you are throwing up all the stuff that is not going to make any difference. the thing is, it is run by insurance companies, lobbyists. republicans keep saying we don't have enough money, this is a problem, this is a problem. they blame us, they blame the system. look at the europeans, the canadians, and find their system and apply that. it is not that hard. host: let's hear reaction from the congressman. guest: thanks for the question. if anyone is upset with the direction of health care with the republican party it would be these big insurance companies. nobody has filled my inbox more than the insurance company is, how upset they are we have not taken care of their csr, basically a subsidy from the federal government for the exchanges. we're talking about solutions today. i don't think there is a one size fits everybody resolution.

the country is complicated. health care in miami, florida, is different than it is in rural ansas. [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. 2018] the secretary: good afternoon -- sarah: good afternoon. i'd like it start today's briefing by bringing up treasury secretary steven mnuchin. the i.r.s. is releasing new withholding tables which is great news for american workers. we're going to be keeping more of their hrd be a earned money as a result of the new tax cut law. and the secretary will get into those details on that and then answer a few of your questions on thatting to in. then as always, i'll be back up here to take questions on other news of the day. mr. mnuchin: thank you very much. t's a pleasure to be here. i am pleased that i will be leading the economic delegation for the president in davos. we'll have a very good large

group of cabinet members traveling with us and sarah will give more information on that later. i'd like to talk about the withholding tables. so today the treasury department and i.r.s. released new withholding guidance that will implement the tax cut and jobs act. this new guidance will mean that works and their families will receive larger paychecks starting in february. this has been a massive project that we've been working on beginning to implement the tax plan. so a lot of work left to be done but we're estimating that 90% of the workers are going to see an increase in take-home pay because of the tax cuts act. this historic legislation doubles the standard deduction, simplifies the filing process, lowers the rate for millions of middle income americans and their families. i want to acknowledge the i.r.s. who worked around the clock to

meet our important objective, to work with the existing forms and the existing systems. we want to minimize the burden on both employers and hardworking taxpayers in getting this implemented in february. this is just the first step in a three-step process. next the i.r.s. will be releasing a new withholding calculator that will be available on i.r.s..gov by the end of february -- irs.gov by the end of february. this will help provide individuals with certainty so they are neither overwith held or underwithheld and can plan their financial decisions. we have reviewed this very carefully and based upon last year's withholding tables, approximately 76% of taxpayers were withheld so they had refunds at the end of the year. we expect based upon the new tables there will be no material change in this number. we will encourage taxpayers to use the calculator when it is

released and we'll launch a marketing effort to make sure people understand that. finally i'd like to say that the treasury and i.r.s. will work together to release a new w-4 for 2019. we expect to release that later in the year. we will be meeting with employers, payroll providers to determine how to best design the form to reflect the new law. and the i.r.s. will continue to focus on simplification and a user-friendly process. these new tables will help deliver the tax cuts as soon as possible to as many americans as possible with as little disruption as possible. this will continue to focus and fuel the optimism and economic growth that is returning to this country. i'd also like to highlight the announcement this morning from wal-mart, we want to thank them. they will be increasing their minimum wages, issuing bonuses and expanding family benefits for over a million employees.

wal-mart is the latest company to make such an announcement, directly result of the tax cuts act. and they join over 130 other companies across the nation who have already given such relief. or now up to over two million workers that have seen either special bonuses or additional wages. and with that i'm happy to answer any questions. i have to start with you because you have the hat. reporter: thanks. made me laugh. in regards to wal-mart and the minimum wage, since they've already had the money and are increasing the minimum wage, does that mean we can expect movement on the federal government's behalf to increase the federal minimum wage for everyone? mr. mnuchin: i think the most important issue is for companies to increase their wages. wal-mart's numbers are already above the minimum wage. this is obviously an issue for the federal government. it's an issue for states. but i'd say the real focus, which is what the tax cuts act

