a lot of the constituents are middle-class and upper-middle-class congressmen in republican suburban districts. >> you said you're interested in talking about what change in the rules. >> senator mcconnell does not come to the court with clean hands on these issues. he delayed in blocks so many of obama's nominees. many of the judges should've been filled by obama nominees and they blocked them with blue slips which when mcconnell was in favor of getting rid of. the fact is simple, there were more judges approved at this time in the trump administration and the obama administration when democrats are in the majority. >> i don't know what's going to happen in the senate. it will be up to a handful of republican colleagues. i don't know any democratic employees who like the provision the spill. forty-five signed the letter and the other three agreed with the principles in that letter. >> at the end of the day to think there will be a tax reform package passed. >> i think if the republican bill fails will try to get one that's bipartisan. the problem is the hard right runs the show. rep

it goes right to the heart of the middle class and upper middle class giving families tens of thousands of dollars in deductions so their taxes are lower. the elimination of state and local deductibility is the surest sign that the g.o.p. tax plan does not favor the middle class. in fact, a.p. reported yesterday, according to experts, the g.o.p. tax plan may still allow corporations to claim state and local deductibility but not individuals. did you hear that? corporations can claim it. individuals can't. isn't that backward? what the g.o.p. plan -- it shouldn't be taken away from either one. what the g.o.p. plan takes away from individuals and families, it makes sure it remains for big corporations. so today democrats will ask our republican friends to vote on our amendment led by senators cantwell and van hollen to protect state and local deductibility for middle-class families. senator capito has an amendment that's incredibly vague. leaves the door open. doesn't say it will but leaves it open. so a coalition of groups -- the national governors association, the u.s. conference of may

looting the middle class. shaking down the middle class. ripping off the middle class. increasing the sackses of the middle class. so it devastates vital investments, as our distinguished ranking member said, good paying jobs, higher wages for working families, education of our children, health of our working families. it really is a good example of what they say that medicare should wither on the vine in keeping with their trickle down economics, medicare should wither on the vine because it will take -- half a trillion dollars from medicare in their budget that will follow. so republicans will harm veterans, rural america, seniors in children, again, all in the name of fast tracking trillion-dollar tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%. 80%. what more do you need to know? 80% goes to the wealthiest 1%. again and again on the floor, the republicans have tried to tilt the playing field against hardworking families. this is really quite remarkable, though. this is a great transformative moment for america where we can reject this assault on the middle class, this addition to

the middle class and upper middle class. and not only will it raise their taxes dramatically, most people would lose deductions between $10,000 and $20,000. that ain't chicken feed. but it would raise home prices. sorry. it would lower home prices. a recent study by the national association of realtors done by pricewaterhousecoopers, the esteemed accounting firm, showed that eliminating state and local would erode property values, the rock of the middle class, by 10%. to the middle-class folks in new york, i believe around the country, your home is a piece of the rock. you struggle each month, pay the mortgage, pay the taxes, pay the upkeep, but you're hoping by the time you reach later middle age, that you'll own that home, and that gives your kids a place, or it gives your kids a nest egg when you pass on. but this bill, by eliminating state and local, reduces across america on average home values by 10%. so it's a double whammy to the middle class. raising your taxes and lowering your home values. why would we do that? yo

the u middle-class and upper-middle-class. not only will it raise their taxes dramatically, most people would lose deductions between 10 and $20,000. that is chicken feed. but it would raise home prices. sorry it would lower home prices prices. a recent study by the national association of realtors done by price water cooper the esteemed accounting firm showed that eliminating state and local would erode property values, the rock of the middle-class, by 10%. the middle-class folks new york i believe the country your home is the piece of the rock reduced drug will each month to pay the mortgage and pay the taxes and paid the upkeep that you are hoping by the time you reach later middle age and you on that home that it sure kids a place or it gives your kids a nest egg when you pass on. but this bill by eliminating state and local reduces across america that on average home values by 10%. so it's a double whammy to the middle-class. raising your taxes and lowering your home values. why do that? you don't have to take it from me.

