if you well, in our own image? say how muchlet me i appreciate your continued interest, your personal continued interest in this. a lot ofu have other business pending. one of the lessons of afghanistan -- i was indirectly involved through my work at the united nations -- one of the lessons in both places is that we tend to overestimate our reach and our capabilities. it is exceedingly difficult to repair another culture to repair a broken state. situation where you have imperfect knowledge of how it operates, how the culture operates. you have people cycling out

after one year tours. it is difficult. when i got to afghanistan in the summer of 2011, it was the peak of the military surge which was already starting to turn around. i was instructed to complete the civilian surge, which we never did because as soon as i got there, we realized we needed to reverse course along with the military. times -- ambassador cunningham: i got there the summer of 2011. trying to fix every broken window in the country. that generated that impulse and the amount of money that was

available, which people were trying to manage and doing so in very good faith created a bunch of secondary and third level affects that i don't think we understood very well. >> damaging to their society. ambassador cunningham: it did a lot of good, don't get me wrong. none of the statistics and benefits the other panelists cited would have happened without doub that effort. one lesson learned is that we need -- i hope we will not be doing that sort of thing in the future. to the extent we are, we need to learn a lesson about the limits of our capabilities to accomplish the very good things we might want to accomplish under those kinds of circumstances. we certainly need to do a good job of learning what works and what did not work in afghanistan. >> you all have been very helpful. we thank you for the service you

provided our nation and the service you are providing now on the outside. hopefully, you will be back up to help us in the future. would, we would like to leave the record open. if questions come in, we hope you will answer those promptly. without further a do come i would like to close with any kind of comments -- i see no nonce. -- i see no nods. the meeting is adjourned. [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] >> several presidential candidates in new hampshire this weekend.

later this afternoon, we take you there for a town hall event with jeb bush. that will start at 4:30 eastern. live coverage here on c-span. the democratic presidential debate is also happening this weekend in new hampshire. we will have a replay of the event courtesy of abc news tomorrow at 4:00 eastern time here on c-span. >> this weekend, the c-span city ies tour explores the history of literary culture of worcester massachusetts. it was a major contributor to the industrial revolution in the u.s. and was known for its innovators in commerce and industry. on book tv, we will learn about the life of henry george. then, we will visit the largest

repository in the country of original books, pemberton periodicals related to the history of the united states. we will talk to jeanette greenwood to discuss her book about the migration of african-americans to worcester after the civil war. anti-slavery organizations. every town had one. it is a city that is very forward-looking, very progressive and lots of ways. >> we will visit mechanical, , the building is listed in the national register of historic places. it originally served as a learning center for its members and also served as a platform for social and cultural activities, quitting women's rights rallies. women's rights

convention happen before the whole open. afterward, most people came here to speak. it was the central location and mechanics hall is where everything happen. >> finally, we will toward the clark university special selection -- the father of modern rocketry. we will learn about his contribution to science through his papers, diaries and artifacts. hisobert goddard attributes first interest in space travel and his first interest in the career of science to a day in 1899. he went outside with a saw and hatchet. he was meant to trim the dead branches off a cherry tree. and maded the tree himself a little ladder to get up the tree. tree, hewas up in the

looked down on the field around him and thought, how wonderful it would be to build some kind of device that could leave the earth and maybe even travel to mars? c-span two possible tv and american history tv on c-span three. c-span2 possible tv and american history tv on c-span3. >> the house and senate are adjourned until the new year. both groups finished up their legislative business yesterday by passing a 1.1 trillion dollars spending bill to fund the government through next september and extend certain tax provisions. lawmakers will return in january to officially begin the second session of the 1/14 congress. -- 114th congress. paul ryan and mitch mcconnell sat down with politico to

discuss what congress accomplished this past year and other issues in my take on the 2016. -- it might take on in 2016. this is one hour 20 minutes. >> mike allen and allen palmer. [applause] >> good morning. thank you very much for coming to the final playbook breakfast of 2015, a double-header. >> we are very excited to welcome senate majority leader mitch mcconnell on stage to join us and start this discussion. [applause] mike: thank you for being with us. my colleague, anna, is with me. we thank you who are joining us

out in live stream land. go ahead and send us your questions at #playbookbreakfast. we are excited to have a double-header. leader mcconnell and shortly we'll hear from speaker ryan. thank all of you who have supported playbook breakfast all year. we appreciate your coming out. we have had a lot of fun. and made a lot of news. before we kick off, we'd like to thank john, larry, bank of america. the playbook event series is a forum for convening conversations about the most critical issues facing washington with the most critical players.

we have taken the playbook series across the country. this year florida, new jersey, massachusetts, california, new york, and some of you might have seen, chicago. bank of america's been a great partner in 2015 and we really appreciate that. mr. leader, thank you for being here on get away week. anna will kick us off. anna: we have big news today with the big $1.1 trillion spending bill. $750 billion in tax extenders that you guys are going to release. what are the republican wins in this package? leader mcconnell: at the risk of confounding you, we haven't announced it yet and i'm not going to scoop ourselves. what we are looking for on the tax side is to have a large measure as opposed to a short-term two-year what we used to call extender bill with more permanency for things that we think make a difference for the economy. for two reasons. number one, it reduces the base line for getting to comprehensive tax reform which the country desperately needs. and number two, several of these extenders are so popular, for example, r&d and section 179 to the business community making those permanent, i think, is an important shot in the arm to our economy.

