>> we are a lot further i touch this for all but over the last 10 years, senator, and we're finally now starting to work on concrete, moving forward with a plan. i feel much better than i have in recent years. >> thank you. i want to switch to follow on the question centered king had talked about in terms of the arctic. i will be a little more blunt. we have a dod 13 page arctic

strategy and get when you look at what the russians are doing in the arctic, it's actually quite president. impressive but disturbing. so i'm sure you gentlemen are somewhat familiar, but general dempsey mentioned in testimony with the secretary of defense last week the russians are looking at for new arctic combat brigades. i think that would give vladimir putin a lot of joy. they are building new airfields 13 airfields. they are conducting long range air patrols off the coast of alaska again. they have incredibly six to icebreakers coming, five more planned to add to their fleet of 40. meanwhile, the united states is thinking about an additional one to our fleet of five.

does it concern you particularly when we talk about keeping ceilings open there's going to be a very very important ceiling that's developing in the northwest arctic passage of there? and has the navy given any thought to the terms of particularly adding icebreakers to the navy's shipping fleet if we're going to be remotely, remotely competitive with the russians in the arctic that they have stood up a new arctic command? and they are all in and the arctic and it's not 13 pages of paper. it's concrete its ships it's airfields. and we are thinking about removing forces from alaska and we don't even have i think we're number five or six in the world in terms of a icebreakers. it seems to me a ludicrous situation that the navy should be concerned about. >> well, the purview of the icebreakers is the department of

homeland security, the coast guard. so if we split that then we'll be clobbering our strategy. although it sounds like a petty answer, somebody has to be in charge here. right now he resides with the department of homeland security the department of homeland security. and my concerned? yes, i am concerned because for us to take our combat ships up their we have to work in conjunction with that and make sure that we can get up there as well. so we have to look at hardening of our holes and will look towards that and also it's not just surface ships which we tend to focus on. it's a aircraft and the undersea dooming. as i mentioned earlier we've increased i directed the increase in exercise capacity up there and our activity up their, and we're spending a little bit more, its modest right now, exercising with the norwegians, with the scandinavian countries and with canada to get used to operating up there. >> mr. secretary, any thoughts?

>> we, as the ice felt in the arctic our responsibility are clearly going up. we just see, we issued a new navy roadmap for the arctic we updated it. i stopped through the university at fairbanks university of alaska at fairbanks in terms of it's not just platforms and it's not just capability. it's what we are facing up there. we not only have less ice but it's freezing in different ways. and so as we send our submarines up their they don't have a whole lot of clearance, both above or below. and the ice is forming in different ways that are beginning to be a hazard to navigation. but as the cnn center, we are

upping our -- cnl said we are upping our research into the area. we are moving in terms of hardening hulls, in terms of war fighting capabilities. as you know we have a field training on kodiak specifically focused on cold weather combat. every seal goes through it right after the out. we are concerned about it. we're trying to move on it at it again is one of these things that in this budget situation you have to make some very very hard choices. and we don't have the capability that we would like to have in the arctic. >> thank you. thank you mr. chairman. on behalf of chairman mccain let me thank the witnesses for

their excellent testimony and for the service to the nation and the navy and the marine corps. the hearing is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]

>> the senate foreign relations committee examines the president's request for authorization to use force against isis today. secretary of state john kerry defense secretary ashton carter, joint chiefs chair general martin dempsey will testify. live coverage starts 9:30 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> secretary of defense ashton carter and the united kingdom secretary of state for defense michael powell and hold a press briefing debate about u.s.-uk relations. you can see it live starting at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span.

>> the political landscape has changed with 114th congress. not only are the fortitude and republicans and 50 new democrats in the house and 12 new republicansrepublicans and one the democrat innocent there's also 108 women in congress including the first african-american republican in the house and the first woman veteran for the soon to keep track using congressional chronicle on c-span.org. the congressional chronicle page has lots of useful information including voting results and statistics for each session of congress. new congress, best access on c-span, c-span2, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> monday at the national press club, vermont senator bernie sanders discussed the state of wall street, the middle class, and the possibility of him running for president in 2016. this is one hour.