has been all about, is putting more money in companies who settle along -- we believe that 70% of this will be returned to workers. reporter: do you believe that they should raise the minimum wage? that it should be a federal raise? mr. mnuchin: next question. reporter: just for those who are watching, on february 1 will these withholding table goes into effect and that's when the american taxpayer will first see a change in the withholding of their paycheck? mr. mnuchin: it will definitely be in february. some companies will have it set up for february 1. some companies may have the next pay cycle. but we are encouraging companies to do this as quickly as possible. we're ahead of schedule. in the release of this. and we'd expect that in any event it's in, it's in february. reporter: what is the point of the trump administration going to a place that is regarded usually as a hangout for globalists? mr. mnuchin: i don't think it's a hangout for globalists. i think the idea is the economic team is going to go over and talk about the america first

economic strategy. we're thrilled that the president is coming and i think we know that the economy that's good for the u.s. is good for the rest of the world. reporter: you just talked about wal-mart. and that's a big deal. what has been the efforts with wal-mart, with this administration, for them to raise their wages? mr. mnuchin: the whole purpose of the tax cuts act was to put more money in companies so that they could compete competitively with international companies. i think you know we had one of the highest tax rates in the world. we taxed on worldwide income. we changed that. this is really a revolutionary process. we thought it would be great for the economy and we're thrilled with already the number of companies that we see reacting accordingly. reporter: you have been talking to wal-mart? mr. mnuchin: we've been talking with lots of companies for a long time. and we're thrilled with how people are responding. reporter: thank you. you are using an outdated or the

system will use an outdated w-4 form for this year. you will encourage people to go on to a calculator on the i.r.s. website to maybe try to figure things out. patches are messy to begin with how is this not going to lead to in one way or another some sort of implementation mess? mr. mnuchin: i give an enormous amount of credit for the team at treasury and the team at i.r.s. who have literally been working around the clock through the holidays. you mentioned, we had an existing form, we had existing technology. we had to figure out how to fit this in this format. the fact that we've been able to keep the same percentage of people that get refunds, we want toed to make sure that -- we wanted to make sure that people weren't over-withheld or under-withheld so we ran lots of models to run this. that's phase one. phase, two as soon as the calculator comes out, the calculator will work with the new tax system, child tax credit, $10,000 deduction, so a

taxpayer can see, do i have the right number of exemptions that are filed or should i adjust that? and then as i said, we're going to work on a super-user-friendly form that fits the new tax system. we're going try to do that. i want to make sure we get a lot of feedback as we design that and update this. reporter: i guess people hear a three-step implementation process of a massive tax system in no way this was rushed to try to get this out there for paychecks? mr. mnuchin: absolutely. no we update the withholding tables every year. there's more work, but again, our objective is to get people money as quickly as they can. 90% of the people will see changes. reporter: i just want to be clear. it sounds to me like you are saying that the administration's policies are partly responsible for the wal-mart wage rise. but that the layoffs are nothing to do with you. is that my understanding? is that correct?

is that not inconsistent? mr. mnuchin: the administration's economic policies are a function what have we see growth and investment. different companies will do different things. some companies will invest capital. some companies will return money to workers. lots of things are going on in the economy and we appreciate what wal-mart's doing. reporter: last year at daveorkse the chinese leader made a speech and talked about isolationism not necessarily being a good policy for most countries around the world and was viewsed a china making the treaty to the global economy saying, we're open for business at a time when other countries are turning inward. is the president going respond to that line of argument when he goes to davos? what's he going say? mr. mnuchin: i think you've heard a lot of president's messages. i expect they'll be consistent. i expect the president will talk about trade. reciprocal, free and fair trade. we've been very clear with the chinese on the issue that we have with the trade deficit, making sure that u.s. companies

can compete fairly and the president will talk a lot about his economic program and the impact on the global economy. reporter: thank you, mr. secretary. staying with trade. can you give us an update on the negotiations over nafta? and how concerned is this administration over the fact that canada has recently made a complaint to the w. tmple o. and that mention -- w.t.o. and that mexico is concerned that this administration will in short order withdraw from nafta? mr. mnuchin: we gave the president an update this morning on trade. i think he's very pleased with where things are going. ambassador lighthouser is doing an amazing job renegotiating 1/2 and it we expect that we'll be renegotiated or we'll put out. reporter: a lot going on with taxes but can you give us an update on treasury's progress on this list of russian oligarches that congress had asked for? i believe we were expecting it sometime in january. can you let us know where that's at? mr. mnuchin: we're working on it as we speak.