anna: you sat down with my colleague, they said that the headline of the story today's politico is mcconnell vows ambitious agenda in treacherous 2016. what do you mean by that? leader mcconnell: we had a regularly scheduled election in our country every two years since 1788. we could always say well, we can't do anything this year. it's an election year. so, what could we conceivably achieve? the one thing the democrats succeeded in completing thwarting this year was a normal appropriations process. they prevented us from getting on the appropriation bills, even though all 12 came out of the committee for the first time in five years. what i hope we'll do now that we have decided how much we are going to spend next year is not spend any time arguing about -- or obstructing the process of passing the 12 bills that fund

the government. this has been dysfunctional under parties of both majorities. the last time we did it right was 1994. that's something i think we could have minimal arguments over and try to accomplish even in the mid of a contentious year. mike: mr. leader, in the story by my colleagues, they say that you have had a solid first year and they said this is in the paper that's on your chairs there, they said you have begun a victory lap of sorts. is that what this is? leader mcconnell: more than a solid first year. come on, now. let's compare it to last year, for example. last year we had 15 roll call votes on amendments in the whole year, 15. this year we had over 200. four of the last five years the democratic majority didn't pass a budget. we did that. admittedly that's a low crossbar just to get back to normal, but

what i tried to do, accept the reality of the government we have. the president's not of our party. the democrats have enough support in the senate to prevent things from happening if they want to. so how do you break through that you do it by issue selection. we did keystone pipeline. we did the identify rain nuclear review act. we did a multi-year highway bill. we did a rewrite of no child left behind. take the highway bill, for example, the democratic leadership actively tried to scuttle what was being developed by senator boxer and myself, and failed. and the reason they failed is because the committee process worked. you had the ranking democrat on the committee committed to what we were trying to do and leadership simply couldn't thwart t the message is, if you go through committee on a bill that should enjoy bipartisan

support, develops bipartisan support inside the committee, when it gets on the floor, even if the democratic leadership wants to thwart it, they can't. that's how we achieved as much as we did this year. mike: you do have a long list of firsts. you emailed us a year ago in january, 2014, two years ago you gave a speech restoring the senate has been harder than you thought. leader mcconnell: no, because it was a pent up demand on a bipartisan basis to get back to normal. democratic senators coming up to me before our new majority took over saying they don't like the job. mike: they still say that. leader mcconnell: not anymore. look at the bills they participated in and voted on. many of these bills that i mentioned passed by overwhelming majorities. it wasn't just done by republicans. so they were saying that i worked hard to get this job, i took a lot of criticism, it was a contentious effort to get here.

i don't much like this job. i don't think many of them are telling you that now. i'm sure they would like to be in the majority, but i don't think they enjoy being marginalized, being irrelevant, having all the action being in the majority leader's office rather than the committees. mike: you have empowered democrats. leader mcconnell: absolutely. i don't have any choice because it takes 60 votes to do most things that we do. i was always looking for the kinds of bills that were worth doing that enjoyed bipartisan support. i'd like to ask the representatives the coin of the realm in the senate is floor time. is the majority leader and the person who decides what we are going to turn to, how are you going to use that coin? since it takes us three days to do the simplest things where the house can do it in an hour, how much time you have is the big decision.

what are you going to allocate floor time to? i accepted the fact we had a divided government. barack obama is in the white house. we don't have 60 senators. what can we do? the american people seem to like divided government we have had it so often. more often than not since world war 2. what are they saying? i think they are saying, ok, we know you have a lot of differences, but why don't you look for the things you agree on worth doing and do them. that's been my strategy this year. still there are big, big differences. we put repeal obamacare on his desk. we are in the process of putting waters of the united states on his desk. and two of these clean power regulations on his desk. mike: as a student of history, do you assume that in january, 2017, we'll have divided government of some sort? leader mcconnell: i hope not. anna: you said you have empowered democrats under your leadership. certainly your relationship with majority leader harry reid has been tense. maybe hit a low in recent weeks.

how can you work together or do you work together and kind of repairing that? leader mcconnell: i don't think it's hit a low in recent weeks. i think the low point was when he broke the rules of the senate in the fall of 2013 to change the rules of the senate. the rules mean nothing if any majority at any given time with a simple majority changes the rules. and for those of you not familiar with it, the senate's rules don't go away tend of every two years, they are permanent. the rules of the senate require that you get 67 votes to change the rules of the senate. 67. what happened in the fall of 2013 in their desire to jam the minority, which had not used the filibuster very often at all, on judges, was, ok, we'll just change the rules, like that. they overruled the chair with a simple majority and changed the rules of the senate. that was the low point of our

relationship. i think it did a lot of damage to the institution. and further soured relations. so i think the last congress was the low point. i like harry, personally. i don't like the way he ran the senate as the majority leader. we have had from time to time worked around him to get things done with the new majority. fortunately there is a pool of democrats who want to be relevant. who think the job they were elected to ought to have some consequence, and they accept the fact we are in the majority. in order to advance the kinds of issues we have been talking about, it requires participation with us. mike: mr. leader, in september, carl and jennifer had a story in the "new york times" with the headline, boehner's exit will cost mitch mcconnell a kindred spirit. how has the house been different with speaker ryan? leader mcconnell: paul's been around a long time. a pretty young guy but he's been around a long time. we have had the opportunity to

