as paul ryan and i do.dering was perfect because it did not directly contradict anything he had actually said before. paul ryan knew there was no rational economic or foreign policy case to make for the embargo, and so he didn't. but what did his pandering on the embargo win him? that rhetorical pandering? well, he was re-elected to his house seat in wisconsin where no one cared about what he said about the embargo. and he was on the bottom half of the losing presidential ticket in florida where, as it turned out, not enough people cared about his pandering for the cuban-american vote, including cuban-americans. yesterday, democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton endorseds president obama's policy and jeb bush condemned it. the benefactors of president obama's ill advised moves will be the castro brothers. they're a dictatorship and now president obama has rewarded those dictators well, like paul ryan before him, at least jeb didn't say the embargo is working. >>> patrick appears on talk shows regu

paul ryan has been doing good work in the house. i made two potential presidential candidates there. we have guys that have been around for a long time that are interested in this stuff. i think that some the most talented someone a more talented politicians in washington are paying attention because there's been a vacuum that those really interested in trying to come up with an agenda, there are frankly not a lot of places to turn. we are happy to fill that vacuum area -- vacuum. a lot of interest generated with this book and it was remarkably successful. that's what you get when you get smart guys like this working together on a project. >> on that happy note i will open up the floor. there's a microphone that will be circulated and please be good to the microphone for him please raise your hand. -- please speak into the microphone and please raise your hand for >> [indiscernible] specific about paul ryan. an article, i cannot remember it is titled "it's paul ryan too smart to run for president?" [indiscernible] and i guess my que

. >> here is paul ryan. we will explain this after we watch it. >> the left is making a big mistake. what they are offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul. the american people want more than that. this reminds me of a story i heard from eloise anderson. she serves in the cabinet of scott walker. [applause] she once met a young boy from a poor family. every day at school, he got a free lunch from a government program. he told eloise he did not want a free lunch. he wanted his own lunch, one in a brown paper bag just like the other kids. he wanted one, he said, because he knew a kid with a brown paper bag had someone who cared for him. this is what the left does not understand. >> the problem with that? >> that story was part of a speech he gave to the conservative political action conference. it was widely picked up, it was an evocative story about a boy who wants his lunch in a brown paper bag, not a government handout. i got interested in that. indeed, the woman he referred to testified before c

look at paul ryan. that was a mistake on his part. i don't think he was intentionally telling a false story. alison grimes, in that case, she knew what she was saying and she should have been alerted to the fact that it was false. she said it anyway. generally, i do not want to get into people's heads and say, this is clearly a lie. >> i did not realize there were so many ways to lie until i got onto wikipedia. under the site titled "lie", a lie is an intentionally false statement made by a person or group who knows that it is not the truth. how does that fit in with what you see going on in this town? >> i see instances where it seems like people are saying things where they should at least know they are false. that might fit the definition. >> there is such a thing is as barefaced lying, bluffing contextualizing. bad faith, as defined by sartre, is failing to acknowledge one's own ability to act and determine the possibilities falling back in the determinations of the barest various historical -- which has produced one as if they re

earlier i asked congressman paul ryan what happened. >> we basically decided to measure poverty based on inputs. how much money are we spending? how many people are we putting on these programs? we're basically managing poverty. and as a result we're perpetuating poverty. and so many of these programs end up disinsent viesing work. they say it pays not to go to work. you'll lose more in benefits than you will in wage. >> encouraging people to be dependent. >> it's a realistic assumption which if you lose more in benefits by taking the risk of going to work and not seeing kids, having a babysitter, the rational person says it doesn't work. stossel: congressman ryan came out with a new book it expands on the antipoverty thing he released months ago. what's your way forward? >> getting to work. you're implying republicans cut them off and then they'll go to work. we have programs that are going unreformed. so what we're saying is stop this bureaucracy one-size-fits-all alphabet soup of agencies trying to dictate this. bring resources back to communities and focus on the individuals -- st