it should be released in the near future. it's something we're very focused on. reporter: if i heard you correctly, you're predicting there won't be a great increase or decrease rather in the number american taxpayers who -- [inaudible] -- basically the same number will get a refund that have been expecting to get a refund all along. is that correct? mr. mnuchin: that is correct. reporter: can you then address the democrats' charge that you all are juicing this? mr. mnuchin: this is they are -- i think this is another ridiculous charge. that's why i want to make clear that there won't be a change in that number. we have people who have worked very carefully on. this our objective is not to have taxpayers over-withheld so that they owe money at the end of the year. as i said, we have a system, 90% of the people will get money. kind of the same number of people will get refunds. and we're going to actively encourage and make sure that

taxpayers understand how to go on to the calculator once it's up and running. we'll work with payroll providers, we'll work with companies, we'll do education sessions, so that taxpayers are properly withheld. reporter: are you expecting any new sanctions on iran to come from treasure j? mr. mnuchin: i am expecting new sanctions on iran. we continue to look at them. we've rolled them out and i think it's -- you can expect there will be more sanctions coming. reporter: thank you, mr. secretary. leaders in some states, connecticut, new york, new jersey, are talking about ways to limit the impact of the salt scaleback, such as letting people pay their property taxes in a way that would then be charitabley deductible. is the administration going to try to halt any of those efforts and how are you responding to that? mr. mnuchin: let me just say again, from the treasury standpoint and i.r.s., i don't want to speculate on what people will do. but i think it's one of the more ridiculous comments, to think that you can take a real estate tax that you're required to make

and dress that up as a charitable contribution. i hope that the states are more focused on cutting their budgets and giving tax cuts to their people in their states than they are on trying to evade the law. reporter: thank you very much, mr. secretary. as the national debt clock approaches $21 trillion, i have a few quick questions. is this something the administration is concerned about? mr. mnuchin: again, i think we've said under the last administration the debt has gone from $10 trillion to $20 trillion. and of course we're focused on the debt. and that's why we're focused on economic growth. this tax plan was about economic growth that will create more revenues for the economy and more tax receipts for -- reporter: so then what can we realistically expect the national debt to be by the end of the -- and this is not hypothetical, but by the end of the president's first term? mr. mnuchin: i don't have a projection for that right now, but thank you. reporter: thank you, mr. secretary. you talk about the tax being flatter and 90% of the taxpayers

benefiting from it. yet it would seem that under those circumstances you're going to eliminate a lot of the deductions, which so many small businesses and self-employed people depend on. is there really a major cut in deductions and how do you expect that will play with the small business community? mr. mnuchin: i think this is about tax simplification and getting rid of deductions. a lot of the deductions that rich people take. but i will tell you, on small businesses, i mean, one of the best features of the tax plan are all the features that go to small and medium sized businesses and pass-throughs. there are tremendous incentives. whether it's the automatic expensing or whether it's the discount for pass-throughs. i mean, we've heard more good news from small business than even from the wal-marts of the world. self-employed too. yes. reporter: when you talk about

impact and the benefit that most american workers will see under the plan, wouldn't that be good day for the president to release his tax returns so we can see how he benefits from the tax cut bill? and have you recommended that? mr. mnuchin: again, i've had this question before, when i've been up here. i'll say the same thing. i'll give you the same answer i gave you last time. i think that there's a ton of financial disclosure that the president has given the american people. they voted for him. he's the president. i think people are happy with that. and the president will decide what he wants to do. reporter: what does the administration hope to achieve with these additional sanctions on iran? mr. mnuchin: i think the president's been very clear, ok, that many aspects of the iran

deal need to be changed. that there are many activities outside of the iran deal, whether it be ballistic missiles, whether it be other issues, that we will continue to sanction, that are outside the jcpoa. human rights violations. we couldn't be more focused. we have as many sanctions on iran today as we have on any other country in the process and we'll continue to look at things. reporter: thank you, mr. secretary. two quick follow-ups to a couple questions that have been asked. a question related to the democratic charge about the issues that could come up next year. are you at all just yes or no, any consideration given to the midterm when you guys ensure that the implementation of this would happen in february and not, for example, later to give you more time to sort all this out? mr. mnuchin: let me explain. the i.r.s. issues tables every january. we knew we were changing the tax bill so it obviously made sense

