tv Key Capitol Hill Hearings CSPAN July 9, 2015 8:00am-10:01am EDT
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>> light at the mayflower hotel in washington where we are raiding the house reason committee chair paul ryan discussed in the u.s. economy attacks policy in what is called a political breakfast. he will be interviewed by correspondent ben white appeared it should be on the way in just a moment here on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations]
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>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome trend is chief correspondent "politico." [applause] >> thank you all for coming out. i am ben white, chief economic correspondent of "politico" covering the intersection of wall street and washington. the washington of today so humid that it made me sweat about three seconds after leaving my hotel. i appreciate you turning up and waiting in the line. we are excited to have a leading voice in congress on the republican party on stage at it this morning. chairman of the house committee on ways and means, former vp candidate, congressman paul ryan to discuss the budget, trade global economic issues, china, a few things over the course of 45
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minutes, his views on donald trump. [laughter] the inescapable topic these days. i want to thank people join on the live stream and encourage folks to treat questions. hash tag morning money. before jumping into the program i would like to thank wells fargo for their partnership on this monday morning breakfast and making this fantastic. here to say a few words as mike golden, president of the washington d.c. area for wells fargo. make. [applause] >> thanks. good morning. i'm regional president for the greater washington d.c. region and wells fargo and i may have over 265000 team members across 50 states are 50 states of that to look at me today. we look forward to hearing about issues on capitol hill that may impact constituents and
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communities to run our country. speaking of communities, there are more than 110 hotels represented either in this room or through the podcasts including things like pennsylvania, flint, michigan, santa clara, california and milwaukee, wisconsin. 163 years wells fargo division has been helping them succeed financially. we are proud to carry out the vision in the coast-to-coast. in addition to the loans to small businesses and the services for the retirement, wells fargo works at the nonprofit communities across the united states. recently we partnered with the u.s. mayors to recognize excellence in community development and revitalization including projects north of here in baltimore.
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we're also pleased to sponsor great projects which provide solar panels to low income housing and related job training opportunities here in washington d.c. recently we awarded a grant to the greater milwaukee foundation that support more than 300 years for 17 nonprofit organizations this summer. we believe the private public partnerships have a bigger impact on the enemy and social health of our community. our special guest today is a key leader addressing the nation's fiscal health without further ado we will get the conversation started. thank you very much. [applause] >> let's not waste any time. i'd like to introduce the chairman of the house ways and means committee, congressman paul ryan.
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[applause] >> i'm doing well. you brought your own starbucks. >> i will put this behind it and make sure it doesn't block wells fargo either. >> let's jump in with a little international staff since my world has been dominated the last few days by the great crisis and to the extent the meltdown in the chinese stock market. i'm interested in your opinion on the extent to which greece is which greece at the ones that believe in the eurozone whether voluntarily or involuntarily if that can destabilize global markets to impact the u.s. in a major negative way. >> i don't exit was the answer to the question meaning i don't think that the greek exit would be dramatically stabilized.
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i say it is a cautionary tale. a good lesson about progressive economics gets you. eventually run out of other people's money to spend. they are trying to get creditors to give them more money even though they won't be terms that the credit. i think the down side is that they relaxed their terms, you're basically telling puerto rico italy, spain, you don't have to fulfill the credit. they don't have a choice in europe. >> the tough line taken by the germans and others. it would be worse for europe to deal without structural reform. what about china collapsing the stock market there. the combination of those two things worries people with political problems.
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>> i think the big picture lesson here as there is no substitute for enterprise economics. there is no substitute for true progress economics and whether it's progressive policies, which i spend other peoples money borrow, tax so your economy down doesn't work. racking unfunded liabilities within it promises to citizens and those that can keep you the days are numbered. on china, they've been practicing serta sugar high economics. china has been pumping the keynesian type crime. that only last so long and it's not looked upon a strong foundation of the basics for a market economy, the rule of law property rights, transparency. you don't have that in china. so they've been practicing -- they've been on a sugar high.
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>> let's jump to u.s. domestic political issues. you've got one big ticket item you've got to get done before the august recess and that is the highway funding bill. where do you find $11,000,000,000.9 you're interested in repatriation exemption as a possible funding mechanism if you're able to accomplish that, can you get a six-year bill? >> and 10 seconds we found three, so there's only eight now. it is eight from now to the end of the year. let me say a couple things. we will have to do an extension this month because it is impossible to put in place a six-year financing package for highways in the next two weeks and we are trying to impress this point upon our colleagues. i can speak for the house. we wanted long-term highway bill. we want to give states the ability to plan ahead.
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that means we have to come up with a way to do long-term financing. given we are not going to raise gas taxes it is a loosing revenue source. getting far more effective and efficient. we need efficient. we need to come up with a revenue source, but we are not going to do that in the next few months. we need a bridge financing plan that gives us a six-year bill so at the end of the time. we have hopefully figured out how to have a user fee system. we basically have two plans be a plan and plan b. plan a is can we also address an issue that is really gaining momentum which is the international pressure and probably half have of our tax basically denies companies leaving america and fix back, which would involve repatriation to help at the issue. that is what our first preference is and we are in discussions with colleagues on how to do that. if we can't get an agreement on that, we go to a player b. and
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that means we have to come up with the resources to cover the trust fund shortfall which bright now is $90 million. my goal is this fall we know where we are and what you plan a or plan the end we will need a couple months. >> in the short term, what happens? >> we will pay for it. >> the answer is there's no answer. >> we have our own opinions than our own drafts. >> today involve searching couch cushions? >> we are working on getting the buy-in. >> explained to me before we move on from not how much revenue do you expect to come in if you're able to get the agreement on overseas repatriation, how much would that generate and what is the mechanism for moving that to
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transportation? >> item of the answer because the scores are moving around. i don't want to give you a number because it will change tomorrow. the way this works is if we move dares a holiday. that costs money these days and you don't just the money converting your system over because that would be really bad policy. you go from the world wide system where we are the only country that does this and kills jobs making american companies less competitive. switch to an exemption system much like the rest of the world for everyday is repatriation day. you can always bring your money home. you have to convert the system over and you get a one time shot. going forward if you don't do that, you will have money under the old system and new money in
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the new system that is exempt and it's really difficult to keep track of that. there's really no way to convert the system over without doing it this way. what that does is produce a one-time shot of money into the federal treasury. around 100 billion. probably north of that. that is what we see is a one-time piece of money. they make sure it doesn't come up to tax reform and there's a way of doing that so they can do tax reform on international in addition to the highway issue. >> t. think you can get high and primitive ministration on the idea of the permanent exemption? >> i believe so, but i don't know. >> does the schumer portman bill give you some hope? >> they are both people i talk to a lot lately. their framework tracks with the house has been doing the last couple years. we see their framework i sorted
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the essence of what it can look like. the fact you have a democratic grade with the republican framework we have been working on for a few years gives me a bit of hope. >> what about the export import bank and the fact people will attach that to reauthorize despite your opposition and opposition from conservative republicans who view it as crony capitalism. what would she do? >> i don't support it to anything let alone the highway bill. i would rather they put together and call it a day. that is my preference. if something comes over from the senate all repeat but the speakers at. jeff pennsylvania certifier layperson on xm bank go after with various amendments. i obviously support jeb doing that. we should just do a clean
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extension. >> it is your view of xm should be dead for good? >> that is my view. love, 1% of exports are attached to xm. 99% of exports are. it goes to a handful of big companies and we are basically using taxpayer money to subsidize the credit for transactions of large companies. to subsidize foreign businesses purchasing. liquid delta airline is doing. we are helping foreign competitors by cheaper planes and said that they can pay for. this isn't something the government should be involved in. this is putting a thumb on a scale, picking winners and losers in a very narrow proof of people getting access to the federal treasury to subsidize their credit. the argument is typically other countries do this, so we should too. we should be exporting american
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free enterprise capitalism and crony capitalism, not who you know capitalism. let's get the moral authority here and that is what xm offends the principles of free enterprise economics that we should be exporting. let's talk about what free enterprise capitalism -- >> i don't want to spend a lot of time on xm because they have in my lifetime and life is too short. what about the argument made that the businesses will not export, that the private market will not step in and make those loans? >> number one, i think xm more recently gotten into this as a political cover. i think they will. if the government comes in and provide subsidized credit, who can compete with that? there will be a project alternative but more the point if there isn't a private-sector alternative was that are hard
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working taxpayers at risk for subsidizing questionable, risky loans. why should i ask you, hugh and you to give me your money to give to these businesses? >> i'm not going to get drawn down the rabbit hole. we have a question for you. >> i want to ask you about 2016. good attacks budget guru. but he think about the plans rolling out? rand paul has a new tax plan. >> the way i look at these is great. i want to see a vibrant debate on our side of the aisle about how to replace the tax code, i'd replace obamacare, how to fix their country's economic and fiscal problems and how to restore. i think it is fantastic people are putting plans out there. i did this a budget to europe's ago. it was a fairly bumbling
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experience. i think it is wonderful more willing to put their necks that they are. but i don't like about national politics is when it gravitates and becomes a personality contacts. i preferred the country is better served by people saying here's what i want to do. here is who i am and here is my plan. >> in that spirit can you tell us what specifically you like and marco rubio's plan. >> that he has one number one. that he has the guts to put one out there. number two goes to a couple principles. lower tax rates an attempt to tax income which is an important principle in tax reform. this is like an ax factor of many different moving parts. when i try not to do is to do as chairman of the ways and means
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committee is bigger battery and say what is good and what's bad. i want to encourage a good debate and in the ways and means committee we will look at our own options. i feel because of the position i have, i shouldn't be trying to douse the louisiana the fur people putting plans i tired. i try not to be critical. the more candidates putting specifics out there the more the rest will and the more our party will be a party of ideas and not just personalities. >> stay on the 2016 team for a moment because jeb bush is talked about a plan that could generate 4% economic growth which is twice where we are now with the growth rate of the last few decades. he said yesterday people have to work longer hours. he might want the phrasing back if he's could have it back again. do the american people need to work longer hours and can jeb
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bush deliver 4% economic growth? >> absolutely if we get it right. at another context he said the longer hours, but what i think he is adamant as we have a problem in our economy that too many of part-time work that while full-time work. if you look at labor market problems right now the unemployment rate looks pretty low. it looks great. 5.3. there's a bigger story. we had to slow the labor force participation rate. tens of millions of able bodied adults in america now looking for work, not in school for training or people in part-time jobs said that while full-time work. that is the problem which is too many people fled through the cracks and too many people are not on the ladder of life. they are not on the notion of upper mobility. what i think jab in particular
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and other candidates are trying to get at is how to restore state that the american idea is still here. the condition of your birth doesn't determine the outcome of your life. you have the right to rise in this country. if you make a mistake, you can redeem yourself. back to me is such a critical element of what america is all about. the problem is a lot of people don't believe that anymore. they don't see it. they haven't experienced it. they don't have faith in us anymore. that is a real problem. we need to get up. i hope our candidates and we in congress as well. i spent the last two years working on issues. we need to show that we can reignite upper mobility and that's what he's trying to get at. >> i did hear an answer of how you get 4% economic growth.
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>> two or three things. tax reform regulatory reform. the pace of regulation flying out of these buildings right now is just incredible. >> labor department is right over there. so i think health care reform which gets too bad. the problem is it's still in the future, still making promises to generations that the government cannot keep and it knows it. if we can get off the debt crisis come the cleanup writeback system, get our regulations saying and reasonable and also the energy opportunity in our country is incredible, seize the opportunity. if we do those they are in pretty good shape.
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do those things so much will fall into place. i do believe we need to focus better as a country and restoring upward mobility. people stuck in poverty. economic mobility is not moving. it is stuck and i think there's a lot we can do. you can't fix it without economic growth. you have to do more to get people with their lives. >> speaking of jeb bush you were mentioning there is someone he relies on for fiscal budget policy matters. how are you involved in any one campaign, but jeb's in particular. >> i share this thing called the presidential trust for the republican national committee had in the general election fund pre-nominee. because i share the effort to basically build the campaign pre-nominees but it's ready to go when the nominee arrives.
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sort of a turnkey operation. lessons learned from the last one. we realize there are things that should have been done that didn't get done after the last election. i am chairing the effort to get this done. because of that i speak to whichever candidate wants to talk. we don't know each other pretty well so i'm a sickly happy to talk to anyone. >> switzerland is not necessarily one that comes to mind. there's much more 2016 we can do. i want to talk about policy because we are both obsessed with it. i'm a question of trade, you had a big fight over tpa. you got that done ultimately. was there a point in the debate when you thought you would not deliver tpa to the president's desk. it seemed like you were confident the whole time. people like elizabeth warren
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were just beating it up like crazy. did you ever fear you couldn't get it done? >> i/o is that failure is not an option. it's just the attitude towards what i do. if we had failed to do this we would've said both political parties decided america will not engage in america has chosen not to lead in this ferment of the 21st century global economy. when politically nancy pelosi -- i was just watching at the end of the first round today. when she came out against taa something existed had to be a part of this and think the bill by going after that, that is when i realized this was in trouble and that is when kevin and i. )-right-paren the floor, we decided i won't go in all the details or rob kind really exercise courage and leadership.
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we said we will have this vote anyway. or you can expect us? we went and had the vote anyway, proved we had the vote and because they did that come and they gave us the ability to come back and separate the issues so they can play the sabotage and get it done. there was about a 20 minute moment where i wasn't sure between when she said no commit taa went down and we decided to bring the vote up anyway and bypass it. once it. monthly passes i realize we could find a way to get this done. >> were you disappointed hillary clinton didn't take a firm stand? >> that's not even softball. that is t. bell. >> you could endorse her for president. it does speak to the larger issue of where trade is that democrats right now. obviously a sensitive issue.
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>> i'm familiar with that. look, if america decides not to lead in shaping the global economy and writing the rules of the global economy then who will? china, look at what is going on over there. why would we want to do that? if you want to lead this country, lead this country and show you are willing to take stands to do what is necessary to lead the country. if you're not willing to do it you're not displaying leadership. >> let's talk about cpp. what role do you play now in terms of the final stage negotiations and when you expect it to get to and one element causing some problems is the farm provision that protects
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intellectual property for u.s. pharmaceutical companies. some say the detriment of poor countries who want generic drugs. should there be protections in the bill? >> you mean intellectual property and patents? should businesses that invest hundreds of millions of dollars in technology that saves their lives and make our lives better have the ability to recoup estimates and do more of that? is that what you're asking? >> look again, america and we write the rules or somebody else writes the rules. do we want to protect intellectual property and patents. that is what free enterprise is. again it is important and why we should they. >> you don't think there is a special car about? >> why do you think we have big pharmaceutical companies in america in the first place? why is it that america is the leader in the world and life
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saving drugs and take allergies? because of our free enterprise intellectual property and the basic scientific research we invest in. let's not get the goose that lays the golden egg. both make sure we preserve this. that is my opinion on that. your pointer to your question, the realistic timeline display fall for cpp meaning 2015. another ministerial is being assembled at the end of this month. the 23rd through the 30th which is a long and it's time that they can reconcile a lot of outstanding issues. they're still a pretty good amount of outstanding issues. canadians need to step it up and get serious about agriculture eerie. you need to come to table with
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more partial policies. >> i'm pretty impressed -- [inaudible] >> just getting the big screen. >> so a lot still has to be done. there was a pause because of tpa, but now that tpa is done, people are coming to the table to finish this. we are very much involved with ustr because tpa had all these guidelines. what we do right now and we had a long talk yesterday. making sure that negotiators stick to the guidelines congress laid in front of them. we monitor this on a date on a day-to-day ongoing basis to make sure the final agreement could forms to what congress says needs to be in the final agreement and things are not in agreement that we say cannot be in the agreement. that is very important.
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>> how confident are you that want to get to capitol hill and the 60 day period -- >> and a 30 day period in the congress. >> do you think you could get it through? >> if they negotiate a good deal. again they've got to negotiate a good deal. look, i remember dave camp said korea back to the drawing board and they went back and fix that. they have to get it right. they have to get a good agreement, high-quality, high standard agreement to pass it. they put pressure on negotiators and trading partners yes. >> i want to jump back a little bit to 2016 campaign and your decision not to run. you said you want to be involved clearly as you are in these issues on capitol hill with immigration and tax reform, trade, but you've also said it
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is going to take a republican president to get the tacit one done. why wouldn't she want to be the president, the person in the white house signing off on these things rather than the house ways and means committee working on them? >> i guess it is a phase of life thing. i feel like 45 years old chairman of the ways and means committee with a 10, 12 and 13-year-old at home i can make a huge difference for the country. these issues, trade tax poverty, fighting, health care reform, entitlement reform i'll go to the ways and means committee and i could be home on weekends and be the data i want to be. it's just that simple. i think we will do real well. we re-signed randall collins and beluga. he's incredible.
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so aaron rodgers has the same return. he is healthy. volante advanced it was our third receiver. i am one of the owners by the way. >> for $40 each you dollars each you can be an owner of the green bay packers. they will really team up by nelson m. cobb and the bonds they will have really good year this year. when you see the team that passed things like defensive backs and quarterbacks with your draft come you know you're in a good place. >> you guys get to see what martin money really cares about. i don't know if we invited the sportswriter surfer polygram commentary on the packers. let's jump back to the hill and fast-forward through the august recess back in september that government funding deadline.
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are we going to have another fight to get that done at the last minute? are we going to have a government shutdown can you sign an agreement that is palpable from both sides? >> the question is will the democratic and senate shortchange the military by trying to derail the defense appropriations bill? if they try to fight politics with their military, our men and women out fighting for us in harms way, that would give very bad they can now be to the detriment of our military. if they succeed in filibustering defense appropriations, it will come as you describe. we will have to assess at the time how you address it. the deal that patty and i did a couple years ago is done. that was a two-year arrangement. we are back to the caps being
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where they are. we have a solution for a military and if they try to deep six the solution, they basically say the military are serving of river priorities we have peered if we use it as upon in negotiations -- >> by one other domestic spending increases in would that be through in the military under the bus or train to be equitable and distribution of resources? >> do is say the military subservient as they try to o-oscar the appropriations bill. the formula patty and i put together as you describe, the precedent we sat was you have to cut spending for mandatory spending in excess of what goes back into discretionary palm cap said to the net result of deficit reduction. that is the precedent maintained
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if we go into that. >> the other big thing after that is the debt limit. one assumes they won't be intertwined given measures look at treasury through november december, even later than that. at some point about come up again against the backdrop of the iowa caucuses and new hampshire primary. you will have friends and colleagues on the trail who demand the who demand republicans not raise the debt limit without significant new spending cut without other measures that reduce the long-term deficit and debt. how are you going to manage that given the administration is not going to accept a lot more spending cuts in return for debt limit increase. could we have a crisis after a government shut down? >> it didn't break.
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[inaudible conversations] >> i don't mean that. you took it the wrong way. i am sort of used to it. >> when i say you guys it is a general reference to politicians. >> when i said you in the media -- [inaudible] >> right now we've got highways as you mentioned. patrick's vendors that have to be dealt with. we've got a lot of other issues, discretionary spending before that. it is way too premature to speculate what i got payment agreement looks like. i do want to go there because i haven't given enough opportunity to lead think it looks like. >> a couple twitter questions. there's some good ones coming in
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#morningmoney. what regulations which you eliminate? you would just let wall street run free again. >> your bias is showing again. >> i'm not isbn i'm just making a joke. >> i am too. >> specifically i am channeling the group who sent me about. >> instead of having this amplified too big to fail turning it into an goober regulator when focus on money i would send them to bankruptcy which is then amplified under dodd-frank. we created a government agency with zero accountability the cfp feed that gets their money from the federal reserve, not in congress, which means no
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oversight. here is my fear was dodd-frank. talk to any part of america that serves small towns the serves rural communities. what they see coming to see if pbs standardizing credit that they can't customize credit to a local employer small business. since the too big to fail firms gave deemed they can get cheaper money because they look at l. dowd if they have a problem. the big banks can go out there and take over the business. they get cheaper money better products because of implicit taxpayer subsidies than the small banks can small banks can't and they can even customize credit. i see a concentration of economic power. i see more cronyism.
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i think that is bad for america. bad for especially people who don't have good credit or try to start a business in rural america. dodd-frank puts a huge bug rack on the economy. do we want accountability, clearing houses, if people make bad guys they lose their money not taxpayer money. yes. dodd-frank doesn't do that. it does a few things but i think we need to go back and reassess the whole approach. >> essentially you support a repeal of dodd-frank. >> i wouldn't repeal it and just do nothing. i would replace it with better policy. >> there's another twitter question here which is interesting and that is what were your thoughts on the
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cyclical dealing with climate change. did you read it, reflect on it. >> i read a lot of it. i've read quite a few summaries and passages from it. it is important number one to understand for non-catholics they think this is the word of the pope and therefore closes the debate. that is not what this is. for catholics who are familiar with the system and process the pope is trying to start a debate. number one, an invitation to debate. number two, especially with this pope, i found how he is right or brigade through the filters are for interpreters versus what he writes is a big goal for many ways. number three it is important to recognize the totality of what he says and it talks about more than just global warming or climate change. it talks about a heckuva lot more of that.
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it talks about the poor and life in the need to protect all of us. not just the environment, the human night. it is people understand the totality of the cyclical and settling the debate. this is simply trying to start the debate. >> i want to talk about your reservation by democrats and some on the left on the left to say paul bryan likes to beat up on the poor. he takes money away from welfare programs. look at the terrible things he does. all these government programs. i've got to think it doesn't sit well with you obviously. when you see the characterizations, be what is your response when democrats look at your budget and said they had a punitive budget. >> i'm used to it and it tells me i'm getting somewhere. honestly. the status quo was absolutely unsustainable.
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i've heard some describe we have a poverty industrial complex more focused on the status quo and preservation in thinking about reassessing our approach. that is what we try to do is trigger a debate to reassess. my whole argument is let's put money aside. let's put the argument aside. keep spending the same amount of money. look at what we do as a government and society to fight poverty. it is not working. i think now that we've had 50 years under our belt of the war on poverty, let's look at the metrics and how we define success. we right now define success based on after come input. what is the funding level of the programs? what do we have after this? we still have the highest poverty rates in a generation. maybe we should get on something
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different. let's change the measurement of success to outcomes, results. how many people are getting out of poverty. what works. that's why patty murray and i have a bill and i feel it will pass this year to set up a commission to figure out how to measure the end go from an system to announce that it based. it is an ideological innocent partisan. if we can get to success on outcomes and improve in my spare the federal government has a role to play but not the rule. communities and subsidiaries i think of a lot we can learn from people who are fighting poverty every day. we should be behind them, not in front of them and we should be supporting them, not displacing them. look at our comeback series and it shows you what is amazing happening in the world. but back to the bill is let's
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have a debate about what works and what does the word. that to me is the better debate that will produce progress. if we have this purpose are spam or not, we'll just have more of the same. if we try and fix the problem by having outcome-based results we will be a whole lot better off. that is a debate we want to have and there's a lot of things that we can get behind to help get at the root cause of poverty and treating symptoms. care safety net. you got me to stop talking. designed to catch people falling into poverty and keep them there. we need a safety net designed to knock -- to get people out permanently. >> he said the realm of the possible on tax reform is making
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his extenders permit it. anything else you can get done? once we have into the fall what product you produce? >> number one, the last thing you want to do is have another december 11th experience where people don't know what taxes look like until december 11th in our adjusted retroactively for a year which means they go away. that is not good for the economy. i can't tell you how many farmers to say you give me two weeks in december to decide whether i buy my combine or not. this doesn't work. i would love nothing more than to come back from august recess with a plan in place to enact in september. in the house i feel like we could do that. but the networks a little more slowly but i would love to execute a plan in that timeframe so we can get people on that. russia's take section 179 for
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people who don't file tax laws and my small businesses buy equipment and write it off. pretty simple. it makes sense. we do it every year. it's not controversial. everybody agrees with that. we do it at the end of the year so we don't plan for it. everybody agrees to do it a year at a time without paying for it. so why don't we make this permanent? were not getting the economic value for the ability to plan in advance. we disagree with the notion that you need to raise taxes on other hard-working americans to keep them the same for everybody else. >> if we get a republican president and you are still in this position, give me like your top three things that the package would look like including income rates and corporate rates.
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>> it is not unlike what made and i were hoping to do. the first budget and tax bill has got to be sick meaning they've got a health care crisis coming. we've got to fix that and we need to reform our tax code quickly because we are having or have had handed on to us and we are not getting the 4% growth we are to aspire to. that means low word and flattening tax rates. our international industrial tax rate is up 45%. that's a good place to start with and that means all rates should be back down to 25%. let's not lose sight of the fact that 80% of american businesses are not corporations. the tab effect right now is 44.6 crushing competitiveness. overseas that means lake
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superior. the canadians north of us in wisconsin who are primary competitors tax their businesses at 15%. england announced yesterday 20% is too high so they are dropping to 18%. ireland at 12.5, china at 25. we are losing our tax base and competitiveness. 25% to mean is the high water. >> i don't mean to interrupt you but we are about to run out of time. i can't believe i'm asking about this but i have to because it's all over the news and it dominates all the time. you see me on twitter castigating donald trump. question is cdma and the comments on immigration and should he be in the republican debate. >> i think his comments were extremely disrespectful and i don't think that's the way to have an immigration conversation. >> should he be in the race?
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>> your future presidential plans, which elect to run for president one day msi 2020 or 2024? >> i should make my announcement now? >> i do know the answer. i really don't. obviously have given great thought. i would not enjoy the ticket in 2012 if i didn't think that. it's a phase of life thing. who knows. i just don't know. >> i want to thank chairman paul ryan for great conversation. thank you for joining on the live stream. go packs. [applause] ♪
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i want to thank you for hosting us here today and all of us for being a part of it. i want to begin by pointing out the fact it's been 15 and a half years since the 21st century ended the american century. our nation overcame depression let the world against evil multiple times and recorded the greatest advances in human has great. airplanes in the sky footprints on the mend, the world's knowledge first brought online. and all this is possible because we go with no civilization has ever built before. a broad, stable, accessible middle class to which our people drove the affairs of the world. my parents were to emigrate to cuba with little formal education. they reach the middle class. they did so through humble jobs. first as an assembly plant for
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lawn chairs and then my mother went to work as a cashier and made and finally kmart. my father is primarily a bartender. they never got rich. my parents achieved the american dream because through this modest jobs they reached financial security. they raised a family and a safe neighborhood and provided for a name unless their children up to fives better than their own. more people achieve the american dream and america in the 20th century than any other time any other place in human history. but today, many jobs like the ones my parents held out longer provide a viable path to the middle class. their job of assembling them on chairs or even a cashier job my mom held have likely been replaced by machines. other positions outsourced or pay the same wage for a decade or more.
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most of those impacts about the qualifications move into a better paying position in the higher education they need requires too much time away from working families. the result is the passage of the network are of so many is not the result or so. are warned of a fundamental transportation to the very nature of our economy. disruptions prolonged by the failure of our leaders our policy and institutions transfer them accordingly. there are two primary forces behind the transformation. first is radical technological process but in development of the internet and her mission technology wireless providers and more in the second as
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globalization. you can sell a product of someone on the other side of the world almost as easily to the person on your left or right. this was pulled up in competition with dozens of other nations. business, jobs, talent and innovation. over the last two decades not a single industry has been untouched. disruptions have triggered where americans believe in the viability of a dream today and during the worst financial crisis in 2009. ..
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then something changed. when our children learn about the and osha revolution today they learned it was a theater progress. yes jobs were lost but even more regained. the middle class expanded, arrived and laid the cornerstone of the american century. how do that generation overcome the challenges? it wasn't through resistance pushing back against new technologies are going to resurrect old jobs. it was through adaptation. business integrating new technology, workers learning new skills, and leaders leading in a new direction. today's technological revolution carries extraordinary
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opportunity. even more i believe that the industrial revolution ever did. we have not yet seize these opportunities. nor is it a guarantee that we will. whether we do or do not will depend on the actions we take the leaders we choose and the reforms would adopt. for the first 15 a half years of this century -- excuse me -- for the first 15 a half years of this century washington has looked to the past. our economy has changed but our economic policies have not. we have learned painfully the old way no longer works. in washington cannot pretend the world is the same it was in the 1980s, cannot raise taxes like it did in the '90s, and it cannot go government like it did in the 2000s. the race for the future will never be one by going backwards but it will never be won by hopping on hillary clinton's time machine of yesterday. she seems to believe as many do
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that pumping more today's money into yesterday's programs will bring prosperity tomorrow. it will not. norwell thinking small. hiking the minimum wage by a few dollars will not save the american dream but it will accelerate automation and outsourcing. increasing taxes and regulations will not promote fairness or opportunity or help balance our budget. but it will snuff out innovation and crushed small business. we need in this country a new president for a new page with one with original ideas to unlock the two great doors to the future, the doors of innovation and the door of education. only through an innovative economy can we translate new technology and to new middle-class jobs are going through a revolutionized higher education system can we declare all of our people to fill these new and entertaining jobs. prosperity in our times is
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likely if, if we act to embrace the future. we have opportunities that have never existed before. at a chance to see them that will never exist again. i come before you today to discuss my ideas. to spur american innovation on work, to ensure the rise of the machines will not be the fault of the worker and to create a new american century propelled by a revitalized american dream and captured by a vibrant middle class. we know this much for certain. in the decades ahead innovation will transform the world. cars mason drive themselves which is good news for me if you've read some of the newspaper articles. [laughter] [applause] who are they going to give the red light camera to? virtual-reality, nanotechnology, robotics and more will impact us in ways we can't yet imagine.
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our device will grow more powerful can bring new capabilities to the masses. the question is not what innovations are coming. the question is whether america will develop and produce and was our people share in the wealth that they will help create. to build the most innovation for an economy in the world we must build the most business friendly economy in the world. right now we are quite nearly the exact opposite. the united states as the highest corporate tax rate in the developed world. we have a tax code that punishes american companies are competing in the global economy and we have a regulatory system that prevents small business who are the primary engines of innovation and job creation from competing against established players. the result of this approach are in. for the first time in 35 years we have more businesses dying than being born. in the first quarter of this year our economy shrank for the third time since our recovery began. and over the last decade the
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united states has lost $179 billion worth of domestic companies to foreign takeovers. but when i am president i will empower innovators rather than punish them. i will cut our corporate tax rate to be competitive with average of 25% for developed nations. if we had done this 10 years ago instead of losing $179 billion worth of american businesses, we would have acquired $590 billion worth of foreign firms. i will also establish a territorial tax. today when an american company earns money overseas, it is taxed in that country and the country that they earned it in and then taken if it's brought back to america. we are the only g8 country that levies that second tax. the understand the impact is that many countries choose never to bring their money back on. apple, for example has
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$171 billion sitting overseas. that money would be an immediate economic boost but because apple would be punished for bring it back, they chose not to. my tax plan will allow immediate and hundred% expensing for businesses. this means the more a company invest in creating jobs, the less they owe in taxes. the more they pay their workers, the less they pay the government. i will put a ceiling on the amount of u.s. regulation and but they can cost our economy. just since 2008 federal regulations have cost us $771 billion. many of these regulations are the result of an alliance between big business and big government. hillary clinton has argued the economy is rigged in favor of wealth institutions. she's right. but what she will matter is that the government is doing the region. the massive regulatory apparatus becomes the estimate of those with lawyers and lobbyists
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necessary to influence them. governments should work to empower them to protect the private sector not to control it. just two months ago i sponsored and proposed a bipartisan plan with senator chris coons to modernize our national labs system which has long been a leading source of research and science, medicine, energy and technology. currently much of this research gets trapped in the public sector. but my legislation would increase the labs flexible in to partner with the private industry. we must also recognize the industries that need some special protection in the 21st century. in its short life the internet has become one of humanity's greatest treasures, which is why the law enhanced of our people not our government. innocent i thought to safeguard and reinforced internet freedom and digital opportunity, and will continue that fight. i led a coalition opposing efforts to seize internet radio
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toward power to the international telecommunications. i will also advanced a comprehensive wireless plan to expand unlicensed spectrum which perspective is the highway of the digital age but the amount made available to the public is limited and the results is a digital traffic gender as president i will reallocate spectrum for public use which could create an estimated 350,000 jobs per 500 megahertz. finally, to win the global competition for innovation we must win the global competition for talent. this requires reforming our legal immigration system to make it scale and merit-based rather than simply family base which will protect american workers and also attract more talent to grow our economy and create jobs. innovation is the first door to the future but even once we pass through it a second or remained shut in front of us. innovation will create millionaires and even
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billionaires but we must ensure it also creates a vibrant middle class. that can only be done through the modernization of our higher education system. as our technological capabilities to grow it is true that we will see more low-paying jobs replaced by machines, but that's only part of the story. with the innovation economy i have just discussed, you also see the creation of higher paying, higher skilled jobs that only humans can perform. and history backs us up. for example, when the power loom was invented, many feared it would eliminate all textile jobs. the truth turned out to be the opposite. the loo increase production and gas production increased, so the demand. and as demand increased so did the need for skilled laborers to operate the machines and manage the factors. jobs in the textile industry actually increased from 100 years thereafter.
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but these jobs did not immediately pay higher wages. before that could happen workers need to learn marketable skills that could be standardized across the industry. only then could the message learned in one factor become useful in another. which increased the need for experienced labor and gave workers leverage to demand higher wages. the lesson of history in is clear. to empower today's workers we must equip them with today's skilled. and to do that we need a higher education system to innovate at the same rate as our economy. in the next 10 years 3.5 million manufacturing jobs will be created. but if our higher education system remains stagnant and stuck in the past 2 million of these jobs will be left unfilled. the same skills gap has felt across industry. nearly one out of every three americans employers report having difficulty finding skilled applicants. yet we still to our students
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have to get a degree they have to spend four years on a campus tens of thousands of dollars on tuition and books and room and board, and hundreds of hours in a classroom, often learning subjects that are not relevant to the modern economy. the result is that today many young people are graduating with a mountain of debt, with degrees that will not lead to jobs and many who need higher education the most such as single parents and working adults are left with few options that fit their schedule and their budgets. the problems of higher education are many, but the ideas from hillary clinton of outdated leaders are narrow and shortsighted. we do not need the old system. we need a holistic overhaul. we need to change how we provide degrees come out those degrees are assets how much the access costs and now those costs get paid, and even how those payments are determined. as president i will begin with a powerful but simple reform.
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our higher education system today is controlled by what amounts to a car to an existing colleges and universities. which use their power over the accreditation process to block innovative low-cost competitors from entering the marketplace. within my first 100 days we will bust this cartel by establishing a new accreditation process that welcomes low-cost innovative providers. this would expose higher education to market forces of choice and competition which would prompt the revolution driven by the needs of students just as the needs of consumers drive the prospect of other industries in our economy. other reforms can hasten of this transition. i will empower students to choose the right degree at the right price from the right institution for them. i've proposed an idea called the student right to know before you go act which requires an institution to tell students how
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much they can expect to earn when -- which -- with a given degree before they take out loans to pay for i will make loads more manageable by making income-based repayment automatic for all graduates so the more they make, the fastest they pay back their loans. the less they make the less strain these loans will cause. i will reduce the risk associated with the loans and he is a shadow of death hovering over millions of graduates but for future students we can also create an alternative to loans that avoid the problem of debt altogether. i propose an idea called the student investment plan which would let students partner with investors they would pay their tuition in return for a percentage of the earnings for a few years after graduation. it may result in a profit for the investor or it may not. but unlike with the loans, none of the risk lies with the student. as president of also make career and vocational education more
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widespread and accessible. this can begin as early as high school so he can graduate student not just with a high school diploma but also with the sophistication to work as a mechanic plumber, a welder an electrician or any number of good paying occupations. i will expand upmanship programs which can provide on the job training and health standardized skills by allowing students to learn methods from experienced workers and then spread them throughout the industry. this is not an exhaustive list of ideas that ifc counties can begin to open doors for our middle class. in miami i've seen high school graduates certified begin -- has been to the technician. i've known single mothers who hard reset translate into financial security for themselves and for their children. i have seen higher education change my own life both in terms of the enormous costs we must remedy and the enormous payoff
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we must extend to all. my innovation in higher education agenda form of a segment of the policy blueprint i have drawn up for my presidency. but the whole vision is based on a simple concept. new opportunities cannot be seized by old ideas and the future must be embraced with enthusiasm and with vision. in the 19th century, generation of americans did exactly that. they face challenges similar to ours. the steam engine made the world smaller. the telegraph open a new age of communication. new machines created new industry and upended a centuries old economic status quo. and just imagine what the world would've looked like if that generation had resisted these changes rather than embrace them. imagine if they have refused to give up the old ways and allow the promise of the industrial age to pass them by.
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the lost would've been suffered not only by their generation but every generation after. the american century it never would have existed. the stakes for our time are just as high. if we fail to capture the promise of this new age we will be the first generation to leave the weaker america behind. but if we succeed we will lay the cornerstone for a new american century. we will not just recover economic ground, we will gain it. we will see the creation of higher pay, more fulfilling, more exciting jobs than ever before. theythere are those today and there have always been who say prosperity is impossible but the future is lost. it seemed for a while all you had to give to become a best selling author is right a book predicting a post-american world, one driven by china or europe or some other power. many of these forecasts come from people who rarely leave washington, d.c. if that city is all they see it's no wonder they think
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america is in trouble. so i say to them go to boston walk through the square and often print is the most innovative square in the world. they are taken. of the looking glass a remarkable revelation of future for our nation and the world. i say to them go to florida space coast can see how an air of private and public partnerships has put new adventure, new achievements, new discoveries within reach of humankind, and now suddenly an american flag on mars has turned from an impossible dream to an achievable american dream. i say to them go to reno nevada, see the data center being built by apple. see the 1.2 million-square-foot distribution warehouse opened amazon, see the $5 billion exactly been constructed by tesla and panasonic which will transform the automobile industry and create as many as 9000 good paying jobs in nevada
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a long. i say to them go to new hampshire, visit southern new hampshire university which is consistently named one of the most innovative organizations in the world on the list with apple and google for how it pushes against the odds and against the naysayers to bring higher education into the 21st century. and also say to them come to chicago. visit 1871, is 50,000 square-foot facility that serves as an incubator for digital innovation in the midwest providing entrepreneurs with internship training, programming and educational resources. potential investors in a committee of fellow dreamers dedicated to point the american businesses into a new age. these examples are not outliers. they are a pattern. anyone who sees these things will understand that nothing has changed about our people. we are the inheritors of the
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american spirit, of the american dream, of the american century. in our veins flows the blood of men and women who refused to accept the burdens of the past or to resign to the old way of doing things. just as with respect to the americans of the industrial revolution, so when the verdict of our time be written by those who have not yet been born. let them ride that we did our part but in the early years of this century we turned the corner on the path. we elected new leaders for a new time. adopted policies that encouraged americans to get the product of tomorrow manufactured in and then sell them throughout the world. we designed a higher education system that allowed our middle class to perform the great work and reap the great reward of the century. the time has brought us to this but whether we turn the knob and pushed, whether we step across the threshold of a new age him whether we embrace his century with its challenges and its
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opportunities its adventures and its dangers, it is a decision that is ours alone to make. i say we lingered long enough and i invite you to step forward with me together. thank you. [applause] >> before we get started don't sit down just yet i know you love your miami dolphins and we love our bears just one by one to by jupiter in the home of -- >> nhl. >> defending stanley cup champions. [applause] >> there we go. [laughter] there are not a lot of ruby owes in the nhl.
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they don't play hockey in cuba. >> thank you. >> who should i give this -- should i wear it now? spent depends on how to the entity is going to be. >> welcome to chicago and thank you for being here and thanks again to 1871 for hosting this event. senator, let's start by talking about the economy more broadly. stock market is at high unemployment is down to 5.3% and yet so what's the problem speak was that's a great question because what's interesting about this because it's a lot of the traditional markers of economic health don't mean what they once did. for example, the unemployment rate, at a traditional 20th century view things the problem is a lot of the people who are employed or underemployed and they are means they're earning
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wages do not kept up with cost-of-living. 31 states child care is more extensive than 20 calls per imagine if your single mother that your point but $300 a week two and $50 week is going to child care that's a huge chunk of your budget. you can't work without. that's an example ma then you have millions of people drop out, they've given up, be demoralized, working part-time, different jobs here versus there. and, of coursethere. then, of course, the nature of economy is such that a lot of people that will not work at one company for 25 years. they are jumping, doing jobs as both work and from so your jump in and out of the labor pool depending on these factors. the result is the unemployment rate below gametes what's what did we take into account the labor participation, number of people participating in the labor force is at as low as it's been over 30 years. then you add to that wages. basically wages have been stagnant for two decades while the cost of living has rapidly
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increased. bailiwickthe only way they will ever close that gap is due to thanks i talked about innovation, better paying jobs and helping people acquire the skills they need for those better paying jobs spent its lead to people to talk of income inequality, right? the top 1% is getting richer while main street is being left behind. what's the biggest company in chicago and what's most important thing, single thing you would do upon taking office that would help sort of crap that's because income inequality is a symptom of a broader problem which is opportunity and equality. income inequality for a couple of reasons but the primary one is at a higher paying job at the 21st century the careers of economically for both the 21st century just pay a lot more money than similar careers did in the 20th. if you're not in windows fields, then you are stagnant and the
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result is to get the there isn't one thing you can do. there's two things yesterday that the procedure to make america the best place in the world to create jobs that pay more and then yet to give our people the skills they need for those jobs that people. i tell i parents store because they lived during a time and i grew up during that time were the time the bartender and then they could make enough money to afford homeownership, raise a family and retire with dignity. jobs like that simply don't pay enough anymore because those things cost more than those jobs have not kept pace. in order for my parents to do with it did today we come identified to become an electrician to my mother would've had to to become a dental hygienist or paralegal. that requires higher education which many people have access to because if they work full-time. they cannot drop everything and sit in a classroom for two years. that's why we have to do two things, make us the best place in the world to create better paying jobs, and to make it the easiest place to acquire the
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skills we need for those for the new better paying jobs and have to do both. >> greece is in the news, puerto rico is in the news. how much of an economic drag is the $18 trillion national debt, and what do you propose to do about the? >> the more debt being sold from the more capital is been dedicated to debt analyst of able for investment in the private sector but beyond that it creates a debt crisis. debt crisis is not a good thing for a country whose trying to grow. it doesn't inspire confidence. if nothing changes that will continue doing things the way we are at some point we'll have a debt crisis. we have been insulated because global reserve currency, so many other places are unstable but eventually investors, people don't loan money to america by buying our debt are going to insist on higher yield in essence higher interest rates, high returns on their loaning of money to us. when that happens the interest payments alone and the results
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will be catastrophic for the most important economy in the world. the only way to fix the national debt is through a combination of dynamic economic growth, the things i outlined today, and by reforming social security and medicare. i want to reform those programs without making any changes for people like my mother put my money is on social security. my mother is a medic at a couple of those programs just exactly the way they are for her and people with similar age people that have retired or about to retire. that will require my generation in people younger me to accept our social security and medicare is going to be different than our parents. it will still be the best thing in the world is going to work differently. we will have to retire a year later than our parents did. our benefits may not grow as fast if we stay stay with traditional salsa stood as our parents did. our medicare plan may involve choices in the private market of my point is that that's the only way we're going to be able to bring spending under control to
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balance our budget long-term our national debt is not being driven by foreign aid which is less than 1% over budget. it's not driven by defense spending, not food stamps and welfare. all these programs i just mentioned are in need of reform but the driver of our debt are these are important programs that spend more money than they taken and will continue to do so at an increasing rate for the foreseeable future. >> you mentioned regulation. you just mentioned medicare. the affordable care act upheld by the supreme court as constitutional republicans i think most republicans in the field say repeal and replace. is that where you are? >> let me tell you why. number one, we do have a health insurance problem that needs to be confronted. this is the wrong approach. what its party that is but millions of americans including many previous insert into government mandated plan. so these plans in order to be affordable have had to do two things. they've had to make copayments
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very high deductibles very high. so what you know have are individuals insured under one of these exchange plans that are going into an emergency room or a doctorate in getting a bill. the bill could be as high as two, three, $4000. they simply don't have that kind of money. as a result the providers are also not not getting paid so-so media ventures plans that not on our expensive in terms of the bills but does have a number of providers that will give you the choices you need. why? because a doctor knows if they can't collect a copayment if they can't collect the deductible and when i get paid the full amount to something more providers don't want to participate. now you have an insurance yes the print is subsidized much of a high deductible, i copayment and limited number of doctors and hospitals and specials to choose from. i think a better approach would be to say in the 21st century every american will be in charge of their own health insurance decision. every american whether -- >> we will leave this event at this point that you can see the
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remake of indices and video library. the u.s. senate is about the gavel in to continue work on changes to the no child left behind law. the senate version would give state and local governments more control over education policy and testing centers will be going through amendments this morning and they will vote on some of those at 11:30 a.m. eastern. debate on the measure expected to last into next week. and now live to the senate floor here on c-span2.
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the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal spirit, keep us from being a nation that forgets you. remind us that righteousness exalts any nation but that sin deprives, degrades, and destroys, providing a reproach to any people. arise, o god. lift your hands and lead our lawmakers to accomplish your
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purposes. use them to break the stranglehold of wickedness providing deliverance for captives and freedom for the oppressed. in you, o god, we find refuge. may we not be brought to shame for you can make even our enemies be at peace with us. continue to guide us, strong deliverer, for we are pilgrims in this land. we are weak but you are mighty; guide us with your powerful hands. and, lord, you we praise you for the courage of the south carolina legislature.
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we pray in your sovereign name. amen. the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., july 9 2015. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1 paragraph 3, of the standing
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rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable mitch mcconnell, a senator sphrt commonwealth of kentucky, to perform the duties of the chair. signed orrin g. hatch president pro tempore. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: no child left behind laid the ground work for important reforms to our education systems. but with its authorization expiring in 2007 but with the previous senate majority failing to replace it with a serious proposal many of the original requirements stayed in place anyway and gradually became unworkable. this resulted in a lot of states getting tangled up in endless bureaucracy, reducing their ability to focus on boosting student achievement and school performance. that was certainly true in the commonwealth i represent. kentucky was actually the first state to petition for some freedom from the law's requirements.
