and on capitol hill, the senate is in session.

majority leader mitch mcconnell hopes to have work on the legislation finished this week. you can follow the action on the senate floor live on our companion network c-span 2. and also live coverage today from the campaign trail with democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton in mason city iowa. her second visit to iowa since announcing her run for the presidency. you can watch live coverage of her remarks scheduled to start at 3:45 p.m. eastern time here on c-span 3. presidential candidates often release books to introduce themselves to voters. a look at recent books written by declared and potential candidates for president. former secretary of state hillary clinton looks back on her time serving in the obama administration and hard choices. in "american dreams," marco rubio outlines his plan to restore economic opportunity. former arkansas governor mike huckabee gives his take on politics and culture in god guns grits and gravy.

and in "blue collared conservatives," rick santorum argues the republican party must focus on the working class in order to retake the white house. in a fighting chance, massachusetts senator elizabeth warren recounts the events in her life that shaped her career as an educator and politician. wisconsin governor scott walker argues republicans must offer bold solutions to fix the country and have the courage to implement them in "unintimidated." and kentucky senator rand paul who recently declared his candidacy calls for smaller government and more bipartisanship in taking a stand. more presidential candidates include former governor jeb bush in immigration wars. he along with clint bol lock. in "stand for something," calls for a return to traditional american values.

former virginia senator, james webb, looks back on his time serving in the military and in the senate in i heard my country calling. independent vermont senator, bernie sanders, recently announced his intention to seek the democratic nomination for president. his book, the speech, is a printing of his eight-hour long filibuster against tax cuts and in promises to keep, vice president joe biden looks back on his career in politics and explains his guiding principles. neurosurgeon ben carson calls for greater individual reasonability to preserve america's future in one nation. in fed up, rick perry explains government has become too intrusive and must get out of the way. another politician who has expressed interest in running for president is lincoln chafey. in against the tide, rehe recounts serving in the senate. carly fiorina shares lessons he's learned from difficulties and triumphs in rising to the challenge. louisiana governor, bobby

jindal, criticizes the obama administration and explains why conservative exclusions are feeded in washington in leadership and in crisis. and finally in a time for truth, another declared presidential candidate, texas senator ted cruz, recounts his journey from a cuban immigrant son to the senate. look for his book in june. presidential candidates, including john kasich. discussed why he's considering a run and his plans for the improving the u.s. economy. >> good evening, everyone, and welcome to our conversation with the candidates series. our guest this evening is ohio governor john kasich. tonight, we're beginning to know

the governor. he was also a commentateor for fox news and a presidential fellow. kasich has written three "new york times" best-selling books as well. elected governor of ohio. he is a fiscal conservative who believes strongly in personal responsibility. governor kasich is married and has twin daughters.

>> and with that good to see you. >> thank you. >> thanks for joining us. >> you look strongly at a presidential run 16 years ago. how have things changed? >> well, back then i was talking to a lady in a kitchen, near the sink. and we were getting along just great. and i'm thinking i may have this lady as a supporter. and she finally looks at her watch and said, what time do you think the candidate's going to get here? so it's a little bit different now. i mean i have -- i think i had a pretty strong record then. i came off balancing the federal budget. one of the chief architects of that. and we had strong economic growth. but i wasn't known. i was awfully young. and so i think you know, they say if you can do it once might be luck, if you do it twice it means something. and ohio's had a significant turn around. 8 billion in the hold and $2 billion in the black. the largest tax cutting in america as a governor. strong economic growth, and not ignoring people who really find

themselves in tough situations. the mentally ill, the drug addicted, the working poor. trying to give them a chance coupled with personal responsibility to get on their feet and live out their god given destiny. so it's a little bit different. i'm a little bit older. and, you know, have a pretty good record. we'll see what happens. >> for those who know you are probably aware that you say what's on your mind. you don't get boxed in with party ideology or anything along those lines. >> my mother very smart, very opinionated opinionated. came from a family that didn't really speak english. you come from western pennsylvania, we're all pretty much the same. we just kind of strayed on. and it's a great opportunity for me to have had the career i've had. and i want to take advantage of it. i believe we need a lot of change and innovation and i don't, you know, i don't care much about focus groups polls or any of that other stuff. not an issue for me. >> sure. and you don't mind mixing it up.

in the wake of what we've seen in baltimore and missouri of late, you put together a panel to review the standards of training of law enforcement in ohio. including someone that's one of your biggest critics there. how important is that to have? >> well you have to bring people together. what's lacking in america today is all of the fighting. and when we fight, we don't have solutions. i mean, our families get weaker. our country gets weaker. when we can unify and pull people together, we get stronger. doesn't matter if you're republican or democrat, we all have the same anxieties. and we all want to see solutions. what i did in ohio was months ago, i put together a task force to take a look at police and community. i had the head of my public safety who used to run the highway patrol coupled with a woman who ran. she's african-american liberal, always on msnbc. it's interesting her son's a police officer, she sees things from two different sides. she's been fantastic. her name is nina turner. we had clergy, business people, and now a series of recommendations that we think is going to help us to unify in the

state of ohio and avoid some of the problems. although, those you know you can't fix it all. and it's very challenging but we're doing our best. and it's not just about a task force. you have to do things. you have to give people hope. they have to see that economic growth is just not reserved for a few, but economic growth and opportunities available for everyone. and that requires many, many reforms, which we have been into for the last over four years. >> sure. and we're going to take a quick break in a couple of minutes. i want to get to this. a lot of governors in this potential field. and the question they're most often asked, what kind of experience do you bring when it comes to foreign policy? obviously it's a major discussion in this race whether it's the iran deal or dealing with isis. >> well, i served on the armed services committee for 18 years. i like to say between my executive experience and foreign policy experience you know the fact is, i may be the most experienced one in the field if, in fact, i enter the field. and you know, at the end of the day, national security's about a

strong economy, good intelligence and a very, very well thought out foreign policy. and all those things lend themselves to national security. so i've been involved in so many decisions that have affected us over the time i was in congress and it's always been a great interest and remains one with me. >> how would your approach be different than perhaps what some republicans suggest we do with isis, iran and the administration and their approach? >> you want a short answer or a long one? i mean i don't know what the other people are for to tell you the truth. but early on i think one of the sets of relationships that have to be rebuilt are with our allies around the world. we're two, these relationships have been eroded. with isis, you pay me now or pay me later. i suggested months ago that we form a coalition with our european partners that we form a group. and we fight isis. and if that includes us being involved with something, boots on the ground fine. i'm not a nation builder. go over there do your job, have

the power to do your job, and then come home. and i think it's important we deal with isis and stop them now before they get bigger and the problem is more complicated. in terms of iran i don't like disagreement for a variety of reasons. one is the proliferation of weapons. you know, we see hamas, hezbollah and splinter off of isis. that's the first thing. the other thing is the proliferation of all these weapons. when we proliferate them and everybody's building nuclear weapons, it makes for a far more dangerous world. my daughters are 15 years old. and these are challenges they will face in their lifetime. and dad's got to do what he can to speak out and pursue policy so they can be economically more successful and safer in what's becoming increasingly dangerous world. in regard to the iran negotiations, i think the administration, unfortunately, has kind of fallen in love with this deal. and when you fall in love with things, sometimes you go too far. it's not smart to do that. you've got to be very, very

cautious in what you do with an agreement like this. and the conclusion that in ten years maybe we'll trust them more, i don't like that idea. i keep the sanctions on. i pressure them more. and there is an undercurrent in iran that we see with people who live very well off where the rest of people in iran do not. and there is angst among the young people. and i think with pressure on we'll get better results than if we take the pressure off. >> all right. plenty of issues to talk about in this race. we're going to take a quick break now, governor. come back after the break to the studio audience. stay with us. we'll be right back. and welcome back to our conversation with the candidate. tonight's guest, time to bring in the audience now to ask the questions. i will jump in if a follow-up is needed. right now, let's get right to it. our first question coming from andrew. >> governor kasich, thank you for coming to new hampshire.

