Scalise: Economic Growth Through Reconciliation is Top Priority

Today, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss how President Trump is working toward economic growth through fair trade, tax cut permanency, and negotiations with foreign countries for fair treatment. Leader Scalise also outlined the important work House committees are doing on reconciliation this month to codify President Trump’s agenda to reduce wasteful spending, ensure tax rates do not go up, put American energy first to lower prices, secure the border, and protect hardworking families.
  
On achieving fair trade for the United States:

“Well, I'm on board with it. And in fact, President Trump talked about all of these items, clearly talked about the border a lot. He talked about inflation, he talked about gas prices. He talked about getting our economy moving again. But he talked about getting fair trade with our friends and enemies around the world. And this was something he's talked about. Really, you go back to 2016, it's something he's felt strongly about for a long time. Everybody, I think, knew this was going to be something the President would confront. And look, when we get out of this and we have new agreements, you know, you've heard Scott Bessent, over 75 countries want to renegotiate. There are a lot of countries that are in the process of negotiating a better trade deal right now. If we end up with no trade tariffs for either side, look, countries were hitting us with tariffs left and right, and we weren't hitting them with anything. Right now, their tariffs are still higher. But if they drop their tariffs and we drop ours, I think we're going to end up with a better economy.”

On President Trump negotiating tariffs and tax cut permanency: 

“We know that there are countries that are talking to the White House about a new deal. You know, are they close to announcing a new deal with some of these countries? And I think it's only going to be a few – you get Japan, you get India, you get one or two more. Everybody's going to know, okay, that's the template for every other country. It's not like you're just going to get one-off deals, and everybody else is going to be waiting for their own separate deal. I think, you know, the way it goes with the first few countries is going to be the type of deal you're going to be seeing with other countries, too. China is going to be a unique situation because of how they treat intellectual property, how they don't play by their own rules, they manipulate currency. But when you see, hopefully, a new set of trade deals coming where you drop tariffs on both sides, that's what I think a lot of us would like to see. Then you'll get a lot more stability.

“The other part of that, and that's something that we're in the middle of right now, and that is this budget reconciliation bill. If we lock in tax rates, meaning no tax increases, and you not only renew current tax rates for 10 years, but permanently. If we get a permanent American tax code where rates aren't going to be subject to going up depending on who's in Congress, I think that will bring even more stability to the economy and trillions of new investment that is just sitting on the sidelines right now.”

On stabilizing tax rates for hardworking families:

“That's, that's what I'm pushing for [is to extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017]. I don't want to see anybody's tax rates go up. You know, we're looking at a reduction for people that make tips. Obviously, no tax on tips has been a hallmark of what President Trump talked about during the campaign. And you know, [Chairman] Jason Smith and his committee is working to follow through on that. But let's start with a baseline that nobody's tax rates go up, meaning we keep all your rates the same. Then we can look at additional pro-growth items.

“I'm saying nobody's tax rates should go up. Nobody's tax rates should go up. Well, look, I mean, every committee's working through this process right now, but I think if you look at what we know is going to work to create economic growth, to bring more investment into the country. It's lower tax rates, not higher tax rates.

“Well, and we're working on a lot of pay-fors, and in fact, the economic growth just from renewing current rates, the growth you'll get in the economy. I've heard numbers from private sector groups saying there's three, four trillion dollars sitting on the sidelines waiting for us to act. And I know CBO doesn't recognize a lot of that kind of growth, but that's real growth. That's real economic activity and real wage increases for hardworking families. They will surely see it. You know, when you go to the grocery store, you will see lower food costs. That matters to families. That's who we're focused on.”

On maximizing economic growth under President Trump’s leadership:

“A lot of those things are predicated on the uncertainty with tariffs. We all know that President Trump talked about that at the State of the Union. But people like me do not think that this is going to be sustaining itself for months from now. If you fast forward two months from now – tariffs and tax rates – if you fast forward two months from now and we have a stabilized tax code and we have agreements with other countries, maybe not all 75, but let's say you get agreements with eight countries, four countries that are major trading partners with America that drop their tariffs down. That will tell you where a lot of the off-ramps are going to go with other countries, too. And I think you'll see the markets react to that. Will it happen? I think it will because I know how President Trump negotiates deals. He's got a proven track record, and I think we've got to give him the benefit of the doubt based on his history and how he knows how to make deals. He's here to get deals for the American workers and the American people.”

On the lack of transparency in healthcare pricing:

“Well, when I talk about transparency, and I've been very clear about this, as you mentioned, in health care, it's the only form of pricing that you cannot find out what something costs. You know, American consumers are the best shoppers in the world. And yet, if you tried to find out what a gallbladder operation or what a heart surgery might cost, any other procedure, you can't find it out. You can call a hospital, and they won't give you a price. You can call five hospitals, they won't give you any prices. That's got to change. We want to see price transparency there. So you know what something costs. Now, if you attach political items to a cost, not, okay, here's the price of a good, and then here's the sales tax to that item. You know, those are fixed costs. If you're going to start attaching other things to it that are based on political decisions, you know, that's a different situation. We've never had a tariff line item for anything. And by the way, again, tariffs have been hit against us in America for decades, for generations. And presidents have just let it happen, Republican and Democrat alike. President Trump is the first President to say let's get treated fairly.”

On politically-motivated companies sharing price hikes:

“That seems more political. But think about this – when you go to the pump to buy gasoline, did you see them putting an item when Joe Biden shut off American energy and prices went up, did you see them put an item going, you're paying $4 instead of $2 a gallon because of Joe Biden's anti-American energy policies? They didn’t do that.

“But that wasn’t Shell or Chevron or the gas companies doing that, but people knew why the higher price was there. 

“Well, are they also going to put in when China steals our intellectual property, and that jacks up the cost of items because we're paying for all of the IP that China is stealing, they don’t put that on an item, too.

“Well, businesses can communicate with their customers however they want. That's between a business and their customer. But then again, you know it's why a lot of businesses don't delve into political issues because you know some of their customers might not appreciate that, that's again going to be some choices they have to make.”

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