there was celebration. i visited. i had the opportunity to visit the indian parliament. it was a lot of noise. there was no discipline. at that time, the prime minister and vice prized miniature -- vice prime minister came to india. besides other business with the indian government, they also urged me to return. the indian prime minister informed me reform was postponed six years. even after six years, it can be

further postponed. it was a personal message from chairman mao to me. i told the prime minister i found big differences. the indian parliament and our big parliament -- our parliament was completely silent. the indian parliament was too much noise. the prime minister told me that much had changed -- no more discipline. big differences. an authoritarian system and an open society. after 1959,w3 this is not a

connection. we decided to raise the tibetan issue at theçç un. naturally, we discussed it with the indian prime minister. he told me it is not useful to raise an issue at the un. betterç not to raise it. but inside that, with some help, including the united states, we found sponsorsç, and then finay raised it at the un.

after that, another occasion -- my meeting with the prime minister. a little bit hesitant. what is the action? we can follow his advice. i met him. no sign of some kind of dislike. ç?;iç felt "this is democrac" çevery person, every people, hs a right to express their feelings regarding their own views, their own beliefs. in the meantime, some ofç our close supporters, a close

family -- whenever i met a, he was a very staunch supporter of tibetan independence. whenever we met, he always criticized. even our private conversation. in the indian parliament, also, he always criticized the government and prime minister at nehru -- prime minister nehru. but they all workedw3 together peacefully. they all had an occasion to learn what is the value of democracy.

then, although my own vision and mind was not really clear, because as i mentioned earlier i recognize and realize our whole system -- brown 1952, at the reform committee stepped in. there were a lot of reforms carried. but then the further progress that chinese officials -- chinese communist officials said they want their own formal -- their own form of reform. tibetan reform initiated by ourself may become a hindrance

to their own reform. so that was an obstacle. as soon as we reached india, we started at once for democratization. step-by-step, as early as 69, in an official public statement i çmentioned to the tibetan peop. okat that time, some media peope were interested. i told them if the tibetan people feel an institution is no longer relevant, this

institution at least a few centuries old, then i tell them, the 14th dalai lama, certainly not the best dalai lama but not the dalai worst dalai lama, w3 king's the institutions should cease. -- thinks the institution should cease. in 2001, finally, we achieved collective political leadership -- elected political leadership. in meetings, i always introduced him as the -- in the political

field, he is my boss. in the spiritual field, i am his boss. [laughter] yesterday, in my meeting with the president, i mentioned that. w3of course,t( my own interestsa simple buddhist monkw3 are, numr one, the promotion of human value. i mentioned to the president that we are part of 6 million -- 6 billion human beings. on the human being level, no differences, from president, king, or queen, to the bottom, we are the same.

and we all have the same right -- the right to live a happy life. so in order to live a happy life, the material facilities are important, no question. but the ultimate source, the ultimate basis of joyful lesnes depends on our mind up -- inner value. everybody seeks joy in his life, and happy life. but expecting joyfulness to come from outside is wrong. the ultimatexd source is oursel. çwe mustok realize that. we must pay more attention to our inner value. so that is my number one commitment.

we have value as human beings. my second commitment is promotion of harmony. these two things are a lifelong commitment to which i am committed. the third commitment is a struggle since 2001. my position is the same as the chinese position. when i met some people concerning the tibet issue, they're mainly is the point made -- there is mainly the point made by the elected leadership. that is the way how i learned the value of democracyç and thn

implemented it. i am very happy commie -- i am very happy, and it is a great honor, to receive this metal. -- this medal. i was told that human rights defenders -- i want to share with you my deep appreciation for what you are doing. usually, human-rights -- protection of human rights is not just an individual sort of right. i feel -- i am always telling those organizations and individuals who are working for human rights -- i am always

telling them an area or country where those people who have the ability to think about the future, to have the ability of political vision -- these people usually become critical about a system -- the ruling system. so then they express their point of view. usually, these people suffer. these people first suffer casualties. any country -- the real sort of change must come through people

, through individual creativity. the totalitarian system, without freedom -- that opportunity to utilize individual creativity stops. therefore, the protection of individual human rights is actually protection of the whole society or government's progress -- the whole country. your work, on a practical level like that -- on a special level, as i mentioned earlier, in every human being, from birth, we have an equal right. some people are given order.

some people receive orders. that is not a human being. everybody, you see, cannot be a peasant. so through elections, shoes by people for the people -- choose by people for the people. that gort of power to control change, and that also gives them some kind of sense of responsibility. that is involvement. the democratic system is really wonderful. however, the education in order to utilize a democratic system properly -- education is a key factor.

those countries where education is good, a democratic system is more smooth. where education is still lacking, sometimes democracy is a quite strange democracy. it happens like that. we very much emphasize education. as soon as we become educated, our first duty is education for young people. in 1960, when never paid attention -- we never paid attention outside the monastery. i think the last few years, we

almost never spend money on this huge 6 -- this huge construction of these monasteries. all our energy,w3 all our resources, were spent on education. our schools are like that. it is a successful achievement in that field. looking back, we have become one of the successful communities. and i thinkçç for people insie tibet, we have to act according toç their wish.

for more than 30 years, iq think from inside tibet when people come to indiaç and here to the united statesxd, they sought a t(situationçç of the tibetan e communityç, and particularlyçe buddhist study. they expressed appreciation. this also is an important part of preserving tibetan political culture. ç tibetan culture, tibetan buddhist culture. buddhist culture, but as with a think is an important part, the mental quality, not just the

declaration. it is mental. it is a true study, true learning. so we very much emphasize the study of learning of buddhism and buddhism here and used to make three parts. portis science remains in the science -- buddhist science, philosophy, like things are interdependent. and a lot of causality. these are very similar to darwinian a theory. sometimes these concepts are a sign carried -- buddhist practitioner. but the science and concept is in the universe.

therefore, not more than 20 years, more and more people from the scientific community are showing interest, learning, explanation or a different to look at the human brain, human emotion and how to tell these things. so -- so we carry every single effort to the preservation and richest of tibetan buddhist culture. time for question period [laughter] [applause]

>> your holiness, we thank you so much for your wonderful we're grateful you chose to be here with us this morning. we thank you for your willingness to take questions from our audience. if you'll permit, i will read the first one and ask for your response, please. "qçxdw3okin what sense is demoy dqñrçb(ácvçóçf - violence so importantv:w3zv? ççç" meaningç -- mentioned.

i think people should participate in how to govern themselves. that means respect. equality. that is very, very important. buddhist tradition also -- there is a buddha, a buddhist monk. with the monastic system, there are 100 different acts. all of these acts must be carried out by a group of monks. no single monk has authority. therefore, i think -- also, in

every act, when we carry, we have to ask the person what they do, excepting this sort of task or not. -- accepting this sort of task or not. if he says he is willing, this person accepted the task. now, the group makes a unanimous agreement or not. three times, they ask. there is no opposition. then, that person carries out the act. that is, i think, very democratic. he has authority, but he never gives authority to a single

buddhist monk like that. that is a sort of democratic system. no concern about a different class is. even chairman mao, in 1955, on one occasion he told me he considered buddha it revolutionary person -- boot up a revolutionary person. the caste system in india, botha was against that. -- buddhaxdç was against that. chairman mao considered him an ancient revolutionary. çdemocracy, naturallyç, you he to listen to others views.

çeven different views, you must respect. even different views. you must respect. so any agreement or different review, eliminate that as of violence. listen to other views and respect different views or opposite views. you must respect. we have to find the common ground. through understanding. so that means dialogue. that is the basis of nonviolence. non-violence does not mean indifference. nonviolence means problem. your heavily engaged. but without using force. this is very much predictive.

>> "when did you first realize that tibet have to take the path of democracy and modernization and is not threaten traditional tibetan values?" >> i think, as i mentioned, i çthinkç the main source of knowledgeçç democracy after we come to india. there is noç danger. we must remain skeptical.

we carry investigationç. experiment. things become clear. then you execute. botha has mentioned that follower should not execute and his wishes out of faith, out of devotion, but out of your own experiment and investigation. it is a tibetan tradition that sometimes the lama position can become social status. through that way, it comes crashing down. when that time comes, we must go to the root of tradition. i often, when i give some teaching -- i often prefer a

text read by those reliable, authentic masters of their institutions. i think if we go back to the source, i think it is very scientific, a very democratic principle. look at the text. >> which country will have greater influence in the world in the years ahead, democratic india or communist china? >> i think the united states. [laughter] [applause] repeat. repeat that question. [laughter]

what do you mean? between china and india? [speaking tibetan] between these two -- i think the indian prime minister. sometimes i describe him as saintly prime minister, very nice. his office is very clean. his face also looks like a saint. you see, he expressed the economic field in india was a little behind. but india is a democracy. it has a transfer of free information, and open society. humans need these things.

these are much lackingçóç in te people's republic ofñr china, unfortunately. the hard-liner communist leadershipi] -- they do not see the holistic picture. in order to bring a happy society, and meaningful society, a big constructions are not the answer. in order to be a happy society, money is important, no question. at the same time, the other values such as individual freedom, free information, independent judiciary.

here in the united states, my close friend, president clinton, one time had a little bit of a problem. there was a court. bicol parted -- equal. even the president had to answer. the indian president breaks a law, he has to go to court. this is equality. in china, you cannot imagine. you cannot imagine the leaders go to court. the court is the party's court. the army is the parties are made. -- the army is the party's army. people's government, people's

army, people's republic? . . peking, one official -- one tibetan official, he expressed to me where most of the official list, he said peoples order. but action, no people, no republic. only officials. only party members. [laughter] [laughter] and then early 1950's , i was in peking and i taught. in six months, then in many few months, i taught in a different

part. different part of china. çat that time, those party membersçu!çokç really dedicae çpeople. çççthere was comfort. with full belief, faked. ssákoç?;xzvideology. very strong. believe. there is a vision to reach the society of communism. that doesn't work justç for one country but a worldwide movement. so beautiful because of the vision. so much attention. at that time, i also expressed i want to join the party. i believe as the social economy,

i consider myself a there. sometimes i feel my brain more çthat those chinese leaders. w3they do not care about that. çi]money, money, money. so like that. so therefore. now today, those new party recruits, no such a fate, no suchsoy determination. simply tryç to get the opportunity about money like that. so today's communist in china are corrupted. i think the people -- i think

very few support that. so you mentioned -- and also affeci think high party position. so they express the illusion -- the dissolution. so sometimes i express. now now time comes. communist party. retire with grace. it is much better. [applause] if you use the chinese officials about that, i have plenty of

reason. no popular support. no salt ideology. -- no solid ideology. it is wonderful. [laughter] i met one noble gloria. i cannot mention his name. -- i met 1 noble laureate. çrecently i met and asked him w china socialist and without hesitation he said, no, not socialist. xdso, in world history and particularly in the century, people betterç education and me different values.

how can it remain in the system? knowledge. any political party. impossible. to remain in power forever. so therefore, the chinese communist partyç, at the same time,xd they also made a lot of qcontributions for a stronger china. so now with thatt(ç, i will gracefully retire. [laughter] with some high peasantry. ç-- some high pageantry.

>> this one asks,i] your holine, do you ever have a bad day? [laughter] >> bad day. ç>> i think, as iç mentioned -- [unintelligible] the consummate dislike one stupid students -- they considered me just liked one stupid student. the reincarnation.

this accepted the reality of a young studenti]. at that time, my image as a brother of myself, bothok monk carries together. my tutorç keptç twçoçç wees qqthe whole student. if thatç yellowç holy is usedi do not think -- [unintelligible] thereforeç -- thereforeç -- [unintelligibl if that yellow holy whip used, i felt pain. sometimes i placed too much and for got to learn. i was very much afraid of my

tutor who may use that little holy whip. [laughter] of course, it takes on a much more dibble meaning. my conscience also grew -- much more difficult meaning. my conscience always true. looked at everything. -- look at everything. that concept is very helpful. even during the worst difficulties, if you look the buddhist way -- ok.

there is other advice. if things really seem difficult, analyzed the situation. if there is a way to work on that, do not worry. make effort. if there is no possibility to work on that, there is no use to much worry. [laughter] very realistic and scientific. so, whenever i have problems, i always look from the holistic view. if there is a bit i can avoid, or can work on, i try my best. if something is impossible, then, ok, with a strong belief or concept of karma. due to our own karma, nothing can be done. ok. [applause] >> i very much regret to say

that due to the fact that his holiness has a tight travel schedule neboj >> very tight travel schedule -- >> some positive things happened -- too much over excitement. if something goes wrong, too much complaint. do not do that. [laughter] [applause] of course, on the intellectual level, there is no -- we must know right and wrong and good and bad. when something actually happens, on the emotional level, deeper levels, i think he must try to keep the difficult things that

they come -- relies on the intellectual level that it happened -- realized that it just happened and it should not affect you emotionally. we all have the capacity and potential. if you look at inner values or energy sources, you become more realistic. particularly here, compassion. infinite compassion is very powerful. it is part of my own practice and many good practitioners. i cannot say i am a good practitioner.

i cannot say. but i am a practitioner. [laughter] dedicate your own bodies and minds for the well-being and impotent -- infinite beings, including your enemy. at a practical level, not what. it cannot solve the problem, cannot help. on the emotional level, immense benefits. everybody has the capacity and everybody comes from a mother. everybody survived with mother's milk. we have the same plant -- the same potential to develop based on human compassion. [laughter] >> we just thank you so much for being so generous with your time

here. it has been such an amazing privilege. i remember your wonderful book "of the art of happiness." i read it many years ago and never dreamed i would hear you in person. i remember your book you said that love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness. you have given us a great deal of happiness here today. we thank you so much. [applause] >> thank you. thank you very much. thank you. [applause]

[applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, we request they remain seated until the party has left. thank you. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, we will let the dollar and llama entourage x at first. -- dolly llama -- dalai lama

entourage exit first. our partners have arranged to give all those present today a beautiful calendar with exquisite photographs. i take this opportunity to thank the staff here at the library of congress. you have been delightful. i understand that the library has arranged to displace some of its extraordinary tibetan collection down the hall -- display some of its extraordinary tibet and collection down the hall. you can view those on your way out. thank you. good afternoon. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> this weekend, first lady michelle obama on preventing childhood obesity.

