unicef, refugee agencies to make sure that refugees in yemen, in syria, in bangladesh, that they are provided for and that lives can be saved. thank you. >> thank you very much we want to make sure that standing here, is the person who you need to contact and otherwise it's difficult to pass the questions. and thank you very much for joining us this morning and i hope you found it useful and thanks for your support for amnesty and for human rights. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> and once again, we're live this morning for the

conservative political action conference, which is happening just outside washington. this morning we'll hear from energy secretary rick perry. interior secretary ryan zingy, laura ingraham and two congressmen will be speaking. this is live coverage on c-span2. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible [inaudible conversations]

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[inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats and silence all electronic devices. our program is about to begin. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the pledge of allegiance, led by patty roush and remaining standing for the national anthem performed by kaya jones. followed by a prayer. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag to the united states of

america, and for the republic for which it stands, you know, 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 bright stars through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ for 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]

>> good morning. over 300 years ago our country's founders undertook a long and hazardous journey crossing the ocean searching for freedom building a relationship with god. they brought with them absolutely nothing, other than a book. a majestic and mysterious volume called the bible. upon approval they found a sometimes hostile people and encountered challenges in establishing themselves. not long afterwards a bloody civil war took place between the north and south which miraculously left the country stronger. every word i just said could also be said about another group of individuals who lived about 3,300 years ago, a group of people who crossed a sea, an ocean, as part of a long and hazardous journey to establish a relationship with god. when they entered their land, they also brought a new

majestic and mysterious book which was destined to change the course of history. they also faced hostile nations who opposed their presence and countered challenges in establishing themselves and also fought a bloody civil war between the north and south and they, too, somehow endured. so we pray to almighty god just as that mysterious and majestic book established for the people of israel, modern rebirth and security owes so much for the the security of our nation and commander-in-chief who will grace this stage soon. and may it continue to guide as a light for the people of this great nation and may we come together in this conference to engage in discourse which affirms our godliness and purpose. let us say amen.

[applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ the ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> good morning and welcome to cpac 2018. please welcome former congressman and current member of the board, the treasurer of the acu, bob beaupres, accompanied by his wife claudia. claudia. [applause] ♪

>> good morning cpac. are you having any fun yet? well, bob and i are really happy to be here today and kung of anything else of what you'd rather be doing than hanging out with conservatives? we're from colorado. can i see all the hands from colorado? yay. there's a reason we're here and bob will tell you about it. >> this is a special day especially for colorado. we're actually live broadcasting to colorado christian university in lakewood, colorado from this event all day long. the first time, the first time in cpac history that we've had a remote broadcast like this and then later today, from

colorado back to here, you're going to hear michelle malkin, yeah. give it up for michelle malkin. [applause] >> so this is a great day for colorado, a great day for cpac and it's nice for all of you to come this morning just for claudia and i, right? maybe somebody else is going to show up in a little while, right? let's have fun, thank you and welcome to cpac 2018, day two and it's going to be a huge day. god bless you. let's get this party started. thank you, dear. [applaus [applause] >> i have the privilege and it is, indeed, a privilege to moderate the first panel. we've got two distinguished members of the cabinet to join me this morning. first of all, secretary of interior, ryan zinke, he served

our nation for more than two decades in the military and retired as a navy seal commander. then-- yeah, give it up for the seals. [applause] then he was elected montana's at large member of congress and now, of course, is the 52nd secretary of interior, welcome secretary ryan zinke. [applause] we also have with us the secretary of energy, rick perry. rick perry. [applaus [applause] >> there must be a texan in the crowd. [laughte [laughter] >> good to be here.

>> rick perry, unless i'm wrong, you were not only the governor, but the longest serving governor of texas history. and also a veteran of the air force, something i like, cotton farmer. rick being a cotton farmer got him into politics and he wanted an easier job. and now is of course serving as our secretary of energy. they're going to make a few comments and hopefully we've got time for a few questions and answers in these two critical cabinet positions. so, secretary perry, why don't you start off and tell us what's going on in energy. >> thank you and thank you all for being here. it's a privilege to be back in front of cpac, you're the heart and soul of the conservative country and a foot soldier in the army, so to speak, and being on the stage with ryan zinke and his service to the country, again, he continues to give back to this country with

his leadership and we kind of go back and forth with each other about who has the most energy and i'm not talking about personally, but in the country and so, he's got the public lands and i basically have the private lands and the world has changed so much in the last decade when you think about energy, where we find ourselves in the world. you know, you go back in the '70s when jimmy carter stood before the american people and talked about the malaise that was in this country, the long lines, and then you go forward for 30 more years and this country found itself to be beholden to a lot of energy sources around the world that didn't necessarily have our best interest in mind and the

