mentioned by pete -- he has not met with his jobs council in 191 days. you would think that with the state of the economy and unemployment in this country, the president would be focused like a laser on getting the economy growing and putting the country back to work. in the 190 days he has not met with the jobs council, he has held 119 fund-raisers and has played 10 rounds of golf. he has his priorities straight, but his priorities are a lot more about the election than the economy and the jobs of hard working americans. we need to change direction for this country. it is that kind of thinking that leads to the kind of government we are getting. it is that kind of thinking that is behind the idea -- idea of a

government driven economy striving for a government centered society. it is no wonder we have the worst economic recovery since world war ii. it is no wonder we have the biggest deficits since world war two. it is no wonder we have the worst jobs quarter in two years. it is no wonder one out of six people are in poverty today. the highest rates in a generation. do you know what? it does not have to be this way. help is on its way. [applause] we have in the man we have nominated to be our standard bearer and mitt romney, a man who understands the idea of america. our rights to not come from government, they come from nature and god. look at the declaration of independence. we are built on investment, taking risk, caring for each other and our communities, the american idea of an opportune society. that is what the american system of limited government, risk- taking, community solving, free enterprise, the british system ever designed in the world. [applause] our country is so special it is done so many things for so many people. it is under arrest. if we stay on the path we are on, a nation in debt, in doubt, and a decline, we see a future where our children have a lower standard of living than the one we got, severing the legacy of leaving the next generation better off. it does not have to be that way. all we have to do is take the great principles that built this country and made a great, apply it to the problems today and save america. that is what mitt romney is about. he knows what it takes to get the economy growing. the man in the white house -- i rest my case. here is the deal. we have had a lot in wisconsin thrown at us. we have lots of wisconsin -- elections in wisconsin. we are winning these elections

in wisconsin. come on. [applause] we are winning these. last summer they tried to take back our state legislature they failed. they tried to take the supreme court, they failed. they tried to recall our governor and they failed. [applause] on an june 5, we saved wisconsin. on november 6 wisconsin saves america. [applause] they have already conceded the state is up for grabs. we know what to do. we have just done it and we have to do it again. the reason we are doing this is because we have men and women of convictions going and doing what they said. we elected legislators to fix these problems once and for all. there is no person that better embodies the idea then the guy standing behind me. [applause]

the three of us are three does from oshkosh. we have seen what our state is capable of. we know we can turn it around. if we turn it around we can give this man a majority. we can have a president that can work and get it back on track. and we can have more people with courage and conviction like the man behind me. i am so proud to be working with this man. [cheers and applause] please join me in welcoming this man that -- our man from oshkosh, center ron johnson. [cheers and applause] >> thank you.

thank you. what paul said it is important. i am just a guy from oshkosh. that is what we need in this country. we need individuals who love america and who understand that america is in peril. its future hangs in the balance. you are the future. your kids of the future. it is utterly immoral and has to stop. you are the people that will stop -- what is right about coming out here, people we have seen time and time again. i am seeing a lot more new faces.

that is what is crucial. [applause] we need that. think about what you need to do. you need to talk to your friends, your family, your neighbors. every vote counts. you have more power than you can possibly a mansion. now it is time to put that into place. now it is time to exercise the power. we do have a phenomenal candid it. -- candidate. somebody who understands what made america great unlike the current occupant in the white house. paul had a couple of quotes. i have a couple of more. remember, the president said the economy was doing fine. his policies are working.

i do not think so. not 1.5% gdp growth. here is the most telling ". he said in five days we will fundamentally change the united states of america. we do not need to fundamentally change the nation. we have the greatest nation in the history of mankind that. we need to make sure president obama is a one-term president. [cheers and applause] i know that you will go out there and you will work hard to make sure mitt romney is the next president of the united states. [applause] get out there. god bless america. [cheers and applause]

>> 29, a conversation with republican governors that have been mentioned as possible running mates for wittman -- mitt romney. they set down to discuss a variety of issues. the aspen institute hosted a form with governor chris christie, nikki haley, bobby jindal, bob mcdonnell, and scott walker of wisconsin. you can see it tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c- span. >> senator john thune of south dakota has been mentioned as a potential running mate for mitt romney. his remarks or just under 10 minutes. >> thank you.

