documented say that titanic struck an iceberg, then broke apart and sank. and incredibly different human experience for the people that night. also the steel and the way the whole broke apart means the timeline is remarkably different. instead of being about half an hour it is about five minute. in one five minute period people went from listening to the band leader to having a drink in the warmth by the bar and five minute being in the cold north

>> and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. >> coming up later today here on c-span2, the new america foundation is hosting a discussion on what's been learned from those documents found at osama bin laden's compound during last year's raid in pakistan. we'll hear from the author of a report on what those documents say about the future of al-qaeda. that's live here on c-span2 starting at 12:15 eastern. here's a look at the lineup of booktv's prime time programs tonight. ezra vogel talks about china at 8 eastern. after that, a discussion on the book, "the man without a face," about russian president vladimir putin. and at 10:05, a look at "the

lady and the peacock." it's booktv in prime time all this week here on c-span c-span2. [applause] >> house budget committee chairman paul ryan recently talked about the republican party agenda and the 2012 presidential election. he criticized president obama's policies on spending and outlined his budget plan. this e tent is about 55 minutes. >> first off, it's great to see my be colleague, martin here. i understand you live in a nice neighborhood, it's a pretty nice neighborhood you've got here, elton. [laughter] also, fred, if you could do me a favor, please, thank mrs. reagan for inviting me here to speak. [applause] as fred mentioned, this is my second time here, and i've got to say there's a spirit that pervades this reagan library. you can't help but feel uplifted being here.

it's a spirit of optimism. it's a sense that things are going to turn out all right if be only we make the effort. in good times and bad, ronald reagan embodied optimism. this is so true that i don't even have to tell you his favorite joke. [laughter] i only have to repeat the punchline. [laughter] there must be a pony the here somewhere. [laughter] [applause] his optimism together with his brilliant mind, his determined will and nancy's love and support, they were the keys to ronald reagan's greatness as an american leader. his temperament was sunny by nature, but i believe his optimism for the future, it just kept growing the more he talked with people from all walks of life. president reagan, he liked to

talk about his experiences touring ge plants around the country. he dressed maybe a quarter -- he addressed maybe a quarter of a million people over those years, and he would stay after to talk with the workers. as he listened, he reasoned to their -- he listened to their concerns, he came to realize how worried they were by the bureaucrats. not only within their own company, but also by bureaucratic interventions from washington which were making their jobs more difficult. in my own travels across this country and especially in my town hall meetings in southern wisconsin, i've heard a roth of the -- a lot of the same concerns. americans today, they're uncertain and worried about their future. many are suffering from lost jobs and shrinking incomes in ways that they've never suffered before. we look around, and we see problems. rising health care costs, rising energy and food prices, rising college tuition, rising debt and

stagnant wages. and government just doesn't seem to have any answers. and so we start to understand that ronald reagan's famous diagnosis applies again today. in this present crisis, government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem. [applause] look, americans don't want to get rid of government. we like limited, effective government just fine. but that's not what we're getting. we're getting big, dysfunctional government. and in the face of enormous challenges, the president and his party leaders have steadily increased goth's power. they've promised wonderful things and consistently delivered awful results. and they show no signs of changing course. it is up to us to get america

back on track. be. [applause] america the only country in history founded on an idea, the idea that all of us are endowed by our creator with the freedom to pursue our happiness, not someone else's vision of what's best for us. we want government to create the conditions in which we can flourish, pursue a dream, provide for our families, earn our own success. and live the american vision of the good life. instead we have a government in place that is determined to redefine that vision so that less of our success is earned and more of it owed to the wise providence of a handful of special assistants to the deputy undersecretary of some federal department that thinks they know better than us.

[cheers and applause] too many in washington this think that you and i and our families and friends can't succeed on our own anymore. sure, we face barriers to success in america. but government isn't removing these barriers from our lives. instead those in power have taken the view that we're all just stuck in our current station in life, and the government is here to help us cope with it. whatever you call that, that is not the american idea. that's how a problem, like the high cost of health care, gets a response like the new health care law. this $1.6 trillion monstrosity is already creating problems for american businesses big and small, for families without addressing the problems it was supposed to solve. the good news is this, americans

are rejecting this approach. you know why? because we know there's a better way forward. and or more important, we know we can choose this better way. why? because we've done it before. that is why the parallels between 1980 and today are so striking. now, as then, we face not just a failed president, but a failed ideology. we face a pessimistic mood in the nation's capital, a belief that our best days are over and the only thing to do left is to manage the nation's decline. but we have the same opportunity today to reject this defeatist attitude and to embrace a positive reform agenda capable of kick starting a new era of prosperity. an american renewal, a comeback. we know this story has a happy

