record lows. our navy, air force, and, you know, marine corps and testimony talked about our nondeployed units and how state of unreadiness existed, largely because they are not getting the kind of support. it's not the men and the women. ..

the day today enrolled they need to be also enrolled in a support system that will take care of them all the way through their military career, and a dear, you before their discharge we should have people working on their integration back into society so there is no gap. and they should have a health savings account which is subsidized by the government which allows them to go to any hospital or any clinic, and we should be happy to take care of them. [applause] because if they're willing to lay their lives down and their limbs to take care of us, the least we can do is make sure that we take care of them when they come back.

[applause] we are talking -- when we are talking about our values, because this is a values voter summit, what part our values? one nation, unity. let's stop letting the purveyors of division divide us by. you know what, they don't even care if you agree with him as long as you shut your mouth and set them. i think it's time for us to stop shedding our mouth and sitting down. also one nation under god. we have to stop allowing the progressives to drive god out of our land. [applause] we must be willing, we must be willing to stand up for it because as they drive him out, look at the direction that we are going and.

it's a downward spiral. we need to stop it now. it was thomas jefferson who said the american people, they would become less vigilant, they would stop paying attention. and as a result the government would grow and grow and infiltrate every aspect of our lives and it would begin to control and dominate the people. but he said just before we turn into something else, that people would wake up and they would once again take control. i say now is the time to wake up and take control. thank you. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> racing legend richard petty is endorsing ben carson. they appear together today at a camp for disabled children that

establish by mr. penny what he says is not necessarily endorsing the candidate but we are, you know what i mean. he says he likes the candidate because he's very humane. and vying with mr. carson, donald trump just announced his tax plan during a news conference india. we will show his remarks on the plan and the q&a tonight here at c-span2 at 8:30 p.m. eastern right after the communicator's. congress is working on federal spending to current funding expires wednesday. the house is waiting for senate action so they will begin with other bills including one that gives states more flexibility denying medicaid contract to providers who perform abortions. the senate meets at 4:30 p.m. today at the consider the majority leader's plan to fund the government.

live coverage of the debate here on c-span2. >> tonight on the communicator's we'll talk with the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers, president and ceo fadi chehade about how the internet is governed. >> governments today have an advisory role in icann. they do not directly make policy. they cannot have a seat on our board of directors. this is very much in fact a triumph of showing how a private sector lead institution that has the government as an important advisory body, but that has a broader base of decision-making that is private sector lead, including input from the technical community and civil society and academics, et cete et cetera. but that's the advice that in forms the policy a and the board

activity are anchored in the fact that governments are continuing to play an advisory role to what we do. >> tonight at eight eastern and pacific on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> back now to the values voter summit with former presidential candidate and arizona senator john mccain, and current presidential candidate and freshman senator marco rubio. their remarks ran about one hour. >> good morning. thank you very much. welcome to the 10th annual values voter summit. i want to thank you for being here. i know many of you went through a lot of trouble decatur,, special with the commons leader staying in the hotel across the street, but i welcome we're getting a little taste of what it's like to live in china. but nontheless, we're grateful that you were here because your voice will be heard across

america. we gather here at a time when the threats to our faith, our family and our freedoms have probably never been greater since the founding of our nation. we face enemies within and enemies without. in fact, our enemies within our aiding our enemies without, but there is good news. our founders were inspired to create for us a government under which i using our freedoms we could preserve our freedoms. and what you're doing here this weekend is preserving those freedoms that are so dear and precious to us as americans and essential to the future of this great country. in short, the way we keep our freedoms is that we use those freedoms. and i want to use one of the freedoms that i believe is under the greatest assault of anything that we have today in america under president barack obama and his administration.

and that is our religious freedom. and i want to start this morning and open this summit by reading a portion of scripture. it is americ american and i refo give up my right to practice my religious freedom in public. [applause] and i will give up my life before i give up that freedom. praise the lord, praise the lord while i live. i will praise the lord. i will sing praises to my god while i have my dean. do not put your trust in princes know in a son of man than whom there is out there just spirit departs. he returns to the earth. in that very day his plans perish. happy, happy is he who has the god of jacob for his help, whose

hope is in the lord his god who made heaven and the earth. given there crisis that our nation is facing, the time for being a spectator is over. it is time for all god-fearing, all values voters to take a stand for our faith and for our freedom. i do ask you, will you join in standing for our freedom? [applause] now is the time for every american to come to the aid of their country. [applause] there is a great misconception that has been voiced upon this country that religious liberty a certain -- simply the freedom to pick their church want to attend or the ability to believe as you wish as long as you keep those

beliefs between your two years -- years you're my friend, nothing could be for the country could not have the time to shrink back into silence. nor is it the time to be intimidated by the intolerant voices of the left. now is the time to stand boldly and courageously for the truth, for it is the truth that makes us free. [applause] as we begin this summit i want to remind you of what have become i believe prophetic words that were spoken by president ronald reagan in august 1984. he said this. he said without god there is no virtue. because there is no prompting of the conscious. without god were mired in the to the flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. without god there is a coursing of the society and without god democracy will not and cannot

long endure. if we ever forget that we're one nation under god, then we will be a nation gone under. my friends, fellow values voters, social conservatives, patriots, americans, we must not let that happen on our watch. [applause] it is now my privilege to introduce our first speaker, senator john mccain, a 22 year career naval pilot, decorated war hero. he is the chairman of the senate armed services committee where he has worked tirelessly to defend religious liberty. i know because i have worked with him, and he has made religious liberty a top priority

as he is chairman of the senate armed services committee. he was the republican nominee for president in 2008, and i will do as i told him, he and i do not agree on everything. but then again i'm a baptist and i don't agree with myself on everything. [laughter] but this i can say with confidence without hesitation unequivocally. had he won the 2008 presidential election we would not be arming our enemies with nuclear weapons, nor would our military has become a laboratory for social experimentation, and americans who simply are seeking to live out their lives according to the orthodox religious beliefs would not be considered enemies of the state. elections have consequences, my friends, and we must not repeat the mistake that america made in 2008. [applause] i want to ask you to do me a

favor. i want to ask you to join me in giving a warm values voter welcome to my friend senator john mccain of arizona. ♪ [applause] >> thank you. thank you to my friends and our stalwart servant leader, tony perkins and general jerry boykin. i'd also like to thank kathy for the great work that she and center for arizona policy due to promote our shared values. indeed thank you all. thank you all for the opportunity to speak with you about some of our shared concerns in the world. i know you've got a lot going on today. you're going to hear from many important speakers, including a number of candidates for president of the united states. i have the warm-up act for marco

rubio. [laughter] and lindsey graham. so listening to a former unsuccessful candidate from two presidential elections ago, which is practically a century in washington years, it probably isn't your first priority. priority. i do after i lost i slept like a baby last night's sleep to us to wake up and cry, sleep two hours, wake up and cry. [laughter] so i mean it sincerely when i say make you for your courtesy and for the privilege of addressing you on a subject close to my heart and yours, the cause of human dignity in a world plagued with too much journey, too much injustice, too much violence, too much suffering with too much evil. that's a rather dark introduction to my remarks i didn't want you to think i'm disheartened or resigned to a world where suffering and evil are always on the ascent. on the contrary it's in the

american character to see the good in things, to see the glass half full, to face adversity with open office of the we must see plainly and fully threats to our values in order to defeat them. but considering the remarkable global events in our values have made in our lifetime alone, we should have confidence in their continuing power and progress. i have always believed the matter how long it takes, tommy said that are suffered, how resilient the forces of tyranny are, the righteous will prevail. those who terrorize and persecute and destroy can be overcome with moral and physical courage. we are on the right side of history and we have been since our founding fathers forged a government that existed not to preserve the privileges of a regime or a class, but to protect people's god-given right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

it's also important to remember that our founding believe in and had human dignity is not limited to our own society, to the experiences of americans alone. we believe our political values to be universal. we believe that the dignity of all human life should be recognized and supported through shared, respect and responsibility. i've had differences of opinion over the years with former president jimmy carter who was in our prayers as he suffers ill health with grace and courage, but he was never more right or wiser than when he observed that america didn't invent human rights. human rights invented america. at our allegiance to our country cannot be separate from allegiance to our founding ideals and our conviction that they are the birthright of all mankind. we can manage to retain our

freedoms while other populations are denied to them. but not the sense of virtue that we refer to as american exceptionalism. and that made our revolution a moral as well as a political and military crusade. accepting the degradation of other countries of values we believe our god-given and universal is to relinquish some of our own humanity. the older we get, the more we realize that the pursuit of genuine happiness is so much more than the experience of pleasure. it requires us to serve causes greater than self-interest, causes that might encompass as but are not defined by our existence alone. i believe that same holds true for the conduct of nations as well as individuals. and no cause is greater than defending human dignity where ever it is threatened, at home

or abroad. we are morally obliged to confront evil. that may seem obvious when it comes to terrorist who beheaded innocent victims in front of cameras and murder us in our own country, but what is less obvious, in fact what doe doesnt necessarily bring cheer to many americans, is that confronting evil is a much broader responsibility and killing terrorists who are trying to kill us. it includes the responsibility not to turn a blind eye to threats to the peace and security of our friends and allies, even to threats to people with whom we share nothing other than our own humanity, it includes, it includes opposing assault on human dignity where ever they occur and whenever they occur. our opposition cannot always be military obviously, but it

should always be clear and the conduct of our policies and the public and private diplomacy come in the material and rhetorical support we give the victims of tyranny and in our relations and communications with their oppressors. there is no more fundamental right in a free society and the free practice of religion. no society that denies religious freedom can rightly claim to be good in some other way, and no person can be true to any faith that believes in the digny of human life if they did not act to support those whose dignity is under assault because of their faith. yet in countries around the world come human beings are imprisoned, and worse. for the crime of worshiping god in their own way. in some places that's happening at the direction of government or with governments acquiesces. united states should be first among all nations to denounce

religious persecution in all its forms applications, even when it takes place in nations with whom we have important and complicated relations such as china and saudi arabia, for example. of course, -- [applause] of course nowhere has religious persecution the more extreme, more brutal than the persecution of christians in the middle east and north africa at the hands of isis and other terrorist organizations. hold christian communities are being brutalized, murdered, driven from their ancestral homes and destroyed in the land where the faith was born at first took root in the hearts of humanity. as yet, neither the administration, the government of europe our other allies have shown seriousness of purpose and devising effective responses to these atrocities.

promoting religious freedom should be in the forefront of our counterterrorism efforts. it should be central to our development programs in the region and in our efforts to build alliances with local and regional leaders who oppose radical islam ideologies and advocate tolerance and pluralism. tony perkins and i wrote an op-ed on the subject earlier this summer and ask your indulgence for being one of the things politicians for doing one of the things politicians most love to do, quote ourselves. we wrote, america's support religious liberties since april in an unmistakable message that threatens communities around the world. america is your friend. such support built enduring goodwill toward our country among those who will be leaving their nations in the years ahead. and reminds all observers whether friend or hostile abuse remains committed to a world

where justice and human dignity are central to legitimate governance. the triumphant of rights, we proclaimed anti-declaration of independence encompass all other human rights. of course, the right to life is the most sacred of all. [applause] know whether rights exist without it, obviously. naturally been our greatest moral obligation is to oppose the taking of innocent life. it is that paramount obligations that constructs our opposition to abortion. i know many americans believe a child is not human life until it is born. they are wrong and we have a moral obligation to say so and defend the right to life of the most innocent. [applause]

contrary to conventional washington wisdom, public support is growing for our position and will continue as more americans are exposed to the cruelest realities of abortion and the other in differences to suffering and loss of life exhibited by some leading abortion advocates. opportunity to restrict abortion should improve, not as quickly as we want or as much, but i have to believe that america's sense of justice and humanity will prevail eventually. senator lindsey graham, the one on the warm-up act for, along with senator rubio and others, introduced a ban on abortions between the time a child in the womb can feel pain, which a strong supporter i know

restricting abortions isn't sufficient but it's progress. fewer unborn children will perish. senate democrats blocked it from coming to a vote the other day. that's frustrating but it won't be the final word. [applause] we will be back again for as long as it takes until this compassionate, sensitive mission receives the vote and support they deserve. hopefully we'll have a pro-life white house to work with soon. [applause] defend innocent life should be hybrid and the conduct of foreign policy, too. yet thymic in the free world has been slow or inadequate in our responses to attempted genocides in the unfree world. we were slow in cambodia, rwanda, kosovo, sudan and elsewhere. we have been woefully

ineffective to date in efforts to stop the horrors occurring in syria which include mass murder on the scale of genocide, the use of chemical weapons, millions of displaced starting innocent people at the most brutal dehumanizing of terrorism we have yet witnesses. all because of a feckless foreign policy by the president of the united states. [applause] in response to all the files and suffering and the danger it poses to peace and security in the middle east and her own security, the u.s. government has managed to periodically bomb ices targets, trained about half a dozen moderate sunni resistance fighters, meanwhile, ices and other terrorist organizations as well as russia and iran continue to strengthen their position in that wretched, utterly destroy the country. the instability this is causing is in the always dangerous

middle east is enormous and worsening. add to the instability affect how we have concluded an agreement with iran that will not prevent it from eventually acquiring nuclear weapons but willful billions of dollars in revenues to a regime that has been a dominating the middle east and sworn to the destruction of the state of israel, regime that has killed hundreds of americans remains an implacable enemy of the united states and is also the biggest sponsor of terrorism in the world. in pursuit -- [applause] in pursuit of racial hegemony, while under the full pressure of international sanctions, iran has expanded its intervention in lebanon, syria, iraq, yemen, gaza, arraigned and elsewhere. imagine, imagine with revolutionary guard and quds force will be further entrenched

in power by this agreement will do with the windfall sanctions relief. of ram will provide more arms and more supplies to their terrorist proxies in the region and more support for tirades like bashar al-assad's ruthlessness and clingy to our has destroyed his nation and provided opportunities for expansion to isis and other terrorist forces. despite repeated assurances to the contrary, administration officials do not restrict their negotiations with iran to its nuclear program. they made major concessions on iran's conventional weapons and ballistic missile programs. they agreed to lift the international arms embargo against iran in five years. russia and china and others eager to provide tehran with advanced conventional capabilities it desires will likely ignore any and american concerns of protest as they routinely do today on many other issues.

in eight years of anti-ballistic missiles with the lifted allowing iran to obtain systems whose purpose is to deliver nuclear weapons while under the terms of the agreement it is permitted to remain a threshold nuclear state within industrial enrichment capacity. we are allowing middle east to become drastically more dangerous while squandering our influence of their which was already at a low ab, thanks to the administration's policies and failures to act in response to other crises in the region. israel and other friends will face an imminent existential threat in iran's power and influence in the middle east will be greater than any other regional player should acquire ballistic missiles and then suddenly advocate agreed and raced to develop nuclear warheads. other powers in the region, my friend, are not going to stand by for the next few years and

watch this threa thread develop. they will do what they have to do their respective of u.s. wishes. a nuclear arms race will likely ensue in the most volatile terrorist ridden region on earth. we have put the lives of american soldiers at greater risk by allowing iran to develop an advanced military personal, our concessions have greatly increased the probable cause of military response to iran's violation of the agreement. many pundits, many pundits have hailed the agreement and the democrats obstruction of a vote in congress under resolution disapproving it is a great accomplishment for the president. this might sound funny coming from a. licensing help they are right i hope this agreement proves to be a great success in the judgment of history that would our worst fears were not realized. i'm worried they will be, if the situation in the east will make exponentially worse as a nuclear

arms race is added to the usual violence and instability there. terrorist networks become stronger, better funded and more effective. one of our best the most important allies come israel, confronts an existential threat that compels it to make a very hard, dangerous decision without a reliable source, support of the united states. ..

when i was a guest of the vietnamese and their hanoi hilton, as we loved to describe it as, playing volleyball, and enjoying their cow company, we

once spent many years in conditions of solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. for some reason, after about four years, the vietnamese changed our treatment and put us into cells of 25 or 30 prisoners in each cell. it was a wonderful change, as you could imagine. i'd spent at that time three years living by myself, and one of the men who moved in the cell with us was a young man named mike christian, mike christian came from a small town near selma, alabama. he came from an incredibly poor family. he joined the navy when he was 17. later took advantage of a program, became an officer and was a -- the copilot in the a-6 aircraft that was shot town and captured sometime before i was. mike christian had a keen appreciation, a keen appreciation, for the benefits of serving a country in uniform,

and as part of the change in treatment that took place, the vietnamese allowed some of us some packages from home, which contained some of -- some articles maybe of food and some small articles of clothing. the uniform we wore in prison was a blue short sleeved shirt and trousers that look like pajama trousers, and sandals made out of rubber tires. i recommend thy them highly, one pair lasted me five and a half years. and mike christian got a piece of white cloth and a piece of red cloth from the packages, and fashioned him a bam buie needle and he sewed on the inside of his shirt the american flag. eave evening before we would have our bowl of up so of undetermined content, we would put mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the pledge of

allegiance. saying the pledge of allegiance is obviously not the most important part of our day, although we certainly are privileged to do so, but in that prison cell, saying the pledge of allegiance to our flag and our country, was really the most important part of our day. the vietnamese routinely searched our cell. they came in one day and searched our cell, and found mike christian's shirt with the flag sewn inside of it. that evening they returned, called for him to come outside the cell, closed the door or the creel and beat him badly for about 45 minutes. right outside the cell, and then threw him inside. and obviously he was beaten rather badly. the cell in which we lived had a concrete slab on which we slept, and a light bulb in each four corners of the room. we cleaned up mike as well as we

could. i then went down to lie down to go to sleep, and i happened to look over in the corner of the cell, and underneath the light bulb -- with his eyes almost lows closed and mike christian was sewing another american flag. he didn't do that because it made mike christian fee better. he knew how important it was to pledge our allegiance to our flag and country. so near washington from time to time when i get a little disspiritted and down and disillusioned, think of mike christian and i think of all the wonderful people who have served our country and sacrificed for so many years, and i'm filled with gratitude and love. thank you. [applause]

♪ ♪ >> thank you senator mccain. i am grateful for his leadership on capitol hill and his friendship as well. i failed to do something, my official duty when i came up here this e. so i'm back here to conduct what i am responsible for and that is to actually gavel open the 2015 values voters summit. [applause] >> let me tell you, this is going to be a huge event. so i now, under the authority invested in me as the president of family research council, i gavel in the 2015 values voters summit. [applause]

>> and i'm going to take this with me lest one of the speakers wants to use it. >> all right. thank you, continue. for you pastors out there can we awe agree you can forget the gavel, but we must never forget the offering. amen the first presidential candidate is a cuban american native of miami, florida, graduate from the university of florida, a proud gator. elected to the florida house of representatives. in 2009 he ran for charlie crist and overcame a double digit lead to win his senate seat. he is -- [applause] -- he is the true american

success story and a champion for values voters and now seeks your vote to be the next president of the united states. ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome senator marco rubio. [applause] >> thank you very much. thank you. >> four bottles of water here. isn't that a bit much? thank you. i'm really honored to be with you. at the very much. it's an honor and a pleasure to be with your here today and exciting times for news terms of the future of the country. we fails extraordinary challenges and also real opportunities and what is what want to talk about today. i want to announce a couple of policy numbertives. i put it in writing and the good news is i finally was able to retrieve them from my e-mail

system. so that's the good news. anyway, thank you so much. i eye. really honored to be with you here today, all of you who are motivated to participate in the public square because of our value us. we always had the debate about what role freight show display grow life and politics. that's a silly debate. our country was founded on a spiritual principle, on the idea that eave human being has rights given to you by god, not bit your government or the king. i it was a revolutionary idea. [applause] and second as a christian, i am taught from the areaest days of my life i'm supposed to model jesus christ, god, and that means to care for the lest fortunate, supposed to try to be humble. there's strength in weakness. that the meek shall inherit the worth. that my job to care and love my fellow man because there's never been a person who god didn't love. so people better hope my faith

influences the way we govern because these are important values, and unfortunately they're eroding in our country, and imhonorred to run for president. it's an extraordinary opportunity. and one that i'm grateful for the blessing to do. it's been over five months now since we start ited the campaign and virtually every event we do i'll meet someone or see something that reminds me of my parents, even here today, for my father worked as a banquet bar tender in rooms just like this, and he did that job well into this 70s. many of you probably know this by now but both of my parents were bon on cuba, to for a families, and they were born into a society like most, if not almost every place outside or america, their future largely depend on what their parents did. my mother was one of to seven sisters born who a fire who was disabled bid polio as a trajectory struggled his whole life to find and keep jobs that allowed him to provide for his children. my father actually had it even

tougher. his mother died when he ways only nine. and the day after her funeral, at nine years of age, he had to go work in the streets of havana with his father. he had to leave school. never go back to school. and he would work for the 70 years of hers life. after my parents married in cuba they wanted something better for themselves and their children so in 1956 they came to america. to the one place on earth where people like them could have a chance. and their early years in america about not easy either. but in time they found good jobs, my father worked as a bartender. and my mother had all kinds of jobs. a cashier, a maid, stock clerk at k-mart. they earned enough money to buy a home and raise a family and retire with security. and even though their jobs often required them to leave home before dawn and come become after bedtime, they were able to be there in the most important moments of their children's lives. to provide for our needs and to teach us the values we needed to

be successful. when i tell that story aitch offer reminded i don't come from privilege and the truth if by privilege they mean wealth and power, that's true. i didn't inherit any money from my parents. but i nonetheless believed that it actually do come from extraordinary privilege. because i'm the citizen -- i'm a citizen of the single greatest nation in all of human history. [applause] a nation founded on the fundamental belief that every person has a got given right to good as far as their talent and work will taken take them, a nation who says to us, that even the son of bartendser and a maid could have the same dreams and the same opportunities as someone who was born into wealth and into power. i was also privileged because i was raised with something that has become increasingly rare. i was raised in a stable home.

by a mother and a father, man and a woman, who were married. [cheering] who loved each other. who loved their children. who were an active presence in our life and who raised me and us to believe that if we lived with the right values and the faith in al-an all-mighty god there was nothing that we could not accomplishment today that american dream that my family achieved is slipping out of reach for far too many. our economy has fundamental transformed since my parents' time. in fact it's very different than the one i grew up in. rapid advances in technology replaced old jobs with new someone globalization has forced us into competition with dozens of other nations for jobs and innovation. and yet while our economy is transforming, our government policies are not. we have unfortunately a political class in this country that refuses to toss out the old

and outdated ways of thinking when it comes to our economy, the way of thinking that says weed the guardians and government to protect us from ourselves. that to help someone climb the economic ladder we have to pull someone else down and that government, not the family, is the most important institution in society. our outdated leaders fail to recognize the changes it will take to seize the promise of the new economy, and as a result, that promise is passing us by. today businesses are dying faster than they are forming. the cost of everyday life is soaring while wages remain the same. and too many parents feel as if the longer and harder they work, the further they and their childrenning falling behind. i want to be clear about something. even with our many challenges, america is still the best equipped nation on the planet to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of this new century. ask yourself this.

there is any country on earth you would rather be? is there any country you would trade places with? or here's another way to think about it. when was the last time you read about a boat load of reefs arriving on the shores of another country? so america is still special. but recent years have proven-under exceptionalism is not self-sustaining. that we didn't become special by accident. and we aren't going to stay that way without effort. we're not going to stay that we by look thing to the same leaders and the same idea that he led to us this point. i believe the american people are looking for at this moment in our history is clear. they are looking for leaders. who understood the changes that have occurred in our economy, who understand the unique challenges facing our families in this century. who will come here to this city and fight the status quo holding us back, and in its place, offer clear alternatives for the future. now, the political class sees

the sentiments and try to make sense of it all. but they can't. because never before, certainly in my lifetime, has the political class of our country or the mainstream media that covers them for that matter, been more out of touch with the american people than they are right now. [applause] >> look at the deal with iran. look at the deal rave touchdown which is just a series of concessions to an enemy of the united states. the american people realize how bald the deal is. they opposed it by an overwhelming two to one margin and yet washington still can't and won't stop it. the issues like this are anytime rouse so big so consequential, so generational, that people cannot help but ask how can it be that we sent a republican majority to congress, and yet there's still not able to symptom our country from sliding in the wrong direction? [applause]

and we'll see how things progress just a few minutes ago, speaker boehner announced he will be resigning. [cheering] [cheers and applause] >> and with all due respect to people that serve in government, it is important at this moment with respect to him and the service he provided to our country, it's not about him or anybody else and i'm not here today to bash anyone. but the time has come to turn the page. the time has come to turn the page and allow a new generation

of leadership in this country. [applause] >> and that extends to the white house and the presidency as well. [cheers and applause] >> and that's why after just four and a half years in the senate, i decided that i would run for president. because i realize that none of the problems i was elected to solve are going to be solved if we keep promoting the same people to higher and higher ranks within our government. here's the simple truth. the toe set a new precedent in washington, we need a new president in washington. [applause] we need a president who understands that this economic transformation we're undergoing is a perfect chance to embrace and reinvigorate the free enterprise economy. a president who will fight washington special interests in

both partyes, not be co-opted by them. who will take clear and even unpopular positions to confront the greatest threats to our nation. and most of all, what we need is a president who on their first day in office will be putt the left hand on the bible and right hand in the air and promise to uphold the buyer constitution, including the right of legislation liberty. -- religious liberty. [applause] to uphold the buyer constitution, thug relying to religious liberty, the right to bear arms and including the right to the god-given and inalienable right to life. [applause]

sadly it's been almost eight years since we had a president like that but if i have the opportunity to serve in the highest office in the land i promise you i will live by that creed and i will live by that pledge, because when i'm president i will empower our people rather than our government and will do that be recognizing you cannot have a strong people without strong families. the truth is, that what happens in our house, in your house in my house, is more often than not just as important for the future of our country, if not more so, than what happens in the white house. but too often, too often, especially in recent years, washington has tried to compete with the family rather than support it. and in fact it's tried to redefine the family. it's persecuted and now even prosecuted those who do not agree with the new direction that those seek to take us. it has punish marriage. the foundation of family life.

by taxing married couples more than singles. made it harder for parents to keep what they earn and challenged the values and supplanted the faithful organizationed that have provided the century's empowerment to our people. i have a plan to reform our government in a way that empowers families to thrive in the modern economy and major come opinion within will be reforms to family leave policy i'd like to introduce for the first time here today. i said one reason why i feel privileged is that i was born to two parents, who were married, and who were able to be a constant presence in our lives. this was an extraordinary and enormous advantage for me growing up. and that's why now as a parent i struggle with the demand public life, the public life i've chosen. it pains me every time i have to miss a volleyball game or a football game or a field trip. even though i know that i'm doing this for them. and this struggle is not unique to me. it's a problem that almost every

parent in america faces today. and the reason this hurts is because we know greatest gift parents can give their children is the time we spend together, the values that only parents can teach the love only parents can provide. the encouragement only parents can offer and cannot come via texts or cell phone dahl calls, and have to come through time spent together. and that white one of the greatest threats to family today two tao many americans have to choose between being there for their children in times of great need or meeting the basic financial needs 0 of their family, and like so many fund. am problems this one can be traced back in part to the outdated policies from washington, dc. oreodont law mandates that employers offer 12 weeks of unpaid leave to work with certain family or medical issues like a newborn child in need of care, an elderly parent with declining health or personal health crisis. bus this has proven insufficient because taking unpaid leave is

not a viable financial option for men -- american americans. moch of our current laters, including hillary clinton, stick to this outtated way of thinking. the only way to solve the problem is the wail they think we can solve every problem, raise taxes, grow government, and place crippling requirements on private companies. i don't need to tell anyone here why that wouldn't work. the same reason obamacare has not worked. our policy some heap workes, not cost them jobs and we can apply our free enterprise principle in a way that encourages businesses to choose to offer more family paid leave. to do this we should provide a limited 25% non refundable tax detroit any before that offers between four and 12 weeks of paid leave. i if you're offered $1,600 in paid week for four week while your take care of your newborn child, the equivalent of $10 an hour you employer can claim a tax credit of $400.

this won't solve sever scheduling conflict between work and family life. but it will help ensure our people don't have to sit behind a desk while the most profounds moments of their lives pass them by and it will help our businesses expand and create new jobs. by allowing them to keep more of their money rather than send it to be wasted near washington. conservatives are fighting hard. senator deb fisher has been a leader in family reform and i'm glad to join her. i'm currently -- unfortunately our current preside dtcs nod to sign legislation that is common sense too much efforts will be something we'll need to take up if god willing i'm president. doing soil we be a step towards reclaiming the american dream but will only be one step. of course people cannot be concerned about family leave if they don't have a good paying job to take leave from. 0so we need our next president to recognize an important fact

that no one in washington today seems to understand. politicians don't create jobs. the american people create jobs. [applause] we need a president and we need leaders at every level of government who start placing our government's faith in our people. one we'll know the right thing as prets that by the end of my term we won't be talking that much about washington. we'll be too busy discussing the extraordinary achievements of everyday americans. by the year 2020, this is what happy we will be able to say. that we made our business tax code globally competitive ration peeled and replaced obamacare. [applause] that we place the cap on regulations and that we made our country the best place in the world to create jobs and that as a result our people are creating

thousands of businesses, millions of new high-paying jobs some their innovations are driving the progress of the world. and the year 2020 we want to be able to say that we rereformed our higher education system, we made it more affordable and more accessible to every american. and as a result, our people are earning degrees that empower them to move, from jobs that pay $10 an hour to jobs that pay $70,000 a year. that millions are beginning to emerge from the shadow of student loan debt and high schoolers are graduating certifications to immediately enter good, paying careers, and the year 2020 i want to be able to say we secured our borders first, that we reformed our legal immigration system. [applause] so that people come to this country base owned what they can contribute to our economy. on the basis of whether they want to become an american, not simply live in america. no whether they have a family member live hearing, and that we have done what we needed to do, to save social security and

medicare, without having to make any changes for people currently on it and that as a result of the changes the people are growing our economy as an historic rate. our deficits are finally beginning to dwindle, and the national debt is being brought under control so it no longer is threatening to take away everything that makes our country so special. in the year 2020, i want to be able to say that we have defended religious liberty. that we have supported -- [applause] -- that we have worked to hard to support the right of our people not just to hold traditional views, but to exercise them. to express them. that we reformed the tax code to encourage marriage rather than punishing it. [applause] >> and that we made it easier for parents to afford the cost of raising their children and that as a result our families

found financial security, that they're raising strong children with strong values and instilling in their kid all the hope in the future of america that our parents instilled in us. that's what i want to be able to talk about in 2020 can, the accomplishments of our people, not of washington. but there's one more important point that needs to be made. one that transcends policy and politics altogether. no candidate for president can claim to stand on the side of our people if they do not believe that every person has a right to exist. [applause] and that is why the issue of right to live is more than political or policy related. it is not a political issue. it is a human rights issue. it is a definitional issue about what kind of country we ran to be. in a world where life is increasingly not valued where people are discarded. america must stand for the

belief that all life is worthy of protection because all live comes from god. [applause] so, by the you're 2020 i hope to be able to say that abortions after 20 weeks are illegal, that no taxpayer money is used to fund abortions here or abroad and planned parenthood doesn't receive a penny from the federal government. [cheers and applause] ...

what makes america great is that dreams that are in possible everywhere else are possible here. and why is that? it's because the choices the people before us made. almost every other country in the world chose to have a government run their economy. and those countries people who can influence the government doesn't want to keep winning and everybody else stays the same. the employee never becomes the employer. the small business can never

compete with the big business and no matter how hard your parents work or how many sacrifices if you were not born in the right family in those countries, there is only so far you can go. but those before us chose something very different. they chose individual liberty. they chose limited government that exists to protect the rights and not to decide them and yet there are still people in american politics sadly in both parties who bring to the belief that america is better off adopting the economic policies of the countries that people come here to get away from. [applause] this is a free society. go have a right to believe whatever they want. but i don't have the option. i'm just a generation removed from a different life. my parents came here with virtually nothing, no knowledge of english at the time, no money, no friends. the only thing they have is a strong determination to provide

their children all of the opportunities that they've never had. and in america they were never rich or wealthy or influential but the hard work of indoors for their children that are closed for them. everything that i've accomplished, everything that i will ever accomplish i go to god , to my parents sacrifices and to the united states of america. [applause] my parents story is the essence of the american dream. it's a story that is rare in the world was so common because the truth is it is all our stories to be here in this nation we are all but a generation or two removed from someone who made our future the purpose of their lives and for now it is our turn. this is a generational choice about what kind of country about

what kind of america we are going to leave our children and what kind of a country we will be in the 21st century. the final verdict on the generation is going to be written by americans that haven't yet been born. let us take sure we made the right choice but in the early years of the century faced with troubling uncertain times there were those that we leave that the great american story had run its course. but we did not agree. fear didn't lead us to abandon our liberty. we fought for it and held onto those things that made us exceptional, and because we did, there was still one place on earth where the individuals was more important. there was still one place on earth where where you come from doesn't determine how far you get to go. because we made the right choices and because we did we didn't just restore the american dream we expanded and expanded to reach more families and more people than ever before.

and the american mayor: don. thank you. [applause] ♪ plan cals for eliminating federal income taxes on low-income earners and wearing it for corporations and the highest income tax earners. you can watch the explanation tonight at a time to 30 on c-span2. congress is working on total spending this week ahead of the current funding expiring wednesday house is waiting for the senate to senate take action so they will begin the week with

other bills including giving states more flexibility in denying medicaid contracts to providers to perform abortions. the house gavels in and about an hour to o'clock eastern time for a debate. the senate before:30 and will consider the plan to fund the government with a vote on whether or not to move forward scheduled for 5:30. the governments today have an advisory. they do not directly make policy and they cannot have a seat on the board of directors. this is very much a triumph showing how the private sector led institution that has the government as an important advisory body but that has a

broad-based decision-making that is the private sector led including input from the technical community and civil society and acdemics etc. but that is advice that informs the policy and the board activities including the fact that government is continuing to play an advisory role to what we do. >> at eight eastern and pacific on the communicators on c-span2. >> when you look at the role the supreme court is playing in our society now our history series has to have relevance and so as we thought about what can we do to get relevance to the current programming, the court made all the sense in the world. the court is an equal branch of government. it's the third branch of

government and it still has fundamental impact on the american's lives. >> inside of this is a courtroom where cases are heard and decisions are made that impact on our lives. there are so many incredibly interesting cases in the courts history. we've all heard about roe v. wade and brown v. board of education. but for so many people they are just names in a textbook and what we want to do is talk about not only the legal side of the case but the people involved in the cases. they are human beings and they brought the cases to court. >> i think what people find most fascinating about the cases are the personal stories. >> one of my personal favorites is the story when people hear the story of this woman it is a

situation they will fall in love with these cases and they will feel passionate about what happened in the courts and why they matter and why you should care. >> taking the 12 cases is a really difficult and arduous task. it's a fun task because we learned a lot. but those 12 cases are evolving in the understanding of the rights in america that right in america but take a look from dred scott to the case and miranda all the way to roe v. wade and o'neal are not only about the history of the country that the evolving rights in america. >> landmark cases, historic decisions produced in cooperation with the national constitution center delving into the supreme court cases that significantly influence the nation's story and the evolving understanding of the rights in america. live monday night at 9 p.m. eastern beginning october 5. c-span and on c-span three. and as a companion to the new series, landmark cases in the book features a 12 cases we

selected for the series with a brief introduction into the background, highlights and impacts of each case written by the veterans think what a journalist tony mauro published by c-span in cooperation with congressional quarterly press and the landmark case is available for $8.95 plus shipping and handling. get your copy at c-span.org/landmark nospaceco cases. >> with john boehner retiring at the owner retiring at the end of october some members have announced or are thinking about announcing to take his place. second ranking house republican kevin mccarthy has not yet announced what he will be be doing that he will be speaking on the foreign-policy and about 15 minutes. we will take you to the comments why that one time 2:30 p.m. eastern. and that congressman daniel webster announced last week that he will be running for speaker against mccarthy. and the report is a few others are considering the run including majority whip steve

scalise of louisiana. some say the oversight committee paul ryan and jeb hensarling of texas are endorsing tom price over steve for the number two slot. also mentioned republican conference committee chair cathy mcmorris rogers of washington state rules the committee chair in texas and the budget committee chair tom price of georgia. also reports that the house gop will be holding a special conference meeting tomorrow afternoon to talk about a way forward. after the speaker's resignation we we talked of the possible succession earlier today on washington journal. >> first guest this morning washington correspondent. what is the likelihood that the government will be shut down by the end of the week? >> guest: pretty well i believe at this point. it seems particularly with the departure of mr. john boehner on friday the pressure has sort of relieved for the shut down both we anticipate the vote in the senate today to move the process

forward actually fund the government when we expect a vote by wednesday and we believe that by wednesday evening they will come up with a short-term solution and it will be a clean continuing resolution. it just extending the current budget through december 11 with no policy changes. importantly, not including the language that conservatives were looking for two d. fund planned parenthood. that was the sort of sticking point it looks like they will try different approach to that problem and fund the government. >> host: they said that senator and rand paul. >> is to put in place to keep that happening. the votes are going forward to

move on the clean bill. the senate operates in this. we need to get 60 votes to support you and i'm sorry to 60 votes to decide to move the bill to the floor if they can't get the votes to move the bill to the floor then it just dies and it looks like that's what's happening in the senate at this point. >> use of short-term that brings us to december. >> guest: i canceled my holiday travel plans and i recommend you do the same. we really don't know. we will face a number of things all at once. government funding will be again expiring so they need to figure out what to do. the second problem at that point we will hit the density and they will figure out whether or not to raise the ceiling and this becomes one of those issues for conservatives if the fundamental

argument about going into more debt and you will hear the whole argument about how we are mortgaging the future to china and yet the democrats argue frequently with success recently that you can't default on old promissory notes by failing to take that and spend the money so that will be a december battle and we have a highway bill funding that has to come up sometime between now and again and we won't be surprised if the polls into the same pile as there is a whole bunch of stuff that has to be hammered out over the next few months and keep in mind we don't know who the speaker is going to be and who the rest of the republican leaders are going to be so there will be some significant quality time arguing over that before they get to the substantive issues. >> as far as december is the possibility that could have another short-term extension.

>> guest: they are doing best this to make things down to leader. they could certainly fund on the funding bill and my recollection is that last year it was the middle of january before they finally got the bill passed so they can do whatever they want to do but the debt ceiling is a bigger issue for the emergency tools that are at their disposal to try to stretch this deadline out of stress possible. but sooner or later they will need a vote on that. >> host: a possible government shutdown scheduled october 1 day of pulsing from usa talking about that and the washington correspondent if you want to ask a question to zero to 8,000, democrats could 202-737-0001 and republicans (202)748-8002 and independent.

we both take those calls in just a moment. talk about the political calculus out of this equation as far as the shut down boat. >> guest: the issue that you have in either of these battles is that if you want to the fund planned parenthood and we will talk about whether that would be meaningful the money that they get in the federal government has largely been distributed anyway on to probably february or march of next year. if you want to take the money away to the bill it would have to get through the senate and it's probably not enough votes to get it to the floor. there's not enough there is not enough votes in the senate to override the veto.

while one of the arguments that the house republicans are making is that they want to force president obama into that argument and announce yes i am going to accept shutting down the government because i want to defend planned parenthood. the problem is it's not clear if there is a path to get the bill to the desk. >> host: first call comes from philadelphia pennsylvania on the democrats line. usa today go ahead. >> caller: good morning. my question for the guest republicans want to shut down planned parenthood in our country while in the foreign aid package state israel get about four 4%. the have some of the most lax abortion policies. a 15-year-old girl doesn't need parental consent.

she can get an abortion at any terms term of the presidency and the kicker is the government pays 100%. you're talking 16 or $17 million a year that we send over to israel. i would like to hear the republicans explain why they are against it and support it around the world. >> i don't anything about that policy and i will tell you that in the number of bills the united states government has passed over the years they've limited the use of any money for abortion overseas and there's been a whole series of orders on whether or not you can use the foreign aid money to counsel the women on abortion whether the doctors that are funded by u.s. dollars can talk about abortion as an option for patients so i don't know whether there is any direct u.s. funding to israel.

>> host: francis from oklahoma on the democrats line. you are on. go ahead. >> caller: who is going to suffer with all this stuff going on we are the ones that are going to suffer if they shut down the government. it's what the impact of the government shuts down and we've been down this road a couple of times now there's a number of emergency provisions in place to prevent disaster from striking from the defense department is still working, the transportation security agency and the folks that do security at the airport they are still on duty by and large.

anybody that is sort of serving the emergency function still comes to work and get stuff done. there is always the question of is it going to affect the social security checks going out. they will slow down over time. everybody gets paid or suspended during this time. co. they get paid sooner or later and there's been an argument it's costing the government more to do this because then they have to get paid for these employees. so the question is who is impacted first. the most direct impact is if you are waiting for a less urgent government service if you're waiting for a national park permit or waiting for some sort of museum or to get into an event, that is the sort of

low-impact stuff that goes in first and i believe that you will find the administration has the flexibility to pick those services that would be the best. it's great to put close to signs on museums. it's great because all of the reporters went to take pictures of the museum is being shut down. and then it becomes the government shutting down. but it is actually not a light switch. it doesn't just turn off the government on thursday morning and you can't get an answer anywhere. >> host: but what about the programs are they affected as well? >> guest: given the mandatory programs that are paid while you still get the food stamp or whatever else it is you may have a difficulty getting services because you might not be able to reach somebody on the phone for instant for the customer call in line that's where you get into these issues of who is considered an essential employee and who is not.

>> i wastrying to see if we do have a shutdown if. we have different things like that. is it going to affect that? my understanding is the payments don't change when the government shutdown takes place. receiving the secondary services if you have a difficulty with the check and you need to make a phone call for somebody anyone 800 line for an answer as to where my check is and why the number is different and some other sort of a process that's

where i believe you are most likely to see an immediate problem but again first of all i don't think we are going to have a shutdown this week and second of all one of the reasons that it becomes harder to shut down the government in december is that they don't want to get into these kind of issues of christmas. >> host: one of the people said it won't be a shutdown with house speaker that appeared on face the nation and was asked specifically about this question and here is some of the reasoning to respond to as well. >> the senate was expected to pass the resolution last week and the house will take up the senate bill and will also take up the select committee to investigate.

and the aborted fetuses and life. what is that supposed to? >> guest: . the conservatives in his party. they suggest that people in the organization were discussing selling tissue from abortions for profit basically. now planned parenthood of the night of the immensely that is what is going on and these were in the video is at its peak the videos and it's the videos and it's taken a lot of context and that's not what they do and that's not a policy area i don't get into that debate. the political issue is the

conservatives particularly want to define the planned parenthood so how do you do that? we try to do it on the short-term spending bill and couldn't get the votes to get it through the senate. meanwhile there are several investigations going on in the house and several committees house and several committees that are investigating planned parenthood to see whether or not some criminal activity is taking place and what they have done that is alleged and if so then what are the ramifications. so what he's trying to do is find other paths. it is a legitimate concern of things being done with taxpayer money.

to attach this piece of legislation that would take away the planned parenthood money. how do you figure that? they've been elbowed out and they are not given an opportunity to voice their concerns and they are not given the vote on something that they think is very important. it takes away the plaintive argument that we are going to fight the speaker and show how much we agree to fight the speaker and the push down. we are going to go ahead and pass the vote and move the government forward into the conservatives don't feel like they have the votes.

they will argue against it. >> from jerry from georgia democrats line. i just wanted to make a comment. i retired from the government and the rest of my family either retired from the state or federal government job and i respect what the government has given me through my life and i appreciate it. but they have this tea party mentality where they would love to see the government shuts down. they hate the government, and there they are retirement from government jobs on medicare getting all the services that can provide them and they hate the government. can you explain this to be? >> guest: there has been this irony that we talked about for

years of people saying they they didn't want the affordable care act and keep your hands off my medical care basically and yet they were receiving a great deal of care through medicaid for instance. i think all of us in fairness would say we don't want the government assistance and yet there are programs we take advantage of all the time and we don't see how pervasive it is in your life until you sort of stop and have this conversation. what does the government do for me on any given day whether it is my tax benefit that i get over here and whether it is the security guards that helped me get in and out of the capitol building and whatever it is in your dalia life you don't sort of think about how much you interact in the government on a regular basis. the other thing is there has been since the early 1990s the drumbeat of conservative thought

the government is too big and controls much of our lives is and is not only no longer helping us grow but is in fact impeding our development. it's interactive but guess we want the government to do that for me because that's why we have government. >> paul singer with usa today talking about the possible government shutdown and other topics. 20274 , (202)747-8002 for independence. here is dave. >> good morning. >> i have a problem with the way that at the affairs network is talking about the shutdown. every time you talk about a shutdown if the gop shutdown

like it's one word and that's just not the way it is. the only way that it's doing its job right now is terry reed if they were to do the nuclear job to blow them up and just pass it and put it on obama's desk they would still have them their job and then it would be the president who would take it and either sign it or not if he doesn't sign at the government shuts down because they do that. if the democrats uphold the veto then it's a democrat and president. any of the people that get the money they never suffer if only some poor little little veteran group that can't get in the monument somewhere. >> guest: it takes two to tango you are exactly right. if the president wanted to avert this particular shuts down he could also simply say okay i

will accept all of the policy amendments that republicans want to make in order to fund the government. but it's also true that the republicans are pushing the policy position that they know the president will not accept so i take the caller at his point you are exactly right this is not a one-party government shutdown. it's not a one-party saying we are going to shut down the government that there is -- it is a delicate dance. the whole point of the way the government works is the various branches have to agree on a path forward and if neither side is willing to compromise, there is no path forward and we reach a screeching halt. i do not assign blame to who is the first responsible party. but the fact of the matter is that republicans are pushing for this particular piece of

legislation, this planned parenthood legislation notes from the outside that the only way to get that done is to force the showdown with the president over shutting down the government. so, that is the path that they want to take to the government shutdown whether that makes the responsible shutdown is not my call. >> host: on the idea of passports let's talk about the passport for the house speaker would start with kevin mccarthy. ..ouse leadership your lips are with kevin mccarthy. what does he bring to the table? guest: he is the majority leader, the second in command in the republican party. he has not have that job very long. he took it over about one year cantor lost ac primary to a tea party challenger. mccarthy has only been in congress about one decade. he is fairly new for that role. i think he is very likely to get the speaker's job at this point.

one of his strengths is he's a very personable fellow. he has a habit of posting members in his office all the time to chat about stuff, even have said they really feel like mccarthy has the skills of listening to them they appreciate. it will a challenge, arguments, a tea party candidate, but even tea-party groups -- the house freedom caucus is the leading vanguard of the tea party movement in the house now. the freedom caucus members have said they don't think they have enough votes to elect a speaker but they have enough votes to affect the process, and i think part of the process will be these longer discussions about sitting down with mccain car the and saying we want to make sure included in some dialogues. >> host: i can know representative webster announced an interest. has the freedom caucus put forward a nominee. >> no. they are -- they want to meet the candidates, talk to the

candidates. we're talking not just the speaker's job but if kevin mccarthy moves up to speaker, somebody else has to be the leader,. those will all be open for discussion and debate and votes. so, the freedom caucus, what they asked for more than anything else, is a little bit of time. they want to not rush to other core nation of mr. mccarthy. they want time to have a conversation about the various candidates and where the party is going. >> host: conversation hopefully to influence people that reflect their positioning? >> guest: you presume. that's the only real reason to do it. but you have to again -- there are -- there's a pretty significant swath within the republican party that were supporters of john boehner, who argue that the freedom caucus, while they are a valuable contributor to their majority, is also still a minority view even in the republican party. so you can't just give them the keys and say, whatever, run the

place however you want. that will be the discuss. >> host: is how do you make -- how do you make this particular hard-line group feel included while still not letting them run the institution because they are still a minority. >> host: assuming that kevin mccarthy gets the position, how do the house freedom caucus -- how do they operate within the body now they don't hey speaker boehner to focus on? >> guest: i do not know. we'll see an interesting moment where the speaker has stepped down in part because of the revolution in his own caucus. this departure removes the pressure of the revolution for a few moments, and we have a new leader take the reins and attempt to steer this fractious caucus in some other direction that is not the same catastrophic ending. i don't know how they do it. >> paul singer from "usa today."

teresa from florida. >> caller: hi, paul. thank you for taking my call. my question is this. i'm pro life, but i also believe in the law, and planned parenthood has not been found guilty of anything at this point. so why are they making such an issue of shutting down the federal government before this has had a chance to go through the legal system? it's just ridiculous. and my second point is, i work for the national park service for many years, can we please somehow make it a point that park service stay open when they shut down the government? >> guest: no. in fact, the park service is one of the first things that close thursday the shutdown. i apologize for that bad news. again, it's not considered essential by and large, and it's a great way to aract publicity if you're in the government, and

you want to make people feel the pain of the shutdown, you just hang a sign on the washington monument saying, closed for business. go write a letter to the speaker and complain. as far as the planned parenthood thing, i think it was diane black, congresswoman diane black, had a bill in the house, getting to your point. her argument was rather than simply borrowing funding for planned parenthood -- barring funding from planned parenthood, let's do a moratorium that allows for investigation of this matter to see whether something criminal has taken place. i think that addresses some of the question there. i think if you have seen the videos that the whose debate is about, they obviously represent -- they're hard to watch and they're grim topic of discussion. because we don't know exactly where the videos came from

because we don't know how they're produced, we don't know what else we didn't see, it's impossible to conclude as you said that some crime has been committed. but it's certainly enough to generate concern, and obviously public concern has been generated. >> we are going to leave the rest of this. you can find it online at c-span2.org. take you live now for remarks by the house republican kevin mccarthy, majority leader, speaking in washington, dc. the introductions underway now. >> we are releasing our first book, "choosing to lead: american foreign policy for a disordered world." the book presents a comprehensive governing agenda on foreign policy and national security and it's written for in the next president of the united states. the book is available for free download at choosing to lead.net. we are honored to launch our new book with the house majority leader, kevin mccarthy, and rather than recite the

line-by-line of his citizen receive biology -- extensive biography and accomplishments, i'd like to touch on who think that strike me about his career. fir, at every stage of his career, his peers have chosen him as a leader. he was elect national chairman of young republicans in 1999. as a freshman in the california assembly, he was elect unanimously as republican leader, first in assembly history for a freshman member. then he was elected to the house in 2006, and in a relatively short period of time, was elected as house majority leader. and yet, one senses this is all prologue, and we have only begun to see his leadership. the second thing i'd like to emphasize about leader mccarthy is his work on foreign policy. he has done his homework on the issues that we face today.

he has made the time to travel overseas, to meet with heads of government, and foreign ministers. his eloquent remarks at the museum in tunisia one week after the terrorist attacks there, show the clear understanding of international terrorism and its many dimensions. he also knows that current efforts are insufficient. as he has observed, the war on terrorism isn't going to lead itself. it's also clear from talking with him that what guides his thinking on foreign policy questions is -- are the lessons he has learn from studying the lives of churchill, washington, lincoln, and reagan. he will talk more about their influence in his remarks today. we invited leader mccarthy to give an address on america's role in the world, and we are

deeply grateful that he accepted our invitation, please welcome the house majority leader, kevin mccarthy. [applause] >> thank you all very much. brian, congratulations on the book. excited about being able to read it. and to all of you, i know some in the room or friends. if you walk into by office there are two american leaders in particular that i have protraits, abraham lincoln and ronald reagan. abraham lincoln is a big portrait in black and white behind my desk. across the hallway is ronald reagan install color and smiling. -- all in color and smiling. sit there many days and wonder, what advice would these two leaders give us today? wow know what lincoln would tell us? believe in the exceptionalism of this country. because we're different than any other country before us.

the reason why i believe lincoln would say this is the get gettysburg address you. all know the first lines, have you ever listened so the ours? our forefathers brought fort a new mission, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. he goes on to say if we fail government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from earth. he did not say if we fail england or france would pick up the torch but a they were not conceived in liberty and dedicated that all men are equal. when this hit home strongest, a few years back i'm in the rotunda. at the president of israel, perez, is there to receive a medal. he looks out at us and says you live on the greatest mission that every been on the face of the earth.

not the greatest nation of our time but on the face of the earth. he says, but you know what your greatness comes from? it's not what you take. it's what you give. that america will give the ultimate sacrifice of life so another country can have freedom and with that freedom becomes human rights and a stronger economy. that's who we are. the second bit of advice i believe lincoln would tell us, don't sit and just blame others for your problems. accept where you are but find a solution. lincoln was elected november 1860. sworn in march 1861. and those few months, seven states left the union. and never once did he blame buchanan. a little different than our white house today. right? the advice reagan would tell us -- i think this would be directed to the current

president -- peace without freedom is meaningless. history has proven when those strive just to have peace, like chamberlain, never achieved freedom. the best example is reagan, late in his second term, where he is in iceland with gorbachev. he sits down, pretty much gets almost everything he asked for. but gore chaff asked for that one last item. to end the research of fbi. reagan said, no, but offered him something more. i'll share. gorbachev said no. reagan got up and walked away from the table. had reagan not left with the berlin wall have collapsed? would the soviet union have collapsed? peace without freedom is meaningless. little side note. do you realize that our current president, barack obama, has with the president before

reagan, jimmy carter, those two presidents won the nobel peace prize. reagan did not. but who brought people nor freedom? the fourth built of advice would come from reagan. he would tell us, speak the truth about our enemies and ourselves. we can't be afraid to call the enemy what it is. radical islamic terrorism. but we also can't be afraid to say the truth about america. we are exceptional. we are the force for good in the world. as reagan said at the world institute of national affairs in london, when free people cease telling the truth about and to their adversaries, they cease telling the truth to themselves. in matters of state, unless the truth be spoken, it ceases to exist. and the last bit of advice,

lincoln would tell us, don't put off tough decisions for future generations. lincoln had a very tough decision. but the debate of slavery didn't start in 1850. it started with the creation of our country. but our forefathers thought it was too divisive so they put it to the side, and in essence, it had to be hundreds of thousands of grandchildren to make that decision. we don't have the same difficult decision but this white house is managing the decline, and putting us in tough decisions for the future. do you remember not so long ago when america stood if its allies and against the enemies or when america's strength led to peace and prosperity? not just here but around the world. when america was seen as a world shining light of freedom,

liberty, and justice. that's the america i grew up in. that's the america i want for my children, and their children. but before i even became majority leader, i had a passion for world affairs. because i believed that anyone who wants to lead in washington, must commit to america's leadership among the community of nations. and embrace america's role and responsibilities in preserving safety, and security, peace and prosperity, not just within our borders but beyond. in the past few years alone, i have visited poland, hungry, estonia, russia, and georgia. i have met with prime minister netanyahu, in israel. visited in our -- the allies in the air a black gulf. traveled to tunisia and iraq. met with president poroshenko in

ukraine and visited with allies in germany, france, and united kingdom. but understanding the world and, more importantly, the wisdom to act when needed, is not measured in frequent flier miles or endless meetings. effective foreign policy is not about effort. it's measured by success. and success in foreign policy, just like domestic policy, must be governed by sound, unshakable principles, because without a clearly state framework for action, araneisms will be emboldened by our uncertainty and allies paralyzed by our indecision. so here is the first and most important principle of american foreign policy. the world is a safer place when america leads. in 2008, you remember? candidate obama, criss-crossing europe, speaking before millions, he traveled to places like berlin, to speak to fawning

crowds, with the goal of improving our reputation. but what he has yet to learn in office is that respect is not bestowed upon those who ask for it but grant only to those who earn it. when it comes to dictators, tyrants and terrorists, strength and the threat of force is the only language they understand. we have lost the respect of our allies, and adversaries alike. we have isolated israel while bolding placing like iran. we let north korea then south korea. russia encroach on ukraine, and now china asserting influence around the world. wherever you look, the world is less safe and less secure because america is less engaged. the america we need and deserve is strong, respected,

appreciated, and feared. a country where the noble cause of freedom inspires millions of people across the world to stand up, speak out, and fight tyranny in justice in pursuit solve individual liberty and human rights. that leads to the second principle, that must govern american foreign policy. strength and resolve brings peace and security. the absence of leadership over the past six years has had a horrific consequence all across the globe, and it's only getting worse. our enemies, be they rouge nations or terrorist groups, see us talk about red lines not to be crossed. they defiantly challenge us and cross them. sadly, all too often, america makes bold claims followed by weak response, or no response at all. as a result, our enemies get stronger and america gets weaker.

today our army is at it lowe's number since 1940. our troupe readiness is severely compromised. our active soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, are being neglected after they bravely fought in two wars. and those who return home are being disrespected by the va that can't keep a simple promise to all of our heroes, to the need when they needed most. but there's no weakness in these men and women. they're heroes who fought to the death in ramadi, who bombed the caves tora bora. who secured a fragile peace in iraq with the precious sacrifice of their blood. no, the weakness lies not with our enlisted men or women or the officers leading them. the weakness lies with the commander-in-chief. the reagan doctrine worked because the soviets knew. there was not one inch of soil

we would concede for the spread of communism. not one dollar we wouldn't spend to spread freedom peace comes through strength, not through retreat. take europe and our response to russia. the aggression russia has shown, rather than leading in a region of the world that has long symbolized america's ability to stabilize and transform the u.s. has withdrawn, in both spirit and presence. the u.s. military presence has dropped from 300,000 to around 60,000. we rolled out the red carpet for putin's regional ambitions. russia's military modernization is reline or hybrid warfare are direct threat nato and the solidarity of our alliance. yet efforts to contain and role back russia's aggressions have failed. this administration has seesawed

from an ill advised courtship of put's russia to scrambling to respond to russia's illegal a annexation of crimea, and a ground war in eastern ukraine that continues today that's virtually unacknowledged by the white house. the challenge within ukraine is the greatest threat to european security since world war ii. my answer, stop letting putin set the agenda. stop turning a blind eye to russian aggression. it's time for america to step up, not back down. and that starts with providing ukrainian fighting forces with lethal aid. we signed the budapest memoranda in 1994 in which ukraine agreed to relinquish nuclear weapons inherited by the receive yet

union in exchange for the u.s., the uk, and russia to preserve, respect, ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. it's bad enough that russia has violated the memoranda. we should live up to it. the obama administration has argued that providing defense weapons will only encourage additional russian aggression. i disagree. it is weak mass that fuels russian aggression, not western action. the president's response to putin's aggression should not be to sit down and talk. but to consider serious sanctions that target him personally. the oligarch who stained hid expiring their cronies that help them avoid sanction. we should be making it more difficult for the major russian energy company to do business.

it is an extension of the russian military arsenal. it fuels putin's belligerent ambition to blackmail allies. threats to cut off gas to ukraine and others in europe should not be mistaken for anything else but an act of hostility. it's time to make it much tougher for them to do their dirty business. we must use american energy to our allies. it defies belief that the president would allow the ban on iranian oil exports to be lifted, and also stand by as russia blackmails an entire continent, all the while keeping the place of the ban on america. if russia wants to use energy as a weapon against our friends and allies, let us use our energy resources to set them free. let's sell american oil and gas wherever we fine an ally and need. let's do what i would consider

the third principle for foreign policy. start standing with our friends, and start challenging our adversaries. we must also stand by the side of those who are on our side. we should support those who support freedom and stability, and oppose those who would enslave their own people. we can inspire billions of people across the globe that one day, by standing with america they, too can live in free prosperity. now, no two countries on earth exemplify this principle more than our relationship with israel and iran. i recently joined three dozen congressional members on a trip to israel. our strongest, closest ally in the region. there we listened to the people from every political perspective, from decisionmakers

to ordinary citizens, and all these conversations we were left with one lasting impression. the people who know iran best trust them the least. israel, jordan, saudi arabia, egypt. they know a nuclear iran is a recipe for world chaos. many more have been coerced into public statements of lukewarm support. but they know full well the dangerous consequences of a nuclear armed iran. and the told us behind closed doors that the iranian deal is the worst decision america can make. this is the same country that has funded terrorists for generations. the same country that has repeatedly said america the great satan, the same country that deceived the world in its nuclear infrastructure for more than a decade. iran's neighbors know what

president obama once said. that no deal is better than a bad deal, and that a better approach was even tougherrer sanctions, not to eliminate them. for these reasons and more, i stand with the majority of the american people on a nuclear deal with iran. why? because this agreement fails to achieve what we all want. safety, security, and stability in the middle east and across the world. instead, a nuclear armed iran will bring more terror and more war, and more destruction. the people of the middle east deserve better and to do the american people. the evidence of iranian intention is overwhelming. from the funding of hezbollah, to the use of the quds force in actively supporting the shia hooties forces after the staging the coup against the yemen

president. on almost a weekly basis we learn of planned attack bid iranian terror cells operating in neighboring countries. it's unconscionable that the president's nuclear deal with iran does nothing to restrain iranian backed terror. to the contrary it enhances it. iran spends $16 billion per year, and that's a conservative estimate, backing its proxies. what would do you think iran will die with $150 billion? put that in perspective. that's as large or larger than the recent bailout of greece. iran increased funding for terrorism is the greatest fear i hear from our allies in the region. as a direct result of the humiliate concessions by president obama and secretary kerry. now, looking ahead, the best path forward to safety, security, and stability in the middle east, and around the

world, is once again to take control of our destiny. the global sanctions that kept iran at bay and brought them to the table was working. so let's do what works, because the president chose to submit this agreement not as a treaty. the next president is not bound by it. the next president can instead take a whole new approach. one based on a position of strength, not of concession. sanction relief should only be granted when nations abandon the coordinated campaign of violence and terrorism. you don't induce your enemies into good behavior. you make it painful to continue the bad behavior. you know, iran is not the only challenge we face in the middle east. iraq is a country where americans have fought and died to bring stability and protect its security.