>> good afternoon and welcome. my name is john hughes. i'm an editor for bloomberg, the breaking news desk here in washington and president of the national press club. the club is the world's leading professional organization for journalists. we are committed to our professions future through programs such as this, and we work for a free press worldwide. for more information about the club, visit our website, press.org. to donate to programs offered through our club's journalism institute visit press.org/ press.org/institute. on behalf of our members worldwide i would like to welcome our speaker and those of you attending today's event. our head table includes guests of the speaker as well as working journalists who were club members.

members of the public attend our lunches, so the applause you hear is not necessarily evidence that journalistic integrity is lacking. i would also like to welcome our c-span and public radio audiences. you control the action on twitter if using the hashtag npc lunch. after our guests speech we'll have a question and answer period. i will ask as many as time permits. now it's time to introduce our head table guests. i would ask each of our guests to stand briefly as their names are announced. from your right, the director of public affairs at the national conference of state legislatures. john, reporter for american banker, covering the fed and the fsoc.

bryant harris washington correspondent for japan's largest newspaper. had defined, a political consultant and a friend of senator sanders. christopher, journalist and former politics editor at "huffington post." james sanders, the senator's wife -- jane sanders, the senator's wife. [applause] donna reporter at "usa today," former national press club president, and vice chair of the club speakers committee. speaking over our speaker for a moment reporter for bloomberg news and the speakers committee member who organized today's event. thank you. [applause] >> senator sanders chief of

staff. derek wall bank, congress report for bloomberg first word. lacey crawford junior, q. mutation structure for social security works. and philip, vice president and chief analyst at box office.com. [applause] senator bernie sanders is widely known in vermont simply as bernie. he began a life of activism as a student at the university of chicago where he led a sit in to protest discriminatory housing policy. after graduating and living on an israeli kibbutz, sanders moved to vermont and had a series of jobs in areas ranging from filmmaking to carpentry. he ran and lost as a third party candidate for several offices before winning the race for mayor of burlington in 1981.

his margin of victory was 10 votes. sanders gained popularity by promoting burlington's local businesses fixing potholes and bringing a minor-league baseball team to town. vermonters elected him to the house in 1990, and to the senate in 2007. when sanders arrived on capitol hill, he was the only independent in the house. he has gone on to become the longest-serving independent in congressional history. he caucuses with democrats and is become the ranking member of the senate budget committee. sanders speaks out frequently on issues he is passionate about, such as cutting military spending taking action to protect the environment, and working to reduce income inequality. in 2010 he conducted a nearly nine our filibuster against tax cuts for wealthy americans.

so many people follow this effort online that the senate video server crashed. these days centers is considering a bid in the 2016 presidential election. and what better place whether the to announce says -- such a big event in national press club? [applause] not that we are suggesting anything here, senator. sanders has also been tinkering with his crusty persona. as "the boston globe" recently wrote, sanders is a. quote issues oriented class warrior who, quote, has begun to loosen up on the stump, softening his curmudgeonly demeanor with an occasional joke. [laughter] we at the national press club have also been known to relax our curmudgeonly demeanors from

time to time. we want to do that right now by giving it will to vermont senator bernie sanders. [applause] >> thank you very much. john, thank you very much for inviting me, and let me thank all of you who are here this afternoon. before i begin my remarks let me give you a very short thumbnail sketch of my political life, because my journey here to washington, d.c. has been a little bit different than many of my senate colleagues. as john mentioned i was born in brooklyn, new york in 1941. my father came to this country from poland at the age of 17

without a pin in his pocket and without much of an education. and i always think back about the extraordinary bravery that was his as well as many other millions of people who came to this country with so little. my mom graduate high school in new york city. my dad worked for almost his entire life as a paint salesman and we were lower middle class. my parents my brother and i lived in a small rent controlled apartment. my mother's dream was to move out of that small apartment and own a home of her own. she died young and she never fulfilled that dream. as a kid in many many ways i learned what lack of money means to a family here and that is a lesson i've never forgotten. my wife, jane, and i have been married for 27 years. we have four great kids and

seven beautiful grandchildren. and without trying to be overly dramatic about it what motivates me politically, why i do what i do is to make sure that these kids and all of our children can live in a wonderful country and a wonderful world. representing the great state of vermont, as john indicated, i'm the longest-serving independent in american congressional history. i served 16 years in the house, and has vermont's lone congressman. in 2006 i was elected to the senate and reelected in 2012. i began my rather unusual political career back in 1971 as a candidate for the u.s. senate on a small third party called the liberty union. and i received 2% of the vote.

