>> i was helping bob dole, i was driving across from cleveland back to new hampshire after we had been out there and i thought, you know, the business community's not getting involved, so we -- they're too busy. and we had a subscription service. and everybody subscribed and the year ahead of time you'll see all the candidates, and they did. and it eventually morphed into this. we had the new england council involved from the beginning. and it has just taken off. >> it's become a must do. rea y has. >> can i get a picture of you and brian? >> good to see you. thank you. >> thank you very much. >> wouldn't declaration of deal with all these issues of putting -- >> great question. no, not really. i mean you can hold them as any

come combatants as a law of war without -- >> without -- >> yes. >> why aren't we putting these idiots on trial? >> well, when you declare war, you change all insurance coverage. [ inaudible ] if there's another attack on the country. >> thank you very much, sir. >> we can do all we need to do with the aumf and the president. >> you will be defeated. one sentence. >> yes. you will be defeated. >> thanks, senator. how are you? >> i am great. [ inaudible ] >> yes, sir. well, i was a city attorney. fix the last line. >> yes the last line. given your past --

>> an economy needs to come about through training jobs, so whether it's energy independent, environment, needs to be a coalition of environmental and business people to create jobs and -- [ inaudible ] we can buy from canada. you're not going to displace fossil fuel for the next 50 years, but you can start an economy, as with lower carbon economy, that will create jobs. because that's the future. >> what about international agreements? >> well, the problem is the one with china -- india and china are the two biggest carbon ee met irs emitters. how about if we just lead because it's good for the consumer and good for the environment? i don't know if you could get an agreement with china and india that would work, but time will tell.

>> i was just down in south carolina this weekend. >> what were you doing in south carolina? my favorite city in the country. i say that even in south carolina. >> it was so nice. warm weather. >> it is warm weather. but great value for food. >> yes, it was. >> charleston's got it all. but you know, this place herehere -- >> it's so nice. one more. sorry. you got it. >> i tell you what. we had a good time. >> thank you very much. >> senator -- >> good tigers. >> go tigers. >> when did you graduate? >> 2012.

my freshman year i walked down to walmart. didn't realize how long the walk was. >> the cab driver dropped me off. >> you're in the air force now? >> i did rotc. >> thank you for your service. what's your career field? >> intel. >> well, we've got our intel capabilities, using the satellite program because of budget cuts, we've got to turn that around. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you for your comments. >> isil hates us. >> i appreciate -- >> they hate me and schumer the same. >> thank you for your speech, senator. >> i enjoyed it.

>> this is the coolest idea. >> i'm from virginia and irngs i can understand you a little better. >> you can translate? >> exactly. >> when you said national -- >> welcome to new england. >> senator sends his regards. he couldn't be here today. >> outstanding. we'll have to come by and visit. >> we loved having the event at the museum. >> there you go. >> patiently waiting. >> i thought i got on the wrong side. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. senator, if i could trouble you for a couple of these. >> yes you may. >> great talk yesterday.

great talk today. >> you've been to both? >> yes. >> did you -- >> no, no, we don't do that. >> that was fun yesterday. >> you've become topic on the local radio station around here. on my way in they were talking you were on "meet the press" about not having done e-mail. they wanted to know about your opinions about not having done e-mail. >> i get all kind of input and text messages but i decide who to call. >> good for you. >> not e-mail saying a bunch of dumb things. >> well, yes. >> i think i'm in touch in other ways. >> very nice meeting you. >> so thank you all. questions? >> what is the timing of the

menendez charges? >> you know, all i can say is they were leaked and it wasn't actually charged officially. going to be charged. i hate it when that happens. like everybody else, he's innocent until proven guilty. he's been a champb onon the iranian nuclear issue. ready to make a political -- >> i don't know. leaking a potential indictment now is -- leaking it at all, he doesn't deserve that. no american should read in the paper you may be indicted or you're going to be indicted. that's not the way the system works. so, i'm just disgusted with the whole process. >> republican presidential theme and some of your positions on immigration don't square with a lot of primary voters but you're

not shying away with that. do you still think can you win a primary? >> oh, absolutely. when you get any pollsters around here, when you ask new hampshire primary voters as to the 11 million you should aid, law-abiding nonfelon, give them a chance to learn english, pay taxes, get in the back of the line, all the things in the senate bill, about 65% of republicans and new hampshire think that's practical. and here's what i would say. i understand border security. we have to get that right. you have to control the job. i understand the e-verify, i understand -- what i'm trying to tell my friends in the republican party is the 11 million have to be dealt with in a fashion to get a good path. as to the others, they'll have to be dealt with.

and i don't like the idea you can live here all of your life the rest of your life but never have a chance to become an american. they should do it in the fashion that's long and hard but have a chance. i don't like the european model. and all i can say is that they need to fix immigration it's a national security yishgs it's a cultural issue and an economic issue. i am proud of the work i've done i'm not going to give an inch on the idea that trying to solve illegal immigration is a bad thing for a republican to do. >> senator do trips like this make you feel more likely to run, less likely to run or do they really make a difference in your -- >> they make a huge difference. it makes me more likely to run between the two events because i think i connect pretty well with people up here. i think they like generally what i have to say and the process of running has been a ton of fun.

other than getting roasted alive yesterday, it was a great event. this was fun. getting to talk to people about serious topics and laugh staying at this end so running for president in new hampshire, to me, would be fun. and i like the idea you have to show off and stand in front of the fire. >> where do you stand on another round of base realignment and closure closure? >> if you're going to do sequestration, have you to close a lot of our bases. i'm telling members of congress who don't want to change sequestration but want to keep their base open, you can't have it both wadz. sequestration, the budget cuts on the defense side are fully implemented, you're going to gut the military you'll have the smallest army since 1940. you'll have to close bases all over this world. to am that is the dumbest thing we could do given the threats. so to implement sequestration

you would have to have the b.r.a.c. thank you. >> thank you, senator. [ inaudible ] >> you signed onto the letter telling arabians congress will outlast the president, right? >> i'm trying to let the iranians -- [ inaudible ] this is not the commander in chief. this is having say, like all the other nuclear -- >> trying to get involved. >> exactly. >> that's not the way you run a war. when it comes to congress, i want to make sure -- [ inaudible ] >> thank you. >> thank you. >> fcc chair tom wheeler was on

capitol hill to talk about net neutrality. the verge reports he told the house oversight committee the agency went to great lengths to get public input before voting to give the fcc oversight of the internet. you can watch the entire hearing on our video library. here's some of chairman wheeler's testimony. >> the process of the open internet rule making was one of the most open processes the fcc has ever run. we heard from startups. we heard from isps we heard from a series of public round tables as mr. cumming mentioned, we are from 750 different epartes, we heard from the administration, both in the form of president obama's very public statement on november 10th and in the form of nita's formal submission, but here i would like to be really clear. there were no secret instructions from the white house. i did not, as ceo of an independent agency feel

