>> the u.s. supreme court heard oral arguments this week over voting rights. the ohio case over whether the state can purge voters from registration rolls. watch that tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. congress is back on capitol hill tuesday facing a government shutdown a week from today. they may also considered an

abortion bill. the senate will debate a bill reauthorizes the fisa act. watch the senate live on c-span2. >> house speaker paul ryan, thank you for coming. members of your party are saying the changes need to be made. speaker ryan: it is good to be back with you. anytime you do massive legislation like this, this is the biggest rewrite of the tax code in more than 31 years, the last big rewrite was 1986. this is more comprehensive than that. we knew all along, when you had such a massively right of tax laws, you are going to have some technical changes that will need to occur. for instance, we rewrote our entire international tax system

on how we treat internation economics in cash flows. we knew that would need some revising. so far, not a lot really needs to be done, other than i would call small things. >> no republican support for the affordable care act, no democrat support for this bill. speaker ryan: i was surprised that not a single democrat voted for this. i think they will be regretful of that, because in 20 days, you have seen two million families, two million workers getting raises and bonuses. you are seeing all these raises being announced, you are seeing electricity companies announcing that they are lowering rates as a consequence. in milwaukee, we have a big insurance company. a couple of months ago they said , because of the tax laws, they were going to move to bermuda. now, they are staying in milwaukee, staying an american company. you are seeing stories like

that -- businesses staying here, expanding, investing in capital, workers getting wage increases, bonuses, better benefit, 401(k)'s, maternity leave -- all those things are being announced, and it has been 20 days. i think the democrats are going to regret not having supported this. i think it will do tremendous things for our economy, and unfortunately, we are in a very, very partisan climate, but that does not stop us from doing what we think is right to help this economy grow. >> but leader pelosi is calling all of this crumbs. speaker ryan: i am sad and surprised she said that. to someone working at walmart, getting a starting wage from $9 an hour to $11 an hour, i do not think that is crumbs. a person working paycheck-to-paycheck got a $1000 bonus. that is not crumbs. one company is investing $50 billion in america, in jobs, in expanding across the country. this is not crumbs. the additional maternity leave at walmart, the higher 401(k)

plan, a small assisted living -- they just announced bonuses to their employees. these are not crumbs. more than half of americans are living paycheck to paycheck. when they get something like a $1000 bonus at christmastime because of the tax law, it is hardly crumbs. i would go back to november -- >> i would go back to november 1998, just elected -- as the speaker of the house. you appeared on c-span, and here is what you said. [video clip] speaker ryan: i think the first principle tax reform would be that those on the bottom rung should be held harmless. get them on their feet before they get whacked with taxes. what i think is important is let's take a look at our current tax system. we are working toward may 17 in wisconsin to pay our taxes to the government. our tax system is punishing all of those qualities that make america great, so we can have a better tax system. >> your reaction?

speaker ryan: that is what i call my gumby haircut, and i still have that tie. i have been working on that for 20 years, my whole adult life. cued up when it was a staff guy. jack kemp was my mentor, and i worked on this issue with him, in 20 years in congress. my reaction is -- it is what i tell my kids, school students when i talk about civics, democracy, and the republic that we are -- if you believe passionately in something that will make a big difference in peoples lives, what is great about our system of government is you work, you work, you push, you push, you convince, run on an idea, run for office, and if you get elected, you go try and put that idea in place to make a difference in people's lives. that is what these jobs are about. that is what is exciting about what i do, and it takes time, in a system like we have. it does take time. tax reform has been something i have literally been working on for over 20 years.

this country, we have been talking about it for 30 years. it takes time to do these things, but it does work. and that to me is a vindication of the system of government we have, a representative of democracy and the fact that if you believe in something, stick at it and you can economist those goals. that is my big takeaway on this. i can get into the economics and why i think this is a good thing for america, but the takeaway i have is looking back at when i was a young guy pushing this stuff. it takes time to do big things in this country, and this country is a story of big things getting done. >> a number of states -- california, new york -- are looking at workarounds to get beyond that $10,000 deduction. will you do anything to stop that? speaker ryan: the big idea they are talking about is let's let millionaires and billionaires pay their taxes as donations. that will not work. i cannot imagine the treasury or irs would let that happen. it is beyond reason to think

that tax regulation would allow that to happen. i do not even think we need to prevent this kind of workaround. >> your first appearance was 1995 on a saturday morning, july 1995, and we were talking about the debt at the time, which was approaching $5 trillion. mr. ryan: this budget debate, what is this about? this debate is evolving into a fundamental difference between the two parties. the republicans, we say we have to balance the budget. we have got to pay down the debt. it is interesting to note that the clinton administration's budget proposal for this year projects building more deficits, an excess of $250 billion, adding on top of the debt. we think we have to balance the budget as soon as possible. >> that was 1995. the debt is not $20 trillion, and the tax bill will add another $1 trillion to the debt.

