of dollars in trying to put internet connectivity in places where, you know, we don't get paid for it. it's not something that we'll make any money from for a very long period of time, if it works out. but it's a deep belief that you're trying to make a change, trying to connect people in the world and i really do believe if you do something good and if you help people out, then eventually some portion of that good will come back to you. you may not know up front what it's going to be but that's just been the guiding principle for me in the work that we've done and i hope that some of the work we do can play a role in empowering you and help manager -- and so many entrepreneurs to build the next great companies. [applause] president obama: so for the three budding entrepreneurs, you've already had some success and positive feedback.

but i know it's still hard sometimes and frustrating. let's go back to the earlier question i asked. what do you find to be some of the biggest hurdles for your success? and are there policies that either your governments could be pursuing or the united states in conjunction with your governments could be pursuing that would really make this process if not easy, then at least a little smoother? and are there questions or concerns that you have in terms of how more established businesses like facebook, how they might be able to interact with startups like yours? so why don't we -- we'll go in reverse order this time. >> i think there's been many challenges along the way and in our case, we tried to disrupt

many preconceptions. in the beginning, people were like, how are you going to train them, how will you get a young woman who went to a public high school who isn't very good, to become competitive in the labor market. i think we've overcome those and we've proved that you can learn in months instead of years. most of the companies that hire our developers actually rehire, you know. so they realize that they're great, you know. they're as competitive as anyone else who comes from a different background. that's been very, very encouraging and on our way. and i mean, the little secret that i have, being an entrepreneur, motivation is everything. when there are bad times and when we are making the end of the month to pay all our people, when we're facing challenges, i just go into the classroom.

ok, let me go into the classroom, i talk to the girls that study with us. they're the main force behind not only myself but all my team my partners and all my team because they are fighting so hard to make it happen. they are traveling, sometimes committing four hours a day to come and go back. they have on top of studies, they have significant responsibilities and are move proving it can be done. that's a reality check to say, i have everything i need to keep going at this. [applause] >> i think one of the most biggest challenges that i have faced was because i started this company very young. at the time i was 19 years old and in my culture, it is believed that those great initiatives are started by old

people. and those things that have been difficult for old people cannot be possible for young people. so i tried to disrupt that idea and i created this company, but of course during that period no one was even trusting me to be my employee. i had to be my own marketer. i had to be everything in the company, so that i can build that kind of first impression so i can impress a few people to come to me and help me run this, and the other challenge we are facing is a lot of financial institutions didn't even know what we were talking about because this is -- these are the kind of renewable energy we wanted to bring in, and you find folks working in banks asking you, what are you trying to do, because they don't understand what we are doing.

it was very difficult for them to analyze and calculate the risk that might be involved in the activities that we are tiing -- that we are trying to do. but because i trusted in my solution and this kind of thing i want to do for my community i kept pushing, applying for different competitions and lucky the united states africa foundation grant to start -- to start the initiative and when i started, people started to see how you can take advantage in ways that you already have to produce some product which can then go back in communities and be a solution which can improve lives of many people and then from there, people started coming. but the lesson that i learned from that experience is that no matter what you're trying to do,

it's necessary that you are having the kind of motive in your mind that you want society to move forward system of the policies and other partners come along the way to help you run the initiative but that will happen once you start. if you don't start, no one will come and join you. president obama: good. [applause] president obama: part of what the two of you described is, first of all, each country has its own culture and there's going to be sometimes some cultural barrier, whether it's attitudes about women and what they can do, or attitudes about young people and how seriously they take a young person. mark had to deal with that a little bit. but here obviously in the united states and particularly in

silicon valley, i think that's begun to change. but there's also just basic issues like financing. and having access to capital. particularly when it's a new idea and it doesn't fit the existing models that the banks or other financial institutions may have. maya, do those challenges resonate in your experience? how did you navigate through those? >> i think all the entrepreneurs like everywhere in the world we share the same challenges. i think i made almost every single mistake you read about in every startup related book. i learned everything the hard way. so yeah, it's a learning process. it's -- funding was one of the challenges of course. the other one was the legal

