national association of latino elected officials. then leon panetta. and later, live coverage of >> president obama said he will not give as a fight for immigration reform. he is speaking at the national association of latino elected & appointed officials. he criticized romney for opposing the dream act. this is about 35 minutes. [applause] >> thank you. thank you.

good afternoon. [applause] >> thank you so much. thank you. thank you, everybody. please have a seat. it is good to be back at naleo. [speaking spanish] [applause] >> it is wonderful to see good friends from across the country. it is nice to be at disney world. this is the second time i've come to disney world without my daughters. they are not happy with me. i want to thank secretary hilda solis for the introduction and for her hard work. she is one of the best labor secretaries we have ever had and she is thinking about you each and every day. [applause] >> i want to say thank you to sylvia and arturo. happy early birthday, arturo.

i will not sing. do not worry. [laughter] >> welcome to the other side of the hill. it is especially good to have the ambassador here with us. we are very proud of her. [applause] >> when the senate refused to confirm her hypocenter to house of a door anyway because -- i sent her to el salvador anyway because i knew she would do a great job and she has. the senate confirmed her last week. she is now official. [applause] >> west, but not least, thank all of you. it is nice to get out of washington, get some of florida sunshine, but see folks and devoted themselves to serving their communities, countries,

and dedicated themselves to making people's lives a little bit better each and every day, at every level, school board, state legislatures, county boards, and you guys are where the rubber hits the road. i had a chance to see many of you in your local communities and hear the stories of your efforts, hopes, dreams, and also some of your frustrations and the hardships that are taking place. in all, yesterday, your featured speaker came here and said the election in november is not about to people, or about being a republican, democrat or independent. it is about the future of america. while we have a lot of differences, he and i, on this point i could not agree more. this is about america's future. it is the defining issue of our

time -- whether we carry forward the promise fed has drawn generations of immigrants to our shores from every corner of the globe, sometimes at great risk. men and women drawn by the promise that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, no matter your last name, this is a place where you can make it if you try. it is a place where you can make it if you try. whether our ancestors arrived on the mayflower or were brought here on slave ships. whether they signed in on ellis island or crossed the rio

grande, their diversity has not only in with the country, it helped to build the greatest economic engine the world has ever known.

striding people. dreamers. risk takers. people cannot come here and looking for handouts. we are a nation which a nation of strivers, climbers -- we are a nation of strivers, climbers, the hardest working people on earth, and nobody personifies

these american values, these american traits, more than the latino community. [applause] >> that is the essence of who you are. all we ask for is that hard work pays off. that responsibility is reported -- rewarded. so, if these men and women put in enough effort, they can find a good job. they can own their own home, send their kids to college, let their kids dream bigger, put away a little bit for retirement, not go bankrupt when you get sick. i ran for this office because for more than a decade that dream had been slipping away from too many americans. before i even took office, the world -- the worst economic crisis of our lifetimes push it further from reach, the ticket early for watching the communities that -- particularly for latino communities that had already face higher unemployment and poverty rates. the question is not whether we need to do better. of course there -- the economy is not where it needs to be. of course, there are too many that struggle. we have so much more work to do. the question is, how do we make the economy grow faster? how do we create more jobs? how do we create more opportunities? the question is what vision are we going to stand up for. are we going to fight for? -- who are we going to fight for? that is what we have to decide

right now. that is what this election is about. who are we fighting for? what division of american do we believe in? -- what vision of america do we believe in? if america is about anything, it is about passing on even greater opportunity to our children. it is about education. that is why i extended pell grants that will give an additional 150,000 students in the latino community a chance to go to college. [applause] >> that is why i have invested in our community colleges, which are a gateway to a good job for so many hispanic-americans, americans of every stripe. that is why in almost every state, some of the calmest -- toughest neighborhoods around, have met our standard by teaching it to a test, expanding creativity, improving curriculum, focusing more on the kids that are hardest to reach, so we give every child a fighting chance. that is part of the vision of america that we believe in. in this country, we believe that if you want to take a risk and a new idea, you should have the chance to succeed and you should not have to have wealthy parents to be successful. latino-owned businesses have been the fastest-growing small businesses, and we have cut their taxes 18 times. we have expanded new loans and credits so they can grow and they can hire. [applause] >> that is the vision we believe in. in america we believe you should not go broke because you get sick. hard-working people out there, sometimes two jobs, three jobs, sometimes do not have health insurance. if you did, insurance companies were able to discriminate

against certain patients. that was wrong. it was wrong to let insurance companies jack up premiums for no reason and have millions of working americans uninsured with the latino community having the highest rate of uninsured of any community in the country. after a sense the the -- century of trying, we passed reform that will make health care affordable and available for every american. that was the right thing to do. [applause] >> that was the right thing to do. [applause] >> that was the right thing to do. [applause] >> now, we are not done yet. we have more to do. we need to put more good teachers in our classrooms. [applause] >> we need to get colleges and universities to bring down the cost of tuition, to make it more affordable for young people. [applause] >> we need to invest in new research and innovation, especially new sources of energy and high-tech manufacturing. we need to put people back to work, rebuilding our roads, highways, runways, construction jobs -- they can have a huge ripple effect in communities across the country and nobody knows it better than state and local officials. you know the difference it makes. with the housing bubble, you

have tens of thousands of construction workers ready and eager to get to work. we need to give families in the hard-hat housing markets like florida and nevada chance to refinance and save $3,000 a year on their mortgage. that is good for those families, the housing market, the surrounding communities. there is no reason why congress has not already done it. [applause] >> instead of just talking a big gain of about job creators we should give small business owners a tax break for hiring more workers or pay in higher wages instead of rewarding companies that ship jobs overseas. we should use the money and cover moving expenses for countries -- companies that are bringing jobs back to america. [applause] >> on almost every issue of

concern to your community, to every community, what is holding us back is not a lack of big ideas, not a lack of technical solutions. by now, just about every policy and proposal has been laid out on the table. what is holding us back is a stalemate. a stalemate in washington between two fundamentally different views of which direction we should go. the republicans who run congress, the man at the top of their ticket, they do not agree with any of the proposals i just talked about. they believe the best way to grow the economy is from the top down, so they want to roll back regulations and give an insurance companies, credit card companies, mortgage lenders

even more power, extending tax cuts, including a 25% tax cut for every millionaire in the country, and they want to pay for it by raising middle-class taxes and cutting programs like health care, and medical research. that is it. that is their economic plan. when they tell you they can do better, that is their idea of doing better. when they tell you they know how to fix the economy, that is exactly how they plan to do it, and i think they are wrong. i think they are wrong. [applause] >> you know, in this country, prosperity has never come from the top down. it comes from a strong and growing middle class. and creating ladders of opportunity for those struggling to get into the

middle class. it comes from a thriving small businesses that over time grow into medium-sized and large businesses. we need a better plan for education and training, and energy independence, innovation and infrastructure that could rebuild america. what we need is a tax code encourages companies to create jobs and manufacturing here in the united states, and, yes, ask the wealthiest americans to help pay down the deficit. [applause] >> that is what is needed. what is also needed is immigration reform that finally lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants, and continues the american story of renewal, energy and dynamism that has made us who we are.

