interference. rfra was not intended, was not intended to extend the same protection to for-profit corporations whose very purpose is to profit from the open market. the supreme court's cavalier decision to grant religious right to closely held corporations could curtail the health care freedom of women not as many as 90% of american does or says. by putting health care decision in the hands of a woman's boss and said if a woman and her doctor creates a slippery slope that could affect tens of millions of americans. our daughters ,-com,-com ma our allies in the future. we need this bill to clarify the law and firmly protect the woman's right to access essential health care. i think my colleagues come to udall and murray for offering this legislation. i urge my colleagues to support this effort to protect women's health care and religious freedom. thank you, mr. president and i yield the floor.

[silence] >> mr. president. >> the senator from texas. the mac as your president come i rise today to speak about one of the saddest development in the united states senate. namely the all-out assault on the first amendment been led a senate democrat. it is important to clarify what the issue before this body is not about.

the issue before this body is not about access to this, despite a whole lot of politicking by senate democrats to suggest to the contrary. in this body, the number of people who would do anything to restrict access to contraceptives to anybody is nero. let me repeat that. there is no one in this body, there is no one i am aware of across the country who is advocating restrict in anyone's access to this. mr. president, my wife and i are blessed with two little girls. i am very glad we don't have 17. nobody, nobody, nobody is talking about restricting access to this. what are we talking about? what we are talking about is the federal government using brute force to force people to pay for abortion in using drugs of others against their religious faith. that's extraordinary.

it is remarkable and it is dismay. mr. president, i am sorry to show you what the current first amendment looks like. in the wake of the democrats assault on the first amendment from senate judiciary committee we had been debating on amendment some 47 democrats have supported the repeal of the free speech protections of the first amendment. sadly every senate democrat on the judiciary committee supported it. today this body is considering another provision that would effectively cross out the free exercise rights. where have we entered when the bill of rights has become a partisan matter? what kind of world is it used to be the case that you would find bipartisan agreement that the first amendment is part of our civil calm that, that we will stand together with one voice in support of the free speech rights of individual citizens in

support of the religious rights of citizen's. the proposal that we are going to vote on in just a few minutes would go directly after the religious liberty right of americans. let me tell you a little bit about one group of people who will be affect by this bill if this bill were to pass. let me tell you about the little sisters of the poor, a group of catholic nun. the little sisters of the poor are a group of congregation of roman catholic women founded in 1839 by st. jean judean. their mission is to offer the neediest elderly of every race and religion a home where they will be welcomed as crazed, cared for his family and accompanied with dignity and tell god calls on himself.

mr. president, the bill that is being voted on on this ploy would shut these men down. the bill that is being voted on with this floor, if it were adopted would find the little sisters of the poor of millions of dollars unless these catholic nun are willing to pay for abortion producing drugs for others. mr. president, when did the democratic party declare war on the catholic church? and let me know, this is not hypothetical. i am not suggesting an. this might be applied to the little sisters of the poor. right now today the obama administration is litigating against the little sisters of the poor, trying to force them to pay for abortion producing drugs. and threatening to shut the little sisters of the poor down. how far have we come from the

basic bipartisan agreement in favor of religious liberty? saves fine should have no place in american society. the little sisters of denver, which provides approximately 67 full-time jobs has said that it will incur penalties of roughly $6700 per day for nearly $2.5 million per year if he chooses to stay true to his religious beliefs. $2.5 million a year in state sign. fines to catholic nuns who are devoting their time to caring for the elderly in providing health care for the elderly. that is more than one third of their $6 million annual budget each year. what has become of the democratic party? when did they become so extreme

that they would actually propose finding nuns millions of dollars if they are unwilling to pay for abortion producing drugs of others? that is not a mainstream position. that is a radical. that is an extreme position. i would encourage every one of my colleagues on the democratic side of the aisle to ask yourself, how are you going to answer your constituents with your constituents stands up and says senator, why did you vote in favor of a law that would find catholic nuns millions of dollars if they refuse to pay for version producing drugs of others? let me make a basic suggestion. if you're litigating against nuns, you've probably done something wrong. the obama administration is doing so right now. mr. president, drop your face fines. mr. majority leader, drop your face fines to all of our

democratic colleagues, drop your face fines. get back to the shared values to stitch all of us together as americans. i call upon my democratic colleagues to stop playing election-year politics. i recognize scaring them by suggesting some as coming after your birth control may be good politics. it's false. even though the "washington post" has said is a false and why. but election-year politics should not trump religious liberty. senate democrats should not wage war on the catholic church. it's not just a nuns who are dismayed. the catholic bishops have said the proposed bill quote does not defend the nation committed to religious liberty and allow the government to override religious freedom rights of americans regarding health coverage. the democratic party are sad

your free exercise of religion rights have no place in a democratic than it. catholic airships went on to say if in the future the executive branch shows to add the abortion pill for 86 or even elective surgical abortion, including late-term abortion to the list of preventative services, those who object to providing our purchasing such coverage would appear to have no recourse. mr. president, think about that for a second here to catholic bishop has said the bill this body is getting ready to vote on, if passed, would enable the federal government to try to force catholic nuns to pay for it carryout partial-birth abortion. that's staggering. you want to talk about mainstream position, their mainstream positions, far left in an extreme radical fringe, which is the federal government forcing catholic nuns to pay for

partial-birth abortions. and that is where virtually every senate democrat is today. under the legislation before this body come in the catholic university, abbé maria, would be forced to make the same church -- same choice, authorized abortion inducing drugs right now or pay ninth of dollars in fines to the united states government. as abbé maria president jim to me has said, quote, abbé maria pays any 5% of the cost of health lands we offer employees. under the federal mandate, abbé maria would be paying for these drugs have become fly with the law, so we will not. mr. president come every senate democrat who votes yes in a few minutes will be voting to find abbé maria, catholic university millions of dollars simply for standing true to their faith. that is a vote that should embarrass any member of this body. mr. schumer not to say we're prepared to discontinue our

health plan can pay the $2000 per employee per year find rather than comply with an unjust, immoral mandated violation of her rights of conscious. belmont abby college, another proud religious school founded by benedict in months and the democrats to put them in the same predicament. the democrats legislation would force belmont abby college to pay $20,000 a day in faith find. mr. president, face fines have no place in our democracy. let me ask again, why are democrats so hostile to the catholic church? why are democrats trying to use the federal government to find catholic institutions for holding true to their religious beliefs? it comes down to a hard-line extreme out of touch position on abortion. yesterday we had a hearing in the senate judiciary committee about legislation so broad that it would set aside state laws providing parental notification

for abortion, prohibiting late-term abortion, mandating taxpayer-funded abortions. these are extreme radical views held by a tiny percentage of the american people. the yen held by a large percentage of democratic at this. and this position would also rip apart the bipartisan legislation that president clinton signed into law in 1993. the religious freedom restoration act passed the senate 97 to three. when president clinton signed that act, he said what rfra basically says is the government should be held to high level of proof before it interferes with someone's freedom of religion. this judgment is shared by the people of the united states as well as by the congress. we believe strongly that we can never -- we can never be too vigilant in this work. mr. president come or should listen to the words of bill clinton in 1993 in the senate should back away from this

assault on religious birdie. i want to finally know two simple things. in 1997 when the senate considered another assault on the free speech elections of the first amendment, then senator ted kennedy, liberal lion of the senate stood up and said we haven't changed the bill of rights and over 200 years and now is the time to start. senator ted kennedy was right in 1997. likewise, president john f. kennedy in an historic speech to the nation said quote, i would not look with favor upon a president working to subvert the first amendment guarantees of religious liberty. mr. president, where the kennedys today? does any democrat has encouraged to stand up and speak with the first amendment today? does any democrat had the urge to stand up and be for the constitutional right of practicing catholics?

does any democrat had the courage to stand up and speak for the little sisters of the poor? the senate democrat of the kurds to listen to the catholic conference of bishops and speak for religious liberty? mr. president, if that means there are now 100 senators here unified regardless of our faith we stand together, protecting the religious liberty rights of everyone. faith fiennes had no business in our democracy. mr. president, i urge every member of this body to vote no on this assault on basic religious liberty of every american. thank you. >> to senate democratic did we just heard about to reverse the supreme court's recent hobby lobby decision and require employers to pay for contraception and workers help plants failed on a test vote today. we see the sponsored the bill, senator patty murray they are in "politico." the procedural vote to her bill

failed, falling short of the 60 votes needed. three republicans of senator susan collins of maine, mark curt of illinois and lisa murkowski of alaska joined the democrat supported the measure. coming up tomorrow, general motors ceo maryborough testifies the weathered senate transportation subcommittee and the recall of nearly 26 ilya vehicles.