obligated to follow the president's recommendation. but i did feel obligated to treat it with the respect that it deserves just as i have treated with similar respect the input both pro and con from 140 senators and representatives. and most significantly it's been pointed out we heard from 4 million americans. we listened and learned throughout this entire process. and we made our decision based on a tremendous public record. >> and a look at a tweet from "the washington post" confirming congressman aaron shock of illinois is resigning after allegations that he misused campaign funds. he told politico he'll be resigning on march 31st representing central illinois covering peoria and the springfield area and questions have been raised about tens of thousands of dollars in mileage

reimbursement he received for his personal vehicle after he billed taxpayers and his campaign for 100,000 miles on his personal car over four years but when he sold his car it had less than half those miles on the odometer. he made a statement saying questions over the last six weeks have proven too great a distraction for him to serve the 18th district. you can read more at politico.com. live coverage coming up on c-span3, including testimony by defense secretary ashton carter and the chair of the joint chiefs, general martin dempsey, answering questions from the house armed services committee tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. eastern and tomorrow afternoon if the cc chair tom wheeler back on capitol hill appearing before a senate committee with other commissioners to talk about fcc policy. we'll have that live starting at 2:30 eastern. and then on thursday the house foreign affairs committee looking into negotiations with iran. deputy secretary of state tony blinken has been called to testify along with the treasury department official thursday morning at 8:30.

now isis reerz their ugly head and this army is very shaky. we shouldn't be surprised by that. you can't undo decades of soviet era and asam-era stuff within eight years, especially when you have taught them where they'll have u.s. advisers and policies with them. if afghanistan, according to the president's announcement,s we have 10,000 troops, but we'll draw down to 5,000 next year and almost zero the year after that i would warn we probably see a similar result to what we saw in iraq when isis attacked. that afghan army will be very shaky without u.s. help. >> this sunday on q&a retired army lieutenant general daniel bolger on the failed u.s. strategies in iraq and afghanistan and what we should have done differently, sunday night at 8 p.m. eastern on c-span's q&a.

texas senator ted cruz delivered remarks sunday at linken/reagan dinner talking about a range of foreign policy and domestic issues from iran and the threat of isis to u.s. education and tax reform. this is about an hour and a half. well, thank you very much. thank you all for coming out. god bless the great state of new hampshire. [ applause ]

i spent all of last week down in washington, d.c., so it is great to be back in america. now, jennifer, i enjoyed hearing that you said you thought new hampshire was ready for hillary. you know i'm actually told that this dinner tried to get hillary to come speak. unfortunately, they couldn't find a foreign nation to foot the bill. but i will say we've seen some exciting news. ready for hillary has announced their new director of e-mail security. lois lerner now has a job. i'm thrilled to be back in new

hampshire with so many friends. i appreciate y'all being here. these are extraordinary times. they're remarkable times. every one of us is here we came out tonight because we're deeply concerned about the direction of this country. every one of us is here because we're concerned about our kids and grandkids. there is right now, i think an urgency to politics unlike anything any of us have ever seen before. this next election in 2016, i believe it is now or never. i don't think we've reached the point of no return yet but we are close. there comes a point where the hole's too deep. there comes a point where the debt is too great where our liberties have been too far eroded, where the world is too far gone. and i believe if we continue

four or eight more years down this current path we will risk losing the greatest country in the history of the world. now, the men and women here are assembled because none of us are willing to let that happen. none of us are willing to go quietly into the night. none of us are willing to let go and give up on the united states of america. [ applause ] you know, to underscore how extraordinary this moment is today for the first time in history, a majority of americans, 65%, believe that our kids will have a worse life than we did. i want you to think about that n centuries of our nation's history, that has never been true right now this instant, it

may be the most unamerican idea there has ever been. the basic american ideal back in the 1700s and today has been that our kids will have a better life than we did and their kids will have a better life than they did. there's something extraordinary, so i want to talk to y'all about how we turn that around. and i want to come to you with a voice of hope and optimism. i think the central challenge in this country in 2016 and going forward is how do we reignite the miracle that is america. and i'm going to suggest we do three things to make that happen. number one, bring back jobs and growth and opportunity. my number one priorities in showing up in the senate has been economic growth because economic growth is foundational to everything else. i can tell you across the state

of texas, if doesn't matter if you're in east texas west texas, the panhandle or the valley, the top priority is jobs and growth. and that ought to be a bipartisan priority. that ought to bring us all together and say look, regardless of what we think on other issues if we have small businesses prospering and growing and creating jobs and opportunity, that lifts all ships. now, everyone here knows, growth doesn't come from government. growth comes from the men and women in this room, the private sector. but government is awfully good at screwing it up. and the two most effective levers the government has to facilitate the private government to facilitate small businesses creating jobs, are tax reform and regulatory

reform. tax reform right now the irs code -- you know there are more words in the irs code than in the bible. not a one of them is as good. i'll tell you the best and simplest tax reform. we should abolish the irs. we should mover to a simple flat tax that's fair and that lets every american fill out his or her taxes on a postcard. now, there are 110,000 agents at the irs. we need to padlock that building and put all 110,000 agents on our southern border.

now, i say is that somewhat tongue in cheek from those who are with us. but i want you to thank for a second. imagine you had traveled thousands of miles in the blazing sun. imagine you're swimming across the rio grande and the first thing you see is 110,000 irs agents. you'd turn around and go home, too. and when it comes to regulatory reform we have seen over the last six years federal regulators descending on small businesses like locusts. and i was out once in west texas, and i said the only difference is you can't use pesticide on the regulators.

and an old texas farmer looked at me and said, want a bet? i got to admit, that kind of seems like an attitude folks here in the north country would understand. the single most important regulatory reform, we need to repeal every word of obamacare. [ applause ] obamacare is a train wreck. it's a disaster. today we've seen millions of people lose their jobs. millions of people forced into part-time work. millions of people lose their health insurance, lose their doctors, pay higher and higher insurance premiums. you know, some months ago i was in nebraska big rally out in

north platte nebraska, where 1,000 people out in the countryside of north platte. a young woman came up to me and she hugged my neck. she said, ted, i'm a single mom. she said, i've got six kids at home. my husband left me and he's not paying child support. she said, i'm right now working five different jobs. not a one of them is even 30 hours a week because obamacare kicks in at 30 hours a week. she started to choke up. she said i'm having a hard time keeping clothes on the backs of my kids. but the single hardest thing is i never get to see my kids. i go from job to job to job, and they don't get the mom that they need and they deserve. that's who we're fighting for. that's who obamacare is hurting. it's the people who are

struggling to achieve a better life. our first priority needs to be to bring back jobs and growth and opportunity. our second priority is to defend our constitutional liberties. all of them, the first amendment, the right to free speech. you know, the irs has been demanding of citizen groups, tell us what books you're reading. tell us the content of your prayers. you know what? the federal government has no business asking any american the content of our prayers. you look at the assault on religious liberty that every one of us is seeing. sadly, it was manifested in my hometown of houston.

