pen that's what we are trying to do. with the association might question to you is about our international allies and partners as we all know the military is not the only user of the defense acquisition system and i'm curious about how you see our international allies and partners in the role to make it easy for them to access the industrial stuff going overseas. >> i will say over and over again there's lots of issues that we don't fix with what i'm going to release this week. one of the issues is the slowness of the pure rocker c. to deal with foreign military

sales. when we have customers ready to write a check and get yet it is our bureaucracy that seems to think that it knows better and slows it down and makes it more difficult, increasingly it is the foreign military sales that help provide the industrial base to keep technology or keep the capabilities here at home so the harder we make it to sell stuff oversees the more we are hurting ourselves. l. hold other area that we don't solve is the whole intellectual property issue. and there is -- i could recite a fair number of issues we don't solve, but i mentioned we have a database of more than a thousand suggestions. this is a start and we are going to use the database of the suggestions when it comes to these problems and in the future years some of my colleagues may offer an amendment this year.

but as far as i am concerned we are going to keep after it for a variety of these issues until we try to -- until we come closer to the kind of system that we all hope and need out of our department of defense remembering that the bottom-line goal is help can you best do the country. that's what this is all about. we look forward to the legislative relief and interested in getting your feedback on it but good luck in your efforts. [applause]

's been >> congressman thornberry has been studying how to improve the acquisition process for more than a year and is set to announce legislation he says is a first step in a long journey of reform to read one of the goals to save money on a dozen programs over a ten year period that never became operational. the congressman's remarks will be later to become available later today on the website c-span.org. we are going to be taking you to the texas senator ted cruz expected to start 10:25 in about 20 minutes from now and he is expected to be announcing that he is running in 2016.

we will bring you to his remarks live but before that let's look at the conversation we held this morning on the 2016 budget blueprint from the house and thehost: senate as well as president yo obama's budget request from earlier this year. >> the president of the committee for a responsible -- federal budget. before we get to the details and there are a lot of big numbers what is displayed in the process all about? >> guest: the house offered their budget resolutions and the senate offered their budget resolutions. it's time for them both to move forward in their chambers and starts talking about how they are going to bring them together so they come up with the same budget. in recent years it's been an impossible task because you had one party and another party and they will never reconcile their

budget. but a big piece of this while everybody is watching it is with the house and senate both run by republicans this is a test of whether they can govern and can they come up with a budget and most people say that it hasn't had a budget and in so many past years they've been assigned the failure to govern but now that it is one party there is a test of the two budgets that are offered in the house in the senate and they are reasonably similar and there are things they have to work out but they are starting to be close to each other so there is a weekend come to an agreement. >> host: the president put down his marker several weeks ago in the budget resolution. what did the president say with your eyes and ears about future spending and what do you think of that? >> guest: it does start when he puts forth his budget budget but it isn't incorporated into the rest of the process so it was a big deal when it came out and now it is all but forgotten. the president president's prerelease were not really focusing on the fiscal

constraints, so we in the past talked about how you want to at least make sure that the data is no longer going faster than the entire economy. talbot that is how he didn't try to have the metric and he didn't get it so the economy would be further. he focused more keeping some of his past speeches in healthcare which he did keep in the budget but he didn't focus on the things we are seeing in the house and senate which means they are different but what we are hearing from the president is the problem of the budget deficit has basically gone away from the time being. it's gone down significantly. meanwhile the house and the senate says we need to get the balance over ten years.

they have a lot of unrealistic assumptions so it shows how hard it is to achieve. but the president isn't focusing on the budget. the house and the senate are. >> guest: i want to get the viewers involved. the phone numbers on the bottom of the screen from the committee for the responsible federal budget. also the steering committee member at the campaign has been a regular visitor to the program over the years he democrats democrats tuesday for 27488000 republicans 202-737-0002 and independents (202)748-8002. we look forward to messages during the segment. let's dig a little deeper. here's one of the headlines on the proposed budget with a deep cut. what are they looking to cut and by how much? >> guest: it is purely by cut. it doesn't talk about new revenue and my take on the situation is our deficits and

debt are so large any plan to get control of them realistically has to look at all parts of the budget. if you're not talking about raising revenue, you are going at this difficult old with one hand tied behind her back. where the focus is primarily is on the healthcare and that makes sense. health-care costs are growing faster than the economy and other parts of the budget and has an outside the fastest growing part is on the deck. so they have a+ on the healthcare savings but they are not specified. when you go back to the purpose of the budget is a place people can show their priorities and if you don't get the specific details, it's not as credible but it will get enacted. there are a lot of healthcare savings and revenues that they

would want to make up another part and another way because you can't blow a hole in the budget that you would. they talk about making up the costs but they don't see how they would do it. they also talk about the medicaid which is something we started hearing about when paul ryan put that forth and that's been something that they've stuck with. there is the discretionary portion of the budget and that is about one third of the budget. other than a little bit of medicare it doesn't affect our entitlement program with the biggest area of growth to be sequester many people think they are too onerous and they are creating speed cuts. often it breaks down that they think that the cuts are in the defense area and democrats think they are in the discretionary. there is a question of whether

they are listed so there will be more pressure with some other cuts like we saw in the deal where they ought to be sequester and then they did it with mandatory savings. what republicans want to do is they want to trade and have more spaces on the defense and even less on domestic discretionary and of those are very low as it is. and second they want to use the overseas contingency operation which is what we used to fund the war. they are gaining this like crazy and trying to get more money into defense spending. they are fairly similar. what is the biggest difference? >> guest: they didn't say let's put more into the fund which we were pleased with the house has done this terrible

gimmick as a backdoor way to get money and the senate had done that as well. they get them to balance one year later it doesn't have quite as strong cuts in healthcare areas into both of the budget are interesting on how they would get what they want to get because of the one hand they are talking about the revenues that they currently have in on the other and on the other hand they are saying there's a whole lot of tax breaks. again another inconsistency coming up is that ought to fix. these budgets don't choose to pay for them and yet they say somehow they would be paid for where nobody even wants to pay for it. so there is a huge connect by saying we want to be fiscally