work together. you'll have a chance to hear from him in a few minutes. he hired a guy that was thoroughly familiar with, long time friend, dave. we knew each other well so we didn't have to start from scratch. and i think paul can speak for himself, but i think he's in what i would call the make a difference side. you always have two kinds of people in politics, ones who want to make a point, and those who want to make a difference. we all from time to time want to make a point. we did that with the obamacare repeal which we are in the process of putting on the president's desk. i don't think the american people sent us here to do nothing. and they elected a government that neither party entirely controls. i get the impression the speaker would like to make a difference given the cards that we are dealt, which is not the perfect hand from our point of view, and you can address the question to him, but i think the transition's been quite smooth. anna: one of the things i wanted

to ask you about is the interview given to the "washington post" on the transpacific partnership, getting done before the end of obama's term, do you think it's punted to the next president? leader mcconnell: i haven't made up my mind. i'm disappointed at some of the -- at the outcome. but i'm not in any way regretful of doing trade promotion authority. all of you in the audience know what that is. it's a process by which this president and the next one can send a trade agreement to the congress and get it approved or it could be disapproved with an up or down vote. so i felt it was important to get t.p.a. in place not only for president obama but for the next president. we have that. and i'm really not decided yet on the deal that he negotiated. it could have been, in my -- from my point of view, a lot

better. mike: you said it shouldn't come up before the election. do you assume this now goes to the next president? leader mcconnell: you heard trade discussed. all the democratic candidates are against the deal. many of the republican candidates for president are against the deal. if the president wants to succeed he ought to take into account the reality of the political situation. mike: the result of that will be what? leader mcconnell: it's up to him to decide to initiate the process. mike: your wish would be? leader mcconnell: i think he ought to take into account the obvious politics of trade at the moment in our country. mike: with speaker ryan next year, what will the outlook be for tax reform? leader mcconnell: i would assume it would be how in his agenda, you're going to have him here in a few minutes, if we get a larger tax bill here at the end of the year, we do have a significant positive impact on the baseline for comprehensive tax reform, which the speaker would like to do, and i would like to do.

there are some challenges in doing comprehensive tax reform with this president. number one, i believe it should be revenue neutral to the government. reagan and tip o'neill had an agreement 30 years ago that tax reform was not about getting more revenue for the government but about getting rates down to the maximum extent tenth possible for the largest number of people. we have an outrageously high corporate tax rate, which is one of the factors causing some inversions. we need to do something about that. we need to go to some kind of territorial system. and from my point of view, we need to treat taxpayers as nearly as we can similarly. that means most american business, which is not a corporation, most is an s-corp. or l.l.c. they pay taxes as individuals. this president wants to keep the individual rate up here. so if you lower the rate only for corporations and you leave

the rates for individuals up here, most american business doesn't get a tax relief. doesn't get any tax relief. so, we have substantial differences with president obama about what tax reform ought to look like. summing it up, i think it ought to be revenue neutral to the government. i think we ought to treat small business just like big business. whatever revenue is produced by the elimination of preferences ought to be used to buy down rates, not be used to spend by the government. mike: last one. what would you say is the outlook for narrow tax reform next year? leader mcconnell: i don't know. i don't know. mike: can you imagine president obama wanting to do one more big domestic thing? or do you think he's done? leader mcconnell: i don't know. you'll have to see what he does. mike: question from our cybersecurity editor, david lynch. since the paris and san bernardino attacks, the heads of the f.b.i. and c.i.a. have both expressed mounting concern about terrorists using encryption to

mask their plotting. yet there seems little prospect for administration or congressional action. leader mcconnell: this is an area i'm disappointed it. i think weakening the patriot act was a mistake. and we had internal divisions among republicans over whether that was the appropriate thing to do. the metadata system was lost in the bill that we passed in early summer. i didn't vote for it. our conference was split right down the middle on the issue of whether weakening the patriot act was a good idea. the encryption issue is another good reason for revisiting that whole subject and that could well happen next year. mike: what are the circumstances where that would occur next year? leader mcconnell: it could happen next year. based upon what's going on in the world.

i think we can't put blinders on here. this is a growing and serious problem. and to the extent that our intelligence capabilities, which in my view have never been inconsistent with american privacy concerns, are weakened, you have to ask the question, is that a smart thing to do? i don't think it is. mike: would you like to see action on that next year? leader mcconnell: we may well do that. mike: what would be at the top of your list? leader mcconnell: one of our leaders on that, interestingly enough, if not our youngest senator, tom cotton, who has had a lot to say about this on the intelligence committee. has already become a leader. i think chairman richard burr has concerns as well. that could be an area we address next year. anna: one of the things i wanted to talk about, immigration has been a big -- coming out of these terrorist attacks has been a big issue on the news and polls and 2016. that's a personal issue for you. your wife very successful from taiwan, first in the cabinet george w. bush's cabinet. do you think all this -- is it