system and the legal structure especially in egypt. it's not start-up friendly. you have to do all of the workarounds and you have to be persistent to get around that. building a team as well, like, i'm a woman and i started, i was young -- president obama: you're still young, i think. i think you qualify as young. >> so, yeah, i had almost the same challenges. i say the only thing that keeps us going is believing in our idea, believing that we can do something. we can add value to people's lives. and this is the only thing that keeps me getting up every day in the morning and going to work. president obama: all of you are expressing what mark said which is, it starts with a passion. if you start off just saying i want to make money, but there's

no clear mission behind it, then when you start hitting some of these barriers it's hard to push through. with respect to some of the barriers that you're talking about, the u.s., in connection with the entrepreneurship summit, what we've been trying to do is take best practices and learn lessons about what's working and what's not. and so in the grants we're providing or the training that we are providing, you know, what these summits have been useful in doing is hearing directly from entrepreneurs and say this program doesn't work as well as it could. this one work really well. what we're also trying to do, though, is encourage governments to listen and hear from entrepreneurs to build a different kind of culture. so the point you made about how hard is it to get a business started? how much paperwork do you have to fill out? what kind of fees do you have to pay? how much bureaucracy do you have

to sort through? that's something that here in the united states we've had to deal with ourselves. what we've tried to do is both simplify processes but also use technology in ways that means you don't have to travel across town in cairo to go to an office and the person you need to see isn't there and then you have to travel back and reschedule the next day and the traffic is terrible and it's driving you crazy. if you can go on the net and do a lot of that work ahead of time, that can make a huge difference in accelerating the process that you're doing. so i'm very glad that we have 20 countries represented here because part of what we're doing is getting commitments from those other countries to say, we're going to learn from each other and figure out how we can streamline these efforts so that we're making life a little bit easier for young people like you. >> yeah, actually, when we started, we didn't know where to start from. we couldn't find any information

online, for example, on how to get the company registered in egypt. we didn't know any lawyers or anyone who can direct us through -- who can register the company for us. so we have to go and ask for help from other people and couldn't find any information. so much time, effort, and money. president obama: even here in the united states where it's much easier to do business we still have 16 agencies that have -- that are in charge of doing business. we tried to streamline into one, it requires congressional action. [laughter] president obama: so at least what we tried to do is consolidate the websites so it's easier to get the information even though you still have to deal potentially with 16

different agencies for different needs. so there are specific things that the government can do to be more entrepreneur friendly. how can companies like facebook, or google or some of the venture funds that are represented here, how should they think about finding good ideas, what sorts of mentorship or training would you find most helpful? obviously having experienced entrepreneurs, people who have seen startups in the past, can maybe help you avoid a few of the lessons and part of the goal of the summit here is to build networks so that that kind of mentorship is available. mark, i know that facebook is already doing some of this. tell us about some of the things you're excited about and then maybe we can hear from them about other networking opportunities that they'd be looking for. >> sure. we have a developer program all

over the world where, you know, we go around and it's called fb start, and we give entrepreneurs free access to tools and send them -- a lot of tools that people can use are free from facebook and other places, but in order to help get started with businesses, we give to different companies tens of thousands of dollars worth of facebook tools to get started. but it's also important to help people learn how to use the tools. so we do entrepreneurship workshops around the world. both for people who are starting to create technical companies, but also for small businesses. which i think are an important part, maybe less the focus of this summit but that's a huge part of what we try to do around the world and help people get on the internet and connect with people that they're trying to sell their products to. we have more than 50 million small business pages that are on

facebook and a large number of them use it as their primary presence for communicating with people and attracting help. that's a pretty good basic tool that's out there. the biggest thing that i'm personally focused on is connectivity, though. i think for you guy, we talked about this a little bit back stage, i think you're mostly in places that have reasonable connectivity. you were talking about how sometimes when you go home it's not so good. but in general, i think, for a whole other big population wave of folks, this is a blocking factor. if you grew up and you've never used a computer or never had access to the internet, it's often hard to even imagine what you're missing out on. and this is a local problem that i think we, you know, need to do