that's not helping the middle class. they are using fine print, hidden tax hikes on the middle class, in order to give huge cuts for the wealthy. the plan will add anywhere from $5 trillion to $7 trillion to our deficit. if it passes, it will only be a matter of time before the republicans start crying out the deficit's so big. we have to cut social security. we have to cut medicare. americans beware. that's what they do. dramatically lower taxes on the wealthy, do it in an irresponsible way, and then they say the big deficit we just created forces us to cut medicare and social security. this is all part of the hard right agenda. cut taxes for the rich. blow up the deficit. decimate medicare and social security. the tax plan makes clear republicans are circling the wagons to do what they have tried to do for decades, go after social security and medicare. to be clear, this hasn't always been the case. going back to the last time when we reformed our tax code, no less of an authority than james baker, former republican tr

they are false promises to the middle-class. you make $4 trillion worth of promises largely to the people who are at the top of the top and then you got to come back through the back door in secret and take it out of the hide of the middle-class. it is less simple, less fair, and less hopeful for the middle-class who work hard, play by the rules and would just like to be able to save and get ahead. i'm glad my colleagues are here, too great, valuable members of the finance committee. >> good morning and happy halloween. this is such an important issue for the families in michigan and that is why i'm glad to be here with my colleagues. it is true, tonight you will have ghosts and ghouls walking around knocking on our doors and a lot of scary little kids all dressed up but none of this is as scary as the republican tax giveaway plan that is for sure. senator wyden just outlined how it will take away people's options for saving for retirement and that is a problem. only 18% of americans are confident that they saved enough for reti

that is a solid middle-class and upper-middle-class district on longdl island. here's what else he said. how anybody from new york or new jersey can vote for this budget without knowing what is in the tax bill is beyond me. now i salute peter king. having the courage to stand up and say to his own leadership and subject them to a tax bill where i don't even know what it will be. new york new jersey and others have a decision to make. will they protect the middle-class for tens of thousands of homeowners in their district or go along with the hard right agenda. it's all so the wealthy can get a huge tax break. corporations will get even more money. wrong. here on the other side we're talking about a tax break for the middle class, to eliminate state and local deductibility some of the house, one of my colleagues from new york say he's beating up on republicans. i went through this in 1986, the last time we had tax reform. democrats were pushingr the bill in the legends of this chamber, one of the democratic leaders in the house, i told them not only would i not v

no middle class person would get a tax increase. republicans like to say they're against double taxation, but apparently not when it comes to the middle class. every time republicans have found themselves in a pinch, they look to the middle class, not the ultra-wealthy, to carry the burden. so let's look a little bit at how this debate has evolved. first, republicans propose eliminating the state and local tax in its entirety. then once house republicans began to realize how devastating this would be for middle and upper class constituents, they started looking for a compromise and then to figure out ways to make up for the lost revenues. but they should have looked at the top 1%. they should have looked at the wealthiest corporations flush with money. no, they looked to the middle class and then started talking about capping 401(k)s, the path to a decent retirement for so many americans because pensions are less available than they used to be. so instead of eliminating estate tax repeal which applies only to people whose estates ar

tax reform must not increase the taxes on the middle class. our common goals should be putting more money directly in the pockets of working families for the economy to grow. trying to make sure tax reform is fair to the middle class is not thrown a line in the sand or refusing to engage in the process. it is defending the very working families who put more of their income right back into our economy. it is making we can fund the programs that help middle-class families, programs that republicans have on the chopping block. i want to sendt to my republican colleagues is one that most americans want to hear. let's work together to create real bipartisan tax reform that protects middle income working families. you are a critical part of this debate. together let's make sure it is an honest one that ends in a bill that truly benefits the american people and not just the privileged few. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1970 nine, c-span was created as a public service by

