every policy he has pursued, his massive expansion of regulatory powers has made small business want to pull back. everything he has done has attacked business. his rhetoric as the tax business. i must to admit that one of the things i am so proud about is that we stand at for freedom and free enterprise. i was disappointed over the last couple of weeks to see one of my opponents attacking free enterprise damages like the present was. that is not the role of the republican party. you know, the speaker the other day at the debate was talking about how he created millions of jobs when he was working with the reagan administration. he had been in congress two years. that will be like st. 435 congressman responsible for those jobs. the private sector creates jobs. [applause] congressman taking responsibility or credit for

helping create jobs like al gore taking credit for the internet. [applause] look, your the guys that create the jobs in america that americans to work, not congressman canady and presidents, and this one has is entirely wrong when he attacks the private sector. stone attack those that are trying to create a brighter future for themselves and their families. profit is what allows businesses to hire people and grow. free enterprise is under attack from the right and left. we have to stop it and stand up for american freedom everywhere that we see it. [applause] this is an election which i think in some respects is for the soul of america. i think if you go back to our founding fathers and recognize that when the craft of the words of the declaration of independence they had substance of meaning, enduring value. they said this, that the creator

had endowed us with certain unnamed it to have unalienable rights, not the state, the creator. included among them, life, life, liberty, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from and that phrase, the pursuit of happiness, says that in america we would be free to pursue happiness as we choose, not by some since the birth to read be placed in one direction or government telling a such a live our lives, but we by virtue of our own freedom to pursue happiness as we choose, and we built an enterprise, we call the free enterprise and free enterprise when they built a strong nation and the success of people who were willing to kate and education, all willing to work hard, take risk, have great dreams columbia luck. their success made the rest of us better off.

that has been the nature of america. adam smith was right. free enterprise and risk-taking and pursuing inland streams makes this nation stalker. we are omers society. dry to turn a sincere and its elimination, and settle a society where run based government owes them something. the elected government to take to summed up what -- give to others. that distance to be an entitlement society. i love our national hands. karzai failed baena, america the beautiful one of my favorites.

if another verse, a beautiful call for heroes feuded liberating strike. do we have many soldiers here? please raise your hands. thank you. appreciate your service, a settlement. there is another verse that strikes me. oh, beautiful for patriot dreams that seized the -- beyond the years. i am convinced of the founding fathers in crafting this great country and establishing our declaration of independence road not just for their time, but for the years beyond. the principles they embodied in those documents were not temporary, but in during. i am convinced that the constitution in the declaration should be our blueprint when

forward, and despite the challenges that we have, which are enormous, if we follow the blueprint of the constitution and the principles of this great land kaj if we enshrines freedom and opportunity we will, again, remain the kind of strength and power that has allowed us to lead the world. this is a shining city on the hill. ronald reagan saw it, and this still is. the light has been dimmed the last three years, but we will get it right by returning the principal of made a strong. i love america. of the people of america. of the patriotism of our people. the only people in the world to place our hand over our hard during the playing of the national anthem. we do that in honor of the blood that was said by our sons and daughters in foreign places. i am convinced that if our leaders, men and women of integrity will tell the truth and if they will draw upon the patriotism of the american people, we will overcome whenever challenge we have and

remain as we always big, the criticism of. thank you so much and great to be with you. thank you. thank you. [applause] [inaudible conversations] some. [inaudible conversations] ♪ [inaudible conversations]

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♪ [inaudible conversations] [cheers and applause] >> mitt romney at one of history

rally scheduled today. a new poll from cnn and "time" magazine chose to sit in south carolina shaking. the survey has 33% followed by 23%. rick santorum at 16% and ron paul up 14%. preparing to send the single digits. >> we need to eliminate these entitlement programs. we need to cap them, cut them, m., send them back to the state, removed the federal oversight and let the states have the flexibility to deliver these programs. >> we have brought to the forefront. other such of them i it and do nothing about it. for right now, it is this liberty movement, which is seen as a patriotic movement individual liberty movement that is saying to the country into the world, we've had enough for

sending our kids and money around the world to be the policemen of the world. it's time to bring them home. [inaudible conversations] six >> the endorsement syntax this? >> we feel very good about that. the conservatives are coalescing around our campaign and that will be good or is not just in south carolina, but as we go forward. >> after this saturday's south carolina primary, florida holding on january 31.

>> two of newt gingrich's daughters campaigned for and add a restaurant on the former state education superintendent. endorsements for gingrich's campaign. this is about 40 minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> hi, first of august 22 to call for coming. for those who don't know why james aptly come ahead of campaign in this area and its intimate all for coming out. it's a very exciting time for us here in the low country. we are all brimming still fred

debate the other night and i think as a new wind and everyone sales because they became crystal clear about your nomination be pure bride japanese residents here today, but i'll leave that honor to barbara nelson, our former secretary of education trenchard is done. i picked thank you all for coming once again and i'll introduce barbara. barbara, thank you. [applause] >> this is a great day. thank you very, very much. there's so much going on today. thank you all for giving us a place. he's always been good about doing that. he volunteers his time to recognize this county to put everything together as many of these people do, so thank you very much. richard chalk is here, former legislator. thank you for coming. it's exciting. i was at a debate the other night and jerry holman were laughing because i wanted to

make sure which route as i could share read out loud at there. [laughter] but anyway, dennis and i both understand how hard it is to go around the state. you know, iran ties, went around the whole state. i know every note and creamy. i cannot imagine how difficult it must be to do the whole united states. i also know that it is very, very hard on family. you know, the candidate can take a lot of stuff, but you know, i have two daughters also is very interesting conversations they have with many people. but that is what supports you is your family through this. just briefly before introduced them, people ask me why am i interesting news? well, of course i would not be here if i was not -- i want them to remember these three words. first his vision, a foundation

of american exceptionalism for the 21st century. the second word is solutions, well-thought-out plans and solutions to get them done. on the last word is probably the most important word. and that is courage. the kurds not to give in when everybody is pulling at you from five different directions, but you keep that focus. i'm excited you came and i'm very, very proud and honored to be out to introduce. i don't know which one is born for us, but i'm just going to do which everyone is here. right or left. this is jackie gingrich cushman and kathy gingrich lubbers. so here are they with you today and thank you for coming to the low country. [applause] >> i think that it's an open ended question at the need for

answer. i will go ahead and let you know that we won't let you leave the threw one dream that piece of the puzzle. again, thank you so much for having us in this fabulous establishment. the romance fuentes and i've seen some of the food strolling by. make sure that he spends a little money. we really appreciate it. [applause] >> dad gave such an incredible performance on tuesday night and is known for having really good debates. everybody knows that about him. people say who would you most like to be onstage against president president barack obama? the answer is newt gingrich. not only did he meet those expectations, but he exceeded them. i really think part of that is because we are in south carolina. south carolina is very special today. i went to school here. i went to presbyterian college. my father and my search history

south carolina. we are sure jim's from georgia and the right across the border. i think there's a lot of familiarity. i think there's a lot of warmth that we feel for being here. the most of all, i think there's a lot of passion and license for the people of south carolina. couldn't you feel it? it was electric, was in a? it was unbelievable. i've been to a lot of debate about the electricity in the year you could go coursing through your body. dad took that and ran with it and i do think one of the ideas that i've been talking about is when he becomes the nominee and debates president barack obama, i personally think we should have a paper viewed, with a knockdown drag out. all that money we could raise to go take on the national debt. and that way no one can complain about it. that's not good idea. i want to talk about that and why it is so important that the

south carolina and why it is so important that not only you though, that she tried your nearest 10, 20, 30, 40, however many people you can drag to vote for him because it really does mean a lot. first of all, we are at a terrible point in our nations history. if we don't be barack obama will four years of notches to sin, but worse. do not be confused. it will not be the same. it will get much worse. we have to put up a nominee that could not only debate them on stage, that a candidate that has the toughness and courage to withstand the attacks the look on his way. it's going to have been. a fact. the joyous time of the campaign trail as i spent a lot of time with kathy. and the other choice is spent a lot of time with my dad and callisto. and he is determined. he is not afraid. he actually repeated about being

unafraid and having courage. know god is with you so you aren't afraid. and he did not have to run. this is not something he was compelled to do as a person. he was making a very good living but no one bothering him. and it is a family and he knows a person that if he ran it would be long, it would be hard, it would be personally painful. but he also knew that where we are as a country he had no choice. he's doing this because of my children come his grandchildren, maggie roberts. he is the only national candidate that has balanced the budget, or reformed welfare and also cut spending and taxes. he is the only one, including president barack obama. i appreciate you being here. boasting a great performance on thursday night. he assigned to watch them at the electricity we have in south carolina, i have no doubt we can go on to victory on saturday,

but we need everyone to call it when they know. face the coming e-mail and spread the word. we've got to have a candidate that can stand toe to toe with president barack obama and come out on top. we have no other choice. we have to get it done. [applause] >> and is to build on that a little bit and there may be some questions and of course we are delighted to answer those to the best of our abilities. again, you are a passionate. you do know a lot of people. there are a lot of people not hear that wanted to be because they are being trained to be coworkers of another people actively engaged with this campaign and want to see us succeed. the people of south carolina sent a message out that we've got to coalesce around a republican conservative. the christian community is doing that. they understand that if they have any doubt that god is for newt will probably be barack obama because of guy to have

somebody that can pull the team together and carry this state during make it happen. so feel free to spread the joy and spread the love and keep watching the debates. they've been fine and you know, newt tends to rise to the occasion. i don't think we've ever seen this many debates this early on mdc summons performance and understand the reason he's there again for these children and for jackie's children. the thank you and again if you would like to ask questions, we'll do our best. >> can use the -- what is that the apples do not fall far from the tree? any questions? [inaudible] [laughter] >> since they're so shy, why don't you tell us you know your dad really, really well. i know everybody says sometimes

people are out there on tv. but what would you tell us that really, really captures the review? [inaudible] >> this is a fun story, but i'm going to brag on the fact that newt top-notch debate coaches are actually my niece and nephew. i'm going to challenge you to make sure that when you're watching the debate, while you're there in person or watching home on tv thursday night, watching closely when he walks to the podium for the first time because mackey, jackie's daughter has told grandpa she does count smiles. so she keeps the santa fe spread their newspaper in a sea of sand. that's how you know who's going in the circle making that smiley face. and then her son, robert, quite

eloquently says short and concise. now we all know and love my dad. we know he did best in the 90 seconds because he has so much to say that it takes that, but even in 90 seconds, short and concise is very good advice. he has a great affinity for his grandchildren and they love him dearly. they always do their chat ready before, sending little video made before the debate and he really listens to them and i think it's really important to keep in your mind that he's getting some of the best coach in america right now. i [inaudible] >> is important for many candidates to spend the teams who come in with thanks to saying things to be aware of. he said decades of debate prep in we really don't have anything scheduled here there is a quick read of the novel, maybe a movie or something as he relaxes. a call to the grandkids a diet

coke and you're good to go. we don't need someone who has to spend a day change figure of a question someone might ask them and how could they possibly respond. you really want something that really understands what is happening, can listen to the questions and provide in and say that is as well as wise. if you notice in his answer is that i love when he talks in the debate. he takes the answers and broadens them. he brings the questions back up to where it it is really, really important. that shows the kind of knowledge that he has done that's the kind of man we need is our president. [inaudible] >> we've had people come and volunteer there came that have been with other campaigns over the last few months. one of the questions they ask me is how does he prepare for debate? i could see this firsthand when i was in spartanburg. the speaker realized it, he just

prepared a missile in his head in his mind and that's why he's such an exceptional debater. he doesn't have his six talking points. it's not sitting back there getting killed on what to say. he has the knowledge base to be adequately and eloquently expressive and be concise in terms they can understand, were others if you get the talking points to see them get rattled that we do not need that in a nominee. we always have someone oppose barack obama when he hides behind his billion dollars war chest when you get in my debate stage he's got to stand on its own purity might have to walk around the teleprompter. at some point he'll have to be accountable. the only poster who speaker who oppose them is gingrich. >> richard is a former state representative for the area.

he's been a great help with the campaign nfl put things together. richard, if you could -- >> if i could interject, my husband is here to be really appreciate being here. richard and i go back to the north carolina days, so we have been friends longer than he was like for me to admit. [laughter] >> is great to be here with kathy. i've been here a few times. when i was in the legislature in the 1980s the north carolina, when kathy was living in north carolina, had a coffee shop there and paul was in school developing his tennis career, but i had the opportunity to attend a number of southern republican exchange means. news and bill bennett and other conservatives would come down and talk about how do you cover from a conservative perspective? with a republican does not have to follow congress for over 40 years. we do not control of a single state in the south as far as state legislatures.

when we were discussing how do you govern from a conservative perspective? the folks who would criticize newt is not conservative, he was one in the vanguard of developing the modern conservative movement as far as getting control of things. one thing i wanted to leave with you is new keeps talking about when you hear him speak, i'm not asking you to be for me because if you are just far may come you elect me and say i hope new takes care of things. i want you to be with me. the reason that is important as this is bigger than newt gingrich. this seems to be a movement about turning the country around and getting back to constitutional principles of living and what the constitution says. the federal government has gotten so far beyond that in tenders unshared founders intended it to be. i've never even mentioned this to kathy i don't think that i was sitting with newt and the late 1980s, might've been 1890 in atlanta and he made the point that he had criticized ronald

reagan to his face about not doing more to reverse the entitlement programs and get more conservative ideas pushed while reagan was president. reagan told him that we had just started this process. it's up to you to continue. he did when he was speaker. he met great opposition. he was pushing for conservative changes he wasn't used to. a lot of folks say there's negative things. it is because he was pushing conservative ideals that we had talked about in those meetings we the 1980s about how to govern from a conservative perspective. that is what newt is bringing now. now he's got the new contract with america and its planets don't just collect newt gingrich. but if you don't elect a congress and the house and senate that can help make these things happen, it's not going to happen. that is why some movement.

newt gingrich is the leader of that movement. we've got to all help make the movement truly become a movement. you hear them talking about the news avram hall said. lot of people brought it up as it's a movement meant purely to buy into a newt gingrich is talking about. and buy into it as a part of a movement, not just to support newt gingrich, but to support changes it back to have to turn this country abound. quite honestly i don't think it's about eating barack obama, even though we want to do it, but the bigger issue is not beating barack obama getting control of the white house, is turning this country back to the constitution and that's where newt has the abilities to do. [cheers and applause] >> is a pleasure to be here with new starters and i just encourage you all to get up and work hard and get as many of those to the on saturday as we can and get newt elected president.

>> and if anybody has any questions after this, go to newt.org. tons of information for 21st conference of america that was just mentioned. it's a great place to go. >> can i post one thing? of course i'm in education. i want you to look specifically at your dad's education plan. a lot of people do not realize that the responsibility for education is in a state constitution. and it is a state right issue quite frankly. i know they treat that is focused that we really need to get them out of our hair so it is weak. and not only downsize the u.s. department of education, but make sure many kids to kids and also to offer more choices. kids are in a different face on a stick or cricket lumps. but if we don't have an educated

workforce. he said this just the other night, it's not just how you started. they started cleaning. >> verse jobs and cleaning, absolutely. >> you want children to have a work ethic and opportunities. i have one last question. what is the most often question you could ask? >> i don't know. maybe what it's like to be newt's daughter. >> ask a normal speaking on their behalf. that's probably the biggest question. my answer is it's a lot of fun. >> we've grown up living a very vibrant life, doing a lot of fun things. there've been challenges, but not on the charges most the uk's homologous family issues, health

issues, financial issues. we get to meet a lot of really, really, really nice people such as yourself. >> i was seven when he began campaigning and lost 40 to one. one of things i learned from him was persistent and how to be persisted and that's been very helpful in my life. you can see that today he campaigns he so very persistent. were very close family and i'm very serious, one of the joys of campaigning has been spending time with my sister. i love paul, that it means i can spend time with my sister. we are glad to a poll here and it's been really fun to be on that bus with melissa and chat and we are very close family. he's a lot of fun. one thing people don't know about him is he looks so serious -- he's a really fun guy. i mean, he's just flat out fun. he is funny. and everyone gets to know and

like i do. it's a wonderful person, a great father, even better grandfather and he's a great guy in it for the right reasons and we really appreciate all of your help. [laughter] [applause] >> i would just like to come up and bring out because my job is to motivate all of you would get you to the polls to speak your heart and minds, it's very virtuous to south carolina is a historical rule, not just attack the we picked presidents since 1980. in the scenic election cycle, whether the debate we have, it's truly challenges we face as a country. what i lived by myself is no people don't know because the 21st century contract with america is a management document, not a campaign platform. if you go to newt.org, you'll find yourself knowledge and research that goes into getting specific ideas in solutions on

how you fix the problems that face this country. it's the exact opposite of a busy with rocco, but there's no plan, no leadership. he's clearly in over his head, where we have the opposite of the speaker with a lot of experience but i truly believe has prepared him for this moment. i believed it uniquely qualifies him to offer the direction we need and give south carolina is a unique opportunity to stand on behalf of the rest of america to determine that we will have a conservative nominee. we will have a conservative nominee that will draw contrasts between us and barack obama and he will take the fight to obama and expose him for his record and we will win the white house in get this country back to its constitutional comments on which was founded. where the into job. i encourage you recruit your friends and everyone is god. if there is not in favor, tell me to call me and i'll talk them into it. just get them to the polls and let's do it on saturday because her speaking on behalf of the entire nation.