when just a few months ago the city of houston subpoenaed five pastors. issued subpoenas to the pastors to hand over their sermons. now, i got -- listen, if we had gone out and said this if i had gone on fox news and said the government's going to come and subpoena pastors they would have dismissed me as some black helicopter conspiracy coock, and yet there was the city of houston ordering pastors to turn over their sermon sermon notes and any correspondence or discussion they had concerning those sermons. wednesday of that week i called our pastor. heidi and i are members of first baptist church of houston. i said, you've seen what happened? he said, oh, yeah, i've seen what happened. i've been praying about it all morning. i said, well tomorrow we want to organize a rally of pastors

throughout the city of houston to stand for religious liberty. we would like to do it tomorrow at 11 a.m. ipd-i i wanted to ask you if we could do it at the church. we would like to host the rally for pastors there. my pastor begins laughing. and he says, you know, ted scripture says god has ordered our steps long before we are aware of it. a month ago, he says god put on my heart we needed to pray for our city. so i reached out and i invited pastors from all over the city to come pray for the city. there are 50 pastors coming to my office tomorrow at 10 a.m. i got to tell you that was powerful. i mean, we're both sitting there

going, wow. so, at 10 a.m. i joined the pastors and we dropped to our knees, we prayed for our city for an hour. then we went down to a rally, 50 pastors across racial and socioeconomic lines, denominations, 50 pastors. we even had first baptist and second baptist together. and that ain't easy. but we stood together and said caesar has no jurisdiction over the pulpit. and when you subpoena one pastor, you subpoena every pastor. and i'll tell you, the light and heat and attention that came down on the city of houston was so intense that within a week, the city withdrew the subpoenas and abandoned the challenge all together.

we're a country that was founded on religious liberty. and the federal government should not be coming after it. we need to defend the second amendment. nobody here likes the second amendment? i was going to say, i don't believe that for a minute. i'm pretty sure new hampshire's definition of gun control is kind of like what it is in texas. gun control means hitting what you aim at. we need to defend the fourth and fifth amendments, our right to privacy. how many of you have your cell phones? let me ask you, please leave your cell phones on. i want to make sure president

obama hears every word we say. we need to defend the tenth amendment. or as president obama calls it, the what? the fundamental protection that says the power's not given to the federal government are reserved to the states or to the people. that means there are certain core functions the federal government is given that it needs to do well. we need to protection our nation. we need to support the armed forces. we need to secure the border. but there are certain functions the federal government has no business sticking its nose in the middle of. and right at the top of that list is education. [ applause ] and we need to repeal every word of common core.

besides, we have a common core in this country. it's called the constitution of the united states. the third thing we need to do is restore america's leadership in the world. you know, for six years we have seen the consequences of the obama/clinton foreign policy. leading from behind is a manifest disaster. over the last six years america has receded from leadership in the world. we have abandoned our friends and allies and our enemies no longer fear us. you cannot win a war on radical islamic terrorism with a president who is unwilling to utter the words, radical islamic

terrorism. you know, just a few weeks ago following the horrific terrorist attack in paris, president obama described that attack as a, quote, random act of violence. when a radical islamist goes into a kosher deli with a meat cleaver seeking to murder jews because of their jewish faith there's nothing random about it whatsoever. likewise, just a few weeks ago when 21 christians in egypt were beheaded, the white house said 21 citizens had been murdered because of their egyptian citizenship. they weren't murdered because

they were egyptian. they were murdered because of their christian faith. pope francis powerfully said their blood confesses jesus christ. and the singest gravest threat facing national security of america today is the threat of iran acquiring nuclear weapons. now, two weeks ago i was honored to sit on the floor of the house of representatives and listen to israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu, who gave an extraordinary address before congress. i have to say, walking out what struck me is that we are hearing echoes of history. we are hearing echoes of munich in 1938.

and the ajekttive that has been most frequently applied to netanyahu is churchillian because he is speaking with a clarity and a moral gravity at least a dozen members of congress said to me after that remark -- after his remarks that is what a real leader sounds like. now, instead of standing with the nation of israel, the white house threw a temper tantrum. the president refused to meet with the prime minister. in fact, the president said he didn't even watch the speech. look, i got to say, heidi and i have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old. i'm kind of familiar with the strategy of, i can't hear you. but the president of the united states ought to be above that.

and then this past week i was proud to join with 46 other senators in sending a letter to iran. now, i'm not sure about it but i kind of get the sense the white house is upset about this. the president publicly said he was embarrassed for the 47 senators. i've got to admit, i was like hot diggity damn, he can be embarrassed by something. who knew? but watching the hysterical reaction of the president and the democrats, invokes the words of shakespeare. me think she duth protest too much. the 47 of us who joined in that letter, what did it say? the letter to iran conveyed a

very straightforward fact that under our constitution, there are only two ways something can become a law. either the president can negotiate a treaty that he then submits to the senate and it is ratified by two-thirds of the senate or congress can pass a law that the president signs into law. those are the only two ways to mike a law. if the president doesn't submit it to congress any agreement is not binding on the united states of america. now, you know, it really is a sad thing that such a letter was necessary. how many are -- is there anyone here in junior high? all right. we'll go high school. all right, high school. y'all are taught -- okay. y'all are taught in high school the constitution. that a treaty, to become a treaty, has to go to the senate and get confirmed by two-thirds of the senate.

look, they're nodding. okay. you're definitely nodding. you're nodding emphatically. president obama has been the most lawless president this country has ever seen. why did that letter prove necessary? because the president has repeatedly said, he's not going to follow the understanding of the constitution that any student in junior high or high school civics has. instead, he's going to refuse to submit this very bad deal with iran to congress for ratification. now, it's lawless and why it prompted a letter to make clear the constitution is still the law in the united states of america. [ applause ]

now, the follow-up from the white house in response to 47 senators saying, follow the constitution is the white house is now floating that instead the president is going to take this lousy deal with iran that only accelerates iran acquiring nuclear weapons. okay, that was eric holder. the administration is very unhappy with this line of argument. instead of submitting it to congress, the white house is saying they're going to go to the united nations. to try to run congress and the american people. iran's foreign minister ariff in response to this letter issued a lecture on international law. don't you understand international law binds nations. and if the president agrees to it, there's nothing you can do about it.