ending. we know our country will not choose a path to decline. but we still have a lot of work to do if we want to get there. let me explain why i'm so confident america will choose the right path. americans have always rejected those with nothing to offer but cynicism and the politics of division. and right now that's all they're getting from the president. during his last campaign, he promised to help us, quote: rediscover our bonds to each other and get out of this constant, petty bickering that's come to characterize our politics. [laughter] sadly, he's broken this promise and just become another washington politician. he does not seem to understand that you can't promote the common good by setting class against class or group against group. the divisive politics of the

last three years have not only undermined social solidarity, they have brought progress and reform to a standstill at the very time when america was desperate to solutions -- for solutions to a devastating financial crisis. let's be clear, president obama did not cause this crisis. years of empty promises from both political parties brought us to this moment. but regrettably, this president was unwilling to advance credible solutions to the problem. in response to the financial crisis, we needed policies to strengthen the foundations of our free market economy. what we got was the opposite. we needed single-minded focus on restoring economic growth after the immediate aftermath in late 2008 subsided. we needed to restore real accountability in the financial sector and just clean up the mess. we needed to restore the principle that those who seek to reap the gains in our economy

also bear the full risk of the losses. [applause] we needed policies to control our debt trajectory so that families and businesses could confidently this is -- invest in our future. instead, the white house and congress acted in an agenda that made matters worse. they misspent hundreds of billions of dollars on politically-connected boondoggles. then when the country's number one priority remained getting the economy back on track, the white house and the last congress made their number one priority a massive, unwanted expansion of the government's role in health care. they even tried to impose a costly increase in energy prices in the middle of a recession. and their idea of wall street reform? a blank check for fannie mae and

freddie mac, plus a new law giving preferential treatment to the big banks and more power to the regulators who failed to see the last crisis coming. the administration and the last congress tried to exploit a financial crisis to transform a free enterprise society into a government-centered society. a mass i havely -- massively-expanded role and higher taxes to support the higher spending. higher borrowing too. in three and a half years, debt held by the public grew by roughly $4.5 trillion. that is a 70% increase. our debt is projected to get much worse, spiraling out of control in the years ahead. this bleak outlook is paralyzing economic growth today. investors, businesses and families, they look at the size of the debt, and they hold back. for fear that america's headed

for a diminished future. today we face a fundamental challenge to the american way of life. a gathering storm whose primary manifestation is the shadow of our ever-growing national debt and whose most troubling consequence is ever-shrinking opportunity for americans young and old. this shadow hangs over young people who face a struggling economy and the likelihood of greater turmoil ahead. you know, more than half of our recent college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed in this economy? half. this shadow hangs over our senior citizens who have been lied to about their retirement security. and it hangs over parents. we wonder if we will be the first generation in american history to leave our children with fewer opportunities and a less prosperous nation than the one we inherited.

this storm has already hit europe where millions are enduring the painful consequences of empty promises turning into broken promises. we must avoid a european-style austerity. harsh benefit cuts for current retirees and large tax increases that slow the economy to a crawl. but too many in washington are repeating europe's mistakes instead of learning from them. if we stay on this path, than bond markets in a state of pan bic will turn on us -- panic will turn on us. forced austerity would put an end to the most fundamental of american aspirations, that in this land we are responsible for our own destiny. that on this continent we might forever be free from foreign powers who would impose their limits on our dreams for ourselves and our children.

if our generation fails to meet its defining challenge, we would see america surrender her independence. not to a foreign arm, but to an army of foreign creditors who already own roughly half of our public debt. the policies in place today will guarantee that outcome unless we turn this around soon. there must be a pony in here somewhere, right? [laughter] the good news is, there is. if you hear me say one thing today, hear this: this will not be our destiny. americans will not stand for a shrunken vision of their future. that's not who we are. in 1980 ronald reagan explained perfectly why americans would never accept this mindset. quote: they expect you to tell your children that the american people no longer have the will

to cope with their problems, that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities. what ronald reagan understood is that the case for free enterprise is not just a material argument, but a moral truth. and next january our government will renew its dedication to this moral truth, the american idea of an opportunity society. government's role is not to rig the rules and aim for equal outcomes. but in the words of our first republican president, abram lincoln: to clear the path of laudable pursuit for all so that all may have an equal opportunity to rise and freely pursue their happiness. the budget passed by the house of representatives this year, it drew the pattern for government under new management in 2013. it is a plan to lift the debt and free the nation from the