this is part of our coverage of the annual meeting of the national governors' association. it is through the weekend on c- span. >> next, a look at the 2010 census preparations. a commerce disparate best commerce department's inspector general says that the census bureau has wasted millions of dollars in preparations for this year's census. this is from today's washington journal and it is 40 minutes. is the inspector general with the commerce department, here to talk about the census. republicans, 202-737-0001. democrats, 202-737-0002. independents, 202-628-0205. here to talk about the sentence, but in particular, your -- census, but in particular, your quarterly reports, what did it find? guest: our quarterly report is

based on a requirement that the appropriations committee placed on us to measure the progress of the sentence on a quarterly basis. -- census on a quarterly basis. we look at five things in the report. one is the status of the paper- based operation control system. that is the system they will use to manage in the enumerators then go out to do non-response follow up. that was the software that you receive it -- just referred to. the second thing we look at is some of the cost schedules that census has. we look at a load test that the census bureau is conducting on how well all of their i.t. systems will work. we looked at a revised cost estimates that the census

director commission for a non- response follow up operation. so the report follows all of those issues. host: there was some concern about the portable electronics, the infrastructure that enumerators use when they collect this data. is that still a concern from your department? guest: the hand-held computer was originally intended to do two things. 14 address canvassing, where they identified the addresses of all the homes in the country. it was used for that, and it worked pretty well. the other function that it was intended to reform was the non- response follow-up. there were some scheduling problems when the decision was made in the spring of 2008 to revert back to a paper-based non response follow. some of the problems we

have on the paper-based system is the need to develop that system after the decision was made to drop the computer response. host: there was an article in the "washington post" about census forms, focusing particularly on the hispanic community, urging the residents to participate. this was in montgomery county.

what can you tell us about this area of concern? does the report address this area? guest: we do not go into confidentiality, but i have been at the commerce department two years now. census data is covered by title 13. census data is treated almost as classified information involving national security. there are criminal penalties for disclosing census data to parties who are not authorized, including law enforcement. they do not get access to centers data. -- census data. host: your biggest area of concern so far? guest: the uncertainty on how efficient the non-response

follow-up program will be run. also, the response rate. if the american public wants to contain cost on the census, the best thing they can do is, when they get their census form in the mail, fill that out and mail it back promptly. if they do that, we can reduce the estimated cost by significant margins. host: new orleans. william on the republican line. we are going to go through richmond. derrick. caller: good morning. my question is, how do you take into account undocumented workers, people who do not want to be identified? i also have a quick comment.

the reason america is in the position it is in is because we need to stop being intolerant of our personal beliefs. intolerance is the enemy of good. if i cannot get 100% of what i want, i would take 50% to allow the country to move forward. we need to stop imposing our own personal beliefs on everyone else, and we have to sometimes take half in order to move forward to become what we should be. that is it. guest: thank you. the issue of how we account for people who are hernot here

legally, the constitution does not distinguish between inhabitants who are legal and not. the census bureau does not make that distinction either. the census form had 10 questions. they estimate it will only take 10 minutes to fill out. it does ask for names of individuals residing at the house, and the purpose of that is to make sure people are not double counted, and so the people who fill out the forms can to who they are counting. again, the information is confidential, and there is no distinction between legal and illegal residents. host: has there ever been an effort to change that, by

statute, to count only legal residencts? guest: there was a movement recently by a member of the appropriations committee to head the census bureau mask on the form -- ask on the form whether the responder was here legally or illegally. that was not enacted by the congress. host: on the spending, your report indicates that so far spending is under budget. spending for october, a 11% under budget. 1% in november. are you happy about those results, what is driving that? guest: of course, we are happy that it is under budget right now. gao has done some work on this

as well. the budgeting process that the census bureau uses, we do not have a lot of confidence in it. host: speaking of the inspector general? guest: yes, and our report highlight that. some of the analysis we did on the overruns, it was near 25% sun, which is significant. -- 25%, which is significant. we looked at what happened, and a lot of the difficult was from estimating. we are happy that it is under budget right now, but we need to keep in mind the uncertainties of the cost. host: next phone call from florida. michelle. caller: i would like to know the

total cost of what this will be. my second question is, with our government in such a disaster right now, we are not in the collection mode. we are in extreme danger economy mode. couldn't the census just be canceled right now? you know how many people are in america from the social security information. it makes no sense. the government needs to start cutting back right now. that would be a good place. second, why do we need summer school? we could save millions, maybe billions, by doing away with summer school. host: we are going to leave it there. thank you. guest: right now the estimated cost of the census is about $14.7 billion. that is the total life cycle

costs. those costs have been incurred over the past 10 years. this fiscal year, fy 2010, the congress disseminated about $10 billion to the census. last year it was around $3 billion. to most of the money has been appropriated -- so most of the money has been appropriated. since the constitution requires a decennial count, i do not think there will be the chance to have this canceled. host: what is the primary purpose of the census? guest: to count the number of people residing in the country, but also to identify where they are resigning. the reason -- residing. the reason that is important is because it determines how many representatives in congress each

state will be allotted. that is called apportionment. it is important not to find out not only how many people we have, but also where they are located. host: next phone call. caller: i have a question and comment period on a lot of the commercials you are putting on about the senses -- question and a comment. a comment. a lot of >> you promised money in those things -- money that we do not have. if you are not counted, we cannot do this and that. it is all borrowed money. i do not understand -- when you know a crime is being committed, whether it is constitutionally accepted or not, when you cross the borders

in america illegally -- that is a crime. if you do not report the crime, that is aiding and abetting. my own government is going to contribute to aiding and abetting a crime that is being committed and they expect americans to just deal with it. thank you very much. >> the other purpose of the census that the caller alluded to was the allocation of federal funding. federal funding programs are going to continue regardless of the deficit. it is true that there is a substantial cost growth and substantial deficit. the census data is used to determine how that federal funding is allocated across the states. it is another purpose for the census. in terms of the a legal residents in the country, the census bureau does not know who is here legally or illegally.

it does not ask that question the census bureau is there to determine the number of residents and where they're located, not whether they are here legally or not. >> he has obviously seen one of the commercials that perhaps made its debut in the super bowl. i think we have all looked at one of the recent commercials. let's take a look. remember is we are not anyone -- letting anyone know the locations. >> so just the 300 million people will know the location? then the snapshot of america. >> isn't that what the sentence is doing? >> but we have to know when that is going to happen. we have to get them there. >> absolutely.

host: what is your response? guest: i have seen in the print media that the ads have not been well-received. the congress wanted the census bureau to use paid advertising because the intent is, if you advertise, more people will respond and be aware and participate. one no. i would like to provide a is -- for everyone% increase in households that return their sentence form, we will save about $90. this time around, they are estimating a 65% return rate. if we can increase that 10%, we can save $900 million. i hope that they are successful. there are different measures that we are using this time around to see if ads have been

helpful. we will just have to see at the end of the campaign. host: can you give us a total cost on the advertising, marketing campaign? guest: it is called the integrated communications campaign. it is up in the $300 million range. page media, about $100 million. host: next phone call from georgia. caller: i watched the people taking the census standing outside and counting people. they cannot even visiting homes. -- were not even visiting homes. they say that we are going to get this in the mail. i have not received anything yet. guest: thank you for that. that is important question.

census forms will not be mailed out until the second or third week of march. before that, you will get a postcard to remind you it is coming. if you do not fill it out promptly and mail that that, you are likely to get a replacement form. at some point after that, census enumerators will come out and try to reach you can take the information in person. host: have changes in the housing market and people moving affected the way that the commerce department approaches the senses this year? guest: absolutely. they have a number of operations in order to carry out the census. theythey have a plan to determie

whether or not a home is vacant and whether or not the address need to be deleted from their address list. they also have special operations for transitory, homeless. they have special operations for people who visit soup kitchens, and other community housing. host: tuskegee, alabama. go ahead. caller: good morning. instead of calling in advertising and marketing, i think you might get a better response if you could educate more about what the sentence is used for. maybe instead of using the word "snapshot" maybe you could say trendy. when they ask about in, and

number of rooms in the household -- some people are offended about what you want to know how many rooms, how much in, i make -- in come -- income i make. i think if you talk more about trending and how it relates to the education -- again, people need to be educated. people have been doing this every 10 years. it used to be done with a survey. when we were growing up in the 1950's, that is how it was. host: adding to that, there is a atwtweet --

tie that into the marketing and census itself. guest: on the question of the marketing, one of the forms that the census bureau undertook in 2010 was to change the process for serving, questions about income, number of rooms, that used to be in along her questionnaire. that will not be here this time. there will only be 10 questions. it will only take 10 minutes, according to them. the types of question that you talked about it was among the american community survey, which is an ongoing survey based on a sample of americans taken. those questions are done through the american community survey.

in terms of questions about ethnicity and race, the census form that you will be getting does include questions about race and ethnicity, primarily because there are statutes that require that. there is in the voting rights of 1966, i believe, where redistricting require state legislatures to know the race and ethnicity of their population. that is what they ask questions like that. host: massachusetts. john on the democrat line. caller: i wondered when the republicans were complaining about the sentence, that they did not want the democrats to do it -- census, that they did not want the democrats to do it, is it not true that they did not know how many people were in their district to vote?

republicans complained about the sentence because they do not want people to know how many people are really here in the districts. those are votes that the democrats cannot get. i have not heard more about the discussion in the census -- about the sentence between the democrats and republicans. -- census between the democrats and republicans. guest: we are appointed, without political party, we are nonpartisan. at this point, the types of reviews that i do, and while i understand the politics around the city, the work at my office does is not geared to a republican or democrat, but really on how efficient the operation is, and how we can make it more effective.

host: steve on the republican line. caller: how does the census handle the inmate population? i imagine most of them are housed outside of their place of residence. guest: that is a good question. the short answer is, the prison populations are enumerated in an operation called the group quarters. they are enumerated in the locality where the prison is located. for the purposes of the decennial census, prisoners will be counted as residents of the location of the prison. there was a change recently announced by the census bureau. i have not spoken to the director personally about this, but i have read about it, but what i believe they are

determined -- considering doing is providing information about the prison population earlier to the states than they have in past years to that states can do their own enumerations to determine home localities of inmates, and determine how to best use that data for redistricting. host: is that position a politically-appointed position? guest: yes, by the president and senate. host: next phone call. caller: thank you. i appreciate c-span. unless my math is wrong, the population of the country is about $300 million. that is about $50 per person to count them. don't you think the post office could have done just as good a

job? maybe just make them work some overtime. they know where the male goes. it just seems -- mail goes. it just seems like -- $14 billion was the no. i heard -- it seems like a weird program. i know that we have to count but i feel like the post office could have done it more efficiently. guest: the prospect of the post office conducting the sentence is interesting. -- census is interesting. other people have suggested the military do it. you're putting your finger on the big cost, personnel costs. they are going to hire about 1 million people to carry this out. that is the main driver. they need to look at ways to cut

costs for the 2010 census. your suggestion should be in the mix for 2020. his account was actually a little low. i think it is about 60. host: the quarterly report on the census, we have linked not on our website. part of that is looking at status of contingency plans. there are some areas of concern here, risks, status 2009. let me read some of this -- when the risks that this is high, what does that mean? guest: we believe this is in

excess of the program, looking at risk management, which is much more rigorous than they did in 2000. we have commended them for looking at risk areas. they have a committee that assesses risk on a regular basis. i think they meet monthly. they identify risks, and for the high risks, they determine how to mitigate those risks. . this is actually good news. host: is this looking at the impact of hurricane katrina on new orleans board is this picture major disasters that could affect areas? guest: this is future. if there is an earthquake in california, for example, that would have a significant impact

on the census bureau impact in california. it had to be planned for. host: this group is charged with making those contingency plans. let's go to vermont and the democrat line. >> good morning -- guest: -- caller: good day. i opened the door and said, can i help you and a lady said, i am with the census. she had a gadget in her hands where she was collecting coordinates including latitude and longitude. i was wondering why you have to have that. another question is -- i was just wondering if, suppose you like and you are found out, are there consequences for that? guest: the answer to the first

part of your question was -- the operation you experienced was canvassing were the census blisters -- listers were going around to make sure they had everybody's address and exactly where that address was. i do not know if you live an urban or rural or suburban area, but there are parts of the country that are very difficult to pinpoint. the hand-held device that you saw had a gps function that was able to exactly pinpoint that location to a map. has to count the number of people but where those people are located in terms of la. on the census form, there are -- in terms of lying on the census form, there are penalties but there is very little history of people actually falsified the forms that i am aware of. host: from new york, good

morning. let me put you on hold and turn down your television or radio. jacksonville, fla., our independent line. caller: good morning. i used to work for the post office. the addresses that the census bureau uses are from the postal service because january, february of last year, all of the addresses are tabulated by the delivery routes. that is where all the mailing is going to which the post office is doing already. my first question is -- has the senses been moved back to the commerce department or is the president still in charge or the white house, i should say. ?

on the role of the post of this -- the census bureau does work with the post office in terms of constructing its address list. . it does not use the post office addresses explosively. they go out to their own address canvassing. we think the use of post office addresses but other administrative records such as where your social security check is mailed, etc, should be used by the census bureau and we think there are cost savings that can be done there. those are administrative records and we are in favor of the census bureau increasing its use of administrative records to contrast -- to construct an address list for the census bureau has always, not always, but been in the department of commerce and moved to the white house. there was concern about that when they were talking about nominees for the position of the secretary of commerce.

the census bureau never moved. there is some talk of making it an independent agency but right now it is in the commerce department. host: we have the inspector general of the census department prit. back to new york on the line. go ahead caller: i don't know if i am slow but getting wrong information but i hear that the census committee or whatever it is called was given $352 million to do its job. that is more than the people in the country. what about a corner? aren't they still involved somehow? guest: i am not sure of the first part of your question. the census bureau which has supported a lot of money to carry out the census. in fy 20109gy i think they

appropriated more than $7 billion. the $352 million, i am not commit -- familiar with that figure. the second part of your question is escaping me. the census bureau goes out and they recruit what they call partner organizations that help them get the word out in the communities and answer questions from people in the community about the census. at one point, acorn was a partner of the census for that purpose. partners do not receive federal funding from the census bureau. because of the controversy surrounding acorn several months ago or last year, the census bureau disassociated itself from a corn. i don't think they are listed as a partner in the sense anymore.