to wait from january to february, so that we gave people time to institute this. any claims that we're doing this for political issues are ridiculous. i'd also make a comment. the democrats made a bunch of tax about our numbers and policy. the inspector general just came out with a report that made very clear there was no political interference in it. and how we ran these numbers. so i would hope the democrats are focused on doing things that are good for the economy and the american people. reporter: to follow up on davos. you talked about the message being consistent, that the president will deliver in switzerland. obviously one of his big messages has been aimed at middle class americans. he got elected op on this platform. can you explain how it's consistent to take members of his cabinet, many of which are wealthy, to rub elbows with wealthy people in switzerland.

mr. mnuchin: the numbers of -- members of his cabinet have no interest in going over there and rubbing elbows with anybody. this is about meeting business leaders, this is about meeting our counterparts. this is all about creating jobs, creating economic growth for the u.s. s you know, there's tremendous investment in the u.s. there's tremendous trade deals going on. i think we've been very clear and the president has delivered. look where the stock market is again. the president is delivering for american workers. so this trip is all business. i can assure you it has nothing to do with anything other than that. reporter: can you please say when it comes to charitable giving, people worry that the new tax code, with the higher standard deduction, could limit giving to charities. do you share that concern? mr. mnuchin: i don't share that concern at all and i would say quite the opposite. that we've raised the limits that rich people can give to charity, to encourage charitable donations. i'll take one more question.

in the back. reporter: thank you, mr. secretary. will the president decide today on the iran deal and do you anticipate that he will waive sanctions like he's done in the past? mr. mnuchin: i am not going to make any specific comments on that. it is still under discussion and i know the president is contemplating his recommendations. thank you very much, everybody. sarah: thank you, secretary mnuchin. just a quick addition because i know all of you are wondering about that wal-mart announcement. it is based in arkansas. so just in case -- i knew you guys were go to -- were going to ask. in all seriousness, the tax law's already have an incredible impact on american workers and families and this is only the beginning of what people have to look forward to in the trump economy. eight days from now, funding for essential government operations will run out. unfortunately democrats are continuing to refuse to fund our troops and other important

national security priorities that keep our people safe. some democrats are beginning to realize how irresponsible this is. just yesterday senator whitehouse said that funding the government should not be tied to imgration, that they should be separate issues. threatening a government shutdown like that would be, in his words, counterproductive. what's interesting about this is that it's the position most democrats, including senate minority leader chuck schumer, held right up until the moment donald trump became president. democrats should stop making our brave troops and essential government functions political pawns in their swamp games. they should stop their obstruction and work with republicans to fund the government. looking ahead to tomorrow, the president will receive his annual physical at walter reed. dr. ronaldy jackson, the president's physician, will conduct the exam and dr. jackson has been a physician to the president for three consecutive administrations. he will release a statement tomorrow after the exam and then will join me here in the briefing room next tuesday to give a detailed readout and

answer a few questions. with that update, i will take your questions. reporter: sarah, sarah, sarah, sarah. [laughter] reporter: thank you, sarah. can you walk us through the events in the building this morning that informed the president's tweets about the fisa re-authorization, both on the house today? they seem to be -- different positions at different times. and as a follow-up to, that what do you say to the idea that having these stances undermines the administration's ability to get an agenda done? sarah: we don't that there was a conflict at all. the president fully supports the 702 and was happy to see that it passed the house today but he does have some overall concern with the fisa program more generaly. the president doesn't feel that we should have to choose between protecting american citizens and protecting their civil liberties. he wants to do both. and that's exactly what he's

going to do. we don't see any contradiction or confusion in that. reporter: a question about dr. jackson's statement. will it come tomorrow after the -- sarah: it would be tricky if it came before. yeah, he'll put out a brief statement. but will take the weekend to compile the rest of the lab results, things like that. he'll join me here on tuesday to give a detailed readout of the president's exam and then answer a few questions from you guys. eporter: wal-mart, if i might. at the same time it announced that 260 sam's clubs stores are going to close without much notice. i'm wondering if you have any comments on that aspect of what's happened today. sarah: i don't have any comment on that specific component. we are, again, very excited about the raises and the overall influx of investment that they're putting into their company. in helping over a million