will the 2016 presidential campaign have an inspirational message for the country? >> we can't keep fighting one another. it has to be positive. but not just positive like pie in the sky. we have to let people know that the number one thing we have to do is have economic growth. because economic growth, you know, it allows people to pursue their destiny. and beyond that you want to talk about fighting poverty, get somebody a job. that's what we have to do. economic growth. but the other part of this is this. that everybody has a stake. you know that economic growth just can't be for the usual suspects. it's got to be for everyone. which, you know, is always close at the end of the day in an election. i won almost 64% of the vote, 26% of african-americans, 60% of women and 86 out of 88 counties. and the message is let's grow. let's also not leave anybody behind. so we pay attention to those who

have mental illness who sit in our prisons and we want to release them and get them on their feet. we pay attention to the drug addicted. we want to make sure we get them on their feet and get them rehabbed. that the working poor so they don't spend all their time in emergency rooms sicker, more costly driving up everybody's health care so we can all be in a position. so they can get health care and we don't have to pay for that and get them on their feet and get them to be more prosperous. the concerns of americans are basically the same among democrats and republicans. am i going to keep my job? make better wages? if i lose my job, am i going to get another job. what about my son or daughter, are they going to have to live with me until they're 40? what about this culture that seems to be falling apart? what are we going to do to restore common sense? this is not republican, not democrat, it's american. the person that can say that america's best days are ahead and can demonstrate they've been able to achieve some of that is i think, kind of the message

that we need to hear and the person we have to look for. so in my state, we were flat on our back. and now people are extremely hopeful. not everybody, but we try to solve problems. and when everybody feels they're part of it that's what america's all about. unified not divided. >> governor thank you for the question. let's go to the next one. brian, taking it away. >> governor kasich, our nation is $18 trillion in debt. and the nation seems to lack the political will to even implement the $4 trillion ten-year debt reduction plan. how do you envision addressing that? and do you believe that these combination of factors are national security threat? >> they are. because i mentioned earlier that national security also involves a strong u.s. economy. you don't have that, you know, and then you've got problems. you know, i was the budget chairman. i spent ten years of my life fighting to balance the federal

budget. we went through a government shutdown. we renegotiated. and we balanced the budget, paid down the largest amount of debt in modern history. it was the first time we balanced the budget since man walked on the moon. i left washington with a $5 trillion surplus. and before i knew it, they spent it all away. first of all, we need to amend the constitution to require the congress to balance the budget. look, i was in congress and i saw why we needed it. and i've been as the governor. and if we didn't have a balanced budget requirement in ohio, we wouldn't be balancing budgets. politicians would find reasons to avoid and special interest woulden continue to pressure people. sew we need that discipline. but you can't use focus groups, polls, who loves you. you've got to just go do your job. you've got to think outside the box, you've got to innovate. and don't lose the high moral ground of pushing solutions here

that some people aren't going to like. my first year in office in ohio. we were 8 billion in the hole. we had lost 350,000 jobs. our debt was hanging in the balance. today, we're 2 billion in the black, the largest amount of tax cuts in the country, including killing the death tax. our credit is strong. my first year in office, i had 28% approval. you've got to work to do that poorly, okay. but then i -- just a few years later, you know, i win, you know in a massive victory. why? people respond to two things. things are getting better. and secondly, maybe i'm going to actually get included. to balance that budget, we need to shift a lot of programs out of washington. job training, education programs programs medicaid ought to be block granted. our infrastructure programs. we should keep that money at home instead of sending it there and they send it back with less than what we sent. there's so many ways in which we

can do this. it's imperative, sir, we get this done because this debt is going to strangle the next generation. >> thank you for taking our questions. in your book "every other monday," you spoke about dealing kindly -- >> did you read that book? >> not all of it. >> okay. okay. >> "dealing kindly with the widows orphans and downtrodden." and as a future recipient of social security, i'm concerned about what we can do now to protect what we have and to ensure that the generations with your daughters in it my grandchildren will have something to fall back on. >> well, there are more 18-year-olds that believe they're going to see a ufo than a social security check. and that's not good.

and that creates a disdain for leaders and for our government. look, i had a plan to deal with this thing back in '99 and 2000. i know that bush's commission on social security looked at it. at the end of the day there wasn't the will and there wasn't the bipartisan support. it is important that we reform this and all entitlement programs. but i'm not going to give you some clever solution today. you need to think differently. let me give you an example. in our state we have a medicaid program to help those who are the poor, the -- the disabled. that program was growing at 9% when i became governor. our first budget grew at 3%. and we didn't cut any benefits or take anybody off the roll. so how did we do that? i mean, how is that possible? well, we did it because we innovated, thought differently. and there are ways to put these programs together in such a way that we treat the people who are

currently on it fairly, that you have a good transition program, and that the younger may experience entirely different program. so you don't. i'm not prepared to throw that out there. i've dealt with it before, we'd have to deal with it, again. and finally, if you're going to fix social security republicans and democrats will have to agree to do it. if it's only one party, the demagoguery will start people will be frightened, and at the end of the day, you won't accomplish anything. you see, this country cannot make it with constant fighting. it just can't make it. it is only going to make it when we get people to stick to their principles, yet be willing to compromise to get to solutions. because if you don't, the problems of entitlements, the problem of immigration, of education, all these problems just get worse. and it weakens our families and our children. so we're going to have to deal with it all and we're going to have to do it together. >> thank you very much. next one is actually coming from social media.

on facebook, sir? >> well, in some ways or another. i don't really actively manage it, but we use it. >> this one's coming from glenn campbell. >> must be glenn's brother, possibly. >> the question is, how can the inequality gap be reduced? i can only assume lend means income and equality. >> well, there's a lot of different things, different groups. first of all first and foremost is education and skills. we have an agrarian system where we take all these people, put them in a classroom and teach them the same way. secondly, we need to have real world experience. we need to set our kids free to get experiences in the work in which they're interested that gets them excited about learning and teaches them why learning really matters. in our poorest communities, we've got a mentorship program. and i'll tell you why that matters. you need to sit with kids and show them what the future and the possibility can be.

in senatecincinnati where the graduation rate is 63%, in a school down there a high school heavy minority students with a mentoring program one hour a week for a year the graduation rate is 97%. these kids see the future. they see hope. in addition to that, make sure the programs are working. make sure you have lifetime education. make sure you're constantly training workers. all these things will contribute to giving you more value. when you have more value and more skills as a worker, you get paid more money. but there are -- early childhood is important. i was talking to some folks before the show. got to make sure those kids who were not getting the good start are going to get a better start. and all these things kind of fit together. job training, train people for jobs that exist. don't train people to be basket weavers. there aren't a lot of jobs in basket weaving. somebody said this to me the other day.

my son's in political science. i said there's a great job for him. she said what is it? i said selling shoes at nordstrom. the bottom line is get yourself trained for something that's going to lead you to success. but i have to tell you there's an element of our society, some of our young people they wake up in the morning and hear gun shots. and they're afraid to go to school. they've got to be taught about work. many of them they don't know who their parents are. their father is. i mean they're lost. now, work with them get them up to a baseline where they understand personal responsibility, where they understand that they can really be something. it's remarkable. it's remarkable how they can flourish and be successful. we think it's critical that everybody has a chance to rise.

>> thank you, governor. let's get back to the audience now. george lance has the next one. >> thank you for joining us governor. >> one other second on this. you don't take from the rich to give to the poor. we're not robin hood society. give people skills, let him see the future. that's what we need to do. >> look good george. as part of a comprehensive to benefit our economy and spread our humanitarian values.

do yo think the balance would have america lose the global influence as a leader? we displace them and make them more angry. okay. these programs should be designed to show you the good faith of america. the agency for international development, i think, was created to get people to move from developing to developed. nobody's moved from developing to development. i was really thinking about this and somebody asked me if i would meet with the rock star bono. he said, he wants to talk about foreign aid.

it's not about his guitar. it's about meaning in life. he said i want to do debt relief. so i made a speech on the house floor about this program. said when a b-2 bomber flies over the village, i want the women to come out and say you may not like the americans but they've vaccinated our kid. if you're going to do foreign aid, it has to be real. it cannot be based onlining someone's pocket here. and it has to be humanitarian in nature. the initiatives all these things have come together to give us a kinder face. it has to be done right. you don't throw money at problems and think they're going

to go away because we don't want to send money over there. one of the great organizations are doctors without borders. how about these people. it's amazing what they do. i think it should be in part of what we do. we've got to make sure it's effective and works and it shows people kindness and heart of america. >> one more facebook question. time is flying it. >> what is your stance on upholding the constitution. do you follow it to the letter or consider it a living document that should change and evolve over time. >> i'm all in favor of the constitution. it's difficult to get through. i talk about an amendment to the institution that calls for a balanced budget. it takes 34 to cp&l it. it takes 38 to ratify it.

i appoint judges. i kind of want to know where they are. so at the end of the day if we need change, we have an amendment process to do it. >> couple of moneysinutes to go. you said recently. if people don't like what i have to say, i'm going to play more golf. >> i said i hope people will like what i have to say. i will play more golf. i mean in other words i said the other day, i'm free as a bird.

i don't have focus groups, i've never really used polls. this is all, my going back into public life is not something my family was all that thrilled with. now if i got in that job and i didn't do what i wanted to do, then i would be cheating myself and my family. and in the case of this, coming to new hampshire, if i'm not myself, what am i trying to be? this is what you get, folks. i hope you like it. >> any idea when you're going to have an answer? make up your mind real quick? >> you'll be one of the first thousand to go. >> that's all the time we have.

this conversation with candidate governor kasich continues online in the mobile app. you're going to find a full 30 minutes. for now, thanks for watching, have a great night. >> and live coverage today from the campaign trail. her second visit to iowa since her announcement of the run for the presidency. 3:45 p.m. eastern time right here on c-span 3. before the event in iowa, though, we'll take a look at another wmur interview from their conversation with the candidate series. this next one is with south carolina senator lindsey graham on climate change making social security sustainable and fighting isis. he's expected to announce his presidential plans june 1st.