responsible. not going to give you the specifics able to make the choices of how we would be. that is a problem that we are seeing. >> host: we will take a call from joe in bluefield new york. good morning joe. >> caller: my question basically is how can we take money out of our budget to go against the foreign country leader which should be illegal because we have no business interfering in somebody else's politics in the country and my second question is if we are worried about the balanced budget, why don't we take care of the concerns at home putting people back to work that needs to go to work. we can take a work program like they had in the 20s and 30s

when you develop the infrastructure and the -- once you get the american people back to work more taxes will be coming in. >> guest: that is a foreign-policy questions and a budget question so there are major disagreements about how interventionist we should be around the world and there's often a lot of misconceptions about it. it is a very small portion of the budget overall that goes to the international affairs or the involvement overseas. much more has gone to the war that we've been involved in over the past decade and frankly before this we never have the war but at least we partially paid for and this is the first time that we've had 100% debt to finance the wars of these are the discussions about when we should be involved in when we shouldn't and when you should use the multilateral institutions to do so.

it's critical because the issue of the responsibility balancing the budget and getting control of the debt is all about economic growth and keeping the economy strong and in addition to being highly indebted right now with our debt because oracle average is we continue to have job problems and wage problems even as the jobs are slowly coming back we are just going as much as they need to. it's a huge part of the comprehensive economic plan which is what the country needs to involve. i don't think we need to go that far. it would be great if we could getting getting but that isn't growing faster than the economy so they are the fastest growing of the budget and in different ways to create jobs. the point of that infrastructure is an important one and they

have the potential to create jobs and boost the political landscape that happens to be an area for both republicans and democrats so there is a very broad-based coalition of republicans into democrats and also of business and labor that infrastructure is a part of the budget that we invest in for quite some time and of the jobs are not coming back as quickly as they need them to be and it would be a great way to spur job growth so hopefully, fingers crossed that this is one of the areas we would see progress. >> host: where he is on the republican line. good morning. >> caller: i have a comment to make. if you are not telling the truth it has increased to trouble you charlie and dollars more. the unfunded liabilities -- i was on the gulf coast with

my family for a short vacation about ten days ago when i was contacted by a representative of senator cruz expressing his desire to spend this historic day in his life at liberty university. i was thrilled and honored he held liberty in such high esteem. we immediately saw the office of the governor governor of virginia would been scheduled to speak and informed them that senator would be sharing the stage with the governor this morning. we also offered to move the senator's speech to the leader in the afternoon as a second option. the governor's office graciously explained the governor had an important message he wanted to deliver to you, the students of liberty university and he preferred to do it on another day without these distractions. we are looking forward to the governor's visit and reschedule

as soon as possible. your warm reception when he spoke here i steer was instrumental in his decision to choose to come here and address you first. as you know liberty university does not support or oppose candidates for public office and that senator's appearance shouldn't be interpreted by any as an endorsement of his candidacy. we are proud we can offer a platform of liberty where our students are able to hear regularly about public policy issues and ideas from public servants at the highest levels. born into a working-class family after his father had escaped cuba during the communist revolution in 1957 his call to public service was inspired by his own family pursuit of the american dream. after graduating from princeton and then harvard law school committee became the first hispanic to every clerk for the

justice of the u.s. supreme court. [cheering] and in 2003 became the solicitor general of texas and the youngest in the country at that time and left after becoming the longest-serving solicitor general in texas for the unprecedented series of landmark national victories before the u.s. supreme court. elected to the senate following the tremendous way successful grassroots campaign the "washington post" called it the biggest upset of 2012, he quickly became recognized as one of the strongest most principled conservative leaders in the country and while many have been to the tremendous pressure to compromise, ted has been one of the few voices fighting to protect the freedoms our forefathers fought and died to secure it is easy to lead the charge when you have an army but i've watched the senator stand

on the principle why only a handful of senators are standing behind him. ted cruz has gone against the tide and has taken the road less traveled and has proven himself to be a man of great character. today he arrives with his wife and their two young daughters all of whom we are honored to have with us today so please join me in welcoming back to liberty, senator ted cruz. [applause] [applause]

[applause] [cheering] thank you so much president. god bless liberty university. [cheering] iem thrilled to join you today of the largest christian university in the world. today i want to talk with you about the promise of america.

imagine your parents when they were children. imagine a little girl growing up in wilmington delaware. during world war ii daughter of hydrogen and italian catholic families working class her uncle ran numbers in wilmington and she grew up with dozens of cousins because her mom was the second youngest of 17 kids. she had a difficult father, a man who drank far too much and frankly didn't think that women should be educated. and yet this girl pretty and shy

was driven and was inquisitive and she became the first person in her family ever to go to college. in 1956 my mom a lot graduated with a degree in math and became a pioneering computer programmer in the 1950s and 1960s. [applause] imagine a teenage boy not much younger than many of you here today growing up in cuba. black hair, skinny as a rail. [laughter]

involved in the student council and yet cuba wasn't at a peaceful time and they were corrupt and this teenage boy joined a revolution. he joined a revolution and began fighting with other teenagers to free cuba from the dictator. this way at age 17 finds himself thrown in prison, finds himself tortured beaten and then at age 18 he flees cuba and comes to america. imagine for a second of the hope that wasn't his heart as he rode

the ferry boat and got on a greyhound bus to head to austin texas. to begin you begin working washing dishes making 50 cents an hour coming to the one land on earth that has welcomed so many millions. when my dad came to america in 1957 he could not have imagined what was in store for him. imagine a young married couple living together in the 1970s, neither one of them has a personal relationship with jesus. they have a little boy and they are both drinking far too much. they are living a fast life.