well, i will note, this is a topic that i happen to have more than a little bitterrt bit of history with. before i was elected to the senate, i was the solicitor general of the state of texas. the chief lawyer for the state in front of the united states supreme court. i served in that role 5 half years and over and over again texas led the nation in defending conservative principles before the u.s. supreme court. we defended the ten commandments monument on the state capitol grounds and won 5-4. we defend the pledge of aplea gans, the words one nation under god, and won unanimously. we defended the second amendment, the right to keep and bear arms and won 5-4.

we defended new hampshire's parental notification law before the u.s. supreme court and won unanimously. but of all the battles the biggest was a case metahen versus texas. it began with a horrific crime. two teenage girls murdered in houston. and the case took a very very strange court because the world court, the judicial arms of the united nations issued an order to the united states to reopen the convictions of 51 murderers across this country. it was the first time in history a foreign court has tried to bind the u.s. justice system. i argued before the supreme court twice. on the other side was the world

court, the united nations and 90 foreign nations that came in against the state of texas. also on the other side i'm sorry to tell you, was the president of the united states. and it was not president obama. it was president george w. bush. listen, i think george bush is a good man. he's an honorable man, but in this instance, he signed a two-paragraph order that attempted to order the state courts to obey the world court. i got to admit, it's a fairly unusual situation for the state of texas to be litigating against the president of the united states who was a texan the former governor of texas, who was a republican and a friend. yet i sat down with our attorney general and i'm proud that twice i stood before the u.s. supreme court with george w. bush's lawyer on the other side and we

argued number one, that the united nations and the world court has no authority over our justice system. and number two, that no president of the united states, democrat or republican can give up the sovereignty of the american people. and we won 6-3. [ applause ] so this iran deal matters for a lot of reasons. it is an acute threat to our national security. a nuclear iran is an existential threat to the nation of israel. and i would note, by the way, existential doesn't mean a frenchman in black chain-smoking.

i like that because it takes a second. there's about a half-second delay. it means quite literally going to the existence of the nation of israel. but it is also a grave threat to the national security of this country. now, new hampshire will play a critical role in the 2016 election. and one thing i would encourage each of you to ask, any candidate that shows up in front of you either republican or democrat, one simple question if president obama negotiates a bad deal with iran that undermines our national security that makes it more likely that iran secures nuclear weapons and if he doesn't submit it to congress will you repudiate that agreement in january of 2017? and any candidate who is not willing to say yes who is not willing to put the vital national security of this

country above partisan interests is not fit to be the commander in chief of this country. i want to close with two points. number one, i told you that i'm very optimistic. scripture tells us there's nothing new under the sun. i think where we are today is very, very much like the late 1970s. i think the similarities between barack obama and jimmy carter are uncanny. same disastrous economic policy. same misery, stagnation, malaise. same feckless and arrogant and naive foreign policy. in fact, the exact same countries, russia and iran openly laughing at and mocking the president of the united states.

you know the one person in america thrilled with the job barack obama is doing is jimmy carter. and that's tough to do. but let me tell you why that analogy gives me so much hope and optimism, because that story had a happy ending. we remember what happened in the late '70s and 1980. a grass roots movement began to sweep the country. millions of men and women who came together and became the reagan revolution. now, it didn't come from washington. washington despised ronald reagan. by the way, if you see a candidate who washington embraces, run and hide. [ applause ]

it came from the american people. it swept up as a tsunami from the grassroots and it turned this country around. we went from stagnant economic growth to by 1984 booming growth at 7.24% a year. millions of people lifted out of poverty and into prosperity and the american dream. now, i want you to imagine for a second, for some of you who might think, some of the things cruz is saying are pretty audacious. abolish the irs, really? [ applause ] but, you know, in washington that's viewed at pretty out there. repeal obamacare, really? i want you to imagine for a second, we were all in this room in 1979.

and i want you to imagine that ronald reagan walked up to this podium and told each of you, we're going to take the top marginal tax rate of 70%. we're going to cut it to 28%. we're going to take the current stagnant economic growth for four years, averaging less than 1% a year, and within four years it will be 7.2% a year. we're going to take a hostages languishing in iran, they will be released the day i'm sworn into office. and within a decade we're going to win the cold war would he build our military and tear the berlin wall to the ground. now, look, according to washington reasoning that would have been nuts. you can't do any of that. everyone in washington knows it. compared to that abolishing the irs and repealing obamacare,

that ain't nothing. the reason i'm optimistic is the same thing that happened in 1980 is happening today. one of the real blessings of serving in the senate i get to travel all over the country. tell you everywhere you go. poom are standing up waking up they realize what is happening to our country. the same thing is happening today that happened then. the reason i'm optimistic is simple. it's because each and every one of you. it's because of each and every one of the men and women in the room. if you look to washington, you'll have nothing but despair and despondency. but if you look to the american people, you'll have hope. so what i'm trying to do more than anything is energize and empower the american people. you know each of you has your cell phone. i would encourage you to send a

text to text the word constitution to the number 33733. i'm going to give to the number 33733. we are only going to turn this around i building a grassroots movement in new hampshire and in the states across the country. with you is, for every one of us , liberty is not some abstract concept. it is not something we read about in school books. it is something personal to your family and my family. it is very real to who we are. in my family, my dad was born in cuba. he fought in the revolution as a teenager.

anyone here 14? you are 14. remind me your name. kirsten. my dad started fighting in the cuban revolution and was in student council in high school. the revolution in cuba was mostly fought by kids. when my dad was 17, he was thrown in prison and tortured. batista's army beat him almost to death. he fled. 18, when my dad was 18, he arrived in america. he could not speak english.

he had nothing but $100 in his underwear. i do not advise carrying money in your underwear. his first job was washing dishes. imagine being in a strange country where you know nobody, you are penniless and alone, and filled with dreams and passions. he ended up paying his way through school, starting a small business, and is a pastor in texas. my dad has been my hero. do you know what i find most incredible about his story? how commonplace it is. every single one of us could come up and tell a story just like that. whether it is us, our parents, or our great grandparents, what ties americans together is that we are the children of those who risk everything for freedom. that is the fundamental dna of what it means to be an american, valuing freedom and opportunity

above all else. live free or die. that sums up what it means to be american. when i was a kid, my father would say to me, over and over, when we face depression in cuba, i had a place to flee to. if we lose our freedom here, where do we go? the men and women are here because we will not go quietly into the night. we will rise up and save the shining city on a hill that is the united states of america.