workers here in the country. wal-mart is the largest employer in the country. and to see them do and make that kind of effort to over a million workers is a big deal. something we're excited about. and i think further evidence that the tax reform and tax cut packages are having the inpact we had opened -- we had hoped. reporter: there is no contradiction between the president's tweet this morning and official white house policy. can you tell us why his first tweet sparked off a flurry of activity and phone calls between the white house and capitol hill? sarah: i think there's a flurry of activity at the white house every day. reporter: and white house and white house staff, leaving one government official to say, we did more work before 8:00 this morning than most people do in a week. sarah: that government official probably doesn't work at the white house. because we usually do more work by 8:00 in the morning, as most of you know. you start calling us usually around 5:00 a.m. and we try to respond to emails and phone calls about 24 hours a day from you guys.

i'm not sure about the flurry of activity. again, to us that's a pretty normal day. and we're always engaged with members on the hill, members of our staff. so that seems pretty standard practice. reporter: two questions. one, senator flake has left someone at the capitol hill with the impression that there's a deal on immigration and daca and that the white house believes it will support? sarah: there's not been a deal reached yet. however, we still think we can get there. and we're very focused on trying to make sure that that happens. the president's been clear about what his priorities are in that process. and we're going to continue working with members of the house and the senate, republicans and democrats, to make sure that we try to get that deal done. reporter: is the white house familiar with what the contours of senator flake is talking about? would it regard progress? sarah: i can't speak to the specifics of senator flake. i can tell you a deal has not been reached and we've outlined what a deal would need to look like on our end for it to happen.

reporter: can you explain the administration's point of view, the value of demonstration projects in the 10 states that have asked for it? for those who are able-bodied who receive medicaid? there are crits who say, even as a -- critics who say, even as a demonstration, it would change the method. if you qualify you receive. sarah: you're referring to the new policy? reporter: yes. sarah: they're announcing that to support states neverts to strengthen the medicaid program. and getting america engaged in getting back to work. the policy will allow states to design programs that help beneficiaries improve health and well-being. at the same time, the policy protects the most vulnerable, including those determined to be medically frail or suffering from a substance. -- substance use disorder. that's the focus of that program. reporter: many people are interpreting that first tweet from the president to mean he didn't actually know how fisa works and for that matter that he wasn't familiar with his own

administration's policy. does he know fisa? was he familiar with the policy? sarah: he does, which is why he issued a presidential memo last week expressing concerns and asking for a review of it, which is also why d.n.i. put out a new policy this morning. this is top of mind for the president. top of mind for the administration. and he has a full understanding. don't believe me, ask speaker ryan. look to the comments that he made. he's somebody who has been in constant contact, had many discussions with the president on this issue. and he stated that in his press conference earlier today. reporter: how exactly was the trump campaign so badly surveiled and abused under fisa as he seemed to claim in that tweet? sarah: i think that there are a lot of things that indicate the surveillance that took place there. and i'm not sure what the part of confusion is on that front. you guys have reported on it many times. reporter: if you're a dreamer out there, should you have confidence that this president is going to reach an agreement that will protect you from being

supported? sarah: you should. i think you saw that. you guys got to come into the room in a pretty unprecedented way and sat in there for almost an hour listening to the president talk about it, listening to the president commit to getting a solution on this. right now we're counting on republicans and democrats to come together, which we think they will, to make a deal on daca and on border security, which is a vital part of that conversation and something that we incest be part of it. reporter: -- insist be part of it. reporter: there seems to be a pattern, correct me if i'm wrong, if there is no pattern, where president watches something on fox and friends and then tweets about it. apparently this morning one of their personalities, andrew nbdl, said this is not a good deal, mr. -- napolitano, said, this is not a good deal, mr. president, don't do. this and then he went on twitter and tweeted about the fisa program there. have been folks out there who have said, there's a cause and effect. he watches something on fox and friends and then he tweets about it. is that what happened this morning?

