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Good morning everyone and welcome to the latest instalment of our 2016 Washington Trust Forum
series, or as we like to call it, WTF 2016. For those of you who've joined our previous calls throughout
the election, welcome back. For folks who are joining us for the first time, welcome to Edelman.
Today, we're going to explore what the Trump administration means for the 2017 policy agenda, how the
115th Congress will work with the new President, and what this will mean for business. To help us
explore these questions, we're joined by two of our senior counsellors: Senator Saxby Chambliss from
Georgia, who served three terms from 2002 to 2015; and Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, who
served from 1992 to 2011. Mr. Chambliss served on the Intelligence, Armed Service and Agriculture
committees, while Senator Dorgan served on the Energy and Commerce committees.
I know we have a lot of clients in the room and on the phone who are interested in these topics, and we
encourage people to ask questions of our panel. We're also joined by CBS News Correspondent
Julianna Goldman, who has been covering Congress, presidential campaigns and the White House for
the last 12 years. Were really glad that Julianna can join us here today. We'll have Julianna guide
discussion with the Senators for about 20 to 25 minutes, focusing on questions that we've been hearing
from clients and that are on our minds, and then we will open the floor for questions.
If people on the phone want to ask questions, you can push *1 to get placed in the queue and Ashley, our
operator, will help us get to them. We are also recording this event and will have a transcript available for
people following the call. With that, I'll turn it over to Julianna to start.
Julianna Goldman
When you look at areas where the Democrats have a big incentive to work with Republicans, as
you would say: infrastructure, healthcare, what else?
Julianna Goldman
How concerned are you that the Supreme Court battle and the confirmation risk could poison the
well on those other issues? Or can they really separate them?
reform. We just do. It's hard to do. As a young man, in 1986, I was in the House Ways and Means
Committee when they last did a major tax reform, and it was successful. But it was hard to do.
Infrastructure, how much does it cost, how are you going to pay for it? Those are the two questions.
Both political parties would want to do this, but what's the cost, where do you get the money? As I said,
healthcare reform is also going to be difficult. And in the middle of all this, we have a President-elect and
I assume a President who, when he takes office, has the ability to tweet and he may tweet tomorrow
morning that we're going to colonize Pluto by July.
Who knows, because in the last two or three days, he has commanded the front page of the paper with
his tweets. So, he's going to make news and he's going to chart, at least a part of what's being discussed
across this country with his tweets. I don't know. But it is really interesting to watch the show.
Julianna Goldman
I want to get back to the tweets, and without knowing what company he's singled out today at,
what industries do you think have the most to lose or gain in the next six months? Can we draw
any connections between that, and who the President-elect has picked for his cabinet?
Julianna Goldman
What you think the appetite for that is?
Julianna Goldman
Looking at the path for the Affordable Care Act, repealing, then a delayed repeal while they figure
out what to dohow should the healthcare industry be thinking about the next six months, year
or two years, given that?
everybody says they like. So it's going to be changed some, but until it's changed, there's going to be
some uncertainty.
I think if you are an insurance company, or a hospital, you kind of live with that uncertainty and try to
navigate through it as best as you can. And so, I think it's going to take a number of years to accomplish
what they want to accomplish. But I think that early on, we'll want to find some way to have 55 votes to
repeal the Affordable Care Act. They'll try to find some way to have a symbolic vote, to say, Okay, we've
done this, but now we delay implementation for a number of years.
Julianna Goldman
You talked about the President-elect's penchant for tweeting. What do you make about last
week it was Carrier, yesterday the day started with Boeing and ended with Softbank. With this
trend sending Boeing stock down, what can we make of the President-elect seeming to pick
winners and losers, and does that create a climate of uncertainty for business?
Here, they had a chance to complain about Washington and vote for somebody who is anti-Washington.
So he's going to continue to operate in an unconventional manner. I really don't think he's picking
winners and losers. I think the situation with Carrier, as I said, we don't know exactly what went on there,
but about all he can say is, Look, I'm going to be President on January 20th. And I'm going to begin
immediately to make changes in tax reform and regulatory reform and health care reform, all of which are
going to make America a more receptive place for the business community.
And I think that's all he can do now, then, he will single out Carrier because of the fact that they made
their announcement earlier in the year, I believe, about leaving the country. But I think that's more
symbolic than what he's talking about as a more general approach to a friendlier business atmosphere.
Julianna Goldman
Remember when it was such a big deal that President Obama wanted a Blackberry? Looking
specifically at Carrier, obviously this was an initial victory for President-elect Trump after he had
promised a crackdown on companies that ship jobs overseas. What can he really do, though,
going forward? When it comes to tariffs, for example, dont you need Congressional approval?
Julianna Goldman
His pick for Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, has stated he wants to see an increase in US
exports. How does that rhetoric match up with the President-elect and what changes might that
portent for the export-import mix?
Julianna Goldman
How should foreign governments and international companies be thinking about some of the
other international agreements that have been jump-started by the current Administration,
whether it's Cuba, or whether it's climate agreements?
Julianna Goldman
Great. I have many more questions, but we're going to open it up to the audience.
Client Question #1
Good morning, Senators. Between the tweets, there's been quite a bit of discussion about North
Korea's capabilities, and possibly having a missile that could land in Seattle in 10 years. It's
obviously a bipartisan concern. Is that accurate, and what is the conversation, the strategy, for
dealing with such a threat?
and the leader of North Korea clearly is a rogue embarrassment out there but as a clear and present
danger to stability in the region.
China will say to you that, Our most important priority is stability in our region. Well, the greatest
evidence of instability in the region is the leader of North Korea and his bellicose behavior, threatening
nuclear war and so on. We really need to cooperate with China, and a much more aggressive stance.
China is worried about what they might or might not do with North Korea that would provoke millions of
North Koreans to run across the border and cause instability.
I'll tell you what. The instability that is caused by this rogue nation with the potential to deliver nuclear
weapons, not just to the United States, but also to every part of China, that's a very serious instability and
we need China's cooperation in a significant way.
Julianna Goldman
Just a follow up. Given that, is now the best time to be reaching out to Taiwan and angering the
Chinese?
unimportant. I think it's very important, especially with the Chinese. The Chinese it's a whole different
story with China history, and thousands of years and lots of patience.
I just wish that I think that phone call was probably a mistake and probably shouldn't have been done.
But much more than that, I wish they would consult with the infrastructure at State that says, at least,
Here's where we've been, here is what our aspirations are. You can take or leave some of it, but at least
you'll have an accurate understanding about what it is. Because frankly, its very - international relations
are very complicated and have a long history.
Client Question #2
My question goes back to the new Democratic leadership with Senator Schumer and the ability of
the Congress really, to operate. Senator Reid had used the 60-vote filibuster as a means of
blocking even the consideration of legislation passed by the House. There's a great deal of
pressure about, perhaps doing away with the 60-vote requirement so that the Senate would be
able to consider more of the issues. If Senator Schumer is a dealmaker, and his word is good in
going to contrast the behavior of Senator Reid, how do you see that dynamic developing?
Because that is going to be very critical to all of the legislation that the House may pass and what
occurs in the Senate.
Client Question #3
You talked a bit about healthcare and the potential for cooperation between the two parties. What
are the specific areas that you think Democrats and Republicans in Congress can potentially
come to agreement on the matter?
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But as I said, you can only do pre-existing conditions and a couple of other things. If you have broad
participation and that was in the Affordable Care Act, it was mandated. Saxby used the Obamacare
language and I always used the Affordable Care Act. I voted for that, by the way. And it won by one
vote, so you can blame me or credit me. But it's interesting. It polls very differently. The Affordable Care
Act polls higher than Obamacare, right? If you ask the same person the same question, one polls higher
than the other.
I think they will try very hard to find some things that can represent agreement. But again, I suggest it's
very hard to do what is popular and what a lot of people want to do, unless you're also willing to do what's
necessary and say, You all have a responsibility to be insured. So you have to mandate it, or some
other device that has everybody in the pool.
Client Question #4
I wanted to ask if the Senators could comment on immigration reform, the Executive Orders,
which are very important to our people out there. Also, some of the regulations from the FDA and
EPA, whether it's Waters of the World or the Food Safety Modernization Act. Just any comments
you have on that. Thank you.
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We need an immigration system that works, that allows people in that should come in. I think it's also the
case that immigration reform is one of those issues that you can fit on a bumper sticker, but you just can't
write legislation very easily. It's hard to get done, because there's nothing easy about doing it. Are we
really going to round-up six, eight, 10, 11 million people and boot them out of the country, some of who
have been here 20 years? The answer is no, of course we're not going to do that.
We need to sift through all of the language and understand, with respect to terrorism, there's a new
urgency with respect to security and then try to think through, how do you create a path to citizenship for
those who been here a long, long time? Including some of them who have served in our military, and we
really want to continue to have here as neighbors.
Matt Wagner
Thank you, everyone, for joining us. I'd like to thank Senators Chambliss and Dorgan for their remarks,
and Julianna for her insightful questions. We will make a transcript and a video of this call available for
folks to check out. We also encourage you to follow us on Edelman.com, and on @EdelmanDC on
Twitter, as we continue our WTF campaign. Thanks, everybody.
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