>> thank you very much. >> i am happy to answer or dodge any question you would like. yes, sir. >> thank you for being here tonight in my hometown. what you said is great and we all agree with you. why do we have to wait so long to get rid of obama? in the media, i do not care what station you go to, the guy is

getting crucified. >> we should have won in 2008 and 2012. we should be standing with all of our might to stop the out-of-control obama agenda. i think people are frustrated all over the country. the biggest divide we have in the country is not between republicans and democrats. the biggest divide in the country is between career politicians in washington in both parties and the american people. >> yes! >> the avenue for turning things around does not rely on washington. it is the american people rising up to hold every elected official accountable to make sure we do what we said we would do and we get back to the principles we should have been standing for in the first place.

>> senator, you talk about the common core. you have any thoughts about closing the >> let me quote "jerry mcguire." you had me at hello. we should close the department of education because education is too important to be governed by an elected -- unelected bureaucrats in washington. education should be at the state

or local level. every one of us should have the input in the curriculum. if you do not like what is being taught, you can go down to the local principal, school board and make your views known. if they do not listen to you, decide you are going to run. you can have direct impact. on the other hand, if education decisions are decided by a bureaucrat, he or she does not care what you and i think. it needs to be close to the people because it is too important an education should reflect the values of the community at the local level. >> people say to you, we understand that you want to get rid of obamacare. what do we replace it with? we need health care reform and it should follow basic principles. it should expand competition in the marketplace.

it should empower patients and consumers. it should disempower government bureaucrats. here are specific proposals that manifest those principles. we should allow people to purchase health insurance across state lines. what that will do is create a true 50-state national marketplace, driving down cost and enabling able to buy low-cost catastrophic insurance policies. every single one of us wants to see more people covered and the number one barrier is cost. you want more coverage, the second concrete reform is expanding health savings accounts. people can save in a tax-advantaged way.

and, third, we need to work to de-link health insurance from employment. it is a historical accident health insurance is tied to employment. it arose out of world war ii. employers could not use higher salaries and began offering perks and benefits. the tax code favor that. we do not live in the 1950's. most people do not work for a company for 40 years, retire, and get a gold watch. we live in a transient time. if you or i lose our jobs, we do not lose our life, car, or house insurance. there is no reason you should

lose your health insurance. that is the number one cause of pre-existing conditions. someone loses insurance and cannot get a new policy. every policy is free market and keeps the government the heck out of the doctor's office. >> i am from vermont. cruz: our senators would love to see you. please consider coming to vermont. >> i know both of your senators well. listen, i will say, bernie sanders, i at least respect that

he admits he is a socialist. i will give him credit for candor. i respect someone, as you all know, who ran as a socialist. i can respect someone who is candid much more than politicians who get elected pretending to believe and common sense conservative dahlias and then go and vote the same as a socialist would. i love vermont. it is wonderful. there is something about the 2016 calendar that orders the timing people visit various states. >> senator, your first day in

office, what do you do with isis threat? >> a great question. they are the face of evil. they are crucifying christians. they use race as a weapon of war. i was sitting down with the president of kurdistan. a man told him in tears that isis raped his mother, his sister, and his wife. how can i live with myself? at the same time we are seeing such barbarism, we are seeing obama acting as an apologist for radical islamic terrorism. i was at a washington prayer

breakfast several weeks ago. the president equated what isis is doing to the crusades and the inquisition. the last i checked, the crusades started over 1000 years ago. and ended 700 years ago. i do not think it is too much to ask the president to stay in the current millennium. if there were christians seeking out and murdering others because their faith differed, you and i would readily and roundly condemn that. if there were jews seeking out and murdering others because the faith differed, we would condemn that. there is a grotesque for version called radical islamic terrorism.

not every muslim, but it is a dangerous political philosophy of jihad. the reason i say apologist, some in the media were astonished. the apologist gives rationalizations, explanations, and justifications for the behavior. the comparison to the crusades is one the terrorists are fond of making and it does not help to have the president of the united states to say there is a moral equivalency in all of this. you have people locking men and women in cages and lighting them on fire. that is evil. your question was what we should do about it. we need to do absolutely everything necessary to destroy that. what does that entail? difficult to say, 21 months from now, where we will be. let me answer now. i cannot predict the military condition

in 2017. right now, we ought to be using overwhelming air power to destroy isis. we should be arming the kurds. the fighting forces have been there and have stood with the united states for decades. they are effective fighters and fighting isis right now. they have american weaponry they seized in iraq. the administration will not arm the kurds. they send it to baghdad and baghdad will not give it to the kurds. that does not make any sense. there is a more broad debate about if we should have american boots on the ground. if you had an effective plan, you would need embedded special forces. i do not think boots on the ground is a political question. you have some and politics who say never and others who say we

have to. in my view, it is driven by the military objective tied to the national security. we should do whatever is necessary to destroy isis. the spokesperson from the state department recently said, we cannot solve isis by killing them up we need to get them

jobs. there comes a point where you cannot make fun of this anymore. saturday night live had a classic episode of rumsfeld doing a press conference. a reporter said, is it unfair that you are dropping big bombs on the television? this administration doesn't seem to understand. >> can any elected official be a progressive and swear to protect and defend the constitution of the united states without committing perjury? >> look, it is a great question. let me put it this way. we've yet to see anyone try it. and let me give an example of what i mean by that. look, one of the saddest things in modern times, there used to be a tradition of scoop jackson democrats that would stand up to their own party, stand up to their own country.

there used to be a tradition of democrats would stand up to their own leader. one of the saddest aspects the complete absence of any democrat in the senate that will stand up to president obama and his lawlessness. you ask if anyone can be a progressive and still uphold the constitution? one thing that was not widely reported but happened last year -- it's the single thing that dismayed me the most in the senate. is they introduced an amendment to repeal the free speech protection to the first amendment. and every single senate democrat voted to repeal the free speech protection. now, i gave a senate floor speech in defense of free speech where i said where are the liberals? there was a time when democrats stood for civil liberties. i had a picture of george

ted kennedy next to me. scared my dad. he said he's gone native. ted kennedy opposed what he said was we haven't amended the bill of rights in over 200 years. now is no time to start. when i called out on the senate floor where are the ted kennedys? is there not one lion in the left that will stand for free speech? it is hard breaking. let me try to wrap it up because i'm getting the hard hook. let me wrap it into a final point which is as extreme as it is, that is part of why i'm so optimistic. sometimes things have to get really bad to wake people up and people have woken up all over this country. they realize what we're doing doesn't make sense.

the obama economy. people are hurting. obamacare is a disaster. in washington things are viewed through a weird lens. what do i believe in? live within your means. don't bankrupt your kids and grandkids. follow the constitution. it is only in washington, d.c. that those are viewed as extreme and radical propositions. precisely because things have gotten so bad that's why people are waking up. that's why i am here. i am honored to be with you to encourage you and to thank you because we're fighting together for your kids and mine. we're fighting together to turn this country around. god bless you.

