committee. what -- i would you be different. >> i am pursuing that. kevin brady, the lead republican right, now chair of the committee when we had the majority, big shoes to fill. he is in retirement. i am anxious and communicating with my colleagues as we speak about why i want to be chair and what i have to offer. i think i'm the one who can get the most done and that is my focus also explaining what we need to do in the next two years. we are only afforded to your terms. we need to plan even farther down the road than that. tax reform, it was huge, it was great, they did great things. it did not happen overnight. >> what would be the first feature legislation that you

would have a hearing on? possibly bring to the committee? >> permanent, some of, those middle class tax relief policies that were actually made temporary. out of the house, they were made permanent, but they did not survive the senate. we have temporary tax policies that have been good for the middle class. need to make this permanent. >> congressman adrian smith, quick half an hour with you. we thank you very much for your time. just waiting for the house veteran affairs committee to bring their hearing on women veterans getting health care through the veterans health administration. is expected to begin shortly. you're watching live coverage on c-span three. a democrat of oregon and a member of the ways and means committee need to talk about the economy. let's begin with inflation, congressman. the latest numbers shows that prices rose 8.3% from