thanks for running. you will win. you will win because of the work of a lot of these folks here. thank you for the chance to be with you. it has been pointed out already, but the reason i'm here today is because virginia is ground zero in this presidential campaign and all these other campaigns up and down the ballot this year. it will be critical that we get the vote out. everything you do here -- every phone call you make, which i know is tedious and monotonous work sometimes -- it will get us one step closer to making sure mitt romney is the next president of the united states. [applause] and it cannot happen soon enough. you have all heard it discussed, but peak was talking about this. when you have got 1.5% economic growth, which is what they told us this morning was the last quarter of growth -- a very sluggish growth -- over 40 months of unemployment over 8%. since this president took

office, fuel prices have nearly doubled, health care costs have gone up 23%, college tuition costs of gone up 25%, the number of people on food stamps has gone up 44% and the federal debt has gone up 49% in the three and a half years this president has been in office. we cannot change the direction of this country soon enough. unfortunately, what this president is doing, as was mentioned by pete -- he has not met with his jobs council in 191 days. you would think that with the state of the economy and unemployment in this country, the president would be focused like a laser on getting the economy growing and putting the country back to work. in the 190 days he has not met with the jobs council, he has held 119 fund-raisers and has played 10 rounds of golf. he has his priorities straight, but his priorities are a lot

more about the election than the economy and the jobs of hard working americans. we need to change direction for this country. the only way we will do that is to elect somebody at the presidential level who knows how to lead this country, knows how to fix the economy, knows how to put americans back to work. i endorse mitt romney last fall before the iowa caucuses. i campaigned with him across iowa because i believe profoundly that he has the skill set, the experience, and the know-how to turn this country around, get the economy growing, putting americans back to work. the reason i know that is that he has a record of doing it. he took distressed companies when he was a private businessman, turned them around, create jobs. he took the state of massachusetts that was swimming in red ink and turned it around and left it with a surplus and reduce taxes and cut the unemployment down and more people back to work.

he took the olympics and turned that around. he has a record of taking tough situations and turning them around. we're a tough situation. it will take presidential leadership. you cannot do big things in washington d.c. unless you have presidential leadership. i am one of 535 members of congress. even though there are people in congress to have good ideas about how to fix things, you have to have a leader in the white house who is willing to go to work and lead the american people, lead the united states congress on a pathway to get this country back on the right track. i am very excited about this election. it is a critical election year. the consequences could not be greater. the stakes could not be higher. that is why we need every single person doing everything they possibly can between now and november to make sure we turn out all our votes on election day. i lost my first election by 524 votes. i lost my senate race by a

narrow margin. i cannot tell you how many people came to me afterwards and said, if i known -- if i had known it was going to be that close, i would have voted. i am not sure why they wanted to admit that, but the point is that every single vote counts. there is no substitute for getting people out on election day, getting their orders out. that is what you are about, identifying those voters, figuring out who they are, hopefully persuading those undecided voters, people who have not made up their minds yet to get them to vote the right way in november. these types of activities, the blocking and tackling and executing of small things in campaigns that makes a difference. everybody can do their part. not everybody's name is on the ballot, but everybody can do their part to set a different course for the future of this country built around the fundamental concept and

principle of freedom instead of the fundamental principle and concept of this administration, which is government. this is a choice in this election between whether we believe in the power of freedom or the power of government. this president and his administration and his allies in congress have doubled down on growing government at the expense of the private economy. every single day the government gets bigger and we have more bureaucrats and more regulations and more taxes in washington, the american people have fewer and fewer freedoms. it is about freedom. that is what is at stake. it hangs in the balance. we can do our part to tip that balance in favor of freedom. whether it is pending in the yard signs or making phone calls or walking neighborhoods or contributing to the campaign, whatever you can do, i want to ask you to work as hard as you can between now and november. this is about the future of this country. there has never been a time in

our nation's history -- pete is exactly right. every politician says in each election year that this is the most important election ever. we think is because we might be running for something. but if you look across this country, this is the most important election in a very long time. i honestly believe that if we do not get it right this time, we are heading in a direction that will make us more like a western european social democracy and less like the exceptional, distinctive nation that our founders and the people in virginia had in mind when they created this great republic so many years ago. i am thankful to be here. i am thankful for what you are doing. i cannot thank you for your service to this great country -- all the veterans here today. [applause] we are very blessed because of the service and sacrifice of some americans who, every single day, put on their uniform and defend our interest here at home and around the world. that is also a stake.