constraints of ever-expanding government. this budget will promote economic growth and opportunity on the first day it's enacted with bold tax reforms and a credible, principled plan to stop the debt crisis from ever happening. president obama's government-centered policies take from hard working americans and give to politically-connected companies and privileged special interests. our budget calls this what it is, it's corporate welfare, and we propose to end it. as we end welfare for those who don't need it, we will strengthen welfare programs for those who do. government safety net programs have been stretched to the breaking point in recent years, failing the very citizens who need help the most. look, we pride ourselves on looking out for one another, and government has an important role to play in that.

but relying on distant government bureaucracies to lead in this effort just hasn't worked. concentrating power in a distant central government consistently leads to worse outcomes for the poor because it displaces those core institutions for which we really do look out for one another; community, faith, family. it stifles their vitality and substitutes federal power in their place. too many in washington spend too much time trying to measure compassion for those in need by measuring inputs, how much are we spending, how much are we increasing spending? how many new programs are we creating? but we're not measuring outcomes. are these programs working? are people getting out of poverty? shouldn't that be our goal? just look at the results of the government-centered approach to

the war on poverty. one in six americans are in poverty today. that's the highest rate in a generation. in this war on poverty, poverty's winning. [laughter] the intentions may have been good, but the outcomes were anything but fair. it is anything but fair to keep people trapped in programs that hinder their upward mobility. it is anything but fair to allow the debt to weigh on job creation today, closing off the most promising avenues for the poor to rise. and it is anything but fair to close off even more opportunities by further weakening the economy with permanently higher taxes. fairness? fairness means empowering citizens with policies that promote growth and opportunity. fairness means maintaining strong but not limitless safety net programs for society's most

vulnerable. and fairness means fiercely protecting that god-given right of every human being to flourish by his or her own efforts. [applause] our budget builds on the historic welfare reforms of the 1990s, reforms proven to work. we aim to empower state and and local governments, communities and individuals, those closest to the problem. and we aim to promote upward mobility and opportunity by strengthening job training programs to help those who have fallen on hard times. our budget lifts the debt, it fosters economic growth, and it insures that the government keeps the promises it is making to americans. instead of letting our critical health and retirement programs go bankrupt, our first budget next year will save and strengthen them so they can

fulfill their missions for the 21st century. the president likes to talk about medicare. we welcome this debate. we need this debate. you know what the president won't tell you? is that he's already changed medicare forever. his health care law puts a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats in charge of cutting medicare. we should never agree to turn the fate of our parents and our grandparents over to an unaccountable board and let it make decisions that could deny them access to their care. the new president and congress will reverse this change immediately. our budget -- [applause] called playing to the crowd, i guess. [laughter] our budget next year will keep the protections that have made medicare a guaranteed promise for seniors throughout the years. and it will make no changes for

those in or near retirement. and in order to save medicare for future generations, we propose to put 50 million seniors -- not 15 unaccountable bureaucrats -- in charge of their own personal health care decisions. [applause] the president really likes to talk about taxes. [laughter] we welcome this debate, we need this debate. [laughter] if be there's a single reform ronald reagan has identified with, it is tax reform. he persuaded america republicans and democrats both that lowering tax rates across the board, reducing the number of brackets and eliminating deductions and loopholes were essential to restarting america's engine of economic be growth. and he was right. president reagan's major tax reforms enacted with bipartisan

support proved to be a cornerstone of the unprecedented economic boom that occurred in the decade during his presidency and continued in the decade that followed. but as the years went by, credits, carveouts and lobbyist loopholes grew back in the code like weeds. and president obama, he wants to take us further in the wrong direction. he remains committed to taking more and more from the paychecks of hard working americans not even to pay down the debt, but to chase ever-higher government spending. we propose a total overhaul of the tax code to make it fair, simple and competitive. [applause] we lower rates across the board be. but revenue would go up every year under our budget because the economy grows and because we propose to close those special interest loopholes that primarily go to the well

connected and the well off. when we lower tax rates by closing special interest loopholes, we are saying washington shouldn't micromanage people's decisions through the tax code. let them keep more of their hard-earned money, let them decide how to spend it. we need this tax reform to get our economy moving again. because in the last four years millions of americans have simply stopped looking for work. if labor force participation rate were the same as it was when president obama took office, the unemployment rate would be 11% today. we're heading toward a new normal of european unemployment levels because the administration's ideas for job growth have simply failed. we will never accept that here in america, and we don't these to. we don't need to. the reforms we put in place next

year will make our economy be the engine of job creation it was in the 1980s, giving millions of workers who have given up hope for a job a new shot at success. you know, the principles and the policies that i've been describing here today, they're not exclusive to one political party. the patient-centered medicare reform that we advanced in the house this year, they have a long history of bipartisan support. and the tax reforms based on lowering rates and closing loopholes, they go back to ronald reagan's 1986 tax reform when democrats served as the congressional cosponsors of the landmark law. you know, it makes sense that these ideas have attracted leaders in both parties. patient-centered medicare reform offers the only guarantee that medicare can keep its promise to seniors for generations to come. and pro-growth tax reform, by

lowering rates for all americans while closing loopholes that primarily benefit the well off can eliminate unfairness in the tax code and insure a level playing field for all. this is just a glimpse of what we can accomplish next year. now for the part. now for the hard part. progress will require the removal of certain partisan road blocks. [laughter] [applause] let's start with the flawed health care law that must be replaced. [applause] and an insistence from some in washington on tax hikes and tax gimmicks instead of tax reform. [applause] only with the right leadership in place can we move forward with ideas that renew the be

american promise of leaving our children a stronger nation than the one our parents left us. we can do this. in talking with americans across the country, i have been inspired by the spirit and energy of those hungry for a new direction, that restless desire to breakthrough the barriers holding them back, to get back to work, to raise their families and to build a greater legacy for the next generation. people understand the moment we are in, and they are way ahead of the political class on this. they know that the times call for leaders who understand the depth of the problems we face and who offer a far-reaching reformer call to the challenges. in 1980 ronald reagan offered supply side economics at home and a rollback of soviet communism abroad. the challenges this time, they're different. but the moment calls for the

same kind of boldness. i believe boldness and clarity of the kind that ronald reagan dislayed in 980 offer -- 1980 offer us the greatest opportunity to create a winning coalition in 2012. we'll not only win the next election, we have a unique opportunity to sweep and remake the political landscape. of course, we will highlight the president's failed agenda. [laughter] [applause] that goes without saying. but you know what? americans deserve to choose an alternative, one that aligns with our needs, one we can rally behind, one our founders would be proud of. a bold reform agenda, that's our moral obligation. we have an obligation to provide the american people with a clear path that gets our country back on track.

if we make this case effectively and win this november, then we will have the moral authority to enact the kind of fundamental reforms america has not seen since ronald reagan's first year. [applause] look, it is rare in american politics to arrive at a moment in which the election revolves around the fundamental nature of american democracy in the social contract. but that is exactly where we are. the defenders of the status quo would give more power to unelected bureaucrats, take more from hard working taxpayers to fuel the expansion of government and commit our nation to a future of debt and decline. this approach is proving unworkable, and congress and our

courts and in our commitments. we who advocate the american idea in the 21st century, we want to build a better path consistent with the timeless principles of our nation's founding. we put our trust in people, in citizens, not nameless government officials to determine what is in our best interest and to make the right choices about our future. in this country we still have the ability and the tig anity and the right -- and the dignity and the right to determine our own decisions and determine our own destiny. we are americans. nothing can keep us down. [applause] many thanks and, please, pass on my thanks to mrs. reagan not only for inviting me, but for all she and her husband did to keep this country great. thank you. [applause]

[inaudible conversations] >> hello, governor. [laughter] good to see you. >> well, thank you, congressman, for that insightful and inspiring speech. we very much appreciate having you with us tonight, and our group of guests are very inquisitive, and they're devoted, and they've got some questions they would like to put to you. and just before the event started, papers were passed around, the questions were submitted, they've been typed up, and i thought i might just start with the most popular question. >> no. [laughter] >> the second most popular question. >> yeah, right. >> the question is, i know you're happy being budget

committee chairman -- [laughter] but if mitt romney asks you to run as his vice president, would you agree to do so? [cheers and applause] >> next question. you know, that's somebody else's decisions, months away, and that's a conversation i need to have with my wife before i have it all with you. >> fair enough. [laughter] >> i like what i'm doing. don't underestimate how important congress is. >> all right. the next one says that you've spent a lot of time campaigning with mitt romney. what is your sense of the man, and would he make a great president? >> absolutely. this is -- you know, i was telling jana not too long ago, we were having dinner last night, if i would have met mitt romney and spent the kind of time with him a year ago, i would have endorsed him then. wisconsin became relevant because of our primary, we haven't had a relevant primary since 1980.

