Remarks in an Exchange With Reporters During a Tour of the H&K Equipment Company Manufacturing Facility in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania

The President. Fellas, come on over. They just said their business has never been better. The last year, the best they've ever had.

H&K Equipment Co. Vice President Peter A. Cicero. That's right.

The President. That's fantastic. That's—look at what they do. They make them brandnew. They redo them. They make them brandnew. So this is the best—this is the best year you've ever had.

[At this point, the President continued his tour, stopping to visit a work station within the plant.]

That's a great look—look, the old and the new. I'd say they did a good job.

[He greeted some frontline workers, speaking briefly with them about their work, then addressed reporters as follows.]

Hi, fellas. How are you? Everything good? How are they doing in Washington?

Border Security

Q. Doing okay. But can you—what did you tell Mr. Kelly last night?

The President. Well, the wall has been something that I have been very consistent on always. And as you know—in fact, in an interview with you, I said the wall—you don't need a wall where you have a mountain. You don't need a wall when you have a way—so everybody knows that. I've been saying that for 3 years, and everybody know it.

But a wall is not necessarily a wall where you have a mountain. So everybody understands that. In fact, we sent out some information where I said it 3 years ago and 2 years ago.

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly

Q. Do you wish Mr. Kelly would have explained it a little more clearly?

The President. No, he's great. I think he's doing a great job. I think General Kelly has done a really great job. He is a very special guy.

White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly/Tax Reform/Potential Federal Government Shutdown/Apple Inc.

Q. Did you mind him calling you uninformed about immigration when he talked——

The President. About what?

Q. Did you mind that he told Members of Congress you were not fully informed about immigration?

The President. No, he didn't say that. Well, I don't think—he didn't say it the way you would like him to say it. No, he didn't say that. He's doing a terrific job. We have a big immigration problem. You see what's happening; you see what's going on. And we have a big problem. We'll see if we can get it straightened out.

I will say this: the Democrats, because of the tremendous success we're having with the tax cuts and the tax reform. I mean, these gentlemen, they own this facility, and you look at what's happening—they said, "You know, it's just the last 6, 7 months, we've never had anything like it." They almost can't take any more work.

And when you look at that and you see what's happening—and this is real America. The Democrats want to see a shutdown to get off this subject, because this subject is not working for them. The tax cuts and tax reform has not been working well for the Democrats.

Now, yesterday you saw with Apple—$350 billion investment. Now they're also giving thousands of dollars to their employees. That's happening all over the country, and I'm really happy. People are really doing well. They're doing better than they have in years.

And to be honest, the tax cuts, not only have they worked, they're working much bigger and much faster than we ever thought possible.

We'll talk to you later.

Q. Are you still planning to go to Florida tomorrow, Mr. President, given the probable shutdown?

Republican Congressional Candidate Richard Saccone of Pennsylvania/Tax Reform

Q. Rick Saccone—Rick Saccone says he was Trump before Trump. What do you think of him?

The President. Rick Saccone said he was Trump before Trump. Rick is a great guy. I think he's going to do really well. He's a great guy. He loves this area, loves this country. He just met me at the plane. He's here someplace.

But actually, this is about tax cuts today. You know, this is about our economic reform.

But Rick is a great guy and special. He's a special person.

Republican Congressional Candidate Richard Saccone of Pennsylvania

Q. He won this—you won this district by 20 points.

The President. Right.

Q. Can he do as well as you?

The President. I hope so. I want him—I just said to him, I hope you're going to do as well. But we're here—we're going to be helping him. I'll be back for Rick, and we're going to fill up a stadium, and we're going to do something really special for Rick. I look forward to it. Okay?

Q. Mr. President, a lot of steelworkers——

Potential Federal Government Shutdown/Tax Reform

Q. Are you still planning to go to Florida tomorrow, given the possible shutdown?

The President. We'll see what happens. No, if there's a shutdown—again, I really believe the Democrats want a shutdown to get off the subject of the tax cuts, because they've worked so well. Nobody thought, including the Democrats, they could work this well. They've been so good that I think the Democrats would like to see a shutdown in order to get off that subject. That is not a good subject for them, the tax cuts, because of the way they've worked.

Steel Industry/H&K Equipment Co.

Q. Mr. President, a lot of steelworkers have been turned off from your administration——

The President. We're going to be helping them.

Q. [Inaudible]

The President. We're going to be helping the steel workers, just like we've helped a lot of the groups, including here. But I love the work you do. You know I love this business, right?

Mr. Cicero. Absolutely.

The President. And I understand this business, but you're probably a little bit surprised. When I see that going into that—and that's a 1980 version—that's an amazing thing. And it's brandnew, and it's got a brandnew life.

I mean—so that will be as good as if it were brandnew.

Mr. Cicero. It leaves here with a brand new factory warranty—[inaudible]—factory warranty.

The President. That's so fantastic. That's a 1980, and it looks like it just came out of a factory brandnew.

Thank you all very much. No, Rick Saccone, good man. Great guy.