concerning to you? how do you respond to it? leader mcconnell: well, the president pretty much messed up the environment for doing anything on immigration. in a proactive way with his executive orders after the election. in which he did things that he had previously said on numerous occasions he didn't have the authority to do. proving he didn't have the authority, the courts have stopped him. so that's on hold. a separate issue is immigration concerns raised as a result of terrorists coming in. and i do think we need to continue to look at tightening up the various ways in which people can come into the country. the key in my view on the infiltration of terrorists as opposed to the lone wolf factor,

is having safe places inside syria so people don't feel they have to leave. and that requires a more robust military approach to what we are currently doing. more robust. that's something the president's been reluctant to do. tightening up the entry is important. but you have the lone wolf problem, which apparently was the case in san bernardino. that gets back to whether or not we have the tools that we need to have on the intelligence side. to track and discover these people before they do something like this. anna: speaking of having a more robust presence here. you don't want to do an aumf -- leader mcconnell: the president thinks he has the authority to do what he's doing now. he's got a year left in office.

i know the democrats in the senate well enough to know when they talk about an aumf they are talking about a highly prescriptive aumf. how many troops you have. how long they can stay there. maybe what they can do there. but if we are going to do an aumf, it ought to give the president all the authority that he may need. rather than trying to micromanage the conflict. so i can't imagine this senate getting more than 60 votes for the kind of aumf that the next president may need, which is the authority to do what needs to be done. in other words, not to micromanage the military employment, not to tell them how long they can stay there. so i would not want to saddle the next president with a highly prescriptive aumf. mike: anna will ask you a question about a specific senator in the second, but to pull back, what are the chances that republicans keep the senate and you remain majority leader?

leader mcconnell: it's going to be a challenging cycle. state the obvious that the key to the republican majority lies in purple states. new hampshire, pennsylvania, ohio, wisconsin, one blue state, illinois. nevada, colorado, florida. what do they all have in common? every one of those states except illinois will be the same states that determine who the president is. so i'm hoping for a presidential nominee who can carry purple states, who can actually get elected president because those are the states -- i would add one more to that group where we don't have a senate race, that's virginia. a purple state that clearly will be in play in the general election of the presidency. obviously if we have a presidential candidate who is doing well in purple states it would make it easier for us to have a majority in the next congress. anna: speaking to your point on the purple states, how would senator cruz as a nominee affect the race of senator kelly in new hampshire? leader mcconnell: good try.

[laughter] you know i'm not going to start commenting on various candidates for president. i like them all with great interest. mike: you won't resist this. how would donald trump as a nominee affect re-election of senator rob portman in ohio? leader mcconnell: i'm still not going to get into the presidential race. mike: you talked about the ability to win in purple states. would some -- not naming names, would some of these candidates be more helpful to keeping the majority -- leader mcconnell: come on, mike. let's don't waste each other's time here. i don't want to get into the presidential race. i have already stated it would be extremely helpful in holding the senate to carry purple states. all of you can draw your own conclusions about which candidates are most likely to carrie purple states. mike: as a republican party, how do you hold purple states? what is the key to that? leader mcconnell: i think our

members want to be able to say to their constituents they were a part of getting results. getting results on things that were worth doing. what i wanted to convey, i said this after my own re-election in louisville last year i wanted us to be a constructive right of center governing majority. a constructive right of center governing majority. no antics like shutting down the government or threatening to default on the national debt. no feeling among the american people that if they were to marry up a republican president with this republican senate it wouldn't be a good thing. i want them to think that's a good thing. i think for people like kelly ayotte and pat toomey and ron johnson and rob portman and mark kirk, they want to make the argument that they have been -- they have made a difference. not that they have sat around all the time making points, but that they have made a

difference. i think we have an agenda that we have accomplished here in the first year that will help them do that. mike: mr. leader, chance here for a little reality check. this is the gray beard dinner written up in the lead store y of the "washington post" g.o.p. to gird for a floor fight about preparing for a brokered convention. what happened at that dinner? leader mcconnell: we were just talking about politics. a bunch of politicians talking about politics. no conspiracy theories that i heard. mike: set the scene. tell people what the dinner is and what it was like. leader mcconnell: it's a group that gets together periodically and has no particular agenda and certainly has no ability to control any particular outcome. like a discussion group. mike: "the washington post" said, near the end mcconnell and

r.n.c. chairman acknowledged to the group that a deadlock convention is something the party should prepare for. leader mcconnell: yeah. the meeting is called off the record for some reason. so i don't have any interest in quoting myself or others. this is a group that gets together periodically. i frequently go. we talk about politics. that's what we do in this town. and it's supposed to be off the record. i was among those rather appalled to hear people who are in the meeting talking about it. mike: now that we are on the record in front of cameras, is a deadlock convention something the party should prepare for? [laughter] leader mcconnell: it hasn't happened in a very long time. i think it's highly unlikely to happen. and what delegates do at a convention is determined by state law anyway. and i guess the only way that could happen would be if you went past one ballot because

most states bind the delegates for the first vote, although some may bind them beyond the first vote. i don't in a moment it's an interesting thing to discuss but highly unlikely. mike: highly unlikely, not impossible. what is your worry about it as you go into this -- leader mcconnell: i've got a big job to do here and i follow the presidential race, obviously. but handicapping every possible outcome is not something i spend much time doing. anna: turning back to the senate and your job, one of the questions that is outstanding is how many judges the senate will confirm. can you give us any insight into your thinking on that, or when you view the cut off, unofficial cut off date? leader mcconnell: there isn't any particular unofficial or official cut off date. the president has gotten a huge number of judges over the first six years. it was an explosion of judges right at the end of last year.

and so most of the judges that were in the queue were already confirmed. and his overall record over this eight years is going to compare pretty similarly to previous presidents. anna: can you -- leader mcconnell: i don't have anna: can you -- leader mcconnell: i don't have any specific. mike: mr. leader, tradition you have you take freshmen, republican senators on a trip to hot spots, afghanistan, iraq, israel, etc. in the middle east. you did two trips this year because you had so many freshmen. what do you get out of those trips? leader mcconnell: a lot of the freshmen did not come from the house, so they haven't had a chance to visit places that have dominated or national security

and foreign policy discussion over the last decade. so for the last few cycles, and this year as you indicated, i had, fortunately, a big group, so we went two times to israel, jordan, iraq, afghanistan. it's a way to immerse yourself in the situation quickly. because they have continuing important relevance. an example, it was clearly a huge mistake for the u.s. not to leave a residual force behind in iraq. whether you supported the war or didn't support the war, president bush handed over to president obama a war that was won. and rather than using the model of germany, japan, and korea where -- we left all together and there is no question in my mind why iraq is the way it is today. wouldn't have prevented syria why iraq is in a mess today. the president has been struggling over the last three,

four years with a political desire to be able to say -- that would be a big mistake. we have a president there who is a good president who wants us to stay. all the military feels we need to have a residual force. the optimum number would be 10,000 for counterterrorism and ongoing training of the military. i hope he doesn't double down on the mistake he made in iraq. >> number of polls show that terrorism is in the minds of voters. senator mcconnell: this is a serious problem. isis is not the j.v. team. they control large swaths of land.

they have to be defeated with boots on the ground and don't have to include a large combat force of the united states. but we are going to have -- without american leadership, it will not happen. we have to rally the saudis, the egyptians to join a kind of well led and supported by air power american effort to defeat isil and until that happens, the problem will persist. you need to have safe zones inside syria so people don't feel like they have to run for their lives. >> as my friend points out, they are not boots, they are people. senator mcconnell: they don't have to be all of ours. america needs to stand up and says here's the plan.

i need this many troops from you, france, for example or britain, for example. this many troops from you egyptians, saudis, jordanians. it requires american leadership or it will not happen. until that leadership is provided by this president or the next one, the problem will continue. >> we have a number of interns watching us. you were an intern for a senator. what is your advice for interns? senator mcconnell: it was to me a transformative event. i had always thought i wanted to try and succeed in politics. even as a young guy and being here that particular summer was the summer that the senate broke the filibuster on the civil rights bill, 1964 and senator cooper was right in the middle of that.

and we were a border state and even though we were not overwhelmingly hostile to civil rights. i remember getting an opportunity to ask him one time whether he was worried about that or not and he said something akin to this, there are times when you need to lead and times when you need to follow and this is an example of stepping out and trying to convince people this is the right direction to take. he was an inspirational figure. i hope you are working for somebody you like and enjoy and learning lessons about how to conduct the job if you ever get to be a senator or congressman. >> what were your duties in the mail room? senator mcconnell: it was all

snail mail. we got very few telephone calls because it was a long dance call. sorting the mail and putting it in different camps and giving it to the right legislative assistant to answer. >> you always like the trivia questions and we thought it would be fun to ask you tomorrow's trivia question today. >> abe bra ham lincoln is closely associated with illinois but he was born and partially raised in kentucky. what city was he born in? senator mcconnell: hodges. lorraine county. \/[applause] >> how is your team going to

come back next year? senator mcconnell: they have to get rid of pap ell bonn and it's not a team-building exercise and they need solid good outfielder. werth is getting older. and we could use another starter although their guy down in the minors would be the answer to zimmerman's departure. >> you are often there with george will and charles krauthammer.

senator mcconnell: they know a lot more about it. >> thanks for being here today, mr. leader. \/[applause] >> thanks for coming in. thanks for coming in. [applause] we have some family members. my sister bonnie and my neice grace are here from ethiopia. grace is 10. >> all i want for my birthday is

to get out of town. so if we could expedite that process. >> mr. speaker, you said in 2016 you want to have a big year and want to be the proposition party and not the opposition party and you made comments to a local paper that you want to be more involved in the micro issues of policy and governing. now that you are speaker, some sort of narrow or tax reform gets done in the next year or so? the speaker: i like micro policy and speaker's job is more micro than macro. i said i want to find a way of balancing that. specific question on tax reform, that has to be one of the crown jewels. we have to show the country how we get this country out of

neutral and jobs growing and wages growing and families and businesses growing and tax reforms critical to that. ways and means committee is going to take a lead, but i have a deep interest. i will work closely to roll this out. getting it done in 2016 is not going to happen because of president obama is president. >> no hope? the speaker: not with barack obama. >> can you imagine him wanting one more thing? the speaker: that's something we were talking about last year, just this fall. so we have issues that i think people on both sides of the aisle will acknowledge we are losing our competitive edge internationally because of the tax code and that is something we should explore and that is something we could explore in

2016. >> you could imagine getting action on that? the speaker: i would like to see it. >> one speech was announced by your staff along with the #confidentamerica. you want to be a happy warrior. mr. ryan: i was raised by jack kemp. that inspires the country. my whole message was we as conservatives should not go down the path of playing i had -- identity politics but inclusive politic, optimistic politics and that means mr. allen: optimistic agenda. we believe in our principles that make this country great. it goes to say if we take these principles that we believe in, liberty, freedom, self-determination, the bill of rights, apply those principles to offer innovative solutions

that fix problems. so we can make this country better and we can restore confidence in this nation, that's something to be happy about and something to unify and we can win converts to this cause and win an election and get this done. we need a mandate election to break us out of the slog and it can only be won if you present an agenda to the country, straightforward, honest and if you win that election, then you have the moral authority and the mandate to put it in place and fix these problems. >> there was a piece on politico the other day, the paul ryan way. what is the hallmark of that? the speaker: starts with air conditioning. it's 80 degrees in here.

i come from wisconsin so we like it cold. the paul ryan way, it shouldn't be the paul ryan way but the founders' way. let's get back to doing things -- we call it regular order. i call it democracy. and then let's end the cronyism and get back to our principles, we believe in limited government, strong national security. we have 45 million people stuck in poverty. we need to do something about these things and we believe that our principles are where we need to go to come up with solutions. so my way has always been oppose what you don't like, but then propose what you do like. we are pretty good at the opposing part but better at the -- that. >> has the freedom caucus been tamed?

the speaker: are we giving people more say so on how congress operates. are we decentralizing power? absolutely. i did not like the way things were going. people knew that. i didn't want the job in the first place but now that i'm in it, i like it. we can't consolidate the power of this place. let members do their jobs. we have had three conference reports in 10 days on something that i have worked on, our customs enforcement, we we needed to rewrite our customs laws. we had a huge highway bill. five-year highway bill. huge rewrite of esea. the people who go to congress get on a committee and

specialize in these areas whether it's education, trade or transportation. they are the people who are the experts. they are the once who aggregate the reforms and the ideas. we had a huge amendment process on the floor so everybody could participate and we had good reforms. that's the way i think congress ought to run. that's not what we are doing with an omnibus. but that to me is the way forward. we are liberating people so they can participate. >> why do you think if you have worked in washington the last couple of years, the government shuts down tomorrow -- well, it does and we don't see the kind of hysteria we have seen in the past. why is that? the speaker: you are in the media. you tell me.

look i think we have been pretty clear we are not going to have a shut down. we are putting our bill together. we have been negotiating. we will be posting sometime today and waiting for the score keepers to draft and things like that. i knew we weren't go to go meet december 11 deadline and needed to get it right. we'll have to do another short-term because i'm not going to waive the three-day rule. the c.r. expires tomorrow but we'll do a short-term and pass this on thursday. i don't know when the senate can

take it up. >> do you think there will be a big republican vote? traditionally these spending bills have been carried by democrats? the speaker: democrats some, we lost some. the end of the day we are going to get this done. let me say something about this process. i have been around for a while and i have watched this from the outside and now on the inside i feel strongly, we shouldn't be putting together appropriation bills this way or a handful of people in a room putting together a trillion dollar spending bill. this should be done under regular order and bring these bills to the floor. the experts, the committees who are in charge overseeing the committees write the bills and members can try to effect the bill and that's how things should be done. this really in my opinion is no way to run a railroad. i don't want to see it repeat itself. >> i'm going to go to mike bender. but first on the trade deal. what are the prospects for the t.p.p. and congress next year and do you plan to bring it to a vote?

speaker per we are still scrubbing it. we dill have a lot of questions, ways and means going through their analysis of it. i am as well. i have been pretty busy. it's very important. there are concerns on all sides of the aisle on this issue but something that's important that we want to get it right. i don't have a set date. but if we conclude this is the right way to go and there is a lot of promise with an agreement that has 40% of the global g.d.p. and so the ambition is right where it ought to be. does the agreement deliver on the ambition and if we conclude that it does, we want to move as soon as we can. >> sounds like you are headed that way. the speaker: i don't know the answer. i'm not foreclosing any options. >> i think you know our defense editor who has a question for you.

>> after the paris attacks you said that the attacks were quote, an act of war, in february of this year, president obama sent to congress a formal request an authorization for military force against the islamic state and nothing has happened in nearly a year. couple of weeks ago, 35 of your colleagues wrote you a letter, republicans and democrats saying that congress is abdicating one of the most important responsibilities by not debating and voting on what is becoming an expanding war and they argue that the aumf passed after 9/11 and one passed in the fall of 2002 need to be updated. isis didn't exist back then and it did not authorize military force inside syria. if you don't agree with them,

why not? the speaker: how many questions was that? i do believe that we have legal authorization under the aumf and i believe it would be a good sign for american foreign policy to have a new one updating our aumf to declare our mission with respect to isis. that would be good for putting america in an offensive posture. so the question is, can we write an aumf that the president will sign where he's not going to handcuff the next president and get consensus on how to do that. i have talked to ed royce and mac thornberry, plenty of members in our caucus who think this is a debate we should have. but what i do not want to do is have an aumf along the lines of what the president has been discussing and i'm hoping that

he'll change. that doesn't handcuff the next president of the united states from doing what that person thinks is necessary to defeat not contain isis. we just passed the defense authorization bill and it had a huge bipartisan vote was the requirement of the administration to present a plan to defeat isis. this bill has been around for three, four weeks and we are waiting for the president to present a plan to defeat isis. there is a case to be made to say let's see what the plan is to defeat isis and whether that requires or whether in our interest to have a new aumf to accompany the strategy to defeat isis. >> you think it's the president's responsibility. the speaker: this is congress' responsibility. the question is can we pass one give the military the tools they need to do the job and will the president accept that. will it handcuff the next president. the president put too many constrictions on the military.

you don't take options off the table and don't telegraph what you will or will not do to your enemies. we don't want to repeat his mistakes. can we put a new aumf? i think we can and should but we actually do have the existing authority. >> we are talking about a confident america. we are not hearing that from republican leaders. is there too much fear mongering from the republican party? the speaker: this is going to sort itself out fine. the democratic party was more competitive, you would be asking

the same thing. you have the competitive republican primary, we have competitive republican primaries. i'm not worried about the outcome. the power is where it ought to be which is with the primary republican voter and the primary republican voter is a smart savvy voters who wants to win and make sure we don't repeat four more years of progressivism. >> you said in an interview with the "new york times", you expect concern about the party indulging in our own version of identity politics trying to fuel themselves based on darker notions. whatever are you talking about? the speaker: the left plays and fuels themselves on envy, anxiety, class warfare. we shouldn't do our own version of that and not preying on peoples' emotions of fear. identity politics speaks to people in ways that divide people.

and that's why our country is so polarized. we are all americans and we have common ideas and values and speak in ways that unify us. we need to have a positive agenda based on core principles that are good for everybody that shows the rising tide and get prosperity and upward mobility and favorite tism for none. the role and goal of government is equality of opportunity so people can make the most of their lives. pursue happiness so long as they are not infringing on a person's right. take this with a grain of salt. the alternative is a government that equalizes the results of people's lives and government is

so consolidated and so powerful, that doesn't work. that slows down economic growth, stops upward mobility. we don't want that. so we shouldn't go down the path of fueling a political movement on angst yites. we should heal and inspire and unify and have an optimistic message. that's what ronald reagan did. they would like to bait us into a 1964 election. we can and should have a 1980 election and win with a mandate and get the country out of its ma lace and give the people of this country a confident future. >> it's not the other side -- the speaker: that's as much i'm going to give you on this one, mike. >> you want your agenda to impact the 2016 election?

the speaker: our agenda. the lesson i learned in 2012 is you can't wait until mid-summer to start putting together your national campaign strategy. you have to start earlier than that and what i believe, what an 19 0 election was about was ideas. we had a great messenger. but it's about ideas and you have to start earlier and have an agenda and ideas. we win ideas elections. >> the other 1980 parallel, jack kemp pushing ronald reagan. the speaker: jack kemp was my mentor. he along with many other house republicans pushed a progrowth economic agenda that was the

right and it out -- right antidote for the years. that and wed up on got reaganomics, we got huge tax relief, we got great taxi warm, we had incredible prosperity in addition to stronger military. i think that kind of combination we as a party -- that is what i'm looking forward to assembling. house republicans helping a nominees -- helping nominees you the last thing we do is sit around and wait until then. know we want to go after the cronyism. we know we want faster economic growth. we want to get at the root cause of the military. wewe know these things, so

should tell people what it looks like, how we get those things. these are unifying things within our party and the conservative movement. we believe that will help propel the nominee, whoever it is going to be, but help us win in the final election. >> the possibility of a july nominee, how worried are you about a deadlocked convention? >> i don't worry about stuff like that. >> what have you been told are the possibilities? >> i am busy in congress. you told us you were trying to get into a new routine as speaker. have you found that routine? have you found your rhythm? how has that changed? >> i have more people with me. i am a routine person. i have that routine back down.

at home it is a pretty similar routine. volleyball and basketball are what we do on weekends. onkers had a really good win sunday. pretty much got myself back in routine. >> you said you haven't spent much time with her. >> the most interesting thing i learned is this was newsworthy. shouldn't we talk to each other and get to know each other? was an appropriator, i was in authorizer, she is my counterpart and i thought it was a good idea to get to know her a little better. , what did you learn? , i got to know her better.

talked about not getting stuck on this writer or that writer, but the work of congress can be technical. we need to raise our gaze because we can get stuck into the here and the now and the petty and the small. time is so tenuous. this is my 17th year in congress. will have four more years where we are ignoring the impending that crisis, basically have government take over the hill -- take over the health care. we have horrible foreign policy, stagnation, wages are flat.

if we keep down that path, we are not going to give the next generation a more prosperous future. generation has sacrificed, made a difference. so the next generation is better off. we know without a shred of doubt we will severat that tie and legacy if we don't get on top of our problems. fixing these problems while they are still fixable. most of them are age-based entitlements. medicare and social security was there. what good does that do anybody? the sooner we tackle these problems the better off it is. we can fix these programs and

prevent them from going bankrupt without anyone near or at retirement. those of us in the younger -- a young millennial . they can't beef for us if we don't do something about it. let's get on top of america's problems now. let's get past the political impasse we had. it was like a european debt crisis. we have ugly reforms. that is the point i'm trying to make.

>> were you wrong? is this a prequel? >> it is what it is. i'm fine. >> you love it, i can tell. >> we should be governing like this. it is turning a battleship a little bit and we made some pretty good terms. we still have more to go. i have excited about 2016. i am excited about our party giving the people of this country the true and legitimate choice they deserve to have. so they can decide what this country is like looking -- is like going forward.

i see it as a big honor. been the biggest surprise, either constraint or power? >> i'm not a person who wants power. i want power to go out there. i don't want power to stay in the capital. use this gavel to de-centralize power out of washington back to the people where it belongs, then i feel i can make a difference. are chairman of the republican national conventions, so you are not going to reject or bless any candidate. you have already been very tough on thomas tron -- on donald trump. >> your point? >> what do you think of him? >> i thought that comment or

plan deserved to be called out as an exception. not to comment on the people or the ups and downs of the presidential campaign. >> this was an extraordinary exception. >> i will not be answering the question, i'm not going to get into the presidential stuff. >> how did you decide on camera to talk about him? >> i believe in religious freedom. most do. his first amendment is religious rights. this is who we are, this is why the country was founded in the first place. i think when you see your principles, such founding unifying us, you have an obligation to stand up for those principles. >> i'm going to kick it back to you, i apologize.

>> he is the chaff -- he is the chief white house correspondent for politico. as i walk by myself i listen to music. it's relaxing to me. i have some new friends. >> could you say affirmatively you will not be drafted into this? you guyshis job area should stop all that speculation. >> talking about your routine when you are back home. what time do you wake up and what do you do in the morning? >> i get to the gym at 6:28, start at 6:30, workout until

eight. >> 90 minutes? >> i have to shower, also. do you really want me to get into that? i don't know if i should get into who they are. the 90?oing >> we do a lot of things. we do some cycling as well. spin. >> what do these groups have in common? the rolling stones? zac brown band? relate to the zac

brown band. that is not in my playlist. is on my band playlist. i don't know anything about it. >> what do the rolling stones, ac/dc, and rage against the machine have in common? >> they are on my playlist. >> how did you do in deer camp? am a bow hunter. i got a decent 10 pointer in gun season. normally i have my bow season over with. i like to make italian sausage, bratwurst, summer sausage, jerky, i've got one so far. season goes to the end of the year.

i'm a pro hunter when deer season isn't over with and i have a very talented wife allowing me to keep this for a little while. hopefully two more deer. of u.s. lamba with your kids. the new america's team. what was it like to be a lamba with your kids? >> awesome. >> i like going to the december game. going to lambeau in the cold. -- 50 like 50 degrees in degrees and raining.

>> do you get better seats now that you are speaker? >> not really. >> what is your super bowl prediction? >> as long as we keep our own -- it was a very good decision. if aaron can connect with the root -- connect with the new receivers, they can get open on the routes, which was showing promise. thing about going to a live football game, they don't run the routes. my guess is that it is the pats. this, but the

patriots have a decent chance of doing a repeat. they seem to be back on their game. russell wilson is playing pretty well. those guys are on an upswing. the rest is pretty good. so we have a pretty good chance. >> do you have one thing to look for to next year? >> we are going back to regular order and appropriations, i don't want this happening. we have to stop thinking that is normal. because it is not. are things wehere can find common ground on. criminal justice reform is a good example.

there are some areas where we can make a difference, move forward, and then we are going to disagree on a lot of things. it is fine. he doubled -- two political parties. let's let the people decide. that is the way i see 2016 unfolding. that is what i enjoy being a part of. jakewould like to thank and anna for joining me and their fantastic coverage all year long. politico has put on 100 events this year. thanks to bank of america. for makinglleagues these conversations possible both here and in the states. --nk all of you for merry christmas. [applause]

>> republican presidential candidate jeb bush is holding a town hall event. that is coming up in less than an hour at: p.m. eastern time. you can watch it live on c-span. the former florida governor, one of several candidates this weekend. dnc chair congresswoman wasserman schultz. she spoke earlier with a group of young adults in new hampshire, posting this photo on she is there a preparation for tonight's democratic debate between senator clinton, bernie sanders, and martin o'malley. c-span will air that debate tomorrow courtesy of abc news. outlined heron plan to combat home grown terrorism while speaking at the university of minnesota in minneapolis. statermer secretary of

talk about enhancing surveillance potential terrorists. this is 50 minutes. hillary is running for president to make the economy work for everyone. she is running to make our democracy work for everyone, not just in the special interests. she is running to be commander-in-chief to keep america strong and american families safe and secure. as we all know there are a lot of people running for president this year. hillary is the only candidate

who has the strength and its various to be commander in chief. the recent attacks reminded us that we find ourselves in a very dangerous and complicated world. a global fight against extremist forces who use advanced technology and communications to orchestrate terror attacks and strike fear in free and peaceful people. so, as we all know, the stakes are high. and we need a president who's up to the job. hillary won't need on the job d training. as secretary of state, she led the charge to restore america's leadership of the world. she spearheaded a global sanctions coalition, and she -- excuse me. she did more here. [laughter] she spearheaded a global