>> and good evening, everyone, and welcome to our conversation with the candidates series. our guest this evening, republican south carolina senator lindsey graham. tonight, getting to know senator graham and where he stands on a lot of key issues. after the break, we'll have our studio audience join in to ask their questions in a town hall style format. before we start with all of that, let's get a quick look at the candidate's biography. >> lindsey graham was born in central south carolina in 1955. he earned his undergraduate in law degrees from the university of south carolina and logged 6 1/2 years of service on active duty as an air force lawyer. from 1984 to 1988, he was assigned overseas and everybody served in germany. after leaving active duty in 1989, graham joined the south carolina air national guard where he served until 1995 and continues to serve in the united states air force reserves. he was elected to the u.s. house of representatives in 1994. and to the united states senate in 2002 getting reelected in

2008 and again in 2014. a strong proponent, working on cutting spending. the republican lives in seneca, south carolina, and is a member of the baptist church. >> and with that senator graham, good to see you. thanks for joining us. >> that was pretty accurate. >> good deal. you're late to the primary party a little bit when it comes to considering this. you're going to be making up your mind on whether you're going to run soon. why did you decide to take this on as consideration? >> well, after my primary, which i got reelected in 2014, i think the world is deteriorating at a faster rate than i've seen in a long time. and i think my voice would be good to have in the mix if i decide to run on how to defend america. i've been a problem solving conservative. and if i do run, it'll be about the big things. what do you do with 80 million baby boomers going to retire in the next 20 years?

how do you save the country from being wiped out from us retiring. when it comes to radical islam, my goal is to keep the war over there so it doesn't come here. the big things drive my thinking, and if i run it'll be because of the big things that somebody has to do. >> are you driven by foreign policy and national defense? is that your most motivated factor. >> yeah, i'm driven by the fact that our country's more at risk today than i can remember. more terrorist organizations with more safe havens more money, more men more ability to hurt us since 9/11. and it's not an accident. it's gotten out of hand. at the same time, the threat's growing, we're reducing our military spending to all-time lows, which is nuts. somebody needs to straighten this mess out. and i think i've been more right than wrong about foreign policy. that will be something i will enjoy talking about. >> let's talk about the controversial iran nuclear program and the deal there that we still don't know all the details about it. you've weighed in on this quite a bit. first, let me ask you do you

believe that iran should have a nuclear program in terms of energy? and then if so -- >> i'm okay with the iranians having a nuclear power program. i'm not okay with the ayatollahs having an ability to make a bomb. >> make sure you don't do north korea all over again. there are 15 countries with peaceful nuclear power programs that don't enrich uranium. canada and mexico. i would argue that if you had to pick a country in all the world not to trust, iran would be at the top of the list. without a weapon, they're wreaking havoc throughout the mideast. they're responsible for killing at least 1500 americans in iraq. it's a theological theocracy i think has a dim view for the world and they're threatening israel daily. how many centrifuges should the ayatollahs have that have killed 1,500 americans, toppled four

capitals and chant death to america and israel day in and day out. i would put them on the top of the list to make sure they have least capability possible to make a weapon. >> how do you go about entering into what would be more or less a partnership to allow them to develop a nuclear program in terms of energy? >> okay. you can have a nuclear power program, but your capability to make your own fuel would be limited because the process of making commercial fuel can be easily converted to making a bomb. they can buy the fuel from russia, they can buy it from us. so this idea they have a right to enrich, i don't buy that at all. the we told them, you don't need to make your own fuel, we would sell it to you. if you want a peaceful program, you can have it. but i believe you've been lying about what you're doing in the last 20 years and i don't trust you one bit. and we're not going to give you a sophisticated nuclear

capability that one day could be used to make a bomb. if you want that, you can't have it. and if you want a war, you're going to lose it. any time anywhere is the phrase i would use. we'd be nuts to trust these people. inspections have to be anytime, anywhere. as part of this deal is ill conceived. >> how aggressive would you be in dealing with radical islam, specifically isis? >> well, i would make the purpose of my presidency to keep the war over there so it doesn't come here. you can't kill your way into security. and you're never going to have peaceful coexistence with a radical islam. here's what you're going to have to do. some of us are going to have to go over there to do the fighting over there so they don't come back here. we're going to need more american ground troops partnering with the forces in the region to create lines of defenses for us. this idea of destroying and

degrading isil won't work if the region doesn't have the capability to perform that job. if you beat them in iraq, you have to eventually go into syria. and i don't know of any arabthat has the capability to go into syria without us there. and here's the question for america, does it matter if we defeat them? i would say it does. because when you listen to what they're telling you, they want to purify their faith destroy the state of israel and come after us. and it is in our national security interest to make sure they're degraded and destroyed. and it's impossible to accomplish that goal in my view, without having some deployed elements of the u.s. military helping the people in the region because there are 4,000 foreign fighters intermixed with western passports. and it's a matter of time until some of them come back here if we don't put them on the run. >> quickly, one more question and we get to our audience.

you've been in washington for a while. you know there's frustration with washington. >> how, as president, would you somehow bring these parties together? just can't seem to get along on anything? >> well, at the end of the day, we're running out of time. you need a president of the united states who is going to get the republican party and the democratic party in the room and say listen, guys and gals. 80 million of us are going to retire in the next 20 years. it's time to do what ronald reagan and tip o'neill did, come to grips with the baby boomer retirement. younger people going to have to work a little longer and people in my income level are going to have to give up some subsidies and benefits to save systems that are going to fail if we do nothing. something like simpson-bowles. the republican party's got to give. the democratic party's got to give. >> i guarantee you were probably going to elaborate that on a moment. when we come back, we'll bring

the studio audience into the conversation. stay with us. we'll be right back. now, conversation with the candidate continues. >> welcome back to our conversation with the candidate. tonight's guest, lindsey graham of south carolina. but it's time now to bring in the questions from our audience. i'll jump in if needed, too, for a follow-up. for now, let's get to it. coming to us from ruth allen mason. >> thank you very much, josh. senator, we're both baby boomers. >> yes. >> although, we have been called part of a silver tsunami. so what is your plan to protect social security for our generation and to make sure it's strengthened for our children and our grandchildren? >> great question. when i was 21 my mom died. when i was 22 my dad died. my sister was 14 we had a liquor store, a restaurant and a poolroom. and my dad was a world war ii

veteran and my mom was diagnosed with hodgkin's disease and it wiped us out financially, a year later, my dad died. we moved in with an aunt and uncle. if it weren't -- about $300, it really would have been tough for us. at the end of the day, the way you prevent social security and medicare from being wiped out by our retirement you have to do something like simpson-bowles something like reagan and o'neill o'neill. i want to make sure you have a system that works for you.

the way you save social security is you extend the life of the trust fund. you'll have to adjust the age of retirement once again. and people in my income level. i make $175,000 a year. my cost of living increase should be less than promised take the money you would have given me to give it to somebody who needs it more. at the end of the day, we're going to have to means test benefit for upper income americans. and we're going to have to ask younger people to work longer. and if we don't do that, we're going to lose social security. and here's the reason you don't want to lose it. half of today's seniors would be in poverty without a social security check and a lot of people are going to outlive their 401(k) plan. so you're going to need that social security check in the 21st century as much as you did in the 20th century. so my goal would get republicans and democrats in a room and do something like simpson bowles to

save social security and medicare from being wiped out. and the only way you can do that is to have compromise by both parties and some of us sacrifice. >> all right. thank you, senator. and thank you, ruth allen for the question. let's get to the nexñ question from the audience coming from mike -- >> senator, good morning. i first want to thank you for voting for recent amendments to protect our climate along with our senator kelly iowaai ayotte. my question as president how would you protect our energy, environmental and economic security. >> great question. energy independence would be the goal of my presidency. lower carbon economy would be the goal of my presidency. i would have built the pipeline from canada to the gulf coast. because we're going to be using fossil fuels for a very long time. buying oil from canada is like buying oil from your cousin. the more oil you buy from people

who hate your guts, the worse off you are. we're sitting on top of oil and gas deposits, let's extract them in an environmentally sound way, i'd like to build more nuclear power plants because they're a nonemitting source of power. i'd like biodiesel anything and everything we grow or produce here. and at the end of the day i'd like to invest in technologies that can operate the economy with a lower carbon footprint. from the republican party point of view, what is our environmental policy? i believe that young people in the country are the most environmentally sensitive generation ever produced in america. i embrace clean air and clean water. with one condition, you've got to have a sound economy to get there. this idea of choosing between the environment and the economy is a false choice. the epa regulation controlling emissions is an overreach. the standards set by the epa regulation can't be met by

existing technology. i would work with congress to produce legislation to lower emissions. i've got three goals, become energy independent have the cleanest air and cleanest water of any place on the planet. at the end of the day, grow the economy in the process of transitioning from a carbon-based economy to a lower carbon economy. if you don't do it in an environmentally sound pro business fashion, you're going to fail. >> do you buy the science behind climate change that says it's manmade? >> i believe that the carbon emissions that come from operating cars and other modern machines is contributing to greenhouse gases and greenhouse gas effect to me is a real phenomenon. but you're not going to stop greenhouse gases through a cap and trade system that destroys the economy.

protect job growth in this country and move the country and the world to a cleaner safer environment. so climate change, i think, is real. cap and trade as proposed by al there's got to be middle ground here. >> all right. very good let's move forward with the next question from the audience coming from halle of concorde. >> senator graham i'm a senior attending the university of new hampshire. if elected president, what would you do to ensure that young people have jobs when they graduate from college so they can pay back their student loans? >> great question. i would make sure it's easy to create a job in america so you could get one of them. what's so hard about creating a job in america right now? you've got a business. should i hire ten more people? what's my health care cost going to be? if you don't know the answer to that, you're less likely to hire them. if you're a manufacturer in new hampshire, will the epa regulation and carbon increase my power cost.

if it does, by how much. and should i add new people? what will my tax be next year because i don't know what the congress is going to do with its budget. the only way you'll ever get a job in america if somebody outside the government creates it unless you work for the government itself. so my belief is that economic certainty in this country will create better job opportunities, energy independence is one great way to create jobs in america. if we built more nuclear power plants, there'd be a lot more jobs that pay well. there are a lot of things we can do that would create jobs. but the regulatory environment, the tax environment in america is so oppressive right now, most people are not going to expand their business because they don't know when the next shoe drops. i'd go to a flat tax, have a regulatory reform that balances a safe workplace and a clean environment with a need to grow the economy.

and at the end of the day tax policy and regulatory policy really does matter if you don't fix the retirement of the baby boomers and don't come up with an immigration system so people can hire workers they can't find here at home then a lot of businesses are going to fail. the money you spent to go to college will be a wise investment over time. you don't think so now, but a college degree makes yo much more employable down the road. and i'm sorry you've had to borrow so much money, but it will pay off. >> senator thank you. and halle, thank you for your question. we'll switch it up, go to a social media question. are you on facebook? >> yes absolutely. >> so this one is coming from facebook, from bill ladd. the question is, how will you strive to keep church and state separate? >> how will i strive to keep church and state separate? well, at the end of the day, i respect the fact that we're a religious nation, but we're a nation you don't have to accept

a particular style of religion. you can be agnostic, libertarian, vegetarian, you can be a baptist like me. this whole issue about legislation trying to protect religious freedom and at the same time not discriminate against same-sex couples. is a very complicated endeavor for a democracy. how many of you believe you should be able to pray at a high school football game? >> you can raise your hand or not raise your hand. >> how many of you believe you shouldn't be able to offer a prayer at a high school football game? establishing a religion is prohibited by the constitution. congress shall not establish a particular religion. the freedom to exercise your religion, there's an empowerment of people. for 200 years, we've been trying

to figure this out. the one thing i will not tolerate is a national religion even though i'm a a christian. because that is counter to what we are as a people. and you see how religion is playing out in the mideast. the strength of this nation has been that people can worship god on their own terms. freedom of religion and the exercise clause is part of who we are. but we've benefited as a society by having a wall between the government and the people. and let's keep that wall in place to make sure that nobody in the government can tell you what to do when it comes to your religious freedom. at the same time to those who believe in god you're not the enemy. we don't need to drive god out of the public square. we just need to make sure we've got the right balance. >> thank you very much to bill

ladd for that question. back to the studio audience now. up next lira kirogo with a question on kind of a different take on foreign policy. >> for more than a decade the media's coverage of american foreign policy has focused on our military's efforts to combat terrorism and extremism. i'd riek to hear your views on the role international aid should play in our foreign policy. despite popular misconceptions, international aid comprises only 1% of the federal budget. do you see international aid as an important tool in building strong communities and allies around the world? >> did you all hear this question? 1% of your federal budget goes to frorn assistance. that includes running the state department and our aid to israel. the american taxpayers helped africa reduce mother to child aids transmission by 75%. do programs created by the federal government partnered with the private sector we've taken some of your tax dollars and put aids on the run in

africa and saved an entire generation of children from certain death. building a schoolhouse in afghanistan does more damage to the taliban than a brigade of soldiers. foreign aid is easily demagogued. it's 1% of the budget and we're broke here at home. i'm sure there are roads that need to be built in new hampshire. as a matter of fact, after last night i can assure you there are roads that need to be built here in new hampshire. but here's my view of defeating radical islam. you have to do more than kill the terrorists. you have to build up other people in the region. and if you don't you will fail as a nation. the good news for us, as most fathers in the region, don't want to turn their daughters over to isil. we're talking a lot of poor and corrupt countries. the mideast is on fire. i don't know how to defend this country without some of us being over there doing the fighting. but i can promise you this. the way to destroy radical islam over time is to create capacity

in the countries where they reside to do the fighting and extinguish this hateful ideology. a small schoolhouse in afghanistan you that wouldn't signed your child to for 30 minutes can do more damage to this ideology than a bomb being dropped on their heads. the way you defeat this radical ideology is you help people in the region build better and stronger societies. you allow a mother's voice to be heard. one of the biggest missing pieces in the mideast is the ability of a mother to speak up and have a say about the future of her child. there are 6 million girls going to school in afghanistan today. on september the 10th it was illegal for a child to go to school in afghanistan. we've had over 2,200 soldiers die. at the end of the day building up these countries and being their partner through thick and thin, even though many of them are corrupt-s in our national security inteñest. i'm known as a hawk.

but here's one thing i understand after many trips to the mideast. foreign assistance, american businesses being involved overseas-s overseas, is absolutely essential to our national security. if you think you can ignore the world and it won't come back to bite you, just remember 9/11. we didn't have one dollar of aid to afghanistan. we didn't have an embassy. and we didn't have one soldier in afghanistan. and they attacked us anyway. the people who are trying to kill us and destroy the region are motivated by religious ideology that has no place for anybody in this room. they're trying to purify their religion and destroy all other religions. christianity is being slaughtered as i speak in this region. so ladies and gentlemen it is in our national security interest to take the fight to these guys but to do something even harder than dropping a

bomb. being patient and building up other people who would one day live in peace with us. it worked in germany. it worked in japan. it will work in the mideast. but it's going to require patience and an understanding that there's no substitute for american leadership in the world. >> we only have about a minute to go. time is flying. so we're going to wrap up the tv portion of the program with a question from twitter. been an issue in this campaign. all the candidates are being asked about it. what specifically would you do -- this comes from gene by the way. what specifically would you do to remove the influence of big money in politics? >> well, crtizens united has got to be fixed. you all agree with that? you're going to need a constitutional amendment to fix this problem. i was for mccain feingold. supreme court ruled 5-4 that provisions of mccain-feingold basically no longer apply. you're going to get sick of watching tv in new hampshire. so the next president of the united states needs to get a commission of really smart people and find a way to create a constitutional amendment to limit the role of superpacs.

there will be is-100 million spent on races. which will be good for the tv station. eventually we're going to destroy american politics with so much money in the political process because it's going to turn you off to wanting to vote. >> i can promise you that we're not running off commission-based salary here, senator. i do appreciate that. but quickly, do you put any of your own money in this? >> i'm going to put every penny i can in advertising into new hampshire. >> very good. we're out of time for just the tv portion of this. >> thanks. >> so -- >> that was quick. >> well, we're going to come back to this. don't worry. coming up in our next conversation series with a candidate i do want to point out former texas governor of -- former texas republican governor -- i'll get there. rick perry will be on the program. but while we are signing off as we just alluded to for television tonight this conversation with senator graham continues online and on our mobile app as well. there you're going to find a full 30 minutes more of

questions from our studio audience. all of it commercial-free. but for now thanks for watching. have a great night. >> and live coverage from the campaign trail today with democratic presidential candidate hillary clinton in mason city iowa. her second visit to iowa since announcing her run for the presidency. we'll have live coverage of her remarks. they were supposed to start about 15 minutes ago. she hasn't yet arrived. but we will take you to mason city as soon as she does right here on c-span 3. in the meantime let's take a look at another wmur interview from the conversation with the candidates series. this one is with former texas governor rick perry. we'll watch as much of this as we can before the hillary clinton event in iowa begins. >> and good evening, everyone, and welcome to our "conversations with the candidates" series. i'm josh mckelvin.

our guest this evening is former maryland governor bob ehrlich. and tonight we're going to be getting to know governor ehrlich we are stands on the key issues. at the start of the program as always i'll be asking the candidate a few questions and after the break we'll go right to our studio audience and they can ask the questions in what is a town hall style format. but before all of that let's get a quick look at the candidate's biography. >> bob ehrlich was born in 1957 in maryland in a small suburb just outside of baltimore. he studied political science at princeton university and co-captained the football team. he graduated from princeton in 1979 and then got his law degree from wake forest university school of law. ehrlich moved back to maryland to work for a baltimore law firm and then ran successfully for the house of delegates np. in 1994 the republican was elected to the united states house of representatives and would serve four terms in d.c. as a congressman. then in 2002 he was elected as governor of maryland. he served one term during which he enacted maryland's first ever charter schools law. today ehrlich continues to practice law and says he's

considering a run for president because he feels the country has an insecure economy culture and sense of national security. ehrlich is married and has two sons. >> and with that, governor ehrlich, welcome to the show. >> got it all right. >> every once in a while it happens. you're here under unique circumstances. and thank you for being here. you've been in the news a lot this week because of what's taking place in your home state of maryland, particularly in the city of baltimore very close to where you grew up. >> i'm a west baltimore kid. it's tough times. not unique to baltimore, josh. believe me. as you know. but people think i guess i have some insight into what's going on. and there is some specific insight maybe being a west baltimore kid, but these urban areas, these depressed areas, this particular area has not seen a lot of economic development in many, many years. the issue of race obviously plays into it. it played into the decision of the governor whether to move the national guard into town. the so-called lense of ferguson the militarization.

all these issues come out. we were talking about before the show the mother who now has gone viral just literally my view, a tangible example of love running to her child to literally save her child. but it also brings up issues about the denigration of the family and where are the fathers and what about the quality of public education in the area. these are some of the toughest schools in town. many of them do not have very good marked concerns concerning the ability to educate kids. this is a familiar set of issues, but it's very personal in this context for me right now. and it's the reason i guess you're probably tired of seeing my mug on tv. but hopefully something good can come from this. >> we can spend the entire hour talking about this topic and what's unfolded down there but i do want to git on a couple of different things. one, how do you think the leadership reacted in the immediate aftermath? >> i'm prejudiced. larry hogan the governor was my

appointment secretary. i started in politics with him. i worked for his dad. i think he's done a pretty good job. i do think -- i understand the reason why again, the guard was called in when it was. the mayor obviously is receiving some not so good marks. the issue of allowing -- it appears this is the case judge. i originally defended her, but it appears the call down to the police was allow property destruction, that and the whole nine yards, and that resulted in what -- >> give them space basically was her -- >> gave them space. but if your car was between them and the space your car was torched. if your business was between them and the space your business was torched. >> and you disagree. >> i do. and a couple hundred cars were torched and there's businesses -- that cvs you saw, that cvs was a symbol in this neighborhood. people shopped there. as i said, this neighborhood, this area is a pretty tough

area. but she's now receiving some criticism. i thought she misspoke that her staff did not fix, it but in reality it appears she did mean what she said originally which was give them space to do their thing. >> the reality -- and we'll probably get to some related issues in the course of this hour but i want to get to a couple other things before i get to our audience. you are considering a run for president and i'm sure it's no news to you there's others in the field. >> there is? >> there is. some of them have some name i.d. too. >> i didn't know most of them anyway. >> with such a wide open field, what motivates you? why do you want to do this? >> well, i've been governor, i've been in congress, i've been in state legislature. i'm an author. i've written two books. i care about our country. i have a 15-year-old and an 11-year-old. two boys. i care about where we are, where we're going, and i don't like where we are where we're going. particularly this european-style progressivism now brought to our shores under the obama administration. and as you introduce me you talked about this sense of

insecurity concerning our economy, our culture, and our national security. it's why i particularly wrote my second book, and it's why i've been now in new hampshire my seventh, eighth time here. another half dozen visits to come. >> we have a couple of minutes to go. but obviously foreign policy is a major issue. all the candidates talking about in this race, whether it's isis, a nuclear deal with iran, or just our general approach to people. i mean, what's your analysis of -- >> nobody can say they're surprised. the president said no preconditions, i'll sit down with the tyrants, i'll sit down with the miscreants, i'll sit down with the bad guys of the world, no preconditions. and as a result we're sort of paying the price for that. you see that, by the way, in tangible form with iran. you see it with cuba. and it's a sense of weakness and acquiescence and indulgence that the greatest force for good in the history of the world is throwing out. and as a result our allies are not trusting us and our enemies are not fearing us.

>> how would you be dealing with ice snis. >> well, i wouldn't call them the jv. and the intelligence was obviously that they're serious. and now we're renting iranians to fight isis, which is again a position of weakness. >> and the nuclear deal with iran? >> too many -- i don't know how anybody could have a definitive opinion on it because nothing's been defined yet. snapback? how are you going to have snapback sanctions if you have to go through the u.n.? >> well, do they have a right for a nuclear program if it's geared -- >> we've changed the denominator here. secretary of state kissinger wrote this in the "wall street journal" earlier. our policy had been a no nuclear iran. now it's a nuclear iran on a schedule. that's a destabilizing force in the world, as you know. and now you have the sunni world saying hey what about us? and the great issue for the next president's going to be do you extend the american nuclear umbrella to those arab allies like the saudis like the jordanians, like the uae.

and that's going to be a difficult question because the denominator here has changed. >> we are just good b. ready to take a break. but i want to ask you a lot of people think we don't need to coalition build, a lot of people think we do. and the immediate reaction toward isis and what we're seeing. >> you always need coalitions in the world but you operate from a position of strength. you get what you can. you operate -- again, what do we get in cuba? what did we get for bowe bergdahl? five r.c. terrorists. a couple of them now back fighting us. it appears to me this president is predisposed. i think it's his philosophical approach to the issues. he's predisposed to be relatively weak and indulgent. remember the initial apology tour. he began his presidency with an apology tour to the world. by the way, we never heard about all the american blood spilled through the years for the muslim world. but it was basically an apology tour. the president thinks we're an

imperialist country. if we're an imperialist country, we're the worst imperialists in@ @r(t&háhp &hc% the world. because the first question americans ask whenever we put our boys and girls in harm's way is what? when are they coming home? we're a great country, but we're not imperialists and we shouldn't be weak and we shouldn't be apologetic for projecting american strength and protecting our interests around the world. >> very good. stay with us. after the break we're going to get right to our studio audience. a lot of topics to cover. be right back. >> now "conversation with the candidate" continues. >> all right. welcome back folks, to our conversation with the candidate. tonight's guest, former maryland governor republican bob ehrlich. and it is time to get right to our audience to bring the questions. i will jump in and follow up when needed. let's get right to it. our first sque from marie from golfstown. good to sigh. >> good to see you. and welcome governor.

my question is what do you think is the biggest impediment that republicans face in getting one from their party elected president? >> young women and minorities. the democrats painted a narrative last time that a lot of young women brought into. that mitt romney was going to be at the cvs intercepting the birth control pills literally. you saw the silly ads in colorado. republicans are against birth control, they're going to eliminate birth control. and these might be anti-intellectual. they might be silly. we might laugh at them. but people buy them. then a couple cycles ago you had two republican senate candidates with their comments about rape and these were two candidates but in politics they take those comments which were horrible comments and they play into the narrative and then the narrative plays out. and then negatives work. in politics people say she hate

negative ads. well, guess what? if negatives didn't work nobody would use them ever. they work. trust me. so our biggest problem in my view is the gender gap. now, the democrats have a vender gap, too. nobody talks about it. it's called a male gender gap. but women vote more than men and the female gender gap with republican candidates is there. it's just in very stark terms. i think it has something to do with abortion but less to do with abortion than it used to, quite frankly. it has to do with some of the messaging from the party as well. if you're a young woman with kids and you don't have an education, you're trying to make your way. do you want to hear a republican candidate talk about independence and entrepreneurship and freedom or do you want to hear about the democrat talking about we're here for you and we're going to help you we're going to have a social welfare state to support you? part of it's just the messaging that comes down from the parties. i do feel like we can do a better job, by the way, at it. with regard to minorities

particularly the hispanic vote. look at the new deal coalition. i married a polish girl. i'm german. all these immigrants. that used to be -- polish girl. that was the roosevelt coalition. ethnic urban immigrants. and that was 50, 60 years ago. what is the basis of the republican party today? suburban ethnic imyants second, third generation. as a result with regard to hispanics, i think in the hispanic community generally that we can really do better, do well. there's a lot of val yoourzues in the hispanic community that comport with republican values and we need to do a better job of selling it. that leads to immigration. this is an important question. >> sure. please. >> we've got to pass the immigration bill. security and sovereignty. we can get into the details in a second. but as long as the democrats have the ability -- >> going to leave the last few minutes of this, take you live to mason city iowa for remarks

by hillary clinton on the campaign trail. [ applause ] >> thank you, thank you everyone. you can be seated. we are so thrilled to have each and every one of you here but even more excited to have what i consider to be the person that is most ready for leading our nation because she has been tried, she's been tested. i've been telling people earlier this morning there's no other human being on the planet that has the resume that hillary rodham clinton has. [ applause ] before i introduce our hillary campaign staffer who's now living with us here in mason city, i want to welcome a few of the very important folks that do the day-to-day democratic

business here in the greater north iowa area. and we have with us a list of people. as i call your name would you kind of hold up your hand and step forward? so madam secretary can see you. and then hold your applause to the end of the list, if you would. and we'll let you acknowledge those folks. so if you're sitting, maybe stand. i'd like to introduce john columbo, chair of the franklin county democrats. he's below the light over there. [ applause ] hold your applause. state senator amanda reagan our state senator from mason city district. d.o. kohning, former state representative from st. ansgor. and jay err daul, is he in the house? he had something come up i know and couldn't be here. phil doherty, our county supervisor. phil's right over here in the blue shirt. alex kund, councilman at large

for the mason city council. pat right, our saragota county treasurer. and colleen pierce our democratic saragota county reporter. we have another representative todd pritchard from the state of iowa. we also have with us two folks that have welcomed sarah to the community. and they're good friends of mine. and we were going to be gone for ten days when sarah landed and i says joanne, can you help me out, we've got a young lady coming working for hillary clinton and we need a place for her to stay and those two people who stepped up were jo ann hardy right here behind me and her husband russ hardy. there in the blue jacket. so thank you very much. so i was just reminded that good b. a month ago -- oh, yes. a round of applause. [ applause ]

about a month ago a young lady gave me a call and she goes hi my name's sarah, can i custom talk to you? and i said sure, we talk to everybody. we're a welcoming household. come ahead. we sat on this white sofa that usually sits in a circular fashion here in the living room, and she told me about somebody she really was excited about and that she was coming here to live and start work. so it gives me great pleasure to turn the microphone over to our very own sarah marino. >> good afternoon. thank you all so much for being here today. for those of you i haven't yet met, as gene said i'm sarah marino. and i am the organizer here in serogordo county. i also cover frankly lynn, floyd, wikashee, howard, and mitchell counties. i think i got them all. i'll take a couple more if you

want. as many of you know i'm new to iowa. i'm originally from bedford, new york. just a few miles away from chappaqua where our special guest here today lives. but i'm living right here in mason city, where everyone has been so welcoming and helpful. so thank you so much to awful you who have made it very easy to call north iowa my new home. so i'm involved with this campaign because i know that secretary clinton has been a fighter for american families and for women like my mom, my friends, my cousins, my aunts, my sister. my little sister maggie is 18. she's about to graduate from hrgh school in a month, and she's heading off to college to marketing. and i've always been so impressed by her dedication and her drive to the subject that she loves. and i'm really excited to see the glass ceiling i know my sister is going to break not too long from now in her field. so i'm here to fight for her because she deserves, as she starts her career to be paid

the same as her male colleagues. [ applause ] and item so proud to be working for a champion for young women like maggie. for that and many, many other reasons i am so thrilled and proud to be here. but to build up this campaign we need the support and the input of each and every one of you in this room. we need your friends, your family your neighbors, your co-workers to get involved to make this caucus a success. we've been starting to have community events like house parties, coffee chats, book clubs, pot lukzlucks all across the state just to start the conversation and opiate dialogue about this campaign. and if you haven't already please fill out one of these commit to caucus cards saying you'll commit to caucus on february 1st for hillary. and if you have already filled one out please take one hoenl, have a friend fill it out

because we're working to identify supporters all across iowa and we need your help. and those of you in this rjáz are the most equipped to help us identify support all across the state. you n also join us online. we have our hillary for iowa facebook page and we also have local facebook groups. so you can join northeast central iowa for hillary and northwest central iowa for hillary. and you can follow me on twitter. it's @smarino92. to stay updated. but of course you all aren't here to hear from me. so with that i am so honored to introduce our candidate, former senator, first lady, secretary of state hillary clinton. [ applause ] >> thank you. wow. thank you. i am thrilled to be here with all of you.

and sarah, that was excq&lent. i thank you so much. and i hope you'll get to know sarah and spend time with her and help her as she works so hard between now and february 1st. and dean and gary, thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful home what a delight it is to be here with you.- somebody asked me the other day well, you know you're going to these events where you're taking time to actually talk and listen to people is that really what you're going to do? and i said yes, it is. because not only do i learn a lot but i also feel like it's the best way to make those connections that will not o'ly give me a firm foundation in the caucus here in iowa or in a primary in new hampshire, because it really is about people to people connections if we're really talking about what we want to do, but it will also

i need to be an even better president. and i just had another example of that. you may know that gary's a radiologist, and right before we came in we w his work. he's an expert in breast cancer. and i aá)q" him about the mammography recommendation that's at least the women in the room i'm sure have seen over the last several years, and he was giving me some really important insight into the commission that made those recommendations and his expert opinion about them. i'm so grateful to you about that because it's the kind of discussion you can't have unless you have an opportunity to talk and listen with people. i want to thank all of you for i'm delighted to have this chance to talk with you.

i think what we're going to do is i'll say a few words about the campaign and what i want to achieve and then we'll have a chance to talk individually and i'll be able to hear from each and every one of you. i have been incrq"ibly impressed over the last several years at how hard the american people have worked to pull ourselves out of the great recession. people have made sacrifices. people have lost jobs. they've lost houses. they lost the chance to finish or go on with their education. and they did everything they could think of to do to get back on their feet. and i'm so relieved that as i travel around the country and talk with people there is a sense that we are on our feet. we're not running yet but we are on our feet. and we can see the changes that are happening in people's lives

and put them in a context as to where we go from here now as a country. i'm very grateful to president obama for the hard decisions he made when he inherited the mess he inherited when he became president in 2009. [ applause ] and i know that he and i and everyone who was in his administration realizes that unless the american family and the american worker is strong everything we want to see happen for our country is going to be much more difficult. and so i come to this campaign committed to being a champion for americans and american families. that's what my work has been throughout my entire adult life. starting with my first job out of law school when i went to work for the children's defense fund. all the way through to the work that i did as secretary of state

promoting women's rights promoting the rights of people who would otherwise be marge marginalized or left on the sidelines. and i know that although we have to -- it's still hard to imagine exactly how we're going to get to the point where people are not just getting by but getting ahead and staying ahead. because look, the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top. we know that. and so we have to be especially focused on how we're going to bring about the changes that will ignite opportunity for everyone willing to work hard for it again. so when i look at where we are as a nation and where we need to be, i see four big challenges that we have to take on together. and there are going to be fights. because if they were easy they

would already be done. so i will posit that right now. number one we have to build the economy of tomorrow not yesterday. it needs to be innovative. it needs to be sustainable. it needs to be producing good jobs with rising wages. we need to get back into the habit of actually rewarding workers with increases in their paychecks for the increases in productivity and profitability that they have helped to bring about. [ applause ] warren buffett has said, it but so have a lot of other people. there's something wrong when the average american ceo makes 300 times more than the typical american worker. or when hedge fund managers themselves make more and pay less in taxes than nurses and truck drivers. in fact, i heard a statistic the

other day that really made a big impact on me, that the top 25 hedge fund managers together made more money than all the kindergarten teachers in america. and when you think about value what it is that's going to get us moving again, i think kindergarten teachers are really important. [ applause ] and we've got to make a claim on becoming the 21st century clean energy superpower. iowa has really helped us. the rfs, the renewable fuel standard, and a lot of the investments that have been made here has been one of the reasons why we have made some real progress but not near enough. and other countries are going to seize that title unless we do what we have to. it's also imperative that we give people the tools through education and job training and

skills not just in rhetoric but in reality. so they can make the most of their own lives. and for me that starts at the very beginning. i've been a child adsxroekt a child development proponent for my entire adult life because it's what i really care about what i believe in. and i think we have to start before kindergarten. we have to have universal prek but we also have to do more to reach out to families so they know the tools they should use to be their children's first teachers. we've got this new granddaughter who is unbelievable. we were with her this weekend. you know, we go and just stare at her. i mean that's what -- it's wonderful and silly at the same time. but we also read to her. here she is 7 1/2 months old, we're reading and reading and reading. and i imagine among her first words will be "enough with the reading" because between her mom

and her dad and bill and i we're constantly doing that. but we're doing it not only because we love to do it and we love to see her begin to reach her hands out and grab onto the books, we're doing it because we know that it aids her brain development. that has been one of the great discoveries with brain research in the last couple of decades. we increasingly can see what happens when you are literally feeding the brain as well as the body of these infants and then the babies and the toddlers. that will help them be better prepared when they actually end up in kindergarten, and it will begin to close the achievement gap. because you know, we're going to do everything we can for our granddaughter. charlotte will get every opportunity we can possibly imagine. but what kind of country will she grow up in? and what kind of world will she enter? and what will happen to all of the other infants, babies, toddlers and children in our country today?

so we have to look at education from the very beginning. then we have to make sure we are doing all we can to empower our teachers, to make sure that they have the support of parents so that they can do the job they have been trained to do to help prepare our kids. and then we've got to make sure that college is affordable. and that cannot happen at the rate we're going unless we change the way we fund college education for young people who wish to have that experience. many of us in this room i bet, as i did, borrowed money to go to college. but then we were able to pay it back because it wasn't such an overwhelming burden as it has become now. the average student in iowa graduates with $30,000 in debt, and that then makes it very difficult for them to start a business or buy a new home or even get married, as one young man told me not so long ago. so we have to deal with the indebtedness to try to move toward making college as

debt-free as possible. i'm 100% behind president obama's proposal for free community college. we've got to try to get that through, and then we've got to try to do everything we can to make college available and affordable to all of our young people. [ applause ] you know, when you think about our economy today, it is absolutely linked to education. it is also linked to strong families and strong communities. and that's our second challenge. because a lot of families and communities have been under tremendous strain. one of the biggest stresses in anybody's life is health care. i will fight to protect the affordable care act, and i will work to make the changes that are required. [ applause ]

we are really now in a different world. 16 million people who didn't have health insurance who now do. we have to do everything we can to make sure that medicare is as available and protected and affordable as possible. and we have to be sure that where there are changes that can be made we try to find ways to work across the aisle to make them. i don't hear my friends on the other side of the aisle talking as much as they used to about getting rid of the affordable care act. i think the reason is because there are a lot of people that they may actually be encountering from time to time who have been helped. and we need to make sure to make the argument over and over again that, what will you do if you say to people we're going to take away the health care we finally have been able to provide for you? that is just unacceptable. but there are some problems. one of the problems, and i heard about this in iowa, is what happens when a 26-year-old becomes a 27-year-old and is no longer eligible to be on his or

her parents' policy? that was one of the best changes in the affordable care act. and the fact is that a lot of young people aren't making the income they need yet to be able to afford their own health care. so we have to look out to see what we'll be able to do to help them. there are two issues that fall into this category that are huge strains on families. and i heard about them first. i heard first in davenport and i heard about it all across the state until i got to council bluffs. one is the drug epidemic. meth, pills in iowa. and then i got to new hampshire. and at my very first coffee shop meeting i heard about the heroin epidemiic in new hampshire. in the past year i've been told reliably we've had more people die of drug overdoses in america than automobile accidents for the first time in our history.