does that go on? sarah: i'm sure you're disappointed he's not watching cnn. [laughter] >> i think he watches a lot of cnn, if you don't mind me. [laughter] sarah: i don't think that's true. our numbers would be higher. in reference to the question specifically -- no, let's not. in the response to the question, the president has a great deal of understanding. this is top of mind. he's talking about it last week. he has issued a presidential memo on it. so it's not something that just happened this morning. it's been an ongoing discussion and something of great importance. the president doesn't believe that americans' rights or liberties should be abused. but he certainly believes that americans should be protected. he wants to make sure we do both of those things and that's why he supports the 702 but has concern with fisa more generally. reporter: speaking on the fisa topic. sarah: at least we're consistent. reporter: you didn't see confusion and contradiction

between that first tweet and the white house's stated policies. then why two hours later issue that second tweet that seemed to clarify the position? sarah: we weren't confuse bud some of you guys were. we wanted to make sure you knew the white house position. reporter: people on the hill or -- sarah: i had several questions from people in the radio. as i'm sure all of you know. because most of you were the ones sending them. the president's been clear about what his position is. we've issued several statements on this. put one out last night that had to do with this. look, i cabinet be more clear. i'm -- i can't be more clear. i'm speaking on behalf of the president and the administration on what our position is and i think i've laid that out several times here today. reporter: on medicaid and what c.m.s. put out today. critics would say, you need to be health request to get a job in the first place. how -- healthy to get a job in the first place. how are they wrong? sarah: look, certainly we want the american work force to be healthy. and we're focused on helping improve health care across the board. but we also want people to have jobs. we're working on both of those

things simultaneously. i don't see how that conflates with one another. reporter: do you think people are just flatly taking advantage of the system? sarah: i think there are certainly cases where that happens. we don't think that's the overwhelming majority. but there's certainly -- that's an issue and something we want to be sure to address. reporter: back in the summer president said 100% he would talk with special counsel mueller. yesterday he said, we'll see what happens. raising questions about whether there would be an interview. what's changed between the summer now and the president's thinking about -- sarah: nothing's changed. we're going to continue to be fully cooperate wvet special counsel as we have been. however the president and his personal attorneys are going to discuss this matter with the office of the special counsel, not reports. that's going tonight process that we follow. reporter: those discussions are still going on? sarah: we're still coomenting fully with the special counsel, yes. reporter: you mentioned the wal-mart bonuses are having the

impact you hoped. as you know, republicans alone in congress passed the tax cuts. democrats didn't vote for it at all. why do you -- sarah: we think that's sad. we wish they had. reporter: how do you explain then almost twice as many republican income benlts are quitting this congress as opposed -- incumbents are quitting congress this year as opposed to democrats? sarah: it's a midterm election. we fully anticipate moving forward with a strong house and senate republicans. whether it's this year or next year. we're still focused on getting things done for the american people. and i really can't weigh in too much on specifics of the election. or the midterms. but we feel really comfortable with where we are and certainly with the record of success that we've had in 2017, to be able to run on that in 2018. reporter: i'm still confused about the timing of the tweet this morning. it was 7:30 this morning. the president referenced the fact that the house was going to vote today on this controversial fisa bill. he said that -- he intimated

that under fisa, his campaign was abused. why would he do that this morning? the morning of the house vote on a program that he so cares about and -- sarah: d.n.i. also put out a new policy on fisa this morning. this is something that's been ongoing, a regular topic of discussion, and the president wanted to put something out. there's not much more than that. . reporter: sarah, i am not sure i got a clear answer from the treasury secretary of what this administration hopes to achieve with additional sanctions on iran. i want to give you a crack at that. sarah: i'll wait until additional sanctions are made before i weigh in. as the treasury secretary said, we anticipate that's likely to happen and we'll keep you posted as it does and what that process will look like. >> [inaudible] sarah: we have not made a final decision on jcpoa. >> [inaudible] sarah: obviously.