when i was three, my father decided to leave my mother and me. we were living in calvary at the time and he got on a plane and flew back to texas if he decided he didn't want to be married anymore. he didn't want to be a father to his 3-year-old son. yet when he was in houston, a friend and colleague invited him to a bible study and invited him to the baptist church and bear my father gave his life to jesus christ. [applause] and god transformed his heart

and he drove to the airport, dot a. plane ticket and flew back to be with my mother and me. [applause] there are people who wonder if faith is real. i can tell you in my family there isn't a second of doubt because were it not for the transformative love of jesus christ, i would have been saved and i would have been raised by a single mother without my father in the house. imagine another little girl living in africa in kenya and nigeria. that's a diverse crowd. [laughter]

coming back to california -- [cheering] the parents who had been missionaries in africa raised her on the central coast and she starts a business making bread. she calls it heidi's bakery. she and her brother bake thousands of loaves of bread and they go to the local apple orchard where they sell the bread to people coming to pick apples. she goes on to a career in business excelling and rising to the highest pinnacles and then

heidi becomes my wife and my very best friend in the world. [applause] heidi becomes an incredible mother to our two precious little girls, caroline and kathryn, the joys and love of our lives. [applause] imagine another teenage boy being raised in houston, hearing stories from his dad about prison and torture in cuba. hearing stories about how fragile liberty is.

beginning to study the united states constitution learning about the incredible protections we have in this country that protects the god-given liberty of every american. experiencing challenges at home in the mid-80s the crisis and the parents business go bankrupt. heading off to school over a thousand miles away from home in a place where he knew nobody, where he was alone and scared and his parents going through bankruptcy meant there was no financial support at home so at the age of 17 they went to get to jobs to help pay his way through school. it took over $100,000 in school

loans that i suspect a lot of you can relate to. loans that i will point out i just paid off a few years ago. [cheering] these are all of our stories. these are who we are as americans. and yet for so many americans the promise of america seems more and more distant. it is the promise of america the idea that a the revolutionary idea of this country is founded upon which is that our rights don't come from men.

and as that's the purpose of the constitution as thomas jefferson put it it is to serve as the chain to buy it at the mistress of government -- the mischief of government. [applause] the opportunity of the american dream. what has enabled millions of people from all over the world to come to america with nothing but to achieve anything. and then the american exceptionalism that has made this nation a clarion voice for freedom in the world a shining city on a hill. that is the promise of america. that is what makes this nation and indispensable and unique nation in the history of the world.

and yet so many fear that today that promise is unattainable and that it is slipping away from our hands. i want to talk with you this morning about reigniting the promise of america. 240 years ago on this day a 38-year-old lawyer named patrick henry -- [cheering] -- stood up just a hundred miles from here in richmond virginia -- [cheering] -- and said give me liberty or give me death. [applause] i want to ask each of you to

imagine imagine millions of courageous confirm it is all across america rising up together to say in unison the day of our liberty -- we demand our liberty. [applause] today, roughly half of born again christian are not voting. they are staying home. imagine instead billions of people of faith all across america coming out to the polls and voting. [applause] today millions of young people are scared, worried about the future, worried about what the future will hold.

imagine aliens of young people coming together and standing together saying that we will stand for liberty. think just how different the world would be. the imagine instead of economic stagnation booming economic progress. [applause] insta that small businesses going out of business in record numbers, imagine small business is growing and prospering and imagine young people coming out of school with four, five six job offers. [applause]

imagine thriving on the government as regulators and tax collectors are kept at bay and more opportunity is created. imagine america finally becoming energy self-sufficient with millions of high-paying jobs created. [applause] five years ago today the president signed obamacare into law. within hours, liberty university went to court filing a lawsuit to stop back bill. [applause]

instead of the millions forced into part-time work and skyrocketing health-insurance premiums, imagine imagine and 2017 a new president signing legislation repealing every word of obamacare. [applause] imagine health care reform that keeps government out of the way between you and your doctors and makes health-insurance versatile and affordable. [applause] instead of the tax code that

crushes innovation that imposes burdens on families struggling to make ends meet imagine a simple flat tax. [cheering] that lets every american fell out of his or her tax is on a postcard. [applause] imagine abolishing the irs. [cheering] instead of the lawlessness and the president's unconstitutional executive amnesty, imagine a

president is finally, finally secures the borders. [cheering] and a matching a legal immigration system that welcomes and celebrates those that come to achieve the american dream. [applause] instead of a federal government that wages an assault on our religious liberty that goes after hobby lobby and the sisters of the poor and after liberty university imagine a federal government that stands for the first amendment first amendment rights of every american. [applause]

instead of the federal government a federal government that works to undermine our values and imagine a federal government that were to defend the sanctity of human life. [applause] and to uphold the sacrament of marriage. [applause] instead of a government that works to undermine the second amendment rights and to ban our ammunition -- imagine a federal government that protects their right to keep and bear arms of all law abiding americans -- [applause]

instead of a government that seizes your e-mails and cell phones, imagine a federal government to protect the privacy rights of every american. [cheering] instead of a federal government that seek to dictate school curriculum through common core. [applause] imagine repealing every word of common core. imagine embracing school choice as the civil rights issue of the next generation. [applause]

that every single child regardless of race, ethnicity wealth or zip code every child in america has the right to a quality education. [applause] and that's true from all of the above whether public schools or charter schools or christian schools or parochial schools or -- every child. [applause] instead of a president who boycotts prime minister netanyahu imagine a president who stands up old jetta --

unapologetically with israel. [cheering] instead of a president that seeks to go to the united states imagine a president that says i will honor the constitution and under no circumstances will iran be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. [applause] imagine a president that says we will stand up and defeat radical islamic terrorism.

