>> what about the puerto rico comments? >> mr. president, are you committed to puerto rico for the long term? >> and by the way, later today the president is expected to head e his nominee to e homeland security, kirsten nielson. online at c-span.org and on the free c-span radio app. legislative work getting under way at noon eastern. a number of bills today, including a $36.5 billion disaster relief bill following the recent hurricanes and the western wildfires. also a bill expanding federal whistleblower protections and other measures including possible further action on the defense programs and policy bill. live house coverage on c-span at noon. until then, part of today's "washington journal." , which ist

news for all of tennessee. journal"ngton continues. host: joining us, representative bill johnson, and we will start with tax reform. the president was pitching tax reform in pennsylvania yesterday. what do you like about the proposal you have heard so far, and where are some provisions you are not crazy about? i cannot think of anything that i do not like. there is a lot to like in this tax reform package. if you think about it for a second, making america competitive on the global economic stage, bringing our 20%,rate tax rate down to that is lower than the average for the industrialized world. that is going to put american businesses back to work. more importantly -- this tax reform -- i don't like the word tax reform as much as i like tax

relief. this is a low-income, ,iddle-class america improving-quality-of-life, job-creating package. it will be good for the american people. what you make of the headline in the los angeles "gop-led congress is thinking about scaling back." rateake the corporate tax more like 22%, 23%. the president wanted 20%. -- wanted 15%. he compromised at 20%. guest: i am with the president. i started out at 15%. i would have loved to see us get at 15%. that puts us in the driver seat with we rightfully should be.

we're the largest economy on the planet. we are the bulk of the global economy. i would love to see us go to 15%. i don't to the president budging easily off at 20% mark. oft: why do you think some your colleagues don't want to go as low as 20 -- that they are 23%?g to argue for 22%, guest: i'm not sure what the argument would be. we have billions of dollars oversees that are sitting -- overseas that are sitting there because companies don't want to pay the federal government $.35 on the dollar to bring it back. i think it is very important we get the corporate rate as low as we possibly can. in member budget remember budget director mick mulvaney, the president, and members of the house -- we want to see the economic growth rate get to that gdp rather than the

anemic 1.6%, 1.9% we have been hovering at for the last eight to 10 years. we have to get america's flywheel back in motion and i think it in the corporate tax rate as low as we can is the formula to do that. host: what do you say to republican colleagues who times"ng to "los angeles are resisting 20% because they want to preserve reductions and loopholes targeted for elimination under the white house plan to reduce the rate? guest: i say they had better go back and listen to ronald reagan and what he said in 1986. i don't know to remember that speech, but he said in all of this effort -- and i am paraphrasing -- in all that we have done here, lawmakers, policymakers, we forgot about one of the most critical factors in the formula, and that is the american people. colleagues, go talk to the american people who are depending on the jobs that

are going to be created. remember who pays these corporate taxes. we often think of this as big businesses, right? who pays these corporate taxes? it is the consumers buy the products these corporations make. attitude is paying the taxes. host: let's hear what viewers have to say. we go to jail. republican -- joe. republican colorado. hi, joe. caller: hello. first of all, we need this tax reform. it will do a lot for americans. everybody keeps ranting on the media how it will benefit trump and everyone else, but right now what we need is tax relief. we don't have it. we need terribly. -- we need it terribly. host: so far, from what you have heard, what do you think will benefit you and other middle-class americans? caller: first of all, the bottom line tax reduction -- it does not affect -- if i tried to write off the interest on my home loan, i cannot write it off.

so, that standardized deduction is going to help that, because otherwise i have to go through this big itemization process. the whole package helps regular americans like me. i am a rancher. i don't want to sit there, worked my whole life, pay my taxes, then turn around, and ton i go to leave my ranch my child, i don't want him to have to pay for half of all the work i have done my whole life again trying to keep it. so the estate tax appeals to you as well -- repealing the estate tax. caller: absolutely. host: commerce when johnson? -- congressman johnson? joe, i assume you pay as a subchapter s, llc sole proprietorship. one of the benefits of this tax relief package we have put forward is doing exactly what

you said, bringing the effective tax rate of 40% down to 25%. ourave lowered -- in proposal we have lower the tax rate for both corporations and individual small businesses about 15%. that is big on the global scale. it is going to empower you to put money back into your ranch -- to invest in your operations. importantly, like you said, you are going to protect what you have worked for your entire life because we are going to repeal the death tax, the estate tax in this plan. he said everything i agree with, my friend. al -- host: al. a democrat. caller: what he is saying his wrong. they need to save medicaid before they do anything. if they put all that money back

into social security and medicaid, then work with the people like reagan did in 1986. reagan took the social security and medicaid away from us and put it into a k09. if you retire, like i did, i had to pay the tax to social security. we know what you are doing. you are going to take the money for medicaid and social security and pay for your taxes. tell me the truth is not in there, because i read it. thank you. .uest: that is not true i can tell you i have an 85-year-old mother. gotfirst telephone call i when i was elected in 2010 was not to say congratulations, bill. it was to say ok, son, what is going to do to make sure washington does not mess with my social security and medicare.

or else i'm going to come live with you. wifecond call is from my who said you had better do what your mother said. you cannot rollback the clock and make different retirement plans at this point in your life . i believe the federal government absolutely has a responsibility to honor the pledge and a promise for your social security and medicare just like my mother and millions of other seniors within that retirement window. we not taking money out of social security and medicare to pay for this tax program. that is not part of the plan. host: sydney in alexandria, louisiana. independent. hi, sydney. caller: good morning. i would like to ask your guess how they keep saying ronald reagan cut taxes and raise the revenue. his revenue raises were as far -- were because --

his first tax cut was $33 billion on the income tax. the following year he raised taxes $90 billion. you don'tath tax -- pay death tax until after $5 million. how does this affect the average american? thank you. guest: number one, i don't care how big your family education is -- you have a lot of family businesses in america that exceed that cap you are talking about. i don't think anybody in america, no matter you are, should work your entire life to build a family business, and then you have to pay that off to the federal government when you pass it on to your children. i don't think that is right. look, i can tell you this -- what we know is when you let the american people keep more of what they are in and pay less in taxes, where the federal government takes less from the american people, throughout

american history, we have seen the effects of that -- how it gets the economy going, how people gain confidence and they invest, and a save, and they put money back into their businesses. it creates opportunities for them and their families and their children. i represent a part of the country -- appellation -- where the average income in my district is somewhere between $30,000 and $35,000 a year. this tax cut is going to be huge for the people in my district, and i am a retired military guy. so i can relate to how important these tax cuts are. host: what about the impact of tax cuts on the debt? these are cbo numbers -- tax cuts do not reduce the debt. publicly held federal debt rose as a share of gdp after the reagan tax cuts in 1981, and bush cut them in 2001. here is the debt as it rises along with tax cuts. inst: i think what is missed

that calculation is the effect of economic growth in the formula. you know, that is the same cbo that estimated that 25 million young people were going to buy into obamacare. they didn't. only about 10 million did. they missed the estimate by half. i think when you are using static scoring versus dynamic scoring, you just look at the tax side, the expense on the homepage. we'll leave this now and take you live next to the floor of the u.s. house. they're gaveling in for legislative work. work today includes a $36.5 billion disaster relief bill. after the recent hurricanes and california wildfires. also, a bill expanding whistleblower protections and possible final work on the defense programs and policy bill. now live house coverage here on c-span.