way that the government all too often dealt with energy was through regulation. and something interesting happened. the private sector, george mitchell, a pioneer from my home state who believed that he knew how to be able to extract this energy from some formations that people didn't think could occur and america became energy independent. we became in such a powerful position. today the united states of america is the number one oil and gas producing country in the world. [applause] >> and it didn't happen because government regulations. it happened because government basically got out of the way in some cases and became, allowed the private sector to go out there and do what the private

sector does is to risk. we've got a secretary of interior that understands that those resources on our public lands are incredibly important and to safely and thoughtfully be able to do that puts america in a geopolitical position to be able to -- we don't just export american lng around the world, we export freedom and you think about what that means around the world, the people, our allies, people who we want to be our allies now know that because of american energy coming to their shores, they are free from countries that would put america, put those values that those countries have in jeopardy and because of american ingenuity, because of american energy independence, because of an administration that truly believes in freedom

and exporting freedom around the world, that, i think, is the extraordinary story of the second decade of the 21st century. i'm proud to be a part of that and to be leading an agency that has a-- fascinating things we're going to be talking about this morning. the energy front is incredibly important and we also do some other things together. >> we do. >> i'm pass this back to you. >> give it up for the secretary of energy. >> thank you. [applaus [applause] >> secretary zinke. tell us what's going on in interior. >> on energy, why is energy important to us? one, environmentally, nobody does it better than the u.s. we have a regulatory frame work that ensures accountability. no one does it better than the united states. now, if you want to see how not to produce energy, i invite you to go to the middle east or africa. that's where the problems are. they're not in the united states. [applause]

>> secondly, economically. you know, we talk about the tax bill and does everyone like the tax bill that donald trump -- [applaus [applause] >> well, as good as the tax bill is, when america pulls up to a pump and they fill their car up every time they fill up, under the previous administration it was $2. $4, $6, $100 to fill a car. american energy has delivered now it's $60. and it's $40 you have in your pocket every american who would fill up to a pump station that you wouldn't have. so, america economy is run on made america energy and it should be. thirdly -- [applause] >> you know, i spent 23 years in the seals and morally, i never want your kids to ever

see what i've seen, ever. [applause] >> and a lot of it is, you know, fracking has made such a big difference and getting the regulation out of the way, but i don't want to ever be held hostage by a foreign country and -- [applause] >> which is important, but also i don't want our kids to have to fight on foreign shores for energy we have here. so, i think three ways -- so, again, environmentally it's better to produce energy here under reasonable regulation and secondly, it's an economy driver, having the ability to produce energy here in this country and the numbers will show you, we produce today about 10.3 million barrels a day in this country, and for the first time in 60 years we're a net exporter of liquid natural gas and that's president donald trump. [applaus

[applause] >> so, interior -- we spent a lot last year, you know, looking at the president's executive order. he said energy dominance and that's what we're delivering to america and the world and lastly, this coming year, it's going to be a pivot. we're about to engher in our public lands interior. one-fifth of the land falls in the interior, from the virgin islands all the way out. and we're embarking on what's called mission 26, the largest investment in our public lands systems in the history of this country. and it's going to be funded from energy because if you're going to have energy on public lands, wind, solar, i'm all of the above, amen. to me is doesn't matter as long as it's made in america, i'm good with it, but if you're

going to produce energy from america's public lands then we should invest in the public lands because we have the greatest assets on the face of the planet. [applaus [applause] >> secretary, thank you. let me stay with you for just a minute. interior for a long, long time, we've had a philosophy in it countries of land of many uses, i think it started with teddy roosevelt. the obama administration, it seemed to me, turned it into a land of no uses. they used the designation of wilderness and national monuments as a weapon to actually close off a lot of our public lands to use by the people and use of the natural resources. expand a little bit. you touched on it, but expand a little bit on what's the philosophy not only yourself, but of this president and this administration? >> well, public lands belong to the people and not special interests. first and foremost. [applause]

>> and, you know, i tell a story about teddy roosevelt and teddy roosevelt for a lot of reasons really pushed this country on what we have today, a legacy of public lands. everybody likes our parks and making sure we are great stewards, but roosevelt went out to yosemite and met a man named john mear a great naturalist and he spent time putting flowers in roosevelt's pockets. and they went on a ride through yosemite that you could not do to do because of too much dying timb timber. meeting mear and pinchot authored best science, best