[applause] and we will call it by its name. [applause] we will defend the united states of america. [applause] all of these seem difficult and indeed to some day may seem unimaginable just if you look at the history of our country imagine in 1775 u. and i sitting there in richmond listening to patrick henry say give me liberty or give me death. imagine 1776 and we are watching the signers of the declaration of independence stand together and pledge their lives and their

sacred honor to ignite the promise of america. imagine it was 1777 and we were watching general washington as he lost battle after battle in the freezing cold as his soldiers with no shoes were dying fighting for freedom against the most powerful army in the world. that seemed unimaginable. imagine it's 1933 and we were listening to president franklin delano roosevelt told america in the time of crushing depression and the time of a gathering storm abroad that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. imagine it's 1979 and you and i

were listening to ronald reagan. [applause] and he was telling us that we would cut marginal tax rates from 70% all the way down to 28%, that we would go from crushing stood asian to booming economic growth to millions lifted out of poverty and prosperity and the very day that he was sworn in, our hostages languishing in iran would be released and that within a decade we would win the cold war and tear the berlin wall to the ground. about would have seemed unimaginable but yet with the grace of god that is exactly

what happened. [applause] from the dawn of the country at every stage of america has in joy the blessing. over and over again when we face an impossible odds with the american people rose to the challenge. compared to that, repealing obamacare and abolishing the irs isn't all that tough. the american power of the people when we rise up and stand for liberty does no bounds. [applause]

if you are ready to join a grassroots army across this nation coming together and standing up for liberty i'm going to ask you to break a rule here today and take out your cell phones and stood the word constitution to the number 33733. you can also text imagine. we are versatile. once again constitution 233733. god's blessing has been on america from the very beginning of this nation and i believe god is not done with america's yet. [applause]

i believe in you and the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of america and that is why today i am announcing that i'm i am running for president of the united states. [applause] [cheering]

it is the time for truth. it is the time for liberty. it is the time to reclaim the constitution of the united states. [applause] i am honored to stand with each and every one of you courageous conservatives as we come together to reclaim the promise of america and the mandates and hope and opportunity for our children and our children's children we stand together for liberty. [applause] [cheering]

this is our fight. the answer will not come from washington. it will come only from the men and women and developers of liberty and people who respect the constitution it will only come as it has during every other time of challenge in this country when the american people stand together and say we will give back to the principles that have made this country great. we will get back and restore the shining city on the hill that is the united states of america. thank you and god bless you. [cheering]

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♪ ted cruz greeting students and faculty at liberty university. the first to officially jump into the race for 2016. texas senator ted cruz with his family on the stage and we are taking your calls. we want to hear what you think about the entrance of senator ted cruz into the race officially. the numbers are on your screen if you are joining on c-span radio. democrats (202)748-8920. republicans (202)748-8921. independent and others, (202)748-8922. let us know what you think about senator ted cruz announcing he is running for president hoping to raise 40 to $50 million

according to the "washington post." first call is christopher from dallas context is on the line for publicans. go ahead. >> caller: i was impressed by senator cruz's speech. i can see is focusing on young people and clearly people of faith and value and i think what he has to say is going to bring us out and inspire us. >> host: who else do you think we will see in this race against him? >> guest: >> caller: i think scott walker is going to be right now it looks like his greatest challenge. but as we find out more about scott walker it doesn't look like he is a conviction conservative. we are not even considering bush very nearly a democrat. scott walker is the man to beat and i think that ted cruz is the man to do it. as he pointed out the path of the value voters haven't been voting and i think that they are going to respond to his positive attitude on the religious

liberty. >> host: thanks for the call on the line for independence. we have michael in milton florida. go ahead. >> caller: yes, i think that speech was remarkable by ted cruz. i am independent, and i'm african-american but one thing i will say it was so remarkable and i think it's touching a lot of people because he really harped on the values of the country which was based on the foundation of christianity as well. people don't want to go there but he went there. i think that he is onto something bigger than he can probably imagine and so many people come a democrat, whatever are going to be very, very surprised on his -- what he did it today. i don't have the right words because i'm speechless. he came out and took a stand on what we all want to hear the national security of our country

and this is what people want whether they want to say it or not he took the platform by storm and as he continues to do that and bring his platform to diversity i think he will be the next president of the united states. >> host: is he your candidate or do you hope to see someone else in the race? >> caller: right now i am convinced 150%. i was republican but got kind of frustrated about the shutdown and i changed to independent. i am just so overwhelmed right now. i'm kind of speechless. what he did today is what so many people probably don't want to save or bring to the platform because we are the touchy-feely world which is christianity god and country. this is what i'm overwhelmed at overwhelmed about the safety of our country and national

security. people want to play both sides of the face and i'm overwhelmed regardless what other people may think i'm just overwhelmed he took the stand and by storm and my own opinion. i think that if he continues in other action and he just spelled it out, what our country was built on. >> host: taking a look at senator cruz a little obstructed in the crowd you can see people raising their cameras trying to get a shot at liberty university speaking to students that were filling the auditorium in lynchburg virginia. we are taking your phone calls. next is deborah in springfield tennessee. go ahead. >> caller: yes, i called in on the republican line because i'm for president reagan, the man that brought this country back to greatness. the only person out there that has cared enough to put god in

this country ahead of everything else and hasn't been wishy-washy about what he believed and stood for the constitution, the united states and god is ted cruz. he is the only hope that our children and grandchildren have. my father was a world war ii veteran, and i also -- for our freedoms into their freedoms. ted cruz is the only man that is going to bring that to us. >> host: speaking here at liberty university in lynchburg texas we are watching him work the crowd here at the first one to get into the race for president taking your phone calls in the next on the line is carl in arizona. go ahead. >> caller: yes that was a great speech and i do bbc will make it and i hope he does. the only thing he didn't come up

with and the rest of these people running for president don't come up with this issue and it's called the windfall act. around 84 83 they passed legislation called the windfall act which is insurance to get social security for some of us good old american retirees. they never mentioned this and i would appreciate if he would come out and say what he will do about it. ..

>> caller: hi. i think that if ted cruz ever became president it would be the biggest disaster that befell the united states since the twin towers fell on 9/11. >> host: why do you say that? >> caller: is not want to reorganize government. he wants to dismantle government. and my other question is is he qualified to become president of united states since is born in calgary, canada? the tea party always wanted to see obama's birth certificate until he finally showed it to them. when is ted cruz going to show us his birth certificate?

