bipartisan avenue. and, you know, we must admit that we don't do all the work in the attorney generals office. and we have a remarkable group of assistant attorney generals that coordinated work on this in the last 16 months in just an incredible way. of course, also along party lines. now just like to mention their names. patrick madigan from my office, debbie hagan of illinois. i mentioned debbie. matt budzig of connecticut. phil layman of north carolina, vicki butler of florida, jim gaross of texas, dave huey of washington and andy mccollin of colorado. they were the work horses on all of this. and then for the last seven years we've had another remarkable relationship. that's with the state banking regulators. we worked with them on the ameriquest case, household case, task force to deal with and

prevent foreclosure. john ryan, their executive director is here. he has a great relationship party. party means nothing. and, you know, i keep trying to think of myself as a relatively young man. but i've been attorney general for 30 years. and during that time, i've had a lot of -- involved in a lot of multistates that work with the federal government, work with the federal government in a lot of ways. and have had good relationships and sometime not so good relationships working with the feds. that may surprise you. but it's true. but all -- of all that time, i've never seen such a wonderful , effective -- based on respect perelli and shaun donovan.with they treat us as equals. they roll up their sleeves. we get the job done as best we can together. it has been a model for

federal-state relationships, the relationship we've had with them. and just going back for one second to the assistant attorney generals. the attorney generals offices over the last 4 1/2 years, since the mortgage meltdown in 2007, we have done more on dealing with working with, prodding, pushing, threatening to sue the servicers of loans than anybody else. in term of knowledge, knowledge base on servicing of loans in this country, us and the banking regulators i think are unparalleled in our knowledge, experience, and -- >> all of this available online in our video library at c-span do the coring and later in our program schedule. take you live now here in washington, the annual conservative political action conference is getting started. first up this morning, this afternoon going to hear from republican leader of the u.s. senate mitch mcconnell. live coverage here on c-span3.

>> good morning. i want to thank the acu board, acu staff and volunteers. thanks for the opportunity once again to gather as a movement to share our ideas and our talents in the great cause of liberty. every year at cpac past meets present. and both gain new energy and enthusiasm and allies for the fight. we have a chance to honor and to learn from the conservative giants of the past and to size up new ones. we get to hear from those who are leading the cause in state houses across the country and here in washington. for those of you haven't noticed, our ranks are growing. one of the great developments in congress over the past few years is the emergence of so many strong, principled conservative leaders. you just had a chance to hear from mike lee and ron johnson. and you heard from marco rubio,

one of the most -- [ applause ] >> i think we would all agree, one of the most inspiring young conservatives in america. [ applause ] our numbers in congress have expandsing. i can tell you this -- i'm very happy to have the reinforcements. we needed them after 2009 and 2010. so now the trick is to stick together and to keep our focus where it belongs and i want to tell you this, i always love coming to cpac. [ applause ] conservatives are just simply more fun than liberals. there's a reason for that, by the way. it's because we're always right. [ applause ] now the reason liberals are always wringing their hands all the time, you notice that? they're always wringing their hands all the time is because they know we have better arguments than they do. so they spend half their time thinking how to convince people that what's wrong is right.

and the other half looking for conservatives to tear down or cpac conferences to distribute. you all know the liberal playbook. here's how it works. pick a target. freeze it. personalize it. and then polarize it. but rarely have we seen those tactics employed with the kind of zeile we see today. the white house and its lutz lieutenants have made an art form out of the orchestrated attack. they have shown anybody or any organization they think is standing in their way. we saw it just last week whether one of the top democrats of the senate announced a plan to haul law abiding citizens before a congressional panel just because they don't happen to agree with causes that he supports. you know the drill. expose the folks to public view, release the liberal thugs on them and then hope the public

pressure or the unwanted attention scares them from supporting similar causes down the road. now for a president who spent so much time talking about fairness, there's a serious shortage of it in the white house and among many of his closest allies. again and again this administration and its allies have used the resources of the government itself to intimidate or silence those who question or oppose it. and to reward their friends and punish enemies. this is why an administration that claims to support private sector job creation ended up killing a pipeline project that promised to create 10,000 jobs. this is why a president who claims to value diversity is telling the men and women who run the religious schools and hospitals and charities and n. this kun fridcountry that they a choice that no one in the united states should ever have to make.

