> this week on "newsmakers," we're joined by the republican from indiana. thank you for being on "newsmakers." we also have with us daniel knew and a congressional reporter with the "washington post." michael, go first. >> thanks so much. congressman, thanks for joining us today. days, threewe're two days now from the american voters just making a stunning by electing donald trump. hat do you think those voters want, with the republican to ress and donald trump tackle first? >> it turns out the american people are still in charge. loudly.ke i think they are tired of the status quo. it's the first time in a long republicans will be in charge of in the only the presidency but the house and senate. there will be an expectation

that we get things done. mr. trump was clear about things in the campaign and i think those will be our earliest and clearest priorities. border lear about security. i think you will see legislation quickly that makes major moves securing our border. he was clear about the need to care.id of obama i think you will see efforts very quickly to get a repeal of trump's e on president desk. there is some possibility that through reconciliation we could to him in a package similar to what president obama last year. and then, you know, we'll go about the other hard work of governing. on election night -- transportation. tax mentioned reforming the code and trying to drop taxes for everybody. and, of course, there is a whole lot he can do just by executive order. one of the big disputes in on the ears has been, republican side, have felt like president obama has gone too far orders and notve followed the legislative

process. the downside for democrats will be, that what was done by executive order can now be quickly by as executive order as well and i suspect you will see a lot of energy in the first hundred days towards that. >> is there any one thing that i can press you on, is it obama the border, that you sense among house republicans that we want to get down to brass tax and do? you've seen mr. trump's first hundred day agenda and it includes all of those things. we'll have to do many things at the same time. e won't do them just linearly one at a time but i think those priorities will be the earliest. also tell this. my voters in indiana, they are washington that doesn't work. i've said many times on the campaign trail our nation can policy mistakes but it can't survive a loss of faith in the system. think the american people spoke loudly that they didn't seeing, and ey were we all better heed that they

want to see a washington that works. part of our biggest priorities in the next month and over the will be to years show that this town can get serious about solving the everyday working americans. >> despite the fact that you uys now control congress and the presidency next year, there uniformity by all republicans, in fact, a lot of republicans, including the have sort of rebuked trump in the campaign, banning tastes, things like that. your base. won trump won most of these deep red districts. can republicans push back against trump? >> well, throughout the places , there were where i disagreed with mr. trump and i was clear about that. other republicans felt the same way. i think the key early will be to areas where we

agree. and those areas include the rid of obama g care, working through major tax way to trying to find a build better infrastructure, and to fund it. we agree that we need to get rid of the obama administration's fiduciary rule and a host of orders. executive there may be some areas we disagree. president trump was elected president. were electedngress to their jobs as well and where those disagreements happen, we'll have to speak up and work them.h >> some of the more controversial policies arguably ere the ones people were drawn to and voted for. out, ifdon't carry those you don't ban muslims from coming into the country, will that be a betrayal of the people who voted for trump? elections are about a lot of things. nicolelition has a set of folks areas of ifferent their priority. you've heard mr. trump's mphasis has been both on election night and the days

following the election. keep ect mr. trump will his campaign promises. that's who he's been throughout his career. i think answer to focus on the areas where we agree. for example, you mentioned building a wall, securing the board, i think there is broad thatnsus among republicans we ought to do it but you can't be a sovereign nation without you g a border that the american people are tired of not having the borders. do you believe will pay for the wall? see.e'll have to i have to tell you, am i someone that s a strong believer mexico would pay for the wall? they are not going to pay for it directly. write us one hey big check but who knows. there may be ways through policy arrangements with mexico, that, you know, through taxes or fees efforts, it may turn

out they do well end up paying for the wall. it in one y will do big giant check, have you ever checks that they have at golf matches, i won't work out that way. are you willing to drive up the debt in order to pay for a wall? it cost billions of dollars? >> you have to do multiple things at the same time. we have to get serious about spending. we have to get serious about growing our economy. one of the best ways to solve many of our problems and balance our budget is to have a growing economy where people have higher wages. when they have higher wages and better jobs they pay more taxes into the treasury. 1980s, it in the worked in the 1990s and there is reason it couldn't work out. i believe it's a priority of the american people that we secure our border. i think frankly, there were some people who voted for mrs. we ton who still believed should secure our border. poll after poll shows 2/3 to 3/4 of americans believe we should.