>> you can't leave without leaving with some stuff from new hampshire. we're giving you some stuff where our governor thompson was, maple syrup. tomorrow you get more a little of that on top. thank you very much for coming, senator. >> thank you. >> all right.

thank you. >> next is -- >> all right. thank you. >> the winner of this one is -- >> hang on one second. >> 720868. >> thank you for being here. what's your name? >> karl. >> hi. >> okay. thank you. >> i'm doing well. thank you. where is the time?

>> we'll do this way instead. >> excellent. >> we're overnighting and then -- thank you. thank you. >> thank you so much. thank you so much. >> thank you very much. >> what is your name? >> cheryl. >> and matt. >> great for seeto see you.

>> what's your name? >> thank you, sir. >> nice to see you again. remind me your name. >> connor. >> caroline. >> that is my daughter's name. >> good name. >> good itto see you. >> thank you for coming.

>> what is your name? >> susan. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> what is your name? >> megan, i'm from texas, the houston area. thank you. >> thank you. >> you, too. >> state representative. we'll have to get you a little further north.

>> tell me your name. thank you. thank you very much. >> you're 18, right? >> yes, i am. >> i appreciate you showing up. >> oh, yes. >> james. >> broke your camera. sorry. >> you got it?

>> i'm going to ask you about immigration. >> i would welcome it. >> danny devito and arnold schwarzenegger. >> you do kind of look like schwarzenegger. i can see that. >> thank you for running. thanks for coming. good luck to you. >> how are you doing? thank you. >> thanks.

>> thanks very much. >> have a safe drive. thank you. >> i like this background better. >> thanks so much for coming. >> tell me your name. >> craig. >> craig. >> thank you craig. >> hello again. >> got to sarks you're running with questionable characters. we may stage an intervention or something. hold on a second. that's pretty cool. >> i was going to see, hidden

skills you got. if he's matching, then it's low. that's when you know. >> you guys drive safe. >> how are you doing? >> good. >> tell me your name. >> glenn. >> thanks for being here. >> thanks for coming. >> thank you for coming out.

>> how you doing. good to see you. >> thank you. >> such an honor. can we get annie as well? >> all of us? >> yes. >> neighbors. >> if it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have been here and i wouldn't have had the opportunity. such an honor. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> i see you're not wearing a tie. >> i am not.

>> can i take a picture of you without your tie on? >> sure. >> this is you without your tie. proof of the no tie. go like this no tie. >> thank you for being here.

>> is that it? >> very cool. >> big speech today. >> sorry about the impact and at the end of the day we didn't win. thank you for sticking your neck

in. i appreciate it. >> absolutely. >> in that race it was driven more by -- >> you don't have to explain it. >> thank you. take care. >> he is the one who took the carroll county news -- he didn't purchase it, he built it up. >> our first adventure. >> yes, pretty much. >> careful.

are you all right? >> we're getting sparkles on him here. >> thank you. >> we already have david. suzanne is with us, so would you -- >> thank you. >> if you do ever come to vermont, we'll be supporters for you. >> there this we go.

>> my hope 1is when you're traveling through, we get a lot of candidates to stop -- >> sure, sure. >> so i'm hoping we'll see you. >> would love to do it. would you mention to bruce? somebody wrote on that one. >> so nice to see you. my husband and i both support you. and i gave your friend david sawyer the family of my friend in kentucky. he's got the same exact you know ideas that you have. same qualities.

>> thank you. thank you. god bless you. >> thank you. after the frenzyiness of cpac. >> excellent. thank you very much. >> i'll see you on the 28th. >> excellent. i'll look forward to it. >> half chair of the party. >> thank you. >> wonderful. thank you for coming out. thank you for the hospitality. >> my pleasure. take care.

>> what is your name? thank you. food was terrific. >> thank you.

>> thank you. susan. thanks for coming. >> i enjoyed listening to you. it was really nice. we have to get close. >> thank you. >> i'm sure you'll be up here again. >> i rook forward to it. >> y'all come back here. >> with that kind of hospitality, how can i refuse? >> it would be easy. >> thanks for coming. >> thank you. >> do you know -- >> a dear friend. >> and he's from texas. >> and he and i traveled together will nicaragua on his 60th birthday to drill a water

well. we're both vochinvolved in a christian charity that drills water wells all over the world. for his 60th birthday, he wanted to go. >> what is his name again? >> malcolm morris. >> okay. and somebody else that was there that night, he was a speaker. and they both had more or less the same haircut in back. and he was a professional speaker. >> i don't know. >> and he brought the crowd up just by asking certain questions. and there was something that happened just the other day and it was one that we didn't bring it up. i'm having a brain -- >> that's okay.

>> he's a longtime friend. his son matt has taken over. but he's a great guy. malcolm and his wife devote most of their time now to ministry. >> they were going to be taking the stairs and i said i'm not taking the stairs, i'll take the elevator. he says i'll come with you. so he did. >> well, good. he's a very nice man. and how are you doing? >> i'm in so much pain. >> and still. so it hasn't gotten better? >> a picture real quick? >> i will. okay.

>> we can go in front of backdrop to make it if i recalltit official. >> thanks so much. thank you very much. >> we were talking about isis and rape. i was raped for 12 years. which is not -- administrator of my parent's home. and he took me for every dime i have. >> i'm sorry. >> i know you are. but i just had to get it out because when i say it it relieves -- >> i understand. >> i'm so glad you do. because -- >> can we get a picture with al lap alan real quick? >> it helps to discuss it. >> sgagtexactly right.

>> i really appreciate it so much. thank you and take care. please. >> all right, alan. >> senator. >> did you take the lens cap off? >> we'll see you tomorrow. >> okay. >> spot on. >> excellent. >> she responded quickly. >> i appreciate it. >> yes.

>> wants to be a nurse. >> wonderful. >> either in delivery or in nicu. >> and you're in 10th grade? not too long then. my wife lived in africa as a child, her parents were missionaries there. and it's one of the great things, make a real lifeelal difference in lifes. >> ever since my sister had her baby that's what i want to do.vfes. >> ever since my sister had her baby that's what i want to do.es. >> ever since my sister had her baby that's what i want to do. >> we're going to hit the road. >> absolutely. be safe. thank you so much.