>> now we hear about legislation aimed at ensuring child welfare

thieves have a system in place to properly identify and help make them such as trafficking. from this morning's "washington journal." >> host: we are back with california democrat, karen mask and a member of the foreign affairs judiciary committees. also, the founder and cochair of the congressional caucus on foster youth. you are here to talk about child trafficking. we have legislation. specifically, what does your legislation due? >> guest: first of all, there is a real problem in her child welfare system or a number of girls involved in sex trafficking. is a real tragedy. we will go into that later. essentially, the child welfare system needs to change and needs to recognize this is a serious problem. while one step towards changing his training the staff, nationwide said they learned to recognize that and also stays put in place a response,

resources, and battery to address his growing problem. >> host: so we are talking about u.s. citizens. >> guest: we are talking about 12-year-old girl sport in the u.s. >> host: what is happening? what does it mean to be trafficked? >> guest: essentially what happens is you will have the average age, of around 12, a group is either taken off the streets were recruited by typically a guy who says he's her boyfriend and seduces them into the sex trafficking business. a lot of places this is happening where you have gangs involved in drug trafficking, but they are also trafficking girls. >> host: wears is happening? >> guest: is happening all over country, but i would tell you three of the major cities this is happening in our california, same with cisco, los angeles and san diego. but this is a national problem. this happens in many other major cities. you might remember the super

bowl happened there was a lot of attention to this. a lot of times if there is a major sporting event, you will have girl sent from around the country to serve as rbx bladed at those major sporting events. >> host: where are these girls are children coming from? >> guest: they come from all over. a large percentage of girls are from the child welfare system. this is one of the problems within our system. let me paint a picture for you, okay? you might have a children grow up senator foster parent and she runs away and she winds up in an ardently in the arms of a act trafficker. he might have a girl in a group home situation and you might have boys who are also in foster care to recruit her into being trafficked. so there's a lot of different ways this happens. my focuses specifically on the foster care system, but it is not only foster growth involved in trafficking. >> host: how many kids are we talking about? >> guest: we are talking about tens of thousands.

one of the my legislation is doing is winning to better document this problem within our country. the documentation is one of the critical things needed. you know, i had a girl, a 17-year-old your woman who is trafficked at the age of 10, from the age of 10 to 17. she said that the nation's child welfare system help prepare her to be trafficked. just think about it. she said there was never anybody in my life that wasn't there who viewed me as a commodity because they were paid to take care of me in the first person that said they loved her was her. how tragic is that? >> host: how much money are we talking about? how much money is in the system now to do with the situation? how much money do you think is needed? >> guest: the interesting thing is this is not so much a financial issue. i will tell you there is not funny in the system right now to deal with this because the system has not even going to

fully recognize that this is a problem. so that is why it is step one. i am happy to say there's a number of pieces of legislation that have been introduced but i'm confident we will pass out of the house in the next weeks, bipartisan legislation with many members of the house of representatives recognizing that we need a comprehensive solution to this problem. so this is something our nation is just beginning to become aware of. as you said a minute ago, these girls are from the united states. we are here to view traffic in as an international problem and we don't recognize the girls right here in our neighborhoods are getting involved in this. i have to tell you something else that's incredibly tragic. the average life span of these girls was a starting today since seven years. they don't live. they are either murdered or they die of hiv. >> host: at me share some graphics put together by the juvenile justice administration from cheaper 2014. take a look at 80% of victims

are female. 50% are under the age of 18. the average age, 12 to 14, 300,000 kids a year traffic. 41% of cases reported the national human trafficking research center hotline. 70% of the traffickers are male and it's a $32 billion industry. >> host: how tragic is that? this is something our nation is just beginning to become aware of. i have to tell you to do one of the reasons, one of the reasons that feels this is the internet. yes specific sites that traffickers know they can advertise these girls. but we need to change the way we view the situation because some people would call these girls. if you think about it, it doesn't make sense to use that term for an underage girl. if you are below the age of consent, how could she be considered a prostitute. one of thing that happens in our

nation a places as these girls might end up being arrested and treated as though they are criminals and it is not correct nice by either law enforcement or social services that they are actually the dems should be arrested all. >> host: so would your legislation change that? >> guest: that is actually some we can't change in the federal level. a lot of it is about public awareness. i've had one for men officers tell me this. they don't want to arrest the girls, but they don't have any other way to get them away from the trafficker. so that speaks to another problem we need to build up in our country. that will take some money. it might take redirecting current money, but one of the main problems is when you identify a girl that is trafficked, what do you do quite one of the reasons she keeps going back to her trafficker to her traffickers she has no place to go. so there is a layer of infrastructure that needs to be built in our country. we need to have shelters.

we just specific counselors. these girls need to be treated and most instant lives. our suffering from ptsd. i mean, the same situation as a hostage, chris mayor, better. a lot of them begin to adapt the mentality of their abusers. some of them even turn into abusers and recruit other girls. they recruit their girlfriends. so this is a complex situation that requires a lot of attention, which is why i applied a number of members of congress have come together to introduce legislation. poster republicans as well. do you think is look at it though? >> guest: yes, this is very bipartisan. >> host: let's look at your legislation. you want to identify and screen youth at risk of sex trafficking, document and report instances of sex trafficking, provide response training for cps workers, require states to submit annual report on child trafficking to the child abuse and neglect data systems and require dhhs to report to

congress national traffic inside the barriers to reading the dems. why is this a federal problem? should not be done -- result in a state-level? >> guest: both. there are responses in the two happen on a state-level. i am happy in my state things have been happening. several years ago we passed a legislation. when i was in the state legislature the girls should not be arrested. they should be treated as the dems. so this requires a national response. legislation is the money by suing, i think probably about 14 members of congress, both democrats and republicans have all joined together to do this. ucs essentially lay in the sun nation for what i believe over time will be a comprehensive response. so you see my legislation tokamak documenting. before you begin to address the problem, you really need to have a better handle on how widespread the problem is. either evidence-based practices for how we resolve the

situation? once you identify the gross, then what do you do? i would tell you in my area in the city of calm and there is an innovative court that is called the star court and that court is a court that specifically deals with underage girls were trafficked. i went to meet with them one time and before we went into the court proceedings, there was a room of people comest osha leakers, educators, defense, prosecution, everybody run the table discussed the case is before going into proceedings. it wasn't dealt with as though the girls were going to be prosecuted and incarcerated. it was all about how do we rescue these girls? had we hope to get out of the life? that is the mentality we need to have. right now the mentality in our country still behind in a lot of his image and we view these girls as criminals, not as big dems. >> host: we are talking with representative karen bass about

trafficking in this country. (202)585-3880. 585-3881. independence 202-58-5382. want to get your questions and comments than your questions for the congresswoman here in a minute. let me show you this map of the united states in the states that are cracking down on child trafficking. the green states are the states with the toughest laws and then you can see it go down from there, tier two is yellow, tier three is orange, one state, south dakota with the least amount of child trafficking laws. we will go to just to crofton, nebraska. first are the congresswoman. go ahead. >> caller: yeah, thanks for covering this. you mentioned a couple weeks ago the individual or a group of people who were undercover and he was asked for money to

support this group who actually went from the states to thailand. and they were very successful in saving quite a few kids, both boys and girls. so this is some thing we definitely need with more money. actually, what is going to happen with the kids on the border. how is all that going to work out? who is going to check and make sure they are not going to be abuse? >> guest: you're absolutely right. i will tell you one of the pieces of legislation that we are going to be dealing with that was put forward by senator landrieu and congressman chris smith does deal with the international peace of this and actually requires the state department to set up a specific

bureau. right now the state department has an office, but we want to elevate it to a racket is the significance of it. just as you said very concerned about the children on the border. some of them were trafficked abroad here, but i'm also can earn that when we report them back we are not put in the hands of traffickers. as you want to clarify that a lot of the legislation we are talking about on the trafficking we're talking about for kids born and raised in the united states, not the international piece of it. though i really appreciate your base are not. >> host: will go to eric next, jonesboro, north dakota. hi, eric. >> caller: hi, i have a procedural question. before i get to that, you know, it amazes me we are talking about child trafficking in a time where, you know, 60% of the workforce is labor participation

is at all-time low. you know, talking about child trafficking and i agree there is a problem and i don't know how she plans to document it, but at a time when we are not talking about demand, demand for business is down. ..you have people trying to make money instead of trying to get a job because there is no demand. you are absolutely right. the demand is a very big issue. i think we need to address the demand. one of my concerns is, like the graph you put up with the states and trafficking laws, the laws are focus on the traffickers and rightfully so. we also have to do with the guys that exploit the children and we need to change our mentality when we are in and talking about them as well.