[applause] >> think about it -- you and i both know one of america's greatest strengths has been our ability to attract talent and hard working people. people who believe in this country, who want to help make it stronger. that is what keeps us young. that is what keeps us dynamic and energized. that is what makes us who we are. our current immigration system does not reflect those values. it allows the best and the brightest to study here, but then it tells them to leave, start companies somewhere else. it punishes immigrants and businesses that play by the rules and fails to address the fact there are too many that do not. it separates families. it denies innocent young people to earn -- a chance to earn an

education or served in a military of the country that they love. now, once again, the problem is not a lack of technical solutions. we know what the solutions are to this challenge. just six years ago, an unlikely trio, john mccain, ted kennedy, president bush came together to champion comprehensive immigration reform. [applause] >> i, along with a lot of democrats were proud to join 23 senate republicans in voting for it. today, those same republicans have been driven away from the table by a small pad -- faction of their own party. it has created the same stalemate on immigration reform that we see on a range of economic issues, and it has given rise to a state law -- to state laws that caused more problems than they solve, and are often doing more harm than

good. [applause] >> now, this makes no sense. it is not good for america. as long as i am president of the united states, i will not give up the fight to change it. in the face of a congress that refuses to do anything on immigration, i have said that i will take action wherever i can. my administration has been doing what we can without the help in congress for more than three years now. last week, we took another step. on friday, we announced we are listing the shadow of deportation from deserving young people who were brought to this country as children. we should have passed the dream at a long time ago. it was written by members of both parties. when it came up for a vote one

year and a half ago, republicans in congress blocked it. [applause] >> the bill had not changed. the need had not changed. the only thing that changed was politics. [applause] >> the need had not changed. the bill had not changed. it was written with republicans. the only things that changed where politics, and i refuse to keep looking young people in the eye and tell them tough luck, the politics is too hard. i have met these young people all across the country. they are studying in our schools. they are playing with our children. pledging allegiance to our flag, hoping to serve our country -- they are americans.

in their hearts, in their minds, they are americans through and through, in every single white but on paper, and all they want is to -- every single way but on paper, and all they want to do is go to college and give back to the country that they love. [applause] let's get rid of the shadow of deportation and give them some hope. that was the right thing to do. it was the right thing to do. [applause] >> it is not amnesty. it falls short of where we need to become a path to citizenship. it is not a permanent fix. it is a temporary measure that lets us focus our resources wisely while offering justice to young people, and it is precisely because it is temporary that congress still needs to come up with a long- term immigration solution rather than argue that we did this the wrong way and for the

wrong reasons. so, to those who are saying congress should be the one to fix this, absolutely. for those who say we should do this in a bipartisan fashion, absolutely. my door has been open for three and a half years. they know where to find me. [laughter] >> i have said time and again, send me the dream act. i will sign it right away. i am still waiting to work with anyone from either party that is committed to real reform. [applause] >> in the meantime, the question we should consider is this -- was providing these young people a measure of temporary relief the right thing to do? i think it was. it is long past time that we gave them a sense of hope.

you're speaker from yesterday has a different view. in the speech he said that when he makes a promise to you he will keep it. he has promised to veto the dream act, and we should take him at his word. [applause] [laughter] >> i am just saying. [applause] >> i believe that would be a tragic mistake. you do, too. on all of these issues, the

investments we need to grow the middle class, leave a better future for our kids, and deficit reduction that is fair and balanced, and immigration reform, on consumer financial protection so that people are not exploited, whether it is a paid a long shot or their senator and inspected their family, and all of these issues washington has a long way to go to catch up with the rest of the country. the whole idea behind the dream act was inspired by a music teacher in illinois who decided to call dick durbin, for senator, when she found out that one for students was forced to live in the shadows. even as bad idea fell prey to gridlock in the -- in washington, it gained momentum in the rest of the country. forever it is an -- for every student that marched, for every parent that chose to stand up

for them, because these are all of our kids, for every american who stood up, spoke out across the country because they saw a wrong and wanted it to be righted, putting their shoulder to the oil and moving us closer towards justice -- to the wheel and moving us closer towards justice. that is always move us forward. it is not start with washington. it starts with 1 million quiet heroes who love their country and believe they can change it. we all have different backgrounds. we all have different political beliefs. the latino community is not monolithic. the african-american community is not all of one mind. this is a big country. sometimes in tough times in the

country this big and busy, especially in a political year, news -- those differences are casting a bright spot. when i ran -- i ran for this office because i am convinced that what binds us together has always proven stronger than what drives us apart. we are one people. we need one another. [applause] >> our patriotism is rooted not in race, ethnicity, creed -- it is based on a shared belief of an enduring and permanent promise of america. that is the promise that draws so many talented, driven people to these shores. that is the promise that drew my own father here. if that is the promise that

drew your parents, or grandparents, or great- grandparents', generations of people that dreamed of a place where knowledge and opportunity was available to anyone that was willing to work for it, anyone willing to seize it. a place where there was no limit to how far you could go, how high you could climb. they took a chance. america embraced their drive, embraced their courage. said come, you are welcome. this is who we are. every single day i walked into the oval office, every day that i have this extraordinary privilege to be your president, i will always remember that in no other nation on earth could my story even be possible. [applause]

>> that is something i celebrate. [applause] >> that is what drives me in every decision i make. to try and widen the circle of opportunity, to fight for the big, generous and optimistic country we inherited, to carry that dream for four generations to come -- when i meet these young people throughout communities, i see myself. who knows what they might achieve? i see my daughters and my niece and my nephews. who knows what they might achieve if we just give them a chance? that is what i am fighting for.

that is what i stand for. this fight will not always be easy. it has not always been easy. it will not happen overnight. our history has been one where the march towards justice, freedom, equality, it has taken time. there will always be plenty of stubborn opposition that says no, you can not. no, you should not. try. america was built by someone -- by people that's -- that said something different. that said yes we can. as long as i have the privilege of being your president, i will be alongside you fighting for the country that we, together, dream of. if god bless you. thank you, naleo. god bless the united states of america. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]

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>> lamb panetta said veteran suicide prevention is one of the most challenging task. about 18 veterans take their own lives every day. the defense department confirmed it is on the rise. this is about half an hour. [applause] thank you. thank you very much.

they really deserve the treatment and support. i like to express my appreciation to all of you in this audience. thank you for coming together. thank you for the work that you have done at this three day conference. thank you for the focus that all of you are making to try to give attention and energy on one of the most complex and urgent project -- problems facing our military families, the problem of suicide. a lot of people have worked with this issue daily. i have tremendous respect for your capabilities. you are the experts in trying to deal with a difficult issue.

i am reminded of the story of the nobel prize winner who was going throughout the state of california. he had won its in physics. he was going drought california giving complex addresses on the area that he had gotten the nobel prize. he was heading toward fresno with his chauffeur said, i have heard that same speech so many times. i think i could get it by memory. the professor said, why do not we do that. you give the speech. he did that. the show for that up. he was dressed as the professor. he spoke for an hour on a complex area of physics. he got a standing ovation at the

end of the address. the professor sat in the audience. he could not believe what had happened. someone said, that is an outstanding address. i have a question. he included formalist. he said, what do you think about that? . there was a long pause. the professor said, that is the stupidest question i have ever gotten. just to show you how stupid it is, i will have my chauffeur into its hourly and to its hourly -- answer it out in the audience. there are a lot of chauffeurs in this audience when it comes to this complicated and difficult issue. i appreciate the devotion and dedication all of you are making

in trying to do with this. i am please that this conference is run jointly by the department of defense and the department of veterans affairs. building a stronger collaboration between our two departments is absolutely essential. to meeting the needs of our service members and veterans. i am prodded the working relationship that i have -- i am proud of the working relationship that i have had with the secretary. i agree with what he told his audience on wednesday. there are two departments that are working closely together than ever before. it is essential and important that we build that kind of partnership if we are going to address issues like a suicide.

this issue is perhaps the most frustrating challenge that i have come across since becoming secretary of defense last year. despite the increase efforts and attention, the trends continue to move in a troubling indeed tragic direction. all of us gathered here share a deep concern about this issue and about the trends that we are seeing. we also share a commitment to take action to do everything possible to prevent these horrible tragedies. and to support those who have

served our country with honor and with distinction. the greatest frustration is that there are no easy answers. there are no quick fixes. that does not mean that we cannot do more to prevent it from happening. we can do more. we must do more. together, we will do more to prevent suicides. it is important for alves to wreck -- it is important for all of us to recognize the nature of challenges that we face in our military and veterans' community.

for more than 10 years we have been a nation at war. repeated deployments, sustained exposure to combat, tragedies of war have brought stresses and strains on our troops and on their families back home. thank you to advances in protective technologies, and battlefield medicine, more of our men and women are surviving combat. however compound once -- however, once home, many grapple with the wounds of battle, both seen and unseen. traumatic brain injury,

posttraumatic stress, the other psychological elements -- elements that can contribute to the risk of suicide. the end of the war in iraq, the beginning of the drawdown in afghanistan will hopefully ease some of the strain on our troops. that will not solve this problem. indeed more than half of those who have committed suicide in the military had no history of deployment. we are dealing with broader societal issues. substance abuse. financial distress parapet --.

relationship problems. risk factors for suicide that also reflect the problems in the broader society. risk factors that will endure beyond war. we have to develop and injuring suicide prevention strategy. the department of defense is committed to being a part of a comprehensive approach to suicide prevention. we are committed to doing whatever it takes to protect and support our people. building off of the recommendations contained in the 2010 dod task force report last november, we have established a

dod suicide prevention office. this office will put new resources and a new focus for implementing programs and enhancing the effectiveness of our suicide prevention programs. i see our efforts having to focus on four key tracks. let me discuss each of those areas. first of all, this is always critical when it comes to an operation like the defense department and to our military forces. leadership responsibility. leadership responsibility. we are directing military leaders to take this issue head on.

like almost every issue in our military, progress on suicide prevention depends on leadership. i have made that clear. this issue is first and foremost a leadership responsibility. all those in command and leadership positions, critically and officers, nco's, who have daily responsibility for troops, need to be sensitive, need to be aware, the to the open to the signs of stress in the ranks. they need to be aggressive. aggressive.

in encouraging those who served under them to seek help if needed. they also must set an example by seeking help themselves if necessary. as part of their leadership responsibilities, a junior officers and and ceos must foster the kind of cohesion and togetherness -- and nco's must foster the kind of cohesion that will foster mental-health. my wife is a nurse. she worked on mental health care issues. she said to me time and time again, this is a human issue, a human problem.

we have to look in people's eyes. we have to be sensitive to their on motions. we have to be sensitive to charges that they are facing. we have to be aware. you have to have your eyes open. the more we can see those problems coming, the more we can do to try to help people in need. to that end, we have to make clear that we will not tolerate, we will not tolerate actions that be little, that haze, that ostracize any individual, parked it really those who have discovered departed early those who have decided to seek professional help. leaders throughout the department must make it understood that seeking help is a sign of strength, not a sign

of weakness. it is a sign of strength. it is a sign of courage. [applause] we have to do all we can to remove the stigma that is still surrounding mental health care issues. the outreach efforts such as the real warriors campaign, which were to increase awareness and the use of resources such as the military and veterans crisis lines are also a very important parts of these efforts. secondly, we have to do everything we can to improve the quality and access to health care. this is the second pillar of the

suicide prevention strategy. improving the quality of behavioral healthcare, expanding access to that terps. we now have one and 9000 psychiatrists, psychiatrists -- psychologist, so -- social workers, mental health nurses, counselors, working in military hospitals and military clinics. that number has increased more than 35% in the last three years. behavioral health experts are now being imbedded into units. the department has worked to place mental health providers in primary care clinics to facilitate action.

guardsmen often do not have ready access to the same support network as the active duty force. we have to do what we can to increase initiatives like the yellow ribbon 3 integration program that works to what address this kind of problem. in going forward, i want to make sure all service members and their family members have the quality, mental, and be able health care they need. this kind of care must be delivered by the best health care professionals in the world. thank you to the efforts so many of you in this audience. we are improving our ability to identify and treat mental health care conditions. we are working to better equip

our system to deal with the unique challenges these positions -- these conditions can present. for example, i have been concerned about reports of problems that the screening process for posttraumatic stress and the military disavowed project in the military evacuations system. i have directed a review of this process across all of the uniformed services. this review will help ensure that we are delivering on our commitment to provide the best care for our servicemembers. we have got to do everything we can to make sure that the system itself is working to help soldiers, not to hide this issue, not to make the wrong judgments about this issue, but

to face facts and deal with the problems up front and make sure we provide the right diagnosis and we follow up on that kind of diagnosis. thirdly, we have to elevate the whole issue of mental fitness. the third pillar of suicide prevention is better equipping servicemembers with training and coping skills that they need to avoid or bounce back from trespass -- from stress. all of the services under the leadership of general dempsey and the senior listed and pfizer -- senior enlisted adviser are working to elevate mental this to the same level of

importance. we have to elevate mental fitness to the same level of importance that dod has always placed on physical fitness. [applause] separately, a whole government effort that has been led by the president and mrs. obama to combat veterans and employment and boost hiring of military spouses is aimed at helping to reduce the financial stress faced by military families and veterans. finally, and fourthly, we have to increase research in suicide prevention. in partnership across government, and with the private

sector, the fourth pillar of our approach is to improve our understanding of suicide. to improve our understanding of related mental health care issues to better were improve scientific research. i would like to note the leadership of health and human services. i would like to thank her for coming to address this conference earlier. all of us recognize there is still too much we do not know about the causes of suicide. the effectiveness of suicide prevention programs and the linkage between psychological helps and traumatic brain injuries.

trying to find out more about these difficult, complex issues is not easy. we have to do everything we can to continue the research effort and learn more about this difficult issue. in many of you are working tirelessly to address the staffs. as part of this effort, the department of defense and the apartment of veteran affairs are working together to build -- and the department of veterans affairs are working to build a analysis of suicides and suicide attempts to spot trends and get ahead of that. like life -- we are improving program in violation so we can better focus our resources on those programs that are proven to be effected. the department is also working

to fundamentally transformed a nation's ability to understand and treat traumatic brain injury and posttraumatic stress. the signature, and saying wounds of the last decade of war -- and seen wounds of the last decade of war. earlier this month, the department and the entrapment fallen heroes funds announced plans to construct a state-of- the-art treatment centers for brain injuries, psychological disorders at nine of our largest installations in the country. i am delighted that we were able to break ground on the first two of the centers for to belvoir and camp lejeune.

the centers were made possible by the generosity of private citizens. god bless them for their generosity and what they do. because of their generosity this will help complement national interest for it center in bethesda and provide cutting edge of valuations, treatment planning, research, and education for servicemembers and for their families. my long-term goal for the department of defense is to begin changing innovator in this field. -- is to be a game changing innovation in this field. just as we help foster the space race in the internet, i want us to break new ground in

understanding the human mind. as well as human emotions. ng doing so, we will be drawi on a rich history of military needs in drawing innovation in this field. during world war ii, millions of servicemen saw firsthand the need for better psychological services and psychological treatment. in its aftermath, which the g.i. bill and psychological training program, the entire field of modern psychology has transformed. it really has. for the first time, for the first time compaq psychology was

a field that was richly funded in training and in practice. the results has been better treatment and better care for millions of americans. i believe we could help bring about another transformation made possible by the hard worker from men and women like all of you. i know that you will not rest and will not be satisfied until we have given our service members and their family members and our veterans the veterans -- the support they need. there are no easy answers. to the challenge of suicide.

but that is known reason for not finding the answers to the problems of suicide. [applause] we have to keep trying to do everything we can to prevent. all of us have to always support and care for who have stepped forward to defend our country in uniform. we are a family. we are a family. by god, we have to take care of our family members. that is not just a town in, that is american. -- italian, that is american.

[applause] we owe it to those to protect us -- who protect us to do all we can to protect them. may god bless you and all of those who protect this great nation. thank you very much. [applause] >> next a debate in texas. david dewhurst fail to give 50% support so he faces ted cruz. this is their first debate.

it will be broadcast from the kera studios in dallas and will be about one hour long. the lieutenant governor has been endorsed by his gov. rick perry. mr. cruz has been endorsed by sarah palin, ron paul, and rick santorum. >> the texas association of

broadcasters, and the freedom of information foundation of texas. >> i believe the republican party is fit based on fiscal responsibility, less intrusion in your private life. >> i want to see somebody with some backbone. somebody with some spine. >> liberty is under assault in this country and texans are rising up to say no. >> i am the most fiscally conservative lieutenant governor in the history of the state of texas. >> why do you think i should vote for you? >> welcome to the texas debate race for the u.s. senate. we are broadcasting live from

dallas and online at texasdebate.org. i will be the moderator as we bring you the first one-on-one debate between ted cruz and david dewhurst. he served as the director of policy planning for the federal trade commission and is the texas solicitor general. he is currently a private attorney in houston. david graduated from the university of arizona and started a successful energy company based in houston. he was first elected as texas land commissioner and has served as lieutenant governor since 2003. the candidates will be answering questions posed by republican voters who have been following their campaign and by a journalist. a political reporter from texas,ros ramsey, the executive

editor for the texas tribune. thank you so much for being here. we have agreed on some rules for the debate. based on the coin toss, the first question goes to ted cruz. >> more than 11 million undocumented people are in this country. the support or oppose supporting them. do you support a guest worker program pour which a number of them qualified as laid out in the state republican party platform? >> thank you for being here. the question you raise touches on a crisis that our nation is facing. we have a crisis and illegal immigration. neither party is serious about solving the party. we need to do three things. we need to do everything possible to secure the border. the reason there are ample -- 11 million people here illegally is

the federal government has fallen down on its job of securing our borders. i am opposed to amnesty. it is contrary to rule of law and it is unfair to the billions of legal immigrants who waited in line and came here legally. we need to remain a nation that does not just welcome but celebrates legal immigrants who follow the rules and come here seeking the american dream. last week obama implemented a back door amnesty policy. it is lawless, unconstitutional, and wrong. the constitution explicitly -- >> would you like to answer the question? the question was about a guest worker program. >> i do not support a guest worker program. i do not support expansion's unless and until we support -- secure our border. we have been listening to politicians talk about it and they have not gotten the job done. >> of illegal immigration is a

serious problem that combined with dangerous drugs that are coming into taxes, transnational gains. the federal government has done a terrible job in turning to secure our border. i do not support a guest worker program and never have until and unless congress addresses this. only after we have secure our border. i have been recommending we need to triple the size of our border patrol. it is understaffed. by tripling in we would be adding 40,000 more border patrol. that is an opportunity for 40,000 more veterans coming back from afghanistan and iraq to help secure our border. because we have been running search operations in taxes over six years, that will stop illegal immigration. >> how do you deal with people already here, more than 11

million people? >> we need to do a couple of things. eliminate sanctuary cities. there are cities where these laws are not enforced. i will point out this is an area of my opponent and i disagree. he was responsible for killing the bill that would have prohibited century cities. we need to and the benefits for those here illegally. i opposed in-state tuition for illegal aliens. this again is an area of disagreement. >> neither statement is true. i passed an anti century city bill and i have always opposed benefits in-state tuition for illegals. we have to address -- the federal government is incapable of doing two things at once. we will have to triple the size of our border control. then and only then should

congress address these issues. >> would you like to respond any further to the question about deportation? >> america is a country of laws. we need to enforce all of our laws. >> thank you very much. the second question comes from ross ramsey. >> should the federal government have bailed out general motors? >> absolutely not. the government should be staying out of picking winners and losers. when they do get involved we end up with something like so linda -- $532 million loss. the federal government should be focused on its problems. washington is broken. texas is a good example of what a good government should look like. i am proud as a lifelong businessman to have come to

austin to help create the texas mirae. i want to take that miracle -- the strongest economy in the country. i want to take it to washington and get our country back to work. >> of course we should not have. we have a problem in washington. we have career politicians that spend the tax payer money. that is how we got into 16 trillion dollar debt bankrupting our country. i do not support bailouts. i do not support the bill out of auto companies or banks. they should not be in the business of spending taxpayer money to help private corporations. the role of government is to protect our rights. to secure rule of law and to stay out of the way and let on to print your -- entrepreneurs make jobs. >> what would you have done with the 2500 or more jobs that would

have been lost in arlington had the federal government not billed out general motors? what's at the end of the day we do not know what jobs would have been lost. there may be people who come in and acquire assets and deploy it elsewhere. that sort of question always assumes that the money from the government comes from nowhere. i would ask the same question. all of those billions of dollars -- the $900 billion plan, the money came from the taxpayers. every dollar was not in the private sector creating jobs and across many more jobs that were saved by the bailouts. >> one of the things i am proud of is the texas miracle that i did not do it alone. i played a large role. taking my business skills to austin and creating not only the strongest economy in the entire country but the fastest growing job base. in a situation where there might be as my opponent had mentioned

the -- might be some layoffs, we need to continue to do everything we can to grow our state. to encourage more investment. this model right here in texas works and it will work in washington. >> thank you very much. when we ask our voters about issues important to them, they had strong opinions about improving the economy. "we are concerned about our future will play out when we are done with school. >> most important to me as a small business person is that the government does everything they can to reduce regulation, overburdening in regulation, we do need regulation, but it is crushing business. >> we need a balanced budget and

we need to get our economy on a track that we can grow instead of getting deeper into debt. >> we are with one of the voters you just saw in that video. >> i am with a graduate student majoring in the journalism. >> one in the three young people are under employed. we have over one trillion dollars of student loan debt. if you were in washington, what would you do to ensure that we have jobs and cannot pay our bills? >> it is a crisis affecting young people. it is a crisis affecting americans across the nation. a huge part of the reason is that for the last few years, president obama has waged a war

on jobs. we need the next senator from texas to be a strong fighter to stop the war on jobs. we need to stop the abuse and and farm belt laws. all of these obama policies are crushing small businesses. if we take the boot off of the back of the neck of small businesses, that is how we turn our a economy around. >> look at the contrast between washington and texas. over the last nine years, we have cut spending each year by billions of dollars. i have helped cut taxes 51 times for over $14.6 billion for texas taxpayers. i have balanced five straight

budgets without raising taxes. i have run ads against obama care. in my first day in the senate, i will move to repeal it. >> unemployed people can only collect 60 weeks of unemployment down from 99. do you support this? >> i do not. i do not think the answer is to create people being dependent on government. the answer is to get government policies out of the way to allow jobs to be greeted by entrepreneur hours. politicians talk a good game. my opponent talks about cutting spending and cutting taxes like the politicians in washington do.

what he doesn't mention is that in his years of elected office, he has cut deals with democrats. there was a $72 billion increase larger than population and inflation. taxes have gone up 49% since he was lieutenant governor. we are tired of politicians to talk a good game but keep spending more money. that is what is destroying jobs. >> i love the math. thank you for saying that. one of your big supporters put out a statement on taxes and said that the state of texas 's tax structure leads the country.

we exceeded the increase in our budget so that state spending went down. facts are stubborn my friend. i am proud of the fact that by cutting taxes, when you cut taxes you grow your revenue. you have more revenue coming in. that is exactly what happened in the 1980's under president reagan when he cut the marginal federal income taxes. our revenues dramatically increased. >> as we said, we of been talking to the voters here. they tell us what they want from the next senator is integrity. >> i want to see someone who has integrity.

>> i want to see a man who supports our constitution and does not compromise what our country was founded on. >> we are known as people of our word where a handshake is as good as a signed contract. i am not looking for someone who wants to get a long period i want to find someone who wants to go to washington to do the work that we have been sent to do. >> is there anything your opponent has done to show he lacks the integrity and character that these voters say they want. ? >> we need in all of our elected officials men and women of integrity that are consistent and that will do what they say. i am not here to criticize my

opponent. i am proud of the fact that i have a record of doing exactly what i say i will do. i had never compromised my conservative principles once. i have negotiated to try to get the requisite number of votes so that we could pass bills but i have never compromised my conservative principles. >> i will leave the judgment of character to the voters. from the beginning, we've been focused on a straightforward comparison of my record fighting to defend the constitution and winning on a national level and his record of serving in office for over a decade, repeatedly compromising with democrats and increasing spending and taxes. the frustration that we share with career politicians is they talk a great game and yet they keep spending more money.

a minute ago we were talking about taxes and the governor has said he has cut taxes 51 times. we had at least one of very big tax increase. it was introduced under his leadership and jack of the taxes for the state of texas. one year later the property taxes were even higher. >> is this an integrity issue for you? >> what the voters care about is what the record is of each candidate. i did find it amusing that the lieutenant governor said he is not here to attack me. from my and we are going to stay on the record in comparing our records. >> let's give them an opportunity to respond. >> i am not going to respond to your washington insider and

special interests. i think it is important that when we talk about facts -- we should put them on the table. from cutting taxes 51 times and property taxes by 1 1/3. i want to reduce taxes and get the state government out of your way. >> thank you. >> we are going to ask each of you to pose a question to each other based on a coin toss. >> you have been widely criticized for opposing a state

wide wage tax. your response is to call your critics of liars. did you support a payroll tax. yes or no. is that a good idea? >> no and no. i've never supported a wage tax or a payroll tax. >> that is very interesting. we have over two dozen that newspaper articles according to lt. gov. supporting the payroll tax. >> we all make decisions and life. i trust that you respect mine. when you got out of college and made a decision to go to harvard law school.

when i got out of college i joined the air force. i came back and formed a business from scratch. what about your background to you think makes you more qualified to be the next united states senate toward? >> i believe i've spent a lifetime fighting for the constitution on a national level. we led the nation defending the constitution and the conservative principles. whether it was the pledge of

allegiance or other things, that we stood up to the united nations in defending the united states sovereignty. we need a fighter and that is what i've spent a lifetime doing. >> we now have a question for the lieutenant governor. >> social security is out of balance. you either have to increase the money coming in or reduce the money going out. how would you fix it? >> all about entitlements are broken. this is one of our problems with politicians. they will not tell the truth. our unfunded mandates are a 80 trillion dollars. social security is broken. we need to start funding social security.

we need to honor the contract and our obligations. we have to raise the retirement age on a staggering basis. we have to adjust and consider means testing. >> when you say consider that, what are you specifically looking at? >> congress has to take a look at whether or not people earning over a certain amount of money, even if they made contributions to social security, whether they would continue to receive those payments or on a voluntary basis. social security is bankrupt and we have got to figure out how to make it solvent.

>> would you accept social security? >> under the conditions of today, no. >> we have a crisis in spending. the democrats are being grossly irresponsible by not stepping forward to save social security. those on social security or near retirement should have no changes whatsoever. we should honor those commitments. for younger workers, many of us do not think it will be here for us in the first place. three changes can save a going forward. gradually increasing the retirement age, setting the rates of increase so it matches inflation, and for younger workers, allow us to keep a portion of our security taxes in

a private personal account that we control and can pass on to our kids and grandkids. what is needed is leadership to step in and solve the problem. >> what you think of means testing? >> it is one possible solution that should be on the table. >> we need to do what ever is necessary to save the program. >> paul ryan. they were running ads showing him being thrown off a cliff. what we need on this issue and everything else is leaders with courage to stand for conservative principles and to take the vilification of the left. >> thank you. arnett said will find himself in the battle over health care. >> we need to find free-market

solutions for the challenges of the health-care system and set of finding out socialized medicine system. >> i want to see that they make medicare and social security better for health insurance. >> we've got to do something about growth and entitlement spending. >> we have a question now. >> texas has the highest residence for health insurance. if the supreme court overturns part of the federal health care law, what would you do about this? >> with respect to obama care,

it is very likely that the supreme court will leave some of it in place and get rid of some of it. if that happens, it will throw the mess into the laps of congress. the first bill that i intend to introduce to the senate is a bill to repeal every syllable of obama care. i intend to lead the fight to get that done. i think we should repeal it in its entirety. we need fundamental reform that moves towards a market-oriented solutions. we need to allow the interstate purchase of health insurance so we have a national market. we need to expand health savings

accounts and the link health insurance from employment. >> if obama care is declared unconstitutional, of will move to repel -- repeal every single word. it is an unconstitutional bill. it will break the back of every state. we do a better outcomes and focus on wellness to keep people out of hospitals.

we also need to pass throughout the country in medical malpractice reform. we saw our medical malpractice rates decline by 60%. >> we are with a voter who has a question for the lieutenant governor. >> would you do to develop more energy for being environmentally sensitive and limiting the powers of the epa? >> there are completely out of control.

if we can win the white house with governor romney, we can pick up four more republican senators and be on the way to turning the country around. we feel we have a bull's eye on our back because of the epa. we have the opportunity for energy independence from foreign oil. we need to expand drilling. we need to use it in electric

generation to produce the missions. -- reduce emissions. >> we need to be exploring and developing our natural resources. we have the potential for energy independence for the first time because of the incredible the technological advances. every canid it says they support oil and gas. the heart of my campaign has been a proven record. i represented the chamber of commerce challenging that in court. obama is using the epa to try to

go after drilling in west texas. i argued that the endangered species act was unconstitutional. weened a fighter who doesn't just talk but has walked the walk. >> my question goes to mr. cruse. >> they oppose using eminent domain to forcefully route a pipeline through their private property. should they be able to override landowners by using it? >> that is ultimately a question for state law to determine. i think private property rights

are fundamental to we are as americans and texans. the problem is the obama administration shutting that project down with the stroke of a pen. he killed tens of thousands of jobs. now that oil will be spent west and refined in china instead. it will pollute the environment more and we will remain dependent on foreign oil from the middle east and from nations who would do us harm. >> they are in court right now

because they believe him in a domain is a problem. how could you assist them? >> my view is that it should be limited with respect to the constitution and the fifth amendment of the constitution. a few years back the supreme court decided in the kilo decision. they said you could use eminent domain for private purposes. they went all the way to the supreme court and they said that the government could do it to help of private interests. the lid to the governor thinks that we should be favoring the national gas industry. we should let the market decide

rather than letting them pick what energy sources to like. i think you are probably aware that there are a land owners that do not want emend domain the use. what would you do to them or do you support eminent domain in this case. >> i worked for six years trying to approve that. it can only be used when there is a public purpose that provides compensation. otherwise it is a taking if someone does not provide fair market value. how would you address this

situation? >> this is important for the pipeline to sit down with the land owners and negotiate in good faith where the route is going to go. we need to make sure that the compensation that is paid is fair market value. that was the problem with the decision in the past. >> which do you side with? >> you have to look at the alternative routes. if the route goes through someone's property, i know for a fact that when people have had complaints, they have moved

pipelines. there is a lot of opportunity. i have never favored one over the other. i am in the oil and gas business so i see a wonderful opportunity. >> another question for the lead thunen governor. >> violence in mexico is spilling over the borders into texas. how will you keep the gate open for commerce and trade and closed for criminal activity? >> that is an excellent question because they are our no. 1 trading partner. we have to keep trade going back

and forth. this new phenomenon with gangs coming into our cities. i would push for closing our borders by tripling the size of the border control and adding 40,000 more border patrol. at the same time, adding in the federal government in the customs and protection side so we can move trade back and forth. we want to move a legitimate trade into taxes. >> i support free trade. over 2 million taxes make their business in exporting. we are the largest in the country.

there is a crisis with illegal immigration and our southern border. the federal government is failing in its job to secure the borders i was meeting with the texas border volunteers across texas to spend their time guarding the border. the federal government is failing in its job. many are tragically women brought in for sex trafficking. we have to get serious about securing the border. >> we have a question for mr.

cruz.>> my view on military intervention is very simple. we should use military might only to protect the vital national security interest of the united states of america. we should go in with overwhelming force and have a clearly stated objective and we should get out when we are done. i do not believe and nation- building. i think the job of the band and women in the military is to hunt down and kill our enemies, but not build democratic utopias across the world. unfortunately, a lot of politicians in washington want

to stay rather than solving the national security threat and coming back home. >> would you cut defense spending to balance the budget? >> know. i do not think it should be used as a purpose of the balance. i think it should be keyed to what i said, the vital national security interest of the united states. one of the things i am most proud of is that i am representing over 3 million veterans. the defense budget is onion. members of congress have added spending on top of that. this ought to be subject to

heightened scrutiny as not being important to national security >> i think we went into both countries before the right purposes. we were not able to continue what we were doing. we have safe havens in the northwestern pakistan. based on information from democrats and republicans at the time, it looked as if there were weapons of mass destruction we

have troops there who were unable to train forces. there are overriding principles that i focus on. we have to have overwhelming force on day one. we have to have a very clear and well understood exit strategy. >> we need to keep our military as strong as possible. it is our greatest defense against being attacked.

it is interlaced with your march from a different congressmen or senators. >> we have a question for the lieutenant governor. >> the foreign policy of president obama has been a disaster. it has done that i it

unprecedented disaster. they're committing genocide. at the present time, the united states is providing some weapons that are being bought by our allies to be moved to the syrian the freedom fighters. we will need to take a very hard look at the three principles which i laid out. it has to be in the overwhelming of vital national interest of the united states. i do not think we are at that point today. things may change in the future. >> i do not think we should intervene militarily in assyria.

-- syria. president obama has not even attempted to lay out any such argument at the end of the day, but president obama is trying to get us involved because the united nations is leading him. he says he wants to leap from behind. the united nations has no jurisdiction whatsoever. we should be following the constitution of the united states. there is no issue i am better known for than standing up to the world court and the united nations and saying you have no jurisdiction in our country. the only binding law is u.s. constitution. we should be defending u.s. interests and not the views of

the united nations. >> even though york decision is that you should not intervene based on the stated principles, is it difficult to hold to that? >> at the end of the day, the job of the united states is not to be the policeman of the world. but we do not have the resources and it is not our job to intervene all over the globe. it is our job to protect united states interest. none of these questions are hard if you have a firm foundation on the decisions reached over 200 years ago. george washington famously observed that we should be wary of foreign entanglements.

if the violence in a series of began to impair the national security of israel, we should stand with them unapologetically. it would become a national security interest. we should not be intervening and just because obama wants to follow the lead of the united nations. >> we should do what is in the best interest of the united states. even though none of us likes to see what we are seeing on television, children and innocent people slaughtered, our allies are providing arms to the syrian of freedom fighters. this is something we need to monitor very carefully. i have little conference in the foreign policy capabilities of

the obama administration. if there was and the administration decision we would need to have more information. israel is our best friend and only ally in the area and we always have to have their back. if they started firing missiles or attacking israel, we would have an obligation to defend them. >> this question first for mr. cruz. do you support the current psa security system? if not, how would you change them and still provide a high level of safety? >> i strongly oppose the policy of crow -- groping innocent civilians. it is typical of the policy of

the left to violate the law abiding rights of innocent civilians rather than going after the wrongdoers. israel targets terrorists. the united states is too politically correct to do that so instead we look for weapons. that means we do a cavity search of a 90 year olds and none. to defend the liberty of our constitution. in the texas legislature there was a bill to ban the groping. the obama administration threatened the state of texas and the lieutenant governor backed down. he did not want to fight obama. >> the truth is that i am opposed to the grouping of the gsa as much as anyone.

the facts are awful what has happened to passengers. if that happened to my wife or a little girl i would be enraged. that is why i worked with senator patrick, why i asked the governor. to put the bill on the call. that is why i passed a stronger bill than we had before. we passed it out in time for the house to debate it. my recommendation is i would do away with it. let's eliminate the t s f and privatize it. >> we will go to closing

arguments. >> please give us an example of how you might different -- vote differently. >> i believe him to be a conservative. i like solving problems. i try to solve problems within the narrow fairway of my conservative principles. >> with respect to spending and taxes, but the simplest is obama care. there will be an enormous pressure to compromise. the the attack governor is a good and decent man. if you look at his record, you know for sure that is what he would do. i will lead the fight to repeal

every word. we are now at the end of our debate. thank you for this evening and to the panel for being here. think you for watching this evening. you of heard some contrast this evening. over the last four years, but there has been a loss of freedom and opportunity in the jobs in america. i have lived the american dream and i am fortunate. i am a lifetime of businessmen, but i did not inherit anything. my father was killed when i was 3 years old. i inherited service to country and the heart of a fighter. i have thought all my life.

-- i have fought all my life. when this country was at risk, i volunteered and went into the cia. it was a tough situation. i came back to houston and formed a country -- company from nothing. i tried to take my business skills to austin and we created the very best economy and the entire country. we are the fastest growing job creator in the entire company. >> our country is in crisis and we are going broke. our national debt is larger than the gross domestic product.

all over the country americans are standing up and saying they are fed up with the same tired establishment incumbents. they're turning to new leaders. i have spent a lifetime fighting to defend the constitution and conservative principles. we were outspent five to one and we are in this runoff because the party leaders and conservatives came together. just about every major conservative leader nationally has endorsed this campaign. if you think the answer to what is happening in washington is to send another establishment politician, then you have an easy choice in this race.

if you think the answer is to send a strong conservative and fighter, then i ask for your support i give you my word that when we win this race, taxes will lead the fight to stop the obama agenda and restore the constitution. >> thank you for a great debate. we appreciate you coming and to the voters for taking part in the debate. the democratic broadcast will also be available on the line. line. thank you for joining us.

>> the republican candidates vying to take the seat of the retiring senator. he received support from the council for citizens waste. mr cruz has received support from d.c. we will be aired the debate on the c-span at 2:00 a.m.. coming up, a look at housing for veterans and foreclosures across the country. then, speeches from the national

association of latino elected officials. president obama and marco rubio. then the veterans suicide prevention conference. >> if we all decide to tighten our belts and spend less, we all end up or because we have stopped spending at the same time. we have known this since the 1930's. it is self-defeating. >> who is going to tell them the truth. we have to tell them the truth. if we don't tell them the truth that our country fails. we must succeed in this and we will succeed in this. we will reach them through the media and through politics and

pop culture. we should not be afraid to get out there and preach to the choir. we should be influences of pop culture. >> watch these online at the c- span a video library. >> georgia republican senator john a. isaacson laid out a proposal for getting rid of mortgage companies fannie mae and freddie mac. >> thank you for of having me here today. i was in the real-estate business for 33 years selling and renting and regis -- residential houses. we began i want to pay tribute to the home depot foundation and the

home depot company. their commitment to our veterans and their commitment to housing are unparalleled in the united states. the first lady, liz blake, who was honored last night -- she is the first lady of home depot, but also the first lady of habitat for a humanity and other organizations that provide affordable and state housing to the american people. home depot is the shining example of meeting the response and building for our veterans, doing everything they can to make an investment in our veterans and protect those families when their employees are called up. they help take care of the families and, when the guy or the comes back from service, the job is there. they deserve the accommodation they are getting. liz, i know you deserve the recommended -- accommodation you got last night. >> [inaudible] >> kelly is easy on the eyes,

too. she is very pretty. good to see you. [laughter] [applause] liz is the best. the secretary said two things i want to close with. there are two words he mentioned in his speech that really are the key of solving the housing problem we are facing in america, not just for our veterans, but for the american people. one of them is jobs. jobs sol a lot of problems. with jobs, income, with income comes the ability to pay a monthly payment. the disease chance to advertise and build equities. -- that gives you the chance to build equity. jobs are important. we also use the word, and i cannot think of a better word to think of how we can turn around america. think about working together.

the va has done a remarkable job in the last six years since i have been on the veterans committee, reaching out to veterans and helping them make that transition from active-duty service to veterans status. quite frankly, veterans who have the loans and mortgages have an ombudsman on their behalf in the va. i know from being in the business that no lender wants to foreclose on anybody's house. the worst home owners in the world are lenders to foreclose. the houses deteriorate, did not know how to manage them, they forget about them. they want people to stay in their houses, but a lot of americans are afraid to go to the lender and city have a problem. the va and the veterans -- and say they have a problem. the va and the veterans' organizations are doing a phenomenal job of reaching out to veterans when they get in trouble, coming out and saying that their loans are guaranteed and working out.

their foreclosure rate is lower than the foreclosure rates of many other loans in the country. the default rate is pretty much acceptable. the va is working to keep the veteran in the home and work with lenders that has been loaned to the va has guaranteed to see that the veteran gets services. if we had the same type of relationship between every lender and every guarantor, we would have a lot less problems in the united states of america. partnership is the key in reaching out. jobs are a key. getting houses on the market is one way to get unemployment from 8% to 6%. do not for yourself. one reason for the great increase in unemployment and the sustained and implement rate is the lack of housing construction. the lack of residential development. today, i have tried to put my money where my mouth is and propose a solution to the problem with liquidity in the mortgage market in the united

states of america. the principal source of mortgage money in our country was frannie and freddie mac and fannie mae. to securitized loans -- when they came under tremendous pressure, and i mean tremendous pressure, in the subprime crisis, freddie and fannie went under a lot of dress. they became a wounded brand. they are now in a conservatorship. they are not the agency they really need to be. they are not because of politics, but there has got to be something to replace freddie and fannie. everybody says get rid of them. if you get rid of them and do not have anything to back them up, people forget that after the depression banks cut out of the business of making loans. we pass laws and given a preference against banks so that they can accumulate capital to make loans. after the 1986 tax act, savings

and loans went under. r thetc -- that rtc came in and freddie mac and fannie near placed them. if they go down, there is nothing left. i want to tell you my plant. it will bring back jobs and help affordability, not just to veterans, but to all of americans. freddie and fannie mae a bad mistake with securitized in subprime loans, but that was a mistake forced on them by congress. congress told frannie and freddie to own a 30% of their paper in a low-income housing, -- affordable housing, which meant subprime street vista to defaulting on their loans. freddie and fannie loss $171 billion. that is a problem will never be able to correct and resurrect. we probably have to resolve with

the new agency, which i propose to be the mortgage finance agency. its goal is to securitized residential mortgages and face themselves out of 310-year period of time. put freddie -- frannie and fatty into receivership like structure bankruptcy -- frannie and freddie into receivership like structure bankruptcy. the recession still going on today was a recession of underwriting. we made bad loans to that are ours, people who were not prepared to be homeowners. when the foreclose, we had a crescendo of difficulties in the housing market. what is a qualified residential mortgage? you have to have 5% down payment. you have to a private mortgage insurance for 70% to 95%, and supplemental insurance for 50% to 70%, so that have the obligation of the taxpayer is already in short we make the

loan. secondly, the borrower has to have an income that demonstrate they can make the payments. the borrower has to accredit report that shows they are irresponsible borut. they have to have title instruments that guarantee that is good. go back to the old-fashioned days of putting money down, having a job, having good credit. that way, when the securitized guaranteed loans, you are securitized loans that are not going to get foreclosed on. it will be repaid. one requirement of the mortgage finance agency is for them to attend-year plan to privatize. of that, i believe, is possible in the same way that it was done in catastrophic insurance in great britain. the to guarantee fees, but this guarantee fees into a catastrophic fund, and it becomes the first backstop to protect the american taxpayer from having to pay the guarantee of the lawn. that is a brief description of

their way to take us from where we are now, with a lack of liquidity in the mortgage market, to where we need to be. that is as a privatized guaranteeing agency that works. it will have to be a transitional bridge. i'll do everything i can to be a partner with members of the senate and house to create an agency that brings more liquidity to residential lending. you have been gracious to have me. they are telling me my time is up. my glasses on on, i think that is what that says. if you need to take a question, i will. if you need to sit down, i will. anybody got a question? yes, sir. [inaudible] your proposal -- we are having a discussion today about the definition -- how is that going? i know you have been engaged in trying to get the administration to go to the

larger 20%. >> i appreciate all your commitment to the mortgage industry in america. government is doing what government always does. the ftse and the comptroller of the currency and the federal reserve and the residential mortgage committee came up last year and circulated a rule that said a qualified residential mortgage means you have to put down 20%. if you put down less than 20%, the lender has to maintain 5% risk retention until it's paid off. he talked about not having mortgage money, he would not have any money from mainstream america with that type of requirement. that has brought about by creation of the second week to go about doing business. you have my proposal, like having 50 percent down, because the guarantor is 50% of the value of the property. they pulled the rollback and extended the comment period. they pulled it back, it is sitting out there in limbo. every time i go and have some

one ask me that question, i tell all of you to run into anyone at the fdic, you talk to someone who is talking about having a compound affect on our recession, a compound in effect on housing for years to come. i appreciate the question. i think quality does not necessarily mean a down payment in underwriting. one more question, if anyone has one. if not, i want to thank you for having me, and congratulations on a great conference. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> the head of the center for responsible -- responsible london says the u.s. has probably reached a half a point on the mortgage issue. the conference included senior

marketing executives. they outlined the impact of the reason for closure settlement between state attorneys general and large banking institutions. this is about an hour. >> i am very pleased to have eileen fitzgerald, the ceo of a neighbor works america, moderating the panel. i will let her introduce the panelists, but i will simply say that she is not only a longtime board member of an agency and a source of great wisdom and inspiration, but is also a newly elected member of the executive committee of the board. we look forward to extract even more unpaid work from her. over the years to come. i will turn over to eileen, introduce the palace, and take you into a discussion of home ownership retention. particularly with the needs of the veterans. >> can everyone hear us? good morning.

almost good afternoon. thanks for everybody, particularly many of you who were out late last night. thank you for being here today. today's discussion, we'll be talking about foreclosure prevention and home ownership retention. where is applicable, we will talk about veterans' issues and active military duty members, and how the foreclosures situation is impacting them. i have a great panel. i told them i was just briefly, briefly introducing them. i want to make sure we get on and get you out of here in time. joel is the senior vice president for community and client relations at wells fargo. he oversees community outreach activities to help promote their home preservation program. paul is the general counsel and executive vice president of an independent mortgage loan servicer.

christopher is the director of federal relations at habitat for humanity international, where he focuses on u.s. domestic policy. mike is the president of the center for responsible lending, a nonpartisan research and policy group that works to educate the public on financial products and support policies that put an end to predatory lending practices. i am excited to have all these gentlemen. they bring all -- tons of excess -- expertise. hopefully, we will have a little bit of time for questions at the end. i was going to ask mike to help from this for us a little bit. well we know we are all concerned about for closure due to individual situations, how much do you expect the current foreclosure crisis to last? >> the news is that we are

approaching the halfway point of getting out of the woods on the foreclosures. if you look at the specifics, we have well over 3.5 million foreclosures were people completely lost their homes in the last few years. we expect at least that many more. you can see that, for example, the figures that there are more families who are struggling severely -- severely delinquent, more than 60 days, the industry standard, then there are who have been foreclosed up to this point. when you look at the issue of underwater borrowers, which i'm sure you have all heard much about. there are a couple statistics on that. roughly 50 million more mortgages out there, over 10 million people are under water.

if you include home equity as well, that number jumps to close to 30% of homeowners between their primary mortgages, whether it is a first or second. if you include a home equity line of credit, there is more owed against their houses. if they sold their houses, they would not be able to pay off the lindsey had against it. that is a substantial -- the liens they had against it. that is a substantial problem. the foreclosure crisis hit very differently in the so-called boss markets. -- bossed markets. it also had a very different impact for different communities. for example, if you look at conservative numbers, we project that low-income neighborhoods,

25% of owners will ultimately lose their houses through foreclosure. a stunning number. if you look at american and -- african-american and hispanic households, 20% of them will lose their homes across all income spectrum's. this is driven by matt walz characteristics. people who ended up -- driven by wealth characteristics. 50% of those driven into subprime loans -- those are being hit the hardest. african-american and hispanic borrowers with good credit. there were three times as likely to get one of the subprime lines as other households were. that is driving a lot of the numbers there. the picture is brighter in terms of how -- house prices to go -- house prices. a lot of people think we are approaching the bottom on house prices.

there were bidding wars in southern california towns, but for those of you in cleveland and detroit, you cannot even propose money. that is the big picture we see. >> joe, what particular challenges does wells fargo see for veterans and active duty military for foreclosures? >> a number of the challenges facing service members are the same facing consumers in general. there are some complicating circumstances and factors that implicated -- affect service members differently, but, in general, we see people are unsure who to call, when to call, what may be available for them. the big issue out there is collateral value, the property being less than what people 0, treating a difficult situation.

the vast majority of our loans are vested with strict guidelines on what we can do. all these challenges applied to service members as well. when you look at stress, the emotional issues of service members that are deployed, the potential separation for months and years, there are a lot of factors that come into play. there are some circumstances that are more unique to the military customer. one of those could be the need for orders to be given to a servicer in order to apply for protection. it sounds like an easy thing to do, but, coupled with emotional distress and the challenges of being deployed shortly, that can be a very difficult task to administer. there are things that we

provide -- we try to streamline the process to facilitate these orders, leveraging the department of defense website as the standard. we try to make the process as easy as possible for our service members. there are a number of supports that we have put in place for our service members, including a suss -- customer service call lines, a global application relief program for those under protection. reducing interest rate levels below 6% requirements to 4%. average conducted in collaboration with industry partners to the military-focused customer base. there is a support structure we put in place, that the industry

has put in place, that is designed for a different audience. there are still, overall, challenges. but one piece of good news out this week is that -- the announcement regarding short sales on military homeowners paying back loans eligible for liquidation. as long as they provide an order. this includes those loans that are current. this is a big lift for those in the military. we find that the hardships are typically a retention or one that focuses on a loan modification. as a result, we see that announcement as a big win. >> i want to ask paul, also, about the announcement that came

out. besides what joe has said, is there anything you want to share about your perspective on that? >> i agree. it is a big win. they are moving with a tree to response to short sale management -- a creative response to a short sale management. this alleviates to some extent the very difficult choice that servicemen were receiving orders prior to changing of the rule. the changing of the rule has made it more specific. when there are short sales, by definition there is a shortfall regard to the payback on the amount of the outstanding principal balance. in many states, that action can be the subject of what is called a rejection. in other instances, the gse

standing credit cannot negotiate promissory notes with the short- selling homeowner, including military service persons. you have a short sale. it is not a freebie, completely out from under the negative equity situation. they carry forward the short portion in ongoing debt. it is also subject to credit reporting. so the new rules announced yesterday, they have determined to alleviate the problem of servicemen having to decide whether to short-sale and carry that that going forward in the form of deficiency judgments verse is not short-selling and carrying two mortgages, and having to manage the mortgage from the distant location where they have been transferred. the agency has eliminated the

deficiency judgment going forward. while it is not the equivalent of legally putting a write-down on the underwater portion of the mortgage, it is a step in the right direction. >> i remember last year there was a whole series of articles about families staying apart because of that, which obviously generates even more tension. they were staying in a home that was under water. going forward to the biggest -- back to the bigger picture, the industry has changed as we have gone through this foreclosure crisis. i know that neighbor works works a lot with housing council agencies. we've seen efficiencies and changing practices -- improved treat us, better data. in spite of that, many consumers still with a long time for resolution. i was going to ask paul and joe again, if you could, tell us two

or three improvements and servicing over the last several years, and maybe one or two of your main challenges in helping families get to veterans -- veterans and non veterans, to get to a better resolution. >> shore. sure. a much larger organization joe is involved with. the name of the game has been increasing customer care. there has been a hiring frenzy, i would say, over the past three or four years, in order to meet the unprecedented spike in delinquencies in the mortgage crisis. subsequent things -- that has led to a recent -- a resurgence of the second iteration of the

problem. that is, at this point in time, we are finding that most anybody who has experience in a mortgage call center has been sopped up by demand for that talent. we have to reach outside the experienced mortgage call center employees and hire folks who do not have that experience. they can sell mortgage, but they may not have hands-on experience in a call center. what we have done to attempt to address that is bring into our service and technology behavioral science research. there are two sides to that point. one, would you rather have the hiring and recruiting of individuals who deal with distressed borrowers day in and day out -- to listen to some of these calls. you can imagine, it is a difficult decision.

we have hiring protocols that do not necessarily relate to experience, but rather relate to cognitive abilities and personality profile traits, behavioral characteristics. we have found, through behavioral science, testing, they make for optimal performance in that very difficult position. we have experimented and change those and adapt those overtime. but we have a philosophy, if i can invoke that, a vince lombardi school of directing. we go for the best athlete available and bring them into our system, provide and the training tools, and hope they can contribute to success for the team. the flip side of that coin, briefly, is -- the delinquency, the psychology of delinquency by our ph.d.'s and concern

psychologists that we have on staff. in that effort, the suffered -- the subject of an entire program, we are beginning to understand the motive -- mode of communication, right down to the system that works, what phrases, and the ordering this, the ordering, in some case of words. the dialogue that we attempt to build with homeowners in distress. through that, again, we are testing and refining and building into strips that are generated by the use of our original intelligence to assist the folks in the call center. to better communicate with ultimate results and give them to talk to us again. obviously, if we can get the homeowners in distress to communicate with us, we stand to gain. >> joe, how about you?

is there improvement in current challenges? >> the landscape of customer service loans have changed -- has changed dramatically, as you can imagine. we have invested millions. we changed our entire operation of how we approach this. to staffing alone, we have increased staffing about 140%. we now have 17,000 people working with homeowners at risk of foreclosure. specifically, process changes, one that i want to highlight is that, back in june 2010, we started having -- assigning one individual representative to a customer as we enter into loss mitigation. working with the customer from beginning to end. that has been expanded, so you have the that.

even if it is unavoidable, that point of contact for remain the primary person to work with the customer from the entire transaction. a completely different model than we have ever had in the industry. you'll hear that model refer to as the single point of contact. it should substantially enhance the overall experience for -- the customer experience when working with our servicers. that approach is implementing the national servicing standards that are part of the recent attorney general agreement. really, this began -- completely overall, this has changed the process of servicers. it focuses on things from legal proceedings to communicating on a daily basis with customers, to establishing much more rigorous discipline in our process