and we're very focused on middle income tax relief. >> you can't guarantee that all middle class individuals receive a tax cut, can you? some will get a tax increase. >> no. it is our objective that the entire middle class does get a tax cut. and that's something we're working on the details. as you said, you can't make guarantees. every single person's taxes are different. people take advantage of different things. we can't make that guarantee. we can say, that's our objective. that's what we're working to. we want to protect the middle class. we went to indiana last week. we had a specific family getting a $1,000 cut under our plan. we had businesses there that are getting tax cuts so they can grow jobs. that's what we're trying to do. >> again, that's what you're trying to do. let me go back to the question, similar to the one i asked earlier. will the president veto a bill if it comes back with middle class tax increases for some americans? >> the president is not setting criteria up front. as to what he's going to veto and what he's not going to veto. what the president is doing is work

so this will hurt middle-class taxpayers. now, there are some efforts to compromise state and local deductibility. they don't work. some have proposed, okay, let taxpayers take a choice between getting rid of the mortgage deduction and getting rid of the state and local deduction. that's like saying should i chop off your left hand or should i chop off your right hand, mr. middle-class taxpayer? others have said let's limit it to people, say, below $100,000. that still leaves lots of people at risk, particularly in high-price areas like long island, and doesn't reduce the deficit by much. it's estimated that a large percent of the deficit will still go up. so it makes no sense to eliminate state and local deductibility. vice president pence ought to go to western new york, but instead of just visiting a small business, and we want to lower small business taxes, he should go to a middle-class family in amherst or orchard park and tell them that he's there because he's going to raise their taxes. finally, i would like to addres

to purpose to get middle class tax. i don't know every single person's small problem or issue. >> dickerson: but minimal -- if it's on -- entire purpose to lower middle class taxes, yes, people will get tax cuts. how big, that depends on the individual. do you have kid, going to be a bigger child, are you married? have zero marriage -- >> dickerson: that's the worry -- >> those are the kind of things that will determine based on how low people's taxes go we want pro family tax cut to make it easier, to get married, raise kids. >> dickerson: you mentioning doubling standard deduction, getting rid of exemptions and child tax credit is up in the air those numbers haven't been figured out yet. >> that's right. don't know how much it's willing going to up. >> dickerson: there may be some families who do see their taxes increase i'm saying objective for the bill as it goes through the process will you work to squeeze that number? >> that's exactly right. objective is to lower taxes for middle class taxpayers. >> dickerson: so

that directly affects middle income families. it is going to make it more difficult for them to save for their retirement, cost them more taxes, and by the way, adds to the national debt again, blowing a hole in the deficit. their proposal from the beginning is one that will be detrimental to our economy. it will hurt american values. how are you going to pay for all of this? we know there is going to be a direct attack on medicare and medicaid. they have already said that, by putting targets in the budget documents for close to a $1 trillion cut in medicaid and $500 billion cut in medicare. this is a proposal that will hurt middle income families and hurt the economy. >> as we have heard, democrats believe we need tax reform. we think we should work together with our republican colleagues to get tax reform, and we think that tax reform should help address the disparities that exist in our country and should help middle income families. the president's tax plan as it has been presented, we don't know what is in it because we have

the middle class and upper middle class. and not only will it raise their taxes dramatically, most people would lose deductions between $10,000 and $20,000. that ain't chicken feed. but it would raise home prices. sorry. it would lower home prices. a recent study by the national association of realtors done by pricewaterhousecoopers, the esteemed accounting firm, showed that eliminating state and local would erode property values, the rock of the middle class, by 10%. to the middle-class folks in new york, i believe around the country, your home is a piece of the rock. you struggle each month, pay the mortgage, pay the taxes, pay the upkeep, but you're hoping by the time you reach later middle age, that you'll own that home, and that gives your kids a place, or it gives your kids a nest egg when you pass on. but this bill, by eliminating state and local, reduces across america on average home values by 10%. so it's a double whammy to the middle class. raising your taxes and lowering your home values. why would we do that? yo

kills the middle class and the upper middle income people. it doesn't affect the rich. they don't pay a lot of property taxes, they make their money in high-income places. a lot of stocks and bonds. the standard deduction does not undo it because you lose the standard exemption. even if you just husband-and-wife without kids i'm can ask unanimous consent the debate be delayed for a few minutes. i just need to finish my remarks, most on. okay. so, the benefit of state local deductibility affects every state, every city, every town, every municipality and goes deep into the middle class and working class. one other point i have to make, never realizing that some of our republican colleagues or say will modify. folks, there's no real way to modify the provision to eliminate state local deductibility. you want to give a choice, that won't work because for middle-class taxpayers is the only the combination of their itemized deduction, state, local, mortgage and others that make it worth them to i mice. if you have to choose between the mortgage deduction in your property tax

who pays, the middle class. that that that they are saying it's a middle-class tax cuts. it is not true -- the fact that they are saying it is a middle-class tax cut -- it is not true. what the republicans did today an open past to this to this assault. it is a looting to the middle class. arnold hornby wrote about history of civilizations. in one of his presentations, he anded about societies governments that were there for creative leadership where people succeedrive and versus exploitative situations where they were there for the rich and the powerful. that is not a good thing for a country. that is the past these republicans are taking. very calmly, we say to them, we want to do tax reform and a way that is fair, simplification, h, reduces the deficit, and keeps america number one. instead, the budget they put forth does not do that. goodsrepresents that is for the middle class, which is not hopefully when this tax bill -- which is not. hopefully when the tax bill comes out, the public will be aware of this big transfer of wealth where the wealth is sucked up from the

they kill the middle class. obamobama care doesn't work. it's destroyed the middle class. trump was good at it. you have to get personal examples. trumpet bring people onstage whose children were killed by an illegal immigrant. that's a personally example. in my case a family of six, four kids in my health insurance is 500 month when obama complained how terrible it was. i laughed and said what a joke. there's a couple surgeries in there, covered everything. fantastic. he comes long it goes from 500 until 2000 a month that covers nothing. every bill is on me. they find a way to tell me it's not cover. a few months ago i switched to liberty and freedom fest they have the booth opposite of c-span. i shifted to that and i'm jewish, does that tell you how bad obama karis? it's a disaster and now my insurance is 500 month instead of 2000. nobody can afford 2000 month in the middle class. >> you say are jewish but also born-again christian. >> yes. i guess you could say am a jew who believes in christ. c can be anything you want but if you're born jewish you'll always be cultura

it's in the middle of, you know, and i don't want to say it's in the middle of nowhere. boulder creek is populated and has homes, but not densely populated. >> if you can stress that to our viewers. this is small compared to what we were dealing with last week, and we are in north bay. >> 30 acres, and looking at those pictures -- this happened at 11:00 last night, and here we are 4:00 in the morning. it has been burning for five hours. for five hours, that fire in the north bay, and we can tell that the winds are not an issue like they were in the north bay last sunday night because if there were really windy conditions up here at this time, that fire would be hundreds, if not, thousands of acres, and that's the good news. it's 30 acres. that's a -- that's spreading, but it's not spreading as quickly as obviously the fires there, and it doesn't appear to be spreading quickly. >> got it. obviously, we're dealing with very dry conditions. matt, we'll be checking in with you in just a few minutes as you get closer and get more information. appreciate you on the phone. let'

it hurts the middle-class. and it hammers the new york economy. businesses, they don't have and local deduction and they're not likely to relocate in buffalo or rochester or syracuse. and it hurts homeowners. make no mistake about it, get rid of the state and local deduction, values and homes will go hedown. that's why the homeowners are opposed to this elimination. that's not just in new york or california or new jersey, f it's true across the whole country and my dear friend and chairman of the finance committee state of utah, i state of great charity, 35 percent of the taxpayers will get a huge, huge increase in their taxes with the elimination of state and local deductibility. many of them don't use the standard deduction because it's so terrible but they are penalized. so eliminating the state and local deduction slashing taxes for the wealthy and huge corporationswill hurt middle-class taxpayers . there's effort to compromise state and local deductibility, they don't work . some have proposed okay, let's give taxpayers a choice n between get

this will be design to lower tax rates for people in the middle, not on the high end. let's take it in perspective. you double the standard deduction, that's that many more people that don't have to itemize their deduction. you lower tax rates, that means less of their income is tax in the first place. you increase the per child tax credit, get rid of the tax penalty, all of those things benefit everybody in the middle class. on the point you just mentioned, norah, this is what the ways and means committee is looking at, is how do we make sure middle income taxpayers in new jersey, new york, wisconsin, wherever, make sure that they actually benefit in the net on this thing, that they benefit. so the goal here is look at it in its totality. we want to make sure even people in these states that you mention that have discrete issues, they too benefit, but that those benefits don't go to people who are really high income earners. >> but gary coleman said -- >> so we don't have a big tax rate drop for the wealthy folks in whatever state, so that the focus goes on the middle

class or the upper middle class. the proposal caused such angst in the house that it almost brought down the budget resolution, so republicans have crafted a compromise that would allow taxpayers to claim state and local deductions on property taxes but not sales and income tax. that compromise would still cost the taxpayers $900 billion. taxpayers in high sales tax states, tennessee, florida, nevada, would get whacked, as would taxpayers in high income tax states like new york, new jersey, california, minnesota, virginia, colorado. go figure that high property tax states like texas, chairman brady's state, would be better off under the proposal. picking winners and losers like this doesn't solve the problem. the new state and local compromise is still a nearly trillion-dollar tax hike on the middle class to pay for tax giveaways to big corporations and the very wealthy, and i say to my republican colleagues, particularly those from suburban, fairly affluent districts in the house, middle class and upper middle-class

huge benefits for the middle class.d projected a cut in the deficit by $1 trillion in the next ten years. you ready to sign on? >> not quite, george. i think everything he said is dead wrong. no tax breaks for the rich. they are repealing the estate tax. the estate tax only applies to the top two-tenths of 1%. millionaires and billionaires like the walton family of walmart. like the koch brothers family. like the trump family. $269 billion in tax breaks. for the top two-tenths of 1% over the next ten years. this is not a tax break for the rich? i don't know what a tax break for the rich is. the tax policy institute, in fact, has estimated based on the information that they now have, that at the end of ten years, 80%, 8-0 percent, of all of the tax benefits go to the top 1%. further, in the midst of all of this stuff, there is a $450 billion cut in medicare. now, you may remember that when trump ran for president, he promised working families, oh, he's not going to cut medicaid. he's not going to cut medicaid. a $1 trill

middle east. we know that. they continue to do that. they continue to try to put instability in the region. their interest is to try to develop a kind of triangle there andeen beirut and damascus baghdad. we know they are working on that because it is obviously a force that has been involved in disrupting areas not only in the middle east, but frankly, elsewhere around the world. so, he yeah. yes.-- so, he that represents a threat as well. but we deal with that question mark that is obviously the fundamental issue. i believe, and i made this recommendation a lot but unfortunately it did not get very far. but i strongly believe that we have to develop a coalition, in middle east coalition of countries. that will work together in cohesion. israel should be part of that collision, frankly. because they, too, are concerned about isis and terrorism and iran. made up ofalition, moderate arab countries in the region, ought to be coming together to establish even a joint military command. identified targe

it's a middle class benefit. if they intend to move away from that, it would mean it's a tax in crease. so i think that keeping that -- it's one of the few benefits that is almost universal in america. shaving it back in the end increases deficits and you have to borrow more money. that's the other thing -- i'm glad you raised it. we need to focus on these proposals to shave back that benefit and shave back that benefit. only because it demonstrates how complicated this is. where do you build the corridors if you make it up to only $100,000. and then you will trade off the mortgage interest deduction for state and local tax. and i'm in favor of keeping the mortgage interest deduction. those are the things that we need to stick with. if we give hearings a month we'll have a full-throttle debate. >> republicans say we should not pick winners or losers and we always do in taxes, but if you accepted that proposal, it's great for people in florida. not great for people in other states. and states choose to tax their r

a credible number of people to work middle-class jobs in middle-class incomes through buildingld infrastructure insted of a giveaway o the giveaway ofy top 1% by investing more than a trillion we can create millions of good paying jobs. more than 56,000 bridges in america one out of 11 and structurally deficient engineers estimate we could easily spend 123 billion on repairing bridges and 420 million for modernizing the highways and get a return lower vehicle maintenance, decreased the delays, lower fuel consumption, improved safety, lower long-term maintenance costs, lower emissions than the benefits of investing in transportation in addition to the fact that it strengthens our economy. we can think about the investment we need to have in our water infrastructure. the water supply systems and every town across america. what about all those lead pipes that need to be00 replaced? 2,000 years ago they were poisoned by their own water because they lined the aqueducts with lead, and here we are 20 centuries later poisoning our citizens with lead pipes. why aren't we spending money to take care of t

why would they hurt the middle class in something as sacred as retirement? to give a huge tax cut for the top 1% and provide a tax giveaway to corporations that are already raking in billions of profits a year and are flush with capital already. we think republicans have it exactly backwards. they should abandon any plan to tax 401k's and work with democrats in a bipartisan way to expand retirement savings, not to cut them. senator wyden? senator wyden: thank you,

♪ yousef: welcome to the best of "bloomberg markets: middle east."ere are the major stories driving headlines in the region. trum's iran policy in focus as donald trump makes a call on whether the u.s. should stick with the deal. meanwhile, the relationship between the u.s. and turkey tumbles to new lows as they stop issuing visas to each other's citizens. let's kick off the show with president trump's attempt to wiggle out of the iran nuclear deal a few days ahead of the deadline to recertify. our correspondent has more. >> president trump has shown he can be unpredictable. there are a few things we expect from this announcement. one is that we think he will be declining to recertify the iran deal, not on the basis they have not been complying with at the deal, because all of the other signatories that oversee the compliance, they all have said iran has been in line with the agreement. but we expect him rather to say it is no longer an interest of the u.s. to have the deal. that's one thing; the other thing is, he will try to put more pressure on ir

the middle class. the fact that they're saying that it's a middle class tax cut is not true. it's wrong. and when they come forth with their tax bill, you'll see more clearly. but what the republicans did day was to give, was to give an open path to this assault, an assault, it's a ripoff, a shakedown, a looting of the middle class. and that has a difference. toinby wrote about history, civilizations. in one of his presentations, he talked about societies and overnments that were there for creative leadership, where people could thrive and succeed. versus exploitive, exploitive situations where they were there for the rich and the powerful. that's not a good thing for a country. and that's the path that these republicans are taking us down. so very calmly, we say to them, we want to do tax reform. we want to do it in a way that is fair, that is -- that has fairness, that has simplification, that has growth, that reduces the deficit, creates good paying jobs, and keeps america number one. instead, we have a budget that they put forth that does not do that. but they misrepresen

it affects middle-class families in every state. the state that has the lowest effect on, west virginia, it still affects 17% of families. i don't have the numbers in front of me, but my guess is in kentucky, the home state of our president for the moment, president of the senate, presiding officer at the moment, is probably in the 20's. but in many states, the state and local deduction is claimed by over a third of taxpayers and amounts to tens of thousands of dollars a year in deductions. in california, 34% of taxpayers take the deduction for an average of $18,400. in new jersey, 41% of taxpayers claim state and local with an average deduction of $17,850. well, faced with this, some of our colleagues are looking for a compromise. they say, well, let's just take away the deduction for people above 100,000, 200,000, even 400,000. or they say you can choose between taking the state and local deduction or the mortgage deduction. that one's like saying taxpayer, we'll chop your right hand off or your left hand off. we're giving you the