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and with that additional flexibility came better results. kentucky improved its graduation rate climbing into the top ten among all states. kentucky increased the number of students who met statewide standards. and kentucky raised the percentage of students entering postsecondary education programs increasing that number from about half to more than 68% in just a few years' time. so this additional flexibility has been good for kentucky but only to a point because the white house began to tack on more and more requirements as a condition of continued relief from the original law's mandates leaving many states in an untenable situation. this is how the white house was able to impose common core in many places that didn't necessarily want it. in a sense the flexibility one hand gave the other has
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continually taken away. it's clear that temporary relief strapped with other federal mandates is not a workable choice for states. this is why we need congressional action to replace the broken husk that remain of no child left behind with reforms, reforms that build on good ideas in the original law while doing away with the bad ones. that's what the bipartisan every child achieves act before us would in fact achieve. it would grow the kind of flexibility we've seen work so well in states like kentucky, and it would stop federal bureaucrats from applying the kind of top-down one-size-fits-all requirements that we all know threaten that progress. kentucky has already seen success with the limited and conditional flexibility granted to it so far so just imagine what states like kentucky could achieve when fully empowered to do what's right for their students. here's how kentucky education
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commissioner terry holiday put it in a letter he sent me in support of this bill. "i can attest based on our experience that the waiver process is onerous and allows too many opportunities for federal intrusion into state responsibility for education. the long-term health of public education in the united states requires reauthorization and an end to the use of the waiver as a patch on an otherwise impracticable system of requirements." he's, of course, just right. and we've never been closer to achieving the kind of outcome our kids zev. -- deserve. many thought washington could never solve this issue but the bill before us was supported unanimously by republicans and democrats in committee. members of both parties are having a chance now to offer and vote on amendments, too. we had several amendment votes yesterday. i expect more today. and if our colleagues interest
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either side of the aisle have more ideas to offer, i would ask them to work with senator alexander and senator murray to get them moving. this is what a senate that's back to work looks like, and with continued bipartisan cooperation, this is a senate that can prove the pundits wrong again by passing another important measure to help our country and our kids kids remember the house of representatives already passed its own no child left behind replacement just last night as it has done repeatedly in years past. now is the time for the senate to finally get its act together after seven years of missed deadlines on this issue. a new senate majority believes that the time for action and bipartisan reform should be now and with continued cooperation from our friends across the aisle, it will be. now, mr. president, on an entirely different matter, a few weeks ago i chamber to the floor to discuss the importance of burma's election this fall. i noted that its conduct would
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tell us a lot about the burmese government's commitment to a path of political reform. 6i said that demonstrating that commitment would be critical to reassuring burma's friends along that it would have normal relations with the u.s., at least as it concerns the legislative branch. so i urge burmese officials to take every step to ensure an election that would be as free and as fair as possible, and yet on june 25, the burmese government took a step backward from the path to more representative -- a more representative government. let me explain. there's little doubt that burma's constitution contains numerous flaws numerous flaws
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that immediate to be revised if the -- that need to be revised if the government is to be truly representative. first, it unreasonably restricts who can be a candidate for president. a not-so-subtle attempt to bar the country's most popular opposition figure from ever standing for that office. but then it goes even further ensuring an effective military veto over constitutional change. for instance, amendments about who can run for the presidency by requiring more than three-fourths parliamentary support in a legislature where the constitution reserves one-fourth of the seats for the military. let me say that again. the constitution reserves one-fourth of the seats for the military and requires a three-fourths vote to amend the constitution. completely jerry-rigged. it's obvious to see why things should change if burma is to pursue a path of a more representative government. allowing appropriate
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constitutional fixes to pass through parliament would upset some pretty positive things about the burmese government's commitment to political reform. but when the measures were put to a vote on june 25, the governmentstgovernment's allies exercised the power that the constitution grants them to stymie reform. this stands in stark contrast to the support for reform among lebilityelected burmese lawmakers, which was likely higher than 80%. so of the people elected by the people 80% favored the reform and the 25% inserted into the process by the military guaranteed that no reform occurred. and so even if the actual conduct of the election proves to be free and fair, it risks being something other certainly, than the will of the people. when the most popular figure in the country is precluded from being a candidate for the highest office in the land and
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when approximately 80% of the people's chosen representatives are stymied by lawmakers who are not democratic democratically elected it raises fundamental questions about the balloting coming up this fall. in fact, at this point, it is unclear if the opposition n.l.d. will even participate in this fall's elections. we knew that legal economic, political, and constitutional development and reform would evolve in that country through fits and starts. this is only realistic given the baseline from which burma was starting when congress agreed to lift some of the sanctions. those of us who have followed burmaer for a long time also know that the military's fierce change ethnic unrest, ant the unseniority that democratic government might bring. that's well-being aacknowledged but
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improving the relationship with the united states meant both sides would have to take some risk. this was a moment for the military to take another important step on its end and it was a missed opportunity. a missed opportunity. in light of the recent defeat of constitutional reform, i believe that steps such as including burma in the generalized system of preferences program should be put on hold -- put on hold until after this fall's election. only after the ballots have been cast and counted in burma can an appropriate evaluation be made about the pace of reform in the country and whether additional normalization of relations is warranted. the presiding officer: the
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democratic leader. mr. reid: i now ask unanimous consent that amy griff in, who is a fellow in senator franken's office shall be granted floor privileges during the remainder of this congress. the presiding officer: without objection. vidsmr. reid: mr. president i first wnts to want to take just a moment to praise the good work being done by the chairman and ranking member of the help committee. the senior senator from tennessee and the senior senator from washington have done a remarkably good job to bring this reauthorization to the floor. the elementary and secondary education is so important and we're not living up to the standards that we should have. it's important to remember that you will a of this could have been done a long time ago. on the floor i mentioned yesterday that senator harkin, who i said was a legendary senator who served here for six terms plus a number of terms in the house of representatives for quite sometime was chairman of the help committee and when
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he wasn't chairman, served on it under the guidance of senator kennedy. and yesterday i said that senator -- that the republican leader, who came to the floor and was boasting oh, we're getting this bill done. it's so great. things are working so well in the senate. i mentioned at that time yesterday that senator harkin tried to bring the bill to the floor. he sent me an e-mail last night and here's what he said. he on two separate occasions -- 2011 and 2013 -- got a bill out of the committee, and what happened? it was blocked coming to the floor by the republicans. the same griewsm people who -- group of people who are boasting things are going so well here. well mr. president, i think it's a shame that people come here to the floor and boast about the fact that they spent the last few congresses trying to ruin congress and the
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country, and they've done a pretty good job of it. we're happy to be on this bill, and there's no motion to proceed like i had to do on virtually every bill we brought to the floor. but, mr. president let's understand historically my friend the republican leader, is living in a dream world. in fact, it's fastly becoming a theme of this 114th congress, working on legislation the republicans have blocked in the past. senator stabenow from michigan calls it the filibuster makeup. look at the accomplishments about which my friend the republican leader brags that he's gotten done this year. -- insurance we would have done that any time. the clay hunt bill. that was a bill that was so easy to get done. it was blocked. the republicans wouldn't let us move forward on it. appropriations for the
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department of homeland security. we were prevented from doing that. trafficking, human trafficking we spent a lot of time on it this congress. we would have done that last congress easily. we were prevented from doing so. repeal of medicare sustainable growth we call it s.g.r. we would have done it at any time mr. president. there are no great shakes here. how did we get it done? it wasn't paid for. why? because it was a budget gimmick in the first place during the bush years. so mr. president to hear my friend the republican leader, come and boast about all the stuff getting done,ing we could have done it, most of it could have been done two congresses ago. certainly last congress we should have gotten it done. extension of foreign intelligence service act. the patriot act. we knew it had to be done. we tried to get it done last congress couldn't get it done.
