that is what our country needs. it needs to be reminded first, who we are. once we can grab on to that consensus, then i think a lot of things are possible in this country again. yes, sir? >> what will you do with obamacare if you are elected president? >> i will repeal obamacare. i will have the ability to do it. there are 33 senators -- usually there are 33 or 34 senators up for election, of which 23 are democrats. i think it is 23-10. now, i know that because i ran in that election year with 23 republicans lost and only 10 republicans won.

it was a very bad election year. as you know, they run every two years, six-year term. what we need to do is flip that to 23 republicans and 10 democrats. given the large number of freshmen and open democratic seats, i think we have the possibility. i think we can outright repeal obamacare in the house and then get it done in the senate. what we cannot do is repeal it by waiver. governor romney said he would institute a waiver. that is a pretty bad idea, in my opinion. states like iowa will probably pass a waiver. see if you can take control of the state senator. they would probably pass a waiver here. california, they won't.

new york, they won't. conn, they won't. you'll continue to pay the taxes. california and connecticut continue to take the money. that is not a good idea for a conservative state. some suggested we could do it by executive order, governor kerrey. you cannot repeal a law by executive order. you have to repeal a law with another law. we can do that either having the majority, or we can do it if we get at least three more. we can do it through a process of reconciliation. we can pass a budget with an instruction to save money. that instruction come under budget, only requires 50 votes to pass. you save money. we repeal the taxes come all the spending, all the fines come all the fees. what will be left of obamacare

is not worth the paper it is printed on. that is what we need to do. kevin >> this is my friend the doctor that comes to a lot of my town hall meetings. i always call on you, right? ok. i know what is coming, by the way. just for the record. when people say that i get

tougher questions from iowans then i do from the reporters, i appreciate you doing that. i'd replace it with a system that is more -- the american system of making things better for the american public and for the world, and a system built from the bottom up. as opposed to a system that is dictated from the top down. obamacare and any other type of mandated health care is a top- down system. we need -- as a result of that, we have an enormous amount of bureaucratic waste, at an enormous amount of inefficiency, and government control, where you do not have the competition that is necessary to drive down cost and to give consumers exactly what they need.

how do we change that? this is a long question and i will try to not be too long and complicated. medicare is a top-down one-size- fits-all government run program. there is something called medicare advantage, an alternative to that, but that is going to be eliminated. president a lot but does not like competition. he likes government -- president obama does not like competition. he likes government to run things. you take out any type of real efficiency and sense of proficiency and promoting of innovation. that is what happens in all

socialized medicine countries of the world. we'll up profits in food. what is more important? of food or health care? eating, health care is not important. should we say that farmers should not profit from food? [laughter] why should people profit from food? that is more of a necessity than health care. profit is absolutely essential and it is what america is about. it is about a free people in free markets. we can develop innovation and systems that can improve the quality of life for everyone. there is no profit in agriculture, you would still be planting seeds with horses.

that is the difference. we believe in free people and free market. president obama does not believe in you. does not believe any entrepreneur or a. does not believe that capitalism works. read what is best friend wrote in the wall street journal. individual liberty is a bad idea when it comes to making money. we have to have the government redistributes wealth, we have to have the government control. that is the difference. the reason health care is a failure is because it is overwhelmingly micromanaged by government. the you say wait a minute, there

is a private sector health insurance. not really. all of the government regulations, there is no private sector system. it is a system that is micromanaged by the government. what we need to do is what paul bryant is suggesting. he has come up with -- paul ryan is suggesting. i was the first to embrace that plan i said it was the right idea. giving the private sector, giving each senior amount of money to go out and purchase that insurance products that fit them best. that competition. he has worked with the democrat from oregon and they have come

up with even a better plan. the concept is a good concept. those are the kinds of reforms that we need to inject competition, to inject profit. why? profits will drive innovation, profit will drive -- squeeze out waste and inefficiency. that exactly what we need in the health care system in america. [applause] >> i am concerned with a candidate that has some kind of an environmental policy. 50 miles east of here it in a little town we have an army ammunition plant that manufactures nuclear weapons.

they are contaminated with ground pollution. an environmental cleanup has turned into a cleanup that is supposed to last -- i am curious what we're going to do. we only have so much water. that water has to take care of all of us. i am concerned that we are already at the point of too little too late. what are we going to do to protect our where resources in this country? >> when you do not know the answer to a question, you admitted and you do not keep talking. i do not know that specifics -- is the first i've heard of this, so i apologize. one of the things i am proud of, i happen to work on a bill in

2006 that broke a logjam between the east and west having to do with reclamation of the abandoned coal mines. the tremendous amount of ground water and other types of pollution coming from these abandoned mines. most of the coal mining is done in the western states. it is funded on a tax on coal. most of the abandoned mines are not in the west, they are in the east. all the tax revenue is raised in the west. the western producers did not want to send their money east. they wanted to use that to clean up their own situation. that was a logjam for a long time. i worked with the senator from wyoming and we put together a comprehensive bill and we'll

mocked that money. a lot of that western revenue is going to clean up a tremendous amount of water in pennsylvania, west virginia, ohio, and other places where there is a lot of coal mining. if you are looking for someone with a record of being able to work across party lines and regional lines to get things done, we were able to do that >. >> what are you going to do with the kids, the healthy kids act? >> i am not familiar with the help the kids act.

do you mean education programs? as far as education is concerned, the education system in this country would be much better off if we focus the education dollars on the customer of the education system. the customer of the education system is the parents. it is the parents' responsibility to educate you. it is my responsibility as a father to educate our seven children. we have a federal government and most state governments that do not see it that way. they see it as their responsibility, to design a system that educates children instead of educating your child. we need to change that. the first thing we need to do --

i said i was a consistent conservative. i did not say i was a perfectly consistent conservative. we all make mistakes. i would say that one of them was no child left behind. i know there was good intention there, but it has exploded the federal role in education and is causing teachers nightmares. it has served some good purposes in examining why and how parole -- and how poorly our education is performing, but it is doing nothing, in my opinion. the only reason it will not improve education is because the only way to improve education is to make sure that children are holistic we educated based upon what their parents think is best for that child. that is the solution. to engage parents in the process of educating their children in a setting that is

best for that child. that does not mean that every child should go to college. that is absurd. and it is also fairly condescending to people who do not want to go to college, or do not think college is in their path. you can live a great decent life and provide for your family without going to college. we should have a system in place that allows you to pursue your dream, instead of how they do a lot of countries, which is to tell you what career you are going to have. in america, we should fashion it likely to every other sector of the economy, which is the customer comes first. in education, you do not. you do not even come second. how're we going to do that? first, repeal no child left

behind. repeal federal funds for education, up with the exception of special needs children. try to rally parents to demand the education system meets the needs of their child. right? that is the fundamental reform. you are going to say, well, some parents will not do a very good job. you may have to help people. that is what i am saying, not just to throw the money so parents can do what they want. but work within the system to help parents and guide them through this process. what is best is not just academics. how many parents only care about the academic achievement of their children when it comes to raising your child?

we have schools where that is all the focus on. your kids spend the majority of the day at the school. and then we wonder why are kids do not burn virtue or character or morality and a struggle with many children who do not get fully formed spiritual lives. why? because it is hard parenting in america today. it is hardly the culture around to that is feeding so many messages that are inconsistent with your values. it is hard when the education system does the same thing. why don't we help parents give their children what they believe is best? there their kids, not the government's kids. god is what i will fight for. [applause] how many more questions do we have?

-- they our power -- they are our kids, not be governments' kids. that is what i will fight for. [applause] how many more questions do we have? >> can you give us a brief overview of how you would begin to get our financial help in order? why is your plan better than the others? >> what is my plan to get the economy going? >> the deficit and debt crisis. >> we will focus on that. what makes you think you can do this? good question. we put together a plan that says we will balance the budget in

five years. we will cut $5 trillion in five years. we will take on the entitlement programs right away. why? because the problem is now, not 10 years from now. i have a lot of respect for paul brian -- put ryan, but he is waiting 10 years to do it. the problem is not for 10 years? nope. why did they wait 10 years? how many folks who love retired and the last 10 years or so -- who have retired in the last 10 years or so? when you were growing up, you always that the eligibility age for social security was what? 65, right? what is it now? 66, and it is going up to 67.

when did that happen? i suspect nobody in this room knows when that law was changed. anybody know why? they did 27 years ago, 28 years ago. they did it long before any of you were at or near retirement. when they passed it, they said, in 20 years, we're going to move the retirement age up. it worked, right? all the folks -- if you make the changes out far enough, you can do a lot more. here is the problem. we cannot wait. we are in a serious problem with respect to our debts and deficits. [applause]

i know that is not a popular thing to say and i will be pummeled by many do you think, what are you going to cut? the reason you are pommels is because politicians will say, it is not the truth. they will say we can wait. there is no problem. they say we can handle these. they have been saying that for a long time. we are in a situation where their debt to gdp as 1 to 1. we will be in a situation -- it is no different than most of the countries that are now in crisis in europe. the only difference is, we can print our own money. the italians can not. the greeks cannot. our credit rating was downgraded

for the first time in history. how many more signals do we need? imagine if interest rates are to go up and the cost of borrowing on at $15 trillion begins to spike. we are playing with fire here, folks. we have leaders who will not lead. we have a leader who will not tell you the truth. he will hide the ball. to play politics. to try to scare people. that is what the president does. he pits people one against the other and tries to scare people that are dependent upon government. that is the game plan. make sure you have a lot of people dependent upon government. that is your formula to win. it is also the formula to destroy america. [applause] i will go out and deal with the

entitlement programs. we have 70 to entitlement programs in washington, d.c., and we need to take the bulk of them, capt., cut many of them, most of these programs are administered by the state. there is no reason the federal government needs to administer these. what is this a model from? it is a model from something i worked on a lot. welfare reform. i know the speaker says that he did welfare reform. as someone who was the author of welfare reform in the house of representatives, speaker gingrich was in leadership and he was part of the leadership that i asked us to draft a bill. when we drafted the bill -- i was the chair of the working group that drafted it. when i came to this end, i

worked with the chairman of the finance committee. i managed that on the floor of the senate. as a freshman senator, i manage the most important fiscal policy change. the chairman of the finance committee resigned to and nobody else understood the bill. in the land of the blind, but the one-eyed man was caiking. i remember going to bob dole and setting, what do i do? he said, did up there and asked if you can manage for a minute. if they say yes, stayed there

until they tell you to leave. guess what, they did not tell me to leave. i managed that on the floor of the senate. ? compromise? you bet. to the compromise on the principles i believed? no, i did not. that is the reason president clinton kept the telling yet. hoping it would change. -- vetoing it. hoping it would change. those are the things i would not bend. did i bent on day care funding, a transportation funding, welfare to work programs? yes. but those are good compromises. that is doing less of a good thing instead of giving

democrats to doing less of a bad thing. the compromises i will strike as president, and will have to, will always be doing less of a good thing. we will always work in the direction of smaller government. it will not be doing more government, but less of that. we have been doing that for 80 years. we have to stop doing it. that is the reason this election is so important. when the compromises that are fundamentally different. the reason the media is so apoplectic with the lack of -- the expectation is always to do less of more. if you want to do more -- if you want to do less, that is -- we cannot do that. that is not a reasonable compromise. the reason there is such acrimony is because there are finally a group of republicans

who says, enough. we are not doing more. we are not compromising on doing more. we will do less and you will compromise on how much less we do. [applause] to finish your comments, i would not cut the defense department. the number one priority of this country, of the federal government, is the defense of this country. [applause] if you look at defense spending as a percentage of the budget, it is roughly 20%. what was its 50 years ago? close to 60%. what is the problem? defense spending?

nope. defense spending is not the problem. since it is the only thing the federal government does that no one else can do, that is the thing that will be held firm. the rest of the military budget will be frozen. that is not to say we will not cost anything. we are not going to sacrifice the national security of our country when that is not the problem adding to the deficit. finally, we need to take care of discretionary spending. we need to make big cuts. that is when i get into entitlement reform. going after specific programs. i am not an across-the-board cut heter.

there are a lot that the federal government should not be involved with. we will put forth an aggressive budget that puts us on that path. the other way you will deal with increasing -- decreasing the debt is increasing economic growth. we have put together a very pro- growth bold tax plan. it simplifies the tax code. you can throw out the old tax code and replace it. set your priorities as to what the government should be supporting. the corporate rate, cut in half to 17.5%. get rid of all the tax loopholes

and deductions. have manufacturers with a 0% corporate tax. why? retailers do not move their operations to china, mexico. we have to compete for their jobs. they are the high-value jobs in our economy. the reason small-town america and blue-collar america is suffering is because we have led our manufacturing base decline. -- lets our manufacturing base decline. we have not taken advantage of being cost competitive. we should be growing manufacturing base under our plan. people do it and we will also decrease the deficit by doing so.

-- we will do its and we will also decrease the deficit by do so. what makes you think i can do it? i have done it. that is always the best determinant. why would you believe it if you do not see anything in my past that would indicate that i can do it? that is the problem with some of the candidates right now. why should i believe when things get tough, when you go to washington, d.c., and you deal with the sharks in the media, they are constantly coming at you.

i have had them call me the nasty names. that is ok. i remember where it came from. i remember what i promised when i ran for office. i was willing to stand up in good times and bad times. i won most of the time, and i lost ones. -- once. [applause] notes have questions anymore. >> -- no tough customs anymore. >> in iowa, we take it as the privilege to be the first state to get to pick the candidate and study hard and you should

consider your surge at the end as an honor because most of us -- after the candidates are selected and they get to washington, we often wonder if they remember us. i would like to know what you have learned in visiting the 99 counties. will you remember there is a midwest between the two coasts? we feel so corded and income abandoned. -- courted and then so abandoned. >> pennsylvania is a little bit like that.

you have the coast and the heartland. i did not forget the heartland. i went to every county every year. there are 99 counties in iowa and only 67 in pennsylvania. i did the same thing. i went to every county. i was the first senator in pennsylvania in 100 years to serve on the agriculture committee. i did not forget about the people between the coasts. i put my economic plan together to so many different towns that lost manufacturing jobs. that is why i fought for it when i was in the united states senate. if you look at our plan, if you

look at its what i have done in the past, ibm -- i know where the heartland is in america and i know those values. faith, family, and freedom tour. it was not properly named. it should be the faith plus family equals freedom tour. [applause] those are the values of the heartland. they understand that social issues are not one leg of the stool. they're integrated into every aspect of american life. there an essential part of the economy. what am i going to did help the economy? i will do my best to strengthen the american family. if you want to strengthen this

economy, strengthen marriage, strength and father had, strength and faith. -- strengthen fatherhood. the strength and faith. i was talking yesterday with chuck colson. he called me to encourage me and he said, when i left prison in 1975 -- that is chuck, not me. [laughter] he said deborah 250,000 people in jail and america -- he said there were 21 and 50,000 people in jail in america. there are now 2 million people in jail in america. in 1975, a 71% of people over the age of 18 more married.

all lot of people have children, but they are not married. 70% of the men he means in prison had no father in their life. want to save money on prisons? i talked to bill bennett this week, too. his wife runs a program called best friends. it is a program to teach young girls not to have children before wedlock. the obama administration, according to bill, has said they can no longer teach abstinence only. they cannot teach abstinence only. they cannot teach marriage because marriage is one of a variety of different

relationships better equally valuable. i love it when the left says do not impose your values on us. do not be a theocrats. do not impose your religion on us. they have a religion, too. it is not just based in the bible. it is not based on biblical truth. it is not based on social science research. it is based on another, who knows what other origin, religion of self. this is what we're talking about. it is the values of the people not just between the coasts, a there are a lot of people on the coast that sure these values, too. [applause]

>> what can you do to give us jobs in this economic crisis? >> i talked about the economic plan put together with respect to manufacturing. if you look at the economic plan we put together with reducing taxes, and dividend by 20% down to 12%, what we have done and corporate taxes. in addition to that, regulation. regulation is crushing american business. this administration, contrary to what the president would have you believe, is the most burdensome regulatory administration in the history of our country. in the last two administrations,

the average number of regulations that cost business over $100 million. the average number of regulations under clinton and bush was about 60 a year. this administration is approaching 150 alone. that is the difference. what we need to do is repeal every single one of those regulations. some of them i will repeal and get rid of. others i will repeal and replace with less costly versions. working with business and not micromanaging. we will say we need an energy policy for creating jobs and keeping energy prices down, and to help manufacturers and businesses compete.

one regulation the administration just put in place is a regulation that will require 68 coal power plants to be shut down. we have repealed such regulation. we will put together a program that eliminates subsidies for all energy. we need a marketplace, but availability of people to get our energy. it means building pipelines. i get a kick out of this keystone pipeline debate. has anyone looked at the number of pipelines? you cannot see the offer if you look at this the magic of how

many pipelines. this is pandering to radical environmentalists. this has nothing to do with a pipeline. it is an ideology, a religion of its own. it is being pushed on the american public. you cut energy, cut taxes, cut regulation, allow repatriated money to come back. you will see a boom in manufacturing. small-town america, you will see the economy grow for everybody. that is a good plan that is also a very good winning plan politically, given the states that are the ones the republicans have to win to win the presidency.

that is pennsylvania, ohio, michigan, wisconsin, iowa, and missouri. it is good policy and it is also good politics. [applause] >> am i the last person? i have a question -- there are quite a few experts that would make excellent teachers. how would you suggest it would be possible for those people to go ahead to transcend those fields without having to go into a burden of debt? should they be able to approve some sort of expertise? >> you are saying that people should be able to teach --

>> without going through $34,000 worth of debts. >> that is a state issue. the states should be a lot more flexible. >> if innovation is also in conflict with profit, if a homeopathic researcher discovers we do not need these pharmaceutical companies and that would interfere with profit, where would you stand? >> i believe in all different types of madison. -- medicine. i believe alternative medicine is a promising field. wellness' care and how your body functions, i believe in it. you have to prove the conflict. if you have a homeopathic remedy that does things that are less

expensive than something else, there are lots of ways -- i did enough misinformation about what things work. you can probably get good information about what things work. because of the free flow of information, those types of remedies will have a better chance of being successful than in the past. >> last question. >> the first question i was going to ask was about the financial situation. said thank you for -- thank you for covering that.

i want to give you the opportunity to talk about manufacturing jobs. you keep answering all these questions. >> you have one left. >> i do not have a question. i just want to publicly thank you for being a champion for life during your time in the the senate. thank you for that. [applause] i have every confidence that you will continue to take about champion-ness ask the president of the united states of america. [applause] >> thank you, i appreciate that.

this is a great turnout on a new year's eve night, where i know there are lots of other things that are on your mind right now. i cite group of young people tonight. are you from a local high school? >> [inaudible] >> wow. ok, i guess from all over. it is great to see a lot of young people coming here tonight. hopefully, iowa will show the world why it is first. i want to thank each and every one of you for what you're going to do. i would encourage you to sign up. we have members of our staff here.

we have signed up sheets. we are looking for caucus captains. people who are willing to sign up and go to the caucus, speak on our behalf. you can wear your badge and talk to people. that is a big help to us and i would greatly appreciate that. there is an opportunity to contribute to our campaign. this is the season of giving. [laughter] i can think of no greater gift that you can give your children and grandchildren than the gift of freedom. >> amen. >> that is the most important thing you can give. i would appreciate a boost in being able to run those television ads in south carolina

and new hampshire. happy new year to all. [applause]

>> a look at some of the latest ads released by the republican presidential candidate. >> i spent my life in the private sector. i have competed with companies around the world. we will not balance the budget by pretending all you have to do is take out the waste. we will have to cut spending. i am in favor of cutting spending, having a balanced budget amendment. the right answer for america is to stop the growth of the federal government and start the growth of the private sector. >> you want big cuts? ron paul has been doing that for

years. a department of education, gone. interior, energy, commerce, gone. that is held ron paul rolls. >> some people say the america we know and love is a thing of the past. i do not believe it. working together, i know we can rebuild america. we can revive our economy and create jobs. shrink government and the regulations that strangle our businesses. throw out the tax code and replace it with one that is simple and fair. we can regain the world's respect by standing strong, being true to our faith, and respecting one another. we can return power to the people so we will all have more

freedom, opportunity, and control of our lives. yes, working together, we can and will rebuild the america we love. i am new to gingrich and i approved this message. -- i am newt gingrich and i approve this message. >> who has the best chance to be obama? and rick santorum. he is rock-solid on values issues, a favorite of the tea party. more foreign policy credentials than any candidate. rick santorum, a trusted conservative who gives us the best chance to take back america. >> in the last iowa caucuses in 2008, barack obama when the democratic caucuses and went on to when the presidency. mike huckabee won the

republican of iowa caucuses, but dropped out of the race two months later. through tuesday, are c-span cameras are following the 2012 republican candidate at the events throughout the state. every morning, belittled -- political guests are taking your calls on "washington journal." the results of all of the nearly 1800 caucuses, plus candidate speeches. for more resources, and use our campaign 2012 website to watch videos of the candidates on the campaign trail. read the latest from candid political reporters, and people like you from social media sites. >> what a pity it is not interested in the truth. it -- wikipedia is not

interested in the truth. william beutler explains the ins and outs. on the overall, you will more likely to trust something from the washington post or "the new york times then threw something you found on main -- than through something you found on a blog sight. editor, a commentator, a consultant for the on-line encyclopedia wikipedia. >> coming up, we will take your

questions and comments on "washington journal. " after that, "newsmakers." later, our live road to the white house coverage begins with republican presidential candidate michele bachmann. our road to the white house coverage continues today with republican presidential candidate mitt romney in it i was. he is meeting with voters to discuss the jobs and the economy. the family table restaurant is hosting the event. watch live coverage at 3:30. >> our coverage leading up to the iowa caucuses continues this morning on "washington journal." we will take a look at the role of christian conservatives. after