practices, greatest good, longest term. that's a philosophy of multiple use. you can have our public land, have multiple use in the long-term, you can create wealth from our land, but you have to be good stewards and in interior, i'm the steward of our greatest holdings. but i'm also a steward of recreation, hunting, fishing, to make sure the public itself-- we americans, we should enjoy our public lands and we should not be locked out of them. [applause] >> well said. well said. secretary perry, you invoked jimmy carter's famous address to the nation about energy or no energy. i've actually got the quote. this happened just over 40 years ago and he said at the current rate of consumption, we could-- this is the quote, could use--

this is in 1977, folks, some of you weren't born in 1977. i was. at the current rate of consumption, we could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade. so, by sometime in the 1980's, we were supposed to be out of oil and gas. expand a little bit on what's changed, what's changed so dramatically and how much do we really have left, if we know? >> and i think that's the real key to ever draw that line and say this is what we know and there's nothing else to know is a big mistake. we've seen it happen a lot of times in the past, and in the early 2000's many of you may have seen a fellow who traveled around the country and he gave a speech that was titled "peak oil", that we'd found all the oil and kind of adding onto the

jimmy carter story, if you will. that you could not retrieve any more of the natural resource. there were a few people in this country that didn't buy into that, george mitchell that i mentioned earlier was one of them. and here is the difference between the jimmy carter mentality, the previous administration's mentality to some degree, and the current place we find ourselves in, the trump administration mentality and it's the difference between innovation and regulation. and i happen to believe if you allow americans to innovate. if you'll give them the freedom, the incentive to be innovators that they'll find the channellenges, they'll find the answers to the challenges, rather, that we face as a humanity. if we fall into the camp of we're just going to regulate, then we're in trouble. the great news is that the

conservative movement in this country, what's happening in energy today is a confirmation of the conservative movement, in my opinion, that if they don't allow government to regulate everything, government is not the answer to every challenge that we have and if we're going to rely upon government, we're going to have a life that's not as fulfilled. we're going to have a country that's not as powerful and as forward leaning as we have today because there were innovators that did not believe governme government. today freedom is being exported around the world with american energy. that is good for the world, that is good for the united states, and i will suggest to you, it's good for the future. >> absolutely. i think what i -- [applause] >> what i heard you say is really addresses the rhetorical question, do you trust in

people or do you trust in government? >> listen, government's got a role and conservatives believe in finding that balance. sometimes our friends on the left believe the government is the be-all, the end-all. you let us control everything and we'll deliver to you a better future. conservatives don't believe that. conservatives believe government's got a role out there and you need to play a role, certainly, in keeping america free in the military and those types of things, we've got a role to play in balancing the regulations, if you will. this president and this administration, what he has done on the regulatory side is nothing less than world-changing. [applause] >> this administration being able to remove the regulations, still protecting our environment, still protecting the things that need to be protected, but freeing up and giving stability and predi

predictability to those willing to risk their capital. nothing we did in the state of texas in the early 2000's when we saw an incredible explosion economically, job-wise affected more by regulatory stability and predictability. when you add the tax bill that the president has now passed to the regulatory restraint, that is how you change this country forever and that is exactly what the trump administration is doing. changing this country forever in a very powerful and positive way. [applaus [applause] >> secretary zinke, depending how you pressure -- measure it, one out of four acres is federal land, a lot of it.

and in addition to that, you have supervision under your department on off-shore resources that we have as well. the last administration seemed to try to defer, delay, stall, close off the use of the natural resources on a lot of those federal lands, on-shore, as well as off-shore, at every turn. i sense that there's a new sheriff in town? >> there is. [laughter] >> so the question to you and the broader one to this whole administration, should we, can we utilize those natural resources safely without an unreasonable risk to the fire department -- risk to the environment. >> i'm a boy scout, leave it in a better condition than you found it. on the regulatory frame work, what you want is incorporation, bet practices, best science and

have stability over the longest term. when the regulatory frame work was put in punitively, that is adversarial, then the innovation of industry and americans are very clever. we are enormously clever peop people, in allowing us to innovate is what happened in fracking and energy and batteries. there's no one more clever than americans are. so, our regulatory frame work has to reflect that. the wealth on our public lands. there's a lot of anger out there because we've seen mismanagement. we just went through a fire season, and we spent billions of dollars. there's loss of life because we've forgotten how to manage and not managing comes at a cost to having the fuel load and not being able to harvest trees or not being able to, in a community, some of these communities where i grew up in

see trees, communities are dying and you can't cut a tree. so, we're going to change and we have changed. as you can use the land, the resources, do it in a reflectful way. make sure that when you have a reclamation plan so when you extract or harvest timber, doing it in the long run using best science. we're a great people and everyone loves our park system and everyone loves to be out there and recreate and use the public lands. but the wealth of the public lands should be accessible, so oil, mineral, gas, wind, all of those type of things generate an economy here and lastly, if you don't have an economy, the rest of it doesn't matter because you can't afford a strong military if you can't afford to pay for it. [applaus

