Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Steve Scalise

Interview

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BARTIROMO: Welcome back.

Republicans are working on their strategy to retain control of Congress come November amid talk of a blue wave in the upcoming midterms.

My next guest has some insight on the plan for the GOP lawmakers in the House.

With me now in an exclusive interview is House Majority Whip and Republican Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise.

Congressman, it's great to see you this morning. Thanks so much for joining us.

REP. STEVE SCALISE, R-LA, HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: Morning. Always great to be with you, Maria.

BARTIROMO: So, what is the plan to retain control of the House, from your standpoint?

SCALISE: The plan is to continue focusing on getting the economy moving, seeing this great economic growth, and then locking it in.

We're going to bring some more bills to cut taxes. We're going to make the tax cuts permanent. That bill, Chairman Brady and his committee are already working on.

We just did a jobs 3.0 bill, a bill to provide more regulatory relief, and do some more things that will help create more jobs and rebuild the middle class.

And, look, it's a stark contrast with the radical left's agenda right now in Washington. Pelosi is talking about raising taxes. She's talking about abolishing ICE, single-payer health care. That's not the direction we need to go. So let's keep the economy moving. We're going to continue focusing on it.

This week, we're going to bring a bill to repeal the medical device tax, push back the health insurance taxes, the HIT tax, some of these things that are hurting health care in this country, and let's focus on getting the economy moving.

BARTIROMO: And, by the way, the economy is going to show movement this week. We get the GDP number out on Thursday, and all expectations call for a second-quarter GDP number of 4 percent, largely as a result of some of the rollback in regulations and the tax cut plan.

I want to talk about what the Democrats, though, are going to do in response to that. Joe Lieberman, a former senator, wrote an op-ed.

And Lieberman writes this in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal this week, "Vote Joe Crowley for working families."

It begins with this quote: "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's surprise victory over Representative Joe Crowley seems likely to hurt Congress, America, and the Democratic Party. It doesn't have to."

What Lieberman writes is that he's hoping that Crowley's name is on the ballot, because the idea to abolish ICE came from her, Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez. And Tom Perez, the head of the DNC, says she's the future of the party.

SCALISE: Well, I hope she is, because it shows such a dramatic shift to the radical left. That's not where America is.

America is still a center-right country. And you saw she was out there with Bernie Sanders going through the Midwest, going to Missouri. She was in Kansas City. They're trying to push this idea of abolishing ICE, of all things.

Think about this, Maria. The very people who keep our country safe -- ICE has been directly responsible for stopping human trafficking, stopping -- saving some of these kids that are being exploited from human trafficking. And they want to get rid of them. They want open borders.

That's not what this country is all about. I hope they keep going around and letting people know that's what they would do if they were in the majority.

BARTIROMO: I don't understand the idea of open borders. It's really questionable in terms of that being a platform to run on.

In terms of immigration and your efforts, we just heard from Bob Goodlatte. Are you going to be able to come up with a plan that protects the DACA recipients, but also protects this country with the proper security in terms of securing the borders?

SCALISE: Well, Maria, we have had two different bills we have brought to the floor that would do just that.

And, as you heard Chairman Goodlatte say, we have had large numbers of Republicans vote for it, but not one Democrat. So when you have between the two bills 224 Republicans voting yes to build a wall, secure the border, solve the DACA problem and the visa lottery system, and not one Democrat could find a way to vote for any of those bills, it shows you they don't want to solve this problem and we do.

We will keep working on it, but let's -- let's look at those votes, Maria, to show there are serious Republican plans to secure this country's border. And every single Democrat voted no because Nancy Pelosi bullied them and threatened them and said she didn't want to provide Donald Trump with a win.

That's not -- again, that's not what this country is all about. Some of the great things President Trump has done, working with us to cut taxes, to get the economy moving, to bring regulations under control, it's actually working. They should want to join with us to keep that going.

To be opposed to the things that are helping rebuild our middle class is a losing strategy for Democrats.

BARTIROMO: And in a -- also foreign policy, you look at some of the outcomes that have come, Jim Mattis apparently saying that the NATO meeting was among the most successful meetings that he's ever seen.

Your thoughts on the president's relationship with Vladimir Putin and what the U.S. needs to do with Russia, given these horrible stories we just heard about Putin from Bill Browder.

SCALISE: Yes, Putin is a bad guy. He's not our friend.

I think what you have got to look at are the actions that President Trump has taken to stand up against Putin and to stand up against Russia. And they're significant, Maria.

If you start with the Ukraine, they're our friend in Eastern Europe. You saw Putin rolling through Crimea, moving into Eastern Europe. And Barack Obama sat on the sidelines. Those countries -- by the way, the Ukrainians, they didn't say, give us boots on the ground. They said, can you just sell us arms, so we can push back against the Russians' aggression and bomb their tanks?

And Obama said no. President Trump said yes and actually sold them those missiles, so that they can defend their country and push Russia out of Eastern Europe.

BARTIROMO: Yes.

SCALISE: And that's happening right now.

He kicked out diplomats. He increased sanctions against Russia. That's standing up to Russia. We need to keep reminding Russia they're not our friend. They need to get out of Syria. They need stop allying with some of these rogue countries.

BARTIROMO: Kevin Brady was on this program last week, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. He said he was going to get -- try to get a vote on tax cuts 2.0 to the floor in September.

Do you think he will need Democratic support here? Is anybody going to vote for tax cuts 2.0, when they're complaining about deficits, and they didn't vote for tax cuts 1?

SCALISE: Every single Democrat should vote for tax cuts 2.0.

BARTIROMO: But they won't.

SCALISE: Because it's worked for our economy.

But they probably won't, Maria. And, look, we're going to go forward anyway. What Chairman Brady is doing, I think, is important work. He was down at the White House just a few days ago working with President Trump to make sure that the cuts include all the things we want to do to keep this economy growing.

BARTIROMO: All right.

SCALISE: We're seeing historic growth. Let's keep it going.

We are going to have a bill on the floor to do just that in September. And it'll pass the House. The real question is, will every Democrat vote no, like they did last time, now knowing how well it's working for middle-class families?

BARTIROMO: It's a win for President Trump, for sure.

Congressman, it's good to see you. Thanks so much.

SCALISE: Great being back with you, Maria.

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