makes a campaign speech in new hampshire. >> president obama this is the port of tampa to benefit trade with latin america. the president also announced a new initiative called the small initial jeff -- small business initiative of north america. it will encourage trade among businesses throughout the western hemisphere. >> our corporate office, we have been here for years.

we employ a little over 200 individuals. we are a very diversified company. one of our major product lines this week fabricate and direct large storage tanks. these tanks, some of them are big enough that a football field can fit inside them. another bit of work we do is fabricate and direct large highway bridges. for instance, all of the bridges near tampa airport we did right here out of tampa. we have been in a growth mode for four or five years now. the good news is, we see that continuing. the free-trade agreement is instrumental in our growth by supporting our export business. we continuously are involved in central south america and open

the support offices in guatemala and columbia, south america. this year, out of this location in tampa, we have shipped projects all throughout central america, the caribbean, three projects in africa, two in saudi arabia, and we have another large project coming up in panama as well as a large one developing in ecuador. we are truly in a global economy. with that,tampa tank along with the port of tampa and the city of tampa are honored to welcome the president of the united

states, president barack obama. welcome. [applause] ♪ ♪ ♪ >> thank you. hello, tampa. . [applause] it is good to be here in tampa, good to be in florida. i just got a tour of this magnificent port. i was hoping to try one of the cranes. [laughter] the secret service would not let me. they don't let me have fun.

there were more concerned about your safety than mine. [laughter] they did not want me messing anything up. i want to thank david for that introduction. i want to thank mayor buckhorn for welcoming us to tampa and an outstanding member of congress, kathy castor, for joining us today. [applause] if you have chairs, feel free to sit down. some of you do. it is warm in here. i don't want anybody dropping off. i have been talking a lot lately about the fundamental choice we face as a country. we can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people who really, really well while a growing number are struggling to get by or we can build an economy where everybody gets a fair shot and everybody is doing their fair share and everybody is playing

by the same set of rules. part a building that economy is making sure that we are not a country that is known to us for what we buy and what we consume. after all, our middle-class was built by workers who invented products, made product, and sold products, the best in the world, all round the world. our economy was thriving when shipping containers left ports like this, packed with goods that were stamped with three proud words --"made in america." those exports supported a lot of good paying jobs in america including right here in florida. that is the country i want us to be again and that is why two years ago, i set the goal of doubling american exports by the end of 2014. today, with the trade agreements that i have signed into law, we're on track to meet

that goal. soon, there will be millions of new customers for american goods in south korea, and columbia, in panama. there will be new cars on the streets of seoul that are imported from detroit and toledo and chicago. that is progress. i want to thank two key members of my cabinet who were here today, labor secretary hilda solis is in the house -- [applause] and u.s. trade representative ron kirk because the work really hard to make this happen. [applause] one way we have helped american business sell their products around the world is by calling out our competitors, making sure they are playing by the same rules. for example, we have brought trade cases against china at nearly twice the rate as the last administration.

we just brought a new case last month. we set up a trade enforcement unit that is designed to investigate any questionable trade practices taking place anywhere in the world. we will take action whenever other countries are skirting the rules, breaking the rules, and putting our workers and businesses at an unfair position we will also make sure you have access to more customers. 95% of the world's consumers live outside our borders. we want them buying our products. i am willing to go anywhere in the world to open up new markets for american businesses. that is what i will be doing right after this visit to tampa, i am heading to columbia to take place in the summit of the americas which greece together leaders from the caribbean and from north, south, and central america. everybody here knows how critical this part of the world

is to our economy and to creating jobs. a lot of the countries in the region are on the rise. in latin america alone, over the past decade, tens of millions of people have stepped out of poverty and into the middle class. they are now in a position to start buying american products. moremeans they've got money to spend. we want than spending money on american-made goods that american businesses can put more americans back to work. in car exports in the western hemisphere are up by 46% since 2009 parent [applause] -- since 2009. [applause] tampa is one of the biggest ports in the country. a lot of the business being done here has to do with trade between us and latin america. the fact that it has gone up 46% since 2009 is a big deal for tampa.

florida exports to this region are up nearly 30%. we now export more to the western hemisphere than to any other region in the world. exports support nearly 4 million u.s. jobs. this is one of the most active trading relationships in the world and you see it up close here at the port of tampa. every year, more than 2.5 million tons of fertilizer go from here to farmers in the caribbean and central and south america. engine oils that are produced not far from this port get shipped to countries throughout the hemisphere. everything from recycled steel to animal feed gets sent from a year to customers all across latin america. while i am in columbia talking with other leaders, i will be thinking about you. i will be thinking about how we can get more businesses like david's access to more markets and more customers in the region because i want to sell

stuff but i want to put more americans back to work. [applause] one of the new things we are doing is launching something called the small business network of the americas. obviously, a lot of exports that leave from america to other places are big businesses and that is great. we want their big corporations successful and selling products around the world because we have a lot of small businesses that are suppliers to them. we also want our small and medium-sized businesses to have access to these markets. this initiative will help our small businesses, latino-owned businesses, women-owned businesses, african american- owned businesses. we want every business to be able to access these new markets and start exporting to these countries. this will make it easier for

them to get financing. it will link them up with foreign buyers who are interested in their products. i have always said that the true engine of job creation in this country is the private- sector, not washington. our job in government is to help businesses grow and to create platforms for their success. that is one of the reasons i have cut taxes 17 times for small business. [applause] that is what i fought to tear down barriers that were preventing a entrepreneurs from getting funding. that is what i have travelled around the world opening new markets so that american businesses can better compete in the global business place. [applause] ultimately, this is what america is about -- we are a nation of doers and a nation of builders and we have never shied

away from competition. we thrive on competition. if the global playing field is level, america will win. so long as i am president, i will keep on doing everything i can to give our workers and our businesses the opportunity to succeed. [applause] that is how we will make this recovery felt by all people. that is how we will make sure we build not just from the top down but, bottom up and in the middle out. that is how we will make sure that everybody has a fair shot. we will make sure that anybody who wants a job can find one and anybody who wants to succeed and live out the american dream has the opportunity to do so. [applause] we've gone through three very tough years with the global

financial crisis. it is the worst crisis we have seen in a generation. as i travel around the country and talk to our workers and their businesses, you cannot help but have confidence. we don't quit. we are resilient. we stay with it. we are the most inventive country in the world. we've got the best on to careers in the world. if we got the best universities in the world. we got the best research in the world. we got the best infrastructure in the world and we will keep at and make sure that the 21st century is the american century just like the 20th century. thank you, everybody. god bless you. [cheers and applause] ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

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♪ ♪ >> now, recalling -- republican presidential candidates mitt romney and newt gingrich speak at the national rifle

association meeting in st. louis, missouri. their remarks are about one hour. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you. thank you for your generous welcome. what a job wayne lapierre just did. what an extraordinary man. thank you to chris cox for that wonderful introduction. there is one more person i would like to introduce. i happen to believe all moms are working moms. if you have five mommies -- five sons, your work is never done. my sweetheart, ann romney. [applause]

say something. you are welcome. >> this is fabulous. let me give a shot out to all moms that are working. and, by the way, all dads that are working. we love all of you. as a parent, you are only as happy as your saddest child. he never, ever stop being a parent. our boys are grown. they have children of their own. it is such a wonderful opportunity for me to think about the heritage we are leaving those children. i love be that bad when my kids were -- the fact that when my kids were growing up, we let it all -- a stone's throw away from lexington green. we were thankful for those patriots who had the ability to

fight tyranny. we are grateful for all of you here today. i have heard recently how women were being referred to as a special interest group. i thought to myself, really only washington could do that. there is only one part of that group that is correct. when men are special. [applause] -- women are special. we love this country. we love the people love this country. we have had an extraordinary experience going across and meeting tens of thousands of wonderful americans that are so concerned about the future of this country.

we recognize that we are headed in a direction that is perilous. this is what i love the most. women are talking about the economy and jobs and the legacy of debt we are going to leave our children. we are mad about it and we will do something about it in november. we have to make sure we keep this country strong and fighting for the right reasons. thank you so much and we will hear from mitt. >> you bet. thank you, sweetheart. it is great to be with so many friends here today from the national rifle association. this organization is sometimes called a single issue group. that is high praise when the single issue you are fighting for its freedom. you can be proud of your long and on wavering -- unwavering defense of constitutional

rights and liberties. in 207 days, we are going to do something that is quite amazing. america will choose a president, an entire house of representatives, and part of the senate. around midnight on december 6 -- november 6, we will know the results of millions of americans exercising their right to vote. in doing so, americans will be making a profound choice, a decision that is more important than one person or one party. we will not just selects the president that will guide us. we will choose between two distinct pact -- paths and destinies. so many of the big issues in the campaign turned on our understanding of the constitution and how it was meant to guide our lives.

it was harry truman -- harry truman who expressed a guiding conviction that we all share. the permanent care of the national archives. president truman offered a word of caution. liberty, he said, can be lost. and it will be if the time ever comes when these documents are regarded not as the supreme expression of a belief, but as curiosities in a glass case. truman believed, as we do, that the principles of the constitution are enduring and universal. they were designed not to bend to the will of president and justices who come and go. the belief that we are all created equal, that we are in doubt by our creator with our inalienable rights. these are truths that are valid

in every era. it has generated on paralleled opportunities and prosperity. -- unparalleled opportunities and prosperity. they created a system of government that is limited. president obama is moving us away from our purpose. this november, we face a defining decision. i am running for president because i have the experience and the vision to lead us in a different direction.

we know what president obama's vision is. we have limited the past three years. my course protect our freedom. as president, the constitution would be my guide. the declaration of independence would be my compass. i want to talk about this administration's assault on our freedom. first our economic freedom, then our religious freedom, then our personal freedoms. i want to share my own plans to return america to the first principles of this nation. the american economy is fueled by freedom. for it people and free enterprise are what drives our economic vitality. the obama administration's assaults on economic freedom is the principal reason the recovery has been so slow and so that bid -- tepid and why it could not meet their projections or our expectations.

the president's first assault on freedom begins with taxes and tax hikes. by their nature, taxes reduce freedom. they are to fund things that are absolutely essential like national security, education, and to care for those who cannot care for themselves. this president has proposed raising the marginal tax rate. the vice president has proposed a new global business tax. medical device companies are subject to a new tax on revenues. the president is touring the country touting a new tax on investment and the wealthy. congress doesn't need more money to spend. it needs to spend only what it has. [applause]

the dodd-frank lot is another example of the president also attack on -- law is another example of the president's attack on freedom. it is followed by thousands and thousands of pages of new regulations. regulations are necessary. burdensome regulations serve only to restrict freedom. the victims of the regulations are not nameless, faceless banks. they are employees, business owners, and customers who rely on banks who ultimately lose out. under president obama, bureaucrats are insinuating themselves into every part of the economy, undermining economic freedom. they keep coal from being mined. they impede the reliable supply of natural gas.

they even tell farmers what their children can and cannot do to help on the firm. remember the old line from will rogers? he said he worried when congress was in session. our freedom is never safe. unelected, on each count -- unaccountable bureaucrats are always on the prowl. for centuries, the american dream has meant the opportunity to build something new. some of our greatest success stories are people who started out with nothing but a good idea and a corner in the garage. today, americans look at what it takes to start a business. they do not see a promise or an opportunity. they see government spending in the way. the real cost of this is not the taxes.

it is the businesses that are never started, the ideas that are never pursued, the dreams that are never realized. we want to build the interstate highway system and the hoover dam. today, we cannot even build a pipeline. [applause] we once led the world in manufacturing and exports and infrastructure investment. today, we lead the world in lawsuits. we once led the world in educating our kids. today, half the kids in our 50 largest cities will not graduate from high school. if we continue along this path, we will spend our lives filling out forms and comply with regulations and pleading with political appointees for waivers and permissions.

that passed the rose freedom. -- path erodes freedom. it hurts the people it is supposed to help. freedom is the victim of on abounded at -- unbounded government apatite. as government takes more and more, there is less and less incentive to take risks, to innovate, to hire people. this administration thinks our economy is struggling because the stimulus was too small. we are struggling because our government is too big. [applause] i am running for president because i have the experience and the vision to get us out of this mess. my agenda takes america in the

right direction. it preserves freedom. it encourages risk-taking and innovation. it fosters competition. it promotes opportunity instead of expanding the government. i am going to shrink it. instead of raising taxes, i am going to cut them. [applause] the answer for a weak economy is not more government. it is more freedom. [applause] economic freedom has not been the only one of the obama administration's targets. our first freedom, our religious freedom, has also been under attack by this administration. you may have seen a recent labor relations case. the government claim to a

church should not be free to determine who qualifies as a minister under the law. it claimed the government should interfere with that decision. the constitution came to the rescue. we wondered what the court would do. they rejected the obama administration's attack in a 9- 0 decision. [applause] of course, now the obama administration has decided it has the power to mandate what catholic charities and catholic schools and catholic hospitals must cover in their insurance plans for employees. it is easy to forget how often candidate obama assured us that under his health insurance plan, nothing would have to change. the government is already

dictating to religious groups on matters of doctrine and conscience. in all of america, there is no larger provider of health care for women and their babies than the catholic church. that is not enough. [applause] that that does not satisfy the obama bureaucrats. they want to be catholics to fall in line and violate the tenants of their faith. -- tenets of their faith. i will follow a different path than president obama. i will be a staunch defender of religious freedom. [applause] this regulation from the obamacare folks is not a threat or insult to only one religious group. it is a threat and insult to

every religious group. as president, i will abolish it. [applause] i do not think i have to tell you this, but like economic and religious freedoms, our personal freedoms have also been under attack. few things are more important to us that our health and our health care. the 10th amendment preserves the right to choose our health care. it preserves goes to the states and the people. obamacare violates the constitution. i am counting on the supreme court to say exactly that. [applause] it is not just health care, of course, that this administration attacks.

did you hear this story? a couple has learned firsthand how the obama administration interferes with personal freedom. they saved enough money to buy a piece of property and build a home on it. a few days after they broke ground, an epa regulator told them to stop digging immediately. epa said they were building on a wetland. this property sits in a residential area. nevertheless, the epa told them that was a file decision and it could not be appealed. fortunately, the constitution confronted the obama administration again. the supreme court ruled unanimously for this couple and against the obama administration, just like they should. [applause] this administration's attack on freedom extends to rise

explicitly guaranteed by the constitution, the right to bear arms. it is so plainly state did and so on ambiguous that liberal -- that liberals -- unambitious that liberals have had a hard time speaking against it. i applaud conservationists and ambassador bolton 40 posing international -- for opposing international laws. i applaud senator grassley and congressman issa for exposing past and serious. i applaud the nra leadership in calling upon the guinea -- calling upon attorney general

holder to resign or get fired. [applause] we need a president that will import car laws and not create new ones that will only serve -- support current laws and not create new ones. if we are going to safeguard our second amendment, it is time to elect a president that will extend the rights that president obama ignores or minimize this. i will protect the rights of the second amendment. [applause]

we have all seen enough of president obama over the last three years to know we do not want another four. in a second term, he would be unrestrained by the demands of reelection, as he told a russian president when he thought no one was listening. after reelection, he would have a lot more "flexibility"to do what he wants. not sure what he meant by that, but i have a good idea. take the supreme court, for instance. he has a unique vision of the supreme court. he said, "i am confident the

supreme court will not take what would be an unprecedented extraordinary step of overturning a lot that was passed by a strong majority in a democratically elected congress. what president obama calls an extraordinary and unprecedented, the rest of us recognize as judicial review. that concept has been the centerpiece of our constitutional system hundreds of years. judicial review requires that the supreme court strike down any law that does not conform to the constitution. that is one of our freedoms. that is what they have to do. [applause] but president obama seems to believe court's decisions are only did it when they will in its favor and illegitimate -- court decisions are only valid when day agree with this well

and he does not favor the ones that don't. in his first term, we have seen this president tried to browbeat the supreme court. in his second term, he would remake it. our freedoms would be in the hands of an obama court. not just for four years, but for the next 40. and we must not let that happen. [applause]

as president, i will uphold the rule of law and put america back on the path toward the founders' vision. i do not want to transform america. i want to return america to the principles that made this country great. our founders created a nation conceived in liberty and trusted us with the duty to observe it and defend it. in the generation since, more than a million americans have made the ultimate sacrifice. one day toward the end of my term as governor, my office got a call telling us that a soldier had been killed in iraq. his family had not been able to be notified in time to get to the airport to receive his remains.

they asked if i would go to the airport in their stead. i said, of course. we drove over to the airport. the jets came in and the people disembarked. the luggage -- jet came in and the people disembarked. the luggage came down and then the casket. the people there saluted. i put my hand on my heart. i happened to glance up at the terminal. in boston, there is a wall of glass with the plane had come in. the people coming off of the plane had seen all of the police cars and they stopped to see what was going on. the people walking down the hall saudi people leaning up and down the glass and they stood behind them. there is a huge crowd of people.

as i look up there, i see that every single person had their hands on their hearts. when i think of our country, it is things like that that come to my mind. should i have the honor of serving as president, that is how i will seek to leave. not by putting one group against another, but by bringing up together americans. americans want a leader who will tell them the truth, who will live with integrity, who will preserve the nation and protect our constitution. [applause] we have a sacred duty to restore the promise of america. and we will do it. we will do it because we believe in america.

we will never apologize for success at home. never again will we apologize for americans abroad. [applause] it meant something special to all of us. we knew it without question. so did the world. those days are coming back. that is our destiny.

[applause] we believe in america. we believe in ourselves. our greatest days are ahead. we are, after all, americans. join me in this great cause. let's take back our nation and defend our freedom. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. thank you very much. [applause] thank you.

>> thank you. thank you, chris. it is great for me to be back here with all of you. i would like to thank all of the women who were so generous and so kind. i am here to talk about a number of key issues. i also want to thank wayne lapierre for the tremendous leadership he has provided for the right to bear arms and protecting the second amendment. i want to thank the national rifle association for the work that you do to make sure we are in a position to preserve our rights. i want to recognize a man who has been a great leader at the nra. it is great to be with john again this morning.

it is important that we produce leaders, and in particular, that we produce leaders that are prepared to be on offense and prepared to carry our ideas and our values into the political conflict. i want to suggest for the national rifle association a fairly bold change in parts of its direction in order to be more aggressively on offense in terms of defending the right to bear arms. let me start by saying, i want to speak two positive words about the obama administration. i know this is an unusual place to come and be positive about the obama administration. but i think the words goodbye are very positive. [applause]

and i think we need to focus our energies from now until november not just to say goodbye to barack obama and joe biden, but to say goodbye to those liberals in the senate who have been blocking passage of the right kind of legislation. if you understand and believe in our constitution, you know we have to win more than just the presidency. we have to win house seats and senate seats to get america back on track. we have to have one of the most decisive in elections in our history. we need to get america back on the right track because from economic problems to fiscal problems to national security problems, we are a country that has gotten away from the things that made us effective.

in a game which administration, we would start in a direct way. on the first day, i would sign a direct order to thoroughly investigate and make public what happened with fast and furious and who was responsible. [applause] on that same opening day, i would start with an executive order which would eliminate, as of that moment, all of the white house czars. [applause] and i would immediately come as of that day, issue an executive order, moving the american embassy from tell aviv to jerusalem -- jerusalem in recognition of israel's right to sovereignty. [applause]

i would also open up offshore and federal land to the development of american oil and gas which the specific purpose of american energy independence so that no future president ever again bows to a daud -- saudi king. [applause] we are on the edge of a technological revolution, which has enabled us to go from a seven years' supply of natural gas in the year 2000 to over a 125-year today. we did it by something called to drilling.

it turns out that drilling works. the president gave several speeches because i have been advocating gasoline below $2 and it is since a gallon and his political consultants told him to god -- $2.50 a gallon and his political consultants told him to go out and start making speeches about energy. i do not know if you remember the president's solution. does anyone remember the obama model? algae. the president said we need algy. we are thinking about having volunteers -- the president said we need algae. we are thinking about having volunteers at gas stations which bottles of algae. i want to talk about energy because it is a perfect example of a strategic change and how we should be thinking on a national level. if we would have a determined

effort to open up federal land -- we all in alaska and it is twice the size of texas. we all one-and-a-half times the size of texas. we could give the environmentalist half of texas for polar bears, glaciers, mountains. that would leave you an area the size of texas to develop. in north dakota, the new drilling technology has increased the amount of available oil from 150 million barrels to 240 billion barrels. they could have 500 billion barrels in north dakota alone. in that context, we could become energy independent.

this would allow us to say to the europeans, the chinese, the japanese, that the straits of hormuz are a problem for you, not us. it would [applause] -- [applause] it would allow us to say to saudi arabia, we are prepared to exert as much pressure as needed to allow you to stop. an american energy program does more than that. the unemployment rate in north dakota is 3.5%. there are 60,000 energy jobs they cannot sell because 3.5% have the wrong skills. i advocate that we change unemployment compensation so that you could -- you should be

learning while we are paying. we should never again give people in 99 weeks of money for doing nothing. in 99 weeks, you could earn an associate's degree. [applause] keeping energy in the united states would strengthen the dollar and create several million american jobs. it would increase the revenue for the federal government as people are put to work. i say this as the only speaker of the house in your lifetime to author four consecutive balanced budget. we paid off $105 billion in debt.

if we are prepared to control spending and we are prepared to reform government, nothing is a bigger step to a balanced budget than to take somebody off of food stamps and off of unemployment and off of medicaid and public housing and put them back to work paid taxes and taking care of their families. finally, having an american energy program would allow us to take all of the royalties. if we develop our capability in federal land and offshore, royalty payments would be $16 trillion to $18 trillion to the federal government.

if we were disciplined, we could balance the budget on an operating fund basis and put all the royalties into a debt reduction fund. in the lifetime of the young people here today, we will have paid off the entire national debt. [applause] the right energy program would allow you to stop worrying about the chinese. that is a strategic energy program that makes sense for america. for anybody who says we cannot get the price of gasoline down, prices dropped from $7.90 a gallon.

i am being cautious by tried to get to $2.50. the soybean reasonable. -- i am being reasonable. let me focus on the central theme of the national rifle association. the right to bear arms comes from our creator, not our government. [applause] it is one of the unalienable rights and alluded to in the declaration of independence. it does not grant the right to bear arms. it acknowledges their pre- existing condition.

the founding fathers knew this for a practical reason. when british troops arrived on lexington and concord expecting to force the peasants into surrender, something they had done quite well in ireland, scotland, wales, and england, they found they were not up against peasants. they suddenly found they weren't up against peasants, they were up against americans. they were weren't up against unarmed rebels but trained militia. they were up against the land of the free.

now many of you know i like your board and board members. i hope -- i hope none of them will take it personally when i say the nra has been too timid. i want to explain what i mean. a gingrich presidency will submit to the united nations a treaty that extends the right to bear arms as a human right for every person on the planet because every person on the planet deserves the right to defend themselves from those who would oppress them, exploit them, break them -- rape them or kill them. [applause]

it is not enough to be against the small arms treaty that keeps us psychologically on defense. the time has come to win the following proposition. far fewer women would be raped, far fewer children would be killed, far fewer towns would be destroyed if people everywhere on the planet had the right to bear arms and far fewer dictators would survive if people had the right to bear arms everywhere on the planet. let's take the george soros and hillary clintons head on. they disarm the rest of us.

we represent a world in which we trust in the basic decency of millions of people and believe they can in fact protect themselves and they can be armed with safety because they are in charge of their life because god has made them sovereign, not government. [applause] remember, i'll close close with this, but think about this and put it in your hearts. our declaration of independence did not say, we americans. it is a universal dumont. we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, not all americans. and that they are endowed by their creator -- the reference point there is to all men, not to americans. we don't need to go across the man et -- planet, trying to

impose american values. but we do need to go across the planet and advocate human values and those human values are best captured in the declaration of independence, the constitution, and the federalist papers. and we have an obligation to reach out to our fellow humans and say to them, if you have the right to bear arms, recognized, because you have that right, it comes from god. if you have a government that recognizes your inherent rights, a government that realize you were a citizen, not a subject, a government which understood it is government which is to be limited, not people. then you, too, would have a chance to pursue happiness. you, too, could live in safety. you, too, could fire those to whom you loan power. it isn't enough to watch people move from one dictatorship from another, to watch libya, egypt, iraq, syria lurch from disaster

to disaster. we should think about people and we should help people understand that they are endowed by their creator and we should say that the second amendment is an amendment for all mankind and an amendment which will improve all mankind. with your help, this is still a more open nominating process than anyone in the elite media believes and if wur -- and with your help, if you get a chance to go to newt.org, i would like to have your support to lead an effort across the planet, to ensure that the right to bear arms becomes permanent and is a human right everywhere, which will guarantee its safety here in america. thank you. good luck and god bless you. [applause] ble satellite corp. 2]

friend, ck santorum. [applause] >> thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you very, very much chris. i greatly appreciate those very kind words. it is so great to see you and great to be here again at another nra convention. i am very cited to be back under a little different circumstances than when i signed up to come here, but i wanted to come, even though, as chris manchin, we are no longer in this race for president in 2012.

i wanted to say t things, really. one, thank you. thank you for being an organization and a group of people who even outside of this organization go back out into your communities and fight for those rights that you have heard the two previous speakers talked about so eloquently, talk about those rights that are unalienable, talabout the rights that make this country the greatest country in the history of the world. the national rifle association is not just an association that protect the second amendment. i to protect fundamental freedoms of which the second amendment guarantees that they are protected. that is what you folks do, and i am here to thank you for doing that. [applause] i was supposed to come today

with my wife, karen, as she was scheduled to speak at a luncheon earlier. many of you know, we had a little pick-up over easter weekend. our youngest, our little girl, is a ballot -- bela -- isabella, bella, ended up being sick and ended up in hospital for a few days. she is on the mend, and i want to thank everyone for your prayers. [applause] she is still not nearly 100%, so karen did not feel comfortable flying cross-country to be away, so you got the short end of the stick. you just gotme instead of me and karen. when it comes to gun rights advocates, i have to say, i do not hold a candle to my wife. i am a hunter and a gun owner, but she owns way more gs than

i do. [applause] and she gets a chance to shoot them more often than i do. so you will hopefully have an opportunity in the future to get a chance to talk to her and to hear her passion. let me assure you -- it is a passion for the second amendment. we are life members of the nra, and we wanted to announce today -- now bella is a life member of the nra, too, and i hope it is a long life. [applause] i just have to tell you that on the campaign trail, it was really fascinating -- we got a chance to talk about american values. not just talk about them, but try to demonstra them. i really enjoyed the opportunity to go out on several occasions to demonstrate the importae of our rights. one of them was the opportunity

to talk abo the second amendment, and we did several hunting trips. a couple of them in iowa. we had the national media trailing along with us as we went on a bird hunt in central iowa, right before the iowa caucuses. it was very exciting. my son, my 19-year-old was out on his first as an hon. first there that came up, he knocked it ride out of the air, and it was on fox news within two hours. we had an opportunity to showcase in a very important since the right to bear arms and the importance of this tradition and these rights in our country. i also took him to some shooting ranges and doing some target practice as part of a town hall meeting. we had several of those scheduled d really enjoy doing that. again, trying to drive home the point that this is an important

part of who we are as americans, an important part of something that should be showcased, not hidden, but showcase of how important these rights are and ve to be protected. we had a great time on the campaign trail, and i just want to thank everybody whoas involved in that for what they did to support me. as i have said many times, doing 385 tel hall meetings throughout the state of iowa, going to over 1000 of those meetings across this country, what ialked about on the campaign trail -- i talked about those foundational freedoms and the declaration of independence and the constitution. how our rights did come from a creato they did not come from the supreme court or the president or the congress. when i talked about those things and talked about the integrity of the family and how we had t have both constitutional rights, faith,

and family because, of course, the most important of the constitutional rights, the one that is the trump which all rights come from, is the freedom of conscience, the freedom of religion, and i talked about that and how all these other rights spring from that right. if you have the right to speak and the right to assemble, but you cannot say or a symbol for what you believe in, then those are hollow rights. i talk about the integrity and importance of the family in america, that we had to hav a family that was strong, families that were strong to impart those values to the next generation. those values of freedom and opportunity as well as a virtue that is necessary for a good and wholesome society, and talk about how important it is for this good and decent america in order to have limited government because you cannot have limited government if you do not have strong families.

you cannot have limited government it people are not behaving well. the government gets bigger and families break down and then society breaks down because there is a lack of virtue in it. those are simple things that as i cross this country and talk to people like the folks here in this room -- i got a lot of nodding of heads, and people understand that is the reality of the situation. yet, we do not have a lot of folks in this country who run for politicaoffice who talk in those very plain terms. i got those plain terms by traveling around the country and listening to the people because they carly and plainly explain that to me, how important these basic american values -- this country wa built not from the top down, not by planners and experts designing systems that were in america. no, this country was built from the bottom up by people who are

tting in the shares in this room who understand what it takes to build a great country one family, one church, one community, 1 civic and community organization at a time. that is what makes america great. we are a bottom-up society, not a top-down society. if there is anything at stake in this election, it is just that, whether we will be a country that will be ruled from on high, or are we going to be a country that, like our founders did back in 1776 when fac with the tyranny of those on high rolling them, said, "we will not stand for this. we will declare our independence, and we will fight ." i am hopeful that each and every one of you will engagin the fight over the next six months to make sure we defeat barack obama in the general election.

[applause] i would just like to affirm what you are doing. i want to thank you and a firm it. what you are doing is absolutely vital, talking about freedom and the essential elements of what made this country great. you are an organization that has been a beacon -- a beacon -- on this iss for a long, long time. this is about america's freedoms, and there is no organization i know out there that talks about it and focuses on it and does a better job of communicating this than the national rifle association. i just want to say to you, as someone with no chance of ever even making a blip on the political scene a little over a year ago -- everyone said, "what are you wastg your time for? you will not have any money.

no one knows who you are." but what i found is that this country is still an amazing country and that opportunity is still alive and well in this country. why? because there are people like you and organizations like this across this country who hunger -- who hunger for an america that believes in what made us great. ronald reagan, when he left office, in his closing address issued a warning to the american public, and the warning was his concern about whether americans going forward were learning about who we are as americans. what it meant to be an american. you see in this administration a deliberate effort to try to redefine history. winston churchill said, "the debate is not about the fure. it is about the past."

what we have seen from this president is redefining america as a country that is broken and always has been, a country that is unfair, that there is not any equality of opportunity, a country that has done horrible things around the world that we have to go and apologize for. he is trying to redefine who we are and positive government as a solution to those problems. what w as american citizens have to fight for is to tell the real history of america, the real story of america, which is a story that prident obama, looking at paul ryan's budget a year ago, looked at all these programs from welfare to unemploynt insurance and said this, "america is a better

country because of these entitlement programs. i will go one step further -- america was not a great country until these programs." you know, ladies gentlemen, that america was not a great country because government created programs to run your life. america was a gat country because it was founded great in god-given rights and free people. [applause] and that freedom is at stake, as governor romney talked about with respect to the supreme

cour a 5-4 court. if that president is reelected, that maybe 5-for the other way, and the things we take for granted in america will no longer be taken for granted. does anyone have anyf doubt -- any doubt of what the decision would be if president obama had five votes on that court? remember justice ginsburg, who was asked the question whether she would recommend the american constitution for a country starting and try to draft a new constitution, and her answer was she would t? she would recommend the south african constitution because it was more updated. she also gave a lecture n long ago where she talked about all of the court cases that she would overturn or that would be overturned if they were able to get that fifth vote.

she listed a whole bunch of them but spent most of the time talking about one ce, and that, of course, was the heller decision. she spent her time talking about that case as the principal case she would like to overturn. this election is the most important election in your lifetime. it is vitally important for the second amendment, but it is important for all of the amendments, and it is iortant for the very foundational principles of our country. so i know that you are all in. the reason i drove around iowa in a pickup truck with a guy named shock for months on end with no chance of winning is because karen and i and our family felt that we had to be all in. and this was not a race

>> now a brief look at some of 2012 close races in the u.s. senate. from "washington journal," this is about 10 minutes. >> how many of those seats are competitive? >> we have several that are too lose to call.

we have one that democrats won't be able to hold on, for republicans they've got three seats in tossup. some of them get more competitive, so we expect this list to grow. host: yesterday on our newsmaker's program, we interviewed hofedse the two parties' senate re-election campaign committees. each was asked what are the odds of your party holding power after november. the democratic resident, guy cecil, said we're going to keep power. the republicans said we have a good chance. who is right? guest: i think that probably republicans are right. they have a chance. we think that the senate joast is a 50-50 proposition today. host: can you tell us about some specific, interesting races? guest: i was to tell you, i was listening to you a few minutes ago, you asked which race would decide the majority? and i think i have the answer

to that. host: please. guest: maine. guest: why is that? host: you have primaries on both sides from republicans and democrats but you have an independent candidate there, the former governor who governed as an independent. what he is telling voters right now is that he's not going to declare a party. until he gets to the senate. so he is undecided which party he'll caucus with. he'd like to caucus with none but that's not totally realistic, at least if he'd like a committee assignment or two. you have to sit with somebody. so he has -- democrats feel he will caucus with them, republicans sort of agree. but the way that he's running is that senator olympia snowee decided to retire because she was tired of the partisanship and he would like to, in his

words, shake things up. it's going to be interesting, he could decide the majority. host: the republican representative believes he's caucus -- he's caucusing with the democrats and they're approaching it that way. guest: i don't blame them but i think king is so committed to shaking things up that there's a scenario that on election night if the senate is 50 seats to 49 seats, there's a possibility he could just opt to join the 49 and tie it up and force power sharing. host: i'm going to play a clip for you. each party's representative was asked, which is the most vulnerable senator. let's begin with the single most vulnerable candidate, guy cecil of the democratic senate

campaign committee answering. >> two months ago, the republicans had a 100% chance at the senate seat until they pushed out the rest of the caucus, so now i think their chance is less than 25%. guest: i don't disagree with what guy cecil said there. now, angus king is the frontrunner in the race, i saw a poll this week, he was polling at 56% in a three-way race. at the same time, you know, it's hard to put this one in the bank. host: we have one more, this

one talking about the scot brown, elizabeth warren race. >> who is the most vulnerable republican, who is not coming back in 013? >> scot brown. >> why? >> there's a couple of reasons. scot brown is out of touch with the voters of massachusetts. i understand he will use every photo op possible to go to the white house to talk about the fact that he co-sponsored a bill that got 9 votes in the united states senate, not exactly a profile in courage. but at every opportunity where he had a chance to stand up gevpbs his own party, to really stand up on the votes that mattered, he has failed to take that couldn't. whether it's tax breaks for the biggest oil companies, whether it's his on city nance on the buffett rule, that's -- he's out of touch. >> no one believe scott brown is campaigning for the republican party, he's not a believable message. the -- the consumer financial

protection, guy said he didn't stand up for anything real, he's one of two republicans that voted for that bill against, frankly, the republican leadership who thought that bill should not be passed he stood up and said that was the right thing to do for massachusetts. he's the second most independent senator out of 100. no one believes what elizabeth warren and others are saying on the hill. host: what do you think? guest: i think they're both right. scott browne is -- brown is the most vulnerable republican up, but where i think he's wrong is where he says he's out of touch with massachusetts. i think he has done in everything -- you know, everything he can to be bipartisan. there are always going to be votes that democrats can pick on but you know, that's going to be a great race. the challenge scot brown has is

is overcoming that r after his name, especially in a presidential year in massachusetts. he's going to -- he's going to have to deal with these voters who are used to voting straight democratic tickets. if he loses, i don't think it's because, you know, he is out of touch. it's simply because he's a republican. host: we could keep you on for the full 45 because there's so many interesting races to talk about but thank you for setting the stage for our discussion with the audience. i know we'll be talking to you at the year progresses and we'll look at the cook reports on the senate and house laces. jennifer duffy, thank you. >> tomorrow on "washington journal," josh rogan has the latest on north korea's failed rocket launch. sara brown, c.e.o. of the campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy, talks about her group's efforts, including working with mass media marketed to teenagers. and peter roiter, university of

maryland's crime and justice policy director previews president obama's attendance at the summit of the americas in columbia -- colombia. that's "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. next, vice president biden makes a campaign speech live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> next, vice president by the makes campaign speech in new hampshire. rob portman speaks on behalf of mitt romney. >> our specific mission is to work to see to it that human rights remain a an essential component to american foreign policy, and when we are evaluating our foreign policy moves globally, human-rights can never be the only consideration.

it has to be part of the dialogue. >> katrina lantos swett. >> when we abandon our deepest values, whether we're talking about torture as it relates to the war on terror, or the recent policy with russia, the upcoming issue of whether not the congress should pass the accountability act, we do not need to go into the details of that, but human rights matter in russia and china. >> more sunday night at 8:00 on "q&a." >> this was the fourth in a series of campaign speeches the vice president delivered on general election issues.

it is 40 minutes. >> thank you. thank you all very much.

>> good afternoon. it is an honor to be here. my husband and i -- i have worked a few different jobs, but none has been more important than being a mom. my husband and i taught our daughters the importance of fairness. everyone has to play by the same rules. when the president and vice- president talked about the buffet role, i hear those same values, fairness, balance, one set of rules, no shortcuts. i give president obama a lot of credit for taking on this fight and for admitting that he did not, but the idea. as you may know, president reagan asked the question, do you think the millionaire ought to pay more taxes than the bus driver? i used to drive a school bus and now --

[cheers and applause] now i am sort of an administrative assistant. i still feel just as strongly that the buffet rule is only fair. it is the wealthiest of the wealthy don't do their part, middle-class families are going to pay for it. we would have to make a lot more tough decisions. without student loans or the tuition tax credit, we would not be able to send my daughter to college. she is studying elementary education. without investment in our public schools, it will be harder for her to get a teaching job when she graduates and harder for students to get the same education she did. my husband and i did our part. we live paycheck to paycheck. there's no reason why anyone who makes more than we do should be able to pay less than we do. [applause]

i am proud to support president obama and vice president biden, who believe what we do. they believe in a level playing field above all else. i'm proud to introduce the vice president, a middle-class guy like us, someone who understands us and gets what we're going through. please join me in welcoming the vice president of the united states, joe biden. [cheers and applause] >> hello, new hampshire. [applause] i told the drug that i should -- diedre, i should say hello and

then sit down. i used to drive a school bus and now i am sort of an administrative assistant. [laughter] we got a lot in common. it is great to be back in new hampshire. i cannot see a lot of faces because of the lights, but i see a number of familiar faces back here and up there. if it's good to be back with you all. over the past few weeks i have given a series of speeches on behalf of the president and myself about what is at stake for the middle class and why the choice in this election is so fundamental. i have spoken about the rescue of the automobile industry, the american automobile industry, about retirement security, and

having america leads the world again in manufacturing. today i want to speak about a fourth topic that will impact significantly with the other three on the state of the middle class in america. that is the tax system. all these issues tell us the most fundamental issue, how do we rebuild an economy with a strong and growing middle class? that is the challenge. the president said that is the challenge of our time. when all is said and done, this campaign we are on is going to really boil down to a very simple question -- are we going to rebuild an economy where the middle class is growing and not shrinking and are we going to restore the value that says in america if you work hard you can get ahead, that personal responsibility will be rewarded, that everyone from main street to wall street will play by the same rules? we are as a country going to

make a responsible choice to ensure that the kind of future we want for our children is back within reach for our children. " in the neighborhoods we grew up in. so many parents of young children today have doubts that we had when we raised our countries. played by the rules and work hard. they could be certain that they provided an opportunity for their children. that is what this is really all about? part of the debate is about the tax system we have and the subject on everyone's mind as april 15 approaches. president obama and i believe that it is simply wrong to have a system that is so riddled with loopholes and preferences that the wealthiest and most successful of all americans often pay at a lower rate of their taxes than the average middle-class people do. warren buffett, who many people

in america know, is an extremely successful, generous, and gregarious man who ran a very bright light on this subject when you note that. as a billionaire under the current tax law pays a lower tax rate than his secretary pays. but the thing is,. he is not, there are tens of thousands and -- the thing is, he is not alone. there are tens of thousands and several millions of people in that same situation making over $1 million, doing exactly the same. if it happens all the time, because the law allows it? -- it. and because we are fortunate to be able to hire good accountants and lawyers who know how to take full advantage of every aspect of the tax code. as we start, we have to decide how to begin to get this back under control. how do we begin to right the ship so that middle-class people have a chance. restarted by proposing the -- we

start it by proposing the buffett rule, to ensure that if no one who makes $1 million or more in any single given year will pay at an effective tax rate that is less than 30%. it is simply a matter of fairness. it is also a matter of common sense. let me read a quotation from someone else. >> just a moment ago i told some people about the letter i just received. is a letter from a man out there in the country, an executive earning six figures, will above $100,000 a year. he wrote me "in my support of the tax plan because i am legally able to take advantage of the present tax code, nothing dishonest, doing what the law prescribes and will wind up paying a smaller tax than my secretary pays." that letter was not written to

warren buffett. that letter was written to and led by president ronald reagan. the person went on to say, "i would like to be a book to come -- guy would like to come to washington to testify before the congress on why it is wrong." i remember a time not long ago when president clinton was the president of the united states. when he left office, he left america with an enormous surplus and an enormous if projected surplus. i was proud to have been in the senate at the time and help them accomplish that goal. but then washington made a series of really bad choices after he left. two big tax cuts, neither of which are paid for, obscured overwhelmingly to the very wealthiest americans. two wars carried on the books, not a single penny paid for

either one of them. and a medicaid drug program worthy but also not pay for. -- paid for. in addition, the bush administration went on and eviscerated the oversight functions of the federal government. as a consequence, too many investors bet on short-term gains and made extremely risky financial schemes. you know the results. the worst economic crisis since the great depression. so when barack obama and i came to office, when we walked in the door, at the peak of this crisis, we were handed a $1 trillion buildup as a production-- bill deficit -- projection for that year which started in september, the budget year. we were handed a $1 trillion bill before we had 10 minutes on the job. and the near certainty that we were going to lose several more

million jobs before we even could get started with our program. billions of dollars of lost revenue. as a consequence of the great recession coupled with the steps that had to be taken to prevent that recession from turning into a depression, which added more to the deficit. and now that we have turned the corner, we are faced with another choice. do we pay down the deficit, cutting wherever we can as we have been doing, while at the same time investing in things we know we must invest in in order for the economy to grow and create middle class jobs? we know what they are. it is investing in education, research and development, new technology, clean energy. or do we continue to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on tax windfalls for millionaires? windfalls they don't need and

that they never asked for. i came from a wealthy state. i often point out that wealthy people are just as patriotic as poor people. there are just as patriotic as middle-class people. i think they know that they should be doing more. now governor romney and others argue that if we keep these windfalls and then shot were -- shower even more windfalls on the very wealthiest, that is how america goes the economy will grow, and that's how we will create jobs, but they say. nuthat's their thesis in a shell. it amazes me. they offer this prescription as if it is somehow a new idea. like something we have not seen before. like something we have not actually tried before. we have seen this movie before. [laughter] you have seen the movie.

it does not end well. where has he been? [applause] could it be that he is out of touch? i don't know, but i will tell you that he missed the movie. movie. folks, this is the same argument that was touted out a decade ago by president george bush to justify the unjustifiable tax cuts for the very wealthy then and look what happened. it actually had the opposite impact. it produced the slowest job growth in half a century.

during that time from thatto 2007, middle income people actually lost $2,300 in income. they actually retreated. they did not grow. but it is true that the very top did very, very well. but the impact was that our economy faltered, the middle class shrank, the poor got poo -- poorer and ultimately the economy collapsed. it collapsed on all of you. it collapsed on the middle- class. and it came down with a crash. $1.7 trillion in lost value, lost income to the american people. you watched the equity in your homes evacuate. -- evaporates. you want your 401k plan be

eviscerated. that's what it produced. and now mitt romney wants to take us down that same road again. let me state it plainly, the president and i are determined to do all in our power to make sure we never go down that road again. [cheers and applause] look, folks, it really is a straightforward proposition, nothing complicated about this. we believe, as i suspect most of you do, democrats and republicans, we believe it is fundamentally unfair to ask a middle-class family to pay more and to lose more opportunities so that a millionaire can pay

less. it's that simple. i don't know any person, i don't know any reasonable person, regardless of their political backgrounds, but disagrees with. that with -- who disagrees with that proposition. back when we were trying to put more teachers and cops back on the street and we had a very small surtax on the first dollar over $1 million, the polls show the vast majority of millionaires thought it was the right thing to do. so i don't buy this argument republicans offer. i don't buy this argument. but the very wealthy are not prepared to contribute to the recovery in the same way that everybody else is prepared to. they are not prepared. ronald reagan, warren buffett, deirdre, the president, no reasonable person that i know feel this is the american way. -- thinks this is the american

way. we are not supposed to have a system that is read. -- rigged. we're not supposed to have a system with one set of rules for the very wealthy and one set of rules for everybody else. -- we are not supposed to have a system that is rigged. we have maintained our position that nobody under $250,000 would have their taxes raised. where i come from, that is wealthy. we are talking about the very wealthy. time and again, ladies and gentlemen, middle-class americans have shown their willingness to stand up and do their part in times of political, economic, or military crisis. time and again. but the one thing in the neighborhoods i come from, and i suspect all of you, the one thing we don't like being played for is a sucker. the one thing we don't like. [applause]

when you all pay your taxes next week, you and every citizen in new hampshire and my home state of delaware ought to be able to know that everyone else is paying their fair share as well. but the truth is you know that there are not. -- that they are not. the truth is, when you pay those taxes, you know that not everyone is paying their fair share. and it is not just the buffett rule. the buffett rule will not solve all our problems. if it is just fairness. at the fairness -- it is just a modicum of fairness. if governor romney has his way, we will have the romney rule. i mean this sincerely spirit it is not just a cute little deal. there's a romney rule that says let's double down on the tax cuts for the wealthy. this is not about class warfare. this is about math and people's lives. as my dad used to say, don't

tell me what you value, show me your budget and i will tell you what you value. [cheeers and applause] so let's take a look at what the romney rule values, but the -- what the governor values and his colleagues. he values the bush tax cuts to be made permanent for the wealthy, the ones that are inte -- are intended to expire this december. he wants to extend them permanently. that will cost $1 trillion over the next 10 years, $800 billion of that going to people who make a minimum of $1 million. to add insult to injury, the

rule proposal to give another $250,000 per year tax cut to the average millionaire on top of maintaining the bush tax cuts. i know if you had not want all -- not watched all the debates, you probably think i'm making all of this up. but seriously that is what he is calling for. that's another trillion dollars in tax cuts over the next 10 years going to the top 1%, of american taxpayers. --on't blame that baby from for crying. she will inherit it. [applause] she's going to pay for it. that's one smart baby. [applause] look, folks, the bush tax cut

for the wealthy and the new proposal of an additional $1 billion, these are tax cuts that the folks in that category did not ask for. they did not ask for this. they don't need them to maintain their standard of living. by that i mean, the only time people really sacrifice is when they lose a tax break or a tax structure that forces them to change their standard of living. that is what changes people. when you have to move out of your house and rent instead of owning. when you cannot send your kids to college and in only send them to trade school and so on. but nobody in the category designed to benefit from these tax cuts is going to have to change one single aspect of their standard of living. it is a stark choice we have to make. a choice between the romney rule that i think will take the

country in a direction that we don't want to go. the buffett rule says no one making more than $1 million will pay a smaller share for their income taxes than middle-class families do. now you hear them come back and say the effective tax rate for middle-class families is lower and so on. a lot of that is true, but the bottom line is, anybody making london million dollars cannot pay 30% in taxes? -- anybody making $1 million cannot pay 30% in taxes? that is lower than the prescribed rate right now for millionaires and people making over $200,000. the romney rule says the very wealthy should keep every tax breaks and loopholes they have and get additional new tax cuts every year that are worth more than what the average middle- class family makes in an entire year. in the neighborhoods i ask them

to look up the average income in this area. a $250,000 a year tax break would be roughly somewhere between four times greater than the average income of a family in this neighborhood. it is just not fair. but beyond being not fair, it is literally a bad economic policy. it is bad economic policy. i understand -- we understand rewarding risk and rewarding innovators, we understand that. we understand some cases that deserved a different tax treatment to get people to take risks to benefit us all. but let me put this in perspective by giving an illustration.

this summer -- and deirdre just in directly reference this -- this summer the interest rate on student loans is supposed to double. it is set to double. we are talking to congress to try to hold it at what it is, 3.8%. it is going to double. with the romney rule, a middle- class family with a couple kids going to college would see their interest rate double. just imagine your car loan doubling, what it would mean out of your pocket. imagine if the interest rate you are paying on your mortgage doubled tomorrow. maybe these guys don't come from the same place that we come from. that makes a difference.

it makes a difference in your standard of living. it makes a difference in what you can do for your family. it matters. it is all about the impact of the romney rule on the middle class or the obama-biden approach. it is about whether or not you will be able to afford to send your kid to college, whether you can live in a safe neighborhood because there is adequate resources to have sufficient police protection and fire protection, is about whether or not your mother can pick up all of her prescription drugs and not leave two of them at the counter. my mom was with me. i did not even know she was doing this until i followed her to the drugstore and watched my mom say to the druggist, i only need four of these, honey. it's a whether or not working moms such as deidre can afford not just child care but decent child care. in our view, the fair way to do

this is also the right way to do this. the economically sound way to do this. that is what the president and i have been talking about this and will continue to talk about it for awhile. let me tell you what we proposed in addition to the buffett rule. if we lay out a plan to reduce the federal deficit by $4 trillion over the next decade. people say how do you do that? we do that by making some very painful cuts. we've already cut over $1 trillion, painful cuts. we also get it by coming up with 1 pound 5 trillion dollars by ending unnecessary tax breaks for the very wealthy. -- $1.5 trillion. that is so our children don't have to carry the burden. we cannot get there without cutting bone marrow, if you don't include the elimination of the tax breaks for the very wealthiest among us. if we put the buffett rule in place, let the bush tax cuts

expire for the very wealthy, and reject mitt romney's additional $1 trillion tax cut for the very well, america will be able to do the things we need to do to build the economy. everybody knows what they are. we cannot be the most competitive nation in the world when we are ranking 16th in the world of percent of college graduates we have in the nation. we have to invest in education. it is self-evident. but to do that, you have to say it is more important to help educate hundreds of children or send hundreds of kids to college than to give one billionaire the romney rule tax cuts, because that is what would replace it. just one. how many new kids can we send to college for $250,000 a year, the tax break than he once ran an ad -- he wants to add for

people making over $1 million? look, choices matter. they have consequences. the president and i will make that choice, but mitt romney will make a different choice. we believe we need to provide tax cuts for cutting edge manufacturing enterprises so america can lead the world in the industries of the future. what you are doing here in an arafat for a tax rate plays a the american people know the choice the president and i have made and they want to know the choice the rummy role is taking. ney role is taking. they have a fundamentally

different perspective. this is out of step with basic million americans. how many of you have a swiss bank account? [laughter] [applause] he calls the president out of touch? we value the risk.

risk should be rewarded. this is a basic choice in the election. the president and i determined to make this fair. we believe, history shows, when the middle class rose, up the wealthy get wealthier, the port has a better shot. the economy is sound. -- the poor have a better shot.

we believe in a fair shot and a fair shake. governor romney and those that follow his philosophy believe in no rules, no accountability. folks, i want to state very plainly, the president and i have absolute confidence in the american people. we have absolute faith because we know that given the opportunity, the american people have never failed to stand up. we are better positioned as a nation. we are better positioned to be

the leading economy in the 21st century if we invest in our economy, education, new technology. we have a long way to go, but we're on the right track. we are on the right track. let me make it clear to you, i want to say it as plainly as i can, this is no time to turn back. god bless you all, may god protect our troops. thank you all so and very much. thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012]

[no audio] [no audio] ♪ ♪ >> how are you? hey, guys, how are you? thanks for being here.

hey, how're you doing? good to be with you. hey, you were down south. there are, we go. [laughter]

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[no discernible audio] >> on thursday, ohio senator ro galtb portm -- rob portman spoke at an event for is the romney campaign. this is in greensburg, pa.

[applause] >> thank you very much. thank you all very much, brian, and into the den and alain -- brian, ben, and elaine. and ladies and gentlemen, you know what they say. will you win this year? [applause] absolutely. i have to be honest with you, the state of ohio. thank you. we will get some pros and cons to that. now, i am a browns fan.

to be a steal their nation makes me uncomfortable. i am just really glad you are not waiving those terrible towels right now. that is all i can say. [applause] that is something that we can all agree on. it is great to meet a budget the tonight. i want to talk specifically about diana, and thank her for her service. i would like to also thank her family service. her husband is stationed in afghanistan tonight. while we sit here in joining our dinner, he is protecting assets and our country. we want to thank him for his service. i have to be at andrews air force base first thing in the

morning. i'm going down to fort bragg. this is a great responsibility as we have as members of the house and senate and it is a great pleasure to be able to work closely with those guys. they are doing a great job for us, they are proving their professionalism, let's give them another round of applause. [applause] it is wonderful to be here with marshall blackburn. she has a slight southern accent, as you will hear, but that is because she is truly from the south. ladies and gentlemen, you will have a treat hearing from her. she is not afraid to speak her mind. i am also here with tim murphy. he is a terrific guy.

he is a champion. he understands the issues in this county and this district and understands what makes pennsylvania take. they're both on energy and commerce committee, among other things. just an example of what is going on in the house of representatives, they have passed about 30 pieces of legislation in the house, under republican leadership. this is the kind of stuff that we need to see. i am a member of the world's greatest deliberative body. you hear that a lot in the u.s. senate. all the bills i have talked about have been killed in the

senate. why? because it has been controlled by democrats. they have not passed a budget for three years under democratic control. does that make sense to you? no. we need some help. -- would second one i've just said. we served on the super committee together. he knows how the democrats have blocked this legislation going forward. this is not just for pennsylvania but for our whole country right now. we need some help he would like to be the senior senator from pennsylvania. [applause] we need another republican.

i want to say a word. you have to admire rick. he was willing to throw his hat in the ringhals, long days on the campaign trail, time away from his family. all in a very heartfelt effort. he was doing this because he loves his country. tonight, i think that we should give him the tribute that he deserves. he added a lot to the debate. he was out there putting republicans out front on the need for us to make things in this country to make sure that we'll get this economy moving and bringing back jobs in pennsylvania, ohio, are around the country. and we need new leadership in

washington d.c.. rick santorum did a good job of talking about that, didn't he? [applause] tonight, we are thinking about him and his family. it is tough to go through this. we appreciate this. to those in the room tonight, thank you for what you do. you are here because you care a lot about your community, your country. what i said earlier, this was one of the key counties in 2012 and every level of government. for the sake of our kids, grandkids come we have got to do that. it is not exaggeration to say the direction of our country will be decided by this election.

this is really about the principles and values that have made this country great will be acknowledged or will we continue towards european levels of debt and borrowing? this is a time when the europeans are trying to get away from that because they know it doesn't work. is at stake in this election. we cannot afford another four years of barack obama. [applause] to turn things around, we have to win the presidency. we have to make sure that we hold the house, we need to get the majority in the senate. we have the ability to set the agenda and actually put out a budget and get america back on track.

no wonder our fiscal condition is so bad, we don't even have a budget. folks, we need to do all these things for all of the right reasons. we need to be sure that the senate and house passes this legislation if we have mitt romney in the white house to sign those laws and to get that country turned around. [applause] instead, we have a president in barack obama who believes that -- any more than we are taking in and more and more that we have to start deficits. we have a debt that is the size of our entire economy. he would like to spend more. does that make sense? no, it doesn't. look at his budget, it as 13 trillion dollars in debt to the 15 trillion we have already got. that is why the budget was brought up for a vote, they got

absolutely no support. even the democrats did not want to support that budget. how many times a washington have to relearn this? between the stimulus and the higher spending, our nation continues to suffer. this is unfair to do to future generations. we have a president and has a plan. do you know what it is? we have a present that would like to raise taxes. instead of dealing with the spending or reforming, what we want to do is raise taxes including the small businesses we are relying on to get this moving again.

instead of raising taxes that are going to hurt small businesses, we cannot raise enough taxes to catch up to the spending that we have currently. you cannot raise taxes quick enough to change that level. we have a president when employers are calling out for more sensible and balanced approach and an incredibly weak recovery. we should be speculating more, not less. this has a impact on states like pennsylvania and ohio. about a trillion dollar hit to the economy. does that make sense to you? no, it does not. that is a reason why we have to get new leadership in washington. i have been driving a lot around

a high of the past couple of days, i have not seen it. unbelievable that the president will not go forward on such a common sense pipeline. hear, you have a pipeline to collect oil from canada so that we can get away from our dependency from all two countries like the middle east, like venezuela. -- dependency from volatile countries like the middle east, like venezuela. do you know will happen to that oil? the chinese are very happy to buy all of it. does that make sense to you? we have a present that looks the other way when we have to have this reliable source of energy.

tens of thousands of jobs to the pipeline alone. one of the labor union leaders, they said this. we want to use our god-given resources, lower energy prices. we can do it. pennsylvania, you are doing it. i was traveling all around a high of the past couple of weeks and one of my visits was to u.s. steel. they have put a $100 million investment. they're making plans but also

finishing pipes. they are creating jobs and bringing about the natural resources. we need to bring it to the rest of the country and stop the washington interference. >> yesterday, i was in canton, ohio and getting involved in the energy business. about people owned restaurants in the area. this would be a true job creator. we will create a lot of jobs. we have a president administration looking for new

ways to create federal regulation. there are agencies and departments looking at ways to provide federal regulatory overlay. this is not the way for us to get our economy back. we have an administration and president to discourages oil production. at a time of record gas prices, will production decreased by 14%. does that make sense to you? no, we should be doing just the opposite. we should be promoting jobs and america's independence. i just think that they don't get it. when we go through pennsylvania, i hope the -- with the nearly five and a thousand pennsylvania that are out of work. he keeps saying that things are

going great. the white house tells us that the economy is doing fine. innow you don't sense that ohio or pennsylvania. understand that we have fundamental problems in our economy they have no interest in addressing this. we need to do some things to change the way the economy works and that includes tax reform. reforming the tax cuts would bring back jobs. we can free up the private sector. we need to develop our own energy resources. we know what can be done on health care cost containment. the health-care bill, house that working? not too well this is a budget buster to boost.

we are in desperate need of a new direction. it is not because we are republicans that we feel that, it is because we're americans. the strength of our economy does not come from washington and the regulatory environment in washington, it comes from free men and women in the private sector. this is not by the state, not by the government, but there are certain inalienable rights. this is life, liberty, and

the camps -- and the pursuit of happiness. we need to get back to some of those concepts, don't we? what we need to do is return to those values. we need a leader that understands why. i believe mitt romney is that person. he has turned around businesses, he has turned around --, the olympics. it would nice to see -- have someone in the white house that knows how to create jobs? in the international spotlight, he took over the salt lake lynde vix that were mired in scandal. this was about five months after

the devastating attacks of 9/11. he made america proud, turning around those olympics. he cut taxes 19 times, he left massachusetts. they had a surplus and a rainy day fund has. massachusetts is a pretty democratic state. they have actually done it. the action have experience and they have the right plan to do it. they will send the congress a fundamental tax reform, make

america competitive again. we will get people back to work, expand energy production. and also with us of the one- size-fits-all that is dragging down job creation. that is a pretty good agenda. we have spent the last three years with the president that has overpromise and under delivered. it is time to let someone in that knows -- we can do it. we have done this several times before. we have gone through two great world wars and a depression. we have always come out stronger. we are tough, we are americans. with the right leadership and policies, consistent with the values and principles that have made this country great, we will

rise to the challenge. we will once again become a beacon of hope and opportunity for the rest of the world. --'s go do it, got bless you d bless you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> we asked students to submit a video telling us what part of the constitution was appointed them and why. today, we will be visiting not still, tennessee. why did you choose gender discrimination as a topic? >> we had narrowed it down to the 14th amendment. after i read a few