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we were prevented from doing so. and now the same with elementary and secondary education. i'm glad we're on this. i'm glad we were able to complete this other stuff but let's not try to rewrite history, mr. president. these things could have been done easily had they not been filibustered here on the senate floor. any one of these bills would have easily passed in the last congress. but every one of them were balked by republicans. mr. president, we hear the phrase "manufactured cries" used a lot -- "manufactured crisis" used a lot here lately. why? the republican leader has single-handedly turned the entire appropriations process into a charade designed to manufacture yet another crisis. look no further than what republicans are doing in the interior environment appropriations bill. the republican leader bragged yesterday -- tuesday is thursday -- on wednesday. here's what he said -- quote --
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"he and his colleagues have lined the interior appropriations bill with every rider you can think of to push back." close quote. they have filled that legislation with so-called riders. what's a rider? it's an extraneous provision that has nothing to do with the purpose of the bill. in this instance, a funding bill. so they filled that legislation the init tear yor appropriations -- the interior appropriations bills and other bills, that have nothing to do with funding the government and are harmful to our country. for example, in the appropriations bill dealing with interior, climate change. republicans included language to permanently dismantle efforts to prevent climate change by blocking efforts of a nationwide policy to reduce carbon pollution from existing power plants. mr. president, climate change is very very hurtful to our
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economy, hurtful to our country. i was at an event at the white house two nights ago. the president said if we don't do something about climate change by the year 2100, the seas will have increased 16 feet. the state of florida will be basically half of it under water. prior to 2100, it's already getting bad. you talk to two senators from virginia. areas that are military installations are now covered with water most of the time. talk to my opinion friend, the senior senator from florida. he'll tell you what's happening in florida now. talk to the governor of new york. he'll tell you what happened with sandy the hurricane there. it's going to happen again because we're doing nothing to prevent climate change from
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devastating our country. the presiding officer is from the state of nevada, as i am. mr. president, bears -- not all bears -- many bears are not hibernating in the sierras anymore. it's not cold enough. talk to one of the senators from new hampshire. moose are being defer stated -- devastated. why? because the cold weather is not killing the gnats the flees on moose. about a third of them are dead. climate change is not serious? it's a serious issue, of course it is. they have riders in this bill dealing with clean water. republicans blocked language to deal with streams and wet lines. they stuck in language to delay efforts to protect people with
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lung disease and other things. hazardous waste cleanup. they stuck language in this bill. super fund has been a great program. it's been a great program because people who devastate and pollute the land are asked to pay to clean it up. what they've done, the republicans, is stuck language in here to have the taxpayers clean this up, pay for it. that's really something that is stunning to me. it's a perfect example of republicans' manufactured crisis. they loaded up necessary funding measures with dangerous provision that have doomed the bill and the bills. then when democrats oppose it, the republican leader will feign outrage, blame democrats for its failure, hoping to score some type of political victory. republicans know an appropriations bill full of riders will be stopped by us and vetoed by the president. this scripted performance is the definition of a manufactured crisis.
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the republican leader said as much last year in an interview with hill newspaper "politico." here's what he said -- quote -- "obama needs to be challenged and the best way to do that is through the funding process. he would have to make a decision on a given bill whether there is more in that he likes or dislikes. a good example mcconnell said is adding restrictions to regulations from the environmental protection agency. adding riders to spending bills would change the behavior of the bureaucracy." close quote. he promised that last year, and he's a man of his word. he's ruining every one of these appropriations bills with these riders. in spite of more asthma, more heart disease more cancer. instead of passing appropriations bills to keep our government open and funded, the republican leader is more interested in making democrats and republicans not work together and having the president and democrats very uncomfortable. sadly, this is how republicans are governing. this is how they pretend to lead our country.
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it's embarrassing. i believe it is. if you want to look at poll numbers, look what's happened. the republican leader's numbers are as low as they have ever recorded a leader having. it doesn't have to be this way. with the help of a handful of reasonable republicans we can sidestep this sham and pass meaningful legislation that averts another government shutdown. the first one was promoted and engineered by the republicans. i said yesterday and i repeat, mr. president, to show how shameful that was two-thirds of the republicans in the house voted to keep government closed. i mentioned yesterday how the republican chairman of the house appropriations committee congressman rogers, who people call the dean of the kentucky delegation, is calling on his party to work with us, democrats, on a long-term solution that avoids a government shutdown. we need republicans like him here in the senate. in just a few months the government will run out of
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money. have no more money. october 1. unless we can reach a bipartisan budget agreement our nation will face another ridiculous and damaging government shutdown. so i urge my republican friends especially republican leaders in both houses, to listen to chairman rogers and those other members of the appropriations committee and work together, put aside these nonserious games and get serious about keeping our government open. it's the only way congress will avoid another manufactured crisis the republican leader seems so desperately to desire. mr. president, finally yesterday the united states district court for the eastern district of virginia affirmed what native americans have been saying for decades. the washington football team name is disparaging. it's racist and morally objectionable and it should be changed now. u.s. district court judge gerald bruce lee sustained the patent
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and trademark's decision that the washington football team name should not be protected by a federal trademark legislation. that's good news. how does the redskins respond? sorry to use that name. i made a mistake. how does the washington football team respond? by saying, well, our football team is worth a lot of money. and as part of that value redskins name is money. does daniel snyder have enough money? i think so without disparaging a group of indians we have in nevada. 27 separate tribal groups in nevada they don't like this. snyder did a p couple of things, bought them a car and thought they would back off and no longer object. they saw that one coming and said no, you keep the car. what the judge did yesterday is good news.
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it should not protect a team or company that has pride in hearing every time their name is mentioned a racial slur. while the rule is a step in the right direction the battle is not over. ultimately the decision rests with the owner dan scheider, -- dan snyder. only he can change the name. for far too long owner snyder has tried to hide behind tradition. but yesterday it was made clear the franchise name hides behind bigotry. i admire so much the republican governor of south carolina. she has all the credentials anyone needs. and she said after that terrible incident in a church in her state the flag is going to go, the confederate flag. and yesterday after a long, long debate as i understand it, the south carolina legislature said
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no more public display of the flag. so tradition is not the name of the game. fairness no racism, no bigotry no intolerance that's the game. dan snyder should do the right thing and change the team's name. there is no place for that kind of tradition in the american football league and no place for it in our great country. i apologize to my opinion friend, the chairman of the committee -- i apologize to my friend the chairman of the committee, for taking so much time. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of s. 1177 which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 63, s. 1177, a bill to reauthorize the elementary and secondary education act of 1965 to ensure
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that every child achieves. mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: the democratic leader and the republican leader have both created an environment in which we can succeed on this bill. i'm grateful to them for that. i listened to their remarks this morning about some things that have gone on in the past in the senate. my late friend, alex haley the author of "roots" used to say find the good and praise it. what i'd like to do is thank the majority leader for putting the bill on the floor. only he can do that, give us a chance to debate it. thank the democratic leader for creating an environment in which we can have a large number of amendments and succeed. i thank the senator from washington patty murray, who suggested the way that we proceed today. we fell into some partisan differences in the last two congresses that kept, that made that impossible. and she has as much as anybody helped solve that problem. we're making good progress. we've adopted a number of amendments. we voted on some others.
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some passed, some have been defeated. but people have had a chance to have their say. and senator murray and i have received a large number of amendments several dozen actually that senators on both sides have offered that we've agreed to recommend to the full senate that we adopt by consent. in addition to that, we adopted 29 amendments in the committee consideration, and many of those were amendments from democrat members of the senate. so i think most senators -- in fact i haven't heard a single one say that they haven't had a chance to have their say on no child left behind. yesterday i put that the record an op-ed from the "washington post" from the virginia secretary of education ann holton who made the argument that i think stays like virginia are well-prepared to accept the responsibility for higher standards, better teaching, and real accountability. over the las
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