this is tearing families apart but it is below the surface. people aren't talking about it because it's something that is hard to deal with. i also heard a lot about untreated mental health problems. and so many communities, so many states turning their backs on people with mental health problems. facilities are being closed. even though we now require there to be treatment in the affordable care act, there's not enough available treatment. not enough resources. the other day i was in california at an event, and i just said what i said. i said you know, mental health is not being treated. we claim we're now going to be able to help people with their health care problems but if we don't help with mental health we're leaving out a huge number of people.

and a young woman came up to me and asked me a question. she said did you know we're having all these suicides in my high school? i said no, i didn't know. she said we've had four young people kill themselves in the last month. then i was in new york at an event this past week. said the same thing i said to you. i was visiting with people. and a woman came up to me and she goes thank you for mentioning mental health. we have gone in the last six months to four funerals of friends of my children who have killed themselves. i have to tell you when i start running, when i started thinking about this campaign, i did not believe i would be standing in your living room talking about the drug abuse problem, the mental health problem, and the suicide problem. but i'm now convinced i have to talk about it. i have to do everything i can in this campaign to raise it to end the stigma of talking about it. [ applause ]

>> and we also have a challenge that affects everything we do, and that is to fix our dysfunctional political system. that underlies everything that we can possibly hope to get done. i'm very committed to meeting with anybody, going to have any conversation to try to find common ground. but we also have to stand our ground and we have to try to figure out how we're going to get people to work with us for the betterment of our country, the betterment of people who need a good positive support system whether it be health care or aid for college or anything else. we also have to address the unaccountable dark money in politics. i think the supreme court made a grave error with its citizens united decision. and i will do everything i can do to appoint supreme court

justices who will protect the right to vote and not the right of billionaires to buy elections. [ applause ] and i've been consulting with a lot of legal experts, and sthf them think there may be a way to get legislation through that will enable us to regulate this kind of use of money in our political system, which is so corruptive and corrosive. but others agree with former justice john paul stevens who recently wrote a book in which he said it's going to take a constitutional amendment. i will work for that if that's the only way to fix this problem. because we cannot continue with the kind of assault on our democracy, on voting rights, and on the opportunity for us to know where the money is coming from that influences our

political system. now, fourth we have challenges around the world. as i was coming through the garage there's a tv that dean and gary have and it was talking about isis in iraq. we have threats that we know of that we can begin to try to figure out how best to address. it's not just dictators. also disease climate change, which i think global warming is a threat to us. but we have to be confident and strong in understanding that there are many ways to approach the problems that america will be confronting in the world and we must do so in cooperation with our friends, our allies our fellow democracies around the world. i am convinced that the 21st century can once again be a century in which the united states leads and helps to set the values and the standards.

but we have to have an agreement, first of all, foremost with our own country and our own korns about how to do that. i was outraged and said at the time that when a group of republican senators sent a letter to the ayatollah of iran essentially criticizing the actions of the president of the united states, i don't care what party you are, we have one president and we should stand behind that president when he's trying to work out very difficult problems. [ applause ] i know there are a lot of hard choices ahead of us. i wrote a book called "hard choices." there it is. there it is. but i think we're more than up to it. i am a confident optimist about where america's future lies. that doesn't mean i'm not aware

of how difficult it is with my eyes wide open about how hard it is to be the president of the united states. i have a little experience about that. and i have to tell you i find it very reassuring because i do have that experience to know what's possible and how best to proceed. but i also know that we are living in an incredibly complicated time in american history. it is not a time for easy answers or glib answers or one-liners or applause lines. those are all great. that's part of campaigning. but at the end of the day we need a president who has both the experience and the understanding to deal with the complexity of the problems that we face. and i appreciate what both dean and sarah said about the experiences that i've been privileged to have during the last decades. i really believe that i can go

into that office on the very dpirs day and begin to do what is required. so i look forward to visiting with each and every one of you. i look forward to working with you not only as we move toward the caucuses. i would be honored to have your support on february 1st, and then i will need your help as we move toward the john election because i don't want this election to be about me. i want it to be about us and the agenda we want to set for our country. you know, when i campaigned so hard against then senator obama i was working as hard as i could, he was working as hard as he could. and at the end of the day he won. and then i went to work to make sure he got elected, our president. and i was so relieved and happy when that finally happened. the sunday after the election bill and i went for a walk in an area that sarah would know.

a big kind of nature preserve near where we both live. and we just wanted to let down because we'd been working so hard to elect then president-elect obama. so we're wandering through the woods, and bill's phone rings. which is sort of a miracle since we have terrible cell coverage there. and he pulled it out of his pocket, and it was the president-elect. and he said i'd like to talk to you and hillary. and bill said, well, we're kind of in the middle of a forest. can we get home and call you back? and so we did. and when he called back, when bill called back he talked to the president-elect and then i talked to him and he said to me i want you to come see me in chicago. i said sure, when? he said shoon soon as you can get here. so i said okay. the following thursday i went to chicago, and he asked me if i would serve as secretary of state. and i said, you know, mr. president-elect, i really want to go back to the senate, i'm very flattered, but there are a lot of other people who can do

it. he said no i know what i want and i want you to do this. i said well mr. president-elect, i really want to go back to the senate. and that's where i think i can best work with you and best serve you. he goes, look, i don't want to hear from you again until you say yes. so i told him no you know, again. later. and he just said don't call me till you say yes. and i did tell my husband, he's so persistent, i've told him no twice and he keeps saying, you know, i'm waiting for you to say yes. and bill said, yeah, well, i asked you to marry me twice before you said yes. so -- i guess there's a connection there. so then i stayed up that night. and i thought, suppose i'd been honored to win and i had wanted this incredibly talented american to be in my cabinet and i'd asked him, i'd want him to say yes. and i thought, you know that's what i have to do.

so i called him and said president-elect, i would be honored to serve in your cabinet. and we immediately got started to work. a few months later on my very first trip as secretary of state i went to asia. and i went in park because everybody i called, all of the leaders in the countries that i spoke with were saying, you know, we just don't know whether the united states cares about us anymore. nobody's been paying any attention to us. we feel like we're not important anymore. i said we are and the president feels that way. so i went out and one of the countries i went to was indonesia. in part because it's a very important country but also president obama had had a personal connection with it. and my idea was not only to talk to the leaders but to talk to the people, what's called public diplomacy. so that as i was out there talking to presidents and prime ministers and others i would also find ways of trying to connect to tell people, look the united states really does care about the the world we're

trying to create together, and that's part of my message from my new president. so i went on db-- i agreed to go on a show in jakarta, which was their morning show. and it was like a combination of mtv and a reality show and all of that. i had no idea what i was getting myself into. so i go onto the set and people are jumping and they're singing and they're dancing. and it's called "the awesome show." so i'm on "the awesome show." and i'm talking a little bit with the interviewer. and then they asked people if they have any questions. and somebody in the audience says, i want to ask you we saw you campaigned very hard against president obama, he campaigned very hard against you. he won. you lost. and then he asked you to be his secretary of state. why? and i realized you know, in a lot of these new democracies and other places of course you run against somebody and you lose, you could get exiled or imprisoned, even killed, not asked to be secretary of state.

so this was a very legitimate question. and i thought i have to answer this in a very you know serious way that maybe they can understand. if n. our democracy we do try to close ranks after we have hard elections. at least that's what we should be doing. so i said well, you're right. we campaigned hard. he won. i lost. i then campaigned to get him elected. he asked me to be secretary of state. and i said yes. for the same reason. we both love our country. and at the end of the day to me that's what elections are supposed to be about. we can disagree. and we will. we'll have all kinds of arguments even about the best way to do things. but we should be coming from a place of love of loving our country and of respecting one

another. and we have to rebuild this feeling in our country again. we have too much work to be done. we have too many people who deserve a better shot at a future for themselves and their families. i want to be their champion. and with your help i will get up every single day doing the best i can to make sure that the country we love is the country we deserve to have. thank you all. [ applause ] >> so we're going to start introducing madam secretary.

[ room noise ] >> hillary clinton speaking in the home of one of the first gay couples to marry in iowa local

democratic activity dean wenth and gary swenson both supported barack obama over mrs. clinton in the 2008 caucus but now they're backing the secretary of state. you can read more about this her second trip to the state on msnbc.com. and tomorrow live coverage of the senate transportation committee on renewing faa programs. that hearing scheduled to start at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. we'll take you there live. and also tomorrow at 2:30 a hearing on law enforcement and body cameras before a senate judiciary subcommittee. we'll have that live. also here on c-span 3. >> presidential candidates often release books to introduce themselves to voters. here's a look at some recent books written by declared and potential candidates for president. former secretary of state hillary clinton looks back on her time serving in the obama administration in "hard choices." in "american dreams" florida

senator marco rubio outlines his plan to restore economic opportunity. former arkansas governor mike huckabee gives his take on politics in "god, guns grits, and gravy." and in "blue collar conservatives" potential candidate rick santorum argues the republican party must focus on the working class in order to retake the white house. in "a fighting chance" massachusetts senator elizabeth warren recounts the events in her life that shaped her career as an educator and politician. wisconsin governor scott walker argues republicans must offer bold solutions to fix the country and have the courage to implement them in "unintimidated." and kentucky senator rand paul, who recently declared his candidacy, calls for smaller government and more bipartisanship in "taking a stand." more potential presidential candidates with recent books include former governor jeb bush. in "immigration wars" he along

with clint bolick argue for new immigration policies. in "stand for something" ohio governor john kasich calls for a return to traditional american values. former virginia senator james webb looks back on his time serving in the military and in the senate in "i heard my country calling." independent vermont senator bernie sanders recently announced his intention to seek the democratic nomination for president. his book "the speech" is a printing of his eight-hour-long filibuster against tax cuts. and in "promises to keep" vice president joe biden looked back on his career in politics and explains his guiding principles. neurosurgeon ben carson calls for greater individual responsibility to preserve america's future in "one nation." in "fed up" former texas governor rick perry explains government has become too intrusive and must get out of the way. another politician who has expressed interest in running for president is former rhode

island governor lincoln chaffee. in "against the tide" he recounts his time serving as a republican in the senate. carly fiorina, former ceo of hewlett-packard, shares lessons she's learned from her difficulties and triumphs in "rising to the challenge." louisiana governor bobby jindal criticizes the obama administration and explains why conservative solutions are needed in washington in "leadership and crisis." and finally, in "a time for truth," another declared presidential candidate texas senator ted cruz, recounts his journey from a cuban immigrant's son to the u.s. senate. look for his book in june. back in february president obama asked congress for authorization to use military force against isis, and in april a panel of military lawyers, law professors, and authors discussed presidential war powers and the role of congress in authorizing military operations. the conversation was hosted by

the new york city bar association. >> good evening, everyone. my name is jonathan heifetz, and i'm the chair of the city bar association's task force on national security and the rule of law. we're delighted to be here tonight for this panel discussion, "a president at war: an examination of the war powers of the executive branch and the role of congress in authorizing military operations." tonight we'll discuss an issue that is both timeless and

timely. the president's war powers and congress's role in authorizing military operations. these issues date to the first days of the republic and have constitutional structure since. through lincoln's use of the force against the con fed rascy in the civil war, roosevelt's response to the rise of nazi germany and post-war interventions in korea vietnam and conflicts that followed. questions of the war powers is central could the current fight against al qaeda and other terrorist groups since 9/11. and today to the response of emerging threats such as the islamic state of iraq and sisal. in the days since 9/11, congress enacted a 2001 authorization for military force to respond to the

attacks of 9/11. since 2001 this authorization or the 2001 aumf has provided a statutory basis not only for the conflict against al qaeda and the taliban in afghanistan, but for global conflict against al qaeda as well as associated groups including offshoots in yemen, somalia, and most recently isil. this framework statute has provided basis for a wide range of counter-terrorism and military operations including detention, interrogation and targeting. in the so-called war on terror a war that president obama himself has said like all wars must end. recent developments have prompted renewed attention on not only on the aumf but also on the scope of the president's war powers and the role of congress in authorizing the use of military force. those events include the drawdown of u.s. forces in afghanistan, which provided the

indisputable theater of boots on the ground armed conflict since 9/11 and the groups like isil that threaten regional stability. this past february president obama submitted his administration's proposal for a new force authorization, targeted at isil. as we'll discuss more tonight, the proposal is notable both for what it includes, limited ground combat operations and a three-year sunset provision as for what it does not include, no corresponding sunset of the long-standing 2001 aumf. in many ways, the united states is at a crossroads on questions of presidential war powers and congressional authorization and actions in the coming months will shape the course of future response to these issue for many years to come. tonight we're going to be exploring many of these questions, including the authority of the president to respond to the use of force as

commander in chief the role and responsibility of congress in responding to new threats, whether the nature of new threats like isil require us to rethink traditional conceptions of the war powers and the optimal ways that the powers of the two coordinate branches should be exercised in this context. we're fortunate tonight to be joined by distinguished panel of experts. i'll go ahead and introduce the panelists to you and then they will speak in order and after that we will have time for questions and answers. i would ask in advance when you have a question to please come up to the microphones to ask your question. first, we'll hear from lieutenant colonel ward narimore at the department of law at west point. he's a u.s. army judge advocate who was deployed to iraq as the

chief legal advisor to a xwad combat brigade in the 101st airborne division. before being designed to west point, lieutenant colonel served as deputy chief of the international law division at u.s. army europe. so a distinguished career both in academia as well as on the ground. lieutenant colonel narimore will be followed by ryan goodman. ryan gad man is a professor at nyu slool here in the city and a co-editor of the widely read and flukesal justice security blog which focuses on civil liberties and national security. ryan formally taught at harvard law school where he was a professor of human rights and humanitarian law and direct ker of the human rights program. he's a member of many distinguished boards and journals including the american journal of international law. he's also a member of the united states department of states advisory committee on international law, and a member of the counsel on foreign

relations. he's published widely in academic journals and elsewhere and his book "socializing states: promoting human rights through international law" was awarded the american society of international laws 2014 certificate of merit for preeminent contribution to creative scholarship. and then we will hear from julian cou. he's oat distinguished professor of constitutional law at hofstra law school. he focuses primarily on the relationship of international law to constitutional law. he's also conducted a academic research on a wide range of topics, including china's relationship with international law. he's received many honors including membership in the american law institute. he's the key author of "taming

globalization, international law: the u.s. constitution and the new world order," and has written numerous academic articles, book chapters it, symposia contributions as well as writing in numerous popular journals from "the wall street journal" to the los angeles and "new york times." >> finally, he cofounded the leading international law blog, which like just security blog is read kailey by thousands worldwide. so we are fortunate tonight to have such a distinguished group of experts. i will turn it over to them. they will speak in the order they were introduced and then we will move into the question and answer will portion of the segment. thank you. >> all right, i get to go first. so jonathan, thank you for the introduction and thank you for having me. i start with a piece of house keeping business. i have to give the standard dod disclaimer.

i'm here on personal capacity. any remarks are not official position of the department of defense or the u.s. army or west point. so that's out of the way. so i think the way we discussed is i'm going to give the lay of the land, the general frame work on the law as it exists and then turn it over to professor goodman so they can clean up any left. so our topic is presidential war powers. any time you talk about presidential war powers, you have to start with the basic concept that in our system the president any time he uses force has to have two legal justifidations, an international legal justification and domestic legal justification. internationally, we're talking about primarily the un charter. article 24 sets the standard that states do not use force against political independents or territorial integrity of another state. that he the baseline and then it gives us certain exceptions. so the primarily exception is u.n. security council resolution authorizing the use of force or acting in self-defense. under self-defense, you have

several different types of self-defense anticipatory, peremptory, defense of nationals. that's one justification the president has to have. we can get into that tonight if anybody wishes to if the conversation leads in that direction. my sense is at least in regard to isis, that one's not as troesh as the domestic legal justification which is the second justification the president has to have, a domestic legal justification for his use of force. that's probably going to be our primary area of family sis tonight. so i'm going to talk a little bit about what are those potential legal justifications and then get into the what are the spec ones he's relying on in the case of isis. so anytime you talk about the justifications for legal justifications for use of force you have to start with the constitution. so congress the way the constitution divides the war powers between the two primary branches of government congress and the president is the congress has the greater number of listed powers in this area.

so they have the one the power to declare war. the power grant letter of marquee, the power to punish offenses against the law of nations, to punish piracies, so they have a much greater list of actual powers that relate to the national security area. as compared to the president, so his primary power in this area is the commander in chief's clause. it's very straightforward. says president is the commander in chief but don't give us additional detail of what specifically that includes. so we know most people are confident that it certainly includes some power to defend the nation. we get that from the prize cases and then of course, presidential the way the president has acted over the years since the founding of our government. so that's his primary power. he also relies on a general foreign affairs power. there's no clause in the constitution that says he will exercise foreign affairs but we know he has the power to make treaties and receive ambassadors

to appoint ambassadors and from that we degree arrived a general idea that the president has the power to execute foreign affairs. that includes some ability to use the military. and then on top of that, you have the chief chevy clause. the president is the chief executive of article 2 which many argue that that in and of itself is a grant of power to the president that he can use in this area. those are the way the powers are laid out generally in the constitution. most people are relatively comfortable saying that the founders probably intended congress to be much more involved in this area particularly in war powers than they are today. the way it was originally drafted. but over type, we've seen this evolution of power toward the president. why has that occurred? for several different reasons primarily the president is a unitary actor. he has the ability to act independent lit whereas congress has to muster the will of 535 people. that's often a