[applause] >> and i can tell you, jobs matter. and you look back a year ago, what we have today, the wealth that's been generated through this president, the wealth that's generated from energy, the wealth that's generated from our tax plan, and stand by because i think we're just getting started. i think you are, too. [applause] >> yeah, yeah. >> secretary perry, we're about out of time, but i'd be remiss if i didn't ask you another question. president trump, candidate trump promised to end the war on coal and i know you've taken some steps in that regard. tell us what's changed and can coal really be competitive with cheap natural gas and relatively affordable oil? and i also note, you can take a second, you haven't stopped your effort to support research and development of renewables

as well. >> and i think that's the important part of this is for people to understand this president truly is an all of the above energy policy. whether it's the renewables, whether it's innovations that we haven't seen yet. clean coal technologies, the carbon capture utilization, we're going into india, into china with technology where they're going to use coal. we want them to use american technology that will allow the use of that in the most environmentally friendly way that can occur, and we're seeing american lng, we saw a major reduction in the state of texas during the 2000's in oxide, sox, the real emissions that affect the environment, we saw a reduction of 20% of co2

in the 12th largest economy in the world by a transition over to natural gas, getting rid of older inefficient plants, some other changes and the greatest growth of wind energy in the united states occurred in my home state during that period of time. they produce more wind energy in texas today than five countries. that's the type of energy policy that president trump wants to see. all of the above where we're using our resources, we're using american innovation and we're not sitting there just saying, we're going to regulate our way into nirvana because that is a fallacy. [applaus [applause] >> how about these two great cabinet secretaries? give it up for them. [applause] >> thank you, gentlemen. [applaus

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome managing editor of ewtn news and fox news contributor, raymond arroyo. [applause] >> all right. great to see you all. i am here, actually, to do an important job. i have to introduce a dear friend of mine. now, i'm a journalist, i'm a story teller, i was an actor in my previous life. we see things as journalists and actors, we like to think we do, that others don't see. today i'm going to share a few things that i've seen about laura ingram. now, don't cut into my time,

i've got to keep this brief. i dread looking at my phone and getting the tweet that says, big mouth arroyo still introducing ingram, 45 minutes late, very sad, we don't want that. moving along. as you know, laura ingram worked for ronald reagan and on the last day of her time for him, the end of her tenure there, he shook her hand and he said, laura, make it matter. make it matter. and she really has taken that to heart for many years. she clerked for clarence thomas at the supreme court, she -- [applause] >> she's the most listened to woman in political talk. she's the host, of course, as you know of fox news's ingram angle. [applause] >> and now, for some unseen things you don't know about laura.

payback is hell, ingram. here we go. we were on tour, we did a book together called vizing. and we were late getting there and we were at the hertz rent counter. and the book signing is across town. laura is naturally agitated. and a woman was sitting there, glasses on the end of her face and we need the car quickly. sweetheart, take a breath, let it out, take another breath. let it out. i was very happy and proud of laura because she retained her composure. she took a breath and let it out and when i want to tick her off i say take a breath, let it out. the nice thing was, she was

concerned about the people who were waiting and had been waiting for hours at the book signing. it wasn't about agitation about being late. and we were at a party in d.c., dame helen mirren was there and i was going to get my quiche and i'd seen her on stage. and i want to introduce my friend, this is my friend laura ingram. helen mirren looked like the oscars wanted to take them back. i was blown away by that, like she was in the last scene of madea. laura held it well. they didn't get into a fight or political conversation, they actually started talking about laura's children. many years ago laura adopted three children, the first of which a little girl named maria. you can applaud. [applaus [applause] >> and when she was adopting

these children, it's not an easy process to those of you who have gone through it know. she went through many years of flights and interviews, and meeting people, lots of international flights, and she finally adopted her first child maria in guatemala, in an orphanage there. and it changed her life and i saw something different emerge from my friend because her fight suddenly had a purpose and a reason. it had a sense, you know, politics isn't everything, and i think adopting the children and watching laura become a mother has transformed her in some ways because it's given her a reason to fight. and she continues to do it and she makes it matter every day, and every night, with radio show on tv and in her life. ladies and gentlemen, a woman who continues to make it matter with reason and intelligence, and humor, day in and day out, my friend, laura ingram.