we have a president who i do not think understands really how to lead this country, not only when it comes to fixing the economy, but maintaining america's place in the world. we will change that in november when we elect mitt romney as the next president of the united states and when we elect george allen to the united states senate and patrick murphy to the house of representatives. if we will give mitt romney an opportunity to the president, we have to make sure he has a team he can work within congress. giving us a majority in the senate and electing a quality candidate who shares your values like patrick murray will give us a team that can turn this country around, get people back to work, and make america great again. thank you very much. god bless you. [applause] >> when it comes to mitt

romney's faber joyce, we have a favorite son and virginia who has a great track record. if for some reason, mitt romney does n select our favorite son, somebody else might be able to fill the bill. thank you for all that work, get back at it, thank you. [applause] c-span3 c-span2 [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> tonight on c-span, a conversation with republican governors that have been mentioned as possible running mates for mitt romney. they set down to discuss a variety of issues facing their states and the country. the aspen institute posted a form with governor chris

christie, nikki haley of south carolina, bobby jindal of louisiana, bob mcdonnell of virginia, and scott walker of wisconsin. you can see it tonight starting at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c- span. >> cspan, created by america's cable companies in 1979, brought to as a public service by your television provider. >> thursday, the house natural resources committee held an oversight hearing on the interior department's inspector general's office. mary kendall testified issues including the drilling moratorium and acted after the bp oil spill. this is a 10 minute portion of that hearing and you can see the entirety on our website at c- span.org. >> if there is any member here

who has constituents affected by the moratorium because we have many who have been inspected by this bill, if anyone has been affected more by the moratorium, it is my constituents that i serve. you hear a lot that there were no layoffs. the reason there was not as many layoffs as you would think is because people down in south louisiana are not lazy. they don't want the government for anything but to get off their backs. when you kill their jobs in the gulf of mexico, they have to leave their families and travel to africa, to the north sea, to montana because they know one thing is that the country they grew up in it is god, family, and work. they don't sit there waiting for the government to give them a check or feel sorry for them. they go to work. and they leave but it is sad when i have to go to africa instead of working in the gulf of mexico.

are you an investigative branch or are you a policy-making branch? we are both. >> i would swear you are petitioning to become the secretary. your answers are all about policy. they are not about investigation. we have a gentleman ask you whether you felt that the safety standards that the private industry was implementing were enough. that is not your scope. your scope is whether or not -- and just now you entered -- is about how proud you were of the work that was done from moving from agency to agency. that is not your job either. your job has impeached your character. earlier you said that you are

interested in the job of the inspector general and to meet the president to appoint you if you want to get to the judge. why didn't you just say you are interested in taking the job but maybe you should appoint someone in the interim while i go out and lobby for that job? are a bright lawyer. there would have been no question. this committee would not have to question your character or your actions. >> the majority has claimed the economic impact of the moratorium was worsened the economic impact of the spill. it was worse than the impact of the worst environmental disaster in american history. the reality is, there were not significant layoffs in the oil industry. why is that?

to is because president obama secured $20 billion from bp to aid to the gulf and the people. because president obama got bp to put up $100 million specifically to aid any oil rig workers affected, because that $100 million was expanded to help and a loyal servant and support companies and it was because the oil companies knew that drilling in the gulf would resume in a safer manner under president obama. that is the reason why we now have 50% more floating oil rigs working in the gulf of mexico than before this bill. -- the spill. these rigs did not leave. these rigs kept their employees.

despite a majority claims, these are the facts. president obama and secretary salazar took action to protect the workers. that is what they did. the gulf had to be protected. that is what president obama did to minimize the economic impact and make sure we are drilling again now with more safety. the majority says they just want to get to the bottom of this. they have gotten to the bottom of this. and there is no evidence of wrongdoing. the majority has gotten the answer. they don't like the answer. secretary salazar will sit here if you ask him and tell you that he made the decisions. this woman should not be here today.

