Mike Pence:                I'm very pleased to be joined this morning by Congressman Robert Aderholt, my colleague from Alabama.  He is a ranking member of the Leg. Branch Appropriations Subcommittee and a long time Appropriator, I think elected in 1996?
 
Robert Aderholt:         '96.
 
Mike Pence:                Is that correct?  So, I asked him to join us because, both looking backwards at last week and forward at what was to be on a legislative schedule this week, I thought it would benefit all of us to have an experienced and senior appropriator in the conversation and I hope it's helpful.
 
                                    I hope you've taken advantage of the popcorn.  It's the pen, pad and popcorn is the official title of this briefing.  This is really meant to be - of course, all of this will be on the record, I should remind my colleague, but, really, our effort here is to be more service oriented and just try and give you a sense of the lay of the land as we see it.  And I'll also say that after a few brief thoughts I'll give, we can just roll right to questions and I always - we're all still learning names here.  So, if you can share your first name and who you're with, that's very welcome.  If we don't like the question, we'll need your social security number and current address and - that was a joke.
 
Female:                       Don't you guys already have that though?
 
Mike Pence:                Yeah.  No.  No, we don't.  Let me say that this is a very serious time in the life of the nation.  Our nation is in a recession.  Millions of American families are hurting.  Many have lost their jobs, many millions more worried that they're going to be next and House Republicans unanimously believe that Congress and the President are right to call for action to stimulate this economy.  But, last week, House Republicans unanimously rejected the stimulus bill brought to the floor by the Democratic leadership and we urge our Senate colleagues to do likewise.  House Republicans unanimously opposed the Democrats bill for a number of reasons.
 
Number one, we believe the bill brought to the floor by House Democrats was not about stimulating the economy; it was about stimulating more debt and more government.  We believe the bill included wasteful government spending that has nothing to do with creating jobs.  We believe that average Americans and leading economists are catching on and we believe that Republicans have a better solution.  Tax relief for working families and small businesses, which using the economic model developed by President Obama's senior economic team, the Republican plan would create twice the number of jobs, some 6 million jobs, according to the econometric model at half the cost.  So, we believe, for those reasons, among others, that House Republicans rejected this legislation.
 
Let me say emphatically that last week's vote was about principle, not politics.  House Republicans simply have a principled objection to the approach to stimulus being advanced by the Democratic leadership of the House.  House Republicans know, as most Americans do, that we cannot borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy; that the most time honored, proven means to get this economy moving again is by giving working families and small businesses more of their hard earned dollars to invest.
 
With that, I mentioned unrelated aspects of this bill, examples of wasteful government spending, all go to the House floor today and I expect, even though the bill passed the House last week, I think you can anticipate House Republicans are going to stay in this debate on the floor and on the airwaves in the days ahead.  And we believe the American people are with us.  The recent polling suggests that support for the so-called stimulus bill is dropping and we believe that's because the American people are, every day, learning more and more about what's in this legislation.
 
A couple of examples, $20 million for the removal of small to medium sized fish passage barriers; $25 million to rehabilitate off roading ATV trails; $34 million to remodel the Department of Commerce Headquarters; $70 million to support super-computing activities for climate research.  These are just some of the examples that have Americans and many economists asking the question, "What's that got to do with stimulus?" and Republicans are gonna continue to ask these questions.  We're gonna ask them respectfully, but consistently and vigorously as this debate goes forward.
 
Let me say one other item.  We had anticipated a debate on the Omnibus bill from last year coming to the floor.  There was some estimates that it would be upwards to $500 billion and I know I speak for my colleague and for all House Republicans when I say that we urge the Democratic leadership and Chairman Obey to release that bill to the public.  For whatever reason, the bill has been delayed.  We believe this is an opportunity for even greater public scrutiny and we, today, are urging Chairman Obey and the Democratic leadership to make the Omnibus bill available to the public, on the internet and to the media so that it can be examined.  We can use this additional time to make sure the American people know, both the broad outlines and the specific details of the next massive government spending bill.
 
Robert Aderholt:         Let me just say one thing here -
 
Mike Pence:                Please.
 
Robert Aderholt:         - in regard to the - on the Omnibus and, of course, we're just learning that the - has been pulled for this week; but, if there is, I don't know what, really, if it's a scheduling problem in this - that they cannot bring the Omnibus to the floor this week.  As Chairman Pence says, if we can go ahead and put it on the internet and let everyone be looking at it, seeing what it is, I think that would be an excellent thing for us to forward on.  There's - the problem with this omnibus is there has been no regular order with this legislation and there have not been, really, any hearings; and quite honestly, it's - from an appropriator's standpoint, I am surprised that Chairman Obey and a lot of the Democrat members have been willing to, you know, support this in a sense that they have not had, seems like, any concerns about the lack of regular order and that's what, of course, Chairman Obey has always talked about - regular order with these bills.  So, that's something that has been of a great concern to us and we are - think that, at least, if we can get the bill on the internet, get it made to the public, so that when it - it can be brought to the floor as soon as possible.
 
Mike Pence:                Questions?
 
Female:                       Do you have a copy of the bill?
 
Robert Aderholt:         No.
 
Female:                       The Republicans don't have a copy?
 
Robert Aderholt:         Not that I'm aware of.
 
Mike Pence:                Staff?  We've got leadership staff in the room, ours and the leaders, and the answer is no.
 
Mike Pence:                Well, you know, we take President Obama at his word; that he wants to bring a new era of transparency to the process of developing the nation's laws and spending the people's money.
 
Robert Aderholt:         And, sometimes, we're concerned if the House side didn't get the memo on that, so -
 
[Laughter]
 
Mike Pence:                Well, we're - I - this is an opportunity.  Whatever the reason for the delay - and we don't know the reason for the delay, we just know the bill was pulled for this week - this is an opportunity to at least give the American people and members of the Fourth Estate and members of the Loyal Opposition, you know, sufficient amount of time to examine what's in the bill.  Please?
 
Male:                           I wanna ask you, I guess, the same question as Mr. Hoyer, last hour here.  What is your guys' definition of bipartisanship?  You're hearing so much about bipartisanship from both sides, I'd asked Mr. Hoyer, I said, "Well, does that mean, you know, all through the bill, so you court some Republicans and insatiate some of your demands?  Is bipartisanship putting three Republicans in your cabinet?  What is - define bipartisanship to me."
 
Mike Pence:                Robert?
 
Robert Aderholt:         Well, I think bipartisanship can be defined in a number of ways and, certainly, the gesture on the part of the Presidents as far as the Republicans in the cabinet, I think, is, you know, is a positive move and that's not to be taken lightly.  But, also, I think in the legislative side of things, you know, there needs to be more bipartisanship, especially as we mentioned on the House side and allowing regular order in these hearings, I think, would be a good gesture and a good first move towards trying to afford with bipartisanship from that standpoint.
 
                                    So, I mean, there have certainly been some things that the President - President Obama - has done in trying to move in that direction, but I think there's more things that could be done on the legislative side.
 
Mike Pence:                I think that - I think this is really a very interesting question.  I noted that Speaker Pelosi, who I greatly respect, said on a Sunday morning show a week ago when asked about the lack of bipartisan input in the development of the stimulus bill, I believe her response, and please confirm this.  I didn't memorize her response, but I believe her response was something along the order of, "Well, it's not like they didn't have a chance to vote on it."
 
Well, bipartisanship should mean more than giving Republicans the opportunity to vote for Democrat bills.  We define bipartisanship as taking President Obama at his word, that, at least with regard to this stimulus, he challenged the Congress to bring together the best minds and the best ideas from both side of the aisle and come up with a legislative proposal that reflected a balance between the offerings of both parties and instead, what we saw last week, and I think that the unanimous opposition Republicans registered to it was reflective of this, what came to the floor last week was not a bipartisan bill; it was a partisan bill that completely ignored President Obama's call for cooperation and compromise.
 
Robert Aderholt:         And let me just inject there.  When the President came, was it last week, to the conference and spoke, I felt, really, there was a sincere, on his part, of trying to be a bipartisan and to try to do things in a bipartisan manner and - but, he doesn't speak for the House and Senate and - or he doesn't control what the House and Senate does and so, therefore, I think that's why he needs to just talk with the House and Senate leaders and make sure they understand that he wants his administration to be and more of that capacity.  And so, therefore, I just wanna say I think that he has made several gestures, but I think that the House and Senate could do that.
 
Male:                           But, if I could follow up - can I follow up, just real brief?
 
Mike Pence:               Sure and then we'll go down there.
 
Male:                           I mean, you said the Democrats, you know, shouldn't be bringing - giving Democrats and Republicans the opportunity to vote for Democrats bills.  When Republicans were in charge, do you ____ you gave Democrats the opportunity more than just to vote for Republican bills?
 
Mike Pence:               Well, let me yield to the gentleman from Alabama about how appropriations bills were formulated during Republican control of the committee.
 
Robert Aderholt:         Well, usually there was always regular order as far as always have hearings on the legislation and so, I don't know, there were times that in the appropriations committee that the Republicans lost on some committee votes and, you know, that was - but, the bills were not held up or pulled because of that.  And, but, just like even if the Republicans are majority, I think that having a fair on each side of the table from the Republican standpoint and the Democrat standpoint, let ‘em have a fair bite of the apple, I think, is completely fair and any time that I would be - I would criticize a Republican for acting in the same manner.  So, I certainly don't think this is a one way street that the Republicans don't have to bipartisan and the Democrats do.
 
Mike Pence:                And it's fairly astonishing that a bill that essentially is equal to the entire discretionary annual budget of the federal government was brought to the floor without a hearing.  Unless I stand corrected, I don't believe there was a hearing on this bill.  I don't believe -
 
Robert Aderholt:         We went - it went straight to the appropriations committee and it was marked up in one session, which most of you all probably followed and -
 
Mike Pence:                I'm saying bipartisanship starts, as the President demonstrated a week ago today, bipartisan starts with listening.  Yes, sir?
 
Male:                           Yes, to go back to something you said earlier, are you urging all Senate Republicans to vote against Senators on the stimulus and secondly - could you clarify that?  And then, secondly, how do you feel about some of the amendments that are being considered in the Senate, which will, for example, increase infrastructure spending and cut items that don't stimulate the economy, etcetera?
 
Mike Pence:                Well, we're monitoring the amendment process very carefully.  I know that the policy shop at conference is going to be working very closely with the leader's office to comment on and, otherwise, encourage amendments that we believe are meritorious, but we are urging our Senate colleagues to join every House Republican in opposing this bill because it's not about particular elements of the bill; it's about the overall approach.  House Republicans simply do not believe that we can borrow and spend our way back to a growing economy; and what the Democrats brought forward here was a wish list of dusty old liberal priorities and under the guise of a stimulus bill, brought legislation to the floor that looked, frankly, more like a traditional Omnibus spending bill than like any previous stimulus legislation.  I think that that's one of the reasons why you've got people like Martin Feldstein, who'd previously supported a call for a stimulus bill, reverse out on Thursday and describe this legislation as an $800 billion mistake.
 
Male:                           Do you have a - there's been talk last week and some amendments and proposals last week about trying to further on that executive compensation, $18.4 billion in bonuses after the latest bailout, and I was wondering if you supported any of those efforts, if you had any thoughts, and if you're hearing from your constituents on executive compensation or any other parts of it?
 
Mike Pence:                Well, I was offended as an American to learn of the near record bonuses distributed by many of the Wall Street firms that benefited from the banking bailout, but I do see it as a natural consequence to bailout legislation.  That's one of the reasons I vigorously opposed the banking bailout last fall.  I don't know exactly how you can invest taxpayer money in private organizations and insure that those resources are not used or spent in ways that are - would be objectionable to taxpayers.  I mean, the buying of Lear jets, the record bonuses, Superbowl parties, was not what the American people thought they were subsidizing last fall; but, to take the approach that both the previous and the current administration are taking to the crisis in our financial markets is to set into motion the kind of investment of taxpayers that makes that inevitable.
 
                                    Now, you know, will there - you know, I'll defer you to, you know, my colleague and others as to whether or not they'll be legislation.  We'll take it as it comes and we'll consider supporting it as it comes, but I have to tell you that all of it, to me, is an argument for why we shouldn't have put taxpayer dollars into private financial institutions to begin with.  And, I don't know if you have a comment.
 
Robert Aderholt:         Yeah, well, I was just gonna say that I think most, even last Fall, the feedback that I was getting from just constituents and others that some of the bonuses that were paid were completely out of line and that, you know, I think everybody believes in fair compensation for those that do the work, but the bonuses and some of the examples that were given last fall that we saw leading up to the bailout bill was just, you know, where someone - some of the folks had been there for a matter of weeks and came away with millions of dollars, and I think the American people were very negative on that and the feedback that we were getting from - and from our constituents that that was a real, you know - that was something that would just not be appropriate.  Even those that think the government should, you know, be hands off, generally speaking, you know, if there was gonna be any bailout program, that they wanna make sure that the appropriate money was going to the appropriate deeds that were accomplished by the executives.
 
Mike Pence:                Maureen?
 
Female:                       One of the first amendments the Senate is taking up is on the re-patriation issue where lowering the tax rate for companies who bring back in foreign earnings and there's a question about whether, when Congress passed that in 2004, whether companies that brought back foreign earnings did add jobs and I'm wondering if that tax cut is one that you think is simulative and would add jobs or whether you think it should not be part of the ____ bill?
 
Mike Pence:                I'm not completely versed on it, but if it's the - is it an amendment to add that into the bill?
 
Female:                       Yeah.
 
Mike Pence:                Okay.  Well, I do know that that's something that, during the bailout debate, that was among the tax relief proposals that were in the Republican alternative.  We really believe that -
 
Female:                       _______ most of it?
 
Mike Pence:                No, the bailout debate.
 
Female:                       The bailout?
 
Mike Pence:                Yeah.  Remember, we're Republicans.  It wasn't quite as -
 
Female:                       Right.
 
Mike Pence:                - noticed, but we had a working group.
 
[Laughter]
 
                                    Yeah, not to where you noticed, but we had a working group that, actually, they did outstanding work; developed an FDIC style insurance, but we had a tax.  What we did, instead of going to Main Street for $700 billion to bail out Wall Street, we financed it with a suspension or a significant reduction of the re-patriation tax, which some estimates put at several hundreds of billions of dollars that would flow immediately back into the economy in liquidity.  So, I would support that conceptually, but I'd wanna see the amendment.
 
Female:                       Eli Lilly and I spoke to them yester - or last week about it and said, "Well, would - is there" - they're backing this.  They - I asked, "Would you add _____ jobs because of this?" and they said they couldn't guarantee that.
 
Mike Pence:                Right.  Right.
 
Female:                       That's not a requirement, that they would be able to have to add jobs if they got the tax break on this one [Crosstalk]?
 
Mike Pence:                Well, I don't, you know, I think - I understand why any corporation would say, "In these difficult economic times", that they couldn't guarantee if their balance sheet got a little bit better that they'd actually be adding jobs, but it's hard to believe that allowing American corporations to move profits that are trapped overseas because of high re-patriation taxes back into their domestic ledger, would not, at least, save jobs that are currently at risk of being lost.
 
Male:                           Mr. Pence, since you have met with the President last Tuesday, has the House Republican leadership been in contact again with the White House on this stimulus?  Is that ______ so far?
 
Mike Pence:                Well, let me comment on Tuesday and Mr. Aderholt's already mentioned that meeting and then I do know that a number of members of House leadership were at the White House on Wednesday.
 
Male:                           Wednesday night?
 
Mike Pence:                For -
 
Male:                           A reception.
 
Mike Pence:                A reception and my impression is that the leader spoke to that President on that evening.  I thought he mentioned that in passing -
 
Robert Aderholt:         Right.
 
Mike Pence:                - to me; and -
 
Robert Aderholt:         That's right.
 
Mike Pence:                - I don't know if there's - there was a bipartisan meeting yesterday, but our information is that that was a Senate -
 
Male:                           _____, it was a Democratic bicameral group - Democrats.
 
Mike Pence:                Democratic.  Bipartisan group?
 
Female:                       No.
 
Male:                           Not that I know of, no.
 
Mike Pence:                Okay.
 
Female:                       Bicameral.
 
Male:                           Just so [Crosstalk] if Nancy Pelosi [Crosstalk].
 
Female:                       [Crosstalk].
 
Mike Pence:                Okay, thank you.  Thanks.  So, that's - I think that's, unless the leader staff is here, I don't - it's a fairly open secret.  I think the last time the leader spoke to the President was Wednesday night.
 
                                    I, for my part, haven't -
 
Robert Aderholt:         I know he hasn't spoken to me.
 
Mike Pence:                Hasn't spoken to you.  I wanna reiterate something, though.  You know, it was a week ago that the President came to our conference and I have to tell you, I give him a lot of credit for coming to meet with House Republicans, that he took to the podium without a note in front of him.  He could have easily, seems to me, we all know the drill around here when people don't wanna answer questions, they talk for a long time and then, "Oh, gee, look at the time.  I've gotta go.  No questions."
 
                                    The President walked in and spoke for about 12 minutes and then took more than a half hour of questions that were completely unscreened and responded to them.
 
Robert Aderholt:         As a matter of fact, he extended his time that he had originally planned to be there, so, yeah, we -
 
Mike Pence:                Yeah.  So, you know, I wanna reiterate - I, you know, I believe, I mean, I think the President is a lot more liberal than I'll ever live to be.
 
[Laughter]
 
Robert Aderholt:         That's all good.
 
Mike Pence:                But, I found him to be quite genuine and refreshingly candid about his views and refreshingly respectful of people who differ with him.  And I thought that while I communicated to him directly in that moment, that House Democrats had completely ignored his call for bipartisan a compromise on this bill.  My hope is that he's - that the tone that he set will facilitate a greater dialogue on this bill, on the Omnibus bill, perhaps, and on any future legislation.
 
Robert Aderholt:         And he was very reflective on that when Chairman Pence did bring that to his attention.  He was very reflective on it and noted it and as someone who was not jumping up and trying to, you know, say, you know, the counter argument.  He was there and I think, stepped, if I remember correctly, he stood - he stepped back from the podium and just listened and let you communicate that.  So, I thought that was a good gesture on his part.
 
Mike Pence:                A couple more questions?
 
Male:                           Yeah, have you seen a copy of the proposed Omnibus and do you accept the explanation that it was withdrawn because it would get in the way of passing the stimulus?
 
Mike Pence:                Well, that's the first time I've heard that explanation about why it was withdrawn.  I don't begrudge the majority controlling the calendar.  We certainly made, when we were in charge, we made more than our share of universal, you know, unilateral calendar changes, but we believe that this represents an opportunity for the American people to closely examine the contents of that Omnibus bill; and that's why, today, Mr. Aderholt and I and the Republican leaders are urging Chairman Obey and urging Speaker Pelosi to release the draft of the Omnibus bill.
 
                                    To answer you first question, no, we have not seen the bill and a cardinal, as they're colloquially known on the appropriations committee has not seen the bill.  And is your subcommittee and jurisdiction one of the subcommittee bills that would be included in it or?
 
Robert Aderholt:         I believe they all would be.
 
Mike Pence:                Yeah, so.
 
Robert Aderholt:         So, we're -
 
Mike Pence:                Miss - so, Republicans, including subcommittee ranking member on the appropriations committee, hasn't seen a draft of the bill and we think, for whatever reason, House Democrats have pulled the bill, this represents an opportunity to exercise transparency and we're urging House Democrats to post the Omnibus bill draft on the internet immediately and allow a closer inspection and greater accountability.
 
Male:                           Mr. Aderholt, have you been given any indication when you would see the draft?
 
Robert Aderholt:         No, we've not - unless my staff has heard something otherwise, I have not - we've not seen anything that.  So that is why we would welcome it if we could go ahead and at least see something and get it made known to the public what it is and so we can start taking a look at it.  Even if they do have to delay the vote or delay it coming to the floor, having it and going ahead and be looking at it, I think, would be a good gesture on the part of the majority.
 
Mike Pence:                One more?
 
Male:                           Apart from the process -
 
Mike Pence:                How about, let me go back here and I'll get to you, Al.  You can close.
 
Male:                           Mr. Pence, ______ says it's not a particular element; it's about the overall approach, not the elements, the approach of the stimulus you're objecting.  So, I think, Senator Obama or President Obama, really the overall approach, does he bear some responsibility for the bill being defected in your mind along with the House Democrats?  You seem to be blaming them and not him, although I think we agree on the overall approach is in my impression of what he says.
 
Mike Pence:                Well, let me respond a couple of ways.  Number one, when I refer to the overall approach, I meant to say that the House Republicans don't believe we can borrow and spend and bail our way back to a growing economy.  Our alternative is build on the principle that the way to get the economy moving again, the time honored, time tested way from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan is to give working families and small business more of their hard earned dollars to invest; and that's - the Republican alternative is built on that premise.  And so, there is a conflict of visions here about how we truly stimulate the economy.
 
                                    But, let me also say with regard to the details, what you'll hear Republicans do back on the House floor today, although this bill has moved on from this chamber and going forward on the floor and on the airwaves and in print, is making sure the American people know what's in this bill because we believe that there's an enormous amount of wasteful government spending and liberal pet projects - $136 billion dollars in new program spending in this bill.  I mean, I think, you know, the - I think that the American people are entitled to know that, you know, the specific elements -
 
Male:                           My question was [Crosstalk] President Obama [Crosstalk].
 
Mike Pence:                I know.  I heard the question.  I'll answer it, but we're gonna work very hard and the President's Press Secretary, Mr. Gibbs, has been using the word modest in recent availabilities to describe the differences over the bill.  Well, it's, you know, there's nothing modest about the differences that House Republicans have with House Democrats over this bill, both in its details and in its approach.  There are - there is strong opposition.
 
                                    Now, with regard to your question about the President, I think, you know, I think we'll see.  The President indicated to us in our meeting, a week ago today, that this Bill wasn't exactly what it'd be like if he wrote it, any more than it being exactly what it would be like if we wrote it.  He said that he was interested in hearing us out and he was interested in impacting the final product.  We're starting to hear about some - there's a news story this morning about - I don't know if it's verified - that the President's urging that family planning money come out.  I believe I read that, but, you know, what we wanna see is, not just what comes out of this bill, but we wanna see what goes in.  We wanna see the kind of pro-growth tax relief for working families and small businesses that'll get this economy moving again, go into the bill and the, you know, egregious and wasteful and unstimulative spending come out.
 
Robert Aderholt:         And I think it's important to note that Republicans think there needs to be a stimulus package.  The bottom line is, you know, is how to approach this overall issue.
 
Mike Pence:                Exactly.  Allen, last one.
 
Male:                           Yeah, just, you know, at the retreat, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Hensarling mentioned they thought there would be a tilting point, I believe, is what they called it; an acceptable amount of increased discretionary spending and the number's not zero and they're talking about the amount in the stimulus.  But, I was thinking, there might be a tilting point, sort of a middle ground on that, but also on other issues.  Do you agree and how do we go about getting to that point, finding that tilting point, the acceptable middle ground for Republicans?
 
Mike Pence:                Well, you know, the journey to the middle starts with one step from both ends of the spectrum.  Republicans have offered a substantive set of alternative ideas about how we believe we can get this economy moving again, brought those ideas forward and those ideas were categorically rejected by House Democrats; and we'll, as we monitor the process in the Senate, we'll see if the administration and Senate Democrats have a different approach than House Democrats.
 
But, you know, I wanna reiterate Mr. Aderholt's point is extremely well made and well taken.  You know, House Republicans know that now is the time for Congress to act in a way that will jumpstart this economy, but we wanna do so in a way that serves the interest of working Americans, that serves the interest of taxpayers and we believe that advancing Republican policies and Republican solutions is essential to accomplishing that.
 
Thank you all for your time.