[applaus [applause] >> how you guys doing? oh, you all look wonderful today! look at you. how many betsy ross costumes are out there? george washington, powder wigs, come on, got to dress up for the occasion. it's fantastic to be here. thank you so much, raymond. it's friday during lent, okay? okay. kids, no meat. no meat. a day of fasting and i have a confession to make. i tried to give up chocolate, okay, lasted, i don't know, two days, something like that. i tried to give up wine, it lasted five days. so i finally tried to give up watching nancy pelosi press

conferences. i haven't once given in to temptation. it's great to be here at cpac or as liberal calls it the group that puts fun in the word dysfunctional. come on, you've got to be self-deprecating, guys. and a friend of mine who happens to be a religious figure said laura, you're talking to the cpac people you've got to have a good time and laugh. remember what tim allen once said about the clintons. i said what did tim allen say about the clintons. i couldn't remember the line. liberals are find of like herpes, just when you think you have it beat, they come back again. again. [applaus [applause] >> and there's no cure.

you can only keep it at bay. i want to review a few quotes from our favorite friends in the media for all of you. all right. are you ready? he seemed out of his depth from the day of his first press conference, this president. obviously, not converse sant with the subject matter thrown at him from all sides, all directions. he was evasive, fumbling and off balance. next quote, the president's aides frequently contradict each other and later is sometimes contradicted by the president and it's the president's management style and ratifies a decision reached as concensus by a group of his aides. next quote, the impression is also developing that his aides are shielding him from news conferences because they're afraid he can't handle the high stakes gamble of such a

televised appearance. if you think those journalists were talking about donald trump, you'd be wrong. they were describing president ronald reagan. a lot of you here today and maybe some of you watching across the country, you're younger and you think, wow, the '80s, i wish i was there fighting for conservativism in the '80s flag waving and unified. and i was there in the '80s, a college student in the mid '80s and i had the great pleasure working the last few years of the reagan administration and i want to tell all of you that nothing could be further from the truth about how easy conservativism was in the 1980's. remember, they resisted ronald reagan every step of the way. "saturday night live" mocked him. celebrities said he hated gay people. the intelligence opposed

reagan's tax cuts. they smeared good and patriotic men like attorney general ed meese. when it really mattered that seat on the supreme court was going to maybe tip the balance of the court, they tried to destroy and ultimately derail robert bourke. they said that ronald reagan was going to blow up the world. they called him ronnie ray-gun, they had no nuke conferences around the world saying he would launch the first strike against the soviet union and he was going to start world war iii. in the '80s we had developed a strong economy, a strong military, a strong sense of purpose, but we still had a group in hollywood, entertainment industry, and, of course, on the left in politics, in the culture and the academy, even in churches, who were infuriated by reagan's success. it was no cakewalk in the

1980's. it was a daily struggle. it was a constant battle, it was a battle over policy, philosophy, ideas, our view about what america is now, was back then and what she should be in the future. i was thinking about this, maybe 25 years from now when a lot of you are my age, you're going to hear about how good things were in 2016 and the next four years and how maybe some new upstart running against the establishment, it's not as optimistic or as positive as donald trump was. they're going to say donald trump invited democrats to the white house. you know, donald trump was fighting for our economy and working with business and standing up for our sovereignty. they're going to say this new guy running against the establishment is a betrayal of donald trump. trump was the real forward-thinker, he was the optimist. he worked with the other side.

my message for you is, the struggle will continue generation from generation. you should be ready, you should be vigilant. you should be happy warriors, because when you're winning, when you're successful, that really drives them crazy. really drives them crazy. [applause] >> so, please are the good old days because the way it is today, even with the rancor and the resistance out there, this is the way it was in the '80s. i was in college, editing the dartmouth review and bringing rotc and why the indian symbol wasn't racist and reviewing professors what they were saying and outrageous politicalization of history. doing all that.

they're not mad because they're winning on the left, they are infuriated because they're losing. [applaus [applause] >> what we need to do, all of us, is not be dour or upset all the time or sang angry, we're going to tear down the left. and when you're a bomb thrower in the early 20's, that's the thing of the moment. the last thing left of philosophical of conservative ideals because of policies, that's where the gold is, that's what president trump is doing. he's mocked as reagan was. he's ridiculed by the hollywood establishment like reagan was. he is perpetually branded, you know, the same old things,

anti-immigrant, anti-this, anti-that. but what he is, he's the president of all the people, of the middle class of the forgotten men and women, of the people i came from. [applause] >> so i say to all of you today, do not let this false narrative take hold, that kind of brings you down on a daily basis that we're all going to hell in a hand basket and the country is going down the drain, perpetual protest mania, the russians are going to ruin our election process for the next 30 years. that's nonsense. this is a great time to be an american. this is a great time to invest in america. [applaus [applause] >> this is a great time to innovate in america, this is a great time to be a college conservative in america. it is a great time. [applaus [applause] >> it's a great time to be

