c-span interviewed house speaker paul ryan, who talked about the tax reform approved by congress last month and signed into law by president trump. this is about 15 minutes. steve: house speaker paul ryan, thank you for joining us on c-span. 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

-- international economics in cash flows. that we knew that would need some revising. so far, though not a lot really , needs to be done, other than i would call small things. steve: no republican support for the affordable care act, no democrat support for this bill. is that the new norm? secretary perry: i hope not. 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,

businesses expanding, investing in capital, workers getting wage increases, bonuses, better benefits, 401(k)'s, maternity leave -- all those things are being announced, and it has been 20 days. so 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. steve: but leader pelosi is calling all of this crumbs. speaker ryan: i am sad and surprised she said that. to someone working at walmart, at the starting wage, it went from $9 an hour to $11 an hour, i don't 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 -- -- steve: 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. give them a chance to get 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.

steve: your reaction? speaker ryan: that is what i call my gumby haircut, and i still have that tie. [laughter] so i have been working on that , for 20 years, my whole adult life. i think you just cued up when i 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, and i talk about democracy, and the republic that we are -- if you believe passionately in something that will make a big difference in peoples lives, what's 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's what these jobs are about.

that's what's 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. and it just 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 accomplish those goals. that's 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. steve: 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: i don't think that would work anyway. i think the big idea they are talking about is let's let millionaires and billionaires pay their taxes as donations.

that's just not going to work. i can't imagine the treasury or irs would let that happen. it is beyond reason to think that tax regulation would allow that to happen. i don't even think we need to legislate to prevent this kind of workaround. steve: 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 billion. [video clip] speaker ryan: this budget debate, what is this about? this debate is evolving into a fundamental difference between the two parties. one, the republicans, we say we have to balance the budget. we've 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. steve: that was 1995.

the debt is not $20 trillion, and the tax bill will add another $1 trillion to the debt. speaker ryan: yeah. i think my haircut was better in 1995 than in 1998. taking a look at that. 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. so 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, the 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. you have to reform our entitlement programs. you have to 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 don't 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 earn more wages, pay more taxes, more companies will come back into the country, bringing their dollars overseas back in america. that's 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. steve: on entitlement reform, leader mcconnell said on entitlement reform, that is a nonstarter. 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'm 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 don't want to see that happen. they are already ordering money at 50%. we cannot let that happen. these are important programs that we have to preserve and save not just for this generation, but future generations. that will take bipartisanship. steve: will it happen this year? speaker ryan: not what i just mentioned, but we can help get people from welfare into work so they are getting a better job, better life, and paying taxes. steve: and what about the plan on the white house to wear if you are on medicaid, some applicants have to work? speaker ryan: we have long supported that. that's something we passed that back in may in the house. steve: the president is also suggesting that earmarks should come back on capitol hill as a way to grease the skids.

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 and point to be made there, but i do have concerns about the old pork-barrel earmark process that we had that i helped stop. but i do believe there is a concern about having more legislative branch oversight on how the executive branch spends money. but 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. steve: steny hoyer said that republicans say the democrats will take back the house next year. speaker ryan: i cannot speak for that. republicans do not tell me that. steve: 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'm 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. at least 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're 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 people like ed royce 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. steve: 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 in 2016 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'm very excited we passed more bills this past year in this president for the first year of office than reagan, bush, bush, clinton, obama. meeting we were very successful 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 that we are so partisan. i'm 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's why the tax reform achievement was so important. steve: 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's the conversation we will have a zen but i have no plans , of going anywhere right now. steve: house speaker paul ryan, thank you very much for being with us. speaker ryan: thanks for having me back. >> c-span, with history unfolds daily read in 1979, c-span was created right america's television companies and is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. this weekend on american history tv on c-span3, saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, lectures and history, lebanon valley college professor james broussard on the lead up to the american revolution. thingsill have a tax on the colonists import. t, all collected

at the ports. nobody else has to be bothered. big surprise. more outrage, more anger, more freedom. >> sunday at 4:00 p.m. on real america, the film assignment iran. >> techniques to sustain himself in distant reaches of the jungle. arctic wasteland. above all, he knows the ultimate alternative faced by the special forces man in action. i just or die. >> and at 6:00 on american artifacts, the preview of collections of the u.s. diplomacy museum set to open next year. >> benjamin franklin and arthur lee conducted these two treaties and history of commerce was france's most favored nation trading status and the french

were very excited about being able to sort of get into that economic trading war after the war was over. the treaty would remain in effect for several years afterwards. >> american history tv every weekend on c-span3. >> next, supreme court oral argument on whether ohio's office of moving an active voters is a violation of federal law and followed by a conversation treasury secretary steven mnuchin. later, steny hoyer on the newly passed tax reform bill and a town hall meeting with other members of the maryland delegation. ohio is facing a challenge in the u.s. supreme court as to whether its policy for removing an active voters from education roles is a violation for federal law. under state for a call -- particle -- protocol has the

registration canceled if they don't respond to the notice or do not cast a ballot in federal elections for the next four years. this oral argument is just over an hour. your argument in this morning -- we will hear the argument this morning versus the randolph institute. mr. murphy? >> may it please the court. congress passed to serve competing goals. increasing the number of registered voters but decreasing the number of in notable ones. this congressional compromise is evident in the mandates. it requires states to undertake programs to remove ineligible individuals but place limits on those federally mandated removal programs, including the states