reagan. [laughter] but that's when i decided to get involved in that primary, and i got to spend a long time with him, a number of 14-hour days. and what you see is what you -- he's a very sincere, very smart, very committed man. what i see in mitt romney are the kinds of tools, the kinds of skills, the kinds of character and attributes you need in a leader. he makes decisions. he doesn't pander. and so what i see is a person who understands the moment our country's facing and a person who is willing to do what it takes to get us out of the path we are on and back on the path of prosper by. i -- prosperity. i really believe he's the right guy for the times, and i think he's going to beat barack obama, and we're going to save this country. [applause] he's very funny as well. he's got a really quick wit. he's a funny guy, he's got a good sense of humor. >> he's been here a couple times and received a wonderful reception. we'd love to have him back. next question is, will the major

budget decisions left for the lame duck session be addressed, or will both parties punt? >> we're passing our method of addressing them. three weeks ago we cut $315 billion in government spending from what we call mandatory spending. that's 61% of the government which has been on autopilot, hasn't been touched by congress since 2006. we cut $315 billion from there to deal with the sequester which is to replace $78 billion in cuts coming in january. so we've already dealt with that from the house. we will be bringing a bill to the floor in about a month on the tax issue which is to extend the current tax system for another year and then to have what we call expedited procedures to put tax reform on the agenda for 2013. [applause] so what we are doing is we in the house are leading by example, we're saying exactly

what we'll do, who we are, what we believe. we're passing budgets, passing solutions only to see them stack up like cordwood over in the united states senate which we consider the graveyard of legislation. [laughter] the nat senate's not doing anything, they haven't passed a budget in three years, and the president's offering no solution to this end-of-year, you know, pileup we have. so it's difficult to say what's going to happen given that the senate and the white house is what it is, but in the house we have specifically said here's exactly how we ought to deal with thesish i shoos. >> i guess it's a five week period,is there enough time to even address all these issues? >> well, i don't think you'll see -- some people like to do grand bargains and things like this after the voters have decided. that's not any way to run a railroad. that's not how democracy should work. so what i think will happen will be sort of extensions of current law, that sort of thing. it really kind of depends on who wins the election. if we win the election, our intention is to extend current

law to buy us time to put a permanent solution to this country's fiscal problems; our runaway debt, our deficits, the fact that the tax code, basically, blows up in january. so what we want to do in lame duck is extend in order to have a 2013 session that actually fixes these problems once and for all. >> great. how much do we need to reduce the federal deficit in order to be creditworthy once again and stabilize our budget? >> at a minimum it's $4 trillion is what experts say. we cut $5.3 trillion out of the president's budget. it's not as much as what you do on paper as the substance of your reforms, in my opinion. meaning, it's confidence and trajectory. the debt right now is set to basically skyrocket. it's -- our debt as big as our economy, then it gets to double and triple and as high as eight times the size of our economy by the end of the current century.

that's because of goth spending. o -- government spending. so if we hoe that the debt trajectory's getting under control, that we're avoiding european levels and we actually pass the laws that convince the credit markets that show we're doing that, that, to me, matters most. if we just pass little trims here, tax increases there, we'll just lull ourselves into a debt crisis, and we'll have a round of austerity package after austerity package. but if we do real entitlement reform, real tax reform and actually get caps on government spending, i really, really believe we'll turn this economy around very quickly. i believe that america will be -- [applause] turned around. we will be the port in the storm of the global economy. you will want to put your money in america, you will want to keep your company in america, and america can, just like ronald reagan when he came in 1980, can turn back on to an era of prosperity if we get the

right policies in place and the right leadership in place. so going back to your earlier question, mitt romney's going to win, elva and i stay in the majority, and then we've got to take back our united states senate. [applause] >> this next question is about obamacare. the supreme court is about to announce it decision on obamacare. presuming the ruling goes against the president, do you think this will help or hurt republicans in the fall? >> i think it will help republicans. i don't understand how -- i know there are a lot of spin political people in washington who would like to try and suggest this is somehow good for the president -- [laughter] >> right. >> his signature achievement. he stopped working on the economy, went to try and take over, basically, 16% of our economy for government, and it was repudiated by the supreme court as being unconstitutional. i don't know how you can try and

suggest that that's not a bad thing for you. more to the point for republicans. but that's really sort of immaterial here. the it's good for the country. it's good for america. [applause] >> this writer must be a journalist because they add, and i'd like to follow up. [laughter] it says congressional republicans, are they prepared to deal with the fallout of the decision with a smarter plan of their own? >> yes. so a number of us have put out very comprehensive plans of our own prior to obamacare. i had a bill with senator tom coburn from oklahoma, devin noon necessary, a guy right down that way in washington. it was a very comprehensive, patient-centered approach that romney's working on ideas and what we believe is, number one, we're not going to say the next day here's our 2700-page bill to take over the health care

system. [laughter] that's not who we are. number two, we're going to articulate a vision for how do you have a patient-centered health care system in america, one where health care is an asset to our economy, not a liability, and one where we recognize the fact that we should not be turning this sector of our economy over to bureaucrats, over to price controls, over to government rationing. so, yes, there are some key drivers, some key principles that allow us to get to a system where you can have guaranteed access to affordable care including for people with pre-existing conditions without having the government take it over. we have an obligation to show that kind of a vision. we have, we will, and we will show the country exactly how we will get rid of this law which will destroy the health care system. it takes a half a trillion from medicare, puts this board in charge of it. so it ruins the medicare system, it ruins the health care system. we will show how we will replace that so we can have affordable health insurance for all, and

we -- patients along with our doctors -- we're the drivers, we're the decision makers, not some bureaucrat in the federal government. [applause] >> this next question is there one of the students that's here tonight, and the question is, what is the most important thing you take into consideration as you prepare the federal budget? >> is it going to save the country from a debt crisis? so you look at the fact, the weird thing about me is i've been reading federal budgets since i've been 22 years old, and that's kind of sick, isn't it? [laughter] you know? this time is different. you know, um, when, governor, when you were a senator from california, you know, the budget deficits were in the billions, maybe hundreds of billions, and little tweaks and little changes could fix the problem. it is so structural, let me say it this way. by 2025 three programs --

medicare, medicaid and social security, along with the interest we pay -- consume 100% of federal revenues. by the early 2030s just our federal health care programs consume 100% of federal revenues. so we have a situation where we don't have a huge, long window of opportunity to prevent a european-like debt crisis. where the world -- we're the world's reserve currency which buys us time. it's a privilege. but if we don't take opportunity of this moment to prevent a debt crisis, then it's going to be really ugly. so first thing i look at when doing the budget is what gets us off the path of a debt crisis and a welfare state, the path the president has us on, and what get us back on the path of an opportunity society with a safety net where we don't have a debt crisis and we grow our economy and, more importantly, we continue the american legacy? be what my dad always told me, you leave the next generation better off.

we know without a shred of doubt, we know we are severing that legacy based on the path that we are on. so that, to me, in a nutshell is does this plan get us back to prosperity, keep the promises government's making to today's seniors, and does it make sure that my kids have a better life than the one i had? >> great. [applause] this next question, actually, follows up on that. it says, if you could get president obama to cut just one thing from the federal budget, what would it be? >> obamacare. [laughter] >> okay. [applause] >> i don't think he'd take me up on it. [laughter] >> and this may be the same answer, but -- >> obamacare. [laughter] >> what is the biggest waste of our tax dollars? >> oh, my gosh. how much time do you have? [laughter] we have a thing we call -- the gao does all this audit.

tom coburn, a good friend of mine, has the gao do this audit. hundreds of billions of dollars are wasted every single year, and they have these different euphemisms for them. unfunded liabilities, unobligated payments, incorrect payments. if you take a look at our entitlement programs, particularly our health care entitlement programs, tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions of dollars get wasted. it's a system that momentum work. it's a system that doesn't work, a system that really does waste a lot of our dollars, but more importantly, it puts more bureaucrats in control. so if money's to be wasted, it's other people's money that's wasted. so that's the cupid of mindset you have -- that's the kind of mindset you have. we need to restructure the way our federal government works so that, a, we have more control over our dollars ourselves; b, we don't have a government monopoly giving us all of our health care services, all of our services. we have people, doctors,

hospitals, insurers, providers across the country competing against each other for our business. because if money's wasted, it's their money that's being wasted, not taxpayer money that's being wasted. so it's the approach. i would just have to say the big dollar items are in our entitlement programs and how they're being wasted. >> thank you. a couple of questions seeking your predictions. what dueck -- what do you think the chances are of the republicans holding their majority in the house? >> i feel very good about it, but you can't take anything for granted. the house, the entire house is up for re-election. i feel pretty good about it but, again, you can't take anything for granted. but i'd put our odds on us maintaining control of the house. >> how about the senate? >> i feel pretty good about that too because, as you know, a third of the senate's up every two years. i think the ratio is 23 democrats and 10 republicans. so the ratios play in this particular case to republicans this year. um, i think we're going to win a senate seat in wisconsin.

i think we'll probably win one in missouri, i think nebraska they elected this dynamic woman in the primary there just the other day, you know? [applause] hey, nebraska, some cornhuskers here. so i think we've got a good chance of taking the senate. i really mean that. i'm not just giving happy talk. i think based on the senate races and the mix of all of it, but more importantly, this is not an ordinary time. this is just not your ordinary election time. doesn't matter what generation you come from, this is the most important election in our lifetimes. because the stakes are so high. so what i really believe will be successful for us as conservatives, as a party, as a country if we take a page out of ronald reagan's playbook. that is, if we go to the country with a very clear and bold and specific vision based on our timeless principles, here's specifically how we can fix this country's problems, then we win

by acclamation. then we have an affirming election. yeah, we're going to run against president obama on the miserable record he has, and he's going to try to distract the cup because he -- the country because he can't run on his record. all that's true, but if we say here's our vision, here's what we're going to do to get america back on track and then we win that election, then we have the moral authority and the obligation to put it in place to save this country from a crisis. i think we're going to do it. do you know why? churchill said it best: the americans, they can be counted upon to do the right thick only after they've exhausted all other possibilities. [laughter] [applause] >> going back to president reagan's time, there was a split between the white house and congress, tip o'neill running congress, president reagan the white house. but they were able to get things done. there wasn't this divisiveness, everything wasn't personal.

where do you think it went wrong between now and then x how do we get back on track? >> you're asking a republican this so, you know, i have a little bit of bias in this answer. but the way i say this, it's the progressives who run the democratic party now who are in leadership. there are tip o'neill democrats. i talk to them all the time, good friends of mine. i offered a medicare reform plan with a senator from oregon, ron wyden, considers himself a progressive. ron was just e vitiated by his party. he was taken to the wood shed so severely by his party, and he's fine, and he can handle it, but i i think it was probably to send signals to other democrats you start working with republicans, this is what happens to you. so what we see is every time some of us actually do things together on medicare reform that the liberal corner of the party which is the majority part of the party which is the leadership of the party doesn't

want to see it happen because it violates an ideological premise, a philosophical premise. now, let me say it this way. if we win the kind of election i just described, we need to be bigger than that. we need to be magnanimous. we need to invite these democrats into our coalition. that's what ronald reagan did. it worked. we need to invite these reforming democrats, you know, erskine bowles, alice rivlin, the medicare ideas we've talked about, john bro, alice rivlin, ron wyden, they're all saying this is the best way to save this program. so we these to invite those democrats into our coalition, work with them so we can fix this country's problems not by cramming our vision of saving the country down their throat like they did, but by bringing the country together. tax reform and medicare reform, perfect examples, two of the biggest ideas that we have to do, and there are plenty of democrats who agree with what we're saying.

so what we need to do is win, be magnanimous and include them in a coalition just like ronald reagan and tip o'neill did, and i think that's the secret to success. that's not the kind of democrats you have right now running congress or in the white house. but they do exist be, and so we need to invite them into the coalition. [applause] >> kind of a specific question here regarding banking regulations. what type of regulations do do u favor for banking? >> well, i'm a big opponent of the dodd-frank system, of the dodd-frank law. [applause] because what it does is it amplifies too big to fail. it basically says that if you're a large, interconnected bank, you'll be deemed systemically risky. that means you'll be able to go out in the credit markets and get cheaper money, and since we're making it harder for banks and financial institutions to

customize credit to customers, then what will happen will be the big banks will get bigger, and the small banks will be fewer. so this, to me, is a perfect example of the president's cronyism or crony capitalism. with the really large, connected firms, big government and big business joined in a common cause to rig the rules for themselves, if they go bust and the taxpayers bail them out, then all those innovative and small community banks, they can't compete, and they go away. that, to me s the trend that is happening with dodd-frank. so, basically, the opposite of that. we want transparency, we want people to have a continued attachment to risk, and we want to say in this country if you take the risk, you bear the losses, the taxpayers aren't a part of this equation. [applause] >> question about the recall. do you think governor scott walker will be recalled? if he is or is not, what are the

implications? >> i don't think he will be recalled. [applause] two weeks, two weeks away. >> right. >> it is an avalanche coming into our state. you're sort of familiar with these issues here in california, right? [laughter] yeah, i've read stories. [laughter] so the way we see this is, this is a national trend-setting election. it's not just us in wisconsin. and courage is on the ballot. because what scott did is he, basically, said public employees need to pay something for their health and retirement benefits like everybody else does in the private sector. [applause] it's not a craze i notion. -- crazy notion. the other thing, what people don't realize as much from out of the state is these reforms are really working well. they're reforming our schools. no more last-in, first-out. no more seniority.