host: port charlotte, fla., independent, go ahead caller: you mentioned that there are 10 questions. i believe the constitution only requires the number of persons per household. you mentioned the confidentiality of the census. i believe the census was used during world war two to round up japanese and put them in internment camps. guest: i am not familiar with whether the census was used for that purpose during world war two. host: we have a tweed that asks how does the senses and all the illegal mexican population whose children are legal? guest: the census comes to households.

the head of the household or anybody over 15 can answer the census form. that primary responder is asked to list all the residents in the household. there is room on the form to list every individual living in the household. host: when you come out with the quarterly report and you can get it online through our website, c-span.org, the reaction to that, millions wasted on the senses, do you think the media got that right? guest: i think the media got that right. what was missing from the media report was the context that our report puts that inefficiency or waste in. that was some of the elements of the cost overrun for canvassing. our point was, the non-response

follow up operation was going to be four or five times larger than the canvassing operation. whatever ways or inefficiency the census bureau experienced in address canvassing, if they do not get internal controls in place or do better cost containment, the waste will be fortified. host: you expressed earlier your concern over the cost of the 2020 census rising again. are there recommendations how to win in costs over the next 10 years? guest: yes, work on the 2020 census has already started. we have been making recommendations for years on those issues for more efficiency including using the internet. c÷we have made recommendationsr the past several years that the census bureau should be using the internet. they do have a pilot program. we have not really looked at it yet on using the internet for

the senses. the other thing i mentioned was the address list that the census bureau constructs. we think that should be done throughout the decade instead of having a $400 million operation towards the end of the decade host: we talked about housing. many folks do not have a home fault. they have eight cell phone per it does this affect your data collection? guest: know, the only way that would affect the enumeration is that if somebody does not return their form and in numerator tries to contact the household and is unable to, sometimes they will try to reach the household by telephone and try to arrange a time to come by and ask questions in person. if there is no phone number in the phone book or whatever listing is associate with that address, it will be more difficult to do that. host: grapevine, texas, democratic caller.

caller: i had a post office box of the post office for 20 years even though i own my home for over 40 years. they do not really have a physical address for me. what i can't understand is why the republicans are so afraid of the senses. my question on the census is not asking with your illegal or legal, how can that possibly affect re-districting. we have that criminal tom delay in texas who before the census in the bush-janey administraticheney used it for .

guest: let me take the first point about the p.o. boxes. even though you get your mail at a p.o. box, you will not deter census form a pill box. it will have to come to your physical address if you have a physical address where you haven't received mail because the post office does not deliver their, chances are, you will be visited by a census enumerator. host: she was talking about re- districting in texas and a little bit about illegal immigration guest. guest: the data that we collect is transmitted to the president and the congress by december 31 for the purposes of apportionment. that is to say how many representatives are allotted to each state. in the spring, around march of next year, the census

information will be delivered to the state legislatures for re- districting purposes. that is a state operation. in terms of any questions about how the census data is used for re-districting, that will be up to the state legislatures. host: bridge, va., and our republican line. caller: if you ask for names in an illegal community, this thing will cost us $20 billion. i don't think people who are illegal will put their names down. i don't understand why they should. you probably get a better response if you did not ask for men -- names. the second thing is i would like you to shoot off the 10 questions so we can hear them. if this is all about deciding

where federal funds go, if 1 million illegal aliens are in a dense area and the respond and you have 1 million residents and get half a million illegal residents respond, the radically, the area in which 1 million illegal aliens will tend to get more federal funds than the area with the half-million legal residents. host: where is the sample of the census form? can we see it online now? guest: yes, you should go to www.2010census.gov. it is a terrific website. and has more than anything you would want to know about the census. they put a lot of effort into the web site and it is pretty good host: new hampshire, go ahead. caller: i understand the how

many and where and the constitutional aspects of this. i do not get where the rest of the questions come from. where -- what are the limits on privacy and how far and who decides what we are allowed to comment on? it was set up for a purpose. now we have eight other purposes for it. where do we limit that? gu guest: excellent question. a lot at intermission the census bureau collects is governed by various statutes. -- a lot of information the census bureau collects is governed by various statutes. if you look up a form, it is an explanation to each board -- to

each question and why they ask it. it includes why they ask for names and why they ask your ethnicity. they provide a rationale for each question, if you are able to go online and access that. host: we thank you for coming by. we hope you will update us as this continues. guest: thank you. an thank you or c-span. -- and thank yo8u for c-span. . .

>> thank you. it is good to be back in nevada. it is good to be back in vegas. it is good to be back in henderson it is good to be with my good friend, your great senator, harry reid. [applause]

i understand that henderson is where carey went to school as a boy and fought in the ring as an amateur boxer. looking at him, you would not say -- let's face it -- [laughter] but i can personally attest that harry reid is one of the toughest people i know. he does not give up. he knows what he cares about and what he believes in and he is willing to fight for it. sometimes, he takes his licks and gets back up. he has never stopped fighting. he has never stopped fighting for henderson. he has not stopped fighting for nevada.

he has not stopped fighting for the united states of america and middle-class families that need a fair shake. [applause] i am looking forward to hearing what is on your mind and trying to -- let me say a few words about -- harry is not one to sugarcoat things better said these are tough times. when president kennedy was here, he called patterson a city of destiny. for too long, i know that many of you feel that your destiny has been slipping beyond your control we do not need -- you do

not need me to tell you that. he felt in the construction industry. the unemployment rate is 13%, which is the second-highest in the nation. home values have fallen more than any place else. for most middle-class families, income actually shrank. i know that it is tough out there and harry reid knows that it is tough out there. that is why we ask you to send us to washington. we do not run -- we did not run for the fancy title. we did not run for the fancy chairs. we did not run to get our paper

in the newspapers. [laughter] we did not run so that a bunch of people on cable tv will chatter about you. we did not run to kick our problems down the road. we ran to solve problems that folks like you are facing every single day. that is what i wanted to be president of the united states, to help you. [applause] >> when my administration took office, our plan was clear. we needed to stop the great recession from turning into a great depression.

economists of every stripe warrant that that was a big responsibility. we had to make some decisions. these were decisions that were necessary. this was not a time for satisfying the politics of the moment. it was a time for doing what was right. that is why we helped stabilize our financial system. not because we felt any compassion for big banks, but because it would have endangered americans. by way, i was committed to ensuring that taxpayers would keep all financial system afloat.

we are on our way to doing that. getting back every single dime from those banks. [applause] in fact, one battle but we are having right now is that we think that the largest banks should hold the taxpayer harmless. [applause] as you might imagine, the banks are not enthusiastic about that. he will not surprise you to learn that they have a few friends in congress who are willing to go along. we will get your money back because terri reid will guarantee that you ditch your money back. we helped shore up the american auto industry.

i understood why. if we let gm and chrysler go wonder, it would have meant hundreds of thousands of hard- working americans would pay the price. we told them that if they are willing to take the painful steps that are needed to become more competitive, then we are willing to invest in your future. [applause] gm's ceo would provide an that

information by june of this year. one of the things that you need to know is that they have nothing to do with the recovery. we had to do that as an emergency measure. i just want to point this out. i have my pollsters. we knew this was not going to be popular. but we did it because it was the right thing to do. it is also why we pass the recovery act. a lot of people think that the stimulus package and the recovery act, you would think that it is about giving banks money. that has nothing to do with the banks. the other week, i saw a poll that said that americans did not

like the recovery act, but just the individual parts of the recovery act. when you ask folks what was in the recovery act, it would be unemployment relief. that is what it was. 95 percent of you, you may not have noticed, up 95 percent of you got a tax cut because of harry reid and because of harry reid and recovery act. 1 million people in the state of nevada, we expanded unemployment insurance at a time when it was absolutely vital for people as they were trying to stay afloat. more than one quarter million of your members -- of your neighbors.

there were jobs for construction workers. i have not talked to the principle, but we would have seen some very difficult decisions being made about maintaining teacher's right here. this was all possible because of perry's leadership. more than 2 million americans would be working right now because of what harry reid did. we are no longer staring into an economic abyss because of what

he did. this is of little comfort to americans that lost their jobs. it is of little comfort to home owners that are facing disclosure or older folks that are facing retirement. that is why all of america is working again. this is benefiting the middle- class. this is benefiting americans all across this. that is what we are aiming to do. i said before that the way that

i measure our economy, the way you measure ripped is by whether jobs are growing. the other we we measure it is of folks have lived up the dream. a special right here in nevada. part of this, i have to be blunt, part of it was because too many lenders were focused on making a quick buck instead of acting responsibly. to many borrowers acted irresponsibly, taking on mortgages they knew that they could not afford. and what happened was that regulators in washington turned

a blind eye. it said a house and bubble. now, it has left devastation that we are grappling with today. government has a responsibility to help deal with this problem. government cannot solve this problem alone. we have to be honest about that. government alone cannot solve this problem. it should not. but government can make a difference. you cannot stop every foreclosure and tax dollars should not be used to reward the irresponsible lenders and borrowers that helped bring this about. what we can do is help families stay in their homes. we can stabilize the housing market so that it begins rising again that is why we are buying up vacant homes and converting them into affordable housing, creating jobs and growing local

economy. that is why we put a tax credit that was worth thousands of dollars in the pockets of $1.4 million -- and 1.4 million americans. that is why we are offering more than 1 million struggling homeowners lower their payments. that is one banks with the leadership of harry reid are announcing a fund for housing finance agencies in the states that are hardest hit. that means here in nevada. [applause] so, if this is going to help out homeowners, it will prevent --

it will help them help and borrowers and lenders alike and will help those that took out its second mortgage to modify their loans. so, yes. we need to strengthen the housing markets and to focus on job creation. one thing that i want to be clear about very we can do all of those things. -- clear about. we can do all those things. we need to solve some of the long term problems that have been with us for years. we have to recognize that our future is what we make of it and unless we get everything we've got to secure americans, our children will not have the same opportunities. i have traveled all over the world. i have to tell you that

countries like china are competing to win. there is nothing wrong with that. we want china to succeed. they have much more poverty than we have here. it is good for their stability if they are doing well. but i do not know about you. i don't want to concede the 20th-century to anybody else. america does not follow, america leads. [applause] america leads. what does it mean to leave? it means that country's that out agitate us today will out was tomorrow. that is why we are working with

educators, to transfer the cost to transform our schools and prepare our kids for science and engineering and technical degrees, because those will be the jobs of the future. and because the future belongs to countries that create the jobs of tomorrow, we have to lead an industry. that is why we want to produce solar power and wind power and the inefficient electric grids. [applause] it is vital that we do that. our nation cannot lead. we cannot prosper if we have a broken down health care system that works better for the insurance company that it does for ordinary americans. we cannot squander the opportunity to reform our health-care system to make it work for everybody.

that is why we will be meeting with members of both parties and we will move forward the democratic proposal. we hope that the republicans have won two. we will go section by section. america cannot solve our economic problems unless we tackle some of the structural problems. america cannot lead -- we cannot succeed unless we are getting a handle on our debt. we have to confront this crisis that has been brewing for years. that is why we are cutting what we do not need to pay for what

we do. americans should pay as we go and live within our means. that is why i announced the bipartisan commission that will help us meet our fiscal challenges once and for all. this will responsibility, clean energy, a world-class education. a health care system that works and an economy that lives of all our citizens. that is how we can leave. we will all come together to win this. with all the petty partisanship and game play in washington, i know that sometimes you got some free press. i know it can be easy to despair about whether we, as a nation can come together anymore. for those who wonder if america can unite, just think about it.

this is a town that was founded during world war two. this is a town that was not built by liberals or conservatives. it was built by americans, by patriots that rally around a common purpose in an hour of need. i am certain that if we can reclaim, in this country, the spirit of unity that bill -- that was in henderson nevada, then we can build cities across this country and the future will belong to the united states of america. the thank you. god bless you. kut bless the united states of america.