a better job of empowering folks in different countries to be able to spread connectivity. this isn't something that the u.s. or some american company can come in and do in the pace -- and do. in the places it's worked, it's been in partnership with local companies, local entrepreneurs and local governments. that's also something i'd love your guys' advice on, how we can do a better job of spreading connectivity, not just to you guys but to other entrepreneurs who haven't had the opportunity to build things as well. president obama: in terms of connectivity and how that connect with creating the supply for all these wonderful young women you're training, obviously things are growing. but speak to mark's point about how you see things unfolding both in peru and latin america. >> first of all, facebook is

such an amazing tool for us because we often target women who have had limited access to the digital world as a whole, but no matter where you go, facebook is there. young people today live their digital lives through facebook. so even though they don't have email and they have limited use of the internet, they have a facebook account. president obama: mark is very happy to hear this. >> i am. >> it's a great connection. it's a starting point. we usually start on our events where we do our program and encourage young women to apply which says a lot about facebook because you know what's behind it. that's an important thread in our communications. so thank you, it helps a lot. and in terms of connectivity, i think latin america is moving forward but there's still many important challenges. as we were discussing before,

the service is not often the best because there's very few companies in the market. it brings some challenges. we also have, many, many of the latin american countries are centralized in the capital city or major cities where connectivity isn't a problem. as you get further away and it becomes a challenge, so i think it should be a priority for our government. in the case of peru, i think the government is realizing this is important. i have to say we've been really lucky, both in peru and chile, we've had support from the government because they realize that they not only need to expand access to digital services but they also need to start bringing in more people to create digital products, you know. we have a talent gap and if we want to grow and have more digital services who is going to build them? that's been really lucky on our side. and one point, i think it's crucial for entrepreneurs to work hand in hand with big

companies and government. i think we entrepreneurs have the amazing advantage of being able to take huge, sometimes irresponsible risks. we can go out and try new things all the time. this is something that as you become larger, and if you're government, becomes harder. so i think we have a role to play here. building new things and creating a new things and when it comes to scaling up those things, these partnerships are essential to take what we've built and invest it and move to a larger scale. president obama: i think that's a great point. the kind of training you're doing. even with our entire education infrastructure here, we have that same gap. we initiated something called tech hire where we're going into communities and cities that -- where people can't imagine they could somehow be part of the tech industry and what we're

finding is, is that through months of training, in some cases through community college, in some cases companies who are joining with us, it turns out you can train people very effectively. and as we prove concept, now we have the opportunity to scale up through the the job training programs that already exist in the u.s. government. so i think you're making a terrific point that in the same way your individual companies are taking risks, proving concept, and then trying to scale up in the private sector, part of what governments need to be doing is when they see something that's working, a tool, an app, a mechanism, that saves time, makes something more convenient, makes a product more accessible to people, then we have to be prepared to change how we do business and

potentially scale up as well. so, you're right, it's hard sometimes for governments to take massive risks, but what governments can do is to partner with entrepreneurs, start small, work out the kinks, and then be able to back the process of scaling up in that way. any additional thoughts in terms of how not only mark but all these v.c.'s out here can help you out? make your pitch, man. [applause] >> i think facebook is doing a great job in terms of improving connectivity, and when you look at the situation in my country, we are really trying, but we still have a lot of -- a long way to go because connectivity is only available in the cities.

although you can find it in villages but it's not really fast. so that you can use it for some activities like watching videos or sending heavy files to other people. so we are still having a challenge in terms of connectivity and internet, but what we're trying to do as small businesses is looking at the big -- looking at the tools big companies like facebook offer, like using messenger to exchange customers. potential and you know, we use like one to see how to disseminate messages. in my country a lot of people wasteknow these kind of management things you want to and they just throw waste

everywhere. we are using this technology to teach people it is beneficial in this way and it is harmful in this way, so we try to use these tools to disseminate. the challenge we are facing is the fact that when you are still have 10 years in front of you so you can attract many people to come and join you but depending on the kind of spotlight, support that you are getting from different people, we are trying to benefit from these kind of initiatives to send the messages and bring attention of many people to what we're doing. >> i don't know where to start exactly.

in egypt, facebook started a revolution. [applause] >> facebook was the only way to communicate during the revolution. after that i believe you have the numbers but the facebook organization has grown tremendously since then. and it's a basic tool now, like now everyone in egypt, they have facebook. and we were just talking about facebook pages and it was locked in egypt -- blocked in egypt. there's a lot to do and also back to the connectivity thing, i'm not sure if my team and family are watching this or not because they can't live stream. i hope they're not seeing the loading.

