>> i would just add to that, the new south asia strategy one of the elements, the regional station that the has been talking about. we would view this actual recovery of the citizens in pakistan by pakistani forces as a very favorable development along that line. we review this as a very positive thing pakistan has done moving forward. .. >> on the presidential podium this morning and those for a good reason. pretty soon we'll have the press joining us and addressing us and we're very excited about that. [cheers and applause] >> you can imagine security is a very big issue.

i was standing in the green room. i just wanted to go to the bathroom and took one step out and the guy who looked like he could play for the green bay packers, he said would you like to take a step back? i said, i would love to take a step back and i didn't have to go to the bathroom anymore, so all is well. all right, folks, listen, you're seeing the logos of all of our sponsors and we'd like to give a special thanks to all of them to make it possible for the 12th annual summit. and hold applause until i'm out and we'll shout and tell appreciation. frc action. american association action. american values, family research counsel, the kennedy center for christian statesmanship and first time sponsors association of mature citizens and christian health care ministry and pleased for

our student sponsor, wesleyan, and fox radio. and heritage foundation and united in purpose and washington times and the official newspaper of the value voters summit and finally meese note that the plan has this across the hall to check out. and thank all of our sponsors for making this possible. thank you. [applause] all right, now, brace yourself for scintillating announcements at that get through. i have housekeeping items and if you'll be patient i'll run through them quickly. we appreciate you're being sensitive to enhanced security and there will be no backpacks allowed in the ballroom. all backpacks are subject to search and your name badges are

required for admittance to all sessio sessions. don't look at me, don't do as i do, do as i say, my imitation of a liberal democrat. and no sign or literature. look at the monitors as i read the disclaimer, the summit is co-sponsored by speakers and each speaking at this event or distributing literature acts for itself and the family research council or any of our sponsors. the views expressed for each organization are solely those of the speaker and/or their organization and do not represent the reactions of frc or any other sponsor.

they do not sponsor candidates for political party nor support votes or endorse any candidate for public office. thank you. make sure to stop by all of our exhibits to check out our exhibit hall. we have 15 amazing exhibitors to take advantage of. you could win an ipad mini, you could get an autograph the a the bookstore, be on live radio at radio row or find a new job at the job stair, ironically my boss tony perkins keeps urging me to check out and a charging station there and a cafe. family research council is sponsoring a passport book you can get and try to get that stamped by all of the exhibitors and at 3 p.m. there will be a drawing so you can win an android. h-tablet. and the selfie #bvf 17.

and extra points for the most celebrities. i'll pause if you'd like to take that picture now and the prize for the tweet of today and tomorrow, throughout the event. and complimentary wi-fi is available for the ballroom and media rooms, not your guest rooms. wi-fi frc and open your browser. we're introducing, you can stay up no matter-- stay up-to-date no matter where you are. create a custom schedule to keep on track of your favorite breakout session and list of local restaurants and find the exhibiter booth serving free candy available on android and iphone. for assistance plugging in go to the registration desk. we're pleased to have the members of the media here as our guests, hundreds credited to be a part of our program and we want you to please show them the same respect that they are

showing our president. [laughter] >> no, don't do that. please, don't do that. but seriously, we do, for example, i know that fox news is coming in a couple of times today and doing some live feeds and so they may be interviewing one of our speakers right next to you and you'll feel the shine of the light and hear the commotion, we ask that you behave yourselves, don't wave hi to mom or anything like that. and it will only be for a few minutes so if they're speaking while you're trying to speak just be patient and we'll get through that together. all right, now, before we begin our program i want to ask add a comment about the current controversy of athletes, they refuse to stand for our national anthem. let me show you just how far we've come as a nation. by some old baseball footage from a game just about a generation ago with legendary

vin scully of the los angeles dodgers on the call. let's look at the monitors together. together. >> i'm not sure what he's done, looks like he's going to, the flag and take it away from him. and the set fire to the american flag, can you imagine that? better lose him in a hurry. when he realized what he was going to do, raced over and took the flag away from him. >> unfortunately, today, that same athlete would be demonized for his disrespect of these fans' freedom of expression. but not here and not today at the values voter summit. so do honor america and our almighty god would you please proudly stand and we will begin with the giver of all of our

values, we're going open with invocation representative of kala kissinger, and by the way one of the youngest legislators in america. let's pray. >> so thankful and humbled for the opportunity that we have to come together with one mind and one accord, father, we know that we are so blessed to live in the greatest nation on earth and help us over the course of this weekend, as we reflect on the greatness of this nation to remember the miracle that is the founding of this nation and the biblical principles that we all hold dear and are engrained in the fabric of our country. father i pray you give us a special blessing for those who worked so tireless to get together and passionate in

servant for the issues that are close to your heart for life and courage and religious freedom. father, i pray that you would continue to give our leaders wisdom and guidance and direction, father. i pray that you would direct our president and our representatives, lord. that you would direct their steps, lord, and that they would walk in those steps, lord. that you would give them wisdom for every vote that they cast, for every decision that is made. father, i pray that you will remind us that our hopes and our salvation and redemption is not bound in any political party or movement, but found in you. father, i pray you will give a special blessing on this event, lord, that we will not only be passionate while we're here, and that we would go back to our communities and you would use us to ignite a revival within the hearts of americans, lord. we know if we are to see america survive and thrive, lord, it starts in the heart of the people.

father, i pray you will ignite a fire in our hearts that we will in turn give to the people in our communities, pray that you will give wisdom is pastors, lord so they will lead and sheppard their blocks to serve you in the political realm, the spiritual realm and every day of our lives, god, i pray that you see the division that's come across our nation and, father, you say that whether it's a division the people perish, father, i pray you'll bring a spirit of unity across our nation and our country so we will turn our hearts to you. father, you said if we seek you and ask for wisdom, you would grant it. lord, i pray for our president that you would make him like david, give i am had an art after yours so he would lead us in the direction that we are to go and, father, i just pray a special blessing over those here this morning and that will be here, i pray for safety over this event, and in jesus' name, amen. >> amen.

>>. [applause] . >> please remain standing, ladies and gentlemen, for the presentation of our colors, presented by the naval junior rotc, from woodson high school here in washington d.c. and followed immediately by our pledge of allegiance led by united states marine corps pastor phil howser and our national anthem by a member of the national opera, angela knight. ♪ ♪

>> present colors. >> attention. salute. i pledge of allegiance to the flag. united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. ♪ oh say can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ what so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ whose broad stripes and bright stars through the

perilous fight ♪ ♪ o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ ♪ and the rocket's red glare ♪ ♪ the bombs bursting in air ♪ ♪ gave proof through the night that our flag was still there ♪ ♪ oh say does that star spangled banner yet wave ♪ ♪ o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪

[cheers and applause] ♪ >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen, you may be seated. one final announcement, i need to mention there is no unauthorized taping or recording of the values voters summit. if you would like any of the sessions you can go to our website after the event. any violators of this important rule will be given a copy of

this book. [laughte [laughter] >> there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, the question and the answer on the same cover. when i first saw this title, i thought it was referring to donations to the clinton foundation. but i think this title was chosen because the title, somebody call a w-ambulance had been taken. i think the most honest answer to why hillary clinton is not our president today can be best summed up in her own words. >> what difference at this point does it make? >> amen? amen. well, listen, are you ready to have a good time? let's light this candle. shall we? coming out to call the 2017 value voters summit to order,

the president of. if rc action and council, tony perkins. ♪ >> good morning! well, good morning, everyone and welcome to the 2017 values voters summit. let me ask you, are you ready to drain the swamp? >> yeah! >> i've got the equipment and i've got the motivation and we're going to get it done. look, this is our moment. we must seize this moment and save our republic. we must save our republic from the dangerous and destructive policies that were unleashed by the barack obama administration. and today, we, as we begin the 12th annual values voters summit, we have folks in here from around the country and via

the internet. we literally have like-minded swamp drainers from around the world and i want to thank you, in all seriousness. i want to thank you for having the courage to not be silent, but rather to stand up and speak out and contend with those who want to feed our freedoms to the swamp monster we call government. this is our moment and we must seize it and i hope at the conclusion of our time together that you are better informed, more encouraged, and motivated, with a fresh resolve to drain the swamp and save our republic. and to not just defend. the time to defend is over, folks. it's time to advance faith, family and freedom to every corner of america! [cheers and applause] >> and it's now my honor to

call the 2017 gathering of the value voters of america to order. welcome. let's have a great time. [cheers and applause] ♪ >> i thought i'd seen it all. okay. well, listen, we're going to get things kick off with how we're winning the hill and put together a pretty impressive panel. let me take a moment now to introduce each one and they'll come out and you can show your appreciation. beginning with congress woman vickie heartsler from the fourth district of my home state of missouri, there she is, ladies and gentlemen. before vicky started in the house of representative she served five years in state house of representative from 1995 to 2000. for the marriage and pro-life

movement and others to get engaged in politics with her new book "running god's way, step by step to a successful political campaign", let's give her another round of applause. welcome, vicky. >> and number 42 left field-- no, mark walker serving the 6th district of north carolina. he's an ordained baptist minister and serves on homeland security oversight and chair of congressional prayer caucus. let's hear it for mark walker. [applaus [applause] >> and rounding out our panel this morning on winning the hill, is mike johnson, who was elected to the u.s. house of representatives in 2016 by the largest margin of victory in his region in more than 50 years. he was appointed to the powerful house judiciary committee and two of its sub committees, the committee on immigration and border security

and house committee on crime, terrorism, homeland security, and investigations. would you also welcome our third guest for our panel. [applaus [applause] >> all right. and tony is still in the swamp right now so we're going to continue stalling while we wait for tony to get out of the swamp. all right. how about that cubs game last night. was that exciting? everybody welcome back frc president tony perkins. take it away. >>. [applause] >> somebody was using my phone booth. well, we are excited to begin with a panel of some of the swamp drainers here in washington, some of our leaders on the value issues that we care so deeply about and i'm going to start in the center, ladies first, but also, congressman vicky hartsler is

the co-chair and leads the values action team in the house of representative. she has been here since 2010. she also serves on the important house armed services committee, and vicky, i want to ask you about the importance of undoing the social engineering that has been put upon our nation's military, treating our men and women in uniform as if they were lab rats by the previous administration. >> yeah, it's just been devastating to watch over the last eight years under the obama administration, the dismantling of our military readiness and with the policies that are implemented not only cutting defense dollar-wise, but inflicting upon them the social engineering policies that are detrimental to our nation. one of the ones that i was very concerned to see and we took some action recently with the

president's help on reversing when president obama last summer unilaterally without checking with congress or anyone else says now we're going to allow transgenders to serve openly in the military, giving them the full rights of medical treatments as well as including sex change operations, and as a member of the armed services committee, i was very concerned about that because we are facing more threats now in our nation than at any time since world war ii whether you look at the rise of china, kim jong-un and his threats, iran, or putin in russia. the and yet, at the same time, we are with this policy, using tax dollars to allow for sex change operations, which will make soldiers nondeployable. now, that just doesn't make sense, and so, i did offer the amendment during the national defense authorization act to say that no tax dollars can go

to paying for sex change operations. [applause] and the reason that that's bad, it's going to, by estimations over the next ten years cost taxpayers 1.35 billion dollars just for surgeries alone, that doesn't count the ongoing hormone treatments, but then in addition, if you have a surgery of that magnitude, it makes you nondeployable for 267 days a year. so my question is, why would we use precious defense dollars that makes soldiers that cannot be deployed? [applause] >> so we were, unfortunately, came a few votes short of of passing that, but very, very thankful that your next speaker, after our panel, the president of the united states, realized that this was a tremendous detriment to our nation, a misuse of our tax

dollars. he has changed that policy and it's being written out, the guidance right now i'm so glad that he's our commander-in-chief a prioritizing our military once again. [applaus [applause]. >> by the way, just to put that cost in perspective. that's one navy destroyer, a fighter jet. it's not an insignificant price tag. i want to go next to congressman mark walker who serves as the chairman of republican study committee, came to congress in 2014 and i think was well equipped to work in congress and bring people together after serving as a baptist minister and being in many business meetings, he knows how to deal with contentious situation. >> survive a wednesday night baptist business meeting, you're in good shape. >> that's right. let me ask you, congressman

walker, how you see the role, now, coming from the faith community as a pastor, what role does the church evangelical, social conservatives, catholics have in determining the future of our country? >> i think you're seeing it play out in our very present day. certainly, i want to thank you for all the great work you're doing from impacting from your level and certainly the great army here even today. we saw this play out last week. the amount of influence that the church and the people of christ are really pushing back on some of the social engineering and the social culture. we're seeing it. that vote last week on the house floor where we were voted to end all abortions after 20 weeks, it's due to the people fighting this fight, tony, and, yes, give yourself a hand for the great work there. so -- [applause] >> when did it become even a point of contention in our country that we would even

consider that this -- we're one of only seven countries out of 198 nations, including north korea, that even allowed abortions after 20 weeks, it boggles my mind sometimes that we've drifted this far. it doesn't mean that we don't have plenty of work and fight left in us to be able to push back on some of the culture. i think we do it, obviously, to answer your questions specifically. there is an evangelical threat that worked in all components and aspects and the like that we have to understand there is a relationship component. for 50, 60 years, some of our communities have been i am kt pa-- impacted, should i say indoctrinated that the government is end all, whether it's spiritually, fiscally, we've got to reach across the communities and share the message out of psalms, that everyone is made for goodness

for god and we're happy to carry that here. [applaus [applause]. >> our third panelist from my home state of louisiana, congressman mike johnson from shreveport and we have a couple of people from louisiana here. i've known mike since he was a mere lad in law school and i want to ask you this, mike, you're a constitutional lawyer. you ended up in your career defending religious freedom, and working with alliance defending freedom and others. did you ever envision, back when you were in law school that we would be contending for the very right to exercise our first amendment freedom of religion? >> we saw it coming. you know, for about 20 years i was in the courts doing that work and defended frc and a number of our allied organizations and worked for all of those years and we would go into churches on sunday and do guest pulpit service and explain to the church and

around the country this day was coming and you know, 20 years ago, people would go, i don't know, guys, it seems like a bit too much. and now, everything that we saw coming down the pipeline is here for our eyes, and we're in an all-out fight for our most fundamental freedom and everyone in this room recognizes that and that's why you're here and we're so grateful and you support frc and everybody on this front line because we're in the fight of our lifetime. you know, mark mentioned the unborn child act we passed two weeks ago and when we're in battles like that, we go to the house floor and we're grateful to be with warriors like these and go to the floor and we were co-sponsors and went to the floor and explained. let's rather because we're in a generation of americans who don't understand the fundamental freedoms and why they're so important. it's easy to take freedoms away

from people who don't know what their freedoms are. who we are are articulated well in the declaration of independence. jefferson writes in the second paragraph, we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal and among those are the rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and i looked at the democrats on the floor and i said do you know why that's listed first? why did they list life first, for example? because they understand we're all made in the image of a holy god of a creator and he's the one that gives us those rights. [applaus [applause] >> tony, on the floor, i know you were watching, they were argument for what they argued on the floor we can't pass this abortion ban after 20 weeks and some children may be born with disabilities and we have the right to terminate the

pregnancy. the founders recognize we're given life by our creator and understand that that was essential and every single person has a dignity and value. and it's not related how good looking you are, where you're living and that's given to us by god. [applaus [applause] >> i want to throw this question out for any of you, all of you to address as you feel led. and that is as you look at the landscape of america and what is before us, the challenges that we have, the window of opportunity we have, how can the value voters of the country make the greatest difference? what can they do? what are some of the practical steps that we can take? >> well, if i could go first? i think that the way that i have assessed this for 18 years as a pastor and now our third year here in the united states

congress. i believe you can trace every issue or symptomatic problem to the breakdown of the family in this country. in that, we have to know what the baseline issue is in order to bring about solutions and resolve. if you go across the board 50 years ago, we saw the family in all of our areas and all of our communities, 80% intact. moms, dads, stability. now, in many places we've seen that completely invert less than 20%. and you know the statistics. until we're willing to honestly address those, but here is the positive in all of this, if you can take it-- put it this way we now have the data of 50 years of left policies and what it has done to our families, what it's done to our communities, so it's not like this is 1965 again and lb j's getting ready to introduce all of these programs. we've seen what 50 years of the programs would do, specifically to the family. so, in order to be able to turn this back, tony, i believe that

we have to be addressing specifically those areas that have negatively impacted the mom and dad culture and the family culture. we see it coming out of hollywood. in fact, we see lots of things out of hollywood these days, but we've seen the folks turn a blind eye and specifically, i'll go this far, even target the family that god has structured to have children, moms and dads, boys and girls, to be able to have an opportunity to succeed. until we're honestly ready to address those issues, i don't think we'll bring about the solutions needed. [applaus [applause] >> so, three things come to mind of the first and most importantly is to pray, you know? if my people would humble themselves and pray and turn from their sins and i will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and will heal their land. so we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. that is of course what we need

to do. but secondly, i would encourage you to think about and pray about running for office yourselves and if not you, then who? then saying, who do i know that would be good on the school board or could serve on the county commission or city council. we need to be strategic, proactive putting and encouraging people to share our views and values so that's really important, but most importantly, we need to tell people about jesus. because he is the only answer, really. [applaus [applause] >> until people hearts are changed and they start viewing the world the way that jesus wants us to view the world and others, then we'll be fighting upstream. that's the most important thing. >> that's right. [applaus

[applause] >> i'm finishing my first book right now, actually writing last night, it's entitled "fight like a christian" and the idea that the title is provocative is sort of telling as to why the book is so necessary and lessons we've learned on the front lines over the last couple of decades and what i've tried to articulate and what i want to emphasize all the time is our approach. we know that america is even more divided now maybe than it's ever been certainly in the modern era and everybody is going to their corners. the way that we approach the gospel and public policy is more important, i think, than it's ever been so we have to be with some witnesses to the truth and love our enemies and our battle is not against flesh and blood and we know what we learned in sunday school, we have to have the public square. and we have to be gentle and

wise to serpents. i've done 18 town halls, many are not doing them anymore. these guys are actively engaged and i'm challenging them, were aren't you going to the people, and the media isn't going to do it. and they pay hecklers to hassle us. and you answer every question and after a while, they stop coming to your town halls because they can't rattle you, right? [applause] >> that's the approach i think we have to take as the church and conservatives in the square to articulate our principles without apology, do it in a gentle way and hopefully we can win others over to our cause. [applaus [applause] >> mike, i want to ask you a question based on something that vicky said about her third

recommendation that we share the gospel. and i think we get that in the church, that is our primary role is to be evangelists, to share with others, to go there for and tell, but that ties into the usual issue of religious freedom. many would say i don't want to get involved in politics, that's not my deal, but the ability to literally share the gospel in the marketplace and in the realm of education, that's at risk today. >> yeah, i'm not sure if my colleagues want to jump in. mike and i are in a court case defending heroes of faith jack phillips, and jack owns mast masterpiece case shop. he's an artistic genius. he creates masterpieces, it's not a cake, and he goes to each event and creates specifically for that event and he was asked

a couple of years ago to make a case, create a cake for a same-sex wedding ceremony and he just quickly said, well, i can't do that due to my faith. is there some other way to get a cake, i can tell sell you one pre-made and i'm not going to express and use my talents in that way and they took it to the colorado civil rights commission and-- which ruled against him and had ordered had him had to go through reeducation programs, he and his staff, and he has to file quarterly compliance reports now with them to verify that he is not letting his religious beliefs get in the way of his business, and thankfully, ads has helped him and he is all the way now to the supreme court on december 5th, they're going to hear this case, but this is a tremendously important case and as there are others now, so many others, ordinary people

trying to live out their faith according to the constitutional rights of the first amendment, and being told by their governor-- government that they have to behave a certain way. now, if our government can force people, to do things against their deeply held religious beliefs, where are we as a country? and so, this is imperative that we pray for this court decision and that we continue to fight this and stand up for our beliefs and, mike, you're-- you did this for many years, and if you want to jump in. >> i would just add, it is difficult to overstate the importance of this case. i said at our press conference when we unveiled our amicus, i believe this could be for all the marbles, tony. if it goes the wrong way, we're going to set back religious freedom for generations. if it goes the right way, we'll be advancing what the founders ideals were and it's really

that important. it remind me, also, of another development of this, just a week ago, the rollback of the obamacare, hhs mandate where we were forcing employers to provide contraceptives and terriblization tech next-- sterilization in the health care. and the left went crazy, you know why? we're seeing a trend around the country in state laws and lawsuits, they're trying to force catholic hospitals and christian health care providers to not only support, but engage and use their skills in support of things at that violate their sincere religious beliefs and deepest moral convictions. that's antithema to who we are.

[applause]. >> two decades ago the attacks on our religious liberty were much more subtle and what you saw through the obama administration, these attacks no longer had to be behind closed doors. they were in your face, through intimidation, through whatever tactics they could to override anything that you could push back, so, if i could speak to one thing, one action step that we can do, i think a second timothy when it talks about show yourself. the last part the truth, the word. being competent it know when those attacks come after us or you or religious liberty to be able to have a baseline of knowledge to be able to protect ourselves. and sometimes that's the only tool we have in the arsenal to push back. we've got to be informed. got to be willing to engage, which is exactly why many of you are here in washington

d.c., to be able to push back, we've seen-- we've recently worked with a coach in washington to lost his job for praying after a football game. this is real. it's in our face and unless we're willing to fight on behalf of christians, i think putting on the whole armor of god. now, we put on the gospel of peace, but those are offensive and defensive weapons. if you look through that passage, that there are times that we have to advance our cause and i don't think there's a greater time in our life to advance that cause right now. [applaus [applause] >> let me shift to a specific policy initiative, one that's probably most symbolic of the swamp. and that is the issue of obamacare. now, the house, you passed a measure, it went over and drown in the senate. is there still a chance that we will see--

i know the president yesterday, i'm sure he's going to talk about some of the executive orders that he did to address it on the margins, but is there a chance we'll see congress repeal and replace this policy that is causing our health care system to implode? >> i'll start. let the rookie go first. this is a tough one. we did-- we worked very hard to get the ahca, you know, our health care bill over to the senate and we were all just as heartbroken as every other american when it failed by a couple of votes, we all saw the outcome. obamacare is in the process of imploding right now and i'm sure everybody in this room understands the reality of this. in our home state of louisiana premiums have risen almost 150% since 2013 and we're not even by far-- we're mid range. some of the states premiums have gone up almost 300% and they're going to continue, deductables have skyrocketed as

well. people are losing coverage because health care companies are running for the exits and in the red and they're not charities. and the system is about to collapse in on itself. we know in january if something doesn't change, apparently it won't, you'll have large swaths of the country have only one insurance provider as many do, or none at all. there are 49 counties at last count that will have no insurance providers on the obamacare exchanges. it's simply not a sustainable situation and we're going to have to go back and address it again. the house, as you know, is committed to it. certainly the republicans in our conference, we're going to have to do it on our own and we're praying and i think everyone in this room should help us encourage our friends in the senate to step up and take necessary action. [applause] >> yes. there is hope, to your question, tony, there is a lot of hope, but we cannot rest. we cannot relent, we need to

continue to fight on this issue. recognizing and using the word encourage in the senate, but they may have a few more action verbs we may be thinking about today to be able to do that, but we're going to continue to push the legislation. i am aprivileged to chair the caucus, and we went on record at our press conference last week, promises for the next three months and one of those is to continue to repeal and replace obamacare, if we have to do it piece by piece, frame by frame, we will not rest until this burden is off the backs of the american citizens. [cheers and applause] . in north carolina, 94 of hour 100 counties are already down to one insurer. what good is obamacare if you do not have a provider that would recognize the insurance? and to not give people an opportunity to go out and

purchase health care insurance customized for their family is an atrocity. we're putting together-- marsha blackburn has a wonderful bill we're trying to put out. and put the pressure-- this is where you can help, continuing to engage the others in the chamber, united states senate, why they understand the urgency why it's important. we only have a small window of time to get things down. only three times in the last 100 years has congress been able to keep its republican majority when you've had a republican in the white house. that's why this time may not last forever and i would dare to think what the democrats would continue to do to our health care, tony. >> i would add a little of the nuts and bolts of frustration of it and the how the senate rules work and you may have thought, well, we have a majority as far as republicans

in the senate, but we have 52, and they have a couple of rules that say you have to have 60 votes to do thingsment one is called a motion to proceed so we've had 337 bills in the house, so far this year, a record number, from before the time that the obama administration, clinton administration and both bush administrations, we have been working hard and passing important legislation. but, before they can take that bill up and actually debate it, a motion to procedure takes 60 votes. right now that's how come 200-- >> 76. 276 are sitting there unless they can get a democrat on board they don't debate it. to end debate another 60 votes and several of us are advocating changing the rules. [cheers and applause] >> i would say nowhere in the constitution does it say in the senate it takes 60 votes. most people think it should be like the constitution says and

majority should rule. it's a crazy idea, but, you know, i think that the majority should rule and that would make things a lot easier because obamacare, we're trying to have to pass it under something called reconciliation, only takes 50% of the votes, but the problem is only can-- we can only end part of obamacare through that mechanism. so it's complicated. so the senate needs to change their rules and go majority rules. [applause] >> on to the next big ticket item that's before congress is tax reform. that's the discussion now shifting to tax reform. your thoughts? will we get a pro family, pro growth tax structure coming out of this congress? >> i'm convinced that we will. kevin brady, chairman of the ways and means has worked on this for nearly the entire year to make sure that we are going to take care of the american people when it comes to tax

reform. we were in a discussion last night that we had another member, maybe just calling for some trimming around the edges, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. not since 1986, 31 years, that's, i think, the year the movie "top gun" came out, i was a junior in high school. we haven't touched tax reform. this has to happen now. i talked about the urgency why we have both houses that we've got to deliver on this, but we want to make sure, this is a key component that impacts i would guess pretty much everyone in the room that those in the middle and lower income are not damaged by their charitable giving. we need to include that so that they can deduct the charitable gifts. the communities shelters and like this, we don't want to diminish great work that's done by many nonprofits, specifically our religious organization and we're going to do both and make sure that tax

reform is done and make sure to protect these institutions. [applause] >> so i feel very optimistic as we launched a frame work of what's going to be in the tax policy a couple of weeks ago and it's family friendly. not only are we increasing the tax credit, but making it equal. so if you're a stay at home mom like i was in several years, you get the equal amount and we're taking out the marriage penalty which actually is a wonderful idea. [applause] >> so, that's part of it and keeping the taxability there, it's a good, good plan and we're just fine-tuning it and looking forward to hopefully getting it across the finish line. >> and i think that the reason that we have optimism this will be done because even the rhinos in the conference recognize that it's their scalp that's at issue here. if we don't get this done, there's going to be a reckoning next fall, and everybody's

going to be -- [applause] >> but, i've spent a lot of time in my district, back in north and west louisiana talking to small business owners and they tell-- the economy's been on a great run since this year. we've had 49 consecutive or more than that now, over 50 consecutive dow jones records since january. but i think a lot of that is in anticipation of the fact that we are going to get this job done with tax reform so we have to do it and when we do, it will help everybody, all boats are going to rise and all the small business owners tell us, man, if i just could get a little-- if i had to send a little less to uncle sam in washington to squander, and i could have a new job line and go to this location, and those things are going to happen and i think we'll double the gdp, economic growth rate, to 7, 7 1/2% like in the mid '80s. a strong america is good for the whole world, we know that

and this is important. [applaus [applause] >> we spoke, on the individual side, there's a business component as well as, tony perkins, and just yesterday i was sitting down with the cfo of pfizer company and he said this, for every dollar we make in ireland we keep 87 cents. for every dollar we make in the united states, we keep 60 cents. now, since the 1930's we've not lowered our business corporate tax rate as low as we're getting it now which is 20%. as you guys know, that's one of the talking points, we've had the highest industrial rate in the world and it's time to bring that back down. the average across the international globe is it 22 1/2%. we think we're getting it to 20%. pretty sure we can lock it in there because it's important to bring in billions and billions of dollars as well as jobs back to the united states. [applause] >> and repeal the death tax as well. that's a big thing.

[applaus [applause] >> well, and there's another aspect of the tax reform that's in there that has been addressed, the president addressed it in a campaign and i know, mike, you were a part of the co-sponsoring part of the johnson amendment repeal. >> we need to unshackle the voice of the church again and for a long time, for a long time it's something that we've all lamented that the internal revenue code has been really censoring and silencing the pulpit. that's unconstitutional and we've been trying to challenge that for years, many of you know that we've had freedom sunday and thousands of pastors get up in their pulpits in the fall before an election cycle and say, there are biblical reasons why you cannot vote for candidate a on b. that's the way pastors use today lead their flock until the 1950's. the johnson amendment was

impressed, many of you know the history and won't go in the weeds about it, but lbj put it in for churches in however opposed this. and is silenced and censored the church. we have the legislation pending that will unleash the pulpits of the country again. that's the moral leadership that we need for america in this pivotal time and i think it will be a game changer. >> the voices. [applause] >> the voices on the left were never shackled. now it's time to unshackle the voices on the right. >> all right. we're about out of time. very quickly, as you think about how the values voters, those across the country that are watching and literally around the world, how can they most effectively pray for congress at this moment?

>> well, i think certainly for wisdom, but if you look at one versions of stories of solomon. he said give me a heart that i might have a discerning heart. and i think that wisdom starts with the heart. and so, pray that we all have the heart of jesus and that we have the heart of god for the people that we serve because it's out of that caring for their constituents, getting to know them, they're hurt, their needs and how government can play a role in unshackling some of the restrictions on them to help them live to the fullest that god has given them. it's out of that heart of caring for them that comes in the policy changes and motivation for us to fight. and that is what-- so give us a discerning heart and a caring heart for the people that we have and then the wisdom and how to translate

into policy that will not only be beneficial for them, but that will bring glory to the lord. [applaus [applause] >> i would-- i think that's great. i would issue two prayer requests for those in the congress that there would be a newfound conviction about our core principles among those who tend a waiver an about it that these are what we're fighting for and what the american people deserve and unity, that's important that we've got to keep our camp together and moving in the right direction and sometimes that's the difficult battle not only overcoming democratic objectives, but keeping our family together. paul ryan one time said it's like trying to keep frogs in a wheelbarrow and that's right. and i'm grateful for victory and much mark, and we're grateful for your prayers, and

that makes a difference. >> ladies and gentlemen, let's thank our panel for a tremendous job and thank them for our leadership. [applause] ♪ >> thank you, ladies and gentlemen for that great ovati ovation, i appreciate it so much. the next speaker is chair of the freedom caucus, 40 members of congress dedicated to giving a voice for those who feel forgotten from their government. during his time in congress, champion of fiscal accountability, pro growth economic policies, pro family and pro-life initiative and a strong national defense. from the great tarheel state of

north carolina, please welcome representative mark meadows. [applause] >> good morning. ♪ >> good morning. or should i say, hello deplorables! i love it, i love it! you know, about 13 months ago there was someone on this stage, donald j. trump as candidate, 13 months ago, that was bringing it to all of you on what it may be like if we put a conservative in the white house. now, i want to also say at that particular time, i want to give you a stat. the polls said there was an 83% chance that hillary clinton would win by 47 electoral votes

at that particular time. i can tell you, i'll give you another stat. they were 100% wrong! you know, it was 13 months ago when he was here that really we were going to campaign and we said, it would be worth it for just one thing, if we could get a conservative on the supreme court like neil gorsuch, it would have been worth it and indeed, we have done that. now, don't you think that supreme court justice gorsuch is better than supreme court justice bill clinton? wouldn't you agree with that? but it was 13 months and i can tell you at that particular time there was not the same enthusiasm in this group. in fact, there was not even the believability because the polls were all suggesting that it was all over with.

and, yet, somehow we, as people of faith knew that our god still reigns over the affairs of nations, doesn't he? he still reigns. so, it's not just with that federal supreme court nominee that has been confirmed, it is the 150 other federal court, conservative court nominees that will ultimately make sure that we turn back this country to its roots, to make sure that we, the people, and the constitution will still reign. it is that that we can applaud this morning. [applause] but i also, since we're looking back at september, i want us to look back even further to a september that happened some time ago and it was a september during the battle of 1812 and actually, it happened in 1814, and many of you might have known it was the battle of

baltimore, fort mchenry was off there, and it was 25 hours of bombardment. bomb after bomb, cannon ball after cannonball, to go in not only to make sure the strongest country in the world at that time, england, would take over a fledging country like the united states. now, i share that because at that particular time, they had anticipated the battle that would come. and i share that today with you, because we need to anticipate the battle that is still raging on the streets of washington d.c. in this place that they call the swamp. now, i understand, tony came out and it is time that we, what, drain the swamp, right? well, that includes every single member of the house and senate, if they're not willing to do what they promised on their campaign trail, it's time

to send them home. it is time. >> now, i share that because indeed they were preparing for battle and what we now know is, is the flag that was still waving after that bombardment was the flag of francis scott key actually wrote the poem which we now call our national anthem about. and yet here we are today in preparation for that battle, and knowing that it was a bear, we

some of think that that flag and what it represents is not worth standing for. i can tell you there are times when you don't make political statements. there are times at a funeral where you don't make a political statement. there are times when we are sending troops and welcoming them home that you don't make political statements. and i would suggest that you don't make a statement by taking a knee when we have the flag out there as well. that's what i would suggest. it is time that we stand and honor of what it represents. it is time. [applause] but perhaps you don't know the story that is told a little bit around that time that is not commonly known, like the national anthem. and it's a story that's talked

about 22 patriots that were fishermen that actually came in and they soak their boats in the harbor to make sure that the enemy couldn't get close enough for those cannonballs to take full effect. it was 22 patriots that actually sunk their vote in the harbor. it was their livelihood. they were fishermen. they were willing to sacrifice it all for what many at that time were calling a lost cause. perhaps you have been criticized by your friends for fighting for a lost cause. perhaps the times that you stood up and you said you know what, we're going to pray and were going to continue to go to the polls and were going to pretend like we are in the lead even though the polls were suggesting that we were way far behind. but you know what, we knew that we had somebody on our side that perhaps others didn't because we knew that on our knees praying before our heavenly father he would deliver ultimately the

victory. [applause] and so i ask you today, are you willing to still be one of those 22 patriots? are you willing to be someone who is willing to fight for a lost cause? when all of the media says that your voice doesn't matter, will you join me in making sure that they know that your voice matters and it is not to be denied? [applause] so let me tell you something else the pollsters got wrong. you know, we were in north carolina, and at some of you might've known that was a little bit of a battleground state, and so we got to see up close interpersonal our president campaigning from one end of the

state to the other. but when i knew, , when a knew that the pollsters were getting it wrong was one day we're going to campaign across the state, i live in the far west, was getting in the car, we were going along the interstate and then all of a sudden on the interstate i started to see handmade signs that said donald trump for president, make america great again, make sure that we vote on november 8. eighth. these were handmade signs. they were not coordinated by the republican party. they were not any part of a a coordinated effort. i saw the russians nowhere. they weren't anywhere around. but i can tell you that it was real. you could feel it. you could see it. and all of a sudden what happened is this organic desire to make america great again, to believe that america is

exceptional, and to quit apologizing for our greatness was something that we needed to do once again. [applause] i would suggest it is time that we continue on that journey to make america great again. now, as we look at that particular day i want to kill and a bit more because as we were going, we're going to a place in north carolina that i didn't even know, i didn't know existed. it was selma north carolina. it was in the east. i was in the west but yet it was the small place and so as we were going there to actually campaign on half of this president, that time candidate, miles out we started to see pickup trucks that are pulled over to the side of the road. we started to see cars. we saw people on the side of the road waving american flags as

the motorcade was coming through. and we're talking about four or five miles out. in the middle of nowhere. well, my apologies to selma, north carolina. in the middle of nowhere. we show up in this outdoor, open past year. there are 20,000 people who had been standing there for hours just to wait to hear president donald j. trump address them. now, if that is not an organic movement, not organized by anybody else, i don't know what is. [applause] so here is my challenge and encouragement to you. we need to continue to show the same type of energy that is there, the .

the same type of energy that was there before november 8. and we need to understand that this president is serious about doing business. he out works everybody. now, i know it would not be hard to work congress. but he works until 1:00 in the morning. he goes to sleep for a few hours. he gets up at 5:30 or six in the morning and when you see this he is willing to work harder than anybody else. we should do the same. it is time that we help this president out. [applause] now, he has rolled back all kinds of regulations. in fact, more regulations have been rolled back, substantial regulations have been rolled back in the first nine months of his presidency than any in modern times. but we need to help him, don't you think? don't you think it's time congress quits talking and they start doing? isn't it time?

[applause] if we don't get behind this agenda and an america first agenda, if we do not get behind it, it is time that you send us so. i love to shoot, i love to actually out with my son and shoot, and so when you go out to shoot you can shoot a lot of shells. all the shells look exactly the same. in fact, you can put them in and as you shoot, occasionally you come across one where you pull the trigger and it's a dead. now, you have two options. you can leave that in the chamber -- dud -- and pull the trigger again and again and see if it fires, or you can eject it and put in another shell. [applause] i would suggest, i would suggest we have some members that are

duds that it been left in the chamber too long and it is time that we eject them. what do you think? it is time. [applause] it is time. quit trying to make them perfect. eject of them. over with a fresh shell. so as i share that, it is with great humility that account before you today because as the leader of a caucus whose motto really is to stand for the forgotten man and woman to make sure that there's a voice here in washington, d.c., we need to make sure that we are diligent about doing what we promised the american people. it never hurts to do what you promised the american people on a campaign trail. it's time that we actually produce some results. so here is where i i would asku

to help. this president comes under attack every morning that he rolled out of bed regardless of what he does or what he says or whitey tweets. he comes under attack each and every morning. i would ask to be prayerfully on your knees, praying for this country, this president and yes even this congress as we try to do the people's business and i would say ultimately represent the people that are here in this room today. because the values that we hold dear are not uniquely ours. they are actually god-given. we see that from the constitution because we know that indeed even in the declaration of independence that we recognize who the ultimate authority is. and yet sometimes we happen to

forget that. and as we forget that, what happens is that we must come back over and over and over again to remind others that not only does our god rain, but the voice of value voters will not be stamped out ever, ever in this country. it is time that we tell them. [applause] now, if you willing to commit with me to do that, the other part of that that we must do is not be afraid to stand up. because so many times what happens is, , is you get in your own groups and when it's comfortable to stand up and speak up, you normally shut up. and i'm talking to myself here, because sometimes it's a whole lot easier to just be quiet

instead of actually speaking out on what you know to be the truth. and so are you willing to stand up and speak up so that others will not drown out? are you willing to do that? [applause] we've got one with a hat that i know will do it, all right, but thank you. god bless you. i also want you to know this, but as we start to see things changing, we can come back to where we started. we can come back to our judeo-christian roots that this president has not only promised that he would uphold, but he has demonstrated that he would uphold. he has demonstrated it over and over and over again. [applause] we can make sure that our best ally in the middle east, israel,

is offended and we are unflinching in that defense. [applause] -- is defended. we need to make sure we do not yield there. i see gary bauer here in the front row. there has not been anyone has been a strong advocate for israel than you, gary. thank you so much for being here. god bless you. [applause] so here we are nine months into a new administration. we have eight democrats in the senate that often will believe that they're going to run things. but i tell you it is time that we get rid of the 60-vote cloture rule in the senate and start ruling like a majority. the heck with tradition. it is time.

it is time that we do that. [applause] i'm for no more excuses. it is time to get rid of the excuses. so let me close with this story. when so many of us went to the polls on november 8, we were voting for a president that we really didn't know much about, other than what we had learned in the media. we were voting for someone that truly had come from a number of other competitive and quality candidates. and yet here he was, our nominee, going in, most of us knew that we wanted to change the supreme court. we wanted to roll back regulations. we wanted to make america great again. we wanted to make sure that religious liberty was protected again, and we had one choice.

and that choice was donald j. trump. but i also want to jelly a personal story about the backside of a president that i've come to know very well. it's important that you this because what happens is as so often we miss who the person is in all the headlines that are out there. so shortly after he was sworn in i get a phone call from the president of the united states. now, my executive assistant came in and said you've got to come with me quickly. i thought there was an accident or something terrible had happened. her face was all white, and so she said the president of united states is on the phone for you. and my face turned white, and so i get on the phone and i talked to the president and he goes in to not only take me for campaigning with them on the campaign trail, but more

importantly he came in to say mark, i wanted to check in to see how you were doing. how are people treating you up there on capitol hill? i wanted you to know that you've got a friend in the president of the united states. and so i i kept waiting for the punchline because i figured if those nice things were happening he was going to ask me for something. it's the art of the deal. you've got to figure that out. and yet there was no deal. in fact, it's the thing that i remember most about that phone call, is that for five minutes into the phone call he says i just wanted to check with you, mark, , and make sure you are okay. and if you ever need anything just give me a call. there was no request. there was no demand. there was not a hint of encouragement of where he wanted me to be. that's the man that we have at 1600 pennsylvania avenue. that's the band that your elected on november 8, and

that's the man that will make america great again. god bless you. thank you so much. it's great to have been with you. thank you. god bless you. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to the podium the president of family research council, tony perkins.

♪ ♪ >> not the president you were expecting. [laughing] >> he's coming. ladies and gentlemen, a little over a year ago when we gathered in this place, the future of our republic was uncertain. today, it still hangs in the balance, but if we seize this moment we can preserve freedom for generations yet to be born. and we've seen the response of the left to the initiatives and policies of this president. an old farmer once told me, if you throw a rock into a pigpen you can always to which one you hit by who squeals loudest. that sounds pretty simple, but it's revealing when you hear how loud the left is squealing. their sense of entitlement to government impose policies and programs and values, , or lack

there of, have been hit a hard blow. we have a president who reviews the constitution and honors the laws of our land. and to make matters worse for the left, we actually have a president who is keeping his campaign promises. [applause] as a candidate he promised to restore the sanctity of life and protect the unborn. what has he done? within 72 hours of taking office he not only reinstated the mexico city policy to protect u.s. taxpayers from funding abortion by the expanded it. he promised to protect and promote america's first freedom, the freedom of religion. and what has he done? he has protected religious freedom. [applause]

he promised to stop the social experimentation of our nation's military which left it depleted and demoralized. and what is he done? he has had the courage and the conviction to keep his campaign promises and do just that. [applause] my friends, i believe we can save this republic. we have a leader who is committed to keeping his promises, but we have in the oval office i believe a leader who has courage and has conviction. and it is my honor today to introduce to you the president of united states, donald trump. [cheers and applause] ♪

♪ >> thank you very much, tony. thank you. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] thank you very much. i've been here before. you do know that. before the big day on november 8 i with you. i want to thank mark meadows and all of the folks that really

made this possible, and tony, tremendous guy. we had some incredible people that we love and that we are involved with, so we all know that. and i'm being followed by mr. bennet. you know that, right? i've been watching him say nice things about me before i knew him. those are the ones you like. but i really want to thank everybody, and tony, for your extraordinary leadership of this organization. and want to thank also -- for your dedication to the faith community and to our nation, worked so hard that it's great to be back here with so many friends at the 2017 values voter summit, , and we know what that means. we know what that means. america is a nation of believers and together we are strengthened and sustained by the power of

prayer. true. [applause] as we gather for this tremendous event, our hearts remain sad and heavy for the victims of the horrific mass murder last week in las vegas. it was an act of pure evil. but in the wake of such horror we also witnessed the true character of our nation. and by the late on top of her daughter shield her from gunfire. a husband died to protect his beloved wife. strangers rescued strangers here police officers, and you saw that, all of those incredible police officers, how brave they were, how great they were running into fire. [applause] first responders, a rush right into danger. americans to fight evil and hatred with courage and love.

the men and women who risk their lives to save their fellow citizens gave proof to the words of this scripture. the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. [applause] all of america sprang for the wounded and the grieving, and will be with them today, and we will be with them forever. [applause] just want to finish by saying, really, we understand it was so horrific to watch it so terrible, but those -- to those who lost the ones they love, we know we cannot erasure pain but we promise to never ever leave your side. we are one nation, and we all hurt together.

we hope together and we heal together. [applause] we also stand with the millions of people who have suffered him a massive fires which are right now raging in california, and the catastrophic hurricanes along the gulf coast, puerto rico, the virgin islands. and i will tell you i left texas and i left florida and i left louisiana, and i went to puerto rico and i met with the president of the virgin islands. these are people that are incredible people. they have suffered greatly, and we will be there. we we're going to be there. we have really, it's not even a question of a choice. we don't even want a choice. we are going to be the as americans. we love those people and what they're going through. they are all feeling. and their states and territories are healing and their healing rapidly. in the wake of the terrible

tragedies of the past several weeks the american people have responded with a good distance and generosity and bravery. you've seen it. the heroism of everyday citizens reminds us that the true strength of our nation is found in the hearts and souls of our people. when america is unified, no force on earth can break us apart. [applause] we love our families. we love our neighbors. we love our country. everyone here today is brought together by the same shared and timeless values. we cherish the sacred dignity of every human life. [applause] we believe in strong families and safe communities.

we honor the dignity of work. [applause] we defend our constitution. we protect religious liberty. [applause] we treasure our freedom. we are proud of our history. we support the rule of law, and the incredible men and women of law enforcement. [applause] we celebrate our heroes, and we salute every american who wears the uniform. [applause] we respect our great american flag. [applause]

thank you. thank you. thank you. and we stand united behind the customs, beliefs, traditions who define who we are as a as a nan and as a people. george washington said that religion and morality are indispensable. america's happiness really prosperity and totally to its success. it is our faith and our values that inspires us to give with charity, to act with courage, and to sacrifice for what we know is right. the american founders invoked

our creator four times in the declaration of independence, four times. [applause] how times have changed, but you know what, now they're changing back again. just remember that. [applause] benjamin franklin reminded his colleagues at the constitutional convention to begin by bowing their heads in prayer. religious liberty is enshrined in the very first amendment of the bill of rights, and we all pledge allegiance to very, very

beautifully one nation under god. this is america's heritage, a country that never forgets that we are all, , all, everyone of s made by the same god in heaven. [applause] when i came to speak with you last year, i made you a promise. well, one of the promises i made you was that i would come back. [applause] and i don't even need your vote this year. that's even nicer. i pledge that in a trump administration, our nation's religious heritage would be

cherished, protected, and defended like you have never seen before. that's what's happening. that's what's happening. you see it everyday. you are reading it. so this morning i am honored and thrilled to return as the first sitting president to address this incredible gathering of friends, so many friends. [applause] so many friends. and i will ask tony at all of our people who do such a great job in putting this event together, and it take next year off or not? i don't know. he's saying, they are saying no. that means no. so i'm here to thank you for

your support and to share with you how we are delivering on that promise, defending our shared values and in so doing how we are renewing the america we love. in the last ten months we have followed through on one promise after another. i didn't have a schedule but if i did have a schedule i would say we are substantially ahead of schedule. [applause] some of those promises are to support and defend the constitution. i appointed and confirmed a supreme court justice in the mold of the late great justice antonin scalia, the newest member of the supreme court, justice neil gorsuch.

[applause] to protect the unborn, i have reinstated a policy first put in place by president ronald reagan, the mexico city policy. [applause] to protect religious liberty, including protecting groups like this one, i signed a new executive action in a a beautil ceremony at the white house on our national day of prayer. [applause] which day we made official. [applause]

among many historic steps, the executive order followed through on one of my most important campaign promises, to so many of you, to prevent the horrendous johnson amendment from interfering with your first amendment rights. [applause] thank you. we will not allow government workers to censor sermons or target our pastors or our ministers, our rabbis. these are the people we want to hear from, and they are not going to be silenced any longer. [applause] just last week based on this

executive action the department of justice issued a new guidance to all federal agencies to ensure that no religious group is ever targeted under my administration. [applause] we have also taken action to protect the conscious rights of groups like the little sisters of the poor. you know what they went through. what they went through. they were going through hell. and then all of a sudden they won. they said how did that happen? we want to really point out that the little sisters of the poor and of the people of faith who live by a beautiful calling, and we will not let bureaucrats take away that calling or take away their rights.

[applause] we are stopping cold the attacks on judeo-christian values. [applause] thank you. thank you very much. and something i said so much during the last two years, but i'll say it again as we approach the end of the year, you know we're getting near that beautiful christmas season that people don't talk about anymore. they don't use the word christmas because it's not politically correct. you go to department stores and they will say happy new year or they will say other things, and it would be red. they will have painted but they don't say well, guess what, we are saying merry christmas again. [applause]

and as a christmas gift to all of our hard-working families, we hope congress will pass massive tax cuts for the american people. [applause] that includes increasing the child tax credit and expanding it to eliminate the marriage penalty. [applause] because we know that the american family is the true bedrock of american life. so true. [applause] this is such an exciting event

because we are really working very hard, and hopefully congress will come through. you saw what we did yesterday with respect to health care. it's step by step by step. [applause] and that was a very big step yesterday. another big step was taken the day before yesterday, and one by one it will come down and we will have great health care in our country. we are going to have great health care in our country. we are taking and little different route than we had hoped because getting congress, they forgot what their pledges were. so we're going a little different route, but you know what, in the end it will be just as effective and maybe it will even be better. [applause] for too long, politicians have tried to centralize the authority among the hands of a

small few in our nation's capital. bureaucrats think they can run your lives, overrule your values, metal in your faith and tell you how to live, what to say and how to pray. but we know that parents, not bureaucrats, know best how to raise their children and create a thriving society. [applause] we know that faith and prayer, not federal regulation, and by the way, we are cutting regulations at a clip that nobody has ever seen before. [applause] nobody. in nine months we have cut more regulations than any president has cut during their term in office. so we are doing our job.

and that is one of the major reasons, in addition to the enthusiasm for manufacturing and business and jobs, and the jobs are coming back, that's one of the major reasons, regulation, what we've done, that the stock market has just hit an all-time historic high. [applause] just on the public markets we've made since election day $5.2 $5.2 trillion in value. think of that, i .2 trillion. -- i .2 trillion. and as you've seen the level of enthusiasms, , the highest it's ever been and we have a 17 year low in unemployment. so we're doing really some work. [applause] we know that the family and the

church, not government officials that know best how to create strong and loving communities. and above all else we know this here in america we don't worship government. we worship god. [cheers and applause] inspired by that conviction, we are returning moral clarity to our view of the world, and the many great challenges we face. this afternoon, and little while i'll be giving a speech on iran, a terrorist nation like few

others, and to think you'll find it very interesting. [applause] yesterday things happen with pakistan, and i openly said pakistan took tremendous advantage of our country for many years, but we are starting to have a real relationship with pakistan, and they are starting to respect us as a nation again, and so are other nations. they are starting to respect the united states of american again, and i appreciate that and i want to thank the leaders of pakistan for what they have been doing. [applause] in this administration we will call evil by its name. [applause] we stand with our friends and allies. we forge new partnerships in pursuit of peace, and we take

decisive action against those who would threaten our people with harm. [applause] and we will be decisive. because we know that the first duty of government is to serve the citizens. we are defending our borders, protecting our workers, and enforcing our laws. you see it every single day like you haven't seen it in many, many years. if you've seen it at all. in protecting america's interests abroad, we will always support our cherished friend and partner, the state of israel. [applause] we will confront the dangers that imperil our nation, our

allies around the world, including the threat of radical islamic terrorism. [applause] we have made great strides against isis, tremendous strides. i don't know if you've seen what's going on, tremendous strides against isis. they have never got hit like this before. stand up. stand up. he's a rough guide. i can say that. but they've been just ruthless and they have ruthlessly slaughtered innocent christians, along with the vicious killing of innocent muslims and other religious minorities. and we've made their lies very, very difficult. believe me. [applause]

we've done more against isis in nine months than the previous administration has done during its whole administration. by far. i far. and isis is now being dealt one defeat after another. we are confronting rogue regimes from iran to north korea, and we are challenging the communists dictatorship of cuba and the socialist depression of venezuela, and we would not lift the sanctions on these repressive regimes until they restore political and religious freedom for their people. [applause] all of these bad actors share a common enemy. the one force they cannot stop, the force deep within our souls, and that is the power of hope. that is why in addition to our

great military might, our enemies truly fear the united states. because our people never lose faith, never give in, and always hope for a better tomorrow. last week melania and i've reminded of this in a powerful way when we travel to las vegas it. we visited a hospital were some of the survivors were recovering from absolutely horrific wounds. we met a young man named brady cook. he's 22 and a brand-new police officer. that night was his second day in field training. his second as a policeman, and you believe it? when the shooting began, he did not hesitate. he acted with incredible courage, rushing into the hail of bullets, and he was badly shot in the shoulder. this is what brady said.

i didn't expect it, but it's what i signed up for. when stuff goes down, , i want o be there to face evil and to protect the good, innocent people that need it. and here's a young guy, great guy, and second day. said brady, don't worry about it, it's going to be easier from here. [laughing] [applause] brady is a hero and he can't wait to get back on the job. several weeks before when hurricane harvey hit houston, and local furniture store owner who is known in texas as mattress mac decided he had to help. when the rain began to flood the streets of the city, he sent out his furniture trucks to rescue

the stranded. he brought them back to his stores and gave them food and a clean, dry place to stay, even if it meant ruining countless dollars worth of furniture as mattress mac put it, my faith defines me. it's a lie down. we can the cost. we can't afford, we can't, , and he said this very strongly, but what we can't afford is to cause people to lose hope. in brady and mac, we see the strength of the american spirit. this spirit of courage and compassion is all around us every day. it is the heartbeat of our great nation. and despite certain coverage, that b is stronger than it's ever been before. you see right through it. [applause] that b is stronger than it's ever been. we see this.

and the men and women whose selflessly enlist in our armed forces, and really go out and risk their lives for god and for country. and we see it in the mothers and the fathers who get up at the crack of dawn. they worked two jobs, and sometimes three jobs. they sacrificed every day for the furniture, future of their children. they have to go out. they go out. they work. the future of their children is everything to them they put it before everything. and they make sure that the future of their children has god involved in it. so important to them. [applause] we see it in the church communities that, together to care for one another, to pray for each other, and to stand strong with each other in times

of need. that people who graced our lives and fill our homes and build our communities are the true strength of our nation. and the greatest hope for a better tomorrow. as long as we have pride in our country, confidence in our future, and faith in our god, then america will prevail. we will defeat every evil, overcome every threat, a neat every single challenge -- and meet -- weevil protect our traditions. we will find the best in each other and in ourselves. we will pass on the blessings of liberty, and the glory of god to our children. our values will endure. our nation will thrive. our citizens will flourish, and

our freedom will triumph. thank you to the values voter summit. such an incredible group of people you are. thank you to all of the faithful here today. and thank you to the people of faith all across our nation, and all over the world. may god bless you. may god bless the united states of america. thank you very much, everybody. thank you. thank you. thank you, everybody. ♪ ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> any questions? having heard none, let's move on with our program. hey, i have to say that today was supposed to be a travel day for the president, and he did not think, we didn't think is going to be able to make it.

what he chose to do was reschedule his other appointment so he could be here with you. [applause] i turn to bill bennett during the speech i said i'm sure glad i don't have to follow him. he said, well i do. hey, folks, simply put, our necks because one of america's most important influential and respected voices on cultural, political and educational issues. he's a man of strong convictions who speaks honestly, eloquently and candidly about some of the most important issues of our time. he is written or co-authored more than 25 books including two "new york times" bestsellers. his three volume set of history of the united states entitled america, the last best hope, has been widely praised and used in schools around the country. through his high-level

government positions, his writings, commentary and speeches, and thousands of media appearances over the years, he has an extraordinary influence on america's political and social landscape. ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome to the stage dr. bill bennett. ♪ ♪ >> thanks, folks. what do i do, you know, what do i do after that. my goodness. so i said to kellyanne, what do i do? she whispered something in my ear cups i said i'm just going to do it. as the president walked out i said thanks for warming up the crowd for me. [laughing] he's from queens, i'm from brooklyn. you know we talk like that, so you know. anyway, i used to follow ronald reagan. i guess i can follow donald trump. i am proud to be here. i want to fill in a couple of

links that would be -- for me to take off in a whole different topics let me comment psalm on what our president said, some the things he has said and done. first of all i love the digressions of the president. justice frankfurters wife uses a of her husband, felix makes two mistakes when he speaks. first he digresses from his text. second, he returns to it. [laughing] i love the president digressions and i told him, i said you've got great speech what it but i love it you go off script. you see the -- [applause] we save the authentic queens guy. i love that authentic queens guy. anyway, it's great and he, the times are a changing he said. bob dylan, remember, the time search engine, don't stint in the doorway, don't lock up the halls, members of congress, because the times they are a

changing. let's change that. it's great to see the energy in figure of our president or i want to say something that i said on tv at fox a couple weeks ago about the president and the first lady visiting texas and florida, and puerto rico and las vegas. i remember a book i read when i was in school called the lord, written by an italian theologian named romano gardena. he said god hears every suffering, the suffering of every creature in the world and if we get the suffering of every creature in the world it would overwhelm us. it would kill us. i remember i never forgot that passage. it occurred to me that as the president and mrs. trump went to florida, texas, las vegas and puerto rico, they heard a good chunk of the suffering of the world, didn't they? and they saw a good chunk of the suffering of the world. and you know that moved in and affected them.

and i cannot stand these critics and cynics who criticize the president for his efforts on behalf of the people there. that is just ridiculous. he went -- [applause] and they said what about throwing paper towels? i said that's what he does. that's the queens guy. this is how we show affection in brooklyn. we throw something at them, or for them. and this ridiculous business on puerto rico that cnn is obsessed with now, , i watch cnn so you don't have to, you know, people can be there forever. first responders can be the forever. let's parse that since. first responders can be there forever. first, first responders, okay. kind of makes sense, doesn't it? but remember before this horrible storm there was a little bit of a problem in

puerto rico, its credit. what the president wants to make sure is that while supplying all the self and all this assistance to puerto rico that it does not think of itself as just a total dependent of the federal government because that would be wrong and that would be a mistake. great example, florida and texas if they do not regard themselves as two states, those two governors as federal dependence. and neither should it puerto rico. they need all the help we can give them and we're giving it to them and then they need to clean up their own act, physically and financially. -- fiscally. at the same time the president and the first lady were hearing these tales and seeing these folks, they have undergone the most unprecedented media assault in american history. and i know something about media assault in american history. i see my friend teri bauer come he got some. we got some together.

dan quayle got some. the bushes got some, but never has to been anything like this. never has it been so one-sided. so speak up for him. speak up for him. of course, yes, right. [applause] harvard study of immediate coverage of trump's first 100 days found that cnn and nbc's coverage was 93% negative. that was from harvard so it is probably worse. they were probably trying to soften the medicine. .. anyway, big enough, to slope here anyway, and as a patriots

the president has one on this issue. he has just one. [cheers and applause] >> jerry jones is having his player stan and the commissioner is seen this tune as well and that's a good thing. the president knows and has stated that we stand for the anthem and we kneel before god. [cheers and applause] but whatever you might want to say about these players who are kneeling and protesting i think i have some inside information that i will share. a lot of them don't know any better. they just don't know any better. and they are alien to themselves in a culture in a country they don't understand. who has ever told them that america is the last best hope of earth? who's ever told them about the sacrifices that gettysburg or yorktown?

who's ever told them about that memorial, memory-- marine memorial out there? i don't think they have been taught-- i know they haven't been taught. i been in the schools and they haven't been taught and how many of our problems go back to that. plato said to fundamental questions in society, who gets to teach the children and what do they teach them? and matt still remains the question and i will take this audience teaching my children, thank you rather than many others. stepping on my applause lines, i know, but i got a lot to get through and i want to get through it. so you about a study you probably haven't heard that i was fascinated with. take american students 13 and 14 years old, big study done in california whose parents were born in another country and when asked to identify what they were nationally these 13 and 14

-year-olds is that they were americans by vast majority when they finished high school, the majority of them identified themselves as hyphenated americans pick the purpose of the public schools, the original purpose to turn us into one people has been flipped upside down and now it's not the melting pot, the balkanization that is taught in schools, and identity politics that we know is the hallmark of the democratic party and i'm afraid our schools are all too complacent in that activity. it's amazing amazing fact we have to address. politically, i thought during the campaign when i was losing friends fast and furious on my side, bill, you know though bert-- book of virtues how can you support this man, will i have the feeling he's a sinner. [laughter] and i know you're not. [laughter] and i know i'm not, i wrote the

book of virtues, after all. [laughter] >> i dip explained that the people all the time that it wasn't written out of strength, but need, written out of aspiration i remember telling people if for no other reason the kind of people this president will appoint to the supreme court and philosophy we talk about sufficient conditions and i said if you think he will appoint a real conservative to the supreme court that is a sufficient condition of voting for him for president of the united states. [applause]. especially compared to what we would have gotten on the other team. he did warn you up for me, thank you very much. so silly. i want to say something about foreign-policy. he said he would destroy isis. you know something, he's destroying isis. [cheers and applause]

this you will not get in the news, he's done more damage to isis in the last eight months than obama did in eight years. he, and general mattis-- i had to tell you as a marine father i'm proud to have these marines surrounding the president. gives me a certain security and i think that is good for cal about general kelly yesterday holding his first press conference in the press guy said, what are the president's main problem and he said, well, you first of all. [cheers and applause] consider these words from a former high-ranking cia official , the isis reign of terror is about to end. it's about to lose it's a stronghold in morocco, syria is lost it in iraq. of the caliphate days wrote this, they are truly numbered.

james mattis, general mattis said we will annihilate isis and we are doing it. read the "new york times" spirit i don't say that often, but read the "new york times" a story on the surrender, the continuing surrender of isis prisoners they are coming coming with tails between their legs among which when most are interrogated they just signed up and don't know anything about beheadings or anything like that. you remember all the nazis who fought on the russian front? okay, that was the usual excuse. so, that you will remember is the first response ability of government, the safety and security of its citizens. he understood the threat of isis and he's dealing with it and that caliphate and the promise of the caliphate is coming to an end, another sufficient condition for successful presidents. [cheers and applause] a few other things, the president later will talk about

the iran deal and we will let him have the thunder on that, but let's pay attention to that. i'm so glad he's addressing that , sophisticated so-called sophisticated transnational liberals mock the president when he suggested, who was he to suggest they said that other mentor-- members of nato pay their fair share and what happened is they are paying their fair share, a number of them. [cheers and applause] he took us out of paris or at least the paris accords and that was a great accomplishments. he has sent-- [applause]. >> a clear signal to north korea about what will be tolerated and what won't. as to the economy i remember reading some of these economists saying the days of 3% or 4% growth are over. the economy is growing at 3% right now in the stock market keeps hitting all-time highs and something you may not know the people who are benefiting the most from this improvement in the economy of the trumpet supporters, the workers, people

who get paid by the hour cometh people who work on our infrastructure and that is a just reward for them. [cheers and applause] he campaigned on a travel ban on i don't know if you notice, tuesday supreme court upheld him eight-one. [cheers and applause] seems like a long time ago, but remember the first few days? the president approve the keystone pipeline in the dakota axis pipeline and rollback the epa migratory war on america and ended the war. [applause]. he has even people-- given people in oil country and energy part of our country great encouragement of confidence about the future your key is not yet guaranteed a member of the big 12 will make it to the college playoffs, which i would

-- which i wish would happen-- just divided the audience. texas oklahoma, tomorrow folks. go to the conference and i will watch the game for you. [laughter] he has appointed, in my view, the most conservative cabinet and list of agency heads i've ever seen. [applause]. i know something about it. i was in reagan's cabinet and i was a pretty conservative cabinet. this is a more conservative cabinet and that's kind of a stunning thing since ronald reagan's are guiding lights. he chose a secretary of education, my friend betsy devos who is fighting to empower parents. [cheers and applause]

>> by the way, betsy smoak-- spoke at one of my alma mater's, harvard, a few weeks ago and the students interrupted her calling her a white supremacist or they know what democrat politics have done to minority students over the years? kept them trapped in failing schools. she also said i am a believer in choice and got booed. she said did you all make a choice to go to harvard, interesting question and you being anti- public education when you chose to go to a private school like harvard, good for betsy. good question. [cheers and applause] alex acosta is leading a quiet but very effective revolution at the department of labor. he's a able man. pay attention to him work outside the cabinet important conservatives like the man i met the other day, the fcc, he understands rule america and what the needs of rural america are.

if you look at it demographically rule america is becoming the new inner-city and we know barack obama wanted money and support to go. rule america suffering educationally, suffering from this horrible opioid epidemic and ulcers of things and this administration understands the problems of rural america are delighted to see this tournament at the fcc-- i will put in a plug for him-- understand as well. maybe you haven't noticed, but there's great happiness and jubilation in medical research community at the appointment of scott gottlieb of the fda. i know this doesn't normally get into our view, but this is a guy who believes that good drugs that look promising and show up in research should be approved and made available to the american people as soon as possible. [applause]. >> we had now have an administrator the fda who is friendly, sound and important and worthwhile research in

delivering the goods to the american people. i have to say my two favorite little things being inside the beltway guy, he skipped the white house correspondents dinner, god love him. [cheers and applause] and the gridiron dinner. he doesn't need them and he doesn't want them. [cheers and applause] he doesn't care about their approval. he's not afraid of the "new york times" editorial board or hollywood. hollywood? remember hollywood? is going down. [cheers and applause] i mean, to say it's been down and now everyone is getting a full good look at it. that's what, i mean,. nor do you see year-- see fear.

these late-night comedians who worst of all are not funny. as a student in the language, the president has given us new terms like, drain the swamp. by the way, when our leader here at family research council came out this morning and the waiters -- i saw them backstage and i said other robertsons not showing? are you trying to pose as one of the robertson kids? anyway, he said no. they drain the swamp. fake news. it's out there and it's real. crooked-- you know the rest. rockets man, i love that one. [laughter] best of all the most encouraging of all, make america great again [cheers and applause] a lot of work to be done, a lot

of work to be done in these accomplishments are real and they must be accompanied by a real and substantial legislative achievements. it must be shown to the american people working together. let's get this tax things through. lettuce get it through. lettuce get it through. let us get it through. these are real significant accomplishments, but i know my never trump friends, my rolodex really got more thin over the last two years. still say no to them and i say what more do you need to know. they say what about the tweets and what about past, what about some of the profanities and vulgarities to which i say the president has always had the gift of always being himself. what we get is real. he does not go to as counterfeits.

when you see the president's and fullness, we are conscious of his history, we are conscious of his future and as oscar wilde said just as every sinner has a future, everything has a past. everything has a past and every sinner has a future. let me close with this, i was thinking and i wrote this down while he was speaking. one of the presidency great current themes and you see this when he's speaking often, harrisburg most recently and i remind you of this in the form of a question, did you ever recall seeing barack obama give a speech and the speech being interrupted a third of the way through, halfway through or at the end with the crowd shouting, usa, usa? never, but that's what they do

now. the answer is, no. the president is making america great again. let's help him. let's continue the work that has just begun. let us support the president and the good works he intends to do for us and our children. thank you very much. [cheers and applause] >> thank you. [cheers and applause] cement thank you. i want-- i won a 20-dollar bet from him because he's such a tremendous wordsmith about him $20 that he could not spell the word hillary without the letters liar. our next speaker is the first republican woman to actively

seek to be the president of united states because of her outspoken conservative values she was the number one target of nancy pelosi and the democrats during her highly effective years in the house of representatives where she served as the chair for the congressional tea party caucus. among her current duties today, family research council is proud to have her on our board of directors. ladies and gentlemen, would you please welcome the true warrior for your values, michele bachmann. [cheers and applause] >> hello, everyone. what a morning! don't you love our president? [cheers and applause] it's could have been a completely different day and we are thrilled and thankful for all the work that happened, all of our speakers have been fantastic this morning. kellyanne conway will be our next one on stage, so we have

one rocking day to deal with and in my little time that i had here with you today what i want to do is talk a little bit about how we got to the point of being here at this moment feeling so good about the results that happened because a very specific group of americans gave it donald j trump this victory so that he could be our president of the united states and i want you to know that with these eyeballs i am looking at the reason why he is president of the united states, you. you. you may have heard of the famous pollster george barnum. after this historic election when all of the pundits on cnn and msnbc went off the rails crying in their beer the next morning, had to pick them up with the smelling salts. they couldn't believe their

champion hillary clinton of all people wouldn't win the presidency. well, after this happened, this huge unbelievable events, which many of us as believers in jesus christ attributed to the prayers of people on their knees for weeks and days ahead of time calling out to the father of life to hear our prayer, we knew what was at stake and he answered us and has given us a reprieve in our nation, but to look at the metrics, the famous pollster george barnum looked at all of you and asked people across america, how did jot-- donald j tromp actually get this victory and this is it, he found that 20 million americans are what you call spiritually active government engage people, 20 million. that's 9% of the american public no person could win the presidency of the united states with just this cohorts, but a republican cannot win the

presidency of the united states without this cohorts. it is the most consequential voting block in america and this voting block to go look at hillary clinton and donald j trump and let me tell you how fervent they weren't what they saw in this election, this has never happened before in the history of pulling. spiritually active government engaged, 20 million, 9% of all adults in this country and of that cohorts, 91% showed up to vote. [cheers and applause] 91%. voted their values. [cheers and applause] 91% and of the 91% who voted oh, they got the memo. 94% voted for donald j trump of

that cohort. it was like unanimous. twice i have had personal conversations with george barnum and he said to be, never, just blew the roof off of pulling. no one has ever seen one particular segment of the united -- the american population ever vote in one unity of purpose. and we did because i believe the government engaged portion was completely driven by the spiritually active portion. you see, all over america and all of the world there were people who were praying and fasting, singularly in the quiet of their home praying and fasting with their bible studies or their local groups, praying and fasting with their churches. i was privilege on the night of the election and the morning i

was with the family research council bus in north carolina holding rallies because we were putting all of our chips on north carolina and by the way, north carolina you delivered in that election. thank you, north carolina! that to did over and pennsylvania, thank you. thank you, pennsylvania! oh, did i miss wisconsin? thank you, wisconsin! and not to be outdone, michigan, you delivered, michigan. florida, you are pretty rocking amazing. we could go on and on and on, even my blue state of minnesota came within one point of electing him president of the united states. we all know those were the fraudulent votes that al franken had to deal with, so we will forgive that, but to go back to my point, this is on amazing group of americans pick my guess is we have a room full of spiritually active government

engaged americans. you are part of that 20 million that makes all the difference in elections. and in the past, these individuals have not seen the difference between the candidates or they have just decided it's not worth voting this time we thought was worth voting and so we will hear a lot about being government engaged, but in the couple of minutes i have with you want to emphasize the spiritually active because i believe that we are coming to a culmination point in all of human history, a culmination point when we are coming potentially to the pillar of our age. as we are looking at the convergence of events if you read the book of daniel and the keel and in the book of joel and you read the prophets, we see the convergence of events happening.

what that tells everyone of us is that we need to have our spiritual house in order. we need to have our lap full and our wicks trimmed and i think that we had a wake-up call unlike any other call this fall as to where america was at this particular time. it isn't just america. it's all over the world. we are seeing a washout, if you will of the space in europe. we are viewing a d christian is a nation of europe. i do a lot of reading and studying on demographics and also the rise and push of islam throughout the world. i have been a student of this for years, particularly because i served on the intelligence committee and dealt continuously with terrorism and the impacts on our country and i know how real it is and how that push is coming and that's why we could

all be so grateful that we have a president's who decides to take care of evil and address evil in the way that donald j trump is doing in defeating isis. [cheers and applause] >> when bill bennett said they had their tail between their legs he is exactly correct. they had their tail between their legs because now they are on the run. .. >> topics that i like to talk about, because i don't like the idea of this magnificent country that was purchased at such a great cost and has done so much for the rest of the world, i don't like the idea of a rising tide of secularism coming in and

completely washing out the actual, literal faith foundation of this country. don't let anyone tell you that we weren't founded by a group of believers in jesus christ. we absolutely were founded by a group of believers in jesus christ. [applause] for too long we have been marinated in political correctness to the point where we don't even stand up for what we know is true. we can't indulge that slothfulness spiritually anymore. and what we need to do in our own families, in our neighborhoods, in our community, in our churches, out where we live, we need to be far more spiritually active, in my opinion, than we have been. because i think we've been living on the shoulders of generations of greatness who sacrificed for us spiritually. but what we need to do is make

sure that millennials and their children understand the truth of the gospel and not live off of what previous generations have given to them. because, you see, the builder generation -- that would be my participants, the world war ii generation, the generation that lived through the great depression -- 17% of the builder generation in america hold to a biblical world view and transferred those values. then you look at the baby boomer generation. we were benefitedded by a great spiritual awakening that came through our country in the 1970s and in the late 1960s and into the 1980s. and that helped to build up then spiritually-active people. of that segment of baby boomers, 12% have what's considered a biblical world view. then you've got another x

generation, then you get down to the millennial generation. that would be my children. that generation has 4% biblical world view. you see, we are dropping like a rock in america. america, the country that has sent out more in missionaries wh the gospel of jesus christ globally than any other nation. and we are looking at faithful generations, and now with millennials 4% holding to a biblical world view. that's something that should give us pause. because as happy and glorious as today is, as we take a victory lap with the very first sitting president of the united states coming to address us spiritually active, government engaged, he knows -- let me tell you, tony perkins and i have been in the white house with the president. he has made it very clear, he

knows that he is president of the united states today because of the evangelical christians who came out and supported him. [applause] he knows that. it's why he was here today. he gets how important you are, and he loves you. [applause] and in that meeting, vice president mike pence -- who is also a believer in jesus christ -- he stood up unashamedly in front of the president, in front of the president's children, in front of the president's staff, and he said i want everyone in this room to know, there were 25 of us having dinner with the president, i want everyone in this room to know this president is a believer. he's a solid believer. [applause] he said that to us privately, and he said it on the road -- in the rose garden the next morning for national day of prayer. i believe -- no one can certify, in one knows the thoughts and intentions of a person's heart. but from my speculation, i do believe this president is a man of god. [applause] i do believe that he's a changed

man and that he has received the gospel. [applause] and i think it's important that everyone understand what the gospel is. we've got cameras here. why not? let's understand what the gospel is. [cheers and applause] you see, we have a loving, wonderful god who created not only this world, he created everything in it including every one of us in this room today. and when he created us and when he created the world, it was perfect, and he loved us so much. he wanted to have a perfect world and a perfect relationship with all of mankind. but something happened along the way in the garden. what happened is that man rebelled. man rebelled against god. both man and woman. and they sinned. and god was, his heart was brokenhearted for us. and so he had to bring about, because he's a just god, there had to be consequence for sin which meant that he had to send adam and eve out of the garden,

but he didn't leave them without hope. he said i am going to bring about a messiah for you. in genesis he told them that there would be a way back, and there would be redemption. and there was. what god did is he saw that as the nations came up against him -- because as we know, mankind kept getting continually sinful, and the flood came and wiped out all of mankind except for noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives. they were preserved and protected during the time of the flood. after the flood they left the ark. when they left the ark, things were better for a few generations. once again, sin took over. and then the nations came together, also lifting up their fists in rebellion, and they built the tower of babel and had the spurt of rebellion -- the spirit of rebellion about the nations against god. wanted to go his own way.

he wanted to go against god. again, god loved the nations so much that he said i'm going to form a nation from which i will bring messiah. and he called abraham and his wife sarah out of southern iraq, and he brought them into what is now present-day israel. and he said i will make of you a great nation. this will be your land. and out of you will come messiah. in other words, i god, i love you so much, i will humble myself and take on the form and likeness and image of a man. i will live a perfect, sinless life which no one has ever done, never happened before. i will live a perfect, sinless life, and i will willingly pay for your sins by willingly -- no man will take my life -- i will go and die an ignoble death on a

cross for you. i will do that for you to save your sin. and the answer then for all of us is do we believe. do we receive. it is a free gift for every single person. salvation is free. it is a way to come back to god. we do nothing for it. in fact, it is wrong theology you hold if you think that at the end of your life that life is made up of a panned balance and if you did more good things than bad things, that somehow that will get you into heaven? i'm sorry to say you'll be tragically mistaken on that final day. there is only one way that you go into heaven, and that is receiving and believing that it is god who saved your sins and that he is who he says he is. you know, the remarkable thing when you read the bible, every archaeology find that's ever

come forward has only proved the authenticity of the bible. [applause] and here in this mag magnificent city of washington, d.c. very soon, next month in november, e will see open the museum of the bible. [applause] in the museum of the bible, there will be artifacts from throughout time that will be so encouraging to show us the truth and authenticity of his word of the bible. the great josh mcdowell said that the greatest tool he's ever had for evangelism has been the use of the torah scrolls. once people see the torah scrolls, they know for themselves that the bible is true. and so to go back to the biblical history, god chose abraham, brought him to israel. the messiah was born. and mankind has had that chance to respond. maybe many of you have responded. maybe some of you haven't yet

responded. maybe some of you in this room are -- or are watching on tv don't really know where you will spend your eternity tonight. you can know. you can be 100% sure of your salvation. all you need to do is confess that you're a sinner. every single one of us are. we look ared this last week -- looked this last week at all these horrific stories that came out about the most powerful hollywood mogul there is and all of the trashy things about his life that came out in a moment. well, what i want you to know is every single one of us, there will be a moment at the end of our life when we stand before holy god. every one of our trashy sins will be before him. we look at this hollywood mogul, we're no different. every single one of us is a sinner in need of a savior. and the good thing is we have one. there is one available for all of mankind.

[applause] and, you see, this is the good news. this is the good news for the millennial generation to know. this world that we see isn't all that there is. this is a blink of an eye. we have eternity in front of us. from the time that the messiah left and went to join his father sitting at the right hand of father where he is today, he said i go to prepare a place for you. we can't even begin to imagine. the bible says mind has not imagined, we couldn't even conceive of how great eternity will be with him. [applause] it will be fabulous! [applause] and as fabulous as heaven will be, there will also be a literal hell where in the greatest tragedy of all of history people who do not receive this free

gift, there will be a place called hell. and hell lasts just as long as heaven. and so it is my prayer and my wish, as i think it is many of yours, that every person in this room would make a decision today about where they will be for all of eternity. whether it be heaven or whether it be hell. because god has a desire for you. he desires that you will be with him for all of eternity and that during these few years on earth, that you will live an abundant life in him, walking in a life of peace. it is possible. you see, we are governmentally engaged because, first, we were spiritually active. [applause] and that's why i say to all of you here this morning, this is not the time to just -- yes, it is the time to revel in happiness and glory and take the

victory lap from all that you did and accomplished because you were governmentally engaged. but as important as that is and as thankful as i am, as you are that donald trump is our president today, even more so am i grateful for the spiritual, active nature that i see in our white housed today. [applause] and that i see breaking out in so many parts of our nation. and so i want to issue a challenge to all of you. we are 20 million american adults who are spiritually active, government engaged. 9% of all americans. what if those 20 million americans for the next 12 months make it their project to speak the truth of the gospel of jesus christ to just one more person, make it your goal to win one for jesus christ in and in the next

election cycle because really that is nothing on the scale of importance of anything compared to eternity. but just think, we will have 40 million. and we will have 18% of the public. can you imagine if it was, if it was 40 million or 60 million or 80 million americans who knew with full assurance that they had a relationship with god and they applied those values? i'll tell you, we wouldn't be so worried about who we elect, because we know it would be one of us. it wouldn't even be an issue. [applause] not only would our nation change, the whole world is changed. compare and contrast with europe which we are told in 30-40 years will no -- is in the process of being de-christianized and will be islamized. how do you pull back from that? let's not get to that point. let's recognize and take in the

free gift of jesus christ. there are people here who will pray with you today. and if you don't know the lord, call family research council. there are people who would love to pray with you, to receive jesus christ. be spiritually active, governmentally engaged. that's how we win. god bless you! thank you for being here today. love you all! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> thank you, michele. all right, folks, now our final speaker this morning will be -- we're going to do kind of an informal interview with tony perkins and kellyanne conway who serves as the counselor -- yeah, you can go ahead and give a shout-out for kellyanne.

[cheers and applause] a couple things i want to say real quick, as you know, she serves as the counselor to the president of the united states at the white house. she already had a highly successful polling career prior to her engagement with the trump campaign. initially with the cruz campaign and then with the trump campaign. but she would become the first woman to successfully run a presidential campaign in american history. [applause] now think about that for a second. [applause] i told kellyanne, you know, if you were a democrat, you'd be gracing every magazine cover in america and be held up as the supreme feminist. and i loved her response the that. knowing that i helped keep the supreme feminist out of the white house makes it all worth it. [laughter] [applause] on a personal note, on election night when i saw her standing next to donald trump, i told my wife patricia, there's the woman who saved the world.

now, she laughed. she said why on earth would you say that? i said, what do you think would have happened to america if hillary clinton had won? and she said, well, you've got a point there. and then what do you think would have happened to the rest of the world? and i remember my wife patricia's response, because it was only the fourth time in our marriage that she agreed that i was right. [laughter] and so, ladies and gentlemen, i give you the woman who saved the world, kellyanne conway! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> well, kellyanne, welcome back to the values voter summit. you were actually at the very first values voter summit. >> 2006 in. >> yes finish. >> all right. >> yes. so you are a familiar face here. >> that was a bad year,

actually, for republicans because they lost their way. >> it was. but fortunately, they have found it once again. [laughter] with your help. and i want to talk about this for just a moment, because you were the first female to successfully lead a presidential campaign. what -- [cheers and applause] and i also know about your history. i won't go into how your learned all about that about picking blueberries and being the blueberry queen. [laughter] but the role of your faith and, i mean, i've known you for years. you've been a part of -- i mean, you're not -- you come here as one of us. you don't come to talk to us, you're one of us. you're pro-faith, pro-life, you have been in the pro-family movement. how did that shape where you are today in terms of being a counselor to the president of the united states? >> tony, first of all, thank you very much for having me, for having the president earlier,

and i did in part come today because i wanted to thank each and every one of you. this is the first values voter summit since the election. you have your summits very close to the election each year, and i wanted to thank each of you whether you held firm, you cast your ballot, you helped others get to the ballot box. if you knocked on a door or held your own in the argument with an in-law or a neighbor last year -- [laughter] however you helped the campaign, however you contributed in your own way, i just came to say thank you on behalf of all of us and to urge you to keep on fighting. the president said very recently in a different forum, tony, that he has a lot of alignment with people in this room because he understands what it's like to be under siege. and i know you do as well. and we very much appreciate you standing firm and loving your country, freedom, democracy and pushing those forward as well. now, i actually don't know how i

would be able to do any of this without my faith, and that is because it's a bedrock. because when you are raised in a faith-centric household, you realize from the very beginning that there's always something bigger and better than you. and that's sort of that humility that's a very important attribute to take to any position that has such great gravity and responsibility, as i feel ours to in the white house. i feel incredibly privileged and blessed to serve my cup at this moment -- my country at this moment, in this position. and if i approached it that way, i'm approaching it as a woman of faith and somebody who knows that for every time there is a season and that god places us in certain areas at certain points in our life. now, the greatest professional privilege of my life is to work for the president and the vice president and this great nation. the greatest privilege of my life by far is being mother to those four children.

nothing compares to that for me. and i actually think having, having a full life is very important to me because it really cuts down on all the noise and the nonsense, and it puts things into perspective immediately and constantly. it's really great to be impervious to naysayers and critics. i turned my notifications off on twitter in january and february, and it changed life. i recommend everybody do it. [laughter] some people aren't capable of doing it because they spend all day looking at their notifications and liking people who said something nice about them. i'm not in the white house to read about myself, i'm there to serve and work on significant issues and challenges of the day. [applause] and that's been very helpful. you can't do that without faith though because if you're so involved with yourself, then you'll get caught up in all of that. the praise and the criticism, frankly. is this is very balancing. also my faith informs my

beliefs. and i've off said, tony probably said here at values voter summit over the years that you -- to attract people politically, you must first understand them culturally. show me how somebody spends his or her weekend, i'll tell you how they're going to vote. and for me, my faith informs many of my beliefs. i am pro-life, i am very proudly pro-life. the president of the united states sent the vice president and me -- [applause] to the march for life back in january, and i was very proud to stand on that stage and look out at legions, thousands and thousands of people standing there in the cold because they believe and probably millions more around the country watching on tv or doing their wart that weekend to -- their part that weekend to profess their pro-life views. and why that's important is i've been working on pro-life messaging for decades literally. and it took a manhattan

billionaire male, who for part of his adult life was pro-choice for abortion rights, to give the most impassioned defense of life i had ever heard from a presidential debate podium on october 19th last year. [applause] and that's really important. because -- and it also helps you to respect other people's viewpoints. what i'm really struck in this audience, tony, is all the applause the president got. because we're reminded again that evangelical christians at the ballot box, in conversation, everyday lives, they're not monolithic, they're not single-issue voters. they're passionate about the pro-life, pro-family agenda. but listen to the applause the president got when he talked about health care, tax reform, the iran deal, struggles around the world, combating terrorism. i think all of you are very happy that you have a president that's actually willing to call terrorists terrorists. >> yeah. [applause]

>> speaking of notifications, i've been waiting for that tweet to come in from the real donald trump about the values voter summit. [laughter] i imagine that's going to be coming shortly, huh? [laughter] no comment. you mentioned, you mentioned your greatest privilege is to be a mom of your four children. you have a -- you're serving a president who understands the value and the importance of family. i've seen it in his interaction with his children, and i think it's, it makes it helpful to you as a mom to be able to work for somebody like that. >> that's, that's the great untold story, i think, about the white house as a workplace. across corporate america you sometimes get these handbooks, and page 586 will talk all about the family-friendly policies of that corporation, and then when you try to execute on them by taking a half a day off or maybe

talking about a little vacation with your family, it becomes very difficult then in some places to execute on those family-friendly policies that are in writing. i work in a white house, i work in a workplace where working moms -- and certainly women -- are respected and elevated to the highest positions. this is a place where donald trump's always been comfortable. he took a chance on women in new york real estate when in one else would, and it's very comfortable and natural for donald trump and now president trump to surround himself, to elevate and promote women to high positions and for him to always be respectful, very respectful of who we are personally, what our home life is like, whether we're married or not, have children or not. you know, what is it like. he's always interested in the personal story of everyone. he's a great storyteller himself, so it's a wonderful way to engage with a boss. but he also, he's somebody who you saw yesterday elevated

another woman to a cabinet post, and now we'll have two women -- if she's confirmed -- as the number one and number two at department of homeland security. and the thing about donald trump that i've never heard him say and he's certainly never said to me is i think this will help with the became, or i think -- with the women, or i think, this is great because you're a woman. he doesn't see that way. i think the identity politics on the other side is so wrapped up in, it's so unfortunate and regrettable in many ways because you've got to look at the perp for who they are as -- the person for who they were. certainly, in many different ways. but if i didn't work for any vice president and their spouses, all four of whom i know well and admire deeply, if i didn't work for them and i didn't know who they were and how family-centric they are, then i wouldn't be there.

really there'd be no reason to be there. and i appreciate that because i hear a lot of people on their soap boxes and the high horse cavalry, i call them, always talking about women's rights and women in the workplace and women empowerment. i'm in an environment where it's practiced regularly. i've never felt otherwise. and i think that there's a great juxtaposition going on right now. you see one of the major influencers in hollywood and major democratic donor really ensnared in some pretty ugly stuff allegedly, and the juxtaposition of that is that i at least, you know, am in a place where women are respected. and i appreciate that as a working mom. [applause] and i also want to tell each of you -- [applause] that, to tell you daughters and granddaughters that we kept open the first female president of the united states job. so think about that. [laughter]

[applause] >> by the way, if you need another female recommendation for homeland security, my wife is really good with a shotgun around the house. [laughter] the president, every time i have spoken the president since the election he reminds me of how strong the evangelical, social conservative vote was for him. and and how much we love him. and we do, we love him, and we appreciate him. and he reminded us of the promises that he made. in fact, i remember when he promised he would come back, if successful, and he kept that promise. he was back here today. and how important is it to this administration that the entire administration stand with the president in the fulfillment of the promises he made to the american people? >> it is very important. i just want to correct the record slightly. i don't -- we don't look at you as voters. we look at you as fellow

americans, fellow travelers on this journey. and if there are people in this audience, other certainly people here who didn't vote for president trump, he's your president, and he's there for you. and he said that beginning on november 9th. he said that i will be the president of all americans, even those who didn't support me. and he means that. and he continues to do that. now, he made promises, and he looks at some of these in the just as campaign promises, but as necessities in our time, as moral imperatives. repealing and replacing obamacare, i saw a journalist today had said or wrote somewhere that the reason he wants to repeal obamacare is because it has the word "obama" in it. that is just not true. it's for the 28 million americans -- [laughter] i know. don't flatter yourself. [laughter] [applause] it's for the 28 million americans who don't have health insurance. it's for the people who were lied to that they can keep their doctor, keep their plan. it's for all those who he's helping yesterday through that

executive order, tony, who are caught in the middle between people like you and me who get our, 175 million or so americans who get their benefits through their employers, other millions of americans who get them through the government, medicaid, medicare, through tricare, for example. it's those who can't afford, the small business owners who can't afford the coverage. it's because the premiums doubled. it's because the insurers have fled the exchanges because we spent gazillions of dollars on web sites that didn't even work, let alone are enroll anyone. don't confuse policies with politics. [applause] and this is why he's there. and i know you've gone through the list of, you know, his pro-life appointments, mexico city policy on day two or three of his administration, i mean, he's done so many things that really have, are there to help people that don't get covered. the incomplete coverage, i think, is really regrettable because people aren't being

connected with the information they need to know what's important to them. but to your point, should the administration -- is he looking for administration-wide support. the president hand-picked his cabinet, and the president is somebody who is very -- he's an excellent listener. i know that firsthand. he accepts and expects differing viewpoints, inputs, individuals, ideas. this is the way he's been a successful businessman his whole career, and he takes that into the white house because he believes in listening and negotiating and learning. but he is the ultimate decision maker. i like to run around and say, hey, folks, i'm now going to read you a list in the white house, in the administration of everybody who was elected to anything here. if you don't see yourself on the list, get with the program or get out. here's the list, donald j. trump, michael r. pence. are you on the list? [laughter] and it's true, because he is the ultimate decision maker. he was elected by the people to be the president of the united states.

and he takes that responsibility very seriously, but he never takes it, he never takes it monolithically, meaning by himself, you know? in an isolated fashion. he listens. and i think an administration, a cabinet, frankly, that he has hand-picked is one that he engages with regularly. and i love watching it up close and personal because it's, frankly, the way a democracy should run, is taking all the information and input. even if he says to me i don't agree with that, i know he heard it. it's not -- it doesn't matter to me, it matters that he gets information that is important in terms of the decision-making process. >> i want to get personal for just a moment here, kellyanne. as the senior -- not too personal. [laughter] as the senior counselor to the president, what's that like? and what's kind of -- let us see kind of a day in the life of kellyanne. >> well, that you don't want to

see. [laughter] that begins really early in the morning getting four kids off to new schools and a new life here in washington. but that's -- i do, i'm there in the morning until they leave. so that's really terrific because we were separated for the end of their school year last year and the beginning of my tenure here. so that's wonderful: and talk about humbling yourself. [laughter] when you can't find that sock or the uniform or the homework or the -- it's really funny. and i know for all those out there whose big decisions in the morning are yoga or pleat tease or the green juice or the fruit juice, i feel really blessed to have a different set of, a different set of decisions in the morning. so for me, when i get to the white house in the morning, i, first of all, say a prayer as i walk in because every day i ask the lord to bless everyone who works in that building, everyone who -- everyone in the country, everyone that building represents across the country, to pray for our safety --

[applause] and our security, our understanding, wisdom. i know that wisdom, you know, is found through a multitude of counselors. i'm glad i'm one of them, literally. and then my day is, my day is mainly in policy meetings because this president, this was a great example, tony. this week there were, like, six major policy initiatives; immigration, tax reform, the health care, iran, csr. there's just always something happen in the trump pace that is this administration. and so most of my day is spent in policy meetings. i am, as counselor to the president, i am there to support the press and com shop. we have talented people there, obviously, but i'm there to support, and i spend about 3-5% of my time, i would say, engaging with media or on tv. but you can't be an effective communicator unless you understand the policy. you just can't throw yourself

out there and somebody handing you talking points. you really have to understand the ins and outs of policy, and i, frankly, think that's what the country deserves to hear. i'm worried about this policy, tell me why i shouldn't be. that's everything from tax reform, health care, immigration to some of the foreign policy meetings, infrastructure meetings. and then some of the issues that are directly in my portfolio a little more specific like opioids, i spend probably 10% of my day now -- which is a lot, frankly -- on the opioid issue, on task with that in the west wing. very happy to have the president and the first lady and all of our administration, really the entire cabinet engaged on this issue. it is the scourge of our times, and it's just taking lives. it is the epidemic next door. this is not somebody easels' kid -- somebody else's kid, somebody else's coworker. it's our responsibility to get on the winning side of this

because currently we're on the losing side of this. and then issues like military spouse employment -- [applause] there you go. just giving some examples out of the portfolio. so it's just a dizzying pace of meetings and also because i spent decades as a pollster to try to bring the data in whether it's public opinion data or economic data or cultural data, any kind of studies that are out there that are relevant to what any of my coworkers are working on. and finally, i tend to travel frequently for the president, for the administration. i'm given my own schedule some days. last friday i was in roanoke, virginia, for example, for national manufacturing day. i traveled with the first lady this week to west virginia. so i do find myself doing and more speech -- more and more speeches and just more touch americans, which i love. and i had the great privilege of -- [inaudible] tony, as a pollster. my job is was how's it playing

in peoria, i went and found out. i visited 48 of 50 states, i got numbers 49 and 50 with my children and husband this summer. i visited all these states to hear from people and get their input. so i think that has equipped me tremendously to remember why we're there before the country and to understand why people may disagree. i do think a lot of these issues now suffer from what i call information underload. we all suffer from information overload, but i think you're not being told everything you need to be told about these issues. i would say go to white house.gov and you'll yet a lot of the information or pay attention to what the president is saying or doing that day and not getting the filtered version of what he said or did. i think that is what's so great about 2017, that you can just get the information that you seek. and that is happening. sometimes people, often they're not getting the information. i think not connecting our veterans with all the great

things that have happened for them, for example, not telling americans the truth about how they'll benefit from meaningful tax cuts, what it truly would mean to have a more -- [inaudible] environment to repatriate these trillions of dollars that are sitting offshore legally to what it means to have expanded childcare and elder care tax credits, how it impacts you to have employers and job creators go from 35% to 20% for their tax. you say, well, i'm an employee, not an employer. it affects you mightily because that money gets reinvested in its employees, in the inventory, in the infrastructure that surrounds that company. why are you trying to repeal and replace obamacare? hasn't it helped americans? it has helped many americans, but it's hurt many more. and we've had those obamacare victims into the white house. they are real people. they have names. i've seen them in press accounts with quote withs around them. they're real people. they've come to the white house. they told us their stories. and we're there to help them.

if you feel one tiny molecule in helping people, that's a privilege beyond anything i ever thought growing up being raised by a single mom, very modestly but very faithfully. and i think that's the true american dream, that's true power when you're in a position to actually help other people, and you take that position. you refuse to look the other way, and you refuse to give up or give in. and that's, i think, why we're there, i know it's why the president is there. that's why the president and his family and the vice president and his family have agreed to serve at this time, at this level. ms. . >> kellyanne, speaking of help, we're almost out of time, but how can people across america who care deeply ant this country -- about this country, how can they help the president advance the agenda which were the promises made and advance this message that the president in the white house that you just articulated are carrying out

across the country? how can they help? >> first of all, i have to say you are helping. and if -- without you, without having ambassadors for that message all across the country, we won't succeed the way we can because it's incredibly important that people feel like they're part of this. i think it's something that mr. trump was able to do in his campaign, really his idea, his voice, his choice. not to e erect a tradition call political campaign, but to build a movement. and people felt like they were part of it. that's part of a campaign. that's over. this is much more important, because this is our nation. and what you can do is to have a 7-second, 70-second, 7-minute version why i support the president. the best thing i think he's done for us so far is x, y and z or why it's important we get tax cuts through now and explain to them why you feel that way, why i think he's the most faith-centric, pro-life

president in our lifetime. any -- you come up with the answer in your own voice. and the reason it's important that it's your voice is because you're much more effective than any of us can be for the following reasons: people see you in their churches, in chair communities, in their places of work, this their places of worship. they will say, you know what? i like you and you're like me. those two attributes are so incredibly important to have that identity with people, sort of that community identity with people. hey, i like you, you're affable, you're accessible, i've seen you around, our kids go to the same school, we go to the same church or community center, we live in the same neighborhood. i like you, and more importantly the real connective tissue, you're like me. and that's much more accessible and much more relatable and much more authentic than getting the message, you know, in any other number of ways. the other thing is i'm going to end by telling a story, tony. you didn't expect me to tell this story, but this is a great example of reaching out to us

where you think we can be of assistance, where there's a great opportunity for someone in the administration, the president or vice president to come and to speak. last august 17th it was announced that the president had expanded his campaign team. so the next day i was on my first phone call as campaign manager as the president went to the airport, and he was giving his regret speech that night in north carolina. and i said tomorrow, mr. trump, we -- governor pence has agreed to clear his schedule, and he's going to go down to baton rouge because they were suffering from severe flooding. and i said, and we were all looking at the images on the tv with coffins floating down the river and people really in great need, our brothers and sisters in need as we've seen all too recently, all too often this year. and i said the governor's going to go down, and he's going to -- we're going to connect him with some folks on the ground and some first responders, tony

perkins is involved and his church, and i ran through the list with him. he said, that sounds great, could i go too? [laughter] oh, gosh, it's my first day on the job, what is the answer? [laughter] i guess the answer's always yes, of course you can go, we figure out how to make it happen. i see there's a judgement -- fundraiser in minnesota, there was a speech -- that is such the's sense of this president that he comes up with these ideas, and he says, he intuitively knows where he should be to help. and he went down, the two of them went down to baton rouge, as you know. i think they wrote a check to your -- but they learned. they listened and they learned and they helped. and i remember the sitting president was on his vacation, which he's entitled to have, but never went down. the other candidate never went down, called it something like a political stunt or a photo op which is not the way the people in baton rouge felt about it. and that's what i want to tell you. it's a great story and, i think, it's a great story but it's a --

i hope -- apt answer to your question of what can you do. you can also bring to our attention, you know, great stories of triumph and recovery and hardiness, the grit and determination of america and then point out to us people in need. because those -- we are the federal government, we are the presidency, great. but we believe that those closest to the people in need are those best equipped to know what, how we can best help, and we'd like to hear that. >> kellyanne conway, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you and god bless you. thank you. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> all right. now, i have to give a couple of announcements, and as i said before, when you walk out while i'm doing it, it hurts my feelings.

[laughter] please get this first announcement. this is extremely important. this afternoon we have more great guests, speakers who will be sharing with us including dana lash, oliver north, roy moore, steve scalise -- [cheers and applause] now, he's done interviews since his, since the shooting. this will be his very first speech. and we want to give him a hero's welcome. and so that's why i urge you to, please, be back at 2:00 sharp as we begin. we'll have, again, scores of great speakers that you're going to enjoy this afternoon. but, please, 2:00, be back sharp. to help you get out on on your way, let me speed read through these quick announcements x then we'll let you go with. don't forget to visit our exhibit hall. you can find charging stations, a café. stop by to sign up to win an ipad mini and other prizes, and while you're there you can go to the -- [inaudible]

booth, a chance to win a roku and other items x. when you're done there, check out leadership institute at booth 42 and register for a chance to win a $250 gift card. you can even go over to the rock for life at booth 27 for a chance to win a free t-shirt every hour. don't forget, family research council is sponsoring a passbook, so get a check at each exhibition booth and turn that in for a free drawing at 3:00 to win an android. the action pac is hosting a reception in the congressional room this evening from i 5:30 to 7 featuring, among others, judge roy moore and actor kevin star bow and other congressional leaders. the cost is $100 per person. you can get your ticket at the vvs registration. you must have a ticket to attend. a reminder, the timothy plan is hosting a hospitality suite across the hall today and tomorrow. be sure to check out the hours and stop by. all college and high school students from 5:30-7 you can

have free pizza, mix and mingle with the pros in the empire room downstairs. young conservatives will have the chance to talk about today's hot topics, violence, sexuality, entertainment culture, life, family, world view and more with students for life. so you want to take advantage of that. march for life will be there as well as other frc experts from other organizations. you don't want to miss this, and did i mention the free pizzasome that's tonight for students. there's going to be a lot of book signings tomorrow -- this afternoon from 5-5:30, dana loesch and brigitte gabriel will be doing book signings. we'll also have several tomorrow, so go ahead and get books in advance so you don't have to wait in a long line. tonight after the evening session and all of these rousing speeches, we're going to be giving a complimentary screening of the new movie, "let there be light," kevin sorbo's new movie.

and do you remember the god's not dead movie? that was the highest grossing independent faith film in american history. [applause] yeah, tremendous success. well, they're back, and they've got a new movie that is called "let there be light." let's have a good showing tonight at 9:30. look, you can sleep when you get back home, so no whining -- [laughter] it's falling on deaf ears up here. you want to be there for that. tomorrow from 11:30-1:30 in the exhibit lounge, heritage foundation and leadership institute are hosting a job fair and career consultation with organizations such as concerned women for america, americans more prosperity, the heritage foundation, leadership institute, turning point usa and many more. be sure to participate in the conversation with twitter and the contest for best selfie and best tweet9 of the day. you can enter your comments using the hashtag vvs17. if you purchase tickets to the sponsor meals reception or gala tomorrow or night, please remember the ticket you received

at registration is your admittance. lost and found items will be turned into hotel security. however, you may want to check in the sales conference room which is adjacent to where you registered first to see if anything has been turned in. if you require a little extra time for seating, we'll open the doors a few minutes early for our 2:00 session. please note there is an area up front for those with wheelchairs or scooters. please remember to take all of your belongings with you. you cannot save your seat. again, a reminder all bags are subject to search, name badges are required for admit especially dance, and no unauthorized recordings. and with that i say have a wonderful lunch. see you at 2:00. ♪ ♪

>> the values voter morning session will be available on our web site at c-span.org. congressman mark meadows, freedom caucus chair who you heard from earlier according to the hill this morning is reaching out to moderate democrats for help on tax reform in a bid to help build and shape support for the tax package. the outreach includes congressman john delaney of maryland who's running for president in 2020 and congressman john garamendi. democrats have been gauging whether the freedom caucus leaders are interested in pairing tax reform with infrastructure. read more at thehill.com. there'll be more coverage of the values voter summit this amp. c-span will carry it live starting at 2 p.m. eastern. alabama senate candidate roy moore and house majority whip steve scalise among the

afternoon speakers, and also tomorrow steve bannon will speak at the conference. live coverage getting underway tomorrow at 11 a.m. eastern, it will also be on c-span. we'll also be covering president trump as he makes an announcement about iran today with news reports indicating that he'll decertify the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated by former president obama. decertification would hand the issue back to congress which can decide to reimpose the sanctions on iran that the deal eliminated. the president's address will be live from the white house in about half an hour, 12:45 eastern, and you'll be able to watch it on c-span. also this afternoon we'll go live to house minority leader nancy pelosi whoo will offer her thoughts on her party's agenda and the president's decision on the iran nuclear deal. live coverage again here on c-span2 beginning at 2 p.m. eastern. >> sunday night on "after words," historian craig shirley on the life and political career

of newt gingrich with his book, "citizen newt: the making of a reagan conservative." he's interviewed by former virginia congressman tom davis. >> you know, this is an era before cable television -- i mean, cable television was prominent today. >> cable news wasn't there really. >> no, it wasn't there. it was before cnn, before msnbc,. it was just little pockets of cable here and there, mostly reruns of i love lucy, andy griffith, things like that. there's no talk radio to speak of. there's the big media and c-span. and he quickly realizeds the potency -- realizes the potency of giving special orders every afternoon, giving a five minute speech because it was then being carried all over cable into, you know, 100,000 homes around the country. and dick armey, former congressman, used to rib him about it. and he'd say -- and gingrich would say, you know, dick, would

you go give an audience, give a speech to 100,000 people? of course you would. well, that's what you're doing with c-span, with special orders every afternoon. so c-span became, i mean, he quickly becomes a cult political leader, and he's getting, you know, 700 letters a week from people around the country to this back bench, you know, junior member from georgia who's a member of a minority party. he's already achieving a national following. >> watch "after words" sunday night at 9 p.m. eastern on c-span2's booktv. >> commerce secretary wilbur ross testifies now about efforts to modernize census bureau operations ahead of the 2020 census including information technology investments. also the bureau's efforts to reach out to traditionally underrepresented communities and containing costs.