speaker ryan: yeah. my haircut was better in 1995 than in 1998. if you look at all of our full-scale efforts, like the budget we passed this past year, the diane black budget, that had a lot of reforms in it and is a balanced budget. i wrote eight of the budgets we passed since i have been in congress, which are all balanced budget plans. the problem is you got to give these bills to the house, senate, and president to sign them into law. we think there are two things you basically have to do to get the debt under control. reform our entitlement programs. make them work better, make those dollars stretch farther, and prepare for the retirement of baby boomers, which we are not there for. -- prepared for, and you have to grow the economy. this is one of the most important things we could have ever done to grow the economy. this is a piece of our fiscal agenda which is economic growth through tax and regulatory reform. i do not believe this will add

a trillion-plus dollars to the debt. i do not know what the number is going to be. i think economic growth will become tremendously helpful for us, and what it will do is help people learn more wages, pay more taxes, more companies will come back into the country, bringing their dollars overseas back in america. that is going to help with growth. but that is not to say we should not be focused on spending. we should focus on the spending side of the ledger. >> on entitlement reform leader , mcconnell said on entitlement reform, that is a nonstarter. we have a challenge in that they -- speaker ryan: we have a challenge in that they have a razor thin majority in the senate, and is extremely hard to pass big things like this. what i regret the most is the fact that we have yet to reach bipartisan consensus on comprehensive entitlement reform when all of us know this is necessary to get our debt and deficit under control. you literally cannot tax your way out of the entitlement problems we have with the oncoming baby boomers. we need to grow the economy faster. this helps us do that. and i am very excited that we have done this. but at the end of the day, we are going to have to get

bipartisan support to fix our entitlement programs. if we do nothing, social security goes broke and people get benefits cut. we cannot let that happen. the care is more on borrowed money, and these are important programs that we have to preserve and save not just for this generation, but future generations. that will take bipartisanship. >> will it happen this year? speaker ryan: not what i mentioned, but we can help get people from welfare into work so they are getting a better job, better life, and paying taxes. >> and what about the plan on the white house to wear if you are on medicaid, some applicants have to work? speaker ryan: we passed that back in may in the house. >> the president is also suggesting that earmarks should come back on capitol hill as a way to grease the skins? speaker ryan: i was one of the

guys who authored the ban on earmarks. there is a frustration among many of our members that the constitutional responsibility of the article one constitutional powers has been ceded to the executive branch too much. there is a legitimate argument to be made there, but i do have concerns about the old pork-barrel earmark process that i helped stop. i think there is a concern about having more legislative branch oversight on how the executive branch spends money. but we have to make sure this does not -- we have to make sure we go do not go back to pork-barrel spending. i'm worried it could lead to bad government. that is what i worry about. thateny hoyer said republicans say the democrats will take back the house next year. speaker ryan: i cannot speak for that. republicans do not tell me that. >> final question, in regards to chairman ed royce. should you readdress the issue of term limits? speaker ryan: no, i would never have become the chairman if it

were not for term limits. i am a big fan of term limits. i think we should have term limits on congress itself, but given the constitutional amendment, we have not been able to produce the votes for that. in our own control, we should control our term for chairmanship. you are seeing chairmen retire now, and we are having a number of them because we operate in the republican house with a six-year terms, meaning three terms, six years total for a chairmanship. they are all on a similar cycle. so we have a lot of chairmen who are coming to the end of their chairmanships this year, which is why they are retiring. but what that does is give younger, newer members the ability to move up into the ranks and take these chairmanships. it brings fresh blood to come all it brings fresh turnover, new ideas must fresh perspectives. >> what is the biggest challenge for you in this job?

speaker ryan: getting things passed, getting big things done. what i am excited about? we ran on a very specific agenda and we came around -- we all got consensus on that agenda. we called it the better way. and now we are in the middle of executing it. i am pleased we passed more bills this past year in this president for the first year of office than reagan, bush, bush, clinton, obama. we passed their bills, they did not go all the way through the senate. we still have 400 bills that have not been moving through like the house has, so getting these bills, not just through the house, but into law, is the biggest challenge, giving the fact had the filibuster in the senate with a narrow majority, and we are so partisan. i am hoping we can get some more bipartisanship this year to break those logjams and get some things into law, but that is the hardest thing. not passing the house, but getting them into law, beyond house's control. that is why the tax reform achievement was so important. >> and you intend to be speaker in 2019? speaker ryan: that is something my wife and i discussed in the spring. we have this customary

conversation before filing deadline in wisconsin. that is the conversation we will have been, but i have no plans of going anywhere right now. >> house speaker paul ryan, thank you very much for being with us. speaker ryan: thanks for having me back. >> steny hoyer is our guest this weekend on "newsmakers." president'so the controversial tweets yesterday on fisa. >> he tweeted out criticism of a bill, the intelligence reauthorization that the house passed, and basically came out against the hill his administration had endorsed less than 24 hours earlier. what was your reaction to that

and what does that say about the president and his grasp of the policies he is promoting? hoyer: itative very focused and unreliable leadership which changes its views pretty much on a dime from time to time. in this case, the president sent down or the administration sent down a statement of administrative policy supporting recommended bill to revive section 702 of the foreign intelligence act. sometime this morning the president sent down a treat or sent a tweet out which appeared to contradict that statement of administration policy and opposed the legislation under consideration. and two hours later, the

president then said, oh, no, we would be foolish not to support bill, and he said be smart, past this bill. -- pass this bill. that is very troubling. our allies around the world depend on some degree of stability, period, in the administration and stability of knowing where the administration arewhat policies and they pursuing, and what advice they are giving. have that changing from for to hour, it is not good our country, our allies, for international stability. >> steny hoyer is our guest this week on "newsmakers." he talks about what is ahead in congress this year, outlook for democrats taking over the house this year, and congress'

relationship with president trump. 10:00 a.m. andat 6:00 p.m. on c-span. congress returns to capitol hill on tuesday facing a government shutdown deadline a week from today. will consider an abortion bill. the senate will consider next week the house-past bill -- house-passed bill reauthorizing the fisa act. see the house on c-span. see the house on c-span2. >> this week, the supreme court heard the argument of voting rights. r the argument tonight on c-span, online at www.c-span.org , or listen with the free c-span radio app. can follow the upcoming schedule. you will