they when we are thinking and talking about them as well. they shouldn't be called john's. they should be called child molesters. if you have with an underage child you are a child molester so we need to change the way our society views this problem and i do think that addressing the demand is one of the things we need to do. you know in some states when you are talking about adult prostitution they do things like put pictures of the john's up or something. i think when he did figure out a way to address the demand. >> host: date is next in the east orland maine east orland maine independent caller. >> caller: this is exactly what i wanted to bring up. you are talking 60,000 now for trafficking reasons. i just don't buy it. this scandal unfolding with the

border. trafficking is creating the templates of emigrants to the nation. >> host: and i guess he doesn't buy it. >> guest: okay. well you know again what our legislation is about is not about kids on the border and not about kids coming into the country but kids were born and raised here. what i did say previously is that i am concerned that some of the children who are coming up here by themselves are sent here by traffickers and i'm worried about if and when they get deported that they are now put back in the hands of traffickers. but that is not whether legislation is addressing. we are addressing a home-grown problem. i'm primarily talking about girls that boys are affected as well. >> host: let's talk about the southern border issue. "usa today" has the headline lawmakers gov at cornyn cuellar

border plan. supporting legislation from this colleague republican senator john cornyn that some in the democratic party including majority leader harry reid have said it's too broad and they don't like it. do you agree and why? >> guest: yes i do. i've not read the bill yet but what i've heard about the bill, it changes the law that was passed that says that young people, minors to come from other countries seeking refugee status that are not from mexico or canada have to have a court proceeding and don't automatically get deported. i don't believe in this crisis we should change that law. that law was put there during the republican administrations bipartisan support and i don't think it's time to fundamentally change the law. we do need to address the crisis and in the president's plan he has called for money so that we can increase the time that it takes or i'm sorry decrease the

time that it takes to put the child through proceeding. the child should also have legal representation which right now doesn't happen. can you imagine it as seven or 8-year-old kid sitting in a courtroom with nobody there to help them? at the end of the day we need to stay focused that these are children. >> host: the legislation according to "usa today" would streamline how the u.s. processes these miners expedited corporate savings to their love them to apply for asylum or be returned home. congressman cuellar was on her show recently and he said this needs to happen. we are to have this type of process for mexico and canada. we should get the same arrangement with the central american countries honduras and guatemala and quickly expedite these children. >> guest: i do think that the process should be expedited. i don't agree with the way he's talking about expediting it. what i think needs to happen is we need to increase the number of judges. we need to increase the number

of lawyers so they can process can be expedited without fundamentally changing the law. i do think that we need to think about what is going on in central american countries and why people are fleeing. it's kind of ironic because i'm from los angeles and the gang problem that exists in el salvador started in los angeles. what happened is that we deported tens of thousands of gang members who went down to el salvador and continued the criminal behavior that they had in the los angeles area. so i think that in addition to expediting the process, by increasing resources, the other thing we need to do is assess the central american countries to deal with some of the problems they're facing. >> host: senate majority leader harry reid told reporters yesterday the border is secure in california. do you agree? >> guest: you know if you look at how we have spent money or resources that have been increased in the last seven or eight years we have increased

money to the border to strengthen the border by 350%. this is not an issue of the border not being secure. remember, you have these children coming to the border looking for the border patrol and turning themselves in. they are not trying to flee so it's not a question of the border not being secured. >> host: yeah and showing our viewers, this is a picture in the opinion section of "the wall street journal." immigrants from el salvador and honduras after being stopped for illegal border crossing. the number of children standing there. let me show you the arizona republic front pages while courtesy of the newseum. they have this picture with the caption that after crossing the border at the southern tip of texas women, children and unaccompanied minors from central america are promptly giving themselves up.

the headline being waiting to surrender on the front page of the arizona republic. >> guest: you know they interviewed these kids and they have said that they were happy when they saw the border patrol. so i think it's a false issue to say that the border needs to be more secure but then frankly let's just go without for a minute. if we want the border to be more secure that my more secure than why we passed the bill from the senate? because that even added resources to our border. >> host: let's go to. >> host: let's go to denny's in camden new jersey, democratic caller. hi denise. go ahead, you are on the air. >> caller: i was calling because some of them are with child and these pedophiles -- [inaudible] why don't they find a facility until the child comes in. you see so many kids being born in this country from out there on the streets that have drugs in their system. that's another problem.

the child is coming you know, with the drug problem. >> guest: and do you know why? i agree with you. we have a wonderful program in the los angeles area called shields for families which does exactly what you said. in fact they have been able to keep the number of children out of the child welfare system by bringing the mother when she was pregnant into their facility providing drug treatment services, counseling services, making sure that babies born drug-free but then also helping the mother address her addiction. so that's something else we didn't talk about about the trafficking issue. one of the things that happens to the girls right away is that the temps get them strung out on some type of drug. you can only imagine they need to medicate themselves with illegal drugs just to survive what the dems put them through. turning 10 and 20 tricks and a night. >> host: summerville alabama on our line for democrats.

randy. >> caller: yes maam. >> host: good morning. >> caller: good morning to you also. i would like to congratulate barack obama. my grandfather is always doing right and everything else and he makes me very proud. i have no idea what else to say. >> guest: thank you. >> host: pennsylvania, independent caller. go ahead. >> caller: hi. thank you for taking my call. >> host: you that poll you that paul, what's your question or comment for best -- congressman bass? >> caller: she has spoken a lot about my question is that like your opinion on the pros and cons of this subject. that's my only question.

>> guest: of the pros and cons of this subject. there are no pros. there are only cons. we have girls beginning at the age of 12 who are trafficked, sex trafficked and to me the legislation and the comprehensive legislation that we are looking at us to address the problem. now i can see a pro. the pro-is that this legislation is going to pass and is going to pass out of the house i believe in a week and this bipartisan legislation. >> host: and in the senate? >> guest: in the senate that's another subject. i believe it will be supported in the senate. this is not a very controversial topic and i'm happy to say that it's not. >> host: castor valley california independent caller there. good morning. >> caller: good morning and thank you for taking my call. i'm very happy to see representative bass is on and happy to have her in california representative and it's just a real pleasure to speak with you

this morning. i think some of this child trafficking thing is fueled by the pornography pedophilia and i'm not a manhater and don't get mad at me. but listen, crimes against a minor under 18, can't you wait until they're 18? you could be 75 and still get yourself -- not and that's a philosophical problem of society and you look at the priest and everything. that is a problem. >> host: okay katrina. >> guest: well, she is right. child pornography, child sex tourism, all of this is interconnected and it's happening right in our own communities and we need to recognize this. >> host: on twitter here's a tweet from one of our viewers. how do we punish the people who traffic these kids?

is a severe enough? are they easy to convict? >> guest: that's a good question. when you show that map of the country there are very severe laws in many states. in california we passed a ballot initiative and so what happens is a who is involved in trafficking girls who are underage then they serve a lot more time and there are tasks forces that are happening happening. the fbi for example leads the task force called innocence lost which brings together all different departments in law enforcement to address this problem. and there have been major arrests that are taking place. i referenced a while ago the super super bowl. there has been a couple of major arrests in california so i think that this issue is getting more and more publicity but again just like we can tell from our callers it's going to take a mind shift for understanding this is not an international problem. this is a problem right here in our own backyard.

>> host: we will hear from jim jim next and chicago independent caller. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i'll take something back in 1995 there's a book that came out called the franklin chronicles and it talks about the kids that were living in boys town and i think in omaha nebraska. this book talks about a lot of well-known people involved in picking up kids for their own pleasure. i was wondering if you haven't read this book you should read it. it was something that was pointed out in 1995 and it seems like no one wanted to do anything about it including the current let's just say the fbi that investigated boys town. my other question is this. since there are a lot of people not just dems who are involved in this or well-known people what do you think can be done about the situation? >> guest: well you know i do

think we have these moments in history where 1995 mike into early. now things are beginning to change and like i mentioned earlier there are still too many areas around the country where these girls are referred to as prostitutes and their arrested. that's the type of mentality that needs to change that sometimes it takes a while for our society to change. i think that the change is beginning to happen now. i think that this legislation and the fact that there are a number of bills and the fact that they are all bipartisan is an example of our society beginning to change. >> host: how big of a problem is this globally? >> guest: it's a huge problem globally, it really is. the united states doesn't report trafficking of persons report that really looks at the entire world. we grade countries based on tears as to how they are really trying to address the problem or not. so it's absolutely an international problem. and really up until a couple of years ago we didn't realize it

was a domestic problem at all. >> host: long beach california, tracy is going from tracy is calling for mayor, an independent caller. good morning tracy. >> caller: good morning, hi congressman bass. i reside here in l.a. county and i have the pleasure of listening to you on the front page. it's a pleasure always to see you again like most of the southwest you know there is an issue that relates to crime and in particular in trafficking that emanates simply due to the lack of enforcement of the borders particularly here in the southwest. it seems that a lot of the "times" politicians both democratic and republican, primarily democratic arm is focused at getting at the root causes of the issue. that's not to say that wouldn't be in an occurrence.

there will always be people that are pretentious and willing to take advantage of women. >> host: so congressman dealing with the symptoms, not the problem. he says of the border problem. >> guest: again what we are talking about are people, children born and raised in the united states and this is a problem that's happening in long beach absolutely and i'm sure it's happening all throughout los angeles county and it's something that we need to address. i will just emphasize these are girls that were born and raised in the united states. the issue on the border i believe is a different issue but we have to figure out how to deal with the problem that's happening in our own backyard. >> host: on the border issue the governor takes texas brick. republican echoes what the colleges said in his opinion piece in "the wall street journal" this morning. what a bomb and is on the border he writes president obama

proposed $3.7 billion in spending to deal with the continuing crisis but only a small fraction of that money would go to the actual core of the problem to the lack of sufficient resources to secure the border. a majority of the billions he proposes to spend including on housing and transportation -- transporting the miners across the country is treating the symptoms of the problem instead of addressing its root cause. >> guest: i think we want to talk about root causes then we have to look at why people are so desperate to leave their countries to come here. that's the root cause. if we just want to talk about border security it's been increased to 350% over the last two years. there is a bill sitting in the senate that could be passed in the house in a moments notice that would increase border security resources even further. so i think it's a little bit off base to talk about what the president has proposed today only to have legislation. i think what the president told the governor is he would be very helpful if he would talk to

republicans from texas and often to go ahead and vote for immigration reform. he could also call speaker boehner and say speaker boehner can't you just put the senate bill on the house last week believe there's enough votes there. some of your members want to vote for immigration reform that you won't allow the bill to come up for a vote. so if you are really concerned about border security we have a solution to speaker boehner needs to step up. >> host: the governor wants 1000 national guard and the border and he wants the faa to us approved drones. >> guest: i think what the governor wants us to run for president again. if we have a situation where the kids are looking for the border patrol so they can turn themselves in what good does it do to have drones in the national guard? he's trying to rectify mistakes he made during his first presidential campaign when he was sympathetic toward immigrants. he got hit for that so now he shifting to the right and all of

a sudden wanting to look tough. this is about setting the stage for a 2016 presidential run for governor kerry. >> host: we will go to jerry harmony -- hello jerry. >> caller: good morning, thanks for taking my call. ms. bass i would like to address this immigration thing a little bit. you talk about sex trafficking. i wonder just how many of these young girls and boys, they are shipping them all over our country. how many of these kids are going to end up on the streets working for some pimp? i think our government has just gotten involved in sex trafficking. >> guest: well, you know we had a meeting yesterday with the secretary of health and human services and i actually asked her whether or not the kids coming across the border were going to end up in the child welfare system. what she told me is the ones

that are allowed to stay temporarily, until they have a hearing, would be placed with relatives because the overwhelming majority of them are coming here in search of relatives. and so they are able to call their family members and they would be with their family members. now do some children fall through the? i have no doubt about that but we have a very serious problem in our country with child sex trafficking. but the majority of children data traffic are born and raised in the united states. they are not coming across anyone's border. >> host: "usa today" reports the full senate will do briefing from the administration tonight on the situation in the southern border. we will go to john and bronx new york, democratic caller. hi. >> caller: good morning. my name is joe from bronx new york. usually when i call i -- not joe the plumber.

or something a lot to say this morning. i've been watching this thing since three weeks ago, whenever it was. i am so amazed to see the people that call themselves christians. the definition of a christian, a christian is a person who is christlike. that's all a christian isn't the same people that say send them back, don't let them stay in our country, send them back. then when you look at all these third world countries and this country america who don't have anything but slingshots and rocks to defend themselves, the

people, over 5 million people were refugees in the war between iraq and afghanistan. these third world countries took these refugees. the ones who say send them back, they are the christians. they didn't say send them back. >> host: got your point. >> guest: i think it's so sad frankly the images of people being really hostile over the buses you know? and there are children on those buses. children who have been totally traumatized by the journey that they have had to take. they come over here in search of their relatives and they are greeted by two or 300 adults who look very hateful and hostile. and frankly it resurrects images to me in the 70s and 80s around busting when kids were

greeted in such a hostile manner. i can only imagine what those children who are sitting on the buses are thinking. i really think that this is a humanitarian crisis. we need to put away our feelings and thoughts around immigration right now. if we do want to focus on that than we need to focus on passing comprehensive immigration reform. if we want to increase resources to the border there is a bill to do that they could be voted on today or yet so i think we really need to focus and to me, to have all of this hatred and hostility toward children who have made this journey i think is very sad. >> host: we will go to gabby in lynne, massachusetts democratic caller that last for congresswoman karen bass. go ahead. >> caller: my name is kathy. i am so happy you are addressing this issue.

i watch c-span all the time. this issue is not only a child issue. it's a woman's -- against women problem. it's across the world. it's not only in america. i live in los angeles and i work for the government of the state of california for seven years. the federal government is training welfare for women. they are being labeled unable to be trained because they have -- [inaudible] >> host: to gabby's point about this hatred towards women a cultural societal issue. >> guest: well you know i think what we are looking at child sex trafficking i think

what happens to these children is that they grow up with such terrible self-esteem and feelings of self-worth, feeling hated and it's one of the things that keeps them with the trafficker. i think when we talk about root causes with the girls we really do have to look at that because the overwhelming majority of the girls who wind up traffic have been sexually abused earlier in their life. >> host: cumbersome and karen bass thank you for talking to our viewers. >> guest: thanks for having me on. >> the house rules committee held a hearing earlier today to consider a lawsuit brought by speaker john weber and house republicans against president present a bomb. speaker boehner's world the lawsuit aims to ensure that presence is properly and it faithfully excluding the laws. the president has abused his executive authority specifically in implementing the affordable care act. we will show you that hearing in its entirety tonight at eight a court eastern on c-span.

here's a preview. >> this is not a question of what should be done. it's a question of how it should be done and more importantly who should do it. the president suggested he could go it alone but there's no license and the madisonian system to go it alone. he has said he is going to resolve the deadlock in congress, the division of congress by ordering changes on his own terms. as a majority of one. that is what makes it dangerous. now for those that remain silent in the face of this i will say what is obvious, this is not going to be our last president and in a couple of years there will be someone else in the oval office and the arguments that are being made today could be used than to nullify or suspend or change of our mental laws including discrimination laws. that's what happens when you have -- presidency. i can't speak as to what will

happen in this litigation. i can speak to what should happen. in my view congress should. to me that the most important thing in this case is for this body to reinforce the right to be heard in the judicial branch. the courts have removed themselves from this process and the result has been the dysfunctional politics that we see. i don't believe the challenges in front of this lawsuit is an excuse to do nothing. we are and we will remain a divided country. when we are divided fewer things get done. you have a choice in our system. you can compromise or you can change the makeup of congress. you don't go it alone terry that believe the aca is a great example of the problem with this. this is probably the most important program in my generation in terms of size and impact. it happens to be something i support a national health care but it should be unencumbered by questions of legitimacy. it should go forward with the

courts defining the lines of separation. so this body taking a stand as a welcome change. as much as i respect the president the arguments he's making over presidential authority are extreme and they are devoid of limiting principles that characterize our system. for a generations we have been done by a covenant of faith that i will simply end with this. that covenant of faith is not matter what our division side that we will remain faithful to the limits that we impose upon ourselves in the branches. it's that very covenant that members of this committee reaffirmed when they lift their hand for the oath of office. what we are seeing today in my view is a crisis of faith. we have seen to have lost faith in our system and grown impatient with the constraints of the system. these arguments seem antiquated when you look at immigration or health care or other pressing problems. but it is always tempting when one person steps forward and

says that they can get the job done alone. that's the sirens call that the framers told us to resist. we remain a nation of laws and a place for those questions is the united states courts and that is where this authorization would take us. >> i think history here should be your guide and what you see from history. chief justice rehnquist recalls all of the great battles between the president and the legislature throughout her history and he notes that never didn't seem appropriate for one of them to sue the other for how they were carrying out their functions. and i think it's quite dramatic that professor believes the president could bring suit if they thought that the speaker of the house would assume the role of commander-in-chief. the point here is not who has the better reading on this particular question of whether there is an implicit transition

authority to smooth the transition to the new requirement. the critical fact that this is merely a debate about the best way of ensuring legislation and the house has no legal interest in that. now whatever the right answer, this may be an important matter in terms of extending health care to 25 or 30 million americans and making sure business has time to comply with the new requirements business desire and as i believe this house overwhelmingly support. that is what this transition is carrying out. whatever the right answer to that question i think it's safe to say that never in our history has such a radical change in the role of the judicial branch then propose to deal with what is such a routine question of administrative process, allowing this kind of suit by the congress every time we disagree with how the president carried out the law would be a radical liberalization of the role of the judiciary has played an

essay transformation that this committee and the house should decline. >> that's part of the testimony from today's hearing looking at the lawsuit brought by speaker boehner does president obama. you can tailor the hearing in an hour from now at 8:00 eastern on our companion network c-span. coming up tomorrow general motors ceo mary borra testifies before senate transportation subcommittee. >> we are at the henry wallace

country life center which is 50 miles south and west of des moines and this is the birthplace home of henry a. wallace. the wallace as abiola consists of three generations of wallace's. the patriarch was known as fondly as uncle henry and he was the founder of wallace's former magazine. his son henry c. wallace was u.s. secretary of agriculture under woodrow wilson and henry c's son was born on this farm and eight in 88. he went on to become editor of wallace's former magazine. he was announced by franklin roosevelt to serve as u.s. secretary of agriculture which he did for eight years from 1933 to 1941. in 1941 to 1945 he was roosevelt's vice president as u.s. secretary of agriculture.

he is known for the agricultural adjustment act, which was the first time that farmers were asked not to produce. at first, people couldn't believe the things that he was proposing regarding god but then as prices went up, they started to listen to him and people still refer to him today as the genius secretary of agriculture.

>> staff leaders from several republican committees held a joint news conference today to discuss the political landscape leading up to the fallen midterm elections. they discuss some of the specific races in the house and senate the competitive elections for governor and the money being spent. speakers include the executive directors of the house and senate campaign committees, the republican governors association as well as as well as the chief of staff of the rnc. this is just under an hour. >> thank you all for coming. i want to welcome all of our guests here today.

[inaudible] map water with republican state leadership council. obviously today the goal is to give you an idea of where the republican party at all levels from a local level onto the federal level stands as we head into the midterm elections. each of the folks up here is going to give you a ten-minute description as to where their committee, but races they are overseeing. when that is done we will have time for a brief q&a. math. obviously we ask you to raise your hand. i'll call it new. please state your name the organization you are with are these guys. we will hold us as close to an hour as possible and there'll be time afterwards if you want to talk to any of these individuals later. with that i want to introduce mike shields chief of staff of the rnc. >> thanks john and i want to thank my colleagues for joining us here today. i have been around the party committees most of my career and

i can tell you we have an unprecedented level of cooperation that goes on between the folks you see working up here and all their staffs. i think it's one of the reasons why we feel so confident going into this election season and how well they work together in the amount of information and share with one another. when he done at the white house and you have different groups that are all working sometimes there is not that unifying force that i think we all headed in the right direction. we'll believe they are very confident about what we are going to see this ball and i think another thing you're going to pick up from is the theme from all of us is how competent we feel going into the fall elections about where republicans are and where we are headed. there are common themes we are seeing in a lot of different races that make us feel good about where we are headed. we have a lot of work to do but we still feel very good going into the fall elections. this isn't working.

that was the first . we are working together like i said from the rnc perspectives it's been a pleasure working with the house and senate and governor's campaigns building out the national ground force we have working on the solutions they need for the campaigns. it's truly been a partnership working with all of them. here you can see a map of where ground data is. we have built out following their lead, we do are targeting where we need to put the troops that we have on the ground based upon where they are telling us that they have target races and if they need help. so there are a lot of rules to play on the team. we are all teammates here together. as many of you have heard from us in the briefings we decided in the start of the cycle to ask yourselves what are some existential questions of the rnc. what is our role and what can we do best and what can we only do?

we have decided there are two things we have to focus on building out the ground game and working on her data infrastructure. there's a lot of tv ads running and you will hear from my colleagues on how they focus on math messaging and they do recruitment in a lot of things well. what the rnc knows we have to do is provide the backbone and start a full-time national ground operation. we launched operation. the launch will be called bigotry be called victory. at 65 this ear an update at the old program at the rnc. we started in june of 2013 and you see the states on this map. we have staff across the country that are permanent staff. they are there to work year-round in precincts in local areas. it's essentially community organizing and it's not an rnc that waits until five months before an election. that can work when you are buying television and you can buy ad time and work towards the end. in the past the ground game had the dumbest same way and we have heard that doesn't work that if you are going to put people in

communities building relationships you need to be there a lot sooner. we have been spending our money throughout the entire cycle following their lead us to where to get the hill. i think you can see some of the numbers. we currently have 16,000 precinct captains recruited in the top precincts working with our colleagues we determined are the key places when he could have volunteers. these are folks. we are not trucking folks who really can. these are folks that have relationships in these communities. they know where to knock on the doors and they are with local boaters on the ground. the volunteer force. we have paid staff with over 200 staff over the country. 91% of the political department does not work at the rnc so this is big and led by paid staff. we are building a true volunteer army to build this in elections. there you can see there are three or four field staff, 24 state directors 280 field staffers across the country.

we have opened up 147 different offices and supplemented that with regional field data operatives who work with state parties and campaigns to help train them and utilize the data we have been putting in the fields of the campaigns can work with us on that. we have 30 hispanic engagement staff across the country 15 african-american engagement staff and eight asian/pacific islander staff. built in the background game is something that goes back to our growth and opportunity report republished last year addressing the demographic challenges the republican party faces. not just looking at hiring hiring someone of the coalitions director down the hall but putting our engagement staff as part of our field staff so they are no skin in a tease to get those voters. again something you can't do if you wait until the end is build a relationship that a minority community that the republican party may not have before. we have been taking that leap once again from our house and senate gubernatorial campaigns where they have seen the need

for that and working with them to hire staffers. as i mentioned we have by far most of our political staff don't work inside the beltway. we mentioned a number of precinct captains we have recruited. we think we have got 30,000 by the end of the election we need to get too to get to so we are well on her way considering now we would be standing up a lot of victory offices around the country in a typical election cycle in the past. we abari made 1.3 million voter contacts so those volunteers are not just out there learning the ropes and getting involved in putting on a t-shirt. they have been out doing voter contact in utilizing some of the tools we have put out in the field. a primary focus of what we are working on are the 10 million plus voters. we know and our job is to focus on turnout. the democratic party in the past has done a good job of focusing on those low propensity voters. both parties have lower propensity propensity voters who need to focus on in this field staff allows us to zero in on those voters and of course using

the voter score so we have on line that are available in all 50 states. we used to put voters in one of five buckets low or high propensity with republican or democratic. we now have the survey backed voter scoring system that puts every voter in a one to 100 score. we can zero in a granular way. we use that in the florida 13 special election which lisa lisa lisa can talk about what the nrcc. of course the canvassing tools we have put in the hands of those volunteers. we now have a system that her state parties have been purchasing where we have a canvassing at the goes on a smartphone that loads the information there an api augmented system. together information at the doors. admittedly gets put into the rnc voter file and database and shared with the campaign so we

have real-time data generated by the volunteers. they are not only on the field working to persuade voters and talk to them, they are gathering data and making our voter file more robust and more accurate. the voter scores are being enhanced now through the election weekly. we will be doing thousands of poll questions to give us a running track of issues across the country and continuing to enhance those models that we have on the voter scores. talking about our strategic initiatives,, i mentioned this with their asian/pacific islander and latino and our 1414 program working 14 weeks back from the 2014 elections to get women the volunteers more engaged in republican party politics. this is a proactive program. our co-chairman susan dey, share

and excuse me is heavily involved in this. working to recruit women to get them involved in republican party politics. we want to get you off the sidelines and we think that will eventually help generate officers and candidates in the future. and our youth program. we now have a youth director that is working to organize college campuses. in the past i think republicans have looked at college republicans as a group of volunteers that we could shift somewhere else getting deep into college towns. we look at them as here's an army of folks we can help in local areas where they are to our inner to our end and roll them into her victory fitted 65 programs so they are using the same tools and doorbell and phone calling strategies. the florida 13 special lisa can talk about this. we talk about at the rnc. i have to say the nrcc did a brilliant job of going in early and doing a lot of persuasion mail and running a fantastic campaign with david jolley. we were working on the ground

game. they spent $3 million into some very smart things but we were working hand-in-hand to provide a canvassing tools, the voter scores and volunteer base. it was really the first way that all the things things i talked about were able to be implemented and we won the race by less than 4000 votes. we beat the democrats at their own game. they talk a lot about their voter scores in the virginia governor's race and they suddenly quit talking about the things they were doing in florida 13 because they so we were able to implement a lot of the single incident election. now what we are working hard to do is was implement this across the country in all of the races that we will be involved in. just talking briefly about the gop brand. 53% of americans believe it's more important to have republicans in charge and act as a check and balance and on president obama and his policies. it looks a lot like 2010 in terms of how independents break

and the windows that are her base in this election. the gop holds a 15% advantage in the midterms midterms and our pace is much more motivated. 27% believe the country is headed in the right direction. these are all very bad numbers for democrats and one of the reasons we feel optimistic. also even with minorities, we would never say if they are and see that by putting our strategic initiatives program together in hiring an african-american field staff that we are suddenly going to carry 50% of the african-american vote in the 2014 election. we have never said that was our goal but her goal is to cut in the way the democrats have. as you can see in the survey here going from 11% to 16% is a good improvement for us. we think showing up in being part of the community matters. there are certainly congressional districts where she took 5% of the democrats they can't win the race anymore. we think it's a significant thing to continue to do. fighting the war on women

working within rcc. we did a national survey to provide our candidates with tools on how to push back on the false narrative of the war on women. the gop wins when we stop allowing the democrats to set the false narrative on this. women's priorities the economy governmental spending education and health care are things that when we actually manage to get our message through the women they cut in our favor according to the survey data. they are not happy with the status quo and they are looking for really a pragmatic solution and republicans can offer that this ball and we feel like our candidates are now being armed with those tools. and then of course kerry reid is busy plucking families bills being sent to him and our engagement efforts as i mentioned the 14 and 14. obama's approval rating stands at 40% of these considered the worst president since world war ii. of course 40% approval is the

economy and 4040% as obamacare. we don't really see away the democrats are going to be able to shake these numbers. you see this when you see senators and people completely avoiding the president. it's only july and it's only going to get worse as we continue. just to let you know in terms of the messages and research pieces that will be coming out from the rnc it shows you where focus is. obamacare energy the economy government missed management and the weakened democratic brand. i want to turn it over to my colleague at the nrcc the executive director lisa. >> thank you mike. this first slide i think demonstrates where the house planning field is right now. actually a surprise when nancy pelosi made her comments this morning about where she's sees the election heading in november. she obviously wasn't briefed on this. charlie cook has got 11

democrats and two republicans in tossup seats. up is that those democrats are top targets for the cycle. i can tell you the numbers we are seeing in these districts these democrats are in trouble. not long ago we launched something called our drive to 245. it's obviously an ambitious and aggressive goal but the generic ballot that we are seeing in our battleground districts, obama's numbers, obama's job approval they are much worse than what you are sitting in national surveys. our battleground districts i'm probably seeing plus five to plus seven then you are seeing in the national polling. we have -- to get us there. today we have 235 in the house. we are going to pick up two seats won in utah with the retirement of jim matheson, one in north carolina with the retirement of david bowser. this puts us where we need to

pick up nine in our 31 target races. these races, as we put this map together clears a path to victory in all these races we have got to win as candidates in these districts. i think this also demonstrates kind of where the landscape is. recently the dccc expenditure lay down their fall reserve. we lay down our fall tv reserve. 68% of our spending is on offense than 40% of nurses on defense. their mission is to stop the bleeding as they go into the fall. ours is obviously to expand and maximize opportunities and that's going to be our goal. really quickly want to talk about a few of our candidates. don't want to spend a lot of time because i know rob stuff is much more interesting to you all. i will just quickly highlight some of them. and this is one of the most

exciting recruitment classes we have seen in a really long time. i have got here about 15 candidates that i'm going to run through really quickly starting with martha mike sally. she's in arizona to district in tucson. she is running against ron barber for the second time that she came with only 2000 votes last time. she is the first female pilot in combat and she has outraised barber for four quarters in the road. this is one of our best pickup opportunities in the country. this is jory western. this is who we are paying attention to. collin peterson has never had a race against him. we never had a research book on this guy. he doesn't know what 4000 points of tv feels like dropped on his head in the fall. we have a great candidate on top of a story of perseverance.

he was blinded in a farming accident at age 14. he is a successful business owner and a state senator. the fargo newspaper said that he was -- worst nightmare. carl tamayo and california 52 running against scott peters. he won in the mayor's race in 2012 and one that part of the congressional district with 57%%. there is not than one poll since he entered the race last year that has them losing. elise stefanik if elected would be the youngest thing i'll elected to congress. she is 29 years old in the onc. this became a great pickup opportunity for us. she just came out of a tough primary fight and we are excited about her election this fall. evan jenkins was a democrat

until last year. he switched parties. he is running against neck rheault. obama's approval rating in this district is 22% so neck rheault is in a fight like he has never been in before. carlos carballo running against joe garcia in the southernmost district of florida. he's a rising star in the party. who do we have next-paragraph ryan costello. he is in the turlock open seat a terrific candidate running against a three-time loser who ran against spurlock in the past several cycles. barbara comstock and others are interested in this race. there's not a candidate who works harder than barbara. this is going to be a great race for us. i am bullish on illinois. i know phil will talk about illinois some. the numbers we are seeing there in the governor's race and our

two candidates they are bob dole in the northern part of the state in the chicago suburbs and mike bastin the southernmost district down there. they are both running ahead of their opponents. interesting in illinois and in california last cycle we have a lot of freshmen democrats to none other voters left. they just check the box and voted for the democratic at the congressional level and their numbers are very weak in these illinois districts and in the california district. bob dole recent public polling had him beating brad schneider. this is in the new jersey run up and see. tom went up on tv and came up with a great primary fight in june. richard thursday against john tierney. john tierney ethical policies have not gone away. john tierney is in a serious primary fight of his own. it's a late primary where he

will have to spend a lot of money. stuart mills running against rick noland in upper minnesota. this guy for a first-time candidate he has such natural ability and instincts. i have never seen anything like it. he has got a great shot against noland. once again going to california.ocie running and sacramentally -- the sacrament and jeff correll this is the seed young people's radar right now. he has an afghan war vet. he is unable reserve duty as we speak and he said assemblyman who wins a tough district there. lastly we have lee zeldin who came out of a tough primary fight in long island new york. he's running against him bishop once again another democrat for serious ethical problems. and we represent senate district that was part of the district

and we are really excited about his chances. was i under time? i will turn it over to rob. >> thank thank you. good afternoon i'm rob collins the executive director of the nrsc. when we started this 18 months ago the question was always could we recruit candidates and when their state? could we get them through the primary process and could we train them up to run a campaign that was moderate and ready to take on the democrats? i think by most standards everyone would say of recruiting class turned out to be pretty darned good. the primary process like any primary process is always bumpy but starting back in september and continuing today we have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in training and travel and time to make sure our candidates, we don't tell them

what to believe but just making sure they talk in a way that's relevant to voters. so a real quick overview of the senate. history. presidents lose 6.6 seats on average going back to the 50s in their second midterm elections. obviously 6 feet except the majority. democrats have also had a geography problem. we have had 14 incumbents up for re-election and 13 are in states that romney won. one is in a state that obama won and that susan collins. of the seven contested democratic seats six of those obama got 42% or less won all seven of them. the democrats have a historical problem in a geographical problem. this election is going to be allow president obama. two factors that factor into that. one come in midterm elections are about the current state of the country. going back to any midterm

election in particular as i said historically speaking a midterm election of a second term president but also with harry reid essentially shutting down the senate, you don't have a lot of senators who have passed legislation. mark begich has never had an amendment or a roll call vote on the senate floor. i want to say kay hagan has only 15 bills that she sponsored and cosponsored after signing the law. the sportsman's package last week was one of her first national initiatives. these candidates have fewer and fewer things to run on. they have to run on big national priorities like obamacare so how is the president doing? people remain pessimistic about the track of the country. approval continues to be in the wrong direction. double digits in the wrong direction for obama.

you can see independent voters decidedly oppose this president. when a president gets a cold nationally he gets pneumonia in the states that we care about. how does he look historically? to conceal bomb is trailing one past president and you can see historical trends. unlikely we see obama get up to them the mid-45 or 60s but we can make a legitimate case. what is dominating? economy jobs deficit obamacare is still in the mix. you can see the track heading back towards march has been fairly stable. ..

>> as we said, our party is tied, but if you look at interest, seven to nine, six to seven, zero f. five, if you are 89 we have a significant lead that trickles down. it and what you are seeing is if there is support or opposition. here is what we are seeing.

the president is that a significantly higher amount of people. and when you overlay intensity, here is what you see. they want to send a signal. there seems to be an enthusiasm gap among democrats. i know i am ripping through this . and just something that we track that we are very focused on, state-wide races, you have seen us tighten it up. we have seen it move our way since june and july. the border crisis and other factors driving the national narrative. but we have a problem. the problem is that democrats have a lot more money, so we fight that every day. this is the environment that we are in. the democrats to a great job of

talking about the help that we get and the money we spend. important to put any contextual context and understand how one where they are spending. they talk a great game. let's see where their money is. colorado, michigan. six months to a year ago, it $10 million in colorado and michigan. we see north carolina, where the priorities are. you know, this is a cycle where the democratic allies in the senate are extremely active and well funded. when you have the president and majority leader of the u.s. senate going to fund-raisers and sitting down with major donors -- the new york times yesterday, the very wealthy man from san

francisco in the white house in may. it tells you they are focused on raising money. nrc, we have not put down everything. obviously we have a different strategy, and our math has changed so much when you look where we are. scott brown dec. 301st. you will see more of that. we always talk about we have 12 races that are tied or in the margin. these -- a quick run through the. a bunch of slides that we will not go through. but eight polls in a row. yes, some of them are republicans and some are not, but that is an important factor.

there is the spring time lag. if but we are up in that race and will stay up. she won the primary, that is important to gives you will see the same thing in new hampshire. a bit of a gap. that will tighten up. i think that is significant in that we have been involved heavily. a tremendous fund-raising quarter. public polling, that is a big gap obviously. north carolina, another state where we have been -- the outside groups outspent her heavily last year but have done a great job catching up. it clearly in charge.

and we will run through states. for the sake of time. i would like to turn it over to one of the most important people at the nrc. iowa, arkansas, michigan, new hampshire, alaska, mexico, minn. to by his strong governor candidates will help pull us up and create a unified ticket. feeling good about their governor candid it's. one of the people i think will help us take back the senate, i love it. >> thank you. it really has been a great team effort between and among all of the committee's command it will continue. obviously a big year for governors, 36 governor races defending 22 of the 36, including 19 incumbents. we are in a strong financial

position as a committee. we continue to out raise 2-1. after spending 25 million we have 70 million on hand and are in position to spend a hundred million. a very strong position financially, and as you will see from the map year, we are also strong in our political position . thirty-six governors races, 19 incumbents. eighteen of the 19 are either tied or currently leading throughout the country. we have spent 25 million the first half of the year. the goal was to narrow sense we are defending so much territory. you look at three states, iowa, south carolina, new mexico where we have sent -- spend money. about one to 2 million. we have taken those races from single digits to help the double-digit leads.

it has allowed us to play a little more offense. there were three states that, frankly, were not competitive at the beginning of this year that within the last month are now competitive. leading by one point. you look at massachusetts, the poll for this week as baker down five. locked in an expensive primary. and hawaii, a state where we will have a 3-way race. governor abercrombie has had one of the most disastrous implementations of the health care exchange of any governor in the country. and currently anywhere between six and eight points. there are nine states that would describe as the most competitive six states.

not surprisingly a lot of canaille battleground states. pennsylvania, florida, maine. and three, what i would describe as tremendous pick up opportunities. you just break down the six. florida and ohio have been two of the biggest turnaround of any incumbent governor in the country. florida four months ago rick scott trailed by 15 points on the ballot. he spent over $17 million. an ohio the governor's job approval was in the late 30's. today it is in the high 50's. he leaves by eight to ten points

. in michigan and wisconsin we are in a strong position. states that public-sector unions care about him. these are going to be competitive states. again, to states that we are in a strong position to win our two most challenging, pennsylvania and maine, states were governors have great records. there will be challenging races, territories for republicans, but i can tell you, the argy a is fully committed. and three pickup opportunities i mentioned. it has been a tremendous turnaround. obviously a very important competitive senate race. now, conn., that raises tied.

a repeat of five years ago. lost by 6400 votes four years ago. that will be a highly competitive race in connecticut. in illinois the public-sector unions did their best. they spent about $6 million before the primary trying to knock him out. he won. he currently leads by 12 points. an astounding 17%. a very strong wrong direction sentiment in the state and the great tradition of the illinois governor's. spending public money to support his campaign in 2010.

and so i think we have a great shot in all three of those states. i am optimistic for some of the reasons folks have already mentioned for four specific reasons. first, a strong position financially. we have the ability is spend a hundred million dollars. the political environment is good and getting better. we have a capacity advantage without question. looking at the senate, we have 25 senate races on like 2012 where governors were dismissing themselves. we have a great crop of u.s. senate candidates, a great crop of gubernatorial candid it's reinforcing one another. there are four states where our candidates for governor are

running at relatively significantly ahead of our candidates for u.s. senate where i think they will be a help, iowa, michigan, georgia, and south carolina. four states that we will continue to engage in. the last and most importantly is the fact that governors are getting results and states are moving in the right direction, turning deficits and surpluses, reforming education, pensions, tax and regulatory regimes. most important made job creation is job number one. voters are giving them credit for reforms made in improving conditions in their states. despite having to defend the 22-36 races, again, we have 18 of the 19 incoming and governors who are currently tied or leading and are in a strong position to maintain a majority. >> and i you want to say a

couple of things before we do questions. >> absolutely. >> i am the president of the republican save leader committee. we have the fortune of being in all 50 states. we are underneath all of the races you see here today and are fortunate to have the operational capacity and execution of each of these committees as well as the lead from the rnc. it is the kind of thing that we see and feel on a day-to-day basis. thank you for the leaders command we commend you on it. that is fortunate because we are, as i say, spread across 50 states. each of the three branches of government. we are close to the ground and are able to hear a lot of the feedback that is out there and understand what the localized conditions are. because of that execution and

leadership will we are seeing is a tremendous opportunity based upon all of the factors that my colleagues discussed. and just to give you a finer point, we will start our legislative national meeting beginning tomorrow. the 93 leaders from all 50 states, the largest collection of state-level legislative leaders ever in history, and we have an opportunity not only to exceed our all-time highs in the legislative chambers, but to get a super majority across the country. think about that. a supermajority of majorities and legislative chambers across the country. that is achievable and right around the corner. and we want to do that in a way that not only makes them leaders now, makes them effective, helps the governors and the other federal offices out there, but to put them on the escalator to higher office and make sure that we are putting our best foot forward. we have over 750 new female

candidates and candid it's so diverse ethnicity, and they're able to interface with their constituents and voters through new medium's that the rnc is taking the leadership on the data friend and partner in with our friends. and so there is great opportunity right now to have those folks kate into office and make a tangible difference. but if you look at the maps of congress and the u.s. senate right now, more than half of those officials have served. and each of our races, not only do we want to make sure we are getting the best possible panel to execute at the state level, but folks who create a terrific team of terrific team for these other offices down the line. we are looking to recruit the next governors, congress members , senators, presidents and make sure that those are the right candid it's.

and each one of those representatives in congress right now are either republican that we have helped move through the leadership escalation to higher office or a democrat that we could have spent a lot less money in defeating at the state level. that is our goal, build the team and wipe out the next generation of democrats. i will do you all the courtesy of not going through the 7,500 races we have in front of us this year. happy to talk about it afterwards. we get granular real quick. >> questions. raise your hand. [inaudible question] >> very similar to the one that president bush had, or do you think you are different in some way?

>> a comparison of those, but i think you saw from historic data polling that they are kind of in a similar neighborhood. that could, you know -- historical trends are powerful. some folks say they don't count as much. they do. so you look going back -- well, since 1906 that president -- they lost on average just over six seats. i think that this president's, his popularity -- you will hear talk of legacy brands and the legislation. so they are forced to legislative agendas that are unpopular newhall and to a president that has directed their political career

[inaudible question] >> disappointed in president obama. and even worse view of congressional republicans , which is true in many of the state's. what do persuade the voters do if that is there choice? >> send a message to the president. we are winning that on go votes right now command a think it is important that we have a positive agenda that highlights the confidence of this administration and offers an alternative. and i think every campaign is in the process of developing that thought, but, you know, this election will be driven by where things are. people are smarter. presidential elections are about the future. so the president is going to be

driving this election candidates really have to present a credible alternative as a candidate and have to have the resources, not to and spend the democrats because we won't do that, but have enough money to get out an alternative message that says there is an alternative direction to go here. [inaudible question] >> that list, and illinois the white house has already said that president obama is placed to help governor quinn. they had breakfast together. can you assess what the impact will be in this big battle of having the white house and obama active in its? >> i think that remains to be seen. it is pretty clear that the governors' races are a little bit different from congressional races. the voters view them through a somewhat different plans. more local issues are involved.

illinois is a state with the largest unfunded liability per capita of any state in the country. it is a fiscal train wreck. and i think the most recent public polling has literally less than to entertain people in illinois think the state is moving in the right direction. this race is rough. i think we have a great change argument to make. we have a great candid. so the president can come and campaign wherever he wants. i think these governors races -- i think the one area where we see the obama impact in governor's races is on the intensity, and you saw that slide pointed out without question across the board whether congressional races, senate races, gubernatorial

races. republican voters are simply more motivated right now. >> a question for you. it is a 2-partner. we have yet to hear anyone talk about that tea party. because of those senate races there are a bunch of independent third party that libertarian candid it's, if it is not close, how do libertarians affect this race? in general, what is the status of the relationship between that party and the tea party on senate races? [laughter] >> first, look, you know, the grass-roots -- primaries are always, you know, religion and politics are the things your mom said not to bring up at the dinner table. if you look at the races, a

tough primary in iowa. the team came together quickly and tightened up. a very tough primary. get through it, and you see his polling going in the right direction as a result, the republican base coming home. the for-profits conservatives based here in d.c., we are never going to get along with them. there are some that will have a role to play in a general election, but some of the louder voices, it does not in your to their bottom line to get along with us so they choose not to. but where we can work together we will. i think at the grass-roots level that intensity is only moving in the right direction as we get through more and more primaries. we have exciting republican candid it's forthcoming this fall. so i feel pretty good about where we are with that. what was the second part of the

question? [inaudible] >> oh, you know, i was on the ground in 2002. i understand the impact personally you know, it is a challenge. something that we factor in and it is incumbent upon us to model our research and polling accurately so that we can build elections and political plans that allow us to win. you know, we would love to get their support even if they are libertarian or otherwise ideologically band. we will try to talk to them in a way where we can get their support in the chicken cross over and back the republicans. if you look at the senate right now is a diverse group of folks demand we have a lot of senators and national leaders who can speak to certain segments of the population that may not be --

whatever word you want to read to -- classic establishment republicans. we recognize the many voices in this senate, where everyone fits in. the great news about that, our senators are extremely engaged. how are engaged they are and how willing they are to really step up. use of the democrats yesterday , senator mccain engaged immediately and say, you know, what is going on here. that is something i would not discount. >> i have been through election cycles where the base was not motivated, and it was not fined. coming out of 12 we had been a party that was of little, quiet party that did not have a robust conversation with itself. it would have been bad for republicans. we have had that conversation, some in primaries.

what has come out the other end is a motivated base. i dare say the democrats wish they had a two-party in their base to help them. he looked at the polling we just showed you. the primary process, and a few competitive primaries left. we are through with that stage of the election cycle. what we will see his support for republicans up and down through all of these races, all the way down with a very motivated group of republicans that will turn out and vote and a not as motivated group of democrats. the end result of the question is, we are in a good position because we have the motivated base. >> right. and at the local level we are seeing that enthusiasm swing behind the republicans. i sometimes have my d.c. hat on too tight. when i speak kagan not mean to be critical of all of the groups, but i think there is lot of energy at the state and local level where registering voters get folks out, talking

to neighbors and doing a really, really impressive job. you see it weaving through these races. sometimes people say, oh, this big, national group this year. they don't understand that at the local level how it impacts our races. >> thank you. [inaudible question] >> you just described it. [inaudible question] >> because of redistricting people are pretty much in the district where they belong. so, you know, where the field in 2010 was over 100 races, 12, about 75. fifty is pushing it. so i think, you know, 50 would be pushing it. how many races are in play this cycle, it has made the field

much smaller. >> that is exactly it. [inaudible question] >> you used the term community organizing. data mining, trying to get out low propensity voters. you know how sarah palin disparaged. are you emulating the obama 2012 ground game? >> i would say we are rebuilding the republican party for moderate political elections. you know, in 2004 we had an incumbent president, a technological lead on the democrats, and a superior ground game. i think we all admit that those are two areas we need to improve coming out of the 2012 election. our goal is not to catch them but surpass them. this is sort of like a space race. data and technology, leapfrog each other when it comes to how

robust and efficient the ground and can be in the tools you can put in hand. i would say if we build the right. so we are creating a moderate political party that is full time creating data and technology tools to take advantage of those volunteers and help us win elections. it is not a matter of emulating. it is a matter of surpassing. [inaudible question] >> well, i think if you look at their growth and opportunity part, there is a whole section on looking at what we could have done better and what we need to do better from the mechanical perspective. the person who is running our latino voter outreach program, there are things that we -- we brought in private sector talent from silicon valley. we looked at seeing where we could do things that we have done before. so, again, we are building a moderate political party based

upon what we see that we can do to help complement the great things that our colleagues are doing to take a advantage of the political winds blowing in our direction. >> thank you for all -- thank-you all for coming. if you have any questions -- we look for to seeing you soon. thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ..