quorum call:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the present proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: it was encouraging to see the senate vote to advance the national defense authorization act this morning. it reflects a recognition by this body of the importance of the bill and the moment.

the defense authorization act will promote defense innovation and research, it will modernize retirement benefits for our men and women in uniform and authorize the pay raises they deserve. it will help prepare our country for the threats of today and the challenges of tomorrow, and it will be -- it will better enable the next commander in chief, regardless of party, to deal with them as well. that's critical given that the next president is about to inherit an array of threats and troubling instability in the middle east. yesterday senators laid out many ways in which president obama's foreign policy has fallen short. one was lack of strategic vision. take, for instance, his unnecessary threat to veto this very bill. he doesn't like bipartisan prohibitions on transferring hard-core terrorists from guantanamo's secure facilities to american communities or unstable countries.

we include similar bipartisan provisions year after year after year. he makes similar threats year after year after year, but he signs the bill year after year after year. so it's time to quit that. this bill just advanced in the senate by a bipartisan vote of 68-23. the funding level of this bill authorizes -- the funding level this bill authorizes is exactly the same as what president obama requested in his budget. and unless the president is actually more concerned about a campaign slogan from back in 2008 than he is about the grave threats we face in 2016, he'll sign it. i want to thank colleagues on both sides for their hard work on this legislation, particularly chairman mccain. he's also -- he is always on guard for our men and women in uniform. he is always standing up for our national security. this bill is a reflection of his commitment.

it's an important step for the american people, but it's not the only one we took this past week. it's been reported that we lose over 20 veterans a day to suicide, and one study has revealed that suicide rates among female veterans grew by about 40% between 2000-2010. this is really heart breaking and it undermines the importance of the female veterans suicide prevention act the senate passed earlier this week. this legislation will require the v.a. to take a closer look at this issue and assess which mental health care and veteran suicide prevention programs are most successful for our female veterans. it builds upon the progress of the clay hunt act, an important law we passed last year that provides more of the suicide prevention and mental health support our veterans deserve. as senator ernst recently reminded us, our service members have selflessly sacrificed in

defense of our freedoms, and we should help ensure that they are prepared to transition back to civilian life, which includes access to quality and kindly mental health care that they deserve. senator ernst knows what it means to serve, and so i thank her for her continued leadership for iowa, for her work on this bill with senators boxer, blumenthal and brown. this veterans mental health legislation is another example of what we can parish when we work together to find solutions for the american people, and it's another example of a senate that's back to work. now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 2137, which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 2137, an act to

ensure federal law enforcement officers remain able to ensure their own safety and the safety of their families during a covered furlough. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the committee on indian affairs be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 2212 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 2212, an act to make certain federal lands located in lassen county, california, into trust for the susanville indian rancheria and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. mcconnell: now, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 812, which was received from the house. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 812, an act to provide for indian trust asset management reform, and for other purposes. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i now ask unanimous consent the committee on veterans' affairs be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 1762 and the senate proceed to its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: h.r. 1762, an act to name the department of veterans' affairs community-based outpatient clinic in the dallas, oregon, -- in the dalles, oregon, as the lawrence r. kaufman v.a. clinic. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? if not, the committee is discharged. the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous

consent the bill be read a third time and passes, the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate now proceed to en bloc consideration of the following senate resolutions which were submitted earlier today -- s. res. 489, s. res. 490, s. res. 491, s. res. 492. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the senate will read them en bloc. the clerk: senate resolution 489 honoring the life and achievements of muhammad ali. senate resolution 490 expressing the sense of the senate that ambush marketing adversely affects the u.s. olympic and paraolympic teams. designating june 12, 2016 as a national day of am anyity and reconciliation. s. res. 492 designating the week of june 6-june 12, 2016, as hemp history month week. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to and the motions to

reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 4:00 p.m. monday, june 13. following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. further, that following leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of s. 2943. further, that all postcloture time on s. 2943 expire at 11:00 a.m. tuesday, june 14. finally if cloture is invoked on the motion to proceed to h.r. 2578, it be considered to have been invoked at 10:00 p.m. monday, june 13. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until senate stands adjourned until

commemorating 30 years on c-span2. memorial service for boxing champion muhammad ali is held in his hometown, louisville, kentucky.

c-span2 will have coverage. former president bill clinton, billy crystal and bryan gummbel will be among the speakers. >> congressman, democrat for vermont and supporter of bernie sanders, he is joining us on the phone, thank you for being with us. >> thank you. >> based on the president's endorsement's of hillary clinton, is the party coming together? >> i think, yes, it definitely is. the president as senator sanders noted did not put the thumb on the scale. hillary has the delegates and she's going to be the nominee and there's a process of unification and what senator sanders want to be issues raised, economic, social and environmental justice are very much a big part of the democratic party going ahead.

so i think that that will get worked out but i think that there's going to be a process and what i have been pleased to see that everybody is giving senator sanders the time and place to make this happen in the way that works for the best of all of us. >> congressman, the platform, but does that document really matter? >> you know what, i don't think it matters awful lot frankly, i think what matters is a coldhearted embrace that's based on the vast majority of working place and middle class americans and frankly i have seen that hillary clinton has been addressing many of the points that bernie sanders has made. the platform becomes a vehicle to express but the real organic issue is whether there's be integration of message of what between senator sanders and secretary clinton have been

advocating in the course of the campaign and i think they'll be able to do that n. the interest of the party and secretary clinton to have the full enthusiasm of all those 12 million folks that voted for bernie sanders, 2 to 3 million people that gave small donations, he raised over $200 million, that's a real powerful element for our success going forward. >> looking back at the bernie sanders campaign, any second guessing on what the campaign could have done or should have done differently? >> you know, that question is -- it's kind of an odd question from my perspective when at the beginning of this campaign no one even took him seriously, keep in mind when secretary clinton said she was running for president and dominant that other potentially contenders didn't bother to run. senator sanders did and what he was able to do is electrify about fighting against this 1%

economy that is oh so damaging to us in so many ways. so i think, sure, we might here and there about what he could have done but the real test of senator sanders is that he's been in there till the very end. it's an extraordinary campaign that he's run. >> we hear from listeners on c-span and many sanders supporters, no way, they will not support hillary clinton, what would you tell them? >> well, senator sanders is going to be the best adviser for those folks. take two things, the real choice is going to be trump or hillary clinton, and the frustration for those of us who support bernie sanders that he's not the nominee, i think cannot become the reason we are complicit in the election of a person who is incredibly dangerous to the future of this country and the

values of bernie, specially bernie and hillary have been talking about. so this is tough, you know, it's tough emotionally, people put their heart and soul into this. bernie sanders has put heart and soul into this and i think that's why there's got to be a very significant demonstration respect towards senator sanders and his supporters in validation of what he's done by getting somebody, for instance, on the ticket as vice president who is a strong progressive and indication by action not just words that the things that sanders supporters care about are actually going to be internalized in the clinton campaign. >> all of these issues, will senator sanders have a larger platform when he returns to the senate? >> he absolutely will. bernie has to stay involved because he has become a national spokesperson for economic justice, environmental justice and he's got to be voiced.

in fact, his colleagues are astonished, most of them as you know supported hillary clinton, but all of them at how successful his campaign was and i have colleagues ask me what's the magic, it's pretty simple. he spoke the power, directly, bluntly and effectively and i think there's enormous respect for what bernie accomplish forked -- he's over his head but the skills required for that, bluster, bluff, kind of arrogance all those don't work in the political form and to be president of the united states. sort of suggests to me that he is in over his head. there's a character question to, you know, we disagree republicans and democrats but

you have somebody like -- most of the candidates, they do pass the character test, like say senator mccain, a war hero, i'm not sure donald trump does that. he spends a lot of time chasing women about manhattan and how he's richer than anybody else. that's not lincolnest. >> do you have suggestion of who hillary clinton should pick? >> elizabeth warren is one of them. sheron brown. tim cain. there's a lot of folks that have solid credentials and obviously bernie sanders should been somebody on the list. >> do you think hillary clinton would consider him? >> don't know. they have to work that out. he should be smart to embrace his success and how better to do that than by select him but there's also equipment industry issues, and personal issues

between secretary clinton and senator sanders. so i definitely think he's qualified whether she pick him, we will see. >> congressman democrat from vermont, joining us on capitol hill, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> coming up shortly we will tell you live to the washington hill tone where hillary clinton is speaking at an event hosted by the planned parenthood action fund today. she's discussing women's health and reproductive rights while we wait for the event to get underway with the presumptive democratic presidential nominee hillary clinton, we will show you a portion of today's washington journal, we will show you as much as we can while we wait for hillary clinton. >> senator conrad of the bipartisan policy, are americans ready to retire? >> many are not. looking at the statistics, you

know, the best estimates we have is about 40% of the american people will run out of money int retirement and federal reserve did an analysis, they found that 46% of the american people would have a hard time coming up with $400 for an emergency car repair. so we've got serious problems in terms of retirement security, and in terms of personal savings to be able to meet the everyday means of the american people. >> host: he was a george w. bush appointee in many financial commissions throughout his career, mr. lockhart. what percentage of the american people fend solely on social security? can you give us statistics?ve >> guest: well, you have to the by quintile. 20%. so the lower 20% is almost 90% of their income is coming from social security.

as you go up, obviously the top 20%. the most important thing is the middle and lower. that's what we try to do as thih commission try to help the lower-income people into retirement and increasing retirement benefits significantly. we put in a basic minimum benefit with the idea that we are trying to reduce poverty in old age and in fact, we reduce it by 30%. >> host: we learned that 40% of seniors are going to run out of money in their retirement and that the lowest 20% in america, the income wise 90% of them rely solely on social security? >> yes, they don't have personat savings, one of the things we try to do is look at retirement savings, they allow smaller companies to easily put money

into 401k's with employees by having sort of investment manager which would allow them also to reduce the liabilities the company has had and we think it'll be a big pick up from that and, in fact, son-in-law of the numbers we show that would increase savings or sort of the middle income by over 50% by -- >> host: does social security need to be reform?m? >> we have no choice. as we know, social security is heading for insolvency. that's according to from social security's own trustee, it's only 18 or 19 years away. everybody will have to take a 23% cut across the board. gettinggetting this program back on track is important for people dependent on social security, it's not only the bottom 20% that jim said depends solely on

social security, the fact is significant majority of the american people are very dependent on their social security benefits, make their retirement comfortable and secure so it's absolutely essential that we get about the business of getting social security back on track. that's important not only for the individuals dependent on it but important for the overall m. economy. >> host: mr. lockhart you referenced the fact that companies, you're looking at companies in your proposal here for retirement security to help provide, what's the reason that companies should be responsible for somebody's retirement? >> well, i think what we are suggesting is the company's health as people say, they don't have to match and that's reallyy great but i think it's a benefit that a lot of people want so we are proposing any company withbe less than 500 people could join this more nationwide scheme and they could match or not matche

but it would make it much easier for people to say one of the problems is we have a very complicated system and it's very hard for many people to figure out how to save and if you've done automatically, that will really help bring savings up in this country. >> host: how long have you two been working on the retirementhr savings proposal? >> two years. more than two years. we've had 19 commissioners, republicans, democrats, conservatives, progressives.s. people who are deeply knowledgeable in the field. one of the things that's soo striking and not only about social security but about our retirement system, half of the people in this country are not participating in a retirement savings account at their placea of work, half of the country. so that's a big opportunity for us to make a real difference and as jim was explains, we proposed retirement security accounts

that would make dramatically for employers to offer savings accounts at their place of work. all the employer would have to do is do a payroll deduction and send it in just like they send payroll detections for people's taxes that work for them, so we relieve them of the fiduciary responsibilities, the administrative burden and there would be third parties who would be fiduciaries. >> host: now we divide it had phone line, we divided them by age, if you're under 40 a number for you to call.01 40-61, 748-8001. for those 61 and over 748-8002.

what about an expansion of government savings' program? did you include that in your proposal? >> one of the things we areyo suggesting there's a savings match up to age 35 andnd lower-income people, is one way to get the savings started for people, i think it's really important to start out saving when you're young and continue that habit going forward, so that's one program that we are suggesting. we are relying very much on the private sector to do this. another thing we are suggesting is after the retirement security plans are in place, 2020 we are suggesting any company with over 50 employees actually has to participate in this program have their own 401k. >> host: how do you convince a

business that this is a good business idea economically and hey, i barely make enough to feed my family, i can't be providing that? >> well, first of all, from the corporate stand point, an employer standpoint i actuallyly started a small business at one point in my career and it was very expensive to do 401k and we had 30 people, almost 3, 4, 5%. we are not going to make employers do something like that. all the employer has to do is have a tax deduction which they're already doing for fica, state income tax, national income tax. so it's not a big deal for the employer and it's a benefits for employees.no many employers would like a employees to have more savings. certainly that's one of the reasons when i started my business that we did a 401k. i think companies would like to do it if they can do it cheaply with a lot less liability than they have today. >> host: you spent several years

up in the building behind us, is there the political will to a, reform social security or raise taxes or cut benefits or implement a new retirement savings' proposal? >> perhaps not right now just before the election. but, look, the clock is ticking. we have been meeting with colleagues. we met with colleagues after we rolled out the report yesterday. i met with colleagues the day before, republicans and democrats and i can tell youou they're interested in what we are proposing. we dramatically increase those5 at the bottom end, those who are the lowest earners in our society. many in poverty. we reduce poverty of elderly by a third and we do -- i want to go back to this question of

having businesses offer these plans, we don't require them to match the contribution of theoy employee, they can do that and, of course, it's desirable that they do but to participate in one of the retirement plans all they have to do is do a payroll deduction, have the money go to plan sponsor, the plan sponsor will gather millions of employees together in a largege pool which will make the rates very exexpensive and this third-party provider will be responsible for all of the administrative burden, the fiduciary burden, that will be taken off the employer, so we think employers -- we've talked to hundreds of them in preparing this report and they have told us, oh, if you're going to simplified this, if you're going to lift the burden off of us, we would be happy to participate, so our employees have a way of saving for retirement.

>> host: so a florist in gas station businesses could join in exchange or cooperative or something like that? >> effect iively it's a cooperative.ave the .. selectiono do their own , but there would be fallbacks so there are standard options as well. make it as simple as possible for everyone involved is what we want to do. before, we can implement this to increase savings for middle this will increase the savings for middle americans by about 50 percent by the time you retire so they will rely less on social security which i think is important. >> has ira stood successful?

>> iras have had some success but it's hard for an individual because you have to have make the decision and there's no easy way to do that. what were suggesting here is there's automatic enrollment so when you join the company, you are enrolled. you cannot out but really, we seem the behavioral, they've done it a lot and we've seen participation rates really skyrocket. >> we got a lot of colors on the line already and michael is first. maple bill illinois, 61 and over. michael, are you ready for retirement? well, i am but peter, please don't cut me off because i think that this is a, the discussion is a bit of a false premise. and i don't want to speak disparagingly of them but i think in some respects they are misleading the american people as to what's really happened area historically, it was lyndon johnson in the 60s that coming build the

social security with the general fund and that disguised the death of the deficits we have been running or 50 years. now, what they need to do number one is clawback all the talks, breaks so one percent for all those 50 years as a first step toward solving this and i would like them to explain to me what good does a 401(k) do you when you are not making enough money on your regular paycheck to make ends meet? we create jobs that are paying eight, nine, $10 an hour and then you can't save any money because you don't have enough to live on to begin with michael, that's a lot of stuff for our two guests to respond to but quickly, tell us your story. how have you saved? are you planning on relying on social security? >> i'm very lucky.

i have social security and minus substantially above the average. i have two small pensions and that's the key. pensions. not 401(k)s. i have an ira and i'll tell you, you can't save enough and then you are swimming with the sharks where all of these investment companies cater to the one percent again and all you do is pay big fees to lose your money. that's it. but i'm the lucky one. my healthcare is also subsidized though i'm doubly lucky. >> what age are you planning on taking her social security, michael? >> i have taken my social security at age 65 because i had a white that was ill and he passed last november. so i had to retire one year before i was scheduled to because i had social security as of 866 which occurred may 13 as of this year thank you very much. what do you want to address from what michael had to say, mister lockhart? >> i think he's done it

right. that's the good news, he has saved, he does have a pension. and that's important. you made the decision and everybody should when they think about retiring look at the various options as i'm sure he knows. if you retire at age 62, you take a big cut in your benefits and if you go all the way to 70, you get a significantly higher but you have to make the individual decision depending on your situation. >> but when you look at this chart from your report, most people take it at 62. >> yes and from a lot of people, that's a mistake. for some people, they can't work longer but for many people, it's the best way to save is to wait for the retirement security so you don't want to outlive your benefits in your other savings and if you can get, it's eight percent a year increase from age 66 to 70 so it's a really big increase if you wait and so part of our

proposal are to help encourage people to work longer and try to wait as long as possible to take social security. >> what would you like to say to robert? >> very thoughtful. his comments and look, he's put his finger on a big problem in our country which is income inequality. we know that's pervasive throughout our society. what we tried to do is in the mechanisms available to us, try to counter that trend so again, if you look at the results of what we produced, it would do the following. it would increase retirement savings according to the urban institute by 50 percent. by the time it's fully implemented. that is a dramatic improvements. and how does that happen? it happens because we make retirement security savings plans much more widely available throughout our society than they currently are. second, we provide more incentives for employers to participate.and a match, we provide a whole new sabres

credits, $500 of match every dollar you put into savings if you are under the age of 35, if you have $25,000 a year of income or you less, 50,000 for a couple, the government would match your savings dollar for dollar up to $500 a year. on social security, it's most dramatic. because we would actually increase the bottom 20 percent by 35 percent over what is currently scheduled. we would increase them 50 percent by what is currently payable. and we cover all of the costs so that we extend the life of social security by at least 75 years and in fact we achieve sustainable solvency so the reserves are actually still increasing after the 75th year. so that means we avoid having everybody taste a 23 percent cut in social security that is coming in 18 or 19 years

so now, do we solve every problem facing americans who are insecure in their retirement? number but do we make dramatic progress with this proposal question mark absolutely. >> william virginia, william, give us a quick snapshot of your situation. >> good morning. i'm very fortunate for someone who started out with absolutely nothing and now i am collecting social security and i had a pension and a lot of the topics that have already been discussed by you guys but i have two things. number one was in 1976 when i got my first job, i saw this line on my first paycheck that said five percent taken away and i asked them, what is this? and they said that your pension donation. they didn't use those exact words. well, i didn't particularly like it. i had two small kids and all

the bills but i can tell you now, 42 years later when i look in the back on the end of the month i'm very glad they did that and i did it for 42 years. second thing is and i'm not one of these people who begrudge people making a lot of money. i really am not but i just sold stock in a major company and i owned it for three years and i did some research into it and the gentleman, all of the top executives of that company, they paid a very gooddividend . they did not get a salary. they got stock options and they at, that's how they got paid and i figured it up last year, the executive who runs the company had 6 million shares of stock and the stock paid a $2.42 dividend per year area you can figure that up and as far as i know he paid no social security. >> william, what's your point?

that. >> that something needs to be done to revamp this so that people when they get to 62, 65 that the money is there. iras, i can't tell you how much money i've lost in them in 42 years area. >> thank you sir. mister lockhart, you are a republican. you work for george w. bush. as the principal deputy commissioner of the social security commission among other places. new taxes need to be raised on social security or the income limit need to be raised on social security? >> obviously social security is insolvent and in 18 years, even the people that are talking over 61 will have their benefits cut. by 23 percent so we need to do something. there's no doubt about it. done is try to create a very balanced plan so about 50 percent comes from benefits and about 50 percent comes from taxes so yes, we are suggesting that we need to

raise some taxes. there's a cap of 118,000 where you pay taxes today. we are suggesting it goes up 195,000. >> why not unlimited? >> why not unlimited? from our standpoint and we thought it was too unbalanced. we were trying to create this balance and we had republicans and democrats and you get everybody to sign on, thatwas the number we could agree on . it's about 85 percent overall wages. from our standpoint, it made sense. and we also are suggesting that the 12.4 percent that is charged now for the employee and their employer increased by one percent over a ten-year period so it's a very small incremental increase every year but even that helps a reasonable amount. but the other thing we did is very importantly, as the senator said we are increasing benefits for the lower income because we wanted to create a very

balanced program . >> senator conrad, you were up there for 26 years and you served on a lot of these commissions, aired budget committee, is it going to happen? is this report, two things. is this report going to see action? and are some of these proposals actually going to happen? >> you know, of course i don't know. i've always been an optimist, i've always believed that our system at the end of the day will perform. i must say that contest has been somewhat shaken by what i've seen the last five or six years area but i would say this. if you look at what is coming at us, it's undeniable. everybody is going to take in social security a 23 percent cut. that's going to happen. in 18 or 19 years. we can avoid that. we can avoid it. if we take some common sense steps and both the left and

the right are going to have to give some brown if there's going to be an agreement. and i can tell you on this commission that was made up of democrats and republicans academics, people who were, have given a lifetime to try to solve these problems, everybody gave up something that they would like to see in order toachieve a much larger gain . and that is to fix social security and fix it for a long time. and do it in a way that helps those who need it the most, that asked those who have the most in society to give up a little something, absolutely. we are asking one percent, in fact more than one percent to give up a little something but i tell you, everybody is better off than they would be if we waited for a 23 percent cut. the other thing i should say with respect to non-social security retirement savings ,

to say to the half of our fellow citizens who don't participate in retirement savings plans at work, we are going to make it possible for virtually all of you to have access to a retirement savings plan at work and just like the gentleman said who been saving for 42 years, how pleasantly surprised he was like what you've got now, we are going to give you that opportunity. now, it's going to be up to you because you can opt out. you can say no, i'm not going to have that five percent withheld. i'm not going to have three percent withheld, i'm not going to have anything withheld. that is your right and it's your money. but at least we're going to give you the opportunity and again, i stress half of the american people have no retirement savings plan at their place of work. we can fix that. and if this commission's proposals are adopted, it will be fixed and that's not a partisan issue. that's something c-span.org

... >> we take you live now to the washington hilton where hillary clinton will be speaking at an event hosted today by the planned parenthood action fund. live coverage on c-span to. >> for all us to be together when the first woman in history secured her party's nomination for president of the united states. [applause] this has been a week of celebration. 100 years in the making as planned parenthood launches our second century so likefor women , the women to control their reproductive destiny and the courageous fight for the right to vote have the opportunity for millions of women and families and we recognize the struggles of all those who came before us to make this day possible. so when my great-grandmother was a girl, women couldn't vote under texas law and get, two generations later, her granddaughter and richards was elected governor of the state oftexas . [applause] and i think like

so many of youand we talked about this week, i still wish my mom were alive today for this incredible moment in history . for 100 years, planned parenthood has worked to allow people to live outtheir dreams and largely because women can now access birth control and legal abortion , we are half of the college students.we are half of the law and medical students. there are three awesome women on the supreme court of the united states. [applause] there are 20 women in the united states senate and when planned parenthood action fund and all of us to our work right, over the next five months we will probably be part of electing the first woman president of the united states of america. [applause] so i know there's

a lot of us in this room and we didn't all start out supporting the same candidate so i want to thank senator sanders for bringing issues and activists into the selection. [applause] but in the end, we are all fighting for the same thing which brings me to why this election matters. this is about electing anyone to the white house, this is about electing this woman, hillary clinton. i love yesterday as president barack obama put out his video, he so eloquently stated, there has never been anyone as qualified to hold this office running for president of the united states of america. and i want to say one other thing. as a lot of them said in this election about trust and planned parenthood, weknow something about trust . the cost every single year,

millions of patients trust planned parenthood with their healthcare and with their future. a mother in houston texas who has found a lump in her breast and trusts us to get her the care she needs. a transgender teen in asheville north carolina who trusts us to provide nonjudgmental high-quality healthcare. [applause] or a young woman far away from home who trust planned parenthood to get her on thevery best birth control , no shame, no judgment. [applause] so the important thing is, trust is earned. it's earned by actions, not my words and that is why the planned parenthood action fund has trust in hillary clinton.[applause] this is trust that has been built over a lifetime so remember back when millions of our children in america were

going without healthcare coverage. who did the nation trust to help establish the children's first health insurance program that provides coverage for 8 million children? hillary clinton, that's right. [applause] or in beijing, who did we trust you declare to the world that women's rights are human rights and human rights are women rights once and for all? lori. and remember back when the fda refused to put emergency contraception over-the-counter and we needed a champion in the united states senate to get it done. who do you trust? hillary. that's right. [applause] and in the white house, who do we trust to lead the charge to repeal the hyde amendment, to fix the helms amendment and defend the right of all people that reproductive health care including planned parenthood, hillary clinton. and honestly, honestly, who do we trust to simply trust women. that's hillary. so we are enormously honored

that hillary is with us today since this is her very first speech since clinching the nomination. [applause] and as you know, we talked a lot about this this week. we need a president will not only fight for reproductive rights but for immigration rights, for civil rights, for voting rights. to keep communities safe from gun violence and toxic water. we need a president who has fought for women and families every single day of her life and will take that fight, or all of us to the white house. you know who she is. she's our friend, she's a fighter, she's our leader and she's going to be the next president of the united states. hillary clinton. [applause]

>> thank you. hello. thank you, thank you so much. [applause] [chanting] hillary, hillary, hillary. >> thank you all. i have to say, pink never looked so good. [applause] i want to thank my

friend and your courageous leader cecile richards. [applause] you know, cecile really is the definition of grace under pressure. she has proven that time and time again over the course of her career and particularly over the last few years she really is like another great american, her mother and richards who was a friend of mine and i just wish and were here to see this election. she have donald trump tweeting the whole time. we reached a milestone together this week thanks to you and people all over our country. for the first time, a woman will be a major party's nominee for president of the united states . [applause] and yesterday, i

had the great honor of being endorsed by president obama and vicepresident biden . [applause] and by senator elizabeth warren. [applause] so it's been a big week and there's nowhere i'd rather ended then right here with the planned parenthood action fund. [applause] i'm grateful to the entire planned parenthood family. you made this campaign your own, whether you knocked on doors in iowa or rallied in california, this victory belongs to all of you. and it belongs to the 1000 young activists who came together in pittsburgh last month to give. [applause] it's belonged to

the staff, the donors, and to the providers. providers like doctor on the damage in texas who called out donald trump when he said women should be punished for having abortions and in the open letter she wrote, defending her patients rights , to make their own health decisions should be required reading for every politician in america. [applause] and i am deeply conscious of the reality that this victory belongs to generations of brave women and men who fought for the radical idea that women should determine our own lives and futures and it belongs to the women and men who continue to fight for that idea today, even in the face of threats and violence.

when a man who never should have had a gun killed three people at planned parenthood in colorado springs, leaders in this room voted unanimously to keep house centers across america open the next day and the ceo. [applause] the ceo of planned parenthood rocky mountains made a promise to patients in colorado and beyond when she said our doors and our hearts stay open. that is really what planned parenthood is all about. today, i want to start by saying something you don't hear often enough. thank you. [applause] thank you, thank

you for being there for women no matter their race, sexual orientation or immigration status. thank you for being there for natosha mcqueen in brooklyn who told me house planned parenthood caught her breast cancer when she was just 33 years old and save her life. thank you for being there for college students getting std testing, the young people who have the tough questions that they are afraid to ask their parents. the sexual assault survivors who turn to planned parenthood for compassionate care. the transgender teams who, for an appointment and find the first place where they can truly bethemselves . thank you for being there for your communities, whether that means taking on hospital politicians in louisiana or

handing out clean drinking water in flint, michigan. [applause] and thank you for being there for everyone in in every state who have to miss work, drive hundreds of miles sometimes, indoor pool medically unnecessary waiting periods, walked past angry protesters to exercise for constitutional right to safe and legal abortion. [applause] i've been proud to stand with planned parenthood for a long time and as president, i will always have your back. [applause] because i know

that force a century, planned parenthood has worked to make sure that women, men, young people who count on you can lead their best lives, healthy, safe and free to follow their dreams. just think, when planned parenthood was founded, women couldn't vote. or serve on juries in most states. it was illegal even to provide information about birth control, let alone prescribe it. but people marched and organized, they protested unjust laws and in some cases even went to prison . and slowly but surely, america changed for the better. 51 years ago this week, thanks to a planned

parenthood employee named sl griswold ... [applause] ... the supreme court legalized birth control. for married couples across america. when i used to teach law and i would point to this case, a look of total bewilderment would come across my students faces. and not long after that, roe v wade guaranteed the right to safe, legal abortions so young women were no longer dying in the emergency room and back alleys from pots, illegal abortions.and this is a fact that is not often heard but i hope you will repeat it. america's maternal mortality rates dropped dramatically.

and it turns out being able to plan their families not only save women's lives, it alsotransformed them . because it meant that women were able to get education, build careers, enter new fields and rise as far as their talent and hard work take them, all the opportunities that followed when women are able to stay healthy and choose whether and when to become mothers. [applause] and you know so well today the percentage of women who finish college is six times what it wasbefore birth control was legal . women represent half of all college graduates in america and nearly half hour labor force and our whole economy

then is betteroff . the movement of women into the workforce, the paid workforce over the past 40 years was responsible for more than 3 and a half trillion dollars in growth in our economy. [applause] and here's another fact that doesn't get enough attention.unintended pregnancy, teen pregnancy and abortion rates are acts all time record lows. [applause] that reality and studies confirm what planned parenthood knew all along. accurate sex education and effective, affordable contraception work. and you know, it wasn't so

long ago that republicans and democrats actually stood together on these issues. back in the 90s when i helped create the national campaign to prevent teen pregnancy, i worked with republicans to get it done. now, things feel quite different now, don't they. instead of working to continue the progress we've made, republicans led now by donald trump. [booing] are working to reverse it. when donald trump says let's make america great again, that is code for let's take america backward. back to a time when opportunity and dignity were

reserved for some, not all. back to the days when abortion wasillegal , women had far fewer options and wife for too many women and girls was limited. well, donald, those days are over. [applause] we are not going to let donald trump or anyone else turn back the clock and that means we've got to get to work. because as you know better than anyone, right now across the country writes that women should be able to take for granted are under attack area any day now, the supreme court will rule on the texas law that imposes burdensome and medically unnecessary requirements on abortion providers. if these restrictions are allowed to stand, 5.4 million

women of reproductive age will be left with about 10 health centers that provide abortions in a state the size of france. it is the biggest challenge to roe v wade in a generation. it's also yet another reminder of what's at stake on the supreme court. president obama has done his job and nominated merrick garlandto be the justice. it's time for the senate republicans to do their job . [applause] the senate should give judge garland the hearing he deserves area now meanwhile, in just the first three months of 2016, states across the country introduced more than 400 restrictions on abortions.

11 states have defunded planned parenthood in the last year. cutting some women off from their only health care provider. and of course, on a national level, republicans in congress have been willing to shut down the entire world government over planned parenthood on funding. have you ever noticed that the same politicians who are against sex education, birth control and safe and legal abortion are also against policies that would make it easier to raise a child like paid family leave? [applause] they are for limited government everywhere except when it comes to interfering with women's

choices and rights. well, i'm here today to tell you we need to be just as determined as they are. we need to defend planned parenthood against partisan attacks. it right wing politicians actually cared as much about protecting women's health as they say they do, they join me in calling for more federal funding for planned parenthood. [applause] we also need to fight back against the erosion of reproductive rights at the federal, state and local levels, ensure that patients and staff can safely walk into health centers without harassment or violence. we need to ... [applause] we

need to stand up for access to affordable contraception without interference from politicians or employers. [applause] and let's invest in long-acting reversible contraceptives so every woman can choose the method that is best for her. [applause] let's strengthen and improve the affordable care act which covers 20 million americans and it saves women millions of dollars through no co-pay preventative care. [applause] and let's take action to stop the spread of the z got virus which threatens the health of women and pregnant women. [applause] let's repeal laws

like the high amendment that make it nearly impossible ... [applause] ... make it nearly impossible for low income women this proportionately women of color to exercise their full reproductive rights. and it is worth saying again, the pending women's health means defending access to abortion, not just in theory but in reality. [applause] we know that restricting access doesn't make women less likely to end a pregnancy, it just makes abortion less safe and that then threatens women's lives. for too long, issues like these have been dismissed by many as women's issues.

as though that somehow makes them less worthy, secondary. well yes, these are women's issues. they are also family issues. their economic issues. they are justice issues. they are fundamental to our country and our future. [applause] and beyond these specific issues, we need to keep working to support women and families in other ways of getting incomes rising including the minimum wage which disproportionately affects women. we need to finally guarantee equalpay for women's work . [applause] we need to pass comprehensive immigration reform and citizenship that puts families together.

and we need to break down all the barriers ofdiscrimination and systemic racism that hold too many americans . [applause] and we need to come together to stop the epidemic of gun violence that is stalking our country. no parent should live in fear that their child will be hurt or killed by gun violence. 33,000 americans are killed every year. i've met so many mothers on this campaign who have lost their own children. we elected them to protect our kids no matter what zip code they live in. and that is going to require standing up to the gun lobby and making this a voting issue. you know, all the issues that we are talking about today are connected.

they intersect. and that'swhy i'm grateful to the reproductive justice leaders in this room and across america . [applause] because you know, you know that all these issues go straight to that fundamental question whether we believe women and families of all races and backgrounds and income levels deserve an equal shot in life. now, that's what i believe and you won't be surprised to hear donald trump believes something very different. he actually thinks guaranteeing paid family leave would lead america less competitive. he says if women want equal pay, we should just, and this is a quote, do as good a job as men. as if we work already.

he wants to appoint justices who would overturn roe v wade. he of course was to defund planned parenthood and he wants to go after so many of the fundamental rights we have including safe and illegal abortionsand he actually said women should be punished for having abortions . now, once he said that, there was an outcry. as there should have been. and he tried to walk back his comments, he's doing that a lot lately. but anyone who would so casually agree to the idea of punishing women like it was nothing to him, the most obviously thing in the world, that someone who doesn't hold women in high regard. because if he did, he would trust women to make the right decision for ourselves. [applause] but don't worry,

donald assures us that as president he will be, and i quote again, the best for women. then he wants to defund planned parenthood and whiteout safe, legal abortion and has no idea what's best for women and after all, this is a man who has told women pigs, dogs, and discussing animals. kind of hard to imagine counting on him to respect our fundamental rights . when he says women are an inconvenience to their employer, what does that say about how he values women, our work, our contributions? we are in the middle of a concerted, persistent assault on women's health across our country. and we have to ask ourselves and you have to ask everyone you come in contact with, do we want to put our health,

our lives, our futures in donald trump's hands? these questions are not hypothetical. every woman and everyone who cares about women will answer them when they vote. in november. now, when i talk like this, donald trump likes to say i am playing the woman card. and i like to say, if fighting for equal pay, planned parenthood and the ability to make our own health decisions isplaying the woman card then deal me in . [applause] now my friends, i come to this issue of course as a woman. a mother, and a grandmother

now but i also come to its as a former first lady, senator and secretary of state and in those roles ... [applause] in those roles, i traveled to parts of the world where girls are married off as soon as they are oldenough to bear children . places where the denial of family-planning confined women to lives of hardship. i visited countries where governments have strictly regulatedwomen's reproduction . either forcing women to have abortions or forcing women to get pregnant and give birth. everything i have seen has convinced me that life is freer, fairer , healthier, safer and far more humane when women are empowered to make their own reproductive health decisions.

[applause] and everything i heard from donald trump often seems to echo other leaders who have a very different view of women. the late, great maya angelou said when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. donald trump has shown us who he is and we sure should believe him. and it's not just on reproductive rights. donald trump would take us in the wrong direction on so many issues we care about. economic justice, workers rights, civil rights, human rights. the environment. all of that is on the line in this election. when donald trump says a distinguished judge born in

indiana can't do his job because of his mexican heritage or mocks a reporter with disabilities or denigrates muslims and immigrants, it goes against everything we stand for. he does not see all americans as americans. so this election, is it about the same old fight between democrats and republicans, they will be there, don't worry. but this election is profoundly different. it is about who we are as a nation. it's about millions of americans coming together to say we are better than this. here's my promise to you today. i will be your partner in this election and over the long haul. together we are taking on the attacks and together we will come out stronger, just like planned parenthood has time and again. [applause] and together, we

are going to unify our country, stop donald trump and fight for an america where we lift each other up instead of tearing each other down. we are not going to just break that highest and hardest glass ceiling, we're going to break down all the barriers that hold women and families back because you know we do believe we are stronger when every family in every community knows they are not on their own. you are stronger together and we are going to make history together in november. you all so much. [applause] [chanting]

hillary, hillary, hillary. [applause] >> the funeral service for boxing great tranny is being held this afternoon in his hometown of louisville

kentucky. we will have live coverage at 2 pm eastern. former president bill clinton, billy crystal and bryant gumbel will be speaking. senator bernie sanders held a campaign rally with supporters in washington dc yesterday and talked about campaign finance, economic inequality, criminal justice reform, education affordability and the minimum wage. editor sanders metwith president obama later in the day . the district of columbia hold its presidential primary on tuesday, june 14. >>. [applause] good afternoon. [applause] barney is close. and we have been in this together, millions of

families across this country. in this fighting, fighting against corruption. fighting voter suppression. fighting oligarchy. and fighting the oppression that is small dreams in the face of big national challenges. [applause] we are fighting for our families, we are fighting against fracking. [applause] we are fighting for our children, we are fighting against mass incarceration. we are fighting for working people and we arefighting against mountains of college get . [applause] and we have proven, we have proven that you can run a powerful campaign that inspires yes, the majority of the american people. when you stand up against the

wall, when you stand up against the tyranny of the wealthy and when you stand up for the love and unity of the american people. [applause] in other words, we have not just proven that bernie sanders is the best candidate to trump, we have proven that the only way to be sure that we can be his candidacy, his campaign of hatred and the vision is with a campaign on integrity and love and unity. and a campaign that is not afraid to be honest about what challenges our country, and pain campaign that is not afraid to say it is time to end our endless wars.

a campaign that is not afraid to say hey, if the minimum wage would have been $15, if it had been allowed to keep up with inflation, then it should just be $15. [applause] a campaign that's not afraid to say that you know what? yes, the health lobby is really powerful. but as families are more valuable. [applause] and campaign that believes that you know what? if you were against the war in vietnam then you should have been against the war in iraq. [applause] a campaign that says you know what? if somebody and their

headscarf make you uncomfortable, if somebody being transgender makes you uncomfortable, go ahead and be uncomfortable . [applause] because we ate got time for that mess. we need to get on with democracy and inclusion and lifting up all of those who have been pushed down simply because of who they are. [applause] and you know, i want to take a moment and just take the speaker of the house were speaking truth the other day.because it's true. what he said about donald trump. that the very, that saying somebody is not qualified to attack a federal judge because of their in the city is the very definition of a racist comment. [applause] but the speaker of the house claims the gop of jack kemp, ... trust me.

he claims to be a disciple of jack kemp. and jack kemp was a member of the naacp and a good friend of mine and i'm pretty sure jack would tell you that if you are convinced that your party's candidates is a racist and makes racist comments, then you'd better look for a different candidate. [applause] what is beautiful about bernie, the reason that we are still sanders. [applause] the reason that we feel theburn . is that if you roll the tape on bernie had you go back five years or 15 years or 50 years, he's always given the same speech. [applause] bernie has stood

up for racial justice, he stood up for economic justice, apparently because it's the only thing he knows how to do. and if there's a lesson from this for my fellow leaders of big organizations in this country, let the lesson beat us. that we don't have to compromise with our values you back a waiting candidate. [applause] that the labor movement canwin, that the civil rights movement can win . that this movement can win. [applause] and it is a lesson from our rallies that should not be forgotten. it's one that bernie described to me as the revolution in the revolution. we work together in the ozarks and we had just come

from chicago and detroit. and the loudest applause in the speech were the same in the ozarks in front of a crowd that was about 90 percent white and 10 percent of the men were in camouflage as they were coming from deer hunting or on their way to go deer hunting. i don't know what kind of day you do that because i don't do it but they were in camouflage and on their feet screaming at the top of their lungs for racial justice, screaming for an end to the killing of unarmed black men. [applause] and that's agreeing that the media has never quite figured out about telling the story of our campaign. they can deal with stereotypes, they can tell you all black church ladies are for hillary and young people are for bernie and white dudes are for trial. right. [applause] but you know, my

mom goes to church and she's for bernie. [applause] and my dad is white and he's for bernie. and yeah, my kids are young and therefore bernie. and that's what we have proven more than anything. in this campaign is that the future of america is beyond stereotypes. [applause] the future of america is beyond hatred. [applause] the future of america does not have a wall running through it. the future of america is represented by bernie sanders and his run for president. thank you and god bless.

[applause] [campaign] bernie, bernie, bernie.

[campaign] bernie, bernie, bernie . >> thank you washington. [applause] let me thank all of you for coming out, let me thank ben. [applause] let me thank

a little over a year ago we began this campaign. what the pundits thought was that the campaign would not go very far. well, here we are in mid-june and we're still standing! [cheering] and we are standing after having won 22 states, and the results have not yet come in from california. [cheering] >> we have won over 10 million votes. [applause] >> and in every state and nonstate, i am aware of this

issue here in washington, dc. and i hope that the next time i'm back, we're going to be talking about the state of washington, dc. [cheering] >> but in every state and nonstate that we have run in, we have won by very large votes, young people. [cheering] >> and the reason that is significant is that this campaign is based on a vision that our country must focus on social justice, on economic justice, on racial justice, on environmental justice. , and when the overwhelming majority of young people support

that vision, that will be the future of america. [cheering] this campaign has done as well as it has because we are doing something unusual in american politics. we're telling the truth. [cheering] and the truth has to do with the reality of our lives as we experience it, not what we see on corporate television. [cheering] >> and what is that reality? that reality is that we hear all of the time that we are a democracy. but the fact of the matter is, even excluding the issue of washington, dc, not having

elected representatives in the congress -- [booing] -- is that all of you know that increasingly big money is buying elections. right now, you have a couple of brothers called the koch brothers. [booing] they are worth tens of billions of dollars, and they are determined to purchase united states senate or right-wing republicans. [booing] >> and when you have a handful of billionaires spending unlimited sums of money, you can call it whatever you want but it sure is not democracy. [cheering] in fact, it sounds to me like

oligarchy and what this campaign has been talking about from day one is the trend that we are seeing in our political life, in our economic life, in our media life, of fewer and fewer wealthy people controlling this nation. and that type of drift toward oligarchy is something we must prevent. [applause] and that means overturning this disastrous citizens united supreme court decision. [cheering] it means moving to public funding of elections. [cheering] can you imagine two people, the

koch brothers, one family, in the process now of purchasing the united states senate. [booing] my view is not only should we overturn citizens united, but we should move toward public funding of elections. [cheering] but it is not just a corrupt campaign finance system that we have got to change, it is a rigged economy. this is, if you add it all up, the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, but most people don't know that because almost all of the new income and wealth is going to the top one percent. [booing]

united states is not supposed to be a country which has more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on earth. we are not supposed to be a country where the top one tenth of one percent now owns almost 90% of the wealth of this country. we are not supposed to be a country where the 20 wealthiest people own more wealth than the bottom half of america, 150 million americans. [booing] income and wealth inequality and a rigged economy means that we are seeing a proliferation of millionaires and billionaires and yet walk five blocks away from here and we got people sleeping out on the streets.

[booing] a rigged economy is when a mother goes out to work and yet the wages that she earns are so low, she cannot afford decent quality child child -- child care for her children or provide the security her kids need. a rigged economy is when the united states has the highest rate of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth. [booing] a rigged economy is when ceos who make tens of millions a year, cut back on the wages, cut back on the health care, cut back on the pensions of their workers. [booing] a rigged economy is when wall street greed and recklessness and illegal behavior destroy the

economy and then the congress bail them out. and a rigged economy is when wall street's illegal behavior ended up with no wall street executives going to jail. [booing] a rigged economy is when mom is working, dad is working, the kids are working, and 57% of all new income goes to the top one percent. [booing] brothers and sisters, our job is to create an economy that works for all of us, not just the one percent. [cheering] [chanting]

all of us! all of us! >> i have been in this campaign to native american reservations. [cheering] i went to pine ridge in south dakota, and you know that in pine ridge, life expectancy is lower than in many third-world countries. [booing] i have been to flint, michigan, where the children are drinking water that is poisoned. [booing] i've been to detroit, michigan, where the public school system is on the verge of fiscal collapse. [booing] i've been to baltimore, maryland,. [cheering] where tens of thousands of

people there are addicted to heroin and they cannot get the treatment that they need. [booing] this is the united states of america. we should not be having 47 million people living in poverty. [cheering] this is the united states of america. we should not be living in a country where the very, very rich get richer, while almost everybody else gets poorer. [cheering] this is the united states of america, where, in the last 25 years, we have seen the middle class shrink and shrink and shrink while almost all new wealth goes to the people on top. that is not what this country is about, and together, we are going to change that.

[cheering] this campaign is not just about a corrupt campaign finance system. it is not just about a rigged economy. it is about a broken criminal justice system. [cheering] every person here, and every person in this country, should be embarrassed by the fact that we have more people in jail than any other country on earth. [booing] why in god's name are we spending $80 billion a year to lock up 2.2 million fellow americans? [booing]

and it's our job to understand the cause of that issue, and to resolve it. and that means for a start, well know that in community after community, throughout this country, inner cities and in rural america, we have youth unemployment rates of 30, 40, 50 percent. [booing] >> and when young people are hanging out on street corners, when they are not in school, when they are not at work, bad things can happen. so, what i think -- and i know you think -- is that it makes a lot more sense for us to be investing in jobs and education for our young people rather than jails and incarceration. [cheering]

i want our young people in school, not rotting in jail cells. [cheering] i want this country to have the best educated population in the world, not more people in jail than any other country. [cheering] but when we look at the criminal justice issue, it is not just the fact that we have high youth unemployment. it is also necessary for us to look at local police departments all across this country. [applause] i was a mayor for eight years in burlington, vermont. worked with police officers all over the country. the average police officer works hard, is honest, and is trying to do a good job. [cheering]

but like any other public official, when a police officer breaks the law, that officer must be held accountable. [cheering] it is time for us to demilitarize local police departments. [cheering] it is time for us to make local police departments reflect the diversity of the communities they serve. [cheering] it is time to end corporate ownership of prisons and detention centers. [cheering]

it is time for us to have a law enforcement culture which says that lethal force, shooting somebody, is the last response, not the first response. [cheering] it is time for us to take a hard look at the so-called war on drugs. [cheering] millions of americans over the last 30 years have received police records because of possession of marijuana. [booing] and if you are a 19-year-old kid going out, looking for a job, having a police record does not help. that is why i believe that in a time when the federal control

substance act lists marijuana as a schedule 1 drug, it is time to take marijuana out of the federal control substance act. [cheering] but when we talk about drugs, there's another issue that we have got to put front and center on the table, and that is we have an epidemic in this country of opiate and heroin addiction. [booing] every day, every day, people are dying of overdoses of heroin or opiates. [booing] but to address this crisis, we have got to be smart. and being smart means that when we deal with substance abuse or

addiction, we understand that we cannot treat those issues as criminal issues but as health issues. [cheering] and that means that we need a revolution in mental health treatment in this country. [cheering] people in america should be able to get the mental health treatment they know, when they need it, not six months from now. [cheering] by the way, this is not just drug abuse or addiction. there are thousands of people walking the streets of this country who are suicidal, and/or homicidal. i want those people to be treated in and their problems to

be treated like any other health-related issue. [cheering] i don't want them to have to fill out 50 forms and maybe get treated eight months from now. if you're facing a mental health crisis from america, you should get the treatment you need today, not eight months from now. [cheering] this campaign is listening to ordinary americans and not just wealthy campaign contributors. [cheering] and what i am extraordinarily proud of is that this campaign has received more individual campaign contributions than any campaign in american history up to this point. [cheering]

we have received eight million individual campaign contributions. does anyone know the average contribution? >> $27. >> 27 bucks. you know what that means in what that means, despite all the rhetoric out there we have shown the world that you can run a winning national campaign without being dependent on wall street, drug companies, or big money interests. [cheering] >> bernie, bernie, bernie, bernie, bernie, bern -- bern niksch bernie, bernie. >> this campaign has been listening to working people. and what working people are

telling me is that they cannot make it on a starvation minimum wage of seven and a quarter an hour; that we have to raise the federal minimum wage to a living wage, $15 an hour. [cheering] >> 15.com $15.com $15! , $15! >> when we talk about equitable wages we have also got to understand that it is not acceptable that women today are making 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. [booing] that has nothing to do with economics. it is just old fashioned sexism and together we're going to end that. [cheering]

and i know that every man here is going to stand with the women in the fight for pay equity. [cheering] now, once a month, federal government comes out with a report on official unemployment. usually around 5% lately. anyone here believe that real unemployment nationally is 5 percent? >> no! >> you're right, it's not. there's another federal report which doesn't get quite so much publicity, which adds not only those who are unemployed but those who have given up looking for work ask those working part-time when they want to work full-time. that number means 10% of our people are unemployed. and obviously in certain areas of the country the number is much higher than that.

that is why we need a massive federal jobs program to put americans back to work. [cheering] we should be hiring teachers, not firing teachers. [cheering] we should be creating the best child care system in the world, not maintain a dysfunctional system. [cheering] once upon a time, the united states had the best infrastructure in the world. roads and bridges and water systems and wastewater plants and airports and rail. we had the best rail system in the world. no longer the case. [booing]

we can create up to 13 million good-paying jobs, rebuilding our infrastructure, which is exactly what i intend to do. [cheering] when we talk about why the middle class has been disappearing for 30 years, one of the reasons is a disastrous trade policy which has allow evidence corporate america to shut down in this country and move to low-wage countries abroad. [booing] we have a message for corporate america. and that is, if you want us to buy your products, start manufacturing them here in the united states. [cheering]

this campaign is listening to young people. [cheering] and young people are catching on. they are the future of america, and they are damn determined to shape the future of america. [cheering] what this campaign is about is thinking outside of the box beyond the status quo. think about this for a second. everybody here knows, no debate, we're livering in a highly competitive global economy. everybody knows. that to succeed today and in the future, we need the best educated work force in the world. no one can argue that. our job, therefore, is to encourage people, not just young people but in a technologically changing society, all people, to get the best education that they can.

[cheering] now, 40 years ago, you had a high school degree, you were doing okay. high school degree would enable you to go out and probably gate middle class job. that was 40 years ago, not today. today, when we talk about public education, it is no longer good enough to talk about first grade through 12th grade. we have got to talk about public education meaning free tuition at public colleges and universities. [cheering] does anybody here think that is a radical idea? >> no. >> it is an absolutely commonsensical idea.

it will happen sooner or later. our job is to make it sooner. [cheering] i want every child here in washington, dc and vermont, regardless of their income, to understand that if they study hard, if they do well in school, they will be able to get a college education. and that is what america is supposed to be about. that anybody can make it into the middle class regardless of the income of your family. anybody here have student debt they're struggling with? all right. again, think about this.

if our job is to encourage people to get the best education that they can. why are we punishing millions of people for getting a college education? what i believe we have got to do is to make it possible for everybody who has a student debt, to refinance their loans at the lowest interest rates they can find. [cheering] now, my opponents, and the establishment media, they say, well, bernie, you're santa claus, you're giving away all of these things. you're giving away free tuition at colleges. you're going to lower student debt. how are you going to pay for it? here is the point we have to address. in the last 25 years, there has been a massive transfer of wealth.

crime the middle class to the top one tenth of one percent. [booing] >> our job is to transfer that money back into the hands of the middle class. [cheering] >> eight years ago as all of you know, against my vote, congress bailed out wall street. [booing] wall street's greed, its recklessness and illegal behavior, nearly destroyed the economy. millions on people lost their jobs, their homes, they're life savings. congress bailed them out. what i think if congress can bail out wall street, it is wall street's time to help the middle class of this country. [cheering] and that is why i believe we

must impose a tax on wall street speculation. [cheering] and that would more than cover free tuition at public colleges and universities and lowering student debt. now, wall street doesn't like this idea. but i say, you know what? wall street, you have to learn, you no longer are going to get it all. [cheering] this campaign is listening to the african-american community. [cheering] and the african-american community is asking all of us, how does it happen that we can spend trillions of dollars on a war in iraq we never, ever should have gotten into --

[cheering] -- no problem. we can bail out wall street. no problem. we can give tax break billionaires. no problem. but somehow when it comes to rebuilding inner cities in america, providing good education, good health care, affordable housing, somehow we seem not to have the money. [booing] and what this campaign is about is making it clear, together we are going to change our national priorities. [cheering] no more tax breaks to the rich. they're going to start paying their fair share of taxes. [cheering] no more wars that we should never have gotten into in the