not dissuaded iran a year later for the governor of vermont and received 1% of the vote last night not being the brightest light on the blog -- of the vote. [laughter] iran again for the senate and received 4% in two years of later ran for governor and received 6% of the vote. i thought that would give the people of vermont a break and i retired from politics in 1976. remembering one particular guy who said, bernie i will vote for you if you promise me you will never run for office again. [laughter] in 1981 i was persuaded by some friends to run for mayor of burlington, the largest city in our state against a feisty democrat, democratic mayor. iran as an independent. nobody, but nobody thought that we had a chance to win.

we did. endeavor remarkable election we put together an extraordinary coalition of workers and trade unionists, environmentalists, of neighborhood activists, of low income organizations, of women's groups, of college students. and that type of coalition politics of bringing people together around a progressive agenda shapes might be a politics today. in a campaign which cost about $4000, i and the people who supported me knocked on thousands of doors in the city. and let me tell you, it gets cold in vermont in march. on election night when the votes were counted, we won the working-class wards by something like two to one, and won the election but all of 14 votes. it was the biggest political

upset in modern vermont history and after the recount the margin of victory was reduced to 10 votes. without going into any great list here, i took office with 11 out of 13 those of the city council, democrats and republicans, in very strong opposition to my agenda. and trust me if those of you industry think that president obama has gotten a rough time from republicans, that was nothing. that was nothing compared to what i and my supporters experienced during my first year in office. but one year later in strong support of what we were attempting to do and what we wanted to do a slate of candidates working with me defeated a number of the incumbent obstructionists. the year after that in an election in which the voter turnout was almost double from what it was when i was first

elected, i easily defeated a democratic and republican candidates, continue to get reelected and to my last election defeated a candidate from both political parties. 1988 iran for the u.s. congress in a three-way race. i came in second with 38% of the vote. two years later i won that election by a 16% winning with over 16% more than my opponent. in 2006 with the retirement of senator jim jeffords and with the support of democrats, i won the vermont senate seat against the wealthiest person in the state of vermont, a candidate who spent three times more money than anyone had ever spent before in our state's history and ran a very, very negative race. i won with 67% of the vote and in 2012 i won reelection with 71% of the vote. as mayor of burlington, my

administration took on virtually every special and powerful interest in the city and in the state. against the wishes of developers and the railroads we created a beautiful people oriented waterfront at the bike path along lake champlain. we developed the first municipal housing interest in the country for affordable housing. we won national recognition for urban beautification by planting thousands of trees throughout the city and we made major improvements under streets and sidewalks. we come to the largest environmental program then in the state's history i building a new wastewater facility that kept untreated waste and going into the lake. we start a youth office which created a day care center completely program, afterschool program and the teenage center all of which continue to exist today. we were the first city in vermont to break into this on the regressive property tax. we made major changes in

burlington police department moving in the direction of community policing. we started active and successful arts program and women's council. the results for the last several decades, burlington has been considered to be one of the most beautiful and livable small cities in america, and i invite all of you not only to visit burlington but to visit our beautiful state of vermont. in 1990 a became the first independent elected to the u.s. house in 40 years, and during my first year is there a long with all ofall of the house members we formed the congressional progressive caucus which stands today as one of the largest and most important caucuses in congress doing the great job representing the working families of our country. one of the first votes in the house that i cast was against the first gulf war. i believe that history will record that that was the right vote, as was -- [applause]