[applause] all right, everybody sit down. this is where i am on a hot seat, so i have to take off my jacket. everybody sit down. some of you have been to town halls before, so this is pretty straightforward. we have people in the audience with microphones. just raise your hand. we will go girl boy girl voice so that we make sure it is fair. i will try to take as many questions as i can in the time remaining. before you ask your question, if you could introduce yourself so that we know who you are and try to make your question relatively brief so that we can get as many as possible.

we're going to go girl void for a boy. the young lady right there. >> thank you president obama. >> what is your name? >> my name is lawrence. in nevada, we have the second highest number of medically uninsured, about a hundred 25,000 uninsured. more than five working adults our colleagues that die each week because of no access to health care. i am the founder of volunteers in medicine, a free clinic that has been set up to help our sick and dying. there are hundreds that have rallied like a core of angels to provide free health care for their struggling neighbors. housekeepers and operators and

social workers. in your health reform bill, you have a provision to protect the federal refunded and subsidize community clinics. it is not clear if they are going to cover the free clinics where volunteers throughout the community have rallied to give support to the struggling neighbors in their great time of need. can you help us with that? >> thank you for the great work that you guys have done. we appreciate that. if you are like a lot of free clinics across the country, i know you're getting overwhelmed. the need is so great. the bill that harry and i have been working on will provide assistance to a whole range of community-based efforts preventative care, well as care,

which is absolutely vital not only to the people that are receiving services, but also for reducing the cost of health-care overhaul. the more that people have access to preventive care, the less likely they are to go to the emergency room when things are already out of hand. let me speak more broadly about health care. i have to it meant that this has been an issue that i was warned i should not take on. no, seriously. when i first came men and harry was part of these conversations. there were a lot of political advisers that said that health care is just too hard. it is just too complicated. everybody says in the theory

that they want to reform the health-care system, but because it is complicated yet all kinds of criticism the insurance lobby will spend money. your poll numbers will go down and will not get a lot of cooperation from the other side. that was the warning. pause, because the economy is bad, a lot of people are feeling anxious. so, they are thinking that if they had to do all that stuff to fix the financial system and had to do the stuff to fix the autozone and the recovery package, tax revenues are not coming in and. this is probably not the time to be too ambitious.

i want to explain why i decided to do this. first of all, i got a letter every day from people who lost their jobs and suddenly not have health insurance. they were solid, middle-class folks until lost their job and discovered they could not get coverage because something had happened to them before. maybe a woman had had breast cancer and it was ok as long as she had her employer based health care, but once she lost her job, she could not get health care. i have looked to many parents in the eyes that say that their children have these chronic diseases and we found out that our insurance only cover us up to a certain amount and then there was a cap and afterwards,

it makes sure that the kids would live. that was the main reason i said we had to take it on. the second reason was because what has happened to your premiums. if this was a representative sample, i am assuming that 85 percent of you have health care. some of you are buying it individually. no matter what your situation, it has got up double digits over the last year. they doubled over the last decade. there will more than double over

the next decade if we did -- do not do anything. this is digging deeper and deeper into your pockets. some of you saw the news. for those of you that do not do this, one of the biggest insurance providers just announced that they were going to raise rates on these rates up to 39%. that is the future. that is going to be one of the main things that helps to bankrupt local school districts. those young people that are about to go a college, finally,

the third reason we had to take this on is because the deficit and debt that you hear everybody getting in a tizzy about, the vast majority of our long-term debt is driven by medicare and medicaid. it is driven by our allies in health care cost. you could eliminate every year mac -- ever earmarked and foreign aid and it would amount to 5% of the budget. most of it is health care costs. that drives up even faster. pretty soon, the entire federal budget will be gobbled up by

these rising health-care costs. you are already seeing it at the state level. the government is talking about cutting all aspects of medicaid because of the cost. here is my point. we cannot wait to reform the health-care system. it is vital for our economy to change how the health care is in this country. it is vital. [applause] having said all that, the people who were giving me advice were right. healthcare has been knocking me around pretty good. it has been knocking harry around pretty good.

harry had shown extraordinary courage because he says that we will get this done. that is what he has been saying consistently. i am proud of him for it. [applause] let me describe what it is that we have proposed. i am waiting to see what the republicans propose in return because there has been a lot of misinformation. what we have said is this. if you have health insurance, we will pass a series of health reforms so that the insurance companies have to treat you fairly. they cannot prevent you from getting health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. they cannot put a lifetime cap in the fine print and it turns out your not fully covered. there is a whole series of insurance reforms. we have a series of cost

controls. we are saying that every insurer has to spend the vast majority of your premiums on actual care as opposed to profits and overhead. we are saying that we have to get out of some of the waste and abuse including that which runs in the tens of billions of dollars every year. that is not a good use of taxpayer dollars. we are working to improve wellness and prevention so that people will not go to the emergency room for care. the thing that is most controversial is what we are also saying which is access to coverage. we set up something like an exchange where individuals and

small businesses that do not get a good deal because they do not have the same negotiating power as the big companies when it comes to the insurance market, they can't fool -- they can pulool so that they have the purchasing power of a million people behind it will give subsidies to local -- working families. [applause] i want everybody to pay attention next thursday when we have this health care summit. you may not want to watch all six or eight hours of it, you have things to do. but pay attention to what this debate is about because there has been so much talk about death and girls. the attention.

this is -- what we're proposing has nothing to do with health care. most of you would have the exact same health care that you have right now, but you'd be more protected and more secure. if you do not have health care, you have a chance of getting health care. it would actually save us money in a long term because all those ways will dollars we are spending right now, the experts say would save one trillion dollars by passing it. i think it is the right thing to do. the republicans say that they have a better way of doing it. i want them to put it on the table. if you show me that you can do the things that were talking

about, make sure that the costs are controlled and people that do not have health insurance are covered, and you can do it cheaper than me, then why would i not do that. i would just grab your idea and say great and take all the credit. i would be happy to do it. so, show me what you have. but do not what the american people go another year or another 10 years or 20 years without health insurance reform in this country. unreasonable guy. wouldn't i do that? say, great, and take all thei'd be happy to do it. in this country. [applause.]

okay, it's a gentleman's turn. it's a man's turn. this guy over here. this guy with a beard. >> thank you, mr. president. ben burris [phonetic] , from jonesboro, arkansas. >> what are you doing all the way here in vegas? >> everybody comes to vegas. [laughter.] >> that's what i'm talking about. there you go. everybody comes to vegas. [applause.] yes. now, here's my only question,have you spent some money here>> oh, yes, sir. >> he says "yes, sir."[applause.] >> yes, sir. >> he's spending some money here in vegas. all right. that's good. we like to see that. all right, what's your question? >> well, sir, i'm reasonably familiar with the current and proposed legislature as it applies to dentistry and oral health. and my question is, what's your vision for how dentistry will fit into your larger framework for health care reform? >> are you a dentist yourself? >> yes, sir. so if somebody has a heart attack, you better still call 9-

1-1. [laughter.] just a dentist. >> now, it is interesting that you raised this. it turns out -- this is serous -- that dental hygiene is actually very important for keeping your heart healthy. it turns out that heart disease can be triggered when you've got gum disease. so everybody floss. that's my first -- am i right? you got to floss. [applause.] at minimum -- at minimum, i think it's very important that we've got dental care for our kids. [applause.] because what happens is, is that if we can keep our children's teeth healthy, then usually that means they've got healthy teeth as adults. and if not, oftentimes that actually distracts them and -- if we can keep our children steve howe, then that means they got healthy teeth as adults.

if not, oftentimes i actually distracts them and prevents them from learning, because both dental and eye care -- a lot of kids end up being distracted. they can't read the blackboard, they've got a cavity that's been untreated. it's a huge problem. so i would like to see dental care covered. i will tell you that some folks are going to say we can't afford it. at minimum, i'd like to see that our children have the care that they need. [applause.] >> can i say one more thing, sir? i think most of us in dentistry think that health care is the primary need here in terms of that, and children as well. so we think that if you can take care of health care first and let dentistry -- do that kind of thing -- it's more important to take care of the health care first. thank you, sir. >> there you go. all right, i appreciate that. thank you. [applause.] okay, it's a young lady's turn. it's so hard to choose. okay, i'll call on this young

lady back here, right over here. yes, you. [laughter.] all right, we got to get the young man with the mic over to you. >> thank you, mr. president. thank god for this opportunity. i realize that insurance and medical care has been a major issue. this is my problem. i worked for united airlines for nearly 30 years.

i was severely injured during flight. i have a workman comp's case that have fallen on deaf ear. the lawyers and the doctors and this whole problem has drove my life really to almost not having a life at all. i don't know where else to turn. i don't know who else to talk to about the problem. i've written you letters. i've written letters to many of the senators here in las vegas. i've talked to the doctors. i've done everything i know how to do. but i am a widow with a special needs child. i have lived in the house that i live in for 19 years. my house is in foreclosure. i have disability insurance. i have social security disability. that disability tells me, your insurance is not accepted here. i can't get the medical help that i need to get better. >> what's your -- >> i'd love to be a flight attendant for you on that u.s. one. i'm trained on that u.s. one. [laughter.] >> well, look, in terms of your specific issue, come see harry reid and harry reid will see if he can help you out here. [applause.] all right? workman's comp is generally a state issue as opposed to a federal issue. but harry, he's got a few connections here in nevada, so i suspect that he can help out.

but, look, to the larger point, there are a lot more people who are actually going on disability right now partly because job opportunities have shrunk. and that's why it's so important for us to really focus on jobs. now, if you were listening to the republicans, you'd think that last year we weren't paying any attention to jobs, that we were just kind of -- i don't know what we were doing, harry. i guess we were just sort of sitting around. [laughter.] the truth is, is that everything we did last year was designed around how do we break the back of the recession and move the economic recovery forward in order to promote job growth. you can't have job growth if the economy is contracting by 6 percent, because businesses look and they say nobody is spending money, we got no customers, we can't hire.

so the first thing we had to do was to make sure that companies were starting to make a profit again, and the economy was growing. we are now in that position, because of the work that harry did and a lot of -- and these two outstanding members of congress did, congresswoman berkley and titus. [applause.] the economy is now growing again. but here is the challenge that we've got. the challenge we have is that after they've laid off 8 million people, now they're growing with fewer people. so they're making profits, but they haven't started hiring yet. our challenge is how do we get businesses to start hiring again? now, some of the jobs, i'll be honest with you, are probably not going to come back. and the reason is because people have installed new

technologies, or they've set up new system where they can do more with fewer workers. that's why it's so important for us to invest in new industries and new technologies. i'll give you an example. we were talking about autos before. do you know that before the recovery act was passed, the united states was producing about 2 percent of the advanced batteries that are used in these clean cars, these electric cars? we were producing 2 percent of the batteries -- less than 2 percent. what we did as part of the recovery act was invest in developing plants for battery production here in the united states. and do you know that in 18 months, we will have the capacity to produce 20 percent of the advanced batteries around the world? [applause.] and by 2015, we'll have the capacity to produce 40 percent of the batteries around the world. we've created an entire new industry -- an entire new

industry has been created here in the united states that can produce jobs. so we've got to constantly look for those opportunities in solar and in wind, and in other hi-tech areas, because that's going to be the future. the more people have work available to them -- there is just a virtuous cycle that happens. when people go to work, they feel good; their health is better; their kids do better in school -- right? [applause.] business -- they've got money to spend, they come to vegas, right? tourism industry starts taking off. [applause.] so we're going to be putting -- harry and i are working now on a jobs package for this year that's designed not -- it's no longer designed to grow the economy. now it's designed to give incentives to businesses who are now making a profit to start

hiring again, and to help small businesses get loans. because a lot of small businesses are still having trouble getting loans from banks, even if they see an opportunity for business growth, and we want to make sure that they've got access to capital. all right, it's a guy's turn. i'm going to call on this guy, even though he's got a cubs jacket on. [laughter.] everybody knows i'm a white sox fan, but i'm going to call -- just to show that i'm unbiased, i'm calling on a cubs guy. [laughter.] >> you're not a cub hater. >> i'm not a cub hater, that's right. >> okay, before i ask my question, i want to say something. i'm enrolled in a medicare advantage plan. i understand that my benefits will be cut with health reform. i'm all for it. >> well, how about that? let me -- let me -- before you ask your actual question, let me

just make this point. we're not actually eliminating medicare advantage. what medicare advantage is, is basically the previous administration had this idea, instead of traditional medicare, let's contract out to insurance companies to manage the medicare program. and the insurance companies can then kind of package and pool providers of dental care or eye wear or what have you, and it's a one-stop shop for seniors. now, in theory that sounds like a pretty good idea, except as you might imagine if the insurance companies are involved that means they've got to make a profit. and what happened was they didn't bid out competitively this medicare advantage program. so these insurance companies were just getting a sweet deal. all we've been saying is let's make sure that there's a competitive bidding process and that we are getting the absolute best bargain. [applause.] but i appreciate your larger

concern, which is let's make sure that everybody has access to health care. and traditional medicare, by the way, is a great deal. everybody who is in it is pretty happy with it. but go ahead with your question. >> i'm going to introduce myself. my name is norman -- i live in north las vegas. i'm retired. [applause.] and my question is about social security. >> are you a former chicagoan? >> yes, sir. >> where are you from in chicago? >> schaumburg last. >> fantastic. well, the weather is a little bit better here, i got to admit. [laughter.] >> well, we can visit snow here. >> exactly. all right, go ahead. >> well, my question is about social security. now, i know there are a lot of myths out there, and i know you can dispel them. i saw an interview on "meet the press" with alan greenspan, who, as you know, was on the social security commission in the '80s. and tim russert asked him specifically, what about the crisis in social security? alan greenspan's response was, there is no crisis in social security; it's a payroll tax issue. can you comment on that? >> yes. here's the situation with social security. it is actually true that social security is not in crisis the

way our health care system is in crisis. i mean, when you think about the big entitlement programs, you've got social security, medicare, medicaid. these are the big programs that take up a huge portion of the federal budget. social security is in the best shape of any of these, because basically the cost of social security will just go up with ordinary inflation, whereas health care costs are going up much faster than inflation. it is true that if we continue on the current path with social security, if we did nothing on social security, that at a certain point, in maybe 20 years or so, what would happen is that you start seeing less money coming into the payroll tax, because the population is getting older so you've got fewer workers, and more people are collecting social security so more money is going out, and

so the trust fund starts dropping. and if we did nothing, then somewhere around 2040 what would happen would be a lot of the young people who would start collecting social security around then would find that they only got 75 cents on every dollar that they thought they were going to get. everybody with me so far? all right. so slowly we're running out of money. but the fixes that are required for social security are not huge, the way they are with medicare. medicare, that is a real problem. if we don't get a handle on it, it will bankrupt us. with social security, we could make adjustments to the payroll tax. for example -- i'll just give you one example -- right now, your social security -- your payroll tax is capped at $109,000.

so what that means is, is that -- how many people -- i don't mean to pry into your business, but how many people here make less than $109,000 every year? [laughter.] all right, this is a pretty rich audience -- a lot of people kept their hands down. [laughter.] i'm impressed. [laughter.] no, look, what it means is basically for 95 percent of americans, they pay -- every dollar you earn, you pay into the payroll tax. but think about that other 5 percent that's making more than $109,000 a year. warren buffett, he pays the payroll tax on the first $109,000 he makes, and then for the other $10 billion -- [laughter] -- he doesn't pay payroll tax. so -- yes, somebody said, "what?"[laughter.] yes, that's right. that's the way it works. so what we've said is, well, don't we -- doesn't it make

sense to maybe have that payroll tax cut off at a higher level, or have people -- maybe you hold people harmless till they make $250,000 a year, but between $250,000 and a million or something, they start paying payroll tax again -- just to make sure that the fund overall is solvent. so that would just be one example. that's not the only way of fixing it, but if you made a slight adjustment like that, then social security would be there well into the future and it would be fine. all right? [applause.] okay. it's a woman's turn. anybody -- i'm going to go back

here. nobody's got -- these folks haven't had a chance here. hold on one second -- i'm going to let you use my mic. you'll give it back, right? [laughter.] okay. >> my name is peggy -- and i'm a native nevadan, grew up in boulder city. [applause.] there's a few of us here -- known this great guy, harry, all my life. and my question, which is near and dear to my heart, and there's a few of my co-workers watching right now on television, and a few here -- is we want to know what is going to be done for tourism in nevada, particularly airlines. i am a u.s. airways employee who has been furloughed for 17 months. they furloughed over 500 more just on the 14th, so there's many, many of us now on the unemployment rolls. and we want to see what's going to happen to bring our jobs back to las vegas. [applause.] >> well, first of all, obviously tourism is directly connected to the state of the economy as a whole. if people have disposable

income, then they're going to travel. and if they're going to travel and have fun, they're going to come to las vegas. [applause.] right? so -- but on the other hand, if times are tight, they're having trouble paying the bills, making the mortgage, et cetera, that means tourism declines. so everything we're doing in terms of improving the economy as a whole will start improving tourism. but what is also true is that we can take some particular steps to help to encourage the tourism industry. and harry, before we came out, was talking about a bipartisan tourism promotion/travel promotion act. harry -- i'm going to give the mic to harry for a second. harry, do you want to talk just

a little bit about what would be in the act? [applause.] senator reid:we're going to try to take that up next week. you'll save a half a billion dollars over 10 years and create tens of thousands of jobs. we're the only country in the world, major country in the world, that doesn't promote itself. you'll see on tv jamaica does, new zealand does, australia does, south africa does -- but not the united states. we hope within two or three months we'll be promoting ourselves. [applause.] >> good. now, that's the kind of leadership that harry is showing. let me make one last point about airlines in particular. there are two things that we can really do to help improve the airline industry. the first is on energy. part of the reason that airlines are getting squeezed all the time is because their fuel costs are huge. that's the single biggest problem for most airlines, is

fuel costs that skyrocket or are unpredictable. and so if we've got a smart energy policy that is encouraging the use of electric cars and improving gas mileage, and making sure that we're looking at alternative fuels like biofuels that can be used for trucks, all those things will help to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and, as a consequence, will, over time, stabilize fuel prices in a way that is very helpful to the airlines. the second thing that we need to do is we've got to upgrade our air traffic control system, which is a little creaky. and one of -- don't worry, i mean, it's safe to travel. i'm not -- [laughter] -- i don't want anybody to think, man, creaky, that doesn't sound good. [laughter.] what it is, is that because we don't use the latest technologies, a lot of times the holding patterns for planes, how

many planes can land safely at the same time, all those things are -- reduce the efficiency of -- the overall system is reduced because we're not using the best technologies available. if we can upgrade those technologies, then we could reduce delays, we could reduce cancellations, we could reduce the amount of time that it takes when there's bad weather for planes to land. and all that would also help improve profitability in the airlines industry, which in turn would mean that they would be able to hire more workers and provide outstanding customer service. okay? [applause.] all right. it's a gentleman's turn. this guy right here. he's a big guy, he stood up and -- he stood up, i thought, man, that's a big guy, i better call on him. [laughter.] say you're big, too -- i agree. [laughter.] don't worry, i'm not saying you're not big. [laughter.] all right, go ahead. >> thank you, mr. president.

my name is dr. herve misoko [phonetic] . i am originally from france -- actually from africa, moved to france, and now i'm here in america because i believe -- i still believe that america is thecountry of the american dream. and i came here -- i'm a scientist, president of a renewable energy startup, and i came here because i really believe that america can become the first country for clean energy. [applause.] one of the comments i wanted to make, coming from europe where carbon is regulated, i see firsthand -- i have a company in france also -- that regulation works. it creates job. my company has been growing 30 percent every year in france for the past two years. and i really want to see that happen here. and i think that even if you don't believe in climate change, there's like byproducts that are awesome jobs. the country is going to advance

technology-wise. we're going to become once again like we were with the space industry, the most advanced technologically country in the world. and so i really want to see these regulations happen because it's going to help all of us in the clean energy business. [applause.] >> okay. well, let me just talk about -- this is -- when the conservatives have their conventions and they yell at me and say how terrible i am -- [laughter] -- along with health care this is the other thing that they usually point out, which is that "the president wants to create this cap and trade system and it's going to be a job killer and it's one more step in

the government takeover of the american economy."so this is a good place for me to maybe just spend a little time talking about energy and climate change. a halffirst of all, we just got five feet of snow in washington and so everybody is like -- a lot of the people who are opponents of climate change, they say, see, look at that, there's all this snow on the ground, this doesn't mean anything. i want to just be clear that the science of climate change doesn't mean that every place is getting warmer; it means the planet as a whole is getting warmer. but what it may mean is, for example, vancouver, which is supposed to be getting snow during the olympics, suddenly is at 55 degrees, and dallas suddenly is getting seven inches of snow. the idea is, is that as the planet as a whole gets warmer, you start seeing changing weather patterns, and that creates more violent storm systems, more unpredictable

weather. so any single place might end up being warmer; another place might end up being a little bit cooler; there might end up being more precipitation in the air, more monsoons, more hurricanes, more tornadoes, more drought in some places, floods in other places. . .

if you tell a company that there if you tell a company that there are no mileage standards onno c0

those costs and price energy accordingly. that means that things like wind energy suddenly become more appealing because they do not produce those pollutants. other sources of energy become less appealing because they do produce those pollutants. the idea has been that if we put a price on these carbons, maybe that would be a way that

companies would all respond and start inventing new things that would make our planet cleaner. that is the whole idea. the last point i am going to make on this -- what is true is that a lot of us depend on dirty sources of energy. a lot of us depend on really inefficient cars and buildings. there has to be a transition. we are not going to suddenly get all our energy from wind, or all of our energy for some -- energy from outside. -- from sun. it is not there. but we could move their gradually. that is what countries across europe and asia are doing. we do not want to be left behind. xdwe are the only ones who have left -- who have missed the boat. we are still using 20th century

technology and everybody else is using 21st century technology. suddenly, everybody was buying cars from japan or south korea. we want to make sure that does not happen when it comes to wind turbines, solar energy, etc.. the ideas that are being talked about is how we provide more incentives for clean energy companies to operate profitably. over time, how do we start shifting from less efficient ways of using energy? it is a pretty straightforward thing to do. there is nothing radical about it. it is not going to happen overnight. it is going to take some time. we are still going to be getting our electricity from coal. we will still get our electricity from nuclear energy. we will still get power from

natural gas and other traditional sources. we just want to make sure we are also moving into the future as we do so. i think we can. i think i have time for one more question. this is the last question. last question. everybody is pointing at her. right up there. right there. i could not call on anybody. you know i love everybody here. >> good morning, mr. president. i teach math right here at the high school. [applause] >> excellent. >> and my mom is right behind you in the top row. right there. >> hey, mom. you are a very young looking mom. >> thank you. speaking on behalf of all of us

math teachers, did you have math homework every night? if you did, did you do it? [applause] >> the answer is yes and sometimes. [laughter] first of all, let me thank you for being a math teacher, because we need more math teachers. we need more science teachers. we need more teachers who are enthusiastic about their work and their jobs. thanks to all the teachers here. we love teachers. [applause] all right. we are actually, unfortunately

-- our students are falling behind in math and science internationally. we used to rank at the top. now, we are sort of in the middle of the pack when it comes to math and science performance. this is why one of the things i have been emphasizing this year -- this has not been subject to controversy. this is an area where we have been able to get good cooperation between democrats and republicans. we are promoting math and science education, promoting technology education. the more that we are moving our young people into these areas, the better off this economy is going to be. that means we are producing engineers, producing scientists, producing computer programmers. we want to make sure that we are recruiting more math teachers, we are recruiting more science teachers. we want all outstanding teachers to get higher pay.

[applause] we want to make sure that there is constant professional development when it comes to the teaching profession, so that if you have the best way of teaching math five years ago, it might not be the best way of teaching math five years from now. you should be able to go back and constantly sharpen your skills. to the students, i want to say this. we are doing a lot of work on education reform. we are doing a lot to bring in new teachers, to improve classrooms, to make sure they are all connected to the internet, to make sure that college is more affordable. but let me just say that it will not make any difference if our

students are working a little bit harder. i am not saying all of you are not working hard. i am sure many of you believe you are working hard. malia and sasha always tell me how hard they are working. i do think that we are going to have to emphasize, in the next decade, that we are competing around the world. america will continue to be at #one as long as we are just as hungry asç other countries. if our kids are spending all their time playing video games and somebody else's kids are getting the math and science skills to invent videogames, we are not going to be number one.

it is as simple as that. the need to turn off the tv, put the video games and name -- the video games away, buckle down on your work, make sure that parents are checking homework and talking to teachers, being accountable and responsible -- that is going to make sure we continue to thrive, we continue to excel into the future. thank you. i had a great time. goodbye. [hail to the chief]

>> next we will hear from some of the speakers at the american conservative union conference, including columnist herman cain. tomorrow, on "washington journal" the senior reporter for quote"talking points memo" lookt close races in the american

congress. author michele alexander talks about her book "the new jim crow" which looks at how difficult it is for young african-americans while on parole or probation. live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c- span. >> sometimes, i think history is a series of accidents. it is like a pile up of cars in a snowstorm. >> how did the united states and up in vietnam? pulitzer prize winner ted morgan on the valley of death and the battle that ended french colonial rule in indochina. sunday night on c-span. >> the conservative political action conference is underway here in washington d.c. -- washington, d.c.. it is an annual conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials.

we will show the speeches from several speakers. >> good morning. i want to thank those of you that stayed out late and drank a lot and still got up to come to this presentation this morning. you can tell those who slept in what a mess. -- what they missed. our founding fathers said it better than any group of men in history when they said "we hold these truths to be self evident -- that all men and women are created equal. that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." it did not say a guarantee. and there is no where in the constitution where it says that the federal government should establish a department of happy. it says "the pursuit of happiness." you and i know that the pursuit of happiness in this nation, as defined and conceived by our founding fathers, is violently under attack. it is under attack from liberal proposals, with this administration and this congress, that are assigned -- that are designed to strip us of our liberties, to restrict our ability to pursue our definition of the american dream

based upon each individual's aspirations, each individual's motivation, and each individual's determination -- not the dictate of the federal government. [applause] and so as we wrestle with beating back cap and trade and tax and kill, as we wrestle with beating back employee no- choice act, as we wrestle with beating back health-care deform legislation -- if something is supposed to reform something, it is supposed to make it better. but there is absolutely nothing in that legislation, either version, that makes anything better. so you cannot call at health

care reform. [applause] health care deform legislation. all of these attacks on the pursuit of happiness. but there is good news. there is good news. the voice of the people is being heard. that is why they have been put on the back burner. [applause] the voice of the people is being heard. that is why they are being put on the back burner. that is good news. but we are not done yet. we have got some more work to do. we will not be finished until they are moved from the back burner to out the back door. ç we won't be finished until they move from the back burner to out the back door. [applause] >> and we have an opportunity to

do that in november of 2010. [applause] >> move them out the back door. now, here's how we do it. it's really very simple. you see, the founding fathers, they did their job. the founding fathers did their jobs. i did my radio show remotely last night from here, from d.c., and i had a caller -- and i was talking about the mount vernon statement that was signed two tays ago by nearly 100 leaders of conservative organizations from d.c. and all over the country. and i was praising the wisdom and the foresight of the founding fathers. and a guy actually called and said, how can you admire and praise the founding fathers when many of them had slaves?

i said you don't understand.ç the wisdom and the foresight of the founding fathers was to set the bar high and not low. it didn't say we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal except slaves. it didn't say that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights except for slaves. it didn't say that. they set the bar high and challenged this nation to work up to those ideals, which we have done. [applause]2l >> you don't set the bar low. because you will work down to it. the founding fathers set it high and as a nation we have worked up to those ideals.

we are the only nation in the world that's been able to change the way we have changed in the last 200 some-odd years. the only nation in the world. that's the greatness of america. our ability to change. and so i said i'm just glad that they set the bar where they set it. because over time we have worked up to that. so the founding fathers did their job. they didn't develop a limited declaration. they didn't develop a limited constitution. no. they developed those founding principles that we should never, ever get away from. which is why i was proud to be one of the signers of the mount vernon statement two days ago because we needed a reaffirmation. [applause] >> a reconfirmation. [applause] >> and as one of my other callers pointed out last night, he said, mr. cain, we need a revival. and that's exactly what this is all about. that's why you're here. that's why i'm here.

this revival is happening. it's happening across this country. [applause] >> so the founding fathers did their jobs. you know, one thing that i love about talk radio is i learn so much from my callers. [laughter] >> i really do. i do listen. i get accused of, you know, only taking calls where people want to disagree with me. but that's just not the case. if you can make a logical argument for your point of view, i will listen. and i will share with people. but if your argument is illogical and no facts, i will cut you off. [applause] >> i don't like to waste people's time. i don't like to waste people's time. another caller called one day and said, mr. cain, i love your show. i love what you stand for. but she said i have -- she said i have a question for you. i said what's that. where are the defending fathers.

the founding fathers did their job. and she made me job and think. we must be the defending fathers. of this nation [applause] we are the defending fathers. and there are three things that we need to do in order to continue this momentum. in order to be able to do what the second part of the declaration of independence says. too many people call up and say, my vote doesn't count. can we really change things? and i have to remind my audience and i remind people when i'm giving talks, if you read the declaration of independence, don't stop at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness keep reading. and if you keep reading it says, when any form of government

becomes destructive of those ideals, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it. [applause] >> we've got@@@@@@ that is the most important part, our right to alter and abolish. i would like to point out i recited that without a teleprompter. [applause] i am just saying. and as the defending fathers, all of us are part of this defending father's movement. i do not care whether you call it the tea party movement and. all of the various organizations -- that is the beauty of this movement. it has multiple arms. it has multiple arteries.