[applause] >> thank you very much. >> this is such a shy group. i've never known these people to be patient i. thank you again for being here. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

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on winning and raise a ton of money to get a billion dollars or close to it, and they'll be horrible attack ads no matter who the nominee is. we're going to need someone tough enough to withstand this and then stand up next to him on the debate stage and explain clearly and articulate to the american people. he's able to show that contrast very easily, very articulate, provides real examples, but that's really, i think, the big challenge we'll have, and we talked last night, and we know it will get more and more challenging. he's ready. he's a warrior. there was an article about that today.

he's the energizing bunny who marchs and moves forward no matter what. [inaudible conversations] he's done this for decades. that's one of the strengths that he has. we don't worry about, oh, my gosh, might bring up something he doesn't know because his knowledge is incredible. that's a huge advantage he has. >> right. >> anything else you want to add? >> thrilled to be here. love it here personally. >> have you had the barbecue here today? [inaudible conversations]

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>> we need to eliminate the means tested entitlement programs, cut them, cap them, send them back to the states. remove the federal oversight and let the states have the flexibility to deliver these programs. >> we have brought to the forefront, others have tokenly talked about it, get in office, and they do nothing about it, but right now, it is this liberty movement, which is seen as a patriotic individual liberty movement saying to the country and to the world we've had enough of send or -- our kids and money to be the

policemen of the world. it's time to bring them home. >> candidates gets messages out and meet voters. [inaudible conversations] >> the endorsements in texas? >> we feel good about that. we feel the conservatives are around our campaign, and that's good for not just south carolina but as we go forward. >> find out more at c-span.org/campaign2012.

>> house republicans today held a news conference on the president's decision of accusing mr. obama of, quote, "killing american jobs." >> there's no other way to put it. the president is selling out american jobs for politics. the president was given the authority to block this project only and only if he believes it's not in the national interest of the united states. is it not in the national interest to create tens of thousands of jobs here in america with private investment? is it not in the national interest of america to have energy resources from canada opposed to the middle east? the president said he'll do anything he can to create jobs. today, that promise was broken. the president expedited the approval of the solyndra loan project, but he will not approve

a project that's been under review for over three years. yesterday, the president's own jobs counsel said the energy pipeline projects like this one can create hundreds of thousands of american jobs. the unions support it. the states along the proposed route support it. it has bipartisan support here in the congress of the united states. yet, the president decided to reject it anyway. the president won't stand up to his political base even in the name of creating american jobs. now canada is going to have to look to other nations like china to sell its oil reserves to. listen, the president's policies are making the american economy worse rather than better. this latest decision is just but the latest example. i'll just say this. this is not the end of the fight.

republicans in congress will continue to push this because it's good for our country and it's good for our economy and it's good for the american people, especially those who are looking for work. >> thank you, mr. speaker. tim griffin, arkansas ii. today, president obama decided to create jobs in china rather than the united states. why do i say that? i went to the canadian embassy weeks ago, met with officials there. they said they want to do business in the united states, but if nay can't do -- if they can't do business here, they have to take the oil sands somewhere to have them refined. they said they would do that in china. now, this decision impacts not only the country, but specifically, my district, the second congressional district in arkansas. we have a company wellspun. wellspun makes the pipe for the keystone pipeline, and they laid

off workers right after the president said that this decision would be after the next election. the folks at wellspun were hoping for the opposite decision today approving the pipeline. i spoke with them a little bit ago. their concerns are, number one, that now they have all of this pipe, hundreds of miles of pipe sitting around that's going to flood the market, reduce the cost of pipe, and they may have to layoff more workers because of that, and also this is an indian company that came to the united states and invested in little rock, and now they fear that this is going to detour other companies around the world from making these capital investments because of political decisions like this. i'm going to work with the speaker and do everything i can to get this reversed.

>> good afternoon. you know, a few weeks ago, in fact, on january the 7th in the president's weekly address, he vowed to quote, "do whatever it takes to get the economy moving and create jobs," unquote. today, what we see is the president has shown through his actions that those actions do not match that rhetoric. by deciding to block the development of the keystone pipeline, he has essentially decided to block the creation of 20,000 new jobs. as has been said by our speaker before, this was a bipartisan pipeline project. bipartisan support in the house that'll put people back to work right away and will boost our domestic energy security. examples have been shown now that energy supply will go

elsewhere. the jobs connected with this project will go elsewhere. either we're going to get serious about the number one issue, which is the creation of jobs or not. clearly, the president has decided that he is not serious if this is the decision that he's going to make on this particular project. there's no question that our belief is the president's policies consistently failed to create jobs. this decision is another wrong move for america, and it's small businesses we need so desperately to start creating jobs again. >> three years ago this month, president obama wassic -- inaugurated as president. we were told if we passed his stimulus plan, his health care plan, dodd-frank, it would help our economy. instead, we have the worse cereal unemployment since the great depression, millions more

lost their jobs in the three years since he's become president. his policies failed. it's a new year. it was an opportunity to try new policies, and after studying keystone for three years, 20,000 shovel-ready projects just got buried. canada has energy in jobs that can be destined for the united states of america in this administration has just decided that instead, perhaps, they should be going to china. it's a sad day for struggling american families who want jobs. upton from michigan. it's been more than three years this administration studied the keystone pipe lien. in october of 2010, secretary clinton was indicating that she was inclined to support this project. in august, this last august

2011, the state department completed their analysis, and they agreed that the proposed route was, in fact, the preferred route. the payroll tax legislation that we passed, senate as well, we had a provision there that the president should decide based on whether it's in the national interest or not as to whether the keystone pipeline should move forward. president obama took office, the national gas price was $1.83. in my direct this weekend it was $3.69, more than twice as high. this is a pipeline that will bring as much as a million barrels a day. so, where do we go from here? we have asked already secretary clinton to come testify before our committee next week. the president won't say yes. we want to let the american people know that we will, no option is going to be off the table.

we can't wait. as a sponsor of legislation relating to keystone, a member of the energy and commerce committee, liter rei. -- lee terry. >> thank you. as an author of the two bills and supporter of the pipeline, i'm deeply, deeply disappointed that the president decided to put his politics above the nation of job creation and the two things the pipeline brings to the united states. this is not over. the president's statement did not mention in any specifics why denying the permit is in the national interest of this country. as the governor of nebraska said yesterday in a published article that the keystone pipeline at a time with 8.5% unemployment is

in the national interest, it's a no-brainer. i agree with the governor. now, they say they need more time, but as fred mentioned, this is the same state department that was telling us all summer they had all of the information to make their decisions, two press releases by the state department, that secretary clinton made public statements that all was in order, and, in fact, they had in essence already chosen the route by telling transcanada where the pipeline should go. instead, they don't see any reasons to deny those, but then now seven months later, they've changed their mind. to me, it's pretty obvious it's all about election year politics. also, july 25th, the white house

threw omb -- through omb issued a statement that says they have all the information that they are working diligently, the state department and that they will have a decision by december 31st, 2011, but, yet, here in the middle of january, they are now saying something completely different. at this time, who's next? >> i'm from the state of west virginia, an energy state, and what this decision says to me is a repeating pattern from the president of delay, obstruct, delay, obstruct, lost opportunities, lost jobs, lost ability to have more energy security, but to also move us in the direction that we need to go. the administration is now delay

ed and turnedded down the permit. they are repeatedly holding up our permits to mine coal in southern virginia and the appalachian region and obstructed the ability to get permits on the outer continental shelf. three's a pattern, and this is a pattern we've seen from the administration that they are willing to sacrifice -- you know, they talk a lot about infrastructure jobs and how great infrastructure jobs are. what are more prolific infrastructure jobs than building a major pipeline through the center of oh -- our country? for the life of me, i can't understand, and so as the speaker said, we join with him. this is not the end of the fight. we'll continue to fight this because that means that much to the american people. thank you. next, marshall blackburn from

tennessee. >> thank you, even though i represent tennessee, i grew up south of mississippi with a dad who worked in the oil industry, and i remember as a child from time to time i would have classmates at school or friends from church whose dad went away to work on the pipeline, and there was always a sense of pride tied to those jobs. yeah, the pay was good. the work was hard, but the work was consistent, but it was doing something mighty important for our country, and that was making certain that we had energy, and i kind of liked that. i kind of liked that feeling that we were all in on this team together, working to make this country great. now, as was said, how in the world did the president arrive at this decision? i think many americans that are looking for work are out there

thinking how could he look at the facts as mr. terry said. they told us this summer they had all the information they needed, all the information points to the fact that we need this project, we need these jobs, we need this energy. our country needs energy independence, so it leads us to believe that the president chose to make an anti-jobs political decision that does not support what the american people are wanting to see done, to grow jobs in this country. >> the president said forced his hand to make a decision on this early -- said this at the end of the game. what is the end of the game? what's the next step? >> all options are on the table, but understand something.

while the president says we forced his hand, the facts are indisputable. all the reviews have been finish ed, and under the agreement in the legislation, the president had to make a decision and it had to be based on what was in the national interest of our country, and for the president to say the keystone pipeline's not in the interest of the country i think most americans are straching their heads wondering why. >> speaker boehner, do you expect this issue to play a role in the negotiations to extend the payroll tax and unemployment insurance until the end of the career? >> all options are on the table. >> what could the options be? the american people are watching this. >> this fight is not going to go away. you can count on that. >> but what are the options?

you -- the american people get a statement from the white house saying they are rejecting this permit. what can congress do that congress couldn't do before until they had to wait to hear from the president? >> there are legislative vehicles that will be moving, in the next -- in the weeks and months ahead, and republicans on capitol hill will continue to do everything we can to make this decision a a positive decision for the country. the american people are still asking the question, where are the jobs? here's the president has an opportunity to create 20,000 direct jobs and over 100,000 indirect job, and he says no. we're not giving up. >> [inaudible] >> i am not. >> speaker, was it worth it considering you now -- republicans seem to stake the two month extension payroll on the keystone pipe, and we're 17 days in, and he already said no.

was it worth it? did you get played? >> listen, the pipeline is important to the country and important to what the president says is the number one issue on the minds of the american people, and that's creating jobs. he said he'd do everything he could to create jobs in america, but, yet, he didn't. >> you've been talking about energy security. there's another very important national security issue that arose today and the president wrote a letter to the supreme leader of iran calling for direct talks. do you agree with that, or does that make the united states look -- >> i think it's very difficult to have talks with a country around the world whose vowed tuesday everything but wipe us off the face of the earth. this is not the environment that i believe would lead to a constructive discussion. i think it makes america looks weak. thanks.

[applause] >> today's one day of fame. [laughter] thank you very much, gary.

it's a real honor and privilege to be here in front of all of you. i'm so impressed. i was saying to gary, i go to a lot of events during my job throughout the year, and not only do you have so many policymakers, government officials from all parts of the world as well as people from industry large and small, and this is a wonderful event, and i'm really thrilled to be here. i also recognize the downside of giving this slot is i'm the only thing between you and a night out in las vegas. [laughter] i'll try to keep it relatively brief. what i'm going to speak about today is not my vision as gary called it, but actually what we at ebay see happening. it's a vision create bid consumers, and it's a vision being driven by the intersection of two large and very powerful forces -- technology and retail.

the intersection of technology and retail before our very eyes is transforming the retail industry. i'll start out by making what some call a relatively bold prediction. i think we will see more change in how consumers shop and pay in the next three years than we've seen in the last decade. more change of consumer believer in a three year period of time in industry's as large as shopping and paying as in maybe the last ten years maybe the last 15 years. here's an analogy to think about. how many of you in the audience own an ipad? okay. many of you do. how many of you consume media today, news, other kinds of

media, in a fundamentally different way on your ipad than you consume media three years ago? right. i know that's certainly the case for me. the ipad is not yet three years old. a technology device has taken an industry as large as media, and in a three year short period of time consumer behavior have taken this device and dramatically transformed our behavior with significant impact on the media industry. there's new sets of winners and new sets of losers. i believe the same thing's about to happen to shopping, to retail. this is a phenomena like in media that's being led by consumers. it's not being led by brilliant technology visionaries or even brilliant retailers, but it's being led by consumer, and it's being enabled by technology.

now, from where we sit, we see four forces impacting how consumers shop and pay in our everyday lives. mobile, local, social, and digital. digital we talked about a minute ago, how we're now consuming media through digital means in places, in way, and devices we couldn't have even imagined three to four years ago. well, the same thing's happening to shopping, and this device, and, ralph, you'll be really pleased to know, we have the ceo of at&t wireless sitting in front, the smart phone is transforming how we shop and pay, and specifically what the smart phone's doing is it's blurring the line between what has been called e-commerce and what's been called retail. that distinction in the eyes of

consumers is disappearing. here's an interesting statistic. if i'd have stood here a year ago, i would have say ebay participates in the e-commerce industry, and the industry is a $400 billion industry that only represents 5% of all fine retail, and we think e-commerce is going to double, going to grow to 10%. it's going to be a huge opportunity. well, a year later, i'll tell you what's happened. that wasn't the right way to think about it. consumers have spoken. retail in this country is a $10 trillion industry. last year, in half of all retail transactions, consumers accessed the internet at some point in their shopping experience. think about your own shopping. we talked earlier, we're searching. go to the internet to research

an item, to figure out which product you might want to buy, figure out where you might want to buy it, in is store, online, look at prices, look at reviews, maybe you buy it online, maybe you pay for it, maybe not, but the consumers are now using the internet ningly in almost -- increasingly in almost every commerce they have. they view it as commerce. so consumers increasingly feel like they have a mall in their pocket. consumers want what they want when they want it and how they want it. the days of running down to the store hoping they have it in stock and hoping they have my size and flavor in stock and then finding out they don't, consumers are increasingly not

willing to put up with that anymore than not being able to find your newspaper in the driveway. you want it when you want, how you want it, and when you want it. the kinds of services we're all going to receive as consumers through our devices is just beginning. now, this is also having profound implications for retailers and merchants of all sizes all over the world. i know we've got many large leading retailers today in the audience with us today, and here's what i'm hearing when i talk to those retailers. they are saying such things as, john, you know, we have our physical stores, we have our website, and we have maybe a catalog. that's no longer enough because our consumers are beginning to shop on mobile devices, and we're not present on a mobile device, and if we're not present where the consumers' starting to

shop, how are we going to succeed? they are talking about demand generation. historically, demand generation for a retailer was you advertised in a newspaper, and you brought people into your store. increasingly, technology is playing a growing role for retailers. i've had retailer ceo say to me, john, we finally have a couple of people that know how to buy google ad wars to drive traffic to our website, but now technology is driving our foot traffic into the stores -- facebook, twitter, groupon, living social. that's all technology stuff. we're a retailer, not a technology company. retailers say things like this -- consumer data, i had a ceo tell me here's the challenge i face john, we have 50,000

stores across the united states. i can tell you what products sold in what stores yesterday down to the skew, down to the level of detail, and i can roughly tell you how many customers came into our stores yesterday. here's the problem i face. a.m.son or a company like yours, ebay, you know how many people came into your store exactly who bought what item, what they looked at, when they bowrgt it, what they left at the checkout counter when they didn't buy it, and what they paid for it. you have perfect information about your customers. what i'm scared of is the pan pandora of shopping this ceo said to me. i don't know how many of you use pandora. pandora predicts your like in music and you get to vote. he said i'm afraid they'll use the data to start predicting

what my consumers want. i need your help to get more information about our customers. technology's having a profound impact on retail. now, this is had a big impact on our company's strait -- strategy. ebay started as a consumer-to-consumer auction website. today, auctions represent less than a quarter of the business, and the website represents less than half of what we do. as e bay evolved, our focus is on helping merchants and retailers compete in the new environment, and we'll never compete with them. ebay is not a retailer, and we're focused on customers getting what they want, when they want it, and how they want it. we're a technology provider helping to enable retail, and i wish i could tell you this is a result of some brilliant

strategy that i or others cooked up. it is more the story of how technology operates as we've opened up technology, how consumers are pulling that technology and using it on how they shop and pay. they are driving the innovation that we get credit for. i just want to pick a few examples of how this is happening. i think you are going to see an acceleration of the kind of innovation i'm talking about. let me take consumer electronics. consumer electronics is a huge, huge business. we got it at the table with best buy and many leading consumer electronic companies in the united states, and, in fact, ebay, we're the number ninth largest consumer electronic in the united states. a little over $4 billion, 20 million active consumers buy

electronics on ebay. we're not manufacturing them or a retailer, but a place where people can sell them. we had many of these and other retailers come to us and say for the first time, hey, we want to discover if we can begin to sell on ebay. we're looking for additional channels. the reason is what i referenced earlier. ebay's been blessed with tremendous success in the mobile applications. ebay mobile applications have been downloaded 65 million times, and last year we did somewhere between roughly $5 billion of mobile commerce volume. people are buying 2,000 cars a week on ebay on their mobile devices. next weir, we anticipate that to be around $8 billion. here's what retailers are starting to realize. their consumers are shopping on

mobile devices, and not every retailer will have their own app because consumers want an app that shows you lots of retailers' products. here's an example of a couple of retailers that are using technology to reach their consumers. toys r' us. we own three companies. red laser. how many used that? red laser is a technology we bought. two guys built it, and you can go into any store, scan an item, and it shows you the prices online, or you can type it in, and initially retailers thought it was the worst thing in the world because what people were going to do come into the store, scan an item, compare prices, and buy it from the cheapest price. turning out, that's not how it's being abused. being used. here's what they are doing.

they do a search. they enter in a keyword. in this case, enter in anyone -- nintendo, and it shows you the price of it of all websites across the web, not just ebay. here's what's also interesting. because of a technology, we show which stores around you have that item in stock at what price. a growing number of consumers are using it to go into the store. they are using this as the way to say, hey, i'm shopping today. i'm going to figure out what stores are near me, who has what i want, and now i'm going to go into the store, walk into the store. what started as an e-commerce or web enabled shopping experience ends up with someone in the store, and in this case, toys r' us made it with one click and you buy it in the store. when a consumer walks into the

store, the store is smart and said by the way, he's the accessories, and would you like to do more summon -- shopping? consumers don't remember what they did on their mobile device, their laptop or the store. they just viewed it as shopping. best buy is doing -- is building a similar application where they want to use technology to bring people in their stores, but they want to take it one step further, and this is what i think we'll see an explosion of in the next year where you'll be given customized offers. you walk by a best buy store, and best buy say, hey, you bought a computer last week, 50% off on a printer if you stop in today. being able to offer you specific, customized offers to change your shopping experience. again, you have the choice of buying it on line and having it

shipped home, gong to the store and making it up, or you can go into the store and buy it. a lot of innovation is happening. a lot of innovation's being done by the retailers and by third party developers changing how we shop and pay. i to pick a couple other examples. this is an example from the u.k.. this is a restaurant chain called pizza express. they have an application now where you can figure out where the closest pizza express is -- think starbucks, that's very much the same thing. where's the closest one? let me order my meal ahead of time so when i go in, i can avoid the line. let me sit down, consume it, and then instead of waiting for a waiter to come over and take the check or waiting in line to pay, i just pay the bill from my chair, from the desk, from the table. i enter a tip and pay it. boom, it's done.

pizza express loves it because it increases their productivity. they are encouraging their customers to use mobile devices to pay while in their restaurants because it adds volume to their business. couple other examples. this is not just happening in the united states, by the way, this is happening all over the world. visual search. i'm excited about this. if you think about typing and searching online for things like consumer electronics, you type in, i want to buy an iphone or a laptop computer, but think about clothing. there's a lot of things that when we buy them, it's more of a visual experience saying i want to buy a dark -- well, for us, at least for me, a dark blue suit would fit, but for many, i want to buy a nice blue sweater. people tend to want to see it more visually.

we're on the cusp of an explosion of visual technologies. we have at ebay today the ability where if i see someone that has a shirt or sweater i like, i can take a picture of it, and it will instantly search e bay search results for items that look like that based on visual search, so within a year, you'll see people walking down the street -- the whole notion of typing things into the devices and i'm sure ralph, you're seeing this whether it's voice or visual, walking down the street saying, boy, i like that person's shoes, i'll snap a picture and see which retailers have shoes similar like that. you laugh, but technology exists today to do this, and you're seeing more and more retailers and more and more technology providers making that possible. i like your tie. i'm going to take a picture of it. i'll find out where i can get it shipped home or what retailers

around me have ties like that. an explosion of visual search and visual technologies through these devices. ralph, you should be paying me. this is like an advertisement, isn't it? [laughter] i use the smart phone. consumers are in charge. visual, visual technology is going to be a huge -- make a huge change in how we use these devices and shop and pay. let me give an example of over in korea. this is -- we are the largest e-commerce provider in korea, and this is something our korean team did. in the subways they now take the store windows, and they project products. the people running through -- this is one of our consumers running through using a qr code to order it so it gets shipped home the next day. they are now in the korean subways -- there's little kiosks and instead of having a whole

convenience store, they have a kiosk that has one of each item, and so a consumer runs through and says, click, they buy it, and it's delivered to them that afternoon or the next day. that's their choice. the whole notion of what a retail store does is evolving and shifting in that part of asia, and i think you'll see more widespread adoption of that around the world. last example i'll show is one that slightly is more futuristic, but this is less than a year away which is walking into a store, looking into a mirror, and being able to look at your image and project yourself wearing different things without having to try them on, being able to bring in people who give opinions and what do your friends think? what accessories go with it? there's a video that illustrates

it. again, the technology is there, and in this case, it's just going to be a matter of retailers and technology companies working together to make this a reality over the next 12-18 months, and consumers are the one telling us. i just want to conclude where we started. there's a revolution happening where people shop and pay that i believe will be as significant as the revolution we have just been through or are in the midst of in media. i think there's going to be more change in how consumers shop and pay in the next three years than in the last ten. it's an enormous opportunity for technology companies to enable these consumer behaviors, technology companies, 34 at this show, privileged to be one of those. we believe we can play a clear

and central role in that, and we never compete with retailers unlike other technology companies. hint, hint. [laughter] we believe that this will be an enormous opportunity for retailers, some of which people like best buy and fries embracing this future aggressively and driving new ways people shop, and there's going to be some that will suffer. what's exciting, and what i'll conclude on is like any great technology movement or any movement that technology has drufn in the history -- driven in the history of the last 30 years since the pc, this is innovation that's being driven by consumers. it's being driven by you and i as we shop each and everyday. that's 5 little bit of how we see the world. thank you for the opportunity to share it with you, and we look forward to the rest of the show. thank you. [applause]

>> this time, good afternoon. >> good afternoon. >> here we are back to work, hopefully ready to work. we all know what's at stake here. the first order of business is to pass a payroll tax cut for 150 million americans, pass unemployment insurance for millions of americans who are

out of work through no fault of their own, and for tens of millions of seniors, for us to pass the legislation on sgr to enable to to see their doctor under medicare. this is something that we all know is a possibility. we've been over this for a long period of time. i can just assume that with a long absence from washington of the republicans that they come back ready to work, call a conference, can get this done, and it can be done in a short period of time. let me say of that that with the unemployment insurance, traditionally, most of the time it has not been paid for, but if it needs to be paid for as same thing with the payroll tax cut, payroll tax cut -- think of this, the double standard of the republicans. the tax cuts for the wealthiest people in the country, no pay-fors.

tax cuts for the middle class, they have to be paid for. let's join them together, have a tax cut for the middle class paid for by a third tax on the wealthiest people in our country, those making over $1 million a year. that can also cover the unemployment costs as well. as far as the sgr, the ability of seniors to see their doctor under medicare, we think this can be paid for by oca, the war savings funding otherwise known as the overseas contingency act. there we have it. we have this very major provisions of the legislation that was passed for two month period in december. we can take it to the end of the year. if the republicans insist on paying for payroll tax cuts for the middle class, as they have not insisted for tax cuts on the wealthy, and then we have a way to do that. it is -- again, we're in session

two full days, distinguished minority, what mr. hoyer said it's just two actual full days, plenty of time for the confer reis to -- conferees to meet to get this business done. it's a matter of priorities. we know that the payroll tax cut, the unemployment insurance are not only good for the individuals, for these families, but it is good for our economy. it has a macroeconomic effect. money will be spent quickly, injecting demand into the economy, creating jobs. let's create jobs, let's do so in a way that doesn't increase the deficit. with that, of course, we all observed monday, martin luther king day, what a wonderful thing to do so this year seeing that beautiful monument on the mall, imagine martin luther king

standing there comfortably among the washington monument and jefferson memorial, the lincoln memorial, fdr memorial, the great president's of our country, a great leader for our country. he talked about the fierce urgency of now, and that we couldn't afford the luxury of the narcotic gradualism. we don't knee gradualism now. we need strong, strong statements to create jobs to reduce the deficit and make the future brighter for our children. with that, i'm pleased to answer questions. >> talk about for a moment are you are on the piracy act? we have an absolute avalanche of criticism -- >> i'm sorry? >> people criticizing the bill -- >> oh, the bill. okay >> yes. >> i'd be happy to answer it, but does anyone have questions on the legislative business that

is imminent. you know that we need to pass it, that it has to go forward, and if it needs to be paid for, surcharge on the wealthy, savings for the sgr, and let's just get the job done. on this subject? >> as you know, republicans have all along said they absolutely no to a surtax on millionaires. it sounds we're in the same position that we were prior to the recess. any movement at all? seems like we're pitting the same positions that we saw from both republicans and democrats in the beginning of the fight. >> well, let's review that. we had many objections to what the republicans proposed before, many of them legislative language on this bill, much of which they walked away from and are walking away from, but the

fact is the surcharge is the simplest easiest way to pay for this. if the republicannings os have other -- if the republicans have other suggestions, let them bring them forward. we're not going to give to the middle class with one hand and take away with the other. thatst that's what the republicansment to do. we want -- that's what republicansment to do. this is a middle income tax cut. it's not going to be paid for by a penalty to the middle class, so you have another idea? tell us why the surcharge is not the best way to go. yes, sir? >> follow-up on that. the republicans make the point that they passed the bill on the house, and that democrats didn't pass the bill in the senate. you didn't offer an alternative in the house, so they don't want to negotiate with themselves and they say it's up to democrats to offer alternatives. >> we just did. >> that congress can agree do. >> we just made the suggestion,

but it's up to the american people. the american people know that our economy will benefit by the effect of having the tax cut for the middle class, that unemployment insurance brings a lot of money into the economy. as i mentioned before, increasing demand, increasing jobs. this is about jobs. it's about doing so in a way that is fair to the middle class. we'll continue to make that argument. if they don't want to accept a surcharge, what are they suggesting in its place? we're happy to listen, but we're not, again, giving with one hand and taking away with another. we'll continue to make the fight on the surtax. if it doesn't work here, it's absolutely necessary for us to have fairness in our decisions and in our tax decisions. ..

there's a strong case to be made that is a gimmick and so my question would be is in that sort of the kind of gimmickry that people are sort of tired of hearing about where you pay for something that is sort of phantom? >> it's what the republicans used in the ryan budget. they use the oh money there are, the overseas contingency account for that.

so look, one of the biggest things, favors, that we can do for american seniors and it really shouldn't be considered a favor, something they deserve is to take off the table forever whether they can see their doctor under medicare. this is something that even the republicans and the senate have been inclined to spend some more savings to do for partial, for a partial fix. we are saying we can do it alright now. let's get it off the table and that removes the uncertainty and let me say this because i have been following this issue for a long time and fighting for this for a long time. the sooner you do it, the less it costs. as you drag it out it just increases the cost to the taxpayer, so no, it is not any more gimmick than when it was used for other initiatives along the way and it's an answer. on the keystone, what is your

question? see the republicans, speaker boehner mentioned this morning that it would be a job creator in this country and there is a consequence that the canadian oil would sell to china rather than the united states. united states. aren't there consequences? >> let me make a few points on the subject of the keystone pipeline. first of all the president hasn't made an announcement yet so i don't have any heads-up from that except that i just came back in the u.s. conference of mayors and a number of mayors came up to me and said the rumor is, as you describe. second of all if the republicans cared so much about the keystone pipeline they would not have narrowed the president's options by putting on the timeframe that they did. >> follow this event available on line in our video library at c-span.org. we will take you live now to lansing michigan for governor rick snyder's state of the state address.

is expected to talk about efforts to reduce the state's 9.3% on planet rate and we are expecting an announcement that michigan has a budget surplus after several years of budget cuts. live coverage here on c-span2. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause]

[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause]

[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> members of the joint convention, the governor of the state of michigan, rick snyder. [applause] >> thank you.

thank you. [applause] thank you. thank you very much. please be seated. thank you. appreciate it. please, have a seat. thank you. [applause] well, thank you. it's an honor to be here tonight and i would like to start by thanking several individuals and groups. first of all, i want to thank the speaker of the house. [applause] second i would like to thank my partner in this endeavor, lieutenant governor kelly. [applause]

he is still speaking to me tonight after last night. i also would like to thank another key partner of our team success, senate majority richard hill. [applause] i would like to thank senate majority leader whitmer. [applause] minority leader. minority leader, sorry about that. i would like to thank house democratic leader hamill, who is feeling better. [applause] the members of the supreme court, welcome. [applause] attorney general. [applause] secretary of state johnson. [applause]

i would like to thank all the members of my cabinet. thank you for being with us. [applause] and ladies and gentlemen of the legislature, thank you for being here and thank you so much. [applause] and i would like to thank all of my fellow public servants. public service as a special thanks so thank you for your service to our state. [applause] and i'm happy to see federal representatives here tonight but i want to give special thanks to the men and women of michigan serving in our armed forces. [applause] [applause]

[applause] thank you for your service. it is truly something special. i want to thank all the citizens of michigan and finally last but not least i want to give special thanks to my family. [applause] in my first aid of the state address i spoke about the need to reinvent michigan with job on being jobs. tonight is a continuation of that journey. in the 1800's, we have the natural resources era, michigan 1.0. in the 1900's, we have the industrial era, michigan 2.0. this century, it is time for innovation, michigan 3.0.

[applause] we are on that path. we are getting it right and we are getting it done. [applause] two reaffirmed the need to reinvent michigan let's briefly look back at the past. michigan has been in decline for several decades, with the last decade eating particularly difficult. we were essentially tired and broken. in 2011, we made large strides to make michigan a great state again. we came together and worked with relentless positive action added dog airspace. while we should be proud of the progress, much remains to be done, so with that, let me get started. first, let's review a number of key measures in our statewide dashboard. territory when measures in five different areas.

don't panic, i am not doing all 21. but i did want to highlight five of them, and for those at home you can find the entire dashboard at www.michigan.gov/ www.michigan.gov/mi. number one is an exciting one. our unemployment in the last 12 months has dropped from 11.1% to 9.3%. [applause] [applause] in november we dropped below 10% for the first time in three years. in fact, we added nearly 80,000 private sector jobs during 2011. we have shown faster improvement

than the united states average and in particular i mentioned the jobs we have added have been higher paying than the average for the rest of the united states. [applause] now number two is one we haven't done as well, obesity in our state has increase one percentage points to 2% of our population. this is a disturbing trend. everyone knows that health care costs are exploding and unsustainable from obesity. the key to the solution though is not government that personal responsibility. we as michiganders need to work together to do a better job on obesity. [applause] number three, college readiness, increased from 16 to 17% while the 1% increase is unacceptable.

we need to be 100% college and career ready for our young people. [applause] number four, our bond rating. we are moving in a positive direction. one of the bond rating agencies that increased our outlook from neutral to positive, good sign we are heading in the right direction. [applause] number five, our crime statistics statewide have improved. while this is good, we have for four of the top 10 cities on the most violent crime list for the united states. flint, saginaw, pontiac and detroit in 2012 we are going to focus on this and resolve this issue. [applause]

[applause] thank you. i would also like to mention some non-dashboard indicators of our state. first, the automotive industry has made a major comeback. last weekend was at the north american not a show and i was proud to say that detroit is still the undisputed auto capital of the world. [applause] the next group i'm going to mention has been too often not talked about and forgotten but they are critically important. they have been in the unsung heroes of our economy and that is the people in agriculture.

over the last decade they have been one of the shining lights for our state and we need to remember we we are the second-mt diverse agricultural state in the nation and we are going to continue to grow into better so i want to stay thank you to everyone in the agriculture industry. [applause] [applause] finally tourism is on a positive path. michigan is working well. now we just need more snow. [laughter] i am very excited about dropping the flag on the premier winter snowmobile events in the entire nation. [applause]

and now i would like to give special recognition. i'm pleased to say dan musser is with us in the audience. dan, stand up. [applause] dan represents the grand hotel on mackinac island and we want to wish him happy birthday. 125 years and going strong. [applause] [applause] i also want to mention our team has been working the senator caspersen and representatives -- among others and exciting opportunities in mining in the upa and the industry in northern michigan so thank you.

[applause] we are rebuilding michigan's image as a great place to do business. we had a very successful trade mission to the asia. we are delivering on substance now so it's time to spread the message and that is why i will be making trips to both europe and asia to talk about why michigan is the place to do business in the world. [applause] and i want to mention one other thing that doesn't get mentioned often. for the past six years, we have more people moving out of michigan than we then we had moving in. in 2011, we stop that trend. [applause]

[applause] now tonight i'm excited to count captain john james of the united states army as the people among us who has chosen to come michigan home because they see a bright future here. captain james, where are you? stand up, please. [applause] while captain james has traveled the world, and been recently stationed in michigan, as he ends his military service this year he has chosen michigan tuesday, to join the family business, a 40-year-old this disc in the james group international and detroit. now the james group international is a very successful organization. is already working with the detroit wayne county port authority to be part of the

portrays -- revitalization plan. the company estimates it will create 50 new jobs this year so we are pleased that captain james is here tonight along with his dad, john and his brother lawrence so thank you gentlemen for being with us. [applause] so now let's discuss 2011. both in terms of accomplishments, initiative started that we need to finish and challenges. 2011 was the year to attack our legacy problems and to change course from downward to upward. the key targets were to create an apartment that encourages job creation and to create a financially sound state government. i truly want to thank my partners in the state legislature. through partnership, we compress a lot. overall we passed 323 public acts in 2011 but more important

than quantity was quality. thank youthank you thank you so. [applause] working together the past a financially sound budget. [applause] we had to address $1.5 billion deficit that demanded tough decisions and i appreciate all the shared sacrifices that people may. michigan is just like a family. in tough times we have to find ways to live within our means. working together though, we stop the practices of using budget gimmicks or taking short-term actions that would actually harm us long-term. [applause] even in these difficult times, but he made payments towards michigan's long-term liability costs in addition we made the

first deposit to michigan's rainy day funds since 2004. the fund had run down to a balance that would only operate state government for 30 minutes. and the last thing is, this was the fastest budget process in the last 30 years which was a tremendous help to our local governments and schools, so thank you so much for that hard work. [applause] and i really appreciate the support of our appropriation chairs, senator khan and representative moss. thank you. [applause] next was tax reform. a good tax system has three basic elements, simple, fair and efficient. our system failed on all three of these principles for both business and individuals.

so working together, we eliminated the michigan business tax. [applause] as many of you heard me say, the michigan business tax was just plain. in addition to failing all three principles it was a job killer that impose an unfair double tax burden on our best job creators, are small and medium-sized business people. although it didn't disappear until the end of 2011, many business people had already gained confidence and our future and have taken action, and that want to recognize one example. one example is neiman's family market which is an representative tally's district and he is with us tonight.

stand up please. [applause] they have already added five employees and expect to hire 100 more because of these reforms. thank you. [applause] on the michigan business tax i want to give one notice special recognition and that is to lieutenant governor cali who helped lead the way it worked tirelessly on the tax reform situation. [applause] we also completed major reform of our individual income tax system. we change personal tax system to one defined by fairness, one that does not treat anyone better than anyone else. we have leveled the playing field to give all michiganders a fair shake in the long-term. [applause]

we made major improvements with local government reforms that encourage more accountability and transparency, better cost management of health care costs and sharing between communities. for example we now have 435 jurisdictions doing dashboards. we created the 5 billion-dollar pool to fund innovative collaboration between governments and the first award out of the pool was to grand rapids plant in lansing, to jointly process their income tax returns. the 550,000-dollar awards they received will result in over $2 million in savings over the next nine years. [applause] this exercise was due to the great partnership with the legislature and i would especially like to thank representative mark for his

effort on this. [applause] we completed much of our education reform package. as i said earlier our current standing of only having 17% of our students being college-ready is unacceptable. our children are our future and we need to make sure they are not just college-ready, but career ready. we need to start in early childhood and finished with lifelong learning whether it's college or vocational training. we launched the office of great start, to focus on our youngest children. i want to thank the foundation committee for helping champion early childhood education. [applause] teacher tenure reform was accomplished. now we have a better system to support our teachers, recognize their credible role and create an environment that supports their success.

[applause] we provide our students and parents with more school choice by removing the cap on charter schools. [applause] now we need to make sure we are raising the performance bar on all schools. [applause] we have forged to complete, encourage the legislature to plead to work on dual enrollment in cyberlearning and also appreciate your support on legislation for the educational achievement authority which is their initiative to turn around our poorest performing schools. our goal is to have the educational achievement authority, educate children by this september. [applause] in september i gave a special

message on health and wellness. as i mentioned on the dashboard, we have much to improve on. again the most important item would be taking personal responsibility for our own wellness. as you know i signed up for my own personal commitment. my goal losing 10 pounds but i still have work to go. i ask all michiganders should join me in this ever. this is about who is the biggest loser. this is about how we can all went together. i asked the legislature to continue to work on autism and the michigan health marketplace. there are now medically proven treatments for autism. 27 other states already require insurers to cover evidence-based therapies for autism. the human and financial costs to autism or to hide but let's address this important topic. [applause]

[applause] the michigan health marketplace is our effort to give people the tools they need to make informed decisions on selecting high-quality and affordable care. it's the health care equivalent of travel to -- when was the last time you called five airlines to book an airline ticket? if we fail to act in a timely basis we are in in a path to have a federally imposed system defined by people who don't live or work in our state. i urge the legislature to seize the opportunity for michigan citizens. [applause]

tonight i am pleased to announce a new program, pure michigan partnership between gerber, the michigan grocers association and the health and hospital association to address childhood obesity. is a nutrition-based program to give parents and caregivers the information they need to raise happy, healthy kids. [applause] we also took great strides this year to protect their most vulnerable citizens, elder peace is the fastest growing crime in michigan. the senate has already passed bills which give vulnerable adult special witness protection against abusers, allows advocates to speak on their behalf when they are unable to and establish a senior alert program. i urge the house to move the package of bills to my desk for signature. [applause]

[applause] michigan is home to nearly 700,000 men and women who have served this country. many have access to va health care but are unaware or choose not to use it because of the cumbersome process. only 19% of our veterans use va health care. we will continue to work with veterans groups and the federal government to ensure our veterans get the benefits they have earned and deserved. i would like to thank the legislature for their support in this area specially representative zorn, france and senators call back and -- thank you. [applause]

just as individuals cannot neglect their own health, the state cannot afford to neglect the health of our fiscal infrastructure. shortly a bipartisan bills will create a system of roads and bridges for the 21st century economy. one illustration of our current outward system is a road funding formula from 1951, over 60 years ago. even more important, studies have shown that we are under investing in our transportation infrastructure by upwards of $1.4 billion per year. now almost no one in michigan likes our road system. let's solve this problem. i urge the legislature to begin hearings on this important issue. [applause] [applause]

now another persistent problem that we face is a lack of a truly regional transit system for southeastern michigan. we are working in partnership with the city of detroit with the four surrounding counties and the u.s. department of transportation to develop a new bus rapid transit system, at brt to service the entire region. it is 40 years overdue. i encourage your support. [applause] [applause] now the final message was on -- this is indeed the last but not least. our greatest asset is our talent. are people. traditionally the public sector has focused on talent for the

workforce development. this is not good enough. we can minimize waste and at real results for people by better aligning our careers with their people and their skills that they have and that they need. we started this process in the fall with pure michigan talent act. i encourage all of our young people and anyone looking for a job or a career to go to mi talent.org. the this new portal is to get our citizens better connected. there are nearly 70,000 jobs on this site. if we filled all of these positions are unemployment rate would drop by another 2% almost. [applause] many of these are very good jobs, by the way, such as welders, accountant or nurse. but again, this is more than simply a job site. it adds tools for letting people

look at their skills and the financial return that would be available for various careers. please, check it out. our talent agenda emphasizes the unemployment rate in michigan is far too high for our veterans. for veterans of iraq and afghanistan, are unemployment rate was approximately 29%. this isn't right. and we need to act. i encourage all employers to place a priority on hiring our veterans. [applause] we need help from our federal partners to create immigration opportunities for individuals who have advanced degrees or our entrepreneurs. having these individuals

building businesses in michigan would create new jobs for our citizens. right here in michigan, we need to remember that immigrants were the founders of dow, meyer and masco. we are going to be working on this effort with support from michigan universities, michigan council of carpenters, the operating engineers union and the teamsters. i appreciate all of their support and hope others will join us in this effort. [applause] [applause] in addition to the special messages we took a number of other important actions. first we begin a dialogue on reducing taxes on industrial equipment which needs to continue. michigan spent -- has been a world leader in manufacturing and we want job growth to happen in this important economic sector. now this conversation needs to

be done in partnership with their local jurisdiction such as the critical part of the revenue. let's look for a long-term solution that generates more and better jobs while properly supporting our communities. [applause] [applause] we accomplish major reforms of our state pension and retiree medical system. these reforms better align with the private sector so we will remain at good place to work while at the same time reducing our long-term liabilities by more than $5 billion. [applause]

while they focused on more and better jobs and financially sound government, we have also committed to helping the most in need. government always needs can to consider the human side of things. all children need a strong loving network especially those in state care, so we strengthened our commitment to children services in michigan. of the children seeking an adoptive family last year the department of human service was able to place 2500 of these children with a permanent family. [applause] [applause] gwen moore children become available every day for adoption, but now i would like to recognize one family, this

marlon family of canton is a wonderful example of adoption. if the marlon family could stand up, please. [applause] [applause] let me tell you about the family. lamar and holly moreland are ready had two beautiful biological children, derek and hunter. but through their work in the judicial and legal system, lamar and holly knew they wanted to expand their family through adoption. last fall, they were matched to the michigan adoption resource exchange after seeing photos of 12-year-old dexter and 7-year-old haley. everything worked out. dexter and haley have made the adjustment and are doing well in

school. they have found there forever family. [applause] thank you. [applause] there were two new public actions and 2011 that struck a special chord in my heart. one was the extension of foster care services to age 21 instead of age 18 for young adults who would otherwise have aged out of foster care. this change will make a big difference in their young lives. i want to give special recognition to western university which is already providing special up support to 141 young adults in this age group through their scholars

program. [applause] the second public act i was going to match and was probably among the most emotional moments for me personally at the bill signing and that was the passage of the anti-bullying law. there is no excuse for bullying and after 10 years of efforts we took legislative action. is a person who was bullied when i was young, i say thank you. [applause] [applause]

now not all went well or smoothly and 2011 and i would mention to areas in particular. first, we did not succeed in moving ahead with the new international trade crossing. and need to continue our efforts on this topic since it's not a bridge issue. it's a jobs issue. [applause] one third of the north american economy can be found by -- chicago to montréal. let's not let the special interest hold back a great opportunity for job creation especially since this project can be done without any michigan taxpayer dollars. [applause]

second, number of our cities and schools are suffering major financial distress. this problem is not a new one but it's an important topic that we should fully address in 2012. when i came into office, we had six cities are school districts under emergency financial management. last year when moore joined the list. now there's a lot of speculation as to why jurisdiction has gotten in trouble. the overriding common feature is that they have lost population without a corresponding public structure. but the long-term answer is not simply about cutting costs. it's how to create a financially solid foundation so that growth can occur again. [applause] the stage role is to help jurisdiction solve their own problems are going that regard we passed the fiscal

accountability act often known as p. 84. it addressed two main issues missed by its predecessor. first the health community to identify and solve problems as soon as possible and prior to it a financial emergency. second when there is a financial emergency it's intended to quickly and effectively solve the problems so that the community can get back on a positive path. [applause] some people may wonder what we are talking about when the term financial emergency is used. think about a situation where employees are not going to get their paychecks. suppliers are not getting paid. bond payments are being missed or financial statements cannot be completed. these are critical problems the new law is helping. [applause] and tonight, i want to let any

jurisdiction that is struggling with its finances to know we are committed at the state level to be a supportive partner to help you resolve your challenges, and tonight i would like to recognize the mayor for being with us tonight. mayor, if you would stand up. [applause] it is important for all michiganders to understand that having a thriving, growing detroit is critical to all of us. [applause] [applause]

detroit has many exciting developments going on and resolving the city's financial challenges would clear a path to a bright future. [applause] i want to thank the foundation community for their support of our office of urban initiatives. this office is serving as their key resource interfacing with the city's. not the last time -- thing i want to talk about regarding 2011 is our effort for reinvention. is underway and will be continuing into 2012. so far we have rescinded nearly 400 obsolete confusing and burdensome regulations. [applause] we need a regulatory environment that is conducive to business growth and job creation while making sure we are properly

protecting our citizens. [applause] now this year we are going to continue our record for reinvention by eliminating the role that simply makes no sense and i was going to share three samples with you. verse we have a rule mandating mandating -- wastebasket and how may times and must be empty. i just got a haircut and my barber was not aware of this particular role. second waiver rule requiring childcare providers to smile. [laughter] finally, and they shouldn't be surprising and i appreciate our leadership today but the department of them are mental quality -- environmental quality has 28 separate including a requirement that the seeds not be left up.

[applause] [laughter] i don't know about you but i have a higher authority at home. [laughter] [applause] it's going to be an interesting evening. [laughter] now let's talk about 2012. 2012 will be a very different here from 2011. 2011 was focused on dramatic policy improvements over a broke and model of the past. 2012 is about finishing that

work, the work left over from 2011, tackling a limited number number of unaddressed challenges and really make in this year about good governance. it's not about a government or small government. it's about good government. government doing the right things for the right reasons. lets fully implement what we have already started and giving you our citizens, great customer service. [applause] i am going to do a special message in march that will be on the public safety. we need to improve. as i mentioned earlier we have the top most violent cities in the united states. this message will have three key components, an increase increase in law enforcement, major improvements on howard criminal justice system operates and the jobs component. it will focus on the places of

greatest need. second in the fall, will give a special message on energy and the environment. when he we need to be more strategic in focusing on the intersection of job creation, affordability, science and sustainability. we need to continue michigan's leadership in protecting the great lakes, one of the world's greatest natural assets. [applause] [applause] third i would like to work with the legislature on how to improve our laws related to lobbying, campaign finance and ethics for both state and local government. for example we should have more frequent and better disclosure of campaign contributions and we should have stronger rules governing employment of people

who negotiate state contracts while in government services. [applause] [applause] on implementation of good government we will have efforts on two levels. one track will be focused on state government itself and how it operates. the second track will be a supportive partner to our local jurisdictions. data for grading principles of good governance will be how we operate in this way and that they share those four principles with you. first, we need to deliver outstanding customer service to our citizens. we need to do this by creating an environment for job creation, creating a great quality of life and providing a safety net for those most in need. second, we need to deliver real

results for real people and there were three components to this principle. we need to show you, our citizens, measurable results. the dashboard that i spoke of tonight is just the summary. we are instituting a conference of system that includes dashboards which are external measures and scorecards which are internal measures. we need to continue to work on being effective and efficient. we need to eliminate government waste, and we need to be thoughtful and human in all our actions. we are here to serve the people, and on this topic, i am pleased to say we were successful in the collective bargaining process with their union employees. we came to a winning solution together. [applause] in particular i'm looking forward to our joint effort to

better and power are hard-working state employees while delivering better customer service to our citizens. [applause] third, we need to continue to deliver on both short and long-term financial responsibility. this year we became a positive role model for the rest of the country on this topic. we closed a large deficit and started paying down our long-term liabilities. we were a clear contrast to the federal government in the debt ceiling crisis. i encourage them to look to michigan as the place for answers. [applause] [applause] i encourage the legislature to work together on a repeat

performance of sound budgeting. we don't face a deficit this year, which is great, but let a show real leadership and how to strategically say for the future and not simply spend money because it is there. [applause] the fourth principle of good governance is to recognize the state government's role to be a team player. we need to continue to serve as catalysts for success in having all of his work together and wind together. as i have often said, our role is not to create jobs but to create an environment that encourages job creation. [applause]

now that i've outlined these for good governance i would like to share one example. the michigan state police got rid of their old service delivery model that was based on bricks and mortar and geographic boundaries and instead focused on where crime occurs. they reduce the total number of state talese calls from 62 to 29, making their patrol vehicles essentially mobile command post in putting nearly 150 sergeants back into the field, protecting and serving you, our citizens. thank you michigan state police. [applause] now i want to share the two most frequent pieces of advice i

received before he took office. the first one was to be pulled. simply fixing michigan was not good enough. the second often came moments after the first, which was, don't set expectations too high. now, i accepted the first and rejected the second. [applause] we are being bold in reinventing michigan but it requires setting high expectations. you can only build a brighter future by setting a higher standard. and 2011, we set that standard and accomplished many things that many thought were impossible. 2011 was the year of building a foundation for good governance. 2012 needs to be the year of

implementing good governance. [applause] i want to conclude tonight with a topic i've been talking about for years. it's our greatest opportunity. it's more important than any of our regulations. it's fundamental to the reinvention of michigan and having us become a great state again. simply put, we must reinvent our culture. we are still too negative, too divisive and too many believe the best days are behind us. we need to be positive, inclusive, and confident that michigan holds a bright future for our children and their children. [applause] [applause]

it's great to look back at last year and take pride in all the things that were done. even the things that conventional wisdom said we couldn't do. it's great to have our unemployment dropped to 9.3%. it's great that the other companies shared with me last week they are all hiring in michigan in 2012, but we cannot afford to slow down. [applause] we must maintain the sense of urgency that we shared all last year. we must finish what we started. [applause] i believe the greatest key to our success in michigan this

past year was due to a philosophy of relentless, positive action. no blame, no credit, just finding common ground and solving problems. i asked that all michiganders join me in this effort. together, we will move michigan forward and become a great state. god loves you and the great state of michigan. thank you. [applause]

[applause] [applause] >> the escort officers will escort the governor, the first lady in the first family from the chamber. [applause] [applause] [applause] ..