as was the vote i cast years later against the war in iraq a war which i consider to be one of the worst foreign policy blunders in the modern history of our country. [applause] >> that more -- that war and it's because the former chairman of the veterans committee who learned in my two years as chairman what the cost of war is, and that war cost us not only the lives of thousands of wonderful and brave young men and women, but it also created a situation where today hundreds of thousands, some 500,000 men and women have come home from iraq and afghanistan with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury, have come home with lots of arms and

legs and her eyesight and they're hearing. that is the cost of war. and before we get involved in another war, we should remember what war is really about. [applause] and that war in iraq also destabilized the entire region and opened up a can of worms that we now see where we are fighting no fighting the barbaric organization called isis, and are deeply concerned about iranian influence over iraq. while a member of the house financial resources committee i was one of those who led the fight against the deregulation of were screened common effort supported by both the republican and democratic leadership. in registered i think it is fair to say that most people today do not believe that it was a great idea to end glass-steagall and

to allow agreed and recklessness and illegal activity on wall street to go unchecked. [applause] i also strongly oppose the trade agreements written by corporate america and against -- again supported by democratic and republican presidents agreements like nafta, data normal trade relations with china and other trade agreements with the cost us millions of decent paying jobs and to lead this country to a race to the bottom. in the deuce -- needless to say i strongly oppose the trans-pacific partnership trade agreement. [applause] while in the house i took on the pharmaceutical industry and the outrageous prices they charge our people, and became the first member of congress to take

americans across the canadian border to purchase prescription drugs there. and i will never forget that trip where women struggle with breast cancer at the medicine they need for one-tenth of the price in montréal that they were paying in the united states. and my understanding is that today, hundreds of thousands of people sadly have to continue buying their medicine in canada rather than in their local pharmacy. as the chairman of the senate veterans committee, i work hard in a bipartisan way to pass the most significant veterans legislation passed in many, many years. this legislation put over $15 billion into improving veterans health care, into making certain that the people who put their lives on the line to defend us get the best quality health care possible, and did it in a timely manner. and i have -- [applause]

wonderful honors i've received in recent years is to of been the recipient of the highest award from both the american legion and the vfw, and i'm very grateful to them for that acknowledgment. as someone long concerned about health care and our dysfunctional health care system, i work hard with represented jim clyburn to put some $12 billion into federally qualified community health centers which resulted in some 4 million lower income americans any excess to health care dental care low-cost prescription drugs, and mental health counseling. we also significantly expanded national health service called to provide -- debt forgiveness to new primary physician. this program is one has been one of the success stories of

the affordable care act. as one of the leaders of the senate trying to combat the global crisis of climate change, along with senator bob menendez i helped pass the block grant program which could billions of dollars into energy efficiency and sustainable energy. several years ago working with several of my colleagues i found the defending social security talk is and we were successful in beating back massive efforts to try to cut programs, to cut social security and benefits with disabled veterans from some of the most powerful people in this country. and that's an effort i will continue to make. [applause] and that is a very brief description of my life and my political history. let me go do something more important, and that is the future of our country.

and what i'm going to kill you now i suspect that so many people who come up here will talk about -- tell you. but someone who is described as being too gruff, as a grumpy grandfather as to abroad and is not one of the more cheerful guys on capitol hill, i have to live up to my reputation, so i will be gruff. i will be abrupt and let you know what i think. today in a nation plagued by many many concerns, the most serious problem we face is the grotesque and growing level of wealth and income inequality. [applause] this is a profound moral issue. it is a profound economic issue. and as a result of citizens united, it is a profound political issue. this is the issue that impacts

all other issues. job creation and income from infrastructure, tax refund, health care, climate change, the bible, education, you name it. are all fundamentally impact, impacted at income and wealth inequality. and let me be very honest with you and tell you what very few elected officials will tell you your and that is that given the incredible power of the billionaire class over the economic life of this country over politics, over media, i am absolutely convinced that the struggle for economic and social justice, the struggle for strong middle class, the struggle for a vibrant democracy in which the elections are not bought by the wealthy, will not be one in our lifetime unless an unprecedented grassroots movement is developed which is prepared to take on and