that would have been offensive to my doctor friends. [laughter] >> docs for patients. three things we need to do quite simply to make sure that we can abolish the liberal control of congress in november. and just like the founding fathers set the bar high, i believe we need on the bar high we need to change the court of appeals starting with the house of representatives and here are the three things we need to do in order to bring it about. first, stay connected. stay connected. every one of you here is connected to an organization. or an initiative. or a movement. stay connected. and one of the reasons that we are experiencing the success

that we are experiencing is, quite frankly, because more people are getting connected. one of our responsibilities is to encourage other people to get connected. not everybody should or could run for public office. not everybody should lead an initiative. but everybody can do something. and because we have become more connected as a movement in the last year, that's why some members of congress are hearing the voice of the people. now, the president doesn't hear us yet. his administration -- they do not hear us yet. harry and nancy, they ain't listening yet. [laughter] >> but the good news is, the core conservatives in congress along with some moderates and independents, they are beginning to listen. they're beginning to listen.

that's why all of these threatening proposals have been moved to the back burner. and it is our job to get them out the back door. so we've got to stay connected. one of the -- one of the great things that i felt so proud of a couple days ago when we signed the mount vernon statement and many of the people that participated are here today is that all of these nearly 100 organizations who for so long have operated in their individual silos have gotten above the silos and they're looking across.ç and somebody made the statement -- i don't remember who said it first. nothing unites a movement like a common enemy. [laughter] >> and we have a common enemy. it's called the liberal attack on this nation. [applause]

>> so stay connected. number two, stay involved. and encourage your friends and neighbors, if they'll listen, to stay involved. you can't make people get involved. but whenever you hear the statement, i don't have time to pay any attention to that stuff, you say well, one day you're going to wake up, to paraphrase former president ronald reagan you're going to wake up one day and you're going to be telling your grandchildren what freedom used to be like because this isn't an environment. we're already telling them that. this is an environment where we can't sit back.ç you know, it used to be where we could elect people, send them to washington. and they were statesmen. and states women.

and they would do what was best for the nation and best for their constituency. that doesn't exist anymore. this is why they have to hear from us frequently, loudly and forcefully in between elections. that's the different dynamic that we're having to deal with. [applause] >> and that's why we have pushed these things to the back burner. we got to stay involved. and so when you have an opportunity to talk with or influence some of your family membersq -- my son, he's 32. my daughter is 38. i finally got them to pay attention. [laughter] >> you know how i got their attention?ç i said now dad is not a cagilloonair and mom and dad are going to be comfortable in our

old age, and if i don't spend it all, the government is trying to take your inheritance. [applause] >> it's amazing how that got their attention. [applause] >> they woke up the next day as conservatives and didn't know it. [laughter] >> i said welcome to the american dream. welcome. so stay involved. and encourage others to get involved. and as i tell folk, get off the sofa and get off your anchovies. because americans are under attack. number three, stay informed. stay informed. because if you don't stay informed and if you don't know your facts and if you don't know

your history, you could be tempted to drink the liberal kool-aid without knowing it. and there's a lot of liberal kool-aid out there. and in order to stay informed, you have to be aware of what i call the liberal tactic that is they use all the time consistently no matter which liberal is talking. and if you -- if you recognize their tactics you'll be able to counter their tactics with good information, good facts and reasonable logic but sometimes some of these reporters that i see on tv, they are blindsided so quick they don't know how to react. you have to stay better informed because if you look in the liberal playbook, you will find that three primary tactics -- they commit what i call liberal sin. capital s, capital i, capital n. and watch whenever you see a liberal being interviewed on tv. they call the radio show all the time.

and sometimes when i know that it's one of my regular liberals, i will warn the audience. i'll say, now, we're going to take thomas. but you all know what to look for. he's going to sin. s, whatever the topic he's going to shift the subject. they do it every time. i was talking to a liberal one night on my radio show. i said did you know that president obama has allowed the national debt to increase over $3 trillion in one year versus george bush allowing it to grow $4 trillion in eight years.çó almost as much in one year as eight years under the bush administration. but the liberal says, well,

george bush got us into this war. [laughter] >> i didn't ask you about the war. we're not talking about the war. we're talking about runaway tsunami spending but they like to shift the subject. watch that. listen for that. and if you're in dialog with them, then you can get them back on track. so they sin. they shift the subject. they do it all the time. secondly, i. they ignore the facts. to paraphrase jack nicholson in that famous movie "liberals can't handle the facts." they hate the facts. when president obama started trying to sell healthcare deform, he continued to use the

number 46 million people are without health insurance. now, fortunately some radio talk show hosts -- [laughter] >> some news -- cable news outlets and a lady by the name of sally pipes of the pacific research institute and others took a look at the data and unraveled that 46 million and found that it was not 46 million people who were going without health insurance because they couldn't afford it. some of those people made enough money to buy it and they chose not to. and some of those people were counting in that number were residents of the united states of america but they were not citizens. and do we owe health insurance to every other person in the world? >> no. >> so when you start to peel back the numbers, it's not 46 million.

and then in the president's address to joint members of congress on just healthcare, he started using the number over 30 million. the real numbers are about 10 million. he still has a few others in there. and here's one other thing about healthcare deform that i want to make sure that i state in case somebody else didn't state it.ç we do not have a healthcare crisis in america. we have a healthcare cost crisis in america. and that proposal is not the way to fix it. [applause] >> i'll get the liberals who call up and say, well, what do you have against all americans getting healthcare? i said i have nothing against all americans having healthcare. there is a right way and a wrong way. and unfortunately your party, your leaders are trying to shove it down our throats and we the people are saying not this time. you're not going to shove it

down our throats. [applause] >> so this is why we have to know our facts.ç know the logic. the know the facts. there are three things we need to do to bring down the cost of healthcare in america. this is not a healthcare seminar.i] but i got to take advantage of this opportunity so when you are in dialog with a reasonable liberal, you can point out to them -- i know there aren't many of them but you might get lucky and run across one on the bus or something. three things would dramatically change the healthcare cost equation dynamics in this country. number one, tort reform. [applause] >> number two, level the playing field in terms of who gets a deduction if you buy health insurance.

right now the employer gets the deduction but the employee doesn't get a deduction. and if you level the playing field so it doesn't matter who pays for it, you get a tax deduction for your health insurance. now, let me just say parenthetically we need to eliminate the stupid tax code. but while we got it we might as well do the right thing for the people and that's number two. and number three, allow insurance to be sold across state lines. if you do those three things -- if you do those three things and if government gets out of the way, we won't have a healthcare cost problem. [applause] >> it's commonsense. it's not rocket science. it's commonsense.ç so know your facts. know your logic. stay informed. that's all we have to do in order to be the founding -- the defending fathers, the sin,

s.i.n., when they can't shift the subject on you. when they can't ignore the facts they name-call. you right wing nut cases. you tea party -- let me see if i can't remember some of them now. nancy said we were astroturf. harry reid said we were unpatriotic.p jeanine garrafalo that we were redneck tea baggers. [laughter] >> and some other democratic leaders in congress called us crazy. well, it reminded me of my grandfather when we used to spend time on the farm during the summer. and when we did something to upset my grandfather, we thought he went crazy.

[laughter] >> and grandpa's favorite phrase when he was coming after us -- when we be saying, but, pa, you're going crazy. he would say, i'm going to show you some crazy. [laughter] >> and that's one of the messages to the leaders in congress. yes we're crazy. we're crazy about the declaration. we're crazy about the constitution. and we are crazy about the greatest country in the world. and we want to keep it that way. [applause] >> yes, we're crazy. [applause] >> we're crazy. oh, yeah! [applause] >> we're crazy.ç yeah! they say you all are a bunch of crazies, say thank you.

[laughter] >> thank you. yeah, we're crazy. we're crazy about this country. we're crazy about our children and our grandchildren. and so that's what we have to do as defending fathers. that's my message to you today. stay connected. say involved. stay connected. stay involved. and stay informed. and that way you can come back from the liberal sin. and with the winter olympics going on it reminded me of the closing song, the words of the closing song of the 2000 likes. . -- olympics. ...

life can be a challenge. life can seemed impossible. it is never easy when there is so much on the line. but you can make a difference. there is a mission just for you. just look inside. you will find just what you can do, the power of one. it begins with believing. you hold the key to all of your achieving. just look inside. you will find just what you can do. the power of one begins with believing that you hold the key to all of your achieving.

we have a message. it is for the president, his administration, harry, nancy, and the liberals. we, the people, are still in charge of this country. [applause] ♪ testy over the past weeks and i was really, really glad it was not him flying that airplane into the irs building. grover norquist. ♪ i get to introduce governor temple and the. he was the first and his family to attend college. his father drove a truck and was a teamster.

he got involved as a reagan republican. he became the majority leader in the minnesota state house. he has twice been elected governor of minnesota, 2002 and 2006. he has governed as a conservative. he has said no to tax increases. he has said no to too much spending and vetoed too much spending. he has helped bring minnesota out of the top 10 taxed states down toward the center. he has been a leader in reform. he is been advocating real health care reform. let us start by allowing people in all 50 states to buy their health insurance from any state in the nation. less government will lead to lower cost health care for all americans and more opportunities for americans to have health care. ladies and gentlemen, our next speaker, the governor of minnesota, gov. tim pawlenty.

["beautiful day" by u2] i appreciate it. i want to thank mr. norquist for his introduction and decades of advocacy, leadership, and championing the conservative cause. we owe him a debt of appreciation. grover norquist. [applause] or that kind introduction. grover norquist. [applause] >> now, some of you from this area know washington, d.c. has been experiencing a lot of challenges and one of those, of course, is the epic snowstorm that blew through town about a week ago. schools were closed. businesses were closed. people couldn't come and go as they had hoped. even the united states congress was closed. [applause]

>> and i say -- and i know you agree, that any day, any day that harry reid and nancy pelosi can't get to work is a good day for freedom. it's a good day for liberty. and it's a good day for the american people's wallets. [applause] >> now, you know that with these terrible weather conditions that this isn't president obama's fault. he inherited these problems from president bush. you know that. [laughter] >> that's the line. i'm delighted to be joined here this morning by the fabulous, wonderful, beautiful first lady of minnesota, mary pawlenty. [applause] >> amongst her life experiences as she was a judge for 12 years. and she's been a dedicated champion for great causes in our state of minnesota. one of which is the support for families of members of the military.

as you know when members of the military serve, their families serve too. so mary has pulled alongside and put together these enormous efforts to try and encourage nonprofit organizations and community groups and individuals to support and to love and to extend acts of kindness to the families of the military. she's gotten involved in women's heart health issues and so many other wonderful causes. but i do want to share with you -- and you probably can relate to this. if you have a spouse or a significant other, they do a pretty good job of keeping you grounded. keeping you on track. keeping you within the guardrails and making sure your expectations are about right. and so i had this experience very dramatically with mary in 2001. i was the majority leader of the minnesota literature. -- legislature. and i decided i was not going to run for our governor. i came home to our house in ebegin, minnesota. and i came through the door, and i said honey, i don't think i'm going to do it. jesse ventura looks like he's

going to run again and this is a blue state. it's really time to turn the page. i've been at this for a while. i've done what i can. and she grabbed me literally by the lapels. [laughter] >> and she looked me straight in the eye and gave me a speech that would be right out of a rocky balboa movie. i mean, she said, we need you. minnesota needs you. you be strong. you get in there. you fight. you can do this. i thought, man, all right, i'm in. [laughter] >> so i ran. and in a state that really is an uphill battle for a republican much less the conservative, i won. [applause] >> a few months into my governorship i came home and we had a little tension, a little disagreement about my schedule and missing some commitments for the family. there was a little tension in the discussion. i said, but honey, remember you're the one who told me to do this. you gave me that great inspiring speech. don't you remember?

and she looked at me and she said, yeah, i never thought you'd win. [laughter] >> she said i just told you that because i wanted you to get it out of your system so we could get on with the rest of our life. now, when we were here a year ago at cpac, there were a lot of naysayers, not here in the room, not within cpac, but on the outside. we had all these pundits and smart alecks saying the sun was setting on the conservative movement. we had people saying we might enter a 30 or 40-year era of liberal government. we had people talking about how the new era of hope and change was sweeping aside our values and principles. hope and change and teleprompters. [laughter] >> did you see the other day -- did you see this, president obama was in a grade school classroom.

a grade school classroom speaking to elementary children, and he was teleprompters. [laughter] >> i mean, you got to be kidding me. [laughter] >> that's not a joke. that's a real story. so even in the classroom -- but a lot has changed. when we were here last year, i mentioned to you in my speech that notwithstanding those who were trying to visit discouragement upon us, that the spirit of ronald reagan was alive and well in this room. that the energy and the values and the principles and the passion of the conservative movement was on the rise and on the march. and it worked. those of you in this room, conservatives all across this country did a great job igniting this nation. having your voices heard in congress. having your voices heard in city halls. having your voices heard in legislatures up and down main street. all across this country. and you know what? the american people liked what they heard.

[applause] >> they liked what they heard. [applause] >> and you know why they liked it? they liked it because it was bold. they liked it because it was direct. they liked it because it was telling the truth. and they liked it because it was different than what they've been hearing for so many years and particularly under the current administration. so i want to thank you for what you've done as a movement, for the leadership and the passion that you've poured into it. the comeback for the conservatives was a surprise and unexpected to just about everyone, except us. except us. we knew -- we knew that when freedom is attacked, when our freedoms, our principles and our values are attacked, a powerful movement will rise up. and fight back. and that's what happened. and i thank you for it. now, very shortly this morning a

big event is happening in the united states of america. tiger woods is holding his press conference. [laughter] >> at 11:00 eastern. now, i think we can learn a lot from that situation. not from tiger but from his wife. so she said, i've had enough. she said, no more. i think we should take a page out of her playbook and take a nine iron and smash the window out of big government in this country. [applause] >> we've had enough. even though we've made great progress over the last year, let's be candid with each other. we face sobering challenges as a nation. we love the united states of america. we love this country. we don't wish it ill-will.

we want to make sure that we rise up not just to highlight the problems and the challenges but also that we offer solutions in a more positive and hopeful agenda going forward. we may well be given as conservatives the privilege and the responsibility to govern and lead this nation once again. and when we do, this time we need to do what we say we're going to do. [applause] >> if we give our team members and leaders the jersey of conservative and they ar they need to walk the walk. i have a pac called "freedom first." we did not call it the freedom

last, or the freedom in the middle pac. we called it freedom first intentionally and purposely, because this nation, its soul, its success, is based upon the foundation of freedom. that is where it starts. i was pleased to see the mount vernon statement, the group that came together at mount vernon, the leaders of various conservative groups. they signed a statement recommiting themselves and their organizations to the constitutional framework, principles, and values thati] me this nation great. there the values of limited government, the rule of law, individual responsibility. they are the valuesç of free markets. they are the values of respect for theç sanctity of life. they are the values of respecting traditional marriages

and families. those are the kinds of principles this nation is founded on. those are the principles that made this nation great. those will lead us forward as a conservative movement. this is highlighted in the time and place where i grew up. we are defined in part from where i have come from. i grew up in a meatpacking town. it is the bluest of blue collar towns. it had the world's largest stockyards, the largest meatpacking plants. my dad was a truck driver. my mom was a homemaker. my brother and sister it did things like work in oil refineries and grocery stores. in my family, we learned some things that i think reflect those values and principles that get played out on main street and in neighborhoods across this country. i want to share four ideas i think should carry us forward. these are examples that are

foundational as we move forward. these are not hard. this is not some sort of obscure undertaking by professors. this is basic constitutional principle and basic common sense. the first one is this. god is in charge. god is in charge. [applause] there are some people who say do not bring that up, it is politically incorrect. hogwash. . . >> these are enshrined in the founding documents and perspective of our country in the declaration of independence. it says we are endowed by our creator and it does not say

creator and it does not say endowed by the bureaucrats or state government that we are given these rights. [applause] >> and there are many, many examples of this. i'm proud that in my state, in the very first sentence, in the very first paragraph of our minnesota constitution, it says this. we the people of minnesota grateful to god for our civil and religious liberties. and then it goes on from there to talk about the importance of all of us extending those privileges and benefits to others for their posterity and for their benefit down the road for future generations. so as we look forward, i say to those naysayers who tried to crowd out god from the discussion. if it's good enough for the founding fathers, it should be good enough for each and every one of us. [applause]

>> there's another principle. we can't spend more than we have. we can't spend more than we have. [applause] >> so i remember my mom -- she died by the way when i was 16 years old. she was 50 years old. she died of cancer. and when i was growing up, we didn't have a lot of money. but i remember very vividly my mom sitting at the kitchen table fretting over how that checkbook will balance, literally, on the brink of tears trying to figure out how are we going to get the bills paid but always saying, we got to live with what we have. we're going to live within our means. it was hard. and it was challenging. that perspective has been lost on too many of our federal officials. that perspective is not reflected in the current administration. barack obama, president obama,

does not share that commitment. if government spending were an olympic sport, he would be a repeat gold medallist. [applause] >> i want to share with you -- this is no longer a matter of right versus left, liberal versus conservative. we can prove our conclusion on this. by basic mathematics. the united states federal government from all sources, for all purposes takes in $2.2 trillion a year. keep that number in mind. $2.2 trillion a year. we have total unfunded liabilities of $65 trillion. $2.2 trillion in revenue. $65 trillion in total unfunded liabilities. that is more than 30 to 1 leverage. if the united states federal government were a bank regulated by itself, they would shut themselves down. [applause]

>> we live in a nation where not long ago our united states secretary of state was on rhetorical bended knee in communist china pleading with the chinese to continue to buy our debt because if they don't buy our debt and other foreign sovereign wealth funds don't buy our debt, our beloved united states of america can't pay its bills. the united states of america, my friends, is not a beggar nation. [applause] >> the united states of america is not a beggar nation. >> this will not be easy but it can be done. in minnesota, this is the land by the way of eugene mccarthy. this is the land of hubert humphrey. this is the land of paul wellstone. it is the land of walter mondale.

it is the land of united states senator al franken. [booing] >> minnesota -- let me put it this way, 49 out of 50 states voted for ronald reagan including massachusetts. guess which one didn't? minnesota. in minnesota we have taken the spending curve down to about zero. for the first time in 150-year history of my state. we cut spending in real terms. [applause] >> and i just want to share with you if we can do it in minnesota, i would suggest probably the most liberal states in the country, it can be done anywhere so i know there's challenges in new england and other places. but believe me, if you can do it in my state, you can do it anywhere. the next thing i want to share with you is a third of four principles is this. people spend their money

differently when it's their money. [applause] >> this plays itself out on lots of different issues but let me give you an example in one that's timely right before us and that's healthcare. if i said to you today, on your way home from cpac, swing by a great minnesota company. go to best buy. go to target. you buy any television set that you would like. pick any size you'd like. any characteristics, qualities that you like. don't even look at the price. don't worry about it. just send the bill to mary and me at the governor's residence at 1006 summit avenue in st. paul. how many of you would show up back at your hotel room tonight with a 12-inch black and white? [laughter] >> none of you would, of course. and so if we're going to reform systems, the direction isn't to turn them in to government-run monopolies where the other side can declare that they're giving

away, quote-unquote, free stuff, the direction we need to head is to put consumers in charge in a marketplace in conjunction with their doctors. giving them good information about what stuff costs, what the quality measurements are and let them decide what's right for them and their families. not the federal government. [applause] >> in minnesota, we did this with great success. i'll just give you one example. we said to our state employees -- i said to our state employees, by the way, the cost of the program are out of control. breaking the financial backs of everybody involved. and i said, look, we'll have a new system. you can go anywhere you want. but if you choose to go somewhere that's extra expensive and has really poor results, you're paying more. and if you choose under the program the government is paying for to go somewhere with good results, that's more efficient, with better results, you'll pay less. guess what they did? 90% of our government employees

in minnesota, state government employees, migrated to higher quality, more efficient healthcare providers and for five years in a row we had almost no premium increases in the program cumulatively. i mean, it's an amazing development because people spend their money differently when at least some of it is their money in a marketplace with market principles around that. and then lastly in terms of the four principles, bullies, we all know this, i learned this in south st. paul and you probably learned it in various ways. bullies prey on weakness not strength. so, you know, i have a fondness for ice hockey. some of you probably aren't part of the country -- if you got -- if you got a really tough person on the ice, most people leave them alone. so you look at what's going on in national security policy for our country, we have now entered an era where the president of france, president sarkozy, is

lecturing the united states of america on the dangers of appeasement. we have enter a new era. [laughter] >> that is like aig lecturing us on financial responsibility. [laughter] >> i have a message for president obama. and my message is this, mr. president, no more apology tours and no more giving miranda rights to terrorists in our country. [applause] >> now, as conservatives we know there's a better way. the patriots in this room and patriots around this country are sounding the alarm and rising up. and we also have a message for liberals. we're planting the flag on constitutional ground and if you

try to take our freedoms, we will fight back. [applause] >> president lincoln during the most challenging moments of the civil war was encouraged to fire general grant. a lot of his advisors and others said you got to get rid of him. he's scruffy, his rough at the edges. his boots aren't always polished. he's kind of a little out there. and some even said, you know, he drinks too much. well, when you listen to the elites and the pundits talk about the tea party movement or they talk about us as conservatives, they may not always say it explicitly but implicit in their comments are, you know, maybe they're not as sophisticated because a lot of them didn't go to the ivy league schools. ...

history is on our side. the constitution is on our side. we are on the side of freedom. we are on the side of individual responsibility. we are on the side of the rule of law. we are on the side of limited government, and like grant, we fight. [applause]

i want to encourage you, never give in, never give up, and let's take this country back and have conservative leadership once again for the united states of america. thank you for being here. [applause] reat rest of the day. [applause] ♪ >>=pçú -- one of those calm competent hoosiers. ♪ >> thank you. it's great to be here at cpac. >> thank you.

just like ron reagan in 1984 when you sent the in the contract to america, conservatives are once again on the march. [applause] >> we're ready to restore our constitution, to ensure the sanctity of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. i'm here to introduce the man who succeeded me. my dear friend, mike pence. he is, as he describes himself, a christian, a conservative and a republican. in that order. [applause] >> before coming to congress, mike ran a think tank where he thought through the policy issues. and then he was a talk show host where he learned to become a great communicator. in fact, i think he'll be the next great communicator in our party. [applause]

>> now, mike is campaigning tirelessly for conservatives to and to sen harry reid and his midnight deals back to nevada. time after time, mike has proven to be a great leader for our calls. when washington said we have to rescue wall street and by general motors, mike stood up and said no more bailouts. when barack obama said we have to pass a cap and trade tax on energy, mike stood up and said no. no cap and trade tax, mr. president dick did and when obama said we have to let the government take over our healthcare system, mike stood up

and said no way. mike has said yes to the american way of life. to free enterprise, to our constitution, to the pursuit of liberty, to the sanctity of life, to all the things that make this the greatest nation on this earth. yesterday vice president cheney told us his predictions. well, it's my hope that in 2012, the american people will not only say no to barack obama, but they'll get a chance to say yes to mike pence. our next speaker. [applause] >> oh, gosh. [applause] >> thank you for that. i'm mike pence. i'm from indiana.

welcome to the conservative comeback and the beginning of the end of the pelosi congress. cpac 2010! [applause] >> thank you, david mcintosh for that grossly over the top introduction. [laughter] >> it is much appreciated. thank you to the board, to jeb babbin and the rest. i got to be honest they say behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes. [laughter] >> and my wife, karen pence, is sitting right there. 25 years this june. [applause] >> give her a round of applause. will you please. [applause] >> i was really excited with this time slot. you know, they called me up and said how about 11:00 am friday at cpac for your address. and i said, man, that is great timing. you know, in politics, really timing is everything. i was driving down the road

yesterday and i heard the news that tiger woods would be addressing the nation at 11:00 am friday. [laughter] >> oh, perfect. but, you know, there is hope. somebody beyond you good people in this room might see this speech. i mean, i got a facebook page. [laughter] >> and youtube springs eternal. [applause] >> what a difference a year makes. last year at this podium i said that despite our defeats in 2006 and 2008 i said we were on the brink of an american awakening but i had no idea. i mean, a year ago most conservatives were still sure of our principles but we were pretty uncertain about the future. i mean, a year ago it seems like it was only a remnant of people in this country unbound by the glamour and the appeal of the new american left.

at cpac 2009 we met under a seemingly un conquconquerable juggernaut. i mean, barack obama had 120% approval rating according to msnbc. [laughter] >> no, seriously, his approval rating was over 65% in all 57 states. [laughter] >> unprecedented democrat majorities in both houses. an unchallenged liberal dominance in the media our courts, our public schools and our universities. it's extraordinary. it was the force that seemed indomable to everybody that didn't know you. now look at you. look at what you've done. you've proved thomas jefferson right. the people are the ultimate guardians of their own liberty. [applause]

>> because of you, because of you, the american people have been on the march to restore the timeless values that built this nation. a march that was first bugled by you right here in this room one year ago. the american people are on the march. and they're on the march to win back america. [applause] >> and they took that march of freedom to historic elections in virginia. [applause] >> in new jersey. [applause] >> and in the state formerly massachusetts. we have a republican in the united states senate because of you. [applause] >> as we say south of highway

40, who'd a thunk it. [laughter] >> facing overwhelming opposition. you stood firm. and you inspired a nation. because of you, the question of american renewal is no longer if. it's when. [applause] >> and your enthusiasm for freedom and limited government has been contagious. with your strong support, even republicans in congress have returned to the fight for fiscal discipline and limited government. [applause] >> i mean, really. three years ago republicans didn't just lose their majority. we lost our way. i mean, when i opposed the members of my own party and my president on things like no child left behind and the prescription drug entitlement, i warned them. sometimes right here at cpac, that if we walked away from the principles that minted our national governing majority, the american people would walk away from us. and you did.

but after a year that saw every single house republican vote against the failed stimulus bill, every single house republican vote against the budget-busting budget and opposing schemes of energy and healthcare let me tell you from inside the building republicans in congress are back in the fight and they're back in the fight on the right. [applause] >> now, some people around here like to call us the party of no. well, i say no is way under rated here in washington, d.c. [applause] >> sometimes no is just what this town needs to hear. when it comes to more borrowing, the answer is no.

[applause] >> when it comes to more spending, the answer is no. when it comes to more bailouts, the answer is -- >> no. >> and when it comes -- and when it comes to some healthcare summit that's nothing more than a photo op designed to pave the way for obama-care 2.0, the answer is no! conservative republicans are back. and we're in the fight for fiscal discipline and we're on the side of the american people. so this is what you did. you took the battles in washington, d.c. to the streets of america. you marched to the airwaves of talk radio, to tea parties, to april 15th, to town halls and to the national mall on 9/12. [applause] >> isn't that something? karen and i will never forget that day. i parked the car on the other side of the capitol. it's a saturday morning.

i figured there'd would be 10, 20,000 people. we walked out on the west side of the capitol building and my knee locked. [laughter] >> karen reached over and gave me one of those, honey, it's going to be okay. touch us on the elbow kind of things. i mean, it was just amazing. the throng of americans that i saw spanning across the nation's mall. now, i know the "new york times" said there were a few thousand people. [laughter] >> gathered there that day. and fox newschannel said there were a billion. [laughter] >> sorry, guys. but as god is my witness, as i looked out from the west steps at that moment, i saw a sight i'll never forget.

hundreds of thousands of every day americans gathered on the nation's mall on behalf of limited government, personal responsibility and fiscal responsibility. everything that made this country great. [applause] .. it is only have time in the locker room. we are ahead on freedom scoreboard, but there is a lot of time left on the plot. as my beloved colts found out a couple of weeks ago, you better be ready for an onside kick. they might just be keeking to

the right. the bottom line, this ain't over. we cannot rest. but cannot rule it. we cannot let up until we take the american congress back for the american people. [applause] [applause] >> men and women, we've got to win back america. we've got to take that he'll in 2010, so help us god. so how do we do it? so how do we do it? first, to win back america we've got to stay focused. got to stay focused. distraction is the enemy of our success. politics in the airwaves are always filled up with speculation. who is up, who's down. who is next, who is perfect. who is not? friends, with god to resist the temptation to look past the next

election. anybody who is not focus on the midterm election don't have their eye on the ball. [applause] >> and she was right. or to borrow another line from a regular speaker at cpac a few years back, we need to remind our neighbors and friends every single day, that a recession is when your neighbor loses, and depression is when you lose your job. and recovery is when nancy pelosi loses her job. [cheers and applause] >> second, to win back america, we need to elect a conservative congress in 2010 to turn this

country around. we don't just need a republican majority. we need a conservative majority on capitol hill. [applause] >> we need men and women committed to fight for a strong defense to limit government and traditional moral values without apology. i have said for years, i'm a conservative but i'm not bad. [laughter] >> we need you to go out there and find more happy warriors. and back them all the way. cheerful conservatives who will take our message to every community, every neighborhood, and every american regardless of race or creed or color. [applause] >> and lastly, to win back america we've got to offer solutions grounded in the timeless pencils of american founding. there's nothing that ails this country that couldn't be fixed

by paying more careful attention to the principles enshrined in the declaration of independence and the constitution of the united states of america. [applause] >> to win back america we have to offer the american people real solutions, to the challenges facing this country at home and abroad. the american people are looking for answers. and lord knows, we need them. despite the political gains of the last year, men and women, america is changing. and she is not changing for the better. a nation conceived in liberty has come of age in bondage to the government. we've lost respect to the world. we are going broke. and our social and cultural fabric is unraveling. during similar times margaret thatcher told her conservative party in 1976 these words. she said, britain is on its

knees. by those old enough to remember the sacrifices of the war, and by the young born since the war, we have seen too much national failure. hope has withered. faith has gone sour. and for we who remain, it is close to midnight. america is not yet on its knees, but it is bowed by years of fiscal recklessness, debt and cultural decline. you know, i am@@@@@@@ @ @ @ @ @' the job of the american presidents is to reverse a decline. [applause]

are movement must produce solutions that will return our national government to the common sense and common values of everyday americans. how do we do it? first, we reverse american declined by doing what is necessary to defend this nation at home and abroad. this means giving the american soldiers the resources they need to get the job done and come home safe from afghanistan and iraq. [applause] it means giving our intelligence community the tools to fight the war on terror like a war. and it means ending the era where we put it international public relations ahead of public safety. khalid sheikh mohammed and his cohorts should not be tried in

our courts. they should be tried in a military tribunal at guantanamo bay. at guantánamo bay. [cheers and applause] >> and it means being prepared to confront rogue regimes like north korea and iran. let the world know this, if nothing else, america stands with israel. [cheers and applause] >> and it also means being

prepared to defend our security today and tomorrow. as communist china continues to build its military at a frenetic pace, our relationship with china should look like this. one hand extended in diplomacy and trade, and the other hand resting comfortably on the holster of the arsenal of democracy. [cheers and applause] >> and closer to home we reverse american decline by giving back some good old common sense. the american people know we can't borrow and spend and they'll our way back to a growing country. they know that deficits and debt threaten our prosperity and our posterity. they know we can't bail out everything business in america, and they know the freedom to succeed must include the freedom

to fail. [applause] >> and you know, this is not just about economics. one bailout after another, one takeover after another is not just bankrupting our government. it is bankrupting our national character. separating people from the consequences of failure, corrodes the fundamental virtue of the american people. and is a prescription for permanent economic decline. [applause] >> so we have to end the era of runaway spending, borrowing and bailouts but fiscal discipline alone is not enough. we need to renew the incentive in america to create, to build, to achieve and excel, permitting people to enjoy the fruits of their labor, build our cities, conquer our frontiers, and it is what made america the most powerful economy in the history of the world. we must return incentives.

to the american people. [applause] >> but you know, that's not the president's approach. i was with him in baltimore the other day. i had to ask him to if he would support a cross the board tax cut. the way john f. kennedy did. the way ronald reagan did. and i think the president pretty much said that he would support across the board tax cuts, as long as they weren't across the boards. [laughter] >> this whole thing about not wanting to do tax cuts for the rich, it's a phobia on that side of the aisle. and reminds me the time someone came up to ronald reagan when he was running for president. he had been criticized for the very same thing. this pipefitter came up and said governor reagan, i heard you're being criticized for those tax cuts for the rich. but i want you to go ahead and pass those tax cuts for the rich because i ain't never been hired by a poor man.

[applause] >> law, the american people know what works and what doesn't. the reverse economic decline we need fiscal discipline in washington, d.c., and fast acting across the board tax relief for working families, small businesses and family farms. get government under control, get government out of the way, and america will come roaring back. i promise you. [cheers and applause] >> and finally, finally to reverse american decline we should recognize that our present crisis is not merely economic and political, but moral. in nature. [applause] >> we must win back america for the fundamental traditional values of the american people. the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage. [applause]

>> marriage was ordained by god, instituted in the law is the glue of the american family and the safest harbor to raise children. and that must be defended against the onslaught of the left and the congress, and the courts, and if need be, in the constitution of the united states of america. [applause] >> and we must defend the life. we must defend life. you know, i believe in the an innocent unborn human life is morally wrong but it is also morally wrong to take the taxpayer dollars of millions of pro-life americans and use it to promote abortions at home and abroad as this government is busy doing every single day. [applause] >> we need to restore the historic restrictions on foreign aid in mexico city.

we need to end all federal funding for destructive embryonic research, and the largest abortion provider in america should not be the largest recipient of federal funding under title 10, but time has come to deny any and all federal funding, the planned parenthood of america. [cheers and applause] >> so stay focused. [laughter] >> send us a conservative congress. and offer principled solutions based on our timeless principle. that's how we win back america. this is our moment. now is the time. it's time for all of us to do all that we can to preserve what makes this country great. if you can give, give.

if you can speak, speak. if you can write, write. and if you can run, run. [laughter] [applause] >> but, do all you can. now is the moment. and as you take to the field in the next nine months to do freedoms work, know this. you will not fight alone. engraved on the liberty bell our words from an ancient text. it reads proclaim liberty, throughout all bland, and unto all the inhabitants thereof. that old book also says where the spirit of the lord is. various liberty. [applause] >> winston churchill said in

1941, words to this time and your life. he said, and i quote, you must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose and design is being worked out here below, of which we have the honor to be faithful servants. men and women of cpac 2010, there is a great purpose. you are the faithful servants, and his purpose is freedom. [applause] >> let us do as generations of americans have done before, let us stand for what has always been the source of american greatness. our faith in god, and our freedom. and if we hold that banner high, i believe with all my heart the good and great people of this land will rally to our cause.

we will take this congress back in 2010, and we will take this country back in 2012. so help us god. [applause] >> thank you for being here. god bless you >> c-span coverage of the conservative political action conference continues saturday with former speaker of the house newt gingrich. that is live at 2:00 p.m. eastern. then live at 6:00 p.m. eastern, remarks by a box news host -- fox news host glenn beck. now, more from the conservative

political action conference underway in washington, d.c. among the speakers you are about to hear from, rep michelle bachman, former attorney general john ashcroft and congressman ron paul. >> it first began at blogging in 2003 where he annoyed people like "vanity fair, among others.

less is said that we should all be glad that ed is on our side. let's hear it for ed morrisey, cpac's blogger of the year. [applause] >> thank you. all my goodness. -- oh my goodness. i cannot think of -- i cannot think of a greater honor than to be introduced by rush limbaugh. i have to tell you, i only dream of the day that i can introduce a rush limbaugh. i am so honored by this award

and his kind words. i want to thank everybody here at cpac. i could be up here all day thinking people. -- thinking -- thanking people. i know that we have been in the news lately. michelle has been successful in launching hotair and is reaping the rewards of that success. there has it not been a better person, a more caring and thoughtful mentor to me that michelle. i just give her all sorts of appreciation. thank you for being here. the next speaker up here is somebody you are really going to want to hear from. i am from the state of minnesota. [applause]

the great state of minnesota. it the state bird is the balloon -- the state bird is the loon. the loon. we have things to apologize for, but we have some things that we take great pride in in minnesota. tim pawlenty, who gave a great address today. [applause] john klein, a staunch conservative, and we are proud we are sending john back to congress. of course, the person you want to hear from today is from minnesota's sixth congressional

district, where the voters have been smart enough to send michelle bauman back to congress. they are going to do that a third time. she was a tea party activist before the tea arrived. she is a tax attorney who champions boris state taxpayer'' bill of rights. she has been on the side of the people since she first got into politics. she is the mother of five who made room in her family for 23 foster children. [applause] that is commitment that goes beyond politics. that is commitment that goes to lives of values. when you are looking at michelle bachman, don't tell me conservatism does not have a hard and does not understand health care and family economics.

the next speaker here at cpac. please welcome her. [applause] ♪ be >> hello everybody. thank you, senator arlen specter. it i want to say greetings to the majority in the waiting. how does it feel? [applause] we are in the middle of a political bull market. it doesn't feel wonderful?

thank you so much to the blogger of the year. minnesota may be the land of 10,000 liberals, but we have some pretty hot bloggers coming out of minnesota. to the first produced the power line blocked that exposed dan rather. those were our guys. the are just so thrilled and so honored that we have these wonderful, talented, gifted loggers out of minnesota. we really have a great sense of humor in minnesota. we are very good humored people. if you could put the first slide up for me, if you would. i am lucky enough -- [applause] do you like that? i do, too.

i am lucky enough to be the representative for these very creative and innovative business people who put this wonderful billboard together. let me tell you, they got their advertising dollars worth out of this bill board. [applause] and encourage you, use your creativity, use or innovation, you have no idea what you will do to take back washington. they are doing that in my district. at christmas time, my husband and i were sitting at home with their oldest son. he is just finishing medical school and he revealed to us that he had a goal when he went to medical school. his goal was to persuade one liberal to become a conservative. pretty good goal. as fate would have it, his roommate was a san francisco liberal. i am not making this up. it is absolutely true. this conservative kid from

minnesota worked his powers of persuasion day after day, week after week, in between exams, and he has now been so successful that he text did meet last night and said, mom, his roommate named -- he just e-mail me a pat buchanan column. i would say that is a success. [applause] we are seeing so many great things. i challenge everyone in this room to do what our son did. if he can persuade a san francisco liberal to flip and be a pat buchanan leading conservative, you can do it, too. think of all those relatives that you sit with during thanksgiving and christmas. there is somebody there. you know who i'm talking about. that person sitting across from you in your office, this is

what it is about. these elections will not be -- even be close if we take one person and make it our priority to utilize what we know is true. the power of persuasion, to persuade one person at a time, we will take back washington d.c. i'm excited. are you? i also want to give you another success story. one week ago today, there was a very brave republican party chair in north dakota. his name is gary. he worked together with a local radio guy and they cooked up an idea that was pretty good. it was pretty brave. they decided to reverse the tables on the politicians and had a town hall where the people spoke at the town hall and the politicians had to listen. pretty good idea. they had a listening post, including the very brave governor of the state of north dakota. this is a lot for a politician.

to think that people are going to go to a microphone and they do not know what they're going to hear, but the people went and they were so sophisticated and they were so on top of their information. it was a fabulous event. in a state of 620,000 people in north dakota, they had between 1015 hundred people showed up last week. this is amazing to take back washington d.c. i was lucky enough to be there and give a keynote speech. this is a state where water% of their federal delegation is democrats. -- where 100% of their federal delegation is democrat. it is now -- the state rep also

is democrat and a poll was done in north dakota that showed that the state rep in north dakota is losing by 9% to other on the ballot. i am not making this up. it is take back washington time. we've got the fever. we're ready for this change. thank you so much. i am so excited. in the next few moments that we had together, i want to discuss a topic that has been on my heart a lot lately and perhaps on yours, too. some words about that was mentioned this morning. he talked about a decline in america. the concept that has been coming to me over the last few weeks is that the joy of being an american is that we get to choose. we get to choose our destiny. whether it is declined or greatness, it is in our hands to make the choice. there was a pivotal vote --

pivotal article that was written lastw3 october. you love him, too. it was published in the weekly standard in october. it is called, decline is a choice. he made a very precious point. decline is not a condition for america, it is not our inevitable trajectory. it is a choice. there's a difference. he is right. to the current liberal ascendancy in the united states controlling the executive in both houses of congress, dominating the media and cultural elite, has set us on a course for declined. president obama was asked about american exceptional is and his answer, i believe in american exceptional is them just as i

suspect the breadth of believe in british exceptional is some and the greeks believed in a great exception allows them. -- exceptionalism. if everyone is exceptional, nobody is exceptional. the president went on to indict america for divisiveness toward europe, for maltreatment of natives, for torture, for guantanamo bay, former unilateralism and for insufficient respect for the muslim world. i think we are all going to need a self-esteem course or two after that let me and we cannot blame anyone for feeling despondent in the midst of all of that. the decline can happen quickly. even to a great nation. it is a sobering thought.

i want to take you to july of 2009. an economist from arizona state university wrote in an article on the front page of the washington times newspaper. since the inception of bail out nation, which occurred in september of 2008, the federal government has taken ownership or control of the 30% of the private economy. consider that prior to the inception of bail at nation, 100% of the private economy was private. banks, insurance companies, aig, chrysler, general motors, the student loan industry, every bit was taken over by the government and was -- and with no exit strategy for getting out and with no limits on further the government infusion and attached in these entities. . .

you can see where republicans took over congress. under george w. bush we were in a deficit. and then you look at the case

under president obama. this is in -- this is intending to fail. [applause] we have watched as the obama administration has accumulated more debt than in each previous 230 years of american history. in a matter of months, taking us from $10 trillion to $14 trillion in debt accumulation. $4 trillion dollar bills, take them and pack them tightly on top of one another, you have to go to hundred 68 miles up into the atmosphere to finally reach $4 trillion. think of it in terms of time.

if you took $4 -- four trillion seconds, that would equal 128,000 years. that is 123,000 years longer than all of recorded history. this is a tremendous accumulation of debt, even for washington, d.c. this is real money and if this does not restore enough, the president, speaker policy, harry reid, continue to push to take over another 18% of the american private economy with the jobs- killing government takeover of health care and another 8% of the private economy they want to take over or control with the cat and trade which is the taken over by the federal government over the energy industry. the federal government owning or controlling 56% of the private economy in less than two years' time. it