violate your conscience, pay a penalty or close your doors. we saw it during the health care debate when the department of health and human services issued a gag order on a private insurance company for the supposed offense -- listen to this -- of telling seniors what the president's health care bill would mean for them. and as americans continue to struggle, as a result of this economic policies, we see it in the personal attacks on private citizens or industries that the administration wants to make a convenient foil. these things demean the office of president. they corrode our democracy and [ applause ] they should change the policies. but attacking private citizens or groups for the supposed crime

of turning a profit or expressing an opinion that the administration doesn't happen to share is not in the president's job description. [ applause ] now, look, the president's job is to unite the country, no the divide it. his joeb is to bridge differences, not aggravate them, to encourage suck us icess, not condemn it. hohn your and embrace the free exercise of religion and enshrined right there in the first amendment. the president seems to have forgotten. he was elected to lead all americans. he was elected to be president of the united states, not the occupy wall street fan club. [ applause ] >> i don't know about you, but i think that the leader of the

free world and his advisors have better things to do than dig through other people's tax returns. at a time when nearly 13 million americans are looking for a job and can't find one, i think the president of the united states has higher priorities than picking on fox news! [ applause ] i think our highest elected official should be looking for applause ]instead of but that's what pass ees for leadership in the white house. here's a president who spent two years reconfiguring the u.s. economy who put the government in charge of banks,strythe insu industry, the student home business and health care. now we're seeing the results. and he acts like he to with

it. look, we know new presidents face challenges when they come to office. ronald reagan certainly did. once the oath of office is taken, americans expect the president to forge ahead and take responsibilities for the policies they put in place.appl] not this he banwants to change the subje. well here's my message to cpac. we're'going to let him get away? [ applause ] we're going to keep up the fight against a regulatory regime that is suffocating free enterprise. we'll keep pushing the white house to use american energy a from now until november without reminding the american people of what this president has done.

[ applause ] the president got everything he wanted for two long years. i assure you this. when november rolls around, the american people will know who was in charge when the stimulus was passed. they'll know who was in charge when obama care became nlaw. ch when american's credit rating was downgraded for the first time ever. they'll know this president's record. >> aft after that, he'll have as much time to play golf as he wants to. [ applause ] look, let's face it.

the only reason we're getting any positive economic news at all, more than three years after this presidency began, is because the american people put a restraining order on him and pelosi in november of 2010. [ applause ] last week's jobs report happened in spite of the president's policies, not because of them. it's the obama economy now. and we're not going to let people forget it. we'll start with his promises. it's a long list. so i'll just mention a couple. three years ago this month the president signed a trillion dollar stimulus bill that we were told would keep unemployment below 8% and drop kick us out of the recession. how did that work out? well, unemployment is now stood

above 8% for 36 months. three straight years. if you lose a job in the obama economy, can you now expect to spend 40 weeks looking for a new one. fewer people have jobs today than when the stimulus was signed. and more than three years into his presidency, there's still 5.6 million fewer jobs in this country than when the great recession began. among african-americans, unemployment is nearly 14%. among hispanics, 10.5%. among recent college graduates, more than 13%. for those who need help the most, this president's economic policies have don't least. so if i were president obama, i'd keep the champagne on ice. this is not an economy to be proud of. shortly after the stimulus bill was signed, president obama made

another promise. he said he'd cut the deficit in half about it end of his first ? well, last week the congressional budget office said that the federal deficit for the coming year, obama's fourth year in office, would be over $1 trillion for the fourth consecutive year. he hasn't even come close. not even close. on this issue, the debt the president has been completely and totally awol. republicans have had to fight tooth and nail for every dime and savings we've secured. president obama ignored the advice of his own deficit reduction commission. he ignored the dirg warnine war that come to us every single day and he failed the american people who entrusted him with the stewardship of this country. more spending, more debt, fewer jobs. that's a sad legacy of this administration's policies. that's how -- [ applause ]