defeat the power of the 1%. [applause] over this last weekend my wife and i had the opportunity to visit selma alabama and montgomery, alabama, along with many other members of congress and tens of thousands of citizens to honor the incredible bravery of those who marched and were beating on bloody sunday 50 years ago. and we were there with my good friend john lewis and many other colleagues. standing outside of martin luther king's small and modest extra avenue church in montgomery, i was reminded that real change is never takes place without struggle, without the active participation of millions of people who are prepared to stand up and fight for justice

a people who, in fact are prepared to put their lives on the line in those struggles. a political battle of our time is not republican versus democrat. it is not a political games inside the beltway that preoccupied much of the media's attention. it is not the ugly 30-second tv ads that flood our airways. the political struggle of this moment in our history is a declining little class of millions of people working longer hours or lower wages if they are lucky enough to have jobs, against the power of a billionaire class whose greed has no end. [applause] it is the struggle of americans, black white hispanic asian native american, women and men gay and straight struggling for

decent jobs and income to adequately take care of the family struggling for retirement security, struggling for decent education for their kids, struggling for health care, struggling for dignity against the greed and power of a few on top who apparently want it all. economically, as many of you know, for the last 40 years agreed middle-class of our country, once the envy of the entire world has been in decline. despite its technology, despite increased productivity, despite the global economy and the increase in trade millions of americans today are working longer hours for lower wages, and we have more people living in poverty today that at almost any time in the modern history of america. today, real unemployment is not

5.5%. real unemployment is 11%, if you include those workers who have given up looking for work or who are working part-time when they want to work full time. [applause] youth unemployment is over 17% and african-american youth unemployment is near 30%. shamefully, we have by far the highest rate of childless poverty of any major country on earth, and despite the modest success of the affordable care act some 40 million americans continue to have no health insurance while even more are underinsured or have had the copayments or deductibles in their insurance policy. we remain today in 2015 the only major country on earth that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right. and that is a shame to my mind.

[applause] now, there are a lot of angry people out there all across this country. some of them are in the occupy wall street movement consider themselves progressive. somewhere in the tea party movement and see themselves as conservatives. but let me give you a hint as to why we are angry and why they are angry. since 1999 the typical middle-class family has seen its income go down by almost $5000 after adjusted for inflation. the media mill worker made $783 less last year than he did 42 years ago -- male worker. despite an exposure of technology and productivity. are we better off today than we were when bush left office? of course we are, but anyone who does not understand the

suffering, anxiety and fear that the middle-class and working families of our country are experiencing today have no idea as to what's going on in this country, and sometimes that's my perception of capitol hill. there is a world leader in capitol hill very distant from vermont and the rest of the country. and i think it's imperative that we close that gap and begin to extend what's going on with the working families of this country. meanwhile, while the middle-class continues to disappear, the wealthiest people and the largest corporations are doing phenomenally well and the gap between the very, very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider and wider. top 1% now owns about 41% of the entire wealth of this country while the bottom 60% owned less than 2%. today, incredibly the top one-tenth of 1%, one-tenth of 1% now owns nearly as much wealth

as the bottom 90%. today, the walton family, the owner of wal-mart, is now worth $157 billion. that is more wealth than the bottom 42% of the american people. the fact of the matter is that over the last 40 years we have witnessed a robin hood principle in reverse an enormous transfer of wealth from the middle class and the poor to multimillionaires and billionaires. in 1985 fisher of the nations wealth of going to the bottom, 90%, was 36%. in 2013 it went down to just 22.8%. listen to this. at the bottom 90% had simply maintained the same share of our nations wealth as it did 30 years ago it would have more than $10 trillion in wealth than

is currently the case today. meanwhile, while the middle class has shrunk the people on top are doing extraordinarily well. today the richest one-tenth of 1% have increased their share of our nations wealth i more than $8 trillion over the last three decades. in terms of income as opposed to wealth, since the great wall street collapse 99% of all new income is going to the top 1%. so people all over this country struggle. they were how they're going to feed their kids worried about if they will send the kids to college, how do child care worry about their parents. 99% of all new income generated in the last several years goes to the top 1%. the very rich get richer and everybody else gets for -- poorer. in 2013 as an example the top 25 hedge fund managers make more