so one way or another we have to figure out how to do it and make progress towards that goal very quickly. >> let me follow up on the this. part of i think what greta was getting t, mr. trump has -- president-elect trump, has some infrastructures, things that he was talking about early on wednesday morning. wall may not, in fact, be mexico. by do you think the deficit still republicans? are republicans going to demand that all these things be paid fact, that they have demanded for all of president obama's priorities? >> it matters to republicans they matter to the american people. we can't rob our children and grandchildren of their future that problem hasn't gone away just because we elected a new president. at the same time, we've got to juggle these priorities. tell you, a few days

after the election, precisely these areas will be done. ut i believe there is a commitment to tackling healthcare challenges right away. commitment to getting started on securing the border right away. trying to t to haven't enhanced efforts at nfrastructure, reforming our tax code and some of those issues can work hand in glove. for example, if we do a better of rebate tri ago, there may e a way to help pay for those infrastructure investments. to have to going figure out how to do both, and here in the few days right after election there is a lot of excitement about the fact that we now have the opportunity to it's going to be hard work. we'll have to roll up our easy.es and it won't be >> just about the immediate

challenge, which is funding the december 9, do believe it's a better idea to punt that a few months down the road and give the unified government a chance to tackle that issue perhaps in march or april, or does it make clear the deck for the next year, fiscal year, by omnibus or ng term c.r. and then moving on to hings like obama care repeal and the border? >> i'm certainly open to but my g to others, --ommendation would be [inaudible] >> my inclination would be to ornding bills for a c.r. a clean c.r.

instincts be what my are. >> more immediately, next week, we'll have house leadership races. yourself, are uning unopposed as far as we know. ut, you know, trump and ryan sparred quite a bit in the late stretch of the campaign, and speculation ot of among members that trump would or somehow t ryan pressure members to sgroents him. have you seen them mend their all?ionship at >> yeah. we're in the midst of our leadership elections. for house republican policy chair. i was encouraged by the meeting speaker ryan and president-elect trump had this week. is goingresident trump to have a voice in what our team looks like moving forward. indications seem to be that he's very comfortable with our existing leadership team. see some wisdom in that

because given all the other moving parts we have to deal given all the big challenges we have in front of wisdom in there is taking the team we have, uniting forward asand moving a nation. >> i'm sorry, go ahead. > who on the leadership team represents the trump coalition. if that person doesn't exist, who then should be part of the leadership to represent that? i think all of us are elected republicans. elected in -- i was a district where mr. trump won vote.about 68% of the i got 70. but, so, you know, i think -- rights ave bragging buildings i would say yes, i laughed with a few folks, i helped to carry them across the line.h i'm not sure if that's true. i think he did very well in my other s he did across areas of the country. so, many of our members epresent districts that mr. trump did very well in. and i think, there is uniformity

this was giant election for republicans but it was a giant election because mr. party across our the finish line. many of us were here before he remains ed, and that the same. but this was a trump coalition, nd this is a trump government that we're going to have to deal with moving forward. > the unknown sort of would be the freedom caucus. they have shown a willingness to buck ryan on the house floor in january. this probably won't happen on and they ut later on, have said that they are interested in having a seat at the table. do you think that somebody from caucus should be in elected leadership? >> i think it would strengthen to have a broad cross-section of our conference leadership at the table. that includes gender diversity, racial diversity, and i think diversity.al we're now a conference that is a of centrist sort

conservative republicans. it's a center that's much more center of our party a decade or two ago. folks,e are conservative but the center. a conservative coalition of the a tuesday cus, and group. and other groups that represent suburban swing districts across america and our leadership team would be strengthened by having all of tatives from those cross-sections in our leadership team. that i think the public sometimes hasn't necessarily realized, many of d.c. media hasn't realized, conference.y young at least as far as tenure in office goes. the american people have to sweep from 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 new classes folks. more than 2/3 of our conference have been elected inside the very ix years and we have few representatives from that cross-section and leadership team as well so that's all we're but again alance

we've got a long leadership team and i hope we have an forward.ity to move >> let me ask you this, not to on the parade a bit, there is a strong republican majority in the house. republican ept its majority. we also have a president who ooks like did not win the popular vote. how do you -- what do you see as of his man, the republican mandate generally and how do you guard against the overreach that republicans -- excuse me, that democrats saw in and 2010 that resulted in the massive midterm reversal we saw then? >> well, i'll give you an example. i think the democrats made major in 2009 when they started with a philosophical attack on healthcare that really obama what president campaigned on. that was one of the leading signature issues at the beginning of their campaign. i mean, at the beginning of

their time in service. a high political price for it. so i think it's important to what this election told us and what didn't tell us. what did it tell us? are ready for change and they are tired of the status quo. -- an announced socialist got almost half the votes in the democratic primary. trump running against the republican establishment, the establishment, the democratic establishment, not only won the primary but then elected nd got president. call here is for a more practical approach to governing. disappointed in the president's healthcare law. they feel like it's made remiums go up an service go down. they expect us to do something about it. people believe that we need to our border secured and spend the energy and resources it takes to do it. haven't talked about mr.

trump's approach to national security and foreign policy, but folks believe we need to get serious in the battle gainst isis but they are also worried about, we can't believe in the world's policeman and enter every conflict around the world. that was part of the coalition that came together to elect mr. trump as well. is this.ke comfort in he's a businessman but he's a certain kind of businessman. was in a inessman who real estate business, where you built buildings, and you brought deliverable to the table. you could look up and see that building. he was in service businesses you if you went to his you s or his golf courses, know, you had to have it deliverable, and i think if we a party focus on deliverables, things like getting -- changing the law and 's healthcare getting rid of obama care, border, you cure know, delivering better infrastructure, we'll do just fine. if i could ask you about

something speaker ryan said last night, he was on fox news, he was asked about an area where he and trump had clashed, which is entitlement reform. he said that, as part of the ffort to repeal and replace obama care that congress would have to look at medicare, making reforms to medicare. not an issue that came up a whole lot in the presidential campaign. do you believe that republicans a mandate to reform medicare? . >> i think a lot of the details ill have to be worked out with the american people over coming weeks and years. what speaker ryan was saying biggest challenges from a fiscal perspective can't be dealt with without dealing and social security medicare. >> what is the alternative that and licans, the house senate, can agree on, that would replace, if you're successful in affordable care

act? >> if i was going to criticize our efforts i think it's fair to we haven't been clear enough in offering proposals that the president's healthcare law. that changed in this last cycle, and through the leadership of r. tom price and many of the physicians in the house, phil row and others, we started to put forward an alternative. think it will include getting rid of many of the mandates that obama care, so getting rid of the employer tax, whether or not you provide healthcare and getting rid of tax, for dual mandate olks who may or may not choose to have healthcare. our plan moving forward will include better use of medical accounts, broader pooling for folks who may be many small businesses so that if in a small business and you have one sick person on your

payroll. along state lines. i think our proposal looks at what was s, turning the obama care funding and turning it into tax credits that individuals to choose a private healthcare plan of their own. high-risk pools to elp deal with those that are already sick and can't afford healthcare because they are already sick. be of those proposals will part of a comprehensive plan. we're, again, in the beginning of figuring out what the specifics of that might look like. just lear that we can't rip the rug out from under this thing all in one day. many of these policies are being implemented right now. i think whatever we do will probably take effect over the year. of the next so that everybody can keep their policy that they have now, and the course ow, over of the next year we can system.ion into a new >> another policy area where you

probably have a little more insight than most into trump's your formerucation, adviser is rob, trump's adviser, but education isn't something trump talked much. on the campaign too what's trump's education plan? >> if it was two prongs it would be this. talk a lot about school choice on the campaign trail. history of in the our country has talked more about providing educational options, about making sure that kid in america has an opportunity to go to a great school, and about ensuring that the dollars they need to make that happen. he's also talked about making that education decisions are made at the local level by parents and teachers and local i think ards, and so you will see a trump dministration and effort to pull federal power away from a strong centralized governmental back to the states, and local areas, so that moms and dads and teachers and kids back in charge of our

schools. >> we have time for a couple questions. >> one thing that also came up n the presidential campaign, sort of a glancing way, it wasn't at the center of the conversation, but, you know, great cultural debate over social issues and ocial change in america over the last eight years. nd there has been a lot of speculation about what a republican congress would do about things like same sex that's a obviously, onstitutional issue, it's been spoken to by the supreme court, and gays in the military, funding for planned parenthood. say about u republicans' plans to address issues like this? attempt to look at these issues and go back to policies in these areas. >> the question is, selecting

justices is court an enormous part. the american people felt like the supreme court was trending direction where the fabric of our nation was being torn out and they didn't want that to happen. hillary clinton to be the person selecting our next three supreme court those three who justices will be, and, of course, right now it's only one. 'm just saying the rest is dependent on the service of those who are currently there. we have the replacement of scalea will be selected, and that will be a debate that happens in the first half of year. i think on social issues mr. trump in many ways was a traditional republican. very pro-gun, in his comments, throughout his campaign. pro-life in his comments throughout this campaign and he was a champion freedom.gious i think you will see republicans through mr. trump's leadership focus on those three areas. making sure the second amendment rights continue to be preserved country. it was one of the debates of the

presidential campaign, hillary she was completely ready to get rid of the hyde amendment and change the long federal policy that federal funding could not be used to fund abortions, and then emerging ins debate our country about how do we make that no one is discriminated against in our society, and yet, the people are free to exercise their religious beliefs in a way that's always been part of american society. an easy effort to balance, indiana, as you may be has been in the midst of that debate over the course of the last couple of years. you will ce is where see the trump administration focus. >> do you think congress should issue, nto the bathroom the religious freedom issue that we've seen in indiana, in north carolina, and -- the obama administration waded into the rest room issue n schools, that's where this all started was through their own executive order. i have legislation that i essentially would

ensure that local school districts could make decisions n how they handle rest rooms and the federal government could not cut any funding based on those decisions. would be mute now because i uspect mr. trump will resend whatever executive orders were threatened in that area. of he broader issues marriage, my basic belief is i don't went a federal government that's big enough to define your marriage. i would like to see these efforts continue to be decided t the state and local level as they have been historically. of course, the recent supreme court decision makes that much to do.fficult i think we're all still figuring in what the right balance is reaction to that supreme court ruling of just a few months ago. assume that to has been suchhood a lightning rod, is it fair to assume that planned parenthood have the ect to federal funding for medicaid and other programs? >> you're aware as i am, mr. comments on planned parenthood, which has been a

little unique in the debates. the always believed that structure of planned parenthood should be changed. ought not be ey able to use federal funding in facilities where abortions also occur. congressman, we're all out of time, thank you very much. ongressman luke messer, chairman of the republican policy committee. thanks for being this year's maker. opportunity.ate the >> you bet. thanks. our 're back with reporters. mike, where will there be president-elect trump and the g.o.p. leadership in the house and the senate? where do you suspect that the have a not necessarily smooth ride? >> you know, it could be any number of areas. what we saw from our conversation with congressman esser is that they sort of expect him to be the typical

republican president. george bush or a mitt romney. had been uz or rubio elected, they expect him to act like that. if that's a solid assumption. you had donald trump talking spending, astructure typically it's been the position of the republican conference to any dollars spent needs be offset from spending elsewhere. that that can be difficult. you have -- everyone is talking obama care which is great. but now you have paul ryan medicare as well. not something that donald trump talked almost at all about campaign.e is he going to be willing to go long with paul ryan's long standing desire to remake programs.t and basically you can start working. keep we're going to be looking at

ome serious fiscal debates and we don't know, donald trump says e's the king of debt, and he knows how to use debt. what does that mean? the an really look across board, and the unpredictability of donald trump is the reason the here and it also is reason that we don't know how this relationship is going to course of ms the or years. >> what do you hear from the of the policy committee. she and others willing to drive p the debt to pay for infrastructure spending? wall, ts, building of the et cetera? all of that requires short term you see the growth in the economy that donald trump is promising. > i mean, everything congressional republicans have said over the last half decade, they are us, has been not willing to drive up the debt. that's been, if you can think of of their e core

legislative message, is that they don't want to spend money unless it's offset. a lot of trump's policies as you noted will be very expensive. be a central source of tension between the administration and congress, is, know, whether you can actually do these things, and if you can pay for them. about it, though, is o congressional republicans have the fortitude to buck trump if they need to? won their districts handily. he's captured their electorate. did it explicitly by saying he's not of them. them.ot beholden to and he's more powerful than them. they can know how feasibly sort of, you know, go ack on trump if he tries to really ram one of these policies through. > trump's message is what resonated with these voters, not the message that republicans decade, for the past we're not going to go into debt.

>> keep in mind, we were a in terms of away this election result, from there being absolute civil war within party between the trump wing and the ryan wing. and now everyone seems to be, we everything is great, we're going to be together, this is to be fantastic. but that's something that's just nder the surface and it just takes one big battle to really asunder.gs maybe that comes over obama care. aybe that comes over a tax reform proposal. infrastructure. here are a million different potential fissures that you can point to where this becomes very tricky for them. are the two of you watching for when it comes to the upcoming -- the future relationship of president-elect trump in january and this republican-controlled congress? >> first of all, watching for when it on tuesday there is a leadership election

january, speaker ryan has to get 218 votes on the house floor to remain speaker. a show of unity the other day in the capitol but from ot heard explicitly trump, i back paul ryan for speaker. hey were, you know, at each others' throat in the late stages of the campaign. that he's a weak and ineffective leader. has that changed? i don't know. if he wants to stall somebody else, a lot oh members tell me if trump engaged on that he so.ld have the power to do so i'm really interested in seeing, you know, just how the off in this takes first week. duck we have a lame session ahead. we have fiscal issues to deal with, from the government beyond 9, that's a potential point of pressure and division. way, you know, paul ryan mitch mcconnell handles that, that's not nothing. that's something that can what happensluence in january.

>> thank you for being part of "newsmakers." >> thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] priebus this chafr -- has been selected to serve as the chief-of-staff. previouslyrs old and served as general council for the rnc an chairman of the republican party of wisconsin. been rnc chair since 2011. elect trump also bannon -- that steve chief strategist and senior white house counselor. is blican donald trump elected as the next president of the united states. nd the nation elects a republican controlled u.s. house and senate. follow the transition of government on c-span. we'll take