merit pay. you can actually reform our schools to make sure that we've got the best teachers teaching, we have more resources, and we can actually have the kinds of reforms to make our schools better because the special interest groups that were locking up our schools and denying reform, you know, they don't have the kind of clout they used to have with these new reforms. a billion dollars has been saved this year which in wisconsin, that's a lot of money. [laughter] property taxes went down for the first time in 12 years. and so this is working. police departments. [applause] so it's all turnout. what we're worried about, the polls are starting to look good. we want to make sure that we run through the tape, and it's all about turnout. because the reason we say courage is on the ballot is because if you're a governor or a state senator or state assemblyman who puts these kinds of common sense reforms in place and you get recalled for doing it, do you think they're going to do it in other states? no. but if you see it through and

show how we're renovating our schools, how we're getting our taxes down, how we're making our business climate better, then these reforms will show they work, so so this is a momentum maker or breaker for either side. high risk, high reward for both sides. we feel good about it, we think we're going to win it, and because of that we got ten electoral votes in november. the way we see it is, we save wisconsin on june the 5th, and wisconsin helps save america on november the 6th. [applause] >> congressman, for our final question, it is what do you think is president reagan's greatest legacy? >> gosh. prosperity and peace. [applause] he stared could down the evil e, he had the courage -- i mean, we all know the story about tear

down this wall and how he kept it in the speech. he was a rock solid -- he was a statesman which means he had a bedrock of principles, he had a moral compass, he had a vision that he could implement, and he had the ability to put a consensus together to execute that vision. people like that don't come around all that often in the world. thank god for america ronald reagan did and, therefore, it's peace and prosperity as a result. [applause] >> thank you, that was wonderful. >> thanks for that last question, that was a good one. good way to end up. appreciate it. thank you very much. thanks. [applause] thank you. appreciate it. thanks. great, thanks. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> dinner will be served in the air force one pavilion. we'd like to ask everyone to

remain at their seats while congressman ryan and their group depart. thank you all for joining us. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> coming up later today here on c-span2, the new america foundation is hosting a discussion on what's been learned from those documents found at osama bin laden's compound during last year's raid in pakistan. we'll hear from the author of a report on what those documents say about the future of al-qaeda. that's live here on c-span2 starting at 12:15 eastern. here's a look at the lineup of booktv's prime time programs tonight. at 8 eastern, east ez v.a. -- ea

vogel talks about china. after that, a discussion on "the man without a face" about russian president vladimir putin. and at 10:05 eastern, a look at #kw t "the lady and the peacock." it's booktv in prime time all this week. next, journalists and fact checkers analyze campaign ads in the 2012 presidential election. they talk about candidates' speeches and political ads that may be misleading. this is about an hour and five minutes. [inaudible conversations] >> good morning and welcome. be my name is kathleen jamieson, i direct the public policy center at the university of pennsylvania. we'd like to welcome you to our morning panels on fact checking in 2012, view from the trenches.

this is a project at factcheck.org which is funded by the annenberg foundation and by the generous contribution of donors to the site and factcheck.org also funded by the -- [inaudible] our first panel is chaired by director brooks jackson. brooks? >> thank you, kathleen. our panel is going to go through some of the prominent deceptions that we've heard for or from and about the two presidential candidates, barack obama and mitt romney. we'll hear from each of the panelists in turn, i'll introduce them in a second, then we are going to discuss just what changes have been brought about by our collective fact checking, if any, and our predictions collectively for the rest of campaign 2012. um, i, my panelists from my immediate left, bill adair, the

inventer of the truth-o-meter, proprietor of politifact.com. and bureau chief of the tennessee times which -- tampa bay times which you formerly knew as the st. pete times. glenn kessler, the current proprietor of the pinocchio shop at "the washington post," the fact checker column. has multiple skill sets as an international correspondent and business reporter, and it's the kind of stuff when you get into the weeds on some of these issues, i'm sure a lot of that experience comes in handy. i wish we had a pentagon bureau at factcheck.org. we don't. my far left, drinkard, who i just discovered has followed a similar path to myself. we both came to washington as regional reporters for the associ