>> host: the numbers are up on your screen. let's take a look at the tweet that ted cruz sent out last night. i'm running for president and hope to earn your support. there's his 30-second video be attached to it. putting that out in both english and spanish. talk about his wife who we also saw on the podium with him hiding taking unpaid leave from goldman sachs to help with his campaign. that's according to bloomberg and david corn reports the introduction of liberty university. he talks a lot about cuba and his own father and david says the production at liberty university makes it seem like his dad fled castro's comments cuba. he fled because police thought he was part of the revolution. ted cruz using a senate aide to book speaking gigs or his firebrand father. aching your phone calls now. next on the line for independents and others is bob from lansing, michigan. bob, go ahead. >> caller: i think a lot of

your callers are missing the whole point of this. he is running for president. it is running for president we got to talk about electability. you can't come on tv in a major speech and to abolish the irs let's fill out our taxes on a postcard, and believe in thing in your head really think in your mind that you can become president with statements like that. i just hope that the republican party and the democratic party will let the people say i want to vote for the person who has a billion dollars and who is electable. because if people think there's not going to be a clinton-bush presidential candidate next summer, you are all out of of the mines. >> host: why is $1 billion important to you? >> caller: that so much it's going to cost for even the characters running for president from now until november of next year to get to the white house. >> host: george is on the line, frederick, maryland,

republicans. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. >> host: good morning. >> caller: i was inspired. i align myself with everything he said. the challenge is the whole country doesn't. you know, i don't think he is electable as a president because he's too far to the right, as i am. i don't live by myself. >> host: who do you want to see join the race track for personally i like ted cruz. i like mike huckabee. i like mike huckabee the first time in. and like mike huckabee, small donors who brought them forward. that's a great thing. i'm thinking probably scott walker. i don't like bush. i don't think we need another bush in the presidency. but again i don't think compromise is a dirty word. i think ted cruz does.

we all have to live here together and compromise is absolutely imperative the. >> host: onto the democrat's line. we have archie calling from alabama. >> caller: i'm calling about one subject, about what one caller said about where he was born at. i believe our government says that you can't be president of the united states of america if you are not born in the united states of america. and i believe that's what the republicans worked so hard on obama. let's see that birth certificate. addressing the birth certificate -- then they denied that so they don't believe -- summit they are just running. rich people get a lot of stuff. take away everything that's been given to them. social security, medicare and the aca all were democrats did

something for the common people in america. >> host: that's archie on the democrat's line. he mentioned the aca. this is the fifth anniversary that ted cruz is chosen to because presidential official presidential bid known. let's take a look at some tweet. this is from jonathan assess ted cruz jumped into the race trying to be the conservative conservative. you can look at his report at good morning america. mike what brian, top economic priority is eliminating the export-import bank which supports millions of u.s. jobs. you can read more. "national journal" reported on his take on climate change were ted cruz and other potential 2016 stand on climate change, you can read more at "national journal." just a look behind the scenes. jeff was in the auditorium at liberty university. saying the doors open for the

students, some growing online with the students must attend but no one here seems to mind. not all students knew that ted cruz is coming but they found that when they're given small american flags to wave in the crowd. and overheard at the rally by a grown man, i do want to associate with the press. let's go sit somewhere else. students sing happy. taking your calls. mary is on the line from florida. >> caller: yes hello. yes, i'm with ted cruz. i just think he can put our country back on track. and i stood behind him for quite a while now and i believe he is strong, and i am i my so that everything he said today. >> host: i think he is strong. >> host: thanks for the goal. force is on the line lexington, kentucky,. >> caller: i have to sort of problems with ted cruz. when is that you don't need to

hear him speak and whose views. you can just look at his donors list. he votes and ask him what his domestic day. the segment is a bigger problem across america with the conservative candidate and that is a la carte christianity. they want to pick and choose the teachings of christ. at the same time he is by professing this need for war with iran war, violence are both -- even in self-defense. >> host: you mentioned the donors. what are you reading? what are you seeing in terms of who his donors are so that other viewers can check that out? >> guest: out? >> caller: if you want to know how we voted like on the net neutrality act, you can can look all the donors as for the people put money into his campaign from time warner to ever. but i would be more concerned about the a la carte christian because it's ridiculous. to preach and use the name of jesus christ to try to bring people in what seemed seem to preaching a message of or in going to war and more war is just absolutely

ridiculous trend what to do you to see in the race? >> caller: well, you know, i would like to see elizabeth warren or an independent candidate who did not use third party -- great ted talks but raising money but if everybody over for dinner is in each $5 that would wipe out all the special interest money nonsense host the sort to get off. just a couple more minutes. >> caller: i don't think you'll make a good president. it's not just him all the republican candidates. the democrats, they try to help the small people, and i don't see the republicans. all they do is complain all the time. every time democrats try to do something, the republicans don't come up with you know, a better plan. all they do is complain.

thank you. >> host: thanks. david is on the line from south carolina. and david, you're on the line for republicans. go ahead. >> caller: yes, ma'am. i very much support ted cruz. i am a fourth generation texan so i know from where he comes. i believe that with the growing spanish population we have in this country he's going to get very much support from the spanish vote, and i believe that he is a true conservative in his positions and one more time i hope to heck we get rid of the bushes and the clintons and get on with the constitution and the way it's supposed to be unobserved. >> host: all right. last call is on her independents and of the line, georgia. >> caller: yes, ma'am. how are you today and thank you for taking a phone call. and i'm so proud of c-span that

i get all the information that we get going on in this country. my remark is just ted cruz is not definitely qualified to be president in this country. the way he acts how he speaks about president obama and -- summit all of those things i think president obama is more american than any other senators and all of those people who speaks out that he's not a real american. is a great american. he's got a pure american blood in them. and i believe with all my heart that ted cruz is not going to be a good president for this country because the was not born in this country. i mean, this is, this is the law that i know of that if you are not going to you can be an

american citizen, but you're not an american citizen. you were not born in america. so he was complaining about they were complaining about all of those people in the senate and everything else that president obama was not born here and all those lies about people telling all the stories about mr. president. he israel america. in my book he's the best one of the best presidents that ever came to this country. >> host: thanks for your calls and thanks all the calls. sorry if we didn't get to call them hundred will be opening our phone lines begin to part one as we do every morning on "washington journal." also want to let you know if you want to weigh in on the question we have up on facebook just go to facebook.com/cspan and let us know what your reaction is for the first person to join the presidential race in 2016 and also send us a tweet at #cspanchat. right now we will take a look at the remarks of the first and

only official candidate for the 2016 presidential race, texas senator ted cruz. again this is from liberty university in lynchburg, virginia. [applause] [cheers and applause] >> thank you so much, president falwell. god bless liberty university. [cheers and applause] i am thrilled to join you today

at the largest christian university in the world. [cheers and applause] today, i want to talk to you about the promise of america. imagine your parents when they were children. imagine a little girl growing up in wilmington delaware, during world war ii. the daughter of irish and italian catholic family working-class, her uncle ran numbers in wilmington. she grew up with dozens of cousins, because their mom was the second youngest of 17 kids.

she had a difficult father, a man who drank far too much and, frankly, didn't think that women should be educated. and yet this young girl pretty and shy was driven was bright, was inquisitive. and she became the first person in her family ever to go to college. in 1956, my mom eleanor graduated from rice university with a degree in math and became a binary in computer programmer in the 1950s and 1960s. -- ine or in computer programming. [applause] imagine a teenage boy not much

younger than many of you here today, growing up in cuba. jet black hair, skinny as a rail -- [inaudible] [laughter] >> and called in student council, and yet he was not at a peaceful time, the dictator was corrupt. it was oppressive, and this teenage boy joined a revolution. he joined a revolution against batista. he began fighting other teenagers to free cuba from the air. this boy at age 17 finds himself thrown in prison.

finds himself tortured beaten and then at age 18 he flees cuba. he comes to america. imagine for a second the hope that was in his heart as he rode that ferryboat across to key west and got on a greyhound bus to head to austin texas to begin working washing dishes making 50 cents an hour come into the one land on earth that is welcome so many millions. when my dad came to america in 1957, he could not have imagined what lay in store for him. imagine a young married couple living together in the 1970s,

neither one of them has a personal relationship with jesus. they have a little boy, and they are both the drinking far too much. their living a fast life. when i was three, my father decided to leave my mother and me. we were living in calgary at the time. he got on the plane and he flew back to texas committee decided he didn't want to be married anymore. and he didn't want to be a father to his three year old son. and yet when he was in houston, a friend, a colleague from the oil and gas business invited him to a bible study invited him to the baptist church.

and there my father gave his life to jesus christ. [applause] and god transform his heart and he drove to the airport. he bought a plane ticket, and he flew back to be with my mother in me. [applause] there are people who wonder if faith is the real. i can tell you in my family does not a second about. because were it not for the transformative love of jesus christ, i would have been saved and that would've been raised by a single mom without my father in a household.

imagine another little girl living in africa, in kenya and nigeria -- this is a diverse crowd last night playing with kids -- [laughter] playing with kids. coming back to california -- [cheers and applause] where her parents had been missionaries in africa raised her on the central coast. she starts a small business when she's in grade school baking bread. she calls it k-9s bakery. she and her brother compete for baking bread. they beg thousands of loads of bread and go to the local apple orchard where they sell the

bread to people coming to pick apples. she goes on to a career in business excelling and rising to the highest pinnacle and then heidi becomes my wife and my very best friend in the world. [applause] heidi becomes an incredible mom to our two precious little girls, caroline and catherine, the joys and loves of our life. [applause] imagine another teenage boy being raised in houston hearing

stories from his dad about prison and torture in cuba hearing stories about how fragile liberty is. beginning to study the united states constitution, learning about the incredible protections we have in this country that protects the god-given liberty of every american. challenges at home the 1980s oil prices cratered and his parents business goes bankrupt. heading off to school over 1000 miles away from home at a place where he knew nobody where he was alone and scared, and his parents are going

through bankruptcy met there was no financial support at home. so the age of 17, he went to get two jobs to help pay his way through school. he took over $100,000 in school loans, loans i suspect a lot of y'all can relate to loans that i'll point out i just paid off a few years ago. [applause] these are all of our stories. these are who we are as americans. and yet for so many americans the promise of america seems more and more distant. what is the promise of america?

the idea that, the revolutionary idea that this country was founded upon, which is that our rights, they don't come from man. they come from god almighty. [applause] and that the purpose of the constitution, as thomas jefferson put it is to serve as changed to bind the mischief of government. [applause] the incredible opportunity of the american dream what has enabled millions of people from all over the world to come to america with nothing and to achieve anything. and then the american exceptionalism that has made this nation a clarion voice for

freedom in the world, a shining city on a hill. that's the promise of america. that is what makes this nation and indispensable nation, a unique nation in the history of the world. and yet so many fear that the promise is today unattainable. so many fear it is slipping away from our hands. i want to talk to you this morning about reigniting the promise of america. 240 years ago on this very day a 38 year-old lawyer named patrick henry -- [applause] -- stood up just a hundred miles from here in richmond, virginia, -- [applause]

-- and said, give me liberty or give me death. [applause] i want to ask each of you to imagine, imagine millions of courageous conservatives all across america rising up together to say in unison, we demand our liberty. [applause] today, roughly half of the born-again christians are not voting. they are staying home. imagine instead millions of people of faith all across america coming out to the polls and voting our values.

[applause] today millions of young people are scared, worried about the future, worried what the future will hold. imagine millions of young people coming together and standing together saying, we will stand for liberty. [applause] think just a different the world would be. -- how different. imagine instead of economic stagnation booming economic growth. [applause] instead a small businesses going out of business in record numbers, imagine small business

is growing and prospering. imagine young people coming out of school with four five, six job offers. [applause] imagine innovation thriving on the internet as government regulators and tax collectors are kept at bay and more and more opportunity is created. [applause] imagine america finally becoming energy self-sufficient as millions and millions of high-paying jobs are created. [applause] five years ago today the president signed obamacare into law. [booing] within hours, liberty university

went to court filing a lawsuit to stop that failed law. [applause] instead of the joblessness instead of the millions forced into part-time work, instead of the millions who have lost their health insurance lost their doctors, have faced skyrocketing health insurance premiums, imagine in 2017 a new president signing legislation repealing every word of obamacare. [applause] imagine health care reform that

keeps government out of the way between you and your doctor and that makes health insurance personal and portable and affordable. [applause] instead of a tax code that crushes innovation, that imposes burdens on families struggling to make ends meet imagine a simple flat tax -- [applause] -- that lets every american fill out his or her taxes on a postcard. [applause] imagine abolishing the irs. [applause]

instead of the lawlessness and the president's unconstitutional executive amnesty, imagine a president that finally, finally, finally secures the borders. [applause] and imagine a legal immigration system that welcomes and celebrates those who come to achieve the american dream. [applause] instead of the federal government that wages an assault on our religious liberty, the goes after hobby lobby, that goes after the little sisters of

the poor, that goes after liberty university, imagine a federal government that stands for the first amendment rights of every american. [applause] instead of a federal government that works to undermine our values, imagine a federal government that works to defend the sanctity of human life. [applause] and to uphold the sacrament of marriage. [applause] instead of the government that works to undermine our second amendment rights, that seeks to ban our ammunition. [applause]

imagine a federal government that protects the right to keep and bear arms of all law-abiding americans. [applause] instead of a government that seizes your e-mail and your cell phone. imagine a federal government that protected the privacy rights of every american. [applause] instead of the federal government that seeks to take the school curriculum through common core. [applause] imagine repealing every word of

common core. [applause] imagine embracing school choice as a civil rights issue of the next generation. [applause] that every single child, regardless of race regardless of ethnicity regardless of wealth or zip code, every child in america has a right to a quality education. [applause] and that's true from all of the above, whether it is a public school or charter school or private school or christian school or parochial schools or home schools. every child. [applause] instead of a president who

boycotts prime minister netanyahu imagine a president who stands unapologetically with the nation of israel. [applause] instead of the president who seeks to go to united nations to end run congress and american people, imagine a president says i wanted the constitution, and under no circumstances will iran be allowed to acquire a nuclear

weapon. [applause] imagine a president who says we will stand up and defeat radical islam the terrorism -- radical islamist terrorism. [applause] and we will call it by its name. [applause] we will defend the united states of america. now, all of these seem difficult. indeed to some they may seem unimaginable. and yet if you look in the history of our country, imagine its 1775 and you and i were

sitting there in richmond listening to patrick henry say give me liberty or give me death. imagine its 1776 and we were watching the 54 sight of the declaration of independence stand together and pledge their lives, their fortunes and sacred honor. to igniting the promise of america. imagine it was 1777 and we were watching general washington as he lost battle after battle after battle in the freezing cold as his soldiers with no shoes were dying fighting for freedom against the most powerful army in the world. that, too, seems unimaginable. imagine it's 1933 and we were listening to president franklin

delano roosevelt to america at a time of crushing depression, at a time of a gathering storm abroad that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. imagine it's 1979 and you and i were listening to ronald reagan -- [applause] -- and he was telling us that we would cut the top marginal tax rate from 70% all the way down to 28% that we would go from crushing stagnation to booming economic growth, the millions being lifted out of poverty into prosperity and abundance, that the very day he was sworn in our hostages who were like wishing in iran would be released. and that within a decade we

would win the cold war, and tear the berlin wall to the ground. that would have seen unimaginable and yet with the grace of god that's exactly what happened. [applause] from the dawn of this country at every stage, america has enjoyed gods providential blessings. over and over again when we face impossible odds, the american people rose to the challenge. you know, compared to that repealing obamacare and abolishing the irs, ain't all that tough.

the power of the american people when we rise up and stand for liberty, knows no bounds. [applause] if you are ready to join the grassroots army across this nation, coming together in standing for liberty, i'm going to ask you to break a rule here today and to take out your cell phone and text the word constitution to the number 337733. you can also text imagine. we are versatile. once again text constitution to

337733. god's blessing has been on america from the very beginning of this nation. and i believe god isn't done with america yet. [applause] i believe in you. i believe in the power of millions of courageous conservatives rising up to reignite the promise of america. and that is why today i'm announcing that i'm running for president of the united states. [applause]

[applause] >> it is a time for truth. it is the time for liberty. [applause] it is a time to reclaim the constitution of the united states. [applause] i am honored to stand with each and every one of you courageous conservatives as we come together to reclaim the promise of america to reclaim a

mandate, the hope and opportunity for our children and our children's children. we stand together for liberty. [applause] this is our fight. the answer will not come from washington. it will come only from the men and women across this country from men and women, from people of faith, from lovers of liberty, for people who respect the constitution. it will only come as it has come at every other kind of challenge in this country, when the american people stand together and say we will get back to the principles that have made this country great. we will get back and restore that shining city on a hill. that is the united states of america. thank you and god bless you.

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>> senator cruz the first to officially thrown his hat in the ring for the 2016 presidential race. we will be taking you live here shortly to the floor of the u.s. senate in about 15 minutes. working this week on the budget resolution. before the senate gavels in we will take a look at the freedom of information act and the obamal continues. administration. >> i guess now news editor of the national investigative team associatepress. for "the associated press." thank you for joining us today. >> happy to be here. one of your recent stories starts this would. administration sets record for withholding government files. what are you talking about? >> guest: each year there is an audit, a governmentwide audit of the government's performance under the freedom of information law. this reveals how well they're responding to requests really demands for government records under the freedom of information act. >> host: and countless more

about what you found. >> guest: as head of the investigative team we frequently request government records about newsworthy stories, and we generally have favored frustrating experience with the law. we don't know whether our experience is anomalous and what we found was it is not. there were record numbers of foia requests, citizens news organizations even foreigners companies can as for government records under the law. so the good news was that the numbers were way up 714000 requests last fiscal year the problem was that the government withheld or censored a record number of documents that were released in response. >> host: what do you think is going on? >> guest: i think one of the things we found, for example was that the number of federal employees were assigned to work on these types of requests, that number had gone down by about

10%. even though the administration has telegraphed the freedom of information law in its responsiveness to that wants to be the most transparent administration is cutting the number of employees who are responsible for making it transparent. so that's a big problem. the sheer volume is taking come it takes a long time to get information under these requests. in some cases years. posted phone numbers are on the bottom of our screen. we are talking here about freedom of information act requests and some of ted bridis' investigation, what the agency that the we will talk of what the white house is saying. phone numbers on the bottom of the screen. back us up a little bit explain exactly what foia is. we went to foia.gov enda says it is a law that you should write to access information from the federal government and it is

often described as a law that keeps citizens in the know about their government. take us deeper into the. when did it start? why did it start? how has been working? >> guest: 1966 was when it was passed. it has been amended several times to clean it up try to break into the electronic age encompass things like e-mail and text messages. this is one of the fundamental tenets of democracy in the u.s. when it comes to transparent government and holding government accountability, holding government accountable. it is the closest equivalent to a citizen subpoenaed. you can demand that the government turn over records related to its activities and are only about nine different categories of exceptions, exceptions to the law. for example, you can't answer something that may be classified or soviet-made national security applications. >> host: what do people what

do folks want to know? >> guest: a lot of veterans ask for their medical files under the freedom of information act. people want to know what the government is saying or doing about them or subjects near and dear to their hearts. it could be information about their travels, their fbi files. last year and edward snowden leaked information about the national security agency, a record number of people asked the nsa whether their phone calls or e-mails had been intercepted rex of course the nsa responded that he would not respond to. >> host: what is exempt? >> guest: there are nine categories of information, national security, any information that otherwise would normally be withheld under the law. commercial business secrets. that would be damaging to companies if released. some collaborative process, some backroom decision-making law

enforcement types of records. but even these have to be narrowly applied. and just because there may be a sentence in a document that may fall under one of the exemptions, it means the document has to be released but maybe that one sentence should be blacked out of. >> what's the process to submit a freedom of information act request? how much does it cost? how long does it take you to choose to release the information trip to it doesn't cost anything to file a request. it may ultimately run into small amount of money when it comes to search and copying fees, but to his credit the federal government does not count us on cost. the ideas we've already paid for these records once. we are taxpayers. this is government doing our business. very simple, you make a request in writing. if you go to each government agency's website at the bottom of each website there is a link for foia and most of these include instructions and even a form on the website where you

can submit your own request prospect before we get two calls i want to let folks know where they specialize as well, 2,027,488,003 for people who submitted foia requests and will get to calls for ted bridis in just a moment. wanted to respond or read the white house response to what you are writing to the white house touted the success hundreds of analysis he wrote. it routinely excludes when it couldn't find records, person refuse to pay for copies whether it was improper under the law. under the calculation it released all or parts of records and 91% of request. a record low since president obama took office using the white house's own math. we do have a lot to brag about said josh earnest what do you make of that? >> guest: this is the white house putting their own spin on some really bad numbers. this is the equivalent of your son or daughter going to school with the best of intentions and come in with a really bad report

card and him saying, well i tried my best. it's not good enough. they have done some laudable things under the freedom of information law on day one in office president obama turned upside down the presumption that records ought to be releasable under the freedom of information law. where that have not always been the case in the past. i mentioned earlier they don't gouge us and he said explicitly instructed federal agencies in that one category of information where it's backroom discussions conversations about formulating policy. in cases where those could be released, agencies up to release them. what we saw last year was that in fact, that those numbers were pretty low. there were i think about 60,000 examples where information could be released under that one

category or it had improved slightly over the previous year which have set a record for nondisclosure, but it's still not great. >> host: lots more to learn here with ted bridis but let's get a call from mary republican. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i saw a report that recently the white house had exempted itself from foia requests. and also wouldn't you say that this level of lack of transparency is consistent with the corruption? thank you. >> guest: so what mary is referring to was a policy directive that the white house made formally exempting the office of administration which is one of the offices within the white house structure that would formally exempted under the freedom of information act. this was to comply with a judge's ruling that in fact, the office of administration as

an executive branch agency within the white house itself was exempt. the timing was really inopportune for the white house to make that announcement during the week of sunshine week the. menus or physicians and others promote transparency and openness in government. but really the white house is traditional exempt from the freedom of information law we can't ask the president to cqc nails on the chief of staff of the white house to see his e-mails. test as the we can't ask congress to see the e-mails or the supreme court justices or any federal judge. it's, it only applies to the executive branch agencies. >> host: rachel, texas independent. >> caller: hi. one morning i got up and listen to the news that the only touched on this one time, a story from the pentagon, and i heard rush talk about any kind of brushed it off that when bush was in administration,

between 2004-2008 there were those soldiers. now, you can't that's not a story out there about a bomb that can be done. that's very bad. when we put our boys eyes -- nobody has yet seem to discuss the money that bush sent over there and he was just -- so we took all that money that he sit there and nobody is accountable that money that has come up missing that were supposed to pay for these wars. you tell me what obama has done that can beat those two stories. especially when you ask our boys to go out there and fight for our freedom. >> guest: i'm not familiar with bodies in landfills, but i think the pentagon is obviously a big target for freedom of information request. they take a really long time to respond. they said that the average response time the past year had

been trimmed down to about three months. our expense unfortunately, is that it takes much, much longer than three months to get information out of the pentagon. transparency in government i think, it's broader than just a records request. we have fought for access to the return of soldiers remained at delaware because we think that's a very important issue, have associated press photographers on the topic as the remains are brought back, very honorable ceremony but we think it's important for citizens to see that. >> host: here's a tweet. how does the bush white house compared to the obama white house? >> guest: you know under president bush i think in context right after 9/11, one of the problems that we had with the bush administration and its secrecy was that it had turned to the presumption that federal records not necessarily a

disposable. the justice department very aggressively under attorney general ashcroft back then said that sent a note to all of the agencies think we will defend in court to the nth degree if you try to withhold information that news or physicians our citizens have thought that you think ought to remain secret. and president obama i will say one turned that on its head still spent about $28 million just last year by a court to keep information secret. >> host: hamas fresno, california, republican. good morning. >> caller: good morning. how are you? i have a question speeded we believe this conversation but you can find online at c-span.org. take you live to the floor of the senate about to gavel in. mitch mcconnell saying they will put aside the human trafficking building been working on and take up the 2016

republican budget resolution which was approved last week by the budget committee. senators expected to spend most of the week on the budget. live senate coverage right here on c-span2. the president pro tempore: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. sovereign god, your kingdom cannot be shaken, for you are king of kings and lord of lords. thank you for inviting us to ask