[applause] president obama: if it makes you feel any better, it happens to me too. i thought i would have the best gear. , am just sitting there waiting. waiting. >> now i moved to dubai, i have to manage the team in cairo, it's hard to do a skype with the team or something like that. we have to work around this, we have -- i have been trying to get another line in the office for like four months now and we still didn't get another line. president obama: that's in dubai? >> that's in egypt. dubai is -- much more better. yes. president obama: you raise a couple of important points.

first of all, the huge opportunity here is for countries to leapfrog existing infrastructure and obviously we see this in africa, in india, places where mobile banking and payment systems have accelerated even more rapidly than they have here. farmers using information to access prices to markets so that they're selling their goods at a decent price. so there's an infrastructure and connectivity function that governments can play. you're raising another question, an issue, though, which is a sensitive topic in some countries which is openness. it is hard to foster and encourage an entrepreneurial culture if it's closed. and if information flows are blocked.

and what we are seeing around the world oftentimes is governments wanting the benefits of entrepreneurship and connectivity but thinking that top down control is also compatible with that, and it's not. people remark on my 2008 campaign and how we were really early adapters of so much technology. it wasn't because i knew what i was doing. it's because a bunch of 20-year-olds came to me and said hey, there's this new thing called myspace or, you know. [applause] president obama: just a little dig there but the point is that they had all this stuff that i had never heard of and if i had tried to maintain control and

said no, no, no. we're going with, you know, pamphlets. [laughter] president obama: because i'm used to pamphlets. and i can control what's in the pamphlet. i might not be sitting here. the same is true for governments as a whole. there's a cultural shift that is sometimes difficult that says, we are empowering individuals and we are open to ideas. we are willing to admit new information that maybe contradicts our own preconception. we're willing to test those new ideas. if they don't work, we're going to try something else. that's the connection between connectivity and the internet and science. part of what has created all this, part of what stanford is

all about, is our capacity to say, we don't know. to say that all the received wisdom might not be right. and we're willing to test it. and that is threatening sometimes. it's threatening the government, threatening the cultures. but that's the essence of discovery and innovation. and so one of the things we've been trying to do, and just encourage through the state department, is to gently and sometimes bluntly talk to governments about their need to maintain an openness and a confidence in their own people. what makes it harder, admittedly, is the fact that the openness and the power of connectivity can also empower some bad people.

and so us wrestling with how do we counter the sort of violent extremism that can end up poisoning the mind and resulting in what we saw happening in orlando, that's a constant balance that we're trying to weigh. but what i worry about is people using that as an excuse then to try to block things off and control the flow of information. and that's a question that i think young people are attuned to and they're going to have to pay attention to and all of us are going to have to fight for in the years to come. this has been an extraordinary conversation. how are we doing on time? we're all done. i'm having so much fun. [applause] president obama: give our panelists a big round of applause. congratulations for the great work you're doing. thank you, everybody. thank you so much. i'm sure your family was watching. if not, they'll be seeing it on

youtube. thank you so much. thank you. we are proud of what you are doing. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [applause] [no audio] >> the tv has 48 hours of nonfiction oaks and offers every weekend. here are some programs coming up this weekend. today at 1:00 p.m. eastern, the angle roosevelt reading festival takes place at the fdr presidential library and museum. the festival includes author

discussions about the 32nd president, roosevelt era politics and personalities, and histories of the oval office. featured authors include paul brandis discussing his book "under this roof." walter bornemann with "macarthur it for." david preece, author of the president's book of secrets, the untold story of intelligence briefings to america's presidents from kennedy to obama. marlene trestman with "fairly real lawyer, the remarkable life of new view attorney and supreme -- new deal attorney in supreme court advocate." america in a world at war. and or alonzo hamby with "man of destiny." eastern, historian pamela hake traces that

history of guns and how they became part of american culture in her book "the gunning of america, business in the making of american gun culture." she looks at the business and of manufacturing and selling arms. she was interviewed by william doyle, author of "american hundred." >> i think it is strange to believe that the element of our gun culture that has the very most to gain by selling and promoting and celebrating their product is the very most invisible when we think about guns. much of the political talk today is exclusively about interpreting the second amendment. the gun industry has become almost invisible. >> on sunday at 10:30 p.m. eastern, marcia clark, lead prosecutor of the o.j. simpson trial ways in of the legal system and discusses her second career as a novelist.

she is the author of "blood defense." we spoke with her of the publishing industry's annual trade show in chicago. foro put tv -- booktv.org the complete schedule. >> house speaker paul ryan and committee chair kevin brady unveiled a new tax proposal part of the republican house agenda. we also heard speaker ryan give his thoughts on the u.k. referendum. this is 25 minutes. [indistinct chatter] mr. brady: good morning, everyone. i'm kevin brady, chairman of the

house ways and means committee. america is the greatest country on earth. we don't have to settle for a second-rate economy where paychecks are flat and millions of qualified americans can't find full-time work. and why is america growing weaker while our foreign competitors grow stronger? the problem is the costly, complex and unfair tax code that washington imposes on hardworking taxpayers. house republicans, led by our speaker paul ryan, see a better way. and today we propose a new tax code for the american people, a tax code built for growth, for the growth of paychecks, for the growth of local jobs and the economy and the growth of america's economy. and first, we unleash new job creation. with the lowest taxes in modern history on local businesses, small or large, corporations or family owned and here's why. washington must take less from

these job creators so they can grow the local economy rather than washington's economy. for the first time in history, we'll change the way america taxes its businesses so they can compete and win, whether on main street or in madrid. and when they win, they will not be charged one dime to bring those profits back home here to america to be invested in good jobs, research and growth. for the first time, we'll end the penalties in the current tax code that too often force american companies to move their jobs, their technologies and headquarters overseas. no longer will we be the only major country that still taxes its own exports. no longer will american products lose out to foreign competitors simply because they're proudly stamped "made in america." for the first time, local businesses will be able to immediately write off unlimited investments in building, equipment and technology.

this new wave of business investment coarsing through our local economies will be a strong catalyst for more jobs along main street. for the first time since it was established in 1916, we will end the death tax so family-owned farms and businesses will never again fear the i.r.s. swooping in and taking nearly half of the nest egg they worked a lifetime to build. the result of this built for growth tax code is that america will leapfrog from dead last among our foreign competitors to firmly in the lead pack of pro-jobs tax code in the world. growth is good, everywhere except the size of the tax code. americans are sick of this huge complex tax code riddled with special breaks for others and nothing but headaches for them. for years hardworking taxpayers have asked washington for a tax

code so simple and fair and understandable that it could fit on a postcard. we've been listening and that is exactly what we propose. for the first time in modern history, a tax code simple and fair enough to fit on a postcard. this postcard form will simplify the number of tax brackets by more than half. it will take less from taxpayers at every income level because washington takes too much of your hard-earned dollars. and to make it easier to save for retirement and grow the local economy, we will cut taxes on savings and investment to half the regular rate. the postcard we propose will include help with the basics -- home and children, charity and college. it will be that simple. it will be that fair. but make no mistake, america. this is not our tax code, it's yours. you deserve a real say in how

you're taxed. so before this new tax proposal is introduced into law, we will be asking the american people, do you want simple and fair as a postcard or more complicated , with more loopholes and sending more money to washington? we will be listening. and finally, a simpler, fairer tax code demands a simpler, fairer tax collector. we will bust up the i.r.s. as it is today. redesigning it into three smaller, more focused units to serve businesses, to provide state-of-the-art taxpayer service for families and individuals and quickly and affordably resolving tax disputes. in essence, an independent and unbiased small claims court so families and small businesses aren't forced to spend thousands of dollars to resolve a routine tax difference. so here's the challenge going forward. tax reform only happens once a

generation, and it could easily be hijacked by washington and special interests. at this urgent moment in history as america struggles to reclaim its standing in the world and americans struggle to regain their standard of living, we can't afford to continue to struggle under this tax code. house republicans believe it's time for a change. it's time, america, to let your voice be heard. if you want more local jobs, speak up. if you want a simple and fair postcard, speak up. if you want to stop fearing the i.r.s., speak up. and like us, if you want america to be the strongest economy on earth for you and your children, it's time to speak up loudly. and now i introduce -- [applause] and now i'd like to introduce our whip, steve scalise.

mr. scalise: well, i first want to congratulate kevin brady and the ways and means committee for the hard work that they've put in to get us to this point. you look at this plan and it represents over 50 members of congress who brought their ideas forward as well who represent every region of this country. everybody knows that this tax code is broken. it's one of the things that's holding back our economy, it's holding back our ability to compete with other countries. i am tired of seeing american companies leave america to be able to remain competitive. all that president obama does is criticizes the company when they're on their way out the door. doesn't it make a lot more sense to actually go and fix the problems that are causing american businesses to leave just to be competitive? that's what this code does. this new plan completely reorganizes the tax code that we all know is broken and creates a more simplified plan that makes

it easier for families to save for their retirement. it makes it easier for small businesses to grow. we completely eliminate the death tax, one of the most immoral taxes that actually is one of the biggest threats to small businesses being able to stay in family hands so that if you build a business you can actually pass it on to your kids. it's part of the american dream and yet that's one of the things that this tax code destroys. we have all seen that the i.r.s. actually targets people based on their political views. doesn't it make sense to rein in the i.r.s., take power away from the i.r.s. and put that power back in the hands of families all around this country with a more simplified postcard-sized tax code? a tax code where you can actually fill out your taxes on a postcard while still being able to have your mortgage interest deductions and your charitable contributions that families love all around this country. so this is a great day to be able to talk about the contrast of between a pro-growth, bold

idea like a tax code that's simplified that the republicans are bringing forward versus the old failed way that president obama and liberals in washington want to continue to keep growing where the i.r.s. stays powerful. and has so much influence over destroying our economy. so it's an exciting day. a lot of great work has been done by kevin brady and the ways and means committee to bring us to this point and it's a great contrast we can bring forward now to the american people in these next few months because ultimately the american people will make this decision in november. do they want a more simplified tax code that puts more power in the hands of families by taking it away from the i.r.s. and bureaucrats in washington? to talk more about this is somebody who knows a lot about tax policy. before he was speaker, he had another job. chairman of the ways and means committee which he still probably wonders about sometimes but brady is not giving that up. our speaker of the house, paul ryan.

[applause] the speaker: i used to know something about tax policy. this job takes it away from you. no. just kidding. thank you very much. i just want to say how proud i am of my fellow colleagues. they have done outstanding work over the last six months. they have put together a serious principled agenda for 2017. this tax reform plan is absolutely no exception. the way i'd sum it up. we want a tax code that works for taxpayers, not for tax collectors. we want to make it simpler, flatter, fairer. bring the number of tax brackets down from seven to three. lower rates for every hardworking american, bringing the top rate down to 33%. close those special interest loopholes and carveouts. consolidate those deductions and credits.

make it so simple that the average american can do their taxes on a postcard and that the i.r.s. -- the average i.r.s. agent can actually understand. more than that, we want america to be the best place in the world to do business. we cut taxes on small businesses. we lower their top tax rate to 25%. we cut our corporate tax rate, which is the highest in the industrialized world, down to 20% from 35%. stop taxing people when they bring their money into our country so they bring more. stop taxing new investments. don't punish people for saving and for investing. reward them. all of these things are going to grow our economy and create jobs. all of these things, these reforms will raise our wages right here in america. and finally, the i.r.s. needs to get its act together. it needs to put taxpayers first so we overhaul and streamline

the internal revenue service. we install a new commissioner and we clear out the bureaucracy and we update their technology so taxpayers can get help in the privacy that they deserve. all of these things will fix our tax code, and all six parts of this agenda will get our country back on track. i think it's good to remember why we started this project in the first place. we did it because we are living in a very uncertain time in america. 70% of americans think america is headed in the wrong direction. we agree with that, but the way we see it that means that we have an obligation. we have a moral duty and an obligation to offer a better way, to give our fellow citizens who are so worried about the direction of this country a new direction, a better way. a better way to lift people out of poverty, a better way to keep

america safe, a better way to grow our economy, to protect self-government, a better way to fix our health care and now a better way to fix our tax code. if you want to learn more about all six of our planned parts, go to better.gop. to close, i want to say how i see this moment we are in. we are going into a global economy that is faster than anything we have ever seen before. one part of our country is ok with this. another part of our country is very concerned, very anxious and very skeptical about this. they're wondering, how are we going to be able to preserve our values? how are we going to be able to preserve opportunity for everyone in america? how are we going to be able to keep america strong and safe? really, the question is -- are we, america, going to shape the global economy or is it going to shape us? i think with this plan, once

again america will take the lead. with this plan, everyone in our country, the anxious and the eager, the old america and the new america can unite and build a confident america. with this plan, we can take our founding principles, these beautiful animating principles that built this wonderful, exceptional country in the first place -- liberty, freedom, free enterprise, government by consent, and we can bring and breathe life of these principles into the 21st century. with this plan we can turn this country around and expand opportunity for all americans. this is what our country needs. this is a better way. thank you very much. [applause] speaker ryan: we'd like to take questions.

first, i would like to bring chairman brady up to answer questions about tax plans and if there is possibly a question on something else i'll take those afterwards. mr. brady. mr. brady: thank you. questions. yes, sir. reporter: for both of you, this plan, what do you view in here as a sacrifice for or departure from your ideals to deal with the revenue and distribution of constraints? mr. brady: we designed this to be revenue neutral on how our economy will grow under this. in my view, we have delivered a detailed plan on how to grow the economy, especially along main street. a detailed plan to simplify the tax code for most families, a detailed plan to actually return power to americans rather than washington, d.c. and the most important part of this whole day is to say, america, we're not imposing a

tax code. we're proposing a new simpler, fairer tax code and now it's your turn to have a say. we will be listening as republicans to the american people through this year to get their thoughts and their ideas at every step of the way, we'll make this blueprint better. every step of the way we're going to make it better for the american people and we are doing all this to introduce a tax bill to move it in 2017. so this is a serious discussion with the american people and we're ready to listen. speaker ryan: ditto. [laughter] reporter: this could be both of you. you talked about the global economy and i wondered if you're concerned about the economic uncertainty that could be caused by the brexit. mr. brady: well

speaker ryan: no. obviously the markets will react when new news and information like this occurs. i believe markets will eventually stabilize. that's point number one. point number two, all the more reason for america to lead. america needs to lead. the world wants america to lead and with this tax reform plan, america will clearly be leading. and in so many ways, by having a code -- in the ways and means committee, they had to make a decision. get a system so it's in the middle of the pact with the rest of the country or world or do we have a plan that leapfrogs the rest of the world? this is a plan that leapfrogs and leads the rest of the world. for the moments of uncertainty around the globe, having strong, powerful, confident, american economic leadership is in need and this does that. mr. brady: yes? reporter: regarding the postcard. is that an illustration or is that one of the goals for the tax plan? mr. brady: one of the goals is to make this code so simple and understandable for people that they can file it on a postcard. when you look at it in the

blueprint, you can see, you know, one real serious tax cut for savings investments. that's not only good for families, it grows the economy in a major way. you're seeing the basics -- the mortgage interest deduction and charitable deduction. we want people to give to their local church or local charity. you'll see help with raising kids which is so expensive and college costs which is so expensive as well. it will include an incentive for people to move to toward and the economic ladder. it's a postcard. it's as simple and fair as that. so the key question for america is, do you want a code that simple and understandable or we can load that postcard up with dozens, if not hundreds of special interest provisions as long as everyone understands. that means you have to send far more money to washington and sort of beg to get it back to your pocketbook. and we're thinking the american people want to keep those dollars in their family, their pocketbook and their local

economy. but we're going to be listening to the american people about whether they want that simple and fair postcard. yes? reporter: can you go into more detail on the adoptions you would eliminate? how would you treat tax deferred savings for retirement? mr. brady: well, two things. go to the blueprint and you'll see the layout of where we want to go. as you imagine to lower rates and to simplify things, we have to -- we have to take a lot of the special provisions and set them aside so that the code is lower and fairer and flatter. from that standpoint, we know that grows the economy and we know it can go forward. what was the second part? we put a real premium on savings investment and so the ways and means committee, along with house republicans, will continue work to simplify the way we

save. today there are just too many provisions. it's really complicated. i think we have teenage boys so we're saving for college. i think the cheat sheet for the savings provisions on college is 90 pages long. that's a simplified summary of it. we think we can do a lot better than that. so the committee and house republicans are also continuing work to simplify the way we save. we think there is a better way. yes, ma'am. reporter: the rate structure you guys are proposing here is a bit of a departure from the past budget blueprints that speaker ryan and you guys voted on. can you explain how you got to these rates now and how it evolved from the budget blueprint? mr. brady: think about this, when president reagan started his reform, there were 15 tax brackets and today we're proposing just three. what we do is we consolidate down those tax rates. and so we simplify by lowering them at every level effectively

eliminating the 10% bracket. and we do that in a way that simplifies and grows the economy. we also do it in a way that this fits within our budget. it's revenue neutral within real-life analysis of the economy. those were key goals. and so if you combined lower and simpler tax code with real pro-growth incentives for business and a completely different i.r.s., we think we position america for much stronger economic future going forward, certainly than what we have today. reporter: 30% tax rate, are you saying it would not have been possible to get down to the 25% in the budget blueprint in a revenue neutral way? mr. brady: no, we followed the principles we laid out simpler, flatter. we think this guarantees -- certainly makes more certain

tax relief at every income level and does it in a fairer and fairer and simpler way so those principles were exactly adhered to. reporter: can i follow up on the brexit vote. the speaker: after the tax question. reporter: what do you make of the political environment behind the brexit vote, the anti-establishment vote? do you think there are parallels for our elections in the fall? ryan: well, sure. the question is about the brexit vote. i do believe -- look, as an american, we value the principle of sovereignty, self-determination, government by consent and limited government. these are very important principles and these principles are being expressed here at home and around the world. so we clearly understand the thinking behind these principles. let me just say since you're going off the tax script i'll go off it with you for this moment, deidre. england is our indispensible ally. our friends in the united

kingdom are an indispensible relationship and that will continue. period, end of story. mr. brady: yes, ma'am. reporter: you talk a lot about hearing from the american people. do you have any plans to do some sort of formal solicitation for comment or hit the road and have town halls? mr. brady: all of the above. the invitation to speak out and for us to listen begins this moment. we have our better way website, the blueprint. we have at ways and meansandmeanscommittee.gov/bluep meansandmeanscommittee.gov/bluep -- also, ways and means house republicans we will be going throughout our districts throughout the country basically asking people, is this a simple and fair tax reform that you want or do we want to continue

with the same complex, burdensome, almost unknowing tax code that we have today? and as we do that listing, we will be preparing for tax legislation in 2017 and moving to fix this broken code. speaker ryan: all right. thank you, everybody. appreciate it. [applause] [indistinct chatter]

>> here on c-span, washington journal is next. then labor secretary thomas perez talks about for our these for his department. we will get a preview of next month's democratic national convention in philadelphia. >> on today's washington journal, we will discuss the political and economic impact of united kingdom's decision to with the european union the eu ambassador to the u.s., david o'sullivan. then a look at how the terrorist watchlist works with timothy healy. of the fbis director terrorist screening center from

2009 to 2012. and then later dingell griswold talks more about the uk's referendum and the future of the european union. ♪ host: good morning on this saturday, june 20 5, 2016. the headlines are about the turmoil over britain's vote to break with the european union and the ripple effect on the united states both economically and politically. who previously, warm ticket harm u.s. trade relations with britain, vowed that the u.s. will remain committed partners with united kingdom and the european union to ensure continued stability, security and prosperity. the financial markets were anything but