you should have secretary salazar here and he will tell you he made the decisions. you should have the co's of halliburton, bp, and trans ocean sitting here. what you should be trying to do is to get to the bottom of the ocean. you should be trying to find out what happens, why were those workers help, why was the environment harm, why wasn't the fishing industry helped, what nerve to those companies have to change this shift -- safety procedures text bring them in here and set it up as an example to let the world know it will never happen again in the united states. we will know you're serious. we will know you want to get to the bottom of the ocean when you have them sitting here. we're going to go through the whole two years and that is not going to happen. this woman sits here as a

diversion, a red herring. we might as well put in an aquarium here because we have so many red herrings. this woman is just your, unfortunately, as part of your plan to have 149 votes on the house floor for the oil and gas industry and none to help wind and solar. two people loan guarantees, $18 billion for nuclear and zero out the loan guarantees for wind and solar and each of you voted for that. solyndra will be made a -- an example. when is the republican party going to have the hearings on what is really wrong here?

this woman, like the solar industry, is just part of not dealing with the real issues and that is that the oil industry recklessly, indifferently came very close to destroying the livelihoods of people in the gulf of mexico. that $20 billion that president obama extracted from that industry, without that, there would have been devastation down there. let's bring them in. let's bring in secretary sellers are and he will tell you why he voted for the moratorium the difference between a moratorium and a pause is temporary action. it is the same definition. do you want to fight over that? you do that but it is also clear that this innuendo, this attempt is because you don't want to get to the central

issues of what this committee should be all about >> you can see all of this hearing, the acting inspector general for the interior department, on our website at c-span.org. >> this weekend, it was the turning point of the civil war -- was it gettysburg or the battle for richmond? >> in this marked a decisive moment in the eastern theater that in turn profoundly shaped the larger direction of the conflict. >> gary gallagher, saturday night at 10:00 eastern. sunday, more from "the contenders." >> i would remind you that

extremism is a defense -- as a defense of liberty is not viable. >> this weekend, barry goldwater, the candidate who lost to lbj. american history tv this weekend on cspan 3. >> today on "washington journal ," virginia congressman bobby scott on the importance of virginia in the presidential race and the senate race. then we talk about the latest unemployment numbers and then we talk with the bureau of economics that tells us how economic boats are measured. "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. on c-span.

republican presidential candidate mitt romney announced a plan to help the middle class.

>> thank you. what a colorado welcome. thank you so much. congressman, thank you for this generous words. it is great to have the attorney general here. we have a person running for congress right here. [applause] how about missy franklin? is that something? [applause] that is really exciting. a colorado girl with a big heart. i have met another colorado girl with a big heart -- you do not know her, but she was involved in that terrible shooting in aurora. she was hit by a bullet. the bullet went into her mouth and took out part of her jaw, but she is doing well. rhaps we can show how united we are with the tragedy of those people -- how much we care for them. [applause]

i am sure that you know this. this tragedy has impacted the community of aurora. i am sure it has impacted the entire state. across the country, people are thinking about aurora and the lives that have been lost. we love you and pray for you in our hearts and prayers. i come today to talk about making things better. [applause] i'm going to start off with a bit of a report card. some of you have been handed a piece of paper here. if you have not gotten that, you will. i see people opening this up. you do not need to open it up yet. we will talk about that. ever since i was in elementary school, we had report cards. you saw on the report card how you were doing. when i was younger, it would

give you a, b, c, d, e, f. then they would say well or not so well. we got soft and the grating. i will be more straightforward. when the president was here is a candidate, accepting the nomination four years ago in colorado, he laid out the report card on which he hoped to be judged. in his speech he said look, i can tell you how we measure success and progress. he went through, one by one, the things he would use to about do it whether he was making progress. he said, number one, i can judge progress by how many people find a job. on that basis, we have not seen what we would have hoped to see. in fact, we have fewer jobs created. we have 23 million americans today that are out of work or underemployed. people who have pulled out of the workforce. 23 million.

of those technically unemployed by the bureau of labor statistics numbers, that is above 8%. he said he would hold unemployment below 8%. it has not been below 8% for 41 straight months. that is the longest period in american history. the president has been unsuccessful in his number one objective as laid out by his own measures. next, he said he will see how much it will take for a good mortgage. we see record numbers of foreclosures and home prices down. he said he will judge success by average family income. that has gone down. the average family's income has gone down $4,000. you know the measure -- he said he will measure success by whether somebody who has a good idea will go out and started business. [laughter]

i hope he understands that the people that have a good idea and start a business are the ones that build the businesses. [applause] we are at a 30-year low in the number of business start-ups that have occurred. a 30-year low. perhaps because he thinks government is what helps build businesses as opposed to people. a little later, he said he would cut the deficit in half. [laughter] you know, it is sad and extraordinary to have somebody go out and make those promises and not be able to deliver. i have a report card here -- if you look where the errors are, it says jobs on the far left. it has a downward air, a red

arrow. fewer jobs under president obama. then there is unemployment -- that has gone up. that is a bad direction. then we have the unemployment rate -- that is in red. home prices have gone down. that is also in red. the budget deficit has gone up. that is in red. family income has gone down. all the measures he laid out have gone in the wrong direction. when i was elected governor to my state, i had the people i was traveling with i said, i want you to write down all the things i promised in my campaign. all the things i would like to try and do. i had a legislature that was 87% democrat. i knew that not all the things i wanted to do would get past, but i got as many as i could past. i said to the people traveling with me, could you please write down all the promises i made on the campaign. i added a few more in my

inaugural speech. we ended up with 100 promises. halfway to my term as governor, i published all the promises and checked for the work -- which ones i had succeeded on, which once i had tried and could not get done, which ones i was working on. only two were once i had not been able to take far enough to put them down as a success. i have my own record -- you can see it here. [applause] if you look on their, i got to do the great and today, which is very good. [laughter] i add jobs. we have added more jobs and the president has in the entire country. i added jobs. unemployment rate -- i brought it down from 5.6% to 4.7%. budget deficit -- when i came

in, there was a budget deficit. i closed it without raising taxes. [applause] finally, family income -- that also got better. in all those measures, he has a red arrow, i have a green arrow. on the right-hand side, if i am elected president, my promise to you is that i will get all those arrows green again. [applause] the reason i took you through all that is that i know that in campaigns talk can be cheap. you can say anything. but results can be real expensive. look at this president -- he talked about a number of things he would do. i remember him speaking in front of the greek columns. you would not want to remind us of greece these days. [applause]

[laughter] it got a lot of people excited. a lot of people said, if he can do those things, that will be terrific. those people are disappointed. i know he will be able to speak eloquently and describe all the great things he is doing and what he will do, but look at the results. it has been a disappointment. his policies have not worked. they have not gotten america back to work. my policies will work, and i know that because they have worked in the past. i spent 25 years in the private sector. i understand how businesses decide to grow, where they shrink, why they go overseas, how they decide to go back here. i understand that small businesses create jobs in america. people create jobs, not government. i will get america working again. [applause]

[go, mitt] thank you. i want to lay out for you specifically what i am going to do. five things. i want you to remember five things. we are up to five things, we can remember five things. we will get more jobs and more take-home pay. number one, we will have energy independence in this country. [applause] in eight years, in eight years, if i am president of the united states, my commitment is to get america and north america energy independent.

we will not have to buy any energy from anywhere else in the world. not from venezuela, not from the middle east. i will make it clear -- we will be energy independent. i know how to go about doing that. one thing we will do is really open up federal and private plans for drilling, oil, gas. [applause] we are also going to make sure we continue to use coal. we have a 250-year supply of coal. [applause] i like renewable. we will continue to see wind and solar as important parts of our energy resources. we will build that pipeline to bring oil in from canada. [applause] this is not just hope.

[laughter] we have looked place by place, area by area, to see how much growth we could see. what are we going to see? how could we get america and north america to a point where we are energy sufficient and do not need to buy oil from the middle east and venezuela and other places where we do not always have the world's best friends. you will see exactly how we get there. this is not just an idea. this is energy independence for north america. what it will do is not only put a lot of people to work in the energy sector, and that is terrific, but additionally, because we will have low-cost energy by taking advantage of resources by coal, natural gas, renewables -- we will see manufacturing come back. low-cost energy brings back manufacturing. [applause] that is number 1. when president obama was running for office, he said that

if his policies were put in place, energy prices would naturally skyrocket. you are already seeing that. for the average family, energy prices, your utility bill, has gone up $300. that is real money. for middle-class american families, $300 is a lot of money. this president has seen that go up. i do not want to see that happen. i want to make sure we keep energy costs down for families and manufacturers to bring jobs back. that is number 1, get us energy independence. [applause] number to, i want us to have the skills to succeed. i will no longer sit by and watch our schools be compared in the bottom quartile, the bottom third. we have the best schools in the world. [applause]

for that to happen, one thing i have laid out is that every child ought to have the chance to go to the school where they can get the best education. every parent ought to have the choice. the federal powers to provide for education for the disadvantaged, those who are poor, those who are disabled -- all of those dollars will be tied to the student. the student can taken to the school of their choice. we will have more choice for america. [applause] getting our schools to be the top performers instead of in the bottom quartile, getting our schools to be better is not a mystery. i happen to be in a state where, before i can governor, republicans and democrats came together to fashion education reform proposals. i continued to push them further. we now have massachusetts ranked number one of all 50

states in education. i understand what it takes because our schools can be better. number one is energy, number two is the skills we need. number 3 is trade that works for america. it is good for a nation like ours to trade with other nations, but if nations like china cheat, we have to stop that. [applause] i was with an attorney who represents a company that makes various industrial products like of valves and switches. he said that they have problems because people were calling them up with warranty problems. they went out to find the defective product -- sure enough, it had their brand name and serial number. it turned out that they had not sold them. these were counterfeit goods

coming in from china, where people were taking their brand name and putting their packaging around, selling them as if this is that company. this costs american jobs. this costs jobs here. people are hacking into our computers and stealing trade secrets and technology. there are reports about this apple store they found in china, seven apple products, except it was not a real apple store and they were not real apple products. these practices kill american jobs. i will finally sit down with china and make sure that they understand that if they cheat, there will be consequences. we will not let them walk over us and steal our jobs. [applause] by the way, when i citrate it works for america, it is not just that.

it is also opening up new places to sell products. we have next door to us an area with a massively growing middle-class -- latin america. we have natural advantages. we will be able to be very effective in treating with latin america. we will create american jobs by opening up trade with latin america. i will create a zone called the reagan trade zone where nations have free trade and agree not to manipulate their currency and live by the loss of intellectual property. if we do that, you will see a third big step that will get this economy going. energy, skills, trade -- four, we have got to cut the deficit and get a balanced budget. [applause]

[applause] let me tell you, this is something -- mathematically, if he put the formula on the board, to cut the deficit you have three things you could do. you could have a faster-growing economy, because if the economy is growing faster and wages go up, people pay more taxes, that cuts the deficit. two, you could pay -- raise taxes. you could cut the deficit that way. three, you could cut back on spending. those are the ways to do it. you see, the way i would do it is by cutting spending and getting more growth. that is the best way to cut our

deficit. [applause] our friends across the aisle and the president have a different view. they think we should just raise taxes. that is the primary way we should cut the deficit. the problem is this -- taxes are connected to growth. when you raise taxes, you lower growth. the reason we are so opposed to raising taxes and that -- it is not just because taxes hurt people and kill jobs. when you raise taxes, you slow down growth. your businesses start to grow. the market and raise taxes, the more they lower growth and they are unable to arrive at their budget. it is like a dog chasing its tail. the right answer is to reduce government spending and create incentives to put people back to work to grow this economy.

[applause] number one, energy, number 2, skills, number 3, getting trade right for america, number for, balancing our budget, and number 5 -- we will champion small business. [applause] we want to help small businesses build themselves. we want the people who work in business to be successful and grow their enterprises. how will we do that? lowering taxes on small business so they can keep more of their money to grow. [applause] i am also going to make sure that the regulators and regulations on small businesses do not drown them in red tape

and keep them from growing. i will do something that is scaring a lot to small businesses -- we have to get rid of obamacare. [applause] [applause] [applause] in my view, there are a lot of things we have to do to make health care work better for americans. number one, it is very expensive. we have to get the cost of health care down. the president's plan does not bring down the cost of health care. actually, in his campaign he said he would reduce health insurance premiums for the average family by $2,500 by the

end of his first term. instead, they have gone up by $2,500 for the average family. he has not been able to do that job. i would focus on getting the health care costs down. we also need to make sure people with pre-existing conditions cannot be denied care. we want to make sure they can get the insurance they need. [applause] we want people to be willing to become doctors and nurses. but we simply cannot afford trillions of dollars of more federal spending. it its more expensive as time goes on. we cannot afford to have bureaucrats tell us what kind of health care we can have. we cannot have it cut medicare by $500 billion. [applause] if we do those five things, if we get ourselves in a position where we are able to do those

five things. take it vantage of our energy, get our skills right -- i am talking about our kids and adults, programs to get people back to work. number 3, opening of trading keeping the cheaters from stealing american jobs. number four, getting to a balanced budget by lowering our deficits. number 5, championing our businesses to make businesses grow and thrive. if we do those things, you will see this economy come roaring back. manufacturing, jobs of all kinds will come back. [applause] we get our economists. how many jobs will be created just by doing those things? i have more coming down the road, but just those things alone create 12 million new american jobs. [applause] 12 million jobs.

this is the path of more jobs -- to more jobs and more take- home pay and a brighter future for you and your kids. i know that because i have seen it. i spent my life in the private sector. i know how jobs come and go. i worked in a state. i found a way to work across the aisle. we have got to have somebody who goes to washington, bury the hatchet, and says that they are good democrats and republicans who care about america. let's work together to get some growth again. [applause] this is important. getting america working -- this is not this is not a statistic. 23 million americans are out of work or underemployed. this is a tragedy. it is a moral failing for a

country as successful and wealthy as ours to have policies that have kept people from going to work. i want to get people back at work, put them in good jobs with more take-home pay. i care about this. i have met with people who are struggling as a result of the policies that have not worked to get america working again. i met with a young woman who had been out of work for two years. she was a marketing executive who had been out of work for two years. i met a woman in florida who had said, in order to pay for a second child, they took a second mortgage on their home. then home values collapsed. they wonder if they can keep their home. i met a couple that plan on retiring and has a few duplexes they would use rental income from. now that will not happen because of what has happened in the housing market.

people are hurting and suffering. single moms in particular, raising kids, going to work -- it is harder to pay for gas and energy bills. having to get your kids to child care and work at the same time. people need help. people need an american presence will help people to get good jobs and better take-home pay. i will get it done. [applause] [applause] [applause] you guys, you are each going to get that report card and told you about. you will see the details behind those five steps.

it will keep you up all night, reading those things. i want you to know this -- it will look strange to you. as you read to the things i have just described and some of the points we will put in place to make those expected, you'll not think, this is a foreign concept, i have never heard of that. energy independence, skills to succeed, a trade that works for america, cutting the deficit, championing small business. that is as american as america can be. what we are talking about is letting americans build a better future for themselves, not expecting government to give them everything they want. [applause] [applause] government is always going to be there to make sure that those who cannot care for themselves can be cared for, and that we have a safety net for people who get in trouble. government is a keeper is spent in this, but if you want to get this economy going, -- a key

participant in this, but it went to get this economy going, after it will take the private sector. this is america. this is as american as the very first days when the founders of this country wrote the declaration of independence and said that our rights came from the creator, not government. [applause] among those rights are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. in this country, we are free to pursue happiness as the cheers. -- as we choose. when we do pursue happiness as we choose, when we are lucky enough to get that promotion, we are we know that we built that and the government did not. [applause]

[applause] i cannot wait to get to washington. i cannot wait to get there. i am so excited about getting america working again. i am so excited about restoring the principles that made this nation the strongest in the world. i do not want to transform america into something it is not. i want to restore the principles that made us the hope of the world. we will do it together. we will bring back america. thank you so much. [cheers and applause] ♪

♪ ♪ [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> today, the young america's foundation holds its 34th annual national conservative student conference. at 2:00 p.m. eastern, discussions on u.s. immigration policy and u.s. relations with china. it live on c-span 2. at 7:45 p.m., more from the young america's foundation. peter schweitzer speaks to a dinner gathering of the group.

we will be live from george washington university at 7:45 p.m. eastern on c-span 2. coming up today on c-span, "washington journal" is live from capitol hill. at 10:00 a.m. eastern, the u.s. house is in a pro forma session. no legislative business will be conducted. following the house, we go live to the national press club for a discussion on the future of energy development in the gulf of mexico. this morning, virginia congressman bobby scott on virginia's importance on campaign 2012 and the presidential and its contingent senate race. then the national association of manufacturers talks about the latest unemployment numbers and later, the director of the bureau of economic analysis discusses how national economic growth is measured and alternative ways economists