reporter: back to immigration real quick. yesterday a group of house republicans butt out an immigration plan that would deal with daca but also do a whole lot of things that weren't kind of under the umbrella of the four things you guys outlined in the meeting yesterday. was that helpful? was that not helpful to getting to a deal ultimately? does the president wish they take that off the table so you can focus on what might be happening with senator flake or others in the senate? how does a -- sarah: we think it's a great starting point. we think it's a great place. reporter: even though it went beyond the parameters what the president said -- sarah: he outlined the things he felt had to be included, not just what could be included. certainly we think this is a good starting point. part of the negotiating process, if we can get everything done, we think that's much better than getting part of it done. but we're ok with getting a deal done as long as it falls into the parameters that the

president laid out. reporter: he understands adding the extra things are what makes -- what has the potential to make this more difficult because various constituencies thinks of those as poison pills that -- sarah: that's involved in the negotiation. everybody puts everything on the table they want. you figure what you're not willing to give up which we laid out and you try to come out with everybody winning which is what we're hoping to do, both republicans, democrats, the house, and the designate, we laid out nonnegotiable for us. reporter: do you hope to get it done by the next week or so? sarah: i won't put a timetable on it but we hope to get it done. the priority is making sure we get it done and we get it done right. april. reporter: [inaudible] this white house has been working with businesses as it relates to the tax plan. and when it comes to wal-mart, has this white house been talking to wal-mart about the

safety net of the employees that were going to lose their jobs? i am looking at a sign right now that says this club will be closed on january 11, 2018, that's today, the day secretary mnuchin talks about how wonderful there will be increases in pay for wal-mart workers. sarah: i am not aware of a specific safety net. i can tell you we're excited about the fact they raised minimum wage. they have increased opportunities when it comes to paid family leave. and that they are increasing salaries to over a million american workers. we think that's a positive. in terms of specific safety net i can't speak to that. reporter: i understand ryan and mcconnell are not together on issues as it relates to -- where does the president stand on this back and forth? sarah: we are having conversations. we think it's important policies. right now our focus is on the

budget and secondary is getting the deal done in regards to immigration, on daca, and border security. and most likely moving on to infrastructure from there. john. reporter: thank you, sarah. two questions. the president said yesterday that, and i quote, we are going take a strong look at the libel laws. many lawyers said that's an unusual statement because all libel laws were at the state level and not the federal level. was he thinking states should take a look at it or something else? arah: the president is disappointed in the misreporting and fake news. 's tired of the recent fictitous book on the president. he thinks there should be some action of recourse. he is saying it should be

looking into. reporter: not federal libel laws? sarah: he said in general that libel laws need to be looked at. reporter: does the administration have any reaction of the arrest of former iranian president -- inejad who was leading sarah: not at this time. reporter: when he said that may have been used to -- the fisa act, to survail and abuse the campaign, what specifically was he talking about when he said "may" and "abuse" and survailed"? sarah: look, this is something we talked about many times before. there are a lot of things that indicate there was surveillance at trump tower and i am not sure what the clarification is needed on that front. reporter: thank you, sarah. two questions for you. first, a few days ago you said the white house did not have any reaction to the transcript that was released by senator

feinstein related to fusion g.p.s. is the president aware of this transcript? does he have any reaction to the f.b.i. references within the transcript and what was said by that gentleman? sarah: we certainly think it's a gross overstep by senator feinstein to release that transcript. there's been a lot of comments about obstruction of justice, and frankly, the only people we have seen trying to influence the investigation are former director comey and democrats in congress and that would include senator feinstein, representative schiff who have both selectively leaked to the media witness interviews. we see that to be a big problem and something that should certainly be considered and looked at. reporter: and my follow-up question, today ecuador said hey are granting asylum to wikileaks founder asung. do you have any comment on

that? sarah: no. reporter: [inaudible] october decertifying signing sanction waivers, he said words to the effect of fix it or he wouldn't do this again. [inaudible] include some legislation which hasn't happened yet. is the president comfortable where the fix it part of this process is right now? and what is his feeling what a fix would look like? sarah: the president still strongly believes this is one of the worst deals of all-time and one of the single greatest flaws is its restrictions leave iran free in the future to openly develop their nuclear program and a breakout capability. obviously we see big problems with that. the administration is continuing to work with congress and with our allies to address those flaws, and we'll keep you guys posted as a decision on that front is made. reporter: i want to talk to you

about off-shore drilling. i hope you can clarify something. a lot of people were confused by that tweet. mike pompeo -- sarah: you guys said a lot of people were confused. reporter: we weren't confused but some of you were. mike pompeo was out talking about this, pushing for this. a lot of people in the president's administration were representing the president's position on this that he wanted it to pass. his tweet was coninterest dictly. how do people need to trust -- not us, reporter -- stakeholders, people representing the president's position actually are? sarah: i think that the premise of your question is completely ridiculous and shows the lack of knowledge that you have on this process. i tried several times. i'll do it a 10th time here. look, the president supports the 702. but he has some very strong concerns about the fisa program more generally. again, this is why he put out a

memo last week outlining such and why the d.n.i. director put out a new policy this morning. i'm not sure what the confusion is there. [inaudible] reporter: the president's tweet this morning was in your view not at all confusing and not at all contradictory. do you think that's an accurate statement? sarah: it wasn't confusing for me. i'm sorry it was for you. reporter: a lot of questions what's happening in florida. there have been other states that pointed the administration has exempted florida saying they would also like to be exempt. how is exempting florida from the ban anything other in critics' view than giving a political favor to white house allies in key battleground states? sarah: look, the president is a massive advocate for america not just being energy independent but being energy dominant. that's part of the process is the off-shore drilling.

that's why it's opened up for public comments. these will continue to be negotiations. we'll continue to look for places and ways we can make america more energy dominant. if that's one of them then we are going to continue forward in that process. that's why we've opened up drilling in anwr, the keystone pipeline and cut a lot of job-killing regulations that have to do with that. we will continue to moving forward in that process. it's an open comment period and we'll continue to talk with other stakeholders as we make decisions for other areas in other states. reporter: was it a political favor? sarah: i am not aware of any political favor that that would have been part of so, no. reporter: the president -- tly commuted the [inaudible] excess of 27 years. what kinds of injustices does the president view as priority? sarah: look, the president is looking at one of the big topics of conversation for today, specifically, is looking at reducing the rates of recidivism, specific to helping reduce violent crime.

this is a beginning conversation. this is to -- a listening session and we'll continue working through that process. that was the number one topic at today's meeting. that's the big priority he has on that front. reporter: there have been reports out and can you please clarify, what is mr. cushner's role in prison reform? sarah: he's leading lead that conversation and put stakeholders together from a number of different areas that have expertise on this matter. i'll take one last question. reporter: going back to immigration. can you just shed a little bit of light on what the holdup is? members of the republican party were in the negotiations. they are the ones saying they agree with democrats. the administration has been in the meetings, at least some of them. what is the -- what do you not all like? sarah: i believe there is one member that said a deal is reached and others are well in sync on the page that we have not quite gotten there but feel

we are close. we will continue having these conversations. the president had a meeting here today with a number of members, both from the house and senate, republicans and democrats, as a follow-up discussion on immigration. again, we feel very strongly that we can get a deal made. reporter: one piece the president talked about missing, is that the issue, not enough funding? sarah: i think it's democrats agreeing to the other side of the deal. i think that's where we are. again, we're confident and feel like we're going to get there. thanks so much, guys. reporter: was the president directly involved in the -- [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. isit ncicap.org] >> and more live coverage at 4:00 eastern time of a discussion with former energy secretary earnest mow niece as well as the current situation in north korea. it's hosted by the center for strategic and international studies.

this evening the american constitution society discusses the judicial nomination process in the trump administration. we will have that live at 6:15 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> watch c-span's profile series on white house administration officials. this week we'll feature energy secretary rick perry. secretary perry: today as we market u.s.-produced liquefied natural goes, l.n.g., as we sell our technology on carbon capture, being able to use coal in a responsible way to other countries, the department of energy, those national labs, 17 some al labs are probably of the best investment that the american taxpayer made over the course of the years because of the basic research that was done there and then the

commercialization of that research to change people's lives. >> rick perry friday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span, c-span.org, and with the free -span radio app. >> the house passed a bill today to re-authorize a foreign intelligence collection program but with some changes. it requires the f.b.i. to get a warrant to view the contents of americans' communications that get swept up in the surveillance process. the house approved what's known as section 702 that allows agencies to collect information on foreign targets abroad. here's the hour-long debate from this morning. d myself such consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. stewart: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of s. 139. on january 19, the fisa amendments acts of 2008 will expire. this vital legislation includes section 702 which permits the government to target foreign citizens located overseas to obtain foreign intelligce