>> to raul the troublemaker. >> usually the last ones out. >> thank you so much. >> what do you have -- >> manchester. we're overnighting.

aaron schock is resigning at the end of the month. in a statement, he says allegations he misused campaign funds have become too distract distracting. politico reports he billed the government for nearly twice as many miles than what was on his car at the time. congressman schock represents central illinois covering peoria and springfield area. the new head of the secret service admitted to congress today he didn't learn until days later that two senior a littles were supposedly drunk when they drove into a barrier at the

white house and only then he learned from an anonymous e-mail. he went before the house appropriations subcommittee on homeland security. his first official appearance. here is some of his testimony. >> i'd like you to give us a picture of what happened and then i'd like to talk to you a little bit about the protocols may or may not have been violated and what protocols are in place to cover the situation here. alcohol is part of the stressful world that an awful lot of people live in. outside my courtroom, there was a cartoon on the wall where the judge is addressing a young trial lawyer and he says the most important two tenants of the law relative to trial work caffeine by day, alcohol by night. it was meant to be a joke. it's actually a tragic truth. that in stressful jobs those two become a major part of how people get through the day.

but alcohol as we all know messes up your judgment and there have to be protocols that address this and we have to deal with it because it's part of the life we have and we are protecting the most important position on the face of the earth. that's your job. whoever sits in that white house, he is the -- he or she are the most important person on earth politically in this world. the more power than anybody else. and therefore more enemies. so talk to me about what happened and let's talk a little bit about protocols. >> yes mr. chairman. on march 4th 2015, our understanding is that two senior level special agents came to the white house, the initial reports -- i did not hear of this incident until monday, so this was on a wednesday night. i found out monday. once i found out monday, and

what i heard initially, the initial reports from an anonymous report was that as you stated two senior level special agents had crashed into the white house and they were inebriated. i had not heard about that. i asked my staff if they had heard about it. they had not heard about it. i asked help tothem to gets a much information as they could on the events and then there wasn't a lot of information available. but we decided -- i decided to immediately send it over to the department of homeland security office of the inspector general. i thought it was very important that we have an independent investigation, that there be no perception at and you would that we were involved, that we would not even start doing any interviews we would give that case of that investigation to the oig. i will also say that i brought

my staff in on monday and we discussed why i didn't know prior to monday of this event. and we had a good stern talk about that. and then instructed the staff to go out to their management to ensure that these events, any event of misconduct or operational errors have to be relayed up the chain. i'll say that it's going to take time to change maybe some of this culture. there is no excuse for this information not to come up the chain. that's going to take time because i'm going to have to build trust with our workforce. and the best way for me to work -- or earn that trust with our workforce is by my actions. now, i know i'm very eager to hear the results of this investigation. i don't know how long it will

take. but i am committed on due process. what i have done is remove those two senior level agents to nonsupervisory positions outside, they're not working at the white house, they're outside of their offices about and we will a wait the findings of the oig. >> here is a look at live coverage coming up over the next few days including testimony by ashton carter and the chair of the joint chiefs general martin dempsey answering questions from the house armed services committee tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.. and tomorrow afternoon fcc chair om wheeler will appear behalf senate committee to talk about fcc policy. live starting at 2:30. and then thursday the house foreign affairs commits theity looks in to negotiations with iran. deputy secretary of state tony blink pen has been called to testify thursday at 8:30.

this weekend the c-span cities tour has partnered to learn about the life of columbus, georgia. p. >> right here inside the museum is remains of a confederate ironclad the css jackson. and this is an ironclad built here in columbus during the war. these oval shapes with actually the gun ports of the jackson. it's armed with six brooke rifles. it's one of the guns built specifically for the jackson. it was cast at the naval works in selma and completed in january of 1865. real claim to fame is directly connected to the fact that there are only four ironclads from the civil war that we can study right now. and the jackson is right here

and this is why this facility a here. it's first and foremost to tell the story of this particular ironclad and to show people that there were more than just one or two ironclads, there were many. >> watch all of our events from columbus saturday at noon eastern on c-span2's book tv and sunday afternoon at 2 #:00:00 on c-span3. with live coverage of the u.s. house on c-span and senate on c-span2 here on c-span3 we show you the most relevant congressional hearings and public affairs events. and then on weekends c-span3 is the home to american history tv with programs that tell our nation's story including six unique series, the civil war's 150th anniversary visiting battlefields, american artifacts, touring historic sites to discover what artifacts

reveal, history book shelf with the best known writers. the presidency looking it at the policies and legacy of our commanders in chief. lex churs in history with top college professors and real america, featuring educational films from the 1930s through the 70s'70s. watch us in hd like on us facebook and follow us on twitter. secretaries and chiefs of staff from each of the military branches warn congress if sequestration cuts continue, americans' lives are at risk here and abroad. any testified before the house armed services committee today on their budget request for 2016. the hearing is about three hours.

committee will come to order. today the full committee will examine the president's budget request for the armed services of the united states. i'm pleased to welcome each of the service secretaries and most of the service chiefs today on behalf of the committee and the people we represent, i want to thank each of you for your service to the nation. since january, this committee has focused on understanding the strategic environment and many of the complex security challenges facing the united states. i believe that in order to fulfill our responsibilities under the constitution to raise and support provide and maintain military forces that meet the president's need, it's been important for us to spend time understanding the specific

challenges staring us in the face today swems theas well as the longer term trends and where they are taking us. so over the last two months, the committee has had a variety of sessions with government and nongovernment witnesses as well as foreign leaders. we held a first ever committee retreat with a number of distinguished speakers including general dempsey and examined the past, the present and the future. we've had sessions on the worldwide threats facing us the status and trends of islamic extremism, state based security challenges threats in various region, the status of conflicts in various regions. and technological superiority and the pace of change. we've also received a recommendations of the compensation and retirement commission heard from outside experts and studied ways to improve department's acquisition of goods and services.

all of that work i think puts us in a better position to consider the administration's proposed budget. i'm sure that members will have questions on specific programs that were included or left out of the administration's budget. i strongly believe that the job of the congress under the constitution and of this committee is to exercise independent judgment on how best to meet the nation's security needs, giving a great deal of weight of course to the judgment of our military leaders, but not being a rubber stamp for any administration. history has proven the wisdom of having a separate branch making independent decisions. but whatever the details of the independent programmatic decisions, i also believe we all need to look at the total resources we devote to defense which is now about 15% of the federal budget. and we also have to consider the consequences if congress approves significantly less defense spending than the president has asked for.