than 24 billion. that is equivalent to the full salaries of more than 425,000 public school teachers. is that what america is really supposed to be about? i don't think so. [applause] but income and wealth inequality is not just a moral issue. it is not just an economic issue. maybe even more profoundly it is a political issue. because the people who have the money are not putting their money under their mattresses. they are investing heavily in the political process. to make the rich even richer. as a result of the disastrous supreme court decision on citizens united, billionaire families are able to spend unlimited funds of money to purchase the candidate of their choice.

i know that sounds like a harsh statement, but if anyone doubts what goes on in congress, that piece of legislation after piece of legislation it's not done on behalf of the wealthy and large corporations, then let me respectfully tell you, you don't know what's going on in washington. according to media reports, it appears that the koch brothers are prepared to spend more money and the next election than either the democratic or republican party. in other words one family the second wealthiest family in this country, worth approximately $100 billion, they will have a stronger political presence than either one of the major two parties. hears from a recent article in politico. the koch brothers and their allies are pumping tens of millions of dollars into a data company that is developing detailed state of the our profiles on 250 million

americans, giving the brothers political operations all the earmarks of a national party. further, the koch brothers network has developed in house expertise in polling, message text, fact checking, media buying, donor maintenance. and years of experimentation a seemingly limitless cash and the operation exceeds the republican national committee's data operation in many important respects. and because they have an endless supply of money they will only get stronger. i want everyone in this room and, in fact, those listening to this program to step back and take a deep breath and tell me what you see. when the second wealthiest family in this country with an extreme right wing agenda and a few other billionaire pals have

more political power than either of the two major political parties in this country what is that political system called? well, i think it should be called by its rightful name. it is not called democracy. it is called oligarchy, and that is the system we are rapidly moving toward and that is a system we must vigorously oppose. [applause] i probably have exceeded my time. i always get people nervous. let me very briefly, if i go to law, taking off the stage. let me just touch on what a progressive agenda looks like to begin to address some of the problems that he mentioned. first of all let's never forget today, despite the improving economy, we have a major jobs and income crisis. what do we do?

we need to rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. i've introduced along with barbara mikulski of maryland a trillion dollar piece of legislation that would go a long way to rebuild a crumbling roads, bridges airports, water systems. and by the way, to support the creation of 13 million decent paying jobs. [applause] we talk about jobs and income, $7.25 minimum wage here at the federal level is a starvation rate. we need to raise it over a period of years to $15 an hour. nobody working 40 hours a week in this country should live in poverty. [applause] further, despite what my republican friends may think climate change is real. climate change is caused by

human activity and is already causing devastating harm. we have got to transform our energy system away from fossil fuel to energy efficiency and sustainable engine. [applause] we have to pass pay equity for women workers. it is not acceptable that women are making 70 cents an hour compared to men. [applause] forthcoming we're going to say the middle class of this country we need to fundamentally transform our trade policy. they are not working. corporate america is going to have to start investing in the united states not in china. [applause] fifth, we've got to learn from the rest of the world that investing in higher education is an asset it is a positive step a national disgrace that millions of our young people are graduating school deeply in debt and many others cannot afford to go to college. that is not the way you create a great nation. anyone who has the ability should duplicate a college

education regardless of the income of their family. [applause] six, you cannot regulate wall street. wall street is regulating the congress. the sixth largest financial institution have assets of all most 60% of our gdp. if teddy roosevelt were president today, do you know what he would say? break them up. and he would be right. it's time to break up our wall street bank. [applause] as i mentioned earlier the united states remains the only major country on earth without a national health care program and yet we spend over twice as much per capita. it is time for america to guarantee health care to every man, woman and child as a right of citizenship. [applause] some of my colleagues in congress, some of them are republicans have been working day and night to try to cut social security, cut medicare, medicaid. needless to say i strongly

disagree. we have got to expand social security, not cut social security. [applause] we need real tax reform. it is not acceptable that major corporation after major corporation making billions of dollars pays nothing in taxes or that we lose 100 billion a year in revenue because these companies to stash their money in the cayman island, bermuda, and other tax havens but it is time for large corporations to be joined american and start paying their fair share of taxes. [applause] so let me thank john hughes, my forgiveness, for over extending my time. but we are at a crucial moment in american history. and it is imperative that we learn from the civil rights movement, which the chief so many extraordinary victories that we organize, we educate and

bring people together to great an america that works for all of us and not just a handful of billionaires. thank you all very very much. [applause] >> senator, when we declare your intentions for 2016 regardless of what they are? >> that's a good question. and let me say this. the reason that i been thinking about running for president, you have to trust me i think sitting here next to my wife who was less than enthusiastic about this idea, it's not because i wake up in the morning it's a

boy, i really have this burning desire to be president of the united states. i am as proud as i can be to be writtenrepeated the great state of vermont and i've reached a higher level of political achievement than ever dreamed. but the reason and think about running for president is that at a time when the middle class of this country is disappearing and so many people are giving up on the political class. i think we need an agenda. we need candidates who can stand up to the working class for this country, for working families. and so that's what i'm thinking to do. it's easy to give the speech but when you're taking on the koch brothers and take it on the billionaires, taking on wall street and the insurance companies, that's not easy for me. not easy. i don't want to do this thing unless i can do it well. can we put together a political movement of millions of people are prepared to work hard taking

on the billionaire class? that's what i'm trying to find out. i go around the country, and there's a lot of support for these ideas. more than a think the inside beltway pundits can understand. can you convert that? how do you raise money? i was thinking the other day, i woke up and i said i did something unprecedented. i had 3 million people contribute $100 each, by the way in my election campaigns i think the average contribution is $45. not a lot of money here in washington, d.c., and i don't to these fundraisers for $100,000 apiece or 10000 i don't know anyone who has that kind of money. but i was thinking if i was enormously successful and i had three main people contributing $100 each, 3 million people, that would be $300 million, an enormous sum of money. one-third of what the koch brothers themselves are going to spend. so those are the issues i'm

trying to work on right now. >> so you're an independent. you caucus with the democrats. if you ran would you run as a democrat or would you run as an independent? >> great question. i'm getting bolder and bolder greater and greater trying to think through all these issues. here's the story on that one. you go out among the megapipe and usage of a lot of conference in the democratic or republican party? they will take the republican party has moved from the center is part to our right wing extremist party, way out of touch. democratic party once the part of the american working class, very few people perceive it to be the case anymore. people more and more people all over this country are looking for alternatives to the two-party system. that's one of the reasons why the one might run as an independent. what's the negative? it is awfully hard to run as an independent if you're not a billionaire. i am not a billionaire. how do you put together a

political infrastructure? outside of the two-party system. how do you get invited to debates? in all due respect to the media, does the media going to folsom who's running as an independent? in some cases it's nearly impossible to get on the ballot as a third party candidate. so those are the issues we're also trying to work through. >> what makes you an independent, given that you always do progress with the democrats in the senate? and with a republican senate, art you forced to vote with the democrats -- are you not forced to vote with the democrats in which? i guess the questioner is saying what really makes you an independent? are you not really a democrat? >> if i started discussion, my first victim was defeating eighth five term democrat and i defeated democrats and republicans for many, many years. this is what i think.

i think we have a political system right now which is imagine the republican party has become extremely right wing. this is not the party of david -- dwight david eyes out and there's no way i would caucus with them. and the democratic party you have some really, really good people who often don't get the credit they deserve. i mentioned the progressive caucus in the house. many progressive or some progressives in the senate working night and day for working families. so give me in as a member of the u.s. senate there are two caucuses, democrats and republicans. so there's not much question about which caucus i would be in and about to thank harry reid and the democratic leadership in this endeavor treating me me very fairly and very decently. but to my mind there's no question but that democrats are for preferable to the republicans on the issues i am concerned with. >> if you ran and if you were elected, how would you work with congress? there seems to be gridlock

between the white house and congress now. would that be the same case if you in the white house? >> the issue come in my view, the reason that congress is dysfunctional is not because of the so-called gridlock. it's not that every member of congress has a personality defect and is unable to communicate with people in another political party, or the people end up hating everybody around. this is what is the case. the cases right now that the united states congress is not representative of where the american people are. they are way out of touch. the american people say, raise the minimum wage. the united states congress says give tax breaks to billionaires. that's true. the american people say we have to move towards sustainable and clean energy and energy

efficiency. the united states congress says, build the keystone pipeline. and on and on. so the issue you asked me to question and that is a very important question. i happen to have a lot of respect and personal affection for barack obama and i think history will judge him in a kinder way than his contemporaries. [applause] and i think that as a politician he has one campaigns that will also make the history book especially the first one. but if you were to ask me i'm not telling you anything new but his major mistake has been that he thought that after putting together six with the grassroots movement of young people, working class people, putting together that coalition in getting elected to the presidency, and then he thought he could sit down with republicans and negotiate all of these fine agreements, he was mistaken.

taking on the billionaire class can succeed the only possible way is to mobilize tens of millions of people his age of congress, guess what this is what you are doing. you are going to raise the minimum wage but you're going to great millions of jobs. you are going to protect our veterans and our seniors. you are not going to give tax breaks to the rich. you are going to make college affordable. and we are watching you. and if you don't vote for this legislation, you're not going to return to office. what i will say with 100% certainty, that if we continue to have elections in which 63% of the people don't vote, 80% of young people don't vote and the rich will only get richer and we will continue to comment what goes on here in washington. so to answer your question, any series president wants to represent working families has to mobilize people all over this country to make the congress an offer they can't refuse.

[applause] >> how will your decision on running for president be affected by what others do? for instant secretary clinton is she gets in the race independent of what she does or says if she goes to wall street and comes out very strong against wall street, for instance, if a senator war or somebody likes -- somebody like that got in would that affect your decision to get in or get out? >> i would not be running, you know, people in vermont understand this. a little carefully than other people. if you're looking at someone who is run in many many elections. in the house for 16 years the elections. in the senate twice, lost some elections. do you know how many negative ads i run during all those years? not one. never read a negative ad.

i don't run against people it's not my desire to trash people. hillary clinton is a remarkable person with an extraordinary history a public service. it would not be my job to run against her. it would be my job if she ran and if iran to debate this years issues facing our country as intelligent people should be doing in a democracy. [applause] and let me say this. again, this is how i always do myself in trouble. i'm getting my wife nervous already. but we can't have that serious debate if the media doesn't allow it. i would urge my media friends instead of political gossip, let us talk about the real issues and respect different point of view. but when 63% of the people in april last year didn't know which political party controlled the house and the senate, something is wrong.

with political consciousness in this country. so what we need is civil intelligent debates on the real issues facing the american people. not more political gossip or who's winning today and who's losing who slipped on a banana peel, who said something particularly stupid. i'm sure i did today. but let it be. how do we rebuild a crumbling middle-class? how do we lead the world entrance for our energy system so we can save the planet from climate change? how do we deal with the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality? not easy stuff to how do we do it? bozothose are the issues that serious people should be talking about. >> today on c-span2, prime minister's question time in the british house of commons is live next. then from the senate floor, senate democrats respond to the letter from republicans on nuclear negotiations.

after that senators john cornyn and patrick leahy debate abortion line which and a human trafficking bill being considered in the senate. live at 9:30 a.m. eastern members return for more work on the bill. >> c-span2 providing live coverage of the u.s. senate floor proceedings and key public policy events. and every weekend booktv, now for 15 is the only television network devoted to nonfiction books and authors. c-span to great by the cable tv industry and brought to you as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. watch us in hd like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. >> and now live to london for british prime measures question time. each with house of commons is in session we bring you prime minister david cameron taking questions from members of the house of commons live wednesday morning here on c-span2. will so invite your

participation via twitter using hashtag pmqs. prior to question time members are finished up other business. and now live to the floor of the british house of commons. ..