Mick Mulvaney: When the conversation started to move to the things tha...

My dad told me something long before I was in politics, and when your dad gives you advice every single day, eventually one or two of the things stick in your mind. And he said, don't believe what people say, believe what they do.

Mick Mulvaney

dad two believe

I would be embarrassed to tell you how many folks ran saying that they weren't going to spend a bunch of money, they weren't going to raise the debt ceiling, and then they went to Washington, D.C., and did exactly that.

Mick Mulvaney

debt ceilings would-be

We're looking for stuff everyone agrees is a complete waste of time. Many agencies have forgotten how to deregulate. It's been so long since somebody asked them to look backwards.

Mick Mulvaney

wasting-time forgotten long

American Action Network should be spending their money to try and get those Democrats to change the votes, not beating up on Republicans in the House.

Mick Mulvaney

change house trying

I believe, as a matter of principle, that the debt is a problem that must be addressed sooner rather than later. I also know that fundamental changes are necessary in the way Washington spends and taxes if we truly want a healthy economy.

Mick Mulvaney

healthy problem believe

We are trying to get a border wall to protect millions of low income Americans against folks who aren't supposed to be here. So, it's a national security.

Mick Mulvaney

national-security wall trying

Why am I interested in deficits? The only way you balance the budget in this country long-term is through sustained economic growth. And that's what everything we are doing in this administration is aimed at that end goal.

Mick Mulvaney

growth goal country

Growth works. What we're doing in the administration to spur growth in terms of regulatory form work. And what we're working is to make sure that those tax cuts add to that. We do believe that sustained 3 percent economic growth is possible and that that is the way you can balance the budget long-term.

Mick Mulvaney

growth cutting believe

If we can get to that 3 percent grow, it is $2 trillion to $2.5 trillion worth of more government revenues. It's 12 million additional jobs. And those are 12 million jobs paying into Medicare, 12 million jobs paying into Social Security. Growth really is what's driving all of this and growth is what our focus is, which is why we're willing to accept increased short-term deficits in exchange for that long-term payoff.

Mick Mulvaney

driving growth focus

If we had 3 percent growth, which is what we're trying to get to, what we're at, by the way, right now, we're trying to maintain that 3 percent growth. If we had been at 3 percent growth over the last ten years, the budget very nearly would be balanced in 2017. That's how big a difference it makes when you grow the American economy that additional 1 percent over ten years.

Mick Mulvaney

economy growth trying

The reason we've been growing at 1.8 percent for the last eight, ten years, which is way below the historical average, is in large part because of our tax code. It is important to us to get the biggest, broadest tax reduction, tax cuts, tax reform that we can possibly get because it's the only way we get back to 3 percent growth. That's what's driving all of this, how do you get the American economy back on that historical growth rate of 3 percent and out of these doldrums of 1.8, 1.9 that we had of the previous Barack Obama administration?

Mick Mulvaney

growth cutting historical

We need to have the growth. If we simply look at this as being deficit-neutral, you're never going to get the type of tax reform and tax reductions that you need to get to sustain 3 percent economic growth. We really do believe that the tax code is what's holding back the American economy.

Mick Mulvaney

economic growth believe

Thing we're trying to add to this is that lower corporate tax rates as we try and spur the economy. So that's where the Donald Trump attention is. The president's attention is on the middle class, making sure that's simple, fair and better. And then on the corporate tax rate, to try and get folks to invest in America again. His focus has not been on the impact on the top 1 percent.

Mick Mulvaney

focus simple trying

You can't look at the tax cut on a family until you realized how - how much better off they're going to be in a growing economy.

Mick Mulvaney

taxes economy cutting

There was very polite, gentlemanly, and - and - and lady-like push-back on issues on both sides. Chuck Schumer continues to push this idea of this $30 billion tunnel under the Hudson River, um, that Donald Trump very politely pushed back on. But I thought it was cordial and productive. The president is not giving up on the wall, and he's certainly not giving up on border security.

Mick Mulvaney

wall giving-up president

I don't think the criticism is fair. I think the criticism is assuming that Donald Trump giving up on something. He's not. I think if you do end up seeing - if you do end up seeing - some type of agreement regarding DACA and this massive-but-not-wall border security, talking about technology and people, all the things that we need to stop drugs and illegals from coming across the border. If that does become the framework for an agreement that does not mean the president's giving up on his priorities.

Mick Mulvaney

giving-up technology mean

I have news for everybody: Get over it. There is going to be political influence in foreign policy.

Mick Mulvaney

politics

( Donald Trump) still considers Mick Mulvaney to be in the hospitality business.

Mick Mulvaney

top-news

I never saw that in the decision making process.

Mick Mulvaney

top-news

Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election ... There never was any condition on the flow of the aid related to the matter of the DNC server.

Mick Mulvaney

politics

When the conversation started to move to the things that we disagreed on, Donald Trump moved it back to the things that we could agree on. I think that's the way you get deals done, right? You and I might disagree 80% of the time but that still gives us 20% opportunity to try to work things out.