and i'd say to our distinguished witnesses especially those in uniform that this is the time to speak plainly. you know the dangers we face around the world. you know the damage that has already been done by defense budget cut by one-fifth in real terms since 2010 and you note difficult choices ahead of us even under the president's budget request. finally, as i have thanked each of our witnesses for their ser advice i want to express appreciation to all members of the committee on both sides of the i'll oig foraisle for your work. on both side members have worked hard, asked very probing questions, trying to find the best answers for the security of the country and i'm proud to work with each of you. as most of you know, ranking member smith is dealing with health issues and is not able to be with us this week.

and ably sitting in his chair is the distinguished lady from california miss sanchez who i recognize at this point for any opening statement. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and we do wish the quick return of return of adam smith. mr. chairman thank you and thank you for acknowledging that this is has been a very tough year already. and that we have some very severe budget constraints that may be coming out of the the budget committee with respect to our resources here and how we allocate them for our military. and you are right. it is in the purview of the congress to make decisions about where we place the money. so this committee has a very difficult task ahead of it. i want to also thank our witnesses today. it is rare that we have service chiefs and our secretaries all in one room. so thank you so much.

todaysy hope syis a hope a hearing about very constructive discussion about how we move forward. i also want to acknowledge that it's nice to see women on the panel. so thank you for that. and we're thrilled to have you. sequestration. i think that has become such a distraction for the congress. certainly i believe that we have to look at smarter and more efficient ways in which we can invest and also save. we do not have the capacity as a country to hand anybody even our military a blank check. so i hope that the department along with the congress can work together to invest in resources that will give us the best value for our money. we have to invest in r&d.

we have to make sure we don't have a hollow force. and we have to be sure that we can be an effective piece of what it takes to protect america and americans. and i hope today's hearing will not only focus on the threat of the sequestration but that we'll have a discussion about our economic state where we can invest and where we must save. and again, i thank all of you being before us. and i look forward to have a good discussion. and i'm glad so many members have shown to this hearing. i also request unanimous consent to place mr. smith's opening comments into the record mr. chairman. and i yield back. >> without objection, so ordered. again let me welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses today. the honorable johnny mchugh secretary of the army. former members of this

committee. odierno. mabus. the cno admiral greenert had a family issue at the last minute. so the standing is the michelle howard vice chief of naval operations. joseph dunford, and deborah lee james and mark welsh. again thank you all for being here. without objection, your full written statements will be made part of the record. and the only other comment i would make is when we get to questions with this many members and witnesses, i'm going to have to be careful about the clock. so if you want to spend three minutes asking you question you are going to get a very abbreviated answer. and ie appreciate our witnesses as well as our members respecting the gavel as we try to give as many as possible the chance to ask questions.

again thank you for being here. secretary mchugh? >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. ms. sanchez, good to be withual ualual all of you. pass our best wishes to mr. smith and his speedky recovery. and to all of you the distinguished members of the committee i would say how much we appreciate the opportunity to be here today and to talk very frankly about the danger that lies ahead should this budget not approximate enacted and sequestration allowed to return. in short it is amazing how much can change in a year. over the last 12 months we have seen the geo political land cape morph at an astonishing pace. not to mention the fight against ebola, your army has been managing to tackle contingencies around the world. even though they have grown as

an alarming rate. far from foreseeable our requirements have been more unexpected enemies more unpredictable and our ability to handle multiple simultaneous operations more uncertain. and yet with such volatility and instability around the world, america's army is faced yet again with an enemy here at home -- the return of sequestration. unprepared newtons unmaintained equipment. untrained soldiers. our army your army faces a dark and dangerous future unless congress acts now to end these ill conceived and inflexible budget cuts. moreover and i want to be clear here, every installation, every component and nearly every program will feel the brunt of these cuts. under sequestration by 2019 we'll reduce our end strength to unicious conscientiousable

levels. likely losings another six dbts and more headquarters. enabler, contracts, facilities and is civilian personnel. let me share if i may some of the accomplishments of america's army this past year. as russian back forced rolled into the ukraine and annexed crimea and threatened regional stability, the soldiers diploid to eastern europe in a demonstration of u.s. commitment and resolve. from latvia and lithuania soldiers from 173rd air borne and the first cavalry showed the world the america would stand with nato allies and respond to unbrielded aggression. in west africa your army acted. elements of several units led by the 101st air borne provided command and control, equipment and expertise to support efforts to stop this deadly and

destabilizing disease. in response to rapid gains by isil your soldiers quickly returned to iraq to advise and assist in turning the tide on this barbaric group of radical terrorist. in the pacific thousands of soldiers and civilians supported operations to strengthen partnerships and presence. today the headquarters of nine active army and two guard divisions are committed to combatant commands and some 143,000 soldiers are deployed, forward stationed or committed including over 19000 mobilized reservists. moreover we've done all of this while continuing to transform our formations to make them leaner, more agile and far more lethal. as all of you know so well such extraordinary success comes at a price. for in the end the young lieutenant leading his or her platoon, the sergeants training and mentoring their soldiers

the invaluable civilian workforce laboring countless hours to support them and the young family waiting at home are all human. the stress of war multiple deployments and unpredictable requirements doesn't change in the face of indiscriminate funding cuts. through it all we have and will remain committed to supporting the needs of our wor yars. from programs to increase resilience and improved behavioral health to prevention of sexual assault and protection of victims from retaliation, we will keep faith with our soldiers. but rest assured the return of sequestration will directly impact critical installation and family programs army wide. simply put, we need the president's budget. our $126.5 billion request is as you know some $6 billion over the potential sequester skplefl specifically designed to preserve our modest gains and readiness over the last year and take care of our soldiers.

mover this request seeks vital reform to compensation and fore structure to ensure the funding needed to support near term readiness and help place the army on a predictable path to balance. from modest changes and reforms they are both necessary and prudent to sustain the readiness of forces and move the army towards eventual balance. i cannot emphasize enough how critical these funds and reforms are to ensuring that your army has sufficiently trained and readied soldiers to protect our nation. this is an historic moment. we need to stop talking and start acting. we need wisdom, not words. we need results not rhetoric. and as i said to this very complete last week. we need predictability, not politics. as we face extreme instability around the world we must have certainty here at home. i know you agree in what i'm about to say. your soldiers deserve no less.

their families deserve no less. we must have an end to sequestration this year. and we must have this budget. so thank you for all of the amazing support that i know personally each and every one of you provide to our men and women in uniform. their families, our civilians. thank you for the work that this great committee has done time and time again on behalf of the nearly 1.3 million men and women of america's