-- that's how historians are going to remember the obama economy. that's how they'll remember this president's three-year experiment in big government as a colossal failure. that manage to bring about one good thing -- one good thing came out of all this, a resurgence of common sense conservatism. [ applause ] the obama administration, countless americans rediscovered the constitutional principles that bind them. they have a new appreciation for the fact that in this country the government serves the people and not the other way around. and that's why the american people read that compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled over the last ten years and that the benefits for federal workers are about 60% higher than taxpayers who pay for them. they have every reason to demand

a federal pay agreement. now listen to. this right now there are 2.2 million people in the federal workforce. 2.2 million. yet, at a time when the federal government in washington is routinely spending upwards of a trillion dollars more a year than it's taking in, layoffs of federal workers have dropped to fewer than 300 a year. according to one analysis i read, that means the federal workers are 13 times more likely to die of natural causes than to be laid off. and this president, by the way, has added 150,000 jobs to the federal government during his term, 150,000 jobs. washington boom town. now you tell me, what about the performance of the federal government over the past few years makes you believe that everyone who works for it is

absolutely necessary? the government is doing too much already. it's time to stop hiring people to fill jobs in washington that don't need to be done. [ applause ] it's time to impose some balance between the public and the private sector. under this president, government spending has gone up more than 20%. the federal debt has gone up 43%. this is one of the reasons i never tire of telling people the problem with our nation's finances isn't the government taxes too little but that it sp spends too much. [ applause ] >> i don't know about you, but the way i see it and washington proves it can spend money more wisely than it does right now. the taxpayers have no reason to hand over another single dime in higher taxes. [ applause ]

look, until washington puts a higher priority on using the money it gets on things we need, instead of blowing it on solar panel companies, the american people should tell congress it doesn't need another cent. [ applause ] and that leads to another thing the american people are reminded of over the past few years, that people should be rewarded for what they know rather than who they know. [ applause ] you remember throughout the debate over health care americans saw the white house cut deals with special interests and lawmakers that we later learned were in exchange for their votes in favor of obama care. en in the month that followed, they watched as they granted waivers to the very groups that lobbied for the bill.

they lobbied for the bill but they don't want it to apply to them. most americans don't think that the one group of americans should be entight tentitled to treatment. that is just one of the reasons they're going to keep fighting for repeal this bill. [ applause ] i can tell you this -- senate republicans want everybody in america to get a waiver from obama care, everybody. [ applause ] not just the politically connected few. that's also why republicans in congress joined together to fight the individual mandate in the courts and while we'll continue to do so until this unconstitutional burden is overturned. and then we're going to replace it with the kind of common sense reforms that lower costs and that's what americans really want. but let me tell what you all these things have in common. they all have one thing in

common -- every special favor or preference we've seen from this white house reveals the very same thing. and that's a lack of faith and the ability of americans to figure things out on their own. the roots of liberalism have always been the same. what liberals just can't seem to accept is the idea of a free people and free institutions pursuing happiness as they see fit. with a deep respect for the rights and differences of others, without the heavy hand of government trying to direct their lives and their destinies for them. the administration's recent assault on religious liberty is a vivid and troubling example of this. what this white house is now saying is that federal government will impose a fine on catholic institutions for no other reason than that the religious beliefs of catholics run counter to those that are

sitting president. [ applause ] but it's more than just a violation of conscience. this means, for example, that a place like the university of notre dame, the free exercise of religion will now cost about $10 million a year. for catholic charities, america's largest provider of social services to children, families and the poor, the cost of religious freedom can now be as high as $100 million a year. this is not an administration that welcomes diversity under the first amendment. this is an administration that fears that diversity. the obama administration has crossed a dangerous line and we will fight this attack on the fundamental rights of religious freedom until the courts overturn it or until we have a president who will reverse it! [ applause ]

