>> in the midterm elections, the republican primaries were combustible because of the tea party movement. do you is -- should the republican establishment support senator olympia snowe? >> we have to leave that up to the voters. >> you will not endorse the incumbent senator? >> i have to endorse whoever wins the primary. part of my job is to support the republican nominee. for me to embroil myself in a primary debate whether in indiana, maine or wherever we are talking about, i cannot get involved and i won't. >> in terms of retaking the senate, if that happens to be the one -- a tea party candidate would win, but would it be worth it? >> is it rnc policy to get not

behind the incumbent but -- but the rnc policy -- >> even incumbent senators? >> absolutely. we have a rule on that. we have rules we would have to fall into getting gauged in a republican -- [unintelligible] >> that is it for our time. would you have a message for speaker john boehner at this point? >> keep up the good work. >> thank you. >> tomorrow on "washington journal" a discussion on federal government spending. later, a look at cyber security with internet and data protection attorneys. that is live at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> now, the former white house

senior adviser, david axelrod, talks about working in the white house and issues involving the obama administration. this is about 45 minutes. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> first of all, it does not represent nine of them. i think there were a number that were adopted, but there is no doubt there is a larger discussion to be had. budgetet last year's business done and have a discussion about 2012. then let's have a discussion of some of these larger issues. right now, we're fighting over

12% of the budget. that is all the discretionary budget is. that leaves 80% of the budget to be discussed. if you're going to solve this in the long term, that has to be discussed. that is why he appointed a deficit commission. they were working at his behest and that's a starting point for a discussion and we will have that discussion moving forward. these are difficult issues. if they were not difficult, we would have been able to solve the long time ago. i expect that conversation will happen. >> the republicans and a tea party have scored a lot of political points on health care. there is really no evidence the law has reduced costs. when will americans see changes in a very tangible way that

reshapes their views? >> there are millions of americans who are seeing changes in tangible ways right now. there are young people injured on their parents' insurance who would not of been. there are senior citizens who are getting a better break on their prescription drugs. there are new strictures against overreaches by insurance companies in terms of the limits they can put on insurance. you do not have a paradoxical situation where your insurance is great until you are sick and you cannot use it because the insurance company will not allow it. millions and millions of people are experiencing this healthcare plan right now, but it's going to be 2014 before it is fully implemented. that is when these exchanges are set up. people will be able to get insurance at a price they can

afford. the answer to your question is we need to fully implement this program and we have to encourage -- i see my friend here who is on the board of the mount sinai hospital. we have to encourage best practices that will reduce costs by automating medical records, for example, so we are not repeating tests. simple things we can do that we know will reduce costs, but that takes time to implement and we have to see it through. >> many use a voted for obama were no where to be seen it during the midterms. meanwhile, there seems to be a lot of interesting stuff imbedded in the new census data like the growth of latino population. some of it in places you

unexpectedly won in 2008. indiana,ing virginia, north carolina and colorado. places that have by and large gone republican. what about the census data and that use of those that did not come back last november? >> there is no question that in 2008, people under 29 represented that up -- the minority vote in 2008 was 26% of the total. it was 22% in 2010. some of that had to do with the fact that the president was not on the ballot and people came out to vote for the president in 2008. some of it has to do with the reality of governance. i think that president showed a

great sense of hope and expectation. he said change is not easy and change will take time. things will not happen overnight, but we have gone through a terribly difficult time because of the of recession. we have gone through continued battles in washington. one of the things we hope for is to overcome that kind of politics. i think that is wearing on people. i do sense that we got a tremendous reaction to the announcement that the president filed his papers for reelection. tremendous grassroots reaction expressed in small dollar donations and i think there is a cents on the part of people who maybe did not participate in 2010 that there are real threats

in 2012. certainly some of the ways these republicans have behaved in the states and that the national level has reminded people there are steaks to elections and we have to participate. robert kennedy said this feature is not a gift, it's an achievement. that means we have to keep working at. i think people get that and i'm looking forward to that. we want to mobilize people. in terms of the demographics, you are right. we are becoming a much more diverse country and some of the state's you mentioned, arizona is a state we did not win. nevada -- puffs florida, you can see big growth, especially in the hispanic population in those states. that will be a factor moving forward. that doesn't mean those voters

are registered will participate. that is a task that lies ahead. but there's no doubt we are becoming a more diverse country and that will have an impact on our policy. >> speak briefly about your own on-the-job training at the white house. stuff you did not truly get when you walked in the first day, as sophisticated as you were and as many issues as you mulled over during that campaign, presumably you did not think you guys would be owning general motors, chrysler -- >> we do not around the general revenue -- general motors. that's just river. >> but you did not know you would be in charge and have to figure out a way -- >> we also had pirates and spandex and a lot of things you never expect to deal with.

>> you realize how unsophisticated you are when you arrive and the difference -- when you work for the president and when you are the president, you have to deal with everything. the white house is filled with experts on different subjects, but the president has to be on top of all of those subjects and those who work for him have to keep up. i'm talking to a hometown crowd, so this probably will not be shocking to you, but there was not a day i was there that i was not just proud to work for barack obama, but grateful he was there because these problems are so complicated -- he says if it's easy, it never gets to me. they are so complicated, and

what was remarkable is to watch the way he works through these issues and lay a thoughtful way and not a dogmatic way, always asking the right questions and making judgments he thought was best for the country and never losing his footing. it's remarkable because what gets thrown at you is extraordinary. what i learned is how much i did not know. i know more about economics, i know more about and amex and deep seal oil drilling, sadly, then i never thought i would. every single -- one of the great things about working in the white house, every single day, you are confronting things that are new in some way, that you have not thought about the plea before. you are pushed to learn about them and learn about them quickly.

this issue -- it is a great experience. there were days at bed beginning when each day we were grappling with the possibility of another depression. that is what larry summers and the economic guys were telling us. there was a one in three chance we could slide into a depression which is something you never anticipated hearing. you thought that was part of history and here you are, you overlay the old wars and things like and amex. one day i said to the president, i wonder what would be like to be here in good times. he smiled and patted me on the back. he said if things were good, we would not have gotten the job. [laughter]

>> speaking of things you confronted -- this is a little bit of a lightning rod mill. >> that is not my forte. >> the most single interesting international figure you have met? >> i think i may have mentioned to you once that i would travel to russia with the president. he was meeting with the prime minister, vladimir putin. the meeting went long and a asked me to sit with me tell gorbachev, who the president was supposed to be meeting with until the president got there. i spent 45 minutes with him and that was an extraordinary experience. just understanding the role he played in history and then hearing the stories about ronald reagan -- one of the most poignant stories -- he really liked reagan. he said he start off thinking he wasn't in the cell and came

to change his view. he said he i know reagan started off thinking i was a menace and he changed his point of view. but he would sit in bilateral meetings and george shultz would be sitting next to reagan and he would say that everyone's awhile, reagan would go off on a rhetorical flight of fancy and shultz would place his hand on a ronald reagan paused and and reagan would stop speaking. he talked a lot about the great things they were able to do together, and it was inspiring. he was an interesting guy. i've met a lot of fascinating people but in terms of foreign leaders, that was an interesting moment. >> a truly pedestrian question -- what is the neatest high-tech benefit of being at the white house and traveling with the

president? the get to sneak into friends bank accounts? how good is the phone reception on air force one? >> i think i owe you a few thousand dollars -- i was a little short. [laughter] we do not sneak into people's bank accounts, -- obviously air force one is air force one, but the ability to reach anyone in the world, if you pick up the phone and say you want to talk to someone, they will find that person and that is a benefit. [laughter] when you are in the white house, any information you want, you can get fairly quickly. with events breaking ball over the world, it's not read just

interesting, but a valuable. >> since we're just among friends and nobody is going to repeat anything. >> i look around this room and i see it -- it's like this is your life for me. i see my first city editor at the "chicago tribune." i always say i went to school at the university of chicago and was educated at the "chicago tribune. i can point to people all over this room meant something to me in my life. we are among friends. i cannot speak for the c-span people. [laughter] the most exasperated member of congress you met? [laughter] >> i'm not going to answer that question. [laughter] in case you don't recognize of

asian when you see it. what i will say is this -- in case you don't recognize evasion when you see it. congress divides itself into two categories -- people who run for office because they want to do something and people who run for office because they want to be something. the second group is more numerous than the first. there is a disconnect sometimes because of that. your mission is to try to get something accomplished and it involves expanding political currency. and this president has proven time and again he is willing to do that. there are those who say this is not polling well -- i went to the president many times with polling numbers on things we were working on that were not very encouraging and if you just did connect the dots decision

making, you would say we are not going to do this. thank god for the country, that is not how he is operating. one example was the odd note intervention. people were not for that, even in the state of michigan. they were not for because they felt for decades the american automakers did not make the kinds of decisions they should have in order to make their industry's competitive, so why should they get bailed out from their own mistakes? on the other hand, we're sitting in the middle of a very deep recession. if two of the big three automakers disappeared, hundreds of thousands of jobs would disappear with them. not just their workers, but the ancillary industries and small businesses and dealerships and so on.

the president said i appreciate that, but if they're willing to rationalize their businesses and make themselves competitive, we ought to do because it would be a tremendous blow to allow communities to lose them. now you have seen general motors have its most productive years in 1999. they have added tens of thousands of workers and it's a whole different picture. but had he done what some members of congress would have suggested, he would have led ago because it was not on first glance good politics to do what he did. my exasperation is with those who have a horizon line of 24 hours or 48 hours, who are observed with the polling of the moment or cable television chatter of the moment. or are guided in their decision making because their principal concern is to get reelected and

not to move the country forward. there are those on both sides of the aisle that are subject to that. >> let me play devil's advocate and argue in the form of a question about what seems from afar to look like a president dowling to public opinion. that involves guantanamo. the president said he would close it during the campaign, they would close it after the inauguration. there are guys to have been there for nine years, not charged with any offense. there are at least 75 people who the justice department conceded has no evidence against and they will never come to trial. they are just sitting there on guantanamo. there are about 170 something there right now stuck. the president clearly got shafted in a way as the republicans threw in an amendment to the defense

authorization bill that says not one dime of your money can be spent moving any of those guys. so they are stacked. -- so they are stuck. why is that something, as someone who knows this is morally outrageous, why didn't he say no, i'm not going to sign it because those guys have to get out of there? >> let me say a number of things about that. first of all, there is an institution called the united states congress. under our system, they have some authority. they have exercised that authority and have exercised it in contravention of the pleas the president and others have made. we wanted to close guantanamo because its remains a hindrance

to what we're trying to accomplish overseas. it is a negative symbol and in that sense, it does not enhance our safety. that is why we wanted to move remaining prisoners from guantanamo to illinois, the united states congress has blocked that. they have made it more difficult in terms of where the venues in which these folks are going to be tried. , so we are -- then becomes a matter of do you try the mastermind of the 9/11 massacre or do you just sit in a holding pattern, a stalemate, and not give justice to those who have

lost their loved ones in that catastrophe? the administration and the justice department decided to move forward, but there's a qualitative difference between where we were in january of 2009 and where we are today. we did not even have case records for most of the people in guantanamo. it took months and months just to reconstruct who they were and why they were there and what the appropriate disposition of them should be. we went through that process. some of them have been transferred overseas. others are in the process of being charged and tried. there is this category of people who are there -- there is not evidence to try them, but

there is ample evidence they represent a threat to the country and how to deal with those people has been a very thorny issue. the justice department and the president have tried to develop a protocol for dealing with that that gives them some form of review. these are difficult issues we walked into and have to try and resolve in the real-world. the president is not a university of chicago law professor. he's president of the united states and has to deal with the many challenges this poses. he has to do it consistent with our constitution and our values and our constitution includes the separation of powers. he is doing the best pecan with a very difficult situation. >> one more and a den of the lightning round. >> you can't ask questions like

that in the lightning round. [laughter] if your tree, what kind of tree you would be, at not tell me about guantanamo. [laughter] [applause] >> and here i am defensive about a lack of nuance. [laughter] for the next hour and a half, could you tell us -- [laughter] as much as you have brought up the d.c. media echo chamber, lots of times -- -- whether it was you going in front of the camera or getting someone else in front of the camera -- it just became a reality of your life even when you knew maybe more than anyone else in the country outside the west wing that the story was b.s.?

>> that question involves more thought than i can give on this stage. if you are asking me if i was bullshitting people -- the hardest thing among many hard things is at least if you are in the seat i was sitting in is discerning what is real and what is not real. every day is election day in washington. every single day, something crops up and everybody says this is going to define the administration. how many days did we go through where we went through the oil leak and we were told this is the defining issue of the obama

presidency? obama's katrina. how many of you were talking about that over your lunch today? how many people are talking about that today? it was important and it was a terrible thing. i do not minimize it, but it's not the defining issue of the presidency. every single day, you can find someone writing about something, saying this is said the finding issue of the presidency. we try to focus on things that really matter to people and tried to discern what is real from what is washington cable fluff. but i cannot say we were always successful. you do get drawn in and that's why it was a relief in some ways to come back here where people are talking about real, tangible things that affect their lives. in many ways, they find the

washington conversation and abstraction. >> let me talk about the true defining issue of his presidency. he has a history of avoiding traps that life sets out for him. huge family dysfunction, and particularly with his dad, being black in america, coming out of the what some would see as the ethically suspect world of chicago politics, -- >> you better come to that question because you are insulting everybody in this room. [laughter] [applause] i have some friends in the u.s. attorney's office. they will back me up. >> he has navigated his way around a lot of potential land mines. afghanistan, iraq, libya -- is

war potentially though one trap he cannot ultimately avoid? >> you are asking me to put in a political context what fundamentally is a larger question about the president of the united states. i think most americans are weary of war. it has been costly in terms of life and treasurer. and yet they also feel strongly they need to do what we can to protect our own security and the president needs to balance these things. he ran for office promising to end the war in iraq. by the end of the year, we will have our troops home. we have 100,000 home already. he ran saying there was no strategy in afghanistan, that we had to be more aggressive dealing with al qaeda on the

border between afghanistan and pakistan and he has done that. he did it promising we would surge up and begin a process of reducing forces in the summer. i am confident he will do that. as for libya, everybody wants to generalize what is the principaleach of these situatioe different and challenging. in libya, we were faced with a situation of an impending potential genocide in a country that was between egypt and tunisia. fragile democratic movements were taking hold.

we had the arab elite in our -- allies united in the call for action. we acted in a limited way to prevent what could have been a genocide. it was not an easy call. the president did a great job of explaining his reasoning in that speech. i do not know that he views these things as a trap so much as the nature of a complex and challenging world in which you have to evaluate every situation and we act in a thoughtful, intelligent way. that is what he has tried to do. >> let's go distinctly local. rod blagojevich. why did you help him become a congressman, but not the governor? >> i helped them become a

congressman because i thought he would be a good congressman and a good representative for that district. i did not see in him the qualities for executive leadership. i was surprised when he came to me and said he wanted to run for governor. he could not articulate for me why. it goes back to the question of people who want to do something and folks who want to be something. when you are running for an office like that, you should know what you want to do. you should know why you are doing it. it cannot be just that it is cool being governor. i felt that i could not deal with that program. i told him that. that was the end of our relationship in many ways.

i do not want to go on because i think what happened with him -- whether it was his own making or not -- is a tragic story. it has been tragic for his family and for the state. i do not want to pile on. i had a strong sense, knowing him as i did, it was not going to be a good story. sadly, that turned out to be the case. >> for those who do not remember, you were an important player in the initial mayoral victory in 1989. how you compare mayor daley of 1989 to rahm emanuel? intellectually, stylistically? >> first of all, let's say times were different. before i get to the personalities, it is important to note -- at the city club of

chicago, it is an inappropriate place to say, there are some political relationships i have had that i will be proud of for the rest of my life. obviously, the president is one of them. another is mayor daley. i remember back in 1989 and many , how raciallyell divided the city was at the time and incapable of doing the things that were necessary to deal with challenges. it was a difficult time for our city. you can see evidence of daily's -- of mayor daley's achievements in the city. what he should feel good about and what we should celebrate is what he did to put this city back together in 1989.

rich daley is a unique character. he eats and lives and breathes chicago. he came to the office that way. he never had any of aspiration. he was not looking to be governor or senator or anything else. he had this understanding. he knows this and he grew up with this stuff. he understood this city at a granular level. he understood every block of the city. he understood the neighborhoods. he has a genius for cities generally. rahm emanuel as a genius for government. he has a genius or politics. i think that is going to serve him well. i have been impressed with the way he has handled him during --

had limbs of during the election and since the election. he had the same drive that mayor daley has. he is a big, strong, larger- than-life personality that can move the city forward. they are similar in that way. one big difference between rahm emanuel is that he is not a outgoing personality. rich daley is a shy person. rahm is not shy. [laughter] i think he is a worthy successor to one of the great mayors in the city and the country. >> what do you think would be a smart way for rahm emanuel to go about things early on? is it important to do something big early as a counterpart to

health care? what might you suggest would be a smart way? >> it is not like he is painting on a blank tableau. he has some big challenges. they are not going to wait. they require action and they require action quickly. we have fiscal challenges that have to be addressed. i have no doubt he is going to address them. secondly, we all know that the future of this city and this country press -- rests in how we handle public education. rahm emanuel has a strong feeling about that. we elite to the children and this committee to make sure -- to theexp-- we owe it children and to this city to make sure that they get a good education. he is going to make sure of

that. we need a safe city. there are pockets of violence that affects young people that have to be addressed. he identified these areas during the campaign. i do not think it was rhetorical. it was a gut sense on his part on what we need to move the city will work. i am sure he will do some things in terms of bringing stuff to the city that will be important. when rahm emanuel wants to do something? i will tell you a story about my friend. he does not like me telling the story, but he does not watch c- span. [laughter] so i will tell it. when my wife susan was pregnant with our second child, michael, rahm emanuel was working for illinois public action. they helped elect a fellow many of you know. lane evans in west illinois.

it was quite a victory. it democrat in 100 years to win in this west illinois district. rahm emanuel what to get some credit for his organization for having played a big role. he called me and then he called me and then he called me. he kept calling me. mercifully, susan went into labor and i went into the hospital -- i went to the hospital. we are in the recovery from and the phone rings. i picked it up. david? rahm emanuel. i just needed to know how it went. how did it go? i said, great. i have a new son. he said, that is great. there are a few minutes of silence. he says, when do you think you will be back at work? i will tell you, anything this city needs, there will never be

a more energetic advocate for the interests of this city, with business, with other levels of government. no one will be safe from his desire for the city. i think the city will profit from it. >> a couple more things before we finish off. there is a malady known as the atomic saber. it -- not as potomac fever. it makes it difficult -- known as potomac fever. it makes it difficult for people to leave washington, d.c. it has got to be so much more difficult for people who have been in the west wing. presumably, you can pick up the phone and call anyone you want at any time, the president, bill daley.

are you having any sort of withdrawal problems? not seen exactly who just went down the hall to the oval office, which no one else in the world would know. not knowing exactly who the president was on the phone within minutes ago. talk about that. >> anybody who tells you otherwise is lying. it is an are caught. it is energizing to be in the nerve center of the world and to be in that information loop. i love my colleagues there, including the president. to be in such proximity and to work with him on a day to day basis was great. i refer to myself when i was in washington as a chicagoan on assignment.

i knew i was coming home to a real place. i did it is important. i always see about -- say about washington what my mother said to me when i was a child. i love you, but i hate the things you do. [laughter] i love the people. there are many great friends and associations i have in washington. i do not like the pathology of the town. i love being here in a p lace that is healthier and more real. i miss that. there is with a drawl -- withdrawal. i want to say one thing because we are finishing up. we have challenges in the country and we are all aware of it. i always think about this experience i had when i think about all of the great experiences i had working for the president. one that stand out in my mind

was in july of 2009. i traveled with the president to russia. when we arrived, there was a ceremony. my father was an immigrant from eastern europe. his family spent four years trying to get to america because they believed this was the place they could practice their faith really and they could pursue their dreams. now here i am standing with the president of the united states watching the russian military band played our national anthem. i stood there with my hand over my heart and i had tears in my eyes. it was the night before what would have been my thought the's 99th birthday.r's what a testament of his faith in this country that his son would return at the side of the

president of the united states. we have so much that we take for granted that is worth fighting for. that is a big take away for me from this experience. i feel better about our country that i did going in. [applause] >> i had a couple more questions. we will do the lightning round later. >> do we have time? >> it is 130 p m i am short david will want to stay and enter -- is 1:30 p.m. i am short-dated will want to stay and answer more questions -- i am sure david will want to

stay and answer more questions. >> two fast one. real quick. when are you going to write your book? >> i am busy right now. i have a task ahead of me and i will devote myself to its. that is to see to it that our friend gets reelected. [applause] >> for the record, we should explain to the c-span audience that it is not a belligerent crowds or mr. david axelrod our present obama. >> a woman told me in 1992 that barack obama would be president of the united states sunday. >> stand up. >> if you are going to be tracked take betty lou.

>> this has been a great experience. why don't we end this by banking david and -- by thanking david and jim for an incredible time. [applause] david and jim, wait a minute. we are not done yet. nice try. we have two gift certificates. this is big, jim. one goes to ellie abrams. the other one goes to judy williams. and for you guys, because you are no longer in office -- congratulations.

[various crowd noise] >> now remarks on obama

policies and the federal budget. these remarks came before last friday night when lawmakers announced an agreement on the federal budget preventing a government shutdown. hosted by the jewish republican coalition, this portion is about 30 minutes. >> we are fortunate to have a wonderful panel of three u.s. congressmen. it speaks to not only their great character and dedication to the rjc, but also to be

strength of the rjc that each of you bring today. i would like to give you a brief introduction of our three esteemed members of congress on our panel. then i will have them each stay a few words to you. as the youngest member of congress, aaron schock has attracted plenty of attention. president obama put a harsh spotlight on him, traveling to peoria to pressure him to back his controversial stimulus bill. he won election to his local school board months after graduating from high school. at 23, he took an incumbent

state representative and one bank, becoming the youngest person ever to hold state office. -- and won, becoming the youngest person ever to hold state office. in his second term, he serves in the house leadership as a deputy whip and as a new member of the powerful ways and means committee. he has already become a wonderful friend of the rjc. he has been a speaker and a friend of israel. please welcome a remarkable rising star, congressman aaron schock. [applause] >> good morning. thank you for the invitation to be with you. it is always fun to speak to a group of rjc members. you can feel free to invite me to your conferences when they are posted in vegas.

i have enormous respect for my colleagues and i am glad i could join them on this panel. being in las vegas reminds me of being in washington, d.c. you see a lot of people walking around trying to spend a lot of money in the hopes of finding prosperity. it is similar to the last majority in the democratic house or cpac two years. it also reminded of advice -- for the past two years. it also reminded of advice from winston churchill. begin with the truth, no matter how harsh it may seem. we have found ourselves in a perilous position in this country. for the last couple of years, we have seen an extraordinary lack of discipline in the way our government acts and treat its allies around the world. these actions have come with hefty costs.

today, more than any time since the 1970's, our country is truly great and decisive leadership from our president. we are at a critical moment in our nation's history. we are literally on the verge of bankruptcy at home. abroad, we are witnessing a shift of tectonic proportions. the united states has felt itself in the midst of a global struggle. the changes we are witnessing in the middle east have unknown consequences and outcomes. one thing that should never come into question is our unbending support for israel. without a doubt, israel has been -- [applause] israel has been our best and most important ally in the middle east. for decades, the u.s. and israel have maintained strong,

bilateral relations. i would argue that in the last two years since the occupants of the white house have change, so has the understanding that if you pick on israel, you pick on us. i think many of you know that before we were scheduled to speak, i was originally scheduled to introduce our majority leader, eric cantor. i only mention this because, as you all know, he is a leader in the house who understands better than most the importance of israel. i am glad we have him on our side. i strongly believe in our leadership team in washington, d.c. both speaker john boehner and leader eric cantor are leading the house in the direction the american people demanded when we won the majority this past november. we have a lot of work to do and and do this year and next. -- and undo this year and next.

we are in the midst of an economic recovery and a job market that seems unwilling to grow. we have jurisdiction over the country's tax policies and trade agreements. we started this year firmly dedicated to passing the three impending trade agreements. we are adamant about doing so before july 1. the united states represents by% of the world's population. the-5% of the world's population. -- 5% of the world's population. agreements with colombia, panama, and south korea would increase u.s. exports by $13 tolion and at 1$10 billion the country's gdp. if you want to create jobs, this

is better than any government stimulus bill being promoted by our president. it does not add to our national deficit and it does not hurt our small businesses. it will level a slanted playing field that american companies have been competing against and provide a much-needed jolt to our economy. let me give you an example. in the country of colombia alone, they signed a trade agreement with us in 2006. while speaker policy and the democrat majority sat on their hands in 2006, u.s. producers have been charged more than $3.40 billion in needless duties. for almost two decades, colombian companies have sold 90% of their goods to the u.s. duty-free. i have been extremely disappointed in the president's

leadership on trade. if he were serious about job creation and growing our economy, i would suggest he would immediately send these no cost jobs bill to the united states congress for approval. trade is not the only area where i believe president obama's leadership void extends. i was encouraged when the president spoke about the need for tax reform in the state of the union address. i believe it will take both chambers of congress and the president's leadership is a must. in 1975, our tax code contained 700,000 words. today, that count exceeds 3.8 million words. in the past decade, there have been 4428 changes to the tax code, including more than 579 changes just last year alone.

in 2008, taxpayers spent $163 billion just trying to comply with individual and corporate income tax rules in america. this is equal to bddp of pakistan. to say we need tax reform -- equal to the gdp of pakistan. we will try to reform the tax system on the ways and means committee. this will be a multi-year process from beginning to end. president reagan made tax reform a priority after the 1984 election. many credit his direct involvement with the passage of tax reform in 1986. there are two lessons we should keep in mind. president to leadership is critical for success.

as a starting point, there is consensus. the corporate tax rate should be reduced and individual tax rates should be lowered to attract investment in the united states. we should also do away with tax codes that favor a few industries and lower the overall rate so that every taxpayer and business can better compete in the global economy. with the lowering of the japan tax rate this month, united states will have the dubious distinction of having the highest corporate tax rate in the entire world. not something we should be proud of. there is a famous jewish proverb that says "a half truth is a whole lie." it would be disingenuous ofor me to tell you the next two

years will be easy. we are up against a senate that is in capable of producing anything of substance. we have a president whose leadership style tells the world we are not to be taken seriously. we have our work cut out for us. it is why now more than ever like rjc ands than individuals like yourselves are more important than ever. thank you for inviting me. [applause] >> thank you, congressman. as chairman of the house republican policy committee, tom price is the ranking member of the gop majority. the policy committee is responsible for disseminating ideas to the republican caucus.

he is only in his third term, but he has starred kurt -- has chartered an import introductory. -- an important trajectory. he was elected to congress in 2004 and emerged as a leader of the conservatives in the gop caucus, is that is confirmed when his colleagues made him chairman of the republican study committee in his second term. during his two years at the helm of the rsc, he made the formulation and promotion of pro-israel measures a key priority. he reached out to jewish republicans to assess how many members of the house could improve their outreach to the jewish community.

he has been a participant in the atlantic chapter. he is a happy warrior. we look forward to hearing his thoughts on the challenges that lie ahead for our party and our nation. congressman tom price. [applause] >> thank you and good morning to you. great to be with you. by looking at all of these miles ist here, everybody's bracket still alive. what a great pleasure it is to join you today. i look forward to your questions. i want to thank you for what you do. thank you for what you do in our communities and our party. the rjc work being done is by tell -- is vital and pivotal to

the two nations, the u.s. and israel. when benjamin franklin was leaving the constitutional convention and the constitution had been signed, he was opposed by a woman who said, what did you give us? a democracy or a minor key? monarchy. to which he replied, a democracy, if he can keep it. we are in the "if you can keep it" time. we have a new republican congress. can you feel it? 87 out of 24 want. that means more than one out of

every three members are -- 87 out of 241. they bring patriotism and focus. the number that is interesting is 37. 37 of those 87 had never run for any office before in their lives. they woke up one morning or the last two or three years and said, what is happening in my country? i cannot believe it. what can i do? what they could do in their district is run for the united states house of representatives. they bring an incredible enthusiasm. we are so grateful for the work that you did and for those 87 who stepped up and said, yes i can make a difference. i want to say a few words about the administration and talk about the issue of the budget and the continuing resolution and money. it seems to be the order of the day. one of the most important things

confronting our country right now, without a doubt. i think this administration has demonstrated itself to be bankrupt. on everything. they are bankrupt on monday. they do not have a clue what to do with its economy. they have spent too much. they continue to print too much money. they have increased our national debt in the last three years by nearly $5 trillion. in the area of energy, the president goes down to brazil and promote drilling offshore of the coast of brazil but not offshore on the coast of the united states. in the area of health care, as a physician, the obamacare legislation is not only going to bankrupt our country, this is by letting the quality of health care in this country. it must be repealed -- but it is violating the quality of health

care in this country. it must be repealed. [applause] that does not get to the issue of foreign policy. this president goes on television on monday night. when his speech was done, i did not know a single thing more about what it meant for u.s. policy in these challenging times. nothing. it was all platitudes. he talked about the values and the principles of this country and that is why he acted. he cannot articulate what the values and principles of this country are. when you have uncertainty in the world, this is what you get. this is what the world looks like when the united states refuses to lead. it is not a happy place. the good news is that the country is awakening. the country has awakened. they recognize it is time for real hope and real change to take over this country. that is what the next cycle is all about. our challenge in the house of

representatives is to make certain that you and folks all across this great land understand that we are battling on principle. we are fighting on your behalf. we are providing appropriate contract, positive contrast to the solutions that need to be placed before us as a country. we need to make certain that 2012 as an outcome that allows us to move in that right direction for our country. i want to talk about the issue of economy and jobs in look forward to your questions and your comments. we are in the midst of trying to right the ship of state from the economy and jobs standpoint. that has to do with the spending in washington. we are going to put in place the pro-growth policies that are necessary to turn this economy around. we must get control of spending in washington. the challenge we have is that

there are three issues that are coalescing at the same time. they deal with the past, the present, and the future. they are not coming in that order. people are confused about what is going on. the continuing resolution that is being dealt with deals with the president -- deals with the present and how you find the government for this fiscal year. it is about $378 billion. that number is important. we cut $61 billion of that in our proposal and what we pass in the house. the house has a 16% reduction in spending for this year in non- discretionary money. that is the battle we are going through now, in the present. the future, is our budget, our vision, which we will present in a few weeks. that will be the proposal that will allow you and the country and the world to see what we

believe the policies of this nation should be as it relates to our budget. we will tackle what the president refuses to tackle, that is the whole issue of automatic spending, intel -- a title misspending. we will address medicaid -- entitlement spending. we will bring down the debt and we will put us on a path to balance. that is the kind of bold leadership we believe the country is demanding. and then the past. the debt ceiling. we are bumping up against a $14 ceiling.that -- debrt we believe it is -- it is imperative that we turn off the credit card. whether it is a balanced budget

amendment or the repeal of obamacare or the two year budget cycle, all of the things you don't need to be done to reduce spending coming out of -- all of the things you know need to be done to reduce spending coming out of washington. when you look to our leadership and what we are doing, take them all together. only when you take them all together can you see the old leadership our conference is bringing in the way of policy. i want to mention the health care debate. as a physician, one of the things that drove me into public service is the disaster of health care. there is a wonderful principaled solution that we can put into place that solves the challenges and make sure you solve the problem of lawsuit

abuse. we can do all these things as a country without putting the federal government in charge of anything, not a thing. they do not have to be involved in health care. i promise you. [applause] let me close with a challenge. that is, 2012. the 2012 election will be the most important election of our lifetime. if we are able to increase the numbers in the house, if we are able to gain majority control in the senate and make president obama a one-term president -- [applause] i promise you, what your kids and grand kids will be able to see is that they have the opportunity to realize the american dream. that is in doubt right now. i want to close by quoting one

of my favorite founders. it is daniel adams. he said, it does not take a majority to prevail. a tireless majority can set brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. i am glad to set those brushfires. thank you. [applause] >> thank you, congressman. you can see what great leadership we have in these great leaders here today with us. our third congressman, just a months into the new congress, bob dold has emerged as a start of the new class. it was asked which new members were making the best impression. the new congressman was at the top of the list. the suburban terrain between the

chicago and wisconsin border is challenging terrain. emocrats have one won the district handily since 1992. robert understand how to strike the right balance. he is a fiscal conservative who is moderate on social issues. he has established himself as a leader in the effort to protect our alliance with israel. one par for example. -- one powerful example. there was a bill that would have unilaterally canceled an agreement between our two nations. congressman dold understood that we need to make it clear that this elephant did not speak for them. working with the president of

the class, he drafted a letter confirming that the military assistance had to remain a priority as we restrained out of control federal spending. 67 out of 87 freshmen signed congressman dold's letter. a remarkable response. [applause] bob dold boasts a remarkable record. he is a key player in the house by virtue of his membership on the financial services committee. he is already a familiar face to our chicago chapter. we are pleased to be able to introduce him to a wider cross- section of the rjc. it is and gentlemen, congressman robert dold. [applause] >> thank you all for giving me an opportunity to be with you

todayw. itwith a name like, bob dold, i had to change my name on the ballot to robert. people said, bob dole? he is running? people at me over and over again, why would you want to do this? i get that question a lot. i can see some hence not been. why would you want to put yourself through this the best i can see some hens -- i can see some heads in the audience nodding. what would you want to put yourself through this? i am a small business owner. it felt that the government was

making it harder and harder for me to put the key in the door and opened up my business every day. it should be quite the opposite. they should be making it easier for me to open my business, easier for me to employ people. they were not. i have three young children. an eight year-old. year old and a five year- old. when i talk to my friends from business school and law school, they scratched their heads. i tell my daughter that it is more than one, but not quite two. we borrow about 42% of every dollar from a foreign entity. that is an enormous problem. the emotional side. it is jobs in the economy, it is

that as a spending, and it is keeping our country safem. mark kirk decided he was not going to run for congress. had he run for congress, i would say, how can i help you? but the country need leadership now more than ever. we have a fiscal deficit. one of the greatest deficits we have in washington, d.c. today is a leadership deficit. the-but the commission put together by the president came out with a litany -- the deficit commission put together by the president came out with a litany of recommendations. do you know how many recommendations were put into the president also budget? not a one. that is unbelievable. he put together a commission to talk about jobs. we were invited to a meeting

who iseff m.immelt, going to head up the president's commission on jobs. the top thing he is looking to do is get ceo's around the nation to look at regulations. they want to highlight five regulations that are destroying jobs. that is exactly what we need to do. i would argue there are a lot more than five. it is a good start. the 1099 regulation, part of the health care bill. how many small business owners do we have in the room? thank you for what you do. we have to recognize that 2/3 of all new jobs in our nation are created by small businesses. we can also not forget about big businesses. they often get the

short end of the stick. 2/3 of all new jobs are created by small businesses. it seems to me we would want to create an environment that would allow small businesses to drive. if we can create an environment where 1/2 of them can create new jobs, that is where we are born to start seeing some growth. that is what we should focus -- that is where we are going to start to see some growth. that is where we should focus. we are sitting at a precipice on two this thing paths. do we believe in individual liberty and freedom? do we believe in a free market economy? for those of us who believe in freedom, who believe that tomorrow's date will be brighter if we give people the opportunity to work hard and be

able to learn that extra dollar. that is going to be a part -- that is going to be a powerful way to go forward. one last thing i want to leave you with before we take questions. we all had an opportunity to listen to chris christie the other day. he spoke before most of the congress and a number of people in washington. one thing i look back on is, there are those who go to washington to do something. there are those who go to washington to be something. i am here to let you know that these gentlemen here and myself are in washington to do something. i already am something. my wife made me a husband. my children made me a father. my employees helped me in a lot

of other ways. those are the things important to me, being a father and a husband. i am a-ok. we have to seize on this moment in time. we are going to look back and say, what is it that we did? the dates i want you to look back on is not july. it is july 26. that is our debt day. debt. day after that is t if we do not get this turned around, our children and grandchildren will inherit a nation that is worse than we inherited from our grandparents. we will have failed the american contract, which was to leave the country better than it was when we grow up. or the young lady sitting on her

father's lap, it is all about that. when you open your wallet and look at your children, it is all about them. what we do in washington today absolutely impacts them. thank you for your time. i look forward to your questions. >> you can watch this program in its entirety by logging onto c- span.org. it is also searchable in our c- span.org video library. tomorrow on "washington journal ," a discussion on federal government spending. later, a look at cyber-security with a data protection attorney. that is tomorrow at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span. cam is year's student

competition asked students to consider washington, d.c. through their lens. >> when we ask a service member to go to a foreign country, a young american to go to another country to defend the freedoms of somebody in another country, we cannot ask what the cost to them. they pick up that pride of service and they go without questions. we should not question the cost that it will take us to provide for them when they return from combat. >> through the involvement of my father and his issues in war, i chose war and how it relates to my father and my family. >> do you think it is your personal opinion that congress should provide more service to

these veterans? >> we need to appropriate the funds. we are having a big problem with ptsd and drug and alcohol problems with our soldiers. we need to have a place for them to go. we have one at our veterans center here in tulsa. it is not at enough -- adequate enough. they need to have the resources they need to help the veterans and the medical professionals that will be needed. >> i decided to addstep -- to ask my stepdad. >> i had been deployed in southeast asia in different times. in 2003, one of my deployments

in the middle east, i was injured and had to have surgery on my neck. i was discharged. >> when did you realize you have more problems? >> at the time of my discharge, i was not having real issues with it. the issue started one year after the date of the surgery. i started having tinkling down my right arm again. at that time, i went to the va. >> my father is working through these problems because of the things he has done in war. he has to take all of these pain medications to make sure he can sleep at night. >> right now, i am getting some help through the v.a. for that. i see a concert once every month, trying to get it worked

out. >> i asked my dad when he thought about the v.a. >> there is not enough money out there for the veterans. if there was, we would get help when we needed it and not have to go through the red tape and iserwork to get what it rightfully owed to me for what i have done for the country. we go wherever they tell us to go. we are put through hell in some places. sometimes, you come back and you try to get the help you need. in certain corners, you can deny and you have to start over. they already have my military records in front of them. we just go from there. you have to love the v.a.

sometimes. >> we have to focus on delivering what we promised tuesday that trends. they are injured in battle and they -- what we promised the veterans. >> the personal doctor i have over there is excellent. i have to say that for him. overall, the place is crowded with all of the later wars. you hardly see any world war ii guys there. i am helping the world war ii guys who need help. it does not seem we can get the help for them anymore. i tell some of them that what they are doing is waiting for them to die and then they do not have to process them. >> we all for all primary-care

services, narrow surgery, cardiac surgery, dialysis, some of the more extensive specialized areas where they need a higher level of care. i have seen the v.a. been transformed into one of the finest health care institutions in the country. during the health care debate that was raging over the last few years, when people were debating obamacare, very few people looked at the v.a. as a model, which delivers some of the finest care in the country. the benchmark criteria for outcomes in diabetes, colon cancer screening, cardiovascular disease exceeds the national average, exceeds the medicare average.

the primary care system is divided into the team approach. you have a primary care physician, made the -- maybe a mid-level providers and a secretary. each patient identifies their provider with a team color. when they call, they call a physician or a mid-level provider or a nurse. they are seeing some of the highest finding ever under george bush and now under president obama. the v.a. budget is probably the least the base in the house and the senate. there is no country in the world that takes care of its veterans better. it does not matter if you are a democrat, a republican, or who is in office.

veterans get excellent care. they make sure they thank every veteran that comes in so that they know how grateful they are that the veteran was able to volunteer and sacrifice for his country. >> upon researching this topic and being able to learn more about the v.a., what the veteran's administration is doing is not welfare for these people. we are paying what these people are owed. my father is being paid for what he did to serve this country. my family probably would be without a home right now because of the disabilities that my thought has. he has so many ptsd issues. he has so many ptsd issues.