sproip speaker ryan: you know, we are in one of the best economic areas in year. there are 3.6 million job

openings across the country. that's a record. the jobs are there for the taking but the challenges we need more workers. we have to make sure that it's easier to prepare for work and to get the right skills. and we have to make sure that it pays to work to have the right incentives. work force our development agenda is all about. the house passed a measure which improves careers and technical education, to get people on a new career path. the new government spending bill prioritizes apresentishship programs and childhood and early head start programs so it is easier for parents to find work. the president signed an executive order aimed at creating opportunities. and the agriculture committee released the farm bill. it helps those on the snap program to find work and help start making a good living. in kansas and maine, work

requirements and work support like apresentistship and skills training has phenomenal success. this will help get americans out of poverty and help americans get in the work force while maintaining support they need. i want to commend chairman conway for his work. this was a critical component of our better way agenda that we're excited about executing. lastly, not that anyone needs reminding. we are five days away from tax day. this year when you submit your tax returns, you are saying goodbye to that old tax code for good. in its place you will have a new tax code with lower rates and nearly double standard deduction and expanded child tax credit. you're saying goodbye to a lot of hassell too as nearly nine out of 10 americans will be able to file their taxes on a simple and straightforward way. this, of course, is on top of all of the benefits that americans have seen from tax reform through bonuses, raises,

higher 401-k matches. this bill is working and it will make this country stronger and prosperous to come. questions. reporter: the president seems to be going back and forth what the objective and what strategy might be deployed in syria. we've asked you a number of times about an aumf. wouldn't this be better to codify what the objective is in an authorization because that is -- especially since the president seems to be going back and forth so much? speaker ryan: well, he has authority under the existing aumf. i would hate since we have threats across the globe, especially isis, is to have an aumf that ties the hands of our military behind their backs. so last thing i want to see is an aumf that makes it much more difficult for our military to respond to keep us safe because they have the authority to do that right now.

as to syria itself, about a share al-assad and his enablers and tell ran and moscow have committed another mass atrocity on people, i think the u.s. has an obligation to hold people accountable for that. i won't get ahead of the president. he's taking deliberate and careful response and approach to this. we discussed this and i don't want to get ahead of what he plans on doing only to say i think it's important for us to help lead the international community to making sure people are held accountable for these mass atrocities. reporter: if i could follow-up. speaker ryan: i guess you are going to. reporter: he has -- speaker ryan: not do the new aumf? reporter: what's the authority there to do? that's the question. he seems to be dithering what to do. speaker ryan: i think you're

wrong to suggest he's dithering. he's being deliberate and he's going through all of the options and he's consulting our allies. that's what you want presidents to do in moments like this. so he's not dithering. with respect to the authorities, the existing aumf gives him the authority he needs to do what he may or may not do. reporter: small group of house republicans are starting to suggest it might be better for the majority if you step aside now and let a successor take over in terms of fundraising. if that does -- are you prepared to do that? speaker ryan: look, i said all along my plan is to stay here and run through the tape. you said a small group. i talked to a lot of members, a lot of members who think it's in all of our best interests for this leadership team to stay in place and run through the tape. i was encouraged that steve scalise this morning also thinks after the election that kevin -- that kevin mccarthy ought to be the person to replace me after the elections. that's encouraging because what

it shows you is we have an intact leadership team that supports each other, that's heading in the right direction. with respect to fundraising, look, you all know i came into this job as a policy guy, not a political guy, not a fundraiser. i have shattered every fundraising record any speaker's ever set. i came in this job with the speaker -- with the goal of the speaker to raise $20 million. i doubled it to $40 million. not only did i hit that goal, i hit it eight months early. so there is nobody who's come close to being able to raise the kind of funds i have and still can raise for this majority. so it's obviously in our interest to keeping our majority that every player is on the field fighting for this majority, raising for this majority and it makes no sense to take the biggest fundraiser off the field. i think all of our members see it that way as well. who are you with?

reporter: naublenauble mr. speaker, do you plan to do something with daca before you retire? if so what will that be? speaker ryan: i want to. as you may or you may not know, we offered the democrats a solution for daca in addition to pairing it with a solution for the border and the democratic leader chose to not take that offer. that offer still stands. i've spoken with the president many times about this. and so we would like to see a border security solution along with a daca solution. we made that offer. i have not rescinded that offer. yeah. reporter: when speaker boehner left congress in 2015, he talked about clearing the barn for potential successor. is that something you're looking to do? speaker ryan: it's been pretty clear. reporter: do a spending bill at the end of the fiscal year that will likely require a bipartisan deal with the daca still spend pending, is that run -- speaker ryan: when i say run

through the tape i mean getting all the work done. by the way, it's been incredibly productive what we've already been able to accomplish. our military is now on path to being rebuilt. our tax code is rewritten. the entire energy is back online and it is going to put -- it's going to put opec in its shadow. we have a regulatory relief system and regulatory relief agenda that's really turning businesses back on. we have dodd-frank repeal and replace coming through the system. we have work force development to continue. we have a lot we've done. we still have a lot left to do. i'm excited about doing it. yeah, that's what i mean when i mean run through the tape. reporter: when do you think you will take the farm bill up on the house floor? speaker ryan: i don't know the answer to that question. i would defer to the majority leader who schedules that. soon is what i would say. we want to get this done this spring. i don't off the top of my head know exactly when. they have to do hearings and markups. reporter: do you think you can

pass it? speaker ryan: yeah, i think we can pass it. the commodity title is a simple title because we did so many reforms in the last farm bill. we got rid of direct payments, we did lots of different reforms that were pro-market reforms. what most people don't know and i know you do but 80% of the farm bill is food stamps and that is the area that's not gotten reformed. when you have a fast-growing economy like we have right now, when you have wages rising and you have new jobs and careers being offered, this is exactly the time when we need to pull people out of poverty, off the welfare, into the work force so they can get good careers, so they can get good livelihoods. that's exactly why we are confident we can get this done and why it's the precise thing we need to do to get people from welfare to work and the food stamp reforms that chairman conway will be unveiling today will do just that. reporter: mr. speaker, i want to follow-up on rachel's question. can you describe in more detail

how you see this process of choosing your successor should play out? hearing from all these members that don't find it tenable to see it will be -- speaker ryan: it will play out like it always does. you have leadership election after the elections. and so i think our leadership team -- the funny thing is when i came into this job, i came into a vacuum and filled the vacuum. i don't think we have that kind of a vacuum now. we have a very talented leadership team that's extremely experienced now. and that leadership team is in sync with one another and in support of one another. i don't see that kind of a disruptive process like we had when i came in. reporter: what do you say to these members who are aframe -- afraid that seven months is not good? speaker ryan: i don't think we are going to have that. reporter: let me piggyback --

if this is disruptive? speaker ryan: i won't get into the hypothetical. sorry. reporter: thanks, mr. speaker. in the past 24 hours, as you've been talking about your years in leadership, there's been some criticism directed toward you about how you dealt with the president's aggressive rhetorical approach to politics versus your more civil, inclusive approach. speaker ryan: that was nicely put. reporter: i am trying to put this so you can answer. how do you address those critics who say you basically deferred to the president and did not -- speaker ryan: gail asked me that question this morning. here's what i think people would like to see me do, have a food fight with the president

and not get anything done. that's not why i'm here. i'm here to get stuff done. i'm here to affect an agenda. the voters of this country elected donald trump president. the voters of in country gave us a house majority and a senate majority. we have a duty and an obligation to take these majorities and get things done on behalf of the american people. so i'm not concerned about scoring points and ratings on tv. i'm concerned about getting things done to improve people's lives. and so to that end, i work on making sure that this unified government works in a unified way. you all know no two people agree on everything. the president and i had disagreements on plenty of things. what i find is constructive and helpful toward solving this country's problems, moving in the right direction, is to keep the kind of dialogue i have with the president, which is a private, personal dialogue which is far better by talking to him instead of talking about him on tv. i can get more accomplished

from what i think is the right thing to do by having a good relationship and good dialogue than going out and scoring points on tv, disrupting unified government and bringing government to a screeching halt. that's the way i see it. reporter: does that mean, though, there is a recognition that the voters, republican voters, at least, prefer his -- speaker ryan: we offered a

good faith effort to the democrats and i don't want to bring a bill through or process that will produce a bill that will get a presidential veto. i just don't think that's in anyone's interest. so i think i answered your question. reporter: and my follow-up. speaker ryan: christina, it's just that simple. i don't want to spend our time bringing something through that i know is going to get vetoed. i'd rather bring something through that will actually make it into law. thank you, everybody. reporter: mr. speaker, are you endorsing kevin mccarthy too? reporter: when you retire will with marijuana like boehner? [laughter] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

ms. pelosi: good morning, everyone. welcome back. sorry. welcome back, as i said. over the break, our country observed the 50th anniversary of the assassination of reverend martin luther king jr. today in the capitol we will have an observance under the leadership of the speaker which i'm honored to participate in. i'm reminded in the course of the debate on the tax bill and on the budget and now the so-called balanced budget amendment, god never intended or any group of people to live superfluous while others live

in poverty. that seems to be a course that middle %, tax the class to the tune of 86 million people in the lifetime of the bill which increases the national debt by over $2 trillion. that $2 trillion is the engineering of their undoing of medicare, medicaid and social security. we have seen that in the president's budget at the beginning of all that and now in the so-called balanced budget amendment. the balanced budget amendment is no way balanced in terms of values and how we invest in our future to keep america number one in every respect. so the deficits are over $1 trillion -- and now we have the trump $1 trillion deficit. $1 trillion deficit. the c.b.o. found that the

g.o.p. tax scam would add even more to the debt as they had originally projected. in fact, as senator corker said -- senator corker of tennessee, republican of tennessee, if it ends up costing what has been laid out here, it could be one of the worst votes i've made. this kind and this administration will likely go down as one of the most fiscally irresponsible administrations in congress we have ever had. the g.o.p. -- now it's my words -- end of quote. the g.o.p. tax scam with the puts the -- >> we are going to leave this, return to the house, returning for votes on the constitutional amendment balanced budget. rule approving house joint resolution 2, agreeing to the speerk earest approval of the journal if