picking winners and losers, rewarding friends, punishing enemies, silencing critics. these things don't just strike the heart of conservatism. they strike at the heart of what america is all about. these are the things that drive the obama economy. and they drive an ideological agenda that as we have seen again and again has little regard for those who descend or for a constitution that's meant to protect them. so let me leave you with this. keep up the fight. if someone would use the powers

of their office to curtail our freedoms or limit free end prize, then we need to use the power of free citizens to restore them. you know before i became republican leader in the senate ways best known for a very long fight i waged against campaign finance laws. [ applause ] they were, in my view, a serious free speech. i can tell you it wasn't easy. and it didn't win me a lot of friends. and that included some in my own party. in fact, the low point in that whole fight as when i watched a republican president actually sign into law a bill that i had been fighting for decades. but i didn't give up. i sued the government. i'm still fighting it to this day. and, look, i bring that up not to pat myself on the back. i bring it up to make a point. i continue to fight it through constitutional channel that's are my birthright as a power th

founders gave each and every one of us, everyone in this room has this power each and every one of us has at built to fight back by the government. no president from either party is more powerful than the constitution of the united states. [ applause ] and you all know that your job is to share that with others. to share that with others. the theme of this year's cpac is the question that for us answers itself. do we still hold these truths? do we still hold these truths? and rarely in my lifetime or yours have we had such an opportunity or an obligation to prove that we do. so i want to thank you, all of

you, for your devotion to the constitution and to the principles that inform them. i want to thank you for the determination. i want to thank you for the energy and supporting candidates who share our views. it's through your devotion and your commitment to the cause of liberty that liberty is actually preserved. it won't happen any other way. as reagan famously put it, freedom is never more than one ne away from extinction. we didn't pass it through our children to the bloodstream. it must be fought for, protected and handed on to them to do the same. you are doing that necessary work. i can tell you, the rest very, . thank you so much. [ applause ]

hi, ladies and gentlemen. i'm the executive director of the american conservative union. i want to take a moment to apologize profusely on behalf of acu today. this room is filled with some very important people and you all are extremely important to us. i've been with acu for about a year now. before i came to acu, i've been going to cpac forye i know there is always a wait at

cpac for ticketing. obviously, this year was too long a wait. longer than normal. apologize for that. we had a problem with one of our vendor systems. the good news is we have a lot of people here this year. there is a lot of energy behind the conservative movement this year. people are really fired bup abot barack obama. there are so many fellow conservatives here that it kr h crashed one of our vendor's systems. apologize. i hope you'll accept my apology. [ applause ] >> one of the reasons this is such a special event cpac every year is because it is to a large agree underwritten by the diamond and platinum members, the folks here in front of me right now are really the ones who help, you know, make this such a great venue, help us tract as many people from across the country as we possibly do.

give a round of applause. so we've been moving this back so we can accommodate more diamonds and platinums into this area. we're going to continue to do so. again, thank you very much, folks, from the bottom of my heart. again, i apologize and we value you very much here. thank you. ♪ >> thank you. thank you. thank you all very much. thanks to everybody at cpac. thanks to everybody across america that comes here every year for us to get refueled and rejuvinated and sent back out to fix america and save america frhe are

deconstructing america on a daily basis. we're not turning our back on them today. we're here to get refueled. [ what is happening to our liberty? i just -- i look around here as i was thinking ahead to what i might say today. and i recall that under nancy pelosi's speakership, they came up with this idea that they would make us take these curly cue light bulbs and put them in our lamps in the capitol. and i insisted on having light in there. and at night the janitors would come through which were nancy's troops and screw out those light bulbs, those edison bulbs and give me every once in a while curly cue bulbs. i would send the interns out to get me got light bulbs. and those interns would come back sometimes empty handed in tears because they couldn't