WEBVTT - Former US Chief of Staff for Mike Pence Marc Short Talks Tax Bill 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:07.080 Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:08.600 Let's turn back to Capitol Hill. 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.080 The Treasury Secretary Scimpesson saying how since Senate Republicans can 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:14.680 cut a deal on salt within the next two days, 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.880 believing senators can begin voting on the bill by Friday, 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.960 President Donald Trump writing, no one goes on vacation until 0:00:22.000 --> 0:00:24.240 it's done. The former chief of staff the Vice President, 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:26.560 Mike penns Mark Short, joined us now for more. Mark, 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:28.479 good morning, Good to see you as always, Thanks for 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:30.440 being here, Thank you for being here. You're a big 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:33.000 part of passing the president's first tax bill in his 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:36.000 first term. How different is this effort? How much harder 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:36.720 is it this time? 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:39.920 I actually don't think it is harder, because I think 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:42.240 the prospect of having a two and a half treeon 0:00:42.280 --> 0:00:45.080 hour in tax increase for a lot of Americans or 0:00:45.200 --> 0:00:48.200 twenty one hundred dollars per family is a big enough 0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:51.279 threat that it keeps you Republicans united. So there's going 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.080 to be a lot of noise over the next several days, 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.040 and a lot of noise on the Medicaid provisions will 0:00:56.040 --> 0:00:59.120 being noise unsolved, But I think ultimately there'll be sufficient 0:00:59.200 --> 0:01:00.000 votes in the House and. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:00.920 Sent to get it done. 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:02.680 Can we get to the noise on sol And I'd 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.240 love your personal opinion on this. What you think they 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.160 should do that they aren't doing right now? 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.360 Well, I think from a policy perspective, the salt provisions 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:13.600 are terrible. I think the reality is that you have 0:01:13.920 --> 0:01:17.880 Middle America subsidizing blue states that are poorly run, and 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.319 they have enormous deficits, and so they provide enormous deductions 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.200 because their taxes are so high, it provides no incentive 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:26.960 for them to actually fix their own problems if their 0:01:27.000 --> 0:01:30.920 wealthiest tax payers are able to have enormous deductions. Having 0:01:30.959 --> 0:01:33.000 said that, what I think is actually going to happen 0:01:33.440 --> 0:01:35.399 is they think that with the standard deduction now at 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:38.240 thirty thousand dollars, the priority for those who want the 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:40.679 salt deduction is to get it to forty thousand, but 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:44.399 they'll lower the income threshold. Now, how many people have 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.920 income under forty four hundred thousand dollars they're taking deductions 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:50.520 of over forty thousand, I think is probably a pretty 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:53.760 small number. But the realtor base, actually the lobby base, 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:56.720 is more concerned about getting the deduction back because one 0:01:56.720 --> 0:02:00.360 of the provisions that we pass twenty seventeen. Prior to that, 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:04.120 there were thirty one percent of taxpayers itemized. Today it's 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:07.400 down to nine or ten percent. And the real estate 0:02:07.440 --> 0:02:09.799 industry wants that back, and so I think you're going 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:12.880 to see them fight for the forty thousand, the lower 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:13.760 the income threshold. 0:02:13.840 --> 0:02:15.640 I will just say New York does contribute about eight 0:02:15.639 --> 0:02:18.160 percent of the GDP to the overall United States of America, 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:19.880 and it doesn't get the same amount back. So there 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:22.200 is this argument being made by a lot of representatives 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:25.760 in New York that actually the US is the number 0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:28.840 of blue states have been cheated by US spending. So 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:31.120 I mean that is sort of a backdrop here, just 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:31.880 to recognize that. 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:35.560 I think leastly just argument go on a per capita basis. Sure, 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:37.280 but I think it's hard to argue that New York 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:39.800 and federal cities aren't getting their fair share of federal dollars. 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:42.400 To take a step back and beyond the SEL debate, 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:43.919 which I'm sure it could be, we don't want to 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:44.600 get to New York. 0:02:44.520 --> 0:02:45.360 Social media spending. 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.680 Social media spending, I'm telling you, just definitely invest in 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:51.520 in hone those strategies. But I am curious about, you know, 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.480 just going forward, how important it is to get those 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:59.040 offsets and how to attenuated. Some of the Republican Congress 0:02:59.080 --> 0:03:02.400 members are to offsetting any kind of increase the deficit, 0:03:02.760 --> 0:03:06.359 if it's not from potential cuts, then from increasing tariffs. 0:03:06.919 --> 0:03:09.560 Well, okay, those are two big different questions. I'm a 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:11.560 little bit cynical on this, I confess to you. The 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:14.440 reality is that neither party is addressing was driving that 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:16.880 the deficit is the debt. Neither party is willing to 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.959 address entitlements pending. So you're going to hear people who 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:22.360 pound their chest and say we're fiscal conservatives and we 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:25.320 need more cuts here, but we're really talking about pennies 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:26.960 on the margin of the size of this bill and 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.440 the size of where our debt is today. So if 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:31.799 they were really serious about wanting to cut the debt, 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.320 they'd actually be addressing in titlements. And so yeah, I 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.520 think you'll see some posturing from some people, but ultimately, 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.120 again I think they're going to fall in line because 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:41.200 it's not just the fact you have an enormous tax 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.440 increase on working families. There's also significant border funding in 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:45.840 this And if you can tell me that they're going 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:48.360 to be members from border states who are Republicans are 0:03:48.360 --> 0:03:50.480 going to pose this bill with President Trump in the 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.840 White House. I just don't see it happening now. On 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.240 the terroriffs, look, the reality is you talk about the 0:03:55.280 --> 0:03:58.320 significant revenue coming in. I think that again, that's a 0:03:58.440 --> 0:04:00.760 tax on the American people. That's what the Repords Company 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.360 is not coming from foreign Government's coming from American importers. 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:05.640 And the reality is you're one hundred percent right on 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:08.440 the days of this that you know we're anticipating from 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:11.560 Peter Navarro ninety deals in ninety days. We see where 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:14.200 that's con so far. And I think they wanted to 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.120 push the July nine D eight because they're hoping they 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:18.039 get this all wrapped up by July fourth. If it 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:20.160 slides past July fourth, I think you'll see that date 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.560 slide as well. But you're going to continue to see 0:04:22.560 --> 0:04:24.120 I think the President wants the leverage to be able 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:26.320 to use the tariffs however he wants whenever he wants, 0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:28.560 which provides enormous uncertainty in the economy. 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.000 The presidents of the Nights have summer today. I'd love 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:32.840 to turn to foreign policy with you. What did you 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:34.720 think through the strike server at a weekend and the current 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:36.720 posture of this administration. 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:38.919 I think it was exactly the right call, and I 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:41.359 think that it's actually pretty consistent with where he was 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:44.320 in the first administration if you recall the maximum pressure 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.200 campaign and the strike on solid Money. I think what 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.760 is different is that I think the first administration had 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:52.480 a pretty united foreign policy. I think there's much more 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.760 divergence in the second administration on what that foreign policy. 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.480 Is within the White House, I think, so I. 0:04:57.400 --> 0:04:59.920 Think within the White House too, not just with outside. 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:01.479 What do you think the biggest difference is at the 0:05:01.480 --> 0:05:02.520 moment within the White Well. 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:04.680 I think that there's a lot of people who have 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:09.240 embraced sort of the isolationism of the party today, and 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:11.600 I think they are represented, their voices are representing the 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:13.880 White House. But I think the President made the right decision, 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:18.840 and I think that I think moving forward, Iran wants 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:21.400 ceasefire because it buys some more time. I mean, how 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.359 many seasefires have Iran and Hamas agreed to since the 0:05:24.440 --> 0:05:27.160 Ranian Revolution forty six years ago. So I think it's 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:28.960 important in the United States stand with Israel. 0:05:29.040 --> 0:05:31.000 And this is going to sound somewhat contradictory. But to 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:35.080 be successfully isolationists, do you have to be interventionists sometime? 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:38.640 Do you have to demonstrate that to do nothing you 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:39.880 have to be willing to do something now? 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.800 Again, Well, that assumes that those who are articulating isolation's 0:05:43.880 --> 0:05:46.839 views today are actually consistent in their viewpoints. I think 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:48.839 that in many cases there are plenty of grifters that 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:52.480 have surrounded the president and so they were isolations in 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:55.120 this moment, they were interventionists eight, nine, ten years ago. 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:57.599 So I think the premise of your question applies there's 0:05:57.600 --> 0:05:59.760 actually consistency on those articularly in that few today, And 0:05:59.760 --> 0:06:00.560 I don't think there. 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:02.520 Is just pairing this with NATO. Do we have a 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:04.440 sense of what the final word is going to be 0:06:04.440 --> 0:06:07.560 with Russia and Russia Ukraine? Given the willingness to use 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.960 intervention in or on, is there a discussion around that 0:06:11.000 --> 0:06:13.800 and support for that in the case of Russia. 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:16.400 I think that's one of the biggest, starkest differences between 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:19.480 the first administration and the second administration. And the first administration. 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.760 President Trump would be very proud about having sent Javelin 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.960 missiles and talked and ridiculed that Obama only sent blankets 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:29.919 to Ukraine, there was plenty of I think deterrence against Russia. 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.200 That it seems this time around that is not that 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.680 same position, and so I'm not sure that what happened 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:37.880 in the Middle East and Iran actually applies to what's 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:39.800 going to happen in Ukraine and Russia. It seems that 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.279 this administration is not as supportive in Ukraine as the first. 0:06:43.080 --> 0:06:45.560 Trump administration UK What do you think changed. 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:48.800 I think that there's several things that change. I do 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:51.200 think that there's a different personnel in the White ass 0:06:51.240 --> 0:06:53.480 I think that from where it was as far as 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:56.359 the State Department, the National Security Staff, and frankly the 0:06:56.400 --> 0:06:58.919 Vice President. I think those are big personnel changes that 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:00.000 differ in this form policy. 0:07:00.480 --> 0:07:02.400 Make sure I appreciate your time as always. Good to 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:04.440 see you, Thanks for being here. Really good to see you.