>> well, paul ryan has tried very hard to be a compassionate conservative.t's by the deeds they shall know. it cuts all over the place it brought people out of poverty. we are not investing in kid, not investing in the national institutes of health. not investing in nasa. not investing anywhere. >> i assume you want to raise the minimum wage? >> of course. this whole business about somehow raising the minimum wage causes a loss of jobs. if that's true why, don't we just drop the minimum wage altogether and let people work for a dollar a day or dollar an hour. >> that's the agreement between their employer, wouldn't that create a lot of new jobs, maybe apprentices at construction sites again and somebody pumping gas at gas station, learning how to work. >> putting people to work, that's a good idea. if they're at work and can't pay bills and can't see kids. have you people with two and three jobs trying to make it. >> why not 40 bucks an hour if there's no harm. if it doesn't take jobs away. >> you can get crazy like that. that doesn't make sense, what makes

so, i think it's either paul ryan or rand paulings interestingly enough, is not a shouter.im at san francisco at a tech conference a couple months ago. and he charmed absolutely everyone. and so you know it's going to come from the midwest. finally going to have its moment in republican politics. >> we should point out you're a midwest guy, right? >> yes. >> and you and you. >> there we go. >> all right. economy, let's move on to there. i think we'd have to say jason, the economy ending the year strong. >> i'm very bullish, chris. yes, 5% growth in the third quarter. consumer spending is up. i could see gdp around 3% in 2015. on unemployment it could get as low as 5%. i think the dow could reach as high as 19,000. >> wow. buy. susan? >> i would say we should curb the feeling about russia's economic problems because it's going to be a big problem for european economies. that will have an affect on our growth as well next year. >> so, you're saying jason's wrong in his -- >> i hope jason is right. but i'm saying that this is a -- while the economic news is generally good for

. >> paul ryan is keeping his children close. his 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old twin boys as details emerge of the horrific assault their mother suffered. police believe a female assail ant disguised in a robe lure her into a bathroom, repeatedly stabbed her because she was american. the family wants her to be remembered as a kind teacher that worked with special needs kids. on a facebook page, they say she made the world a better place. >> she would never hurt anybody, ever. she had a bubbly personality, always positive, optimistic about life. >> your ex-wife was targeted for no reason other than she was an american. >> other than she was a westerner i would say. this lady -- i shouldn't call her a lady -- this monster of a person was waiting for her. someone like her to come along in an hour in the bathroom. it was my kid's mother. >> the twin boys were with her at the mall. they waited for an hour not knowing what had happened. >> they're coping. they are a very strong and stoic family. it's going to take them a very, v

replacing a better-known paul ryan. what is going to be tom price's role in the budget? >> he does have a tough act to follow. paul ryan has written a budget for four straight years with this republican majority in the house. it adjusts for economic conditions and the opportunity to balance. his budget is going to keep the mystic spending platforms flat, depending on whether it is for agencies or medicare, and he is going to try to balance it in 10 years. role is to manage that process by educating members of congress and coordinating staff work to get it done. thesend dealing with senate, which is a whole different animal than the house. he is smart and articulate, which are two of the qualities he needs. his political judgment is large and intensive. >> we have seen the fight rake out in the republican party over the budget. what is it going to be like? what do you hear about these new candidates about getting on board? >> the civil war will be interesting for these first few months. most important thing was how it became the republican defective platform going into th

. >> paul ryan is keeping his children close, his 13-year-old and 11-year-old twin boys as details emerge of the horrific assault their mother suffered. police believe a female assailant disguise nd a robe lured her into a mall bathroom and repeatedly stabbed her simply because she was a american. the family wants her to remember she works with special needs kids. >> she would never hurt anybody ever. she had a doubly personality. always positive, optimistic about life. >> your ex-wife was targeted for no reason whatsoever other than she was an american. >> other than she was a werner, i will say. this lady, i shouldn't even call her a lady, this monster of a person was lying in wait for her. someone like her to come along for an hour in the bathroom. unfortunately, it was my kids' mother. >> the twin boys were with her at the mall. they waited for an hour not knowing what had happened. >> they are coping. they are a very strong and they are very stoic family. it's going to take them a very, very long time to process this. >> police acted swiftly. a woman was arrested last week and the ro

you can imagine. >> paul ryan is keeping them close.d twin boys as details emerge of the horrific assaults their mother suffered. police believe a female assailant lured her into a mall bathroom and repeatedly stabbed her simply because she was an american. her family want her remembered as a kind teacher who worked with special needs kids. on her facebook tribute page, the family say simply, she made the world a better place. >> she would never hurt anybody ever. she had a bubbly personality, always positive, optimistic. about life. your ex-wife was targeted for no reason whatsoever other than she was an american? >> other than she was a westerner, i would say. this lady, i shouldn't even call her a lady, this monster of a person was lying in wait for her. someone like her to come along for an hour in the bathroom. unfortunately, it was my kids' mother. >> the twin boys were with her at the mall. they waited for an hour not knowing what had happened. >> they're coping. they're very strong and stoic family. it's going to take them a ver