someone struggling to make his or her life better because of these policies which are being pushed, and, yes, resisted by this administration is bringing up the standard of living for more americans. so, what i'm saying about this happy warrior, this is awesome. if you would have told me four years ago in the middle of the obama administration that we would have the house and the senate and a populoist president holding -- i would have said that's not possible. [applause] >> so, they say the right is angry, oh, no. i don't think so. we're not going to be -- we're not going to be deterred or intimidated from speaking out

because some in the hollywood elite or because george clooney or chuck schumer fightens us from sharing our views on college campuses, in the public square, in newspapers, and when we speak to pollsters. if the employment rate is 4%, if the market is at 24,000, it can go up and down, can't go up 6% for the whole year, that's impossible. what would they say about hillary clinton if she had those, business-- what would they say about hillary clinton, let's say that gary cone was working for her,er had head of economic advisors would be on the cover of "time" magazine. exalting hillary clinton's domestic policy. imagine if trump during the campaign had predicted that the

gdp would be for consecutive quarters up between 3 and 4%. that the market would go up to 24,000, the so-called smart people predicting economic armageddon would be laughing at his predictions and many of them did. they predicted he would never get the tax bill through congress. do you remember those predictions like, i don't know, four months ago? they predicted he was a n neofyte. and that paul ryan and the republican leadership would never work with him. and some of those over at me messnbc, i askeded an e and an s. that they would be the real movement against donald trump. all of that, thankfully, has proved to be untrue. if anything, the g.o.p. on capitol hill and it's about time, has inched closer to a more populist, forward-looking

conservativism of donald trump. [applause] >> you guys see that bumper sticker, question authority? do you see that, usually on subarus, and volvos? and it's usually next to a bumper sticker that says, i support world peace, like peas? they never get better the bum ter stickers. think about this, ronald reagan kind of used that mantra, that mantra of the left. question authority, laura, what do you mean by that? what ronald reagan did, he understood that america founded by these incredible men, that you know the left is all about, well, they're all racist now, we've got to requestion the american founders. the americans questioned the

british, they questioned the authority and this was part of reagan's intellectualism that the left never really understood. he combined thomas payne, jefferson, locke, and later alexander, all of those were threats to the established order, and reagan discussed the philosophical basis for tax cuts. he trumpeted the rights of the individual. he rejected this widely accepted notion that we needed detente with the u.s.s. r. he was a rebel, he was questioning the established authority of the day. three decades later in his own way, donald trump is following this that modern american conservative tradition of questioning authority. and used to be the left, right? he's questioning the authority of the administrative state. he's questioning the authority

of the fbi. [applaus [applause] >> oh, peter strzok is in the back, hi, how are you? good to see you. you're looking good lately. he's questioning the authorities of the deep state, of washington d.c. bureaucracies, sometimes of the courts. [applause] >> so, donald trump is a threat to the established order, the established order that failed the people, that has kept corrupt institutions going year after year after year, that have been held captive by a corrupt mainstream media who have frankly sunk to new lows. ...

the balance of power since trump came in is slowly being recalibrated. it was tilting all toward washington under obama, and now it's tilting back toward you, the people. it's about time. [applause] >> people say trump is not a perfect conservative i say who is? who is perfect conservative? he understands what about the hopes and dreams of the average working person that i think other think tanks in washington, all the journalists in washington, all the so-called political experts who laughed at the prospects of a a trump nomination let alone a trump presidency. notice all those people are never held accountable for their failed predictions by the way? being a pundit is never having to say you're sorry, okay? that's what it means. he's learned a lot and wonder

about the allocation of power. most politicians talk a good game at cutting the bureaucracy but he's actively doing that on a daily basis. he's dismantling it on a daily basis. and do you know what that means? do you know what that means, that means more power for you, for me, for the people of this country who make a great every single day. so we conservatives have a very good story to tell. and what we should be doing now is not getting caught up in the latest theatrics, their vitriol, there insults. they drop the usual charges whether losing a debate. they really don't want a a debe by the way. they just want to intimidate you from debating. they want to try to shut you down and frighten you from speaking to my because if you do a will try to destroy you.

and i say bring it on. i don't think so. [applause] focus on the things you can change. move the ball down the field. more tax cuts for the middle class. yes, that's what i said, more tax cuts for the middle class. [applause] focus on judges, judges who actually respect their article iii powers. [applause] there is so much we can do, the perfect truth is the enemy of the good. when we want to accomplish something, we can. we might not get everything we want. no one ever does. but that's okay. do not be distracted. do not allow yourself to be demeaned. do not allow yourself ever to be

discouraged in this constant battle for this philosophy, for our movement which isn't just some academic understanding that we debate every year at cpac. no, this is a movement based on individual freedom and liberty given to us from on high. not from the government but from god. [applause] cannot, as ben franklin said, sacrificed our personal freedoms for the promise, which is a false promise, of safety and security. because if we do that we will ultimately become more like our subjugate others, those who wish to repress us, those in far-off lands who fooled a lot of business type of 20 years ago and, of course, i'm talking about china. they pulled them all in china.

we will be more free, get in the world trade organization, we will be more, we will be more frequently all this straight. what happened? they have stolen from us. they have subjugated their people. they took of course no weapons in hands of the individual. they took away the rights. it took away the religious liberty. they have the largest danny up military in the world, 2.3 million. by many measures they could if we don't have a president like donald trump and for the next three years in the next four years after that, eclipse us economically. we will not allow that to happen. we will not become the puppets of our subjugate us. not now, not ever. [applause] you all make me extremely proud and extremely happy, and so filled with joy and optimism about where our country is going, but where we have been

through struggles, two heartaches, through sorrow, through great triumph. you care enough about this nation to be here, to make your voice heard without fear of what will happen to you. on his deathbed the old republican frederick douglass was asked by a young man for career advice. douglas replied, agitate, agitate, agitate. and to you, young conservatives here today, and listening across the country, i say to you one piece of advice. smile. life is very good. it is a great time to be an american. it's a great time to be a conservative. agitate, agitate, agitate, agitate. take care, everybody. have a great time. see you later. [applause]

♪ ♪ ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, from liberty healthshare please welcome dale bellis. [applause] >> good morning, cpac. there has got to be away for the average american to meet health care costs while maximizing his

or her personal freedom. finding a solution to that problem has been my personal quest for over the past 30 years that i've spent as a healthcare administrator. and yet in recent years the fatal flaws that i observed over that time have recently been further exposed and exacerbated. let me tell you a part of my experience. i've seen patients stuck with $250,000 worth of medical bills, left out in the cold while an emotionless healthcare payment system that promised to be there when they are in financial need, let them high and dry. i think doctors and patients waiting around in bewilderment wanting to know if necessary

procedures to bring someone back to full health can be performed. i've been with patience who have been denied life-saving treatments, all because a third-party medical crap news they -- thought they knew better for the patient and the patient pencil. the flaw was not in the physicians competence or in the patient's need for care but in a system that requires approval and payment from a separate entity that is in no way infested indicator of its customers health. the flaw is when there are three parties in the room, a doctor, the patient, and the entity writing the check, i'm morally outraged by a system that denies

a basic freedom to a patient in pursuit of care that stifles the work of trusted professionals and keeps doctors from performing what they know if the right course of action. a system that intrudes upon one of the most private and personal areas of your life, they care of your health. my friends, this is the system that must change. this system which affects both your medical care and the means by which its paid for, is what is known as the third-party payer system. that may be a new term, but it's one that you should add to your healthcare vocabulary. third-party pay simply means someone other than you, the

customer, is making decisions about your care and paying the bill. when you send your monthly payment to that third-party entity, whether as an insurance premium, a payment made by your employer for health benefits, or a tax on your neighbor for government benefits, you had to control and power over the care of your health to that entity, losing both freedom and autonomy in that exchange. someone else, that third person in the room, is paying the bill and making decisions on your behalf. this third-party payer system produces skyrocketing prices, is frankly unsustainable for the future, and only widens the inequity between bureaucracies and the individual. you and i must find a

replacement. i grant that in light of current events this is a daunting task, but i believe if we allow our natural consumer instincts to guide us, as we do in almost every other aspect of our financial lives, and to become much more clear. here's what i mean. if your car needs a tuneup for your refrigerator quits, you don't submit those expenses to your insurance for coverage. instead, you shop around to make sure you are getting the best deal for whatever service or item you need, and then you pay for the service with money you have set aside for just such an occasion. that's just part of owning a car or a home. but by and large where health care is concerned, we submit every charge, even maintenance costs, to our insurance because we think healthcare as being simply covered by our insurance companies, we feel little to no

investment in the costs. frankly, in those cases we are insulated from those costs. this means we don't feel any need to compare prices among providers. so we are sure we're getting the best value for our dollars, and sometimes making matters worse since our providers have also largely succumbed to the third-party payer model, they have no skin in the game. the medical bills simply goes off to the nameless, faceless bureaucracy to be paid, while none of the actual parties involved in the transaction feel the weight of the cost. from time to time new approaches to paying for healthcare are proposed, and whatever we can apply time-tested free-market principles to healthcare, we must do so. but let's not tinker around the edges. too many proposed fixes aimed to repair only pieces of what is

now becoming widely known as a broken system. for instance, consider health savings accounts. they have been put forward by many legislators and pundits alike as the consumer-based fix to healthcare costs. the reality is that in their present form they are only a partial solution. currently, hsas are linked to high deductible insurance plans, which are just another third-party pay method. hsa regulations also impose unrealistic limits on contributions, and don't permit hsa dollars to be used to purchase a healthcare plan. today i'm calling on our elected officials in the city to have the political will to pass a

super hsa plan which would, number one, -- allow customers to use their hsa dollars to purchase a healthcare plan of their choosing, it's your money, after all. and number three, significantly expand or remove the contribution limits. only then will hsas be truly customer driven. the other proposed big picture solution we must confront is a growing movement in favor of single-payer healthcare. meaning government paid and controlled healthcare. besides the obvious inefficiencies of any government controlled system and its lack of accountability to the public, such a system is the ultimate double down on third-party pay. in our current system produces

in equities, restricted care and skyrocketing costs, how much more would a centralized government controlled system strip us of choice and freedom and engagement in the care of our health? [applause] i believe we must hit the stop button on third-party payer expansion, and put the customer in control of both they care that he and she receives, and the cost of that care. it's really up to us. until you and i rise up as consumers and insist on regaining control over the care of our health, no meaningful change will take place. fact i propose that we learn from the past. we must go back to a time when healthcare was experienced and

paid for in community with others. a time when neighbor helping neighbor. when a customer is king, and when the payment originated out of the pocket of the primary stakeholder, the patient. that option is available today, by the way, mainly taking the form of healthcare sharing ministries like liberty healthshare, the one that i lead. the reason we are so enthusiastic is that we are all individual patients taking responsibility for our own care and her own costs. we just simply choose to share those expenses with others in the community of like-minded individuals and families. that respects our face and our values and our conscious rights. in fact, we refuse to allow our dollars to be used for abortion

and a board of fascists. [applause] >> dale? dale? hello, dale. i like what you just said. >> what was that. >> what you will not use the money for what? >> or abortion or a board of. [applause] >> i think they would like to sign up. >> and what's good about that is my sister already signed up, and you say to her come you save her a bunch of money pictures in a situation where she could not afford any of the alternatives. she signed up and i'm signing up, and thank you very much. >> i am real honored, my brother. thank you. [applause] >> we find each other's eligible medical bills on the basis of a long respected tradition -- fund

-- of mutual aid and mutual care. what matt just join is not insurance, and we don't want to be. we are a cooperative and volunteer community that takes seriously the proposition that we are placed here on earth to insist another person may be in need. and we turned that principle into a solution for healthcare. that's how we exercise our healthcare freedoms. [applause] >> i i got involved in healthcae sharing precisely because i saw the problems with third-party payers and knew that the system was unsustainable. liberty healthshare is growing membership, is accomplishing personal healthcare reform every day. and matt just engaged in his own personal healthcare reform. and i believe this approach

could be a part of the solution for many, many more. let me tell you about chris, a liberty healthshare member from arizona. he's a great example, him and his family, of these principles in practice. just months after joining liberty healthshare, his 14 year old daughter suffer a hemorrhagic stroke, and despite initial worries about how the massive bills of over half $1 million for her care would be handled, chris experienced, as he relates it, compassion from the liberty staff and members, and was reassured that he and his wife did not need to worry about whether their daughters bills to be paid for by fellow members. now, shockingly, as her hospital stay true to a close, the administration panicked concerning the families ability to pay their bills.

they couldn't grasp that any means other than third-party insurance could pay their bill. but liberty healthshare intervened. we assisted that family, negotiated on their behalf, and chris and his family experienced the support and care of the liberty healthshare community as their bills were slashed in half and fully paid by their fellow members. i'm happy to tell you that this is a is doing well, better family continues to tell everyone they can about why they have chosen healthcare sharing to pay for their health care costs. ladies and gentlemen, business as usual isn't working. this is a nation of innovators, men and women who are known for the vision and creativity in solving problems. for too long we have believed

that there's no other way to handle the skyrocketing cost of healthcare. but i'm here to say we don't have to continue down that path. real change begins with us stopping the cycle in our own lives opting for healthcare choices that produced real freedom. that's my invitation. that's my hope for you, that you would exercise your healthcare freedom today. thank you. god bless. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪

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>> we are going to leave our coverage of the conservative political action conference which is taking place in maryland which are just outside washington, d.c. as you consider putting the presidential symbol on the podium because president trump is expected to speed. you will be able to watch the president's remarks live on our companion network c-span and that will happen just after 10:00 eastern after "washington journal." right now we're going to transition over to the national press club for an event with the national governors association. >> a correction. coming up in just a moment we will go to the national press club to bring the remarks as the nation's governors are gathering. we will show some of the cpac conference from yesterday. >> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome --