>> we are back with our reporters. let me begin where we left off. you are saying, hand it -- can it be contained? >> i think after what happened last year, people want a certain level of risk. these containment systems, we have not seen the untested. -- seen them tested. there are limitations in these systems, and the only true way to stop the well is to kill it with a relief well, and that takes some time, so time will tell. a lot of people think what i am thinking, which is and we saw what happened in the gulf. we had to invent something that

actually did work. we had to ask the industry again, are you prepared? >> the final report is not out. when can we expect to see that? >> cintas later this month we are going to see the coastguard report, and that is being billed as the definitive one, because they have subpoena power. they had access. it was a body of experts, so everyone is waiting to see what is going to happen, but we will see. >> let me turn to capitol hill. what will policy makers been doing this week coming up?

>> the bill would open up new lease sales in the gulf. next week they have legislation that would require them to rule on a permit within 60 days and another bill that would open up offshore. democrats are targeting oil tax breaks and coming up with legislation that would use the revenues they get. >> any idea of these pills are going to the president's desk? of parks i think you will see a wide divide as -- >> i think you will see a wide divide us to where to go a. rx thank you both. -- >> thank you in both. [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] >> coming up, rudi giuliani. after that, comments from brian priebus on the national debt and then the new head of the democratic national convention who -- national committee. >> we have a saying in the military. if that amateurs do it over and over again to get it right, the professionals do it over and over again until they cannot get it wrong. >> today is the author of 14 books. sunday he will discuss the life and training of navy seals on "q&a." that is one of our signature programs available online at c-

span.org/podcasts. >> every morning is "washington journal," are live program about the news of the day. weekdays, watch live coverage of the house and weeknights common congressional forums the region weeknights, congressional forums. -- and weeknights, congressional forums. you can also watch our programming any time on c- span.org, and it is all searchable in our c-span video library. c-span, a public service created by america's cable companies. >> former new york city mayor rudy giuliani talk about foreign policy. after that, remarks from ryan

priedus on national debt. both spoke at a conference that recognizes the 100th birthday of ronald reagan. this is about 50 minutes. >> it is my pleasure to introduce a person who needs no introduction but will get one anyway. many do not realize he was born not in manhattan but in brooklyn. he became a serious and yankees fans, which i suspect growing up in brooklyn may have been a cause for some other kind of award. he went to nyu law school,

unless you think his new york notify are not real -- bonafides are not real. much to the surprise of some folks, he went back to new york city to become u.s. attorney to the southern district of new york, and while it may have been a surprise to some people, rudi and i did not know each other of the time, but my guess is that he was coming home to do some things for his city that seriously needed steering. he tried a mafia commission trials, which tried to get new york out of the clutches of people who were doing it no favors. he ran for mayor the first time in 1989.

he said if david warren, it would be more of the same. he was right. it was more of the same period in a landslide, he lost the first time by 47,000 votes or something like that. he came back and won it by better than 50,000. he then became the first mayor of new york ever to reduce taxes. [applause] seeing that that worked pretty well, he did it 2200 more times and put new york on the road to recovery. good i have spent quite a bit of

time in new york. i will tell you in the 1960's and the 1970's, it was my intention to get out as soon as i could. after only a brief time, we noticed a very substantial, powell will change in the city. rudy giuliani made an enormous change in the city, and it now has never looked back. there is more to the law then being an academic. part of the lot is how you use it. good -- of the law is how you use it. rudy knew how to use the law. there were people who would like

a windshield, and you were afraid to tell the not too, oppose god knew and and and and now what would happen. he said, find a reason to get rid of them. that is using the law within the confine its. he is good at that. we have a meese award winner who is deserving of that award, absolutely deserving of that. it is our pleasure to present it to you. i want to read the precise description common -- description, because it cannot be improved by ad libbing. the ed meese award is presented in recognition of their careers

end leadership for our country. this of holds republican ideals in the face of adverse political challenges. our awardee is all of that. mr. mayor, it is my pleasure and honor to present you with that, and it is my pleasure to be here. [applause] >> thank you for a much. -- thank you very much.

thank you for the award. it means very much to me. his contributions are enormous, and it is of great honor to receive the award from you and the with all of these republican lawyers. i was the first republican a elected mayor of new york city in 25 years. i was the first one to remain a republican in 50. to give you a sense of how tough it is to be a republican in new york, my predecessor republican change parties while he was mayor, and my successor change parties two years ago, so i do not know who i go back to. this is a city that did not vote for abraham lincoln, so you get

an idea of how democratic it is. i loved seeing -- now being a republican mayor in new york city, because i got accused of pointing to many republicans. i appointed all six republicans in new york city. possiblyd not have appointed to many. i could not find any. i borrowed a great deal from ronald reagan, whom i know you are commemorating at this meeting. the idea that we should get government spending under control, i learned that from having the honor of working with ronald reagan. the president appointed me as associate attorney general. before i was appointed but after i went through my senate confirmation hearing, i had a

breakfast with 19 other people and president reagan and got to know him, and the day i had a breakfast with him was the day he was almost assassinated. i have a picture of me shaking hands with ronald reagan that morning, and a few hours later, he was shot, and i spent the rest of that day trying to get hinckley out of the hands of the washington metropolitan police and turned over to the fbi, because we were worried something would happen to him, because the idea of lee harvey oswald and what happened to him was still fresh in everyone's memory. will smith thought but he believed in hinckley had to be arraigned in court by the end of today, along with john webster, who was the head of the fbi at the time, we had to clear up the

court house, then reestablish the amount of people that went in, and then at 11:00 that night, we had the arraignment in the federal court house, and it was a very strange game. having had breakfast in the morning with president reagan, and being in court with his attempted assassin,, i always wondered if he had been successful what would have happened to this country. i am sure i am emotionally biased toward president reagan, but i really believe i am objective and saying he was the most -- he had the most impact on changing the united states and changing the world, liberation of millions of

people. most residents do not get to liberate millions of people. ronald reagan did because he had such a strong view on how to deal with communism, which is a lot clearer and easier to understand then his predecessors. he had the conviction communism was evil, and you had to confront it rather than negotiate, and the prior thinking was that live with it -- we can live with it, and he found the idea of coexistence with an ideology that enslaved millions of people and that also had an in possession of nuclear weapons, which could be used to destroy the world, that that was an unacceptable condition for the world. he found the idea of mutually assured destruction completely insane. you keep the peace and the

theory that either one of you could control the world -- based on the theory that either one of you could destroy the world, and ronald the dragon had the desire to defeat communism common -- ronald reagan had the desire to defeat communism. i believe that brought down the berlin wall and created freedom for many who did not have it before. most president did not get to do that, and that would not have happened with somebody else elected in 1980. even if some other republican had been affected, there were very few republicans who had that view of how to deal with communism, and his view on the economy was equally strong.

we are still reacting to the ideas and ronald reagan first promulgated when he ran for president, and we are still debating them. how large government should be, should the approach to poverty be government-directed or private-sector approach. ronald reagan found the size of government ridiculously large. he was a new deal democrat who converted to republican is them, because he thought the new deal and the great society went so far the extent became an -- so far that it became counterproductive. many people were locked in poverty, and he did everything he could to change that, which he did by lowering taxes, beginning the ideas that eventually led to welfare reform, changing the way

government reacted with our economy, moving much closer to a free-market economy, and he did something else we badly need today puree get all of that led to a resurgence -- we badly need today. all of that led to a resurgence of american pride, the idea that we were not at the end of the american empire. in the late 1970's, a lot of books were written and a lot of speeches were given about how america was out of gas and we would be overtaken by japan. we would be overtaken by other countries, and that we had to run our course and our country of unlimited possibilities -- and we are a country of unlimited possibilities. we are a people who believe that now. some of them are running america

today puree good -- running america today. the idea that we are just another country with our set of problems or maybe we are not as good as others, and ronald reagan found that to be totally wrong, not a correct view of this country, and he changed how we felt about ourselves, and that is the most important thing a leader does. the thing i am proudest about is not reducing crime or changing welfare or changing the tax system and creating surpluses. all of those were building blocks.

"the new york times" took a poll, and if said people did not want to live in new york city, and 65% thought new york city was going in the wrong direction. that is the most disturbing thing that could happen, because it means people were starting to lose hope, and when people lose hope, they do not do great things anymore, and i wanted to change that. when i left office, we had a new york city in which 70% wanted to be there and liked to be there, and others thought it was moving in the wrong direction. i also thought new york city would have done a much harder time overcoming the tremendous

damage done to us by the attacks of said december 11. it helped that we were a strong city, and optimistic city, a city that believes our best days were ahead of us. our city was able to get back on track very quickly. the most important thing is to reestablish people to believe in themselves. they are the ones who create things. they are the ones who produce jobs. they are the ones who invent great medicines or tremendous technologies. the government either hinders that or steps aside and encourages it, and ronald reagan understood that. we need to be reminded america's best days are ahead of us.

there is every reason to predict that. we are still the strongest economy on earth. we are still the country that produces the most ideas and across the seas and -- processes and ways of dealing with information. hase still the country that the most altruistic attitude of any country in the world. just think about the wars we have fought. it has to be the only time in the history of the world of a country like ours send hundreds of thousands of young people to die not to create an empire, not to expand their control of the world'. those employers were created for the benefit of rome, for the

benefit of england. what was america doing in the first world war? trying to make the world safe for democracy. and what were they doing during the second world war? trying to save the world. what was the motivation of vietnam? to save people from the spread of communism, and what is america doing in the middle east and in be anathema -- in libya? we are not doing the things we are doing in order to spread the american empire. the only one i can think of who has thoughts like that is donald trump, who wants to take some of the oil to pay for the trillion

dollars we spent. there is a certain logic to that, but that has not been away. that has been an unusual thing for our country to do. i cannot think of a country that actually worries about other people and gives up lives to make the world a safer place for them, because we recognize this is how it benefits us. if you look of what happened in the last six months, in libya or syria or iran, the whole set of values america stands for are now the set of values these people are demonstrating for, protesting about, demanding or

revolting for. in some cases they do not understand it. in some cases it is not know full version, but the reality they have seen other people living in freedom common -- the reality is they have seen other people living in freedom, and they say, why can we have the ability to have something to say about the way we spend money? it could not possibly be of better times for american ideas and ideals. go when president bush said this, there was a great deal of skepticism about supporting freedom throughout the world.

how can america do that? freedom and democracy are inconsistent with the muslim world and the middle east. president bush understood that is not the case. freedom and democracy are not limited to regions of the world. they are desirous that exist within the human heart and the human brain. the human desire is to have more control of your life. in order to release that, you have to see it is possible. the information makes it available to everyone. people in china are watching what is happening in the middle east, and make no mistake about it, it is creating in them the same questions it created in egypt. why do we live without a system

of law that protects us? why can we be the determining factor about what kind of education our children has or how many children we can have without the government deciding for us? what they really show us is a future in which more places in this world are going to see the american model as the model they want for themselves. it does not mean it will be a straight line in that direction. in many cases, there will be the course. it is quite possible in these revolutions -- there will be detours. it is quite possible in these revolutions, a dictator is replaced by own worst dictator. -- by a worse dictator.

it is not going to happen everywhere, but the general thrust is in our direction, and instead of worrying about whether america is going to be the preeminent power in the world, the question we should ask ourselves is if america does not lead the world, who will? who will do it as well as america up? there is nothing arrogant about their. -- that. that is the simple reality. would the world be better with china's leading the world? why would the world be better with some of these countries that are still struggling with the idea of rule of law and freedom and democracy ruling the world? the reality is the world has rarely had a super power that has the altruistic motivations and we have.

it does not mean we do not make terrible mistakes, but this is about as good as it gets. one thing is to reestablish american exceptional listen. we have to believe it. we have to present it to the world in the right way, not arrogantly, but almost in a sense of humility, because none of us deserve what we have in america. we are lucky to have it. most people who have lived on this earth have not had what we have, the opportunities we have, the rights we have, the possibilities we have, and it is our obligation to try to share that with the rest of the world, and it is our obligation to ourselves and our children to do that, because it is correct that if this world were made up of countries that were all democracies with a rule of law,

and that is the way we would end war. democracies do not go to war with each other. they debate each other. they have a treaty negotiations with each other, and remember? the reality is that that is the correct view of what america can contribute, and it is absolutely correct thing for america to offer that to the world. it does not mean we can intervene all of the time. it does not mean that we have the resources to intervene all

of the time. it does mean that we can help. you can help the spread of freedom and democracy without intervening militarily. sometimes, you have to. that should be the rare occasion. poland is now free. how do we do that? by giving them ideas. that is what we should be doing in iran today. it is inconsistent to me that we would call for the ouster of gaddafi, who surely has to go, and not call for the ouster of the ayatollah khamenei and ahmadinejad. khamenei is horrible, but he

does not pose a threat that iran poses. he is basically a neutered foreign leader. he does terrible things to his people, all of which are unacceptable. the risky prevents to united states is nothing like the risk that hassad or ahmadinejad present. if we are going to be calling for regime changes around the world and in certain places, why not remove some of the most unfriendly dictators while we are trying to do that and not just work with the ones you are partially from late, without driving up those who are truly dangerous to us. [applause] it would seem to me that one of the things missing is a clear vision of what our foreign policy should be with regard to

all of these movements, and it would be very simple to restate what our foreign policy should be. we should support freedom movements all over the world. we should support it with everything that we can possibly think of, short of military intervention, and then we should militarily intervene when horrible things are happening in a country and that also presents a danger to the united states of america. that second element has to be present. otherwise, we will be intervening in one-third of the world or one-quarter of the world, and the confusion that this the administration has shown about egypt and about libya comes about because they do not have a clear vision like ronald reagan had, about what they want to achieve and why they want to cheat at, so when they get into these compositions, they do not have a clear vision to turn back on that helps them through figuring it out and how to do it.

you can see it with mubarak. demonstrations start in egypt, and the first thing we announce is that mubarak is stable. the vice president says that mubarak is not a dictator. that was all announced, i think, in the first two or three days, and our policy was the we're going to keep mubarak there because we are afraid of what might replace him, and then things got worse. pressure group, and the policy changed from bard is stable, mubarak is not a dictator, to mubarak must go. we are now thinking what my fate -- replace him. it seems as is the policy was being made on the fly rather than some kind of a superimposed policy that everyone can understand being used to try to guide us through that situation. then we come to libya, and that

starts off very much the same way. the demonstration starred in libya. the rebellion begins, and our first reaction was that we are not going to intervene. we are not going to intervene because although gaddafi is terrible and does terrible things, there is no clear and present danger to the united states posed by gaddafi, by libya then, as tensions mount, as the arab league decides that gaddafi must go, the president announces that gaddafi must go. but the president has not thought out what the implications of that are, and a couple of weeks go by, as the president's tried to decide whether to join in the no-fly zone that france, england, the united league, the arab nations, what they all want, and finally, we join the all fly zone, but we still with all of that do not have a policy that makes any

sense. actually, we have a policy that contradicts itself, which is why it is very, very hard for our nato allies to follow us, because we are not leading. here is our policy. we intervened in libya with a no-fly zone to protect the people of libya, particularly the civilian population in libya, but we are not in favor of regime changed. we are not going to remove gaddafi. that may happen, but we are not going to do that. now, what are we protecting the people of libya from? if it is not from gaddafi? we are not protecting them from tornadoes or storms or some form elements that might come to libya. we're protecting them from gaddafi, so how can you possibly resolve this. how can you possibly end it?

how can you follow it and make logical decisions about it? be as if it is correct, and we are there to protect the people of libya, then we can only succeed in protecting the people of libya by doing what we say we're not going to do, which is removing gaddafi. the only to do this is to remove him. he is a danger. but our policy is to not remove him, so nobody can understand this. i think there would of been two acceptable decisions about libya. decision number one we have been not to intervene on the theory that although it was horrible and terrible and awful what he is doing to his people, but this is not directly in danger in the united states of america the way that assad and ahmadinejad in danger the united states and have participated in getting americans killed in iraq. the second decision could have been that because of the

location of libya, being in the middle east, because the middle east is such a tinderbox and because gaddafi was engaged in such brutal action that could end up encouraging others to do the same thing, it was necessary for the united states to intervene, but then we should intervene for the purpose of removing him and not intervene with this totally contradictory policy that makes it very very hard for people to follow or for people to figure out what we are going to do next, and this is a failure of lack of vision, lack of being willing to set forth a goal that people can understand that you're going to have to follow, and this is the greatness really of ronald reagan, because his vision was clear. he could articulate it. sometimes you cannot achieve every goal that you want, but when you state it, people know what to rally around. they know how to agree and have to disagree with you, and we're

going to face many of these questions in the next five or six or 10 years because this movement is not stopping. it is not under our control. it should not be. this is happening in the hearts and minds and souls of individual people, and with the information revolution we are going through, this is going to spread throughout the world. what you see in libya you will see in china. there are six or 700 million people in china living in poverty, and exactly why we are so afraid of china i cannot figure out. i mean, the idea that china will have the pre-eminent economy by 2016 can only come about if we do everything wrong. right now, we are doing a pretty good job of that. [laughter] but if we do everything wrong, then china somehow will become the preeminent economy, but china has to answer a question that no one in the history of

humanity has answered yet. sometime between now and 2016, they will have to move sixers 7 million people out of blinding, horrible poverty, which is unknown to anyone in the united states, and they will have to continue to have their economy grow at 8% and 10% and still solve the problem. the chinese economy is built on a false foundation. it is built on a foundation of hundreds of millions of people living in poverty. if we wanted to take half of this country or two-thirds of this country and allow them to live in the kind of poverty that the chinese are living in, we would have a gdp that would probably be three times the size of the gp we have today, except it would be concentrated in the hands of just a few people. china is going to have to overcome that. it will have to deal with a contradiction of being essentially a free-market capitalist economy and an authoritarian political system, and they do not know the answer

to it, yet. and that answer may be superimposed on them, and that is a tremendous challenge they have to go through, so america should deal with china. america should have relations with china. america should help guide china in the right direction, but we should not sit here being frightened of them, because there is no reason, so i really think that this next election in 2012 is going to be about whether we can give ourselves a chance of another renaissance for america, a chance of reawakening america, and inspiring us to leave rather than to follow it, of being proud of ourselves for the things that are good about us, and have us do what we always do, which is the correct ourselves. there is another way in which america is exceptional. america has been the most successful country and society in the history of the world at self correcting. we recognize, sometimes a little

late, but always the injustices and the bad things that we are doing, and we straighten them out. we have not had to have somebody else come here and straighten us out in all the years of our republic, because we have a system of self corrects, and there is no reason of that we do not have to do that. we do by conducting elections. we do by conducting elections that are as there is impossibly make them, and you help us do that. that is why i love the work republican lawyers do. you help us make sure that the elections are fair and honest, and i will conclude with one story about the election that i lost in 1989. about four or five days before the election, and i knew it would be very close. i asked one of my political mentors and a very experienced in your city political figure, i

said to him, how many votes to we have to win by two over, by cheating, and there used to be a lot of cheating in new york. and he said about 50,000 votes. we're probably going to have to win by 50,000 votes to make up for all of the precincts that do not a poll watchers. to make up for all of the dead people that vote. that is something that i was up very inadequate. every time i ran, democratic opponent had much greater appeal with dead people than i did. we had an entire cemetery in queens. that was the era before the

tooth of the election when you follow the world of richard nixon, which is you do not contest elections. however they did decide at the ballot box, you leave them alone. i was a catcher in baseball. i got through out of too many games were the empire did not change his mind to contest the election but the reality is, the second time we ran, we went to every polling sites in the city along with about 3000 firefighters and correction officers who volunteered. firefighters have a much bigger impact when a bus of illegal voters show up, who are now

voting for the third time that day, and because they are in contact with each other, there remember seeing them at one precinct and another precinct, and when the corrections officers go up and say are you not the same people who voted two hours ago in another precinct, somehow, the bus turns around and goes the other way, pecan and because of that, at least we thought we got an honest result the second time around. that reality goes on in america. it is not correct. it is not right. it is awful. i am sure there are times when republicans cheat, too. republicans are not free of vice. it is a pretty much equal amount of vice that goes around. you can get away with it much more in rural districts, where it matters more. we need you. we need to in the next election

that is coming up. i believe the next election was the direction of america for a very, very long time. thank you very, very much for all that you do, and i would be happy to take any questions that you have. [applause] >> speaking of presidential elections and the necessity of beating obama and as a julie hyman supporter -- rudy giuliani supporter, is there any way you would consider a run? >> well, sure, but not right

now. i enjoyed the debate last night so much -- i am kidding. i was sure think about it, but not yet. it is too early, and i want to see how it develops. my major goal is to elect a republican in 2012, and if it turns out i am the best one to do that, then i could probably be talked into doing it or convince myself to do it. if i thought somebody else that a better chance of doing it, then i would be an enthusiastic supporter of somebody else doing it, so let's see how all develops. luckily, this is developing much later than last time, so we will be able to make a decision a little closer in time to win the election takes place. i remember in 2007, we had 12 republican candidates. i had lunch with john mccain, and he and i ran against each other last time.

my staff got very angry. it ultimately had no relation to 2008. very little about the economy. we had been asking five questions about the economy, a lot of questions about iraq, as you can imagine, because that is the time the president decided on the surge, it and republicans were mostly in favor of the surge, but not everyone. the election turned out to be

decided on the economy, and we really have not debated about it at all. we had been asked very few questions about it, and certainly we did not conduct our primary koran who would be the best candidate that was not even a thought. and i think we will get an idea of who will be the best candidate in the election. we can do that. you have to win general elections. " not just primaries. thank you very much. [applause] >> we are now fortunate. the icing on the cake, as it were. to my right, we have the current chairman of the republican national committee. a man who i have come to know over the last couple of years very well.

a man who made a very hard decision, frankly, when he decided to run for chairman at this time. fortunately for all of us, he made the right decision. he ran a vigorous forthright campaign and lead for every ballot. the day that he took office, he began to repair what needed to be repaired, and frankly, there was a lot that needed to be repaired. reince stated that he began this on sunday. i know that he has already accomplished much of that, and i know given his tireless efforts

and his abilities, i should say when he ran for the chairmanship, he was chair of the state party of wisconsin, and i think all of us can be rightly proud of wisconsin in its most recent supreme court election, the election of a freshman senator, and the election of a very vigorous governor., who is doing the things that we very much need to have done. all of that happened on the watch of chairman reince priebus. and, mr. chairman, i would appreciate you telling us how you did it and what you will do next. [applause]

>> i did want to thank several people for having me this afternoon, but i do have to say to david, a person you i think has really led the rnc. four years of general counsel. thank you, david. well, it is true. my name is reince priebus.

i know it is a bizarre name. i can tell you that i am as normal as they come. jack,n's name is graced -- and my daughter's name is grace. this is what happens when a greek and a german gets married. it is a cultural disaster. i had a lapel pin once. >> if you take my name, you get r.n.c. and then the last name, p.r.b.s.

the cheeseheads have had a pretty good run. it is obvious the great to be back with you. i was here in grand rapids when you had your meeting one year ago, and today, you're celebrating ronald reagan's 100th birthday, and it is obviously an honor to be here along side of america's mayor, mayor giuliani. a renowned lawyer himself. yet one of my favorite lines in the 2008 campaign, when he said, "i like fred thompson. he plays me on t d." -- on tv." [laughter] i know how important you are with ensuring voter integrity and that our elections are fair. all of you are familiar with the

election laws in wisconsin because they are the test case of how bad elections can be run. but with our new governor, scott walker, i think we are ready to change that. you have always done -- [applause] i can tell you, as chairman of the party, you've always done a great job of sending us the best and brightest into our state, assisting efforts in wisconsin, making sure that we can do everything we can possibly do to run our election as fairly as possible. ronald reagan obviously is your honor read today for your meeting. he charmed us with his humor, and he blessed us with his leadership. my goal is to help elect a republican president to shares ronald reagan's vision that removes the of truce of

obstacles to opportunity, and america built on principle and purpose, something that is free. that is the america ronald reagan created, and i fear that is the america we are losing with each passing day under a president, barack obama. that is what i want to talk to you about a little bit today. there is no doubt about it, the president is a gifted politician, but good politics do not inherently good policies. good speeches do not create good jobs, and winning debates does not implicitly mean that you are winning the future. the president says that he wants america to live within its means. the president says we need to reduce the deficit and address

the debt ceiling. the president says that we need to reduced -- reduced ways of washington spending. i agree. we all agree. in this debate in washington, the president has said a lot of things, but here is the problem. the results do not match the rhetoric. the president says, and he says, and he says, but this is what we have seen. every day, washington bars roughly $4.50 billion just to pay its bills, 43 cents on every dollar spent in america is borrowed. when my children are my age, when my son jack is 6, when he is my age, he will spend 43 cents on every dollar made in america to run the federal government.

in the past two years, non- defense discretionary spending has increased almost 25% now, how many families in america have had their own personal budget increased 25%? total federal spending as a percentage to gdp will rise from roughly 25% of where it is today to 40% 30 years from now in 2014. and if we do nothing, we just stay on the current trajectory, and gives speeches, ignore reality, in 2014, our national debt will equal twice, twice the size of our entire economy, and that is the economic definition of bankruptcy, and on top of it all, medicare itself will be bankrupt in nine years. this is america. this is the greatest nation the

world has ever known, and it is a nation that is going broke. as a matter of principle, a government that loses its sovereignty cannot guarantee prosperity or freedom. a government that there is the next generation under an avalanche of debt cannot claim any vestige of the moral high ground, and a government that stifles economic growth with excess of taxation, litigation, and regulation cannot create a competitive climate for economic expansion, and at the end of the day, a government that is controlled by china cannot possibly compete with china. [applause] the facts are as staggering as

they are unsustainable, and they constitute more than just a political case against president obama. they constitute an economic case against barack obama. make no mistake. the battle that we are in is more than just financial. the battle that we are in is a fundamental battle about freedom, opportunity, and self- determination. ask yourself. do you think that we are winning the future? for the first time in many years, more americans believe that the next generation, your kids and my kids will be worse off than this generation. on the day after there was the scare the we were going to shut down the government, the president made a trip, do you remember?"

, in front of the monument. he was going to announce that the lincoln memorial, ladies and gentlemen, will stay open. well, this is a day that is not about keeping the lincoln memorial one. this debate is about keeping america open. and this is a debate approach making an america that creates opportunity, not an america that this would its dependency.

it turns note that this budget was of little more than just bet, a speech. our president, barack obama is willing to sacrifice the future for short-term political gain. sure, we all know. the president can talk about hope all that he once, but here is the problem. hope is not hiring in america. and more alarming than anything, we learned recently that the president's economic advisers privately urged standard and poor's and not to lower its outlook on the united states from stable to negative status. their argument? obama advisers said that the s&p was underestimating the ability of politicians in washington to fashion a compromise " to curb

deficits, that a change in ratings was not needed at this time because the debt was manageable, and the administration had a viable plan in the works. s&p ignored them. i am no economist. i am not an expert in the s&p, but i do know the importance of having a good credit. we all do it. america's credit just what from stable to negative. americans and not only seen, but they have felt the consequences of barack obama's america, and as ronald reagan said, do not be afraid to see what you see. i believe, like i am sure a lot of you, that we are in a battle for freedom in america. the same battle of freedom that fandom in our country. -- founded our country.

the same that was affirmed in the bill of rights. the same that found in our party in 1854 in wisconsin but we're in a battle for freedom. we're in a better opportunity and a battle for an america and a battle for our children and their children. do we want to have a country that leaves? or do you want to have a country that follows? do you want to of a country of makers? or do you want to of a country of takers. do you want to a more people writing the wideband, or do you want to have more people driving the white and prove the stakes are high, and the consequences are very real, and that brings me to the rnc. i can promise you on my life that like all of you here, i did not run for chairman because i have got some great worry about the future of the republican

party, and you are not hear the case you are just gravely concerned about the future of the rnc or your local party or your state party. i ran for chairman of this party because i am concerned about the future of this country. i know that we have a battle to fight. i know that we have to save america, and that is why i ran for chairman of this party. we're the only organization in america that can koran in a ground operation, our election the operation, our phone calls, door-to-door, the ballots, we're the only entity in america that can take our operation and coordinate it with a presidential candidate. i believe that all of us in this room have been blessed in different ways, everyone of us, but in order for us, because you're with me, right, we have a battle for freedom to fight. in order to make barack obama a

one-term president, to save our country, we have to work together. i am here to say thank-you, but i am also here to engage you and invite you into the rnc family, to come to work with us. we will come to work with you, but let's work together and save our country, and in the process, we will save our party. thank you, and god bless you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> tonight, on "q&a," dick couch, who acts as an adviser

to the u.s. special operations command. that is at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. >> this weekend, jon huntsman delivers the commencement address at the university of south carolina. south carolina is the first southern state to hold a presidential primary. watch tonight and c-span's "road to the white house." >> you are watching c-span, britney politics and public affairs. every morning, it is washington journal, and live call-in program on the news of the day, connecting you a policymakers. weekdays, watch live coverage of the u.s. house, and we die, policy. also, supreme court or arguments. on the weekends, you can feel our signature programs. on sunday, they the communicators. we also a prime minister's questions from the british house

of commons. you also watch on c-span.org, and it is all what to on the c- span video library. c-span. a public service created by american cable companies. >> the democratic committee elected debbi wasserman schultze as their leader. this portion is about 20 minutes.

>> i introduce to you our chairman, daniel wasserman schultze. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> you have captured you i am and why i believe in this party, the most forward thinking political organization in this country. [cheers and applause] a thank you for always being there for democrats. you have blazed so many trails. including as interns and chair. i have to tell me that the first time that i saw don on tv, and i told her this the other day. the first time i saw her on tv for al gore and how proud i was to see a woman running his campaign. so if we transfer this gavel this afternoon, there is no doubt in my mind that women like them will be smiling down on us today.

so please join me in thanking the phenomenal donna for her unwavering help to our party and to our country and for getting democrats elected up and down year after year after year. [cheers and applause] thank you. i must also recognize the next senator from a commonwealth of virginia, tim kaine. sims served us as chairman for the past two years with dignity and discipline. he is leaving us a party that is as strong as ever. i want to recognize and think before the delegation for their strong and unwavering support of me, for your friendship, and i want to thank my colleagues in

the house democratic caucus, as well. i also think and acknowledge my family, congressional staff, and the fabulous staff of the democratic national committee. my family, my parents, larry and a and wasserman, my children, and to korea my husband steve, all of whom are here with me today. they have made major sacrifices so i can do a job that i love so much. i am to be fortunate to have such a wonderful and close family. [applause] my congressional staff worked tirelessly on my behalf. i appreciate and value all that they do, for me and my constituents, and to the dedicated staff that keeps our party running and winning. if you have been there for me as

vice chair. you have made my transition to the dnc easy, and you pulled off yet another successful dnc meeting. thank you. thank you. i truly, truly look forward to working in the more closely with all of you, and i do want to ask all of you to keep patrick's family in our thoughts and prayers. he has been a passionate democrats for years. he has toiled in the wilderness or democrats, -- for democrats. i am humbled beyond words for your vote of confidence. to be asked to president obama to lead our party is really

indescribable feeling. you have learned -- heard a lot about me today. but there is one part of my personal story that you have not heard, my personal decision to run for office, and i was 25 years old when i first ran for the florida house of representatives. now, i believe i was ready to serve, but the good old boys had other plans in our democratic club. let's put it that way. they patted me on the head and told me that i was too young, and they told me that i needed to wait my turn. well, that just strengthened my resolve. i was determined to prove them wrong, so i spent every single day rain or shine knocking on the doors of my would-be constituents, and before that race was over, i had knocked on 25,000 doors. [applause] now, remember, this is what we're talking about, in the summer. my husband was so concerned

about how much weight of losing that he started sending me out the door every morning with a chocolate milkshake just to make sure i would come back at the end of the day. i was involved in a six-way primary, and competition was fierce, and my opponents were well-founded. i had to demonstrate to my constituents who are was and where i came from, but i was not deterred. i was determined that no one was going to outwork me. thank you. now, i won that primary with 53% of the vote. [cheers and applause] . thank you. >> and i went on to win the general election with 64% of the vote, and at the age of 26, i became the youngest woman ever elected to the florida legislature. thank you. and that raise taught me two things. first, there is no substitute for good old-fashioned hard work, and second, do not take no

for an answer. i will work every single day like i did in that first race to reelect the president, win back the house, hold the senate, and a lead democrats up and down the ballot. on my watch, we will not be out worked. thank you. [cheers and applause] thank you. thank you. ours is the oldest and most successful political party in the history of the world, but our success as a party is not measured in political winds and losses, and our success is not just the electoral scorecard. our success is always measured on how we improve the quality of life for americans and insure that all of us have a shot at the american dream. that is what i want for my children. that is what you want for your children, and that is what every person want for themselves and their families. now, it would be a great day when our country is free of prejudice, if everyone had equal

opportunity, and there were no barriers to success, but, of course, there is no such idea land that exists. it has taken hard work to get to this point in our nation's history. no longer and are women permitted from voting korea no longer are people forced into segregated schools, and now, no longer are gay and lesbian americans prohibited from serving in our country's armed forces. [applause] thank you. but all of these things took a lot of hard work, and as great as our country is, we have much further to go, but that is the great thing about america. our founding fathers determined that we would determine how america is governed, so it is our job to do everything we can to shape a more perfect union, and to me, that is what being a democrat is all about. now, just down the road from where we are today, on the banks

of the tidal basin, sits a memorial to one of our country's greatest presidents, franklin delano roosevelt. and in great demand memorial are words that inspires still. president roosevelt said the test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much. it is whether we provide enough to those who have to a little. now, try telling that to some of my colleagues from the other side of the aisle. they talk of deficits but opposed $1 trillion. the plan to eliminate medicare as we know it and protect tax subsidies for oil companies. they have proposed cuts to our children's education and to tax their teachers as being overpaid. it is hard to understand how they can be so out of step with america's priorities. as democrats, we know that government cannot solve all of our problems, but we also recognize that we're all in this together. simply put, a country of the

people, by the people, and for the people cannot by definition be a success without the success of its people. thank you. thank you. now, as democrats, we know a little bit about yes, we can, but republicans seem to be stuck on know, we cannot. as democrats, we know that we can work together to care for those who cannot care for themselves, that we can reduce the institutional barrier that has prevented many from our society reaching their potential. we can care for our seniors after a lifetime of caring for us. we can insure the quality of our health does not depend on the size of our bank accounts and that we can be globally competitive if we out educate, out innovate, and out build the rest of the world. as democrats, we do not believe in giving people a free ride, we also do not believe that people facing tough times through no

fault of the road should simply be left behind. the other party has a very different approach, one that has failed america over and over again, one that says that when all of the benefits are showered on those in the very top, the wealthy will benefit, and somehow, their good fortune will trickle down, but we know better. we know better. the other side is powerful and well funded, and we know that, too, and they are working to reverse the progress the democrats have made. this is why this election is so important to our country and our party, and this is why i am so excited to be leading this party during such an important time. not only to be an opportunity to cement industry progress we have made, we have the chance to continue delivering for the american people. now, many have asked -- thank you. many have asked what our priorities are as a party for

the next two years, and they can be boiled down to the following korea first, we will support the president's agenda and protect the progress we have made. we must from the president obama agenda from the rooftops and make sure that our friends, our neighbors, and everyone sees the president obama and democrats are delivering on the kind of change that is making america stronger. we have come so far, but if left to their own devices, republicans would repeal health care reform, wall street reform, and student loan reform. they would allow financial institutions to police themselves once again and crash our economy again. they would turn back the clock and all the progress we have made for our children, our parents, and neighbors suffering, and every time they have a chance to roll back these important gains, we must stop them. we must call them out. we are going to run on our accomplishments, and we will not allow republicans to undo or distort them. thank you.

[applause] next, next, we will invest in the strongest campaign and the best organizing effort to give president obama a second term. thank you. this is going to be the toughest campaign in history of america. republicans are going to throw everything they have at us. fortunately, our everything is better. at the dnc, and the dnc is not going to do this alone. we have an incredible campaign team at work in chicago. we have organizes willing to knock on doors until they drop. we have people willing to turn their pockets inside out for a president and for our candidates up and down the valley. we're going to bring all of those resources to bear and to support historic national efforts. we will support the 50-state strategy and fired the grass roots with the most -- best staff and the greatest organization behind any

presidential reelection effort in the history of our country. thank you. thank you. next, we will support our candidates, our state parties, and the constituents. our success of the past decade and expanding the presidential map, recruiting strong candidates, and recruiting at the local, state, and federal levels is in no small part result of the 50-state strategy, and i have heard from all of you all across the country as i travel on behalf of the democratic candidates. this was pioneered by the chairman, adopted an expanded by the obama campaign in 2008, and continued by chairman tom k and over the past few years -- tim kaine over the past years. support for the 50 state strategy, it will be among my highest priorities. thank you. thank you.

thank you. thank you. thank you very much. thank you. make no mistake about it. we will explore every nook and cranny of this country and seek support for the president and democratic candidates, and finally, we will hold republicans accountable. we will. all across america. all across america, democrats are working hard to create jobs and boost economic recovery, invest in our children's education, and further the cause of justice and equality. all the while, entrenched special interests and republican allies are working to forestall or reverse our progress. this exposes the stark differences from democrats, who are fighting for the middle- class, and republicans, who are fighting for the privileged few, but this is nothing new. eleanor roosevelt toward -- told

the state what to expect from the gop. she said, never forget the republican party is backwards. we have come too far to turn back the progress that democrats have made, so let's remember. it was democrats who ended the great depression, democrats and established social security, democrat to created medicare, democrat to protect the rights of workers to organize, democrats to clean our air and our water, democrats in and defend our rights to organize and mobilize, protest and pick it, for the rights and freedoms that we enjoy today. thank you. and it was democrats and finally made health care a right, not a privilege. [cheers and applause] . thank you. thank you. thank you.

thank you. and so much of the progress with banks to all of your abbacy, working hard in the trenches every single day, and for all of those of dances, we can say yes, we did. yes, we did. when we let our core principles guide us, when we work hard, democrats are an unstoppable force, are we not? it is our job, a fellow democrats, to remind our friends and neighbors that it is democrats that stand up for them. it is democrats and give us the jobs for.today and tomorrow. it is democrats that look after their interests, and we must remind them that it is democrats that look after the health and welfare of the people and our planet. so today, i am asking you to make a pledge. pledged that you will let no charge go on and third. pledged that you will let no man or woman bear false witness against the democrats.

and pledged that you will let no voter casts a vote for republican simply because they do not know what democrats have done for them or where republicans have done to them. i want you to tell others what you are a democrat and why your friend and neighbor should vote with you. in other words, a democrat, we have made some progress, but we can make even more by showing america that is democrats will increase the opportunity for prosperity from everyone. there is so much at stake in this coming election, and we cannot afford to let the republican party take us backwards. we have worked so hard to get here. so we can stabilize the economy, put americans back to work, and deliver on long-term promises like health-care reform. we worked too hard to give it back. there is so much left for us to do. this is no time for us to be complacent. there is no time for us to sit

on the sidelines. the country cannot afford to go backwards. i know this is a priority. let's go forward. are you with me, a democrat? are you ready? are you ready to make history again? let's go. let's do it. let's work hard, because we must win. the stakes are too high. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you. and thank you. thank you. >> debbie, debbie, debbie! >> thank you. and since all of you have made a pledge, here is my pledge to you. as chair, i will continue to strengthen every aspect. i will make sure that no one outworks the democratic party. i am going to do this job in the

best way i know how, with all of the energy i have. we want to see our ideas implemented? i have got three beautiful young children who are the future of america. thank you. and steve and i want them to grow up in a country where all things remain possible, where the american spirit continues to climb in were the american dream is within reach for everyone. there is no problem that we face here in america or around the world that will not yield to human effort, to cooperation, too hard work, to perseverance. our challenges of always some of the best in america, and as we have to read our history, we will make the world better than it is today. we will do this by reelecting barack obama president of the united states of america. thank you, all. thank you so much. on to victory in 2012. thank you very much.

thank you. [applause] thank you. ♪ >> tonight on c-span, "q&a, with former navy seal dick ciyc -- couch. also, a prime minister's questions, david cameron talks about osama bin laden. and later, jon huntsman with university of south carolina. you can now access