. >> paul ryan might run, yes or no? >> might run? yes.is not exactly news. >> dan senor, thank you. tribute to stephen colbert. ♪ >> 110th street is considered the beginning of the end. stephen colbert, the most successful parody in television history, is dying. there is a week-long obituary being written on bloomberg.com. >> i'm standing outside the 54th street studio of the colbert report, where it will go to dark this week to prepare for stephen colbert to take over for david letterman. colbert has been more of a whimsical satirist than an angry activist. truthiness. his ability to explain orwellian language from the beginning first episode. >> anyone can read the news to you. i promise to feel the news at you. >> the correspondent dinner. colbert became the darling of the left at the white house correspondents dinner. he used his right-wing character to mock the bush administration. >> guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. we know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in real

>> first of all, paul ryan is on the ways and means committee. he is the incoming chairman so he'll be succeeding me. he was part of putting that plan together. he knows it very well. and, look. a new committee, new congress, they're going to look at things in a different way. we did learn things through that process that you might adjust. because revenue to the government went up 700 billion under this bill, you could make some different trade-offs. you could lower rates more. you could use it to pay down debt. you could adjust some of the provisions i make. what he is saying there is we're going to take a look at this. we're a new committee. some of the same people but a new congress. a new chairman. and i am convinced that he is going to draw very heavily on the work that had been done because he did some of it. >> how does chairmanship term limits look to you now that you're coming to them in this process? >> i wouldn't change anything. the wrinkle this time was that the time as ranking member counted in the six-year term limit. i was actuall

the conference continued to today, we heard from paul ryan and portman. portman is out.ho will be establishment candidates be? >> chris christie is going to run. i think jeb bush, even though he is opening up his playbook a little, i am not totally convinced he will do this. the question is kasich and romney. if bush runs, romney probably does. it is christie versus bush most likely. >> if we did christie versus bush or christie versus romney those are ferocious fight. i agree. even though jeb bush lead you to believe he is seriously thinking about it, i'm still hearing from a lot of people that he is ambivalent. a lot of people around him still don't know what he is going to do. i will say this. it is hard for me to see romney going after christie. it is hard for me to see the entire establishment being happy with christie. i have said since bridge gate receded a little bit, he is an undervalued stock, he is a strong establishment candidate who will raise a decent amount of money. but some other establishment candidate will get in the race. i don't thinkkasich will run.

house weighs and means chairman paul ryan laid out his vision to slash the corporate tax rate to 25%, while acknowledging a larger overhaul was unlikely with barack obama in the white house. senator rand paul sometimes branded as an isolationist says he is really in the mainstream on foreign policy, despite being reluctant to engage in military action overseas. >> every time we have toppled a secular dictator, it's been replaced by chaos and the rise of radical islam. look at hillary's war. if you look at hillary's war in libya, what has happened? it's chaotic there. in iowa about a month ago they asked ordinary republicans do you agree more with john mccain and more intervention or do you agree more with rand paul and less intervention? i think that's great way to put it because i'm not talking about all or none. i'm not talking about no intervention. i think we do need to intervene with isis right now. i do fwrae with less. we're everywhere all the time. we're about to bankrupt our country, and that there is great danger to away we've been doing. i want less. mccain wants more. he w

but we should note, both paul ryan and joe biden were on congressional tickets while they ran for viceis selling a limited edition hat that has an engraved medallion bearing his signature. it will cost you 72 bucks. >>> school curriculum probably looked like this. math, english, science. how about adding soccer to the mix? that's what is happening in china. the president there was so humiliated when his country did not qualify for the world cup, he is now forcing students to play in hopes of turning china into an international soccer powerhouse. >>> and that's your morning dish of scrambled politics. >>> joining me now from washington, syndicated columnist bob franken. great to see you, bob. >> about the president's hebrew, it is funny, he doesn't look jewish. >> he doesn't. but, like he said, he gets an a for effort. >> he did. but, you know, you have to compare that to the wisconsin governor who instead of mazel tov says molotov. >> that's a big gaffe. the president's decision to shift policy towards cuba, we want to start with that. do you think this will trigger change in cuba? >>

congressman paul ryan and vp joe biden each ran on two ballots during their respective bids for the vicehe popular show "seventh heaven" admitted to sexual misconduct with three women who were minors at the time of the incidents. in a statement to "people ," he said, quote, 40 years ago i did something terribly wrong that i deeply regret. i've been working to atone for it ever since. he spoke to katie couric in an interview for yahoo! news. >> this came out. i didn't choose this to come out. i didn't want to have to deal with these things publicly. i had dealt with them very, very strongly and committedly in my private life. but i think i'm a human being with flaws and i have done everything i can to address them. >> collins tells "people" he's apologized to one of the three women, but does not want to further victimize the others by contacting them. he's speaking out after a recording of him discussing the abuse was -- by tmz. we asked you, do you think sony should have pulled the movie the interview from the theaters or really caved to what the hackers wanted all along? justine is stan

you have paul ryan coming in at the house. you have a new team with the same issue. >> you can follow richard rubin on twitter. you can also follow his reporting at bloomberg news. thanks a lot for joining us. >> on the next washington journal, congressman kevin brady on the government funding deadline and efforts to pass tax extenders before the end of the year. marylanden cardin of discusses the president's immigration plan, efforts to stop racial profiling, and the work left for congress before the christmas break. your calls and comments live every morning on washington journal. you can also join the conversation on facebook and twitter. wednesday, british prime minister david cameron takes questions from members of parliament during prime minister's question time in the british house of commons. you can see it live on c-span two. next, senator rand paul and outgoing foreign relations committee chair senator bob menendez discuss u.s. foreign policy issues, including the fight against isis, the russia-ukraine conflict, iran

nasa's paul ryan spacecraft made a bull's-eye splashdown in the pacific ocean following a test flighthat ushered in a new era of human and ration aiming for mark -- human exploration aiming for mars. ♪ 1.5, 4, 3, 2, and lift off. at dawn. and a new eraion of american space exploration. and separation. separation -- [indiscernible] ♪ >> we are tracking straight down the corridor, on target for splashdown in the pacific ocean. 50,000 feet -- 15,000 feet until splashdown. we have splashdown. splashdown confirmed. >> president obama is calling ashton carter one of america's foremost national security leaders. the president nominated carter as the u.s. secretary of defense . he was the deputy secretary of defense from 2011 until 2013 and was the pentagon's technology and weapons buying chief. if confirmed by the senate, he chuck hagel who resigned last month under pressure from the president. the chair of the foreign relations committee next month has signaled he will move slowly on iran. the tennessee republican said of his party should move cautiously as the assume the majority powers in

&lÑqñbri congressman paul ryan. >> you know where we're trying to go.u >> congressman paul ryan, thankon this week with the u.s. house having finished its business lastanq ñéñweek. the senate fresh from approving a $1.1t trillion spending bill iso;ue6dl wrapping up their work with the extension of the executive -- a3d4d(you can watch the senate life on cspan 2, of course see the housevw n onn9á >>> this week on q & a author and town hall.coml")c÷ editor katie .kbfz;uj pavlich on what she pe( liberals and theirza izéw rhetoric. >> as you say it goes back to ted kennedy? >> it goes back to where the ki,.t&háhp &hc% idea for$y this book&k came frok was the 2002 convention when they were showing this tribute video because he portraying him as a'cf women's rights champion when he leftíhcj a young woman to drown. p,9 his car. and if he had not gone back for nine hours and tried to save his÷gywg own behind, she would have probablyt @uÑ xsúo÷auzá(vived. and you can't do an entire video=lt at aág.ç convention claiming to be preaching andj7pur'g about the war on women and glorify someone like th

ted cruz and paul ryan weighed in as well. but all eyes were on former florida governor jeb bush, who confirms he's thinking about actively exploring, thinking about running for president, which sets us up for the year of the dynasty, with hillary clinton dominating the democratic speculation and bush on the other side. bush, clinton, where have we heard this before, karen? >> what do you mean? if they both get their nominations, it would wil have been 24 years over the last bush and clinton race. gwen: in that case is, let's try it again. >> it's interesting. i went back and did the math. if you're 38 years old or younger, you had lived through only one national election in your lifetime where there has not been a bush or a clinton and/or a clinton either running for president or on the ticket as vice president. gwen: that means none of us remember. all 38 and younger. yeah, i saw that coming. go ahead. >> it's just really extraordinary the degree to which these two families have come to dominate politics in a country that af

paul ryan says if you are 55 or over there will be no change. younger, there will be changes. i am completely open to the idea that higher income people get lesser social security benefits. , which political movement, which philosophy can put in changes, the reforms that will sustain it and make it efficient and helped the most people? host: we will go to robert next. missouri, republican caller. caller: good morning. i would like to ask peter two questions. why with the gas going down the way it is and the economy picking up, why can we this money that we are saving and put it on the deck? bring the debt down. i am 81 years old, and before i die, i would like to see america out of debt. buy go out here and something and overspend my budget, i go to jail. what in the world is wrong with americans? number two question i have to ask peter -- we are fighting a whole new ballgame now on retired military. a whole new ballgame when we are fighting isis. i've are rather fight them over there than in america. why can't these politicians get together? why can't they get together and pa

here's sort of the level that will be spent at the federal level, it was set last year with the paul ryan/patty comprise. some conservatives who have argued. hey, we should start afresh in 2015. and set a new baseline for spending because the democrats were defeated at the polls. gerri: doesn't this rebound negatively to republicans. no matter who was in the wrong, if things don't get done, it seems like the general public blames the republicans. >> certainly if you look at polling in regard to a shutdown that looks to be averted, that generally does hurt republicans, even if it's not really -- you can make an argument it's not their fault. if we have a similar fight sometime next year, you'll at least have a united republican congress up against the president who will be potentially vetoing bills and that sort of thing. it's a cleaner method to go down that route. elizabeth warren, she was hopping mad about what she said is sort of gutting a provision of dodd-frank she was behind. she was threatening to play sort of the democrat's version of ted cruz this time around. she just couldn't g

they treated paul ryan as lucifer. i tell people, especially young people, we're a few years off from more than half of our budget going to interest payments on the debt. imagine people at home dealing with interest on the bills and half of their money is paying off interest, not even the minimum balance, but interest on the visa bill, and i'm leaving out their mortgage. game over. yet this game continues. >> well, it does. and we as parents tell our children, no, you can't have that. no, we can't afford that. we're able to put this discipline in our personal lives, we go to the ballot box and say, yes, we want more. neil: we all think it's due for us. if i ran for office, there would be no bacon, no bull, i wouldn't give you anything because i would remind people how deep we are in the red. if you don't have any money in the pot, you can't spend anything at all no matter the intentions. >> we keep saying, let's tax the rich. you have 400 people -- 400 individuals paying as much as the bottom 50 percent of all taxpayer

i think it is either paul ryan or rand paul who interestingly enough is not a shouter.l conference and he charged everyone. it is going do come from the midwest. finally going to have the moment in republican politics. >> you are a midwest guy. >> i am, too. >> as am i. >> economy. we will move on to there. we have to say, jason, the economy is ending strong. ai am bullish 5 percent growth in the third quarter and consumer spending is up and g.m. could be around 3 percent in 2015 and unemployment could be as low as 5 percent and the dow could reach up to 19000. >> i would say we should curb the feelings of the russian problems will be a problem for european economy and it will have an effect on our growth next year. >> you are saying jason is wrong. >> i hope jason is right but i am saying this is, the economy news is generally good for the united states and we are doing well compared to the rest of the world there is a cloud on the horizon. >> i think if we see continued growth, i expect we will but if we see it, it will come in fits and starts and what sounds reasonab

. >> paul ryan has pretty blue eyes.ncer that the. >> of course you would. you are a typical #democrat #resign. >> at jason in the house, you are proof that this country has gone to hell in a hand basket. >> yoited @ fullwell. it's important to take your. >> @ rep kinzinger damn, you suck. thank you. >> that is "special report" for tonight. happy new year to my family. happy new year to awful your family. no jakub line show tonight. i'm ed henry. good night from washington. "on the record" starts right now. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> we are live from the united states capitol building. we are live at the. i'm at the officer's memorial from houston, texas. >> washington, d.c. from new york city. were you a cub scout? >> i was a cub. >> were you any good? >> no. but i was a cub and guess hot den mother was. i. >> i hate to guess it was your mother? >> sounds like a ham sandwich to me. >> i couldn't agree with you more greta. >> pretty good. room for improvement. >> you'll come back. >> i don't know. it's a very short interview. >> welcome t

i've been quite impressed with paul ryan. i've talked to him several times as he met with black and hispanic grassroots organizations. he's the closest to jack kemp these days. jack kemp is my kind of republican. he was a guy who believed in working with grassroots people and getting out, and before you start talking, listen, listen to people, find out what they want and how can the party responded to that with an alternate idea what the other party. i would love to see a return of healthy debate, we are always from that yet. but in the meantime we've got the upcoming midterms. i don't see democrats pulling together. this goes back to the fragmentation of our society. i used to hate machine politics. i we were the first mayor daley, richard the first as we called it in chicago. he used to say it's not a machine, it's an organization, right? but i see what is organized politics did. today -- welcome back in those days television replaced the mission. somebody said tv is mayor daley's favorite precinct captain. today, the inter

. >> big donors, like paul ryan is undoubtedly will pull out now. chris christie has a big problem because, they were going after the same money. so i think this is really -- >> heard ken langone on cnbc other today. >> not familiar with that network. >> that is where he made the statement. supports chris christie wholeheartedly but i like jeb bush too. >> everybody says that. >> but you can really see that but he was the biggest chris christie backer. for him to put jeb in the same sentence he is ready to go if jeb runs. i'm not sure he is going to run. >> this thing today that was -- >> too weird. melissa: i think that was it. >> what did you say him running? melissa: that would be too direct for politician. who says things that directly? president obama's veto pen not longer scarying tool in washington. a giant drone-hunting blimp patrolling city skies start on friday. i don't know if this is big surprise. this is giant drone-hunting blimp. >> what that mean? melissa: stays up for month at a time. uses radar to detect among other potential threat

benefits for working moms at k paul ryan mg. >> kohl's and chik-fil-a. >> that was my high school job, actually. >> happy new year. if tv doesn't work out -- >> i can go back to chik-fil-a. >> don't miss cheryl on the fox business network. if you can't find it log on to fox business.com/channel finder. let's go now to john scott in for shepherd smith reporting. he is in the studio right next door to us over here to the right. hi there, john. >> hi and i love chik-fil-a. >> the flu has already killed at least 15 children this year, according to the centers for disease control and prevention. officials say one particularly severe form of the virus is to blame for about 90% of flu cases so far. the bad news, it is want well covered by the flu shot, but there are some things you can do to try to stay healthy this winter. we'll have that and all the day's news in the next hour. heather. >> we'll be watching. bill de blasio sitting down this afternoon with leaders. he is trying to mend strained relations in the murders of two of new york city ace finest. a shocking new report sheds light on

. >>> there are some politicians, one in particular paul ryan, that would call a guy like you a takert i've taken in my life? i've taken a lot of bull [ bleep ]. if they say i'm a taker for unemployment because my job is not there at this moment for me to work in the state of ohio i have to put in two applications a week to try to find a job. i just paid money out of my pocket which it's already tight so i can send my resume to places. you know i'm not a taker. i just want to be taken advantage of. >> doesn't it infuriate you what washington is doing? >> yeah. i wonder who makes these decisions here. >> we need public servants that are worried about taking care of the public and not special interests. that's what it comes down to. you turn on the tv every day. we're talking about takers and entitlements. well, if it is not for good paying jobs and investment in this country, it's important. it's an important environment for structure. where are we going to be in ten years, 15 years, what kinds of opportunities will my kids have? it's not even getting to the point where we're talking a

paul ryan, 11.2, then chris christie and rand paul ti, tied 10.8%.e's right in the top three category. >> i would argue that's because he hasn't been attacked yet. >> all that bridgegate stuff for months -- >> he can't truly been attacked in the context of the 2016 presidential election. when people are paying attention, when people are focused. and there is no way people want this bad, this is the plum, these guys have been fighting for this their whole life. so the notion that they're not going to dig up more dirt on him and leak things through opposition research, when this stuff gets tight, that's going to happen. and this investigation, these indictments are just giving them such low-think hanging fruit. >> and i think it always matters who is doing the attacking. it's one thing from the left wing, and it's another thing with the republicans do it. remember, the very best interpretation for him, the best argument, he can make, i'm such an incompetent leader, i had no idea this was going on. that's the best case scenario. worst case scenario, he'

the manner of how we do that is clear for people like paul ryan and orrin hatch but i don't know how clear it will be for this administration but we will see what we can do to get that. we have to remember that we cannot endure the -- ignore the individual side of the code. perhaps that is not achievable with this president because he likes higher tax rates which i thinks hurt economic growth. if we can get halfway toward comprehensive tax reform, that's a good step in the right direction. host: congressman, what you think? four years on the ways and means committee, you hear chairman brian advancing that and a serious way over the next session and that's encouraging. we got some challenges we don't think the president will engage in a meaningful way which would be incredibly helpful. nonetheless, we are going to continue to advance program growth tax reform and lowering the business rates. we think we should also lower the small business rates as well which ties to the individual side and that makes it more justcult as chairman ryan alluded to. our tax code is broken and we are so n

let's not make too much of this facebook post because paul ryan has a leadership pac, marco rubio has a leadership pac, rand paul, rick perry is meeting this week every night with bundlers in austin where he's having them in for dinner. we have santorum exploring, huckabee, there's 22 people. >> is that the actual number? >> it was 23 until rob portman said, i'm not going to run. but there are 22 who are talking about it. virtually every one is taking steps that would indicate they're seriously contemplating it and doing things -- maybe haven't gotten into the final decision. >> because you're so closely aligned with the bush family and you served george w. bush, are you supporting jeb bush? >> i'm sitting on the sidelines. i do know this from my association with the bushes. he said i will not make a decision -- i was at the beginning the one employee of the bush prepresidential campaign, our chairman was james a. baker iii, a young houston attorney. but the senior bush said, i'm not going to make a decision until after the 1978 election. and he didn't. then george bush said i won't m

because the most important committee, the ways and means committee is in the way of a grown up paul ryan and i think he will move it forward. >> thank you, panel. see you next sunday. >>> up next, our power player of the week. the man who made mitch mcconnell the next senate majority leader. >>> when we started the power player segment 11 years ago the idea was to introduce you to some of the people that make washington interesting and with that in mind, here's the power player of the week. >> well, you know, you had your signature accomplishments, kind of hard to ignore that. >> reporter: josh holmes is talking about the role he played in the big republican victory this year. he was a major factor in getting mitch mcconnell re-elected and making him the new senate majority leader. >> to my campaign manager josh holmes. my friends he pitched a perfect game. thank you, josh. >> reporter: holmes has worked for mcconnell for seven years, becoming his chief of staff and his campaign manager. >> we have a give and take on almost everything. at the end of a campaign like this, you're not finis

assuming we pass, as i think we should pass, a bill consistent with the paul ryan and senator murraygreement that was passed by the congress overwhelmingly on a partisan fashion, assuming we stay within those constraints, which we have to don't with the agreement, then i think we are doing what in a bipartisan, overwhelming fashion, congress said it would do. the issue, as you well know, whether or not they're going to add in extraneous issues into the appropriation bill, which may make it -- >> let's assume they don't do that. every party threatens that. let's say the republicans agree to it, let's get an extension that will take us to the new congress because it's going to be a whole new bunch, including a whole new senate. what would you say? >> i would say that that undermines the confidence of the people running programs in government, good, bad or indifferent. >> instant wouldn't. just be reflecting the reality of the will of the people in the election and then the board would be on both parties then under the new makeup and the new senate and house. >> neil, as you know, we ar