the middle class. it is a they are saying middle-class tax cut is not true. it is wrong. when the come forth with their tax bill, we will see more clearly. what the republicans did today an open past to this assault, shake off, shakedown, a looting of the middle class. arnold torn be wrote about history assimilation nations -- of civilizations. in one of his presentations, he talked about societies and governments that were creative leadership, where people could thrive and succeed versus in situations where they were there for the rich and powerful. that is not a good thing for a country. the republicans are taking us down. we want to do tax reform. we want to do it in a way that , thatr, that has fairness has simplification, that has growth, that reduces the deficit, create good paying jobs and keeps america number one. instead, we have a budget put forth that does not do that. it isisrepresent that good for the middle class, which it is not. hopefully, when the tax bill comes up, the public will be aware of what to look for in it. know how they pay the price for wealth

murphy endorsed and that does not help the middle class. that is not building up the middle class.that is hurting the very people who need the gas tax relief the most. kim guadagno: phil murphy: this was after phil murphy: u.n. governor christie bankrupted the trust fund. and my partner way. -- 50/50 every step of the way. kim guadagno: i am you talked about sheila oliver. never forget that sheila oliver was the speaker of the assembly for every single one of the governor's budgets, and had the gadget -- the budget not been presented and announced in favor of sheila oliver and her democratic colleagues, it never would have gotten to the governor's desk. so transportation is one example, 10 credits are another example. phil murphy: i am so honored to be on the ballot with sheila. >> all right. i would like to go to our flash round where we ask for some brief answers. the flesh round. always -- flash round, always a little fun. phil murphy: mix it up. >> we will move on to the flash round. my first question is to mr. murphy. if senator menendez is convicted of a corruption, should he

we on delivering a large middle -- we are working on delivering a large middle income tax-cut to american workers, one that they deserve. reporter: the plan will add $2.2 trillion to the deficit. are they wrong? director cohn: we think they are wrong. wrong becauseare of the way they score. let's not argue that. we firmly believe that this tax plan will have a dramatic impact on economic growth. we know that 1% change in gdp led $3 trillion back. if they are right, we will only pay down $800 billion in the deficit. i will live with that. reporter: thank you. on the corporate side, your critics say on the repatriation of overseas assets as history , would show, companies do not always do so. they don't use those to invest in manufacturing. they do share buybacks and other financial engineering. how can you guarantee that will not happen this time? director cohn: we have heard that you numerous times. if that is our worst-case scenario, the company's repatriate their money and use it for share buybacks and dividends, what happens? they buy back shares, they issue dividends. they pay the rep

looting the middle class. shaking down the middle class. ripping off the middle class. increasing the sackses of the middle class. so it devastates vital investments, as our distinguished ranking member said, good paying jobs, higher wages for working families, education of our children, health of our working families. it really is a good example of what they say that medicare should wither on the vine in keeping with their trickle down economics, medicare should wither on the vine because it will take -- half a trillion dollars from medicare in their budget that will follow. so republicans will harm veterans, rural america, seniors in children, again, all in the name of fast tracking trillion-dollar tax breaks for the wealthiest 1%. 80%. what more do you need to know? 80% goes to the wealthiest 1%. again and again on the floor, the republicans have tried to tilt the playing field against hardworking families. this is really quite remarkable, though. this is a great transformative moment for america where we can reject this assault on the middle class, this addition to

♪ yousef: middle east mission, u.s.ecretary of state arrives in saudi arabia to begin a tour of the region. that includes iraq, syria and iran. catalonia crisis. the prime minister said he will dismiss the regional president and his government. that an attack on democracy and thousand to fightt on. stay with geopolitics in japan's snap election. are live in tokyo with the very latest. all options are open. opec and its allies say nothing is off the table when it comes to rebalancing the oil market. a.m. in dubai. midday in hong kong. this is "bloomberg markets: middle east." been, weekend has especially in the united states with the equity benchmarked indices hitting records. it is not so much that they are hitting records, but the pace it is being done. these are your friday closings for the s&p 500. 7% for the dow jones. the nasdaq was up 4/10 of 1%. it was not all positive because general electric tumbling after slashing the 2017 profit forecast. this goes to the story of optimism around what donald trump is doing in

we talked with our middle east editor.that has a 14, 15 year horizon, if you don't get the balance on, you will struggle to win investor confidence. let me put it in context for you. in the finance minister told ons on tuesday that they are going raisew down austerity and energy prices more gradually, the reaction is, you have different reactions. one is great, this will support the economy and is crucial, the other is itenergy prices more g, the reaction is, you have different reactions. is saudi arabia all over again. it is like past reform attempts. they don't follow through. they nibble to win the narrative battle that they can do this. yousef: we have put this up on the bloomberg for our clients. me, into the chart with 9613. it really lays out the monthly nonoil gdp year on year versus the complete headline gdp at constant prices. the nonoil gdp has grown a little bit. that is the best way to put it, but far away from levels we have seen in prior years. what are they going to do to prevent a further slowdown? that is

east given the properly seen our greatest enemies in the middle east sunni islamist terrorism are in fact the same. james speak that is u.s. relations that important with war because i mean if you if you look at all of the numbers you know russian defense spending versus the united states and nato i mean they're not even comparable i mean russia's actually cut down on defense spending people focus in on that looking for a conflict when there really isn't there peter first of all russia u.s. relations of enormous importance to russia the united states remains russia's significant other and despite that discrepancy let me present you with another discrepancy if you look. at the balances of military power in the areas where actual tensions are taking place and where differences of interest are most acute the statistics are tiley the opposite of what you have presented no will be where you you're looking at russia's border here not looking it broke water is also the border of europe now on the border of nato and in this sense this sense alone the situation is more dangerous than a cold w

i will pivot is something we care a lot about in the middle east.about energy, specifically the u.s. shall players. there is an argument that the shale story has also been a capital market story in that you have had a lot of easy financing available to those companies to keep them going. what is the financing environment able for u.s. shale players right now? have an energyou crisis, obviously oil and gas go down drastically as they did, 18-24 months ago, you see who is caught out in terms of over providing, the over providing leverage to the energy world. there ishere has been, so much capital out there you are seeing a lot of people regain access to the capital market, even the world where the prices have rebounded. we've spent a lot of time in direct access to loans to oil and gas companies that have suffered as a result of the prior collapse of prices. given the buoyancy, people are prices goingr for it in resetting capital structures based on that. given the ease with which middle market companies have been able to borrow in high-yield markets,

only 19% believe it's nor -- for the middle class. that number is going to get worse, my colleagues, just as the health care thing got worse. and the american people turn against you as we democrats shine the bright line on what it really did. you cannot govern from the hard right, as wealthy as they are, as much as they threaten you with primaries. it's not going to work. we still have a foundation of democracy here. we're still a foundation of honor and truth. and when honor and truth and sunlight hit this bill, it will crumble. now i say to some of my colleagues, we want to work with you on a good tax reform bill, one that is revenue neutral, one that doesn't favor the wealthy. we believe small businesses should get tax breaks. we believe money from overseas should come back and be used to create jobs. there are lots of things we can do in common ground without blowing a hole in the deficit, without cutting medicare and medicaid, without favoring the rich. defeat this bill, we will work with you, just as we have on health care. we

and it looks like it could be the middle class. i have heard from workers worried that cuts of contributions to their 401-k plans will ruin their retirement. i have heard from seniors worried that losing homeowners incentives will make it harder for them to stay in their homes. and i have heard from families worried that a repeal of the state and local tax deduction will increase their tax burden. in fact, we know that one third of the middle class will see their taxes increase under this plan. and the numbers show that as our constituents begin to learn more, they are realizing that this plan only cuts taxes for the wealthy and corporate middle s and leaves class families behind. that's why a reuters poll released yesterday found fewer than a third of the americans support the republican tax plan at all. this tax plan for the rich will increase the deficit by $2.2 . illion and who will pay for it? your children and their grandchildren. they will have to suffer. and who from the cuts made down along the line to education, to medica